I always hate it when the plane lands. It’s the feeling I get in my stomach like when riding on a roller coaster that could, potentially, kill you. This small, six person plane made it even more nerve-wracking but the pilot seemed to be having a good time.

“We’re almost there!” Peter yells through the headset that he made me put on so we could communicate. He also made me ride in the passenger seat so he could stare at me while chatting up my ear like the conversation wouldn’t be as good without eye contact. I really wish he would pay more attention to the world outside of the plane, rather than the claustrophobic one inside.

“You see that house there! The one with the blue roof? That’s mine!” he yells while reaching across me to point. Even though he’s leaning over me in order to draw my attention, I’m refusing to look anywhere but my lap.

“Yeah,” I lie.

“You’re not even looking! You’re all cocooned up! Want me to fly over it?”

“No,” I say as I shake my head.

He heartily slaps me on the shoulder. “You’re no fun, kid! Ain’t you flown in a plane before?”

“Quite a few times, actually. Still hate it,” I admit.

“Makes me feel free,” he says. “Ready?”

I nod vigorously and grip hard onto the seat as the plane drops and hits once, then again before finally coming to rest on the landing strip. He drives it off the runway before stopping and looking over at me.

“You survived!” he says then tips his head back and laughs as he pulls the headset off. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually looked at him. He’s a man around the age of my grandfather with grey hair cut short. He has a hard set face but the smile makes him look overly friendly. I don’t think it left his face the entire trip.

“Come on, kid,” he says as he unhooks his seatbelt.

I’m not sure why he keeps calling me kid. Not sure I’ve been called one since I was well…a kid. Last I checked twenty-eight wasn’t a kid anymore but what do I know. I unhook my seatbelt and gather my luggage that he’d strapped to the seats in the back like they were passengers.

He helps pull my luggage up to me. “I can drive you.”

“Really? Thank you.”

“Yup. Just give me a moment to get everything sorted,” he says as I descend the plane. The air is warm compared to the weather I’d left well over eight hours ago. The three hour layover didn’t help any and made my life rather long.

As I step out of the plane and unto the landing strip I’m taken back by the scenery around us. Tall trees reach up for the heavens; their bases were so large it’d take at least two people to wrap their arms around one.

“Welcome to Key Island,” Peter says as he walks up to me. “Gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I admit. “It looks like we are in the middle of nowhere.”

“It does, doesn’t it? The island is pretty small. Only about forty residents. So it’s pretty private,” he says. “Come on.”

I follow after him as he drags my suitcase over to the only car in the parking lot. It’s a small Chevy that looks liked it’d come straight out of the seventies. Besides some scratches along the door, it appears to still be in good shape. Juggling my bags in one hand, I pull the door open. Cherry scent attacks my senses as I get into the passenger seat and he climbs into the driver’s.

“Thank you very much for driving me as well,” I say as I try to stuff my backpack onto the floor between my legs since the backseat looked pretty packed. Somehow he’d managed to fit my suitcase in amongst the rest of his stuff.

“My pleasure!” he says with a smile as he looks away from the road. “You have a car here to drive?”

“Yeah, my aunt’s SUV is here and she said I could drive it,” I say.

“Alright. Well if you ever need anything you let me know,” he says earnestly. It’s clear retirement just isn’t entertaining enough for him.

“I will,” I say.

“How long are you staying?”

“A couple of months,” I say as I watch out the window as he drives down the dirt road.

“Where are your aunt and uncle going?”

“Traveling a bit, I believe. Then I think they’re going to visit my sister,” I explain as I pick at the tag on my backpack. “My sister and her family live in the city and I guess my aunt and uncle want to try out city life for a while.”

“Oh, I thought maybe you were doing a house swap.”

“I don’t have a house. I’ve been staying with my parents.”

“Mooching off your parents at this age?” he asks as he looks away from the road to stare at me. I really wish he took ‘eyes on the road’ to heart.

