No Place Like Home

Not My Mom

All Ahi Mour felt was pain with every breath she took. Her lungs stung from holding her breath, her arms bled from holding on for her dear life and her head felt like it was made of lead. The glare of the sun stung her eyes as she tried to open them. The sack full of her grandmother's belongings was still dangling from her frail shoulder. The tree she was in was now bare from its branches, the ocean was a brilliant blue, and the sky was clear as if nothing had ever happened. Ahi Mour moistened her sour mouth to breathe. When she had enough sense for her brain to function. That's when she remembered, Mom. She looked down. The water was now brushing her toes. No sign of Roealeen. She pried her limbs from the branches and began searching for her mother,

"IHN!" she repeated for her mother but no soft voice called back to comfort her. She searched the crown of the tree with the sack still on her shouder, hoping she would find her mother- alive. Alas, no mother and Ahi Mour collapsed on a branch and broke into a sob. Her greatest fear had come true. Her mother was no where to be found. She looked to the horizon, feeling hopeless. I can never find her. Its just too big. The ocean stretched as far as she could see. Then something had caught her breath. She smiled from ear to ear when she spotted something floating. Her heart flipped as she made her way to the edge of the tree. But as the object drifted closer, she noticed it wasn't their canoe, but a raft. And instead of her mother, it was a sleeping stranger. At least I hope they're sleeping, she thought.

When the raft was within her reach, she reached over the water and pulled it towards her. She tied one of its ropes to a branch and stared at the stranger. Guessing its not a girl, She thought as she observed they're tan, bare chest which was ornate with scars and tattoos. His face had sharp features. He could've been handsome if it weren't for his cracked, swollen lips, shallow face, crusted eyes and a hideous fresh scar that scaled from the top of his right eye to his collar bone. His brown beard grew in all directions and the same went for his dreads. It was the first man Ahi Mour had ever seen in her entire life... Boy, udahn eh kersued. As if he had read her thoughts, he gasped and coughed up terrible amounts of water. His eyes went wide and they were wild and red. Ahi Mour shrieked and hid behind a broken branch. She instantly regretted for calling him ugly in her head. How was she supposed to know that males read minds? But he didn't yell in rage. He groaned and sat up on his elbows. Then he began to whip his head around, as if he was searching for something. Then Ahi Mour realized, he lost someone too. The man had worry etched in his deformed face.

"Aaaaaarrrrrjjaaaaaaaaayy!" He roared. His voice was gruff as if he was gargling water in his throat. It was the most awful sound Ahi Mour had ever heard, but she felt the pain in his cry. Lost.

"AAAAAAARRGGGHHHHJJJJJJAAAAAYYY!" He repeated the word over and over again. He finally gave up and began trembling. Ahi Mour heard him wheeze. Is that really how men cried? she stayed behind her branch, not sure if she should reach out and hug him or stay hidden. Ahi Mour still kept her mind clear so he wouldn't read her mind. But with this new encounter, her mind raced. She watched him fall back on his raft. In minutes, he made the most horrible sound from his mouth. Is he farting through his mouth?! Ahi Mour realized he was asleep. Probably exhausted from the storm. That's when she spotted it: a white and blue box. She lowered herself to the raft and popped the cover off. Inside was a fishing line and another object that Ahi Mour has never seen before. It was red and in the shape of an 'L'. She wondered why there was a large, round hole at the end of it. Wouldn't water get inside? Then she noticed another hole. In the back of her mind, something told her to put her finger through it. So she did. She spun the object of her little finger and put her eye against the hole. Useless- you can't even see through it. That's when the voice in the back of her head told her to push the lever that her finger rested on. Just as she was about to squeeze it, a callous hand grabbed her hair. She yelped as she grabbed the hand, trying to pull away from it. The crazy man had woken up. He snatched to object from her hands.

"WHATAREYOUDOINGDOYOUWANNADIEYOUCOULDVETAKENYOUREYEOUTWHYAREYOUTOUCHINGMYSTUFFWHOAREYOU!" He threw her to the floor of the raft. Ahi Mour looked up in horror, the crazy man towered over her with his raging eyes and gnarling teeth. Her heart began to beat five times faster. She knew men were human. But she also knew that some humans were bad. And she didn't want to find out if he was one of them. Tears stung her eyes and she began to hiccup. His expression softened and he knelt to meet her eyes.

"I'm sorry about that. But that thing is dangerous if you don't know how to use it. And it isn't safe in children's hands..." He let her sit up on her own. Now that he was awake, he looked a lot younger. Probably a bit older than her mother. He sighed,

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Ahi Mour," she whispered. Her tears got caught up in her throat.

"Ahi Mour... That means 'my life,' right?" She nodded in response.

"My name is Sammy," a while passed and the two of them sat, bobbing up and down in the raft.

"Have you been alone this whole time?" Sammy asked. Ahi Mour shook her head. Now that she's been face to face with a male, she didn't know how to act. She didn't know if he would react like her mother usually would. He waited as if he expected her to tell him her whole life story. But she wasn't willing to trust this man. Ahi Mour never trusted anyone who could fart through their mouth while they slept. And she wouldn't start today.

"Can you read my mind?" She blurted.

"Huh?" He arched his bushy eyebrows. Nope, she sighed in relief.

"You are making noises while looking around. What were you looking for?" She crossed her arms like her mother used to when Ahi Mour was being a little stubborn. She figured if she got the upper hand, he wouldn't be a problem. Sorrow shadowed his face.

"My friend,"

"ArrRrJjaaAAayy?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. His face was nicer this time. But Ahi Mour kept a stern face.

"Why are you laughing? I said it just like you did when you were looking around," he shook his head.

"Arjay," he repeated, but this this time it was shorter. Ahi Mour figured it was easier than groaning the long vowels. Sammy dipped his finger in the water and rubbed it on the driest part of the raft and wrote the symbols: 'R' and 'J.' The symbols stained the wood but quickly vanished in the sun. He read each letter allowed as he wrote them.

"That's my friend. I lost him," Sammy's eyes moistened. Ahi Mour didn't understand how he could feel for letters and how letters could be living things. Her mother had taught her the Alphabet. But nowhere in the Alphabet song did it say that the letters were humans or that you could befriend them. This made her distrust him more. He went on.

"What about you? Who did you lose?" Ahi Mour figured that if he told her his "friend's" name then she might as well tell him.

"Ihno,"

"Ihno... What's her name?" Her name? Ahi Mour had never called her mother anything besides Ihn, Ihno, Mom, and Mommy. She shrugged and squeezed the handle of her sack. He eyed it for a while in silence, expecting her to tell him what it was for. I don't think he knows what sacks are.

"What's this?" Sammy reached for the sack but Ahi Mour pulled it out of his reach. Sammy may be the only other human being she will ever see after today, but she wasn't willing to trust him. At least, not completely... At least... Not yet.