I’d never experienced a dinner so awkward before tonight, and that’s saying something. Last Christmas one of Mami’s older brothers drunk one too many coquitos, then decided to play soccer in his underwear and ended up slipping and falling on his butt. At least that had been funny.


    Tonight’s dinner was unlike anything I could have imagined. It was as if Abuelo had wanted to drive us away forever. Once dinner had ended, Papi sent Alejandro and I to our room then he and Mami vanished into theirs next door. Had my brother or I any desire to explore the house or play outside before dinner, that feeling had long gone. Neither of us wanted to run into Abuelo after his self-absorbed display so we were content to hide in our room.


    As the night grew late, my brother Alejandro and I took our turns showering, and dressed for bed. I laid belly down on my bed and busied myself with my Gameboy, my fingers tapping away at the buttons, fighting the silly monsters in my game. My brother sat against the pillows on his bed with his sketchbook on his lap. He was probably drawing some more animals, I couldn’t really see, while the coquís sang outside.


    Although we were both pretty focused on our hobbies, bits and pieces of our parents’ arguments ended up breaking through the somewhat thin walls. We were trying really hard not to pay any mind to what they were saying, but it was hard with how clearly upset they were about coming here.


    “He . . . no right . . .” Papi sort of exclaimed, but I couldn’t catch all of that.


    “José . . . don’t . . . want to talk . . .” Mami sounded like she wanted to cry.


    I looked up toward my brother’s wall, staring at it and hoping now would be the moment X-ray vision would kick in so I could check on them, but as usual, nothing happened. My heart felt heavy in my chest, especially for Mami. I wish I knew what to say to help her feel better, I just didn’t know where to begin. They never told us why they cut ties from Abuelo for as long as they did but after tonight I understood all I needed to know.


    Alejandro’s pencil scratched away at his sketchbook, until it suddenly stopped, which caught my attention. “So . . . do you know why Papi is so angry at Abuelito?” he asked.


    I pretended to go back to my game, just clicking away at the attack buttons to give my fingers something to do while kicking my legs back and forth in the air. “It probably has to do with Abuelita’s funeral last year. Abuelo didn’t show up for it, and both Mami y Papi* were really upset about that.”


    “Oh . . . why would it matter though?” He tilted his head to the side, confused, but curious.


    “Because Abuelo was Abuelita’s husband, just like Papi is to Mami,” I replied.


    “Oooooh . . . but then why did she live in a different house in Bayamón?” He raised a brow, looking a little judgmental of Abuelo now.


    A monster ended up showing up in the game. I scrunched my face in annoyance because honestly, I wasn’t really in the mood to fight anything right now. “Who knows, maybe he was a jerk husband and Abuelita left him because of it. You saw how he was at dinner, all he did was talk about himself. Surprising, considering that his head is up his butt,” I snickered while defeating the monster in my game.


    “Huh.” Alejandro stretched his legs out in front of him, leaning deeper into his pillows and rested his hands on his sketchbook. “Why are grown ups so complicated?”


    I laughed because I was NOT expecting that. “When you figure out the answer, please let me know.”


    My brother then stared out our open balcony, watching the rain gently falling outside. I suppose I kind of decided to do the same thing for a little bit, then scanned our sizable bedroom, and it was . . . really boring.


    The room was all white with two twin sized beds and two rattan dressers, also in white. My sheets were pink and Alejandro’s were bright blue. A simple wooden fan spun in the center of the ceiling, the blades the shape of massive leaves, blowing a nice breeze down to us. Seriously, how boring could you make a kids’ bedroom? No pictures or shelves hung on the walls. This room didn’t even have a closet to hang our clothes in. Everything had to go into the rattans. Well, at least we had a nightstand by each of our beds with a simple lamp on both of them.


    “Hey.” Alejandro slid his sketchbook off his lap and knelt on his bed. “Did you see the kapok tree?”


    “The what?” I looked at where my brother was pointing to and past our balcony was a thick, twisty tree with long and reaching branches. From the branches I could just barely see the kapok seeds hanging from them, not yet blooming with cotton. It made sense though, as it was July and they normally bloomed between January and March, but I still would’ve liked to see them in bloom.


    “The kapok tree, you know, the tree that connects us to the spirit world and beyond,” my brother answered with a smile.


    I looked back to the tree and noticed that it was closer to the house than I had realized. Its limbs climbed past the ceiling. Most likely the tree’s leaves were creating a canopy for the balcony, stopping most of the rain from pouring in.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    “Oh, that’s cool. I didn’t expect to see one here”—I glanced at my brother—“aaaaand I see you believe that stuff about spirits.” I shot him a mischievous smirk, making him wince.


    “Well, yeah why wouldn’t I believe that stuff? Mami does,” he replied with pouty, pursed lips.


    A menacing chuckle escaped my lips. I decided to have a bit of fun with him. “Oooooh then you must know about the portal to the afterlife.”


    “A-Afterlife? You mean Coabey?” Alejandro raised a skeptical brow at me. He put on a brave face but his trembling eyes betrayed how he really felt.


    “Oh yes,” I continued in my best spooky voice, “the place is guarded by the fearsome Opiyelguabirán, the canine-like beast to the Lord of the Afterlife, the Cacique Maquetaurie Guayaba.” I slid my legs under myself and curled my fingers to imitate an animal’s claws. “It judges all who have died. If you are just and good, then you will pass to Coabey, an island paradise. But if you are bad and evil. Then. You will”—I scooched forward, inch by inch to the foot of my bed—“be eaten whole!” I growled and roared, making my little brother jump.


