"MIRABEL!" Agustin yelled out for his daughter as everyone watched her run towards the candle in the midst of the house crumbling down.
When the house was finally destroyed, they couldn't see where Mirabel was.
"Mira" Julieta whispered, her eyes tearing up while she ran into the ruble to search for her youngest daughter. She was joined by her husband who was panicking, his eyes starting to tear up with terror as they continued to dig without finding her anywhere.
"What are you doing!? Help us look for my daughter!" Julieta snapped towards the rest of her family who only stood in front of the house frozen.
All of their faces were dawned with absolute anguish but were snapped out of whatever they were thinking at Julieta's words.
The only one that didn't join in to help was Abuela who was still frozen looking at her now destroyed home.
A few seconds later, they heard a gasp from Julieta who then pulled out a bloodied Mirabel whos eyes were closed and body scarily still.
"Mira, my love- please, please open your eyes" Julieta whispered as she moved Mirabel's body into her arms. "Come on, show me that you hear me" the longer she was quiet the more Julieta couldn't hold in her tears as she let out a choked sob.
The sob soon turned into her full out crying into her daughters shoulder, "open your eyes, please just please" she was then cut off by her husband who fell onto his knees, his eyes trained onto his daughters bloodied face.
"No no no no no" he repeated as he pulled on his hair. "This wasn't supposed to happen- my daughter- my beautiful little girl" he continued to say as tears streamed down his face.
He turned his head to the ground as he let out a heart wrenching scream that made Dolores's ears ring but she ignored it.
Luisa was now running up to her mother and little sister, as she looked down at them with heartbroken eyes. "Oh no, this... everything was just fine this morning" Luisa whispered to herself, sobbing as her mother brought her into a hug. 'I was supposed to be the older sibling... why can't I ever do anything right... why can I never be strong enough to just be of use..." she thought as she cried out more.
"I should have payed more attention to her, spent more time with her, but now she's gone" She let out, facing her mother as Julieta could only put a hand on her face and bring her in for another hug. "I-it's okay honey... don't blame yourself" Julieta replied between sobs as she thought 'I'm supposed to be the parent here... yet I let my daughter die in front of my eyes'
Isabela wasn't better off as she watched her family mourn the loss of her little sister. Guilt washed over her. Memories of the times that she said horrible things to her sister out of jealousy that she didn't hold the burden she had. She could only stand frozen as apologies raced through her head, things that should have been said but wasn't. 'Maybe if I was nicer... more perfect... could I have stopped Mirabel from running to save the candle? Could I have done something... anything?"
As the seconds passed of her being lost in thought, she didn't notice when she started to repeat the word "sorry" under her breath until Dolores put a hand on her shoulder which snapped her out of it. Dolores wasn't staring at her though, even though tears ran down her cheeks, she continued to stare at Mirabel's lifeless body while continuing to squeeze onto her shoulder to show her some comfort. "It's not your fault either, don't blame yourself" Dolores whispered to Isabela as she stood next to her.
Meanwhile, Camilo was comforting Antonio who was sobbing into his leg. "W-why is Mira so bloody?" he said as he continued to sob while Camilo tried to hold back his tears for his little brother. 'Mirabel... she can't be dead- no I didn't spend enough time with her yet... when was the last time we even hung out together? I'm such a bad cousin and friend' Camilo thought to himself as he could only rub Antonio's back as he tried to process Mirabel's death.
Felix was also trying to comfort his wife, who was now panicking between sobs from seeing her youngest niece still as a statue on the floor. "It's okay love" Felix said but not being able to provide much comfort. He tried to stop himself from crying but it was hard since he especially loved Mirabel's smile whenever he would make a joke to make her laugh. 'She was such a precious little thing, yet why can't I remember making her smile or laugh recently?'
Abuela was far from them, staring at everyone who is now mourning the lost member of their family. She could only think to herself, 'what went wrong? Was what Mirabel said was true... was I the problem?'
They were soon interrupted by footsteps, belonging to none other than Bruno. This earned gasps from everyone but Antonio who was confused while still crying. Everyone was now confused but still in a stage of grief.
"Bruno?" Abuela finally said after staring at him for a few seconds. She took a step forward but stopped when Bruno sternly said "Don't" with a hard look.
Everyone went tense from his voice. "I don't want you saying my name. Especially after what I've just watched go down" He said with anger filled in his eyes towards Abuela.
"Watched? But how could you-" She said but was once again interrupted by Bruno saying "I never left casita. I lived in the walls all this time, since I never had the heart to leave my family-" "Family? You never cared about this family-" But Abuela was once again cut off
"NO- I LOVE this family, and don't you dare deny it. The only reason I left was to protect Mirabel from the disapproval of YOU" He yelled out "I knew you and everyone else would look at my prophecy and only think of the worse since I'm Bruno and I can only bring bad luck" He said bitterly earning flinches from the adults. "From the way you treated Mirabel, I was right to think that"
"So I tried to leave... but really? I couldn't. Because I love this family so much and couldn't stand the thought of leaving any of you behind" He said, his eyes now tearing up.
