Miserable, Lonely, and Depressed

“Mom, Dad, this is Harmony,” Joe said as they walked up to his family. The other boys stopped playing with the dog and walked over to the group of four.

“Lovely to meet you Harmony,” Denise said to the young girl in front of her, sticking her hand out for Harmony to shake. Harmony looked down at her hand, wondering why she held it in front of her. Denise slowly pulled her hand away and exchanged a look with her husband.

“Um, I was wondering if Harmony could come stay with us for the night,” Joe said, looking at his parents. “She seems a bit confused and I don’t know how she could have gotten here. I think something may have happened.”

Harmony stayed quiet, not wanting to say something wrong or strange. Joe’s parents stared at him for a moment before looking to each other. The three boys looked at each other as well and the dog barked, startling Harmony. She stumbled backwards and Joe reached out and caught her before she fell.

“Are you okay?” Joe asked, holding her until she was steady. “I’m sorry he scared you.”

“What was that?” she asked, staring down at the dog.

“It was just a bark. He gets excited when new people are around. Look at his tail wagging, he’s just happy to see you,” he said, pointing to its backside.

“Is he going to bark again?” she asked.

“Um… I don’t know. It’s random a lot of the time.”

“Oh,” she said, still staring down at the dog.

“Joseph, can we talk to you for a minute?” Kevin Sr. asked his son.

“Yeah, sure. Harmony, these are my brothers, Kevin, Nick, and Frankie,” he said, pointing to them each individually. “I’ll be right back.”

Joe left Harmony’s side to walk with his parents down the beach. Once they were far enough away from the other four they stopped and all watched them for a minute. Denise walked over to her son and put a hand on his back.

“It’s nice of you, Joseph, to show so much concern for her but, why do you think something happened to her? She doesn’t have any noticeable cuts or bruises, I didn’t see any blood. She seems fine.”

“Maybe it’s something you can’t see,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know I just… I feel like she has nowhere to go. And the way she reacted to Elvis, and you should have seen her when she got off the rock to walk with me; it was like she had never walked before in her life.”

“I want to know why you’re questioning how she got here,” his father said.

“Observations. There aren’t any bikes. The only car is ours. There aren’t any houses in walking distance…”

“But there’s the pier. She could have taken a cab there to go shopping and then walked to the beach. She was probably just waiting for a time to go back in a cab.”

“She doesn’t have any shopping bags.”

“Then maybe she just didn’t buy anything,” Denise said, shrugging her shoulders.

“She wouldn’t have been able to pay for a cab anyway. She doesn’t have any money.”

“How do you know that?” Kevin Sr. asked.

“She’s not carrying a purse.”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have money, son,” he said, putting a hand on Joe’s shoulder. Joe turned so his back was to his brothers and Harmony to face his parents.

“Look, I know I may sound crazy right now but please, just trust me. Let her come with us and stay the night. I’m not comfortable with letting her go anywhere else until I know more about her. There’s just something about her that has me curious,” he said, turning to look back at Harmony who was cautiously bending forward, running her fingers through Elvis’ fur.

“Okay,” Kevin Sr. sighed. “She can stay.”

“Thank you,” Joe said, a smile appearing on his face. He hugged both of his parents then walked back over to Harmony with his parents following behind him. “Harmony.”

“Yes?” she asked, looking up at him, a smile on her face as she scratched Elvis’ ear.

“You can stay with us tonight,” he said, smiling at her. “We’re going to go home now and have some dinner. Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” she said, putting her hand to her stomach. He took her hand and led her up the beach, his family following behind them.

Joe and Harmony reached the car and he pulled open the back door for her. She stood there looking at the car then she turned to him. He gave her a confused look and climbed into the third row of seats leaving her standing outside. She looked back in the car and then stepped inside, taking a seat next to him.

“You look like you’ve never been in a car before,” he said, letting out a laugh.

“I haven’t,” she said, looking at him seriously. She was curious as to why that would seem funny.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding her head, pushing a few strands of hair behind her ear as Frankie climbed in next to her and Kevin, Nick, and Elvis took the middle row.

“Are you Amish?” he asked.

“What’s that?” she asked, turning to look in his eyes. He sat with his mouth open for a moment before closing it. Kevin and Nick turned and looked at him then over at Harmony.

“Uh… nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “Let’s just get you something to eat. What do you like?”

“Everyone buckled?” Kevin Sr. asked over his shoulder as he started the car. Harmony felt the rumbling and she gripped the seat.

“What’s happening?” she asked, looking up at Joe.

“It’s just the engine,” Frankie said, pulling his seat belt strap over his shoulder.

“Here,” Joe said, reaching across her lap, pulling the strap over her and buckling it. She looked down at the gray band and tugged at it as Kevin Sr. backed out of the parking spot. She looked up and out the window to see the beach passing by, her eyes widening in surprise.

“This is strange,” she whispered, watching as other humans walked and ran past the car.

“So um…,” Joe said, pretending he didn’t hear her. “Back to my question. What do you like to eat?”

“Oh I love fish,” she said animatedly. “Especially lobster.”

“Well we’re fresh out of lobster,” Denise said, turning in her seat to look at Harmony and giving her a smile. “Do you like chicken?”

“I’ve never had chicken,” she said, shaking her head slightly.

“Would you like to try it?”

“Yes, please,” Harmony said, smiling at Denise.

“Why do I feel like there are so many things that you haven’t done or tasted?” Joe asked.

“Because there are,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Where are you from?” Kevin asked, turning in his seat to look at her while Elvis nibbled on his hand.

“Somewhere close,” she said, telling the truth.

“Are you from America?” Joe asked.

“Well, I guess so,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m not sure what you would qualify where I live as.”

“Well, what’s it called?”

“Um… I can’t tell you,” she said slowly and his eyes widened.

“Why not? You can trust me,” he said, putting his hand on top of hers.

“I know,” she said, smiling at him. “Maybe in a few days. But not now.”

“Okay,” Joe said, sitting back in his seat and looking at her. He watched as she looked over Frankie’s head out the window to the California shore line as they traveled to the Jonas household. This girl just kept getting more captivating with each passing minute.