Flesh and Bone

Chapter 2

Being in a basement most of your life, you don't get to run in the grass. You don't get to walk up stairs, you don't get to be strong. And when Ralph pointed that out that night he fought with Sheila, I realized how right he was. It wasn't long until I swallowed my fear of him and asked if he would train me. Ralph, to my surprise, agreed. There was only one rule, we trained when Sheila was out of the house. Thankfully that was most weekdays.

Ralph would make me run around the basement until I fell. Then he would make me throw heavy balls over and over again, lifting up gallons of paint. Anything to build my muscles. Most days I felt like I couldn't get up but I knew if I didn't, I wouldn't survive in this world. That was something he would repeat to me when we started to train how to fight.

Once Ralph believed my muscles were strong enough to fight, our training turned physical. Alpha Ralph didn't hold back when he shoved my shoulder and pushed me into the wall hard enough to shake dust down on my limping figure.

When Sheila found out about our training she was furious and demanded no more. She was my protector, she said that over and over again. Only then did I realize that Sheila wasn't planning on letting me leave her lands. And that is when I started to take matters into my own hands. I had thought if I showed her I could be strong without her, she wouldn't feel the need to be my protector.

So without Ralph telling me what to do, I trained. I was a little off, but I asked for the equipment. It's been four years and I was ready to make sure the next time I ran into a werewolf, I could hold my own. I didn't want a protector. The electronics she had given me for studies, came in handy. I found videos on how to train, and I followed them. I slowly started to build my pain tolerance, I wanted to make sure the next time an accident happens I would be okay.

My muscles slowly started to lock as I looked at the timer on the treadmill, four hours and I was ready to do more. I was ready to run until I didn't have any air in my lungs. I wanted to run right out of this basement, but instead I wiped some sweat off of my face and slowed the pace until I got off of the machine. Walking towards the side of the wall I started to do some of the yoga moves I've learned from a video app. Taking in deep breaths I started to stretch my muscles out as I put them in weird positions. Splitting my legs I leaned my body against my thigh as I stretched my arm, feeling the comfortable pull.

Since I finished school last year, I was lucky I had the internet and exercise. Sheila might have been my kidnapper, but I would be a liar if I said that I wasn't glad it was her, and not some freaky old man. This week she has been down everyday to ask me to go to town with her. It was only last year when I was allowed to leave the pack's land. But, I didn't particularly like it. Everyday I have said no to Sheila, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be a question much longer. Taking in a deep breath I slowly started to shift my position. I was also glad that Alpha Ralph had allowed me to have the basement. It was a very large open space, the only downfall was the wooden beams but most of the time I didn't mind.

On the complete opposite side of the basement was the thick wooden door. Two steps down once you open it. There were 17 stairs, not including those two steps, to get to the main floor. A few feet right of the door was a bathroom. It had a shower and a toilet. The bathroom was the closest to the small space that Sheila called a window, you couldn't even see the sunlight from where I was at.

But I kept it uncovered, right beside it was a TV and a series of bookcases. Each one was filled with educational books, and some novels. Books on werewolves Sheila had gotten me, and young fantasy books. After the bookcases was the computer desk. Sheila had gotten two monitors, which I never understood. There was a camera, and speakers.

My large bed was beside the computer, and beside the bed was a dresser. There were a few things that were on the other side of the basement, like paint. Boxes filled with canvases and paint tubes. A vanity that had makeup and beauty tools on it that I wasn't interested in. Everything I disliked I pushed to the other side behind my training equipment.