Same old same old. Disney and Pixar owns Gill, Nemo, the tank gang, and others not in the preceding list, who are mine: Mr. Skimmer, Stroke, Niches, Chang, and Tanachi.
Addressing a Few Possible Issues (AFPI. Because I like acronyms.): You may feel that the grief after the failed attempt with Nemo is a bit too much. Yeah, it probably is, but I thought it gave a good "feeling guilty" part. To be very strict, this chapter would be rated PG for um…bloody visions? This chapter comprises everything that was in the movie. I changed a few lines of dialogue, and added a few scenes of my own. I didn't change what initially happened in the movie, so don't get angry thinking I changed the movie. Once again, this is long!
Chapter 7: Destiny, Stupidity, and Success
With everything now in place, the bright spot of light approached, bringing with it the ring of darkness. With this addition, I must change my purpose, and find the real reason for my life. Let's take a trip back in time. Let's go back to just when the horrific events were starting to take their toll. Now, let's change that. Even if you can't have a happy future, you'll work to create a happy future for the one you most care about.
A similar awakening gave way to pitiful screaming, while all remained calm on the mysterious outside. The unusual racket outside reached my hole, and I opened one eye. The others were talking to someone. Was there another newbie?
Suddenly, I heard Phil's muffled voice from the other side, and the terrifying mural landed right in front of this side. Seeing those glaring eyes and those sharp, glittering teeth triggered the memory. Bang! Bang, bang, bang! Chuckles' little orange body slammed against the sides. I closed my eyes again, not wanted to remember this again.
This also gave way to panic. There was the fateful sucking noise and a small pop, followed by screaming. At last, I emerged from the dark corner, wondering what had happened.
Then I saw him- the new boy, a little orange clownfish, struggling inside the corner device's pipe. This was his test, the Shock Rope Ship of his life. This time, it was a real test of bravery and determination. One of my philosophies came into play- that you must learn to be independent, and not rely on others all the time. Who knows how long the ones you rely on will be around? If they were gone tomorrow, what would you do?
He yelled at me to help him.
"No," I told him. "You got yourself in there, you can get yourself out."
He continued to panic, wriggling in fear. Even when I gave him directions, to help out if he couldn't figure out the method, he was still doubtful. "But…but I have a bad fin!"
Turning to the side, I showed him my torn right fin. "Never stopped me."
The other six members were dumbfounded as they stared at us. With a little more encouragement, I got him to relax and concentrate. A few minutes later, he was free, all by himself, and he smiled at us. He had risen from the overhead hole and met a crowd of cheering horseshoe crabs.
As I floated there in satisfaction, Peach popped off the siding and looked at me. "Wow," she commented. "From the ocean…just like you, Gill." The similarities didn't stop there, and I soon noticed that our bad fins were both on the right side.
Normally, the welcoming ceremony was a few days after the arrival of the new fish, but I decided to push it to that night. If that little clownfish had enough bravery to get himself free of the tube, swimming through the bubble spray would be no sweat. This was the one that would alter my purpose and forever change my life. You could say that this was a crucial turning point, marking the end of horrible things and the beginning of an ascent back to happy times.
I spent the rest of the day preparing for the nightly ceremony, making small headdresses for Gurgle and Bubbles. They even added a new touch, deciding to emerge from behind the tiki heads. I also spent a long time staring at the filter where he had gotten stuck and a way to jam it up came to me. The little fish was small enough, he could fit inside the space above the waterwheel, take a pebble, put it into the blade to stop it and go back out through the tube. Then it would get dirty again, Phil would put us in bags to clean it, and we could all roll out the window. I decided to wait until later to tell them about this new plan, and I thought after the ceremony would be the perfect time.
That night, the little guy was sleeping in the hut structure when Jacques came and tossed pebbles on him to wake him up. As he made his way up, Bloat, Gurgle, and Bubbles emerged from the tiki heads, just like they were supposed to. At the halfway mark, Peach (attached to the side of the plastic volcano) and Deb hit him with leaves, "cleansing" him. At last he reached the top, where I floated on the other side, with the other four fish chanting in the background. For a while, I had contemplated trying to make a new headdress for myself, but I thought the filamentous extension was enough. Despite being able to escape from the tube, the little clownfish still looked scared. Oh well, I didn't mean to propose another test this early on, bit it was too late to turn back now.
