Life as a Betta Fish- Connor Ailara

  I have been here for as long as I can remember.  All I know is when I was younger this place felt bigger.  Now I am stuck doing tiny circles in my cup that is three inches in diameter and about two inches tall.  The view through the clear plastic wall barely changes.  Always the same shelves of fish and turtle food.  In the day the lights are on and people pour through it with little kids gasping and pointing at whichever one of us is their favorite.  Usually the parents tell them that can't have one.  But occasionally one will say they can, at this point the kid leaps with joy than grabs the fish that they think is the best and run off jumping with the fish in hand.  I would never want that to happen to me.  I don't want to be shaken or dropped by a careless child.  Night is better, at night the lights are off and everything is calm.  There are no people to cause chaos.  By this you may think that I hate people but I don't.  There are three people who I like.  One is tall with a green shirt with a blue fish on it and a name tag that says Robert.  Robert comes every day to each and every one of our containers and drops three tiny food pellets through the hole in the top.  Another is Sara, she too has a green shirt.  She is the one who will place me in a large container while she cleans out my small one, the only moment I get space.  The third is Anthony, and Anthony is a worker who seems inclined to protect us.  He is always telling children to stop jumping with a fish in their hand or to be careful with them.  These are the people I like.  This was my life.  Until one day one of those children thought I was the coolest fish.
  This child pressed his nose up against the plastic wall of my container with his eyes wide.  While I cowered at the opposite side the child talked to his mother about how my colors made me look awesome.  Finally, the kid unhooked the container and ran to his mother.  After this run I was spun around and upside down and had no idea where I was.  After rotating back to a normal orientation I saw that the mother was now looking at me.  She nodded saying something like, 'you can have him you just have to promise to be really careful.'  The kid nodded excitedly and I was purchased.  Than I was carried toward a door with large windows that allowed sunlight to pour through.  When the mother pushed the door open and the child followed with him me I realized that this is the first time that I have ever left that pet store.  The first time I had ever left that shelf.  The child and mother both approached and then entered a white car.  Once inside the child placed me on the seat next to him as he pulled various straps across his body.  Then, he picked me back up and said, "Don't worry I won't let anything happen to you."  I didn't believe him.  But it was nice to know that he would try.  The car ride was interesting.  I tried looking out the windows but the fast changing landscape and blur of colors just confused me.  So I restricted my vision to inside the car.  Along the car ride there were several major jolts that would cause me to be slammed against the top of my container and spin in a way that made me think that the child had dropped me and that I was going to die.  Of course none of this happened and the car ride ended with me being carefully carried into a house.
  The child placed me on the counter and began filling up a large container.  For a moment I wondered if it was for me, then I decided that there was no way a child would get such a big container for such a small fish.  He must have another fish.  I watched the child set up the container and talk to his mom about what my name should be.  He decided I should be called Dart because I was fast.  Although, I don't know how he knew I was fast considering he had never seen me swim in an area more than three inches in diameter.  After this conversation the mother told the child to put the fish in the tank.  The fish was me, and the tank was the large container.  The child popped the top of my container, a container that had always been my home and poured me into the tank.  I immediately hid underneath some plants, and then I realized that there were plants!  I explored the whole fish tank and found out that the plants were nice to lay on and that there was plenty of space to swim around in.  It was at this point that I decided that I was dumb to not want to be adopted, this was the best thing to happen in my life.  Every day I was fed and every week my tank was cleaned.  While other members of the family would still look through the plastic and gape at me that would soon end.  This would become my new normal.
  After about a year I found myself bored.  One morning I wanted to do something.  I wanted to explore.  But I had already explored my entire tank.  It was at this point that I had the worst idea in my life.  I decided that I would explore what was outside the tank.  So, I simply using the power from my fins launched my self through the whole that is used to drop food into the tank.  I hit the ground.  I began jumping until I hit a a wall and slid down it sticking too it with my wet scales.  I couldn't move.  I was stuck to the wall next to the cabinet with my fish tank on it and I couldn't help but think that this is where I would die.  I couldn't see anything, probably because there was a wall directly in front of me too.  I had managed to turn myself around mid jump so I landed facing a direction that I would inhibit my sight.  It must have been about ten minute before anything happened.  I honestly thought I would die, I had no idea fish could survive this long out of water.  At that moment a light illuminated everything around me and I heard a gasp.  I tried to move, and was able to just a little wiggle my tail.  This was all the child needed he picked me up rather roughly and dropped me back into my tank.  I swam in a circle to show my joy.  The child had kept his promise from the day he had gotten me, he didn't let anything happen to me.  For the rest of my life I would live happily and wouldn't try to escape again.  This was my promise