Page 43 of Wild Life

I stayed put. It was only the two of us on this island, and she couldn’t ignore me for much longer. She was a social being. And though I was proof that she didn’t need someone to converse with, she needed someone to listen. Another human. Her admission had helped me understand how her lonely childhood had caused her to crave human companionship. In my case, the pendulum had swung in the opposite direction, and the loneliness had forced me to keep to myself. Maris sought what she had missed out on, whereas I was so bitter that I sank deeper into the very thing that had wounded me. Which one of us was the healthier of the two?

This time, I wouldn’t choose reclusiveness again. I moved to the right to obstruct her focus on the roaring fire, only to be met by the smooth surface of her cheek as she turned her head away to evade me.

I knelt, unsuccessfully tucking my oversized body in to fit in front of her. “M-Maris.”

Her gaze snapped to mine, the ice in her eyes melting away for the briefest moment.

Years had passed since I had spoken to another person, and I was rusty at it. I had never suffered from a stutter, but the lack of practice with another human combined with my nerves created one. It frustrated me that I couldn’t spit out words, but Maris didn’t show any sign of misunderstanding.

Despite my impediment, it was the first time I had called her by her name, and I was surprised it had affected me as much as it seemed to have affected her when it rolled off my tongue. I liked the feel of it.

“Say it again,” she ordered, her thawing vision holding mine.

I inhaled much needed courage and exhaled her name as if it were my own to breathe out. “Maris,” I said softly, my tongue rolling through each letter smoother than before. My shoulders relaxed slightly.

Then her eyes hardened again, colder than before. “I just wanted it to be the last thing you said before you went up in flames. Goodbye, asshole.”

She shoved my shoulder, catching me off guard, and I tumbled backward, missing the fire by only a hair.

I composed myself, taking a seat on the ground like her. “L-listen, I know you’re an-gry. If I were you, I’d hate m-me, too.”

“Good, then push yourself into the fire and spare me the effort.”

“Will you l-listen to m-me?” I touched her knees tucked to her chest.

“To what? More lies? I poured my heart out to you, and you stood there holding your chub in silence, playing the part of a man void of voice! Do you understand how mean that is? You deceived me. Instead of responding or answering any of my questions, you simply stayed quiet. Who does that? You’re more of a stranger to me than I imagined.”

My head raced to keep up. Maris always spoke quickly, and now that she was angry, the words were rushing out like hornets on the attack. Despite my respectable vocabulary thanks to my book collection, she used a lot of colloquial terms I hadn’t learned yet. “What’s a ch-chub?”

She snapped her fingers in my face. “Wrong thing to focus on right now, nature boy!”

I sighed. I was failing miserably at this. “I’m s-sorry. I wish I could m-make it up to you, but it all happened s-so fast. After all this t-time of being the only p-person here, you w-washed up on shore and I p-panicked.” Speaking became slightly easier as I continued, “I wanted you to wake up and leave. You were loud, and I wasn’t hap-py about it. I wanted my p-peace again.”

“Gee, thanks.” She rolled her eyes. “That’s the worst apology I’ve ever heard. I think I want my peace again, too, so please go back to being silent.”

“I p-pretended not to speak so I didn’t have to d-deal with you. Then, as time p-passed—it never seemed like the right t-time to admit the t-truth.”

“Do you know how much stress and anxiety I could’ve avoided if you had spoken to me? Answered my questions? I could have figured out where I was or who you were with one sentence instead of worrying that you were some creepy forest-dwelling creature who was going to kill me.”

I laughed and the tension rolled off my back. I loved her dramatic sense of humor, even if I didn’t understand it sometimes. “You thought I was a c-creature.”

“Kinda why I referred to you as Cryptid in my head.”

“Which c-cryptid?” To my knowledge, there were a few of them, but I didn’t know the specifics.

“A Sasquatch,” she said plainly, as if it were common knowledge.

“What’s a Sas-quatch?” I took care to pronounce the word just as she had done, even if it came out much slower.

“A forest-dwelling creature…Stay focused, Aleki.”

Although she was angry, I still loved hearing my name on her lips.

I took her hands in mine and cheered inwardly when she didn’t pull away. If I kept her talking, her anger would crumble eventually.

“Th-things changed. Having you around b-brings me peace. I realized this after I left you on the b-beach. It sur-prised me that I was sad of the p-possibility of you being rescued and return-ning to your world for good.”

Her fingers wiggled in my hold.

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