Discovery
04.20.09

I am fish, confined to this prison of water. I wish to be liberated from this godforsaken lake. I know there is a world, far unknown to me, for I have jumped up into the vast sky, and glimpsed it for just a moment. It was beautiful, but no matter how many times I try breaching towards the sky, I always fall back down to the abyss I inhabit. What wouldn't I give to be able to roam the skies, ever so freely? To glimpse what has been denied to me, condemned by God to wander this lake, confined to the same sights, lost in my thoughts. The other fish, they have no respect to what I think, though. All they think about is food, and raising their eggs and young. They are like mindless drones, locked to doing the same thing day by day! I, however, do not and can not tolerate this ignorance and repulsive repetition. I wish to be free, but they cannot understand freedom. They only understand the lake. It has made me an outcast, and I cannot bear it any longer, I must make my escape. Today, I shall launch myself into the skies. Live, or die, I shall be free from this gripping terror that are my surroundings.

I thunder across the lake. Other fish turn to stare, but I care not. My thoughts race past me. Will I survive? What's out there? How will this end? I don't care anymore. If it escapes me from this excruciating fate, fine with me. As I reach the surface, my heart swells. My instincts scream in agony and protest. They tell me to turn back. To conform. To live. But I continue, and rocket out of the water. I descend to a hard, alien surface. It hurts my scales and I start seeing red liquid. Like the same treacherous liquid that drains fish of life when they are attached by the metal hooks. I cannot breathe here. My gills are burning. I start flopping, twisting, anything to go back to the place I just escaped. Above me, the sky a deep blue. I see clouds, and a wide open sky. I want to appreciate my beautiful surroundings, I want to explore this marvelous place, but I cannot. My insides are screaming in agony, I must get to the water. I must end the pain of this suffocation. I start to thrash back to the water, every movement being morbidly painful, but I am too far. I start losing strength. Why, cruel fate? Why have you given me the intelligence to question, to wonder, and why, oh why must I end my life in such agony? I stare out into the sky. Was this sight worth it? Everything starts fading around me. My vision blurs. The pain starts decreasing. I cannot think clearly. Then, finally, I lay dead, with the blue sky as my last thought, my last sight, and my last moment.