Chapter 15

Zalli woke up in the same position she fell asleep in—knees close to her chest and hands tucked underneath her chin. She was stagnant the whole night and morning while everyone else around her continued on.

The farmer did wake up a few times throughout her slumber. Her family would come check up on her, and she would dismiss them with a false placation of her well-being. Once, she heard Yoltzin’s voice rise from downstairs, asking about her well-being. Zalli wanted to greet and placate Yoltzin in person, but she stayed in her warm bed instead.

It was not until her room held an unbearable heat from the afternoon sun that Zalli finally pushed the covers away from her body. She splayed herself across her bed before lifting herself up to a standing position.

Zalli then walked around her bed to reach the mirror she had placed next to her nightstand. She had not thought to look at herself until after she stood, which left her with poor foresight and extra steps she had to take.

Little light seeped in from the windows she had over her bed and next to her mirror. Her curtains were thick enough to leave her room shrouded in darkness to keep it as cool as it can be from the summer’s heat. But light still always sneaked in to offer enough visibility for Zalli to navigate throughout her room without bumping into too much of her furniture.

Zalli analyzed the form she saw in the mirror’s reflection. She saw a woman slumped in her posture wearing a wrinkled dress and sporting mussed up hair. Though she slept for about a half day’s length, she still carried dark circles underneath her eyes.

As Zalli stared at herself, she clenched her jaw and tightened her eyes. In her haste, she ripped her dress off and threw the garment in an unknown direction. The maiden moved in closer to examine her eyes. While she pulled her skin taught—knowing it would not do anything to help—a glimmer of pink caught her attention.

Zalli brought her face closer to the mirror and found her blue highlights that framed her face were now a pink hue. She raised her fingers up to grab a strand to bring it closer to her eyesight.

When Zalli looked down in her grasp, she saw the usual blue she was used to, but when she looked at it in the mirror, it was clearly pink. She rubbed her eyes, thinking it would help with her vision. As she looked in the mirror, it did not.

Speaking to no one in particular, Zalli spoke her first words of the day.

“What-the actual-crap.”

The cadence of her sentence took a rhythmic beat in its delivery, coming out more as a sentence than as a question.

Zalli’s mouth fell open slightly as her eyebrows came in close to each other in her concentration.

She moved in closer again, not really sure it would change what she saw in front of her, but then had to jump back in quick succession once she made contact with her reflection. When her nose touched the reflective glass, it did not meet a solid surface.

It felt to Zalli as if she dipped her nose in cool water. And if that was not strange enough, she saw there were ripples emitting from the point where her nose dipped past the surface.

The maiden’s heartbeat increased to a rapid pace and her stomach held a tightness as she processed the weird physics displayed in front of her.

Zalli walked away from her reflection and made it to her desk before she halted her retreat. Considering all the oddities that have been appearing in her life thus far, she needed to make sure what she experienced right now actually happened and was not a trick of her mind.

She pulled the curtain to the side of her open, not caring about her current state of undress. Light poured in like a gushing river; it blinded Zalli for a moment before she blinked her sight back to its normal threshold.

She inhaled a comforting breath, then moved forward to stand close to the mirror again. She brought a shaky hand up and slowly placed it a hair’s distance away from its reflection. Zalli paused her action as she let doubt creep into her thought process.

Huizi’s barking from outside spurred Zalli to move in. Once Zalli tapped the glass, she felt the cooling sensation again and saw the ripples move from the contact. She took a leap backwards; she knew what could happen, but she was still not ready for the reality of it.

On Zalli’s third touch, she brought the same finger up to dip the whole digit in, but found she could not go past more than a millimeter. She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. The maiden pushed harder on the next attempt, but it only gave her the same results—a fluctuation of her image. It moved like jello until it settled into its stillness once more.

Zalli pulled away. She flipped around at a complete half turn and brought her head down to bury it in her hands. She navigated herself around her desk and placed herself at the foot of her bed. The maiden released a guttural groan, then looked up to find Tepi staring at her from the doorway.

