It was nearly dawn and the check in for the Marigold Bridge about to close for another year with only a few stragglers making a quick trip over before sunrise and most people already having returned or just on their way back through to re-entry.
Sarita glanced up from where she had been idly watching people coming back in when someone was approaching her lane and frowned, not him again. Hèctor, she knew his name from his many attempts over the decades and this year was no different, if anything it was worse. He usually tried one or two grand attempts and was either chased off or dragged into a police cell for the night but this year was different, this year he just kept coming back even when they had telephoned for police officers to come arrest him, he managed to keep out running them and rounding back to the check in. She sighed with her arms folded, ready for another one of his attempts, he'd been at this since check in opened at sunset and hadn't left them alone all night. What was he going to try this time? More lies? More costumes pretending to be someone else? And she had thought she'd seen it all when he crashed a van into the gates a few years ago.
Her near glare slid off her face as she watched him come closer, his limp far worse than it had been earlier with his fibular swinging wildly out of place leaving him practically dragging his broken leg behind him with each hard taken step. He was hunched over on himself too, his arms wrapped around his ribs and head hanging low. She caught her co-worker Tulio's attention and nodded towards the intruder but shook her head when he meant to come over, she'd let the man explain himself at least before she set the guards on him again.
"Hèctor." She greeted when he finally stepped up to her check in.
His head tilted up, his eyes full of pure exhaustion and pain. "Please..." He gasped., his arms clutching a little more around his ribs. "Please just let me go through..."
Her posture lost all hostility and her shoulders sank. "Los siento … but you know the rules, no photo on a Ofrenda no crossing the bridge, it's not even our rules the bridge can't hold you..."
"Please!" He lurched forward a little and she subconsciously took a step back though he seemed to just have trouble balancing on his feet. "I just … I just need to go, just this once, por favor..."
"Hèctor..." Her forehead tightened in worry, concerns over his condition filling her mind, he just didn't look well at all.
"Listen, my girl... I need to see her..." They had heard of 'his girl' before, the others sometimes taking bets on what that exactly was about. "My girl, my daughter... her names Coco Rivera she was just a baby when I died, I promised I would come home to her... it's been … ninety-six years... I have to go home... I promised..."
"I am so sorry... look, I understand, but I don't know what we can do to help, the bridge won't-" She tried to explain again but was cut of by a wave of his arm.
"Just for five minutes? Please? I just need to see her again, even if … even if I never get to talk to her again … I just need to see her... that's all I want … just let me- ahh!" A golden light ricocheted through his frame and like a puppet with its strings slashed he fell to the floor.
"Hèctor?!" She gasped, running around her check in and kneeling at his side, a steadying hand placed on his shoulder while he pulled his knees beneath him to sit up a little.
"Please... let me see her … one last time..." He groaned when another flash took a hold of him and he sank back down.
"Tulio! Freira! Help!" She all but screamed without her eyes ever leaving him, as if that would keep him here while her hands hovered nervously just shy of touching him, frightened it wouldn't only hurt him more. She knew what the golden light meant, everybody did, even if she had never personally seen it before. He was fading away right in front of her, what could she do? Fetch a doctor? Did he have time for her to find one? Was there even doctors for this?
The two gate guards came running, ready to tackle him away from her until they saw his condition. "He's dying!" Sarita cried, her large doe eyes full of fear as she stared up at them for help. They came to stand beside them, glancing uncomfortably between themselves and then down to the skeleton on the ground.
"... Hèctor? … Let's … let's get you inside yeah? Find you somewhere more comfortable than this?" Tulio spoke gently, glancing around for ideas, while the check in was pretty much closed now re-entry was still open and people on the other side of the gates were beginning to stare. They could take him into the stations staff room where they had a beat up old couch, it was at least soft and had more privacy than out here.
He reached out to try to pull the man up as carefully as he could, Freira at his side following his example until Hèctor gave an heartbreaking screech and jolted himself painfully. "No!"
"... Amigo... It's alright... we'll take you somewhere you can rest..." Tulio still tried.
