( Art by  Green_Glutton, story by myself. )

Pip the Piranha wasn’t a very normal boy. He tried to make friends but everyone he met always seemed to vanish after a while, leaving behind only a few scraps of clothing, a pint or three of blood, and the odd scrap of meat. It wasn’t his fault really. Some were rude and got stuck in his teeth. He had to brush extra hard to get all of the bones out of his chompers sometimes. He didn’t always want to eat them. Sometimes he just liked the taste and got carried away. Sometimes he was bored and wasn’t paying attention. Sometimes he just got really, really hungry.
Most of the time he was really, really hungry.
It didn’t matter how much he ate, he couldn’t help himself.
He remembers enjoying his mommy and his brothers but they disappeared too. He remembered the water being really red and murky that day.
He tried to be friends with a shark once. That shark was gone now too.
Now no one else was around his watery home. He was starting to get a bit lonely!
Maybe he’d have more luck on the dry part of the world? His mom took him there once he remembered. People didn’t wear much by the water so they were extra easy to chew! Maybe one of these land dwellers would be friends with him? Surely he’d eaten enough by now to get along with one of them without getting hungry?

Pip made sure his scales were smooth and his fins were clean. He still had a bit of red on him from his last dinner. He had to work hard to get that off. In the end he got himself cleaned up properly just like his mom taught him and swam up to the surface!

The sun was bright, much brighter than it ever got underwater. The strange air current – wind they seemed to call it- was pretty strong. But even with the wind howling in his aquatic ears he heard something. Screaming? No! It was laughter! The beach wasn’t far away!

On shore Pip spotted a family playing. Eventually they left. He didn’t know where to but they left one behind. A lone boy. A cute dark-skinned boy! Dressed in red swim trunks and playing in the shallow surf.
He looked like a perfect friend!
Pip swam over, spinning with joy under the surface of the water. Today the wind was making the waves extra big. He used that to his advantage and rode one into the shore like a bullet out of a gun and waded up to the boy.
“Hiya!” Pip greeted the boy as friendly as could be.
“Hi! Who are y-AH!” The boy had not been looking and as soon as he turned he saw the unnatural grey coloration of Pip’s skin and the dagger-like protrusions that were his teeth.
“Oh, spooked you didn’t I? Sorry! Didn’t mean to!” Pip smiled and waded in closer, exposing his fishy fin and tail. “Do you like making sand castles?” The piranha boy asked cheerily.
The boy could only stare in horror. Pip still had a little pair of swim goggles lodged in the back of his teeth.
“Mama!” The boy called out, back up and stumbling over himself.
“Hey wait, where are you going?!” Pip tilted his head, frowning. “I didn’t say you could go!”
The boy raised his hand to push Pip away. Pip snapped once. That’s all it took. A dozen sharp fangs sliced through flesh and bone, severing the boy’s arm just below the elbow. Blood spurted from the stump into the tropical bluegreen water.
The poor boy howled in agony and shock.
Pip tilted his head back and swallowed. “Excuse me, you’re embarrassing me!” He scolded the boy as if he was merely acting out over not getting the toy he wanted. Before his ‘friend’ could make another attempt to escape the Piranha boy leapt forwards and snapped his jaws one, two, three times. That’s all it took! The human boy fell to the ground. Most of him did anyways. His legs remained standing, frozen by neural shock.
The boy could no longer scream as what was left of his lungs was sliding down Pip’s throat into his increasingly swollen abdomen. “Bwurrp!” He belched cutely and wiped his lips.
“Oh, your family is coming back. I was hoping we’d get to play more!” He shrugged and picked up the boy’s torso, cramming it into his mouth and chomping like a living blender, reducing the meaty mass to red sludge in his belly. A single eyeball escaped his jaws, falling into the water.
For leftovers Pip stole the boy’s lower half and munched on it as he swam home. “BWORP!” He burped again as he finished crunching up the boy’s femurs, ejecting the red swim trunks. Now the swim garment was riddled with holes and had a much deeper and vibrant crimson color. His family would be lucky to find it. It and a few scraps was all that remained of their loving boy.
Pip was a bit sad he didn’t make a friend today.

Oh well, such was life!

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