Description: working at an aquarium, Alex was told to feed a sea creature he dreaded being around since it has been keeping its eye on him for as long as he had worked there. Turns out it just wants to get to know him. (Im Alex btw. my name isnât actually Alex but I will be referred by that name since âshadowâ gives more of an idea that Iâm the main owner of the blog, if that makes sense)
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*I canât believe I was sent to do my shift with this shark!* Alex thought angrily. *did they forget I was thalassaphobic?*
Alex stomped up the metal staircase up to the top of the tank, where scuba gear was waiting. There was even a bucket of large fish sitting next to it, if anything, Alex suspected that the set up looked deliberate. Just then, a beep sounded from his head peace. âHey Alex, so you should see the sharks food and scuba gear sitting at the top of the tank.â
Alex sighed in defeat, he even sounded like it, âyes, I do..â the guy on the other end seemed to find Joy in the fact that he got revenge on him since he did make fun of him for being afraid of sharks last week. âHaha, look if anything goes wrong we got backup, all you have to do is throw the fish in and put on the suit to go in and open the gateâ
âWhy not get the gate fixed sooner?â âWell you know how our boss is, always about saving enough money and making sure weâre on the right path, even if he is a bit obsessiveâ
Alex grabbed the bucket of fish and tossed it all in, throwing a few last ones that stuck to the inside walls of the blue bucket. He set it down and went to put the suit on, âso how long will this take?â âIt should take you 10 minutes or less and you do have to swim to the other side of the cage and open the gate with your own hands. But because to this is your first time it will take a little time for you to get used to lifting a gate underwater, but itâs not terribly heavy, if anything the water will make it feel light!â
Alex grabbed the bowl helmet and popped it on, twisting it into the locks in the elastic suit. After hearing all clicks simultaneously, he cautiously walked to the ladder that led into the tank, the lights were on under the surface but they were not bright enough to illuminate the bottom of the cage floor. âHow deep is this cage again?â âUhh, between 30 and 35 feet, why do you ask?â Alex swallowed, clearly nervous. âWell, there are only lights at the top of the tank, should there be lights at the bottom too?â
âIâve been told that the shark is not only light sensitive but is also slightly bigger then the average sized great white, yeah it seems to also enjoy being in the dark too, so at least it saved up work and money on those over priced lights am I right?â
Having nothing else to stall on, Alex stepped down the latter and was half way in when, âoh and I have to warn you, the connection down there is not the best so I might jump in and out mid sentence so let me know if that happensâ âokayâ Alex finished before shakily letting go of the latter and splashing in and under the surface, letting the immediate silence take over his surroundings. âOkay, this tank has a few twists and turns so Iâll have to guide you through it, but we can always take a break if your anxiety over the deep water gets to you, I heard sitting or leaning against a wall or ground can help make you feel more grounded.â
âDoesnât sound very useful since I need a full body compression to help slow my heart rateâ Alex said with a strong hint of snark. Alex started feet paddling towards the first corner and turned, before seeing a three way path that split in different directions. âGo straightâ Alex did so, taking out his waterproof flashlight and turning it on. âNow I would probably look out for the ground and when you see the shark, keep the light away from its eyes, it will put it in distressâ
âWait if Iâm lifting the gate would that give the shark the idea that Iâm food to it as well?â It was silent for a moment before he replied, âit should not, if anything the scent of blood to sharks is kryptonite to them, so if anything it should be focused on that so much it wouldnât notice you or even care.â
This calmed Alex down a bit, but he still wasnât not chill at the idea of having to run into it when he released it into its tank as a whole from its sleeping area. It wasnât just a shark, it was a mershark, a species of mermaid but instead of a koi fish or some other harmless creature, it was a shark and one of the more aggressive ones as well. If it wanted to be.
âOkay go leftâ Alex did so again, and was guided for a couple more turns before he finally arrived at the gate. It seemed like Alexâs buddy was about to speak but all he got was static. âHello? Youâre glitching out!â âOh godââokay alââI need you too open the gateââââdonât let your anxieââ-carefuâ- *glitching continues*â âno, come on! I donât want to be by myself! Not with this unpredictable mershark on my hands..â
Alex sighed and puffed out his chest, âwell, all I need to do is open the gate and go back, thatâs it, you can do this.â Alex took in a few deep breaths and went over to the gate. What his buddy failed to mention from the beginning was to lift the gate from the top, not the bottom like where he was headed and now testing the weight. Using both his arms, he coiled his limbs around one of the bars and pulled up, the gate lifted with ease but it was rather slow.
Alex did not think it was odd, due to the size, but once he reached 6 feet he felt his anxiety kick in. *What now? I didnât notice anything..* Alex thought. He didnât feel scared but his heart rate did in-fact raise and he started to shake a little. *relax Alex, your just being paranoid, nothing happened* Alex dropped the gate, not being able to withstand the weight against his shaky body. âDoesnât help that Iâm under waterâ
Alex decided to see if he could get a glimpse of this creature through the bars, as if that would help his brain realize that it was just an animal and that if he comprehended it, it would seem less threatening. Going for his flashlight for the second time, the small object slipped through his fingers and started sinking into the seemingly dark void. Alex just stayed where he was in silent panic, until he realized that the flashlight only fell for maybe 5 or 7 seconds before it his the floor.
