Fish

You're in a sack. "Gotta get out. Gotta get out. Gotta get out..." This mantra plays over and over again in your head. No other thoughts can push it out. You begin wiggling as hard as you can. "Gotta get out!" You squirm and push until... "Freedom!"

You bust out into the open water. "Gotta swim. Gotta swim. Gotta swim." There's something coming. You don't know what, or even how you know, but you know that out of the millions of other clear squiggles in the water around you, only a few of you will make it.

Four Years Later...

"Come on, Gillbert! I want to leave already!" your youngest brother Krilliam whines at you.

Your other brother, Sheldon, scolds him, "Oh leave him alone, Krill. Berty is just nervous... as always."

You sigh and shake your tail. "Thanks, Shell. Okay, fine, but I want it noted that I think this is a TERRIBLE idea!" You watch as Krill swims in a few rapid circles in excitement. He's been talking about wanting to go to the shallow waters for a few months now, but at the ripe old age of four your need to find a mate has finally begun to kick in as well. Despite the many risks of heading towards the humans, and your extreme anxiety about them, your biological urges can't be ignored any longer. "On one condition," you say after the bubbles from Krill's celebration drift away. "You both have to listen to me since I'm the oldest."

"By a few minutes!" Sheldon and Krilliam cry in exasperation. They both hate when you bring up the age difference, but their reactions make you laugh every time.

"It's not my fault my head got stuck in the sack..." Krill mumbles to himself. They begrudgingly agree, and with that you flick your tail to shoot past the two of them and shout, "Last one to the reef is a stinky sea snail!"

The three of you race to the incline that marks the beginning of the reef as the sun begins to set, but you stop just short of it, suddenly frozen in fear. The icy chill of panic sweeps through you and the blood runs from your fins. You feel your gills stop moving and your tail slow to a crawling sweep. Your head is filled with visions of nets, hooks, talons, and any number of potential ends you and your brothers could meet by venturing further. "I can't. It's too dangerous. We'll all die." Your mouth suddenly begins working again and you inhale water as fast as fishily possible. It rushes out through your gills as you desperately struggle for oxygen. "We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die..."

Krilliam and Sheldon finally catch up to you and their presence snaps you back from the edge. The tips of your fins still tremble a bit, but you push forward with them as your breathing slowly returns to normal. By now night has fallen, so the three of you settle down in the sand next to the coral and wait for morning.

When the sun rises, the search for mates begins. You split up, and after two nights at the reef all three of you have each managed to find a few females preparing to lay their eggs. On the third day, a large shadow approaches. It's the fishermen! While there have been a few boats out in the open ocean during your life, they were very infrequent and there was only ever one at a time. As a second shadow arrives from the opposite direction, you realize your worst fears are coming true.

Thankfully the fishermen don't stay long, as a storm began right after they dropped their nets. "Alright, we've all had our fun. I think it's time we went home," you desperately plead with your brothers. "There is danger here!"

"Just two more days!" Krill begs.

"Or even one more night! We can leave tomorrow morning!" Shell adds. You reluctantly concede and remind the two that they agreed to listen to you.

You end up staying for an extra three days, and on the morning of the fourth day the fishermen return. Krilliam and Sheldon are too busy chasing each other around the reef in a game of tag to even notice the net that's been dropped right in front of them! You try to shout a warning, but they crash right into it. You feel the panic begin to set in, but shake it off. "Not now! I can freak out about this later! I need to save them, but how?" An idea pops into your head. You swim to the surface just beside the net and start splashing around to make it look like a fish has broken through. Then you dive back back down and go to the other side to do the same thing, making it look like there are now two holes in the net.

Assuming there were no fish left, the fisherman pulled it in by only one corner to inspect the damage. Your brothers race out of the trap towards you. Through panicked gulps, they both get out that they are finally ready to listen to you and return home. The three of you head back to the open ocean. For the next five years, you only return to the reef for two nights at a time and there are no further incidents.

When the disease starts to spread, you think nothing of it. Surely it won't reach you. Then the red spot appears. It isn't bad at first, but as the sore quickly grows you know your time is coming. You send your brothers away in the hopes that they will be safe. Your vision begins to blur. You feel yourself sinking. Unable to fight the pull towards the depths, the water gets colder and darker. Then everything goes black.

Author's Note: Welcome to your life as a fish! This story is based on the Jataka tale The Three Fishes as told by Ellen C. Babbitt. Three brothers are traveling up river and hit civilization. The fish whose perspective yours is based on wants to return home where it's safe, but his brothers refuse. The brothers end up getting caught in a fisherman's net, so Very-Thoughtful (you) comes up with a plan to free them. It works and the brothers then agree to return home.

I wasn't a fan of the names, Thoughtless, Thoughtful, and Very-Thoughtful, so I changed them. I hope you appreciated my fish puns! These particular fish in my story are based on the Chanos Chanos, or Milkfish, found in the Pacific Ocean. There is surprisingly little known about the Milkfish, although it is a close relative of the Salmon. They start their lives in the ocean. Eggs are laid and hatched around coral reefs. After 2-3 weeks feeding off of their egg sacs, the fries migrate to brackish water areas, where the ocean and freshwater streams meet, to feast on the abundance of algae. They reach maturity and return to the open ocean between 2 and 3 years old. They reach sexual maturity and begin to reproduce around age 3. The longest recorded life for a Milkfish was 15 years old.