Episode Seven: Dos Oruguitas
45 years ago...
"Julieta darling, when you finish that batch, could you call your brother in, please? I need to start setting up outside."
"No problem, Mamá!" replied Julieta as she shaped the last arepa.
Julieta wiped her hands on her apron, then stepped from the kitchen into the adjoining dining room. A fresh breeze circulated through the room from the double doors that had been left wide open. When she reached the doors, she saw her brother alone in the sandpit, talking to himself cheerfully from within a fortress of bucket-shaped sandcastles. He had also been helping to make snacks for their birthday celebration but became distracted after their mother said she would remove the outdoor sandpit. Despite having a much better sandpit now that they had their magical rooms, he had insisted on playing one last time in the old one.
"Bruno!" she called out. "Mamá says she needs to start setting up out here. So you'll have to come inside."
As she approached the sandpit, she began to make out what he was saying.
"Don't be silly, Jorge. Of course I'm not leaving you. You're welcome in my awesome new room any time you like!"
"Who are you talking to?"
Bruno looked up at her with a broad grin. "No one, silly. I'm just playing."
"Well, you should probably finish your game in your room. I'll come and get you when it's time to start setting the tables."
xxx
Present day...
Neither moved or said a word as Mirabel locked eyes with the uncle she had not seen in ten years. Her mind raced with all the things she wanted to ask; 'where have you been?', 'why have you come back?' and most importantly, 'why was I in your vision?' but before she could decide what to say first, there came another blinding flash of lightning, and Tío Bruno bolted, instantly disappearing around a corner.
Mirabel immediately sprinted after him, pursuing him through an impossible labyrinth of dark corridors. Her uncle was fast, but Mirabel knew the passages could not continue indefinitely. Sooner or later, they had to end, and Tío Bruno would be forced to stop running. So she pressed on.
xxx
45 years ago...
They did not yet know what it could be, but Julieta was delighted that her brother had received a special gift like her sister. They had too much to do to prepare for the party to dwell on what had happened in his room, however. No sooner had the last place at the tables been set than the first wave of guests began to arrive. Amongst them was Félix, the only child in the village who was the same age as Julieta and her siblings.
"Welcome, welcome," Julieta's mother called out as she greeted Félix's family with open arms. "How's the farm?"
"We're getting by for now, but this dry spell has us worried, Alma. We're well into October already..." Félix's dad said. "The work is so much harder when the soil's dry too... I've gone and done something to my back."
"I have a feeling all will be well very soon, my friend," Julieta's mother assured him with a knowing smile.
Félix then ran off to join the triplets under the arches, sitting himself on a bench beside Bruno.
"You look... fancy," Félix remarked when he saw Pepa's new dress.
It certainly was fancy. It was beautiful shades of golden yellow and orange, with elegant ruffles around her shoulders, reminiscent of the sun. Julieta knew that the dress symbolised her sister's new ability, but their mother had given them strict instructions to keep quiet about the rooms and their gifts until she could make an official announcement.
"You like it?" Pepa replied, stroking the fabric with her hands.
"It's alright. What's the occasion anyway? Will you be dancing?"
"Something like that," she replied, sharing a smirk with Julieta and Bruno, who both giggled.
Félix eyed them all curiously. "Fine, don't tell me then," he grumbled, folding his arms.
The Casita was soon bustling with guests as presents piled up on a round table near the children. Their mother instructed the house to make a small raised platform to the side of the back archway where the band was setting up their instruments. She walked up the steps, and the guests understood the signal to be quiet. She had informed everyone on their arrival that she had a very special announcement to make, so they had all been anticipating this moment.
"Thank you all for coming. As you all know, we were given a miracle five years ago, on this very day. Since then, our Encanto has kept us safe from the dangers outside, and we have all worked tirelessly to build this town and the farms that surround it.
"However, you will also be aware that we have had three exceptionally warm years with unusually low rainfall. This has threatened our perfect life here. Some of you may even be starting to doubt our miracle." She looked around the room as though singling out specific people individually. "Well, I have been praying, and the miracle has answered..."
She turned to her children and called out proudly, "Pepa, could you come and show everyone what you can do, please?"
Julieta's heart raced with excitement and pride as her sister jumped down from the bench with a knowing smile. She appeared to float as she walked towards the circular mosaic at the centre of the courtyard. The townspeople all turned to face her. Their mother asked the drummer to start sounding out a beat, and Pepa immediately sprung to life. She lifted her arms, and a vast cloud appeared above the Casita. Everyone gasped with astonishment, and murmurings of conversation began here and there.
