Wasabi

Karina’s sleepless nights always begin the same. Crippling anxiety invades her body from head to toe, seeping into her mind as she lays in bed in her dark room. She blankly stares up at the wooden ceiling above her wishing she could close her eyes and fall asleep. 

After a few moments of intense stiffness, she looks over at her clock on the nightstand, swiftly catching the bright red zero change to 1, 3:01 A.M. Gosh it’s late. She thought to herself. 

“Are you ladies ready to order?”  The server asks patiently, ready with pen in hand. 

“Karina, honey, ya sabes lo que vas a ordenar? Mija?” Karina’s mother pauses for a moment and tells the waiter.

“She’ll have a chamomile tea for now and I’ll take the order of Huevos Rancheros, but can you put the tortillas on the side? Gracias”

“Mija, ¿qué te pasa? Estas bien?” Karina can tell how concerned her mother was with her tone. 

“Sorry mami, I haven’t been sleeping very well lately.”

“Ay Karina, el otro dia en las noticias, they were interviewing these people who adopt animals to be their animal support? O emotional support animale? Un muchacho, que loco tenía un iguana.” 

Karina could tell her mother was finding the right words to say. She knew that wasn’t her best strong suit but appreciated her willingness to meet halfway. She always tried to heal things in a holistic way, and didn't believe in big pharma. 

“Yeah, I mean, it would be nice to have some company and I have been tempted to adopt a dog. There is a cute dog park a couple blocks from my new apartment, it would also help to meet others in the neighborhood.” 

“That 's great mija, para que te relajes un poco.” Her mother was relieved to find a positive solution for Karina and moved on to the next topic of conversation. 

The following day, Karina found a local animal shelter to visit the dogs that were available for adoption. She figured if there was an instant bond, she would leave with her forever companion. The adoption agent walked her through the entire building of endless corridors filled with dogs barking and howling. 

“This is a little more stressful than I thought it would be.”  Karina hesitated. 

“Don’t stress out, adopting an animal is overwhelming and it’s going to be stressful, you just have to find the right fit. Follow me, let me introduce you to a little guy we received a couple weeks ago. His name is Wasabi.”

“Wasabi?” Karina giggled, feeling more at ease. 

“Yeah right? He’s a shiba-shepherd mix from Japan. He’s super docile and friendly. The poor guy lost his previous family in a tragic accident.” 

“Oh my gosh that’s terrible!” 

“I know, Animal Control told us that the Dad had just received his orders to come back to San Diego, he was in the Navy, and he brought Wasabi as a present for his kids. Unfortunately the Dad must have been super jet lagged from flying overseas and crashed in the freeway. Wasabi was the only survivor, he was lucky he didn’t get run over.” 

Karina was lost for words, seeing Wasabi curled up sleeping peacefully on his dog bed in the corner of the crate. He opens his eyes and looks at her in the eyes, mesmerized by the bright yellow ring around the brownness of his eyes, she tells the adoption agent that she’ll take him.  

The days after bringing Wasabi home to her small one bedroom apartment, went better than Karina could imagine. He was a well mannered dog and Karina enjoyed taking him to the dog park down the street. Wasabi would play with the other dogs while Karina engaged with the neighbors in her new community. 

She also appreciated the little things Wasabi did, like sleeping at the end of her bed near her feet, which helped ease some of the anxiety she was experiencing during the nights. 

It was that time of the month again, when Karina and her mother would get together for brunch and catch up on life and all the chisme. 

“Karina!” Her mother yells down the block, “Ay voy!”

She walks towards her mother with Wasabi next to her. As her mother approaches, he freezes and growls at her mother, the hair on his back sticking straight up. His teeth showing, Karina pulls him back as her mother stops before getting any closer.

“Wasabi, No, that’s mami,” She looks at her mother with an apologetic tone, “He’s never done that before, I don’t know what’s up with him.”

Karina’s mother tries to get closer to hug Karina but pulls away quickly. Wasabi tries to bite her leg. 

“Ay, Karina, either lo llevas a la casa y te espero o me voy.”

Karina looks down at Wasabi, “Que paso mi amor? Ugh okay pues ma, let me go take him to the house real quick and I’ll be back. Order me some chilaquies please.” Karina yells at her mother as she jogs away to drop Wasabi at her house. Good thing she lived a couple blocks down. 

