Am I Wrong

Lya

This room was huge.

The bathroom was an oasis.

I could fit one hundred times what was in my little bag in the closet.

The size of this room was about the size of the entire downstairs in my house back east.

'We should stay here,' the voice insisted for about the one hundredth time.

I rolled my eyes. 'Do you think of anything else?'

'No.'

I sat and thought. If I was going to get along in this wolf community, I’d probably have to learn how to accept this thing I was the unwilling host of. My entire life, I had thought of this thing as a curse. Maybe…

'Why?' I asked.

'Why what?' The voice seemed distracted, like she didn’t really care what I had to say. That was probably the case.

'Why do you want to stay?' I prodded.

'The same reasons you do.'

I sighed, struggling my way out of the wheelchair. I hadn’t gone to the bathroom by myself since I tried to bail in Pierre. It was hard to believe that was only two days ago. 'Maybe responses like that is why I don’t talk to you.'

'You know it’s not,' she chided.

We sat in silence for a bit. Back in the hospital, after noticing every person talking privately with their wolf at one point or another, I came to the decision I was going to try to have at least a cordial relationship with mine, even if it was only while we were here. I made my way over to the bathroom and began running a bath.

'Do you have a name?' I finally asked.

'Yes.'

I slipped into the tub. 'Well… are you going to tell me?'

The wolf scoffed. 'What makes you think you deserve to know it now?'

I winced a bit. She was right. I sunk down in the tub a bit more, the water covering my shoulders. I was used to sitting in silence. Enjoyed it, even. This time, though, it felt a little deafening.

I reveled in the opportunity to get clean. Sponge baths did not replace actual bathing. Washing my hair was a struggle, but eventually I got all the soap out - at least, I hoped I did. Getting out was also a struggle. I sighed, realizing everything would be a struggle for a while.

I had been sent home with extra sticky patches to cover my surgical sites. I replaced those, then slipped the sundress I had been wearing back on. I made my way over to the overstuffed chair in front of the fireplace and perused the built-in bookcases. The books were all nicely bound and either newer or well cared for. I hadn’t read any of these books before - because they were all about werewolves. I wondered if the book selection in here had been specifically cultivated to what they felt I needed to read, or if it was just standard for the rooms.

I settled on one that seemed interesting enough before struggling out of the chair and walking over to grab it. Settling back down with it, I looked at the cover. The Werewolf’s Progress. I snickered a little bit, it seemed like a spoof on The Pilgrim’s Progress. I felt the wolf’s presence emerge, but she stayed quiet. Like she was just observing with me.

I hadn’t even realized I had fallen asleep, until I woke up to a knocking on the door. I looked down at the book that lay open on my lap. I had barely made it two pages in.

“One sec,” I called groggily.

The door cracked open. “Pizza sound good, kiddo?” Trevor asked.

I closed the book, putting it on the coffee table. He walked over and helped me up.

“Sounds fine to me,” I said.

“Good, because we already ordered,” he chuckled.

Trevor pulled the wheelchair over, but I shook my head. “I’d rather walk.”

I followed Trevor out the door, and we turned further down the hall. I hadn’t even noticed an additional living room at the end of the alpha wing. This house just seemed endless. A plush couch and loveseat surrounded a large fireplace with a tv on the mantle. This living room was much cozier than the large gathering area in the main portion of the house.

“Rose and Ollie are coming by, too. They’re just out picking up the pizza,” he said, flopping down on the couch.

As if they were summoned, the two of them walked through the door. Rose put a stack of pizza boxes on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch, and Oliver doled out drinks. Beers for everyone else, kombucha for me.

“Okay, but is this pizza going to be as good as yours, Trevor?” I asked with a smirk.

Oliver chuckled. “It better be, seeing as it’s his cousin’s restaurant.”

“Yeah,” Trevor agreed. “I just stole his recipe.” He handed me a plate.

“Aww, you remembered my order!” I beamed. Truth be told, Trevor was probably one of the closest friends I had ever had. It was a depressing realization - he was my best friend, but I was far from his. Guess that’s just what happens when you don’t get close to anyone other than the guy who pours your beers and the guy masquerading as your fiance but actually secretly plotting to kill you.

Oliver sat down on the loveseat, next to me. “Gross, olives,” I shuddered, glancing over at his pizza. He smirked, pulling one off a slice and dropping it on mine.

“No!” I shrieked. “You’ve tainted it!”

The room erupted in laughter, me included. Laughing hurt a lot, but it was worth it.

“Lya doesn’t like olives,” Oliver commented. “Noted.”

“Or mushrooms,” Trevor added.

“Lya is a picky eater,” he amended. “Noted.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just those two I will not touch.”

Oliver chuckled. “Alright, haggis for dinner tomorrow night.” He laughed harder at the look on my face. He picked up the remote. “So what are we watching?”

“Oh!” Rose piped up. “There’s a new one that came out that I want to watch.” She grabbed the remote from him and started scrolling through streaming services. She pulled up Bladerunner 2049.

“This isn’t exactly new,” Trevor commented.

“Well, I haven’t seen it yet, so to me it is,” she said snidely.

I smiled to myself. Staying here was starting to seem better and better. At least, for now.