Julieta stared out at what had once been her home, for the most part the rubble had all been cleared away in the past week, and tomorrow they would start building, even as she watched she could see her hermano pouring out an outline with a bag of sand. For the most part the house would be the same as before, just without being magical. Except for a few changes that Abuela had insisted on. All doorways on the main floor had to be a certain width so that it would be easier for Mirabel to move around. The bathroom had to be bigger with special railings for Mirabel so that she could at least have some independence in there. They also added a bedroom for her. It had even been Abuela who had suggested lowering the sink in the kitchen so that Mirabel would be able to do the dishes as that was something she often did to help out her mother.
Her mother was trying her best to make things right, so Julieta felt like it was only right for her to meet her half way, which was why she was here, at Casita, over seeing the lay out of the kitchen. Even without her gift she was the best cook in the family, and therefore would be spending a bit of time cooking for the family of twelve.
"I'm surprised to see you here," Mariano announced, sidling up beside her, "You've hardly left Mirabel's side since the quake."
"Mama's sitting with her, she wanted me to come down here and have a say in the kitchen layout."
Mariano raised an eyebrow, "Really, I know she's trying hard to make things up, but is it really wise to leave her alone with Mirabel, What if she wakes up. She's scared of Senora Madrigal. Everybody knows that."
Julieta frowned, "I've never heard about that, are you sure?"
"Mira's always been good at hiding it, but if you pay attention, she was always so careful, always walking on eggshells around her, and when she's in town, she'll purposely go the long way around to avoid walking past her if possible."
Julieta blinked, actually it made sense, why Mirabel had always seemed nervous when Abuela entered the room. How she always found a reason to go somewhere else if she found herself in a room alone with her grandmother. Had she hurt Mirabel? Was that why she had been so afraid of her? "I should have known this," she muttered, "Bruno probably knew, he's been living in the walls for ten years and he know more about what is going on with my daughters than I do. I better make sure that everything is okay." Julieta said, turning around and rushing away, towards the church.
…
Abuela shifted in the hard back chair that was sat next to the camp cot, where her youngest granddaughter laid perfectly still. She still hadn't woke up, despite it having been a week since the earthquake. They were all quite worried now that she wouldn't wake up now. Something that Julieta fretted about constantly. She hadn't left her daughter's side since that first night. In fact she and Agustin had practically had to drag her over to Casita, insisting that she had to help with the layout of the kitchen since she spent the most time there. She simply had to get out into the fresh air, even if it was just for a couple of hours.
She smoothed the blanket draped over Mirabel, "abre los ojos," she pleaded, "Open your eyes," she was mostly talking to fill the silence. Therefore, she was taken by surprised when Mirabel groaned at the contact, her head rolling slightly towards her.
She sat up straighter, scooting to the edge of her seat, "Dolores, fetch your Tia, I think Mirabel is waking up," she announced, before pausing. The miracle was gone, the gifts were gone, that was the whole reason that they were in this mess in the first place. Dolores couldn't hear her.
She glanced at Mirabel, who's eyes started to flicker, she really was starting to wake up. She needed to get Julieta, but she also couldn't leave Mirabel to wake up on her own either. Did she have enough time to at least grab someone's attention outside. Would there even be someone hanging out in front of the church on a Tuesday?
Mirabel let out another groan, eyes flickering even more as she continued to slowly come too. Abuela knew that she had to do something. She quickly stood up, "I'll be right back Mira," she insisted as she rushed over to the front door.
"Excuse me," she called out as she opened the door, grateful to see that Jose was walking past, "Jose, can you find Julieta for me, tell her that Mirabel is waking up."
"Si," Jose said, dashing off towards Casita.
Abuela nodded her head, satisfied that Jose would bring Julieta over quickly, and turned back into the room.
She found Mirabel laying still in the bed, squinting her eyes up at the ceiling, "This isn't Casita," she said softly.
"No it isn't," Abuela agreed, sitting back down on her chair, "You gave us all quite a scare, Senorita."
"No, Por Favor," she suddenly cried out, "I hurt, I want an arepa, please don't yell at me. I'm not lazy. It hurts, it hurts so bad!" Mirabel was sobbing now, "Please, just don't yell at me. I'm sorry if I made a scene. I'm sorry if I distracted Mama. Please, just let me eat an arepa and I'll do my chores. I'll do extra chores if you want me to. I'll go to bed without Cena, but please let me have an arepa now. I hurt so much. Duele mucho."
Abuela felt a stinging in her eyes at her youngest granddaughter pleading for her to not yell at her, to punish her anyway she wanted, as long as she was allowed an arepa now. She was in tears, sobbing, and she wasn't sure what she could do to make her feel better. Every time she placed a hand on her to comfort her, she would only cry harder.
"Mama?" Julieta asked, sliding next to her mother.
"I don't know," Abuela insisted, "She woke up and just started pleading for an arepa. She seems to think that I'll punish her by denying her one."
"Mama," Julieta insisted, "I think it will be in Mirabel's best interest if you just leave."
