Speedy

Zoe was staring at the rectangle-shaped glass aquarium in front of her. It was no bigger than a shoebox, yet Zoe felt as if it was taking up all her workspace. Her desk had somehow shrunk and Zoe couldn’t concentrate on writing her paper anymore. It wasn’t the aquarium per se who disturbed her, but the small creature inside of it. It was now standing on a pile of rocks and was looking back at her. 

“It’s a turtle.”, that’s what she said when she ripped open the wrapping paper from the gift her best friend gave her. It was the same aquarium that now found a permanent place on Zoe’s desk. And inside was the same creepy turtle. Zoe didn’t understand at first why her friend would give her such a gift. And she still didn’t understand it.

Now she had a pet turtle. A pet turtle she didn’t need nor want. It’s not that Zoe didn’t like animals. Not at all. She begged her mother for a dog since she was old enough to spit out coherent words. But a turtle? A turtle didn’t really match Zoe’s energy. She was an energetic girl of 19, currently in the first year of University. She was always in a hurry, always trying to get some extra work done between classes, never getting enough sleep and for sure not a calm person. She never really stopped to smell the flowers and never noticed if the sun was shining or if there was a tornado outside. She was in a never-ending race. She already had the turtle for a week and didn’t even bother to name it. The turtle didn’t seem to like her much either. Zoe noticed this at once from the way it looked at her. She didn’t know animals could show emotions but it was pretty clear that there was disgust on this turtle’s face. If looks could kill…

Zoe glanced at the clock. It was already past midnight and her essay still wasn’t finished. She felt extremely self-conscious with the little animal surveying her. 

“Would you go to sleep already?”, asked Zoe. The turtle blinked twice, stretched its head forward, and, Zoe was sure of this, opened its eyes even wider. Maybe it was the late hour or maybe she was suffering from sleep deprivation but she could swear the turtle muttered the word “loser”. Zoe didn’t care what it was. She grabbed an old t-shirt and covered the aquarium with it. 

“How do you like the darkness, huh? Maybe now you’ll sleep”. Then she went back to her essay. She found she could work way better without a pair of extra eyes watching her. 

When Zoe woke up the next morning, she was shocked to see how late it was. She forgot to put her alarm on last night and was now running late for class. She ran to the bathroom and brushed her teeth as quickly as humanly possible. The face looking at her from the mirror belonged to some skinny girl who looked way younger than her actual age. The bags under her eyes were dark brown and there were traces of saliva in the left corner of her mouth stretching up to her ear. While washing her face she wondered when the last time she got at least 6 hours of sleep was. College kept her so busy. She needed to give all she had or else she would never get that job as a journalist at her favorite newspaper. The problem was, she never felt good enough. That’s why she always had to try harder, because she constantly felt as if she were a step behind. She could see all this hurrying around wasn’t doing her any good, but then again she was only harming herself and no one else had to suffer because of it. Right?

Back in her room, she dressed like a hurricane, throwing clothes around until she found something she liked. She was ready to step out of the room when she remembered: she forgot her essay. Her desk was a mess. In the flurry of looking for the paper, the big disaster happened. Zoe’s mind was such a mess, she forgot what was under her old t-shirt and pushed the “box” away. She pushed too hard and the aquarium fell to the floor. It instantly shattered, a pool of water forming under the desk. The sound brought Zoe back to reality. She left everything to fall from her hands and crouched to the ground. The t-shirt was soaked and there were pieces of glass everywhere. But that wasn’t the worst part. Zoe’s face turned white when she found the little turtle in the middle of its broken habitat. It had a shard stuck in its shell and from the looks of it, the wound was pretty deep. Zoe knew at once what she had to do.

After taking the poor turtle to the vet, Zoe returned to school. She missed two classes and was determined to give her absolute best in the remaining ones. But no matter how hard she tried to concentrate, her thoughts were with her turtle. How could she have been so careless? If only she would have taken things more slowly. Of course, she had to act like Speedy Gonzales as always. Zoe felt miserable for the rest of the day. 

Back in her room, everything seemed particularly quiet. Her turtle was staying at the vet overnight. The veterinary wanted to see how the wound was progressing after the shard was extracted. The biggest risk was that the turtle could get an infection. Zoe was anxious. In the evening she couldn’t concentrate on anything. She felt a lump in her throat and an emptiness in her stomach. It wasn’t her intention to cause her pet any harm. Only now did she notice how weird it was without the aquarium around. Her desk seemed gigantic and she missed the tight atmosphere from before. Zoe could feel it: something was missing. She got used to being around her turtle even if sometimes the pet stressed her at maximum. She realized she may have overreacted when she read the expression on the turtle's face. Plus, she wasn’t watching it very nicely either. 

All night Zoe was thinking how she didn’t appreciate her turtle enough. Honestly, looking back at it, she could learn so much from that little thing. It was a slow animal and it didn’t do much, but the little it did was never left unfinished. She remembered how every afternoon it was taking a little swim and then drying out on the rocks, how it ate the food so slowly but always finished eating at the same time as Zoe finished her essays. The two of them managed to be always in sync somehow. One a speed freak and the other one moving in slow motion. 

Zoe didn’t know how but she managed to fall asleep at one point. When she woke up she jumped directly in her car and drove to the vet. On the way, she stopped at a pet shop and bought a new aquarium. It looked just like the first one but Zoe felt that something was going to be different.

The turtle was alright. A bandaged wound and no infection. As Zoe placed the aquarium slowly on her table she could feel that something has changed. Her rash actions harmed an innocent life. She realized how silly it was, being always on the run. And that she should pay more attention to details in her surroundings. She wasn’t mistreating only herself. But also her parents, her friends, people who cared about her. When was the last time Zoe had called her mom or checked on her friends? When was the last time she has taken a break? College was stressful but she could take some time to breathe once in a while. What she needed was confidence. And she was going to work on it, on everything.

But for now, there was an important decision to take: what name to give her pet?