Just like with all my other peers, Jared didn’t think my dragon’s side was dragon enough. I wasn’t sure how they determined that. I was pretty badass, if you asked me. It sucked being in themiddle, not quite human and not quite shifter. My flight never fully rejected me, but they didn’t accept me, and that hurt even more because it was like maybe, one day, they would. Only that day never came.
I hung up, swung my backpack over my shoulder, grabbed my last box, and balanced it on my suitcase. My arm wrapped around both as I made my way to my vehicle. It was packed to the gills, boxes everywhere. I was moving across the country, sure, but how much of this stuff would I need? The place I was renting was an old hunting cabin, and it came fully furnished. Most of this stuff would probably stay in the boxes, but I didn’t know where my life was heading next and decided to keep it all.
As I drove away from the city, my dragon was not as pleased as I thought he’d be, but there was no second-guessing my decision now. I turned on the music full blast, moving to the beat of the bass, wanting to drown out my dragon.
My new job is going to be great.
I’m going to have friends.
I’m finally going to belong.
I kept that going as I drove and drove and drove, stopping when I needed to sleep and continuing on as long as I could before stopping again. I didn’t want to waste too much time at hotels or rest stops. The earlier I got there, the more days I’d have to get settled in before my job started. I’d given myself a lot of leeway, knowing that anything could go wrong while driving, from a broken-down car to a flat tire to bad weather. The last thing I wanted was to miss my first day at work.
I was about to make the last stretch of my trip, the end oh so close, when I looked at my gas gauge and realized I needed tofill up first. It was the last station before I turned off the main road, and for some reason, it was insanely expensive. Whatever, I needed it.
No tap or insert available, I swiped my card. This place was ancient. The screen told me to see the attendant. My first thought was that something had gone wrong, that I had a flag for possible fraud since I was in another state, or maybe worse, someone had stolen my card. But when I went inside, the guy didn’t even look up at me. “Card reader’s not working out there. How much do you want?” I told him, paid, and went back out to pump.
I put the nozzle in my car and started it when the guy behind me decided to drive away without finishing what he was doing. A loud snap followed by gas flying all around told me exactly what he’d done—driven off with the spout still in his tank. Gas was everywhere. It was on my shoes, my jeans, my shirt, my hands—all the places. Fuck.
I immediately stopped pumping, closed my tank, and went inside. It sucked, but I didn’t know how much of a big deal it was until I witnessed the clerk’s reaction. It wasn’t just a big deal… It was huge. The place was filled with rescue people, from firemen to police to ambulances. They shut down the pumps. I was questioned as a witness. It was a hot mess.
The gas situation cost me hours, and worse than that, I left with only half a tank, and I reeked of gasoline. Even my hands, which I washed and washed, smelled. It was awful. I took off my soaked clothes in the bathroom, sticking them in a plastic bag. I knew it didn’t help much. They had been saturated, and whatever new clothes I put on would stink because my skin still did. What I needed was the longest, hottest bath ever, but that wasn’t going to happen with a sink spigot that barely dribbled.
They offered me a hot dog to make up for all the trouble. A hot dog. What I wanted was to smell human again, which, given I wasn’t human, had me chuckling.
I got back on the highway, waiting for the next exit, and then worked my way toward Bramble Woods, stopping in a small town along the way to get some more gas, grateful I was the only one there. I did not need a repeat of last time.
When I walked in to grab a soda, the person behind the register panicked and asked how bad the spill was. It wasn’t until I told him the gas smell was from before I got there that he relaxed.
“Do you know what gets the stink out?” I asked.
“It’s gonna take a lot, and maybe your clothes won’t make it.”
I didn’t need to hear that.
My dragon’s solution was to shift, and when we shifted back, the smell would be gone. That wasn’t how it worked, but I had to give him credit for trying. Besides, it wasn’t like we could shift here without being seen.
The mountains came into view. We were getting there. As horrible as it smelled, even with my windows open, I was starting to feel like I’d made the right choice. The farther and farther we got from the old city, and the closer we got to my new home, the more I could see myself here.
Driving into Bramble Woods, I was surprised to see how small it was. I’d read about the town enough to know it was small, but this wassmallsmall. I kept expecting to get into town, only to figure out that I’d already passed it and hadn’t noticed. Being tiny didn’t bug me. I didn’t need much. I sure didn’t need skyscrapers and dragons being asses to me.
I backtracked and stopped at the general store, my new place of employment. Sampson, my new boss, greeted me. He was a shifter, though I couldn’t quite scent what kind, not with the gas filling all of my senses. His eyes definitely weren’t human.
“I need something that’s going to get this out of my clothes,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess you will. I got some stuff.” He put a box of detergent, a bar soap in a wrapper that looked decades old, and a bottle of liquid soap on the counter, along with a huge box of baking soda, the size of which I’d never seen before. “This should do it.”
“Thanks. This is hardly the best first impression.” It was embarrassing, that’s what it was.
“We Zoomed, and before that, you applied. This is the third impression at least. You’re good.”
We chatted for a couple of minutes, but I felt bad stinking up his store.
“I’m gonna go find my place and clean up.”
“You said you're renting a cabin, right? You got a place.”
“Yeah. I guess no one’s using it, so they are renting it out.”
