3. Awakening
1305 Words
3
Awakening
Inoa
Name; term; title.
Something big chases me.
Razor-edged teeth snap, snap, snap in tyrannosaurus-sized jaws as I scrunch myself between two rocks. The air is fog-thick and hard to pull into my lungs. I close my eyes as a dark shadow glides past, blocking the faint light from the moon. I try to think invisible thoughts as the taste of anger like ashes crawls from my belly to my throat.
You can’t see me, I think. I’m not here.
A hand touches my shoulder, and I turn to find myself standing in front of Uncle Kahana.
“Zader, you must come back,” he says. “Your family needs you.”
“I don’t have a family,” I sputter, “Only lies, lies, and more lies!”
“Lies are becoming truth.” Uncle Kahana smiles.
“What does that mean?”
“It’s time you woke up.”
Beeeeeep!
Beep?
I opened my eyes and blinked.
The early morning sunlight streamed over Jay’s pillow though the broken slat in the window blinds.
No wonder he wakes up early.
But why am I in Jay’s bed?
I glanced over at my own twin bed, its pillow plumped and waiting. Sitting up, I felt something slither around me, and when I lifted my hand, I realized I’m covered in sand.
The beach!
I remembered.
Trapped at Piko Point with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, I, Alexander Kaonakai Westin, the boy allergic to and terrified of water his entire life, jumped into the sea.
I should be dead.
I twisted the ti leaf lei on my wrist.
Cold.
I remembered cold and dark.
Salt.
Bubbles rising around me as I sank.
Lightning rushing through my limbs, sizzling in my brain, then nothing until waking up in my brother’s bed covered in sand.
Maybe I am dead.
Maybe heaven is waking up as Jay.
Beeeeeep!
The answering machine.
I sprang up and raced to the kitchen.
Three messages.
Beeeeeep!
7:23 p.m.
“Zader? Pick up, Zader, it’s Mom. I’m sorry, honey, but we couldn’t wait for you to get home from working on the mural with Mr. Halpert. Zader, I don’t want you to worry, okay? Everything’s going to be fine. Char Siu called from Uncle Kahana’s. We’re over there now. Uncle Kahana’s not feeling . . . he’s not. . . the ambulance is taking him to Kapiolani Medical Center. Dad, Lili, Jay, Char Siu, and I are going to follow in the car. I’ll call you when we know more. Love you. Don’t worry.”
Beep!
They don’t know!
They don’t know I was with Uncle Kahana when he turned pale and collapsed. I’d run to his apartment to confront him with my suspicions that Mr. Halpert and Pua-O-Ke-Kai were my birth parents. Worse, to challenge him about lies he told everyone about my water allergy, an allergy that I think was really his way of keeping me out of the water. Weak, he needed my help, but I left him to face Kalei, the Man with Too Many Teeth, who haunted my childhood dreams. I abandoned Uncle Kahana on his kitchen floor to go back to the beach pavilion and find out once and for all who I really am.
I pressed the button for the next message.
Beeeeeep!
8:50 p.m.
“Zader? It’s Aunty Amy. Your mom called. She said the doctors are running tests on Uncle Kahana, but he’s okay. He keeps asking about ‘Ilima. She ran away when the ambulance came. If you see that dog around your house, your mom says to bring her inside. If you want company, come over anytime, sweetheart. I’ll leave the backdoor unlocked.”
Beep!
I reached down and rubbed the sore spot on my thigh where I’d tripped and fallen on Shark Tooth, my special fighting knife.
It was the blood that tipped Kalei over the edge.
I shivered remembering the eager look in his eyes as he rushed toward me.
Predator versus prey.
If ‘Ilima hadn’t charged out of the shadows and knocked him down, I would’ve been shark bait.
One more message.
Beeeeeep!
12:18 a.m.
“Zader? No, Paul, he didn’t pick up. He’s probably asleep on the couch. Zader? Listen. Everything is fine. Uncle Kahana had a heart attack, but the doctors say he’s doing well. I’m sorry you couldn’t call. The nurse made us turn off our cell phones. Zader, I think we’re going to be really late. If you haven’t done it already, put the curry stew I left on the stove in the fridge and wrap up the rice. Just go to bed. We’re going to stay until Uncle Kahana is settled in his own room. Don’t worry. We’ll see you soon.”
Beep!
Curry stew?
I turned to the stove and the smell of roasted beef, carrots, onions, potatoes, and spice hit me like a tsunami. Hunger ignited a bonfire, engulfing my body from the stomach out.
Food!
I flung the lid off the pot. There was a thin crusty layer on top of the deep green stew. I reached for the ladle.
It’s been out all night, whispered a voice in my head.
What about food poisoning or cockroaches?
I didn’t care.
My body was a black hole demanding to be filled.
Plunging the ladle in, I slurped it clean.
More.
I picked up the pot and held it to my lips. Chunks of tender beef and savory carrots tipped into my mouth, and I swallowed, no longer chewing, just gulp, gulp, gulping potato, onion, gravy, salt, pepper, and smoky curry until it was gone.
More.
In the rice cooker, the rice was thick and starchy and dried like mochi along the edges. I shoveled handfuls into my mouth and used my fingers to scoop out the last bits still clinging to the sides of the pan.
More.
Opening the fridge, I snatched the milk carton and poured it down my gullet. Tossing it aside, I scoured the shelves.
Pork chops.
Score!
I ripped open the cellophane and lifted the first one from the tray by the bone.
It’s raw, said a tiny voice inside my head.
Perfect, answered another.
“If you eat that, Zader, then everything we’ve sacrificed was for nothing.”
I spun toward the living room.
A tall Hawaiian woman with streaks of gray in her long dark hair was leaning against the door frame. Her arms were clasped in pain around her middle.
She pointed at the pork chop.
“That will lead you exactly where Kahana feared you would go.”
I glanced at the pork chop dangling between my fingers, the sweet promise of blood and marrow filling my nostrils.
I want.
The woman stood there, waiting.
It’s wrong.
But I want it.
“What should I do?” I asked.
“What I’ve always thought you should: make your own choice. What do you want, Kaonakai?”
“Why do you call me by my Hawaiian name?”
“Because that is who you truly are,” she said. “Kaona-Kai: the ocean’s hidden secret. Names have power. You should know that by now.”
“What secret? Who am I?”
“Zader Westin, the adopted son of Liz and Paul Westin, brother of Jay and Lili. A human boy. Also Kaonakai, biological son of Pua-O-Ke-Kai and Justin Halpert. Niuhi. A shark who can walk on land.” She tipped her head to the side. “Maybe even a hunter and eater of men.”
My head spun.
I’m a monster?
“No!” I shouted.
She gestured to the pork chop.
“Eat that and your fate is sealed. Put it down, Kaonakai. You can always eat it later. But once you have a taste for raw meat, there’s no going back.”
“Who are you?”
She waved her hand along her side. “What do you see?”
“A woman. A Hawaiian woman in a sarong standing barefoot in the doorway.”
She smiled. “And now?”
Sparkles of glitter dust swirled in the air, blurring my vision. The scent of sandalwood washed over me. I blinked and sneezed, and when I opened my eyes, she was gone. My eyes followed the glitter storm to the floor and suddenly ‘Ilima stood in the doorway. She whined deep in her throat.
“‘Ilima?” I asked.
She wagged her tail and perked her ears forward. Another shower of silver and gold and again the woman stood before me.
“Put it down, Zader,” she pleaded.
Without a word, I dropped the pork chop on the meat tray and set it next to the jar of pickled mango. I closed the fridge.
She sighed.
“Come. Let’s sit. It’s time you knew everything.”
- Writer
