# a betta story by me



## bettaluvies (Aug 21, 2011)

hey guys and gals

im really enjoying this forum and thhought i ought to contribute something, i have really enjoyed reading some of the betta storys people write on here, i wanted to give it a go. i enjoy writing but its only a hobby and not a serious one at that. dont expect _toooo _much, but i will try my best. this story is about a betta called alec... i cant tell you what happens because i dont know yet. this story will be in short chapters ad i will write when i get time. i promise to get time on the weekends, the week - probbably... well maybe.
it will do this in short chapters.

 - ENJOY!



CHAPTER 1

*Survival*

Alec awoke, he was blinded by a sudden glare – the aquarium light had been switched on. As his eyes adjusted he took in his surroundings, they were the same as they had been the past few days, before that… Alec wasn’t sure; he certainly didn’t remember anything different. He was in a 1ft glass box, where he had been born – he had no memory of this though. The glass box – the tank, was filled with far too many young bettas, his brothers and sisters, this he _was_ aware of, he remembered them quite easily, particularly the ones he got into numerous fights with. Alec was not the biggest or the prettiest in the bunch. since their fins had coloured up and had began to grow longer alec had registered that he enjoyed spreading out his fins and flaring at the others, his fins felt fairly substantial and long to him, but he could not see them. He was in fact a beautiful fish, with long pale and occasionally dark blue fins and his yellow, mustard coloured body, and of course one cant forget his pretty half-moon tail… he was beautiful. Not the prettiest in the bunch though, there were some far more more stunning, coloured in bright blue with only a thin mustard border around there fins, all of them were half-moons, but that’s not to say amazing half-moons, even the most beautiful, a male that was referred to as Negulla was only “rather pretty” by betta standard, or perhaps not_ betta_ standards, more like they’re competions standards. 

Alec she suddenly saw a huge blue object descend, as it infiltrated into the madhouse that the tank had already become it travelled straight toward him. Now it began to chase him and the other bettas which had origianly surrounded him now hid behind one another, for there was no cover provided by the surroundings. At first he could not understand how the thing moved, it had no fins. nor how if he were to look back he could somehow see through it, this at the time however had not been his main concern. Alec had been preoccupied, filled with a wild, desperate fear to evade the blue monstrous object he hurtled around the tank, every time he evaded the great blue monster it somehow picked up pace, before he could register it he had been trapped by it, cornered against the tank glass. Then there was a rush of cold air, if he hadn’t been obsessed with escape he may have noticed it felt similar to jumping out of the water (which he had often done in during his quarrels with the other males) but now as he realised, a little too slowly, what was happening, he made a last escape attempt, he tried for a wild, ridiculously high jump, but he should have realised, had his tiny brain not been filled with chaos, that jumping out of water and jumping out of a net were different, very different. Despite his best effort for a high, long jump what happened was more of a flop out of the net, he unexpectedly and painfully hit a surface, horribly cold and very hard. There noise, shouts. Then blackness. He did not know how long the blackness would last, he fought his way through it, struggling for every minute, he did not know why but he knew he must stay alive; it was a wild involuntary reaction, not a choice. He had to do it, he had to try, he had try his very best. His best! He weakly reminded himself, continuing to fight the blackness; he could_ not_ give in to the dark, deep, painless blackness. His determination was wearing, he could not breathe, he gasped for air that was no longer present. There was more noise, and the ringing of a telephone. Then a muffled, irritated, and above all angry voice “Get him off the floor!” it shouted “he is dying – do it now!!!”


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## Aquarianblue (Aug 26, 2011)

*Feedback*

You know, I must admit. This is a very creative idea. I have been a writer of short novellas for years now. Not published or anything. but I think this is a fresh and very, very neat idea. I would really like to read more. I hope the best for you, and Alec the fish.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Neat! I like it thus far, keep going


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## bettaluvies (Aug 21, 2011)

*next chapter!*

thank guys, and now for the next chapter. its a bit monotonous sorry, but its meant to be that way. tried to keep it short.

CHAPTER 2

*Stupor and Discomfort*

Alec slowly emerged from his stupor, his memories were unclear and he was very unsure of what was happening or where he was. He did not however feel panic. That was the main thing he remembered feeling – panic. He was calm now, in a dead sort of way. His brain slowly started noticing thing, for many were abnormal. The first sensation he registered was cold, intense cold, his fins were clamped to his sides and he had absolutely no desire to move. He felt like he has been dried, boiled and slowly frozen, it was a horrible feeling. Slowly his eyes started their surveying routine. All that he could see was unfocused and misshapen; slowly his tiny stress-loaded brain put the pieces together. He was in plastic jar with freezing cold water, despite the cold he felt a burning sensation on his scales and face, as if he was submerged in mild acid, the water was in fact full of chemicals. He was vaguely aware that he couldn’t feel his fins, but he really didn’t care – not bout that, not about anything. He floated listlessly at the surface of the water so he could breathe easily, thank goodness the lid of the jar was so loosely screwed on. He was however realising that perhaps loosely was still too tightly as he had to breathe more and more often, every breathe less substantial than the last. After some time he started look through the plastic at the room around him, he was alone and the room was unfamiliar, he noticed now that it was fairly dark too, after more time spent surveying he noticed two roughly rectangular beige lumps of colour that were in fact couches, he also notices that the floor was unusually light – the room had a white rug. Finally his eyes fell between the two couches and he was mildly shocked, for there in a hole in the wall was a bright writhing creature of light, in fact he realised it provided the little light that was in the room, he suddenly wondered why he had not seen it first, but, since his brain offered no answers he continued to watch the creature. He noted that it writhed and moved but never seemed to get anywhere, this seemed profoundly wrong. Eventually he almost drifted off to sleep, but with difficulty due to his continuous and distractingly painful burns from the ammonia and chlorine in the water. He continued observing the fiery fiend in the hole in the wall, between the couches, which were facing one another, he watched the strange creature as it tried to escape the grid that held it, he marvelled over its warm luminosity. As time passed he noticed its distinctive lack of progress in movement, and that it seemed to be getting weaker. Eventually he stopped noticing things his breaths were starting to become meaningless, they did not give him the oxygen he needed. Slowly he lost consciousness.


