This story is going to get very, very intense. Please keep an eye out for the trigger warnings for certain chapters.
"Mirabel, the house is going to fall!"
"Mirabel, get out!"
Mirabel could hear the pained voices of her family begging her to get out of the house, but she was determined to save the candle. It was shrinking down into almost nothing, but she could save it. She had to save it. She couldn't let her abuelo's sacrifice be for nothing. She was telling herself that if she was able to save it, maybe it would go back to normal and the house could somehow be saved. She had to save the miracle. She couldn't let Tio Bruno's vision come true.
She reached out as far as she could and was able to grab the candle. She looked at it, relieved for a moment, but looked up to see the house continue to crash around her. She started to slide down the roof, and was surprised when Casita built a little slide so she could fall gently to the floor. She still landed with a thud.
Mirabel looked up at the house falling in on her. Anyone else would wrap their arms around their head and shield themselves. Instead, Mirabel found herself shielding the candle as everything came crashing down. She thought, this is it. I'm about to die saving the miracle. It will be just like Abuelo Pedro. He was killed and that's how they got the miracle. Maybe the same thing could happen this time.
Instead, Casita pulled doors together and shielded her. Mirabel couldn't believe it.
Her ears were ringing as everything crashed around her.
Then, everything was silent. Mirabel looked up, breathing heavily, hoping, praying for the candle to be okay.
Mirabel looked down at the candle. Suddenly, it went out.
She gasped. "No." she whispered and then looked up to see Casita waving at her one last time before the doors fell to the ground.
She looked back down at the candle as tears started to roll down her cheeks. How could she let this happen? She was frozen in place, unable to move. She was staring at the burned-out candle, thinking, what do I do now? How do we move on from this?
"Mirabel!"
Mirabel knew someone was calling her name, but she couldn't make out who it was. Her ears were still ringing. Is this how Dolores felt all the time? Did her ears constantly ring, because of the never-ending noise?
"Mirabel, are you hurt?" Mirabel was still looking at the ground when her mom walked up to her, placing one hand on her cheek and the other hand on her chin and gently lifting her face. Mirabel slowly shook her head. Julieta barely recognized her daughter. It was like something inside of her was dead. "Mirabel…"
"Julieta, come quick! Julieta!"
Julieta glanced back, seeing Pepa desperately calling for her. She looked back at Mirabel. "Don't move. I'll be right back." Julieta ran off, intending on coming right back to Mirabel within just a minute. She'd make sure her sister was okay and that no one else was hurt, but then she'd go right back to her daughter. She needed her more than anything right now.
Mirabel looked around at her poor family. Antonio was crying. Their gifts were gone. Everyone was wondering what in the world they were going to do now that they didn't have their gifts. It was all they had ever known. She heard Camilo say, "What about Antonio? What is he going to do?"
Mirabel closed her eyes for a moment, wishing more than anything she could disappear. Her family didn't deserve this. She wanted so desperately to fit in with her magical family and she wanted so desperately for Abuela to actually see her, but instead, she destroyed their family in the process.
Mirabel had to get out of there. She put the remains of the candle down, turned around, and left the wreckage of Casita behind.
Julieta grabbed a bottle of medicine to take back to her daughter. She turned to where she had left her, but Mirabel was gone. "Mirabel. Mirabel! Where is Mirabel? Where is she? Mirabel!" The whole family immediately pitched in, hoping to find her.
Mirabel walked through the split mountain, barely hearing the voices of her family searching for her, but she kept going with tears streaming down her face. She never meant to hurt her family. She just wanted to be something she would never be. They would be better off without her.
Mirabel finally came across a gorgeous river. Something about it seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. She sat down on a large rock, staring at the running water as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. She didn't know what her plan was, but she knew she didn't want to go back home any time soon.
Who was she kidding? She didn't have a home anymore.
Mirabel pulled her knees up to her chest, folded her arms on top of her knees, and laid her head down and cried. She stayed on that rock and cried as the light of the day disappeared.
Mirabel was still sobbing when she heard someone walk up next to her. She turned her face away, thinking it was someone in her family. She didn't want to talk to anyone in her family. She still felt so guilty and ashamed about what happened. "Mirabel, are you okay?"
She looked up to see the familiar face of Rafael Gonzalez. He had dark brown, almost black hair, brown eyes, and facial hair. He was a man that lived in the Encanto, who was about the same age as her parents. She had known him for as long as she could remember. He didn't have one specific job; he could usually be found doing any of the odd jobs around the village, helping out however he could. He wasn't married, didn't have any kids, and his parents had already passed away. "Oh, hi Mr. Gonzalez. What are you doing out here?"
He motioned to sit down and she nodded, scooting over to give him room. "I was out walking and I saw your house fall and then I saw you come this way. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Thank you." Mirabel wiped her face. "But to answer your question, I'm not okay."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Mr. Gonzalez was always very kind to Mirabel and her family. Some of the odd jobs he would do were ones Abuela gave him to do and he would happily do them. Mirabel saw him frequently and he was always so nice and talkative. Mirabel felt comfortable talking to him now. "I ruined everything." Mirabel looked down as more tears filled her eyes.
"What do you mean you ruined everything?"
"Casita falling. It's my fault."
"How could that be your fault?"
