After his attempt to jump off the roof. Alma shouted at and lectured Camilo and Mirabel for hours. She reminded them that they could not take liberties with their Tio. He was severely unwell and could not be left without supervision. Letting him run around the house without telling one of the adults was a big problem. Then they were sent to their rooms.

She couldn't really punish them. The situation was unique and no one really knew what they were doing. She just wished her grandchildren possessed the foresight to predict a disaster waiting to happen. Especially when it was clear that they knew Bruno was very drunk. Which she then reprimanded Agustin for when he claimed responsibility to help lighten the burden on his daughter and nephew.

Alma was on edge for days after the incident. It was a close call and she couldn't bare to think about what would have happened if he landed wrong and actually died. She assigned Agustin and Felix to be Bruno's permanent body guards. She insisted they be with him at all times. Bruno could still be in the nursery alone, but hey would need to be outside the door listening, always.

Felix joked they were just glorified babysitters, but Alma reminded him that this was no time for jokes and he needed to take this more seriously. He and Agustin of course took it very seriously. But one had to laugh in order not to cry.

For the next week, Bruno was only allowed to leave the nursery to use the bathroom and shower. Although he absolutely refused to shower or bathe. He at least brushed his hair and teeth, and started shaving. He even started eating.

Bruno tried to keep in mind that he wasn't the only one suffering. His family was suffering too. Even though it was hard to believe that they cared so much, he tried to remind himself that his death could effect them all in a negative way. It was just difficult to think that his family loved and cared about him sometimes. It was at least easy to remember that his rats would be badly effected without him.

Abuela heard Mirabel out and gave Casita the order to release the rats from it's walls. Alma was reluctant to let them loose, afraid that Bruno wasn't ready for a lot of interaction with his pets. He was having panic attacks and lashing out, it just didn't seem like the time to add stimulants to the mix. To her surprise, he was very much ready to have them with him and they helped keep him calm down, minimizing the panic attacks.

The moment the rats were released, they were upon Bruno in an instant. It didn't matter that he was no longer comfortable with touch, it was better to endure to have his friends back. He flinched and twitched when they climbed over him and licked him. But it was worth it and he cried with happiness to have them back.

Bruno spent hours talking to his rats and feeding them. He pet every single one that approached. The reunion was so great, he nearly forgot that anything was wrong. The whole family was becoming hopeful. Having his rats gave Bruno hope that things could get better.

Even though Bruno was now trying to get better for his family, he still had many obstacles. Besides his negative thoughts. He was constantly filled with anxiety and paranoia that people were coming after him. He had horrible dreams and hallucinations that would make him lash out and sometimes hurt himself and the people around him.

Agustin and Felix had no choice but to hold him down until he would calm from his violent fits. Bruno understood it helped keep everyone safe when they did this, but he hated it. They at least didn't tie him down anymore and he did his best to not hurt himself. He even allowed Mirabel to clip his nails regularly.

He only allowed Camilo and Mirabel to touch him at first. He trusted them enough to let them. It was still hard to feel hands on him though. He couldn't stop thinking of those people laughing at him, beating him, fucking him. It made him sick to his stomach. And the memories surfaced every time someone got too near. Eventually, he could handle a small touch here and there by anyone within the family. Only time and effort could make it better.

For a week, Bruno spent all of his time fighting his memories and dreams. In his waking hours he would just lay there staring at the wall. Camilo and Mirabel made an effort to visit a lot and hug him. He would tremble when touched, but he told them he'd rather be afraid with a hug, than be afraid with none at all.

When he was alone he would see Andre a lot. It was a manifestation of his negative thoughts. At least, he was pretty sure it was. Sometimes he couldn't tell if it was real or not. Sometimes it would be too real and his in-laws would have to interfere and assure him that nothing was there. Their assurances and constant interactions helped ground Bruno to reality.

After a week of laying around not doing much but psychologically suffering, Bruno was getting bored. Even the most traumatized of people got bored. By the second week, he was thinking about his telenovelas. The more he thought of them, the less he thought of his traumas.

