Where I Belong

No Matter Where You Are

The cave was dark and kinda misty. It was freaky.

“Uh… Paimon doesn't like it here.” Paimon said.

“This is the Cave of Souls?” Luis asked, a little disappointed. 

“Shh! Grandpa, show some respect.” Manolo whispered, pulling out his swords.

Out of nowhere, a glowing blob of light slithered through the mist, freaking us out a little. A loud voice said, “That… was… awesome, man!”

A large, glowing, wax man with a cloud beard emerged from the ground, praising Manolo about his performance in the maze. While everyone else was confused, I knew exactly who he was. Candle Maker, the one who keeps balance.

Seeing that he was harmless, Manolo put his swords away and waited for Candle Maker to finish talking, “I have to find La Muerte.” 

“La Muerte?” The floating book I didn't realize was with him opened up in front of him. He frowned, “Sorry you missed her, Manolo.”

“Wait, you know me?”

“Yeah, man. We know everybody. We know Luis, Carmen, and Puddle.” Everyone was confused by the puddle, but we went with it. Candle Maker looked at me and Paimon, “But we don't know you two. Who are you, anyway?”

I held my breath. Crap, I completely forgot about Candle Maker. Of course Paimon and I aren't on his radar, we're not a part of this world, “Uh… I'm Fabi and this is Paimon. We're not really… from around here?”

Everyone gave me confused looks, but there are more important things to worry about right now. 

“Alright, then. We'll talk about that later.” Candle Maker said, making me sigh in relief, “Come on in, y'all.”

The spot we were standing on suddenly rose up in the air, “Whoa!” I said.

We kept going up until we entered the real Cave of Souls, “Welcome to the Cave of Souls!” The cave seemed endless with candles as far as the eye can see, “Mi casa es su casa.” There were four waterfalls in between some of the hills of candles.

“Now this is a cave!” Luis marveled. We looked around the realm in awe.

“And I'm your humble, yet strikingly handsome, Candle Maker!” His voice echoed, but no one was really impressed. The only one clapping for him was the book of life.

“I don't get it.” Luis said.

“Yeah, what does that mean?” Paimon asked.

“Oh, wait.” Candle Maker said, “I got to do the thing, I got to do the thing. Watch this.” He clapped his hands together, summoning many candles to circle around us in a large beautiful display.

We looked up at the candles in wonder, “Amazing, huh? This is our work! This is what we do! Look, that group, that's your town.” He grabbed a lit candle from the floating display, “And that's Maria.” He grabbed another unlit candle, “And next to her, Manolo. One aflame with life. The other, kaput.”

Manolo looked down in shame. We all looked at him with sympathy. Talk about kicking a man while he's down. 

“You see, as long as someone alive remembers you, you get to live in the Land of the Remembered.” Candle Maker explained.

This didn't make Manolo feel better, so I said, “Hey, on the plus side, he just said you're next to Maria. That means it's fate, right?” Of course, it's fate. They're soul mates. Literally. 

Manolo looked at me, “You think so?”

“I know so.” I do.

“Santa Gordita!” Candle Maker exclaimed.