The midday in Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is busy as usual. A man is waiting for his Uber outside. He has short black hair and a diamond piercing on his left ear. The jean jacket is wrapped around his waist, which compliments his black tank top, jeans and white Jordans. He watches the news on his phone with English subtitles.
This morning, a severed leg was found in the middle of Yunque. The family of a woman named Natalia Santos has reported her missing, along with her partner, Christian Walker. The authorities are currently investigating the scene. For extra precautions, never go out alone at night and try to get home as early as possible.
"Damn. That sucks." The man sighs. His Uber finally arrives.
"Abraham Abacoá?" The old bearded man asks.
"That's me!" He gives a toothy grin and places his red suitcase in the trunk. Sitting on the backseat, Abraham relaxes.
"You look boricua, but talk like gringo." The man says.
"Hahaha! Yeah. My parents are Puerto Rican. But they moved to America when I was four." He looks out the window. "I'm here to finally see the island that I came from."
"Aja! It's really good. Lots of good stuff here. Especially Bacardi!" He laughs. "Lo siento. My English not the best."
"Don't worry. My Spanish isn't that good either. So we're on the same boat." They both laugh together.
The Uber drops him off in front of an orphanage. Abraham gets his stuff. "Dale loco. May you have a beautiful day." The old man drives away. Abraham leaves a tip for him and goes to the place.
It is a two story building painted in gold and hot pink color, currently owned by his grandmother ever since she was a young adult. He knocks on the door and a brown haired teenage boy answers. "Hello. Is Awilda here?"
The boy blankly stares at him for a moment. "Abuela! Un gringo extraño te busca!"
A short black curly haired old woman approaches the door. She's wearing a flower patterned shirt and khaki pants. She adjusts her glasses and jumps excitedly. "Ese es mí nieto!" She tightly hugs him.
"Nice to finally see you, Grandma Awi. You haven't changed a bit since I was a baby." He smiles warmly.
"And you have changed a lot! Look how tall and muscular you've become." She starts crying. "You look exactly like my brother."
"Oh grandma." He pulls out a handkerchief and wipes her tears.
"Gracias. They raised you to be a very good man. If only they did the same to learn our language." She says.
"Hahaha! Trust me. They've tried. I guess it's hard if you're not in a place to constantly use it." He explains.
"Dios mio! You must be exhausted. Come in. I will prepare you lunch." He steps inside. The walls are painted sky blue and there are pictures of all the kids that were in the orphanage throughout the years. The floors are wooden, giving it a homely environment.
The kids of all ages quickly surround Abraham. "Estás aquí para adoptar?"
"No seas tonta. Este es el nieto de Abuela."
"Que raro. Se ve más hombre que las fotos que nos enseñó."
"Podrías cagarme en tú espalda?" The kids are talking to him at once. He sadly can't understand them.
Awilda comes out of the kitchen with plates on her arms. "Dejalo quieto y ven a comer." She sets the plates on the dinner table and everyone sits. "Primero la oración." They put their hands together to pray. Abraham follows their lead.
"Gran Madre Atabey. Gracias por bendecir a nosotros otra comida para vivir otro día. Amen." They finish their prayer, then start eating.
"Arroz con gandules y pernil!" The kids say excitedly.
"They're excited because this dish is only for special occasions." Awilda explains to her grandson.
"Yeah?" He takes a bite. "WOAH! This is out of this world! I know mom makes it sometimes, but this tastes amazing!" He chows it down.
"Calmate, Abby. There's plenty of fo-"
He licks his plate clean. "I definitely want seconds!" She sighs but smiles and gladly serves him. Once everyone is done, Abraham and Awilda grab the plates to the kitchen. "That was absolutely delicious, grandma."
"I could tell. I was worried about your stomach after your fifth plate." She laughs. "Just leave the cleaning to me. You can leave the maleta up in your room. It's at the end of the hall. The door will have your name."
"All right. Thank you!" He gives her a quick hug and heads upstairs.
There's only one habitable room on the second floor. The rest of the doors are utility closets. For one, his room was originally up there when he used to stay as a baby with his parents. The other is for when he brings over a lady and doesn't want the kids to hear their 'activities'. Abraham opens his room and it's the same as he would imagine. A simple queen sized bed, a ceiling fan and small old school T.V.
"Home sweet home." He likes the simplicity. He leaves his suitcase in the corner of the room. There's a photo of the family next to the T.V. from decades ago. Exhaustion finally consumes him, he jumps on the bed and lets sleep drift into the realm of dreams.
