Episode Three: I can hear him now
It would start as these things often do, with a single sound; the clatter of a cutlery drawer opening. Then the knock of a plate against wood. Perhaps the gurgle of a boiling pot on the stove. Another drawer would rattle, followed by another, and another. Each sound gliding over the previous one to create a cascading melody. Then more plates on wood, tapping a rhythm to begin with, then quickly building to a roll like thunder, as another, and another and another plate was placed. Then many at once, the sounds layering together, becoming louder and louder until the drumming became a relentless boom that shook your entire body like some great explosion. Then would come the voices. A single shout at first. A call to dinner. Then another, and another, followed by the rumbling of many feet as loved ones ran in from all directions. The shouts would continue over an atonal ensemble of murmured voices, remembering the good old days, exchanging small talk, speculating about the future. It would continue until the chorus became so loud that the shouts to dinner could no longer be heard over it. Then the tinkling of wine glasses would commence. Almost undetectable at first, but then as one after another was filled, and raised, and clinked, and just when it seemed nothing could be louder than the bang, bang, bang of the thunderous drum of plates or the crescendo of conversations layered over conversations, it would build to a high pitched ring. Reverberating like many tuning forks at once, the chime would fill your ears and mind, vibrating in your skull until that was all you could hear...
Dolores sat up with a sigh. It sounded like dinner time in the Encanto again.
.
11 years ago...
Dolores did not exactly mind having a birthday party. On the contrary, she loved having her family and friends around her. It was just that she had been finding it harder to tune out sounds, as if her gift had become more sensitive or less controllable, and she knew the party would be anything but a quiet affair.
"Maybe a few more flowers around the doorway?" Dolores heard Abuela suggest from the floor below.
"No problem," Isabela sang.
"Is that the last of the decorations? Is everything ready? The guests are going to start arriving in thirty minutes..." Dolores could hear her mom fussing as ever, and then her voice turned to anger as she asked, "Is Bruno still not down from his blasted tower..?"
"Pepa, you're raining. Why don't you go and see where he is? We'll finish up here," suggested Abuela. A small clap of thunder followed, and then Dolores heard her mom's footsteps stamping up the back stairs to the balcony by Bruno's tower, grumbling as she went.
Dolores fastened her choker around her neck and began gathering her hair up into a high puff. It was time to get ready and join her family.
.
Later that evening...
The Casita was bustling as guests revelled in the spectacle of partying with a magical family, interacting with their sentient house, and marvelling at Dolores's cousins' abilities. Abuela's firstborn grandchild stole the show as ever, despite having had her own eleventh birthday celebration just a few weeks prior. Dolores needed a break from the noise, so she snuck to Tía Julieta's room. Her aunt would often cook in there during large gatherings, allowing more space for guests to occupy the kitchen downstairs. The door was always open, and anyone could enter if they wished. Being on the second floor, removed from the busy courtyard below, it tended to be much quieter. When Dolores entered, Tía Julieta was busily preparing snacks for the continuous influx of hungry guests.
"Come for a bit of peace and quiet?" Tía Julieta asked with a tender smile.
Dolores nodded, and then something in the room caught her attention. She was surprised to see she was not the only one taking refuge from the crowd below.
"Tío Bruno?" she said in a small voice when she noticed the scraggy man with dark, curly hair and a thin beard and moustache. His long, green ruana made her uncle instantly recognisable, even if she did not see him so often.
"It gets a bit much, doesn't it?" he suggested with a nod towards the doorway. He was lurking in the corner out of sight from the door, leaning against a bench and helping himself to his sister's cooking.
Dolores forced a smile. She never really knew how to speak to Tío Bruno. She never really knew him at all. Her mom always warned her not to talk to him too much, so she tended to stay quiet when he was around. It was not until she received her gift that she became aware of what her mom was trying to protect her from. She had heard a lot of gossip around town. None of it painted her uncle in a good light, so she had come to be particularly wary of him.
"It's more the... you know..." she gestured to her ears.
"Oh, that... right, right. Your gift. That uh," he stuttered, then after an awkward pause, he said, "That must be tough sometimes, right?"
Her uncle's comment took Dolores by surprise. In the five years since she received her gift, she had only ever been told how blessed she was. How wonderful it must be to have such a remarkable ability. No one had ever suggested that it might be 'tough sometimes.
