Daunting encounter
After our encounter with the Chupacabra everything changed. We didn't have to be scared of the Chupacabra anymore. Now all we had to worry about was Sihuanaba after La Llorona's warnings, “She can shapeshift to look like someone we trust and try luring us in, making it really hard to differentiate between her and our real confidante,” I warned the girls.
“She seems pretty scary,” Pita exchanged nervously. “You said she lives around here right? That means we need to be extra careful,” Juanita demurred. “I'm sure we’ll be fine if we just continue on being mindful of our surroundings,” I reassured them.
We continued to walk and walk with the hope of getting to our destination faster. “I’m tired of limping on my leg. Can we stop for a moment and take a break?” Pita wined. “Just a few more minutes we're almost near a little edificioa bandonado,just hold on a little bit longer.” We walked up to the little shack and sat examining Pita's hurt leg making sure she was alright.
Then we heard a crunch from the woods around us as if someone was walking and trying to remain quiet. “Did you hear that?” Juanita fussed with Velia and Delia cowering behind her. I looked around peering into the woods with eyes of stone. The maker of the noise then came out “Girls? Is that you?” the woman said. “That sounds like mama!” Velia remarked ecstatically. The woman then came out of the brush, “it's mama!” Pita started to run towards her for a hug when I grabbed the back of her shirt pulling her back towards me. “I'm sorry but before any hugs I must know that you're really our mother,” I remarked holding my sisters near me. “Odilia, I'm so proud of you for keeping your sisters safe while you're here,” said the woman. I was not convinced but she could be dangerous so I was going to play it out. “Dang it Odilia mama is standing right in front of us and you won't even let us give her a hug!” yells Juanita. “I really just want to go home with her Odilia, please just let us go” demurred Delia. All of the sisters trust her but I'm not convinced. “How about we have a conversation with her first to make me feel better about it. Remember what we talked about earlier?” I whispered to the girls. “Don't you think it's a little strange that our mother randomly shows up in a forest in the middle of Mexico?” I whispered almost incoherently towards the girls so as to not be heard by the woman in front of us. “My girls, please trust me, I would never do anything to steer you wrong Odilia,” she said blandly. “I'm being safe, I don't want them to be hurt,” I scoffed, “How about we just talk for a bit to ease your concern?” she started even blander than the last time she spoke.
She speaks without emotion at times, I've realized. This isn't like our mother to be speaking this way. ”How about we sit for a while and talk just like we used to?” she cried to us. “But we never-” I covered Delia's mouth quickly. “Yes of course we can talk for a little while.” Juanita caught on to my plan. I then began to really examine the woman in front of us, she was, hairy? Hairier than a human should be, her face had really small skin colored hairs, but not as a human face would be longer, and more whisker-like. Her eyes were slightly crooked too where you probably couldn't see it if you weren't looking but when you where it was deeply unsettling. She looked strange, unearthly almost. It looked like she began to catch on that I knew something was wrong and the sisters caught on too. By the look on her face she seemed disgusted. “Why don't you just give your mother a hug dear children?” she said with little breaks in her voice as if she was speaking in a different voice every few words. I backed up pulling my sisters with me, “Be ready to run if something goes wrong.” I whispered quietly into their ears. “Give your mother a hug,” she snapped and began walking towards us. We backed away slowly.
“If she runs after us I'm gonna put Pita on my back, everyone else runs in different directions and then meet up back at the little run down cabin alright? And that's exactly what happened, we ran through the woods with little sense of direction. I ran with Pita on my back for what felt like an hour before reaching the little cabin.
I heard her talking and was looking for a place to hide in the cabin. I was helpless looking for a place to go when I saw a hatch on the floor under the stairs. I opened it up and lowered Pita down. “Stay here and I will get the others,” keeping the hatch open for light. I waited there forever before Juanita came running back with the two girls whispering for us to hide somewhere since the creature was only a small way behind her.
“I found a hatch in the floor of this cabin, Pitas down there. It seems perfect,” I said as I lowered them down into the hatch helping each one down before I went. “It's so dark, do we have a lighter?” Pita asked as I reached in our bag pulling out a tiny lighter and looking around.
It seemed like a small labyrinth, a big maze that leads back to the beginning at every turn. We saw an area with weapons, one with canned food and one with a bathroom until we found a small almost burnt out candle. We lit it, shut the hatch and sat down to think of a plan. “I saw a few pointy sticks and an axe in the weapon room,” Juanita said shakily. I knew what she wanted me to infer. I nodded and she showed me where they were.
“I'll take the axe, you and Delia take the sticks. The other girls can stay down here.” I said. “Velia, take care of pita while me, Juanita and Delia go up. We’ll be right back,” I said passing Delia the pointy stick.
We opened the latch and climbed up slowly, hearing her call for us
“Oh girls! Why won't you give your mama a hug?” she yelled out among the woods. We heard her footsteps creaking in front of the broken cabin door, we ran up the stairs being as quiet as possible. The layout of the cabin was strange. It was a two story cabin with a bedroom at the top of the stairs. Which is where we hid behind the door until she came up the stairs. “Come on out. I only wanted a hug,” she called out as she began walking in the room.
I immediately jumped at her with the axe swinging it into her head. It split open with the axe inside of it still. Blood spots all over me, I sat there in shock while the creature laughed at me. It had the head of a horse but a long body of a beautiful woman. It chilled me to the bone. Juanita ran at it repeatedly stabbing the creature's chest and head. Blood splattering everywhere as if massacre had erupted in this room, until finally it stopped laughing. We pulled the horrified Delia from behind the door and shielded her eyes as we walked out of the room and into the hatch. We lowered ourselves down the hatch, covered in blood. “Well, we don't have to worry about the Sihuanaba anymore,” I said coldly. “We're safe now, how about we stay here for a bit to rest and leave later?” Velia suggested. “Yeah of course, after that I think we all need a break,” I resolved.