The Tale of Carrot

Chapter 1

A baby goldfish was swimming aimlessly in a small fish tank in the back of a pet store. There were about 7 other goldfish in the small tank, all cooped up and had barely any space to spare.

The baby goldfish wasn't like the others appearance wise. He was visibly more orange than the rest of the fish and had shiny rainbow coloured gills. The other fish had relatively pale yellow skin that had a faint glow to them.

A little girl named Dara entered the shop with her parents by her side. She scouted around the shop, trying to find the perfect pet for herself. She ran over to the tank where the infant goldfish was and she eyed him curiously.

"Mommy, daddy!" Dara shrieked loudly.

Her parents secretly cringed at her high pitched yell and made their way over to where Dara was standing.

"I want all the fishies in there!" Dara demanded while pointing at the goldfish in the small tank.

"Are you sure you want those ones?" Dara's mom frowned. "They look like they are going to die soon."

"I want those ones only!!! I want those fishies! Now!" Dara screeched.

Dara's dad glanced at his wife quickly with a quizzical look on his face. "Well, if you insist-"

Dara's face lit up happily. "YAY! I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER! Daddy only, not mommy. Mommy is a fat meanie."

Dara's mom looked slightly offended, but brushed off the 'insult', while her husband chuckled and mumbled under his breath, "That's my girl."

"Come on Dara, let's go ask the nice lady to get us these fish and some fish essentials." Dara's mom tugged on her hand but Dara pulled away. She reached for her dad's hand instead and went over to one of the employees in the shop.

9.1969 minutes later...

After purchasing all the goldfish in that tank, Dara was carrying a bag filled with water and goldfish. All the goldfish were still crammed in a small space and didn't have much of an area to swim freely in. Some of the fish were already dead after a few minutes of being crowded in there.

Dara shook the bag violently. "Fishy! Wake up!" She ordered the fishes floating at the top. She sighed deeply. Nobody ever listened to her... Except her dad. She handed the bag of fish over to her dad, hoping he could 'wake them up'.

She and her parents were now searching for tanks, food and decor. Dara insisted on getting the most expensive decorations in the shop. She wanted an underwater volcano that spouted bubbles, a treasure chest that also spouted bubbles, a little cave system for the fishes to hide in, and the best water filter the store had.

Her mom disagreed with her choices of decor, but her dad hesitantly agreed. He somehow convinced his wife to purchase the more expensive decorations for their daughter.

After selecting decorations, the small family browsed fish food. There were many flakes, pellets and bloodworms to choose from. After having the employee explain which food was best for goldfish, Dara's family settled for flakes.

Dara was now looking at some fish tanks. Most of the giant tanks were insanely expensive, but Dara didn't care. There was a particular tank she fancied. It was a large glass tank rectangular prism shaped and could hold 46 gallons of water. The glass at the front of the tank was curved inwards slightly for better viewing of the fish, and LED lights hung from the top inside the tank. It was placed on a high shelf with the price tag proudly stating $359.99.

Dara jumped up with her arms reaching out to try and grab the tank herself to show her parents. She could skim her fingers against the bottom every hop. Her parents were talking with the employee aisles down the store about goldfish care and they weren't really paying attention to Dara or what she was attempting. Dara jumped with all her might and the tank she was trying to get was suddenly knocked over to its side. It crashed into the tank beside it and all the tanks on the shelf went crashing down like dominoes. Glass shattered and scattered in all directions. Dara covered her face to protect her face from the broken glass and squealed in surprise.

"Oopsie?"

Many employees and her parents arrived at the scene. Dara's mom and dad had traumatized looks on their faces.

Dara's mom checked Dara for any injuries. She was unfortunately fine.

"That will be two thousand, eight hundred, fifty-nine dollars and eighty-eight cents..." An employee hastily said.

"Excuse me?" Dara's mom snarled. She waved her hand at the shattered glass tanks. "You're saying 12 hollow boxes of glass are worth two thousand dollars?"

"Actually, it's two thousand, eight hundred, fifty-nine dollars and eighty-eight cents," a short employee piped.

Dara's mom glared down at her and the employee shrunk back into the gathered crowd. "Fine, we'll pay for these tanks. But I think the rest of our items cost should be included in the damage fees. Deal or no deal?" She shoved her hand out to shake if they agreed.

The group of employees murmured in agreement.

"Deal." A random employee stepped forward and hesitantly shook Dara's mom's hand.

"Except we will not be getting a fish tank. Those things will haunt my family and I forever." Dara's dad shuddered.

After they paid for the damages, the family grabbed their items and fled the pet shop. Throughout that day, Dara received many scoldings from her parents. She didn't even realize she did anything wrong. This incident would definitely bite her back in the future.

Dara's dad scooped out the dead fish that were 'sleeping' and they paid a trip to the dreaded toilet. Since they didn't buy a tank for the fish, he just kept all the fish cooped up in the plastic bag they came in.

Dara frantically took the bag of fish from her dad and examined the goldfish closer with fascination. She noticed one baby fish that was coloured a teensy bit more orange than the other fish. Those made her make the connection to a certain vegetable.

"I'm gonna name you Carrot," she grinned a toothy grin. "And we're gonna be the bestest friends ever!"

~-~End of chapter one~-~

A/N: *sigh* Finding Nemo references FTW. Dara is based after Darla in Finding Nemo. You know? The girl who was at the dentist office and was the niece of Nigel? (I think that's the name of the dentist? Otherwise it's the pelican) And she's not a main character. She's just here until Carrot is in the lake. Or until she dies. MWAHAHAHAHA!!!! I do not own Finding Nemo, Disney or Pixar.

Whoa, this chapter is sort of long... Well, it's considered long in my writing. I'm kind of proud of myself. There are crickets chirping really loudly outside. It takes 2-3 hours for me to write only this much... -_-

I got the price of the fish tanks from picking the more expensive tanks on the first page of PetSmart's aquarium page and adding the prices up. I made it so only the tanks $100 or up would be in the cost. (I do not own PetSmart)

The picture is of Carrot (the more orange one) and Sashimi (paler one). I just made a Photobucket account to upload that.

I listened to Everchanging - Haywyre whilst writing this entire chapter. It's magical and you should dolphinatly listen to it, Shnah-Shnah. Also, I do not own Monstercat, nor Haywyre.