Wolfskin *ON HOLD*

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c h a n g e

No matter how deep I tried to burrow my hands into my hoodie, they still felt like blocks of ice. I mean, I considered myself to be pretty hot-blooded—unlike my mother—but damn the truck was freezing. Where was this 'hottest summer on record' Dad had been moaning about? The sun was just about managing to peek over the huge pine forest that surrounded us, clinging on to the last hour of the day.

That's all I'd seen for the whole journey, after we'd left the station at Hinton. Tree after tree after tree, with a tiny glimpse of the river, until I could've convinced myself we were lost—if I hadn't known Dad was a native with a built in body compass. The road stretch out ahead of us, long and open, and I lifted my head as the sign came into view.

Welcome to Bellepoint

Finally! I could've jumped out the truck and kissed the damn thing I was so relieved. Bellepoint—the town where my parents had long ago been high school sweethearts—was one of those sleepy places where not much happened. People who were born here never left, so Mom said, and so she had been lucky to get out when she did. Sat on the banks of the New River, the only reason it was even on the map was because of the Bluestone Dam. Completely different from L.A.

"Like you remember it?" Dad asked, his hands resting on the bottom of the steering wheel. Conversation had been sparse until now. We'd talked about school, mainly, and the train journey. Nothing too intense.

"Uh...yeah." I shrugged. "Yeah. More trees though?"

Dad's face broke into a grin. "I'll bet. A big change from your concrete jungle!" His tone was light, but I didn't miss how his smile dropped a little. "Though, we've gotta be careful. They've been clearing trees. Trying merge us with Hinton, so Hank says. No sir-ee, over my dead body."

I frowned, surprised at the protectiveness I felt. The forest shouldn't be controlled; it needed to be free to grow however it wished. That was the beauty of it. "How awful."

"Sure is. Don't know how many more people they think the lake can water! I mean, Bellepoint has nearly doubled in size since...well, since you were here last time."

Last time. There was silence as we both came to terms with the fact that 'last time' was when I was ten and preferred a game of baseball to shopping. Back when things were easy.

Dad tried again. "How was the flight?"

I shrugged. It had taken me almost five hours to get here; four on the plane then one on the train. I'd slept, mostly, but I still felt exhausted. "Yeah, good. Zeus howled, apparently, but they were alright about it."

Dad's eyes flicked down to my huge Alaskan Malamute cross Husky who was flopped on my feet, just about squeezing into the footwell. "Ah yes, Zeus. The dog." He paused. "I've never had a dog."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "You look like a dog person."

He pulled a face. "No. Dogs and me—well, we don't really tend to get on."

"Oh. Well, you seem to be doing okay with him."

"For now," He murmured, so quietly that I didn't think I was meant to hear.

"Well, they're kind of liiiiiiiiiike..." I paused to think of something that I knew he knew, "...like children? Just cleverer."

Dad grinned at me. "Well there's somethin' I know about. As long as he does his business outside, I think we can manage."