Justification

Short short short story for competition. Written very quickly at work.

 

   The boat had been there for about three days, bobbing gently above that other world beneath the surface, before the divers even bothered to allow themselves to enter. The three men swung their bodies toward the bottom and began moving their flippers for propulsion. The oxygenated bubbles rejected from their regulators escaped back to the surface seeking release into the night air.

   I always loved that silver moon when it was full. The way it seemed to turn the sea into a bed of rolling molten silver, broken now and again by almost powdery white surf and breaking waves. You could almost convince yourself that you could see into forever staring at the horizon; which is true of course. The limit of your vision is the only forever you ever need. The bottom of the boat was like some prehistoric hulk above us. As I moved as silently as possible underneath it my senses adjusted to all that they required. With one powerful flick and a will forward I made my move.

   It was never good to go straight in with your teeth. Occasionally this could result in biting on some unsavory items, especially those tanks that they carried on their backs. I preferred to stun with a hard strike from my nose, and then flick the prey with my tail, before turning back for the first bite. This time would be no different. As I struck, the released regulator sent a million bubbles passed my eyes and along my body, not in an unpleasant manner either. As I turned back I made a quick snap just to taste.

   When the smell of the blood hit me I knew I had gone for the wrong one. I was getting old. You see, a lot of our prey think that we are bloodthirsty carnivores, especially ones my size, attacking for food without discretion. But it is not like that at all. You see, we have a purpose.

  Here, in this world beneath the sea everything lives on everything else, and a sickness in one form of food can be quickly transmitted into a whole species if left unchecked. When a creature or fish or whatever enters our world carrying with it disease our role is simple. Remove the diseased before it enters the food chain. We only attack the sick. Okay, sometimes mistakes are made. Like now. But it was the smell of the cancer which attracted me to these three divers. It was the cancer that enraged my senses, fired my neurons and took over every fiber of my being. The fact that I had taken a bite of the wrong one…..well, that was just age....and, believe me, I was getting old. I rarely made mistakes, though. But this one……

   By the time I had processed the information in the meat and blood it was already moving back up to the surface, panicking. The other two were now rising beneath me. For a moment I wanted to go after it, end its pain, now that the damage had been done, but I knew that this species were sneaky and had I attempted they would have used some weapon on me from beneath.

   A wasted evening, but I swam away before my brothers got scent of the blood and came in. When we attack we really have no discrimination, just that old aggression toward each other, and as I already said, I am getting old.

 

Reviews

[Tessa]

"But it was the smell of the cancer which attracted me to these three divers."-------- This should be on a seaside wharf somewhere, engraved underneath a bronze shark statuette.

i'll contact some friends. we'll get it done.

[Ani Ashford]

I really enjoyed this piece. You carefully lured me into the water and then sprung the trap so to speak. Interesting view point. This is a great piece.

[Writer CW Kirkland]

This was a very imaginative piece, and I enjoyed it very much. How clever to write the story from a shark's point of view. The flow of the story was easy for a reader to follow, and you provided the right amount of details to keep the readers' attention. This is a great story for something that was "written very quickly at work." Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

[Leah T]

this is so interesting and unexpected - that it's from a shark's point of view, and what the shark is thinking, both made me read this deeply. it's original and engaging. your stuff is great!