1 Hatching

I could feel the time approaching to escape my shell as the temperature around me increased. As the warm water kept pushing down at my shell, I began to stretch and wiggle and test the confines of this tiny egg that helped me develop these past few months. I gained consciousness a while ago but kept drifting into an endless sleep as the temperature cooled, each time awakening to an increasingly smaller confined space. I guess I've been growing in my slumber.

My tail pressed tightly around me, my arms tucked in and my neck bent forward all into a tiny ball. I could feel the warm water outside coaxing me out, making my shell expand just a bit giving me more room to wiggle. I struggled for purchase inside this slick smooth shell. Each wiggle and stretch soothing to my cramped muscles. With one final great push outward, I hear a crack and I'm immediately met with warm water rushing into my gills and washing over my tail. The shell breaks away as I push my tail, testing its strength and my dexterity.

I dare to open my eyes and am momentarily blinded by the beautiful refracted sunlight through the surface of the ocean far above me. I look down in reflex and discover my nest made of stones and two other eggs along with my broken one. I swim closer to inspect, but they are much smaller, so much smaller than the one I emerged from. I listen to a faint heart beat in one, while the other was cold to the touch. One of my siblings didn't make it and the other wasn't long for this world. I'm saddened and I curl up around the remaining egg, humming gently and hugging her as her heartbeat grew fainter. Each heartbeat a painful second until it gave out and slowly the egg turned cold.

There seemed to be an insatiable hunger in my tummy that grew with each second passing by. A quick scan around, and I discover kelp growing around the nest. I rush over and nibble at the leaves, they taste good and I help myself to large meal enough to stuff my growling tummy.