Lights just in the horizon, right out of her reach That was all she could see, she wouldn't let her legs let up as she continued running up the spiral stairs. Her chest wanted to collapse as she could feel her heart wanting to burst out of her ribcage. For a sudden moment her mind had a fleeting thought 'what if everyone in the world of the dead still had beating hearts stuck in their ribcage?' a cold shiver shot down her spine. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the thought didn't stay any longer as she heard the loud roaring of Pepita crashing into the small corridor of the spiral staircase, chasing after her. She quickly saw a black steel gate, freedom. Without a second thought she quickly shut out the large alebrije and continued to run up the stairs 'almost! - i'm almo-'
"Maria Thelma!" she heard her name shout out from behind her. Maria turned around slowly with the guitar still tightly being held on by her back. Maria saw her Mama Imelda holding tightly at the gate still calling her name.
"Mari stop this at once!" she called out sternly for a moment Maria didn't know any fear until she saw her mama Imelda's scorned face, but she simply held onto her guitar tighter.
"No" she said quietly at first "no usted no mi quiere ayudar!"
"Your family knows what is best" mama Imelda countered
"But if you're really family you would be there for one another and none of you." Mari took a moment as she felt hiccups build up in the back of her throat "no one has ever supported me."
Maybe it was the fact that she had just run up five flights of stairs without taking a breather or of how emotionally tired she was from hiding her love of music for so long, either way tears began to fall down her painted cheeks. Maria decided that it was probably because she was physically tired but it still made Mama Imelda pause and as she saw her great great grand nieta tear up in the dark alley with nothing but the guitar strapped onto her back.
"That's why I have to find my great-great grandpa, he's the only one who'll understand me" she began to walk away from her mama Imelda "the only one in this family who loved music as much as me"
Maria began slowly picking up her feet as she climbed up the stairs keeping her eyes on the horizon but her picked up the softest yet heart wrenching vocals she's ever heard in her life
"Ay de mi llorona. Llorona de azul celeste~" Mama Imelda held tightly onto the blacks bars of the gate as her voice poured out the bittersweet haunting melody.
"Mama?" Maria spoke out
"You think I hate music?" mama Imelda breathed "I love music"
"Then why did you ban it from us?" Maria pressed her eyebrows together as she tried to keep her voice even
"After that man left I didn't have time to worry I still had a daughter to raise and a family to take care of" Imelda confessed "banning music was the only way to live on without a broken heart, for me and my daughter, you have to understand Maria"
"music...Is my heart" Maria stated, "your banning destroyed my heart even before it could beat"
Maria turned on her heel more determined than ever to find her great great grandfather and receive his blessing. She left her Mama Imelda reaching out towards her on the dark lonely stairway.
"You really are like me in every way" Imelda spoke softly
Ernesto de La Cruz, it had always been a family household name, well except her household apparently. Never in a million years would she have ever guessed that Ernesto De La Cruz was her ancestor, her father's father father..father? , she wasn't sure how that worked, Mama Coco's Papa. Maria made sure to readjust her makeup as she cleaned off any evidence of her tears. 'Now is not the time to be a chillona'. It wasn't a great fix but it would last her enough to reach up into the mansion. It was a much better sight to see than herself. The mansion sat upon a top of a mountain with a waterfall around the side and the only way up was by a grand mountainside Gondola tram. Maria couldn't find a way to pass through the security guards unless she was a famous luchador wrestler who didn't even have an invitation.
"Pfft honestly that guy didn't even ask for his invite" she said out loud to herself "he just took his picture and allowed him to go"
Maria rubbed her side as she remembered how the security guard flung her out of the line.
"Jerk" she looked around, there's got to be another way, out of the corner of her eye she found the group who she competed with at the talent show. Her eyes brightened with new found courage
"Hey guys!" she walked over to the band. Everyone recognize her immediately.
"Ohye you're the girl at the talent show, Chica you were the bomb" one of the band members said, Maria remembered her she as the clarinet player who gave her a good luck before she went on stage. Maria smiled at their familiarity. For a moment her mind drifted to the image of the ragged skeleton who helped her more than anyone else, Hector, she had to push that aside for now.
"Hey guys one fellow musician to another-"
Once they got into the Tram bypassing the security guard the tuba player let her fall out of his horn. She fell flat on her backside, she had to adjust her headband as her long hair become static from the copper instrument. She gave the band members a toothy grin with a thumbs up, they giggled along with her.
The doors of the gondola opened, and Maria was left in awestruck. It was filled to the brim with guests and the decor was white and polished, she had never felt more unimportant in her life. The band members gave her a pat on her back as they went to get ready for their performance "enjoy the party kid"
Maria walked around trying to find any sight of her Papa Ernesto. Everyone intimidated her, she almost wishes she just stuck with the band, at least they were recognizable faces. Everyone seemed to phase out of her sight, she felt her chest tighten.
"Where do you think he is Dante?" she found herself asking her trusty- he wasn't there. Maria looked around and suddenly remembered how she made her single friend run from her. She had to keep a straight face from tearing up again. 'Come on you got to keep going' she kept looking around, suddenly she heard it
"Senor De La Cruz over here please" out of ear shot but close enough to see Maria turned wildly at the sound and she saw the white mariachi suit of the man walk into the door of the mansion, 'Papa Ernesto!'. She quickly ran in trying to go in between the party goers. She swerved through as she caught sight of the white suit as a sign of hope, but it always strayed too far from her to catch. He began walking farther away from her and deeper into the crowd. Maria looking around and saw all of Papa Ernesto's movies playing on the walls of the mansion. The loud music and chatter of the crowd was enough to overwhelm her as she kept her breathing even, but she could feel her chest begin to constrain.
"When you see your moment, you mustn't let it pass you by, you must seize it" she heard one of the screens play. Papa Ernesto was speaking to the female lead in a passionate silique.
"He will listen to music" Maria knew what she had to do.
