Numbered
I was ten when my granny died and I realized two things: one, some who walk among us are dead and two, only I, at least in my town, could see them. Yes, of course it scared me who wouldn’t be a 10 year old, watching spirits wander cluelessly, some have come to terms as to what’s really going on, Most accepted it at least that’s what had to have happened because a lot I’ve seen one day and then gone the next so it’s safe to assume that they’ve moved on right? Now much older and having a better sense about my “dead“situation I’ve learned to avoid and blend into the “living society”,but it’s the ones who can’t accept their passing that I try to avoid most,and I feel I’ve been successful for the most part, until now that is, I knew from the moment we made eye contact that she wasn’t part of the living, but being the idiot that I am, I just had to keep staring into them eyes, A beautiful honey, brown light color that reflected the sun so perfectly, at that moment I only seen life, I fell hypnotized when I looked into them eyes, What was fear, was now acceptance, I noticed the many self inflicted scars up and down her arms and felt pity for her, foolishly I reached out to wipe a tear that was rolling away from her beautiful eye but was unsuccessful, this only Highthend my ambition to want to connect with this soul, To understand her pain and her loss and her reason for coming to this end, again losing myself in her eyes losing my grip with reality I found myself lost in a telepathic like conversation with her, I also got a little taste of her pain, an imprinted flash of her exit, A time way before mine A slow, but peaceful death. what took her down this path was heavily on my mind, just as I built up the courage to ask, she responded with, “I lived a good life, I traveled and searched for heaven on Earth, I laughed and I cried, I loved and I’ve lost, I dreamed of a world full of happiness and love, only to wake up in Hell!” I admired her vulnerability and also her courage , again she pulled away as I reached for a tear, grabbing my wrist to stop me I felt the cold but welcoming taste of death, a sort of comfort that I experienced myself before, but never taken the next step, brought me back to my own little dance with the devil, young and angry but never really able to go down that route, fumbling for the right words to say I introduced myself “I’m Raymond” “I know“ she replied back almost instantly “I have come for YOU……
1984
I lay in the grass, the sun shining on my face, listening to the leaves rustle in the wind. When a shadow crossed my face, I opened my eyes expecting to see clouds. but reality quickly struck me across the face, “you don’t belong here!” another blunt strike to my face and then ear, the ringing only muffled out the rage of the protest, I stumbled a few feet hoping to catch my breath and was met again with another vicious blow, face down I could smell and taste the grass mixed my blood, as another strike came down between my shoulder blades, “stop it please!” I heard a woman shout as I felt the weight of her body sheild me, the smell of what I could only assume was tear gas soon consumed the crowd, adrenaline must’ve finally kicked in as I stumbled onto my feet clumsily, just as soon as I caught my breath I was choking on smoke, but still movin, finding myself alone and away from the crowd I wedged myself between two dumpsters behind the corner 7-11, blood and snot running down my face the overwhelming taste of blood in my mouth, all on a hot summer afternoon, I lost a shoe, a tooth and a lot of pride, a humbling moment for sure, questioning my own beliefs I pulled myself up to my feet and out from between the dumpsters, “ there he is“ I heard a familiar voice shout as the woman who I assume was the one who shielded me in the chaos came running with my shoe in her hand, as She handed me my shoe. I tried to thank her, but my mouth filled up with blood, and I realized I have bitten more than halfway into my tongue, Noticing I had a couple of broken fingers, She offered to help me with my shoe. I politely declined showing her that putting it on was as easy as it came off, “I’m taking you to get help“ she said in a stern mother like tone, “I’m not gonna fith ya” I jokingly replied , “I’m Julie Anne“ trying to reply my mouth again filled up with blood “its ok” Julie Anne said “but I got to ask, and you don’t really have to say it you could just nod your head Yes Or no, but was it worth It?“ was It worth The missing tooth broken fingers, the black eye that later formed? It must’ve been a mix of the pain and panic, but until she asked, it was almost as if I forgot, Forgot about The flames that almost consumed a masterpiece the numbers boldly printed on one side of a beautiful leather covered casing called to my soul and mind, painfully, slowly, I reached up under my shirt and pulled from my waist band, 1984 by George Orwell,
“YETH!” I said with a mouth full of blood, and a toothless smile, “YETH!” Julie Anne repeated as we made our way to an ambulance on standby.
