Aquarium

"Thomas, it's time to wake u-"

Thomas jumped out of bed fully dressed. His mother, Denise, jumped, a little startled by his sudden movement. Then with her hand on her chest, she took a breath and smiled. Thomas was wearing his jeans and his favorite "Sharkadile Joe" T-Shirt. That was his favorite TV show, it was about the magical marine biologist who was saving the environment by talking to animals and learning about the challenges they faced.

This show really inspired Thomas to try and make a difference in his community; he even organized a beach cleanup with some of his friends in order to help protect the oceans. He also scolds his mom to make sure that she separates the recyclables from the trash, and to cut any plastic rings for the sea turtles.

"Is someone excited about their field trip today?" Denise asked.

"I couldn't sleep, Mom! I've been looking forward to this all week! They have Tiger Sharks!"

"Come on, let's go get you some breakfast before you get picked up," his mother said, calling him over.

Thomas went into the kitchen and was surprised to see that his breakfast was extra special today. The oatmeal had little shark-shaped pieces in it, and his toast was cut into . . .

"Triangles?" He said to his mom.

"They are shark fins!" she exclaimed.

Thomas looked at his meal and smiled, but then scrunched his face noticing something was missing, "I need my cup o'Joe Mom! He was 9 years old now, basically a grown-up.

His mother's face went into one of those big smiles that scared him a little, and then she very slowly said, "What did you ask for, I didn't quite catch that?" while batting her eyelashes dramatically.

"Sorry Mom, may I please have my cup o' Joe? You always make it the best, I like when you put cinnamon in it!" he said.

"Much better, son, you have to always remember your manners, even when you are in a rush," she said.

After indulging in his extra special breakfast, and most importantly his coffee, which was mostly just heavy cream with a splash of coffee, he was on a full stomach waiting for his buddy. John is his best friend, and his Mom offered to drive us there, and later tonight we are going to have a sleepover and play video games.

HONK HONK

Thomas's face lit up, and he exclaimed, "he's here!"

He grabbed his backpack, and his mom gave him $20 in souvenir money, and a kiss goodbye. He frantically slipped his shoes on, hopping with excitement, and was out the door and into the car.

"What's up, John?!" They said hello to each other, then did their secret handshake.

They began their discussion about the latest episode of Sharkadile Joe. Thomas had never heard the term, "apex predator" before and that last episode taught him. This whole time he just thought it was a video game! There was a large Shark Model outside of the aquarium that also had several fish statues around it.

Before they knew it, they had finally arrived. The Promised Land! Atlantis! the aquarium!

John kissed his mom goodbye and the pair rushed inside laughing the entire way in until they met up with their class. Their teacher Mrs. Morgan handed them their tickets, which they, in turn, handed to the receptionist, and before they knew it they were finally in!

"Tom come look at this! I found Nemo!" John said.

Thomas came running over, and the two of them burst out into laughter as they witnessed the school of Clown Fish swimming around the tank.

"Well, that was easy!" Thomas yelled. He patted his friend on the back, and said, "We are in for an extraordinary day my friend!"

They flew through each of the exhibits, noting how strange and beautiful the fish were.

"Is it fish, or fishes?" Thomas offhandedly thought to himself.

"What the heck are jellyfish, they have no eyes?! Like how do they see where they are going? Do they make jelly like how cows make milk? I think Mom said so once. . ."

The time had finally come to go see the final exhibit, the tiger shark.

As the boys walked to the tank they continued to quote the sea turtles from Nemo, and said, "Duuuudddeee." To each other, joking around and laughing as good friends do.

John put on a stoic face and said, "Fish are friends, not food" quoting the sharks from Nemo.

"Oh yeah? Then what do sharks eat? Are they vegetarians like Emily?"

The two chuckled and agreed that would be ridiculous, just a silly lie that adults tell kids. They were both smart enough to understand that sharks eat pretty much whatever they want, especially tiger sharks. According to Sharkadile Joe, tiger sharks are known as the trash collectors of the ocean, there have even been cases where tiger sharks have been found with a license plate from a car inside their belly!

However, as the boys approached the glass, they became crestfallen.

"WHAT?! Where is he?!" they both exclaimed in confusion. The Tiger Shark was nowhere to be seen, there was a sign on the glass,

"Exhibit Temporarily Closed"

The kids sighed and whined in disappointment. They had been looking forward to this for weeks and did so much research about tiger sharks before coming. Tom was planning on taking a really cool picture with the shark when it was right over his head. He was going to use the image in an email he was going to write to Sharkadile Joe to show that he also loved marine biology.

Seeing the two kids, and their frustration, the janitor walked up to them. He was an older man, a little older than John's Dad, but not quite as old as Thomas's Grandpa. He wore a grey jumpsuit, had curly white hair, and a scraggly beard.

