Patrick awoke to use the bathroom. Upon completing his trip, he heard a strange, yet oddly familiar singing voice. Following it to the source, Patrick found a secret stairway. Descending the stairs, Patrick followed the sound. He was shocked when he saw his mother, only she looked younger, and inhumanly beautiful. "Mom?" Patrick asked.
Jane was spooked, until she turned around to see her only son.
"Patrick, honey what are you doing here?" She asked. Patrick hung his head, thinking he was in trouble. "I'm sorry mom, but I heard singing and followed it here." Patrick said.
Jane sighed. "It's ok, I suppose that someone was bound to find out my secret." Jane confessed.
However, before Patrick could react. His legs gave out as he fell forward. Landing with a thud, Patrick saw his pajama pants were shredded and his legs had fused into a single, sea green tail. However, Patrick also underwent another change.
Jane watched as her son started getting younger. He regressed back to five years old. This was too much for Patrick to process. Scared and confused, he started to tear up and cry.
Jane pulled herself out of the pool and reached over to her son. Luckily, Patrick transformed into a Merman in arms length of Jane. "Shhh, it's ok sweetie, I'm here." Jane told her son, humming a lovely and soothing tune to try and comfort her now five year old son.
Patrick dried his tears and looked up at his mother, who smiled sweetly at her child. "I suppose I should explain everything to you." Jane admitted.
"You see honey, I've always been a mermaid, and as much as I loved it very much, I always felt incomplete, like something was missing in my life. So I came onto land, met your father and together we've had four wonderful children in you and your sisters." Jane smiled, playfully booping Patrick's nose, which mad him giggle. "But I still have to return to the ocean every month, otherwise I'd loose my ability to be human." Jane said.
"So how come I'm five?" Patrick asked. "You see the, Merpeople age at half the rate humans do, so when you transformed, you became the age you would be as a Merman." Jane said with warm, loving smile that made Patrick feel better.
"Now how about I teach you how to use your tail?" Jane offered. Patrick nodded with a grin as Jane began teaching him how to swim.
It filled her with a tremendous amount of joy and pride to teach one of her children. However, Jane also felt a degree of sadness because..