He carried himself well, soft spoken but heard, easy on the eyes with a firm handshake, his stride and confidence command attention, a man of his word, well dressed as he drowns himself in a bottle behind closed doors yet another night , another spirit another memory of a life lost, in a world that has been cold for way too long, where does he go from here?
Cursed Blessings
“Danielly! That shit I’m hearing about you sneaking out your window at night has got to stop now!”
rolling her eyes in silence a young “Dani” only but 13 years old takes a long breath and loud sigh.
”Why! are you always in my business? I’m not even doing anything bad!“ Dani screamed back.
“I'm not Arcelinda! I don’t even like boys because!”
before Dani could finish her sentence she was interrupted by a slight but heavy shove from her not much older sister Arcelinda,
“Linda” dark skinned long haired looking definitely more mature than her age, one could say she is her mother reborn, only 18 years old a single mother still in school and making it her duty to ruin every minute of Danis life chimed in with
“I’m only looking out for you “baby sis”.
knowing that extra little “baby sis“ would make this discussion more colorful, but before there was any escalation.
“STOP!”
Danis mother snapped and quickly put an end to the girls short lived bicker battle.
” i’m running late for my shift Linda pick up after you and the baby, and Dani you are to go nowhere. Do you hear me? finish your homework and stay home!
Best believe this is a discussion we’re going to have on my day off tomorrow”
DanI quickly snapped back with.
”but I’m not even doing anything wrong “
Looking over at Linda while she does the I’m watching you gesture with her two fingers.
”The countdown begins”, Dani whispered to herself while watching her mother head out the door,
Quickly Dani headed to her room closing and locking the door behind her self to prepare for her night,
“Baby sis!” Dani repeated in a mocking voice.
interrupted by three loud knocks at her bedroom door, followed by Linda saying through the door, “I am only looking out for you, baby sis, “we’re all we got” Shocked and annoyed by the timing. but still caught off guard, by the quote “we’re all we got” a little Ortega girl saying, And also an Ortega girl curse, Dani’s mother the youngest of six also single sisters was the first to put the pieces of the curse together, See the story goes Danis grandmother was quite the looker back in the day, A search through Daniellee‘s mothers, old, photo albums are the solid prof of that, “The Mexican Barbie” all the Tias called her, Julina Ortega was her name , you can see a little of her in all of the Ortega sisters, but Dani’s mother could pass for a reincarnation of grandma “JuJu”, a little nickname some of the granddaughters came up wit, that’s right grandma juju gave birth to only women who intern gave birth to only females, there is a total 13 Ortega granddaughter’s plus 4 great granddaughters and yes all Ortega women are single, cheating deportation, prison two suicides and even a disappearance is what has happened to the men of the Ortega women,
And then there was Abuelo……
Antonio Miguel Ortega
“El Tramposo” “El Desleal”
“The Donor” all the Tias have a nickname for him but grandma JuJu called him “El Diablo” an abusive unfaithful evil soul of a man who she happened to have six children with beautiful grandma JuJu, the story has it grandma Juju was the youngest of three sister, her mother Emilia or Grandma Emi, a very beautiful woman was often left alone with her daughters, Juju would describe her mother as naïve or green, or maybe she just wanted to be loved, Juju’s father described as a strong stern quiet man went by the name Ramon Rosalez, but that could all be made up see cause Ramon never spoke of his past or where he was from he was a mystery even to Emi, the man literally came and went as he pleased sometimes being gone months at a time, Emi on her death bed told a story about the last time she seen Ramon, “with a smile and a kiss he told me he loved me, he looked into my eyes as we made love like never before, we made love and then he was gone again, that same day hours after he was gone while hanging clothes on the clothes line an angry white woman approached me“ “you will never again know the love of a man!” and noticing the clothes in my hands were that of little girls she screamed out again “and no woman in your blood line will either“ and she spit in my face and ran off, Cursing our bloodline.
