Human

Charlotte

     "Who is he?"

     "He's a freak of nature."

     "That's not very nice."

     "It's fact little girl."

     "I'm not so little."

     "Little enough not to recognize a freak."

     "You're judgmental."

     "We may be but we know he is a freak."

     "He sure doesn't look like it."

     "You're right but listen here: He rarely leaves there."

     "He must leave some time."

     "You know it's luck if you see him around town. We just know he rarely leaves that spot, he has no home, no family or friends and all he does is sit there or swim."

     "What's so bad about swimming? I love swimming."

     "It's been rumored he stays there for days. He's a freak."

     "Maybe he's a freak because he's just different. I'm different so I might as well be a freak too."

     I turned away from the new neighbor and looked at the boy sitting on a dock facing the Pacific. I had just moved here from California. Mom said we needed a calmer lifestyle. We lived fifteen minutes out of downtown, thank god. More time to myself I guess. We lived in a house just in front of the ocean. Even the birds were silent today. The gentle splash of the waves was the only sound right now. The dock sat low on the land so you could dangle your legs in the water. And that's just what the "freak" was doing, his hair waved gently with the breeze. He was looking out at the vast expanse of water. He looked hypnotized. I wanted to prove the college boy wrong, this boy is not a freak; so I walked right over to him. He didn't move as my bare feet hit the wood. He only spoke:

     "You are making too much noise." I stopped. He didn't turn.

     "What?" I asked in surprise.

     "You are scaring the fish." He spoke very flatly, as if he was talking to himself.

     "I-I'm sorry." I said as I walked slower and stood by him. He had purple eyes. Or it looked that way with the light. He still didn't look at me.

     "May I sit with you?" I asked.

     "Why?" he asked. His tone made him seem sad and lonely.

     "Well why not?" I asked sitting next to him and putting my feet in the water. This time his head turned to me. His face was surreal. His skin was very pale and smooth. He seemed to have a blue tinge about him. That might have been because of his teal hair that reached past his shoulder blades. The hair at his face turned away from him perfectly. His eyes were purple. I still believe it was the light here that made them like that. He wore swim shorts that had a fish scale pattern, nothing else. Aside from the chain around his neck connected to a beautiful blue gem. He had a muscular build. Well that college boy did say the boy would swim.

     "You'd be sitting with a freak," he said. All of the people who called him a freak had finally got to him. He started to believe it. I shook my head.

     "I don't think you're a freak. You are as normal as I am."

     "You don't know what I am."

     "You're a person. Don't think you're a freak."

     "I don't think. I know." My face fell.

     "But... you're not—"

     "Listen," he said bitterly. "If you just wanted to sit with me to tell me this you're not going to win this argument. Stop it and leave me alone." I was taken aback by this. But I didn't move. He faced the ocean again. He watched the wave crash against a rock gulf a few miles off shore. I looked at him. This time his face fell. His gaze turned to me. Then his body went ridged.

     "Grab the dock," he said quietly. The waves overpowered his voice as his hands curled around the edge of the dock and his feet pressed against the underside.

     "What?"

     "Grab the dock."

     "What wh—"And that's when I felt rough hands shove me face first into the ocean.