1 ONE SPECIAL STORMY NIGHT

"Ana? Where are you going?" A middle-aged woman screamed from a little hut across the vast bay, as a young girl who seemed barely in her twenties ran towards the shore.

She was running barefooted and was wearing a worn-out floral dress that even had torn near the shoulder and the edging of her skirt. She had been wearing that as soon as it fitted her and wore it every day.

People thought that it was her favorite, but actually, she didn't have enough dresses to choose from.

Ana disappeared behind the white sandy shore and the middle-aged woman had already anticipated that she had already dived between the waves. She had to shut her mouth and shook her head as she glanced over the sky changing its color.

The supposed to be bright blue sky turned gray and was threatening a downpour. She was worried for her.

"Don't worry about her she will be okay. She had always been part of the ocean, that was her true home." A man behind, who's a little older than her gave her a comforting pat on her shoulder before he hugged her on the side.

"You can't stop me from worrying, and it wasn't only because of the incoming storm. She's almost her age and anytime soon she will change. I don't want that to happen to her without us beside her?"

The couple stared at each other as they brought back a memory from the past.

***

One stormy night… almost two decades ago.

"Andre, do you really have to go outside?" Rita pulled her husband back, worried.

"I have to, the storm seemed to be strong enough to ruin our boat. That was our only lifeline, we will lose it, we will lose our source of income." Andre insisted as he began to take his cloak near the door and wear it, he also grab the paraffin lamp on the table.

Rita knew that she couldn't stop her husband. So, instead of stopping her, she took her own cloak and went out with him instead. Andre was about to refuse at first, however, he was also aware that debating about it would only take the time and they might be too late to save their boat.

The couple rushed towards the shore, as they heard the sounds of the crashing waves, going the rhythm of the strong swooshing wind. It wasn't as raging as might create an above the tree's tidal wave yet, but it was strong enough to push the coconut fruits and leaves away from its trunk.

The couples looked so worried as upon seeing some of the boats parked near the shore, had been out of their places and were even hitting each other breaking some part of every boat that seemed to be piled over one another.

They squinted their eyes over the strong wind with sprinkles of rain and seawater that blurred their vision to see if one of the boats was theirs. Nevertheless, they hadn't found it there, instead, it was still in the same place as where they left it. Staying strong to its ground, as if it was too heavy that the waves, couldn't even move it.

They were both happy, wondering what happened? Since the situation seemed to be impossible enough. Their boat was lined side by side with other boats. Then it became the only one left near the shore where the others were all stacked up broken over each other and some are even scattered across the entire seashore.

They immediately ran towards their boat to pull it away from the shore, but however, they tried they couldn't budge it. It was too heavy for both of them. In fact, too late for them to realize that it was even too weighty that the strong waves couldn't even budge it.

As far as they know, their boat was made same materials as the others. So, it couldn't be that heavy, unless…

Unless something was in it.

The couple looked at each other as their thoughts meet. Hastily, they checked the inside of the boat, wondering what could be in it that was heavy enough to resist the storm with its raging waves.

Both of them were speechless upon seeing a fishtail that they could imagine could be as big if not bigger than a human. They only saw the tail of the fish as the upper part was covered by a polyester cloth that would also serve as the boat's sail.

They stared at each other with gaping mouths, the moment they saw the entirety of the fish and realized that it wasn't a fish at all. Instead, a beautiful pregnant mermaid. She was wincing in pain while holding her tummy.

"Looked like she was about to give birth to a child. We must help her." Rita pulled her husband's sleeves.

"Okay, okay just stop it. But, how will we do it? I don't know anything about it?" Andre looked back and forth around him, trying to figure out what to do to help the pregnant mermaid.

One very strong lightning accompanied by a rawring thunder distracted the couple for a moment. However, as Rita looked back down to the mermaid...

"Wait, wait, move the light closer, Andre! Look at that in front of her," Rita pointed towards the seemingly egg coming out from a hole in front of her.

Both of them were open-mouthed at the same time amazed, the egg wasn't just like what they expected. It has a translucent shell, however, what can only be seen inside was like colorful and glittery water flowing around the figure of an animal or a baby. They couldn't actually make out yet the entire image since it was still inside the egg.

Rita wanted to touch it but she was hesitating. It looked so delicate since the shell wasn't that hard yet. It was wobbly like a jelly in a shape of an egg.

"S-Should I touch it?" Rita asked hesitatingly.

"Please do." The mother mermaid was already catching her breath, the sound of agony. Even though she looked happy she was in pain, and it was apparent from her seldom wincing.

Andre looked at her wife and nodded, since, she looked like she was also asking for his opinion.

Slowly and delicately, Rita touched the wobbly egg, and just as soon as the tip of her fingertips slightly touched it, the egg burst out and the glittery and slimy liquid from inside the egg spilled out from it.

As soon as the egg drained, an image of a baby with a fishtail appeared.