The Strays

K i e

"I am drowning in delusion, fearful for my end; water is a saving grace yet a deadly friend."

- Kie Thompson;

Kie's door opened, and her father's head poked through. Immediately, his face saddened.

"Another sleepless night Kiki?" He questioned.

She shook her head. "I just woke up," she lied and smiled.

He nodded, "breakfast is on the table."

Gently, he shut her door.

Kie sighed. She saw the morning sunrise. She knew soon enough her door would open and responsibilities would fill her room. But perhaps a small part of her hoped for a different beginning.

She was so used to the same endings - between books and movies, they were always the same, and she loved it. It was safe and predictable. She read the endings before she read the book too. She knew what to expect. She needed to know what to expect.

Kie hadn't expected many things in her life, and when the unexpected happened, she didn't know how to deal with it- so she didn't. Now, she is completely and utterly in control. So if her father weren't to walk through that door, she'd be astray. No matter how much she may hope for a different beginning- it was safe, and it was predictable.

Her father served her breakfast. Porridge. Never anything more, or less.

"Are you working today?" asked Kie's sister-

Loyal. Hard worker. Unhappy.

"Yes," Kie grunted.

"The full day?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey, hey, play nice," their father spoke.

"She started-"

Kie's father began to cough-

Harshly. Violently. Frightfully.

Kie's sister left the table.

She poured her poor father a glass of water. She brought her suffering father his medication. She rubbed her dear father's back.

Kie stared.

She looked at her reddening father. She gaped at her wheezing father. She gazed at her sick father.

"Jesus, Kie would stop gawking. You're not a bird."

"I'm going to the shop."

Kie left her half-eaten porridge. She left her sister. Her father. Her prison.

This time the summer air and her blissful music did not drown out her thoughts. She thought, and painfully so. They were loud and intrusive. Alarming and anxious. They needed attention and Kie tried so hard to deny them such. But in the end, when you fight the intangible, you'll be left on your knees. Kie desperately needed to stay standing.

So her pace slowed. She peddled leisurely.

She breathed, and she thought-

In the deep blue sea are grand waves. Kie was no surfer nor had she ever expected to be. Alas, life had other plans and threw her into the deep blue sea where the waves are grand. Life gave her a board and friends in the same boat- only they weren't in a boat. No, they were in the deep blue sea.

Kie had to learn how to surf. Kie drowned. Kie tried again. Kie got drained. Kie floated. But Kie never gave up.

One wave. One time. She stayed and surfed it. Oh, how she felt euphoric. She rode the waves beneath, not above her. She was on top of her world. She was on top of the deep blue sea.

Kie fell. Kie choked on the water. The salty, salty water, only stung her scars even more.

But Kie never gave up. No, she chased that feeling; and one wave, one time, it became an obsession. A constant thrill.

So you see, Kie surfed; Kie fell; Kie got up again.

But the deep blue was vicious, and cruel. The waves only got bigger and stronger. And one wave. One time. It wasn't the water that drowned her. But a shark ate her whole.  It learned from the waves. It wasn't there as another threat. You see the shark is part of the deep blue sea; hidden and envious. Ready to attack ones with power, and Kie was powerful.

And one wave. One time. The shark had been a surfer. It drowned, and soon its grave became its home. The deep blue sea, a remainder; the shark was just too weak.

The waves and the shark. Life and Kie. Often they take different forms. But in the end one was cruel and another adapted consequently.