STORY SUMMARY: 10-year-old Mirabel Madrigal has had enough being pushed aside in her family and plans to run away. She ends up finding Bruno and when the events of the movie start, the pair has to figure out how to save the miracle from behind the scenes.


ENCANTO: The Walls Between Us

Mirabel Madrigal should have been excited at the prospect of having a new cousin in the family, but she wasn't.

Once her Tia Pepa announced the new pregnancy, the rest of the family began working itself into a tizzy and what little attention Mirabel used to receive vanished faster than a plate of arepas in front of her primo, Camilo.

Sitting alone in the nursery, Mirabel didn't even bother holding her tears back as she looked about the small room. No one ever bothered to see if she was alright anyway and these days, no one ever seemed to hear her when she cried.

As the sun set and she heard everyone head off to their own rooms for the night, Mirabel stuffed a few things in the shoulder bag her mother had given her for her last birthday and sniffled as she considered what she was about to do.

She didn't belong in this family, not without a Gift. Maybe out in the encanto, someone would be willing to take her in... give her a real home... Someone who would love her even though she was 'normal'.

When the house seemed to ask her where she was going as she quietly opened the door, Mirabel closed it, replying. "I can't stay here, casita. It's only going to get worse once the new baby arrives. I'm tired of being a stranger in my own family."

The shutters waved sadly, and Mirabel sniffled as she whispered, "I'll miss you, too."

Slipping out the door and creeping down the hall, Mirabel had nearly reached the stairs when the portrait near Dolores's room creaked open ever so slightly.

Letting out a tiny gasp, Mirabel cautiously approached the portrait and after a moment, she peeked around it, her eyes wide as she saw a large hole in the wall giving her a view of the interior of the house.

She started to close the portrait but when she heard footsteps downstairs, she ducked into the wall space, closing the portrait behind her.

The dark wall space was scary, but Mirabel kept making her way along the narrow corridors, occasionally touching the walls which looked like they'd been patched and spackled by someone, and fairly recently.

Hearing a faint squeaking sound nearby followed by someone talking softly, Mirabel froze, wondering if she was about to be caught. And yet... the voice didn't sound like her father or Tio Felix. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she pressed on, stopping dead as she came across a hooded figure kneeling on the ground, feeding a group of rats.

Taking a step backwards, Mirabel let out a sharp gasp as the floorboards creaked loudly, drawing the figure's attention to her. Backing away slowly, ready to bolt if the stranger moved to hurt her, Mirabel stopped when the figure whispered her name.

"Mirabel? Is that you? What are you doing back here?" The figure asked as he straightened up, pulling back the hood of his ruana,

Running towards her Tio Bruno, Mirabel launched herself at him, hugging him tightly and crying as she wailed, softly, "I couldn't take it anymore, Tio! Please don't make me go back!"

x

In a surprisingly cozy room off of the wall space passageways, Mirabel found herself sniffling as she sat on her tio's knee, pouring out everything that had happened the 5 years he'd been 'gone'.

When she'd finished, Bruno didn't chastise her for running away, but rather pulled her into a hug, the worn fabric of his ruana soaking up the tears she continued to shed.

"You hungry?" Bruno asked, gently, as Mirabel finally seemed to calm down a bit. Picking up an arepa from the makeshift table next to his armchair, he held it up with a grin. "I always keep a few snacks around."

Mirabel nodded silently, eating part of the arepa before she gave the other half back. "You need it more than me," she observed, noticing how much thinner her tio looked as compared to the last time she'd seen him.

"I'll save it for later," Bruno promised, a reassuring look on his face. Unsure of what to do about Mirabel's confession and her finding him, he tried to think of a plan. Telling Mirabel that she had to go back wasn't an option at the moment. He knew his sobrina all too well and if he sent her away, she actually would leave the house and if someone in town saw her, they'd tell Abuela and then-

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Knock on wood," Bruno muttered, calming himself by knocking on the wooden crates he used as a table. Eying Mirabel who was now looking at him with concern, he let out a sigh. "I don't know if it's really all that safe for you to stay back here," he began, choosing his words carefully. "You saw the cracks, right?" When Mirabel nodded in confirmation, he went on. "I don't want you to get hurt. And-And there's parts of the floorboards that are cracked and broken..."

"I can help you fix them," Mirabel offered, eagerly.

"It's also kind of boring back here," Bruno added, gesturing to his shabby abode. "I-I-I mean, I-I have a few books... And-And sometimes I do little productions with the rats..."

"Really?" Mirabel asked, her face lighting up a bit. "Can you show me?"

The young girl's enthusiasm was infectious, and Bruno had never been able to resist a request from Mirabel. With a grin, he watched her slide off his knee as he stood, going over to the small stage he'd built and picked up the backdrops on top before clicking his tongue at a few of the rats. "Who wants to put on a show for Mirabel?" he asked his little friends.

