This story came to me after not only watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas" the other day, but I am now addicted to the song "Maria" by Ricky Martin. It's a great song to dance to. Anyhow, I was inspired to do this story as a result. The song "Maria" belongs to Ricky Martin; "The Nightmare Before Christmas" belongs to Disney. I only own my OC Maria, who is not the same Maria in Ricky Martin's song (just wanted to clarify that) and my other OC Rosa.

The Dancer

Chapter 1: Celebration Danger

"Grandma, do you think I can do a solo dance tonight?" A sixteen year old girl asked.

"Do you feel alright doing so, Maria, my dear?" Her grandmother asked her.

Maria gave it some thought. "I…I think so," she finally said, but with some hesitancy.

Rosa nodded to herself as she continued to braid the red and white ribbons into her granddaughter's hair. "You heard your mother and father talking about that the other day, hmm?" She asked.

"Yes," Maria answered. "I…I love to dance, especially the dances you've had me learning, Grandma, but I…I have a hard time dancing in front of someone other than you."

Rosa smiled gently. "I was very unsure like you when I had just learned the Harmony Dance," she said. "So much that I messed up halfway and started doing the Love Dance before switching back to the Harmony Dance."

Maria looked concerned. "What did Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa say?" She asked.

"Well, your great-grandfather was very upset with me, but your great-grandmother and great-great grandmother understood and complimented me on making the transitions smoothly when I realized I had messed up," said her grandmother as she finished braiding Maria's long blonde hair and slipped a beautiful red rose with wide pedals into Maria's braided hair on the right side, so when the girl would turn her head, the rose was visible. "Alright. Stand up and turn around."

Maria stood up and turned as her grandmother surveyed the red and white fiesta dress and the black dance shoes with white stockings that completed the outfit. "Do I look okay, Grandma?" She asked.

"You look lovely, Maria, dear," Rosa said. "Are you ready?"

Maria took a deep breath. "Yeah, but…is it okay if I do my solo dance last?" She asked.

"That's fine, honey."

Just then, one of Maria's sisters came running in. "Come on! Something's happened!" She said and raced out. Maria and Rosa followed and saw the police pulling up and everyone seemed upset. Maria immediately sought out her mother.

"Mama, what happened?" She asked.

"Someone's been killed," said her mother as a policeman came up with a lady who was crying harshly before she spotted Rosa.

"Oh, Rosa," the lady said, still crying. "My husband. He's been killed!"

Rosa held her friend in a comforting hug and had a stricken look on her face. Maria quickly decided to find out what had happened and heard the police asking if anyone had seen a suspicious figure, but only a few of the men had seen a shadow, but nothing else.

She then saw her uncles and male cousins guiding the stricken family into the next-door house and went to help them. One of her uncles nodded to her in thanks.

The sixteen year old was shocked about the tragedy. The men of the town were coming home after being in the Navy for so long and one was now dead. She then heard a scream and looked to see that the widow was now glaring at Rosa.

"This is your fault, Rosa!" She screamed. "You had promised!"

One policeman came up to them all. "I'm sorry, folks. You might want to put your plans of celebrating on hold for a bit," he said.

Maria then saw her mother and ran out to her. "Mama, what's going on?" She asked.

"Something very terrible, my daughter," said her mother. "He has returned."

"Not him, dear. He wouldn't dare break the fragile trust, but someone else would," said Rosa as they went back inside to let the police do their job.

But Maria had a very bad feeling that things were only going to get worse.

What's going to happen? Read on!

GoldGuardian2418