"Quiet, please. Quiet, please. There's more," their mother urged.
Then just as she had been instructed, Pepa waved a hand, and rain began to fall into the courtyard and over the now euphoric crowd. There was an eruption of applause and cheers that Julieta assumed could be heard throughout the town. The band then began to play.
.
40 minutes later...
After their mother had announced Pepa's new ability, guests gathered around the upper balcony to watch as Julieta and her siblings revealed their magical rooms. Riotous dancing and celebrating ensued, and the triplets split off in the chaos.
"Are you okay, Mamá ?" Julieta asked with concern as she entered the kitchen. Her mother had been clutching her head and seemed to be in pain.
"Oh, I'm fine, my dear. There's just a lot to do," she explained.
Julieta looked around the room. "Where's all the food we made?"
"It's already gone. More guests are arriving by the minute, so I've a lot more to make."
Julieta did not wait to be asked. She rolled up the sleeves of her pristine white dress and picked up her apron. She was not allowed near the hot grill on her own, but she could at least mix and shape arepas while her mother mingled and greeted guests.
She had no idea what her gift could be. She did not even have a hint of something like her brother had. Not that it bothered her. So long as Pepa and Bruno were happy, Julieta would be happy too. Her new room did have an endless supply of herbs, however, so she decided to add some of the ones she recognised to the dough.
The music outside abruptly stopped. Julieta finished what she was doing and hurried to the entrance to see what was happening. A man had taken to one knee and seemed to be proposing to someone. It did not seem so unusual initially, but it quickly hit her.
The music struck up again, and Julieta hurried across the courtyard to her brother, sitting under the arches with Félix. Pepa had the same realisation, so they both reached him around the same time.
"Did you see that?" Julieta asked, catching her breath.
"That's your gift!" Pepa cried out with delight as she sat down next to him on the other side to Félix.
Bruno did not speak, and Julieta could tell he was struggling to process the situation. She opened her mouth to reassure him, but the music suddenly ceased once more, and the adults all stopped talking. Julieta looked around the hauntingly silent room. All eyes were on her mother as she stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding the glowing glass plate. Then, with eerie synchronisation, the many heads turned at once towards Bruno.
xxx
Present day...
"You never left," Mirabel remarked as she looked around the strange room.
Having surrendered to the fact that she would never quit following him, Tío Bruno had eventually led Mirabel to a relatively spacious section of wall. Much like the rooms on the upper balcony, it seemed much wider than the cavity within the walls should be. It was a peculiar, yet strangely charming space with repurposed broken furniture, some of which Mirabel recalled being discarded several years prior. Skillfully hand-drawn images adorned the walls, and an unlikely array of quirky knick-knacks crammed together on make-shift shelves. Candles lit the area from jars or old candleholders, and dozens of rats scurried around the room, playing with whatever they came across as they ran along obstacles and mazes that had been lovingly made for their entertainment. It was pretty apparent to Mirabel that Tío Bruno had not recently returned to the Casita.
"Well, I... I left my tower, which was, you know, a lot of stairs," he replied bashfully, then looked around for something to break the tension. He picked up an arepa. "And uh, in here eh? ...Kitchen adjacent!" he said, only making the tension worse.
Mirabel's uncle appeared to be a gentle and unimposing man. Not at all like Camilo had described, and no giant either, being only a couple of inches taller than Mirabel. He was certainly odd, though, like a member of a marching band who played off-beat, stepping out of time as though following a rhythm that only he could hear. He had carried out strange ritualistic behaviour on the approach to his room, knocking repeatedly on wood and throwing salt over his shoulder. Although Mirabel found it a little disconcerting, he seemed completely harmless.
She watched and listened, utterly baffled, as her uncle continued to over-sell his miserable life in the wall. He gave the impression that he was vocalising things he had been telling himself for years, but hearing himself say them out loud for the first time made him uncomfortable. Yet, despite this, he could not seem to stop himself. It was as though he hoped that if he kept talking, he could somehow bury the weird stuff under layers of something much more eloquent. But the eloquence never came, so he ended up just burying himself under an ever-growing pile of obscurity.
A shaft of light caught Mirabel's eye, and she followed it to a narrow split in the wooden wall. Peering through, she realised where they were. She could see the dining table on the other side. The chaos she had left behind had already been cleared away and the table lovingly set for the next meal. Every family member had their own plate with their name on it. With the exception of those without gifts, who all shared the same design, the plates were decorated with an intricate motif that represented everyone's unique ability. Mirabel followed the shaft of light down to where it rested on a small folding table. The tragedy of her uncle's plight hit her full force as she noticed the hand-drawn impression of how Tío Bruno's plate would have looked.
