The Chaotic Holiday

Blinding red fire erupted around Daniella's whole body. Immediately, Dani thought it was a curse and prepared for her last moment—frantically. But instead, her body was frozen with fear. It meant the final moments were to be spent praying; however, more of it was on the anger towards her parents, abandoning her and causing her to burn to death. Collapsing on the ground, the fifteen-year-old girl whispered her last words, and her life slowly drifted away.

"Ridiculous, a spirit of the day of the dead, being afraid of fire." Dani's eyes were too tired to open, but her mind flew into a rapid question-and-answer session.

Why am I still alive? You're aren't alive. You're dead.

Then what is the voice? Your own guilty conscience.

How did I die? You are too forgetful! You were burned to death like a witch is supposed to be.

Suddenly, someone (if it's even a person) jammed a cup into her mouth, forcing Dani to drink the mysterious substance. Sitting up, Dani (who now learned she was alive, because why else should she taste the remedy) attempted to spit her mouth's contents out, but a rough voice stopped her.

"If you spit it out all over my new sofa," pausing, thinking of a threat, "I will make sure you will wash my couch by hand, 1000 times." Looking up, she saw an old man wearing a worn-out red sweater, and navy pants. His face was filled with crinkles. All of the man's hair and beard were silver-white. The room was cozy—despite the atmosphere—having a mosaic patterned couch and wallpaper, fireplace, roman numeral clock, and a blue, and gray carpet. Showing no sympathy to the girl who was forced to drink a horrible remedy, the man said before Dani, "Get over it. You have worse to come. My name is Randy, and the reason I saved you is that the ghosts that are supposed to come back to Earth on these particular few days are not doing so. It's your parents' doing. And you, sweetheart, are going to fix it."

Dani cringed at the nickname, forgot everything that happened before, turned furious at the reply and asked, "After all my searching, finding and following clues, going around town, going out of town, asking people, for three days without proper sleep, suddenly a weird man who calls me 'sweetheart' and tells me, and I am supposed to believe him?"

"Tsk, I don't work for anyone's benefit. Of course, a 15-year-old girl should know that by now, so the only reason I am telling you and have saved you is that your actions can benefit me."

"And why would you care about the Day of the Dead? I've never seen you at the tombstone offerings. So you probably don't even celebrate!" Dani uncontrollably answered sarcastically.

"Your parents really didn't tell you a thing, did they? Looks like you were just a puppet to them, dear," Randy shot back. Dani's brain collapsed as she tried to make sense of all her life.

Parents that were never home.

Insisted on her practicing rituals, when no one else did.

Both her father and mother were wearing a necklace, claiming it was a wedding gift, when she found from a book that it was a traditional, ancient heirloom that turned ghosts to humans.

"Look, crying won't help, but what you can do is help me defeat your parents. A hard choice. But a vital one." his tone had softened slightly, realizing he might have been too direct. About to protest that she wasn't crying, Dani opened her mouth only to taste a drop of salty water; she touched her eyes and felt puffy skin—just like a marshmallow. She had been crying without feeling it.

"We have two more days when the celebration is over, until the last day. I believe you have time to free the ghost and the gate. It is too late now. You can start your journey tomorrow." Nodding, Dani got up and reached for the door when Randy quickly said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, it's pure darkness out there, nothing else. We're already in the realm of the dead."

"What the heck?! Are you serious, mister? I am a human; if I don't go back to the living world, I will perish." Dani said, almost shouting.

"You will not. Your parents are ghosts; you were born in the Humanworld. Therefore you are half ghost and half-human." Randy said, his tone wavering as if to decide whether he should tell the next part. Dani's eyes were open, and her heart was beating fast as she waited for what the man was going to say next. Finally, Randy sighed and said, "I am a spirit of the Day of the Dead just like your parents. I am no longer living; a ghost," sucking in a mouth full of oxygen, Dani tried to act normal but failed.

I have been breathing in ghost air.

Some ghosts are evil. What if Randy's the wrong type?

How did I get here, then?

But deciding to find out about her last question, Dani asked, "One last question before I leave your house. How did you bring me here, señor? And I do thank you; however, you did it."

"Simple, I transported you here through a portal. Second thing though, you are not leaving my house, you shall sleep here tonight. It is unsafe during the night in the realm of the dead," Randy answered. "And in return, I have a question for you, Daniella Jeria of Bethem. Tell me your identification. I need to file your visit to the government."

"What is the title?"

"Just answer what I told you to!"

"Daniella Estes, that's what I go by on Earth. I am 15 years old. Female. Spanish, from Mexico, to be exact. I'm speaking Spanish to you, aren't I? Anyway, parents: Daniel and Ella Estes," Dani answered while Randy nodded and pointed to the corridor on the opposite side of Dani, "Go to sleep, just go through this corridor and turn right."

"Are you sure it is safe in your house?"

"I wouldn't bring you here then kill you. The fire you created was enough to do that," Randy answered roughly.

"My fire? Would I want to kill myse—" Interrupting Dani, the man answered, "Tomorrow, go sleep."