"State your name."
"N-Nemo," he stuttered.
Bloat swam up to perform his part of the ceremony. There was a small setback in the flow, when Jacques decided to take a nap and didn't turn on the volcano one cue. At first, little Nemo did look scared, but I could see him concentrating, like before, and he jetted straight through the bubbles with determination. He actually bumped my snout when he got to the other side. I wanted to laugh, but held it in and ended up smiling. I turned around to the others and "presented" him, giving him the nickname of Shark Bait. (I still have no idea where this came from. It might have been me connecting my life with his, with the sharks that attacked me, long ago.)
After out little chanting sequence, which Gurgle would just not give up, I at last explained to them my new plan to jam the device and make it dirty. Most of them were skeptical, but little Nemo actually seemed excited. Perhaps it was because I had chosen him to carry out a special part of this mission.
The mission began the very next day. That morning I heard from the others that it was once again that horrible time of the year, autumn. Darla would be getting another present, this time little Nemo! This plan had to work. We had to get out with him and stop him from being killed. Later that day, we introduced him to Nigel, but we didn't get a lot of time to talk, since Phil quickly shooed him away. Thankfully, he went away for a while, so we had time to do this without worrying about anyone seeing us.
First, the little clownfish swam up to the surface and hopped past the waterwheel into the device. I swam to the bottom, picked up one of the pebbles in my snout, and spit it into the opening. With some encouragement and instructions, he managed to place the pebble in between the rotating blades, screeching them to a halt. However, as we would soon learn, the pebble in the blades wasn't completely secured.
As little Nemo squeezed through the tube on his way out, the pebble suddenly came loose, and the sucking resumed. The force was dragging the poor little fish back towards the spinning blades. Thinking fast, I managed to tear a piece of seaweed loose in a panic. We all shoved the piece up the tube as quickly as we could. By now, he was barely hanging on, the evil blades just a few inches below him, ready to turn him into sushi. Thankfully, just at the last minute, he managed to grab onto the stick and we heaved him out.
For a long moment, we just laid in a heap, panting with shock that one of us had almost died. This wasn't Chuckles. Chuckles' death had not been such a devastating loss. It had a meaning, to set things up for this one that we couldn't afford to lose.
Still shocked, Peach looked up at me from the top of the pile. "Gill, don't make him go back in there."
For a moment, I froze then did the only thing I could think of to do in situations like this- swim. However, stuck in a small area like this, I could only go so far. I streamed back to my dark corner where I stayed for the next two days. Peach had struck a cord that I just couldn't deal with. If little Nemo had died in there at that moment, it would have been my fault. She was completely right.
That night, while everyone was sleeping, I did something I hadn't done in about ten years: cry. I cried as I imagined, in a horribly realistic image, that special little clownfish being chopped to pieces in the spinning blades. Blood floated everywhere around the filter. Not only was I tyrant, I was almost a murderer. This was the ring of darkness surrounding his light. How had this happened? I wondered.
One night, while they were sleeping, I squeezed out of the eyehole to think. I realized that a wish is a powerful thing. A wish can motivate people, bring about great change, make wonderful things happen, but a wish can also kill. Instances when I had shot myself out of the volcano and nearly suffocated, flopping helplessly on the floor floated back into my mind. This was when I began to contemplate the price of our freedom. Was freedom worth dying for? Was it worth the price of my life? Was it worth the price of the life of a young innocent? I had nearly slaughtered a young soul with my wish.
I slowly glided up to the panel on the side and gazed at my worried reflection. A few minutes later, I could not stand the sight of myself anymore and covered my face with my fins. Look at what I had become. My reflection looked no different from when I had first arrived, but I saw something dramatically different.
I had only wanted to help them, but I ended up harming them more than anything else. This happened because I was still in the mindset that my purpose in life was to liberate these fish. My purpose needed adjustment.