"Yeah, my gift wasn't helping the family, but... but I love my family, you know?" he said sorrowfully. "I just don't know how to..." he trailed off as though his thought process had hit a wall and then slumped into a worn-out old armchair. "Well anyway," he continued, "I think you should go because... Well, I don't really have a good reason, but if I did, you'd be like, 'I should go 'cause that's a good reason'."
Mirabel moved to the side of the chair and crouched to Bruno's eye level. He had dropped the cheerful act he had been trying to force, and his defences seemed lower. This was her chance.
"Why was I in your vision?"
He said nothing and just stared at the floor.
"Tio Bruno...?" Mirabel tried again. "I just wanted to make the family proud of me. Just once."
He at least turned to look at her this time.
"But if I should stop. If I'm hurting my family... just tell me."
"I can't tell you..." he said apologetically. Mirabel let out a disgruntled sigh. But then he continued, "...Because I don't know..."
He took the vision pieces from his pocket and arranged them on a tray on the table by his chair.
"I had this vision the night that you didn't get your gift," he began, handing the tray to Mirabel, "Abuela worried about the magic, so she begged me to look into the future to see what it meant. And I saw the magic in danger; our housebreaking. And then... and then, I saw you. But the vision was different. It... it would change, and there was no one answer. No clear fate. Like your future was undecided."
Mirabel tilted the vision in her hands. As she did so, the cracks on the Casita behind her disappeared and then reappeared, just as he described.
"But I knew how it was gonna look," he continued. "I knew what everyone would think because I'm Bruno, and everyone always assumes the worst, so... So..."
Mirabel had been too young to understand what her uncle had meant the last time they spoke, but it finally made sense, as though he had just handed her the last piece of the puzzle. She realised he had sincerely intended to comfort her with his words that night. When she did not get a gift, he had hoped that meant she would never have to experience the life he had. Then the vision had shown him that even without a gift, she was not safe from being shunned by the family, so he did the only thing he could think of to avoid that fate for her.
"You left... to protect me?"
"I don't know which way it'll go," he said, ignoring her question. "But my guess? The family? The Encanto? The fate of the miracle itself? Well, it's all gonna come down to you."
Mirabel bearly had time to process his words before he snatched the tray from her and threw it heavily onto the table with a clatter.
"Or maybe I'm wrong. You know, it's a mystery, it's a mystery..." he said hastily. He was clearly done.
Tio Bruno then impatiently ushered Mirabel towards the door, and she understood that her time there was up.
"Look, if I could help anymore, I would... but that's all I know," he said when they reached the door. "Good luck. I wish I could've seen more."
And with that, the door clicked shut.
xxx
45 years ago...
The music had struck up again, and everyone was dancing, feasting and drinking. The children finally had a little time to themselves to talk and process what was happening. Félix seemed particularly thrilled by the news that his friends had magical abilities.
"I'm going to come over to play every day from now on!" he announced proudly. "With my amazing buddies."
Pepa looked a little sad, "I'm sorry, Félix, but I won't be able to play for a while. Now I can make it rain, I have to spend every day on the farms. At least until the rain returns."
Bruno added, "Yeah, and apparently, I have to see the future for just about everyone in the Encanto. Mamá already made a list of names. It's gonna take weeks."
"Well that doesn't sound fair," Félix grumbled. "Kids shouldn't have to work."
Julieta felt herself agreeing with his sentiment. She was delighted that Pepa and Bruno had special abilities but had already spotted a flaw; they seemed to be more about making other people happy, than benefitting her siblings themselves.
"Yeah, well, we're special kids now," explained Pepa. "That means we have special jobs to do." At least she did not seem to mind.
"And I'm sure it'll only be for a few weeks. Once the fields are well watered, and everyone's had a vision, I'm sure our lives will return to normal," added Bruno optimistically.
Félix did not seem so convinced. "Well, if you say so... I guess you're the expert on the future now..."
"Anyway," Pepa began brightly, "I'll be coming by your farm every day. Apparently, your family can start growing rice now. And it'll need a lot of water."
"RICE!?" both Félix and Bruno repeated excitedly. There had not been any rice in the Encanto since their supply ran out two years prior, and the triplets could hardly remember it now. So maybe their gifts did benefit Julieta's siblings after all.
