Day 1299 of My Captivity
DARKNESS SUITS ME.
Each evening, I await the click of the overhead lights, leaving only the glow of the main tank. Not perfect, but close enough.
Almost-darkness, like the middle-bottom of the sea. I lived there before I was captured and imprisoned. I cannot remember, yet I can still taste the untamed currents of the cold open water. Darkness runs through my blood.
Who am I, you ask? My name is Marcellus, but most humans do not call me that. Typically, they call me that guy. For example: Look at that guy – there he is – you can just see his tentacles behind the rock.
I am a giant Pacific octopus. I know this from the plaque on the wall beside my enclosure.
I know what you are thinking. Yes, I can read. I can do many things you would not expect.
Published by Bloomsbury 26th May 2022.
I know others do First Lines Friday, such as my lovely bookish friend Emma’s Biblio Treasures. I never have, but when I read the first few lines of this book I had to share them. I’ve never been addressed by an octopus before, but I love unusual narrators and this opening had sucked me in so much I had to read immediately. In fact my other half was in the queue for coffee at Waterstones and I’d read three chapters before he returned with my chai tea.
The Lotus Readers 