Alone With The Wolves

The Hike

Skylar's POV

I open my eyes and there is barely any daylight streaming into the room. So I turn to my left and look at the clock. 6:30. Great. Just great. I try to go back to sleep but I am unsuccessful, as usual. I guess I'm just too excited. I mean, today's the day that we go on the hike! The hike that will help me to achieve one of my life goals. To see some wolves. But this is special. The wolves I'm about to see are Arctic wolves.

I slowly untangle myself from Ryder and slide out from under the duvet. The room is freezing cold! I hurry to the bathroom to take a hot shower. Hopefully that hot shower will help to calm my nerves. I've never been this excited in my whole life! But it's only 6:45. A long time until we head off. Four hours to be exact. I groan quietly being the pessimist I am. I try to be optimistic for a change. It's best to start the day off early anyway.

As the warm water scalds my back. I sigh and finally start to relax little by little. It's as though all my excitement is slowly draining away with the water. I close my eyes and take what feels like the longest shower of my life. The only reason I am forced to get out is that my fingers start to resemble prunes.

I slowly dry myself off and wrap a towel around my head like a turban. Wearing a bath robe and entering the room again. I shiver as the freezing cold air- conditioning hits me. I look at the clock. 7:15. Wow, I took half an hour just to shower. Oh god, I'm turning into Bailey! But half an hour is normally a quick shower for her. I think that majority of that time is used to try to wash all that makeup off her face. On the second thought, that is quite a short shower if a quarter of that time is used to remove her makeup. I should try to be less mean to her, I think. I mean, this vacation is supposed to soothe most people's nerves, right? With the exception of me, of course. With that thought, I snuggle on the couch and listen to my podcast again. The one about wolves.

I look around the room slowly. Watching the sleeping figures. Ryder is in the exact same position like where I left him. I smile. It's been so long since he has treated me like this. Hugging me in public and laughing along with me. Normally, he refuses to be seen in public together with me. Let alone me making physical contact with him. He also normally doesn't pay attention to what I say. I'm pretty happy that we are acting like how we used to. Like actual brother and sister.

And Bailey is sprawled out on her bed. In silk pjs, a sleep mask, and a face mask to get rid of any blemishes (insert eye roll here). All that makeup would be enough to make the side of a mountain look smooth.

Ugh! I HAVE to stop thinking such mean thoughts. I'm going to try to be nicer to her and maybe she'll do the same. The previous times I've tried didn't work, but maybe doing it on vacation will work?

Two more chapters into my podcast and finally the sleepyheads are showing signs of life. Ryder sleepily props himself on one elbow. He sees me and gives me a wave. "Up so early? Why am I not surprised." He laughs at his own not so funny joke and starts to get ready. Taking a five minute shower and sitting next to me with a black heavy metal band t-shirt and jeans. His fur coat in hand. He plays on his iPod and yells, "Score! There's wifi!" Getting absorbed in his iPod.

Unfortunately, his yell stirs Bailey and she wakes up with a scowl. The scowl making a few cracks in her mask. She takes off her sleep mask and stares at us. "Seriously?" She stares at us with one eyebrow raised. Rolling her eyes before getting out of bed and running into the bathroom. Slamming the door before the sounds of the shower pierce the silence

The rest of the time passes quickly. I plaster on a fake smile whenever I see Bailey. I'm taking this being nice to my sister slowly. Step by step. Because I'm not sure I can handle talking to her without being mean or sarcastic. I'll have to work on that. Anyway, because I kept smiling at her, she tried to avoid me. I guess she's not used to it either. At least she's not saying anything mean... Yet. But maybe being nice to her will work?

Right now, we're all waiting for our guide and our rides. We are going to go there in two cars. Mom and dad will take one cab. And they'll take all our luggage and rucksacks. Basic stuff for hiking and things like that. All of us have our own rucksack. This is going to be so fun! Bailey, Ryder, and I will be taking the other cab. Our guide will be in the same cab as us. Hopefully he can help us to keep the peace.

We are all wearing our jackets already. And Bailey finally bought a thick fur jacket. After much persuasion. The cabs get here and we call for the guide. We all quickly get into our respective cabs. I fiddle with the camera slung around my neck. Taking a few pictures of everyone. Trying to distract myself from all my anticipation. This is going to be a loooong ride.

*****

The view of Mount Mckinley is breathtaking. I snap a few pictures of it. The whole mountain covered in snow. A whole blanket of snow covers the ground and our steel toed boots help us to crunch through the snow pretty easily. Slowly making our way to the hikers registration centre. I stay outside and take pictures of the amazing landscape. My breath causing clouds to form in front of my face. Thankfully, I had the mind to put on gloves and another layer of clothes beneath the jacket. I wonder how cold it will be up on the mountain.

After an hour of briefing and getting ready for the hike, we finally start. Thanks to dad, we are taking one of the hard trails. The hike will take a few days. And of course, Bailey has already started complaining.

The first few hours are bearable, the crunching of the snow under our feet and the howl of the wind are the only sounds heard around us. All of us walk with our arms wrapped around ourselves. Trying to keep ourselves warm. It's FREEZING out here. Our jackets and layers of clothes barely keep us warm, but al least we haven't got frostbite yet.

At the end of the day, we set our camp on a relatively flat area. The guys are in one tent and us girls in another. We have a nice hot meal of soup and frozen foods cooked on one of our special stoves that works on batteries. We cook inside the boys tents because the wind would put out the flame at once.

Everyone is worn out form the hike, so we all cuddle up under the covers and fall asleep. I'm pretty disappointed. No wolves yet, but the guide, whose name is Blake, said that we will only see them probably tomorrow. I slowly drift off to sleep as outside a blizzard almost buries our tents in snow.

*****

Author's note:

Sorry for the boring ending, I don't have a lot of inspiration. But I promise to make the next chapter more interesting. Please keep on reading and please comment and fan too! I love all of you!

xoxo Dani