Ink (7 page)

An Alaska Thing

Deidra Farist pulled her single, black rolling suitcase behind her as she walked across the cracked blacktop of the airstrip outside Juno, Alaska.  Her best friend, Kit, bounced along beside her prattling on about nothing of any real importance as Deidra thought about the likelihood of their plane crashing before they reached Anchorage or the even more glaring possibility that she would break her ankle on this terribly paved stretch of pavement.  Deidra hated flying, but in truth she hated boats more so here she was boarding a plane and heading to Alaska, of all places Instead of a ship to a lovely tropical destination.  She was pretty sure she had lost all semblance of sanity by the time she had agreed to take the trip, but Kit had been too excited to turn down.

Deidra sighed for the hundredth time and looked to Kit and found her friend frowning.

“We
could
have taken a cruise to the Bahamas Deidra, but you hate boats.  This was the alternative.  Now suck it up and try to enjoy yourself!  For heaven's sake you look like you are walking your last mile or something.  Should I be saying 'dead girl walking' as we continue?”

Deidra rolled her eyes at her friend's dramatic display and fought a smile at the ridiculous face she made when she attempted to use a really deep voice. 

Kit had won an extravagant vacation choice from some online thing she had participated in.  Deidra hated those things that popped up on her computer while she was trying to work, but Kit had an eye for seeing the advantages of any situation.  She had filled out the form and sent it off to God knows who only to be notified six weeks later that she had in fact won the grand prize, her choice between a cruise to the Bahamas or a two week stay in an extravagant Lodge near Denali National Park.  Kit had left the decision up to Deidra, since she had invited her best friend along on this once in a life time vacation.  Deidra had chosen Alaska.

If someone had asked her to explain the reasons behind her decision she would have been completely puzzled and unable to offer the slightest explination.  She loved the sun and the beach, but the cruise would have been miserable for her, but so was flying and spending time in the cold.  She didn’t like the cold, in fact she detested it more than her yearly visit to her doctor to check on her whooha, but she had felt like Alaska was the right choice.  She had felt pulled to the place.  So for reasons she could not explain she continued to struggle with her suitcase and make her way to the plane that looked more like a toy than an actual aircraft.

Deidra scolded herself for her attitude.  This was an amazing opportunity and Kit was kind to ask her along at all.  She would enjoy herself if it killed her.  She took a deep breath and began a list of pros in her mind.  The plant life would be lovely, not as lovely as the lush tropics, but lovely in a different way.  The fresh air would likely be invigorating.  Then there were the mountains.

The mountains fascinated her and they had since she was a child.  She had dreamed of them a few times after she’d studied about Alaska in elementary school.  From then on she’d wanted to see those impressive peaks and to behold the majesty and grandeur of the place.  She sighed again.  Now she would have the opportunity, if she survived the flight.

“Deidra, you are being ridiculous!  We have been on three planes already.  What is one more?  Why are you so afraid of this plane?”  Kit complained.

“I don’t know.  I just feel like if I step on that plane my life is going to be different.   Don’t think I want it to be different, but at the same time I can’t seem to stop thinking about what the change might feel like.”  Kit raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow and twisted her perfectly lined lips into a smirk. 

“I don’t know what it means!  It’s just a feeling.”  Deidra threw up her hands when Kit still looked at her in question.  “I just hate planes and this one looks like a toy.”  Deidra was confused by her feelings, but they were strong and she tended to listen to them.

“Different is a good thing Hun.  You need your life to be different.  When is the last time you had a date anyway or got laid?”  She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.  “Or for that matter did anything different than you did the week before?”

Deidra rolled her eyes.  “I had a date last month and I would say that this trip is definitely deviating from last week’s itinerary.”

“No you didn’t.”  Kit insisted as she tossed her blonde curls over her shoulder.  “You had a dinner meeting with a nerd!  That doesn't count as a date!  If you can’t see yourself in bed with the guy at the end of the evening you really can’t call it a date, in my opinion.”

Deidra scowled.  “I’m not a slut Kit.”  She admitted that she wasn’t a nun, but she was very picky about whom she slept with, and yeah, they were usually pretty nerdy and the sex was terrible, but what could she do?  She worked with nerdy men and had little time to find a different type.

