Connecting the Dots

We sat in the parking lot for a moment before pulling off. During that time I checked my phone to see if I had any notifications from Kacie. Nothing. Of course she didn’t respond. She’s been acting weird as hell since she left.

What got me was the fact that I told her she could’ve stayed. She insisted on leaving and creating this gap that didn’t have to exist.

“Alright then sour patch, let’s go figure this out.”

Now that I have Kayla with me, there was no way I was going back to work. I called my secretary and let her know I’d be working from home tomorrow and that I wasn’t returning to the office today either.

This seemed like the perfect time to bond with Kayla like she’d been asking to do.

We rode for twenty minutes before she finally realized we weren’t heading anywhere familiar to her.

“Where are we going uncle?”

“It’s a surprise.” I said with a grin on my face.

Another thirty minutes and a playlist of Kayla’s favorite songs later, we were pulling into the parking garage. Her eyes were filled with wonder as she looked around and asked a million questions before we got to the ticket booth.

“Two tickets please. One adult and one child.”

Her mouth opened wide enough to see all the teeth in her mouth when we walked inside.

“Uncle, this is the aquarium!”

I nodded and smiled at how excited she was to finally see the animals.

Each exhibit we had to take pictures and read about every last animal they had. She got to touch the horseshoe crabs and sit front row at the dolphin show. We were nearly drenched in water after that one.

While I was getting us a towel and a clean shirt to wear, Kayla had seen the sign for the sharks.

“Uncle look…they have sharks!”

She grabbed my hand and pulled so hard I almost tripped over my own feet.

“Okay, but let’s get out of these wet clothes first.”

She reluctantly agreed. She ran out of the bathroom with her wet clothes in her hand excited to finally see the sharks.

She ran up to every tank and pressed her face against it to ‘get a closer look’. I tried to tell her she wasn’t going to see any more than the rest of us, but she argued that she could.

I had to pry her off the glass when it was time to leave. Every five more minutes became another ten and when those were up she bargained for more time.

All she did was stand there and watch every move they made as if she had one day planned to become a shark herself. She was so immersed in the moment that she ignored me when I asked what she wanted to eat.

It was then that everything clicked. This was about more than just the sharks. This was her place of peace. Out of everything else that was happening to and around her; here she was allowed to just be instead of worrying about who was doing what.

She finally agreed to leave when our stomachs began to have full on conversations with each other.

“You know what you want to eat?”

“Chicken fingers!”

We went to the food court and grabbed something to eat. We talked about school, her new favorite things to do, and what she wanted to be when she grew up.

That had to be the most satisfying part of the day.

I found out her favorite color was yellow. The sparkly yellow, not the plain yellow. She wants to be an animal doctor when she grows up and she loves her uncle and Ms. Hines. That last one was unexpected.

Before we left the aquarium, we stopped by the souvenir shop and got her a tumbler and a stuffed animal that had to be a shark.

After I helped her back in the car I realized, Kacie never gave me her address so I couldn’t drop Kayla off.

I pulled out my phone again only to see a text message from Jamira and my mom. Kacie still hadn’t said a word. It’s been three hours since.

Suddenly it hit me that Walt lived close to the aquarium. So I swung by his place.

When I got out to get Kayla she grabbed all her things.

“Kayla, you don’t need your things.” I said slightly confused.

“Yes I do.” She said plainly.

She stuffed her things in her book bag and held my hand as we walked to the door.

I could feel her steps slowing and her grip getting tighter. She eventually stopped causing her to pull harder on my arm. Her body tensed—just a little.

I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way.

Walt came to the door after one or two knocks and for once, he seemed to be happy. He let us in and Kayla immediately got down, kicked her shoes off, and went into one of the rooms. She shut the door behind her. What the hell was that?

Walt walked over to the refrigerator to get a cold drink for us.

On the way to go sit with him a few things stood out. A purse on the coat hook, a pair of heels by the door, and a blanket that looked all too familiar folded on the couch.

I sat on the barstool slowly trying to remember where I saw those items when his voice echoed in my ears.

“Huh?”

“I said what brings you here?”

“I can’t stop by and visit my friend?”

“Unannounced?”

“I didn’t think I needed an invitation to see my best friend.”

“Of course not Eric. It’s just nice to have a heads up. Besides it’s not like you ever really visited before.”

His eyes peered right through me as he said that. He meant every word.

Finally done overthinking and over analyzing the situation I asked, “what’s going on? Why have you been so weird lately?”

His lips parted as if to say something, but immediately tightened again.

Before I could get another word out, jingling came from the door and that’s when it all started to make sense.