Elijah swims to his room, hitting his tail everywhere he can, that’s the fish equivalent of hitting the door after a fight with his parents. Once again, they argued over the Underneath. Elijah’s parents try to reenforce the idea that he can’t got there but Elijah is 12 fish years old, that’s the stupid age, no matter what species you are. He doesn’t understand that he can’t go to the Underneath because he won’t be able to breathe there, or because the animals there don’t live the same way he does, there’s different rules. To be fair, his parents don’t explain that to him, so he thinks they’re just scared. You see, Elijah has this romanticised view of the Underneath; he thinks there’s no dangers there, he thinks all fishes are friends and play together in the dark… That’s another thing he hasn’t thought through; how is he going to see if the sun doesn’t reach the underneath and if he doesn’t have night vision. Clearly, he hasn’t thought this out carefully, but he doesn’t have to.
“Elijah?” his mom calls out before coming into his room “Can I?”
“Yeah.” He grunts.
“Listen, we don’t say this to go against you or to annoy you, son. We say it because we care about you and we want what’s best for you, Eli.”
“Then why can’t I go?”
“Because it’s dangerous, Eli! You’re just too young to see it!” Elijah grunts loud.
“You guys always say that! Maybe you’re just too old to understand me!” He screams.
“Elijah!” she holds his arm “You do not have the right to talk to me or about me like that! I am your mother! Either you like it or not you have to respect me!” She pauses, trying to keep herself from crying “You don’t need to love me, but you do need to respect me, and your dad.” she gets up and leaves his room.
Despite that conversation, Elijah still has his mind on the Underneath. It doesn’t seem to bother him the fact that he annoyed his mom to the verge of tears, or that he was rude. All he cares about is that magic place. Elijah lays on his bed, thinking about how amazing the Underneath is. He imagines how it’s gonna be when he gets there, how he’s gonna become friends with every fish, even the Viperfish. They will think he’s cool and brave for going deep down. He’s gonna blow them away with stories about Where-The-Sun-Hits, he’s gonna tell them how everyone looks like and how they live and behave. He imagines building a life there, with the underneath fishes, maybe get a partner, or a best friend, or both, they could be a trio and go on little fun romcom-like adventures. He trusts the Underneath is better than up here. Where he must go to school- why would anyone care about how fishes became what they are today? It’s boring- where he isn’t popular or different. Where his parents don’t give him any freedom. He would never say this out loud, but he imagines going there and never seeing his parents again. He doesn’t wanna be tied down to fishes that don’t understand him or his vision or his goals in life. The Underneath is the perfect excuse to disappear from fishes’ lives. He can just go and never come back; pretend he just never got the chance to. Maybe if any fish he knows is ever brave enough to go down there too, he’ll show them how good is life is and how he’s someone down there, not just Elijah, the fish. Elijah gets up from his bed and starts planning his escape route. He’s going to the Underneath. Either his parents like it or not.
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