I sit in my bedroom in so much disbelief that I, Camila Cortez, a small content creator, was invited to spend time with the biggest Latina creator across all social media apps, Tati Moreno. I keep thinking this is a prank. My jerk of a boyfriend laughed when I told him about the invitation.
"Cami, be fucking for real, why would they invite someone with less than ten thousand followers?" He barked out a laugh, and I flipped him off.
"Why are you so mean? "I snap. "I don't know why I was invited, but this could be a fantastic opportunity for my travel vlog and my content. Anyway, if this is real, do you want to come with me? Steve, we need to figure out what's going on with our relationship. Being away from here could help and change our perspective." I say, and he shrugs.
My phone chimes with a message from TikTok. It's from an account called El Conjeo, no one knows his real name. He is a friend and we have chatted about our content through messages. He is an advocate for the Latino community, but he does it humorously. He also wears a black rabbit mask; no one has seen his face. Unlike me, he has over one hundred thousand followers.
El Conjeo: Yo, chica, did you get an invitation to Tati's thing?
Cami_mami: Yes, is it real?
El Conjeo: Yes, it's real. I just got an email with all the information and rules. All that shit. Check to see if you got the email.
I look at my email and boom, there it is:
Dear Cami,
We are beyond thrilled to invite you to stay at Tati's home for the week to learn, collab, and network with other influencers. This year, we have handpicked all our guests based on the content you make, not their followers. We are all here for the same reason: to bring our Latino culture to the forefront and show what we can do! We will pay for you and a guest to fly to Los Angeles. We will have drivers pick you up at the airport, but the location will remain a secret. The rules are listed below.
We look forward to spending time with you!
PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING ANY CONTENT FROM THE WEEK UNTIL YOU LEAVE. WE ARE HERE TO BE OUR AUTHENTIC SELVES AS SUCH: NO MASKS ALLOWED YOU ARE FREE TO ROAM THE HOUSE, USE THE AMENITIES, BUT PLEASE STAY OFF THE THIRD FLOOR.
Thank you,
Greg,
Manager of Tati Moreno
"OMG! It's real, Steve!" I screech. He rolls his eyes at my excitement.
"When is it?" He asks.
"In two weeks, do you think you can come?"
"I guess," he says.
"Don't sound too excited," I say, leaving the room. I don't know why I try with him, but we have been together since we were sixteen, and we are twenty-one. He has changed a lot, and I don't like who he has become. He's mean. I know what I need to do, but I'm scared.
Two weeks later, we are on an airplane from Texas to Los Angeles. I love to travel and make content about my travels. I sit on the plane with Steve, and he is fidgeting all over the place, and it's starting to annoy me.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"No, actually. I uhhhh," he starts and stops.
"Can you just tell me?
"Okay, I made a mistake, a big one." He says, looking at me and then at the floor.
"What did you do?" I say in a shaky voice
"I cheated." He says
"You what? You cheated?" I ask. Somehow deep in my heart, I knew he was doing something. "With who?"
"Lucy," he says in a whisper.
"Lucy, your boss, Lucy! The one who comes to our apartment for game nights, Lucy?" I whisper-shout. The lady next to Steve looks at us and quickly turns away. He nods. He fidgets some more, "Is that all?" I ask, and he shakes his head. "Spit it out, Steve?"
"She's pregnant." He says. I know this is over, and it's been over for a long time, but this hurts. A lone tear falls down my cheek. He goes to grab my hand, and I pull away. "Cami, babe."
"Don't babe me, Steve, you checked out of this relationship a year ago. Be honest. I was the only one fighting for us."
On our flight, we sat side by side in silence. I cried silently for something that I have already been mourning, but it is now real, and it cuts deep. If I am being real, I have had a crush on someone I have never met, but I would've never thought to cheat on Steve. We grab our bags and find a man holding a sign that says 'Welcome Cami Cortez and Steve Castro.'
"Hi, that's us," Steve says, trying to grab my hand. This time, I let him. He leads us to a black limo SUV with all the windows blacked out. We get in, and Steve tries to sit next to me, and I move. "We need to talk about this, Cami."
"The time for talking was when you felt like being with another bitch," I snip.
"Is there any fixing this?"
