Electric Waters

The pool hadn't been drained in months. Green scum slicked the surface like an oil spill, and Maya stood at the edge, nursing a gin and tonic she'd mixed too strong. Behind her, through the sliding glass doors, she could see Daniel packing his suitcase. His movements were methodical. Fold. Place. Zip. Repeat.

"You're really doing this," she said, not turning around.

"It's done, Maya."

The first flash of lightning split the sky—white-hot violence that turned the backyard into something from a war zone. She counted. One one thousand. Two one thousand. The thunder arrived like a punch to the chest.

"Remember the goldfish?" she asked suddenly.

Daniel paused. "What?"

"The goldfish we won at that carnival. Our first date. You said you'd keep it alive. You said that was the promise."

He laughed, a dry, brittle sound. "That fish lived three years, Maya. I'd call that a win."

"It died the same week you got promoted. You forgot to feed it. You forgot everything that wasn't your career."

Another lightning strike, closer this time. The pool's surface illuminated briefly, and in that flash, Maya saw it—movement beneath the algae. Something alive down there, surviving in the toxic water.

"What are you going to do with the house?" Daniel called from inside.

Maya stripped off her clothes and stood naked in the storm's electricity. The rain began to fall, warm and heavy against her skin. She remembered the fish's final moments, gasping at the surface of its bowl. How long had she been doing the same thing? How long had she been waiting for someone to notice she was drowning?

"Maya? What are you doing out there?"

She stepped into the pool. The water swallowed her ankles, her knees, her waist. It was warmer than she expected, thick and viscous with neglect. Lightning struck again, and in that brilliant flash, she saw them—dozens of goldfish, descendants of that single carnival prize, evolved and thriving in the artificial ecosystem they'd created.

"I'm not drowning anymore," she whispered, and slipped beneath the surface just as the sky opened up and the rain came down like forgiveness she hadn't asked for.