Bruno hated that his sister and niece had to see him like that. He hated that they left the party to help him. He really, really hoped that no one else noticed how strange he was acting back there. Camilo probably had, but…He hoped no one else. Especially not any of the villagers; they already hated him enough as it was.

How much longer would it be now until his family remembered how much of a burden his curse was to all of them? Or the villagers? If he made just one small mistake-if he told anyone a bad prophecy-How much longer would he have before he just became bad luck again?

He didn't want his family to hate him again. He just couldn't stand that thought. If the villagers hated him…Well, he could live with that. He'd been living with that for most of his life. It wouldn't be much of a problem; he hated leaving the casita anyway. The only time he'd run into any of them would be at parties like this, and even then, he could hide away or do his best to blend into the crowd.

No matter what, he couldn't let anyone find out about his involuntary visions again. He didn't care what he had to do to hide them; he'd do it. He just couldn't leave his family again. It hurt too much last time, and he just couldn't-he just couldn't go through that again. He'd become more withdrawn if he had to, but he couldn't leave again.

"Is your head still hurting?" Mirabel's voice pulled Bruno out of his grim thoughts. He looked at her and then shook his head.

"No, I'm fine now. Just a little tired." That was a small lie. His head still hurt a bit, and his eyes burned, but she didn't need to know that. She was a kid; she shouldn't be concerning herself with how her 50 year old uncle was fairing.

"Alright…I'm going to go back to the party then." Concern was still in the girl's eyes; concern Bruno wished wasn't there…Or, okay, maybe he secretly liked the fact that his family seemed concerned about him, but he couldn't want it. He didn't even really deserve their concern anyway.

"Tell me when it's over and I'll help clean up." Man, even he noticed how tired he sounded. His voice lacked energy. He probably looked horrible too.

"Okay," Mirabel replied, though the pitiful look she gave him made him wonder if she'd do that. More than likely they'd just clean up without him, which he hoped they wouldn't do. It would only make him feel like more of a burden. She left the room and Bruno was left on his own in the small nursery that Mirabel had been calling her room all her life.

It was unfair, he thought, that after everything Mirabel did, she never got her own door, her own room. She deserved one much more than he did. She deserved to have an amazing gift that everyone in their village and family would appreciate.

Bruno was sitting on his makeshift bed of many blankets and pillows piled together. Mirabel tried to make it as comfy as possible for him, but he wasn't sure he'd get much sleep tonight. He never got much sleep, but on days that he had visions, it was always worse. He often had nightmares, and sometimes it was hard to tell if what he saw in his dreams were prophecies or not. It was…It was easier to just not sleep so he didn't have to wonder.

Of course, he couldn't last forever without sleep. He tended to stay awake as long as he could and wait until his body forced him to sleep. It wasn't healthy, but it was better than having more visions. It took a toll on his body, but that was fine.

Bruno laid down on his bed. Not to sleep (he definitely didn't want to sleep right now), but to hopefully get the pounding in his head and the burning in his eyes to stop. It was relaxing to just lay here and stare up at the ceiling…

Before Julieta had left to go back to the party, she had asked Bruno about what he saw. "What was your vision about, hermanito? I know you don't like talking about them, but I think it's better than keeping it to yourself."

"You won't blame me when what I saw happens?"

Julieta shook her head and grasped her brother's hand. "Of course not. I know you don't make things happen. I've always known that."

Bruno pursed his lips together for a moment but then relented. "There's going to be a big storm tomorrow."

"One of Pepa's?"

"I don't know. My random visions don't tell me as much as my normal ones. But the river's going to flood. I didn't see anyone getting hurt though."

"That's good then. I hope the storm isn't Pepa's doing though…I hate to think what would make her upset enough to flood the river."

Bruno looked down at the sand and frowned slightly. He wondered too. If it was Pepa, he wondered if somehow it would be his fault for making her so upset again. Though the wedding incident was years past, he still felt horrible about it (despite everyone's claims that it wasn't his fault. To him it was), and he didn't want anything like that to ever happen again.

"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone about it if you don't want us to."

Bruno was glad Julieta and Mirabel seemed to understand that he wanted it secret. If they let it slip at the party, then there was the chance a villager could find out, and then when the storm happened he'd be blamed for it. He always was, no matter how many times he tried to explain that he didn't cause bad things to happen. It hurt to know that people didn't trust him enough to know that he would never intentionally cause misfortune to anyone or anything.

But that was just his life, he guessed.