A Fishy Story | Teen Ink

A Fishy Story

August 28, 2011
By Dannydjp97 BRONZE, Plant City, Florida
Dannydjp97 BRONZE, Plant City, Florida
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
The most powerful weapon is the mind - Steven Luttrull


I was swimming home when I saw a piece of dead fish floating across my view. I hadn’t found any breakfast yet, so I snapped at it. Suddenly, an excruciating pain pierced the right side of my mouth. It was a fishing hook! I couldn’t believe I’d hooked myself over a stupid, inch long piece of fish. I instantly and instinctively swam away as fast as I could. Then out of nowhere, the hook locked up on me. I couldn’t go any farther. I desperately swam in circles, hoping that the line would cut. It started to work; one of the lines broke off. It stimulated enough hope and energy in my body to swim even faster. However, the harder I swam, the more the hook in my mouth dug into my skin. I could see the blood oozing out of my mouth. The taste of warm, salty iron, and copper flowed through it as I swam. If I keep swimming, eventually I’ll have no mouth left! I thought with the mind numbing pain shooting through my cheek. I lost count of time, mostly because each second felt like one hundred human years. The line around my mouth got shorter and shorter. I could see the white bottom of the fishing boat. I now couldn’t feel a thing in my right cheek, except for something pulling on it. This, I knew, was the hook. Now that I had lost all my sense of pain in my mouth, I decided to swim even harder. My tail muscle was going numb from over swimming, but I continued to swim much harder than I ever had in my entire life. Why? Because I knew that if this hook didn’t become detached from my body somehow, I would never swim away from this. So I continued to swim, on and on and on and on. The boat slowly crept closer and closer to me. I could see where the fishing line hopped out of the water. So I swam down. It was the only way I could swim safely now. However, the hook pulled me closer and closer to the surface. I had no idea what would happen if I did get caught. All I knew was that I wouldn’t be returning home tonight if I did. That was the only thing I could hang onto now. I was exhausted from swimming so much; I needed to rest, but I knew if I did, I was toast. I could see the humans looking down at me. They pulled on that fishing rod as if something compelled them to force me to drown. I hesitated for one split second, and that was all it took. An odd looking metal device plunged into the ocean right beside me. Startled, I swam away from it. For some reason the hook stopped pulling me toward the boat. However it was still locked in position so I couldn’t swim away. The metal pole flew back up out of the water. I thought they were giving up. Right at that moment, it plunged back into the sea stabbing my precious yellow-green skin. The sharp end of the metal pole pulled me out of the water and into the boat. Now my side was aching. The human pulled me out of the water upside down. Blood rushed to my head. I tried to flap out of his grasp. It seemed to only make things worse. I could feel last night’s dinner rushing down from my stomach. I retched up the squid I’d eaten for dinner, along with some blood. I was miserable. My tail was numb from swimming, I could hardly feel the bloody hook in my mouth, there was a three foot long knife in my side, and I was being hung upside down. I looked at the human with large, pleading eyes. That was when I got a good look at my killer. He wore black sunglasses, with white hair, and a beard. He must’ve been an experienced fisher because he had fishing clothes on, along with a short brimmed hat. My helpless, blue eyes did nothing. I continued to flap around hoping he would lose grip on me. I was starting to lose breath. I had never been able to hold my breath for very long, anyway. I looked around the boat; there was another man, and three children, almost as tall as the man. I looked closer. They were celebrating! What kind of twisted human being celebrated a fish’s death? Suddenly blinding flashes jumped at my eyes. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Then, I found it. The light was coming from a small, rectangular machine. It had a small light on the side of it, and a button on the other. Whenever someone pressed the button, it would produce a large, blinding light. I closed my eyes, which made the flashing seem a little better. When it stopped, I opened my eyes again. The fisher man, who was holding me upside down, picked me up by the tail. I was too weak to flap around now. So all I could do was look for where I was headed to. I found it. It was a long storage unit built onto the boat, right in front of the bow. I took a glimpse of my murderer for one last second. I thought, just thought, I saw pure evil in the eyes behind those sunglasses. He set me nicely inside the storage area. I looked up from out of it. I looked out at the water for the last time in my life, longing to be with my wife again. The fisher man closed the lid just as my breath escaped me, to where all I could see was darkness.

The author's comments:
I went on a fishing trip in the ocean with my uncle, who owned the boat, my dad, sister and cousin during spring break, 2010. We had a great time, swimming in 1000 foot water. But we hadn't caught anything until a mahi-mahi pulled at a fishing rod. It was actually the most interesting fishing experience I’d ever had. When we returned home that week I decided to write a short story in the fish's point of view because I thought I would be fun to give him a mind and life of his own. I showed my uncle the story, and although he didn't seem like it, I think he was a bit guilty for cooking him for dinner that day.

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This article has 2 comments.


Wingman said...
on Aug. 31 2011 at 8:50 pm
Cool story. Love fishing!

Luv2read said...
on Aug. 31 2011 at 8:33 pm
I love how this story is told from the Fish's point of view!  I'll never go fishing again!