The Golden Dream

(Lays down) I lay here with a bunch of others. I don’t have much memory of what happened before, it was all just a blur I seemed to just appear here. I always wondered what it was like outside of this place. It’s the same thing every day I sit here with a bunch of golden others like me. No mother or father, we just wait here to be taken away by someone to adopt me. I get up in the morning when the big lights turn on and realize that someone is missing everyday.

When did this happen? I was here the whole time. My home seems to be getting smaller for some reason, but wait is this really my home. If it was where are my parents? As days and months pass I realize that more and more are leaving me. After a while I would lose memory of what happened in the past, as if I start a new slate every few months. Either someone forgets me or I forget them. The only thing I seem to remember is the words...

“I want that one”

Those words just flow through my head every time I realize there’s another one of us missing. Why am I still here? It’s not too bad here, I get fed once a day but everyone else eats before I get the chance to. As they grow I still stay small and weak or weaker than the others.. It’s always the big ones that get adopted before anyone else.

“Give me the big one”

Whats wrong with me? Are my fins not big enough or am I just too little to be desired? I know what to do. It’s time for me to be the alpha fish, float like a puffer and sting like a ray. Here comes the strange person with our dinner, he’s dropping our food in I have to swim through everyone like a torpedo. I start rushing through the crowd of these hungry fish waiting for thee food to come... three, two one!

(Eats food very quickly then lays down)

Ugh I’m so full I can’t do this every day, I need some air.

(thinks)

Wait that’s it! If I jump out of the water when someone comes to adopt one of us, I will definitely stand out, and I would have to be adopted, why didn’t I think of this before! I should probably practice before anyone comes.

(jumps up and down)

Oh my god here comes someone now, this is my time to shine, I must do it now so I get adopted. It would be great to have someone care for me, and feed me and only me, not anyone else… that would be the golden life. I would have what I’ve been searching for, and it might just happen.

(Jumps up once)

As a man points down at me with an amazed look on his face as he saw me jump in and out of the water, the big green bed that will finally take me home lifts me up quickly, in this moment I know that I will surely be living the golden dream.