Mercy

        There was something different about my neighbors today, a type of frenzied excitement. I could see it in their eyes as I passed. They were on edge and moved hurriedly searching for the source of the scent. Scent? Ah, yes! But there was a scent, an undeniable temptation of the senses. A mouth-watering smell washed over me and immediately quickened my pace.
      I was hungry.
      The thought first came only half formed, barely a whisper, a ghost of an idea in the back corners of my consciousness. I could feel it nipping at my thread of thought, threatening to break it into a million pieces. I struggled to maintain focus. But what was I focused on? Abruptly, I realized that all rational ideas were beyond my reach. I subconsciously grasped for them but came up empty. Instead a huge, ravaging, and savage hunger consumed me. I could not rid myself of it.
      I must find the source of the smell.
      Desperation clawed at my insides filling my extremities with renewed vigor. I would be the one to reach the morsel first. I needed it more than my neighbors. None of them could be as hungry as I was. However, even as the thought crossed my mind, I could see the same nervous unease reflected in each of their expressions. Now we were nothing more than a collective group of mindless drones bent on one mission: finding the food first. We bumped and prodded each other. But yet, all that existed was the scent, the beautiful, delicious, saliva-inducing smell that if only I could see where it was coming from, if only I could be the one to devour it, would bring me a happiness I had never achieved and likely never would again.
      Then…something disrupted the surface of our neighborhood, a small, almost imperceptible twinge that sent me into a nearly uncontrollable fit of anticipation. As I sought to stifle my excitement, I noticed the food had yet to be noticed by the majority of my neighbors. I watched as those who felt the vibration fought to hide their exultant expressions and remain one of the few who knew which direction to seek it. The source of the scent had just pervaded our world in the most discreet and unobtrusive manner, almost as if the object was to avoid detection. But I would not be fooled. The sweet morsel was within my reach, and I dispensed with all caution and sped toward it. I moved so quickly that at first no one noticed my discovery. My neighbors slowly turned, but I was already well on my way to the food. I could feel their penetrating glares on my back as I was the first one to come upon the small, bright speck of salvation.
      I found the food. And it was mine.
      This was what my entire being yearned for from the moment I became aware of its existence. And I, I would be the only one to taste of its bounty. It would fill my insides with tender satisfaction. I opened my mouth wide, prepared to bite and devour the much-coveted morsel, and I did. I bit with a vengeance and savored the sweet burst of flavors in my mouth, of such a combination as I had never tasted.
      But then a seemingly small, however unexpected, pain marred my perfect enjoyment of the food…a prick, a small pinpoint felt chiefly in the roof of my mouth. I swallowed and to my horror, the pain increased doubly, no triply what it had been. It was no longer a prick but a stinging stab, a curiously dreadful wound that was gaining in intensity with each passing second. My trepidation only increased when the bitter tang of my own blood filled my mouth and took the place of the sweet food that had just a few seconds before inhabited it. After making several attempts to get away from the current situation and the pain that accompanied it, I realized with a sudden jolt that I was entrapped. The sharp, bleeding wound inside my mouth tethered me to an invisible force that sought to keep me from escaping. A quick, vicious tug confirmed this, as I was pulled and then launched upward. I had just enough time to look on my neighbors below who all seemed to be watching with utmost curiosity, fear, and mingled satisfaction that it was not they who were facing this terror.
      The next thing I was able to consciously determine was that I was thrust into a blinding light and searing heat. Oh! What fresh horrors would I now be introduced to? My body spasmed, and I gasped. The usual cool darkness that daily encompassed me was now absent and the very essence of this bright, white world was poison. It did not enter my body with a smooth gratifying gulp but choked me. The difficulty of the atmosphere distracted me for a moment and now, though delayed, I realized my captor had shown himself. This creature was a giant, well over twenty times my size and held me in a tight, inflexible grip. My struggles that had begun vigorously and frantically were weakening. It was at this moment that I thought with a shuddering certainty that I was going to die. A black film lowered over my eyelids, and my very skin sizzled as if on fire. There would be no escape. There would be no more days to live. My life would be extinguished because of my greedy haste to fill my belly. I would pay the ultimate price for a few seconds pleasure, a single bite of food.
      But then, just when I thought this would be my final moment, when the pain was beyond bearable, when I almost longed to fall into the black void of unconsciousness, the piercing in the roof of my mouth ceased throbbing and although my blood flowed more freely, the pain began to subside. My body was lowering, and even through my weakening senses, I was able to feel the coolness of my home below. Then, almost as quickly, as surprisingly as it had begun, my panic ended. My captor dropped me into my home, and I felt it fill my body, healing me, giving me strength that I had thought was gone forever. I was once again surrounded by the stunned expressions of my neighbors.
      I was once again safe.
      Alive.
      The water filled my gills and with a twitch of my fins, I swam away.