Bud is a new recruit to a department of the federal government called the Immigrant Removal Agency. He, like many of his coworkers, tends to be a bit too enthusiastic about his job. Today's offering begins during a daytime raid that the agency conducts in the center of a northern city. Bud has just set his eyes upon a young woman; and, without knowing anything about her, tackles her to the ground brutally to make an arrest.
“Why are you attacking me?” the woman responded. “I'm a citizen. I have a young daughter. She needs her mother for God's sake!”
“Shut up!” he responded as he pushed her face against the cold pavement. “Just shut up!”
As happened two nights earlier, his team quickly arrived to assist while other agents pointed their weapons and tear-gas canisters at the crowd. “Back away,” they shouted, “back away!”
The young woman quickly gave up her struggle. As Bud and two others lifted her to her feet and beganwalking her toward their vehicle, he saw a young woman watching him intently from beyond the crowd.
She was dressed in a long, black overcoat, and her gaze followed his every step. The previous night's discomfort returned as Bud came to the realization that she was the same person who had been watching him when they raided the Saturday night parishioners.
She threw her dark hair back teasingly as Bud's gaze met hers in recognition. His discomfort blended with anxiety as they reached their van, placing the new captive inside. Once they had the detainee securely locked into the back of their vehicle, Bud turned to one of his helpers. “Do you see that woman over there in the long coat?” he asked as he nodded his head nonchalantly in her direction.
“Uh huh,” the other responded affirmatively.
“She was in front of the church Saturday night, watching us. Let's get her. She looks the type.”
“Okay,” his partner responded. “Let's move!”
The two sprang in the woman's direction without warning. Their target, in response, quickly blended into the crowd. The two, upon losing sight of her, pushed their way into the growing gathering of spectators.
“Get out of the way,” they shouted as they plowed through the assemblage of human bodies as if they were of no consequence. “Let us through!”
The crowd scattered enough that the two had a good view of all those assembled there, but they could not find the object of their search. She had disappeared as if into thin air.
***
Bud slept soundly that night. He wasn't bothered by the activities he had taken part in over the past few days. After all, it was all part of the job, and the people he'd arrested and even brutalized were all criminals who had no right to be here; at least, that's how he justified his actions. They deserved what they got, and he would lose no sleep over it.
It was during the wee hours of the morning when he felt a strong shoving back and forth on his shoulder. “What the...” he exclaimed as his eyes flew open. Still partially in a stupor from his dreamy slumber, he struggled for a moment to ascertain what was going on. The room was dark, but he could perceive a figure standing aside the bed. His body tensed with the realization that someone had broken into his room and that he lay there vulnerable. He quickly reached for the table lamp that sat on the opposite side of the bed. The light revealed a young woman standing above him. Her hair was dark, and she wore a long, black overcoat.
She spoke with a Mexican accent. “You have been looking for me, no?”
The man snapped at her. “What...who are you, and what are you doing here?”
"I am Isabella. You were trying to capture me yesterday morning, no?”
Bud quickly came to the conclusion that standing before him was the woman he and his team had attempted to apprehend the day before: the one who had been watching him at both IRA raids. The very thought that she found him and entered his hotel room so easily unnerved him, and made him feel vulnerable.
He jumped out of bed to establish his dominance. “You broke into my room, and you dare attempt to harass me, a federal agent?”
She gazed deeply into his eyes. He found her gaze mesmerizing―disarming, and for a moment he just stood there transfixed.
She reached out and began lightly stroking his cheek. He reveled in her touch as she spoke in a soft voice. "Tranquilo, Señor Agente! Calm yourself!”
The mesmerizing young woman gently guided Bud to a sitting position on the bed before pulling over a chair, placing it directly in front of him. She looked deeply into his eyes once again after she had taken her seat. For him, there was no escaping her gaze or the effect she was having upon him. “You are relaxed now,” she began, never breaking her gaze. “You will not resist me. You cannot resist me. Close your eyes, and I will lead you to where you must go. That's right, just relax now.”
Her soothing voice and the hypnotic spell she cast deepened his trance state, and, although he followed her out the door, he was totally oblivious as to where he was or to where she was leading him.
***
It was dark when Bud awakened to a state of normal consciousness. He arose from the hard earth only
to observe that the locale was unfamiliar. He was no longer in the cold, snow-covered city. The air was warmer and softer here. The landscape seemed almost barren save for a scattering of Saguaro cacti, which stood in place like ancient Nephilim left behind in the distant past to stand watch over the landscape.
“What the fuck!” he exclaimed as he took in his new surroundings. “How did I get here? How...”
Suddenly, he remembered his encounter with that mysterious woman in his hotel room. His mind swirled as he attempted to make sense of his situation. Oh yes! I remember now. That woman broke into
my hotel room. She must have drugged me and taken me here. But maybe not. It was those eyes: oh yes,
those eyes! She charmed me, hypnotized me, and brought me here—wherever here is. But why?
One thing's for sure. She'll pay the price for what she's done. When she goes into detainment, she'll go
right to...
“Ah, I see that you are finally awake, Señor Agente. This is good because I have some surprises for you.”
“You!” he exclaimed. “You brought me here. There is a very steep price for kidnapping a federal agent. You're going to spend the rest of your life...”
He stopped short when he heard a laugh in the distance. It was not a normal laugh; rather, it sounded demented, hideous. The unnerving sound grew louder as its source drew closer—a source Bud could not see due to a large boulder blocking his view.
That laughter sounds twisted. It sounds like some crazy person, or even worse.
The sound of approaching footsteps put an end to his thoughts. He kept his gaze toward the large rock expectantly. A shadow first projected from beyond the rock in the moonlight. It was followed by the emergence of another woman whose hideous laugh rang out anew in the quiet of the night. She laughed even as she stood facing away from him.
“And now you will meet your very first surprise,” Isabella informed him. “I hope you like her.”
She then turned her attention toward the newcomer. “Angel, why don't you turn around so that Señor Agente can see you better?”
The shadowy figure turned slowly as Bud took in the spectacle unfolding before him. He gasped as he got his first view of her. Her hair hung disheveled, partially covering her face—a face that appeared distorted beyond imagination. The dim moonlight revealed that her facial structure was twisted beyond anything he had ever seen. Although her eyes and nose were in the right place, her skin was pulled to her left side in a lump, stretching that of her right side so tightly it took on a skeletal appearance. Her long tongue dangled from an open mouth that dripped saliva.
Bud stared at her in disbelief as she emitted another ghastly but amused laugh. She raised her hands to reveal excessively long fingernails. In truth, they seemed more like knives than a part of her body. She laughed again as Bud stood frozen before her.
“Do you like your surprise?” Isabella asked him. “You have heard of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman? Well, Angel is La Mujer Que Rie; she is The Woman That Laughs. She laughs because she likes to play, and she wants to play with you.”
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