I was gasping, my mouth wide open, eyes looking at the so blue sky. Was I going to die like this? A fish on sand, merely a few dozen of centimeters from water yet unable to get completely inside? I’d have cried if I could. My vision was getting hazy as what little oxygen I had left was going out. Then, a sharp cry, a shadow and something hard grasped me.
A bird had seen me and decided that fish would make for some lovely dinner. It started beating its wings ferociously, apparently a bit surprised at how heavy I was. It had managed an awkward takeoff but was still unsteady. I could dimly see water beneath me. In a sudden surge of hope, I beat my tail furiously and managed to slip and slide from it’s claws.
There was a splash and I was back in the water’s cool embrace. I had to quickly move around as the bird didn’t seem thrilled with its meal getting away so easily. The major problem was that the water was so shallow, there was no way for me to dive into safety. All that monster had to do was to wear me out and wait for me to be exhausted. My brain dryly noted that this was what it meant to no longer be on the top of the foodchain. I swiftly dodged to the right as a beak came plunging a few millimeters from my flank. I truly didn’t know how I’d gotten into this mess and could already see the headlines : ‘young adult turns herself into fish, gets eaten by some random bird’.
I guessed this was what they meant when they said : be careful what you wish for.
Shit.