Running right after one another, Bruno and I rushed down the main staircase together. Perfect timing too! Just like last time, only a minute or two had passed. Everyone was just finishing up preparations while Abuela was greeting Mariano and his mother at the front door. My uncle and I breathed a sigh of relief, realizing we'd gotten away with it.
Or so I thought.
After making pleasantries, Abuela turned to the rest of the family with a genuine cheerful smile. Her arms raised slightly to command everyone's attention. "Let's go eat!" Her voice was happy. Sighing again in sheer reprieve, Bruno and I side-eyed one another discreetly. Our faces said the same thing: "thank god no one noticed us come or go like that". What had been hours for us was mere minutes for them- something I learned came with my new-found power.
We all headed into the dining area, with me sitting beside my cousin Dolores and Bruno next to Abuela. Everybody was talking amongst themselves merrily; all except my uncle, me, and Dolores. I wasn't hungry but just for show, I began to pile food onto my plate. Or I did until Dolores gave me a sharp shove in the ribcage. I blinked at her startled but her forced stoic expression gave me pause. She didn't verbally address my questioning gaze, but she motioned towards the door into the centre of the house with her eyes. I instantly looked where she was referring to, only for my jaw to literally drop to the floor.
It was him! He was here! The boy! The young man! The guy from Portorosso! He was out in the hallway exploring Casita! How'd he get here?! Is the door still open?! Did we forget to shut it all the way when we came back? So many questions! And the single answer to all of them was Bruno and me getting in serious trouble!
My body jolted so hard when I first saw him that I nearly leapt out of my seat. My knees bumped the bottom of the table making my dishes bounce in front of me. Of course everyone was staring at me by now and wondering why I had this panicked look all over my face. "Mirabel, are you alright?" Mariano, who was sitting on the opposite side of Dolores, asked me. My eyes shifted over to him, then to the rest of my puzzled family members. I forced myself to smile- and trust me, it was very forced- as I suddenly stood up like a flash.
"S-Sorry! Sorry everyone. Y-You're right, Mom; I'm not feeling well. Better go lay down for a bit," my thumb stuck up in the direction opposite where the boy was wandering. Mom perked up at this, cause of course she did. "Oh, well honey, if you're not feeling well, I'll just go make you a….." "No!" My shout echoed all throughout the house, alarming all present. Seeing how this must have looked, I immediately back-peddled while trying to sound as natural as possible under such conditions. "I-I mean no; that's ok. I just need to go lay down for a while. I'll feel better soon, I'm sure."
As I cranked this out, Bruno began to suspect something was wrong. His suspicions were confirmed when his head spun around. Spotting the curly-haired man now walking up the main staircase, he spat out the sip of water he was currently drinking. Everyone's attention turned to him, while Abuela seeming very unimpressed. "Bruno!" She scolded. "U-Uh, sorry 'bout that. I'll um…. I'll take Mirabel upstairs; make sure she's doing ok," he stammered while wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. All of our family watched the two of us scramble from out around the table and through the side door into the centre of the house. We wasted no time speeding up the staircase.
"What is he doing here?!" Bruno questioned in a frantic whisper. "He must have come through the door! It must've not shut all the way when we came back!" I wanted to pull my hair out! This is a literal nightmare! We got to the top of the stairs, glancing side to side dizzyingly fast. "Where'd he go?!" My uncle screeched. "He must be in one of the rooms!" Was my reply.
Not having the sense to split up and run down different sides of the square-shaped hallway, we ran with one leading the other in a desperate bid to find the young man. "Which room is he in?!" Bruno asked as we dashed in between doors. "I don't know!" I cried back, running past Antonio's room. My feet came to an abrupt halt once I saw his familiar figure climbing the narrower staircase up toward Bruno's room. Panic gripped my chest like a steel bar again; my pointed finger flew up in his direction. "He's heading to your room!" My uncle was soon standing right at my side, looking equally terrified. "We've gotta stop him!" He yelped. My eyes wandered down to the floor and walls. "Casita!"
That was all I needed to say. Casita pulled back the steps in such a way that the staircase transformed into more of a slide. The young man was shocked when he suddenly slid down it, landing in the hall in between me and Bruno. He was only stopped by the banister behind us. Rubbing the back of his head- which did bonk against the wood of the railings- he shot me a glare.
"Per cosa l'hai fatto?" The curly-haired man demanded. My uncle and I completely ignored him, grabbing him by the arms and pulling him up to his feet, giving each other a frenzied stare in the process. "We've gotta get him back!" "Ok! I'll go open the door back to Portorosso. Then we'll just shove him back in and close it." "Alright, and this time, make sure it shuts all the way," he urged. "Cosa fai?" The boy asked impatiently as we yanked him along down the hall. Bruno still held onto his arm while checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was downstairs. Meanwhile I approached my bedroom door and took hold of the knob. Taking in a much-needed inhale, I slowly turned it and opened the door to reveal….
A small grey-stone brick room with a cauldron brewing inside and lots of carvings of bears all about. I knew…. I had no definitive proof, but I already knew somewhere deep down that this was not Portorosso. Granted, the door did open to two separate locations in the seaside village beforehand, but this was different. There was something about the room. The colour of the bricks, the cool crispness of the air, all the creepy wooden statues of bears, even the smell….. This was not the same place we'd visited before. This was not where the curly-haired man was from.
And I didn't have the heart to just throw him inside.
Considering my options, I tried shutting and re-opening the door several times. Each time it opened to the same location. Inside that damp, poorly-lit room with a cauldron bubbling. I tried one last time, then closed the door and looked warily up to my uncle. He blinked at me like he didn't understand why I had just shut it.
"What's wrong?" "It's not the same place," my eyes lowered a tad. He gawked at me incredulously. "What are you talking about?" "It's not the same place; it's not Portorosso." "What do you mean it's not?! Where is it?!" "I don't know. Some cabin or something," my shoulder shrugged. Bruno looked like he was on the verge of having a panic attack and mental breakdown all at the same time. His eyes went every which way at a rapid pace. "Well, what are we going to do now?! How are we going to get him back home?!"
I pondered the situation for a minute, my gaze rolling back towards the door. I couldn't help but wonder….. This happened before, when I first opened my door to Portorosso. It kept opening to the same location no matter how many times I opened and closed the door. It only changed after I stepped through to the other side….. My feet cautiously approached my bedroom door and I re-grabbed the knob.
As expected, it opened to the exact same spot as last time. I stared into the empty room for a second, my lips parting a sliver on their own accord. Before I knew what I was doing- again- I was walking forward into the room. Without conscious cognitive explanation to myself, I figured that the only way to get my door to change its location was to emerge into the place at present. I'd come straight back to Encanto through another door and keep trying until we reached Portorosso again. My subconscious determined all of this for me.
What I was not expecting was for my uncle to rush in behind me, grabbing hold of my wrist and looking at me anxiously. "Mirabel, wait! Don't go in there! We don't know where that is!" He was unaware that he too had come through the door and unintentionally dragged the young man by the arm along behind him inside. The curly-haired man ogled around his surrounded in a transfixed awe while Bruno's eyes stayed locked onto me. I, on the other hand, had a wave of horror set in on my end. They crossed through the door with me…. They're both here with me….. We all simultaneously blinked back to the direction we'd just come from.
And just like the previous times, the door evaporated into thin air this time too.