Fin-al Destination

To whom it may concern again,

As mentioned previously I submitted two extremely short stories to the Scottish Arts Trust for their Edinburgh Flash Fiction competition and had them both cruelly rejected because they are not good enough. This is undoubtedly a fair judgement on their part but they took time to write and I remember being pleased with how they came out at the time, though I haven't read them since. Anyway, I’m going to post them here for your very brief reading pleasure. This is the second of the two and takes place in a dining room. So take off your shoes, warm up your microwave meal and take a seat at the table to enjoy a brilliantly-bizarre bowl full of a story I like to call:

I walked into the dining room carrying my piping hot microwave meal and glanced at the clock. My gaze was immediately drawn to my fish tank sitting below it. I froze in place and strained my eyes to confirm what I was seeing. The small community of fish I had in there; a selection of tetras and guppies were arranged in a circle formation around the lotus flower ornament I had recently added to the tank. Still holding my meal, I slowly walked towards the tank but as soon as I got close they scattered. 

The exact same thing happened almost every day over the next few weeks. One Sunday I watched them, studied them for hours. They’d arrange themselves around the lotus for an hour then dissipate for an hour, over and over until one time they stayed in formation for hours, just bobbing there staring blankly at each other. I don't know why but I felt my heart rate begin to steadily increase. They were calling me, I could hear it now. I walked over to the tank and they stayed in formation. As I crouched down to see them closer I tried to talk to them but no sound came out. My focus shifted to my reflection in the glass; the shimmering of my scales in the light, my translucent lips sucking at the open, waterless air. I gasped, my dry, throbbing gills stinging as I collapsed to the floor and watched my friends dissipate once again.