"Well, to tell you the truth," she whispered. "It's been getting kinda hard to tune it out recently."
She blurted the words without thinking. She had a habit of doing that. Instantly regretting her honesty, she hastily added, "I mean, it's not that bad though. I love my gift."
Her uncle narrowed his eyes for a brief moment. She did not think he had bought that.
Tía Julieta was the first to break the tension.
"You know, your mamá was around your age when she lost control of her gift. When the clouds started forming when she got upset. She never really got that under control." She looked over to Tío Bruno, "And you can't have been much older when your gift started... what did you use to call it?" she paused to think of the right word, "'spilling'?"
"A bit older, but close enough," he confirmed. "...and I did get it under control," he added, seemingly noticing the concern on Dolores's face.
"All I'm saying is this seems to be something that can happen with our gifts sometimes," Tía Julieta continued. "Maybe it's time to start thinking of ways to cope when it gets... a little much?"
Tío Bruno seemed to light up as he thought of something. "I uh... I don't know if this will appeal to you much, but you know... there's always my tower. I might not have extraordinary hearing, but... but I can tell you it's pretty quiet up there. If you ever want to come and just... spend time away from the noise... You know, for your ears... you're welcome to."
Dolores did not have time to process this unexpected offer from her weird uncle before someone appeared in the doorway.
"There you are!" It was Dolores's mom. A storm cloud hung over her head, threatening rain. "In case you have forgotten, there's a party happening downstairs," she growled. "Both of you out... NOW!" She pointed angrily towards the stairs.
As they walked reluctantly from the room, Tío Bruno threw Dolores a sideways glance.
"Think about it. It might help," he said with a shrug.
.
The following day...
Dolores paused when she reached the bottom of the steps leading to Tío Bruno's door. She had never been inside his tower before. She had never wanted to either. Yet she had been thinking about what he said almost continuously all day as she greeted people around town. It was tradition for the townspeople to throw a festival to celebrate the Madrigals' gifts on the day after their birthdays. Unfortunately, Dolores's gift was related to sound, so her festival was always the loudest. The well-meaning townspeople seemed to think the best way to honour her gift was to make as much noise as possible. This year it had been more challenging than ever to deal with. So while she was afraid of what he might say to her – afraid he would cause something terrible to happen – she now desperately craved the tranquillity her uncle had offered.
The climb up the tower was harder than Dolores had anticipated. It was not unusual for the magical rooms in the Casita to be much bigger on the inside, but Bruno's tower was something else. The stairs wound up the vast sandstone cavern for what felt like miles. However, the higher she went, the fainter the sounds of the Casita and Encanto beyond became. That spurred her on, reassuring her that she was doing the right thing.
When she eventually reached the top, she tiptoed carefully over a rope bridge and came to a set of wide steps leading to a tall, narrow entranceway carved into the stone. She thought about calling out to her uncle but immediately stopped in her tracks upon entering the short corridor inside. He was just sitting on the floor, picking up a handful of sand and watching it fall through his fingers.
She let out a startled squeak, and he looked up.
"Oh, you came!" he said, springing to his feet. He was clearly not expecting Dolores to accept his invitation. "I would tell you to take a seat, but uh..." He looked around at the apparent lack of furniture, then an idea seemed to pop into his head. "There's a ledge! Would you like to take a ledge?" He then chuckled awkwardly, as though realising how strange that sounded. "Or... or you can have my cushion!" he suggested, reaching down and picking up the cushion he had been sitting on.
Dolores looked at the cheerfully decorated cushion emblazoned in a variety of colourful threads. Its stark contrast to the drab stone of the corridor only further highlighted the unwelcoming atmosphere. Candles lit the area from carved-out earthenware pots strewn around the floor and on the ledges her uncle had mentioned. The dancing flames created unsettling shadows, like many watching eyes that blinked and shifted as Tío Bruno moved around and his cape-like ruana agitated the air.
"Your room is really creepy," Dolores whispered, looking around at the uncanny impressions of her uncle carved in relief on the walls.
