Growing up, children were often told stories and tales from around where they were living, and where Nito was growing up the popular legend was the legend of "The Woman In The Water".
The story was often first told to kids at a young age, then repeated to them as they grew. For that reason the story would often lose traction among teenagers and young adults, but Nito's interest in the topic only grew stronger.
He had a notebook he kept under his bed, detailing everything he had ever heard about the legend of The Woman In The Water.
The legend goes as follows:
One weekend a group of fishermen were walking to a lake near a church just as the sun was setting west, looking for a good place to stop and fish. They had found a perch in some shallow-ish water, perfect for them to sit and cast their poles into the deep end. The water ahead of them was covered in a layer of thick fog so thick that they could barely see. They casted their poles regardless of the ability to see their bobbers, and they waited for a tug. They didn't feel a tug, but they did feel a presence; a strong presence. They looked around to see nothing, but one of the fisherman looked ahead, into the fog, and that's when he saw her. A tall young woman, dressed in a black dress with a maroon color on the inside of the fabric, a small crown, and wearing what looked to be a veil over her face, stood before them. The fisherman got the other's attention and pointed out this woman. When they noticed her, they called out to her. She, of course, didn't answer, but she did move. She moved her hands together in what looked like a prayer, and she walked closer towards them. The grown men, scared of this spirit woman, began to back up.
"Oh, woman of the water," one of them cried, "do you wish to harm us?"
The woman, ever so slowly moving closer, shook her head. She parted her hands, like she was awaiting something to be put into them. The fishermen, confused, looked at eachother, desperately silently trying to figure out what it was exactly that this woman wanted from them.
The woman looked down, before her a single lotus flower bloomed and she stuck her open hands out farther, still seemingly awaiting something.
The fishermen were still confused, and the woman sensed this. After a few seconds of standing there, one of the fisherman felt lake vines wrapping around his ankles, and the fog got thicker. He screamed, and quickly the other fishermen fled.
They didn't sleep that night, and the next day when they arrived at the lake in broad daylight to see what had happened after they ran, their friend was nowhere to be found. His bag and the rest of their equipment, however, had stayed untouched.
Few people went to the lake at night after that.
A lot of people told Nito that that story was made up for the sole purpose of keeping kids from going to the lake at night, but he refused to believe it. He figured that 16 was the appropriate age to stop being afraid and actually go investigate, so that was what he got ready to do.
He planned on going later that night, bringing a flashlight and his phone to record anything that might happen. Admittedly, he was afraid, but he wasn't going to let that stop him this time. He texted his friend, the one person he was going to tell about this just in case, then left his phone to charge.
When the time to go finally rolled around, he got up from his bed, walking over to his door and sliding his shoes on quickly, not allowing himself time to talk himself out of this. He opened the door and walked out, beginning to make the journey to the lake.
Once he arrived, he turned on the flashlight and went to the same area the fishermen had supposedly gone before, but he didn't see any fog. In fact, he saw nothing the legend said he would see. He didn't let that take over, though, and he found a rock and sat.
Nearly an hour passed and he was losing hope, but it was right when he got up that the lake fogged over. Nito's heart started racing in his chest, maybe he did subconsciously think that this was all a legend and was merely just a story.
He instinctively backed up, fighting the urge to turn around and run right there, but he dug his heels into the lakeside mud and held his ground.
That was when he saw her. Well, that was when he saw her silhouette in the water. It was exactly as said, a tall young person, wearing a dress and what looked like a veil and crown.
The woman stuck out her hands in prayer, just as the story described, as she moved closer.
But, something wasn't correlating here.
The Woman Of The Water,
the famous woman you hear in legends told to all the children,
was a man.