He was in a strange room. The only source of light was the candles around a strange golden statue. The statue had the head of a frog and the body of a woman meditating with her eyes closed. There was a piece of chocolate on the altar in front of her. He walked towards it, grabbed the candy and ate it. The statue's eyes snapped open. Looking directly at him.
*CRASH*
Abraham wakes up by the sudden noise next to him. He is sweating profusely. "The hell?" He wipes himself and leaves to investigate. The door is unmarked. Figuring a mop dropped, he opens it and finds the same room from his dream. An unlit candle stand is on the floor. "Thank God it wasn't lit." He sighs in relief. He picks it up and places it back from where it fell.
Awilda enters the room. "Are you okay!?"
"Yeah. This thing fell over." He looks at the golden statue. "What's that?"
"That's our Diosa Atabey. The one who looks over us with great care." She explains while lighting the candle. "Sadly, not many people know of her due to colonization. Most of the Taino records have been forgotten, but thankfully there are some people like me that keep her memory alive. I just wish esa mija would do the same." She shakes her head.
"Is that right?" He examines the statue. Its eyes are closed, but he can feel heat coming from it. Though that could be the candles doing the work. There's a piece of chocolate on the altar.
"I come here to offer sweets to her. She loves chocolate with cinnamon. I come here always praying for everyone's safety." She rambles, but Abraham is focused on the candy. For some reason, he craves it. He must eat it. He tries to reach for it, but Awilda slaps his hand away. "Qué estás haciendo!?"
"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." He scratches his head.
She sighs. "I have more downstairs if you want." Abraham is anxious and races towards the kitchen to get treats. He grabs a handful and practically swallows them whole. Almost choking in the process. "Abby! What has gotten into you?"
He quickly serves himself milk to down the chocolates. A warm relief spreads his body. "I don't know. I really needed to eat them." He hangs his head in shame.
She sighs. "It's a good thing I made plenty for the rest." The same brown haired teen passes through the kitchen with a fishing rod and a bucket. "A donde tú crees que vas?"
"Tú dijiste que necesitas pescao pa mañana." He says before leaving through the backdoor.
"Ese niño." She sighs frustratingly. "Could you look after Roberto? I wouldn't worry much, but it has been dangerous to go out at night lately."
"Sure thing. I could use the fresh air." Abraham follows the boy.
It's already night time. They walk on the wooded path until they reach a river. Roberto sits on a boulder nearby to cast. They both quietly enjoy the scenery. The full moon is reflected on the water. The air is filled with the lullaby of the Coqui.
"I could get used to this. It's certainly better than the noisy crickets back home." Abraham says, trying to strike a conversation. Roberto looks at him confused, not understanding a thing. A fish bites and he reels it in. "Nice!" He cheers. It's a Common Carp. Roberto slightly blushes at the praise. A shadow casts above them. Abraham looks up and gasps in horror.
Up on the treelines is what seems to be a giant naked human woman with her body structured like that of a chameleon. Her hands and feet have been contorted like the animal, grasping inhumanely on the branches. Her tailbone has been elongated with the tip having a sharp blade. Despite her shaggy brown hair covering the face, her multi-colored eyes popped out. Scanning independently around her. She focuses her attention on them. The skin changes to a sickly red color and she opens extremely wide to shoot her bladed tongue.
"WATCH OUT!!" Abraham instinctively tackles Roberto out of the way, getting barely hit. He grabs the kid's hand and starts running away from it deeper in the forest
"Q-Que te pa-!?" Roberto is about to complain, when he feels something barely grazing his neck. The tongue misses and slashes the tree. She retracts it, intending to slice them on the return. Abraham pushes him to the ground and he ducks the attack. The kid looks behind him but can't see anything. He doesn't say anything, all he cares about is escaping whatever is hunting them. They keep running, but the monster finally hits Roberto's leg. Making him trip and scream in pain.
Abraham looks behind to find him on the ground bleeding. He sees the monster getting closer by jumping on the branches. Once she's in position, she shoots her tongue. "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Abraham tries to reach out to him, but he won't make it in time. Something emerges from Abraham's body and punches the tongue away with extreme force, causing the monster to fall from the tree and wail.
The thing in question is a humanoid female shark creature. Her skin is that of a great white shark, has webbed feet and is very muscular. She's wearing a black leather jacket, sunglasses and blue swim trunks with wave designs. She turns to face him. "SHHYO HO~!" She grins, showing her sharp rows of golden teeth with 'El Tiburon' engraved on it. He is completely flabbergasted.