"No, we haven't been in a real relationship for over a year, Steve. We have not been intimate in over six months. It's like we are roommates, nothing else. You don't love me, Steve."
"Do you love me?" he asks
"How long have you been cheating?"
"Answer my question," he demands.
"Answer me," I yell.
"Over a year." He snaps.
" A year! I have been fighting for us! I loved you with everything I had."
"You loved me? As in past tense?"
"Yes, I am realizing that now. I had false hope, and you made everything clear. So no, I'm not in love with you. Yes, I have love for you, but I will never love you again. There is no fixing this."
We finally get to our destination, and since the windows were all black, we could not see out of them. We have no idea where we are, but we see the massive house, and it's stunning. We are greeted by a man dressed in slacks and a white button-up shirt. He is handsome with his salt-and-pepper hair. He has his hand outstretched, and I take it to shake.
"Greg," he says, shaking my hand, and then he shakes Steve's hand.
"I'm Cami, and this is Steve," I say.
"Tati sends her apologies, she will not be here until tomorrow night, her flight got cancelled coming from Barbados."
"Oh, no worries, I say.
"We have lunch ready, and we have some of the others here already." He leads us into the vast house, and my goodness, it's gorgeous, all white and black tiles: high vaulted ceilings and pillars. He leads us to a large room with tables set up with food and drinks. "Help yourself to food, and your bags will be taken to your room. If you need anything, please let me know."
We get plates and fill our plates with a little bit of everything they have to offer. We find a table, and Steve looks at me expectantly.
"You don't want to work this out?"
"No, that is something you can't fix," I say, trying not to cry, but I lose the battle and cry.
"Wow, I make one mistake and that's it?"
"It was a huge mistake. I'm done." I wipe my eyes.
"You're a fucking bitch," he spits. Greg comes up and looks between the two of us.
"Everything okay?" he asks.
"I think I need to leave," Steve says.
"Yeah, I think you should," Greg says. I will arrange a ride back to the airport, but you will need to pay the fee to change the flight."
"Fuck this shit, " Steve yells.
"Okay, let's go," Greg says, leading him out of the room. I look down, and I feel the tears start to fall. Not because I'm sad about Steve cheating, but because he humiliated me in front of a room full of strangers. I look up and see a guy looking at me and he starts to walk over. He looks like a young Pedro Pascal.
"Cami, are you okay?" he hands me a tissue. I look at him again it and dawns on me who he is.
"El Conjeo?" I ask. He nods and grabs my arm to help me stand up. He envelopes me in a hug so tight I squeak out and laugh.
"Call me Pablo," he says. "Whatever is going on, I'm here if you want to talk. Let's finish eating because they are going to give us a tour of the house. Can I sit with you?" My heart is pounding because my crush is actually hugging me, and he's gorgeous.
I fill him in on what happened, and he is very sweet, listening to it all. Talking about it makes me see that this relationship ended ages ago. He told me that he is glad that I'm seeing what pendejo Steve was. He told me I deserve better than that because I was worthy and beautiful. There were many other people in the room, and we were lost in our own conversation. The room was full of loud laughter and chattering. An older woman walked in; she was wearing a black ankle-length dress, modest but very modern. She emoted sheer elegance. She cleared her throat, and the room went silent.
"We will be starting the tour now. Each of you has a color on your pamphlet, given to you when you arrived, which will be your group for the week. I turned my pamphlet over and saw a red dot on the back, and I looked over at Pablo, and he showed me a red dot as well. He gives me a thumbs up and smiles. We go and find our fellow red dots. "Red dots will be with me."
I look around our group and see all the other creators that I recognize, and I get so excited to be here. The old woman takes us from room to room, telling us the history of each room. She hasn't told us her name, which is a bit odd to me. Her eyes look familiar to me. Pablo and I think that she is Tati's mother or grandmother, as they have similar eyes. She leads us to a room with Tati's family history, including many photos of the family and a family crest featuring a black Aztec bird. It is the same tattoo I have on my clavicle. I see out of the corner of my eye Pablo pulling up his sleeve, and on his wrist, he also has the same tattoo. Our eyes meet, and I pull down my top slightly and show him mine. I see the old lady looking between us, and it creeps me out. A man comes in with a tray of tiny glass cylinders filled with a blue liquid.
