THE EEL'S KISS
THE EEL'S KISS SHORT STORY BY FRANKLIN CAMPUSANO
Animals are wonderful creatures that share our home with us. They are more than worth our love and care and admiration, but most importantly, our respect.
Keeping a pet at our homes can be a source of lots of joy with a bit of frustration at times, you see, animals are like us. Each animal has their particular traits and quirks and temperaments.
Certainly, we can all admit that some animals are better fit to keep as pets, some animals in the other hand, are better being left alone. Despite this, us being the most diverse species on earth comes with the added trait of having many different preferences.
Most of us are satisfied with a Dog or a Cat. Within these two particular species there's lots of opportunity to choose.
Some of us though are very busy and can't dedicate too much time towards an animal, so perhaps a bird or a reptile such as a turtle would do. These are also animals worth our love and care but that don't require all of our attention. These are perfect for people that lead busy lives.
Some choose to have and fish as pets. By no means a bad choice, fish are very beautiful creatures and although caring for them can be time consuming, raising them can be quite fun and fulfilling.
Hector Vazques a 23-year-old man at the time was a person fascinated by the sea and marine life in general. After acquiring a job as an engineer, Hector suddenly had access to a lot of money.
This resulted in him getting a nice car and renting a very sizeable house for himself and his soon to be wife Maria. Life seemed to be going just fine for him and it was.
Because of his childhood love for marine life, Hector decided to set up a nice aquarium in his house, made up of a few large fish tanks of various sizes. Certainly, this was quite an expensive endeavor but certainly, it was within Hector's reach.
With time, these fish tanks begun to get populated by a variety of fishes and crustaceans. Hector's neighbors were always fascinated by a particular crustacean, a crab named Cracker.
At times, Hector would take this particular crab and record some fun videos giving him chips and cookies in order to see how Cracker would eat these snacks. Obviously, these videos became popular online and Hector gained quite a following.
Among the neighbors that would often frequent Hector's place was an old man named Joe Johnson, who in his youth was a fisherman and he was now retired. He enjoyed spending time with the animals and fishes found in Hector's place.
Eventually, Hector started getting into his hobby a little too much, to the point that he was no longer satisfied with fishes and crustaceans. Eventually, Hector endeavor to get his hands on more exotic specimens.
Somehow and by means of his connections, Hector got his hands on a pair of Piranha fish which he obviously place in their own tank. Eventually, Hector also got his hands on some Puffer fish to the surprise and disapproval of Joe.
Hector's increasing collection made it that he would spend a lot more time in his aquarium than in anything else.
Joe got really sick during the month of July, so he would no longer frequent Hector's aquarium as often. Hector's hobby begun to go out of control once his relationship with Maria took a downturn which ended up in a devastating breakup.
With little to no relationships in his life, Hector suddenly had more time to dedicate to his animals.
Somehow, by some strange turn of events in his life. Hector got his hands on what was then his most valuable possession. A pair of Electric Eels, these specimens were beautiful to look at and certainly made his already beautiful display stand out even more.
The male reached about 9 feet in length while the female eel reached 7 feet in length. Hector got himself a very special tank in order to place these eels in accompanied with very beautiful decorations such as castles and sunken boats.
Joe came over one day when he was feeling better and could not help but to be taken aback by these wonderful fish. Despite this, Joe could not help but to warn Hector about how he manages himself around these animals, the Puffer fish and Electric Eels in particular.
But with confidence, Hector ensured Joe that he was going to be okay. Joe knew that Hector had things under control, he knew that Hector knew very well how to care for these animals and keep himself safe at the same time.
Sadly, Joe's health started to decline once again, and he needed to stay home and rest for the mean time.
Two weeks passed, Joe while resting in his sofa realized that he hadn't heard nothing from Hector during the past two weeks, which seemed strange to him.
Despite being a lonely person, Hector would often come out to care for his front yard, and he would make many visits to the pet store to get his supplies of food. But when looking out of his windows, Joe could not help to tell that he's front yard was a little uncared for.
Joe decided to call his beloved wife Mia who was better known as Betty by her peers and asked her to place check on Hector and see if he was okay. Mia did just that and went over to Hector's house and ringed the bell, multiple times but to no avail.
Mia relayed this information to Joe who became even more concerned for the welfare of his friend. Joe had Hector's house number written somewhere, but he didn't know where to find the note with his number.
Joe thought that Hector probably was out at the moment or that he probably went to visit some family but that would be strange of him to do that. to leave his pets alone like that didn't seem like him, so Joe decided to wait a few hours and see if Hector would be home later that day.