Mirabel didn't really know how to start. She also didn't want to give him the whole rundown of what happened with the cracks. "It just is. I've always been known as 'The Gift-less Madrigal' and I was…trying to be something I'm not. I was trying to bring my family together and help them, but I ended up hurting them more." She looked back down. "I don't know…how I'm supposed to move on from this. I don't know what to do."
"Why did you run away?"
"I had to get away from it. I couldn't hurt my family anymore."
"You really love your family, don't you?"
"Of course." said Mirabel without skipping a beat. "I love my whole family more than anything in this world. I can't hurt them anymore."
"Then that will make this next part easy."
Mirabel looked up, confused, about to ask him what he meant by that, but before she could, a very large and very sharp knife was up against her neck. Her breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening. Her heart suddenly started beating hard and fast in her chest and in her ears. The cold blade was right up against her throat and she didn't know what to think. Her mind was blank. What was he doing?
He was suddenly whispering in her ear and his hot breath was enough to make Mirabel want to crawl in a hole and die. "You're going to get up and follow me to my house. Do you understand?"
She was shaking and breathing heavily, terrified out of her mind. Very slowly, she nodded. What was happening? Why was he doing this? None of this made any sense.
"If you so much as make a sound or try to escape, I will kill you and I will kill your entire family. Do you understand me?"
Here he was with a knife up against her neck and if she so much as moved an inch forward, it would be slicing her open. She had no reason to not believe his words. She had to protect her family. She had to go with him. Still shaking uncontrollably, she slowly nodded. She said, barely above a whisper, "I understand." She hated herself for making Casita crumble and her family losing her gifts. Under normal circumstances, Dolores would be able to hear her right now and possibly save her.
"I don't care if you hear your family calling for you. You keep going. Got it?"
She shut her eyes tight, wishing more than anything she could be in her mama's arms. If she hadn't run away, she could be in her mama's arms at that very second. This was all her fault. She could have prevented this. "Yes."
He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. He kept his hand on her arm with the knife in her back. She could feel the sharp blade and if he pressed in at all, he'd be stabbing her. She was trying to stay upright, to keep going, but her clumsy-self kept tripping over branches and rocks. Finally, Mr. Gonzalez turned her around, putting the knife back to her neck. "Get it together, do you hear me?"
Tears blurred her vision as she nodded. "I'm sorry. I'll do better."
"Good." He turned her back around, placed the knife against her back, and they kept walking.
As they walked, it was pitch black outside. She wondered if her family was searching for her and just then, she could hear them yelling for her in the distance. She gasped, thinking that maybe she could be saved. Please, God, please, let her be saved. Mr. Gonzales pressed the blade into her back and she gasped again from the pain. He didn't go very deep, but it was enough to draw blood. "Stay. Completely. Silent. You want to protect your family, don't you?"
She bit her lip as tears fell down her cheeks. She'd do anything for her family. "Yes." She could feel the trickle of blood going down her back.
"Good."
He pulled the blade away and they kept going.
It took them a good amount of time to get to his house. Mirabel knew how to get there. She had never been in it, but she knew where it was and what it looked like. It was on the edge of the village with the back of his house facing the forest. As they walked, they'd have to quickly move out of the way of sight of family members still looking for her. She wanted more than anything for one of them to notice her. That was her only chance. She knew once she was in his house, that would be it. He would kill her. Or worse…
She could see his house. She knew this was her last chance. Gathering up every ounce of courage she had, she turned to Mr. Gonzalez. "My family will find out about this and trust me, things won't end good for you." Her voice was shaking, but she took a quick deep breath to calm herself down. "The Encanto is not that big. They will find out you took me. When they don't find me, they'll go to all the homes. Do you really think you're going to get away with this?"
He smiled at her, but it was a sick, disgusting, creepy smile that made her want to puke. He leaned in. "I've fooled them and you this whole time. Do you honestly think they'll believe for one second that I'm the one who took you? They won't find you and will assume you just ran away. I've already successfully taken you. We're less than 10 feet away from my home where you will never see the light of day again."
He forcefully turned her around, putting the knife to her back, and they walked the last few steps to his house. He opened the door, pushed her in, and closed the door. He clearly planned for this, because his door could only be unlocked with a key. He put the key in his pocket.
Mirabel took a second to observe her surroundings. She scrunched up her nose. His house was filthy with visible dirt all over the place and random stuff all over the floor, couch, and chairs. He grabbed her arm and led her further in. The front door went right into the living room and then it went into a small kitchen. The kitchen was also filthy and stuff piled on the counters and kitchen table. There was a hallway with only one bedroom and one bathroom.
"Your first task? You are going to clean this entire house. I want it spotless, top to bottom. Stuff to clean is under the sink in the kitchen. Broom is in the kitchen."
This was not a fun task and Mirabel wasn't looking forward to it. But it was better than what she thought was going to happen. She was still terrified and had tears in her eyes, but she took a deep breath and went to the cabinet under the sink to get started. As she did this, she could hear voices yelling her name outside. It sounded like Tio Felix.
It was in this moment that Mirabel knew she had one goal. No matter how long she was here, she would keep this goal in the back of her mind and do everything she could to achieve it. It was the only way.
Keep herself and her family alive.