Pepa and Julieta had finally enacted their evil plan. They'd managed to corner Bruno on one of his bad days, with the aid of Felix who had somehow managed to figure out where he was hiding. They found him and they were certain that if they lost him they would never see the man again that day. He hadn't wanted to be out and around people. He had days like that and the problem presented is that he never went to talk to anyone about it. He never went to anyone for help with his anxieties. It was frustrating. Trying to get Bruno readjusted to life outside of Casita's walls. Walls in two different meanings. So far any attempts to get him into town failed.
The moment they had demanded that he sit down so they could talk he had squinted his eyes shut and shook his head before knocking on the wood on the window frame next to him and throwing salt over his shoulder. He chewed on a thumb nail as he looked around and just nodded. There wasn't much else he could do. When his sisters decided to do something then whatever that something was would happen. He wound up being overly picky of where he was going to sit in their living room, moving the couch over a few feet. Julieta, confident that he would actually stay put or incur the wrath of Pepa, slipped off to the kitchen to grab the three of them something to drink. She returned with three glasses of papaya juice.
"It's been months hermanito." Julieta started. "You know that you can come to any one of us when something is wrong."
"Nothing is wrong." He mumbled. "I just want to be alone for a bit. What's wrong with that?"
"A little bit does not mean all day." Pepa interrupted Juliet's attempt to talk. "What is wrong with you?! You disappear for days on end! Where do you even go? I swear if you're going back into those walls-!" A thundercloud formed over her head and Bruno's eyes grew wide.
"Pepa!" Julieta yelled to get her attention. "Why don't we all just sit down now?" She gestured to the furniture set around the small table.
Julieta heard Pepa's calming mantra of "clear skies, clear skies" at the same time Bruno rapped his knuckles on the wooden table giving out a "knock, knock, knock, knock. Knock on wood" and shook her head. Who would have guessed that Bruno and Pepa, so opposite in character, were so much like each other.
Both Julieta and Bruno sat down on the couch while Pepa dragged a chair over. The wood groaned and squeaked as she sat but they paid it no mind. Furniture did that.
Felix hadn't left after his mission of herding Bruno had been completed. Instead he hid himself behind a corner. He was just as much a gossip as Dolores could be. He was curious. He wanted to know how this turned out. He also wanted a head start on tracking Bruno down if he managed to slip away.
"I-I really am fine." He stuttered out.
"You can't keep hiding away Bruno." Julieta said beside him.
"Who say's I've been hiding?"
"You were crouched behind a plant in the corner." Pepa said, unimpressed causing the storm cloud above her head to dissipate.
"I-I wasn't...hiding." He gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "I was….I was…" His gaze flicked between his two sisters. "Yeah okay I was hiding." He deflated.
"You could at least try!" Pepa shouted, the thundercloud making a reappearance.
"Pepa!" Julieta scolded.
"I am trying okay?" Bruno said quietly. "It's a lot harder than you think it is. After….well...I got used to it you know?" He shrugged. "Sometimes everything out here just gets a little much that's all."
"You can't just cramp yourself in a corner all day." Julieta said with a shake of her head.
"I haven't been behind it all day. It was just a recent convenience."
"I don't-" Pepa growled.
"I swear I'm trying!" Bruno interrupted much to Julieta and Felix's surprise. Bruno spread his arms out as he continued. "It's been ten years!"
"Exactly!" Pepa thundered and leaned back to accentuate her words with a stomp of her foot.
The sound of breaking wood caught everyone's attention. There was a loud crunch followed by a snap and a thud as Pepa hit the ground. Bruno winced, gritted his teeth, and tensed just in time for Camilo to slam into him. A piece of decorative banner flitted to the ground. The boy had, somehow, gotten it into his head that he could swing down from the first floor and land on the first floor no problem. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Bruno gave a loud shout as Camilo slammed into his chest, knocking the whole couch backward and sending Bruno, Camilo, and Julieta sprawling to the ground. Felix ran out from around the corner to check on both his wife and son, who was spitting out apologies to a winded Bruno as he climbed off of his uncle who just gave another loud groan. Lightning flashed from Pepa's thundercloud as she picked herself up off the ground.
Her rage was immediately directed at her very remorseful son. While Camilo was already beginning to receive the lecture of his life, so far, Bruno and Julieta peeled themselves off the floor. She looked to her brother who just waved her off and nodded to let her know that he was fine. Felix picked up the broken chair to move it away from the group and out of the way so no one else might stumble over it before they could take care of it.
"Pepa! Honey!" He shouted through the wind, still holding onto the chair leg.
He reached a hand out to her shoulder and tried to soothe her anger, and subsequent storm. They were soaked. By the time everything was settled Bruno was gone. No one thought about the drinks on the table or how if the chair hadn't broken Camilo would've hit his mother, sending her face down into the glasses.
But Felix did notice, as he stared at the chair leg in his hand, someone had cut into the wood so that it would snap. His brows furrowed for a moment before he tossed it in favor of following his wife and son to make sure that Camilo survived the day.
