"Mirabel! Mirabel, hang on! I've got ya! I've got ya!" Both Alberto and Bruno wrapped their arms tightly around me, shielding me from the fall into oblivion we were sure would proceed. But we didn't fall. Ok well yes, we did, but not far. Before we knew it, we were up to our eyeballs in orange, soft flower petals. We heard voices chattering all around us but were unable to see anyone just yet. A fierce panic ensued, however, when this bony hand reached down to take my forearm.
Literally, it was made of bones and only bones.
My blood-curdling scream could be heard for miles as I stared up at the skeleton man horrified. The man- if he even was still sentient enough to be called that- also started to panic at my terrified reaction to his very presence. "No! No, it's ok! We're trying to help you," the skeleton man in a police uniform explained. Alberto and I were having none of it. I kept wailing, burying my face into my uncle's chest while Alberto shot him an irate glare. "Get off her!" He shouted with a vicious kick to the man's chest. My shrieks got even louder as the man fell backwards but his hand and lower arm remained attached to me. "Ew! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" I began to shake my arm violently. "I've got it! I've got it!" My uncle reached for it, trying to grab it in-between shakes.
The security skeleton sat up with a huff, got to his feet, and marched back over to us so to yank his arm back. More security personale were crowding around us by this point. "Great, that's just what this world needs. More living people. Alright, let's get them up," he instructed his colleagues. I'll spare you the details of us fighting a hoard of skeletons attempting to get us out of the sea of flower petals. Once we were up though, that's when the real terror started. The three of us huddled close together as everyone ogled us walking by. "Clear the way. Clear the way," one security lady ordered to the crossers on the bridge. I gave my uncle's arm a petrified squeeze.
"We're dead…. We're dead. We died! How did we die?! When did we die?! I don't remember dying!" "What are you talking about? We're not dead….. are we?" Alberto cocked the side of his head afraid. "Uh, I'm not sure. Everyone else here is… is a…" Bruno couldn't finish his sentence. "A skeleton?" The man currently escorting us finished it for him. We all blinked to him frightened. "Yeah, that…." My uncle whispered quietly.
We were quickly escorted through the security border to the other side of this massive city. There was lots of things in it that I didn't recognize. Big metal carts that moved on tracks on their own. Little boxes with cords that people- er, skeletons- could talk into. Lights that hung from the ceilings which weren't lit by candles. It was all very confusing. But I guess the three of us recently died, somehow, and this was supposed to be…. heaven? Funny. I always thought there'd be more angels and choir singing.
"Hey, mister? Where are you taking us?" My train of thought was interrupted by the sudden sound of Alberto's voice beside me. He was speaking to one of the security guards still escorting us through the enormous building. "Probably to the "Newly Deceased" department," Bruno quipped to Alberto. "You're not dead," the guard skeleton rolled his eyes. "Then why are we here in… in… hell?" "This is not hell, young man! And I don't know why you're here either. You're not even Mexican," he muttered under his breath. "Mexican? What's that?" Alberto asked my uncle. "No idea," Bruno's eyes lowered. I just kept quiet and peered about the area. Everyone here was indeed a skeleton, with not a single other living person in sight. That could be a good sign. Course it could also be a bad sign; I didn't know which to think it was yet.
We were brought to this really big room called the Department of Family Reunions. "Maybe Abuelo Pedro is in there," I finally whispered over to my uncle, who looked intrigued by this thought. The place was packed, and I do mean packed. There was lots of yelling and frustrated people berating poor employees working on these…. these weird square boxes which made noise. Certainly something I'd never seen before. Same with Bruno and Alberto.
The guards escorted us all the way to this one door inside the room. Alberto nudged my arm as we approached it. "Hey, Mirabel. Try opening that door." "What?! Now?!" "You wanna wait until next Sunday?" He fired back sarcastically. I rolled my eyes. "Look at all the people, uh skeletons in the room! I can't do it now. Just wait until we find somewhere quieter, then I'll try." "I don't think "time" is something we have a lot of here," he frowned. "We can wait five more minutes," I frowned back. "Well some of us are in a hurry to get home, glasses." "What did you call me?!" I half-whispered, half-shouted. Only then did he smirk over at me- very cockily so, I should add! "Would you prefer "girl who can't swim"?" "That's not funny!" "It's a little funny," Bruno earned a swift glare from me and chuckle from Alberto.