"Hey boys, are you upset about not seeing shark?" he asked.

"Yes! I really wanted to see the shark, me and Tom think they are so cool! Why isn't he here?" John said.

"Apparently some kid thought it was funny to throw his shoes into the tank, and the shark ate them and got sick."

"Ugh! NO WAY!" John grumbled.

"Hey John, my mom says we shouldn't talk to strangers," Thomas said.

"Well, your mom is a very smart lady to tell you that Thomas! My name is actually Thomas too, but I go by Tommy! See we aren't strangers anymore!" Tommy said.

"Well, I guess you are right . . .but still," Thomas said.

"Come on Tom! He seems like a nice guy, he seems like Mr. Green the janitor at school!"

"Okay . . . " Thomas said in a hesitant voice.

"Do you boys still want to see the Shark?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, we do! Do you have a way?!" John exclaimed in disbelief.

"Of course I do, I'm the janitor, I have all the keys! The shark is still here, he is just in a backroom tank resting. I can take you boys there if you can keep it a secret between us!" Tommy put his finger to his lips as he said so.

"I can keep a secret! I promise!" John said ecstatically.

". . . I don't know. . ." Thomas said.

"Come on Tom! Stop being such a chicken, are you always going to listen to your Mommy?" John teased him.

"I told you don't call me that! I'm not a chicken! Let's go!" Thomas said defiantly.

"Great!" Tommy said emphatically.

"Let's go boys! We can even get some ice cream afterward!"

The boys followed the Janitor to the back room. They walked through a door that said, "Restricted Access" on the front. Behind this door it was different from the rest of the aquarium, it looked like the boiler room in his basement.

"Where is the shark?" Thomas asked.

Tommy just laughed, "It's actually right behind this door, but I have to take you one at a time because he is a little shy. Mr. Shark isn't feeling too well, all because those damn kids threw their shoes into the tank."

"Why did the kids do that? Did they walk around the aquarium barefoot after?" John asked.

Tommy paused, and calmed himself down, "I don't know John, kids will be kids I guess. You are a good boy John, how about you see the shark first?!"

"Yes, please!" John shouted.

"You wait right here Tom, I will be right back! Let's not scare the shark, he is already not feeling well." John said.

"I don't know John, something doesn't feel right about this, I think I want to go," Thomas said.

"OH MY GOD! You are such a chicken bro, trust me, it's fine!"

"Alright," he said in passive agreement.

"I'm sorry buddy, you aren't a chicken, but lighten up a little, everything is fine," John said.

Tommy opened the door, and waved to John, "Ready to see the shark?" He asked in an excited tone.

"You know it!" John said matching the same tone.

"Alright Thomas, John is first, just wait your turn like a good boy!"

Tommy closed the door behind them, and Thomas began his wait.

Time seemed like it was dragging on forever! It was a little hot in this back room, and he started to sweat a little.

"Come on already! I want it to be my turn!"

Then the door creaked open, and it was Tommy, but no John.

"Where's John?!" Thomas asked as he started to panic.

"John is inside you big scaredy cat, the shark actually really likes him, and I think he can handle seeing both of you together," Tommy said.

"Oh okay," Thomas said.

"I want to see John now, and the shark"

"Of course!" Tommy responded.

"Right this way please."

Thomas liked that he said please, that's a sign he has good manners. That is what his mom says at least. Maybe he was wrong about all of this.

He could see John standing in the center of the platform that spanned like a little bridge over the tank. He was leaning over the railing, and no doubt getting a closer look at the shark.

"John, how was it?! I'm so jealous you were first bro!"

John didn't answer.

"John, buddy, you okay?" Thomas asked as he got closer.

Then he saw that his friend was sleeping.

"Why the heck are you sleeping, you can't be that tired?" Thomas said.

Thomas flipped his friend over, to see that he had a big cut on his neck. There was blood pooling out of him and dripping into the tank.

Thomas screamed, and then he hunched over and vomited.

"Tommy! What did you do to John?! Why is he sleeping?! Why does he have such a bad cut on his neck?! Why didn't you help him?!"

"Tommy? Who is that?" the janitor said.

Thomas felt a cold sweat come down his brow, and the urge to use the bathroom.

"You're Tommy, you're supposed to show us the sharks," he whimpered.

"Oh no, you've got this all wrong Thomas. My name isn't Tommy, it's actually James, and John is not sleeping. He's dead, I killed him."

"See how his eyes are still open? I kept my promise, even now he sees the shark."

Thomas glanced at his friend and vomited again. He noticed how deep the cut really went, he could see John's bone. His friend's once bright eyes are now just hollow and cold.

"This doesn't make sense! Just a few minutes ago he was fine! I was being a chicken!! We were supposed to see the shark!"

