TW for panic attack in this chapter.
Camilo had no idea what had possessed him to do this. Why had he decided to go into town like this? He was beginning to regret his decision. He'd become very self conscious very quickly. A lot of people were staring and a lot of people were very obviously trying their best to not look. It was unsettling to say the least. There were a few people who just went about their day. Leandro even waved at him. That was nice, comforting even, but the man hadn't stuck around. He'd just been passing by on his way to do whatever it was that he did all day. Camilo realized that he actually knew very little about him but Leandro was a busy guy. He was very tempted to just give up the ghost now and shapeshift back. He'd just wanted to know. He'd wanted to see for himself.
He understood now why his tío Bruno was so hesitant to go into town. He was never going to impersonate his tío in public ever again. His heart was racing. He could see a great deal of emotions in these peoples' eyes and sometimes there were so many that he couldn't get a good read on the person. He felt he was pretty good at reading people and understanding how they worked, how they behaved. He was a shapeshifter after all. Of course he'd be good at that. He had to be good at it. He could see suspicion, fear, and hesitation all around him and even he could admit that he had no idea which way that could go.
He wanted to go home and stay there for the rest of the day.
He'd wanted to know what things were like from his tío's perspective if even for a short time and why leaving the house upset him so much. Camilo never had a problem with people but he was Camilo not Bruno. There was obviously a very big difference between Camilo and Bruno. He realized that things with the village were not as good as the family had thought. He decided that he was going to talk to Abuela about this once he made it back to Casita. Hopefully in one piece he thought as he caught the gaze of a man who obviously still did not like Bruno. It was a really intense stare. Camilo just broke eye contact immediately and turned down the nearest road that would take him away from that angry looking man.
Dios mio he was acting exactly like Bruno and he wasn't even meaning to do it. He pulled the hood of his green ruana over his head to avoid looking around at people but that only made him a little more paranoid because if someone did decide to come at him he wouldn't know until it was too late. They say that you can't understand a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes. Camilo hadn't even walked a mile and he felt that he understood a lot more than anyone else the kind of motive behind his tío's anxiety and compulsions.
He was a little angry on his tío's behalf. Abuela was definitely going to hear about this. He dashed around a corner, leaning against the wall and taking a breath. He just needed a moment. Sure Camilo loved being the center of attention but this was different. This was very different. He liked making people smile and laugh and just make everyone happy but this? This was not the good kind of attention and Bruno's outright revulsion of being paid attention to made a lot more sense. If this was the kind of attention he was used to Camilo wondered if he even recognized good attention from bad attention any more.
He took a breath and stepped back around the corner, fully intending to make his way back to Casita as fast as he could, when he collided with someone who'd just happened to be walking by. They both took a step back and shrieked upon sight of each other. Camilo, because he'd gotten caught doing something he probably wasn't supposed to and Bruno because he had not been expecting to slam face first into an exact copy of himself.
"Uuuhh." They both echoed each other and both versions of Bruno immediately noticed the stares from the people around them.
Camilo panicked. He wasn't quite ready to get caught doing this by everyone. Bruno was not supposed to be in town today. What was he doing in town? Wait….was his papi here? Oh, oh he was going to get in so much trouble. Would they understand why he was doing this? Would they be okay with it or was he about to get grounded for the rest of his natural life?
They both looked left, then right, and finally back at each other.
"Um." They both said.
"What are you-" Camilo said, asking what Bruno was doing in town and Bruno wound up saying the exact same thing in question as to what Camilo was doing.
"Why-" They both said. "Oh dios mio de verdad?"
"Stop that." They both said with matching expressions. "Stop it."
"Alright." They both turned to the sound of Felix's long sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
Camilo was not ready to get caught by his padre right now.
"I lose sight of you for two minutes. Which one of you is the real Bruno?"
"I am." They both said, turning their heads to him and pointing their right thumbs toward their chests. "No you aren't." They pointed at each other. "Stop copying me." They glared.
"This isn't funny anymore." They shook their heads. "Stop it."
There was a long pause before Camilo just decided to give up.
"Alright fine. I'm Camilo." They both said gesturing to themselves. "Stop it!" They pointed again perfect mirrors of each other.
Felix was very confused.
Camilo waved a hand in the air and watched his tío follow along in perfect sync.
"Okay that's really creepy." They both said. "Seriously this isn't funny. Bruno stop it. Bruno! Bruno stop!"
Camilo shifted back and Bruno smiled.
"That wasn't funny!"
"I thought it was." Bruno shrugged. "Teach you to impersonate me. You're not the only one who can act." He rolled his eyes and Felix glared at his son.
"I have an explanation I swear." Camilo said, shrinking away from his padre.
"I don't want to hear it. Home now."
Camilo did as he was told.
"Okay that was actually pretty creepy." Felix said the moment his son was out of earshot. "How did you do that?"
"Very carefully. Can I go home now?"
"No."
Camilo immediately searched for Abuela the moment he'd crossed the threshold of Casita. Walking around as Bruno had been unsettling. He worried for his tío when the man actually did leave the house. The way that man had looked at him. He'd been so angry looking and Camilo feared what might happen if the man ever had an opportunity to get Bruno alone or even somewhat close to it. He decided that he didn't want his tío going out of the house alone. Maybe he'd impersonate Bruno some more just to keep people guessing and perhaps make them think twice about messing with his tío. It didn't take long for him to find Abuela and if his tía was in the room then so be it. Of course he wanted to let the whole family in on this but he knew it was best to go to Abuela first.
