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When Mu Ziyang met Ling Chao in third grade he knew they would be friends. Even though Ling Chao was two years younger and a little quiet, Ziyang knew they were destined to be best friends. So he went and talked to him. At first Ling Chao didn’t really say much. He’d nod and hum when he agreed, and shake his head and grunt when he disagreed. Sometimes Ling Chao would space out and it would take him a minute or two to focus again. This was how it went for the first week or so. After that Ling Chao would open up more and speak. The first sentence he ever spoke to Ziyang were the words“D-do you ever s-stop talk-king?” It made Ziyang laugh because Ling Chao said it with a little smile. They stayed friends like that. Ziyang would have Ling Chao come over sometimes and they would take turns picking games to play. Ziyang liked video games, (Ling Chao’s favorite one was Just Dance) and Ling Chao liked puzzles and Jenga. Ziyang’s mom would make them smoothies and popcorn after school while they played.The two boys lived in Beihei. It was a port town on the coast of China, facing the Beibu Gulf. A favorite activity of theirs in the summer was to walk down to the beach and play in the water or visit all the shops by the shore. It was hard to do that when hurricane season came around though. They came often, but they weren’t usually very bad. Some years they were worse, but overall they were pretty okay.It had been seven years since the boys had become friends, and now they were practically brothers. Ling Chao was over all the time. A few years previously Ziyang was visiting Ling Chao’s family when he heard one of his aunts refer to him as “Di Di”,meaning little brother. Ever since then Ziyang would refer to Ling Chao as his “Didi.” It was a rainy Sunday night and Ling Chao and Ziyang were sitting on the floor of Ziyang’s family’s apartment doing a puzzle. Ling Chao didn’t seem very there. Ziyang didn’t think much about it because he did this every once and a while. He noticed for real when it was Ling Chao’s turn and he made no move to go. “Didi, what’s the matter?” Ling Chao looked up and his eyes focused again when he heard his name. “Oh, s-sorry. I was just th-thinking.”Ziyang smiled a little as Ling Chao resumed the puzzle, putting down a piece of Snoopy’s nose. He didn’t want to pry, so they continued the puzzle in relative silence. It was a comfortable silence though. That night as Ziyang layed in bed he thought about his Didi. Ziyang couldn’t pretend Ling Chao had a lot of friends at school. He didn’t. If anything people made fun of him for being a little different. He had a stutter and he spaced out a little. Okay, a lot. He was a little awkward to initiate a conversation with and was never the one who came over to talk to you. He was adorable and he needed Ziyang badly. Ziyang was well known at school. He was a star athlete and a good student. He had a lot of friends and more fans. Out of all that, though, his only real friend was Ling Chao. And Ling Chao needed someone like that. It was reported that there would be a hurricane. Again. They weren’t uncommon and were simply a mild annoyance to everyone who had somewhere to be. During the hours before it was supposed to hit, Ziyang’s family was busy making meals and getting activities together for the time they wouldn’t be able to go outside. Ziyang was a little excited because they had invited Ling Chao’s family to come stay in their house for the duration of the storm, and they agreed. Ziyang walked all around the apartment collecting all the puzzles they owned so him and Ling Chao could put them all together. He was almost buzzing with excitement. It would be like a campout! They could built a fort and eat their sandwiches inside of it while they put together thousand piece puzzles!Ling Chao’s family arrived very shortly before the hurricane hit. This one was bad. The winds were horrible, blowing tiles off rooftops, sending cars spinning. The whole house felt as if it were shaking, it might have been. This made Jenga hard. Regardless of the fact that the wind wasn’t directly hitting Ling Chao and Ziyang, it felt like it should have been. Because of this, their game of Jenga was very wobbly and didn’t last very long.“Ziyang-g-ge?” Ling Chao said quietly as he looked up at his friend. Ziyang hummed an answer. “I want t-to re-ead.” Recently in school Ling Chao’s teacher told him that he needed to practice reading out loud a few times a day. Ziyang and Ling Chao had made a routine since then to practice reading. Ling Chao would pick a book and they would lay on their backs on the floor while Ling Chao read out loud to Ziyang. So there they lay while Ling Chao read. Part way through the story, Ziyang sat straight up. Ling Chao stopped reading and he looked over to see Ziyang listening for something. “Do you hear that?” Ziyang asked. Ling Chao shook his head and Ziyang said,“Exactly. The wind stopped.” Ling Chao’s eyes widened and he smiled. The two went over to their parents to ask about