Félix seemed to cheer up at this. "And I don't have to work, so maybe I can come with you around the other farms too?" he suggested, then looked down sheepishly. "My papá says I need to walk more, so it'll keep him off my back as well."
Pepa looked delighted by the idea. "Sure. That sounds like fun!"
Something then appeared to catch Félix's eye.
"What's he doing?" he said, seemingly to himself.
The triplets followed his gaze and saw his dad dancing and pulling off some pretty daring moves. Félix looked at each of them in turn. "He's hardly moved all week. How's he doing that?" He then got up and headed over.
Julieta furrowed her brow curiously and glanced at Bruno, who just shrugged back at her.
When Félix returned, he told Julieta and her siblings that his dad had probably just had too much aguardiente, so had forgotten about his back pain. He had at least sat back down in the hope it would not be twice as painful in the morning.
As the evening turned to night, some of the guests started heading home. They came over to say goodbye to the magical children, congratulating them for their gifts and wishing them well.
"Do you think Mamá would mind if I went to bed?" Bruno asked with a yawn before resting his head in his arms on the table in front of him.
"Ask her yourself. She's coming over," replied Pepa, nearly as sleepily.
Julieta looked over to see their mother approaching with a smile.
"Oh dear, you three do look tired," she remarked when she reached the table.
Bruno lifted his head from his arms and looked like he was going to speak, but then he just yawned and lay his head back down.
"Julieta," their mother continued, "I think we've worked out what your gift might be!"
Julieta felt a rush of excitement. "You do? What?"
"We should know better tomorrow, but everyone who arrived with aches or pains today has felt them disappear after eating the food you helped prepare."
"I have healing powers?"
"It seems so! Someone even had a bruise on their leg that vanished right before our eyes. A few people could not make it tonight because of an injury or pain, so their families will report back tomorrow."
"See! You are a witch," Bruno muttered from his arms. "I knew it!"
He was trying to tease her, but Julieta did not mind. She had the best gift of all. All she wanted was to know that her family members were safe and well. Now they always would be. She would always be there to take away the pain and make them smile again. What better gift could there be than that?
xxx
Present day...
Mirabel found herself alone in the dark passageway outside Tío Bruno's room. She had been so close and yet came to a dead end. His last words echoed in her mind; 'I wish I could have seen more'. Yeah. That would have been a huge help. If only there were a way to dig a little deeper or look a little closer. That was Mirabel's solution to everything. She knew that sometimes people could not see the wood for the trees. People would often latch onto the first thing they saw and assume they had all the information they needed. A blind man's hands might tell him the elephant is a thick snake, while his blind friend might insist it is a sturdy tree trunk, or else a thin, swishy rope. It was all a matter of perspective. Sometimes all you needed to do was take a step back, and see the whole picture.
She kicked the door and barged back into Tío Bruno's room, much to his surprise.
"You wish you could've seen more, so see more! Have another vision!" she sang out triumphantly.
Bruno did not share her enthusiasm and started backing away. "Oh, uh, no, no. See. I don't... I don't do visions anymore," he stuttered.
"But you could."
"But I won't."
"You can't say 'the weight of the world is on your shoulders, the end.' If our fate's up to me, 'me' says, 'Have another vision!' Maybe it'll show me what to do!"
Bruno looked frustrated. "Look, even if I wanted to, which I don't, you wrecked my vision cave! Which is a problem, 'cause I need a big open space..."
"We'll find one."
"Where?"
"Use my room!"
They both turned towards the unexpected voice. Antonio was standing in the doorway, surrounded by several of his animal friends. A rat rested on the palm of his hand.
"The rats told me everything."
xxx
35 years ago...
Julieta finished clearing the dinner table and took the last of the dishes to the kitchen for Pepa to wash. It had been five days since their brother last joined them to eat. These absences were getting more frequent, and her sightings of him further apart. Julieta picked up a basket from the bench and began filling it with various foods and a few flasks of water.
"Is that for him?" Pepa asked, gesturing in the direction of the tower with her eyes.
Julieta nodded, "Mm-hmm."
"You know you're only encouraging him by taking him food, right?"
She knew Pepa was right but could not stand by and let her brother starve.
"I need to do this, Pepa. I'm worried about him. He hasn't been right lately."
"Lately?" Pepa scoffed. "Bruno hasn't been right for years."
Julieta squeezed the last she could into the basket and headed towards Bruno's tower.
"Bruno! It's me. I've brought food!" she called out, her voice echoing through the cavernous stone structure. After a few moments, she could make out a small green dot as it began its descent down the many steps. She smiled and started walking up to meet him.