Pepa and Julieta couldn't help but sob at his speech, Pepa running towards him for a hug while frantically apologizing for never being there for him this past 10 years. Julieta wished to go hug him too but she was still holding onto Mirabel so she settled with just sitting there sobbing to herself. Agustin who was frozen for a while, still mourning his daughters death, could only put a hand on his wife's shoulder still crying himself.
"I- I was just trying to protect this family... I didn't mean for this to happen to Mirabel" Abuela said quietly with wide eyes "I didn't- I just..." she fumbled on her words but was then cut off when Dolores stepped forward, eyes red from crying. "It doesn't matter what you were trying to do"
Everyone turned to face her, surprised at her speaking up.
"I don't care that you had good intentions for this family. It's too late to feel guilty now" She said as her voice started to increase in volume.
Everyone was surprised at this turn of events. They've never seen Dolores, so quiet, talk so bitterly. especially not towards Abuela, who she strictly listened to.
"Dolores, calm down" Felix tried to say to his eldest daughter but she wasn't done.
"No! I'm done with staying in the background, always keeping quiet until somebody needs to hear the new gossip in town" she said with a scowl on her face, as she looked at everyone then back to Abuela who stood stunned.
"Dolores please-" Pepa tried to walk up to her daughter but then stopped at her next rant.
"Mama was only a tool for you to use to control the weather to help those ungrateful townsfolks who only knows to complain about her feeling upset! Sad! JUST FUCKING EMOTIONS IN GENERAL" She said absolutely enraged "Did you help stop their complaints? No, you just continued to scold your daughter for something she can't even fucking control!"
Everyone was left absolutely stunned, surprised to hear their silent family member swear for the first time. Especially since she was right in front of Abuela now.
But they mostly felt anger towards the towns people and Abuela for how they treated Pepa. Bruno held onto his sisters hand and looked at her with so much emotion in his green eyes.
"Then there's Tia Julieta who you forced to work 24/7 for ONCE AGAIN the people in the village! It could even be for the most stupidest things such as paper cuts! This is the reason why our medical knowledge is so limited because the town only relied on Tia Julieta's gift! Have you ever thought that maybe you should just give her a break for once!?" Dolores said now changing the topic to her poor Tia who was used so much for her powers.
"She's right, my sister was forced to grow up at the age of 5 just because of the gift she had. She was forced into taking care of adults since the age of 5!" Bruno cut in absolutely furious for the mistreatment for both his sisters. The way both his precious people were taken advantage of.
"I'm not done, I won't be done until I've told everything that I've kept in" Dolores said to everyone with tears pricking the corner of her eyes.
"Lets talk about the fact that you including the village made Tio Bruno out as some sort of villain! The only reason my mama never talked about Tio was because it hurt for her... I hear her sobbing at night when she remembers her brother who supposedly left while being comforted by papa" She said, earning wide eyes from Pepa and her brother who looked at his sister with so much guilt in his eyes.
"The way that people once again judged him for prophecies that he couldn't even control! Prophecies he was TOLD to see. What annoys me the most is the way the adults made him out to be towards the latest generation who haven't even met the real Bruno. Even my little brother, Camilo, never knew the real Bruno, and that hurt me a lot because I remembered my Tio to have been an amazing person who always took care of me when the noises got too overbearing" she said, guilt washing over her voice.
Bruno was touched at his nieces words. He didn't think she'd remember their time spent together.
Meanwhile Camilo shuffled in his spot uncomfortably from being mentioned. He and his sister never really talked about Bruno together, he tried to avoid talking about him around her since she would get an uncomfortable yet mournful look in her eyes when mentioned.
"I remember hearing him through the walls, everyday for the last 10 years wondering if I should tell somebody but deciding not to once I heard his reasoning. Even when he cried to himself or ranted to the rats about how much he wished he could see his nieces and nephews grow up, I was too cowardly to confront him and just- just be there." She clenched her hands as she looked over to Bruno with such a sorrowful face.
"It's okay-" Bruno tried to reassure her "BUT IT'S NOT" She shouted. She didn't care if her ears rang from her shouting.
"These need to be said Tio" She said determined, facing Abuela again who was tearing up from what she has heard from her grand daughter.
'Oh how I've failed my children' she thought to herself.
"Next we can talk about how you treat Papa and Tio Agustin" Both men in question jumped at being mentioned. They didn't expect to have been included since this seemed to do more with everyone's burden with their gifts.
"You never did treat them as family, you only treated them as a new opportunity for more kids with gifts to help our community!" She yelled "I hear how you always pressured them to get more kids while they're still young! When Antonio was born, all you were hoping for was that he gets a gift!"
