A week in the life of a sad and lonely shark.

Monday

Oh, that one looks interesting. That one’s got red hair, it’s not often that humans with red hair come past, I wonder why there’s not as many of them as all the other ones with black, and brown and yellow hair… there’s a lot of humans here today, I wonder why there’s so many of them. Lots of the little ones as well. I’ve been here a long time, but I’m still not sure whether or not I like the little ones. They always turn away from me, I don’t know why. The male ones are quite rude though. The big male ones, they always gawk and stare, and point. So rude. The big lady ones, they’re a bit like the little ones, most of the time scared. Some of them look sad when they look at me though. I don’t know why; it seems a bit strange.

I want to smile at the little one with red hair! She looks very cute and she’s smiling at me, she looks like she really likes me! Ill give her a big smile, and ask her if she wants to be my friend as I swim past her. I hope she wants to be my friend. Oh no, she’s scared of me, just like all of the other ones, dammit. Ill just swim away then, I hate making the humans sad and scared. Why are they so scared of me, I just want to have a friend??

Tuesday

I hope Ray isn’t cross with me anymore. I didn’t mean to bump into him, it’s just that when that school of fish changed direction suddenly, I got a bit flustered and confused, and bumped into him by accident. He was so cross with me, his barb flared up suddenly and sharply and I could tell he was going to try and sting me. I opened my mouth to say sorry and he skirted away quite suddenly. I think he looked a little bit like the child human did yesterday, but I can’t be sure, because he swam away so quickly. When the fish went away, there was no one else around, and I got a bit sad again. I never have anyone to play with, and everyone is different to me. I wish I had someone else like me in here. Everyone is little and they always swim away from me. Maybe I should take Ray something to eat, what does he usually like?

I think today I want to get some exercise in. I haven’t had a workout in a little while. Should I do laps of the pool? It usually takes me about 4 minutes to finish a lap. Or I could do loop de loops, they’re always fun but they usually make me dizzy. Also, they all stare and gawk at me when I’m doing my loop de loops, I don’t understand why they are so interested in my working out, I get sweaty and puffed out and exhausted. I’m not in the mood to be ogled by the humans during my workout today, I think ill just do the laps.

Wednesday

Ugh, lunch again, I’m so sick of this chum they give me. And I bet they do something gross with my food, because I always feel nauseous after I eat. It’s been so long since I caught my own lunch. I remember how much enjoyment I got out of chasing the small seals, how tasty they were when they were fresh. Now my food tastes old and gross, but I have to eat it, because what else am I going to do? I have to find out what they are doing to my food though. It tastes like crap! How am I going to be able to eat my regular food again? I wonder if Orkie gets nice food. He’s in a different pool to me. I’ve never smelt his food, but I bet they give him good stuff, since he’s so much bigger than me.

I want to visit Orkie, how will I get to visit him? I don’t even know which way to go to get to him. I feel like I’ve swam every inch of this pool that I’m stuck in, and I can’t figure out a way to get to his pool. I might try and find a way again today. Wait a second, if I hit the clear wall hard enough, I will be able to get to him! I would have to swim past the humans, but I don’t think they are fast enough to catch me, but once I get passed the see-through wall I don’t know where I’m going. It’s a bit of a risk, but I think it’s worth it.

I will swim to one end of the pool, and then spin around, and do a very fast swim towards the opposite wall. Everyone in the pool will get out of my way, cause I’m so much bigger than them. Just got to see if I can get through the hard wall. Fingers crossed!

Ok I’m at the end of the pool now, and I’m ready to go. Deep breath Sally, you can do this. You’re a big shark, and you’re very strong and very fast. Let’s go find Orkie! I want to play with him!

I started swimming very fast, gosh I haven’t done a fast swim like this since before I was taken out of the ocean. Everyone is moving out of my way very quickly, and I bet they are watching me, waiting to see me go meet up with Orkie. The end of the pool is getting closer, and I can see the little humans on the other side of the clear wall now. They are slowly getting bigger and bigger, that’s how I know I am getting really fast and closing in on the wall. I start bracing my body, getting ready to hit it hard with my head, I’m more excited than nervous, I know I can do this!