When Julieta reached her brother, she had climbed less than half the distance due to him travelling down much faster. Bruno sat on a step, and Julieta lay down the basket before throwing her arms around him.
"Hey, thanks again for doing this. I'm—"
"It's no trouble," she said, cutting him off before he could start apologising. She was still catching her breath from the climb. "You know I'm worried about you, right?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Really I am," he insisted with a smile.
Julieta picked up the basket and handed it to him. He immediately took out a buñuelo and started to eat it. She huffed at the sight of this.
"Well you don't seem fine," she said. "You seem warn out, and you're clearly hungry. Every time I come here, your tower seems to be getting taller and—"
"And that's all it is," Bruno interrupted. "It's just a lot of stairs..."
Julieta looked up towards the top of his tower.
"What are you even doing up there all day? Aren't you bored? Don't you get lonely?"
"Me? Nah.. I mean, I have José after all and—"
" José?"
"A rat."
"A rat?" she repeated. "You're naming the rats now?"
"Just the one rat, actually..."
Julieta reached into a pocket on the front of her apron, took out a pouch, and handed it to her brother. He hooked his arm through the handle of the basket so he could untie the long chords. It was herbs from her room.
"You said you were running low."
Bruno smiled. "Thanks."
"Does it help? Burning the herbs?"
"I dunno."
"What do you mean, you don't know? Do you feel any better? Are the visions more positive?"
"Well not exactly, but—"
Julieta took the pouch from him, a little frustrated that he had let her go to the trouble of drying and mixing them. "Bruno..."
"But maybe it'd be worse without them..." he said, snatching the pouch back like a child grabbing the last lollipop in the jar. He then put the chords around his neck and tucked it into his ruana before she could grab it again.
"Anyway. Thanks again for doing this. It means a lot." He gave Julieta another brief hug, then turned to head back up the tower. Julieta was not finished with him though.
"Wait!" she called out, and he turned back towards her. "Join us for dinner tomorrow."
"Well... you know I... I'd love to... but it really—"
"If you're not down by seven thirty, I'll come and get you," she insisted. "If I have to drag you down, I will... Down every last step!"
Her brother seemed to read her expression to check that she was joking. She felt another excuse was coming, so she quickly added, "and if no one calls for a vision after dinner, you're staying downstairs with me. We'll stay up late, eat snacks, and make up silly stories. Like we used to."
That seemed to work.
"Fine... I'll be there. Seven thirty," he agreed with half a smile, then turned again and, this time, headed back up the tower.
Julieta watched as her brother skipped over some of the steps, sometimes clearing two at once, the basket swinging as he went. It looked exhausting.
"What are you doing?" she shouted after him incredulously.
He stopped and called back to her over his shoulder. "You shouldn't step on the cracked ones... It's terribly bad luck," he said simply, then added, "But don't worry. You can reverse it by knocking on wood. Though sometimes you've gotta do it a lot. Like, a lot a lot..." and then he continued on his way as though nothing he had just said sounded even the tiniest bit obscure.
What's happening to you, Bruno? Julieta thought to herself as she watched him for a few more seconds. She then made her way back to the rest of the Casita.
xxx
Present day...
"It's just... it's just the same thing! I've gotta stop!" Tío Bruno cried out as he and Mirabel sat together inside the swirling dome of his vision. The image reflected on the sand glowed with the same intense green light that shone from Tío Bruno's eyes, and was identical in every way to the one in his previous vision. The cracks on the Casita behind Mirabel's likeness repeatedly pulsed into existence and then faded from sight.
"No, I need to know which way it goes. There's gotta be an answer... Something we're not seeing," she said, looking around.
She had not known what to expect from her uncle's vision. None of the family members who had witnessed them had ever talked about it. It was louder and more violent than she expected. The sand whipped past them at tremendous speed, winding anti-clockwise as if dragging the images backwards through time, and the wind was as strong as anything Tía Pepa could conjure up. The impressionistic images gave off an unsettling, eerie feeling, and there was clearly no way out other than waiting for it to end. The vision gave an oppressive, suffocating feeling of entrapment.
"You're looking at the same thing that I am!" Bruno protested. "If there was something else..."
"There! Over there!" Mirabel called out excitedly as she noticed a bright yellow butterfly immerge amongst the swirling green.
Bruno turned to where she was pointing. "Butterfly! Follow the butterfly!" he called out excitedly.