Wait a minute, I thought I was a kid five minutes ago? “I’m never home enough to bother getting a house,” I say.

The car is straying from the right lane so he corrects it before looking back at me. “Where’ve you been?”

“I’ve been in the military. So I’ve been a little bit everywhere.”

“Really? You still in?”

“Just finished,” I say.

“Good for you, kid.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“You over in Iraq?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t even like talking about that whole ordeal,” he says as he stares at me while running off the road. The car catches the grass and it pulls the car off the road but he just merrily pulls it back on. “Oops.”

“Yeah…oops,” I say as I cling onto the door. “Good thing you drive a plane better than a car,” I joke.

He laughs and of course has to look away from the road to laugh with me even though I was no longer laughing; I was praying. He drives for about twenty minutes before he pulls into the driveway of a large two story cabin. The lawn is well-kept and there are flowers bordering the porch that give it a welcoming feel.

“Oh! Almost forgot. They gave me the keys for ya,” he says as he parks the car and digs into the center console. He jingles the keys before handing them to me. “Need any more help?”

“Nope, thank you very much.”

“Of course,” Peter says. “You have my number if you need anything. Feel free to call.”

“Thanks again,” I say as I get out and pull my luggage after me. I head up to the house, supporting the luggage and bags. I stick the key into the door and turn it. It gives in my hand and I slide the door open and step inside my temporary home. It’s kind of weird walking into someone else’s house that I’ve never been in before. My aunt and uncle had lived in the states until about six years ago when they moved down here and we hadn’t seen them since. They’d written about the people and the nature enough to make my mom a bit jealous.

I set my bags down and kick my shoes off before walking deeper into the house. Looking around I continue through the foyer and into the heart of the home. It’s a large area with big open rooms that run from room to room. The kitchen and dining room are connected in a large open area. The living room has a large ceiling that stretches up into the second story, with a leather couch that is tucked in the corner and a large flat screen TV stretched across the wall.

In the hallway there’s a family photo framed on the wall that makes me stop. It was a picture we’d taken at a family reunion ten years ago. Tami and Dave were standing together with my sister and I next to them. My light brown hair was shorter now than back then. The picture was from when I was just out of high school and thought I was cool for growing my hair to my shoulders and dying it black. It was back to its natural brown now and cut short, otherwise it would stick up in the front and back. People used to ask me if my sister and I were twins since our features were so similar and we were only a year apart. We both had dark brown eyes even though both of our parents had blue eyes and wore glasses.

I step away from the picture frame and take the stairs up and make my way to the guest room they’d told me I could stay in. I push the door open and step in. The bed is made and the room is spotless. It was a little stuffy inside so I unzip my hoodie as I walk over to the window and push it open.

The wind slips through the screen, as I notice something move in the yard. I press up against the screen as I peer out into the backyard where I see something near a large oak tree. I can’t see what it is because it’s pressed down against the ground and barely moving.

I back away from the window and head back downstairs and wander for a bit until I find the back door. I push it open and step out onto the porch surrounding an above ground pool. There’s a fence around the raised deck that I have to open in order to walk down four steps and out into the yard.

Behind the tree, a head lifts up and a tongue rolls out as he begins to pant. The dog watches me curiously but not curious enough to bother getting up. He looks to be a pretty large dog but appeared to be quite the mutt. He was completely white with long terrier-like hair, but he wore grey spots scattered about. He had a long snout and tall ears like a German Shephard but the hairs on his ears were long enough they draped down into his eyes.

“Hey there,” I say and the dog perks up as if truly noticing me for the first time. His tail thumps the ground very slowly at first. Hitting once before hesitating.

“What are you doing out here,” I say as I hold my hand out. He pops up and jogs right over to me, tail wagging vigorously.

That’s when I notice that he’s tied to the tree by a long, worn rope. He drags it on the ground until he reaches me, where the rope becomes tight. I walk up to him so I can pet him and he wags his tail eagerly.