    “Nooooo!” Alejandro grabbed his pillow and buried himself in it. “Why would you do that? Now I won’t be able to sleep!” The pillow muffled most of his words.


    I fell back laughing onto my pillows, but as my amusement died down I heard something out of place. I startled as I realized it sounded like singing. It wasn’t just the coquís. It was soft, as faint as a whisper, and it was coming from outside the house. Whatever it was had made the coquís quiet down. I sat there for a long moment, unsure if I should look. Several seconds ticked by before I realized my chest wasn’t tingling. I took it as a sign that I might just be paranoid. I turned to look toward the balcony, out to the kapok tree, and then the singing began to grow louder. Just then a bright blue glowing ghost in the shape of a manatee suddenly popped up, floating inches above the balcony’s railing. I let out a gasp just as the door of our bedroom opened.


    I’m not proud to admit that I jumped with a shriek.


    Mami was standing in the doorway. “Dios mio Irene, what was that?”


    “Oh, um.” I looked down at my Gameboy, to the words GAME OVER slapped across the screen. “I just got scared by a boss fight.” I said the words too slowly to really be believed and clapped once with a forced chuckle. “That’s all.” I shrugged my shoulders and looked at Papi standing behind her, hoping they bought the lie, because there was no way they would believe me if I told the truth.


    “She also told me a scary story!” Alejandro pouted with an annoyed expression, still hiding behind his pillow.


    Papi chuckled. “Ah, is that so?” He walked past Mami and softly patted my brother on the head. “Well, stories are stories, they can’t harm you, unless you let them.” Alejandro slid the pillow from his face and meekly nodded in understanding. “Come on, let’s tuck you into bed.”


    Papi grabbed my brother’s sketchbook and placed it on his nightstand while Alejandro slid under the blankets. Mami walked over to me, grabbed my Gameboy, plugged it into the charger, and set it on my nightstand while I climbed under my blankets as well.


    Once I was settled in, Mami grabbed my comforter and pulled it closer to my shoulders. I was almost comfy when I noticed the red around Mami’s dark brown eyes. I couldn’t help but ask, “Mami, are we gonna be okay?”


    Mami paused, surprised. “Ye-Yeah, why do you ask?” I’m pretty sure she was forcing her small smile.


    “We heard you both arguing,” Alejandro replied and their expression made it clear they didn’t realize we could hear them.


    “A—We—” Papi stumbled over his words and looked at Mami with curved brows as though unsure of what to say. He planted himself on the edge of Alejandro’s bed with a sigh. Mami did the same, but on mine. “I promise you both, Mami and I are fine. Your abuelo just . . . irks me.”


    “What’s irk?” Alejandro tilted his head curiously at Papi.


    “Abuelo upsets your papi . . . a lot,” Mami answered, her eyes turned down to the floor.


    It looked like she was upset too, but I had the feeling Mami was forcing herself to give Abuelo a chance. I turned over on my side to try and get a better look at her and folded an arm under my head. “Why aren’t you upset with him like Papi?”


    Mami’s hand twitched on her lap. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out, and she closed it instead.


    After a minute I thought she wasn’t going to answer but Mami took a deep breath, and looked at me with sad eyes. “Honestly, it’s hard to explain. Papá does upset me, and at times . . . I do hate him for what he put Mamá and I, and the rest of my siblings through, but . . . there’s still a part of me that just . . .” She immediately shook her head. “I don’t know, but like Papi said, you two have nothing to worry about. I promise.” Mami smiled as best she could. It had to be hard for her to be here, so I vowed there and then to be on my best behavior.


    “And with that”—Papi stood up and walked to the balcony—“it’s time for bed, you two.”


    “Wait!”


    Papi paused as he grabbed for one of the balcony door handles and looked at me, raising a brow. For some reason, even though I was sure I had seen a ghost of what looked like a manatee outside, I didn’t feel scared. In fact, I felt . . . content.


    “Can you leave the balcony doors open? The rain is nice.” I smiled at Papi, and no I wasn’t lying, the rain was nice.


    “Um.” He scratched the back of his head and looked outside with a perplexed expression. “Aren’t there bats in the area?”


    Mami stood up and smiled at Papi with an amused smile. “Yes, but they mostly eat bugs or fruits. You have nothing to worry about dear.” She winked playfully at him and then bent down to tap my forehead with hers. I giggled as Mami kissed the very top of my forehead, and then walked over to do the same to Alejandro.


    Papi shrugged nervously and came over to kiss the top of my head and did the same for my brother. He then followed Mami to the door of our bedroom and glanced back at us. “Alright then, you two have a good night’s sleep.”


    “Recuerden que los queremos mucho.” Mami blew the both of us a quick kiss.


    “Los amamos más,” Alejandro and I replied in unison.


    Mami and Papi grinned at us, turned the lights off, and closed the door behind them. I ended up turning around to look outside, to the kapok tree. It was weird, but just knowing and being by it seemed to have quieted the humming in my chest a bit. It was still there of course, buzzing and buzzing. However, after a few minutes, with the rain softly falling and the breeze gently blowing, my eyes closed and I fell fast asleep just as the coquís returned to their singing.