On the third day after this failed attempt, the victim decided to approach me. Slowly, I looked up at his little body hovering just outside the eyehole. He actually looked a little sad. "Gill?" he said. "I'm sorry…"
Immediately, I cut him off, stopping an unnecessary apology. "I'm sorry," I interrupted. "As much as I hate to admit it, I did a stupid thing that day. Nothing should be worth the price of your life. It doesn't matter if we never escape, what matters is that we're all safe…" The distress coming back in, my gills acted up and I coughed, for the first time in front of another tank member.
Nemo swam in a little closer. "Are you okay, Gill?"
At that moment, I almost felt like crying again. I couldn't believe that after all I'd put him through, he was still concerned about me. "Don't worry about me, Shark Bait," I told him. "You've got enough to worry about as it is."
Nemo took a deep breath and gave me that determined look I'd seen in the tube and on the other side of the volcano. "It's okay, someday I'll go back in there and get it to really stop, and we can escape."
"No," I instantly told him. "Whatever you do, don't go back in there. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
With that, he moved completely into the small space and bumped into my snout again. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you either."
Fascinated, I felt something strange that I'd never felt before. I placed my left fin gently on top of him. "Do you have a home in the ocean?" I asked him.
He smiled and nodded. "I live in the reef with my dad. Before I was taken away, I sort of had a fight with him. I want to see him again, and tell him that I didn't really hate him…" He drooped a little and sniffled.
I rubbed his back with my fin, trying to comfort him, but at the same time I had a discovery. At last, I knew my real purpose. My purpose was to protect this little captured clownfish and make sure he returned to his home to continue his life. Soon I found myself giving him loving nudges and uttering words of encouragement. The tables had been turned. It was my turn to play the role of Niches.
At last, a few minutes later, I went with him out of the simulated cavern to face the outside.
As I swam by, Gurgle glared, disapprovingly. "Look who finally decided to show his sorry…"
"Just shut up, guys," Peach said, popping off the side to look at him. "This has probably been hard for him to deal with."
At first I wondered why Nemo had said he was worried about something happening to me.
I realized, when Phil threw in some pellets, and he said, "Oh, there's Houdini. He's not only an escape artist, but he pulls a good disappearing act."
As I ate pellets with the rest of the gang, I also realized that I had been upset and deep in thought, I hadn't come out to get anything to eat, and I hadn't gotten a full night of sleep in two days. Everyone thought I had been sick. Deep in my mind, I had thought that if I had died then it wouldn't have made a difference to anyone.
Everything seemed to be going fine now. The next day passed easily and peacefully. During that time, I decided to give the little guy some fun. As Bloat swam by, I suddenly yelled, "Boo!" at him and he inflated in sudden defense. I turned to look at Gurgle and Nemo floating near the bottom. "Anyone for a game of pufferball?"
Gurgle immediately swam up and persuaded Nemo to come with him. We had a great time whacking him around in a game of three-way pufferball. I tried to only hit Bloat gently with my snout, since the little clownfish was much smaller and didn't have enough strength to really whack him.
That night, Nemo was a little afraid of sleeping alone, so I let him sleep in the fake skull with me. At one point, while we were talking, I guess there wasn't as much oxygen floating through the little area, and I coughed for a couple of minutes.
Nemo looked up at me in concern. "Why do you always cough like that?" he asked.
"Well…" I was about to make up some other strange excuse, but I couldn't find it in my heart to lie to this special little clownfish. "I haven't told this to the other guys, but I have asthma."
He looked a little confused. "What's as-ma?"
"I have a problem with my gills, sometimes they tighten up and I have a hard time breathing. That's why I was named Gill."
Nemo frowned. "You were named after your problem? If my parents had named me Fin, I would be mad at them."
I smiled. He had a bright way of thinking, and I knew he had great potential. I wanted to teach him how to read and write, but there wasn't enough time for that. It took weeks, and we didn't have weeks.
A few minutes after lying on the bottom, trying to sleep, his voice broke out. "I can't get to sleep. I'm afraid of…her." With time growing short, the realization had come back to us that Darla would be here soon to pick up…and most likely, kill Nemo. The poor little guy had a right to be frightened.