OOOWWWWW!! I hit the wall, and bounced back, hard, and I could feel the world around me shaking and vibrating. That hurt. I tried to correct my direction, but I was very wobbly. There was also a big deep siren that started, and it was hurting my ears. The big red flashing light seemed to be coming from all over, and that was hurting my eyes too. Damn, maybe I’m not as strong as what I thought I was! Oh dear, I need to rest, my head is hurting so much.

Thursday

Well, that plan didn’t work very well. here I was thinking by this time I would have found Orkie and we would be playing together, but I still have a big headache and I’m exhausted. I guess I’m not going to be able to find him, that big clear wall is stronger than I am! The only things stronger than me are whales and grown-up sharks, I definitely didn’t expect that to happen!

I’m going to have to find someone else to play with. It’s a shame though, because I’ve already tried everyone in this pool and no one wants to play with me!! I’ll have to keep thinking, trying to find someone else to play with. Maybe it’s me. Maybe no one wants to play with me because they don’t like me. I hope that’s not true. That would make me very sad.

Friday

I know who I want to play with! The man that gives me my lunch every day. He’s really kind. He always has a smile on his face, and he’s always talking to me. I don’t know what he’s saying, but I know he is being kind to me. I have to find a way to bring him into the pool, when lunch time comes, he is usually standing up high on the balcony, how will I get him? I think when he’s feeding me, I might have to do a big jump and pick him up with my mouth and bring him into the water. That way we can swim together and play, and we will have a lot of fun! Humans are lucky to have arms, because they can just pick things up, but I will have to use my mouth. I have to be really careful though, because I know my teeth are very sharp and I don’t want to scratch him. Ill get him to come in the pool with me tomorrow, well have a lot of fun tomorrow.

Saturday

It’s almost lunchtime, I might float around the top of the pool to wait for him. He’s really nice, I bet we are going to have a lot of fun in the pool together today. I can’t wait!

Here he comes! He’s walking up onto the balcony now, and he has my bucket of lunch. Hey, maybe while were playing, I can ask him what they are putting in my lunch, and maybe I can convince him to stop putting medicines in there that make me feel sick. He really likes me, so I think he will say yes.

He’s at the balcony now, and he’s getting ready to start throwing my food in. I’m hungry, but I have to wait for the lunch today so that I can get him into the pool to play with me. Cause he doesn’t usually hang around after he has thrown my food in for me. Ill swim up to him and smile at him to let him know I don’t want to hurt him. He’s smiling back at me; yay I guess he does want to come into the pool and play with me!!

Alright, I’ve figured out how far away he is, so I know how far I have to jump now. I think because I’m a little on the bigger side, well probably end up breaking the balcony, but I think that’s a small price to pay to have a friend to play with.

Ok, I’m backing up just a little now, and then ill swim really fast before I jump up to pick him up. Here I go!! Everyone around me started moving away like they always do when I swim fast. I’m getting ready to jump, angling my body upwards towards the surface. My nose broke the surface, and I opened my mouth wide as lots of water splashed around me. My lunch man friend looked up in awe at me as he saw the size of my whole body, and I think the look on his face is changing a little as I angle towards him with my mouth open. Here we go, I’m leaning towards him, and he’s right in the perfect spot for me to get him!

Got him! We crashed through the balcony and fell down into the water, and I got very excited, because YAY we get to play now! I’m so excited, I let go of him, and start swimming around him in circles, yay, what are we going to do first!! Should we play tag, should we play hide and seek, shall we have swimming races, can we eat my lunch together! He was jumping up and down in the water, arms and legs going everywhere, probably because he was so excited to be in the water finally playing games with me, maybe he’s been wanting to play with me as long I have been wanting a friend to play with!

My nose is tingling, there’s that lovely fresh smell of blood that I haven’t smelt for so long. When was the last time I smelt that? I think it was the last fresh seal I caught in the ocean, where is it coming, this fresh blood. I slowed down in my circles around my new best friend, suddenly realising all the red coming from his body. Hold on, I did scratch him when I pulled him into the water. Wait a second, is it him that smells so fresh and yummy? Wait a second, I am really hungry aren’t I…

I don’t think I want to play anymore; I think I’m ready for my lunch… I’m sorry my new friend, I know we wanted to play together but… you just smell so…. So good… mmmmm, yummy…