The Cursed Music Box

When Manny meets Frida

Frida grew up seeing spirits. She used to see them as shadows running through the halls of her childhood home. Blurs of color against the solid colored walls. Glimpses of people and animals coloring her vision. Often they would come to her in dreams and tell her their stories. When her grandmother had passed, she had come to her in a dream to tell her good-bye. Her parents had woken her up to tell her the bad news, but she already had known. This didn't surprise her parents because they were very aware of her gift. Her mother had it too and it ran through her side of the family.Carmela would often tell her the story of her grandmother going to a tarot card reader for a look into her future.

Frida loved old relics and objects from the past. Sometimes the past seemed so much simpler to her than the present and she loved to hear the history behind each trinket. That was how she often found herself inside of antique shops. Much like the one she was currently in. She walked past the little booths that were set up by different sellers.

La Pequeña Baratija was her favorite antique shop to go to. She had been going there for several years. It was massive and open. The outside was older and it had two stories with winding stairs inside. When you walked through the door, you were met with bigger items, like dining room sets and antique bicycles, and in the middle sat a row of tall glass cases that held the more expensive items. Surrounding those tall shelving units were boxed in areas that created booths for different sellers. Walls lead to doorways and it snaked around until you reached the front again, where a clerk stood near a register.

She had one booth that she adored to visit, on the top floor, and she would always walk into the little area to take in the new items that that seller had. She picked up random items and put them back down. Frida fawned over an old hand mirror made of pewter and took in it's ornate design. She fell in love with it and it gave off a lovely aura of a young woman that appeared to be from the 1800's. She saw the woman fixing her hair and make-up within the mirror and it made her smile. She decided to carry it with her to take to the clerk once she was done.

Frida continued to walk along the booths until she stepped into one that felt familiar. Her blue eyes immediately caught sight of the brown musical box.

She gulped and finally decided to touch the music box. The song played. Her mind began to fill with memories that weren't her own. Memories of a black haired tan skinned man standing in a field of grass beneath a tree in autumn. He slowly turned at the waist and gave her a cute smile. His hair moved in the breeze along with his long black coat. The man's brown eyes caught hers in the sunlight as he reached his hand out to her.

She shook her head and was brought back to reality. Something about this music box needed her and she needed it. The music box wasn't cheap and she only had enough money for one item today. So, Frida took the music box and walked back to set the mirror back down into the other booth. The music box easily replacing the mirror in its importance. She sighed and found that her thoughts had begun to wander. Who was this man? Why was his music box there? Why was he so important to her? She wanted to know more about this music box and she wanted to hear the story behind it.

The mysterious male spirit followed her around the vintage shop as she continued to wander around. She felt him close on her heels and watched him peer at the objects that she would pick up and take in. He would watch her eyes light up with each passing thought and he admired it. She jumped and gasped when she rounded a corner and he was suddenly standing in her way. "Goodness. Stop scaring me." She whispered and glared at him for a moment. He sheepishly smiled and put his hands behind his back, rocking on his heels. She watched him scratch the back of his neck and chuckle in apology. He didn't want to scare her off, but he was curious about her. She could see him when no one else could.

She slid past him and he continued to follow her like a lost kitten. She sighed and tried to ignore him, even though he was suffocating her. She abruptly stopped and turned around on her heel, shaking her index finger in his direction. "You need to backup a little, you know that? Too close." She whispered and hoped that no one around her had heard her talk to thin air.