As he usually did in the morning after Julieta brought breakfast. Bruno lay in bed staring at the wall, however his mind was lively thinking about his plot lines. The main plot being about a woman with amnesia falling in love with a man that she didn't know was her nephew.

"I don't get it," Andre said hovering over Bruno as the smaller man lay unmoving. He didn't even flinch from the other man's random appearance. It was becoming normal.

"You wouldn't," Bruno replied to his hallucination while playing his telenovela in his head. "It's about forbidden love."

"It's not forbidden if you just say yes!" the large man said exasperated. Bruno sighed and sat up glaring at him.

"Look!" He shouted lifting a rat in each hand. He held one up. "She has amnesia from a fall she took over a cliff when out looking for her cat." He lifted the other rat. "This is her nephew by marriage, who rescues her from drowning after her fall. She falls in love with him but they can't be together because of their family."

"But they're not even blood related!" Andre yelled annoyed. "How is that forbidden?!"

"The whole family would be upset and disappointed if they're together! Because she's his aunt!" Bruno yelled back. "They forbid it!" He was tired of explaining this. Andre never listened to or understood anything he said. "How are you not getting this?!"

Outside the room Agustin and Felix looked at each other with worry. Bruno hardly spoke to anyone, but he had been arguing with himself a lot lately. He would often fight and yell at things that weren't there, and they wished they knew what exactly he was seeing that they weren't.

It was the middle of the day and the rest of the family was in town, so the two men decided it would be good for their brother-in-law to get out of the room for a while. They walked in to find Bruno laying in bed, eyes closed tightly, and flailing at nothing. They could not see it, but Andre got tired of their conversation and advanced on his victim.

"No!" Bruno screamed feeling his attacker move his hands up under his shirt.

"Don't refuse me little mouse. It's either me or them." Daz and Val watched from the other side of the room. Bruno peaked to see them glaring at him and cried as ghost like hands groped him.

"Bruno, it's okay," Felix said grabbing his wrists to pull him to sit up. Bruno had fits regularly and his brother-in-laws had learned how to handle them. Agustin rubbed the small man's back gently. Bruno struggled against them at first, but their touch was different than the hallucination. It felt gentler and more real.

"Breathe," Agustin coached. "Deep breaths." Bruno listened slowly changing his quick shallow breaths. He breathed in deeply focusing on Felix's face and breathed out. Andre and the others had disappeared for now, but they would be back.

When he calmed down enough, Felix let go of him. Bruno was getting used to being around his family. Over the last week they proved that they would not do anything bad to him. And although he hated being held down during the really bad fits, he was getting used to being touched by them.

Camilo and Mirabel were the easiest to handle. They didn't resemble anything of his assailants and he trusted them the most, so they could easily hug him. His sisters and mother weren't so hard to hug after a while. Getting used to men was the hardest.

Agustin's height and Felix's build reminded Bruno of the people who had raped him. But their kindness and understanding was beginning to break through his barriers. The way they were handling him was getting easier and he was starting not to mind them.

"What do you think about getting out of the house today?" Agustin offered as Bruno moved to lean back against the wall. He shook his head no.

"It's not good for you to be inside this room all day," Felix said, but Bruno only shrugged. "How about we start small? We can go to the court yard or just a different room," the older man offered then quickly added, "Not the bathroom."

Bruno thought about this. He hated being inside his prison cell all the time, but he was really feeling comfortable and safe here at the same time. It didn't seem smart to change what seemed to be working. Besides, he didn't know what part of the house they were planning on taking him to.

"Any room you want," Agustin offered. "Just for a few minutes if that's all you can handle." It was a good offer, so he nodded nervously. It didn't seem like they were going to drop the subject. If he said no now, they'd ask again later.

Felix and Agustin left the room and waited for Bruno to follow. It was already hard to leave just to use the bathroom. With his rats around and his determination to not kill himself, there was no motivation to leave. But he couldn't stay forever. Bruno closed his eyes, crossed his fingers, held his breath, and walked out of the nursery backward.

The sudden quirk gave his in-laws hope. Bruno hadn't done one in so long. It meant he was thinking of the future and trying to ward off negativity. He was truly trying, and it was all anyone could ask for. When the small man opened his eyes and looked into the nursery he could see all of his assailants staring back at him and it filled him with the worst kind of dread.