I don’t remember my aunt mentioning that they were leaving their dog behind. I don’t even remember them mentioning they even had a dog. He doesn’t even have a dog house, just the tree for shade but there was a bowl filled with dirty water and a dead cricket. With my foot, I tip the water over and watch it run out before picking it up. He watches me as I wander around the outside of the house until I find a spigot. I turn it on and rinse the bowl out before filling it. I turn the water off and walk back over to the waiting dog. He thumps his tail upon noticing me returning and I set the bowl down as I take my cell out.

I scroll through my contacts until I find Aunt Tami’s number. I select it and raise it to my ear but the phone is silent. I pull it back and look at the screen as it assures me that it’s ‘connecting.’ I don’t seem to have any service so I walk around for a bit as I try to find an area to call from. When my phone proves to be useless, I head inside and look the house over for a landline, not expecting much. Most people don’t even use home phones anymore and they prove to be in that category. So I start searching the house over for some dog food. Aunt Tami even told me she was leaving me some food so I wouldn’t have to run to the grocery store for a few days so she had to have some dog food somewhere.

I feel like I’ve opened every cupboard and door before just giving up. I pull out my laptop and connect to their Wi-Fi with the password they’d given me and pull up my email.

To: Tami

Date:5/12/15

Subject: Re: hey

Just arrived. This island is gorgeous, thanks again for this opportunity. I’m eager to begin taking pictures. I noticed there’s a dog in the backyard that I’m assuming is yours but I don’t remember you mentioning anything about him. Is there food in the house? And if so, how much do I give him? Just email me back once you get this.

Thanks and love you,

Grayson

I close out of the email and head to the fridge. I toss a few pieces of lunch meat on a plate as well as a few slices of bread and head back out to the dog. I slide the plate before him and he looks down at it then wiggles his entire body as he tries to get my attention. My old dog would have died from happiness if I tossed some lunch meat to him but this dog cares more about my attention than food. I rub his ears a bit before heading back into the house to unpack.

***

It’s nearly eight and I still haven’t heard back from Tami so I grab a leash that I had found in my dog food adventure and head outside. I honestly don’t know if they let the dog in the house or not but I’d never made my dog sleep outside so I head out to get him. He’s eagerly waiting for me and I notice he’s eaten what I’d left for him on the plate. I hook his collar and untie the rope that was just tied in a knot to his collar. I head back for the house and he walks after me until I reach the steps. Then he stops walking and plants his feet.

“You scared of stairs?” I ask. “Come on.”

He hesitates but with a tug to his collar he follows me up onto the deck. I slide the glass door open and head inside. He stops moving, locking his legs as his nails dig into the wood as he braces himself.

“Come on, you can come in.” I tug on him a bit like I had at the steps but this time he begins to pull back. “It’s okay, come on.” Reaching down, I grab ahold of his collar and pull on it to try and encourage him.

His eyes are fixated past me, inside the house as he lifts up his lip just enough I can see the tips of his canines as he begins to growl.

I drop my hold on his collar as he growls deeper, hackles raised as he thrusts back. He flails as he hits the end of the leash and his collar slips off. He runs around the deck to the gate and scrabbles right up it and jumps over.

“Shit,” I whisper as I race after him. I fumble with the gate but as I do I notice he retreats back to the tree.

Dragging the leash as I walk up to him carefully, I’m a little nervous that he is going to tear me apart. He looks innocent and sweet, but the growls emanating from him tell me otherwise. I reach out to him and he wags his tail a little bit like I’d just made that whole scenario up. I slip the collar of his head and tighten it one before tying him to the tree where I leave him for the night.

As I walk back toward the house I can’t help but wonder what he’d been growling at. He was looking past me, into the house. Maybe he’d been disciplined for going into the house before and I was trying to force him inside.

I close the glass door and lock it. I can see the dog watching me from the spot by the tree as I turn away and head upstairs.