âOkay not far down, just a few feet, right?â Alex took a long moment to swim down, but by the time he finally had the urge to move, he saw two white pinprick dots appear near the flashlightâŚ.shit. Alex froze, watching the two dots move close to the light and tapping it, causing the light to shine in random directions from the firm force the shark was making. A couple swipes of light lit up the area of where the creature was, revealing dark sapphire blue eyes with white dots for pupils, staring up at him.
The whole body of the shark, or what Alex could catch a brief sight of, were mainly a standard blue with light blue and white wavy patterns. Alex finally broke out of freeze mode and swam as fast as he could, breathing heavily and trying to take the path back to the latter but had lost track of where he was, causing him to panic more. âNo! No it should be here, whereâs the latter?!â
In an anxious haze, Alex had started spinning in circles, tying to look sharply in any direction, hoping to see the glint of silver bars in sight. Nothing, but managed to get jumpscared by the sight of a half eaten fish slowly flowing down in front of him, blood swirling around his fish-bowl-like helmet. looking up, he saw the shark less then 10 feet away from, looking down on him.
He screamed and took a random direction and swam as hard as he could, he would take any path the stay away from that thing. But then he went helmet first into a wall, hitting his head hard enough to make him dizzy and disoriented. Slipping down against the wall and down to the floor. He stayed like that for minutes trying to pull himself together. When his brain was able to catch up with the situation, he started to breath heavier and heavier, his chest started fighting and he was beginning to tear up.
âPlease..â he weeped. âSomeone, help meâ Alex attempted to calm himself down but anything he tried was not working. Cradling himself in a fetal position. But then a pair of arms wrapped around him and squeezed firmly. Like a concerned friend or mother. With his eyes squeezed shut he just assumed it was. His buddy that came down and saw the situation and tried calming him down first.
Alex gave into the hug, not that his anxiety was decreasing. He could not help but feel needy for the physical affection. When he had calmed down completely he opens his eyes and yelped when he saw it was the shark, shoving it away and yelling, âstay back!â The mershark then waved his arms, attempting to keep Alexâs attention, while also slowly approaching. âHuh?â Alex said, falling back on his haunches and watching as the shark circled him for a minute before getting close to his helmet and tapping on the surface with a finger.
âYou never seen a dive suit before?â Alex was not sure if it understood him, but what he knows so far is that itâs curious and does not know the meaning of personal space. And then the shark checked the neck by lifting Alexâs head slightly by the helmet and noticed that not just the neck but the rest of the suit was made of something black with greenish-blue highlights.
Suddenly hypnotized by the alluring scale-like print, the shark in one swift motion, picked Alex up in a cradled position and start feeling around his torso, kneading and prodding as well as picking at each thought-to-be-scales that glimmered as if they were calling out to the shark. But all it managed to do is made the human start to react oddly to the contact. âH-hehehey! Stohohop thahahahat!â
The mershark suddenly âdroppedâ Alex in mid startle and looked at him with even more curiosity then before, he didnât react like that when he was holding the human, why did he suddenly act like he found his curiosity humorous? Now testing something, the shark reached out a hand to the humans torso but was met with a smack. âThe others didnât tell me you were this curious, let alone playful..â
The shark just stared causing the human to become flustered, it never saw behavior like this from the other humans, maybe a tiny human that was brave enough to approach the glass during tours which was cute cause they were so small and hyper to see him. But seeing it come from an adult human still managed to make them, or at least this one, look really cute.
The shark beamed and swim-tackled the diver until they hit the floor for what felt like the thousandth time. The shark had started trying a technique it saw one of the human mom or dad used on their pup and started wiggling its appendage against the humans side. âHeheheey! No! Nohohohot agahahahain!â The shark clearly never understood what the human was saying but it seemed to understand the tone of voices, so it had developed a way of telling of what was laughter from a human and not just other sharks.
He also learned different types of laughter, the one that this one had, sounded very ear catching and delightful. He could hear it for days if he could. Then the shark remembered a move that his parents or other shark friends would pull when it was playtime, it was his favorite move when he was a pup.
Before he could do anything Alex had managed to escape and this time found his way to the latter, he climbed up and sat down with his legs dangling, taking off the helmet and was about to reach the zipper on the suit when he was suddenly pounced by the sharkâŚagain..still in a sitting position just leaned at a backwards angle slightly.
âNo wahahahaahait!â Alex did not think the sensation of the shark sniffing and the occasional licks would tickle so much, but he couldnât help but feel better at the fact he was not gonna get eaten. The sensation reminded Alex of a dog sniffing you, somehow giving off a strong tickling sensation even though you are not being physically touched. The shark had even snuck in a sneaky devious claw at his side in the process, making Alex squeal. âAHHH!! NOHOHOHO! BAD SHARK! BAHAHAHAHAHAD SHAAHAHARK!â
Just then, footsteps were heard echoing up the stairway, scaring off the shark back into the tank with a splash. âAlex?! Are you okay? I heard screaming and thought- uhh you good?â Alex saw that it was Mike, who noticed a sheepish grin on his face. âI feelâŚ.amazingâŚâ he said in a mockery of a drunk person. But then Alex sat up and then noticed a figure in the water darting back toward him with something in its mouth, he stepped back and out came the shark.
In its mouth was the flashlight Alex dropped earlier, to which Alex smiled and said, âoh, thanksâ he took it from its mouth and then noticed one last detail about the creator, short dark hair. âWhatâs the name of this shark again?â âMarkâ Mike replied, âitâs mark, named after a dog of mineâ
âWellâ Alex smiled. âI hope I see you again soonâ
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