Four months before in the city of Houston, Texas a family of three decided they wanted to move to a small city in Mexico. Their son Xavier was only 14 years old at the time when they made that decision. They sold all their personal belongings to make money for the trip and left with only three bags worth of clothing and personal items. It was an 8-hour trip to what they thought was their new paradise. When they got there, they opened the gates to the hacienda and were welcomed with a beautiful garden in the courtyard and many doors. The mom then said, ‘wow what are we going to do with all these rooms!’ while chuckling happily. And the dad replied, ‘we should rent them out to make some money until I find a good job.” During this Xavier was running around opening all the doors to look at every single room and choosing which one he wanted. While he was running down the hall he saw a room in the corner, but this one was different, It was a wooden door with huge bolts on it and it said “prohibit”. When he showed his parents, they just thought maybe it was a room that was for the water boiler or electricity, and they didn’t want kids in there. Once they got all settled the dad went to the plaza and put-up posters stating that they would be renting out rooms for travelers. That same day a few people came to their house to ask for rooms, and many stayed for days at a time.  

While that was going on Xavier was nervous to start at a new school with new kids he’s never seen before. When he got to his class all the kids started mumbling while looking at him and he felt himself turn as red as a tomato. He sat in the back of the class alone. After he sat down the little boy next to him introduced himself. He said “Hey, my name is Carlos it’s so cool that you came from America. “Yea it’s so different over there compared to here” Xavier replied. Carlos just chuckled then put his attention toward the teacher. They were learning about the Mexican American war that happened through 1846-48. After school on the way home he was telling his mom about the war they were learning about and she said, “You know I think the hacienda was already built during that time” To which Xavier replied “really?” He then asked his dad at dinner if it was true and he said that he didn’t know but that maybe some of the locals did. That night he decided that the next day he would go to the town plaza and ask around. When he woke up he got his things together and went straight there he then bumped into a man that said he used to live in the town but moved away and now needed a place to stay. Xavier told him that his parents rented out rooms and took him to their hacienda. When they got there the man saw the hacienda and froze as if he’d just seen a ghost. He walked in hesitantly asking for a room and that he would only stay the night and that we would leave early in the morning. The parents said it was fine.

The next morning Xavier and his parents believed the man had left already since the room was empty already and didn’t think anything of it, but over the course of the next few days they would hear loud bangs from the blocked off room with the wooden door. The dad decided to try to open the door, but as he tried to pry off the bolts the bangs grew louder and scarier. When he finally got the door open, he was astonished at what he was seeing. He quickly shut the door and put the bolts back on. When Xavier woke up, he saw his parents talking about the door and asked about it and they just said, “promise us you won’t go in there” “okay I promise”. But he grew curious about what was behind that door that they didn’t want him to see. He felt the need and desire to see behind the blocked door.    So, the night of June 5, which was also his 15th birthday he decided that once his parents fell asleep, he would go through the door. Night came and his parents told him goodnight and he pretended to fall asleep and got up when he was sure they were asleep. He got a hammer and took off the bolts and got the door open. What he saw was his home, but it was different: It was being used as a hospital during a war. He walked in farther amazed to what he was seeing when he saw a nurse bringing in a wounded soldier that looked familiar. When he got a closer look, he saw it was the traveler and was confused as to how this was possible. While Xavier stood there more and more wounded soldiers came until the entire hacienda was just chaotic. He then saw the man die right in front of his eyes and he thought to himself “that’s impossible”. He ran up to the nurse that was with the soldier and asked what day it was and she said “June 5 1846”.He was shocked as too what he was hearing and ran straight for the door but it wouldn’t open anymore. He started screaming and pounding on the door screaming for help, which woke his parents up. They ran to the door and heard their son behind it and started trying to break it open to get him out. They used a hammer at first, but it wouldn’t even make a tiny scratch on it. The dad was trying every tool he had but the door wouldn’t open. On the other side Xavier was screaming for help trying to open the door too until he gave up. Tense he walked away from the door and walked to the courtyard where he found many soldiers sitting down with weapons and covered in blood. He asked what was going on and they screamed back at him “WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR CAN’T YOU SEE” he just stood there still shocked. While on the other side of the door his parents asked for help from the locals to open the door and even a group of 15 men couldn’t get it open. The sun set and night came quickly, and he was still trapped when a general came and said to Xavier “Why aren’t you out there fighting? go out there now!”. Xavier replied, “but I’m just a kid I can’t fight them!” The man gave him a weapon and pushed him out the door. Crying he went to hide behind a shed when the soldier that had died appeared Infront of him and said, “follow me.” Xavier followed him to a different door this one was made of steel and told him to go through it and to never disobey his parents again. Xavier replied, “thank you so much for saving me”. And walked through the door. 

When he got back his parents frantically ran to hug him disappointed, they ask why he would go through the door when they told him not too, but he ignored their question and ran to one of the local men that were there and asked about the mysterious man. The local said that he was a soldier that died in the Mexican American war years ago. All three of them were shocked because he had said he was a traveler but, he was a spirit who had died in that very room years ago. After that the family decided to make the hacienda into a memorial for the fallen soldiers of the war and Xavier promised to never disobey his parents again. For the rest of his life, he remembered the night of his 15 birthday and used it as a story to tell for future generations.