Shift
an excerpt

After getting a spot of lunch at the sandwich shop next door Tori found herself standing in the middle of the freshwater fish section of the Pets Emporium, bathed in the eerie blue light that aquariums seems to make.
“Goldfish?” asked one of the Pets Emporium employees. Tori was a usual; every few weeks or so she’d come by to pick up a new goldfish to replace the one that had recently perished. Even the fish themselves recognized her and darted away into hiding places when they heard her coming. But her goal this time was to keep a fish alive for more than four months, an ambitious task.
Tori nodded. “Lucky passed away a few weeks ago. But the tank is clean and cycled, so I think I’m ready to move on.”
The man laughed and nodded, he wasn’t surprised. “Well, just grab me when you’ve picked out the next lucky guy.” It took a lot of willpower not to burst out laughing.
She thanked him and went about picking out a new slimy and scaly friend. They were all beautiful gems of many different goldfishey colours. Some were gold -no kidding-, some were black, some were white, some were silver. Striped, solid, polka-dotted, the possibilities were endless. Needless to say, it was the really pretty fish that were the most worried. Tori was infamous for thinking with her eyes. The drab ones just floated on merrily, picking at green algae and chasing each other about.
Don’t get the wrong impression. Tori loved animals, and fish were the perfect pets for her living arrangements. She worked her little bumolley off trying to take care of them. But she just had a knack for killing things. Hopefully she’ll grow out of it before she decides to -heaven forbid- reproduce.
Tori knew that this was a bend in her river. She was going to take the fork that led to valour and sell fulfillment. She was going to keep the little bastard alive and prove that she wasn’t such a complete screw up. And with such a decisive moment she wanted to share it. She wanted to give the gift of love and hope to a fish that wouldn’t necessarily of been bought had she not picked him.
The “lucky” fish? A small washed out gray Comet goldfish. His fins were ripped and torn from countless other fish bullying him, chasing him, and nipping him. Since the other fish chased him whenever he tried to get near the fish flakes he was severely underweight and Tori just knew that she was meant to nurse the little bugger back to health.