The Fish Who Had Two Lives

• Wansi Huang, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

The stars were shining, the midnight sky as dark as ever. Sasaki stood at the edge of the cliff. An eerie fog covered the bottom. Sasaki pulled her bright pink hair tie off her long black hair, and leapt down to the bottom of the rocky cliff.

No blood was visible, simply because Sasaki did not die, even though she intended to. There was a large lake at the bottom of the cliff and Sasaki had been unlucky enough to in her view, by coincidence, fall into the water instead of crash on the rocky track at the side of the cliff.

In the morning, Sasaki woke. Glimmering blue scales covered her. Two gills replaced her lungs. Instead of sparkling, brown eyes she had two beady eyes. Sasaki’s dazzling black hair was gone. Sasaki, waving her two fins around, had been transformed into a fish. Shocked at first, wondering how she was breathing in the water, and how she was alive, was now quite content with her new life. She no longer needed to deal with her cruel and ruthless stepmother, being bullied at school, or stop her spoiled step sister from stealing her clothes. She thought her troubles were over.

Nevertheless, Sasaki was wrong. A few years later her family went fishing in the same ravine that Sasaki had tried to kill herself. That day, Sasaki was just peacefully swimming around, and chatting with the other fish. Sasaki’s family then appeared, holding fishing nets and hooks.

“Well, let’s catch some fish!” Sasaki’s human dad said jollily.

“Let’s catch a pretty one!” Sasaki’s spoiled step sister exclaimed.

“We’ll catch a pretty one, don’t worry dear daughter.” Sasaki’s stepmother said contently.

Sasaki looked up at all the noise she was hearing. She then gasped in horror. It was her family. Suddenly, Sasaki’s sister pointed at her.

“Mummy! Look at that pretty blue fish!”

“It is very pretty,” her mum agreed. “Let’s catch this one.”

Sasaki’s stepmother swung her fishnet at her. Sasaki dodged.

“You annoying little fish!” the stepmother yelled.

Sasaki’s stepmother swung the net once again, but again failed to catch Sasaki.

“Let me,” the dad said calmly.

Sasaki now was scared. She knew her human dad was a very experienced fisherman. He had a collection of bones from hundreds of fish species. She would be one of them soon.

Sasaki’s dad magnificently swung the fish net, and, in one blow, Sasaki was in the net, gasping for air.

“I have caught the fish,” her dad announced to his family.

By this time crowds of fish had arrived to see the scene.

“H-Help me,” Sasaki said weakly in fish language.

But it was too late. Sasaki’s dad plopped her in the bucket where the family kept the fish they caught, and Sasaki suffocated and met her end.

When it was dinner at the family’s house, Sasaki was cooked and fried with tomatoes, and her remaining bones were added to the father’s collection. Although they weren’t sure what species she was.