Maelstrom

Unexpected Expectations

It was silent.

The feeling of flowing water crept around the air and on skin.

The calming sound of waves flowing through the air lifted the oceanic scent.

Everything felt like it was floating.

Gravity was broken.

Maria drifted in the flowing waves, relaxed.

Peaceful.

Calm.

It was like this was where she belonged.

Her true home.

Then, from a distance, was the sound of some sort of alarm going off.

The sound grew louder and louder, like it was getting closer.

Maria opened her eyes to rays of sunshine coming out through her halfway closed window blinding her. She looked to where the alarm sound was coming from. She reached her hand to her left side of her nightstand beside her and turned off the alarm. She took a look at the time. 2:00 P.M. Time to get up for work.

((Song: "Manic Monday" by The Bangles))

Maria sat up in her bed and stretched. She pulled the covers off her and got out of bed. She went to her closet to pick out some of her usual, boring, ordinary clothes. A light blue shirt with a bow on her collarbone, Some blue jeans and sneakers. Maria went down to the kitchen to cook her some lunch, once that was taken care of, she went to the bathroom to get the bath started. She took her clothes off and started a timer for when her food was done so she could get out and finish. After that time past, Maria got out of her relaxing bath, threw on her fresh new clothes, did her curly hair, then went downstairs to her kitchen and finished making her breakfast. Once she was all dressed and ready, she headed out the door from her almost mansion-looking house and got to her car and drove to her work. After a three hour drive, she made it to her workplace. The Deep Ocean Aquarium. Maria sighed as she got out of her grey van and walked towards the entrance of the building and entered. Inside was large and spacious. Large tanks filled with water and living organisms displayed down hallways and rooms with walls decorated and painted like you were in the ocean with the sea creatures. Maria walked over by the entrance where there was a line of people waiting to punch in for work, but the line was being held by none other than Maria's old childhood friend, Peter, or 'Pete' for short. "You don't have to keep doing this, dude." Maria said, walking past the line of people and punching in her card, "I was saving your spot, something a friend would do." Said Pete as he gave the line of what he calls 'disrespectful people' a glare before punching in his card. Pete was almost as tall as Maria was, just a few inches taller than her. He had short, spiky, orange hair and pale skin. Though, he looked young, healthy and strong, his skin made him look like a dead corpse. They went to their locker rooms, one for the boys and the other for the girls, and wore their work outfits, Pete wore a usual black security guard outfit with a flashlight, tazor and gun and of course his badge and 'favorite' hat. Maria put on her navy blue overalls with a grey, long-sleeve, sweater and a nametag and got out her janitor mop and bucket and left the locker to get started on her 'duties.'

Many people came to the aquarium to see the sea life. The aquarium tanks were separated in separate rooms so that the animals wouldn't be disturbed by others presence. There was 'The Whale room,' 'Shark Reef,' 'Reptile room,' 'The Coral Reef,' and 'The Great Barrier Reef.' The insides of the ginormous aquarium tanks looked just as the titles of their room says, like the coral reef, they actually gathered coral and some of the fish that use to live there and placed them and the water in the giant tank so that it would look like the real coral reef. They did the same with 'The Great Barrier Reef,' gathered a bunch of it's elements and threw it in the tank to make it look alike. While mopping up the messes some children made, Maria couldn't help but look at the children 'oohing' and 'aweing' at the fish as she chuckles a bit. She remembers how she was exactly like that with her mother. Her mom would take her to the beach everyday to collect seashells or find crabs and clams.