The Whale

Budiono had seen better days in his lifetime.

No, he was't dead, nor was he on the verge of death.

Today was coated by mist for some reason. This morning, like every other morning, was another walk for him. On this particular morning he was freezing, even with the double layered clothing he had on him. Perhaps this year's rainy season was the the coldest? He couldn't really say for he wasn't the world weather forecaster. He was just another member of the commonfolk.

His hands were in his pocket. An early day for the early bird, he thought of himself. Not everybody was an early bird. You didn't have to be an early bird, but then again, nobody said anything to other people that sleeping at 12 AM in the morning was a cool thing, nor was it an efficient thing.

Even with this mist, I don't see it as an excuse for people to remind inside. Budiono thought. Back in the day, mists almost never came. There was some rain, but being indoors during his younger years was fantastically different from kids being indoors nowadays. For some reason they find playing mobile games and dancing on camera as appealing. Popularity for dancing on some camera became super popular here in the country, and that's how it became one of the greatest mysteries Budiono never got to solve. How does dancing using an app named after the sound a clock makes seem fun?

"Oya!" he heard a voice coming from a home just a few inches away. The voice was young, and almost certainly it was a kid with a phone, a phone that wasn't his anyway.

His ears caught the sound of a cry. A cry for help. He stopped dead in his tracks, surveying the environment. He's got some mist around him, but the soundwave of the cry was getting louder and louder for him to hear. His eyes shifted at 3 or 4 people in front of him as he moved forward. Said people's eyes were locked onto their own phones.

'Unbelieveable', his mind scurred loudly. The cry for help was loud as if it was played on a speaker, how could they not hear?

Budiono kept on moving forward, and his ears picked up the cry to the left. Allowing his soles to make contact with the wet sand, he found himself running on the beach, stopping at just where the sea met the land. The cry was deeper this time, but slow. Almost like a moan. He looked to his right, as he saw a towering shadow behind the mist, and the mist started to fade away. "Dear god." Budiono shuddered.

He had never seen a whale this size, it was humongous, let alone see one in real life. It was always on television. But this whale, it was just on the border of sea and land. It was moaning in pain.

Budiono stammered. "What could I do?" he whispered to himself. "I can't push it in, but I can't just leave it here."

His feet felt the rumble of the sand, but his eyes noticed the ground next to him was rumbling as well. His eyes shifted from the deserted to whale to the sea, which didn't seem flat anymore. Budiono gulped as he was now seeing a giant wave of water hurdling toward him and the surface.

"I'm sorry." he said to the whale as his legs got him sprinting towards the surface, but the water came engulfed him.

His eyes were shut by the impact, yet his skin felt the coldness of the sea that he was engulfed in. Slowly opening his eyes, his back felt a strange surface, almost slippery like, and he could see the incoming surface of the sea and a light shining bright. How was he rising?

He took a large breath by the time he reached the surface, and the sight of water was around him. A tsunami most likely, the aftermath of it, but buildings were submerged in water, the houses as well. Budiono put a hand to his mouth thinking of those who got hit by the sea.

He heard a cry, but it was the same as the whale, looking down at the surface he was on. It hit him.

"You saved me." Budiono said as the whale was now bringing him to a near submerged house, the roof was still inhabitable. Jumping on the roof, Budiono now saw the face of the whale, which seemed better compared to before. Looking at his surroundings once more, the now water landscape, he shot a look at the whale. "Why?"

"Because you noticed me when nobody else would." The whale spoke.