"Oh, this? This isn't my room," Tío Bruno chuckled. "No, no, this is just for show. For the 'ambience'... My room's behind the vision cave." He motioned towards a large circular door at the end of the corridor. Two more earthenware pots lit up small recesses in the wall on either side like eyes, their light catching the top of the frame and giving the impression of a downturned mouth. He then added brightly, "In fact... there's a couple of rooms back there... I..."
He trailed off, but when Dolores did not reply, he started talking again as though the silence was making him uncomfortable.
"I just sit out here because... well, I don't have your gift, so I have to be able to hear if anyone needs me," he explained. "But you..." he continued hastily. "You can hang out back there if you like. Trust me, it's very quiet... and it's much nicer than this." He gestured around him.
"Does that happen much?" Dolores asked softly, "That people need you, I mean? I thought you didn't do visions anymore."
Tío Bruno seemed surprised by this comment, or was that hurt? The emotion flashed too quickly for Dolores to read it. He looked thoughtful for a moment, still holding the cushion, then replied, "Yeah... well, the family still needs me. And I just know the second I go back there, someone will want to talk to me. Then I'll have Abuela to answer to... or your mother." He shuddered. "It's not worth the risk."
"Why don't you just come downstairs then?" Dolores tried again to get to the question she had intended to ask.
He briefly looked towards the entrance as though contemplating something and then answered simply, "Well, I do..." although there seemed to be a question in his tone.
Dolores continued to look around the corridor. Her uncle certainly was a peculiar man, but he did not seem frightening like the townspeople claimed in the stories they told each other. She wondered at him for a moment. Did he really just sit in that miserable corridor all day, too anxious to move in case someone from the family wanted to speak to him? An idea came to her.
"I would hear them," she whispered, blinking. "While I'm here at least, you could spend time wherever you want."
Tío Bruno's eyes widened. There was a brief pause while he processed what she said, and then he smiled and nodded. "Okay!" Placing down the cushion, he hurried to the round door at the end of the corridor. He then gripped the handle and heaved it open. Turning back to Dolores, he asked cheerfully, "Well, would you like a tour?" Then, before she could answer, he added, "Wait... how are you with rats?"
.
3 days later...
Dolores had been back to Tío Bruno's tower every day since her first visit. It was just as he had suggested. None of the unwanted sounds of the Encanto reached his tower. Not even with her hearing. While she could still make out sounds from within the Casita from the front corridor, it was virtually silent once she was in the main room behind the vision cave. The only sounds were the melodic hum of the air reverberating around the cave next door, the squeaking of the rats her uncle had seemingly befriended, and then the occasional sound from her uncle himself. This was mostly just the turning of a page or a sip of coffee. Although now and then, he would do strange things like look up from the book he was reading, stare blankly into space, and then start laughing as though he was adding his own jokes to the story. Or while wandering between the different areas of his living space, he would suddenly start knocking on wood without warning. Dolores learnt that her uncle was a painfully superstitious man.
Tío Bruno's room was not nearly as nice as he had made it sound, but it was certainly a far cry from the unwelcoming vibe of the front corridor. It was fairly spacious. Windowless walls reached up to a ceiling twice the height of a standard room. Her uncle had hung pictures and photographs of his family, which helped to make the bare stone walls feel a bit more homely. Dolores could see that the room had a wooden floor near the entrance. However, she could not tell if the entire floor was wooden because a thick blanket of sand covered it everywhere else. Any furniture rested on rugs to protect it from the sand, including the armchairs in which they sat.
A tight spiral staircase stood in the centre of the room, though slightly more towards the right. The stone steps fanned out from a central pillar, and while there was a curved lip on their outer edges, there was no guardrail to catch you should you miss your footing. Your only hope was that the sand was soft enough to cushion your fall, which Dolores thought was unlikely. The staircase led to a stone platform attached to the walls along two edges to create a partial second floor. A few aloe plants hung down in pots from the edge of the platform, as well as strange metallic orbs and round mirrors on string. Dolores could just about make out that the platform housed Tío Bruno's bed and a small nightstand, though she never went up there.
The other rooms that her uncle had spoken of were pretty underwhelming too. It was just a tiny bathroom and a very basic, overly cluttered kitchen area. That did, however, make Bruno's tower the only magical room in the Casita to have its own bathroom. So that was something, at least.
