"I'm bored..." Helena complained.

Mateo, sitting across from her, stubbornly ignored her, focused on his video game.

"Let's go swimming!" she insisted.

He shrugged, impatient.

"We go swimming every day. It's literally the only thing there is to do here. Why don't you just go by yourself?"

"Fine! Geez... But if a shark eats me, it'll be your fault." She crossed her arms and put on a fake pout.

"I think I'll take the risk," Mateo replied without even looking up.

Helena left the room with a sigh and went out through the back door. She crossed the small garden and unlatched the little gate that led to the beach. She had been living there for a few months now, and it still felt strange to her how little security the houses in that town had. Back in the city, buildings looked like fortresses, complete with guards and electric fences. Girls like her avoided walking alone at night.

That kind of danger didn't exist there.

Only boredom, and the vastness of the ocean stretching across the horizon.

The sand burned her bare feet, and the wind whipped her long black hair against her face like fine needles.

That day, in particular, she felt an inexplicable urgency to go down to the shore, toward the rocky formation just a few minutes north.

As she drew closer, she made out the silhouette of a person. Someone was lying on the sand, hidden behind a large rock. Was it a drunkard? A crime scene? Or just ocean trash caught between the rocks?

Her heart began to race.

It was indeed a person.

She patted her pockets as she broke into a run, but she had no phone with her to possibly call the police.

She reached the spot, panting.
Finally, she let out a sigh of relief.

It was boy around her age. His chest rose and fell. He was simply asleep, with a serene look on his face.

The pale skin of his cheeks and shoulders was burned red from the sun. The sunburn, along with his messy blond hair, suggested that he could be a foreigner. However, he held what looked like a spear carved from bone in his hands, a belt made from seaweed crossed his shoulder, and the rest of his body was covered only by a white sheet. 

Helena watched him for a moment, unsure what to do. There was no one around and no sign of a camp.

Should I wake him up? she wondered. I should ask if he's okay... right?

She reached out and lightly tapped his shoulder until he stirred. Embarrassment immediately flooded her, and instead of asking anything, she ducked back behind the rocks.

The young man sat up and, still groggy, turned his head in every direction, searching for whoever had ended his nap. 

He muttered something in an unfamiliar language, as if asking, What was that? Then he exclaimed,

"A human!"

He jumped to his feet, hurriedly wrapping the sheet around himself to cover his body.

Suddenly, Helena found him standing right in front of her, beaming with enthusiasm, smiling from ear to ear, and... his eyes tightly shut.

"Hello!" the young man exclaimed, bowing slightly. "I am happy to meet you! My name is Erunestian, and I hope we can be friends."

"Uh... yeah. Nice to meet you too. I'm Helena, and I... live around here," she said, forcing a smile. She stood up and brushed the sand from her dress. "Where are you from?"

"Where am I from?"

"With that name, you're definitely not from here."

Erunestian hesitated. He wasn't sure if he could reveal his true origin so quickly to a human he didn't know.

"Are you okay?" Helena asked. During all that time, he hadn't opened his eyes once. Would it be rude to ask why?

"I come from far away!" Erunestian blurted out.

They stood there for a moment in awkward silence, stiffly smiling at each other.

"Did you... come with your family or something?" Helena asked.

"Family... no. Just me."

"Then... where are you staying? Do you need help?"

Erunestian lowered his chin.

"Yes. Help. I do not know where I am," he finally said. His smile remained fixed on his face, despite how desperate his situation was.

Without another word, Helena grabbed his arm and led him to her house.

Mateo opened the door.

"I found a weird foreigner who's lost!"

"What the heck?" 

Erunestian quickly bowed in greeting. Mateo raised an eyebrow and returned the gesture.

"This is... uh... Ernesto. Wait, what was your name again?"

"My name is Erunestian. I am happy to meet you."

Mateo scanned him from head to toe. "Mateo. Nice to meet you... Can you give me a second?"

He pulled Helena aside and began whispering at her,

"What's with this guy?"

"I don't know," she said, "I'm a little worried."

"He looks really strange... Is that thing he's carrying a spear?!"

"Mateo, what else was I supposed to do? I think something happened to him, and he doesn't speak the language well. He's completely lost, and look at his eyes... he won't open them. It's really weird."

"Is he blind?" Mateo whispered.

"I'm not sure... But if he is, that's even more reason to help him!" she argued.

"I always knew some day you'd bring home a rescue. But I was expecting like a cat or a dog, not a blind foreigner!" 

Helena crossed her arms in protest.

"What do you want me to do? Leave him back on the beach?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying..." Mateo sighed. "We just need to be careful."

"Look, maybe we can find out which language he speaks and translate. He probably knows a phone number and someone will come get him."

"I think for foreigners you can also call the embassy," Mateo suggested.

Erunestian listened in silence. He didn't fully understand human customs. Why did they move farther away to talk when he could hear them anyway?

"Fine. We'll help him," Mateo said at last. He approached Erunestian and said, "Thank you for waiting. You can come in, but if that's a weapon, leave it outside."

Mateo felt like a grown-up after that. They were alone in the house, and he'd been put in charge because he was a few months older than his cousin.

