Imagine If...

Everything hurt. I swam through the rancid water, stained a dull grey from oil spills. A plastic band cut into my back, the salty water digging into my wound. I swallowed another mouthful of this filth and coughed. I struggled to continue, fighting against the tide against all costs. I could not swim forever or they would get me. Those fanged beasts that could smell blood from miles away. They could kill a small thing like me in a matter of seconds. Home couldn’t be far. I had to keep swimming.

As I lifted my head towards the surface I heard a noise so loud that I was pushed backward. The water vibrated with a sound like a foghorn. Something huge was cutting through the waves in front of me sending foam spraying into the air. A boat. Not only a boat but a catching boat. The kind that caught us. My father had warned me about these ships. I turned around and began swimming frantically in the other direction. There was another blast of sound followed by cries from weird-looking creatures that stood on the boat.

I thrust myself forward but as I did something rubbed against my side, something slippery. I was shaking uncontrollably now. The boat was nearly on top of me. A wave of foam splashed into my mouth and I retched, spitting up the foul-smelling salt crystals. Another slimy thing touched me.

If I could scream underwater I would have. Everything turned black as I disappeared under the boat. I could see shapes now; something was moving around me. Could it be those creatures? Had they smelt my blood in the water? The slimy something wrapped around my arm and I really did scream. A watery scream more in then out. The plastic on my side cut in deeper as something continued to entangle me. It was not a fanged beast.

It was a net.

Through the water, I could see that the net was covered in seaweed. Through this layer of slime, I could just make out blue ribbons of tightly woven plastic. I bit at the plastic. It tasted salty but everything tasted salty underwater. My teeth made no difference nor did any attempt to untangle myself. Blood was pouring freely from multiple cuts on my body now. The net had bristles on its side. My father had once described seeing a fallen ship with boxes full of barbed wire on it. He had described how the wire sunk into his flesh and how it burnt, even in the freezing water it burnt. I think I knew how he felt now.

There was noise from above. Not the honking, bellowing noise, a different one. It sounded like a language, a language I didn’t know. The net tore at me again. This time it felt like I was being hoisted into the air. I tried to shout out but that was pointless. Who was going to come? My father was long gone and he was the only man I had ever had.

The light blinded me. The net rose above the water’s surface and my eyes burnt in the sunlight. It took several seconds for me to be able to see. I rubbed my eyes. They felt like they were melting. I twisted myself around in the net until I could the boat’s smooth side. Chipped white paint with a splash of red decorated the boat’s exterior. There were letters across its surface but as usual, I couldn’t understand anything. This was all happening too quickly. I had been peacefully swimming in the water only minutes before. Okay, maybe not peacefully but as peaceful as someone could swim in this stained plastic-filled ocean I lived in.

The net was now level with the boat. I could finally see the weird-looking creatures aboard it. My father had told me many stories and every story usually revolved around these creatures. They littered in the ocean, they spilled their chemicals into our water, they took us from our homes without consideration. They took us from these waters in hundreds and rumor was that they ate us. Just like that in a couple bites. The thought of it made me want to vomit.

I struggled to look at them. They were horrible. Those shiny blue scales and flapping gills. Those gaping mouths and wide staring eyes, they stared into my soul. I tried harder than ever to break free from the net. I twisted my fingers into the knots and tried to yank them apart. Nothing worked. What did I expect? These nets were not made by us simple folk. They were made by these creatures. The cruelest creatures in the world that just happened to rule it…fish.

The fish reeled me in. The sunlight stung on my exposed flesh, struggling was useless. I lay limp in the netting; I didn’t even lift my head when they lowered the net onto their boat. I could barely breathe; I could barely see. This was how my father had gone, fate would have it that I died like this too.

The fish bent over at examined me. They touched my ears and mouth with their disgusting fins, turning my over as I gasped for air on the deck. One of the fish muttered something to the other. I caught the words “human” and “too small.” I could guess that they were talking about me.

The larger fish with the red scales tore the netting off me painfully. It shook its bulbous head. This fish handed me to its buddy who raised its fin into the air. This was it; I was going to die. I closed my eyes.

The fish threw me off the boat. The wind roared past me as I was flung away from the fish and splashed hard back onto the ocean. I turned around just in time to see the fish thrust the net into the water again, they didn’t give me a second glance. I was free. Just like that, I was free. Thank god, they had spared me. But why? I didn’t care, I was alive that was all that mattered.

I swam frantically away from the boat, cuts bleeding everywhere. I was still far from home but at least I was safe.

Or I was for now.