"The Fish Floating in Still Motion" (Entry for Cebu Climate Emergency Flash Fiction Competition)

             It was cold in December when I swam across the deep, blue-green ocean. I felt like I was the only one around, flipping my curved, small dorsal fin; and turning my cigar-shaped body in circular motion in the calm and serene waters. I came here to look for some squid to eat but there seems to be none around. Suddenly, I noticed something odd below me. The corals, with branch-like and bushy shapes, on the ocean floor were covered with moss-like algae. The last time I came to this part of the ocean, the corals were in shades of pink, yellow and orange. Now, they’re all in a shade of gray. The fish must have wanted their homes to look uniformed. Well, I still think they looked better when they had vibrant hues on them. I quickly dived below to take a closer look at fish’s homes, hoping I could find some squid lurking around the corners but, after hours of searching, I couldn’t find any at all, not even fish

            Since I had no luck of finding food, I had continued to swim across the fathomless ocean. I felt lonely and my empty stomach made growling noises, desperate for food. Out of nowhere, I noticed some creatures up and above the waters, floating in still motion. They came in all sorts of colors from black, white, to blue. There were so many that they had covered the entire surface of the ocean. I waited for them to come down but, they liked staying where they were. As my stomach continued to growl, I could no longer wait and so, I speedily swam up and engulfed some of the fish with my stubby beak. I feared that I’d scare off the others, but they just continued to float in still motion. Realizing that they were non-reactant, I continued to swallow more of them, I was so full that I stopped eating for months! I never felt hungry anymore.

            One day, I started painfully coughing off blood. I felt weaker by each passing day and before I knew it, my system had given up. I woke up to the sight of my own corpse, being placed on a wooden table, upside down. Am I dead? I must be since I’m no longer in my body. There were humans who vertically sliced up my stomach and to my surprise, the fish I ate months ago were still there!

            “Disgusting!” A human shouted.

            “Disgusting? Humans eat fish too,” I thought to myself.

            They started pulling out the fish from my stomach but there were so much that it took them hours to get it all out. Suddenly, one of the humans working took out his rectangular gadget and placed it near his ear.

            “Hello? I would like to make a report. We found a dead body of a Cuvier’s beaked whale this morning. It had approximately 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach,” the human said.

            “Plastic?” I thought to myself.