Her little sister held a wide smile that somehow reached each end of her face and displayed all of her teeth. Her eyes were wide and round, and she raised her eyebrows up to their highest point.

Zalli took a quick glance away; the fluttering feeling in her stomach made it hard for her to hold her attention on Tepi. When she returned her gaze to her sibling, the original smile Tepi bore had resolved into the usual soft smile she wore when she tried to comfort Zalli. The rest of her expression eased back to normalcy as she spoke.

“You’re up! That’s good.”

Zalli moved to wrap her arms around her midsection. She was not uncomfortable with being near naked in front of her little sister—many times had they bathed with each other when they were younger—but she felt the need to shelter herself from her.

The maiden cleared her throat, then spoke in a firm voice.

“Yes. I got hungry.”

“Great! Abue made tacos for lunch. We already finished eating, but it’s still fresh enough for you to eat, if you eat it right now.”

Tepi took a few steps in, but halted when she noticed Zalli moved away from her. The younger sibling chewed on her lip, but determined her sister must still need space. She tried not to take the action to heart.

“Okay. I’ll be down.”

Tepi nodded at an unhurried pace, then turned around to leave Zalli alone. She sent a small smile in Zalli’s direction when she twisted to grab the doorknob from behind her. Zalli returned her own polite one, then Tepi left her unaccompanied once again.

A shiver ran down her spine. She spoke out loud, talking to no one.

“I’m either going crazy, or ... that thing is right, and I am dreaming.”

Zalli pressed her lips together and pulled the corners taught. With no resolution in sight, she moved to dress herself rather than drown in the unsettling feeling of the unknown that could develop into a dull headache.

The maiden came downstairs wearing jeans and a simple top. She padded her way to the restroom, taking notice of how there was an eerie silence in the surrounding area. Zalli avoided looking at herself in the mirror as she freshened up.

When she stepped into the living room, she saw Tia Xilo sitting in her usual spot on the couch while she embroidered. Her tía had her head bent over, invested in her work, which Zalli thought she could take advantage of to sneak by the woman.

Zalli tip toed to the kitchen, not knowing how successful her task would be. Even though Tia Xilo sat facing the television and could see Zalli out of the corner of her eye, there was a high chance she could move undetected considering the focus margin of her tía.

It was not enough, though, as Zalli heard her tía’s voice from behind her just as she was about to round the corner to move past the storage room.

“Hola, Zalli.”

The maiden cringed at being caught with her shoulders raised to her ears.

“Buenos días, Tia Xilo.”

“Buenos tardes.”

Zalli blinked a few times. She knew her tía was only correcting her considering the time of day, but the tone she carried was odd.

“Oh, right. Buenos tardes.”

The tone sounded to Zalli like her tía was on autopilot; it was cheery yet over-exaggerated in inflection.

Once Zalli heard a hum left her tía, Zalli knew that was her dismissal and zipped to the kitchen. She found it empty, which she was thankful for. When she walked past the back door, she heard scratching from the other side, and knew it was Huizi requesting entrance. She opened the door and let her dog in.

Then, the maiden moved past the sink and stove to sit at the dining table with her back turned to the windows. Huizi followed behind and placed herself next to her owner, laying down by her side.

The afternoon lunch was left out for Zalli in multiple small dishes, along with a plate that was placed in her usual seat. She stood up to reach over and bring the plate in front of herself.

As Zalli grabbed three tacos and situated them on her platter, her thoughts began to race. Her need to problem solve and understand situations took over, even though she felt exhausted to think about anything at all.

In her thinking roadmap, Zalli wondered about the validity of Green Tepi. There were two explanations she thought made the most sense when it came to that entity. She scooped some cheese and sour cream into each of her tacos as she battled between deliberating if either Green Tepi was right and she was dreaming, or if the stress of the past month made Zalli hallucinate the supernatural thing.