Although they spoke very little, sitting together in silence for hours at a time, it rarely felt awkward. Dolores had become surprisingly comfortable in her uncle's company, despite still not really knowing anything about him besides what she had picked up from others.
"You're not so bad, Tío Bruno," Dolores suddenly said, oblivious to how strange that sounds when it comes out of nowhere.
He was clearly taken off guard by this comment.
"I'm not so bad? Who... Who says I'm bad?" he asked, looking up from the book he was reading.
Dolores did not even pause to consider her next words.
"Well, everyone. People around the Encanto think you're really creepy. They say you used to run through town screaming prophecies, then apparently, if you looked at someone and your eyes glowed green, something bad would happen to them soon after. Like their goldfish would die or something. They say your visions are cursed, and it's bad luck to even say your—"
"Okay, okay..." Tío Bruno interrupted. "Wow... I think I get the point." He slumped lower in his chair. "Are you always this delicate with the truth?"
"You... didn't know any of that, did you?" she cringed, realising she had hurt his feelings. "I'm sorry..."
Tío Bruno sighed and feigned a smile. "It's fine... It's nothing I haven't heard before. I'm just surprised they're still saying those things after all this time, you know. I mean, you'd think they'd at least come up with a new script."
Dolores did not know how to respond, so the room fell silent again. After the silence continued for several minutes, she eventually spoke again.
"So can you? Make your eyes glow, I mean?" she asked, wondering if he might show her.
Tío Bruno answered immediately as though he had been waiting a long time for someone to just ask him.
"No. I can't," he said with an almost pleading tone. "It's just something that happens when I use my gift... And I can't make bad things happen either, while you're asking. And even if I could, why would I?"
"So, why do people say those things then?" Dolores asked.
"I don't know," he replied with a shrug. "I guess people just need someone to blame when things go wrong."
xxx
Present day...
{I'm not worried. I'm NOT worried. I'm not...}
The Casita was unusually quiet. The after-party of Antonio's gift ceremony had continued until the early morning hours, so it appeared that most of the family had slept in. Being a light sleeper, Dolores had woken at her usual time, and in the stillness, she could hear something she usually barely noticed. The chatter of the Casita and town beyond was not all her gift could pick up. Now and then, she also heard a different kind of voice. It was faint, distorted and distant, as though from another world entirely. This disembodied voice was difficult for even Dolores to make out. Even at its loudest, when it seemed to her to be just feet away, the family did not appear to hear it at all. Mostly, it was just unintelligible muttering, but now and then, when the world was unusually still, which was mainly during the night, she would make out words.
In any case, it was a cruel voice. Cruel because it reminded her of things she would rather forget. It reminded her of a secret she wished she did not know. It reminded her of her dishonesty. Of a promise made and immediately broken, and of trust betrayed. She supposed some people might be rather scared of such distorted whispering in the night, but despite the dark feelings it stirred in her, Dolores knew the voice meant no harm.
{I'm not worried. You're worried... Stop looking at me like that... Oh and I suppose you know what it means? Yeah, I didn't think so... Oh that? You're bringing that up now? I've told you. That was nothing. You see, the thing about a spill is it can easily be cleaned up. You just need the right... Oh god, I'm gonna need more salt...}
.
Breakfast in the Casita was generally a casual affair. The grandchildren would take turns waking up early to set the table and brew the coffee. They would then knock on everyone's door before returning to the kitchen to help Tía Julieta prepare the food. They would lay everything out on a bench in the kitchen, and family members would help themselves whenever they came downstairs. While it was common for much of the family to end up gathered together, breakfast was not typically a meal that required everyone to sit down formally. They would often not sit down at all, instead glugging back a cup of coffee, grabbing an arepa and a piece of fruit, and then heading out to get an early start on helping the community with their gifts.
This was not an ordinary day, however. The entire family had gone to bed relieved, content in the knowledge that Antonio's ceremony had worked. Abuela, in particular, seemed to be delighted and uncharacteristically cheerful. It had been Luisa's turn to wake the family, and when she finally did so, she informed them all that rather than a late breakfast, they would have an early lunch together outside on the patio. Everyone understood this to mean that Abuela had something important she wanted to say to them.