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## Aquarianblue (Aug 26, 2011)

*more feedback*

Ya know, as depressing as this story is, your painting a very good picture. Being careless with Bettas does cause them this kind of pain. Or very likely worse. I know I'd hate to be in cold water. I'd hate to be in chemicals. and so many people just put bettas in tap, or don't put love and care into them. and if the poor animal don't die. it suffers through life. and I feel your painting a very sad, but true moral that everyone should really think about. Thank you so much!


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## bettaluvies (Aug 21, 2011)

*next chapter*

thank you,(i guess) just remember, the story isnt finished yet.

heres the next chapter. just to clarify, he is currently unconsious, dying, not dead.


CHAPTER 3

*Life in Mans’ Hands*

Two men now entered Alec’s the room, one seemed genuinely very worried, and the other looked somewhat worried, but worried in the sort of way that he knows the other person will be offended if he would show the disinterest he felt in the matter at hand. The matter at hand was Alec, the first man was a keen fish keeper, the second a surprisingly disinterested betta breeder, he needed the money he got for his fish, and his fish had to be healthy enough to be pretty enough to be sold. Beyond that he couldn’t care less. Due to his neice insisting, he had called an old buddy (he remberd as “fish obsessed”) to help with “a pretty betta that had landed on the floor” namely Alec.

“So remind me Richard, how did you say the fish landed on the floor again?” said the first man, the fish enthusiast, he was somewhat angry about how Richard didn’t seem to care about the fishes life. Richard, now rather irritably said “I didn’t, I was catching him, the slippery little bugger, then he” “Why did you want to catch him?” interjected the fish keeper. “He was a gift for my niece… you know what? Why are you even questioning me Matt? It’s my fish.” Said Richard.
“Listen rich, sorry, I’m only trying to help you and save the fish… speaking of which where is he?” Said Matthew. “Well since you insist on helping, there’s the fish,” said Richard, pointing to the peanut butter jar where Alec was floating, unconscious. “I’m going to make coffee” added Richard and left, thinking “alright, be stupid, go save the stupid fish - he won’t be worth anything now that he has shredded his fins in that net. If a fish is not clever enough to not jump out of a net and shred its fins then it can go to hell! Thanks to that stupid fish my dam niece forced me to call that weirdo, talk about obsessed! They can both go to hell!” 

As Richard left Matthew hurried to the jar. “You poor thing… I really wish people would find better ways of getting some cash.” He said quietly as he unscrewed the lid of the jar. Fresh oxygen filled the air above the water, but Alec did not stir. “alright fishie, it looks like you’ve been here awile, let me go get you some fresh water for you, ill be back in a minute.” He said and hurried out of the room. When he returned a few minutes later he was holding a salad bowl full of clean, room temprature, dechlorinated water. He had had to fight a little bit with Richard for it but eventually Richard had given it to him with irritate “he going to die anyway” said under his breath. Matt returned to Alec’s room, “Now fishie, don’t die, I don’t know how long he has been suffocating you but you can still live, I know it, you _are_ strong enough.” Matt said in a gentle but determined voice. After putting down the bowl, he left the room again. In less than a minute he was back with a Styrofoam cup. “You can make it, you can!” he whispered to the fish with quiet determination. He pulled a pen from his pocket and punched a tiny hole in the bottom of the cup he held. Very gently he poured Alec into the cup, holding the little hole closed with his finger. He let the cup float in the bowl of water holding it upright as clean, warmer water slowly seeped through the hole into the cup. He stood there for about ten minutes, gently whispering encouragement to the fish and to himself. After that time had passed he gently tipped the cup and Alec was poured into the bowl of clean water which his body had slowly become acclamitized to. As Alec floated, still unconscious, Matthew realised he had done what he could, the best thing now for the fish be undisturbed in the dark, the fire had waned so now the room was really was quite dark. Matthew left silently, shutting the door softly behind him. Now, Matthew had decided, was going to arrange to buy Alec from Richard, That was to say, if Alec survived, Matthew reminded himself grimly.


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## bettaluvies (Aug 21, 2011)

bump. any interest?


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## Aquarianblue (Aug 26, 2011)

bettaluvies said:


> bump. any interest?


yea, more


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)




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## Aquarianblue (Aug 26, 2011)

what happened here? I hoped to get to read more. did you abandon this effort?


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