{"id":2019,"date":"2020-10-24T10:33:35","date_gmt":"2020-10-24T14:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/?p=2019"},"modified":"2020-10-24T20:43:54","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T00:43:54","slug":"cerulean-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"CERULEAN DREAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

People marveled at the three-story house in the outskirts of Licey al Medio. The speed at which a group of men built the cinder block structure was unlike anything they\u2019d ever seen. The home towered over the others on this narrow street, a welcome distraction from the darkness that was engulfing nearby towns over the month of July.<\/span><\/p>\n

The owner of the house was a woman in her 30s who had a son. She had their new home painted cerulean, a color that challenged the sky\u2019s blue on clear days.<\/span><\/p>\n

All that neighbors knew about the owner, Maribel, were the bits and pieces she offered. She said she was a single mother who had run into some money. A far-away t\u00eda who recently died had left her an inheritance. That\u2019s what brought her and her 10-year-old son, Nelson, to this corner of town, she said. A fresh start.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maribel was tall and slender and could have easily passed for a model. To neighbors, she appeared as someone who had once been poor, like them, and who now had too much money to know what to do with. She stuffed her home with furniture and lined her windows with lavish curtains. She wore silver bangles on both wrists and dyed her long hair brown every two weeks to hide her dark roots. She kept Nelson in brand name clothes and a chauffeur drove them everywhere, so she wouldn’t have to.<\/span><\/p>\n

About two weeks after they moved in, Maribel brought home five goats and about two dozen chickens. They were corralled into a mesh enclosure in the backyard, near a wild finca of matas de <\/span>pl\u00e1tanos<\/span>.<\/span> Soon after, s<\/span>creeches from the small farm began piercing the night.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Neighbors heard goat cries and what sounded like someone running through the trees behind Maribel\u2019s house. The harsh cries came at a time of night when nearly everyone on their street was asleep, their bodies settled deep in their beds. A few times, neighbors asked Maribel what was happening.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNothing,\u201d she always said, waving off their concerns. \u201cOne of my chivos had a nightmare.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maribel would stretch her lips into a smile, get into a waiting car with her son and leave.<\/span><\/p>\n

One morning in September, Don Pedro, the barrio\u2019s patriarch, walked over to the back of Maribel\u2019s home after she and Nelson had left for the day. He came back holding patches of bloodied brown fur in his right hand. In his left were a few strands of mauve and black twisty hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

He sucked what was left of his teeth. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t a nightmare,\u201d he told a half dozen people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The neighbors\u2019 minds wandered. Could it have been a bac\u00e1? The shape-shifting animal from the devil himself that brought you prosperity, but at a cost. Someone brought up the cases growing in nearby Moca, where animals and three people were slaughtered recently. Police hadn\u2019t found a suspect or suspects. Many people thought it could be multiple bac\u00e1s holding the people they made pacts with accountable. They heard the bac\u00e1s\u2019 appetites never stopped growing. Sacrifices were needed to keep them satisfied, whether willing or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

No one had the courage to ask Maribel if she had made a pact with the devil. They tried to sleep even as her animals were being slaughtered between midnight and 3 a.m. They were afraid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The killings became more frequent. And then one night they stopped. The next morning, neighbors were startled by a different kind of scream \u2014 Maribel\u2019s. It was a terrifying sound, the kind that silenced even roosters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The neighbors found Maribel running through the rooms in her home. She was searching for Nelson. She emerged from the house, her face so wet with tears that hair stuck to her cheeks. Maribel carried a green sleeve from the shirt she said Nelson had worn to bed the night before.<\/span><\/p>\n

It takes some time to grow comfortable with a new neighbor, so one dared say this within earshot of Maribel: just about everyone in the barrio suspected it was a bac\u00e1 that had taken Nelson. They\u2019re sure the demonic creature devoured the boy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neighbors crowded around Maribel as she screamed in agony. The window to Nelson\u2019s room had been ripped apart overnight. What used to be blinds were now chunks of wood scattered everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u201cMi hijo! Dios!\u201d Maribel cried over and over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The grieving woman knelt in the dirt and ran her fingers over her son\u2019s blood. It now stained the cerulean exterior of the house.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Amaris Castillo<\/a> is a journalist, writer, and the creator of Bodega Stories, a series featuring real stories from the corner store. Her work has appeared in Latina Magazine, Parents Latina Magazine, Remezcla, La Galer\u00eda Magazine, The Lowell Sun and Bradenton Herald. Born in Brooklyn, New York to Dominican parents, she credits the many tales she heard growing up to her love for storytelling. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. You can follow her on Twitter @AmarisCastillo<\/a>.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People marveled at the three-story house in the outskirts of Licey al Medio. The speed at which a group of men built the cinder block structure was unlike anything they\u2019d ever seen. The home towered over the others on this narrow street, a welcome distraction from the darkness that was engulfing nearby towns over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":2020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[181],"tags":[443,432,441,256,438,402,442,207,437,434,433,435,444,436,439,257,440,184],"yoast_head":"\nCERULEAN DREAM - Spanglish Voces Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CERULEAN DREAM - Spanglish Voces Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People marveled at the three-story house in the outskirts of Licey al Medio. The speed at which a group of men built the cinder block structure was unlike anything they\u2019d ever seen. The home towered over the others on this narrow street, a welcome distraction from the darkness that was engulfing nearby towns over the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spanglish Voces Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-24T14:33:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-25T00:43:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image0-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1875\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amaris Castillo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amaris Castillo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/\",\"name\":\"CERULEAN DREAM - Spanglish Voces Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-24T14:33:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-25T00:43:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#\/schema\/person\/905686caff7337044918d303ba7db982\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CERULEAN DREAM\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/\",\"name\":\"Spanglish Voces Magazine\",\"description\":\"This platform is a tool to build community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#\/schema\/person\/905686caff7337044918d303ba7db982\",\"name\":\"Amaris Castillo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/356b7ad6c3a33d34e3dce09af6c95c29?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/356b7ad6c3a33d34e3dce09af6c95c29?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amaris Castillo\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/author\/casamarisgmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CERULEAN DREAM - Spanglish Voces Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CERULEAN DREAM - Spanglish Voces Magazine","og_description":"People marveled at the three-story house in the outskirts of Licey al Medio. The speed at which a group of men built the cinder block structure was unlike anything they\u2019d ever seen. The home towered over the others on this narrow street, a welcome distraction from the darkness that was engulfing nearby towns over the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/","og_site_name":"Spanglish Voces Magazine","article_published_time":"2020-10-24T14:33:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-25T00:43:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1875,"url":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/image0-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amaris Castillo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amaris Castillo","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/","url":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/","name":"CERULEAN DREAM - Spanglish Voces Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-10-24T14:33:35+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-25T00:43:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#\/schema\/person\/905686caff7337044918d303ba7db982"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/24\/cerulean-dream\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CERULEAN DREAM"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/","name":"Spanglish Voces Magazine","description":"This platform is a tool to build community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#\/schema\/person\/905686caff7337044918d303ba7db982","name":"Amaris Castillo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/356b7ad6c3a33d34e3dce09af6c95c29?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/356b7ad6c3a33d34e3dce09af6c95c29?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amaris Castillo"},"url":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/author\/casamarisgmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2022,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019\/revisions\/2022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spanglishvoces.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}