“I didn’t say you had to be a slut.”  Kit said as she pulled Deidra along with her.  “I said if you can’t see yourself in bed with him, I didn’t say you had to go to bed with him, but if it works out you will eventually end up there so you might as well start out with a clear picture of the situation in your mind.”

Deidra walked behind Kit and wanted to laugh at all the men who stopped to gawk at her friend.  Kit was a knock out.  She was tall and slim while still having enough curves to make a man fall to his knees and beg to be her slave.  Her hair was a golden blonde and fell in springy curls to the middle of her back.  She had eyes, that Deidra had heard a man tell her, ‘sparkled like the deep waters of the Caribbean’.  Kit also knew how to dress.  She wore tight skinny jeans with knee high lace up boots that had some hind of fuzzy stuff sticking out of the top with a bright pink turtle neck sweater that hugged her ample breasts. 

Kit practically floated across the asphalt while pulling a large bright green suitcase with bright pink polka dots.  She looked fresh and runway ready.  Deidra knew she didn’t look quite so well put together and in fact probably looked rather mousy in comparison.

Deidra frowned as she looked down at her simple jeans and waterproof boots.  She wore only a long sleeved light blue t-shirt, which she thought brought out the blue of her eyes, but realized they didn’t sparkle like any sea she had ever seen.  She had her long dark hair pulled into a simple ponytail at the back of her head and wore no makeup.  She felt short too for some reason.  She had always just thought of herself as petit, but today she was short.  She was only four inches shorter than Kit’s five foot ten inches, but she felt like a dwarf.

Except for the same general color of their eyes and the obvious fact that they were both of the female sex, Deidra and Kit were complete opposites, but they were also the best of friends.

Deidra had met Kit in their freshman year of high school.  Deidra’s parents had just moved to L.A. and Deidra had been adrift among the fabulous people when Kit had rescued her.  Deidra knew it had started out as a pet project for Kit.  It reminded her of a movie that had been popular back then.  The beautiful and popular girl picks the girl that couldn’t be further from popular or beautiful and makes her into an acceptable friend.

It had taken about a week for Kit to realize that there was no hope for Deidra in the fashion department, but by then she had loved her too much to ostracize her, so they had become friends.  That had been fifteen years ago.

Deidra finally stepped onto the plane and stowed her bag.  Kit had insisted that they bring only one bag.  Deidra had protested saying she couldn’t fit all the socks she would need in one bag, but Kit insisted they could buy anything they needed and then ship it home.  She had a point.  There was nothing worse than baggage claim.  Kit knew how to travel so Deidra had taken her advice, besides, she wasn’t trying to impress anyone, she was on vacation.

Deidra tried to settle into her seat, but she kept having a feeling of excitement that would quickly be tempered with a generous dose of fear.  She never discounted her instincts.  She had always listened to those flutters in her stomach and she felt like they had saved her many times in the past.  Now they were screaming at her to run back home and she was simply trapped.  What would happen when they reached their final destination? 

Deidra chewed on her lip and tried to think past her fear.  What could really happen anyway?  Assuming the plane landed and they made it to their destination, what could really happen that would be so overwhelmingly drastic to cause her subconscious to scream at her this way?  Nothing.  She was overreacting.  She took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that she would be fine.  Life would go right back to normal after she got a little R&R and nothing drastic could change that.  She repeated the mantra over and over in her mind and took deep, calming breaths.

2

Dex sat in his extremely uncomfortable seat and wished the plane would take off so he would soon be off this tin can and back home.  His six foot four inch frame was not meant to be folded into these tiny seats.  Even the first class section, which boasted more legroom, couldn’t accommodate him comfortably.  He shifted again and thanked his friend, Martha in his mind for reserving both seats when she bought his plane ticket.  No way could he have shared close quarters with anyone.  His nerves were too close to the surface.  He felt too raw.  He wished again that he had booked a private flight, but he for some reason he just couldn’t make the arrangements.  He had left it all up to Martha and he wasn’t sure why.  He hated flying commercial.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm his mind.  He would stay at the lodge for a few days and then he would hike out to his home.  He had spoken with his friends Martha and Slade and he knew that they had everything arranged at the lodge.  They had been making the same arrangements every year for the last ten years, since he’d built the massive timber structure.  Before that they all just made their way home on their own.  The lodge provided his people with a meeting place as well as a way to work and make money for a great deal of the year and provided them with the money they needed to live.  The lodge was closed from the first of October until April first.  This gave the staff and Martha time to prepare the lodge for the winter as well as prepare it to open again after winter. 

