The Curse

It was Antonio and Maria’s first time seeing the celebration known as ‘The Day of the Dead’. Their Mother and Father decided they should take the family to experience the celebration to pay their respects to their Abuela and learn a little more about their culture. Maria knows all about ‘The Day of the Dead’ having learned from her parents from an early age, Antonio however is terrified of anything to do with death. He would run in fear and cry whenever his Mum and Dad tried to explain the celebration. Some would say taking him to see the celebration may be drastic and a little traumatic, but his parents didn’t know how else to educate him.

The celebration had already begun and so far, so good, the family were eating at a small restaurant for lunch and Antonio was too hungry to notice the theme of death among the obvious decorations hanging on every surface. The bliss however would not last long, they had all finished eating, and it was time for them to join the celebration. The moment Antonio stepped outside the restaurant; he was bombarded with hundreds of people celebrating on the streets dressed as skeletons. As soon as his eyes locked on them, he began to cry and ran back into the restaurant and refused to go back outside. For half an hour they tried to explain to him that they’re not really dead, but he wouldn’t listen. They all retreated back to their table, his sister on her phone and his parents lost on what to do.

“We are going to be late, we told everyone we would be there at one and they’re waiting for us to start” whispered his Mum to his Dad.

“Maybe I should stay here with him and try to convince him it isn’t scary while you and Maria go one ahead” Suggested his Dad.

“I can do it” Maria volunteered, but her parents gave her a sceptical look “come on, I’m 16, I have a phone and it’s just at the end of the street. It’s not like I’ve never looked after him before. Please? I don’t want to be stuck talking to relatives I’ve never met.”

“Well, I suppose, but we will check back on you in 15 minutes if you haven’t managed to get him out the door by then.” Their mum agreed and after another 5 minutes of his parents giving instructions on how to get to the end of the street, their parents finally left.

Maria turned to Antonio who was crying silently and sat down next to him, if she did this right, she would be able to miss the whole festival and not have to talk to a single distant relative.

“If I were you, I would be scared too” Antonio looked at Maria with surprise.

“Really, you don’t think I’m being a baby?” Antonio asked as he hung his head in shame.

“Are you kidding, Mum and Dad don’t want you to know because it might scare you even more, but all those skeletons out there are all people who are cursed to look that way”

“What!”

“It’s true, this day isn’t one of celebration, it’s one of fear. If you don’t buy a Marigold flower and gift it to the spirits, then you are cursed to hell to live as a skeleton, and you can only come to the surface on the Day of the Dead.” Maria explained, her voice uncharacteristically serious.

“But we don’t have any gold flowers, and neither do Mum or Dad, we have to get them each a flower!” Antonio shouted.

“Oh um no! They’ll be fine, and so will we” Maria stammered.

“Why? What makes you think they won’t be cursed!” Antonio stood and headed for the door “We have to make sure they don’t die” when he reached the door he paused, but his fear for his families damnation outweighed his fear of the thought of death, he would rather face the skeletons this one time than be terrified to look in the mirror for all eternity. Antonio walked out the door and Maria was left stunned and after a few moments she ran after Antonio.

The streets were crowded, and Antonio was short, even for an eight year old. Maria couldn’t immediately spot him within the crowd and started to search frantically, calling his name. Antonio on the other hand was on a mission, he went to all the flower stalls he could find on the street but all were sold out of Marigold flowers. Antonio was in despair until he saw a stall with four Marigold flowers sitting in a basket. The stall was run by a lady who was turned, facing a customer she was serving. Antonio ran up to the stall with urgency and yelled at the lady.

“Misses! Misses!”

The woman turned to find who was yelling, revealing her face which was covered in skeleton makeup. Upon seeing this Antonio then screamed at her and mid run he turned and ran to the other side of the street crying. The lady stood in shock and confusion at this interaction but a few moments later the boy would reappear, his face tear stained and determination in his eyes.

“Misses! I’m sorry for screaming, it’s not your fault that you’re cursed to be a skeleton forever, but I need four gold flowers to save my family from the same curse that you have. I don’t have any money, but do you really wish the same curse you have onto my family?” Antonio said in a serious tone, not breaking eye contact.

The flower lady smiled at the strange little boy “I’m not sure I understand chamaco, I’m not cursed, it’s paint see” and the stall lady smudged some of the paint on her hand.

Antonio was shocked and confused “So you’re not cursed, but my sister said…?” Antonio trailed off as he spotted his sister amongst the crowd looking frantic. The stall lady followed his gaze.

“I believe your sister was trying to scare you” explained the stall lady, but she felt for the boy who was so determined to save his family that he walked up to a scary skeleton to do it.

“I tell you what, I’ll give you the four arigold flowers, no charge”. The flower lady offered the four flowers to him.

Antonio looked at Maria as she searched for him, they made eye from across the street and Maria walked over to the stall. Antonio turned to the lady and the four flowers she was holding and said,

“Thanks, but I’ll only be needing three” Antonio said as he took the three from the ladies grasp.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you for the past five minutes!” Maria said as she approached Antonio.

“Thank you, Misses. Maria, I’m ready to find Mum and Dad” Antonio declared to Maria, who was less than thrilled but off the went in the direction of the cemetery.

“Well, I see you got a Marigold flower for each of us” Maria said to Antonio as they approached the rest of the family “Thank god for that or we all would have been cursed”.

Antonio stared at Maria, not breaking eye contract,

“Actually I only got three, so have fun in hell, I guess we will see you next year” and Antonio ran up to his Mum and Dad and handed them both a flower, leaving Maria to be cursed for all eternity.