While helping his rats play the scene, doing different voices for each of the small rodents, Bruno felt a surge of happiness as he watched Mirabel giggle at the rats' 'acting'. When it was over, she looked up at him, wondering, "Is there more?"

"I, uh... I-I haven't finished writing it yet," Bruno replied, shrugging a bit.

After an awkward silence, Mirabel frowned slightly as she wanted to know, "Tio Bruno... why did you go away?"

Bruno seemed to physically deflate as he studied Mirabel, trying to think of anything he could tell her other than the truth. "My, uh... My-My Gift wasn't helping the family," he finally replied, timidly. "But... But-But I love my family... you know? I just didn't know how to... I-I mean, I always just-just seemed to..."

"To be in the way..." Mirabel whispered, sadly, her small voice full of understanding. Curling up in her tio's battered armchair, she let out a sigh as she nodded. "That's why I had to leave. I don't have a place in the family without a useful Gift."

Before Bruno could say anything else, he gave the child a sad smile as he watched her close her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly. Pulling off his ruana and tucking it around her, bunching up part of it so that it doubled as a thin pillow, he went around the room, extinguishing the lit candles before going to the old mattress in one corner of the room, flopping down and grabbing a blanket before getting some sleep as well.

X

Bruno woke very early the following morning to urgent voices coming from the kitchen. Silently getting up and moving to the crack in the wall that allowed him a view of the dining room and part of the kitchen, he watched as his sister and brother-in-law discussed Mirabel's disappearance.

"I saw her go up to her room last night," Agustin assured his wife, trying to remain calm, even though Bruno could see the nervousness in his eyes.

Julieta was clearly worried, talking about how she'd already checked Luisa's room and asked Isabela if she'd seen her little sister.

"What is going on?" Abuela Alma asked, looking annoyed. "It's not even sunrise yet. Why are the two of you awake so early?"

"Mirabel is missing," Julieta informed her mother. "I was awake, and I looked in her room to check on her, but she was gone."

Abuela seemed a bit dismissive of her daughter's worried as she began making coffee. "She's probably having a tantrum in the house somewhere because she's not getting any attention."

"Mama!" Julieta's voice came across as harsh as a physical slap. "Mirabel is your granddaughter! Gift or no Gift, she is still a part of this family!"

"She's constantly in the way when the rest of the family is trying to do their chores!" Abuela retorted. "Mirabel is always getting underfoot."

"She's trying to be helpful!" Julieta snapped.

Bruno's heart clenched just like his sister's fists and his eyes widened as he realized that she was willing to strike her own mother if pushed much further.

"Mirabel loves this family," Agustin cut in, trying to act as a mediator. Turning to Abuela, he frowned a bit as he said, "She just wants to do her part like everyone else, even without a Gift," he added, pointedly.

There was a flicker of challenge in Abuela's face, as though she longed to make another comment about Mirabel, but she stopped as she took in the fiery anger in her daughter's eyes and backed off. Without another word, she turned and headed out towards the patio, a cup of coffee in her hand.

Pulling away from the wall and turning towards Mirabel who had, thankfully, slept through the noise, Bruno felt even more conflicted on what to do.

Sending Mirabel back would build up Abuela's distaste for her own granddaughter.

Allowing Mirabel to stay would make Julieta believe that her youngest daughter was gone, much like he was, breaking his sister's heart.

Coming out of hiding with Mirabel would bring discussions of the vision he'd had after Mirabel didn't get her Gift and he and Mirabel could both end up being outcasts in the family.

Sitting at the small table and touching the 'plate' he'd drawn there some time ago, Bruno felt tears welling up in his eyes as he tried to figure out what the best thing to do was.

'That's easy,' he realized with a swell of sadness as he looked over at the sleeping child. 'I hid back here to protect Mirabel. I made a 'home' behind the walls because it was what was best for her.' Standing up and making sure Mirabel was still tucked in properly, he whispered, "Welcome home, Mirabel."


5 Years Later...

Bruno woke to the aromas of cold-brewed coffee and leftover arepas. Stretching to undo the knots in his back from sleeping in his armchair, he smiled as he saw Mirabel placing breakfast on the small table by the wall. "You're up early," Bruno observed as he joined his sobrina, chewing a bite of arepa. Giving her a raised eyebrow, he inquired, "What were you up to?"

Mirabel hastily scarfed her own breakfast before she replied, "I left Antonio's present under his bed. He's so worried he won't get a Gift," she explained, simply.

"No one saw you, right?" Bruno worried, pausing before taking another sip of his coffee.

With a mischievous grin, Mirabel pulled down the hood of the blue ruana she wore, changing her voice to a soft, whispering lilt as she spoke. "I am Mariposa. I am seldom heard and even more rarely seen."