Erunestian hesitated. But in the end, he handed over his spear. If he trusted them, they had to trust him too.

"Open your eyes," Helena said.

Mateo nudged her to shut up.

Erunestian opened his eyes, and the moment he did, both of them flinched. Helena grabbed his arm and guided him into the kitchen, making him sit down in a chair.

The cousins exchanged a worried glance, but tried to keep the atmosphere from becoming too uncomfortable.

"So... what did you say your name was, buddy?" Mateo asked.

"My name is Erunestian."

"'Estian.' Right... And where are you from? You look... I don't know... Russian or something."

"My name is Erunestian... What is Russian?"

"Uh... you don't speak much Spanish. What language do you speak?"

"Your language!" Erunestian exclaimed.

They exchanged another uneasy glance.

"No, I mean, your mother tongue."

"Tongue?"

Mateo shook his head. "Okay, can you try to tell us what happened to you? I mean, you're wearing seaweed and a bedsheet."

"He's right! Mateo, give him some clothes!" Helena exclaimed.

"Why do I have to give my clothes to this guy?" Mateo whined. "First he should take a shower... to get rid of the seaweed smell," he muttered.

"I come from very far away. I do not know where to go. So, I am happy find you! And my name is Erunestian, not Estian."

"And 'very far away' is... What country?"

Erunestian stayed silent. He didn't understand that question either.

"Do you know your parents' number, or your home address... or something?" Helena asked, with an increasingly concerned look on her face.

"What is address?"

"Right... okay," Mateo said, standing up. "I'm gonna call an adult."

"Do you think an adult will magically make him speak?"

Mateo shrugged.

"Go on, he seems to have had a rough time, at least let him shower and have some food."

Mateo sighed and went to grab Erunestian by the arm. "Come with me," he said, while giving Helena the side eye.

Meanwhile, Helena began preparing lunch.

Oh heavens! Could he be a castaway? she wondered as she chopped vegetables.

Upstairs, Mateo searched for something to give him to wear. Erunestian was taller than him, so he looked for loose clothes he wasn't particularly attached to.

"What is this?" Erunestian asked.

"What is what?" Mateo replied distractedly.

"This beneath me."

"The bed?"

"I know it!" he exclaimed. "It is for people to sleep."

Mateo grimaced. He wondered if the boy had suffered some kind of accident that caused amnesia.

How does he not know what a bed is? It's like he was born yesterday, he thought.

"No need to worry," Erunestian said kindly, though a trace of anguish showed on his face. "I was born sixteen years ago."

Mateo stood there, stunned, unsure how to process the situation. He handed Erunestian a set of clothes and said nervously,

"Here... you can keep them, if you want."

"Thank you! I am very happy you give me this. But I have problem... where I come from, there is no clothes. Can you teach me?"

Where he comes from, there's no... Mateo felt like this was turning into a bad joke. Fed up, he raised his voice.

"Where do you come from?!"

Erunestian thought for a moment, letting out a smile.

"I will tell you. But first, I must wear clothes."

Mateo stopped pressing and just stood still. 
The mix of frustration and fear in him was so intense that it reached Erunestian's senses.

"I am sorry, I am sorry," he laughed, trying to ease the tension. "I scared you. I don't do this again."

"You can read minds?" Mateo asked.

"Sometimes," said Erunestian. "I don't know why. Everyone is scared when I do this, so my father say I can't."

"Incredible! Then if you read my mind, I just have to think about how to wear clothes."

"No, no... not like that," Erunestian said. "I really need help with the clothes..."

Mateo tried to teach him and quickly realized how complicated it was to explain clothing to a blind boy from another dimension. If small children struggled and put their heads through the armholes, this strange young man was no exception.

It took them a while until Erunestian finally understood.

"I'll show you where the shower is so you can wash up," said Mateo. "I guess you'll need a full explanation for that too, right?"

Erunestian nodded sheepishly, smiling.

"Alright. I'll teach you everything, even how to use soap. But you owe me a big explanation, because either you're messing with me, or you had some epic accident that wiped your memory, or you're from another planet."

"I know, I know. I will explain. I promise."

After showering and putting on clean, scented clothes, Erunestian felt renewed. The sensation gave him confidence. He was a little more human now.

They went back downstairs. There, Helena waited for them with food on the table.

"Lunch is ready, Erunestian."

"You remembered my name! Thank you."

It was nothing extravagant, just breaded fish filet with rice and salad. But the flavors and aromas overwhelmed Erunestian. He wanted to shout with excitement, but he didn't want to scare his new friends any further.

"Well, Estian..." Mateo began.

"His name is Erunestian," Helena corrected.

"Sorry, E-ru-nes-tian? Tell us where you're from, you promised."

Erunestian swallowed, sighed, and finally declared,

"I come from the sea. We have no fire, so no cooked food. No things, so no clothes, no houses, and no numbers. I left... because my people are suffering."

Mateo crossed his arms, incredulous.

"That makes no sense. How do you live without all that?"

But Helena's eyes were wide open. She believed him, and without realizing it, she was ready to let him shatter her entire view of the world.