Dolores arrived in the dining room at the same time as her dad, which was after everyone else. They each picked up one of the remaining plates and then pushed open the patio doors to start filling them with food from the table outside. As they did so, Dolores heard her name.
"Dolores, hey. You know, out of all my older cousins, you're like my favourite cousin, so I feel like I can talk to you about anything, ergo you can talk to me about anything. Like the problem with the magic last night... That no one seemed to worry about, but maybe you heard about. That maybe I should know about..."
Mirabel was talking to Camilo, although she did not know it. He had received the same message as everyone else, that they were to wait and have breakfast together, but as one of the first out of bed, he had helped himself to a fair amount of food while Luisa and Tía Julieta were placing it out.
"Camilo! Stop pretending you're Dolores so you can have seconds," her dad ordered.
"Worth a shot," remarked her brother, switching back to his true form.
Dolores sidled up to Mirabel. She did not understand why her cousin was so spooked. Antonio got his gift. That was surely enough proof that the magic was still strong.
"The only one worried about the magic is you," she whispered, though she knew that was not entirely true. "...and the rats talking in the walls." She was about to walk away, then realised she should not have said that. "Oh, and Luisa... I heard her eye twitching... all night," she added hastily, hoping Mirabel had missed the comment about the rats. She then shrugged, and quickly headed for the table.
xxx
11 years ago...
Dolores made her way up the now familiar steps that led to her uncle's door. Something sounded different on her approach, but it was not until she pushed the door open that she realised why. A curtain of falling sand blocked the hourglass-shaped gateway that separated the entrance lobby from the main cavern. She walked towards it and felt it with her hand. There did not appear to be a way to turn it off.
Confused, but with no way through, she left the tower. When she reached the bottom of the steps, she saw her cousin, Isabela coming up the stairs from the floor below. Isabela stopped when she reached the balcony.
"Been to see Tío Bruno again, have you?" she asked, unable to completely hide her disgust.
"No. I was going to, but there's sand blocking the way," Dolores replied, furrowing her brow.
Isabela looked a little smug. "Oh, that means he's not in his tower. So people don't waste their time climbing the stairs. You didn't know that?"
"It's never come up, no."
"Then what are you even talking about up there in that creepy tomb?"
Dolores was a little taken aback to hear Isabela describe Bruno's tower.
"You've been up there?"
"Of course I have," Isabela replied. "Right after I got my gift. Abuela took me up there for a vision. She didn't do that for you?" She looked genuinely surprised.
Dolores did not answer.
"Well, if he's not in his tower," Isabela continued, "he'll most likely be in Mamá's room, hiding from Abuela." As she finished speaking, a row of flowers sprouted up from the floor and marked out a path towards Tía Julieta's room. When the flowers reached the door, they surrounded its frame. "I was on my way to see her, but if he's there, it can wait," she remarked before turning back towards the stairs with a flick of her hair.
Dolores knocked on Tía Julieta's door and was told to enter. Once inside, she saw her aunt sitting in one of the three armchairs by the window on the far right. On the coffee table in front of her, there was a decorative wooden box filled with a variety of different herbs and a small bowl of fresh fruit. Dolores also noticed a teacup beside the herbs, just like the one in Tía Julieta's hand. There was no sign of her uncle though.
"He's here, isn't he?" Dolores said, looking at the extra cup, although his breathing was the biggest clue.
Tía Julieta laughed and nodded towards the beds on the opposite side of the room as Tío Bruno leapt into view.
"Oh, it's you," he chirped as he made his way back to the armchairs. "Can't be too careful you know."
Dolores just stood in the room, taking in the scene, until Tía Julieta spoke.
"Come on, join us," she said, patting the empty chair, "There's more tea in the pot if you want it."
Dolores sat in the free armchair as Tía Julieta poured her some herbal tea. After a few sips, she asked, "Why are you so scared of Abuela, Tío Bruno?"
"Scared? It's not that I'm scared exactly. It's just—"
Tía Julieta interrupted, answering for him, "Bruno has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth. The more nervous he gets, the more likely he is to say something dumb, or incriminating, or—"
"...Or that can be mistaken for a prophecy," he remarked.