Considering how it has affected real Tepi—maybe real Tepi, a loud thought from Zalli escaped her—then the thing must be assumed real, for now. Yet, that did not mean she had to completely trust its word. It could be an evil creature, and Zalli would not know it.

She placed a spoonful of chile in each of her tacos, and considered that might not be the case, though. So far, it has shown no malignant intentions, and it has been honest in all things it has said—even if it does not have the best memory. Plus, Zalli felt a weird sort of calm around it; no sense of unease the more she spoke to it.

So, she was dreaming—maybe.

Zalli moved to grab some lettuce and tomatoes for her crunchy tacos. Her next contemplation brought more validity to the dream claim. She looked back at all the odd instances she had come across thus far.

In the most recent, her mirror did the weird physics-jello-thing, which still unnerved Zalli as she thought about it. Sometimes her family felt uncanny in either the words they spoke or the behaviors they displayed. To Zalli, they seemed familiar, yet unusually out of place as well.

If she thought about her memories, it made her brain activity buzz from the juxtaposition; she would see them as hazy whenever she tried to remember them, but her dreams were clear images, and easy to recollect. As far as Zalli knew, it was supposed to be the other way around.

The maiden scooped arroz rojo and frijoles onto her plate to complete her meal. A musing entered her mind, which stumped her.

At some point, she had gained a huge amount of strength.

During the fight last night, she should not have been able to push those two grown men as far back as she did. And her doorknob she had crushed last night—that was made of metal. Yet, she crumpled and crushed it away from its original shape as if it were aluminum foil, not a dense brass alloy.

I should test my strength to see how strong I am, Zalli thought as she took her first bite. Her eyes closed in satisfaction at the wonderful flavors mixing in her mouth. On top of that, the texture was perfect—crunchy on the outer edges, but soft in the center.

Freshly fried tacos are the best.

Zalli let the distracting thought run through her mind before she focused again on her strange predicament.

As she chewed, she wondered who was the supposed dream weaver. The obvious thought went to Necalli, considering how he sabotaged her farm last night ... well, her fake farm. She guessed that dilemma did not matter anymore.

Yet her heart still tightened at the thought of it. Tears brimmed her eyes, which caused Zalli to bite her lip hard—an attempt to stop a sob from escaping.

Zalli wiped the moisture away in a rough measure. She stuffed the last of her taco and shoved a spoonful of her arroz and frijoles into her mouth. Her cheeks were full to their capacity.

All of Zalli’s focus went to her chomping. Her move to distract herself was a success.

Zalli grabbed her second taco. She thought whether one of her family members was the dream weaver, but concluded that was the least likely. Even though they had displayed strange behavior before, their presence was always one of comfort.

Of course, there was the possibility that it was only a deceptive pretense. Zalli figured she should only make note of it and not consider it as a lead.

She wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin after she finished her second taco. A clarity hit her, which caused her to pause midway in bringing her last taco to her mouth.

Why didn’t I think of him before?

The last person who could be the dream weaver was Yoltzin. There was something here he was after, and out of everyone, he was considered as the newcomer. When it came to her dream interactions, Zalli noticed she only dreamt of him in dreaming about this place. Her other dreams all occurred in a different location.

Am I actually dreaming?

The taco from Zalli’s hand fell to her plate with a soft clunk. Her gaze became blank while her vision caved in on the sides with a black shadow. She flared her nostrils and blinked rapidly, trying to remove the shadow away, but it returned to shroud her vision.

Zalli swore she heard her name being called out, but it sounded fuzzy and displaced. It was not until something warm placed itself on her lap that she could snap herself out of her engrossment of nothing.

The maiden looked down and saw Huizi had placed her head on her lap. She smiled and gave her an adoring rub before speaking to her canine companion.

“Hey there, preciosa.”

“Zalli!”