Mirabel rose to her feet and took her uncle's hand, helping him up and urging him to come with her. They both pushed through the wind to follow the butterfly's path and see the vision more clearly. The butterfly came to rest on a reed, and the vision expanded to show a river. Mirabel did not recognise it as any that ran through the Encanto.
"Where is that...?" Mirabel asked, curiously.
The image then began to fade into another, although it was unclear.
"It's all out of order!" Tío Bruno explained. It seemed he was not accustomed to staying with a vision for this long, so was not quite sure what was happening. The scene gradually came into focus. "It's, it's the candle!" he shouted. "The candle's getting brighter!" An image of Mirabel then materialised by the candle. "I think you're going to help the candle!"
"How?"
"There's someone with you!" he replied, as another figure appeared in the glowing sand. "And you... You fight her!"
"What?!"
"Wait no no, no no. Is that a hug?!"
"Am I fighting or hugging?!"
The two figures in the vision moved closer together and their arms interlocked.
"An embrace! An embrace! To make the candle bright, you have to embrace her!"
"Embrace who?!"
The image began to hone in on the other person, as though Tío Bruno had finally gained control of the vision.
"Almost there..."
"Who is it?!"
"Almost there... I, I got it!"
The figure finally came into clear relief, and Mirabel was mortified when she recognised the face.
"Isabela?!"
The vision instantly ended, and the sand fell heavily to the floor, showering them both. They were back in Antonio's room, and Tío Bruno held a glowing green slab in his hands.
xxx
24 years ago...
Exhausted from the climb, Julieta stopped on the steps to the corridor at the top of Bruno's tower to catch her breath. She had not climbed all the way up since they were children. There were far fewer steps back then, and stairs are much easier when you are thirteen. She had never needed to climb to the top since that time. No matter how tall the tower became and how far her voice needed to travel, the little green dot never failed to appear if she called up to him, and when they wanted to spend time together, they had her room. Not today, though. Julieta had been calling for him periodically since the previous evening and again all morning, but he had not responded. It was now mid-afternoon, and she was becoming increasingly concerned.
Once she had caught her breath, she entered the corridor and headed straight to the vision cave. She opened the door, and when she stepped inside, she saw the glow of her brother's latest vision. It had an image of Pepa and Félix dancing euphorically together in the rain.
Julieta could not quite remember where the door to his room was, so she called out to him, her voice echoing around the chamber.
"Bruno... it's me." When he did not respond, she tried again. "I know you're in here. There wasn't any sand on my way in... ...At least let me see you, so I know you're not dead in there, half-eaten by rats... ...I'm not leaving until I see you."
A stone door pushed open, and light flooded into the vision cave. Julieta hurried over, relieved to see her brother safe in the doorway.
"I've been shouting for you since yesterday. You didn't answer," Julieta said, then waited for him to reply. When he did not speak, she added, "I was worried."
"Well, you've seen me now. So, you don't need to worry anymore."
He went to close the door, and despite her surprise, Julieta managed to grab it in time. Luckily her brother had never been particularly strong, so she managed to keep it open.
"Shouldn't we at least talk about what happened yesterday, Bruno?" she asked, putting all of her weight into stopping him from closing the door.
He gave up trying and let go of it. "Why? I ruined Pepa's wedding. What else is there to say?"
"But I know that wasn't your intention."
"When's that ever mattered?"
Julieta had seen her brother unhappy many times, but something seemed different this time. He seemed so small as he stood in the doorway looking at his sandals.
"Aren't you at least going to invite me in?" she asked.
Bruno shrugged, "Do what you want," and moved out of the way to let her pass.
The moment Julieta entered his room, hundreds of memories came flooding back to her, one after another in rapid succession.
"Your room's hardly changed!" she said, looking around with child-like awe. "Though I can't say the same for the rest of the tower. The stairs are getting ridiculous now, Bruno."
"Oh great. Something else I'm being blamed for."
Julieta could usually read her brother's emotions with ease, but this was not one she had seen often enough to recognise right away.
"Have I upset you?" she asked.
He paused and kicked the sand under his foot as if deciding whether or not he should answer.
"No... well... I'm upset, I guess... But it's not..." He took a deep breath and then finally said, "I wish you would've said something to defend me yesterday."
That hurt.
"I was trying to, but I had to tread carefully, or I could have made the situation worse. Then it all happened so fast. You know I've always had your back, Bruno. Always." He did not say anything, so she added, "Bruno, please don't be angry with me."
"I'm not angry with you. I just... I don't know what I'm feeling."
Julieta wanted to break the tension a little and so tried to change the subject.
"I see you had a vision for her."