"Yes, or that..." Julieta agreed. "Then that makes him more anxious and well, over the years, it's just become a bit awkward—"
"...And it doesn't help that your mother hates me," Bruno cut in, throwing a glance at Dolores.
"Pepa doesn't hate you. She's just not very good at letting go of a grudge. Give it time."
"It's been thirteen years. How much more time does she need?"
Tía Julieta laughed at this but did not answer. She turned back to Dolores and said, "Anyway, that certainly doesn't help because then he's having to walk on eggshells, which makes him more nervous, which makes him more likely to say something wrong, and so—"
"...It's just easier to stay in my tower and blame the stairs," he said with a dismissive shrug.
His comment reminded Dolores of something she had been wondering about.
"How come you ended up getting a whole tower anyway?"
Tío Bruno briefly turned to look in the direction of his tower. "Well, I didn't always have the tower," he explained. "My room moved."
"It moved? Why?"
"No idea. The room you've seen... the one behind the vision cave. Well, it was like that... but the staircase led to the vision cave..." He turned to Tía Julieta. "We used to call the tower the 'viewing tower', right?"
"We did, and after dinner, Mamá would read us stories in there while we gazed up at the stars and dreamed of faraway lands."
"..Like Arabian Nights!" Bruno recalled fondly.
"..Or Brothers Grimm," Julieta added with a smile.
Dolores was marvelling at how they were finishing one another's sentences as though sharing one thought. Her mom and Tía Julieta would also get like that, and it always fascinated her. The 'triplet thing', as everyone would call it. The conversation had struck a chord with Dolores too. She knew all too well how it feels when you say too much or the wrong thing. It only takes a split second, one short sentence to act as the match, and before you know it, you have an entire rainforest burning around you. There is nothing you can say to undo the damage. No amount of apologies can douse the flames.
Her aunt and uncle continued to reminisce about their younger days. It was the most relaxed and talkative Dolores had ever seen her usually gawky uncle. While she also often struggled to put her thoughts eloquently into words, she too was finding it surprisingly easy to speak.
"I saw Isabela before," she said, beginning a new conversation.
"Oh, your cousin? How is she?" Tío Bruno asked brightly, "I haven't spoken to her in ages."
Dolores wanted to reply with, 'well that's because she doesn't like you', but she managed to bite her tongue for once. Instead, she simply said, "she's fine," before continuing, "She told me you had a vision for her once. After she got her gift."
"I did, yeah."
Dolores thought for a moment before asking, "So how come you didn't have one for me?"
"Well... I offered... But your mother told me I'm not to. Ever. Under any circumstance. She even told me what she'd do to me if I did... So yeah... sorry about that." He waited for a reply, but when Dolores did not respond, he leaned forward and asked, "Are you disappointed?"
It was not that she was disappointed as such. She did not know what the feeling was. Maybe jealousy?
"Will you have a vision for me if I promise not to tell anyone?" she blurted before she could stop herself.
Tío Bruno did not look thrilled by her request. He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, then answered slowly, "There's a... good chance she would actually kill me, you know..."
"I think you're being a little dramatic," Tía Julieta cut in, then turned to Dolores. "But I agree it's not a good idea. Bruno can't control what he sees, and it's not always something you want to hear."
"I didn't get my reputation for nothing," Tío Bruno agreed.
"Maybe when you're a little older, we can talk about this again, okay?" suggested Tía Julieta.
"But Isabela was only five when she got hers!" Dolores protested, then turned to her uncle and, making her eyes as big as possible, tried once more. "Please can I have a vision? I promise I won't mind what you see. You did it for Isabela... It's only fair."
After a long pause, Tío Bruno sighed. "Fine... but not a word to your mother."
.
The following spring...
Several loud thumps jolted Dolores from a deep sleep. From how hard they had hit the door, she guessed it was her cousin Luisa, seemingly forgetting the rule about not knocking for Dolores with your hands. She slid out of bed and opened the door. Luisa looked rattled.
"Can I come in?"
"Of course... what's wrong?"
Luisa waited until they were both inside, and Dolores had closed the door before she started speaking.
"Did ya hear anything last night?"
"At the gift ceremony?" Dolores inquired.
"No... after that. Through the night. Did you hear what happened with Tío Bruno?"
