Bruno jolted awake and rolled into a ball under the blanket. He kept his eyes closed, not ready to face Andre. He was only in his underwear too, which made it so much worse. The sound of falling sand caught him off guard and he peeked out. His bedroom door was just across the room. The bed he was on was in the corner by the wall of falling sand. Normally his room would be up all the stairs, but he surmised it was probably easier for his family to put him here.
He threw his blanket over his body and cowered under it. Sure, he was away from Andre for now, but he still had to suffer the anger of his family. He wondered if his nieces and nephew told their parents what happened yet. It was likely that once they found out he would be banished from home.
Bruno let out a soft whine as fresh tears streamed down his face. He recalled his most recent vision, it was only a matter of time before he was back with Andre. Likely, the moment he steps out of the house, Andre will be there waiting.
He wondered if he could convince his family that this wasn't his fault. Andre threatened to kill his nieces and nephew if he didn't have sex with him. But even Bruno knew it was a weak excuse. He should have never even let it get that far. Had he been just a bit stronger or a bit more clever none of this would have happened. Andre was right about one thing, Bruno was useless. Perhaps worse than useless because he had traumatized Dolores, Camilo, and Mirabel.
He remembered the horrified expression on Mirabel's face when his captor made her watch. Bruno sobbed, he felt disgusting. He wished Julieta had not healed him and had just let him die. He didn't want to face them and see the disgusted looks on their faces. He didn't want to see them look at him like that.
He got up shakily. A clean pile of folded clothes lay at the end of his bed. He pulled on his pants, shirt, and spare green ruana. He then slipped on his sandals and went through the sand wall. He looked up at the stairs; it would be tall enough. He began to climb. Some of his rats scurried after him others decided not to make the long journey up there and waited for him to return.
.=.
Camilo, Dolores, and Mirabel had retreated to their rooms for the rest of the day. The parents periodically checked on their children and Bruno. Abuela had announced that no one was obligated to do anything for the town for the next few days unless urgent. Camilo, Dorlores, and Mirabel would be given as much time as they needed to recover. Abuela swore that Bruno would never have to read the future again if he did not want to. After everything, she just wanted him to be okay.
It had been an hour since anyone checked on Bruno, so Julieta made her way to the tower. Opening the door she expected her brother to still be asleep. Instead, he was missing and his clothes were gone. She would have known if he had left the room. They asked Casita to alert them if he came out.
"Bruno?" She called. She walked through the sand wall and slid down the sand pile. It reminded her of when she and her siblings would try to slide on it for fun and draw things in the sand. She smiled remembering how much fun it was.
"Bruno?" She called louder looking around and then up. She could see could barely see him, but he was standing at the top. "What are you doing?!" She yelled to him.
At the top of the stairs, the ground felt very far away. Bruno didn't remember the height being this scary, but he never took the time to look down assuming it would be scary. He spotted Julieta and heard her echo asking what he was doing. This urged him a little to hurry up. He couldn't bare to know his if she knew what happened. He couldn't bare to be hated by her.
He closed his eyes. It was peaceful, and maybe it would be peaceful once he was gone. Andre couldn't get him if he were gone. The vision wouldn't come true, and perhaps his family will be safe too. Bruno suspected that Casita would catch fire because of Andre, because of himself. It wouldn't happen now, Bruno would be sure of that. He leaned forward heart racing. He was scared, but the images of his vision flashed in his mind and that was more frightening.
His family spent ten years perfectly fine without him, they would be fine without him now. This was for his family, Andre would have no purpose to hurt them if there were no reason. It would be okay. He closed his eyes and stepped off the ledge, hearing Julieta scream horrifically as he fell through the air. It hurt his heart to hear it.
The rooms of the gifted in the Casa Madrigal were often large and extravagant. Each room was magical and worked as a safe haven for each member. Bruno was no exception. The rooms were meant to protect them, not kill them. Sand burst from the ground in front of Julieta and blasted into the air toward Bruno. It swirled like a tornado reaching high in the air, blowing against him and making his fall slower. He landed on the ground with a soft thump and the sand disbursed.
