Ditto

Chapter 5: Remember me....

Hector watched from a distance as Coco stirred her cereal, trying to scope out all of the colorful flakes. She smiled as she pushed yet another spoonful into her mouth. Imelda looked up from her newspaper and smiled, taking a bite of toast as she returned to the headlines. Hector moved towards them and jumped onto the counter, swinging his legs and ignoring the tingling feeling when they swung through the table. He knew that Imelda would have fixed him with the familiar stern, yet good-natured stare that she always did if he was alive, but.......

Coco finished her cereal and moved to put her dishes in the sink, reaching up on tip-toe in order to reach the edge. Imelda smiled from over her newspaper as she watched her daughter, reaching down to wrap her arms around her when Coco went to hug her before retreating to her room to change for the day. Hector smiled softly as he jumped down. He moved behind Imelda, humming to himself as he read the headlines over Imelda's shoulder. Nothing unusual, so Hector's interest wasn't captured for long. Upon seeing Imelda's eyes widen over a story about a random mugging and murder in an alley, Hector said,

"Honestly, mi amor, you shouldn't read that stuff. It's so......depressing."

Imelda did not respond, simply turning the page after a small head shake. She turned at the sound of giggling, and both she and Hector caught sight of Coco running out of her room, arms outstretch towards Pepita, who was trotting out of her reach. Imelda chuckled and scooped her daughter up, showering her with kisses before setting her down again. Hector smiled at the two, remembering the days when he would have wrapped his arms around the two of them, laughing as Coco would wrap her arms around his neck and Imelda would hum contentedly.

God, how he missed those days.

Imelda slung her purse over her shoulder and took Coco's hand, leading her to the closet to help her with her coat. Hector blinked, confused. Why were they both leaving? Since he....uh...died, he found that the days and nights just blurred together, with no real distinction. With a bit of memory searching, he remembered. Today was the day Imelda promised that she would take Coco into work with her. After all, Coco very well may want to continue in the footsteps of the Riveras before her, and now was as good a time as any to introduce her to the empire her family had built. And besides, she couldn't be left here alone anymore, especially considering that her caretaker was.....

Well.......

Imelda smiled as she finished buttoning Coco's pink jacket and fixed her own. Hector stood dreamily in the corner, lost in memories of the life he had before.

Dios, he had everything he could have ever wanted. Yet he threw it away. Imelda was right, he was an idiot.

He didn't move until he heard Imelda say,

"All good mi'ija? Alright, let's go!"

Hector snapped out of his contemplation and turned just in time to see Imelda open the door and lead Coco out. HE sprinted towards the door, and his hand reached out to grab Imelda's shoulder.....

Just in time for Imelda to shut the door in his face and on his hand.

He jumped back, yelping, but the pain one would expect with getting a door slammed on your hand did not come. Instead, he just stared in awe as his hand as it passed right through the door. Some small part of him wasn't surprised-after all, isn't this what ghosts did? But a much bigger part of him was horrified. Who wouldn't be?