{A/N Hello! If you see a mistake please tell me :D I'm aware that there are no spaces between my paragraphs, and am leaving it like that because I like it better that way, if that makes any sense. I almost always put spaces but with this I just can't bring myself to put them there, I feel as though it would ruin it if I did. I asked a wattpad ambassador if it would effect the rating of it by the national geographic judges and she said it wouldn't have any effect so I'm sorry if you're reading this and are judging it and it does matter, I'll change it if you want, I don't really mind too much :] ♡♡ Thanks to everyone who read, your comments on this are truly the best I've ever gotten on a story ever since I joined ♡♡ }

[-exactly 500 words-]

Rays of light shone through the surface of the ocean, reached down at my goggles as if they were the arms of nature. One side of me, for as far as I could see was just a deep, dark blue, the contrasting opposite of the bright coral reef on my other side. I hovered in wonder, watched as an octopus squeezed out of sight when I got a little too close... Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a small sea horse attached to some caulerpa, a common seaweed in the area. The abundance of life here was breathtaking, but I still let the bubbles float from my mouth and continued to take in oxygen from my tank. I couldn't stay too much longer, but I swam over top the reef before I had to go back up. This was my first reef dive and I wanted to remember everything around me. The small green crab that walked sideways through some sea grass. The schools of different fish species whom light flickered off of while they erratically swam in a soft methodical unison. A brave clownfish that swam away from its anemone, but quickly darted back. A large snail who left a trail of slimy sand in its wake, I remember thinking how it has all the time and not a care in the world... I wish my oxygen tank had just a little more air in it. I wish I could have seen more that day, because I lost my chance. Now, thirty some years later, I find myself in the same place I had visited so many years ago. The exact same location, but... it's not how I remembered it. It's not how I thought it would look. The ocean rays still shine into my goggles, but the lack of life is unrecognizable. The only thing to assure me that I'm at the right place is the deflated, dull skeleton of what used to be that hauntingly pretty reef that no longer lives. A plastic shopping bag floats by me and sticks onto a branch of dead coral. I don't know why I was expecting it to stay the same... I guess it was just wishful thinking. Or was it blissful ignorance? Either way, I can't help feeling sad, angry, disgusted, like it's all my fault. I've... never really done anything conscious of my planets health before. I've always just told myself it doesn't matter because I'm just a single person, how much could I really help? But... maybe I definitely should have acted. I could have taught my children the things I now know and how to act on them. I could have made an impact. A difference. Of course it would only be a small percentage of difference with many zeros, I still could have done more. I swim to the plastic bag and remove it. Underneath, a small amber seahorse is curled onto a branch of the reefs corpse. Maybe... there is hope?