I'm Maria Sanchez, and I'm another phantom of this story. Well, I only call myself a phantom because I'm dead, but physically I'm a Calavera. I was born May 5th, 1954 in Sonora Mexico and it's also where I grew up. Growing up I never got to be near a boy because of my father. I'm not saying it was needed, I would just have liked it more. It would be nice to have a boyfriend like all of my other friends. 

  My father wouldn't let me look at boys, talk to boys, or even think about boys! He just doesn't want me to end up like him and my mom, pregnant at 15. I was always around my cousins, they were fun. One day we were playing in the woods out back and I decided to walk into a cave. "Are you sure it's safe Maria"? "Si, it's multi", I said with a smile. 

  After walking about 10 ft further my cousin Feliz still hadn't come in after me. The ground started to rumble. I turned around to her terrified. "Vamonos Maria, Vamos", she shouted in fear. I panted as I ran back, but it was too late. The cave fell in and everything went black. All I heard was crying and screaming and I took my last breath.

  My eyes jerked awake not too long after. I looked around and didn't see anybody. I was supposed to be dead, how did I get out? I stood up and looked down at my body in a panic. My hands were bones, only bones, I was in a traditional Mexican dress. I got a better look of where I was, a graveyard. I turned around to see my headstone. Why wasn't I in the land of the dead like my mother had told me about? I should be partying with lost loved ones, not on my grave as a skeleton.

  "Long live Maria Sanchez, 05-05-54 to 06-12-70". I got up and ran to the creek, I screamed as I stared at my reflection. I was a Calavera sugar skull! I sat at the creek and cried before going back to the graveyard. I didn't know what to do. I saw a book that I didn't notice before. "Easy guide to being a phantom". I picked it up and opened it.

  As I got deeper into the instructions I sat down and read the book. Since I looked physically dead, I couldn't be seen or noticed by humans, I couldn't use my powers without knowledge, and to escape purgatory. Purgatory? I flipped a couple of pages. I wasn't supposed to be dead on Earth, it rarely happens but it happened to me. I was stuck in purgatory and needed to get out.

  It gave me no instructions on how to get out though. I finished the book and stood up as I closed it. The grim reaper appeared in front of me. "Are you here to take me to la tierra de los muertos", I asked him with a smile. "No, it will not be that easy to escape this purgatory". I frowned. "Choose your weapon, you will need one to escape". 

  There was a sword, a spear, a machete, and a guitar. "What does this guitar do"? "It plays a tune of death, every nonphantom will die depending on what tune you play. As I picked it up rose petals whooshed past my face. "You have chosen, it is time for me to go", he said, disappearing. I played a small sad tune and rose petals circled around me in the shape of a heart. 

  I had to stay away from humans until I escaped the purgatory. I didn't need to eat or sleep so I was fine financially. I would sneak into the lavanderia whenever my clothes needed to be cleaned. There were a couple of sightings and newspapers about me. "The Sonora viviendo calavera". 

  I tried my best to stay in the shadows. I stayed that way for about 40 years, then I moved to the Americas. New York City seemed nice, there were so many people that nobody would notice me really. I could probably pass off as a cosplayer or something. I stayed there for 11 years playing tunes to make money. I made sure not to play certain tunes so I wouldn't kill people.

  I once made someone pass out though. I was wondering how I was going to escape purgatory. If there were any other phantoms there, do they know how to escape? That's when I heard rumors about the "Alley Cat". She was said to have roamed New York City, staying the same age for 23 years. I had no reason but to assume she was another phantom!

  One day I was walking down a dark alley with nothing to cover my true appearance. A dark silhouette stopped in front of me. She was carrying something over her shoulders. I was long with something metallic on top, a scythe? "You know that I own these alleys right"? "Are you the Alley cat"? "Who the hell's asking"? "Me, Maria Sanchez, I'm a phantom just like you". "Well, I'm a Calavera". 

  She gripped my hand with her head facing the ground. "You're really nothing but bones, huh"? She lifted her head and stared into my empty eye holes. Her eyes were glowing bright blue. "I'm guessing your species is a phantom", I said staring at her back. She gripped my hand tighter and ran us out of the alley. We ran further and further until we got to central park.

  She looked at me in the light and I looked at her. She looked like a normal person, she had a large Afro and was wearing flared jeans and a purple crop top. I looked down at her purple platform boots. She had a large scythe over her shoulder. "Nice to meet you, Maria, I'm Demise", she said putting her hand out. "But we can't be friends, I'm set on getting out of this purgatory", she said walking away.

  "That's what I'm doing, that's why I came to the alleys to find you"! "I've been stuck here for 51 years". "Wow, you died in 1970, that sucks".