Alexandria Tarbell lives in Essex, Vermont. With her parents at their busy jobs and Cobey, the one friend she has. Alexandria's life isn't the most glamorous.
She spends her time reading books beneath the great green and yellow trees and makes her m...
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Shopping with Anika was like hanging out with Rebecca Bloomwood from Confessions of a Shopaholic. I was holding racks of clothing on my outstretched arms as Anika kept piling on top of them.
"Okay" she breathes out, "I think I'm done, time to try them on" she smiles my way shuffling me towards the fitting rooms.
Classic, uncomfortable me didn't really want to try every piece on and parade.
"I think most of this stuff will fit, I don't need to try them on". She just looked at me as if I was the dumbest person she's ever met.
Probably true.
"Get in there, and let me know when you have the first outfit on!"
I sigh to myself as I undress and dress into the first piece of a million.
After two hours, yes two hours, we finish up and walk to the car as each of us hold two big bags of clothing.
The drive back to the house was breezy. That was until Anika pulled up one of the most uncomfortable questions to answer.
"So, what do you think about Kellan?" she casually asks.
My head snaps up towards her in her surprise of this unprepared Q & A I was about to be given. Unsure to answer, I stutter a little and shrug my shoulders all while saying, "Um yeah, he's nice? I mean at first I didn't think so, but uh...now he's um..."
"Nice?" she offers with a smile and I just nod.
I mentally facepalm at my answer, I couldn't be more embarrassing.
"You're right... after my first ever shift my old pack took me 'training' one night. I thought I was being taught the ropes of border control, but apparently, they had another sick game in mind. They told me to stand where they had shown me and keep alert for any potential threats. They left me there for two hours, in the middle of the night in territory I did not know. I wasn't familiar with it because it wasn't our territory to begin with. They left me to fend for myself against two Syeron wolves. I was 11".
She pauses for a moment to breathe a little at the recount of her trauma. "I should've been dead. Kellan and his father found me unconscious in a ditch on the borders of Syer and Hythera. His father was training him at the time, and so he took eleven-year-old me with them".
There was a lump in my throat, not knowing how to respond to her story. The fact that she even opened up to me was big itself. I respected her even more than I did before. This woman was genius, passionate and unbelievably strong.
"Thanks for sharing that with me" I smile a little, really appreciating her vulnerability. "No one should ever go through what you did. But you came out the other end stronger and good god it made you this wolf machine". She laughs in response, wiping away the single tear that escaped her eye.
"Yeah, I guess it did. Look who's the best Huntress now assholes, eh?" She asks aloud at the rest of the world with the biggest grin on her face.
~~~
After putting the last of the clothes and a few shoes away in the closet, Anika turns to me smiling.
I raise an eyebrow in suspicion, "What is it?"
"I snuck this little bad boy without you looking in one of the stores. I mean we bought so much how could you notice it? But I thought you could have your own while you're training". She pulls out brand new black training pants, a top and a jacket, then proceeds to pull out a set of new black combat boots.
I'm a little lost for words at the gesture, "Wow, Anika. Thank you".
With a 'don't sweat it' she places the items at the top of the wardrobe in a safe place on their own.
A knock on the door turns my attention away from Anika and to Kellan who was leaning against the doorframe. My heart beats a little faster after taking in his appearance. Decked in black from head to toe and his presence which radiates within the entire room.
"Please tell me Anika didn't max out the card?", that question was being asked to me.
It took me a second to register before replying, "Probably...she kind of bought, like, everything".
"Classic" he just responds with just shaking his head. There was silence for a minute, where Kellan took in my appearance and I took in his. A moment of admiration for one another as a small smile crept onto my lips. In reaction, a small smile crept onto his.
Anika breathed out which snapped both of us back into reality. She was keeping in a giggle, I could tell.
"Um", Kellan clears his voice before continuing, "Training starts in 5, see you there". And like that, he swiftly leaves the room.
"Oooh, I see..." Anika teases while doing a small dance, "you two are like, in love with each other".
I had never in my life been in love, nor had I ever thought someone would ever be in love with me. So, when Anika made that statement, sirens went off in my head.
"Don't be ridiculous" I state ending the conversation before it could begin, grabbing the training gear and heading out straight to the bathroom to get changed.
~~~
I have been taking advantage of these training sessions as much as I can. Building up my technique and stamina, constantly worried someone is going to attack. After hearing about the council's visit to my parents, I've had a constant anxiety about them finding out I exist. It was going to come out, one way or another. And that's what scared me to the core.
The punching bag in front of me copped the stressful punches I threw at it with my inner thoughts lashing out. I went for another swing, when a hand caught my arm before it could hit.
"Steady", Kellan's raspy voice fizzles everything I was thinking in a heartbeat. "Are you alright?"
With sweat dripping down me and an unclear head, I give Kellan a smile laced with uncertainty and just nod at his question.
"I mean it's okay if you're not. What you're going through, and how everything is playing out is not exactly ideal, so I understand that you're frustrated".
"Well you know it's just ordinary life things. A few weeks ago, I was stationary shopping for my first week at college. Now I'm training with werewolves. So...yeah". I don't mean for there to be sarcasm, it just blurts out with the rest of my word vomit.
He removes his eye contact from me and just nods his head in understanding. "Just remember to keep your knees bent, I don't want any injuries".
The session continues, everyone working at their own pace. I was just hitting my last few punches when suddenly, a heavy wash of dizziness hit me. I swing but miss the bag, and end up tripping forward into the bag, holding onto it for balance. Complete and sudden nausea took over me, and my vision started to blur.
Everything slowed down, I feel a pair of hands on my shoulders and voices yelling, though they sound so distant. I shook my head, trying to regain myself, when complete blackness took over and sent me unconscious.
