The story of a water molucule 

By Thea Pulokas

I've been in this cycle for who knows how long now. Every once in a while I freeze and forget what happened before but it all seems familiar at this point. Some people tell me that I was frozen in space for eternity before I came here. But all I know is that these weird humans are polluting me even more than before. I had to go through one, one time. They are truly disgusting on the inside. All that bacteria? It was awful. But anyway right now i am frozen in some snow that is falling towards a desert so i'm probably going to melt soon and lose my memory but maybe not. Who knows? It's kinda painful being so squished together with so many other molecules. I'm kinda claustrophobic so that's my least favorite form to be in. It's even worse because I don't recognize any of the other molecules so it's really awkward. It seems as though there are some who have been together for a while and know each other. But for the most part everyone is silent. 

Then (like always) just as i think i can't hold on much longer in this form without going crazy, a weird up draft of wind comes and sweeps me away along with the 20 million or so other water molecules. I can feel the particles around me thawing out and I brace myself for the searing pain that comes with tawing and the possible memory loss. But somehow I don't lose my memory and I end up in the atmosphere again. This time though it doesn't last very long because then I am falling again but this time (thankfully) instead of being surrounded by other water molecules it is just a whole bunch of nitrogen particles. Nitrogen particles are nice, they don't say much and aren't annoying which is just the way i like it. But soon I see more and more water molecules around me until I am surrounded by them again. Luckly just water this time though.      

We hang around above a human civilization for a while and I try to do a quick survey of the land below us. I like to do this when it's clear where I will land, especially when humans have taken root there. It's kind of fun and scary at the same time when you land in human, what are they called, Cities? . So many little places you could end up in you could be there for a minute or 5 years. One time I heard that some humans left an unflushed toilet in an abandoned house for over 100 years! I would have hated to be in that position. Slowly going insane for 100 years surrounded by noisy bacteria. They must have been so happy when the roof finally collapsed and they could surrender to the sunlight. If their consciousness wasn't disintegrated of course. 

I glance around to my fellow water droplets and see a weird shimmering thing next to me. For a second it just stares at me but then it shakes a little and everyone starts screaming. Nitric acid, your worst nightmare. It is one of the more painful human chemicals. Nitric acid burns when you touch it which i suppose is why everyone is screaming. I try to squirm away but water droplets like to stick together for some cursed reason so my attempts to move are unsuccessful. So I take a deep breath and try to wait it out. Luckily I don't have to wait for two long because what's probably a few minutes later when I have all but gone numb from the pain an updraft breaks our little pain sphere apart and the nitric acid goes off to terrorize a different raindrop.

The updraft takes us over the ocean and before long I have lost sight of land. I start smashing together with some other water droplets again and we start circling around in the upper atmosphere. Then I start to freeze again. This is somewhat annoying because I have already been frozen today but you get what you get i guess. Then we start falling and spinning. We spin so fast that I can tell what is up and down anymore just that I want it to stop. And just when we slow down enough for me to get my bearings. I glance down and see the biggest expanse of blue emagenable. The ocean. My worst nightmare. We plunge into the depths. I can feel the water droplets around me sneaking their way in. Then the ball of hail bursts apart but I keep plunging into the depths until the pressure becomes too immense and i black out.