Chapter 3: Unfamiliar Surroundings

Maria woke up and the first sight that met her eyes was that the room was dark-colored. She sat up fast, finding herself in a bed she didn't recognize. She threw the covers back, relieved to find that she was still in her clothes and only her shoes had been removed. She found them beside the bed.

Quickly slipping her shoes back on, she got up, smoothing her dress with her hands and walking toward the door, following the stairs in hopes of finding where she was. "Grandmother did say I'd wake up in another place, but why did she say that? And what is this place?"

She noticed it was beginning to look like a dilapidated house, especially where she could feel cold drafts, making her realize the house really was falling apart. "I hope it doesn't come down on me. It looks like a good gust of wind could do that," she said to herself.

She felt a small gust of wind blow at her, blowing through her hair. It caught her off guard because it was then she realized the braids in her hair were undone and the ribbons and rose gone. Whoever had kidnapped her had undone her hair, but she wondered why.

The wind gently blew through her hair again and she also noted that it was warm, as if it was trying to warm her up. "Well, that does help a bit," Maria said out loud as she continued moving to try and figure out where she was.

She passed a window and gazed out it and her eyes widened in shock at seeing several monsters outside. Witches rode over some of the monsters on broomsticks, making Maria gasp.

"Brujas," she whispered the Spanish word for witches in alarm. She then saw zombies and swallowed hard. Surprisingly, the only two monsters that didn't startle her were the ghosts and some skeletons hanging from a tree. Then again, ghosts were just cool air and couldn't harm you and skeletons were a huge part of her culture with "The Day Of The Dead" celebration. But then she saw one skeleton move on its own and that startled her greatly.

Moving away from the window, she decided fast to look for a way out and ran down some more stairs, trying to figure out how to get out of this strange building and to get away from those monsters.

Stopping a moment to examine her surroundings and catch her breath, she backed up a bit and bumped into something and turned sharply, horror showing on her face.

A tall skeleton stood behind her with a strange suit on and his expression was fierce looking and he opened his mouth wide to reveal his sharp teeth and let out a roar that shook the walls.

Letting out a scream that also shook the walls, Maria ran.

Running through the hallways and looking for a place to hide, Maria looked over her shoulder and saw the skeleton was right behind her, his expression still looking fierce.

Feeling fear fill her, the teenager quickly ran into one of the rooms and dove behind a chair, hoping that she'd lose him if she hid and then try to slip out.

Suddenly, the chair was pushed a bit to the side to reveal her hiding place and she gasped as the skeleton came closer to her, moving back, but finding her escape route blocked.

He had her cornered and was coming closer now, grinning an evil grin that made Maria pull herself into a protective ball and shiver in fear. When the skeleton reached for her, she shut her eyes, tears beginning to fall.

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