“Show off,” I muttered as I entered the room.
Breena chuckled, but the sound seemed somewhat detached from her.
“There are so manythingsin here.” Breena’s gaze trailed over the many objects along the shelves and countertops. She stripped out of the light jacket and threw it on the floral-patterned settee.
“Yeah, humans are like that. They like to collect things. Little trophies, I think,” I said.
“This is where your father lived on land? And these are all his?” she asked, pointing to the worn books and family portraits.
“It is.” I took in the portraits of another family, as well as the absence of my father’s precious art. “But these aren’t his things.”
Breena wandered over to the kitchen and grabbed onto one of the cabinet knobs. When she pulled it open, the entire door came right off its hinges. She turned to me, the cabinet door in her hand, and stared at me with a sheepish grin before saying, “I suppose this door wasn’t locked.”
Shaking my head, I walked over to where she stood in the tiny kitchen. I explored the contents of the cabinet for food, but there was nothing but different sized plates, for what reason, I was unsure. I scoured the rest of the kitchen until I found a sack of rice. Breena dropped the cabinet door and then tore the bag open. She took a handful of the small brown pieces, and I held my hand up to stop her, but she began pouring the grain into her mouth. Pieces of uncooked rice spilled from her hands and mouth as she began chewing, and they fell onto the floor like frozen rain.
I stood there with my arms crossed while I waited for her to realize it wasn’t edible. Her face contorted with pain, and it sounded like all her teeth were breaking.
“Okay, enough! Spit that out, you dumb seal. It’s inedible,” I said after my entertainment quickly turned to annoyance. Hunger took over my mind, wielding control over the sharp words that escaped my mouth.
She glanced up at me, letting the crunchy pieces of rice fall from her parted lips.
Grabbing a glass from the cabinet and, filling it with water from the sink, I handed it to her. She took it from me greedily from where she sat on the floor, gulping it down much like she had the dry rice. Water leaked down the sides of her mouth, trailing down her neck and onto her chest, soaking her white shirt. I held my gaze on her face, not letting my eyes linger any lower.
Dark seas, why must she torture me like this? Does she even realize what she’s doing to me?
I grabbed a glass, chugging the water within, feeling my throat rehydrate as the tepid fluid traveled to my empty belly.
“I’m not even going to attempt cooking that. We’d burn this whole place down,” I said with a sigh. “I’m going to bed. The sooner I can rest and escape this nauseating hunger, the better. I fear what I may do if I stay awake any longer.”
“What would you do?” Breena wiped her face with the back of her hand.
I glanced down at her but didn’t offer her a response as I refilled my glass. I ran my hands under the water, enjoying the feel of it on my new skin. Once my glass was full, I dried my hands and left Breena on the floor.
I trailed my fingers over the bedroom dresser, realizing it wasn’t the one I had carved my name into as a child. Everythingabout this place was different now, and it certainly didn’t smell like him anymore.
Has it already been that long? Long enough to erase him from this place like the sea had?
Breena walked into the room with her wet shirt held off her stomach so the sodden fabric wasn’t touching her. She looked up at me before saying, “It’s not fun to be wet on land, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” I chuckled, pulling my hand from the dresser. “But I’m sure there are plenty of clothes here. We both need to change anyway. We reek of dead fish.”
“I cannot return to the sea, but do you think I can submerge myself in water on land?” Breena pondered. “I would like to bathe eventually.”
I kicked my shoes off and wiggled my toes before ridding myself of my socks as well. Breena watched me and followed my lead, stripping out of her pants, then her wet shirt.
I spun on my heel and yanked open the top drawer of the dresser as I blinked away the imagery she left me.
Not that I haven’t seen all of her already.
“Here,” I choked out, tossing a large shirt behind me. I tentatively stripped out of my own shirt, facing the wall, exposing my bare back to her.
“You’re covered in blood. Whose is that?”
I dropped the shirt down my back, hiding my skin once more before facing her.
“It’s mine. From my transformation,” I said then resumed scouring the drawers for pants for the two of us.
“I didn’t realize…” She trailed off.