Abuela gave her daughter a sad look.
"Please Mama, she's scared, hurting and confused, and you being here is only making it worse."
"I only punished her when she deserved it."
"For causing a scene and distracting me?" Julieta asked, "Mama, from now on, if one of my hijas needs discipline, please come to me about it."
"I've only punished her for things she should know better than to do!"
"Distracting me because she was injured? For causing a scene because others noticed she was injured? No wonder Mirabel is scared of you."
"She's scared of me, but why?"
"I don't know why, but apparently she's so determined to avoid you around town that the villagers have noticed."
"I'm sure that this is all just an overreaction on her part. She has no reason to be afraid of me."
"Maybe not, but the fact is she is afraid of you, and at the moment you are more of a hindrance than a help."
…
Mirabel squinted, she could hear her mama and abuela talking, arguing even, but that wasn't new, and she really couldn't tell what exactly they were arguing about, but she could hear how upset both of them where. If Mama was there, why wasn't she giving her something to eat. Was Abuela going to stop her mama from helping her?
"If you really think that it will be for the best," Abuela was saying, letting out a sigh, "I will go check on Casita."
"That's all I'm asking," Julieta insisted, nudging her mother out of her chair, before taking her place, leaning over her daughter, who blinked up at her. Her brown eyes squinting as she tried to make out her mother's features.
"Mama?" Mirabel muttered, holding up her hand, wincing slightly as she did so, before dropping it back onto the bed.
"Are you hurting badly?" Julieta asked, gently cupping her cheek.
"Si," Mirabel insisted, "Can I have an arepa?"
Julieta sighed, stroking Mirabel's cheek softly, "I wish you could, but…"
"Abuela said I couldn't have one," Mirqabel whispered softly, "Didn't she? I wasn't fighting I promise."
"No, we know you weren't fighting. I would gladly give you an arepa if I could but…" Julieta trailed off, "Mira, what do you remember?"
"The ground was shaking, trees were falling everywhere. I was running…" Mirabel trailed off, "Mama why can't I have an arepa?"
"It won't help like you think it will," Julieta insisted, "Mira, the candle went out, our gifts are gone. I can't heal you with a meal like I normally could."
"The MIracle went out?" Mirabel repeated, "But… no… I left… to protect the miracle. It couldn't have gone out."
"No, Mirabel, you leaving didn't protect the miracle, it made things worse, Casita collapsed, that's why we're staying in the church."
"Casita collapsed? Mama, Tio Bruno!"
"Is perfectly fine, Casita got everyone out. He even had a vision before the miracle went out. That's how we found you, he saw you getting crushed by a tree. Dolores, Luisa and Isabela found you."
"Isa? But she told me that she hated me."
Julieta paused, wondering how she was suppose to say to that when the door to the church slammed open, and a familiar voice called out, "Mama, Jose told me that Mirabel is awake. Is it true?"
"Si," Julieta announced, holding her arm out to her oldest, who quickly rushed over, throwing her arms around her sister.
"I thought you were going to die, you've been asleep for so long," Isabela announced.
Mirabel blinked as there was a sudden blur of black and dark green flinging itself on top of her, talking to her in Isabela's voice, "Isabela?" she asked confused. She remembered her telling her that she hated her very clearly, so why was she sobbing into her as if her heart was breaking.
"Don't ever scare me like that again," Isabela insisted, grabbing her by the shoulders, "You hear me! Never again."
"But…" Mirabel started.
"No," Isabela insisted, "I don't hate you. I was upset, I said something mean, I'm sorry. I love you. You don't know how upset I was when Tio Bruno revealed his vision to us."
"The one about me destroying Casita?"
"No, the one about you getting crushed by a tree. When we found you, I honestly thought you were dead. It was horrible Mira, horrible. And then we got you home and you wouldn't wake up and then Mama told us that you would never walk again and if I had been nicer to you then you wouldn't have ran away, and if you hadn't ran away, you wouldn't have been crushed by a tree and if you haven't been crushed by the tree you could still walk, and it's all my fault."
Mirabel wasn't listening, the phase "Never walk again" echoed over and over again in her mind, what was Isabela talking about, "Never walk again". Her legs weren't even hurt, like the rest of her body, which didn't make much sense because the rest of her body hurt so bad and it was like she couldn't feel her legs at all. It was nice knowing that there was a part of her that didn't hurt. You would think that being crushed by a tree would have caused pain throughout the body. Not just the upper half.
"It's all my fault," Isabela repeated herself.
"What do you mean, 'Never walk again'?" Mirabel asked, glancing over at her mother.
"You haven't told her?" Isabela asked, horrified, "I'm so sorry Mama, I assumed you told her what was going on. I didn't mean…"
"It's okay Isa, the damage is done, and I needed to tell her anyways."
"Tell me what?" Mirabel demanded.
"Mirabel, when the tree fell on you, it caused a lot of damage to your back and spinal cord, as far as I can tell you are paralyzed from the waist down. I'm sorry baby girl, there's nothing we can do, even if I had my gift. Some things are just beyond my control."