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Chapter 3

Fugurikio's POV

We arrived early the next morning. The sun wasn't high up yet, but it was shining bright enough to be visible. We were already walking towards the gate of El Cárcel de los Muertos, so Carlos grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the main road. After a couple minutes, we reached the big gates. Once we passed those and entered the forest, we kept going straight ahead. Finally we stopped in front of an abandoned house. I sighed deeply. I hated seeing all these houses.

"Well, here we are," Carlos said as he opened the door and stepped inside the house. I followed him and closed the door behind me.

As Carlos began looking for something in a closet or cabinet, I wandered around the large, empty living room, slowly moving around. I spotted two doors on either side of the room. One had 'BAR' written on it and the other 'CAMEO'. I guessed that one of them lead to a kitchen, and the other possibly led to the backyard. I figured that Carlos probably wanted to show me the kitchen first, as we weren't exactly neighbors.

As I was wondering around aimlessly, I bumped into Carlos and I quickly apologized, but he chuckled at me. "Don't worry about it," he reassured me, which was slightly relieving.

"Sorry," I replied.

Suddenly I heard a scream of horror coming from behind me. Turning around quickly, I saw a small girl lying on the floor next to the doorway to our room. She was shaking uncontrollably and looked frightened and confused at the same time, almost scared out of her wits.

Before I could step towards her, Carlos moved faster and ran over to the small child who was now screaming bloody murder.

"Shhhh, shhh, it's ok. Look at me, baby. Come on, look at me. It's not real, ok? I'm right here. It's ok."

"Nooo!! Oh god, help me!! SOMEONE HELP ME!!!"

As the small girl continued screaming, I took a few steps forward to comfort Carlos, but suddenly someone pushed me aside and rushed towards him to help him. A man appeared at the top of the staircase and ran downstairs to meet the little girl.

"Oh no. NO!" he yelled. He looked terrified, terrified of whatever was happening.

The little girl stopped screaming. She looked up and stared at the intruder.

"Who are you?! What do you want!? Get away from here!!" she screamed in fear and scrambled backwards on the ground to avoid him.

"Maria, don't move! It's ok, you are safe," Carlos told the girl calmly. "It's okay, baby. It's not real! You're ok! Everything will be ok!"

Carlos kneeled down and pulled the crying girl closer, trying to assure her and reassure both of us. He kept murmuring comforting words while stroking her head and rubbing her back to make her calmer.

"What do you want? Leave us alone!!!" I heard someone yell angrily behind me. I turned around to face the owner of the voice. A beautiful woman was glaring at Carlos angrily. The young man beside me tried to explain the situation, but the woman interrupted him before he could finish.

"Get away from her," she ordered him angrily. "Do you even know who she is? Or did you forget already?"

She glared furiously at Carlos. I glanced at her and noticed that she looked exactly like her daughter. The resemblance was uncanny.

"Maria. Maria! Calm down! Calm down!!" Carlos whispered to the scared girl between hushes.

"Calm down?? What the hell kind of monster are you?!"

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to… I promise…"

He kept whispering sweet nothings in the girl's ear until her breathing returned to normal. Then, after a couple minutes, he stood up and lifted her up.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to call 911?"

The girl shook her head, then nodded. Carlos picked her up carefully and put her in his arms before he walked towards one of the doors, probably the kitchen. "I'll call the ambulance right now," he stated simply and disappeared through the door.

My father approached us from the hallway and I saw him staring at me worriedly and also surprised.

"Hi dad," I said, trying to break the silence.

"Hi son," he responded and hugged me tightly. "What are you doing here, anyway? Are you visiting family?" he added, glancing nervously at Carlos, who was now standing awkwardly next to the counter.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. And no. This isn't exactly family visiting." I shrugged, trying not to show how awkward the situation actually was. "