"Don't-" He began feeling dizzy and stumbled backwards as they glared at him. "Don't put me back in there," he gasped losing the air from his lungs and couldn't get more in. Their dead looking pale gray appearances were horrifying to see. His heart rapidly beat in his chest as he saw all their eyes on him. Then he collapsed.

He wasn't out for more than a minute. Someone was lifting him into a sitting position. He could hear his name being called. Through half-lidded unfocused eyes he could see Agustin trying to get his attention. "Bruno? Can you hear me?"

"What happened?" Felix asked. "He leaves the room everyday." They didn't understand what made this time so different.

Bruno focused his eyes and finally sat up on his own. "I'm okay," he told them reaching for his salt. But he didn't have any. He hadn't in awhile. Feeling more alert, he quickly got up and headed for the kitchen. If he wanted to ward off those people and keep bad things away, he needed salt.

His brother-in-laws followed him to the kitchen and watched him grab the salt and throw it over his shoulder with a relieved sigh. The other two men couldn't help but smirk. It was the most Bruno thing he had done in a while. They were giddy to tell their wives.

Bruno saw them watching and they quickly looked away acting casual. The small man was suspicious on what they were thinking, but decided not to bother with it. He started to pour the salt into his pocket for later. He'd need it if they made him go back to the nursery.

It left a pit in his stomach. The evil spirits were angry that he was trying to move on from them. Finally leaving the nursery was the first step and they did no like it. Andre would likely be the most upset, and Bruno worried about the punishment he would get.

"Did you decide on the kitchen then?" Agustin asked. "We can hang out here."

Bruno shook his head. The family would come home and fill the kitchen. That was too much for him to handle. So he headed toward the stairs. It was a little annoying being followed around. But at least they weren't forcing him to go anywhere. Bruno hardly got many choices, so he took full advantage of this one.

When he made it to Isabela's room he stepped in and turned around, putting his hand up to keep from being followed. "We can't leave you alone," Felix cautioned.

"I don't care," Bruno responded, then he said a familiar phrase, "Knock Knock knock knock knock, Knock on wood." knocking on the door and the last one on his head before shutting the door on their faces.

"At least he's becoming less afraid," Agustin said to an annoyed looking Felix.

"I'm not so sure about that," the shorter man responded. "He's acting a little more like himself. But he fainted a moment ago and now he's suddenly acting bold."

"You're thinking mood swings?" the taller man suggested.

"Yeah," Felix confirmed. "We should keep a close eye on him. If we can't anticipate what he's going to do next, it will be much harder to keep him safe." Agustin sighed, losing the hope he had been gaining. Could nothing be positive and simple?

Inside Isabela's room, Bruno walked around looking at her plant sculptures. The room was was full of beautiful plants and colors. It was his favorite room, though he would never tell anyone that. He smiled to himself thinking his other nieces and nephews might get jealous.

"Who would be jealous of your choice of the rooms?" Andre asked looking closely at a cactus. "You're assuming your family cares that much about your opinion." The prophet sighed and ignored the comment.

Bruno found a spot among the rainbow flowers and laid down in them. He remembered when the room had been mostly pink in the past, but now it had so much to it. Different colors and a variety of plants. He lay on his side looking at them, he could look at them for hours.

He breathed in the calming floral scent and felt the soft warm dirt and flowers pillowing his body. Bruno could see Andre crouching in front of him saying something. But the words were muffled and as the small man became tired, his vision blurred, and his eyes closed, blocking the large man out entirely.

.=.

When Isabela returned home for a break, she did not expect to see her father and Tio Felix to be sitting outside her room. "Your Tio Bruno needed time outside the nursery and wanted to go to your room."

She smiled to herself, pleased that he chose her room out of all the others. She and Mirabel were on good terms, but she still wanted to rub it in her sister's face. "I hope he doesn't mind if I go in for a sec."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Agustin assured.

