Zenora

After today’s classes and two exams, which I made effortlessly and finished twenty minutes before the other students, I walked out of the classroom searching for Anna. But when I couldn’t find her, I went to the cafeteria to get something to drink and sent her a text telling her where I was.

After about fifteen minutes she came in walking around the corner all sighing up in relief that she finished her exams as well. She told me her engineering exams were hard but she thought she would get at least seventy out of a hundred points so that would be good. I rolled my eyes slightly because I found that score would not be sufficient for me, but to Anna, it was more than enough so I did not mention anything about it.

She grabbed a drink as well and then we sat there for half an hour more, talking about school and finding it strange that in a few weeks it was all over. I already sent out several job applications to veterinary offices and got invited to join in for an interview next week, at one of the best offices in the country.

Naturally, Anna hadn’t even started searching for a place to get a job. She just shrugged her shoulders at me when I told her she should if she was ever going to get her own money.

Together we walked out of school, but on our way to the bus, I got yelled at by Dennis. “Emily! I am here!” He yelled which surprised me as to why he was here.

Dennis had never picked me up from school so I was worried something was wrong. He stood next to his big black pickup truck wearing a fitting black shirt and pants in survival green colours. He was tall and well-built with strong muscles. Anna looked at him almost drooling and I could not stop smiling at her, knowing her crush on him.

“Hi Dennis.” she said shyly while looking him in the eyes.

Anna was a year older than me but took a year longer in her education as she was lazy in her second year so we’re going to finish school together. Dennis was thirty-nine, almost forty and still single, even though he looked so good. I never cared to ask why he never was with a woman, but seeing Anna react to him like that, made me wonder now for a bit.

She has seen Dennis on several occasions when she went to my house, to study or watching a movie marathon so she knew who he was. But I’ve never actually seen her acting this way, so shy and with a bit of redness on her cheeks.

Dennis smiled at Anna but turned to me quickly and asked if I was ready.

“Ready for what? Why are you picking me up here? I thought we were going to get Chinese food and eat at home tonight?” I asked.

“No, I’ve packed your bags and got everything in the back of the truck. Even Miles and Dolly are in the back. We are going away to a special place this weekend since it is your birthday.”

I looked around the truck and indeed saw my dogs sitting in the back, crowded by several bags and suitcases.

Miles and Dolly are the names of my dogs, both are snowy white from a rare mix of German Shepherd and Husky. Well at least I think they are, as I’m almost a vet I should know what kind of breed they are, but I always had the feeling there was something even more special about them.

They love me to pieces and I love them as well. I’ve trained them from the day we got them and they listen to me very carefully. I even think sometimes that they understand what I say to them and I don’t mean the standard commands I give them, but the other things I tell them as well. Sometimes at night, when they lay in my room, I talk to them about how my school went that day and they just lay their heads on my lap in an understanding way.

“Uhm alright.” I said a bit surprised at Dennis because he never got me anything for my birthday before.

He found that birthdays were meaningless. Big accomplishments in your life should be celebrated, not the fact that you were born on a certain day, he always said. But Anna always got me something small though for my birthday, like a big cone of ice cream or going to the movies or something like that.

But besides this all, the fact that Dennis said we were going to a special place got me excited and I got to the other side of the truck to get in. I wanted to hug Anna and say goodbye, but she just followed me and wanted to get in as well.

“Your big trunk is in the back as well Anna, it hardly fits in there! Do you think you got it all?” Dennis asked sarcastically.

I frowned and looked in confusion. Why would her trunk be in the truck?

“Why is Anna coming along?” I asked really confused now.

“That’s a secret!” Anna said and pushed me into the car and sat next to me.

I couldn’t stop wondering why Anna was coming along, but it was fun to have her around in the weekend for a change. Besides, Dennis and Anna wouldn’t tell me the reason even though I had been asking and wondering for an hour, so I just gave up. They also didn’t want to tell me where we were going but said it would take all night to get there so I’d better get some sleep.

So, every now and then, I woke up from the moving of the truck, but also because I couldn’t sleep as tight as normal as I was sitting up. Half asleep, I noticed that my head fell down on Anna’s shoulder but she didn’t care because she was sound asleep already.

By morning, I was all broken due to the lack of some proper sleep, but Dennis woke me up saying we were nearly at our destination.

We were surrounded by a big forest and we weren’t on the highway anymore, not even on a solid road. The forest path was wobbly and muddy from the rain during the night. But the truck had no trouble driving over it. With its big tires, it flew over the small rocks and through the slippery mud with ease.

Anna was still asleep, so I woke her up gently not to scare her. But then suddenly all hell broke loose and Dennis began to yell and throw commands at us… What is happening?