Forsaken

Episode 3

The cold liquid from the stream felt almost freezing on Nylah's bare skin. Armed with a small cloth, she tried to scrub away the lingering dream. The sweat was long gone, but she still didn't feel completely clean.

"Well, we are lacking some soap", Acallia muttered in her mind.

"This is just going to have to do for now." Nylah stated, giving up on all the scrubbing.

She stood back up and went to her backpack to find a tattered towel to dry herself with before getting dressed. She had shifted right after she woke up, and brought clean clothes in her backpack that she had carried in her mouth while running to the stream. She quickly dried her cold and shaking body with the towel and started to get dressed, not wanting to stand and freeze all day. She went for a simple pair of blue jeans and a grey sweatshirt, woolen comfy socks and her brown boots that were about half a size too big. When she was fully clothed, she used the towel to wrap around her hair, and before going back to her little camp she filled up some water bottles for later use.

Back at her tent, she emptied her backpack and put everything back in its rightful place. She took the towel that had been wrapped around her head, and hung it on a branch outside to let it dry. Then she found a pocket mirror in her "beauty bag", which was essentially another plastic bag consisting of the mirror, a brush, a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste that had been squeezed thoroughly, to get every little drop out. She checked her reflection in the mirror and then she hurriedly ran the brush through her damp white hair, to untangle it. If she didn't, it would be a birds' nest by the end of the day. Lastly, she brushed her teeth with a microscopic bit of paste and rinsed it afterwards with water from one of her bottles.

"I guess that's it for today", she muttered more to herself than to her wolf, and hung the beauty bag back.

Before she left, she made sure to fold the blankets that were functioning as her temporary bed, put her sleeping bag into its cover, and hung everything on a branch inside her home, like the rest of her belongings. Rain would not be a problem while she wasn't home. She grabbed her leather satchel, containing all her necessities, and threw it across her chest. Then she closed up her "door" and, as a last effort to style her hair, she threw her head forward and ruffled it a bit with her hands to give it some movement, and squeezed it up a bit to enhance her natural waves a little. She threw her head back and then she was on her way, an hour before she had to be at the first home to get their dog.

The hike from the woods took her 40 minutes, giving her time to stop by Harper's store to say hi and grab a freshly baked bun for breakfast. She didn't have a phone, so she made sure to pop her head into the store every once in a while, when Harper was working, just in case she needed to get a hold of her.

The usual ding sounded from the bell when she entered. Harper stuck her head out from the back, with a little bit of flour sticking to her left cheek.

"You really got that ‘flour-power’ working for you", Nylah said as she came closer to the desk.

"Thank you!" Harper beamed and gave her a nod, misunderstanding Nylah's comment entirely, thinking it was about her flowery dress and peace earrings. Nylah smirked a little to herself.

"A breakfast bun to go?" Harper asked and went back to grab a fresh one directly from the oven, for her younger friend.

“Would be much appreciated! Thanks!” Nylah yelled to the woman who had already gone back to grab a bun.

“You should try these new ones I’ve made! They are called breakfast sliders and they have ham, eggs and cheese in them. They are great when you need a lot of energy early on.” Harper said while coming out from the back again.

“Pair it with one of these”, she continued, and presented another bun to Nylah.

“Muesli bread rolls, they are very nutritional and I have thrown some berries and raisins in there as well”, Harper finished and gave Nylah the two pieces of bread in a bag.

“On the house, of course, for my little taste tester.” She winked and handed the bag over the counter, just as a few customers came in through the door, that yet again dinged for attention.

“See you later, Nylah. Or tomorrow perhaps, since it is your day off.” Harper said, and directed her attention at the arriving customers.

Nylah took a bite of the breakfast slider first. It was sooooo good to have some meat and protein again! Her mouth was watering from the new taste and she immediately knew this bun was a winner. Just before going up to the front porch, she took a few bites of the next one as well. It was good too, and would probably keep her full for a longer time, but the first one was just what she needed right now. She ate all of the first bun and saved half of the second one for a little later. She might need a little snack later at some point, she thought. She quickly shoved the bag with half of the bun into her satchel and rang the doorbell. As if on cue, Boris started barking as soon as the bell was heard, and it made Nylah smile to herself. Boris was a Pomeranian who definitely thought he was a rottweiler. The name probably didn’t help him much either.

After retrieving Boris, Nylah went to get Coco, a cavalier king charles spaniel and Neville, a corgi, at their shared home and lastly, she went to pick up Louis, a pug.