Suddenly, I got a brilliant idea. At least this time, it wasn't dangerous. "Do you want to hear a story?"
Little Nemo was pleasantly surprised. "Really? You'll tell me a bedtime story?"
"Sure," I said. "I do know one story." I began to tell him the strangely magical story in that destroyed book. Even though I had not recalled it for a year or so, I still had it memorized, word for word. About halfway through the story, I realized I was talking to nobody. He had already fallen asleep, happily on the bottom. In a way, this was a good thing, since I hadn't found out how the story actually ended.
Satisfied, I turned around and slowly drifted off to sleep beside him. Suddenly it was two days later. Now, if this really happened, I would be questioning how I jumped ahead in time two days, but in a dream, there is no questioning, since anything can happen. Also in a dream, everything seems real, as if it were really happening. I was floating near the front of the office side. The others were around me, although their faces were blurry. However, what was clear was that I had failed in my one true purpose. Bang! Bang, bang, bang! A little orange body slammed against the sides of the bag repeatedly. It kept slamming over and over again, until at last the little body was stiff and motionless. In my mind I thought, it's only Chuckles again, that memory is playing again, but it wasn't. I stared at the dead orange body…and it had white stripes. No, it couldn't be…I began to shake and suddenly I burst out in a scream.
The world went black and suddenly changed back into the interior of the fake skull. I was wide awoke and panting. It had only been a nightmare. I had to keep repeating that in my head. "It was only a nightmare, it was only a nightmare…"
My screaming had awakened little Nemo. He glanced sideways at me. "Are you okay, Gill? Did something happen?"
I caught my breath and replied, "Everything's okay, nothing happened. Go back to sleep, Shark Bait."
He turned over and seemed to sleep again, although I wasn't sure if he was sleeping.
There was no way I could go back to sleep after a jolt like that. I squeezed out the eyehole and began pacing around the darkened tank. I couldn't let that happen. Somehow, I needed to get the little clownfish out of here before that day came. The big question was: how? On my second trip around, I happened to glance up at the filtering device. No. No more filtering device. That was out of the question. How else could we get him away from here? We could hide him somewhere in the tank. Maybe in the fake shipwreck, or the volcano…No, Phil would just go crazy, tear up the whole tank looking for him, and eventually find him. I spent the rest of the night swimming around in circles, trying to come up with a foolproof method for his escape that didn't endanger anybody's life. I was unsuccessful, and got nothing for it except a pair of blurry, tired eyes. However, the next day would be a monumental day when things at last started to look up for our mini hero.
One thing that surprised me was that the little guy always seemed to hang around me. The others got pretty used to seeing us side by side. Even Phil noticed this togetherness and laughed, saying, "Oh look, Houdini's got a little friend."
Once when we were swimming together, I swerved over and gave him another nudge.
"Why do you poke me like that?" he asked me.
"It's not a poke," I explained. "It's a nudge. It's just the was we Moorish idols show our affection."
Now the little guy was even more confused. "What's affection?"
Ice formed around me and I froze in place, trying to think of a good definition. "Um…it means you like someone else and want to be with that person."
A few minutes later, he swerved to his side and tapped the side of my snout.
"Huh?" I asked. "What was that?"
Nemo frowned. "I was giving you a nudge."
I couldn't keep the corners of my mouth down.
On this very important turning point, we were swimming together, as always. Suddenly, as we neared my side, there was a loud smack, knocking the other three prisoners out of their complex conversation about nothing. Peach tried to make casual conversation with the bird, but he was a bird on a mission.
"No…" he said. "Nemo. Where's Nemo?"
I pushed the little clownfish up to meet Nigel, although he looked a little frightened. That was when the awkward bird began a tale I cannot even begin to describe. It was full of amazing feats. It turns out this little guy's concerned father had done many heroic things looking for him. These included battling three sharks, swimming through a cloud of jellyfish, and even venturing into the deep, dark beyond. I thought I had been an adventurer, when the only dangerous endeavor I took on was Shock Rope Ship. A little thing like that couldn't hold a candle to his accomplishments.
