Broken Pattern

    ruby’s been dying forever. since the first day that I bought him, his sole purpose was to die.; whether it’d be in a week or a year was the question. eight or so days after his purchase, ruthless ruby was pitted against pudding power. for 2 and a half hours, the two bettas fought ruthlessly, until ruby came out as winner alpha leader. the next day pudding committed fishy suicide by jumping out of his bowl. the fight would be engraved in the minds of crowd’s 30′+ watchers.

    once I brought him home, watching ruby proved to be my sole way of anchoring my sanity when listening to the tech support playlists for hours on end, only to go no where. this went on for days. despite being beaten and bruised, ruby’s toughened demeanor didn’t affect the grace of his tails in swim. he was truly beautiful.

    eight months after his purchase, ruby almost died in a water changing accident. at that time I realized it had come time to purchase him a proper tank; 10 gallons, gravel, and a water filtration unit. never again would i have to worry about ruby’s death. he would live the rest of his fishy life.

    upon returning from camp the following year, something proved to be un-right with ruby. despite being a top floater fish, he was floating at the water’s surface more than usual. he continued like this, sometimes falling into graceful dives here and there, but soon such hopes proved fruitless.

    ruby’s swim bladder’s functionality continued to dwindle, disabling his ability to regulate float; that had been going on since i returned from camp the following year. at his worst, ruby hadn’t eaten in weeks, and was being pulled down by the water filter’s current, swimming up to the top, only to be dragged back down again. and yet I could never bring myself to kill him.

    on october 24th, 2008, ruby finally died, after months of struggle and with winter biting at the heels. a month before my 19th birthday, this heroic fish ended his majestic tale, resting in between the leaves of his plastic plant, much like he used to all of life. ruby’s dead now, swimming with the fishes in fishy heaven. you truly were a ruthless fighter, may you rest in peace as you well deserve.