At Dawn, in the Forest

“She needs to see someone.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“We should get her a therapist. She is struggling.”

“No, first we should adjust her schedule and diet and then look for someone.”

“How is her diet going to help with her lashing out?”

“Diet has a significant role in our mental health.”

“Yes, and so does a therapist. I vote we look for a therapist.”

“Me too.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Or maybe we should leave her some room?”

“That is the worst thing to do now. She doesn’t know how to process her emotions.”

“I know, but she should see someone if she wants to.”

“It’s not a matter of what she wants. Dawn doesn’t know what is important. She is basically still a teenager.”

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“Well, she has a point. Dawn didn’t grow up in a healthy environment to fully develop herself.”

“But you can’t treat her like a child. She is twenty-two.”

“On the outside-”

“Alright, stop it. We won’t accomplish anything with arguing back and forth.”

“I agree.”

“She needs good care. Her diet needs to be tailored to get her physical strength up and we will get her a therapist to provide essential support. We will work on both problems and hopefully she will get better quicker. The Moon Valley Pack told us we could use their resources for her recovery so let’s contact them.”

Following the incident of that morning, Dawn had retreated to her room. She refused to talk to anyone who came to her room. All of them had formed a group and gathered in front of her bedroom door discussing her behavior. She thinks it was the medics and Mateo.

And then she heard him coming up.

“So- Oh, Aiden. What are you doing here?... Aiden?”

“You need to give her some space, Alpha. With all due respect, but we have to be patient with her. I don’t understand how I am the only one seeing that.”

“Aiden her behavior-”

“Yes, I know, but what do you expect? That after nine years of captivity she knows perfectly well how to act properly? Just give her some space.” Dawn heard Aiden vouch for her.

The bedroom door opened and Dawn turned around. Immediately she searched for his warm and comforting eyes. They lured her in every time. He looked irritated at first, but when they locked eyes he smiled. A sympathetic smile. “Hey there.”

Aiden walked up to Dawn and leaned against the window with his back facing her on the bed. He crossed his arms and she could see the muscles protruding under his shirt. First she admired them and then a hit of jealousy. It was poisonous green. Dawn wanted to be as healthy as Aiden. If she wasn’t there in that lab, if she hadn’t been captured, if people would have looked for her, if she wouldn’t have left home that day, if she didn’t run off, if she woke up an hour earlier or later that day. If, if, if. If she wasn’t being held captive for over nine years she would have looked as healthy as Aiden. But that was her reality, and looking backwards wouldn’t help.

“How about an outing?” Aiden asked, bringing Dawn out of her head.

“An outing?” Dawn sat right up. Intrigued by Aidens words.

“Yes, and outing. My cousin needs to do some shopping at the mall and I thought you might like it to join us?”

“The mall? I haven’t been there in ages,” She said, more to herself.

“And while we are there, we might get you some clothes of your own,” He winked at her. “And I promise you nobody will follow you around.”

“I am in.”

Aiden laughed, he pushed himself from the window and held his hand out for Dawn to take. “Let’s go.”

***

Dawn met Sarah by the car. She was a tall young woman, only two years older than Dawn was. The first thing Dawn noticed about her was her nail, they were impeccable. The shape of all ten were uniform and each nail had the same color, with the same shine. They were identical. The second thing was Sarah’s red long hair. It was lush, healthy, and wavy. The third thing was her friendly and bubbly personality.

“You must be Dawn! It’s so nice to finally meet you.” Sarah engulfed her in a suffocating hug. “Love the short bob, looks great on you!”

“So, Dawn, this is my cousin Sarah,” Aiden introduced.

Dawn had a hard time grasping the fact they were related. Aiden was tan, and had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Sarah was pale white, had red hair, and blue eyes, almost the same kind of shade as Dr. Willow had. Dawn tried her hardest to not think of that similarity as Sarah seemed a good person to hang around with.

“I know we don’t look alike we are from the same family, but that is all due to my mother, his father’s brother’s mate. She has Scottish and Irish roots so there you go a typical redhead. Anyway, let’s get this party on the road.”

***

It took them forty minutes to arrive at the mall and park the car. Dawn had forgotten how big malls were, and how huge the parking lots were. Something she hadn’t missed over the last nine years. It came then back to her why she hadn’t been to malls many times when she was younger.

