CHAPTER NINETEEN
They could hear a door bang open. "Tina, go check that out!" Raul ordered his cousin.
Tina rushed through the house to see the front door wide open. That was the bang they'd heard. The whole apartment still felt like it was sharply shifting back and forth. She shut, locked, and bolted the door, and then bolted back for Teresa's room.
Marco was still pleading into Teresa's ear for her to return. Raul and Nathan were calling for Callie to follow their voices.
"I think they're here now," Tina said. "The front door was open."
"Callie, follow my voice!" Raul and Nathan said over one another.
"Don't look back, keep going!" panted Callie as she urged Teresa towards the back of the apartment. "Get to your room, get to your bed! No matter what!"
Teresa had tears streaming down her face, but she obeyed, running as fast as she could. They reached the back hallway but saw Carmela blocking their path. Her veins were black, as were her eyes and the void in her mouth.
"You can't leave me! You're my sister!"
"No, she isn't!" Callie shouted over the little demon. "She belongs with the living, not with you!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The little boy, Tomas, appeared from seemingly nowhere and slammed into his sister. They lurched, half-disappearing into mist that melded the two of them together. Callie heard Tomas' young voice call out from the tangle of spirits, "Go!"
Callie tugged on Teresa's shoulder and guided her into her room. They could see no one but their own bodies. Teresa, sleeping peacefully in her bed. Callie sitting up in the chair with her eyes closed.
'Come back to us, follow my voice!'
"Into bed with you," Callie said, pulling the little girl to her own bedside and helping her hop into her physical body. Teresa laid over herself and shut her eyes, and Callie knew she was safe.
With a sharp gasp, Teresa seized against Marco and opened her eyes. Marco gasped too. "Teresa!" He gathered her in his arms and helped her sit up. Raul and Valentina clambered to her side and hugged her from all sides.
"She saved me," Teresa croaked, her voice dry. "She brought me home."
"She did," Tina said tearfully.
"Guys," Nathan's voice called for their attention.
All eyes followed his voice and saw him staring worriedly at Callie. Her eyes were still closed. And she still seemed distressed.
"She was right behind me," Teresa said.
"Why isn't she waking up?" Tina shrieked. The bedroom door banged open and they all turned to see the figure of two little kids – a girl and a boy.
Shin lunged forward and shut the door in their faces. "We need Callie to wake up right now! They're trying to get into her now!"
Nathan cupped Callie's face and called out to her. "Callie, follow my voice! Please come back, please just follow my voice!"
The closet door slid open with such a harsh bang that the wood cracked. Raul rushed over, around to the other side of Nathan and Callie, to shut the doors and hold them closed.
Once Teresa was safe, Callie tried to rush to her own physical body. But the bedroom door banged open and she could Carmela there, with a hand wrapped around Tomas' throat. The door shut seemingly on its own and they were out of sight. But the next second, they were in front of her. And Carmela was tossing Tomas at her feet.
"You took my sister away from me!" Carmela roared.
Callie eyed her with false bravado. "Someone is being a very bad girl."
'Callie, follow my voice! Please come back, please just follow my voice!'
Callie wanted to. But Carmela was in her way.
"Get out of my way! Leave Teresa alone!" Callie shouted at her. "Or else!"
Carmela giggled. It sounded like the mix of a monster and a child. "Or else, what?"
The closet door slid open with a vengeance. It almost broke. Carmela looked at the noise and saw most of the children that surrounded her before. Behind them, she saw Maria, still crying blood. Her eyes were trained on Carmela. The door then suddenly shut.
Callie turned back to Carmela and spoke as strongly as she could. As threatening as she could. "Or I'll tell your mother."
Carmela opened her voice mouth, her lower jaw unhinging. "NOOOOOOOO!"
Callie grit her teeth together and reached forward to clamp her hand around Carmela's shoulder. She still heard Nathan calling for her. But she had to do this first. She dragged the screaming little girl towards the closet door. With her other arm, she tried to push it open. But it was like some unseen force was holding it closed.
She smacked against the wood and kept pushing against it. "Come on, open! Open!" Her hand brushed something, someone, and she turned to see Raul there, holding the shaking door shut. He didn't see her at first, but she tested out a theory and clamped her free hand around his wrist.
He jolted at her touch and his brown eyes whipped up to meet hers. He seemed alarmed, scared, surprised, frozen. She had no time to let him get used to the sensation.
"Raul, let go of the door! I need it open! Please, let go!"
The wood of the almost splintered closet door was digging into Raul's palms as he held it closed. It rattled against him as a new strength tried to force it open. Sudden bangs against the wood almost startled him into letting it. It must be spirits trying to get in.
A sudden ice-cold vice grip wrapped around his wrist then and on instinct he looked up. And he would have never believed it possible before, but he saw Callie. Like an apparition in front of him. She was right in front of him, but still seemed so far away. When she called out to him, her voice had the same qualities.
'Raul, let go of the door! I need it open! Please, let go!'
Raul struggled with the decision for a moment. But then tossed himself away from the door and caught himself on the wing of the chair physical Callie was in.
Once Raul let go, and she released her connection to him, the door went slack, and she was able to shove it open. Inside the void, she saw the children again. And La Llorona, the Woman in White, the Wailing Woman – whatever one wanted to call her – still there with them.
"Maria! I have your daughter here for you!" Callie called to her. "Take her, she's yours!"
"NOOOOOO!'
"Come to me, mija," Maria cried, her arms outstretched. The children between them and her parted like the red sea.
Carmela struggled against her hold, but Callie kept reminding herself that she was stronger. She was living. Callie grabbed both of Carmela's shoulders and half-lifted her into the air and thrusted her towards Maria's outstretched arms. She was relieved to let go once Maria had a hold on her daughter.
"Aye, mija, I missed you," Maria exalted her daughter's name and cried for her forgiveness as she turned away and carried her back into the ocean. The other children joined hands and watched from the shore.
Panting heavily, Callie shut the closet door herself.
"She'll come back for me," she heard a voice behind her.
She whipped around to see Tomas, still crumpled on the floor. She crouched at his side, brushing his hair away from his eyes. She didn't know what to say.
"I know she will. I'll be ready," he said, sounding wiser than his age. "Go – before you can't."
Callie bit her lip and stood up. On shaky legs, she rushed to the chair where her physical body was reclined. And she sat down.