"Yeah. Not that it matters now."
"Sure it matters. She'll still want to know what you saw."
"Well you can tell her Félix is truly her soulmate. There won't be a single day where they don't love each other just as much as they do right now. Oh, and they'll have three children. One girl and two boys."
"No... You should come and tell her that yourself. Maybe it'll help make amends."
"What?" he scoffed. "And find out they wanted four kids. Then get something else thrown at me for killing their baby? No thanks."
Hearing her brother talk like that was making Julieta extremely uncomfortable. She kept watching him closely, trying to get a read on what was going on in his head. Over the years, he became exceptionally skilled at hiding his emotions, but Julieta always saw through the act. This was something she had never seen before, though. Then it finally hit her.
"This isn't like you at all, Bruno. I've seen you sad, and you were nearly always scared, but you never felt sorry for yourself. No matter how hard things were for you. Not once."
"Yeah, well, this time it's different though, isn't it? It's never been my own sister before."
Julieta thought about what to say next. She hated that her siblings had fallen out and wanted everything to go back to how it was. She did not know where to start, though. It had all unravelled so fast, and now it seemed near impossible to put her family back together again.
"You'll come down for dinner tonight, won't you? Seven thirty..."
Bruno answered immediately.
"No, Julieta. I won't. I'm sorry, but I'm not coming downstairs anymore. And I'm not having any more visions, either. You can let the family know that. Unless it's life or death, I'm through with it. People will just have to learn to make decisions on their own... I always have."
"What are you talking about? You know that's not an option. We have to use our gifts."
"No. We don't. I believed that too. For years I've tried to do the right thing, frightened that I might offend the miracle. Thinking that everything was my fault. But you know what? The miracle doesn't care. And it doesn't make the slightest difference what we do."
"You can't know that!" Julieta tried to argue.
Bruno narrowed his eyes. "Really, Julieta?"
Things seemed to be getting out of hand, so Julieta tried once more.
"Well, you at least have to come to dinner."
"I don't, though, do I? I don't have to do anything."
"But you need to eat, Bruno, and I'm not bringing you food every night again."
"Well, you won't have to. I've got a kitchen now. My room's been... changing." He glanced briefly towards the far wall.
"But you can't cook," Julieta remarked, unable to suppress a laugh.
"I'll manage."
Julieta knew it was pointless trying to change his mind. If his room had added a kitchen, then the Casita knew how serious he was about not joining the family for meals anymore. That probably meant he was just as serious about not using his gift.
"Mamá's going to be furious."
"Yeah, well she's angry no matter what I do. At least this way, I only have to disappoint her once more."
With a deep sigh, Julieta tightened her apron.
"So... Are we done here? Are you going now?" Bruno asked, obviously keen to get back to sulking on his own.
"Nope," she replied frankly, linking her arm with his. "Show me this kitchen of yours. I'm teaching you to cook."
xxx
Present day...
"Why would embracing Isabela do anything?" Mirabel grumbled as she crouched behind a large potted plant with her uncle. She looked across to her sister's door on the opposite balcony, contemplating the impossible task the vision had asked of her.
"I dunno. Our family got a miracle. How do you help a family miracle? You hug a sister!" Bruno suggested.
Mirabel opened her mouth to tell him how little sense that made when they heard a voice from the courtyard below and quickly ducked, concealing themselves behind the foliage of the potted plants and hanging baskets. It was Camilo calling for Mirabel. She knew the family were looking for her, but only so Abuela could put a stop to what she was doing. Abuela would never understand that Mirabel was helping rather than harming the miracle, so she had to continue to lie low for now. They both watched, horrified, as Camilo's head and hands turned involuntarily into those of a baby in both size and appearance. The urgency of the situation dawned heavily on Mirabel. Something was very wrong with the magic.
"Oh, I think we're running out of time here..." Tío Bruno appeared to have the same realisation.
He was right, but Mirabel was having serious doubts about their plan. She could not imagine a scenario where her sister willingly hugged her, and if she was entirely honest, she really did not want to do it.
"It's not gonna work," she protested. "She won't hug me... Ever. Okay. She hates me. Also, I don't know if you heard... I ruined her proposal. Plus, P.S..." Tío Bruno tried to interrupt, but she was in her flow. "It's just annoying. Of course it's Isabela..."
"Mirabel..."
"...and what's her problem with me anyway? She's the one with roses coming out her—"
"Mirabel!" Tío Bruno raised his voice, then immediately lowered it again. "Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry... You see, you're missing the point. The fate of the family is not up to her. It's up to you. You're exactly what this family needs. You just have to see it..."