Now Antonio Ortega and Juju met at work at a large farm in northern Colorado, Antonio a Mexican American Who you would think had all the advantages most Mexican American teens have, like working a regular job at fast food or a tire shop chose to work on a farm with only migrant workers, he wasn’t even fluent in Spanish, his dark skin and ”Cholo like” swag would fool anyone,
unlike juju there isn’t photo albums filed with Hollywood type images of Antonio inside, and if there was at one point the angry tias made sure to get rid of that, all except one picture that happens to be in the possession of Dani, Found in one of her mothers photo albums, folded behind a picture of her beautiful grandmother was her tall, dark, handsome grandfather, they look like that beautiful picture perfect couple Mexican Barbie and Mexican ken, if Ken had that late 50s cholo swag, They look so great together Dani remembers What could make a picture perfect couple like Abuelo and juju cease to exist after six children well, apparently grandpa had his demons and many skeletons in the closet,
Turns out abuelo had a whole other family of skeletons hiding in his closet,
Dani shakes her thoughts bangs back louder on the door and screams back, “worry bout your own chil, because her daddy doesn’t seem to“ Total regret, and dread as those words left Danis mouth, after all it wasn’t “Tashis” fault her mother and Dani can’t stand each other, Dani Opened her mouth, wanting to apologize, but nothing came out as she heard Linda slowly walking away from the door And down the hallway, Dani reached for the door handle to apologize But never opened the door, she just whispered “we’re all we got”,
The silence was then broken by a knock at Dani’s window, “Has to be Amy” Dani said as she walked over to take a peek, Pulling the blinds, expecting to see her goofy Besty but was taken back because there was no one there, just the backyard and darkness, “Little bitch” Danny whispers imagining it was Amy passing by, deciding to do a quick run by knock at danis window, before heading to “The Spot”, If there’s one thing, these young ladies, like doing thats scaring each other, Amy and Dani both being barely 15, had already had a reputation in their school, hell that reputation bled over everywhere they went, And it wasn’t that of a promiscuous girl but of those girls you just don’t want to fuck with,
allways in black, sometimes they look Chola, sometimes prep, a lot of times rocker, but always always in black, thus Earning the nickname “brujas“ by classmates the girls thought it was cute, and often fucked with their classmate, and Amy’s stick up her but white step sister “Marie”, asides from the clothing and attitude, their was of course the fact that both girls did a little juvenile time in mountain view Junvinile facility for assault on Amy’s mothers boyfriend, the girls don’t really talk about it much, and sometimes the small town and Tias whisper about it,
but it’s only whispered about, their bond is so tight Amy’s even adopted saying “we’re all we got” sisters from other misters they would jokingly say,
“Couldn’t be Amy” Dani said to herself, her dad and stepmother were definitely still awake, it’s barely 10:27pm, Dani took a deep breath and made her way to her TV it was a television vcr combo, something her mother picked up from a yard sale, remembering that she set timer so she could record “headbangers ball” Riki was interviewing ”Suicidal“ and Dani didn’t want to miss a second, 20 minutes in and numerous ”pause and unpause moments, during what felt like 100 commercial breaks,
lite tappings start coming from Dani’s window, and Amy faintly said,
“itsa me !” In the worst Mario brother voice ever, Dani grabbed her sweater and made her way to her window, just another normal night headed to “The Spot”
“THE SPOT“
It was a cozy little wooded area maybe a mile south of the neighborhood, once while exploring the girls stumbled upon it, now when I say exploringi mean a little teenage escape, sometimes they have a smoke or maybes sip of tequila Amy occasionally would bring a flask that she lifted off her stepdad, tequila or sometimes Rum, a sence of peace falls over them at The spot, an old solid oak tree that had fallen was the perfect spot the two would sit and just talk for hours at times it seemed as if Amy didn’t want to leave, Dani always figured it was because her parents had recently divorced, but to keep their shared custody easier for the both of them they literally lived blocks away from each other, Amy was always an outspoken couragous young lady who Dani definitely looked up to, but since their little stay in juvenile she kinda lost her lite, then their was the whole incident with her stepfather, Dani never built up the courage to ask exactly what happened, but Dani was sure it was sexual abuse, seeing her best friend/sister crying hysterically in the rain standing outside of her bedroom window with blood between her legs , Dani saw red, without hesitation Dani exited out her window and into Amy’s arms, scared herself she frantically asked Amy, “What happened!”