Dolores had never seen her cousin look so intense, and she had a terrible feeling of dread come over her.
"Tío Bruno? No, I must have been asleep. What's happened?"
"I dunno. I just heard our mamás talking to Abuela. They said something about a vision and him leaving the Encanto. Then when I came out my room just now, and turned towards the tower... The light's like, totally gone from his door. It's like, the magic isn't there anymore or something."
Dolores was motionless. It had not been intentional, but ever since he had given her a vision, her visits to Bruno's tower had become fewer and further between. Firmly believing she would get around to visiting at some point, she had eventually stopped going altogether. She cocked her head, and despite the tower being on the opposite corner of the Casita, she could clearly make out the sound of falling sand. Luisa was right. Tío Bruno was gone.
xxx
6 weeks ago...
Dolores had become a little better at tuning out sounds, although she could not turn her ability on and off the way she could when she first received her gift. She would often take walks through the hills around the Encanto, and while it was nowhere near as peaceful as her uncle's tower had been, it still offered a little respite from the noise. She was on her way home from one such walk when she suddenly heard her family name. In the years since the failed gift ceremony and Tío Bruno's disappearance, the family had become a frequent topic of rumour and speculation, although conversations about the Madrigals were mostly positive overall. Still, it was impossible not to tune in when she heard her name through the usually incomprehensible prattle of the Encanto.
"One of the Madrigal girls? Oh how marvellous. I can't think of a more worthy family for you to marry into. Have you informed her of your feelings yet?"
They had a distinctive accent, but Dolores could not quite put her finger on where she had heard the voice before, so she decided to keep listening and headed in the direction of the conversation. She continued to listen as a young male voice told the older female voice that he had not found the confidence to speak to the girl in question.
Dolores did not have to walk right up to the house. As she neared a street in the most prestigious part of town, she realised exactly where she had heard those voices before. It was Mariano Guzmán, and his Abuela.
.
Later that day...
"Our Isabela? Are you sure?" Abuela asked excitedly.
"Yes, I think so. He sounded really serious," Dolores affirmed, proud to be of help to the family.
"This is wonderful news. Could you pay closer attention to their conversations, please? Let me know the moment you get a date for the proposal."
Dolores thought he wanted to speak to Isabela first but did not want to contradict Abuela, so simply replied, "Of course. I'll do my best."
So it came that Dolores would sit in her room by an open window every evening, once the chaos of dinner time was over and the younger inhabitants of the Encanto began retreating to bed. She heard so many conversations. She learnt of a woman who loved her grandson dearly. She learnt of a talented young man who would write poetry and then put it to music. He would sing with a voice sweeter than pineapple while he tapped out a beautiful melody on his piano. She learnt of the way he had taught himself to cook, and bake, and sew so that he could take care of his Abuela as she aged. Night after night she listened, until it suddenly hit her. Or was it really all that sudden? She had felt it creeping up on her for a while but had chosen to ignore it. She could not ignore it any longer though, and she was horrified at the realisation. She had let herself fall in love with Mariano.
.
2 weeks later...
Dolores was at the market with Luisa in the centre of town, picking up supplies for the Casita. Luisa was carrying four huge bags of corn flour and two boxes of candles. Dolores finished paying for the goods then looked at the shopping list. "Okay, we still need potatoes, corn and..." she stopped in her tracks when she noticed Mariano was walking straight towards them.
"Dolores..." he began.
There was a loud throbbing in her ears as blood rushed to her cheeks, and her hands and feet went numb. She tried to speak but could not get the words out and instead just made a small squeak.
Mariano looked confused but tried to continue.
"I just wanted to ask..."
Dolores's heart raced. She needed the conversation to end before she heard the name 'Isabela' leave his lips.
"If you want to talk about my family, I suggest you try someone else... I'm not interested," she snapped, suddenly finding the ability to speak as the words burst from her mouth. She then hurried off in the direction of the Casita, leaving a puzzled Luisa to stand awkwardly with her arms full next to a stunned Mariano.
As she hurried home, Dolores could not contain her tears. Why had she asked Tío Bruno for that horrible vision? Of course his vision had been perfectly accurate. They always were. It was exactly as he said; her one true love, the man of her dreams, would break her heart. He would be engaged to someone else.