When she walked in, the room appeared to be empty. "Tio Bruno?" Isabela called looking around for him. It didn't take her long to find him asleep in her flowers. She remembered when he had been here last time and said he liked it better than his own room. She would tell him he could come to her room anytime he wanted once he woke.

When she got close, he was sweating and looked distressed. He twitched and writhed like he was having a nightmare. "Tio Bruno?" she said kneeling down to wake him. She touched his shoulder and he reacted like she was made of fire and screamed.

Felix and Agustin came in immediately. "I didn't do anything," she said standing up and stepping away as the two men came to help. Felix took hold of Bruno's upper arms and pulled him to sit up. Agustin pulled his daughter to step away knowing how manic the small man could get in these situations.

"Time to wake up, you're dreaming," Felix said loudly and clearly. Bruno's eyes moved under his eyelids rapidly and he squirmed trying to pull away. "Focus on my voice and wake up." Bruno's eyes snapped open and he took big gulps of air in like he had been drowning.

Agustin got close and crouched down rubbing his back and told him softly, "Deep breaths, slowly. In and out." Bruno grew used to this routine. It felt odd and uncomfortable at first, but it was comforting now.

When he calmed down he couldn't help but sob. Andre was angry that he ignored him. The beating he received in his dream felt so real. It wasn't fair that a dead man could still punish him. It wasn't fair that his life would never be his alone.

"Come on," Agustin said. "Let's go back to the nursery." Bruno shook his head no. The rest of them would be waiting for him there. Andre followed him everywhere and kept the rest at bay. But he could see them in that room waiting to get him.

"It would be better for you to go back and get some rest," Felix advised, but Bruno still shook his head no.

"Why don't you want to go back to the nursery?" Agustin asked. "It's a lot easier for us to get to you in time to stop the nightmares early."

Bruno breathed in shakily and spoke, "Their waiting for me in there. I can't fight them." Everyone looked around at each other, confused.

"Who's waiting in there?" Isabela asked curiously.

"Daz, Valentina, and the rest of them," Bruno confessed trying to hold back his tears. "He keeps them away. But he's angry with me right now. They might get me." He yanked on his hair, only for Felix to take his hand and pull it down to get him to stop.

Agustin felt sick to his stomach. His brother-in-law had been seeing and talking to his abusers this entire time. It explained a lot about what they had heard. He just thought Bruno had been talking to himself, but this was so much worse.

"Who keeps them away?" Felix asked rubbing his thumbs against the small man's upper arms to comfort him. Bruno twitched from the contact, but it felt nice.

He looked up at Felix, then behind him. Andre stood there smiling and holding a finger to his lips. So all the small man could do was hang his head and cry. He didn't know how he could feel pain in his dreams, or how a hallucination could hurt him. But it just worked that way and he couldn't risk more punishment from Andre. There was no one to protect him from that.

"We can't help you if you don't talk to us," Agustin pleaded.

"What's the worst that can happen little bro?" Felix added with reasoning. "If you tell us maybe we can fix it. If we can't fix it, we can help you though it."

It unfortunately made a lot of sense. So, against Bruno's better judgement, he confessed. "Andre," he said looking away from said man, who was currently giving him an angry death glare. "He hurts me. It's doesn't matter that he's dead. I can feel it when I dream and when I'm awake." Bruno began to cry, his voice shaking with fear. "He's angry that I'm telling you. I can't fight him. He's going to punish me."

Bruno sobbed into his hands and pulled his knees up close to form into a tight ball of protection. Everyone was disturbed that this was happening to him, right under their noses. But Felix in particular was determined to fix it.

"It's going to be okay," Felix said showing earnest.

"How?" Bruno cried. "I've made it worse by telling you. You can't stop him, he's not even real!"

"You're wrong," Felix countered. "He's real in your mind. So only you can fight him."

"He's stronger than me," Bruno said sadly.

"Stronger is not better," his brother-in-law assured giving the small man a spike of hope. "It's time you took a lesson in self-defense."

"Oh no, Tio Felix!" Isabela groaned while Bruno looked between them in confusion and interest. "Abuela already said no," she reminded him. Teaching Bruno to fight would only make it harder to settle him down during a violent episode.

"What she doesn't know can't hurt her," Felix said standing up and cracking his knuckles ready for action.

