Ya Vienen : Chapter One| Part One
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I was sitting in the living room. Playing guitar with my Tia Valéria. Both strumming our strings as she lulled along. No words. Just melodies.
This was something she and I did often. Ever since my 13th birthday when she had given me my first guitar. Every Thursday for the past 20 years, she and I would play together in the surrounding comfort of her pastel pink walls. Ever so often breaking to exchange the latest chismés. She with her cafécito. I with my tea. This had been a welcomed constant for most of my life. This time however..this time something was off. The air was heavy. Wet. I stopped playing. My Tia Valéria didn’t.
Even though my Tia hadn’t skipped a beat, the temper of the music had changed. It was *so* slow. Deliberate. It had gone from blissful & calming to ominous & damning. Forcing my attention away from the dismal atmosphere of the room, I turned to my Tia Valéria. I needed validation. The world or at least this room had changed. That’s when I noticed that *she* was different. Her plump, smile lined face had disappeared. Her fuchsia painted lips were no longer relaxed in song. They had fallen to gritted teeth. Instead of seeing my Tia’s heavy closed lids, her eyes were wide open. She was now looking forward. Intently. At me!
A cold chill rushed down from my head. I was so focused on her gaze that I had failed to notice the droning rhythm that had replaced her once placid tones. The buzzing grew louder and louder. Her breathing was retched, but powerful. I could feel the pressure of the room being sucked away with each inhale.
It was getting dark. I didn’t know if the power was failing or if I was going to pass out. The music was impossibly heavy now. As if she’d replaced her fingertips with sewing thimbles. The room blackened with every bar. Tia Valéria was shrouded in darkness, like some type of horror vignette. It grew until only her face and hands were visible. There was no living room anymore. No outside world. No reflections. No me. Just her glaring face and bone-idled fingers.
She lurched forward, pulling me in with her inhale. With the next she emptied my lungs. My muscles burned. She inhaled again. My joints crushed under the weight of what was once her living room. With her next breath I heard and felt a great big snap.
My eyes flew open. That wasn’t a snap I heard. It was the sound of a slammed door. Despite the confusion about what I had just experienced?…dreamed?…I ran towards my bedroom door. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I was going to look for. Only that I had to move.