Julieta ran to his side getting on her knees and hovering over him. "Bruno! Bruno!" He lay there staring up at the ceiling. He was slightly relieved to be alive purely because of self-preservation. He was mostly upset. He failed to protect his family and he failed to prevent the inevitable future.
He sat up and tried to wipe the tears from his face. "I'm sorry." Was all he could say. Julieta hugged him tightly and he cried into her shoulder. Bruno thought maybe she didn't know he had traumatized her daughter yet, so he clung to her in case this was the last time he would have the chance to be this close to her again.
.=.
That night Bruno was forced to sleep in the nursery under the watchful eye of Casita. Mirabel no longer lived in that room as the new build of Casita allowed her to have her own room. News spread fast in the family thanks to Dolores, so they all knew what he tired to do in his room by morning.
In the morning, after hearing the news, Mirabel went to the nursery. She stood outside the door nervously. She hadn't seen him since they were trying to heal him. He was in a fragile state and didn't want to make things worse, but she needed to clear the air between them. She took a deep breath and placed her hand on the doorknob. "You gonna open it, or are we gonna wait all day." She jumped and twirled around at the sound of Camilo's voice. Dolores and Camilo stood side-by-side watching her.
"You're going to talk to him too?" She asked.
"Yes," Dolores affirmed. "We haven't had a chance to talk to him since… the incident."
"Yeah," Camilo reasoned, "The dope is probably blaming himself for it."
"I was thinking that too," Mirabel agreed. They all took a deep breath and opened the door. Bruno was sat in a chair looking out the window. A pile of salt was behind the chair where he kept throwing it over his shoulder.
He turned to see who entered and immediately stood at the sight with wide eyes. He threw salt over his shoulder again flinging it at the window. "Tio Bruno, we just wanted to make sure you were okay." Mirabel started. He turned around to look away from them and knocked his knuckles against the wood of the window frame chanting "knock knock knock knock knock, knock on wood."
"I'm fine," he said looking back at them, his eyes glistening a little from tears forming. "How-how are you all doing?" He asked. Scared to know the answer he continued on, "I can't imagine what you all must be feeling. I swear if I could fix it I would." He walked toward them with his hands up pleadingly. "I am so sorry for what happened. If there is anything I can do to make it better, please tell me. I promise I can be a better uncle to you."
"Tio Bruno," Mirabel faltered, "You didn't do anything wrong." Bruno dropped his arms to his sides and put his head down. He didn't know how it wasn't his fault. If he had only just been more vigilant, none of this would have happened.
"Have you told your parents yet?" He asked.
"I'm sorry," Mirabel answered sadly, "We told them once we got home." Bruno sat on the bed with his face in his hands. They knew, they knew what he did. Why haven't that said anything yet? Why haven't they spat in his face and called him disgusting. His mind whirled with wild hypothetical thoughts.
Mirabel sat next to him taking one of his hands. "I'm sorry Tio Bruno, we should have talked to you first before telling. But it all just came out." She felt guilty for not giving him a chance to say what happened to him before she just blabbed it all out. He should have had the chance to talk about it when he was ready.
Bruno sobbed, "Why are you sorry? I let this happen. It's my fault." Dolores sat on his other side and rubbed his back.
"It's Andre's fault," Camilo stated matter-of-factly standing in front of his tio. "None of us could have stopped him. We tried our best and that's all we could have done." He went on, "You risked yourself to keep him from killing us. You were willing to get hurt to protect us." Bruno looked up at his nephew with watery eyes. "You did nothing wrong. You saved us and we saved you back. That's what family does." Camilo embraced his tio tightly. Dolores and Mirabel joined in the hug. "We love you Tio. No one blames you for anything. We just want you to be okay."
Bruno was relieved that maybe things would be okay between him and his family now. Although, he still worried for their mental heath after such a traumatic experience. He felt grateful that noone blamed him for anything. It didn't make the guilt go away, but it made the load on his chest lighten. The only problem was, his vision. Sooner or later Andre was going to come for him and he was likely going to burn the house down to get to him. If he told his family this, they would try to stop Andre and that would only guarantee the fire. The only way to stop that lunatic was to either give him what he wants or to make it impossible. Bruno had failed at the latter.