“Okay, the one thing that I must, must, must do, is buying a gift for a friend of mine. She just found her mate and after their alone time,” Sarah bumped both Dawn and Aiden with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows, “they are throwing this small get-together and I want to show up with a gift. I suggested to just throw a whole party, but they didn’t want to, which is a shame. Oh, and I also need to get some new skincare, after that, we can go crazy.” Dawn nodded along as Sarah rambled on. She stayed close to Aiden, using him as a comfort blanket.

As Sarah walked in front of them guiding the three of them through different stores to find the said gift Dawn couldn’t help but ask, “Why was Sarah so weird about the part her friend and mate getting alone time?”

Aiden chuckled which died down looking at Dawn’s expression, seeing she was serious. “Oh, uhm, well… their alone time is their romantic time. Do you understand that?”

“Oh, yeah, I think so…”

“If you don’t that is fine, but maybe that is a talk for later. Let’s find Sarah, she probably got distracted by some figurines she finds adorable.” Dawn just followed along, still not really understanding what Aiden was talking about.

The next store they were in was the skincare store. It was vastly confusing for Dawn. She didn’t understand why one would need this many products for your skin. She went years without treating it and her skin was fine. At least she couldn’t see any flaws with it, except maybe from some zits she got sometimes. The majority of the products surrounding her gave an overwhelming feeling. She felt as if she was behind on, on, on something she couldn’t decipher which in turn made her more frustrated.

Sarah made her way down to Dawn after she found what she had been looking for, her bright red hair swaying behind her. “Oh Dawn, how about we get you some products as well? Wouldn’t that be fun? You have great skin so don’t worry, it wasn’t a comment regarding your skin but it never hurts to keep nurturing the things in life that are good. Let me get a good look and feel to see what you need.” Without hesitation, Sarah put her hands on Dawn’s face. She jerked her face away in a reflex. “No need to get scared, just lightly touching.” Aiden cleared his throat after he saw Dawn's reaction and Sarah was quick to let go.

“So I think your skin is quite well balanced with its oils, but it does feel a tad bit dry at some places. I know just the products, follow me. You still have to decide if you like the smell.” And like that Dawn was being thrown into the world of skincare, products she had just been looking at blankly she now had to learn what they meant. Something about a ten-step plan, but that was too much for a beginner like her. Still, there were quite some steps that she needed to follow and always, always needed sunscreen or SPF. No idea why, Dawn nodded along.

When Dawn was finally relieved from listening to the advice Sarah gave her, Aiden and Sarah dragged her into clothing stores. Again, Dawn mostly nodded along with the words of Sarah filling the stores they were at. No opinion of her own.

Until they passed a certain store, it was not too grand, not too small. It had a great variety of clothes and wasn’t overflown with people. It was then she slowly noticed clothing pieces she liked. It felt as the best feeling she had experienced since her rescue. It was the sense of self, the feeling of her own identity. It was weird that a few clothing pieces would give her such a grounding feeling of her own being.

“You like this store?” Before Dawn could agree, Sarah had already walked in. But it was now Dawn who led the search. Sarah had noticed the sudden interest and for once only observed. She could see how Dawn was hesitant to grab the clothes to try on but she quietly got them and tried to find other pieces that would go great with her choices. She noticed how Dawn’s taste was less feminine. Oversized shirts, straight jeans, and flannels were the favorites but there was still some feminine energy to it, Dawn had looked at some crop tops as well and there was even a skirt she took interest in. Dresses, however, were a no go.

When Dawn had tried on the clothes Sarah and Aiden noticed how comfortable she was. For Aiden it was the first time he could notice that Dawn might have been even happy besides the sense of calmness he got from her.

And Dawn felt great. Great that she finally could wear something that represented her, representing her choices. After years of not being able to make choices of her own, of her needs not being met and being ignored, making these choices was great. But after showing her last outfit and taking off a jacket she saw the price tag, something she had ignored. In fact, the prices on display and the price tags didn’t speak to her. She had no idea if something was expensive or not, but then she had a feeling all of this was a lot of money. And she didn’t have any. How was she going to pay for this? She couldn’t keep relying on Aiden.

Dawn searched in her mind if she had money at all. If the teenager had any money left, but she couldn’t remember. And then a sudden moment of grief washed over her. She had nothing. She had no belongings of her own. She doubted how much her parents kept from her time before.

It was a daunting moment for Dawn. She thought she had found a piece of her identity, but was confronted at the same time by the harsh reality of the traces of her past.