"Let's say a cheers to everyone who has come to join us this week," the old woman says. Everyone takes a cylinder and coughs after drinking it, except Pablo and me —we drink it without a reaction. Greg and the old woman share a look, unnoticed by everyone but us. I look at Pablo, and he stares right at me, and he shrugs. "You are dismissed to your rooms to freshen up if you would like."
We go up the marble staircase, and it screams rich. I would never be able to have this, but would I want it? Maybe not. Turns out Pablo and have rooms right next to each other. Each room has its own bathroom. Pablo comes into my room, looking confused.
"Hey, does your bathroom have a mirror? He asks. I look in my bathroom, and there isn't one. I come out and shake my head. "How the fuck am I gonna be able to shave my face without cutting myself. I look around the room, and there isn't a mirror in there either.
"There are no mirrors in the room either." I go back into the bathroom, and this time Pablo follows me. "There are lines on the wall showing where it was. This is weird."
"The old woman is creepy, right? He asks.
"She kept," I start.
"Staring at us." He finishes. I nod. We go out into the hall, and Janet, one of the other content creators, comes out of her room looking confused, too. "No mirrors?
"Yes, but there are also these triangle things on the windows, so when the window curtain is open, it shines on the wall and floor."
"What?" We say. We go into her room and see the triangles on the floor and wall. I run into my room and see a star, and Pablo runs back to his room.
"I have a pentagram thing. I am freaked the fuck out."
"Me too." I am petrified. Greg walks up and startles us.
"We would like you to be downstairs in about an hour for drinks and games."
"Greg, why are there no mirrors in the rooms?" Janet asks.
"The previous owners didn't believe in them because they hated vanity."
"I thought Tati's family owned the house?" Pablo asks. I notice that Greg looks irritated.
"Yes, her great-grandparents didn't like the mirrors." He says. With that, he walks away. All the symbolism on the windows still shakes me up.
"You good? Pablo asks.
"I'm kind of spooked," I say, looking up at him. He hugs me tightly.
"I'll take care of you, Cami. I promise." Pablo says. He looks at his phone, and he looks at me. "My phone's screen is black and it won't do anything." I take my phone out of my pocket, and it's blacked out too. "What fuck is going on? Let's go outside and see if it changes?"
"Okay," I say. He takes me by the hand and leads me downstairs and out of the back door that leads to a private beach. "This place seems so strange." We look at our phone and still nothing. "I want to leave, Pablo."
"Something fucked up is going on, but I can't figure it out." We see a worker on a smoke break. "Hey, excuse me."
"Yes, Pablo, how can you be of assistance?" the worker asked. Pablo's eyebrows shoot up.
"How do you know my name?" Pablo asks.
"Madam has us memorize your faces from photos and your name before your visit."
"Madam?" I ask.
"Yes, madam is what we call her."
"Can we use a phone? Our phones don't seem to be working. " I ask.
"Sorry, but staff are not allowed to have phones in the house while we are working."
"But why are our phones not working? I ask, getting nervous.
"It's a dead zone for cellphones."
"What city are we in? "Pablo asks. The worker scurries off as if something scared him. I turn around and see the old woman, Madam, coming up.
"Will you be joining us for drinks and games?" Madam asks.
"Yes, we will be right there." Pablo asks. He squeezes my hand. "Ma'am, I have a deadline for an article I was working on. Is there a way for me to get to a coffee shop to get WIFI to send it over so we both can go?"
"Yes, I think I can arrange that." She says . I feel a sense of relief. "Well we will see if we have drivers available.
"I can Uber there if I need to."
"Ubers don't come up here, but we can see what I can do."
We go to the game night, and I still can't shake this weird feeling, and I don't have the money to pay for a return flight. The games are fun, but Pablo and I are separated during the game time, and we keep looking at each other. I look around, and I don't see Janet.
"Where is Janet?" I ask quietly to her sister Milly.
"She said she had a headache and wanted to sleep, and she would come down for dinner," Milly says. She is drinking her third whiskey sour. "Maybe I should slow down. Janet hates it when I drink." A bell is rung, signaling that dinner is being served. I go over quickly to Pablo. We find a table and our food is placed in front of us. It's a fantastic steak, potatoes and asparagus. It's divine. I moan my appreciation of how good it is. Pablo coughs and laughs.
