Writing Prompt Response #1

((I texted a few close friends some time to see if they could give me some writing prompts. This is my first flash-fiction response to the first prompt I got back. The original prompt will be listed at the bottom.))

Markus had mulled it over in his mind and had decided that he did not like this, not one bit. He'd been stuck in this too-small tank for far too long, in an environment which he thought must be either too warm or too cold, and he was starting to ache in his fins from lack of movement. The water had developed a sort of staleness and Markus was starting to feel hunger growing in his belly, a feeling he never particularly cared for.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be any feeders nearby. It was also dark and darkness was another thing Markus had never particularly cared for.

Markus thought back on how indignant he'd been when the feeders had loaded him into this uncomfortably tight tank and felt reassured that he had been right all along. Of course he was. Nothing good could come out of this strange game.

His mother, for whom he had never felt any particular fondness, had assured Markus that this was a routine transfer, that they'd be giving him his own space, and that this happened all the time and everything would be fine. Well everything wasn't fine, thank you very much. Markus had no idea where he was and it occurred to him that maybe the feeders didn't, either. Markus was lost - that's what it was. He had never felt lost before - well, he'd never actually left home before - and he thought sensibly to himself that he didn't quite care for the feeling at all.

Markus was, as far as he could tell, a shark, and being lost seemed beneath him.

When the world finally did flash into light, Markus could see that his tank had developed a sort of grittiness. The still water must have collected some dirt, or - he shuddered - dust. Vague figures appeared beyond the tank's surface, and Markus fixed them with a stare filled with as much reproach as he could manage. It did not do, he thought, to leave a perfectly innocent and harmless creature such as himself in a place such as this. He resolved to forgive them only after he had been fed.

Markus did get fed, but it was a strange sort of meat that he didn't like the taste of, and it was hard to get at in his confined tank; he still felt hungry afterward, and not very forgiving at all. When they finally changed his tank, it was cleaner and fresher, with moving water, but still too small and he shook his head in disappointment. Markus reminded himself that he deserved more, and pledged not to forgive the silly beings until they'd given him such.

The feeders got his tank moving again, as Markus reasoned that they must finally be on their way to his very own new water space. He applauded, as it were, his own ability to cope with what had happened, and promised himself never to do it again.

Not too long later - though much longer than he would have liked - Markus felt himself dropped into a pool of clean, fresh water. He waggled his tail in pleasure, happy to see he had quite a large area in which to swim, and then noticed he was not alone.

His new tankmate was a girl - it figured - and she haughtily informed him that he was late. Not wanting to start out on a bad note, Markus explained that it wasn't his fault, that he in fact had been shipped through the Chicago docks and that someone had misplaced his forms and forgotten to tell everyone where he was. She gave no reply and Markus wasn't sure if she was unimpressed with his narrative or if she just didn't care.

The next day a crowd came over to stare at him. Markus swam around the tank and their eyes followed him, and there was no place where he would wait peacefully for them to go away.

He looked at them unhappily and thought to himself that he really did not like this, not one bit.

((Original Prompt: A shark gets lost in Chicago.))
((So, I started writing this without planning ahead - which is always a fun way to write - and realized about halfway through that I had yet to mention Chicago, and there was never really a good way to work it in. I also considered doing another more magical-realist, with an actual shark just swimming through the air of actual Chicago, lost and asking for directions and such. I may yet do that.))