Sea Fairies

"Nana Coco..." The voice of the twins chimed in unison, as their big brown eyes looked up lovingly at their Grandmother. Their little paws clinging onto her colourful patterned skirt.

Zikaya gently stroked the outline of a red fish printed on the material, whilst Zabian pulled on a loose string that had escaped over the years.

This was their Grandmother's favourite skirt, it reminded her of the stories ...... the fairytales that had been passed down her generation.

"Can you tell us the story again?" Zabian asked.

"Please? The one about the Sea fairies and Sea Giants." Zikaya jumps up and down filled with excitement.

"Okay! Okay. I'll tell you the story." Her voice was soft spoken yet filled with laughter. She smiled at her grandchildren, who quickly scrambled onto her lap ready for the oncoming entertainment.

"Legend has it, that the ocean was once filled with hundreds and thousands of creatures. They came in many different sizes and and in all the colours of the rainbow. They had stripes, they had spots and even the ability to blend in with coloured objects. Some were fast and energetic, some were slow and others didn't move at all." Her hands moved with emphasis as she described the creatures of the ocean.

"And they had the most beautiful homes. It was an explosion of colours and they bloomed like flowers. Their homes were magical and danced to the song of the gentle waves. The homes came it different shapes and some were soft yet some were hard. They called this place the Coral reefs." She smiled to herself as she imagined the colourful home of the fairies in her mind.

"Is this a real place...Nana Coco?" Zabian asked, his eyes sparking with anticipation.

Her smile faltered, she remembered the end of the story, she had never told her grandchildren the ending. Maybe today was the day.

"Unfortunately..." She took a deep breath. "We...humans scared them away. We dropped things into their homes, and we hurt them. We had a chance to save them....but we loved our objects more. So we hurt them, poisoned them...because we refused to stop. So they ran and disappeared, and were never found again. That's why the Sea Fairies are a legend, no-one knows if they truly existed. Now there's only Robo-creatures in the sea." She smiled sympathetically at the children.

"Oh! Like our pet Harry the Robo-fish." Zikaya ran towards the fish bowl, tapping on the glass to the Robot inside.

You could hear the clicking of the gears as it swam aimlessly around the bowl.

Unblinking. Lifeless. An empty shell.

You see, when humans put plastic before life, they lose what really matters and only realise their mistakes once the damage has been done.

But they don't go out of their way to save the last chances of life, instead they replace it. We would rather have mindless robots in the sea than change ourselves.

Choose.

Planet or Plastic.

Word count:
499 words