“Luis!” Amy screamed, the girls held each other crying in the rain for what seemed like an eternity, and when the rain stopped, the girls stopped crying, as if they were both one , they both headed out the back gate and towards Amy’s mothers house as if in some kind of trance, of course the front door was closed and locked, so Dani pounded and kicked at the door till Luis opened,
and then the girls were just on him, punching and scratching and kicking him, at one point he grabbed ahold of Dani and she bit him, and it wasn’t no baby nibble, Dani actually took a chunk of skin out and spit it onto the floor next to him as he rolled around gripping his bite wound on his wrist, and like the piece of shit coward he is Luis got to his feet and ran, only for him to trip over his own feet, falling face first onto the street and knocking out five of his front teeth.
of course like they’ve always been there the cops showed Dani and Amy were quickly on their feet and ran into the woods, Dani glanced quickly over her shoulder and noticed that they weren’t even being followed, I guess two screaming and crying teenager, one with blood on her crotch area kinda painted a picture for the police, but Dani wasn’t gonna chance it, pure adrenaline had both girls going, and their focus was “The spot” their safe place there the girls can catch up and get thei stories straight, once at the fallen oak Dani fell to her knees frantic and the only thing that could come out of her mouth was a series of “oh my god! Oh my god!oh my god! While Amy paced back and forth, getting to her feet Dani asked “What the fuck happed dude! What happened to you!? Amy snapped back with a stern “No!” Dani again “Amy what happened!?”, and Amy grabbed Dani by the shoulders and said in a calm tone “DanI isn’t it obvious?“ and the girls fell silent just staring deeply into each other’s eyes, the rain started to pick up again and the girls sought shelter under the fallen oak, freezing and hugging as the rain faded, out the corner of Amy’s eye she noticed a woman in a white gown crawling face down from a tree, shaking Dani to get her attention both girls watched in fear an silence as this woman crawled snake like threw the grass and then up on her feet, moving her hair from her face, she was beautiful long dark hair that she quickly pulled back and braided, the rain then stopped and the moon shined directly on her face as if it was meant to, she stretched her arms upward as if giving thanks, and the silence was broken by the sound of Amy’s mother screaming her name, in a flash like a cat the woman crawled right back up the tree, again Amy’s mother called out, and then Dani’s mother, still frozen in silence by what the girls just witnessed they watched as both mothers and two policemen walked past the fallen oak without even seeing them, it wasn’t until the group circled around and came back that Amy finally spoke up and said “mommy“ and immediately flashlights were shined in their direction , Dani’s mother Izzy got to them first saying to both girls, “don’t say anything yet! I’m proud of y’all!” Followed by Amy’s mother saying “but why? we could’ve talked” but before she could finish Izzy cut her off with another “proud of y’all girls!” While the police pushed through and placed both girls under arrest for assault, and as them handcuffs clicked the tree the woman crawled out of shook at the top getting everyone’s attention and a large owl flew towards them taking a quick swipe at everyone and then disappearing into the night.
Full Moon
Just like the night the girls were arrested, the moon was full and beautiful, the smell of summer and weed was in the air, it was 10:55 on a Friday night but you can still hear the sounds of the neighborhood, baby’s crying cats fighting the occasional thump thump thump, coming out the trunk of a passing car, not a cell phone in sigh, the girls took their time walking as they contemplated a quick stop at the 7-11, “a small basket of nachos do sound delicious” Amy said as if reading Dani’s mind, and they quietly detoured towards to the popular spot, not even one fricken foot in the door and they were met with ”brujas!” From a small group of friends from school who were all grouped up next to the mortal kombat game, Amy as usual in her happy go lucky style made her way towards the group while Dani marched straight to the nachos, Dani had a good rather unusual way of dishing out her nachos, while trying to focus on her little routine she was distracted by a glow coming out of the corner of her eye, through the window and across the street It was her!!! making eye contact for what seemed like an eternity Dani looked away for a slight moment loosing grip on her nachos and she was gone, only the sound of chips and chili cheese crashing onto the floor brought Dani back to eart, a roar of clapping and cheering came from the friends in the game room, as Dani stormed out the 7-11 to try and make sense of what she seen, immediately Amy came running behind asking what was going on with her, shaking and trying to get the words out with tears in her eyes Dani said ”It was her!” Before Amy could respond Michael a school friend who followed Amy out Asked “Who?!” But the girls huddleing together quickly walked away…..
