Tanked

Tanked By Eva Piper - I haven't written something in a hot minute . . . hopefully you guys like this!

My best bud Korey woke me up with his obnoxious laugh at the humans outside the window of glass. From what I could tell, an angry mom-monster nastily scolded a dentist about some ridiculous complaint. I yawned, exhaling a burst of bubbles. The sun was slowly rising outside the dentist's office, painting the sky an ombre of pinks and oranges. I’d been in this tank for five tedious years already, and the monotonous, repetitive days were rotting my mind away—the occasional sprinkles of food and my funny-ish friends being the only thing keeping me swimming. I don’t know how he still finds these stupid humans funny; it’s the same routine daily!

“Shut up, man,” I groan, knowing Korey could babble on and on about senseless topics if I didn’t stop him. “I’m trying to catch some sleep.”

He chuckles and exclaims, “Look, Sid! Some new kid!”  

I was surprised. This small clinic rarely ever got new customers. Doubt clung to my fins like barnacles. I turned to look. Sure it was; a new mom strolled in with her young kids glued to her waist. The children hesitantly settled into the waiting chairs while she dragged her feet to the front desk, looking sapped. A snoozing clownfish drifted by, blocking my view. He floated away, and I noticed the older boy had jumped out of his seat and bolted toward the tank. My world shook as his fist banged into the glass over and over. Pow! Pow! Pow! The vigorous thudding dulled into a vibration. I shakenly sighed and scanned the tank. 

I must have been one of the first to notice the thin fracture spreading across the pane. Then, in a flash, it broke. We all came flooding out of the wall-sized fishbowl, knocking over chairs and toppling kids. Starfish Steve flung off the glass and landed on some poor dentist’s face. The wave cruised into a wall and turned into the door, crashing onto the dock. I blinked twice, my head spinning. I lingered in the familiar yet drastically different sea, smelling the salty water and hearing the waves crash and whisk away. Doctors and families clambered out of the building, and amid all the chaos and fear, I smiled for the first time in as long as I could remember.

I’m free.