Many years ago, when the holidays came, my cousins, Alejandra and Valeria, my sister Mariana and me, would have sleepovers every weekend at my maternal grandparents' house.
One of those days, a warm afternoon and cool night. We had a tea party, my grandmother brought out the elegant tableware she had, some small cups with delicate floral decorations, wavy plates where my grandmother placed the cookies. Something that made that moment very special and that was never missing at dinner time were my grandmother's delicious beans tacos.
After dinner, my cousins, my sister and me got ready for bed. We began to prepare the bedroom to stay there, a bedroom with two beds; we changed the sheets and blankets, we put the beds together and put on our pajamas, then we went down to the bathroom to brush our teeth.
Going down to the first floor at night was chilling, since, when you went down the stairs, there was a large window in which you could see the enormous dark patio outside, in the background, a small door looked out, many times I saw a silhouette, a kind of shadow, and a strange feeling that someone was watching us became commonplace at those sleepovers.
That night we couldn't sleep; we begged my grandmother to tell us a horror story.
- No, it's too late, they won't be able to sleep.
- Please! We all said, we joined the palms of our hands with our fingers extended, begging her.
After much insistence, my grandmother agreed.
“One day, I went to visit her uncle Emilio and her cousins (Emiliano, José and Cecilia), it had been a long time since I had done so, in addition, my granddaughter had an important event in her community, the coronation of the Virgin Saint Cecilia. We went to mass, the coronation took place and her grandfather and me stayed for the celebration, we ate delicious mixiotes (a Mexican dish), we danced for a while and returned to her uncle's house. I started to feel very bad and tired, so I decided to take a nap in the living room. Her cousin Cecilia, who was 8 years old at the time, made me a super delicious tea, I took it and lay down on the couch in the living room.
Suddenly, I found myself at a family party, at a long table, where we were sitting, his grandfather, my sister, a cousin and me, the conversation was very pleasant, we laughed, and we talked about the daily life of our lives. During the laughter, one of her grandfather's brothers spoke to her. Her grandfather left the table and went with Juan (her brother). The happy talk became a more intimate talk, a girl's talk. I felt very comfortable talking, however, from one moment to the next, I began to feel that someone was watching me.
I looked up in the direction of a small door that was at the end of a hallway that was to one side of the main entrance. I was terrified, a woman was watching us.
At once, the music and the voices of my sister and my cousin could be heard as if they were underwater, the volume began to decrease and I only heard the beating of my heart, increasingly louder and faster.
My lips were paralyzed, I wanted to scream and ask my sister if she saw that person. However, for some reason, I couldn't do it. Every ten seconds I turned to look, hoping that what I saw was just my imagination, but no, that silhouette was there, looking at me, she didn't take her eyes off for even a second.
She was leaning against the door, her eyes were staring at us, a smile emanated from her face, I looked down and saw her hands, her hands were dark, she had some kind of claws, a rope hung from her right hand, and the left, was holding the wall of the hallway, moving his claws on the wall as if he were playing a piano piece.
I turned my head and asked my sister if she knew that woman, she raised her head and looked in the direction where that mysterious silhouette was. She replied that she had never seen her. Then my cousin joined the conversation and said she didn't know her either. Everyone danced and talked as if no one noticed that woman, it was as if she were not there.
I tried to get up from the table to tell her grandfather about the situation, however, just when I was about to get up from the chair, that woman raised her rope, twisted it, performing the famous “flat loop” movement, and she released the rope towards me.
The movement ended up trapping me, as if I were her prey. From one moment to the next I was tied to that woman, I tried to get away, but I couldn't.
My cousin observed the situation and quickly took a knife from the table, her hand trembled with fear and anxiety, with trembling movements she managed to cut the tie.
A feeling of relief invaded my entire body when I saw that the rope was no longer holding me. However, in the blink of an eye, that woman raised her noose again, untied the string and directed it at my cousin, holding her by the neck, and began to choke her. I quickly took the knife from the table and cut the cord. Apparently, no one noticed what was happening, it was as if we were invisible, I was just yelling at her grandfather to help us get out of there, but he couldn't hear me.
All at once, the rope was holding my sister Flor, I tried to cut the rope, but the knife slipped and fell to the ground, I bent down to pick it up, I tried to cut the cord, but for some strange reason that rope was very thick and was impossible to cut it, I felt a lot of despair, I started to cry and scream, but no one listened to me, when I saw my sister's face, I saw anguish and hopelessness in her eyes.
Immediately, I heard Cecilia's voice:
- Grandma, why are you screaming and crying?
I woke up and Ceci was next to me, I hugged her and told her that she had had a nightmare. Even though it had only been a dream, I was left with the anguish of not having been able to cut the rope that held my sister.
I got up from the couch and went to the kitchen, where his uncles were. Upon arrival, Ceci and me prepared another tea.
The days passed and that dream did not leave me calm, it was not until a week later that her grandfather and me had an accident, a huge truck crashed into us. The car was destroyed, and her grandfather and me were in the hospital for a week. I broke my neck and arm, right in the same place where that woman had held me with her rope.
Upon leaving the hospital, a week after the accident, my cousin became seriously ill and was diagnosed with leukemia. I remembered that dream and I kept thinking that there was some kind of relationship. I confirmed it when fourteen days after the accident, my sister Flor died. At her funeral, I saw that woman's face smiling in the pantheon, she was under a tree with her rope, as if she were warning me that she would soon take someone else.
- Well, it's time to go to sleep.
-But grandmother, what happened next? I told her.
- Did you see her again in your dreams?, my cousin asked him.
- Yes, but I will tell you another day, now it is too late.
My cousins, my sister and I stayed thinking about that dream all night, fearing that one day we will find that mysterious woman inside our dreams and she will take someone we love away from us.
Thanks:
To my grandmother, for telling me this terrifying and incredible story.
Thanks for reading, it's a true story.