"Stop making noises like that, it's giving me ideas." He chortles.
"Stop, you don't even like that," I laugh.
"Who says I don't?" he smiles, and my heart skips a beat. "I like you, Cami, like really like you."
"I have a secret, I do too," I say on a giggle. I look up and see Milly running in the dining room.
"Has anyone seen Janet?" she says.
"She's not sleeping? I ask.
"No, her bed was made, and her bags are gone." She says. I can hear the fear in her voice.
"What do you mean her bags are gone?" Pablo says.
"All her stuff is gone," she is now hysterical. I get up and hug her to me. Greg comes up to us.
"Greg, have you seen Janet?" Pablo asks.
"Janet, asked to leave. She told us to tell her sister to stay and have a great time."
"My sister wouldn't do that! She wouldn't leave me." Milly cries.
"Well, she did, " Madam says. She looks different. I can't pinpoint what it is, but she looks different.
"Sit with us, Milly, have dinner with us," Pablo says, guiding us back to our table. As soon as Greg and Madam leave the room, Pablo lowers his head. " I'm going to figure out what the fuck is going on tomorrow." There is a bonfire at the beach, and we are expected to attend it, and we all sit huddled together. I am scared. We sit there for an hour and decide it's time for bed. We walk Milly to her room, and she goes in. We tell her that if she gets scared, she should come to my room.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" Pablo asks. I nod furiously. He goes into his room to get his toothbrush and to change. "We are leaving tomorrow." He says as he lies next to me, staring at the ceiling. We both stare at the ceiling and fall asleep a fit full night's sleep, but we fall asleep.
We get up, get dressed, and go to find Milly. Her room is open, and she is not in there. Her bed is made, and her things are gone. We turn and see Greg. This man appears out of nowhere and scares me.
"She just left to be with her sister," he says. "Her flight was a redeye. Pablo, I know you ride a motorcycle. We have one if you want to go to town. Unfortunately, it's a one-seater, so Cami, you would have to stay here. "
"Let me just grab my jacket and backpack, and I will be ready to leave," Pablo says. Pablo grabs my hand and pulls me into his room. "Stay with everyone. Don't go anywhere by yourself. I will be back as soon as I can." Pablo pushes my loose hair behind my ear, and he kisses me gently. "I promise I will be back for you."
I go outside with him. They bring him a motorcycle, and he gets on it. I go over to him, and he hugs me and kisses me again. My heart is beating so fast, I have never been scared like this. My comfort is leaving, and I don't know what to do. I eat with all of the other content creators, and they are oblivious to my fear; all they chatter about is that Tati is coming tonight.
"I wonder what's on the third floor?" A makeup influencer, Mario asks.
"I don't know, but Greg kept telling us not to go up there. I heard someone ask why, and he didn't answer her, " another influencer says as she continues eating. How can they eat at a time like this?
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Louisa, and I will be leading a hike today. We will meet out back in ten minutes."
"Do we all have to go?" Mario asks.
"No, it's optional," she says. I excuse myself to use the restroom. As I am in the restroom, I decide to be brave and go up and see what is on that third floor. I leave my bedroom and peek around, and see that the hallway is empty. I look out the window, and everyone seems to be out back getting ready to go on the hike.
I see the steps leading up at the back of the hallway, and I run as fast as I can up the stairs. There is a velvet rope with a sign that says "Do not enter." I crawl under the velvet rope and see only one door. The doorknob has all the symbols that the windows had on it. I try my luck, and it clicks open. I gasp at what I see, but I don't have time to react. I hear Madam and Greg's voices coming, so I throw myself into an old wardrobe like the one in Narnia. My heart is beating out of my chest. What happens next freaks me the fuck out.
Pablo
When Greg brings me the motorcycle, he shows me a map and tells me to stay on this path and only this one. I nod and take off, and the bike fucking sucks, it's sputtering the whole way. It takes me twenty minutes to finally see civilization. I see a run-down coffeehouse, and I go in. I see the cashier, and I go up and smile at her.
"Hi, I'm lost. Can you tell me what city this is?" I ask, and she looks at me with a head tilt.
"Pablo, right? " she asks.
"How did you know that?" I ask.
"Madam said you were coming." She says, and my blood goes cold when I see the worker who was on the beach with us.
