Anna Koltes
You never liked water until you grew fins.
One morning there they were, protruding from your body; gray, slimy, and kind of disgusting. You hid in your room and told Mom and Dad you were sick and super contagious. You put the DO NOT DISTURB sign on your door. You spent a lot of time online in chat groups talking to other people who turned into fish. It happened to an unlucky few. Their stories scared you. Their selfies disturbed you. A boy your age woke up as a swordfish because he drank the water at Sea World. But you didn’t go to Sea World. You didn’t drink any weird water.
Nobody had any answers.
You took a bath and you could breathe underwater. That part was cool, but then you got really hungry. Especially for tiny fish like sardines and tuna. You hid cans under your bed. So maybe you weren’t a regular fish after all. But that worried you. Because if you weren’t a fish, there was only one thing you could be…
Your skin went from grey to dark brown and suddenly there were spots everywhere. Your friends got scared. They stopped calling you. They stopped inviting you to come over to their house and play video games.
Mom and Dad called the doctor but she said there was no cure. You are what you are. She gave you vitamins. You hate vitamins. They tasted like spinach.
You begged Mom and Dad to drive you to the sea. You needed to see blue, you craved salty air. You were desperate to feel the waves on your skin. You knew it was only a matter of time before you completely transformed, before you were no longer human. Soon you would be hungry for more than tiny fish. You needed to get as fast and as far away as possible from everyone you loved. You didn’t want to eat anyone.
But as you hugged Mom and Dad goodbye, the strangest thing happened. You started to shrink.
…and shrink.
…and shrink.
The ocean was so much bigger than it had been a moment ago. The deeper you sank, the taller and pokier the weeds, the bigger and spookier the shadows.
But then. Then you started to glow.
And that made it less scary and not so dark. Your entire body was lit up.
Now, all around, you could see purple sea flowers and spongy corals and friendly waving starfish and winking crabs. Your fins twitched and suddenly you could move. You could swim faster than you ever had. You could dart and dash, and whisk and whirl, and dance and dive.
So what if you were a tiny shark. The ocean wasn’t so bad. Actually, you couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. You wondered how you used to spend so much time on land.
Down here, there were shipwrecks to explore and schools of fish to chase and new friends to make. Friends who didn’t think you were scary and slimy and gross. Mom and Dad dove down to visit you. You were so tiny now, you could fit in their hands. You took them on a tour of your new world. You drank bubble tea and ate shrimp tacos. You watched the sunset turn the ocean red. Then it was night and all the other tiny sharks glowed like stars in the dark.
You never knew there were so many. You thought you were the only one.
You never liked water until you grew fins.
But now you kind of wish you had them all along.
April 5th, 2024
Anna’s stories have been shortlisted in the Reedsy Prompt Contest and published in magazines like The Caterpillar, Arena Fantasy, and Daikaijuzine. She is a Chicago based Germerican who enjoys writing dark humor and talking about writing with her writing group.
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Wyldblood 14
Wyldblood 14 is available now
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Nine great new short stories and two drabbles in a fine new collection from Wyldblood. #14 is packed with science fiction and fantasy from imagined worlds to gritty reality a clutch of adventurous, thought provoking and sometimes sligtly unsettling tales which should give you plenty to read though the long winter nights. Available in print and digital formats.
From the Depths
Our latest anthology is packed with tales of the murky deep. We’ve got fifteen stories stuffed with selkies and sea monsters, pirates and meremaids, intrigue, adventure and more. Available in print and digitally.
ISBN 978-1-914417-15-3
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