"Oh don't worry Thomas, because you're a good boy and listened to your mommy, I let you live a little longer. How did you think the shark got the shoes in his belly, to begin with?" James laughed to himself.

Thomas wanted to run, but he felt all his strength leave his legs. The room was spinning, he was dizzy, sweating, and panicked.

"No, no, no, no . . . no," he weakly whimpered to himself.

James slowly walked up to him, with a bright smile on his face, then kicked Thomas in the face.

Thomas sprawled across the floor. It was suddenly hard to breathe, and he lost some of his teeth from the impact.

James then picked up Thomas by the neck, and said, "You are weak and pathetic, completely helpless before me. I'm going to kill you like I killed your stupid little friend. Then I'm going to feed you to the shark. every last bite of you will be gone."

James then brought Thomas in and turned him around. He placed his hand over Thomas's mouth.

Thomas struggled and kicked, his vision slowly started fading to black, and his kicks grew weaker until he was ready to give up.

"Don't be such a scaredy cat bro," John said.

Thomas's eyes snapped open, he squirmed and manage to get his mouth out for a gasp of air, and then bit James's hand as hard as he could.

"Goddamn Brat!" James said. He was shaking his hand and realized his finger was severely injured.

"I'm going to beat you senseless you little shit!" he said enraged.

Thomas started running, he reached into his backpack looking for something, anything to fight. He wanted a swiss army knife for his birthday, but his mom said it was too dangerous for him. Before he knew it James grabbed him by the hair and yanked him away. As he got pulled away, Thomas grabbed something.

James turned him around his face was twisted with rage as he breathed heavily.

"You are going to SUFF-" James was cut short, as Thomas slammed a number two pencil through his eye.

James screamed, and stumbled backward.

Thomas yelled, and charged at him. He jumped and slapped the pencil deeper into his head.

James' body went limp, but he had Thomas firm in his grasp. They both fell off the railing and with a splash landed in the tank. Thomas was disoriented, and scared. He couldn't breathe.

"Where am I? What's happening?" He thought to himself in the haze.

"I'm in the tank, oh my god, I'm in the TANK!"

There was so much red in the water, red everywhere blocking his visibility.

Then he saw it, the tiger shark. It ravenously chewed into James, ripping him apart.

"Tiger sharks are known for their jaw that works like a saw, severing limbs with ease."

He stopped himself from screaming under the water and started swimming as fast as he could to the edge of the tank.

He got to the end, but he was too short to get out of the tank. He started to scream and panic.

Banging on the glass he shouted, "MOM! MOM! Please! MOM! HELP ME, HELP ME!"

Then he felt a warmth in his leg. When he looked down he saw the shark biting his leg.

He screamed again, "He's eating me! He's eating me! MOM! SHARKADILE JOE! JOHN! Help, help me. . ."

He found that he was running out of energy to scream, and it was becoming hard to keep his eyes open. Maybe this was all just a bad dream, and he just needed to go to sleep. He needed to close his eyes, and then he would wake up. John would still be alive, they could skip out on the aquarium and play video games instead.

"That's it, it is all a dream. I just need to go to sleep so I can wake up."

Then he felt a hand suddenly grab him through the water, and yanked him out to the surface.

"NO! NO! Get off me! No!" he frantically swatted at the hand grabbing him thinking it was James again.

"OH THOMAS! Oh Thomas, my boy, my boy!"

Thomas opened his eyes and saw the most beautiful woman he had seen in his entire life. An angel, "Mom?" He weakly asked.

Then he closed his eyes, and the nightmare ended.

He later woke up in a strange room with white walls all around him. He went to move, but his leg hurt. He lifted the blanket at saw that his leg was in a cast. Confused, he wondered to himself, "How did this happ-"

Then all the memories came flooding in. He was bitten by a shark, John is dead, James is dead, and now he is in this bed alone.

His mother walked into the room and dropped the tray of cafeteria food when she saw that Thomas was awake. She lunged at him, hugged him tightly, and kept kissing him. She sobbed heavily grabbing him tighter and tighter.

"Mom you're choking me." He said gasping for air.

"Is John okay?" He asked.

His mother grew silent, and his fears were confirmed. He knew John was dead, but just couldn't get himself to believe it.

"What about James?"

"Don't worry about that bad man son, he is gone. The police and I went looking for you two when your teacher lost track of you. I knew that you would be by the shark, but I never expected to find what I found."

"and poor John. . .His poor mother" she said in a somber voice.

"I'm just glad you are safe. I'm angry at you for being in danger, but I'm so glad you are safe."

She buried her face into his, kissing him more.

"Don't you ever do something like this again! I love you so much! What have I told you a million times?!" She asked.

" I love you too, Mom, I'm sorry," he said.

"AND?!" She asked loudly.

"Don't ever talk to strangers," he said softly.