This stunned the two couples, which made the wives absolutely shocked at the truth of how their mother really saw the love of their lives.
"This continues onto Isabela who you pressured to become some perfect little doll" She rolled her eyes while said person was standing a bit back, sweating at what she may reveal about her. "Isabela used to be one of the most carefree kids I knew but as she got older, she changed. Because of you. I knew this whole perfect persona was an act since she started saying to herself 'everything's going to be alright' in the mirror every morning. Even when she was told to marry a man she didn't even love, she still continued to smile just for your satisfaction" this earned a flinch from said person. Her parents looked at her with surprise in their eyes.
"H-how did you know?" Isabela said to Dolores shocked
"Your smile gets strained whenever he's brought up during dinner, it was pretty obvious" she said with pity in her eyes
"Isabela?" Julieta whispered to her eldest daughter. All she did was look at the ground in embarrassment.
"I-I just wanted to be the perfect child for the family" she stuttered while looking up with tears in her eyes "but i-it doesn't matter anymore since now my little sister is dead and I didn't even get to apologize for everything I did to her... a-all because I wanted the acceptance from the family, villagers and... A-abuela" she said now sobbing.
Agustin walked close to her "Oh princess, you'll always be prefect to us no matter what... everything with Mira-" he glanced back at her corpse before choking a bit on his next words "i-it's not your fault... it's none of our faults... we were all going through something, but we'll try and not fail another madrigal" he said bringing his daughter in for a hug.
Everyone else were once again tearing up. But Dolores wasn't done.
She continued to point out the fact that Luisa was treated as a slave by the people in the village, always carrying the weight of jobs to be done every single day. Barely ever getting any rest. "Luisa deserves a break, and the community can go fuck themselves if they're too lazy to do their work themselves. She has done more for this town than it deserved"
Luisa was touched to be noticed of her duties, after years of people getting used to only needing her for work then dismissed made her used to never being thanked in a while (unless its her family that is... especially her beautiful little sister who noticed every good act she did)
Agustin was heartbroken to hear that his whole family was victim to both Abuela and the villagers expectations. Bringing his overworked daughter in for a hug with his other daughter, he continued to apologize for never noticing their pain.
Dolores continued on and on, explaining how Camilo was seen as some sort of babysitter for the village, how Antonio was only born so that people could see if the miracle was still strong or not.
As she continued to reveal the flaws of their family, Abuela continued to become paler and paler. Realizing how much she messed up. The rest of the family were all horrified but also slightly in awe at how much Dolores knew about her family. Things none of us seemed to notice.
But when she started on relaying the things that changed with on the day Mirabel didn't get her gift, the air became tenser and tenser.
"Even when I heard Mirabel cry every night into her pillow, she always manages to wake up all us in the morning the next day. Even when Abuela told her to stop trying to help since she'll just mess things up, she always managed to continue smiling." She said glancing back at Abuela who was now crying with a mournful expression.
"Mirabel only tried to make our family proud of her, yet we never bothered to notice her" she said miserably "I never thought to help her out since I always thought she could handle it, after all she's Mirabel, always smiling..." she said mostly to herself as her eyes looked downcast "always so... hopeful" she added on.
Bruno who was mostly quiet beside Pepa who was looking at her daughter in a new light, stepped up to put a hand on his niece's shoulder with sad eyes.
"We all thought that... now that she's gone, it's best we make it up for her to change things around here" he said, turning to Abuela
"We're done giving our sweat and blood to a village who doesn't appreciate us" he said with a stern look.
all Abuela could do was nod, guilt in her eyes as she look at each of her family's hurt faces. After hearing what each of them have went through, she now understands the sudden turn on her. "All I can say is I'm sorry" she whispers, " I don't expect you all to forgive me but that is the least I can do" she said with a low voice, tears streaming down her wrinkled face.
Suddenly, Antonio cut through the silence with wide innocent eyes filled with tears.
"I want Mirabel" he said quietly.
Everyone was silent, not knowing what to tell him while Camilo tried to think of what to say.
Everyone forgot that Antonio was still here, so caught up with not only Mirabel's death, but the sudden appearance of Bruno and all the things that Dolores revealed after her much needed rant.
"I- I don't like everyone yelling... I want Mirabel, when is she waking up" he said with tears falling down his face.
"Antonio, look... sometimes people fall into a deep sleep... this lasts for a long time so you'll have to wait patiently okay" Camilo said while crouching down to face his little brother. "Your brother is right my son, don't worry, she's just in a deep sleep" Felix said to his son with a strained smile.
Everyone else was silent, huddled together in groups, leaving out Abuela of course who is on the side sitting down on some rubble.
Nothings going to be the same for a while.
"Now we just have to figure out where we're going to stay" Julieta spoke up, eyes still red.
Those around her only nodded, Luisa and Isabela laying on their parents shoulders while Dolores was next to her mother whos is comforting her daughter.
"You can stay with us"