The Hunting Ground
Have you ever heard of an aquatic shapeshifter? Traditionally, we have preyed on divers, waiting in the guise of a clownfish or a piece of coral reef until they and their black clicking boxes come too close. Have you wondered how sharks can appear at swimming beaches out of nowhere, or why experienced divers sometimes fail to surface?
Our talents go beyond shifting from one finned creature to another. We are the sudden riptide that draws you under and never lets you go, the rogue wave that sweeps you off the seawall or flips your boat. We follow lone yachters bent on circumnavigation, unwisely testing their will against the sea. We know why the Mary Celeste was empty and how Amelia Earhart screamed when she died. The monster shark you have only dreamed of, the creature of the deeps that will not come near the bathyscaphe's light--those were us.
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Once in a while, we venture beyond the sea. The long-necked monster in the Scottish lake, the deadly current in the river, the splash in the lake that you can't explain, the boater who capsized and was never found--those are us, too.
But now we have found a new creature to emulate, a game that will open to us a whole new hunting ground.
You call it: goldfish.
The End
This story was first published on Friday, May 29th, 2020
We hope you're enjoying
The Hunting Ground by
Siri Paulson.
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