Startled with a racing heart, she brought her head up and looked around the kitchen with erratic movements. Snapping her head to the back door, she found her abuela standing there with eyebrows drawn together. The matriarch had her lips pressed together and her hands steadily placed on her hips. She took a small step towards Zalli, but then stopped in a decision against getting closer to her nieta. She thought the woman before her might still need space, but continued in asking her if she was doing alright.

“Zalli, I’ve been calling out to you for the past minute. Is everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah ... yeah. I was just lost in thought.”

“Dios mío, you scared me, though. If Huizi had not gotten you to move, I was about to run over there and shake you awake.”

The maiden looked down at her plate and brought a spoon of food to her mouth. She was riddled with emotions, as her chest tightened at the thought of upsetting her abuela.

Even though she knew she was not getting scolded, she had no energy to discern the distinction and allowed guilt into her body. She cleared her throat before she responded to Abuela Ezi.

“Lo siento ... I just-I think-well ... I’m done eating.”

Zalli’s fingers tapped on her thigh in fast succession as she wiped her mouth clean. Her abuela stood in an awkward stance as she watched Zalli get up to wash her hands in the sink.

When Zalli turned back to the table to clean the mess, Abuela Ezi placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop her and spoke in an affectionate tone.

“No te preocupes, mija. I will clear the table. Go rest. No working for you today.”

Zalli turned her head to the side and nodded in agreement. She moved her body around, avoiding facing her abuela, and left the kitchen with her head hanging low.

Huizi stayed close to Zalli’s side, but stopped in front of Ezi. Her tail had hung low, with a slight curvature at its end. The canine turned her head to look at the older woman, which caused the matriarch to speak to her.

“Vayase. Make sure she’s not alone the rest of the day.”

Once Huizi received her task, she brought her tail up at full attention. There was a slight waggle in the appendage as she trotted to catch up to her owner.

When Huizi found herself next to her mistress, they were both passing through the living room. Zalli was trying to remember her last thought before her abuela entered the kitchen. Nothing came to her mind, though, and she felt her head hurt from the inability to summon the last part of her analysis.

Just as they were about to enter the foyer, Zalli halted at a sudden intercepting thought. Huizi circled around her with her tail swaying from side to side, curious to know what her owner was thinking.

Zalli turned her body to face her tía. In a hesitant voice, she called out to her.

“Tia Xilo?” Her tía’s head remained looking down as she worked on her project. Even though she did not respond to Zalli, the maiden continued in her query. “What did you mean yesterday when you said ‘to see the light, you need to see the dark’?”

Her tía’s head snapped up, and her posture straightened in an instant. Zalli remained standing behind her, not sure how to proceed. She only crossed her arms and opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by the strange display of behavior she saw her tía display.

Tia Xilo’s head twitched to one side in repetition. Every so often, it would shake at a fast pace.

“Uh, Tia Xilo?”

The moment Zalli called out to her again, her tía stood up at a rapid pace, with her project falling to the ground with a thud. She stayed facing the television as she moved around the couch and walked backwards to Zalli at an identical fast speed. Her head didn’t stop twitching and shaking as she moved with a rigid motion.

Once Zalli realized her tía advanced in her direction, her stomach tightened and she walked backwards herself. She moved until her back hit the wall and she was standing at the foot of the staircase.

In that short time, her tía had reached her at about an arm’s length away. Her head did not stop moving in its strange manner.

Zalli placed her palms on the wall to brace herself when Tia Xilo first turned her shoulders around, now at a slower pace. Huizi was next to her, barking as if to wake her tía, but no sound came from the canine.

Once her tía’s head followed behind her body, and Zalli saw her face, she widened her eyes at the sight.

Her tía’s scleras glowed an aquamarine blue and held no irises or pupils. Her face was pale, and the smile she held carried no mirth or soul behind it. She creaked her mouth wide open and remained unmoving.

Zalli tried to turn her head away, but she couldn’t seem to break the spell her body was under. So, she remained staring in horrid amazement as the person, or thing, heaved using its full body. It heaved and heaved until finally, something came out of its mouth.