At first little Nemo was doubtful. He had told me once that his father was frightened of the ocean. Well, he had apparently gotten over his fear. Inspiration surged up, and at first I wasn't aware of it. Suddenly, the determined little clownfish streamed down to the bottom and grabbed a pebble.
Then it struck me over the head- he was trying to jam up the filter again! Bloody visions flashed in front of me and I swam after him as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I was going a little too fast; I couldn't stop and went reeling into the side panel. "Shark Bait!" I yelled to him. "Don't go back in there!!!"
The other members rushed over to help. They also began frantically calling his name, trying to persuade him to come back down. It didn't work, and he just spit the pebble past the waterwheel and jumped in himself, as always.
Immediately, my mind flashed back to last time and I streamed down, pulling up a fake seaweed stalk. We worriedly shoved the stalk up the tube, afraid he would get stuck again as the whirring noise came to a stop. My panicked little mind was unable, both of these times, to figure out an alternate exit path. I hadn't thought of it last night, since I had blocked the filtering device out of anything that came to mind.
The clever clownfish decided to take a leap out of the box, back out through the waterwheel. As we looked up the tube, screaming his name, he answered from the back. "I'm over here."
We froze, turned around, and lo and behold, there he was, the whirring was stopped, and he was unharmed. We all broke into jubilant cheers and shouts. Gurgle zoomed up to give him a hug, but shoved him away upon realizing our new condition. We only had two days left, but we still needed to be wary. We ought to blow the joint a day before, so that we were far away by the day of terror.
I gave a speech to the other members, advising Jacques to stop his obsessive cleaning, and the others to be as dirty as possible. Nemo floated beside me, trying to look important. I let him, since it was him that was going to save us all.
It was the day before, and everything seemed to be going fine. I had to remind Jacques a few times not to clean. For a while I worried about my asthma. In this clouded environment, I wouldn't be able to breathe. Eventually, I got used to it, and it didn't present any real problems. Bubbles did have a problem with his treasure chest, and I had to pull him away from it a couple of times. Deb cried for a while, saying that sometimes her sister disappeared, and she didn't know why. Basically, it was a filthy madhouse, but then again, it was a madhouse before. Gurgle was pacing around, screaming. Now I understood why Nigel had given a strange look to Bloat, calling him rude. I had to get away from him every chance I got. Maybe I shouldn't have said that thing about being as dirty as possible.
Later that day, we all held our breath as Phil popped open the lid and reached into the tank. At last I heard him say what I'd been waiting for him to say. "I'm going to clean the fish tank."
Cheers went up among my cellmates. Little Nemo popped out of a fake ship hole, covered with bubbles and joined in the celebration. However, the bagging didn't come that evening.
At last it was nighttime and we had no choice but to sleep. I tried not to worry too much about it that night. I had to remain calm, I told myself. At least I had to make it look as if I were calm. If I panicked, the little clownfish would also panic and that couldn't happen. I took a few deep breaths and relaxed my body as Nemo snuggled next to me. Somehow I knew that even if I never got out of this place and back where I belonged, I could never abandon my new duties as a guardian fish. It would have to be tomorrow. This was cutting it close, but I knew Phil wouldn't leave us all dirty when his niece arrived. He wouldn't want to leave a bad impression. That's what's wrong with most people. They do nice things, not because they are nice people, but because it makes them look like nice people. I drifted off to sleep, feeling contented that tomorrow I would save him and we could at last be free.
The next morning, I popped out of the eyehole, stretched, yawned, and screamed. The floating green substances were gone, the side panels were sparkling, and everything was suddenly clean! My mine raced. How? How had this happened? It was impossible! Phil couldn't have cleaned the tank while we were sleeping. I would have woken up if he were cleaning it while we were still snoozing in the fake skull. I also would have woken up if he had put me in a bag while I was sleeping.
Nemo glided out behind me. "Hey, what happened to the gunk?"
Going a little frantic, I glanced around for the others. "I don't know! What did happen to the gunk? Maybe we were just dreaming gunk! I just woke up, and all the gunk was gone!!!"
Gurgle and Deb approached up from behind the ship and the volcano. "Hey, what's the matter here?" Gurgle asked. "Why are you flipping out like that?"
