I don’t know how I ended up in this aquarium or what happened to me, but I don’t mind living here. As a giant Pacific octopus, I was given a massive tank with vibrant coral, tropical fish friends, and lots of feedings. During the day, I was a prized artifact on display, where crowds were awed at my size and camouflage ability. But when night fell, I was a striving heroine who aimed to be more than just a pretty object.
Every night, I squeezed out my tank to be prepared in case any fellow sea creatures needed help. Before passing through my usual route to see Aki, my electric-eel-friend, a blinding light stopped me in my tracks. My eyes burned as I squinted to see the source of light. It was coming from Aki’s tank! I closed my eyes, waiting for the light to disappear. But when I peered out, I felt odd. Did I gain a superpower? Glancing at my tentacles, I saw an electric zap.
Before I could celebrate and test out my superpower, I had to check on Aki. What happened? When I found my way into her tank, she was nowhere to be found. My heart started racing.
“Aki?”, I asked, ”Are you there?”
“Sachie, is that you?”, Aki whispered tentatively. She peeked her head out of the sand in her tank.
“Aki!! I was so worried! I thought you died!” I said, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Sachie, I think I lost my electricity. I hit the tank filter in my sleep. It scared me so I accidentally used my electric shock! Now the power in the aquarium is down because of me, which means our filters are off. What if everyone’s going to die?” Aki ranted, panicking.
Slowly piecing things together, I told Aki, ”I think that I got your electricity. I saw a flash of it in my tentacles when the power went out, exactly when you lost your ability.”
“Really? What are we going to do?”
Today was the day. I would finally be the heroine I’ve dreamt of being since the day I came here.
“I’ll fix everything, Aki, you just wait!” I shouted as I fled towards the power source of the aquarium.
I know this aquarium like the back of my tentacle from my nightly strolls. With my ability, I could save the whole aquarium. I opened the power box and held onto it with all eight of my tentacles, pushing out all the electricity in me. The box blinded me, just like the flash at Aki’s tank. Losing my grip from the flash, I plopped onto the floor, unconscious. Did it work?
When I woke up again, I was back in my tank and heard my caretakers showing the audience security camera footage of me at the power box! After the bright flash, the power successfully turned on! From that day forward, I was known as Sachie, the color-changing giant Pacific octopus who saved the aquarium.
Written by Sarah Zhou from Los Altos, CA
