Into The Blue

On the day I was born I made the decision to travel the seas... At least I like to say that it was my decision, I feel a little better about it that way. You see, my mom swam away from us minutes after I was born and I've had to fend for myself ever since. Luckily, she left my siblings and I in a safe area before leaving, but the ocean was new to us, and so terrifying that we all ended up swimming in different directions!

Oh! I suppose I should introduce myself.

My name is Cordelia, it means Daughter of the Sea. One thing you should know about me is that I LOVE talking! By "talking" I mean that I communicate with body language. Obviously I can't actually talk. We sharks don't have vocal cords, silly. Either way, I am overwhelmingly ecstatic that I've finally found someone to converse with! Since you're still sticking around, I am assuming you like listening - or maybe you like "reading" body language of sharks? Are you some sort of psychologist or something? Oh never mind, I'm just happy you're here!

Usually, the other fish swim away pretty quickly whenever I try talking to them... I know I'm quite a bit larger than most of the other fish in the sea, but I am one of them, and I have the scales to prove it! I think they just panic every time they see a shark, even if I'm swimming peacefully along, minding my own business. That's just nutty on their part. They should know by now that when sharks are hungry, we hunt using electroreception, which allows us to surprise our prey. I wouldn't go straight at them when they could see me coming from a league away. I actually did attempt to go vegetarian a few years ago... It didn't go too well. I just couldn't handle that stinky, slimy, disgusting seaweed! It would get stuck in my teeth and I could taste that horrible stuff for days! For all the good it did me, at least I tried.

Ugh! Fish are such hypocrites! I've seen them turn on each other when one of their schoolmates is sickly or has just died. I wouldn't pretend to be friends with them and turn on them when they are dying!

Anyway, sorry about all my ranting, I really do get going sometimes. I'll get back to my story though:

Where do I even begin to tell you all of my adventures? Ha! What a silly question, the beginning is the best place to start a story – I just get so excited and am all over the place when I have someone to actually tell a story to! Let’s dive in before I get distracted again!

I have been traveling since the day I was born. It has been glorious, petrifying, and exhilarating! Sometimes all at once! My earliest memories are of me just trying to survive. Luckily, I was born with the ability to swim, so I could at least escape danger anytime there was a predator nearby. There were a few times I thought I had found a good shelter – sometimes little caves – but would quickly realize they were too small to turn around in, which just won’t work since I can only swim forwards. As I began to grow, I realized that dangerous encounters happened much less. That’s about the time I really started to attempt conversations with other fish. I have only been successful a handful of times, but each one was so worth the effort!

My first conversation was with an older shark named Calder (which means rocky water). I noticed that he was a bit of a slower swimmer compared to myself, and he claimed it comes with age. I am definitely not looking forward to that! He told me about a few of the things he had seen in his travels that were wonderful! There is one thrilling story in particular that he told me and it has stuck with me. He was swimming along one day, near where the water meets the endless blue that we cannot swim into (trust me I’ve tried many, many times). At some point when he breached the barrier, he noticed something in the distance that looked interesting. It was pretty small, but he was curious to find out what it was anyway. As he swam towards it, it seemed to grow larger and larger! Eventually it got so large that he said he became afraid of it and started to swim away when his fin caught on something and he could feel it tugging him in towards the giant monster! He was terrified, but fortunately whatever was pulling at him let go and he was able to swim further away. Ever since then, he has been very careful to avoid those big monsters. If he happens to notice one when he is close to the barrier, he keeps his distance or leaves the area completely, and he has advised me to do the same.

That is one piece of advice I have actually followed because of how frightening that story was! I will admit to letting myself get a little closer than he suggested, but it was a very curious sight! There were strange looking fish swimming along with the monster and there seemed to be so much activity. From a distance, I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on, but whatever it was, it looked bizarre!

That experience is one of the first that made me start realizing there were areas that I am not able to get to.

First of all, like I mentioned earlier, I have tried quite a few times to swim into that beautiful endless blue water and have hardly had any luck with it at all. I found, after many attempts, that the best I can do is to swim as fast as possible towards it and I’m able to breach into it for a few moments, but then something always pulls me back to the only home I know. Don't get me wrong, I love my home with all my heart, but I would absolutely love to adventure out into that beautiful open blue wilderness someday.

Second, their are areas where the water seems to just end. What happens is that there just starts to be less and less water and in it's place are rocks and sand, then that eventually meets with the huge open blue and they both go on and on for as far as I can see. I wish with all my heart that I could find out what is out there. I did try to go there one day. It was a terrible experience! I kept swimming to where the water becomes less and at some point I got stuck between the sand and the open blue! I started panicking when suddenly there was a wave of water that pushed me back to safety! Needless to say, I will never try that again!

I'm grateful that I at least learn from my experiences. I met another shark once who somehow never seemed to learn anything. I don't know how or why he kept doing it, but he would get turned upside down and without help he would be stuck! I know I like company, but I got away from that crazy shark pretty quickly.

Speaking of liking company, I have found a few sharks that occasional like to travel together. They all have peculiar, wide heads and they seem pretty social. They still don't like me hanging out very much though and end up leaving when they get a chance. I guess that's alright since I have you to talk to now!

I know it's getting late and you probably want to get some sleep, so I will let you go. I just have one more thing to ask: What is sleeping like? And dreaming? We sharks don't sleep, we have to constantly be moving. When you wake up, will you please tell me what it's like to sleep?