In Another Life

Dawn and Dusk

It was dark.

He could hear her voice calling out to him. He knew she was in trouble.

He couldn't move. Something was holding him tightly to the ground, almost squeezing the life out of him.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar sound making his blood run cold.

A hiss.

In a flash of movement, the jaws of the snake lunged toward his face with a loud hiss.

Manolo bolted awake, sitting up in his bed. His hair was sticking to his sweaty neck and he felt his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to catch his breath.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings, making sure he wasn't in whatever death trap he was in moments ago.

He was in his bedroom, dimly lit by the moonlight shining from the window. To his relief, was his wife, sleeping soundly under the covers next to him.

It was another nightmare. 

Not long after the fateful day of the dead, everyone has been affected to some degree. 

Manolo and Maria have had nightmares about that day. They'd dream about the town being destroyed or the other dying.

Some nights were manageable enough, but other nights, they'd wake up crying or screaming. The other would do their best to console the other on those nights, reminding the other they were alive. 

This didn't stop them from visiting the proposal tree to watch the glimmering city on some early mornings. It was snakes they were now most afraid of.

The clock on the wall said it was a quarter past midnight.

Manolo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He needed something to relax his nerves. 

He quietly got out of bed and lit a candle to make his way to the kitchen to make tea.

Two months after Manolo and Maria returned from their honeymoon, they've had enough of the General and decided to take up on Joaquin's offer.

Joaquin had always been in and out of his mansion as the town hero. Even still, he's the town hero, with or without the medal. He's been spending more time home since then, but still occasionally goes on missions for weeks at a time.

The couple had been living with their friend for about three months. While it took some getting used to, they were able to adjust to each other pretty easily, especially since there was, in fact, plenty of room.

As Manolo put some water on the stove to boil, he felt pain around his eyes. 

It was dull at first, but gradually became more and more unbearable pretty quickly. He cried out, putting a hand on his head.

He heard a voice of a man almost snarl, "Bring me Princess Maya."

He saw quick flashes of a place he could only assume was hell, and flashes of various odd people and creatures. At least, he thought they were creatures. Many of them had odd proportions and properties. One of them he thought had a split face, but he couldn't tell because of how fast the images left his mind.

As fast as the pain came, it went just as quickly.

Manolo panted and looked down at his hands, confused at what just happened. 

What was all that?

Before he could process anything else, he was suddenly punched in the face really hard, "Ow!'

Manolo stumbled to the side and caught himself on the kitchen counter top.

"Oh, Manolo." He heard Joaquin say, "Sorry about that."