I was about to answer, but Nemo answered for me. "The gunk is gone!" he cried.
"Oh yeah," Deb said, looking around. "I didn't even notice that."
Now I was thinking hard. "We know it's gone, the question is why is it gone? Phil couldn't have cleaned last night. The filter should still be clogged unless the pebble came loose…" I swam around in a few circles, hoping that would get my mind working better. "…But even if it came loose, one night wouldn't be enough for it to clear away all the gunk…"
As I looked around everywhere, trying to find a clue, my eyes fell upon something above, near my corner. It hadn't been there before. This was a new filter, a more powerful filter. Technology had fallen upon our humble box. Normally, technology is a useful thing, helping you to be more productive in your work, helping you to feel and function better. However, technology gives these benefits only to the human race. (At least this was how I felt at this time, although future experiences would prove me wrong.) Technology was the culprit, hindering us more than anything. This cutting-edge device, the Aquascum, was a new cleaner, maintaining a "healthy environment" and "scanning"the inside, recording the temperature and environmental condition. Also, as Peach told us from reading the manual on the table, it was even supposed to extend our life within the box. Supposedly, fish like us are known to die all the time in our boxes. Gee…I wonder why.
Quickly I began spinning my mental gears trying to find a way to get into bags before the time arrived. If only humans could hear fish talk. Then I could scare Phil by yelling at him to put us all in bags right then. Nothing seemed as if it could work.
My train of thought was broken off by a loud slamming and tinkling noise. The others all screamed, and I knew it was too late.
Mere minutes later, the familiar sonic boom rang through everyone's ears. Bubbles, Gurgle, Bloat, and Deb hid behind the fake ship where they usually hid. I slipped back and endured the attack as I blocked Nemo's ears. Poor Peach got the full-frontal blast and nearly fell off the siding. Thankfully, Phil called her in before she could do much more damage. However, I knew that her being called in was just the beginning of the damage. As he sat her down and made preparations, I swam around, trying to think of a salvation plan.
Just as I began to turn around to grab the little guy and fling him into some hiding place, Phil swooped down with a big green net. This wasn't the same kind of net the men on the boat had used to capture me, and I instantly saw this one's flaw. Without another thought in my mind, I jumped into the net and began to push it towards the ground. I called to the others to do the same. Eventually, the rest of the gang hopped in, and the force was too much, yanking the handle out of Phil's grip. There was a small celebration following this. In the back of our minds, everyone wanted to believe that his salvation had been achieved. This was only a far-fetched wish, and we just didn't want to admit it.
Only a few seconds later, that wily Phil grabbed a bag and scooped up Nemo from behind, while he was unaware. For a moment, he plopped him down on the counter.
"Help!" he yelled. "Help me!"
"Roll!" I screamed to him, gesturing towards the window. "Hurry up and roll out the window!"
Thankfully, he heard and began to push, slamming against the crinkled side with all his might. He was approaching the edge…getting closer. I smiled, feeling that he would be able to escape for sure and go back to his heroic father, that I had succeeded in my purpose.
The happy moment plummeted as Phil suddenly came back out and grabbed the bag mere centimeters away from the edge.
I guess the plucky little clownfish had learned a thing or two from my fast reactions and decided to flip over and pretend he was dead. I was ecstatic with his clever trick and waved happily as he was carted off towards the toilet. The others all followed my lead, calling happy farewells.
Phil changed direction- towards the trash bucket! We went from calling, "See you later!" to screaming "Nooooooo!"
However, time and pure coincidence were on our side. At that particular moment, Nigel slammed into the window, holding Nemo's father and his friend in his bill. Thankfully, a sea bird and two lost fish were enough to distract Phil from plopping our poor friend into dark peril. He stood up, set the bag down on the tray and went to chase Nigel from his office. During this ruckus, Marlin and I might have caught a few glimpses of each other, but we didn't actually meet until much later.