Bruno couldn't help but laugh as he tore the last arepa in half, offering Mirabel the smaller piece, knowing that she would refuse to take larger portion. "As long as you're careful, Butterfly."

Pushing the hood back, Mirabel nodded at the door to the room as she noted, "No new cracks. That makes three months now since any have shown up."

"That's good news," Bruno agreed, eyeing Mirabel with a critical eye. "How are you doing, Mira?"

Sharing her last bite of arepa with a few of the rats that joined them at the table, Mirabel didn't bother trying to hide how she felt about Antonio's Gift ceremony that night. It had been one of the more refreshing aspects of moving in with her tio: she never had to hide her feelings from him or pretend that she was alright when she really wasn't. More than that, though, Bruno really listened to her, never judging or trying to get her to see the situation though a different lens. He gave her more consideration and respect than anyone else in the family ever had.

"I don't know," Mirabel confessed after a moment or two of contemplation, shrugging as she replied. "I mean, I hope Antonio gets some amazing Gift that makes him happy. I just... I don't want..." There was a choke in her voice as she whispered, "What if it doesn't work? What if Antonio ends up like...?"

Putting a comforting hand on Mirabel's forearm, Bruno gave her a reassuring smile. "You are kind...compassionate... funny. If Antonio ends up like you, would that really be so bad?"

"You mean being pushed aside and ignored because he doesn't have a Gift?" Mirabel pointed out. "Even 5 years of feeling like I was... It would break my heart if the family treated him like they did me... or you."

Bruno looked away, his eyes going to the two 'plates' drawn on the table. One was decorated in green with leaves and hourglasses-his-and the other-Mirabel's-had blue butterflies.

"You said we'd talk about the real reason why you left," Mirabel reminded Bruno after a while. When he looked up at her quickly, she closed her eyes for a moment, giving a slight shake of her head. "It doesn't have to be today, but... you did promise, Tio Bruno."

"I-I know," Bruno nodded, remembering the conversation a few months after Mirabel had 'moved in'. "And I will tell you. It's just... I'm scared."

"Scared of what?" Mirabel inquired, looking puzzled.

Bruno's look was one of deep conflict and worry as he replied, "I'm scared that... when I tell you... you'll hate me."

X

As Julieta worked on preparing the food for Antonio's party that night, she couldn't shake the melancholy she felt as she thought about the last time she'd seen her daughter, Mirabel.

Her daughter had tried to help with making dinner, but Abuela had shooed her off, telling her to set the table instead.

All through dinner, Mirabel had looked lost as she ate lightly before disappearing from the table without waiting to be excused.

The next few weeks had been a literal and figurative storm as Julieta had raged at her mother, even threatening to pack up Isabela and Luisa and leave the casita to live on their own on the other side of the encanto.

Pepa had sided with her sister, claiming that their mother's attitude was what had driven off Mirabel and Bruno and that Abuela cared more about the Gifts and the magic than she did her family.

Although that statement had shocked Abuela a bit, it was Isabela who had shaken the family matriarch the most.

Being the firstborn grandchild, Isabela had always been Abuela's favorite, especially after she'd gotten her Gift. And while Isa hadn't gotten along with Mirabel after her little sister's door had vanished, news of Mirabel's disappearance had caused a full attitude turn-around.

Isabela began to rebel against her grandmother, refusing to be Senorita Perfecta and even calling Abuela a few choice names that Julieta was sure she'd learned from her Tio Felix.

Luisa had followed suit, stating firmly that she was tired of doing so much literal heavy lifting because of her strength.

As the battle of the Madrigal family continued, Pepa's thunderstorms had nearly morphed into a hurricane, and it was only the combined efforts of her husband and son that kept her from going over the edge.

In the end, although Abuela refused to admit her own culpability in Mirabel and Bruno's departures from the family, she had eased up ever so slightly. Although Julieta had no illusions that it was done to appease her family. More than likely, Abuela had done so to keep her daughters and grandchildren from leaving.

"Tia Julieta?"

Turning to see Dolores come into the kitchen, Julieta gave her sobrina a smile, nodding at the ingredients that needed to be prepped. "Did you want to help me cook?"

Dolores beamed as she joined in on the work, the pair chopping, slicing, grilling, mincing away as they discussed Antonio's Gift ceremony.

As though she could hear her tia's thoughts, Dolores murmured, "You're thinking about Mirabel, aren't you?"

"There's not a moment of the day I don't miss her," Julieta replied, sadly. "All I can do is... is hope that wherever she is... she's safe... happy..." There was a choke in her voice as she added, "...loved."

Stiffening ever so slightly, Dolores hugged Julieta as she mused, "I'm sure she is. And I'm sure that, when the time is right... she'll come back... They both will."

Pulling away and wiping tears from her eyes, Julieta threw herself into prepwork, praying that Dolores was right.