By then the door we were waiting in front of opened. A short skeleton with a dorky tie, suspenders, and green narrow hat popped his head out, along with the first security guard we met. He took one look at us and his eyes immediately lit up. "Oh! Oh, I see… Yes, I see what you mean. Course they get top priority. You three! This way please," we were suddenly summoned into his file-filled office.
We stood around his desk while he sifted through stacks and stacks of papers, eventually pulling out three folders with different coloured stickers on them. He was periodically cursing under his breath. "Miguel was bad enough last year, and now we get living foreigners on top of everything? We've never had someone from Columbia or Italy come here before," he was saying all of this more to himself than us; more thinking aloud I'd say. His gaze finally rolled back onto us, looking pretty tired and worn out already.
"Well, I don't know how you got here while still alive. You'll have to fill me in on that one," the official skeleton leaned back in his seat, clasping his hands in front of him. Both Alberto and Bruno immediately looked to me, and I rubbed the side of my arm uncomfortably. "I uh….. Um, I uh….. I o-opened a door which came here?" The skeleton gave me a deadpanned look. "You opened a door….?" His voice was that of someone who didn't believe me. All I could do was nod, but then an idea came to my head. "B-But I can get us back! Or at least I think I can; we've never… been to heaven before," I sputtered as my eyes scanned around the place again. "Don't talk nonsense, girl. Everyone knows that doors don't "magically open" like that." Literally no one dared correct him after he said this. Seeing our silent response, the dead man sighed, rolled his eyes again, and began examining the files. "Alright. Let me see what I can do. God, it's such a pain to find files for people who'll never come here." "Uh, w-what do you mean "never come here"?" I was almost afraid to ask. He shot me one of those "you're an idiot" looks. "Do you celebrate Día de los Muertos?" "What?" I asked confused. He simply shook his head. "I thought so. Now quiet while I find your certificates."
The short skeleton man pulled out our future "death certificates" from the three folders. "Yet to be signed," he told us with a small chuckle. None of us laughed or even cracked a smile. This was getting all too real for humour. The dead man took his time studying each of them over.
"Now, let's see what we've got here. Bruno Madrigal, Alberto Scorfano, and Mirabel Scorfano." "Uh, that's not my name; that's his last name. I'm a Madrigal," I felt compelled to correct him, pointing to Alberto. The skeleton man did not look amused, eying me from right above the certificate. "That's not what it says on your file." "Well then it's clearly a mistake!" "Hmmmmmm, I don't think it is," he pondered, glancing between Alberto and me for some reason.
My uncle blinked in realization. "Wait, you mean…. Those are our actual death certificates?" "You betcha. We get a copy of every human's file, even if they don't wind up here; standard procedure," the dead man said, gazing back to the paper in his hands. Bruno looked like he'd just won the knowledge lottery; his eyes progressively widening. "Well… What does it say?! When do we die?! Does it say what happens to us?" "Ah, ah, ah! The living cannot see their own death certificate! This is signed after you die, and since you three aren't yet, then you're not technically dead. You can return to the world of the living…. Once I figure out how to send you there," the man rested his wary forehead into his skinless hand. The three of us meanwhile peered to each other meditatively. Then inspiration hit a second time. Alberto's right; if we're not gonna come back here after we die, then what's the harm of someone seeing me open a door back to Encanto? We just have to make extra sure that it shuts behind us, lest the streets be crawling with skeletons.
I made a gesture of stretching my arms and taking steps backwards towards the office door, grabbing all their attention in the process. "Uh, I need to uh…. use the, um…. the bathroom! It's a mortal thing, you know. I'll be right back," my hand was so close to touching the knob! But of course, like some bad movie, skeleton man just had to stop me. He didn't even look up from the file present on his desk. "You're not going anywhere here alone. Can't have living people wandering about the city, getting lost and causing havoc. You just stay right there, young lady." "But I…!" "This shouldn't take long. I'll need you to sign a couple of things; one signature per family please," he didn't let me continue, pushing some papers forward across his desk. He gave a pen to my uncle and then looked at Alberto.