At about every half an hour, Joe would look out his window and see whether there were any signs of Hector, but no, nothing didn't seemed to change on Hector's house. The lights were off which was a little of character for his neighbor Hector who always kept the living room lights on.
Not knowing what was going on with his neighbor made Joe overly worried, so, with the help of his dear wife Mia, both Joe and Mia walked over to Hector's house and ringed the bell once again, but nothing, no response.
At this point, the couple decided to call the police in order for them to perform a welfare check. The police didn't take long to arrive, about 5 minutes and they were rehearsed on the situation regarding Hector.
So the police started their check by ringing the bell but when they saw that no one was answering, they proceeded to go around the house checking the windows and back door.
The neighbors at the sight of the police car stationed in front of Hector's house, started to peek out of their windows, wondering what had happened.
Eventually the police forced their way into Hector's home. The place was pitched dark and silent. When the police arrived at the kitchen, they saw that there was unfinished food in the table. A bad sign. So, the police started to do a full search inside of Hector's house.
When the police reached the second floor they noticed a smell, a smell that is very familiar to them due to their job, but there was something strange about this smell.
When the two officers got to the room where the smell originated, they encountered Hector, in an early stage of decomposition. The fish tank that contained the Eels was toppled over, the other fish tanks were moldy, and the water could not be seen through. This room was full of death and decay.
The forensic report concluded that Hector died of a heart attack, caused by the electric shock of one of the Eels. Cleaning the scene was quite hard due to the large volumes of dead animals that had to be taken away.
Lots of individuals believe that an eels shock is like those presented in cartoons. Often, when characters are electrified by eels they are toasted and burnt by the shock, but then they would recuperate and be okay afterwards.
That could be any further from the truth. In reality, an eel's shock is a lot more subtle but deadlier. The shock of an eels causes the heart to stop, paralyzing the victim. More often than not, the victims are not able to be discovered soon enough to receive help which ends in their inevitable and suffocating death.
Hector's hobby was the cause of his death, it seems that while attempting to clean the fish tank that had the eels, Hector came in contact with one of them and received the lethal shock. He feel and the tank feel on top of him. The tank didn't cause his immediate death, Hector died due to his heart stopping as a result of the shock.
Hector is now part of a long statistic of people that have died due to having an exotic and dangerous pet.
As previously said, some animals are more fit to be pets than others. In the other hand, some are better being left alone. In the case of the electric eel, it can be agreed that it is better to keep them away from your home and loved ones.
END OF STORY
Animals are wonderful creatures that share our home with us. They are more than worth our love and care and admiration, but most importantly, our respect.
Keeping a pet at our homes can be a source of lots of joy with a bit of frustration at times, you see, animals are like us. Each animal has their particular traits and quirks and temperaments.
Certainly, we can all admit that some animals are better fit to keep as pets, some animals in the other hand, are better being left alone. Despite this, us being the most diverse species on earth comes with the added trait of having many different preferences.
Most of us are satisfied with a Dog or a Cat. Within these two particular species there's lots of opportunity to choose.
Some of us though are very busy and can't dedicate too much time towards an animal, so perhaps a bird or a reptile such as a turtle would do. These are also animals worth our love and care but that don't require all of our attention. These are perfect for people that lead busy lives.
Some choose to have and fish as pets. By no means a bad choice, fish are very beautiful creatures and although caring for them can be time consuming, raising them can be quite fun and fulfilling.
Hector Vazques a 23-year-old man at the time was a person fascinated by the sea and marine life in general. After acquiring a job as an engineer, Hector suddenly had access to a lot of money.
This resulted in him getting a nice car and renting a very sizeable house for himself and his soon to be wife Maria. Life seemed to be going just fine for him and it was.
Because of his childhood love for marine life, Hector decided to set up a nice aquarium in his house, made up of a few large fish tanks of various sizes. Certainly, this was quite an expensive endeavor but certainly, it was within Hector's reach.
With time, these fish tanks begun to get populated by a variety of fishes and crustaceans. Hector's neighbors were always fascinated by a particular crustacean, a crab named Cracker.
At times, Hector would take this particular crab and record some fun videos giving him chips and cookies in order to see how Cracker would eat these snacks. Obviously, these videos became popular online and Hector gained quite a following.
Among the neighbors that would often frequent Hector's place was an old man named Joe Johnson, who in his youth was a fisherman and he was now retired. He enjoyed spending time with the animals and fishes found in Hector's place.
Eventually, Hector started getting into his hobby a little too much, to the point that he was no longer satisfied with fishes and crustaceans. Eventually, Hector endeavor to get his hands on more exotic specimens.
Somehow and by means of his connections, Hector got his hands on a pair of Piranha fish which he obviously place in their own tank. Eventually, Hector also got his hands on some Puffer fish to the surprise and disapproval of Joe.