Unlike the last time he had tried to encourage Mirabel with his words, this time it landed. While Mirabel was still processing this, he suddenly ducked behind a potted plant. "...By yourself... After I leave."
"You're not coming?"
Tío Bruno walked the heavy plant pot with great difficulty towards the entrance to the passages in the walls.
"It was your vision Mirabel, not mine," he said, trying to sound prophetic.
"You're worried Abuela will see you."
"Yep... I mean, yes... that too," he admitted as he reached for the painting and pulled it open. He shuffled anxiously and made to enter, but then turned back as a thought seemed to pop into his head. "Hey, after you save the miracle... come visit?"
"After I save the miracle, I'm bringing you home!" Mirabel declared resolutely.
xxx
10 years ago...
Julieta put on a brave face in the aftermath of her daughter's failed gift ceremony. She could not let Mirabel see how upset she was. Now that the family had retreated to bed, the Casita was deathly silent. She sat at the kitchen table, sobbing and eating leftover arepas. She knew they would do nothing to numb the pain and helplessness she was feeling, but she did not know what else to do. When the last one had been consumed, she wiped her eyes and started heading back to bed.
She turned towards the back stairs and instantly jumped as she noticed a figure tiptoeing down them.
"Julieta?" her brother whispered, sounding just as startled as she was. "What are you doing up?"
"Would you be surprised if I told you I couldn't sleep?"
Bruno glanced towards the nursery. "Well, no... I guess not..."
As her brother hesitated, Julieta's eyes fell on the large bag he was holding and the books he had clutched to his chest.
"You're... leaving, aren't you?" she gasped.
"Julieta, please...shhh.." He started down the stairs towards her. "Dolores..."
"It's almost three in the morning. She's asleep," Julieta remarked. She looked again at her brother's bag. "Besides, I should wake the whole Casita. Right now."
"No no.. please, you've got to let me go. Trust me, this is important," Bruno pleaded.
Julieta knew in her gut that he was serious, but she did not understand why he would be so determined to leave.
"Is this because Mamá asked you to have a vision?" she tried. When he did not deny it, she assumed that must be the case and continued, "If you don't want to, then we can say you tried, and it didn't work... I'll come with you."
"Actually I—"
"We'll say you've lost your gift... or... Or maybe we just try to make her understand how hard it is for you... How hard it's always been. Maybe if she can see things from your—"
"Julieta!"
She stopped to let Bruno speak.
"I had the vision!"
Julieta clasped her hands to her mouth.
"I had the vision," he repeated, "I don't know why any of you thought I wouldn't."
"You... you did? Then that's great. What did you see? We should go and get it right now," she said, tugging at his arm.
"No... we can't. Because I've destroyed it. Just let me leave, please. I have to go." Bruno shook his arm free, almost dropping a book.
"You destroyed it? Why? What did you see, Bruno?" she tried again.
Bruno did not answer but simply brushed past her and marched quickly towards the front door of the Casita. Julieta hurried after him. The reality of the situation had become starkly apparent. She knew her brother intended to leave, but she could not allow that to happen. In desperation, she tried to hug him, hoping his love for her would convince him to stay, but he immediately shrugged her off.
"I'm sorry, I can't. You have to trust me. Let me leave," he pleaded again. He sounded desperate. Julieta always knew when her brother was scared, and he was terrified.
"Your place is here, with us, Bruno!" Julieta said, trying a different tactic.
It at least made him slow down.
"No, it's not. I haven't belonged here for a long time, and you know it. Mamá is ashamed of me, and Pepa can't even look at me anymore."
"Mamá loves you."
"Loves me? Who do you think told me to leave?"
"What?" Julieta did not believe that.
"She said if I didn't have a vision, I'd have no place in this family."
"If you didn't have a vision... but you did..." She paused for a second, reminded of the vision. "What did it say, Bruno? Why won't you just tell me?"
"It said..." He hesitated. "It said I have to leave the Encanto. That's what it said."
Bruno suddenly bolted for the lobby and made it through the front door before Julieta could stop him.
"Casita, please!" he ordered, and the wood of the front door quickly rearranged to create a barrier and prevent Julieta from coming after him. "See," he remarked flatly, "Even Casita wants me to go."
All Julieta could do was watch as her dear brother disappeared into the darkness at a run without a single glance back. The door returned to its usual form, and she collapsed to the floor. She had been holding back tears all night, and she could do nothing to stop them now. Her brother would not be coming home.