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Agustin sighed exasperated.

"Where is your hope and passion!" Felix rallied them. "Are we just going to sit back and let spirits hurt a member of the Madrigals! Or are we going to do something about it!"

Agustin and Isabela had their doubts, but Bruno felt like it could work. He wanted to be able to protect himself. He had tried to fight his assailants in past with failure. But if Felix could teach him some moves, maybe it could work.

.=.

Agustin and Isabella watched from a short distance in the court yard as Felix prepared Bruno for his self-defense lesson.

"Rule one in a fight is to look as tough as possible, that way you may just scare off the other guy to keep the fight from even happening," Felix said facing his timid brother. Looking him over, it occurred to him that Bruno was the opposite of intimidating.

"Raise your fists and give me the meanest expression you got," Felix coached. He was sure Bruno could look menacing, the small man had given many death glares in the last week. But when Bruno put his fists up and tried to look angry, it wasn't quite what he was expecting.

"Not bad," Felix encouraged as he watched his in-law tremble and squint at him. Bruno was perhaps, not the best actor, at least when it came to intimidation. "Watch me." Felix squared himself up with is feet apart, arms and fists up, with a dangerous look on his face.

He looked like he was about to beat the day lights out of Bruno. The similarity between what the prophet was seeing now compared to his vision meant this was it. Having worked himself up over the inevitability that his brother-in-law was going to confront and fight him made him stumble back and fall to the floor.

Felix hadn't expected to scare the smaller man so badly. The poor guy looked like he was about to had a heart attack. But he supposed that proved his point about how to stop a fight before it starts. Isabela was quick to interfere, crouching down to check on her wide-eyed trembling Tio.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly. Bruno was nervous, and his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. But at the same time, he was so relieved that the last of his vision had come to pass in the least terrifying way. If he had just focused on the vision or done his ritual he probably would have gotten the proper details to what was really going to happen.

"I'm fine," Bruno said calming down and standing up, then added "That was good Felix," while flinging salt over his shoulder. He tried his in-law's pose encouraging the larger man to continue teaching him. Although his pose was still not quite scary enough.

Felix decided to move on to the next step. "Rule two in a fight, is dodging. Try to hit me." Bruno did not want to do that. Seeing his hesitation Felix said, "Don't worry, you won't be able to. That's the lesson." The small man still couldn't do it. He felt like he hurt his family enough. Even if it wasn't a real fight, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Okay," Felix decided. "We'll try it another way. My fist is going to go for your face and I want you to duck." It wasn't the best way to teach someone that had suffered so many beating so recently. But he wanted Bruno to learn the movements of dodging.

Agustin was feeling like he wanted to stop it here. He was beginning to think Bruno wasn't ready for something like this. Felix threw a punch before anyone could stop him and instead of dodging, the traumatized man froze in place closing his eyes shut tightly. Luckily, the larger man anticipated this and stopped before actually hitting him.

When nothing happened, Bruno squinted his eyes open to see Felix looking at him with some amount of pity, which felt pretty embarrassing. "Okay Felix," Agustin finally cut in. "This isn't working. Bruno, Felix had tried to teach me the same thing and I can honestly say it didn't work."

"It worked when I taught Dolores," Felix pouted defensively.

"There's only one move you need in a fight," Agustin powered through ignoring the other man. He lifted two fingers. "A harsh poke to the eye or neck will stun an opponent long enough to get away." Bruno gave him a skeptical look. He was hoping to be able to defeat Andre in some way, but maybe that was aiming too high.

"I know what you're thinking," Agustin said. "Surely a hard kick would get the job done. But, kicks are always expected in a fight. No one will see the finger poke coming." Bruno put two fingers together and stared at them. Would that really work?

"Try it on me," Agustin suggested ready for a hit. Bruno was not going to do that.

"Okay," Isabela said finally having enough. "I think Tio Bruno needs some rest." She ushered him to walk towards the stairs and up to her room leaving the others behind in disappointment. Bruno felt that their lessons were helpful, although he worried about actually trying. Practice would have helped, but he didn't want to hurt anyone.