There's Just Something Not Right About Maria

As the days seem to roll on in the month of October, June and Jade loved preparing for the Halloween celebration. It became a ritual year after year. But even more important to them was celebrating through November 2nd. Their families and friends all took part in the celebration as part of their heritage.

June couldn’t decide on what she wanted to wear for Halloween, where Jade had decided after the last Halloween. She was going to go dressed up in her Day of Dead costume. It was just a week away and Jade was constantly hounding June about what she was going to do. She wanted to get her costume that weekend though, so she didn’t have to pick it out the day before Halloween and choose the stubborn leftovers.

They decided to go to the mall, probably the best place to go. This new girl from school Maria was going to go with them. She didn’t really know anyone and the sisters being friendly people invited her along to go with them. Maria was from Misnebalam, Mexico in the Yucatan Peninsula. Maria talked about stories on how her family farmed Agave. More for the fiber-like products that were created but also sold the fruit from the plant to industries. She didn’t know what the fruit was used for though as it was very bitter and didn’t think it was worth much, but they were always able to sell them.

Maria said they had moved to the U.S. because the fields were no longer producing. It was too hot in the area, and they couldn’t get water to the fields which made it impossible to grow anything. Her grandfather Don Fidencio G. Marquez had stayed behind. He owned one of the haciendas where the workers stayed. He would keep an eye on the fields and if things returned, he would let them know. It was highly doubtful though. There just wasn’t anyone around anymore.

June and Jade began to really like Maria and the stories she told of her time in Mexico. While June and Jade were of Mexican Heritage, they had been born in the U.S. and their parents were as well. They really didn’t have many stories of Mexico other than what their grandmother told them.

As they were shopping in the mall June found this lovely Dream Girl costume that had bright Marigolds all over it. She would just need her mother to help paint her face and it would be perfect. It had ribcage bones in the middle, a red belt that would tie around her waist, and black sleaves for her arms. The skirt was black and Marigolds in differing colors going all around it. June picked up and showed Maria, and Maria gushed over how good that would look on June. She couldn’t wait to see it on her with her face painted. June purchased it and they called their parents to let them know they were done. Jade was a little disenchanted. Now they would both be wearing Day of the Dead costumes. She would not complain though, they would both look cute in their costumes.

After they dropped off Maria they headed home and prepared for church the next day. They attended the local Catholic church that had a Spanish-speaking preacher. Their parents felt it was smart to ensure the girls were bilingual. It would help in whatever is they decided to do when they grew up. Not to mention that the Spanish-speaking population is on the rise. June had told her parents about where Maria was from. They didn’t remember the place, but Mexico has many states, and some towns are quite small.

Every day of school that week was just one day closer to the big Halloween party that the town held every year. All the teenagers would dress up in their costumes of choice and attend the Halloween Party. It became a rite of passage when you turned 13. Everyone 13 to 19 was there. Maria, June, and Jade couldn’t wait. Maria missed the last two days of school that week. The sisters were hoping that she would make the Halloween party.

As the girls were getting ready, the doorbell rang. It was Maria and she was excited to see the girls and help them get ready for the party. Maria was wearing a completely white skeleton costume. It looked so real. If they could have seen through her, they would have thought she was a ghost walking around. The girls finished getting ready and rushed off to the festivities. Maria said she had a surprise for the girls when they got there.

As they turned the corner to the high school gym, they saw that the entrance was covered in Marigolds. Every color you could imagine and beautiful. Maria said her grandfather had them delivered. They were excited and picked up a couple and attached them to their costumes. The marigolds went perfectly with the costumes they were wearing. They all enjoyed the party and stayed until the end talking about themselves, dancing and being in the moment. They knew that this was the start of the celebration and remembering the dead even though most American’s do not celebrate the Day of the Dead.

The stories Maria would tell were fun, some were scary, but mostly it was about remembering The family that she hadn’t seen in a while. You could tell she missed them. She did tell us that eventually she would go back and tell them of the stories from here and how much fun it is here. They all left together, and they again dropped Maria at her home. They asked if they could come by later the 1st of November, and Maria told them they could.

The next day they got up, spent the day with family and in the afternoon decided to ask to go to Maria’s house. The parents got in the car and drove over to Maria’s house. They hadn’t met her parents yet and felt it might be a good day to do that. As they pulled up to the house, it wasn’t the same as they remembered. It looked like it had been empty for quite some time and surely didn’t looked lived in. They walked up to the door and as they knocked on the door, it slowly opened. As they pushed the door open, the house was completely empty. Not a lick of furniture in it, not anything. June picked up her phone and called Rena a friend from school and asked her if they knew anything about the girl that they had been hanging around with and had gone to the party with. Rena said what friend? You two have been hanging around and talking to yourselves for weeks. We all thought it was weird, but we didn’t want to say anything.

A fright came over them all as they became very inquisitive about what was going on. Mom got her phone out and asked the girls what was her grandfather’s name? Don Fidencio G. Marquez, they said simultaneously. As she googled the name something very startling appeared. Mr. Marquez had been assassinated in 1921 in and he was holding his granddaughter Maria trying to protect her at his home in Misnebalam. In fact Misnebalam was practically abandoned. Only two people still remained living there.

They all jumped back in the car and rushed home. June was in her room when suddenly Maria appeared. June, she said, don’t be frightened. With our town abandoned, we missed having the celebrations with the people. I am glad that your family celebrates the Day of the Dead like you do. I must return home now; Grandfather is waiting on me.

June went to her family and told them what Maria had just said to her. For the next year planning was put in place for 100 people to go to Misnebalam and have a Day of the Dead celebration like they haven’t had in quite some time. They wanted the people of Misnebalam to be remembered and would ensure that the people of Misnebalam would not be forgotten.