A Resurrection

HM Cuello

Art by Francine Lee

There are a lot of tall tales and other stories regarding supernatural things that happen in Texas. Many are passed down by word-of-mouth, but none involve teleportation to parallel worlds. This one does-it’s called “The Texas Portal” and it takes place in 1977 in Taylorsville Texas, a place you’ve probably never heard of, because it is located in one of those parallel worlds. Like its parallel world counterpart-Brownsville Texas, it’s located on the US-Mexico border along the northern banks of the Rio Grande River. Across the river, on the south side is Playa Baghdad, a Mexican city full of maquiladoras, chemical factories, and cheap tourist bars.

My name is Gabriel Villanueva-but you can just call me Gabe. I used to be a police detective, but these days I’m what’s called a traveler.

The thing that’s unique about me is that I was born again today. No, not in a religious sense but physically-literally. Some might say that I’ve been resurrected but that’s not it. I feel like I was in another state of being. I was discombobulated and thrown into another plane of existence.

Let me explain. I was traveling with a priest friend when I was attacked and stabbed through the heart. If it sounds painful, it’s because it is. So, I hung on for a bit but then I knew that I died because I felt that I dissolved into nothingness, and I lost my sense of consciousness.

I don’t know how long I was dead. I may have been laying here for days, weeks, months. But the next thing I knew, I awoke, violently thrashing about and trying to catch my breath. I checked myself. I was wearing a priest’s cossack soaked in blood. I could feel the rips in the front and back where the weapon went in and out. I had a tee shirt and jeans underneath and the shirt had the same damage. I lifted my shirt and could see a fresh scar where I felt the stab enter. I reached around my back and found the exit scar.

I glanced around to get my bearings, I was back in the tunnel, where my traveling companion Father Luca Nieves and I left on our last trip.

In spite of the bioluminescence, it was a bit dark. I dragged myself over to the wall and raised myself up.

Looking around I saw the graffiti that I remembered, ‘Kilroy was here’, ‘Welcome to the God Machine’. ‘Beware of darkness’. Wait actually I remember it as being “Beware of dog’. So, there are some differences.

I then noticed a flat, brown leather object on the ground. As I got closer, I could see that it was Father Luca’s notebook. Did he lose it, did he throw it in behind me?

As long as I traveled with Luca, he has never let me get a good look at it. He always held on to it and turned the pages while showing me some of the excerpts he wanted me to read. This is the first time that I have actually handled the notebook. I opened it and read the first notation:

Time Travel does not exist!

I made my way out to the exit door. I noticed the scratch marks that I saw the first time I entered. I wonder if they were made by human or Chupacabra claws.

Opening the door, I saw the other side where the scapulars and rosary were hung. So far, it seems to me-that except for the graffiti- everything checks out. But am I in my world or another very adjacent one?

But maybe I just need to start at the beginning…