None of us were eating. Well, Alberto ate. He was stuffing his face with all the Columbian classics. "Man! I dunno what this stuff is, but it's good!" He said in-between chews. This was supposed to be Dolores's engagement feast which none of us had touched yet. Glad someone's enjoying it, I guess.
We were all positioned around the main dining table inside, with Alberto being the only one sitting down. While he obliviously chomped away, I was getting confused looks and glares from the rest of the family. I hid one side of my face with my hand, cringing so hard. Abuela in particular looked like she wanted to ring me out to dry. Her harsh stare didn't leave me once.
"How dare you bring a strange boy into this house?!" My grandmother finally demanded of me- and very loudly too, I should add. My torso twisted in such a way that I was facing her head on. "I didn't bring him! He followed us here!" Not that my voice was quiet either… "That's right! He came through the same door we came back in that first time- when Mirabel and I went to Portorosso," my uncle immediately jumped to my defence. Abuela shot him a punishing look, raising her eyebrow and planting her fists on her hips. "Porto-what?" "That's my home. Hey! Did you tell them how I rescued you from drowning in the ocean yet?" Alberto asked me, shoving another banana in his cheeks.
Everyone blinked to me in bewilderment. My mom and Abuela seemed especially stunned by this revelation. Or should I say confirmation. Mom's mouth hung open slightly. "S-So it's true then? You really….. fell into the sea?" She stammered with her words. "Yeah, and she woulda' died if it wasn't for me. You shoulda' seen how worried Massimo and I were; we weren't sure if you were gonna wake up," Alberto relayed all of this like it was not big news, but the way my whole family was ogling me right now, it was indeed very big news.
Humongous news.
Mom covered her gaping mouth to stop herself from crying. Dad blinked at me several times as if he just fully apprehended that he could have lost his daughter. My aunt and uncle were just as shocked, and my cousins seemed like they didn't know what to make of the situation. "Mirabel…." Antonio's lips fluttered apart. Bruno merely gazed to me while Abuela…. Abuela was having her own unique, individual reaction to everything. She gawked at me like I had live crabs crawling out of my ears; like she literally couldn't believe her ears. But the proof was right in front of her. Alberto was ignorant to all of this, finishing off all of the food on his plate.
It took some time but eventually the matriarch of the family broke the stunned silence again. "You really can open doors to different places in the world?" "Yes," my head nodded. She resonated on this for a moment. "And you… You went to wherever this boy is from?" "To Portorosso, yes. I'm sorry, Abuela. When I first crossed through the door frame, I didn't know that the door would disappear on the other side. As soon as I go through the door, it goes away where I am." "She can only get back to Encanto by opening another door there," Bruno added on, coming over to place his hand supportively on my shoulder. Abuela now turned her attention onto him, shifting her eyes over quickly.
"And you went with her? You went to this…. this Portorosso with Mirabel before?" "Well, it was sort of an accident. Long story short, we had to find a door to open to get back here, and that's when we ran into Alberto and Massimo," my uncle explained. "They invited us over for dinner. When we got there, I opened the first door I could find," I joined on. "Oh, that's what you were doing! I thought you had to use the bathroom really badly," Alberto exclaimed.
Everyone's stares moved back onto him as he was now the centre of our collective attention. Only then did the grown-ups start to look concerned about his part of the scenario. "Why is he still here? Why haven't you taken him back home yet?" My grandmother suddenly demanded of us. "She can't; not until she opens the right door," Dolores answered for me, earning a frustrated side-glare. The family did not like this; not one bit. "What?! Does that mean… he can't go home?!" Pepa gasped. "You have to send him back, Mirabel!" Isabela shouted. "He can't stay here! You have to open the right door!" Félix tacked on. My hands shot up defensively in front of me. "I will! I will! I'll get him back! It'll just take some time, but I will get him back!"
Abuela's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean it'll take some time? How long do you mean?" "I… I don't know. But not too long if I just keep going through the doors and coming back as soon as possible. I'm bound to get back to Portorosso sooner or later," my shoulder gave a shrug which was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. It was not. No one looked convinced- well, except for Bruno and Alberto. The latter gazed up at me puzzled. "I thought that was the plan? Aren't we gonna go through the doors?" He inquired to me. "We are!" I could be reassuring to him. My parents, meanwhile, appeared like they were going to have heart attacks any minute.
"You can't go through all those doors, Mirabel!" "You're mother's right. What if they lead somewhere dangerous? What if you get into trouble again like at the cliffside?" Dad asked, genuinely worried for my welfare. But Bruno waved them off with a confident grin. "Nah, it'll be fine. I'll be going with her too." "You're going?" Abuela's head spun directly toward him again. He met her stare head on. "Of course. We started this thing together; we'll finish it together. Besides, I don't want my niece going anywhere alone any more than you do." "She's not alone! She's with me!" Alberto interjected, as if this was some sort of condolence. We all watched him momentarily, then my dad glanced to my uncle, who still had his hand rested on my shoulder.
"It really should be me who goes. She's my daughter," he offered. "That's not fair! Why do Mirabel and Tio Bruno get to trace around the world by themselves while the rest of us stay here?! I wanna see new places too!" Camilo announced. "I wanna go with you too!" Dolores agreed with her brother's sentiments. "Me too!" Same with Antonio. Now Abuela was starting to look really anxious about the situation at hand. She looked to each of the grandchildren one by one before suddenly lifting her hands up to grab everyone's attention.
"No one's going anywhere! Only Mirabel and the boy will travel through the door….." "Me too. I'm going too, Mamá," Bruno cut her off. Ooooooh, that was not a good idea. We all held our breaths as she fired a glare off his way. "If you really wanted to help, you wouldn't have let Mirabel go through the door in the first place. And you would have made sure that he didn't return with you either," she yelled this while pointing to a now frazzled-looking Alberto. This also had the effect of making my uncle angry. He frowned pointedly at his mother, his hands drawing into fists. "I will handle this! I will take care of it! Just leave it to me; I'll take care of them- both of them. It should be me who goes with Mirabel and Alberto. Besides, we're the only three that can speak with everyone we meet." "Come again?" Dad blinked confused. "It's complicated; we'll explain later. But you gotta trust me on this, Mamá. I won't let anything happen to them, but I'm not about to sit back and let Mirabel go through that door on her own. I lost my family once; I'm not going to lose her again." "Bruno…." Abuela let out a gasp in surprise.
My uncle's face softened. He stepped over to take his mother's hand in his, giving it a tender squeeze. "Trust me, Mamá. Trust me….." No one said anything, and then my grandmother finally peered back over to me. Alberto was standing at my side by this point too, and we both just gazed back at her wordlessly. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, pursing her lips. Then she looked me straight in the eye. "You've gotten your gift, Mirabel. Show me."
Once again, everyone was surrounding me and patiently watching as I stood in front of my bedroom door. Sucking in a silent inhale, I set my hand on the door handle. The knob slowly turned. The door creaked open. Big surprise- on the other side was not the nursery but this weird dark setting. It looked…. Oh, it's so hard to describe. It was a bridge of some sort leading to this high-stacked city. But… There was something off about this particular bridge. It was glowing a brilliant florescent orange. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was made up of flower petals….. I didn't see any people on it right away, but if I had I would have thought twice about stepping outside the hallway. My foot took its first step, only for me to instantly start falling through the ground. "Mirabel!" There was a shared shriek. Both Bruno and Alberto took hold of my wrists, but it was too late. I was already in the process of falling and now pulling them down with me. They fell through the door's threshold as well.
And just like that, the door was gone.