"Hi, Pablo," he says with a lopsided smile.
"What the fuck is this? I ask, and I completely freak out. The female cashier is throwing out trash in the back.
"Are you going to work on your article like you said you were?" the guy says. I take out my phone, and it still has a black screen. I show him my phone. I take out my laptop from my backpack, and it won't turn on either. "What a pity you probably have to head back. Stay on the path, don't stray."
"What if I stray?"
"I dunno, don't want to find out," he laughs. I go to the door and leave. I need to get to Cami and fast. I grab the helmet, and a tiny sheet of paper falls out of it.
'RUN!!!! Hole back fence, no motorcycle. GO NOW!'
I dip down below the window and make a run for the back, and my lungs are burning. I see the hole and go through it, scratching my back. I keep running until I find two guys working on a car, and I am so out of breath. I'm in panic mode and must look crazy to these guys. They go on alert as I run up to them. I trip and fall to my knees, trying to catch my breath.
"You good, bro?" One of the guys says. I try to stand, and he helps me. I shake my head.
"My friend is stuck in that mansion over on the hill over there. There is weird shit going on over there," I point over my shoulder without looking.
"Are you on something, Carnal? What mansion?" The other guy says. I turn around and look behind me, and I freak the fuck out. I can't believe what I am seeing. The mansion was just there, I can see in the distance, but it's not a mansion —it's a dilapidated house sitting on a tiny hill. "Seriously, bro, what did you take?"
"I never heard anyone refer to that Cucuy house as a mansion before," the other guy laughs.
"Cucuy house?" I say.
"Yeah, when we were kids, our dad would tell us that used to be an insane lady's house. They said she was obsessed with Aztec birds, and she would kidnap people who had a tattoo of the bird, take their beauty and youth."
"Dude, stop telling him that he is obviously on a bad high; you're going to tweak him out even more than he is."
"I got to go and get Cami," I ran back the direction I came from to the fence, only there is no fence, there is a high cement traffic barricade. There is no way for me to climb or scale it. My phone starts beeping, so I take it off. I look at my phone, and it's my mom. I call her.
"Mama," I say in a shaky voice.
"PABLO, is it you? You're alive!" she cries.
"Yes, it's me. What are you talking about?"
"A man called me yesterday and told me and your Papa that you died in an airplane crash on the way to your influencer event."
"NO! That's not true. I'm alive."
"Where are you?" I can hear my dad ask.
"I have no clue, hold on, let me find out." I run back to the guys I was talking to. "This is going to sound weird, but what city are we in?"
"Yeah, that does sound weird, but we are in Boise."
"Idaho, I thought I was in LA," I say.
"Mijo, get to an airport and get on a plane and come home to Texas." My dad says.
"I need to get Cami," I say, freaking out.
"We will call the police and tell them so they can go get her."
"No, at the airport they'll look for me there."
" Okay, will rent you a car and have them bring it to you. "
"What about Cami? I feel bad leaving her."
"I told you we will do everything we can to help her. Papa ordered the car. " I hand the phone over to one of the guys, and they give the address to where to send it."
Once the car comes, I try every route to get to Cami, but every turn is a dead end. I finally give up and drive out of the city.
Cami
I peek through the wardrobe's slats and see Madam and Greg standing in the middle of the room. I also see Steve, Janet, and Milly hanging upside down on rafters from the ceiling with their throats cut, and their blood is draining from them into giant bowls. They stand in front of shattered mirrors —the mirrors meant for the bedrooms. They both pick up the bowls with blood in them and bring them to their lips and take long drinks. I can see Madam's reflection in the mirror, and she is smiling at herself when she turns around, taking my breath away. Her mirrored reflection shows Madam, but when she is standing right in front of me, it is Tati. Greg has morphed into Mika, Tati's fiancé. My heart is pounding in my ears. She looks back in the mirror and smiles at herself again.
"Everyone wants to be famous for doing nothing these days. People are so desperate to be the next big thing. To be popular, to go —what's the word again… oh yeah, viral. To be the best and most beautiful. People would sell their souls to be all of those things.....right, Cami?"
Six months later
Hola mi gente, it's me, Tati Moreno, with the long-awaited video. Mika and I are excited to show you our new home.
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Remember, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder…..