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"Now don't you go down to the lake," their mother warned. "It is late and la llorona will be waiting for you. You wouldn't want to run into her on a night like this."
The children laughed at their mother's demand, playing it off as a silly attempt at keeping them from playing in the water and dirtying their clothes.
"I've never seen the wailing woman and I've been to the lake hundreds of times," shrugged Marta.
"Neither have I. I bet the water will feel amazing tonight. It's so hot out!" said Rosa.
"What are you guys talking about? Who is la llorona?" cried Jose, the youngest of the three siblings.
Marta and Rosa gave each other an evil grin. "Legend says she was a beautiful woman whose husband left her for a younger, upper-class woman. In a fit of heartbreak, she drowned her three children and then herself in the lake down the road. Now, her spirit wanders the lake at night waiting for unsuspecting children that she can drown and keep with her as her own children," Rosa said.
Jose, terrified, wanted to turn back, but his sisters kept walking toward the lake, so he followed.
Marta chimed in, "She is said to wear a long white dress and carry a knife, although she usually chooses to drown her victims. On a quiet night - kind of like tonight - you can hear her grieving cries for her children."
"Let's turn back!" Jose cried.
"It's only a myth. You are always afraid of everything," Marta replied.
"Yeah! And how could one woman possibly drown three children on her own? It isn't real," Rosa chimed in.
As the children continued down the road, the sisters chattered about their days at school while Jose tried to think of other things to calm himself down.
Just as they were approaching the water's edge, Jose heard a drip, drip, dripping behind them. He turned around and screamed, catching the sisters' attention. Standing behind the children was the spirit of the scorned woman herself, dressed all in white. She said nothing as she grabbed Jose and dragged him deep into the water.
The sisters sprung into action and followed her into the lake to save their youngest brother.
Marta swam as quickly as she could to reach the woman attempting to kill her brother, but she couldn't keep up with the apparition. She struggled to catch her breath and stay above water, but her attempts were futile. She slipped under the surface and into the waiting arms of the woman.
Rosa, a stronger swimmer, watched as her sister went below and raced to the middle of the lake to save her siblings. Just as she got close enough, a small white hand reached up from the water and grabbed her by the arm. Another white hand grabbed her ankle and dragged her below the surface. Struggling to stay conscious under the surface, Rosa opened her eyes to see hundreds of children swarming around her, with three very young children leading the makeshift army. They quickly pulled her deeper into the lake until she had no more breath to breathe.
After only a few minutes, the lake fell silent and still.
The children were never seen again, but their mother can still hear the cries of the woman in white on a still night.
Author's Note
Author's Note
La llorona is typically referenced as a Mexican myth, but it has taken root in Latin American communities around the world. While the story and background of la llorona differs between tellings, the creature remains the same. She is a woman whose husband wronged her, and in a fit of passion she kills her children and herself. Her grieving spirit then haunts lakes and rivers looking for her lost children and looking for new children to drown. I kept this myth the same in my story, while creating a frame narrative around it. I wanted to mirror the three siblings with the woman's three children, and I also wanted to include their mother warning them not to go down because this story is often told to children to make them behave their parents' orders. I added the idea that she collects the children she drowns and that they help her kill the others because I thought it added a nice twist, and answered the question of how one woman could kill three children at once. I found the idea of an army of children very creepy. Because this myth is told in many parts of the world, I wanted to keep the character of the wailing woman as close to the original as possible, but then tell my own story of what she is capable of.
Bibliography
Bibliography
"The Wailing Woman" historytoday.com
Image: A Dark and Scary Lake, Lake Water
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