Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of The Book of Life, if I did it wouldn't be as much as a beautiful film as it is. I own nothing but the plot.
Moonlight bite
Manolo Sanchez sat all alone, by himself.
He could do nothing but stare at his own reflection and look at the depressed frown that had been fixed on his face, even when he tried to reverse it and force himself to smile again. He sat on a corner of the San Angel river with his legs dangling over the edge and the light kicks he gave making ripples in the deep blue water.
He could feel the nighttime cool air brush against his face as he held his guitar at the ready, waiting for a tune to come to life inside his mind so he could start playing...and eventually something came. He started to softly pluck the strings of his precious guitar, looking down at the message etched on the side before doing this, and a soft and beautiful sound flowed from the stringed instrument.
As he played, he started to recall his current predicament.
It was the first anniversary of when his father and grandmother had died, in other words, it was the day of the dead. Normally he would be out by the graveyard but he just couldn't bring himself to go there. It would bring back too many memories and he couldn't stand it.
He had told his wife, María, to go on without him until he was ready to go. She understood and respected her husband's wishes as she went to the gravesite of the Sanchez family. Manolo had been all alone out here ever since, staring at his moonlit reflection as he done so.
However it was then that he lifted his gaze upon hearing a voice or noise of some kind. He looked left and right for the source and found nothing that could indicate the origin of the sudden noise disturbing his quiet time alone. His eyes were wide and he didn't know what to do should the source of the noise be something dangerous.
It was then that he looked over his shoulder and saw the origin of the noise. It was a shadowed figure that the guitarrista had never seen before as its non-luminous figure crawled out from behind a darkened alleyway and made its approach to Manolo.
Overcome with curiosity, the man squinted his eyes and leaned forwards to get a better look at the strange figure that advanced towards him. He ceased playing his guitar and twisted his body to get a much better view. He called out softly, his voice sounding all the more tender due to the wind whistling around him "Hola? Are you lost, senõr?"
There was no response from the strange being.
This started to frighten the man as he watched the figure cloaked in darkness come near him. His heart jumped into his throat when he realised that it was no man looking for shelter, but a big and hairy slobbery wolf that bared its razor-sharp fangs and had its big bushy tail weaving gracefully through the midnight air. Its ears were perked and its muscles were well-toned.
The wind bristled the wolf's dark brown fur.
Gasping with wide and horrified eyes, Manolo swallowed as he flipped himself on to his back as he backed off from the approaching big dog. His guitar made a small sound as it thumped on the ground alongside him, laying dormant until its inevitable use. His caramel skin became sweaty and thunder rumbled from the dark blackened heavens, closing over the moon and covering whatever light that was surrounding the earth below.
"Oh no...please no! Get off of me!" Manolo cried, his voice starting to break as he stared directly into the vicious yellow eyes of the beast standing over him with its huge paws standing on top of the man's shoulders in order to pin him down.
Manolo struggled under the huge creature pinning him to the cobblestone below. As he tried to free himself, he looked silently into the eyes of this monstrous beast and found his resistance melt away when he realised that those glowing orbits belonging to the canine-like creature looked very mesmerising yet hypnotic at the same time.
They reminded him of those eyes he saw of all those he saw dead in the Land of the remembered, black holes with honey coloured pupils that always found a way to blaze and burn like a raging inferno in his memories.
The wolf's tail brushed along the guitarist's right arm. The creature's muzzle started to become wrinkled as it growled aggressively, its breathing heavier and becoming like deep pants. Each breath the monster took was accompanied by the sound of a rattling rib cage, its ears darted back as it snapped its iron jaws at Manolo.
Blinking himself out of his stupor, Manolo frantically reached grabbed the nearest object -his guitar, in other words- and he whacked the bow of the instrument across the face of the wolf, knocking it aside and allowing the man to climb to his feet.
Before he could do anything more, the wolf lunged forwards and clamped its fangs against the man's left leg. Manolo yelped in pain as the pain was similar to the one he had felt when Xibalba (a god and the ruler of the land of the forgotten) had tricked him and made a two-headed snake bite him in both legs.
However this pain felt different and not in an easy-describable way...
As the wolf's canine fangs sunk into his leg, it send a searing burning sensation throughout the whorl left side of his body. It also felt like all the nerves in his body were attacking his bone ligaments and everything else in his body. He gritted his teeth in agony and his eyes were becoming watery and started to bulge out from his eye sockets.
His heart started to race and his arms started to ache as well. All he could hear was the repetitive thumping of his heart bounce inside his head and his throat closed up so he couldn't even force out the loudest scream imaginable.
He collapsed into a heap on the ground, dropping his guitar again, and he tried to catch his breath.
The wolf snarled and went for Manolo again but was stopped when a sudden sound snapped against the quiet nighttime air.
Manolo lain on the ground motionless as his vision was slowly fading into nothing but blackness, a feeling of raindrops starting to splash against his face and signal that the rain was already coming down hard. Many thoughts whirled in his mind but the centre of them all were focused on his wife and if he was going back to the land of the remembered...
He could barely comprehend anything else before he passed out completely, all the pain dying into nothing as his body and mind went number than the kitchen sink.
A/N: Heres the first chapter of this story.
Sorry if its so short, the next chapter should be even longer hopefully. I adore this film and I think you will all like this, I hope.
This is my second "Book of Life" fanfic too.
Please review!
-Chloemcg
