While a kind gesture, in hindsight, this fish had never lived anywhere other than her tank, and found herself quite confused and lost. Her name was Shell.
Her small ruby eyes looked at the fish teeming about. It was strange, being free, out of the confines of the tank. She figured she should attempt at a way home. But what exactly was her home?
Confused, she continued to swim about, enjoying the water over her scales.
A sudden commotion caused her to stop. She looked behind her, and say a bunch of fish swimming toward her. She stared at them curiously and began to make her way toward them. "Maybe they know where people like me are supposed to live." she thought aloud.
"Hey little fish, you're going the wrong way! Turn around!" A larger fish yelled at her.
She stared at him, then looked back ahead at the swarm of fish. Then she saw it. A giant net looming toward her, scooping fish into its maw. Shell turned tail and tried to swim away, but found herself caught in the net.
"Help!" she cried, terrified, and crushed by the weight of all the other fish. The net began to rise up, bringing the fish to the dreaded world of the humans. She felt cool air hit her gills, and soon she was gasping for breath with all the fish around her. The net lowered them onto the fishing boat.
Shell gasped and flopped on the wooden planks.
"Hey Jimmy, woulda look at that? Caught a tropical fish again. Pretty far from home aren't you little fella?" A human gently picked her up.
"Bet we could make a good load of money off of him." his friend looked over at him. "Here, put him in Jill's fish bowl, we'll see if we can sell it."
Shell felt herself getting lowered into a glass container. Her lungs inflated with oxygen. She gleefully swam about the small space, glad to finally breathe again. Shell then looked at all the other fish caught with her. They were being thrown into boxes, any hope of getting to the ocean diminishing from their frightened eyes. "Horrible isn't it?" she heard a feminine voice behind her. She spun around and saw a Striped Surgeonfish smirk at her. "Now try facing it everyday. Makes you think how lucky you are to be rescued."
"Who are you?" Shell asked the surgeonfish. "You don't look like the fish they caught..."
The surgeonfish laughed. "I'm not young Idol... I'm really not. I'm from the Great Barrier Reef. Same place your kind come from. And I'm Sem by the way. Stupid humans always call me Jill for some dumb reason. The caught me the same way they caught you. I had been on a trip to visit some friends up near Queensland, when I got caught in a net. They saw me, and seeing that I wasn't a food fish, placed me in a bowl with some water, and bring me along on their fishing outings."
Shell just stared at Sem. "I'm not from the reef, I come from a pet store in Sydney but someone set me free. I'm Shell by the way." she held out her fin.
Sem smiled and shook it gently. "Then you must be quite the confused lass." she chuckled. "So an Idol eh? Not to common where I come from. How old are you?"
Shell pondered that for a moment. "Five years... I think. Time can be hard to guess when you live in a tank your whole life."
Sem laughed. "I know that feeling. I hate this tiny bowl. I'd give my right fin to go back to the ocean, but what can I do? If I try to hop out I'll just die on the decks. At least this way I don't need to worry about food, or getting eaten by a shark."
Shell nodded. The two of them continued to talk until the ship returned to the harbour. Jimmy, the larger of the two took his cell phone and made a call. Soon after, he walked toward the bowl holding Shell and Sem. "Hey there little fishie. I found a new home for you. Idol's need space and little Jill's bowl just doesn;t do it for ya. I called my friend Phil, he'll take care of ya until I can find a big enough tank for ya."
Shell gave a startled look at Sem, who gave a worried glance back. "I haven't heard to much about this 'Phil' guy, except that he has a huge fishtank. Soundslike you'll be well taken care of, atleast for the time being." the surgeonfish reassured her.
Shell nodded. "Atleast its nothing new to me." she smiled optimistically.
A small net descended into the small bowl, scooping the Idol up and gently placing her into a water filled plastic bag. Shell gave a final wave at her friend then settled to the bottom of the bag, curious at what this new life would bring. She closed her eyes and soon began to dream.