Electric Green Realizations

The goldfish floated at the top of the bowl, its orange scales barely moving. I'd promised Maya I'd keep Barnaby alive while she was at band camp, but three days in, and I was already failing.

"Eat your spinach," Mom said, dropping a heap of green leaves onto my plate. "It's brain food. You need all the help you can get with finals coming up."

I poked at the spinach with my fork. My phone buzzed - a group chat blowing up about Tyler's party Saturday. Everyone was going except me, because I was stuck with a dying fish and parents who'd suddenly decided to become wellness influencers.

"Don't forget your vitamin D supplement!" Dad called from the kitchen. He was currently on a smoothie kick that involved terrifying combinations of kale and ginger.

I dumped the vitamin pill into my pocket and headed to my room. Barnaby wasn't looking great. His eyes were bulging, his scales dull. I Googled goldfish symptoms for the twentieth time, anxiety swirling in my stomach like the gross smoothie Dad had made for breakfast.

Outside, thunder rattled my window. A storm was rolling in, fast and aggressive. I watched the sky darken through a crack in my curtains, thinking about how everything felt wrong lately. Maya used to be my best friend, but ever since she started hanging out with the popular crowd, I'd become the person she entrusted her fish to, not her secrets.

A flash of lightning lit up my room, stark and sudden, and for a second, I saw everything clearly. The half-done homework on my desk. The carefully curated photos on my wall of a version of myself I didn't even recognize anymore. The fish in its bowl, trapped in a glass circle, swimming the same lap over and over again.

That was me.

I grabbed the vitamin pill from my pocket and crushed it between my fingers. No more pretending to be perfect. No more trying to fit into a bowl that was too small.

Barnaby swam to the surface, gulping at the water. I cleaned his bowl properly for the first time, filling it with fresh, clean water. And then I texted Maya: I hope band camp is lit. Also, your fish is fine, but we need to talk when you get back.

The storm outside broke, rain drumming against my window like applause.