Prince 'er the hermit crab

Prince ‘er the hermit crab sat alone on the beach. Humans roamed all around him. Some running, others taking a dip in the cool water and some playing with sand. He had come to despise them. The little crab, they thought had no feelings. No mind of its own. No love to give or to own. How unfathomably wrong they were was to them unknown.

As clear as this day was when he was taken. Taken from a beach by a little girl. He was young, so young. So was she. The first time she held him in her hand was terrifying. Her giant face, with massive eyes. Her vicious teeth, some missing and some out of line. She brought him close, looking into his eyes. That was the day he first felt the fear of death.

They stayed together inseparable most of the time. She would speak to him, her tiny heart out. Cry with him when she was feeling down.

The tide was slowly rising with each wave inching towards him. All he could do was to think about her and it only caused him pain. He had come a long way, but now, overcome with pain, he decided to end it all. As the wave approached, Prince ‘er dug out his legs from the ground and was swept away with the tide.

Hurtling through the sea, dragged along the sand, tossed like a ball. The turmoil in the sea was different than his beautiful clean display case. His home.

Creatures common for a crab were for the first time send by him. Some scary, some as scared as him and some swimming together in massive numbers.

All he could still think of was her, his friend, his only friend in this never ending world. He did not swim up or move but kept falling, slowly into the dark pit below. He turned back to see the faint light of the sun, dimming, yet he kept falling, not fighting back .

Consumed by darkness from the inside and now from the ourside as well. The pressure mounting on his tiny body. Nearing the end, her face popped up, for the last time he saw her big eyes.

A loud noise echoed through the water, this is what death must sound like he thought. He felt a sudden putt towards the darkness, all around him giant walls of darkness appeared and like an eyelid they shut. He was finally consumed by the darkness. Yet he felt alive, yet he saw her face and yet he crie. His legs now sticking into a soft ground. It did not sink like the sand.

“Do not put your legs so deeply into my tongue little one.”

He froze, silent with fear. Letting go of the soft squishy ground slowly.

Image by @anikekirsten

“Ah, that is perfect little one. Forgive me, where are my manners. I am Abraham, the eldest whale in the world.”

Prince ‘er heard the deep giant echo again, this time it passed through him. Shaking him in his core. “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”, his screams now audible to even him.

It took awhile for the noise to stop.

“What was that?”

“That is my hum little one. What do i call you?”

“Prince ‘er. I was named Prince ‘er by her.”

“Ah, humans, they are both lovely and deadly. Sometimes kind and sometimes selfish.”

“I hate her.”

“Why Prince ‘er, why do you hate her?”

“She left me, I was her friend, she was my only. After all those years, she just left me.” He wanted to say more but words could not explain how he felt. The betrayal.

“I see, that is why you were letting yourself fall into the void little one.”

“How did you know?”

“I have been on this Earth for 700 years. I'll show you something little one.”

The sun came pouring through, the wind cold and refreshing. The water flowed out and only he was left. The giant teeth, towering over him.

A huge ship filled with people cheering at them was afloat in front of them.

“These are the people who protect my kind Prince ‘er. I see them come from different places. Isee them fight for my kind. For the ocean. For the Earth.”

“What do they protect you against?”

“Their own kind. The ones who hunt us. Kill us without mercy. These people fight for us everyday. Every once in a while some of them go back. Some return and some don’t. They leave their young behind for us. Why your friend left you behind, I do not know. But as with all pain, you have to feel it. You have to mourn, you have to face it head on. If you don’t feel it little one, you will be consumed by it. “

He sat in the gigantic mouth. Listening to the sagely advice. Finally, giving himself time to cry. Time to mourn. Her face, her big eyes, her crooked teeth. The times he was her only friend, the times she would share with him her pain. His little eyes streaming tears. His little heart filling with pain. He wept for a while.