Daniella staggered through the corridor and when she arrived in the spare room (which literally had the word 'spare room' written on the door), stayed awake just long enough to acknowledge that there wasn't a window and then fell flat onto the bed.

Dani woke up when Randy pulled an air horn that apparently connected from his bedroom to the spare room.

What a pleasant way to wake up.

Dani quickly combed her hair with her fingers and ran back to the living room.

"I'm ready. Where should I go?" Dani demanded, having decided to defeat her parents half-heartedly.

"Good morning to you too, sweetheart! I had a good night's sleep, thank you for asking," Randy answered, evidently in a much better mood than yesterday. Rolling her eyes, Dani sat down on the sofa and tried asking again. This time to her relief, Randy answered her, "Dear, it isn't about where to go—the place I'm sending you, anyone could go. It's about what you are going to do once you arrive. And in this case, you are simply going to cut a soft rope once you go there. And you are going to do it with this dagger. It will break the curse upon the gate in which ghosts must pass through to go to the human world and dismantle the death community."

"That sounds simple enough," Dani replied, doubting his words.

"Well, you are right to doubt. You will have to go through your parents, the head of the death community, one seeking to destroy the Day of the Dead because no one ever visits them."

"How, though?"

"That is what you must find out, Daniella Jeria of Bethem." In disappointment, Danielle sank into the sofa, nodded, and quickly drank a small bowl of soup (according to Randy, it was oatmeal). Next, she tied her curly black hair with a scrunchie into a tree ponytail. Next, she switched on fire resistance clothes that Randy had insisted she wears. Finally, Dani took the dagger and tied it to her waist.

"Remember, the handle of the dagger will turn hot when its owner is in danger. You can just take the train to where your parents are at, Bethem."

"Yes, goodbye, mister," Daniella answered, heading out the door. What she didn't hear was Randy muttering, "Goodbye, may you be worthy enough to end this curse and may such an enthusiastic girl not die," as he closed the door.

When Daniella walked out of the door, it was no longer pure black like yesterday. Instead, the city shined with dark lights that illuminated gray buildings. Shivering, not from coldness but creepiness, Daniella cautiously walked around to find the train station, only to remember Randy hadn't told her. Turning back to find the house and ask Randy, Daniella saw that his whole house had disappeared. Complaining in her mind, the girl tried to ask other ghosts for directions. Finally, after multiple attempts, she found the train station. It looked just like the ones in the Humanworld. Bethem was just one stop from wherever Daniella was. When she walked out of the door...

"Daniella, honey, what are you doing here? Did you have a nice visit?" Both her parents asked in a cheerful demeanor. Dani cautiously backed away, but softened at her parents’ kind gaze. Her left hand was still holding the dagger.

"A visit? I was sent here after Randy… to defeat you…" Dani revealed, uncertain of the situation.

"Don't worry, Dani, it was just a test your father and I set up for you," Dani's mother said gently, "and you passed." What do they mean I passed? I barely did a thing. Her parents walked towards her and hugged Daniella.

Daniella pushed her parents away and took out the dagger in one single move; it was almost as hot as fire and demanded, "Let me see the gate, where ghosts pass through to get to the Humanworld!" Somehow Daniella found that she had believed Randy with everything he said. Her parent's eyes turned into ember stones.

"It seems like you know our secret. You shall prepare to die then," Dani's father growled.

"You could've just embraced us and left the Underworld alive—without us trapping your soul—without us eating your soul," her mother purred. Her parents had transformed into entirely different people. Daniella's mind flashed back to the time she read about their necklaces: it can turn ghosts into humans. She ran forward to try to rip them off and succeeded only on her mother. Immediately Dani's mother screamed in agony and turned into a mist; she was still alive. But the girl was focused on her father. Move after move, she tried to rip the necklace off him and failed. Surprisingly, he pulled the necklace off himself, and he, too, turned to mist. But it wasn't only pure mist. Daniella could see that the fog was made of souls, just like her parents had told her—they are soul eaters. The setting changed all around Dani. Instead of a train station, there was a gate in front of her, as well as a rope. Her parents hovered around her, and the dagger burned painfully. She tried to attack them with the dagger, but they were mist and Dani embrarrly realized that mists were uncuttable.  Instead, she ran over to the rope and attempted to cut it, only to fail.

"Our own daughter, thriving to destroy the organization we worked so hard on. After all we did for you."

Guilt built up in Daniella's chest as she struggled with her pouring tears. As her emotions rose, a fire burned around her once more. She ran towards the rope to attempt to burn it with her fire. She stood right there and burned the rope; her clothes prevented her from burning, but her tears were still coming down as she muttered, "I'm sorry…"

Her parents’ mist disappeared when the rope was burned entirely, and hundreds of skeletons flocked to the gate. Lights at once returned to the scene. The lights had changed, and turned bright, neon-based, and vivid. A slip of paper flew into Danielle's hands as her fire extinguished. It read:

Seeing your determination to do right from bad.

We failed you as parents, we’re sorry (how sad)

Your fire is powerful. You shall now be the guardian of the holiday.

Nevertheless, we shall return and claim our rightful position...to your dismay.

We shall not fail again, as leaders of our society…

The end.