In the Mediterranean Sea, a little fish was swimming in the translucent water, unaware that behind him, loomed a Great White Shark, baring its bloody, razor-sharp teeth, waiting to  catch its prey. 

A few hours ago, he was with his family, his mother, father, and two older sisters. He was  the third child in the family, and he despised it. He was always being taught, “the third is the  charm”, and he was sick of it. He was supposed to be playing with his sisters, his parents trusted  them playing by themselves because his oldest sister was old enough to take care of all of them.  He didn’t want to play their girly games, so he wandered off by himself to explore the never ending ocean. He wasn’t afraid of predators, and he was always safe with his family, so the fact  that he could get eaten never occurred to him. 

After a while of wandering around, an aroma filled the water, it smelled of lemons.  Confused, the curious fish peered out of the water, into the world above him. As soon as his tiny  face appeared above the water’s badly polluted surface, he was blasted by a wave of heat.  Squinting, he looked up at the bright, big sun and instantly felt as if the sun was boring into his  soul. 

The little fish was transfixed for a while. He just stared at the sun and he couldn’t take his  eyes off of it. He stayed as still as a statue, unable to move, even if his skin and gills felt on fire  and the air around him felt burning, as if he was trapped in a burning incubator.  

The shark knew an opportunity as he saw one, and did not hesitate to chomp the poor  little fish in one big bite. The last things the poor little fish thought of was how much the sun  represented a lemon, and hope that his parents won’t ground him, until he was suddenly dragged  under, into the abyss, never to be seen of again. 

Meanwhile, hidden behind the shadows and rocks, a seahorse was tangled in the corals  far below them, where she witnessed the fish’s decease. She could not help but refer back to her  own child, who passed away the same way as the fish. “Such a loss, such a loss…”, she  murmured to herself. She started to cry, unable to control herself. She then thought of the fish’s  mother, and felt a twinge of empathy; she knew what it felt like to lose a child. The lemon odor was still here, and the seahorse mother thought of how much lemons reminded her of her family,  of her long-lost child. Oh, how she wished that her daughter was still here; oh, how she wished  these memories were still here. 

A long time before the fish’s passing, like a year ago, the seahorse mother was teaching  her daughter how to swim and wrap around corals. However, her daughter had no patience, every  once in a while, would get distracted very easily, just like the fish who passed away, and she  found fish, especially colorful fish, rather interesting. Apparently, the humans living above them  were not at all found of lemons, and have a habit of tossing lemons in the sea. Lemons often  plunked down around the sea animals, and both the seahorse daughter and the fish thought that  lemons in the ocean were hilarious. The seahorse daughter giggled hysterically, “Mama, it smells 

like lemons! I think I’m going to sneeze from the sourness!” Her mother sighed and told her to  focus. 

In the middle of being taught how to blend into the coral reef, the little seahorse spotted a  school of brightly colored fish swimming. She was very tempted to follow them, but she knew  she would get scolded if she did. After a while of debating in her head, curiosity won her over,  and she decided to go after the fishes. After a glance at her mother, who was busy and wasn’t  paying her so much attention, she left, just like the fish who departed when his sisters were  occupied.  

She followed the school of colorful fish for a while, but then realized that they weren’t  that interesting except for the color they are. She got bored and decided to head back. Soon, after  looking around and thinking where to go, she realized that she was lost in the boundless ocean,  with predators all around to eat her. This thought did not befall the fish, for he thought he was  very brave and didn’t know much about predators.  

The water suddenly felt very, very, hot, and breathing got harder by the second… 

By now, her mother had realized that her daughter had left, but she was lucky enough to  glance and see her daughter swimming after the colorful fish. However, the fish’s sisters did not  notice that he was gone until it was too late. The seahorse daughter got obscured in the crowd of  fish, and the mother was in some hot water locating her after that.  

When the seahorse mother subsequently got to where her daughter was supposed to be,  all she found was a crab gnawing on what was left of the remains of her daughter. 

Now, as she is thinking about this, she glanced once more of the spot where the fish was  staring at the sun, mesmerized by the sun and the scent of lemons and being to blind to notice the  shark abaft it, and sulking, she turned and swam away, the face of her daughter stuck in her head.