The Infierno

Calavera(s)

Calavera finds himself in a situation similar to the one presented to him years ago, a confused soul arriving at his new life with ideals completely different from his own. He can't hear those words without seeing Soap in them, full of illusion and desire, longing for something almost impossible. The day Soap left, all hope of leaving hell vanished too, but Calavera falls with the eyes of an optimistic man.

     —Who was Soap? —the optimistic man asks —. Was he close to you?     —¿Que te importa? Who are you?

     —I- don't remember.

     —No one does. The only thing we take from life is the regret of what we didn't do, to repeat it for eternity.

     —What is your regret?

     —¿Otra vez de metido?

     —Sorry, I didn't think it was a sensitive topic —It had always been a sensitive topic. Every time he remembers the moment he fell from the building, he can feel his heart shrink, not from surprise or fear, but from love. He doesn't know for sure why, but he can feel that regret of loving someone he couldn't. Who was he? Why couldn't he? Those are some of the questions he asks the stars every night when he can't sleep. He believes that if he recreates the minutes before his death, before slipping to the ground, he can remember like Soap did it.

     —No te preocupes, I understand it must be interesting to know about other people's lives, but we've been through that already and it's frustrating when people ask you about it all the time.

     —I get it. A few minutes ago I was about to finish my journey through Mictlan-

     —Perate —Calavera interrupts, conflicting emotions running through his confused soul —. Perate, perate, perate, perate, ¿fuiste al Mictlan?

     —Yeah.

     —¡Vas y chingas a tu madre! ¿En serio? —he asks with excitement, and the other soul confirms again. Calavera celebrates just like when he discovered that souls could remember —. But, how? How did you enter? How did you leave? No, no, no, me estás chingando.

     He refuses to believe that one can go from Mictlan to hell and vice versa; he doesn't want to get excited again as he does with his memories, but he wants answers. Being a Xolo is due to his complete fascination with Mictlan and its journey that slowly leads you to your innermost self while leaving the physical behind for eternal rest. He would give anything to take that journey. To get rid of his physical form and float in waters that will make him regret his mistakes in life is all he desires since Soap told him about it.

     —No, I just woke up there with a lot of dogs and-He stops for a second.

     —¿Y luego?

     —Before entering the jungle, I crossed the river that is out here.

     —¿El aqueronte? Seriously?

     —I think it's that river.

     —Nobody, ¡Nadie!, has been able to cross that river; many souls have tried. How could you?

     —I don't know, I just crossed it.

     —I'll believe you just because the first time I saw you, you were there. What I don't understand is, why you? The second section is full of mexicanos; why would a gringo go to Mictlan?

     —Gringo?

    —¿No eres gringo? You speak kind of weird and you look asian, but not that much. Get it? But you do look a bit mexican.