I'm Oceana Serene Dalmas. I have a Thalassaphobia, but isn't it ironic how I have phobia in the ocean, but my full name is connected to the ocean? Oceana comes from the word "Ocean", and Dalmas means "of the sea". Serene is my second name because my mother said she always love looking at the "serene" or "calm" sea when I was in her womb.
My family loves going to the beaches, but I don't. Hindi ko mawari kung bakit ako takot na takot sa dagat, gayong wala pa namang nangyayari sa akin na hindi maganda tuwing nagpupunta kami sa mga beach.
They say our phobias is somehow connected to our past. Whatever our phobias are, it is said to be connected to our traumas or death in our past lives.
I don't believe in such things, but one day—something altered my brain. Something triggered my memory that I don't remember experiencing in my entire life. When I turned fifteen, I keep dreaming of the ocean. At first, it was so vague and all I can remember from the same dream is the vast ocean. But as the dream kept repeating night after night, my dream become more clear. In my dream, I am with a woman and a man that looks older than me and they were walking towards the ocean. After that scene, it will shift to a scene wherein I was drowning and sinking into the ocean. Magigising na lamang akong pawisan pagkatapos ng scene na iyon sa panaginip ko.
Isa pa sa mga kababalaghang nangyayari sa akin noong ako ay mag-kinse—nakakarinig ako ng magagandang huni at pagkanta ng tila mga sirena sa tuwing malapit ako sa dagat. It's so weird. Hella weird.
Sa aming limang magkakaibigan, hindi lamang ako ang mayroong phobia. Maging sila rin mismo ay nakakaranas ng mga weird na pangyayari na konektado sa phobia nila. Kaya noong maibahagi namin sa isa't isa ang mga weird na nangyayari sa amin, napagdesisyunan naming mag-imbestiga. Sa pag-i-imbestiga namin, napagtanto namin na kami ay konektado na pala sa isa't isa simula pa noon.