This was when I realized that putting that bag on the tray was a bad thing to do. Darla reached down and plucked him from his safe harbor, like a gigantic monster. Suddenly my nightmare was living before my eyes. His little orange body slammed against the upper and lower portions. Bang, bang, bang! My first reaction was to pinch myself, thinking I was only dreaming again. Then it smacked me over the head the same way it had the day before. This was not a dream- this was real! I had to do something to stop this!
All my former escape plans flashed through my mind. The cover…was off! Phil had left the cover off after he had scooped up little Nemo! Instantly I thought of the volcano-cannon. When we had tried to shoot for the sink, Deb had ended up in the chair where Phil's awful niece was right now. If there were some way to intercept her and make her drop the bag…A perfect plan suddenly flashed through my mind and I zoomed up to the plastic volcano and stuck myself into the tip. The frantic residents all looked at me like I was crazy. "Hurry up!" I yelled at them. "Tilt this thing, just like before."
Bloat got onto one end and pushed it against the glass as he inflated.
"Ring of Fire!"
Jacques, not knowing what else to do, jumped onto the wheel and began scuttling for his life.
In a huge bubble blast, I shot from the disguised cannon. For a moment, I was as frightened as I had been in Shock Rope Ship. I was flying through the air. A missed aim could mean certain death. If I ended up on the floor, Phil might step on me and crush me. If I ended up on the other counter, no one might notice me and I'd suffocate and die.
Somehow I knew everything would be okay as I made a perfect arc through the sky. I smiled, because in my head I knew this had to work, and if I didn't…I'd at least get to spend my afterlife with little Nemo in that beautiful pond in the sky. I laughed, thinking, "No, Mom, I'm not a fighting fish. No, Miss Customer Lady, I'm not an angelfish. No, Tanachi, I'm not a Moorish idol. I'm a flying fish."
I slammed against a surface, but it was scratchy, bristly, and a bright orange color. I heard Darla scream incredibly close and the surface began to move. Then I realized where I had landed. With all the strength I could muster, I flung myself up and slammed back down into her scalp. Once just wasn't enough and I repeated this several times.
At last she went crazy, yelling, "Get that fish out of my hair!" and dropped Nemo's bag onto the tray. With a gentle pop, it exploded, filling the tray with water.
Now it was time. I flung myself off of her head and perfectly landed in the tray beside him. Various cleaning instruments poked below us, and Nemo was sitting on a long, two-sided one.
"Gill," he said to me as we lied there, panting. "Thank you for…everything."
I gave him a little smile, although I was holding back coughs. "It was nothing. Good-bye, Shark Bait. Go back to your family." With that, I took a big jump and slammed hard onto the other side of the device. The little clownfish flew perfectly upwards and back down into the little cleaning sink beside the tray.
"Aaaugh!" Darla screamed. "Where'd the fishy go?!
I rested in the shallow pool of the tray's water, still panting. Now I didn't care if I died and ran out of oxygen. I had succeeded in my one true purpose in life. As I lied there, beaming and choking, Phil came over to examine the chaos now that it had died down.
"Oh well," he said. "Looks like the little one's gone." Then he gazed down at me and chuckled. "And Houdini escapes again!"
I relaxed my naturally flailing body as Phil carefully lifted me out of the tray and placed me back into the loony bin. I took a few deep breaths and tried not to cough as Phil placed the cover back on the tank. The other members all glided up around me, congratulating me, or wondering whether little Nemo would make it or not.
"You shouldn't have done that," Peach lectured me from her spot on the wall. "You could have killed yourself, but…we're all glad you did."
As I gazed out the window, the world seemed new and brighter than it had been before. I thought it was terrible that we would probably never make it out of this tank, I felt disappointed that this would be the rest of my life. However, for a moment, I felt like I was finally home, and that was a feeling I had never before experienced. At that point I knew it wasn't certain that little Nemo made it back to his father, but in my mind, I knew that he had. I had had the wonderful pleasure of being his guardian fish, and delivering him safely to where he belonged. In a way, I felt as if I had helped myself. What I didn't know was that I was looking right into a clear window- a crystal clear insight into the future. They say that good friends are never far apart. The ones you love will always be with you. Now, with this wonderful insight, the world seemed a beautiful, fascinating place to be. I would be there to see it.