Dex reached up and scratched his chin.  It was already covered in a thick beard that looked like it had been growing in for days, when in fact he had shaved before he’d left his hotel.  The equinox was drawing near and he was already feeling the effect in his body.  His hair was growing thicker as were the muscles in his arms and legs.  He wasn’t usually this bulky, unlike Slade who was bonded to his beast and could change to and from with little trouble.  Dex had always secretly envied his friend in that.  Slade’s beast was more gentle than Dex’s too as if it somehow drew on Slade’s natural calm.  It hadn’t always been that way, Martha had changed Slade and it had made him stronger and more centered.  Dex had little control of his beast.  It raged and was ruled only by instinct.  Dex never knew where he would find himself when the sun rose or what havoc he had been responsible for.  He kept the creature firmly locked away for half of the year, but the time for freedom was fast approaching and it made Dex nervous even as it made him long for the freedom of it.  He had to fight all the time to keep the beast under control.  At times the battle was fierce.  The only person who could get through to his beast was Martha.  She had kept him from doing things that would have haunted him.  She was an amazing woman and Dex envied his friend for finding someone who could handle what they were.

Soon he would be forced to seek refuge in his snowy home and as much as he enjoyed living in the big city, nothing could compare with his winter home and the freedom he found there.  His family was there and he had missed them this year more than most.  He felt a need to be home and it made his temper shorter than usual.

Dex tried to calm himself with thoughts of the coming month.  Slade would accompany Dex to his home.  Slade wouldn’t go back for Martha until he was sure it was safe and until the lodge was secured for winter.  It was the only time Slade was away from Martha.  Dex didn’t understand how the man could cling to the woman the way he did, but he couldn’t seem to breathe without her.  He wouldn’t leave her at all, but it was too dangerous for her to be at home too near the equinox and even with his extreme control it was too dangerous for Slade to be at the lodge during the days that followed the equinox.  The beast was strongest then and even Slade couldn’t control it well.  Strange things happened for the first two weeks and Martha might be in danger from the others too, those who had little control and little cause to seek it.  There were those who chose to embrace their beast more completely than others and they would not balk at tearing Martha apart and having her for supper or worse.  Slade and Dex would die to protect her, but it wasn’t worth the risk.  Dex was embarrassed to admit that she would be in danger from him as well.  If he was in control he would protect her with his life, but if he wasn’t he could be the one to damage her and he couldn’t bear the thought of it.

Memories assailed him and he pushed them away with thoughts of home and the little village like neighborhood that made up their community.  It was an escape nestled far away from prying eyes.  It meant safety for his people who had to hide their true nature for so much of the year.  He felt pride in his people and in their home and he couldn’t wait to be there with them.  He loved his people even as he kept them at arm’s length.

Martha and Slade lived near Dex and had since they had married.  They weren’t the only ones, who lived near his home on the mountain, but they were the only ones Dex was friendly with outside his immediate family, he simply tolerated all the others.  Everyone else wanted something from him.  He was never sure of their motives and deception was a scent that made his stomach turn.  He would spend the months alone for the most part and that was fine with him.  He gave every family an allowance of sorts.  He had a fund set up and the profits from his lodges were placed in the fund.  At the end of the year the interest was divided among the clans and then further among the families.  It kept them all happy and with enough money to be comfortable.  Those who worked at the lodges also earned wages.  It worked, but there were times when Dex felt used and that led him to feel contempt for many of his own people.

Dex knew that he would not be missed by his associates in the world.  His people knew that he sequestered himself for much of the winter to regroup and relax.  They wouldn’t worry if they didn’t hear from him for a while.  He would make contact every couple of weeks if he could, but they wouldn’t worry if he didn’t.  As long as his money continued to pay their checks his whereabouts would not concern them.  In truth they were probably glad to see him go.  He wasn’t exactly known for his sunny personality.  He had been called cold and even heartless on occasion.  He had been known as the ice man among his competitors and he had always found the moniker hilarious, mostly because it was so true.  He was a solitary being and made no secret of it.  The women he spent an occasional night with knew it and they accepted it or they didn’t last very long as a companion.  It was his life and he was completely happy with it. 

He frowned.  He shifted in his seat again and repeated the words to himself.

“I am completely happy with the way my life is.”  His frown deepened as he felt the lie of it.