Hèctor snatched a hold of Sarita's blouse, his hand locked in like he was trying to anchor himself to her. "No! Don't take me away! I have to stay, have to get across the bridge!"
"But you can't go across, please Hèctor let us take care of you" Sarita pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I have to cross... I'm out of time... I want to see her..." He gasped with his eyes tight shut and his jaw clenched, his bones sparking with another flash.
The three of them looked at each other before Freira sighed. "I''ll carry him over" She spoke with deep determination.
"What?!" Tulio could only stare at his partner as she knelt down beside Hèctor and Sarita.
"Hèctor? If you just put your arms around me, just like that, I'll help you across alright?" She spoke softly to him while she gathered him up, Sarita helping to wrap the man's arm over her neck while hers held steady around his ribs.
"You can't!" Tulio tried to protect, but made no real move to stop them.
"Why not? We've carried him off the bridge before, maybe we can carry him over?"
"But he's not remembered! He could die!" He voiced his fears, what if the further across the bridge they took him the more he faded away?
"He's dying now! What does it matter?! At least we can try to give him this!" Freira snarled back, she stood with the fading man leaning fully against her side, his cheekbone resting on her shoulder.
Tulio looked at her for a moment before his body sagged a little, his face falling into a defeated sad look. "... Alright, come here amigo, ups-a-daisy." He pulled Hèctor's other arm over his shoulders, holding him up between the two of them and then they were off out of the check in lines through the gate. Sarita followed nervously, glancing at her station behind them, all three of them were abandoning their posts, they were bound to loose their jobs but still she wanted to help.
"Ahh" Hèctor breathed out a pained breath when his bones flashed again but they kept going, taking no notice of people travelling back towards re-entry looking at them.
"It's okay, just a little longer" Sarita tried to soothe him, trying to make eye contact while his head hung down against his ribs. The marigold petals glowed beneath their feet as they stepped onto the bridge, his dragging through but they held him steady. "Hèctor look! You're going across the bridge!" She couldn't help the watery smile, his head nodded weakly and he hummed.
"We'll get you home" Freira added.
They managed to get to the middle of the bridge, where the arch was the highest, the first glimmers of dawn turning the sky pink, light beginning to streak across the horizon. They wouldn't be able to bring him back, they would only just have enough time to leave him in the Land of the Living and make a run back for the bridge before they were trapped themselves. Hèctor cried out in pain, jerking roughly in their hands and it was a moment of terrifying struggle to not drop him, fearful he would sink right through the petals and down to the bottomless void beneath.
"Whoa! Easy! Easy amigo!" Tulio called as he continued to spasm, they brought him down to rest sitting across them, his head pressed to the guard's chest, his torso in his lap and his legs across Freira's lap, his feet just dipping into the petals.
"It hurts!" Hèctor choked, this time the light not leaving him.
"Hey, hey." Sarita cooed, tears damping her cheekbones as she carefully took both of his hands in hers. "We did it Hèctor, we made it across."
His eyes cracked open and blearily gazed around. "... Coco?"
"She'll be here soon" She lied, her throat tight. "She's on her way, you'll get to see her again, you kept your promise."
He gave a weak barely there smile, his eyes glazed. "My promise?" He echoed, the words seemed to confuse him. "I came home?"
She nodded. "You came home, after all these years finally you did it."
He hummed appreciatively at that, the smile still in place. "... Hurts..."
"We know... it's okay to let go now if you want, we did it, you're here." Tulio held him a little tighter, his hand soothing at his shoulder.
" … I can? ..." He whimpered in agony, the light growing all the brighter.
"If you want, you crossed the bridge and Coco knows how much you love her. You don't have to hold on anymore." Sarita sobbed, clutching at his hands. "It-It doesn't have to hurt anymore."
Hèctor tried to focus on her, his eyes near rolling back with the effort to keep them open, he looked at her and gave her one last smile. "... Gracias..." With that his eyes fell shut and the light took over, his bones crumbling away into dust between them.