All We Know

Bay swam as fast as he could, reaching out for the tiny unsuspecting creature carrying one of the deadliest things infiltrating their home.  It’s little tail tip wrapping around the pink plastic thing that Bay still doesn’t understand what it’s used for.   Carefully, with nimble fingers, he pries the plastic out of the little guy’s grip and sends him away.  Away from the floating debris.

It makes him feel marginally better, but he still feels helpless as his eyes take in the sight of the filth, of the garbage destroying their ecosystem, their home.

He sighs and hurries toward his pod, his mother scolding him for swimming away without warning.  He doesn’t respond, simply follows his family and friends through the chilly waters in search of a new reef, a new place to call their own.  Their last home destroyed and overrun by this… this inconsiderate trash.

Eventually it grows darker and they’re forced to make camp in a tight cave, the women and children setting up inside while the men (his father and uncle) patrol the waters.

Bay manages to sneak out, needing to be away just for a little bit.

He doesn’t realize how far he’s gotten from their cove until he’s lost.

He searches around him, desperation clawing at his belly, but he’s getting tired.

He’s not used to swimming for so long.

All he can see is plastic for miles and miles.

It sickens him, but he needs to stop.

He needs to rest.

He needs the shallows.

He hurries in the direction of crashing waves and pokes his head out when his fin riles the sandy bottom of the ocean.

He sees a group of men just a bit older than him, laughing and joking about.

Humans , he thinks.

He looks behind himself, but he can’t go back.  He’s still tired, still lost.  The waves pushing plastic wrappers, bags, and bottles together into a giant mass, a giant mountain.

The sun is long gone and darkness falls over him.

The laughter from the shore makes him crawl just a bit closer.

And there’s that group of young men again.

Bay watches as one tosses a can blindly into the waters.

It hits Bay’s head right on and he’s done .

Humans can’t keep doing this, can’t pretend that this is all they know.  That all they know is to take over, pollute, and destroy.

In indignation (and because frankly the can actually hurt), he grabs it and launches it back until it lands between the guilty man’s back.

The man’s cyan eyes look back and find his, “Hey!”

Bay ducks into the water and panics– oh no, oh fuck he messed up.

He’s coming cover.

Bay turns around and splashes the man before attempting to disappear.

But he’s not fast enough, and the man, waist-deep in water and trash, grabs him by the tail, by his tail.

He squeaks and flails.

He’s flipped over and his wide doe eyes meet sky’s heaven blue.