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The Outside

The inside looking out.

By K.J.GeorgePublished about a year ago 5 min read
2

Strange creatures. They have sticks coming out of their bodies. Seaweed of all colors hanging from them as well. Something that looks like big pearls in their mouths. They don’t have fins to swim. And they have gills on these pointy things on their faces. Strange creatures.

Interesting creatures. Every time they come around it gets a little more chaotic. There is always a small creature in distress. Big creatures showing their pearls happily. Moving swiftly on those sticks coming out of their bodies. Sometimes they are even eating weird food like cattails. Never knew you could eat those. And sometimes they come up to the invisible barrier and make weird faces at us. It’s quite strange sometimes, but still…Interesting creatures.

They never stay long. They come by breakfast time and leave by dinner time. They come and go as they please. I wonder where these strange creatures go when they aren’t here.

We are always here. Mom, dad, all of my siblings, grandma, and grandpa as well. We all just swim around; you know our usual routine. Wait for one of those strange people to bring us our meals. Say hi, to our neighbors. The usual. We don’t have many places to go thanks to the invisible barrier. So, there isn’t much to see. I wonder if those strangely, interesting creatures live the same way?

“Grandpa, do you know anything about those strange creatures we see every day?”

Grandpa and grandma have been here the longest. They said they have seen many of these creatures pass by over the years.

“In the time that I’ve been here, and the time before I’ve learned quite a bit my child. What is it that you want to know?”, grandpa asked as he swam slowly beside me.

“Where do they live? And why do they look so different from us?”

“Those creatures are called humans. They live on land, like we live in the water. So, their bodies have to be different from ours.”

Land? Water? Humans? I’m not sure what that all means. What is water? What does this all mean?

“Grandpa what do you mean? What’s land? What is water? They are called humans!?”, I exclaimed. I’ve never been more confused and intrigued.

Grandpa let out a deep chuckle and continued to swim slowly beside me. He wasn’t fazed by my questions or reactions.

“Come on my child swim with me and let me tell you a tale of the outside.”

From here on out it felt like a dream, as grandpa told me about the outside and its mysteries.

Listen my child, I shall tell you about the humans. These creatures are of mystery, terror, and dreams. They all represent something different for our kind, and the sea. They look different, act different, and they talk weird. They always want something from us, and the reason is never clear.

The legends, our parents, and our parents parents have all had different encounters. Up close, from afar, or sitting on someone’s counters. From tall tales, and legends, and even our dreams. Good ones, bad ones, and everything in between.

Sometimes they are nice, and sometimes they are mean. They want the big fish, the small, and even our seaweed. They take our family, and they take our food. It made us think that they are always in a bad mood.

But then there are those who swim by our side. Swimming gracefully with the dolphins and making friends with the whales. And sometimes they bring us new foods as well. Releasing us into cleaner environments. Vitamins, cleaner water, and making easier for some of us to enter retirement.

We don’t know where they truly come from or where they live. But they appear any and everywhere making it hard for us to find out where they may have hid.

They live on land that’s all we know. We live in water, but that’s another place they can also come and go.

On the outside we don’t have any invisible barriers. Everything is open and there is no one to take care of us. We can see the humans face to face, and we can all be in the same place. Some enjoy it, and some of us don’t. Some of us just roll where the tide takes us, and some of us hide when they begin to make a fuss.

Those creatures have families just like we do. They have homes, and food and need water too.

Yet they speak a language that we can’t understand, a language that is only known on land.

Many mysteries come with these creatures, and they all start with their features.

The outside is a strange and yet glorious place to be. However, the outside is a place many of us will never again see. For now, we shall continue to look beyond the invisible barrier, and let the outside world continue to be a mysterious exterior.

So many things I’ve never known. These creatures, humans, a mystery all on their own. I can’t ask them what their life is like, but I can make up my own story.

“Grandpa, will I ever get to live on the outside.”

“If you dream hard enough my child, maybe someday you will.”

As I watch a little human run up to the invisible barrier and jump around on their little sticks, I decided to do a few small tricks.

As the little human showed its little pearls to me, I wondered what it would be like to be on the other side of this invisible barrier but not in the sea…

I wonder what it would be like to look in from the other side…

Short Story
2

About the Creator

K.J.George

✨ An overactive mind put into words

✨ Favorite coping mechanism

✨ Fiction Fanatic

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  • Stephen Kramer Avitabileabout a year ago

    This was such a great perspective. I loved hearing the details of our world told by this character. Great read!

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