"I suppose you'll sign for both her and yourself?" The short skeleton motioned to me with the tip of the pen in his hand. This caught Bruno's attention as he peered to the skeleton puzzled. "Uh, actually I'm her family. I'll sign for Mirabel." The skeleton man shot him a sharp glare. "Señor, I said one signature per family. These are death certificates; not birth certificates. You sign for her and you, boy," he all but shoved a pen into Alberto's hands. I had no idea what that was all about, but I wasn't about to make a scene over that. I still stood really, really close to the door, ready to grab hold of its knob any second.
Of course short guy here had to catch me in the act. "Don't even think about it. I'll get someone to go with you soon enough. Let me just deal with this first." "But I really, really need to go! I won't get lost! I swear!" "Listen here, child! I've already told you….." The short, now angry man who was pointing his finger in my direction was cut short by the office door unexpectedly opening. "Señor, the Riveras are here; they want to talk to you. Something about Miguel's new-born sister pulling down the ofrenda curtain?" A new security guard stuck his head inside.
The short skeleton sighed and rolled his eyes exasperated. "Fine. I'll talk to them after I finish up with these three. Listen, Marco; can you do me a favour and take this one to the bathroom please?" He pointed to me with his pen again. The security guard looked at me, then back at the office man. "Uh, but boss, there're no bathrooms in the Land of the Dead." "I don't care! Just make it work. But whatever you do, don't let her out of your sight." "Wait, Mirabel! I should go with you," Bruno immediately jumped in nervous, but the short skeleton shook his head. "I need you here so we can get this done. She'll be fine. Take her, Marco," he waved our hand shooing us off.
Well that plan epically failed. I wore a scowl as my confused escort here had no idea what to do with me. He just kept scratching his head and scanning around the building as if he had no clue where to go. "Uh, bathroom…. Bathroom….." I noticed his eyes kept slipping back onto me in a curious sort of fashion. It became so obvious that I had to say something. "What?" I asked in a tone not as harsh as you might imagine. He perked up like he was caught doing something he shouldn't. "N-Nothing! I'd just forgotten….. how pretty living girls can be." Oh! Well, I wasn't expecting him to say that. My cheeks blushed a little as we carried on.
We got to the busy part of the station. The short grumpy man was right about one thing; this place was a maze, and I was lost in it already. On top of which, even if I did find my way back to the office, I couldn't open the door myself since I couldn't go back without Bruno and Alberto. Oh fantastic, two more problems to deal with. It didn't help that my guide was perpetually confused as well. I side-eyed him as he kept scratching the top of his head and scanning everywhere. "Uh, um, uh….." Oh my god, I'm left in the hands of a lost soul- literally.
"Marco! Marco, over here!" Another security guard grabbed our attention by waving her arm in the air. "Uh, can it wait, Juana? I've got to…" "No, it can't! Just get over here! I need your help with something!" Sighing heavily, my escort spun back around to face me. I cringed as he put his bony hand on my shoulder. "Now just stay right here. I'll be right back, perder," and with that he left me in that bustling crowd of skeletons. It was honestly a surreal and terrifying experience. So terrifying in fact, that all I wanted to do was to get back to the others as soon as possible. Before I was conscious of my own movement, my feet were sliding backward. I only realized that I was moving when I accidently bumped into a skeleton behind me.
We both tumbled a little and I spun around like a shot. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" "Why don't you watch where you're going….." The dead man's words trailed off once he got a look at me. I watched him gasp in disbelief, his eyes widen. "You're… You're alive?!" "Yeah; I-I'm here by mistake. Hey, do you know where we are? My family- er, my uncle and someone we're traveling with, I mean- are in somewhere called the Department of Family Reunions." His eyes lit up a little. "Hey, that's where my family is! We're trying to fix this whole ofrenda thing. Come! I'll take you there if you want." "Sure, that would be great! Thank you!" He watched me for a moment before smiling to himself. "Heh, living people in the underworld…. You know the last living person to come here was my great grandson?" "Really?! H-How'd…. How'd he get home?" "Ah, you can go back with your family's blessing. I'm sure your family will send you back!" "Hmmmmmm, I don't know. I don't think it's gonna work that way for us," I hesitated, rubbing my arm and gazing away. But the skeleton man simply waved his hand in the air dismissively. "Don't worry about it, chamaco; it'll sort itself out. What's your name?" "I'm Mirabel- Mirabel Madrigal." "Nice to meet you, Mirabel.
I'm Héctor."