“Lets go see the Freedom Alliance first!” I excitedly pestered my father. It was early in the morning and we had a busy day ahead of us. I wanted to get started as soon as possible.

“Slow down Nate and eat your breakfast first.” My mother replied in my fathers stead because he was too busy fighting a war with a particularly stringy piece of bacon to pay attention to my plight.

I wolfed down as much of my moms oily but delicious fry as I could, as fast as I could, my excitement getting the best of me. However, minutes later regret hit as I lay on the soft black sofa moaning and clutching my stomach.

“Ready to go?”, asked my father wearing a knowing smile as he had opted for a more moderate pace of cleaning his plate.”Experience always wins,” he grinned.

“Yeah, yeah… Haste makes waste,” I grumbled, while crawling up from my sickbed. My recovery was swift and I was soon ready to leave as I grabbed my aviator from the coat rack and said goodbye to my mom. “Waiting on you, old wise man,” I quipped sarcastically.

I knew I’d hit a sore spot because my father always went on the defensive when I succeeded.

“I'm not old! I’m not even fifty yet! I’m much younger than Charles’ father.”He said as he emerged from his room with his worn black down jacket. I couldn’t say much for his memory but at least I had inherited his decent fashion sense.

“Its Charlie dad and that's not saying much. His father is ancient.” My father had met Charlie only a few times so I guess its impressive enough that he was able to remember most of the letters in his name.

“Whatever. I’m still younger” He defended his honor proudly.

“Alright lets hit the road, then.” I responded neutrally, not intending to push the issue.

“Time waits for no one.” He agreed.

“You two be safe cried my mother,” as we left through the front door.

The journey to the city center wasn’t overly far. We had a nice little house on the outskirts so it was pretty quiet in the area but public transport wasn’t terrible so I considered it the best of both worlds. We were far from all the loud nightclubs and drunk people so it was relatively safe to walk alone at night but we were also not ridiculously far from the rest of civilization.

Neither of my parents owned a car so we had to take the metro. It was a forty minute journey in total. Ten minutes from my house to my closest station and then thirty minutes to the center of the cities shopping district. The journey wasn’t bad but on the way home after shopping or working out, it was killer on the legs.

Our plan was to visit all of the league-sponsored hunter training facilities before lunch and then to make a decision after we filled our stomachs. Neither me or my father had plans to actually become full fledged hunters, we just wanted to train our muscles and work out a little. I wanted to impress the ladies because to this date I had never really dated anyone. My father had plenty of advice but I wasn’t keen on hearing it as it would always devolve into stories that involved my mom. Meanwhile, my dad kept saying he was keen on increasing his stamina. He would tell me while wearing a perverted smile that never failed to leave me disgusted.

With that in mind, we proceeded with our plan. I had a list of all the places we could go and the Freedom Alliance was at the very top of my list. When we decided we would sign up I set about researching all of the gyms and their facilities and FA had the best equipment and trainers available.

As we entered the reception area, we were greeted by a pretty lady with auburn hair and green eyes who was sat behind a white veneered counter.

“Welcome to Freedom Alliance. How can I help you?” She asked as her gaze drifted towards the clothes the two of us donned as well as assessing the phone in my hand, on which I had stored my list. As she completed her assessment she became a little less welcoming towards us. My family weren't exactly well off but we were able to make it by with a little extra spending cash, but we weren't poor so I the vibes she gave off didn’t exactly match up with the treatment I had envisioned.

“My son and I were looking for gym to train at and he has heard many great things about this place. Could we have a tour so we can make a more informed decision?” My dad disregarded her faintly disdainful expression, opting for a diplomatic approach.

The woman may have shown disdain towards us, however I can commend her for keeping her manners in this situation and my father for the same feat.

“I’m sorry sir, this gym is pretty expensive, I’m not sure you can afford to train here for long.” The woman who had not yet offered us her name seemed genuinely saddened at our apparent lack of funds.

It's demeaning for any man to be told that he can’t afford something, much less in front of his son. His shoulders drooped a bit and his voice dropped an octave as he prepared himself for the arrival of bad news. “How much?”, he inquired.

The pretty receptionist wrote a number on a sheet of paper and passed it to my father. His eyes went wide from disbelief. “Is this for one month?” I felt tempted to look but she had clearly used the note for a reason, so I kept my distance.

She nodded with a pitiful expression as my father thanked her for her act of kindness as he turned around and left the facility and I trailed after him.

It was a day full of disappointments and failures. Although each gyms prices varied, they were all super expensive.

Wearing long faces, my father and I decided to sit down and enjoy comforting foods for lunch.