"Fear in the Water" by Erik Brush

Fear in the water!

by Erik Brush on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 6:06pm (author, artist and conservationist)~ follow him @ http://www.erikbrush.com/ and on facebook

"The Ugliest of Monsters that you will ever find in our world is the darker side of the Human mind! - Self Quote."


I was swimming near a coral head in what seemed like a paradise on Earth. The warm waters of the reef fueling my body with energy and life and then there was a strange scent. I could feel fear filling me in a way that I could not explain. I looked around and then I saw them.

Two sharks lay on the bottom of the reef and crabs tugged and ate at the deformed bodies. I thought that they might have been born with deformities bit as I swam closer I saw that they were missing their fins. Only the upper tail fin remained and there were large gashes across their heads and necks where some great tooth or something sharp had bitten or cut the sharks.

A little farther more sharks lay on the bottom in the same or worse condition. It was terrible! I wondered if I knew these fish? Had I seen them in past encounters on the reef? I could not be sure. They seemed familiar to me and yet the scent and sight of death had shocked me and my focus was labored and I couldn't quite reason as well as I would have liked to on this gruesome day.

What kind of creature kills without eating what it kills? What kind of creature destroys life and discards it with such casual abandon? I couldn't understand this. I hunt to eat, not to maim or torment or discard what I take. That is not natural! It's just plain wrong and evil in its own right.

I left the area. It was too heartbreaking to stay and the death in the water may have pleased the crabs, but not me. It was a troubling sign. Looking around I could not see much life on the reef. The large fish were gone and the coral was dying. They say that this is due to acidification of the water which causes a condition known as coral bleaching. I wonder if they understand the link to sharks that is directly fueling this? I doubt it. They never mention sharks, whoever they are.

Swimming further I realize that I must cross a deeper expanse in order to find a better place to swim and study. Upon crossing the deep passage I could feel the flow of cooler water, but now there was a new scent wafting toward me. sounds screamed in a frequency that I can hear quite well and scents drifted to me of dying and dead marine life that seemed to vanish off into the distance for miles.

I came across the bodies of the dying or dead and had a feeling of dread replace the omni-present hunger that I felt. These creatures were all trapped. Floating at the same level with each other. There were dead turtles and dying tuna. A mahi and a few jacks. A barracuda, along with several dead and dying sharks. The caravan of weak or dead animals stretched for miles and miles.

It is strange to see this sight. But it is not the first time that the death line has suddenly been seen before me. I  suppose it is a popular trend with the strange beings who live above the water. In the old days the few remaining elders impart that the oceans were different. The water does not taste the same. The harvesters of all life were not so numerous. Not so greedy.

Today we live and swim in a waste or dying oceans. Our bodies filled with chemicals and trash. Our predators and enemies have become the predators and enemies of all life. Perhaps the skies above them have filled their bodies and minds with a sickness that makes them act so strange. We are all only targets and time is running out. It is becoming empty as fast as the oceans themselves.

It did not have to be this way. In fact it was never intended to be this way. For hundreds of millions of years nothing like these creatures has plagued the world with so much destruction and death. But the end will also bring about their end. In a way it is a comfort just knowing that they are too foolish to last. Too short sighted to understand how badly they have destroyed our world. But they will get it only when it is too late for themselves and for most of us.

So we watch and wait for nature to strike the last blow. It is inevitable. If you take more than you need, and decimate without allowing for other species to recover, then you destroy all chance for balance to continue. And when balance fails, then life fails. I do not know if my species will survive, but I know that some of my kind will escape the great destruction. That one day the parasite from the world above the water will perish and the denizens from beneath will recover. One day in the peaceful future there will be sharks once more thriving and ruling our oceans. And the evolutionary nightmare primates will not even be a memory among any of the survivors.

- Erik

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