it, as it was very short for a normal hurricane. They were told that currently they were in the eye of the storm. Nothing was going on around them. It was all calm. “C-can we go l-look?” Ling Chao asked quietly. “Go ahead, but please be back in about fifteen minutes.” Ling Chao’s mom said to them as they left. The two boys ran out of the house and saw the damage made by by the hurricane. Some houses were completely missing roof tops, while other houses were gone. Random items were strewn all around the street. “Let’s go down to the beach. “ They walked down to the beach, only a block or two away. When they got there they looked around and saw hundreds, maybe thousands of miscellaneous objects scattered around the beach, carried there by the wind. Ziyang and Ling Chao began to comb the beach, looking at the objects. They stopped occasionally to look at any that were particularly interesting. They’d been doing this for only a few minutes when Ziyang stopped. He felt something off suddenly. The feeling in the air changed from relaxed, to tense. He didn’t like it. The whole time they had been walking around the beach, the sea had been very calm. No waves had even come up to brush their feet. It was like a great transparent wall had been put up, preventing the water from moving. But now, Ziyang’s feet were being brushed by the water. He hadn’t walked any closer, but the waves themselves were creeping closer. The tide was coming closer with every back and forth. The air was getting more tense. Ziyang looked at Ling Chao. He was bent over looking at something in the sand. Ziyang knew something was going to happen. He didn’t know why, but right then he started to run. He ran as fast as he could back toward his house. He reached the edge of the beach and turned around. Ling Chao was still crouched looking in the sand. Ziyang had expected Ling Chao to follow. “Didi!” He called. It looked as if Ling Chao hadn’t heard him. Either that or Ziyang’s yell wasn’t as loud as he had thought. His call went right over the younger boy’s head. Ling Chao was spacing out. This was not a good time. And Ziyang knew that he should have grabbed Ling Chao before he ran. He knew that he had time to grab him as he stood there yelling. But as he realized that, it was too late. There was no more time. Ziyang looked and was frozen, stuck where he was. A huge wave was building up in the distance. It looked as if it were moving in slow motion. His friend was still staring at something in the sand. There was a sudden moment where Ziyang could move again, this time he wouldn’t waste it. “Li Yingchao!” Ziyang called out his full name. No one ever called him by it, but this was important. Before the last syllable left Ziyang’s mouth, Ling Chao’s head snapped up. But it was too late. In those few, short seconds the wave had crept right up to the shore. It was huge. Easily the size of a several story building. It seemed to freeze in the air for a moment as Ling Chao looked up, eyes wide and innocent, questioning. Then fear melted his face as he realized what was happening. His features fell slack and his eyebrows knit together. His face pleaded “save me.” But Ziyang could do nothing.The great wave suddenly fell, collapsing directly over Ling Chao. It enveloped him in a great sphere of water and, just as quickly as it dropped, the wave pulled back and retreated into the sea. Ling Chao was nowhere to be seen. The water left no trace. Ziyang fell to his knees. He knew he should have gone back home to tell his parents what happened, but he couldn't move. His knees made intents in the sand. His eyes were stuck staring at the spot Ling Chao was just crouched in. His best friend was just ripped into the sea right before his eyes. Just then, the sea began to build up again. A wave started to form. This time it reached the beach quicker. The wave rose, this one was much bigger than the first. It rose above Ziyang’s head. He looked up and saw, in the crest of the wave, Ling Chao. He was suspended in the wave. Eyes closed, face serene, body relaxed. The wave seemed to fall in slow motion. Everything went dark. After the incident that day, Ziyang awoke in a hospital. He was asleep for three days. When he woke up, he tried his best to explain the events of that day to Ling Chao’s and his own parents. He tried to tell them what happened. There was no way Ziyang could see the story that his friend’s death didn’t seem like his fault. There were at least two times he could have run and saved Ling Chao. He never did. His only thought was to save himself. Despite this, their parents didn’t hold him accountable. They seemed to understand Ziyang while not fully understanding the circumstances. They weren’t there, so they didn’t really know. Every time Ziyang closed his eyes since then, he saw Ling Chao, suspended in the wave above his head. His body relaxed completely. His greatest desire was to forget. But he couldn’t forget. They never found Ling Chao’s body. It never washed up on shore. Anywhere, as far as Ziyang knew. He just, disappeared.