I am a Shark

I am a shark in an aquarium

I see the people walk and talk

I want to be like them

Why can’t I be like them

People look at me and point

I am too scared to try, I just swim past them

I see someone

This little girl

Her parents are dragging her through the aquarium

There’s a moment where they stop to fight

She turns to me

She’s looking at me

Not the shark but at me

I swim towards her and bonk my head on the glass

She giggles and puts her little hand up

I swim with my side against the glass

There’s a brief, electrifying moment

Where our hands touched, despite the barrier

I feel it

I really feel it with this one

I swim away a bit
She is sad that I’m gone

I turn around and swim as fast as I can SLAMMING into the glass

There’s a crack

She is smiling, giggling a little

She waves for me to come to her

People turn and look at us

What they see are two crazies

A shark trying to break the glass that they cannot see

and a little girl encouraging it

The people around us freak out

My fellow fish look at me

Knowing that if I break it, I’ll doom them all

The other sharks

Me, myself, and I

Bite at me

I break free of the feeding frenzy

The girl is still there, crying at my pain

The people are relieved I am being hurt, that I am being attacked

I dart away then slam into the glass once more

A huge crack forms, water is gushing through

The girl is looking up at me, soaking wet, with some shards of glass on her

She’s shivering in the cold water

I slam into the glass again and again and again and again

When finally

I burst through

I swaddle her with my body, but my abrasive, jagged skin makes her bleed

I hear a whimper

The girl is crying

She is covered with shards of my glass

The other people cannot see her injuries

But we’re together

At least...