Characters: Shepard's Fish
Word Count: ~150
Rating: K
Author's Note: Done for ME_Challenge over on LJ. The prompt was: "Shepard's fish eat each other." Title is cribbed from the Ani DiFranco song of the same name.


Little Plastic Castle


Hungry. So very, very hungry.

It knew nothing else but this ever-present ache in the pit of its stomach. It would open its mouth; warm, salty water filtering through its gills. But no food. Never food.

In the distance, a speck – dark, dancing in the swirling water – caught its eyes. It raced; hope bloating its bladder, only to deflate as the speck was sucked away. Deep into the air churning vent suctioned along the edge of its world.

Weak, desperate, its eyes roved the vast expanse of blue; settled on a wisp of fin, sweeping back and forth between the curling blades of green. A burst of energy, the last it possessed, propelled it forward. Mouth open, teeth bared, it closed upon the fin, and the body to which it was attached. The fin beat at the inside of its mouth, before it was swallowed down.

Full, it swam again.

~End