I was awoken in the middle of the night by a faint guitar strum coming from above. It felt calming, yet I still stayed alert. Seeing Pita dead asleep next to me, I decided it’d be better off if I leave her be. Next, I made my way up to the middle floor where I saw both Delia and Velia asleep so I knew it had to be from Juanita’s floor. I rushed my way up the stairs hoping nothing had happened to her. I slowly walked across the floor and peeked around the corner to see Juanita fully awake with a man dressed in all black with an enchanting guitar topped by a big black sombrero sitting by the window sill. Just as I was about to confront the man, the floor made a loud creaking noise and he vanished into the night.

I immediately went to Juanita to see if she was alright and noticed that she now had beautifully braided hair and her eyes were wide open. “Who was that man?” I asked. “He appeared in my room and played his guitar to me. He also sang to me. He had a soothing voice and he even braided my hair.” Juanita said. Was this a dream? I was in complete confusion so I decided to tell Juanita to rest up as I went back to bed.

The next day, I grouped up with my hermanitas once again and Juanita was constantly coughing and fatigued and it made me realize that what happened last night wasn’t a dream at all. “Cool braid, but did you sleep at all last night?” Pita asked Juanita. To which, Juanita’s head dropped down then immediately came back up again as if she was being awoken. In the afternoon, I informed my other sisters about what happened and I discussed a plan to confront the man in black.

Night had fallen once again and the storm was still angry, but it felt further away now. The twins, Pita, and I decided to meet up on the middle floor and wait until we heard the guitar. Not before long, we heard it and quietly made our way upstairs so he wouldn’t vanish again. There, we saw Juanita, completely hypnotized by the man’s serenades. I finally decided to step into his view and ask “Who are you, and why are you here?” “I am El Sombrerón, and I’m here to admire her. She is beautiful, especially with this braid.” El Sombreron said. We didn’t know what to do now since if we charged at him, he would just vanish and appear the next night and if we didn’t do anything, we’d have to stay here for another day because of Juanita’s sickness. But, I eventually thought of a risky idea. “El Sombreron, play me a song.” I declared. His face turned into a huge grin as he started playing and my other sisters were standing back. He kept playing until he thought I was hypnotized then I quickly grabbed his guitar and smashed it to pieces. His face displayed complete shock then swiftly vanished along with the storm.

Finally, it was the day we’d leave this place. But, Juanita was still sick. Luckily, the twins had the idea to cut her braid off which worked and she turned back to normal with little memories of what happened in the past two nights. We then gathered our stuff and continued our journey to Abuelita’s house. “How were you unaffected by the hypnosis?” Pita asked. “I remembered that the ear pendant could be used for hypnotizing people, which means it can also resist hypnosis. So, I just held it in my hand while he tried hypnotizing me.” I said. All of a sudden, I realized something, we didn’t truly defeat El Sombreron. This meant that although he left us alone, who else might he go after? Also, How many young girls has he done this to and how could a man with such a gentle voice have the evilest of intentions? These thoughts lingered in my mind as we continued our journey onward.