Bruno was thoughtful as he headed into his room. It seemed like Claudia had some sort of trauma, that much was certain. Though from the Rojas or the orphanage was to be seen. Everyone knew about where she had come from. Andres Rojas had gotten past the mountains fifteen years ago and came back with a little girl. She was the talk of the town. Curly black hair, bright purple eyes and skinny as a skeleton at the time. He had heard his mother whispering about it.

"If he can get past the mountains, it means that they could find us again. That girl could be one of them!"

The adults panicked for a few months. Apparently they were all scared of something beyond those mountains. Whatever it was had killed his father, so honestly Bruno had been worried too.

As he walked into his room the first thing he noticed was quiet giggling. Then he saw Claudia watching two of his mice "dance". They weren't the best but they did hold paws and sway pretty well.

"I actually taught them that," Claudia jumped,"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you. Heh. I just was saying," as he bent down next to her,"they got those killer dance moves from me. Of course I tried to teach them the salsa, but the footwork was uh too tricky. So I stuck with a simple sway."

"But why did you teach them to dance in the first place?"

"Wellllllllll."

Bruno didn't want to admit that they made his telenovelas more romantic, but he couldn't think of a good excuse, so-

"It improves the telenovelas?"

Claudia giggled as she stood. "So you DO make them do telenovelas. Pepa mentioned that earlier. "

"Speaking of earlier, are you ok? My sisters told me-"

"I'm fine….I'm good…..I'm tired."

"Oh, if you need a nap I can-"

"Emotionally tired," she clarified, "I don't do well with things breaking, especially when I break them. It kinda scares me."

"I'm scared of turtles," Bruno suddenly said.

"What?"

"Ya know those reptiles with shells-"

"No, I know what turtles are, but why are you scared of them?"

"Oh cause one uh bit me as a kid and they're these moving fortresses and- Well the point is we're all afraid of things and if you wanna talk about it, I'm here." Bruno gave a small thumbs up.

"Thanks it means a lot, but I'm not quite comfortable with it yet-"

"That's fine!"

"-but I would like to know about this telenovela of yours," Claudia said with a smile.

Bruno brightened up.

"Oh of course. So we're on season two, cause season one just wrapped up and anyways Juan Carlos just learned that Maria, his wife, is actually his long lost sister who disappeared in a hot air balloon five years prior. Except, surprise, she has amnesia."

They stayed like that for a bit. Bruno explained a complex storyline with twists and turns. Meanwhile Claudia asked occasional questions so she understood the plot.

"-And that's the entire story so far."

Claudia brushed a tear from her eye.

"I still can't believe Juan Carlos would pick Maria over Sofia! He chose his own sister over the woman who loved him so much she gave her only chance at escaping the town for him. You should be a director!"

"Exactly I- Sorry I just rambled about rats for way too long didn't I?" Bruno looked sheepish.

"What? Don't apologize. I thought it was amazing!"

"Really?" Bruno seemed unsure.

"Really!"

The two smiled at each other until-

"Brunito time for supper!"

Meanwhile Pepa and Julieta were talking.

"-I'm just saying that maybe the Rojas had something to do with it."

"Pepa please, we can't make any assumptions."

A thundering cloud appeared over Pepa's head.

"Can't make any assumptions?! The girl was terrified! That doesn't happen under healthy circumstances. Sure it could've been from before she came here, but still! We need to-"

"We can't do anything unless she tells us. Also calm down, you're gonna start raining."

"Then we make her tell us!" There was a loud BOOM from Pepa's cloud. "Can we please have this conversation in my room. Despite the different climates we won't soak mama's floors in there."

"Sure, but Pepa we can't just force her to tell us," Julieta argued.

"Yes we can, we just trap her and-"

"Do you hear yourself!? TRAP HER!? We need her to feel safe Pepa."

"And she will….after we fix what's wrong," Pepa said confidentially.

"Fix what's- Please Pepa can we wait for her to come to us."

"...fine."

"Chicas," A call came from downstairs, "Time for dinner."

After dinner the spouses headed to bed. Claudia fell asleep easily. Meanwhile Bruno's sleep was fitful.

He was in some sort of other realm. The walls seemed to tremble. A pale green light shown from the end of a hallway.

"Hello?" But there was no response. So he headed towards the light.

The more he walked the further the light got, and then the whispers started. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he did hear his name occasionally. So he began to run.And as he ran the whispers got louder.

"You can try to outrun it, but you know everyone hates you Bruno."

Finally the light grew closer only to reveal his mother.

"What are you-"

"Why do you have so many bad visions Bruno?"

"I can't control them. I just want to warn people."

"Everyone in town hates you Bruno. They hate you, Bruno. They hate you, Bruno…"

And suddenly it was coming from everywhere until-. He woke in a cold sweat. A few tears went down his face.

"Not everyone hates me…..everyone hates me."

"No they don't."

He turned to see Claudia looking at him.

"You were thrashing. What's wrong?"

He began to cry. "I'm such a failure. My own mother thinks I'm trash. And...and…"

Suddenly he was pulled into a warm embrace.

"You're not the only one who has nightmares, but you can't believe them."

She pulled back. "If you ever need someone to remind you of that, wake me up and I'll tell you."

"Thanks…..could you just maybe talk for a bit."

"Of course."

They both laid back down and Claudia began to tell a story about a small mouse and the love he had for his family. Eventually she heard soft snores, and then she fell asleep.

The next morning she woke up to noises in the next room. She walked out to see Bruno unpacking her stuff. He gave her sheepish smile.

"I thought….well...I could help out because-"

"Thank you," Claudia interrupted, "I really appreciated it."

"Yea soooo well."

"BREAKFAST," there was a knock at the door, " Hurry up sleepy heads or Pepa will eat it all."

"Hey!" Came Pepa's voice.

So together, they headed down.