The monster recovers and charges at the shark to strike with her tail. "SHYOOOO!!" She dives to the ground as if it is made out of water and swims towards her. The monster jumps on a tree for protection. The shark dives deeper, disappearing in front of them. The monster is trying to locate the new threat, but the shark emerges from the trunk behind her and starts punching. "DURO DURO DURO DURO DURO DURO DURO!!!" She screeches while repeatedly hitting the monster's body with the force of a speeding truck. She strikes her face with a final punch, sending her blasting through multiple trees. The monster wheezes one last time, before her body evaporates into dust. "SHHYO HO HO~!" The shark flexes her muscles.
"Ugh!" Roberto's moans snap Abraham back to reality. He quickly carries him and runs back.
At the safety of the orphanage, an ambulance has been called to take the boy to the hospital. Awilda is sobbing, while the children comfort her. "Como esto le puede suceder a mi niño?" She says in between her tears. It breaks Abraham's heart to see her like that. He already explained to her that a crazy person with a knife attacked them as nobody would believe the actual events. He's having a hard time believing it himself.
"It's okay. He'll be alright. We can check up on him tomorrow." He says. Awilda sniffles but nods. The kids guide her back to the room, him alone to his thoughts. He looks out the window that oversees the backyard. "What the fuck was all that?" Is all he can say. He wonders if he's still in his room sleeping and this is all some fucked up dream. He jumps when a small pebble hits the glass. Another pebble hits. He opens the window and the pebble strikes his forehead. "Ouch!"
"Coqui~! Aquí~!" The voice of a woman is coming from the bushes nearby. Abraham hesitates for a moment. He doesn't know if he should trust anything coming out of the forest. That is, until a rock hits his jaw hard.
"Augh! Fuck!" Getting pissed, he jumps out to confront the person. "The hell do you want!?"
The woman peaks her head out. She has bronze skin and long blonde hair. Her amber eyes are slightly glowing because the light of the moon is being reflected by them. Abraham is taken aback by her exotic beauty. She tilts her head curiously. "Qui? Parece boricua, pero suenas gringo."
"Yeah I heard that one before." He shrugs.
"Hmmm. Okay. I know you're heretical language too. Seems we have a lot more in common!" She says with a heavy accent.
"Uh huh." He crosses his arm. "So what do you want?"
"What do I want? Your child, hombre!"
There's a moment of silence. "You want a kid? Do you realize how expensive it is to have one nowadays? Not to mention, I barely know you."
"Quiquiqui~! That's fine. I don't need you to be there for the child. I just want the gene of a true Taino to keep…existing? I think that's the word." She is trying to come up with a better way to phrase it.
"I have no clue what you're going on about. Look, it has been a rough night and I'm not in the mood for this nonsense." He's getting ready to leave.
"Perate!" She jumps and lands in front of him. Abraham tries to back away, but falls to the ground. Her body is on full display. She's wearing a black shirt with a pink ancient symbol of the Coqui and the legs form into a heart and blue short shorts. What is more terrifying to him, is that her appendages are that of a frog. Her hands and feet are webbed and three times the size than normal.
"W-what the fuck are you!?" Abraham is processing her anatomy.
"Qui? You've never seen a Coqui before?"
"No. But they're supposed to be tiny frogs!" He gets up and wipes the grass off his pants. "At least you don't look like the monster from earlier."
"Psh. I'd be offended if you compared me to a Jupia." She hand waves him dismissively. He can't take her seriously cause it looks like she's wearing cartoon gloves.
"What's a Jupia?" He asks.
She looks surprised. "Are you serious? Next you're going to tell me what a Zemi is."
"Pretty much. What are those terms?"
She massages the bridges of her nose. "Ave Atabey. You really are clueless. Which makes it even more attractive." She smirks. Abraham rolls his eyes. "Let me explain it in a way you understand. Have you watched Jojo?" He nods. "There we go. A Zemi is a Stand. However, you can't summon it whenever you want like the show. They need offerings. And you have to consume whatever it wants. Tell me, have you been craving something lately?"
"Now that you mention it, I'm hungry for more of my grandma's chocolate." His stomach grumbles thinking about it.
"Good. That means the Zemi is willing to be your protector." She looks into the woods. "The monster you encountered was a Jupia. They're the soul of a woman that has not rested properly due to unfortunate events and becomes a horrifying creature in the process. The longer they linger, the stronger they become and only people with the potential can perceive them." She faces him with a serious expression. "You look exhausted. Summoning can take a lot out of you. We'll continue this later." She winks and pats his cheek before jumping back to the forest.
He wipes the mucus she left behind off his face. "If this is a dream, it's one hell of a nightmare." He goes back inside, giving one last look and retreating back to his room to sleep.