Hector's increasing collection made it that he would spend a lot more time in his aquarium than in anything else.
Joe got really sick during the month of July, so he would no longer frequent Hector's aquarium as often. Hector's hobby begun to go out of control once his relationship with Maria took a downturn which ended up in a devastating breakup.
With little to no relationships in his life, Hector suddenly had more time to dedicate to his animals.
Somehow, by some strange turn of events in his life. Hector got his hands on what was then his most valuable possession. A pair of Electric Eels, these specimens were beautiful to look at and certainly made his already beautiful display stand out even more.
The male reached about 9 feet in length while the female eel reached 7 feet in length. Hector got himself a very special tank in order to place these eels in accompanied with very beautiful decorations such as castles and sunken boats.
Joe came over one day when he was feeling better and could not help but to be taken aback by these wonderful fish. Despite this, Joe could not help but to warn Hector about how he manages himself around these animals, the Puffer fish and Electric Eels in particular.
But with confidence, Hector ensured Joe that he was going to be okay. Joe knew that Hector had things under control, he knew that Hector knew very well how to care for these animals and keep himself safe at the same time.
Sadly, Joe's health started to decline once again, and he needed to stay home and rest for the mean time.
Two weeks passed, Joe while resting in his sofa realized that he hadn't heard nothing from Hector during the past two weeks, which seemed strange to him.
Despite being a lonely person, Hector would often come out to care for his front yard, and he would make many visits to the pet store to get his supplies of food. But when looking out of his windows, Joe could not help to tell that he's front yard was a little uncared for.
Joe decided to call his beloved wife Mia who was better known as Betty by her peers and asked her to place check on Hector and see if he was okay. Mia did just that and went over to Hector's house and ringed the bell, multiple times but to no avail.
Mia relayed this information to Joe who became even more concerned for the welfare of his friend. Joe had Hector's house number written somewhere, but he didn't know where to find the note with his number.
Joe thought that Hector probably was out at the moment or that he probably went to visit some family but that would be strange of him to do that. to leave his pets alone like that didn't seem like him, so Joe decided to wait a few hours and see if Hector would be home later that day.
At about every half an hour, Joe would look out his window and see whether there were any signs of Hector, but no, nothing didn't seemed to change on Hector's house. The lights were off which was a little of character for his neighbor Hector who always kept the living room lights on.
Not knowing what was going on with his neighbor made Joe overly worried, so, with the help of his dear wife Mia, both Joe and Mia walked over to Hector's house and ringed the bell once again, but nothing, no response.
At this point, the couple decided to call the police in order for them to perform a welfare check. The police didn't take long to arrive, about 5 minutes and they were rehearsed on the situation regarding Hector.
So the police started their check by ringing the bell but when they saw that no one was answering, they proceeded to go around the house checking the windows and back door.
The neighbors at the sight of the police car stationed in front of Hector's house, started to peek out of their windows, wondering what had happened.
Eventually the police forced their way into Hector's home. The place was pitched dark and silent. When the police arrived at the kitchen, they saw that there was unfinished food in the table. A bad sign. So, the police started to do a full search inside of Hector's house.
When the police reached the second floor they noticed a smell, a smell that is very familiar to them due to their job, but there was something strange about this smell.
When the two officers got to the room where the smell originated, they encountered Hector, in an early stage of decomposition. The fish tank that contained the Eels was toppled over, the other fish tanks were moldy, and the water could not be seen through. This room was full of death and decay.
The forensic report concluded that Hector died of a heart attack, caused by the electric shock of one of the Eels. Cleaning the scene was quite hard due to the large volumes of dead animals that had to be taken away.
Lots of individuals believe that an eels shock is like those presented in cartoons. Often, when characters are electrified by eels they are toasted and burnt by the shock, but then they would recuperate and be okay afterwards.
That could be any further from the truth. In reality, an eel's shock is a lot more subtle but deadlier. The shock of an eels causes the heart to stop, paralyzing the victim. More often than not, the victims are not able to be discovered soon enough to receive help which ends in their inevitable and suffocating death.
Hector's hobby was the cause of his death, it seems that while attempting to clean the fish tank that had the eels, Hector came in contact with one of them and received the lethal shock. He feel and the tank feel on top of him. The tank didn't cause his immediate death, Hector died due to his heart stopping as a result of the shock.
Hector is now part of a long statistic of people that have died due to having an exotic and dangerous pet.
As previously said, some animals are more fit to be pets than others. In the other hand, some are better being left alone. In the case of the electric eel, it can be agreed that it is better to keep them away from your home and loved ones.
END OF STORY
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