It has been said that the world has forgotten love; that the belief in a life of infinite happiness and passion exists only within the confines of one’s own mind. There are those who merely suppose that one day society will witness an epiphany; a miracle of which cures the epidemic that infests our minds with hatred. Others simply believe that all hope has crumbled miserably in defeat. In a sense, we are lost to ourselves. What most people do not know however, is that there are also those who fight relentlessly to release us, by instilling the love we deserve, heart by heart. Nevertheless, this was not the case for Luke Brayburn, the only puffer fish at Mrs. Drumble’s Academy for the Gifted. Amidst the vast crystal blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, Luke was a wallflower at best. He lived behind a self-built stone barrier of his own thoughts and spat the typical “I hate the world” attitude through his gills as if his life depended on it. Without even bothering to mask his repulsion of the ocean, he typically floated near the corners of his classroom, lost to the screeches of his repulsive hardcore music while scowling at anyone who dared glance his way. Unlike the other brilliantly colored fish in his classes, his skin mocked the leftover snails he devoured the previous night. Despite his scornful demeanor, Luke possessed one feature that shadowed the others. His eyes sparkled of a nearly tangible, velvety emerald green; the type of green that allows you to escape to an uncreated emptiness with boundless freedom. It was his eyes that captivated Nina Heart, the shy but beautiful angelfish.
Nina carried a heart as big as a whale’s stomach. She loved each and every creature as if they were her own children and with each flap of her tail emanated a certain spark of joy and zest for life. When Nina first met Luke, she saw right through his blank stares and parading insensitivity. She desired to be his salvation, an honest-to-God creator of the person he was meant to be. With effortless courage, she sat by him every day, waiting for the right moment to strike up a conversation. At first, she would idly slip a word or two his way and occasionally Luke would grumble in return; nothing that actually resembled real words, but the acknowledgement of her existence satisfied her all the same. She found it difficult not to become engulfed by his flawless eyes. He even frequently caught her falling lifelessly into a trance in which he shot back looks of utter bewilderment. Luke could not deny her obvious beauty, but he simply figured she was staring at his enormous puffed belly and obtrusive spikes.
A few days passed, and Nina grew impatient and decided to pester him with one question, although she did not believe he would respond.
“Why do you shut people out?” she whispered, attempting not to startle him. With a flicker of his eyes, Luke stared incredulously at Nina as if she had revealed the answer to the meaning of life. She could tell he was deliberating rapidly in his mind. After moments that seemed like centuries, he professed,
“I hate everyone.” Nina felt her stomach tighten as she wondered if everyone included her. She bit back her tears and decided to ask another one, this time with more compassion.
“Not everyone is as terrible as you think they are,” she chuckled. Yet soon after she regretted her lighthearted giggle as she noticed Luke’s puffiness grow a few noticeable centimeters. She resolved to halt the interrogation there and huffed back into her seat to continue her notes on “The Bluegill Massacre.”
“Everyone,” Luke repeated with a snarl almost as deep and penetrating as a roaring wave crashing mid-flight. His tone startled Nina and ruffled her brow, yet her impeccable radiance still sang with a sweet humility. Despite his frightening retort, Nina felt increasingly determined to read between the lines.
“Humor me,” she challenged with a genial smirk. A wave of hysteria passed over Luke’s previously unruffled face as he realized his personal investigator would never rest. Flames nearly escaped out his ears and created a fast-melting rationality throughout his brain. Luke had had enough.
“People like me are just God’s excuse to let out his frustration. I don’t know if you have noticed but I’m nothing like the rest of these robots! They just wear smiles of forced empathy, complete with a set of unnaturally white teeth.” By this time, Luke’s body had increased several centimeters, allowing the spikes to protrude threateningly with a razor-sharp point. “All these fish are just floating maniacs absorbed in their own fake world consumed with a fake love that they do not even deserve. And me? I’m just a scapegoat for real feelings; a round peg in a square hole. You really want to know what I think? All this talk about genuinely good people is just screaming wavelengths stretching between pretenders.” The walls seemed to inch forward with each level of anger Luke reached as the room filled with awkward sideways glances puzzling at his sudden outburst. Nina smiled her heartwarming grin and placed a caring hand upon Luke’s shoulder. In response, Luke inhaled three big deep breaths and hung his head in embarrassment, covering his painful eyes with his hands.
“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly,” Nina quoted. “My sixth grade teacher preached that same lesson to me when I had my doubts on the world. It didn’t cure all my anxieties, but eventually I blasted away the fear that twisted my heart into a puzzle and learned to trust the world.” Luke sat silently, pondering the simple, yet powerful words. Not another word was spoken between the two that afternoon, as Nina let the medicine sink in.
Hours turned to days, and days turned to weeks as Luke became more comfortable speaking to Nina. They talked endlessly about thoughts they collected from the bottomless depths of their minds of which Luke would have previously never dared to reveal. Nina soon realized that Luke’s perspective on life was slowly morphing towards the other side of the spectrum. Through one of their conversations, Luke subconsciously admitted,
“Why would any animal even consider hibernation? Just think about all the life experience they miss out on simply because they would rather keep their heads in the clouds, dreaming of fantasies when in reality they could live them out loud.” Luke never seemed to notice his transformation, but it meant the world to Nina. Their friendship danced across a blank canvas creating an abstract masterpiece; however Luke would never admit it.
One day, when currents ran strong, Luke floated impatiently on his slab of coral for Nina to arrive at school. He could feel his heart pulsating in anxiety as the seconds ticked closer to the final ding of the buoy. Suddenly, Luke witnessed a revelation.
“Why do I care if Nina comes to school or not?” he thought to himself. At that moment, a surge of restless butterflies engrossed his stomach the second he recalled her face. A flashback of the last month radiated through his memory, pinpointing all the little details. It was the way she effortlessly sent his imagination spiraling to undefined dynamics and diluted his thoughts from the contours of depression. Luke even noticed that his body had deflated; no longer resembling an inflated dog’s chew toy, as his heart exhausted all remains of anger and cynicism. A little light bulb sparked to life in his head; he had discovered love. Love for life, love for himself, and love for Nina.
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