This project is titled:
Cursed Blessings
2661 word count
Genre: Traditional folklor/Horror
Age range Teen to Adult
Author: Raymond Angelo Rosalez
my project is inspired by every type of woman in my life, their strengths and their weaknesses their abilities to rise and fall and their strong rolls in breaking generational curses, my targeted audience is my Latino community but I feel with time this project will evolve into more of a “class” community being that it takes place in the 90s.
My Bio
im a Hispanic male grew up in a small town in northern Colorado, I love art, poetry and history
Her cry
Lifting my head from my pillow in alarm, but yet still a bit groggy, wondering what was that, what did I just hear? knowing I was waken in an instant buy a sound that echoed inside of my head and sent chills through my body, Trying to remember if it was a nightmare I was having that woke me, recapping my dream only to remember seeing a beautiful face I’ve known from my past a love once lost, within that split second of having her in my thoughts, reminiscing the time of happiness that we shared together suddenly, to be startled by the alarming sound of a woman crying in Spanish ”aye mis hijo!” Being the second oldest in the family of five raised by a single mother, my instinct told me to get up and help only to hear her cry again “aye mis hijos!” It was that second one that it became clear to me. This was something I’ve been warned about a tale told to me as a child, time and time again. In that instance, my knees buckled, dropping onto the floor out of fear I pulled myself to the window to peek out and see. Who or what was crying outside of my house? pulling myself up from my knees at the window, slowly opening the blinds to give it a peek only To find myself face-to-face with an undescribable woman of my nightmares, haunted since a child, Her hair long, wet twisted like rope, hanging over a face, with pail skin that hung loosely from her face with patches missing, sometimes exposing the bone of her skull, her mouth opened as a snake slowly fell from it as word’s followed “aye mis hijos!” she was then gone where she once stood a snake slithered into the darkness. She was gone. I then proceeded to turn on every light in my small, one bedroom house. Never considered myself religious or even made an attempt but as I walked around my house, flipping light switches, prayer came out of my mouth prayers I haven’t heard since I was a baby when my grandmother would hold me in her arms and bless me with the sign of the cross on my forehead, Trying to build up the courage to go outside and take a look for myself. I grabbed a Modelo beer from my refrigerator and drank it without tasting it, and slowly made my way to the front door. it was dark and quiet somewhat refreshing with the smell, like it had just rained even though the streets were dry everything seems to be normal again I slowly made my way down my walkway, and noticed wet foot prints, as if walking up, but never walking away, The smell of after rain became stronger, and everything seem to be silent. The only sounds were my breathing, my footsteps and extra steps that could only be coming from behind, Alarms went off in my head as the hair in the back of my neck stood up RUN! A voice in my head told me. Without hesitation, without looking over my shoulder to confirm I ran as fast as my bare feet could take me down my walkway into the street away from The safety of my old house, never looking over my shoulder, but knowing she was right behind me, my instincts And Innervoice were telling me to get to a church. It is funny how A person can go 80% of their life without ever once Showing a faith in religion, but when that evil comes knocking at your door God is the only one on your mind, As I got closer and the church was within sight, I felt a cold, hard, hand, grip, my right shoulder, throwing me to the floor she was on me, grabbing scratching, screaming, tearing at my chest as if she was going to pull my heart out with her bare hands like some ancient Ritual, her black nails savagely, ripping at my body, I could feel her cold, wet clothing, sliding through my fingers as I was trying to get away reaching for her face in some kind of defense, pulling an ear off of her Trying to escape what I knew was going to be a very ugly death. Things began to get bright. I could see the outlines of trees, the tops of houses while fighting her off not really realizing that all this had happened, may be minutes before sun rise, while coming to this realization, I noticed her fight was a little weaker. I was able to throw her from off top of me and Get myself back up to my feet and again began to run bleeding profusely from deep scratches and punctures made by her nails, i’m now only feet from the church door. I didn’t hear her scream again I screamed that week in my body again. I felt my knees buckle as I fell to the floor looking back expecting. that she would once again be on top of me, trying to rip me to pieces. I looked back as the sun rises over the top of the church. I see her fall to her knees, and I hear her cry, once again, only to disappear into ash and blown away in the early morning breeze unable to catch my breath, I see the face of a young priest above me, trying to render how is everything slowly fades to black, And I awake