La Flor de San Juanita

5. Revenge is sweet

5. Revenge is sweet

The funeral was solemn while caked in pleasant sunshine in a baking afternoon, with the town paying their final respects to a fallen great as a fresh grave was dug on a hill overlooking San Juanita. A notable absentee was Mr Duarte, who had not been seen since the gala two nights before. Following the service, Felipe explained how he saw Duarte shoot his father during the attack from La Llorona, causing an outcry of accusations that became a flow of people heading through town to the front lawn of the Duarte residence. The crowd became even more enraged by the renewed absence of Mr Duarte, leading to the mob bursting through the front doors of the mansion and storm through each and every corridor in search of the prime suspect. The mob marched up the echelons of the palace, to hear a single loud boom from Mr Duarte's main office. 

The mob once again busted through the doors to find Mr Duarte lying on the floor with a single gunshot wound to the head. The pressure to confess for what he had done proved to be something too great for the Duarte head honcho. the two families were now left with a power vacuum that needed to be filled, but the question remained as to who should inherit the mantles. Felipe would have gladly volunteered at any other time, but unfortunately, he had obligations elsewhere that were bigger than San Juanita. Nevertheless, he was already being hailed as the new head of the Sanchez household by the regular townsfolk, a title he did not desire in his traumatized state but accepting it under constraints to maintain image between the families.

 Meanwhile, wallowing in her own self-pity, La Llorona wasted away at the bottom of the local river, swearing vengeance on the Duarte family by cursing them under her breath. A curse of irrefutable doom and despair would come to pass when the musket factory and ammunitions sheds on the Duarte property caught fire under mysterious circumstances. The flames eventually overwhelmed all the gunpowder stocks inside, causing a massive explosion that obliterated the building in a massive plume of sooty black smoke. The Duartes rushed to beat out the charring flames, but it was too late. They were oblivious to the fire's causes as everything in each shed and stockroom had been stored safely away from anything that could have started such a blaze. No water or fire was near enough, so it was labelled as a freak accident by the many.