Matchmaker

Too Late

I mindlessly counted and recounted the gallery of red strings floating, crawling, or just sitting there around me. This was already my fifth time tallying up the cords just to kill time. I tried to do something more productive rather than just waste my precious time counting sheeps, I mean, strings. However, there were limits to what I can do when I was in this lodge room with nothing but my camera and sketchbook. Everywhere I look, I was greeted with nothing but white walls, couple of furnitures, and a door, which I locked from the inside.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and snapped my focus away from the hundreds of red strings in this room. It's been over 8 hours since I have been in this cramped up room. With nothing more left to do, my hands naturally grabbed my one and only camera and pressed the on button. Even though this was a mindless action done out of pure boredom, I immediately regretted when I turned the camera on only to see one of the 50 different partial shots of Alpha Nile's mate, Amy Tale of the Hollow Night Sky. 

"Like a fu*kin' stalker." I growled in a hushed tone and flipped the camera on the table over as soon as I saw a photo of Amy's blazing red hair on the screen.

It didn't help that the camera now reminded me of what I recently added in my sketchbook: an accurate full body drawing of Amy Tale that I pieced together using the photos taken with the camera. 

Right now, in front me, I had two of my most precious treasures that I always used whenever my artistic soul burned with inspiration. This trustworthy camera was something that I personally upgraded to increase it's already off-the-charts photo quality and zoom-in distance. The sketchbook was no different in terms of quality and artistic value for me. To think that I had used these sacred tools to spy on some innocent girl! 

"What am I some pervert?" I gritted my teeth as soon as I clicked on the off button and pushed both the camera and the sketchbook far way to the end of the table. 

Reconfirming that I no longer have anymore ways to entertain myself, I checked my phone again to take a look at the time. Already 7:32 pm. 

"Must you always be this cautious Dan?" I mumbled as I got up from the couch I have been slouching in. My complaint was answered with nothing but the sound of of my own heartbeat. 

Really now! Anything with such soft and quick rhythmical beat and sound reminded of that ticking clock.

Tick. Tick. TICK.

Not again, I grumbled inwardly and started to hum a random tune that I never heard of to drown out the imaginary ticking inside my head. I guess this was how I was going to kill time for now.

Three days had already passed since Dan and I started our journey to find (or more like just run to) Alpha Nile's mate. The road to our destination was always clear in my eyes so the journey didn't last long. Luckily, the Hollow Night Sky's pack was one of those wolf packs that preferred to remain separate from humans as much as it could. Even the pack land was in the middle of a huge clearing surrounded mostly by thick forest. This made it easy for Dan and I to approach the Hollow Night Sky's land without being noticed. 

Dan focused on eavesdropping on the pack wolves to find out when it would be best for me to take the photos of Amy Tale. Because of his superior wolf senses, Dan could pick up conversations of other wolves from far away in his wolf form. I didn't move in until Dan clearly knew when it was safe for me to get closer to the pack land. As soon as Dan found his chance he just had to send me in. Amy Tale's string of fate easily pinpointed for me her location even among the crowded pack land. Then all I had to do was use my trustworthy zoom-in camera to take as many photos of our target as I could while maintaining a safe distance.