As I awake, I find myself in strange tranquility. I have a strange moment of peace as I drift upwards, the small hole I am in feeling more like shelter than a prison.

Still in danger.

I remember my current situation all to quickly and carefully drift towards the mouth of my shelter. I stick close to the blue stone and peer outside into the reef.

Nothing.

The eel was gone... Yes! I do a happy little fish jig, then stop abruptly. I peer over the reef once more... Everything was gone. Usually the multiple colors of the reef were bustling with fish of even more colors... Flashes of blues, yellows. and oranges mingling between the coral... But it was all gone.

Something is wrong.

I slowly drifted forward. my fins swaying gently thorough the waters as not to atttract attention. As I reached the edge of a table coral, which was like a cliff edge for my tiny fish body, I saw what was wrong.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

A reef shark. No... much larger. Stripes run down it's rusty brown body. They look more like ink smudges... Large balls at the top that pade and become thinner as they run down the creature's body. i see blood rise to the surface, and look near the creature's maw.

What I see horrifies me. it is eating a long, slender fish. It was already halfway eaten, but I could see its face. It's beady eyes were clouded over with the fog of death, it's maw gaping, revealing a row of sharp teeth it also possessed. I recognized it as a barracuda.

Right under the shark lay the body of a long, mustard-yellow sea serpent that was all too familiar. It was also half eaten, but it's unblinking eyes looked no different as it gazed into nothingness.

I watched in horror as the tiger shark ate, a flash of teeth gulping the barracuda down, then moving to finish the eel. I was nothing in this oceanic world, just a fish. I accept I am a fish, but this made me think. What role did I play within this ecosystem? The answer was simple. I am prey. I am meant to die. How did those poor shrimps feel? I watched until the shark swam away from the reef.

Continue. Swimming.