With the four dogs in tow, Nylah went down to the lake, partly to enjoy the view, and partly to allow the dogs to play a bit in the shallow water. Louis kept on land, Coco stood with only her paws covered in the water and drank from it, Boris stuck a paw into it and went away, only to come back and try again, while Neville went a little deeper. His short legs were quickly completely covered by water and as soon as it got too deep to walk, the corgi's butt floated in the surface while he swam. It looked funny and cute every time, Nylah thought. They walked along the shoreline, when Nylah spotted some boys further out on the lake. They were a little too many in a small rowing boat and they were talking loudly to each other, their voices easily breaking through the area thanks to the still weather.

"You're a chicken, Matt!"

"As if you are any better, Fred!"

"Yeah, come on Fred! Show him how it’s done!"

"Hey Fred, try living a little!"

Before Nylah could avert her gaze, one of the boys dived headfirst into the cold lake still wearing all of his clothes. Even his shoes had been kept on. The boys roared in excitement, cheering for their jumping friend.

"Stupid humans, it's almost freezing out there", Nylah thought, and rolled her eyes. Just before she went on with her walk, the boy emerged from the water and held on to one of the sides of the boat, and tipped it, resulting in everyone going into the cold water. The big splash was quickly followed by an angry yelling:

"S**t Matt!!! Our phones!" F*****g a.sshole!"

"Oh no, I was wrong.. THAT was stupid" Nylah rethought, though a little crooked smile of amusement was dancing on her lips.

She turned away from the spectacle on the lake and decided to move on with her walk. When she got to a playground, she sat down on a bench and decided it was time to eat the last of her muesli bread roll. While she slowly ate it, she looked up at the sky to study the position of the sun. It couldn't be too far from noon by now. She suddenly thought about the boys she saw at the lake, and wondered why they weren't in school. She herself couldn't afford it and had to work and maybe lie a little about her age every once in a while, to get people off her back. But they didn't seem to have much care in the world other than their phones and entertainment. She would have given an arm to be able to study and live a normal life with caring people instead of this. Though she still preferred her life of freedom over the orphanage or the dreadful foster homes she had been in. Except for that one family she had been in for a little over a year when she was 8. Unfortunately, the couple already had 4 adoptive children and when the father lost function of his legs, they just didn't have the time or money to care for another one. Nylah felt a small pang to her heart whenever she thought about the family she almost had. For a while they kept in contact, both the couple and the 3 almost-brothers and the one almost-sister. But it has slowly faded over the years and new foster homes took over her care. Until they had enough of her stubbornness. She had Alpha blood, and most adoptive parents were omegas. On occasion, a warrior or a delta came along, but they still didn't seem to have the capability to handle her. The couple who would have adopted her, if not for the father's accident, had been a beta couple who couldn't have children of their own. It had seemed to be the perfect match, but luck was just not on her side.

A screeching sort of barking put an end to her thoughts, and she noticed Boris was throwing a tantrum over another dog walker on the other side of the playground. Nylah sighed and closed her eyes, counting to one, and then the choir had already begun. All the dogs started barking, like they were ganging up on the intruder, who had clearly come in peace. She scrunched the now empty paper bag into a ball and threw it in the trash can and got up while trying to shush the dogs, telling them that it was not a dangerous dog on the other side, and it did not want to hurt them. Little did it help though, and she decided to leave the playground and distract the dogs by walking away.

She ended up walking around town for the last hour, until she knew it was time to bring the dogs home and ultimately collect her dogwalker / dogsitter money. Four dogs for five hours from prominent homes gave her some good pocket money. She could definitely go grocery shopping later without having to dig into her savings.

Back at her campfire by her improvised home, a casserole was simmering away. She had gotten a variety of left-over meat from the butcher's department for a good price and then bought some different vegetables and some potatoes to throw in the stew. The smell was mouthwatering after days with only baked goods. She decided to curl up next to the fire in her sleeping bag and do a little bit of reading until the meat was nice and tender. It didn't take long for sleep to overtake her though and she was right back where she had left off the night before.

"So, who do we have here?" A man asked while pulling the girl out of the bushes.

"A lost pup!" He exclaimed.

"I am not lost. My parents will come and get me." Nylah answered stubbornly.

"Your parents will come for you ey? Guess what pup they have FORSAKEN you! Do you know what that means? Let this be your word of the day, FOR-SA-KEN. It means they have abandoned you, pup! Run away without you. Left you for good and to your own fate. They don't want you anymore." The man who had pulled her out of the bushes half laughed and half spat out at her.

"You are alone kid. " He concluded.

Her eyes started to tear up while she moved her little head to each side, trying to spot anyone she knew. Anyone who could tell her that this man was lying. But she could only see strange men with amused faces and filth-covered bodies. There was no kindness staring back at her, nor were there any familiar faces amongst them. She really was alone.