She opens her door and gives him some treats in his bowl and closes the front door behind her. As she walks away down the stairs, a giant BOOM comes from the other side of her door. It sounded like someone had pounded loudly at the door but only no one was in there. Wasabi couldn’t have done it. She brushes it off and heads back to her mother. 

A few days after brunch with her mother, Karina began to notice small changes in Wasabi’s behavior and temperament. He started getting aggressive towards the other dogs at the park, tried biting people as they walked past them on the sidewalk which forced her to take him out later in the night time.

It was the safest option taking him out when there wasn’t too much foot traffic and the park was lit up by the street lights except for the corner edge where a dark area, the lights couldn’t reach and she made sure to never throw the ball in that direction. It made her feel uneasy.

A couple weeks passed and Karina’s insomnia was begging to come back. She was laying in bed, she was restless, couldn’t stop tossing and turning. Wasabi whimpered quietly as he got up everytime she moved positions. Karina could tell he was getting annoyed. 

She turned to look at her clock. 3:01 A.M. She felt bad for bothering Wasabi with her twisting and turning. She figured going to the dog park for a bit would help her ease her mind. The night was crystal clear with the crescent moon shining brightly down over the city and the stars glimmering in the night sky.

She unlocks the gate and unbuckles Wasabi’s leash as she enters the dog park and starts throwing his ball where the street lights shine on the ground. It was like every other night but something about tonight felt different for Karina. 

It’s probably because of how late it is. Son las tres de la mañana. She thinks to herself as she throws the ball repeatedly for Wasabi. As long as she doesn't throw it in that dark scary corner, they will be safe… 

As she thinks this thought, she accidentally throws it too far reaching into the darkness as it lands, she was trying to avoid. She's hesitant at first as Wasabi rushes after it, walking into the creepy darkness when out of nowhere, a tall dark shadow figure appears in the darkness with yellow bright glowing eyes staring straight at her.

“No manches perro, ya vamonos! Come on let 's go!” She whispers to herself clenching her teeth, “WASABI! VENTE PARA KA!” She screams. 

Suddenly the dark shadowy figure creeps close to the edge of the darkness and in an instant Wasabi appears.

Karina rubs her eyes with her cold hands. Was that real? No, that's impossible. It’s time to get back home. 

Wasabi trots to Karina, dropping the ball in front of her feet and looks up at her. She stares into his eyes and tries as hard as she can to not give in to her thoughts that he shape shifted.

She clips the leash to his collar and starts speed walking towards the entrance of the dog park to head home. A dense fog begins to creep over the neighborhood obstructing the clear night sky. The glimmering stars and crescent moon begin to disappear above Karina. 

On a whim, she decides to take a short but through one of the alley ways to get to her apartment as quickly as possible but the fog begins to thicken making it impossible for her to see when to turn to go down her street. 

She could hear Wasabi panting, it made her nervous. She walked slowly until she could make out orbs of lights above her, thinking that she finally made it to the main street. 

“I'm sure those are the street lights, just have to make sure that I'm on the sidewalk and not on the main road.” She whispers to herself.

Her heart starts to pound in her chest as she sees the dark fiigure with glowing yellow eyes in the distance, looking at her, as if waiting for her. She panics and kneels down to grab a hold of Wasabi but it was as if he vanished into thin air. 

“WASABI!!” She cries out loudly. “WASABI WHERE ARE YOU?”

Karina’s chest tightens as her heart starts to race. The eerie yellow eyes were starting to come towards her. She was mentally and physically paralyzed not knowing where to run, the loud noise of feet thumping on the ground grew closer and closer,  the fog had gotten too thick to try and run without knowing which direction to go,

She kneels down and closes her eyes. 

**********************************************

“Mommy, Mommy look at this one! Look mommy! He has a funny name, Wasabi? That’s like sushi Mommy!”

“Oh darling, he looks like he’s not going to be very fun, he looks old and tired, lets take a look at these other puppies here, they look happy to see you.” 

“Aw, mommy, he looks so sad though, he looks like he needs a hug” The little girl tells her mother. 

“What’s wrong with it?” The mother turns to ask the adoption agent. 

“He’s very healthy but he must be depressed about losing his previous owner, she died in a tragic accident.” 

“Oh goodness!” The mother replied.

“Yeah, the police said she suffered from sleeping walking episodes and in the middle of the night she walked out of her apartment and got struck by a car walking alone in the road, it was pretty sad. ” The adoption agent sighed. 

“He needs a family, mommy, can we take him? Please, please, please?” The little girl begged her mother. 

“........911 what’s your emergency?”