No Place Like Home

Our house

Ahi Mour curled up against her mother as their bed swayed back and forth with the tree. Ahi eyed the poles and ropes that held them above the ground. With every creak and groan of the poles and ropes, Ahi held her breath and grasped her mother tighter. Every night, she would wait for the bed to collapse, taking the rickety branches down with them. And while she was worrying, her mother, Roealeen, was sound asleep. Ahi gazed to her mother's face. Though it was dark, Ahi could see the silvery outlines of the serene face. Her lucious, dark lashes. Her sweet looking eyes and lips that naturally curled into a smiled. Her dark curls covered most of the bed. To Ahi, her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world and she could never live without her.

"Ihno," she whispered. When her mother didn't stir so she moved closer to her and repeated,

"Ihno!!!"

"Mmm...." Roealeen lazily opened her eyelids, "Dah?

"I cannot sleep,"

"You can do it...I believe in you,"

"Aw, Ihn!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"... Can we look at Nohno Sue's pictures?" At this question, Roealeen rose up.

"Koah mehn poakpoak?"

"Joah..."

"Now?" She asked. Ahi nodded. Her mother sighed and began rolling out of the bed. Once her feet balanced on a branch, Ahi wrapped her little arms around her mother's neck and locked her legs around her mother's stomach. Then the two made their way through the arms of the tree. Ahi dared to look down to the dark, murky water that glistened in the moonlight. She squeezed tighter with every splash and every quick movement. Ahi held her breath until her mother had gotten a sack that was hanging on a nail on one of the branches and threw herself on the other branch. Her mother took her in her arms and pulled out the contents of the sack. Stacks of pictures poured out along with Ahi's heart.

"Here..." Roealeen said as she set out the polaroids and journals for Ahi to see. Ahi snatched her favorite one. It was a younger version of Nohno Sue in her teens. Younger Sue was looking down as she played the ukelele and her dark brown waves covered her face and her copper skin glowed in the sun. How relaxed she seemed as she played her music, sounds that Ahi Mour has never heard. It looked like she was sitting on a pile of rocks that scattered into the ocean. It reminded Ahi of the Bible story, when the wise man built his house upon a rock.

That is where Ahi wanted to go. She wanted to go to the times when there was still land to farm, trees to climb, and rivers to swim. She closed her eyes and imagined her tiny feet running across the flat grass. If only she hadn't been born at this time. For all the eleven years of her life, all she's known was the unpredictable ocean and the sad crowns of trees (like the one they were living in). She tried to forget how her and her mother would row away on their canoe to find another place to find shelter. She tried to forget how her house would collapse every time. She tried to forget how the salt water would soak them every night. Ahi let herself get lost in her grandmother's pictures. Nohno Sue is so lucky, Ahi thought to herself. And as she closed her eyes, Ahi fell into a deep sleep.

Roealeen sighed as she watched her daughter fall asleep while gripping onto Nohno Sue's picture. This has been the only way that Ahi could sleep. Roealeen picked up a stack of pictures and flipped through each one for the billionth time that night. Life was simpler then, She thought to herself. Her body was growing weaker and weaker. It was getting harder to fish and find fresh water. But she had to keep going. For Ahi Mour. Roealeen placed the pictures and journals back into the sack then gazed out to the ocean. It was also harder to find land now. It seemed like everything was disappearing beneath them. No help to call and no help in sight. She looked up. The moon was a sharp crescent tonight and the stars winked as if it were teasing her.

"Help me..." She whispered. As she closed her eyes, she felt the tree sway with the ocean and creak with the wind. It wasn't going to last long. The water below seemed more pestilent. And the wind howled louder. From the distance, Roealeen felt the sky rumble. Tears began to roll down her cheeks and her hiccups turned into sobs.

A storm was coming.