Page 5 of Waves

“I’m wearing your clothes, remember?”

Hmm, that actually made perfect sense. While I watched the two of them getting along just swimmingly, my stomach suddenly flipped. After seeing Kai actually in my house and how much my dog liked him, my brain decided this was the moment to panic.

“I, uh, I’ll be right back,” I said before darting down the hall to my room.

Ishmael preoccupied Kai enough for him to be unfazed by my sudden exit—meaning he didn’t even look up when I scurried to my bedroom. I whipped the door closed behind me and braced my back against it before pulling my phone from my pocket with sweaty hands.

Mar, I did something really stupid, I quickly typed.

Don’t tell me you spoke with that jackass, she responded, followed by a disgusted emoji.

No. I sorta picked up this guy and brought him home, and now I’m freaking the fuck out.

Nothing but lewd emojis for a response.

I am serious! He looks like he could pick me up and rip me to pieces. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Ohhhhh, he’s going to wreck you.

Not funny!!

You’re seriously freaking out?

Yes!!! I met this guy at the beach and told him he could come over.

Holy shit, dude. You never do dumb shit like this. You need me to go over?

Just call me in thirty minutes and if I don’t answer, call 911 or something.

K. Setting timer right now. Luv you pls be careful.

Thanks. Love you, too.

I quietly groaned and stuffed my phone back into the pocket of my jeans. I was the worst kind of gullible. Softhearted and naïve, that was what Thom always used to say about me. Clearly, he was right.

I cracked the door open and peeked through the slit. From here I had a clear view down the hall to the kitchen. Kai still sat on the faded linoleum floor by the entrance while Ishmael flopped down for another belly rub. My dog might like this stranger better than me.

* * *

KAI

Ishmael was hilarious. Like people, some animals were friendly, some were grumpy, and some were merely shy. If Ishmael were human, every other sentence would have a punchline. For this reason, I considered him a comedian.

Ishmael and I technically met before. Many times, even. He almost always accompanied Ezra on his boat, and always came to watch me from the deck whenever I happened upon them. We never met officially, nor up close. Certainly not in this form, either. Whether or not Ishmael recognized me remained to be determined. However, after speaking, we decided we liked one another.

The humans were aware of how animals verbally communicated with a wide variety of sounds, but there was a language among us spoken solely with the eyes. A shame the humans forgot how to do this, too. From what I witnessed, they struggled to communicate properly even with one another, never mind outside their species.

As soon as Ezra left the room, Ishmael rushed away and returned with a well-loved tennis ball. He dropped his treasure in front of me, mimicking the bounce with his head while he watched his toy. My brow arched at his suggestion because something told me Ezra did not permit playing fetch in the house. Ishmael nudged his ball closer with his nose, his tongue flopping from his goofy grin. He softly woofed as a last appeal, and I compromised by rolling his ball across the slippery kitchen floor. I could see us becoming good friends, given the chance.

Ezra finally reappeared, looking paler than when he left us. He rubbed his palms down the sides of his pants, then looked around the room. “Sorry, I, uh, I had to plug in my phone. I’m expecting an important call.”

I nodded, but this made no sense to me. Weren’t phones plugged into the wall all the time? Maybe Ezra unplugged his when he didn’t want to receive any calls.

Ezra walked away for a moment and came back with his hand extended. He tried to hand me something I assumed was his telephone, though phones did not look like this the last time I saw one.

“I... I actually don’t have anyone to call,” I said with a wince. How sad that sounded to admit aloud.

“You don’t have a single person who can come and get you?”