"Great!" He said, clapping his hands together. "Two birds with one stone. Can I talk to you about tío Bruno? And you have to promise not to get mad at me."
They both crossed their arms and leveled Camilo with a stern look.
"Okay so I just spent an hour or so passing myself off as tío Bruno."
"Camilo." Abuela scolded.
"I have an explanation." He held his hands in defense. "I just...I wanted to know what things were like for him you know." He gestured toward the door. "I mean he's always so jumpy when he leaves the house. Well….I get it now." He looked to the floor and rubbed the back of his neck.
He looked back up.
"Abuela you should have seen the looks I got. I swear this one guy was contemplating homicide. I….I don't want him to go out unless there's someone with him. I-I'm worried. I thought things were better and I think they are but...not enough."
Julieta and Abuela had been worried about it too but in a different way. They were a little worried what might happen if Bruno did decide to defend himself one day. The implications of that were not good. The only thing that had kept him from that before was simply because of the type of person he was and he wasn't one to hurt someone else even in self defense. He didn't have a fight reflex. He was all flight.
"It wasn't like a lot of people but more than I'm comfortable with."
He was only fifteen, he didn't know what to do.
"It's okay nieto." Abuela gave a nod. "We'll take care of it. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
Abuela looked mad. Maybe this had been a mistake. Well, it didn't matter now. He'd already told them and there was no taking that back. He just nodded and left. He spent the remainder of the day in his room lost in thought. Had he contributed to those looks? Those thoughts? Those fears that reflected in their eyes and nursed a small sliver of hatred in their hearts. People hate what they fear and they hurt what they hate. Camilo wanted to cry but he was fifteen years old! He shuddered to think of what could happen but also realized that he was agonizing over this too much. He'd gotten that from his mamá and he was none too grateful for it.
He wondered that if he'd just kept his mouth shut that maybe those looks wouldn't have seemed so dangerous today. If that was what Camilo would face every time he walked out the door he'd stay inside too. People wouldn't really hurt his tío right? Sure there might be that resentment still there but they understood how his visions worked now right? Abuela had explained it to everyone. She'd tried so hard to get Bruno involved in that but he'd vanished before she could even ask and the family had delayed the event for two days while they looked for him. They only saw him after they had all given up and Abuela was back in Casita. Mirabel even checked his little room that he still ducked into from time to time. Not even the rats would tell them where he was and they'd spilled the beans to Antonio pretty quickly before. It was entirely possible that the little creatures just didn't actually know where he was and were too proud to admit it.
He just didn't want his tío to hurt anymore. The anxiety from his thoughts had settled like a cannonball in his gut and, for once, he actually lost his appetite. That made sense as to why Bruno was having such a hard time eating. Was what Camilo feeling right now just Bruno's every day life? Camilo knew, along with everyone else, that when Bruno ate it didn't stay down all the time. It was a combination of anxiety, stress, and just not being used to eating so much in one sitting. He'd become a snacker instead of someone who'd sit down for a full meal. Camilo often ran into him sneaking his way through the cupboards at night, beating Camilo to a midnight snack. He'd also witnessed Bruno hang upside down out the kitchen window to snatch up something while his hermana wasn't looking before swinging back up onto the roof.
Old habits die hard and Julieta had a thing about swiping a bit of food without her permission. Honestly, Camilo was impressed. Bruno managed to get away with a lot of things because he was sneaky. There were a few things that everyone knew he was doing but had yet to catch him in the act. Like continuing to creep around the house via his little secret passages which he apparently had more than everyone thought. They'd discovered that one when Agustin had slipped putting some pots away and the back of the cabinet just popped off and the man fell headfirst into a crawlspace. Casita was kind enough to help him get back out. He was much taller than Bruno and the space was quite small. Bruno's size worked to his advantage a lot as it turns out.
He'd seemed to be doing better the past few days. Even started remembering and willingly joining them for meals now. Frida had become a welcome presence but she still wasn't allowed on the table. There had been one time where Frida had not been seen the entire meal so far and she always popped out for a snack. Mirabel had been about to ask when she heard the barest, almost imperceptible, sound of a squeaking snore. Dolores had laughed so hard at Mirabel's expression that she woke the rat that had been napping in her tío's hair. She had emerged from his curls and settled on his shoulder, looking rather grumpy at being woken from her nap.
He jumped in surprise when his mamá cracked open his door to let him know to come down for dinner. He'd been a little lost in his thoughts. The anxiety was still there but he was also hungry. Camilo didn't have the same problem Bruno did. He'd sit at the table and eat as much as he usually did and probably forget about whatever had him worried. At least for that moment. His papi had yet to come in and lecture him about pretending to be Bruno so Camilo figured that he'd been filled in on what Abuela and Julieta had been told. Knowing his papi the man was about to have a long winded conversation with Bruno about it. He was told to fetch Bruno as well and he had no problem with that. Bruno didn't seem to actually be upset about Camilo impersonating him but had taken advantage of an opportunity to mess with him.
He was a little proud of the fact that Bruno would really only do things like that with him and no one else. It was a connection they had. At least Camilo could lie about his own antics thought. If Bruno got questioned he'd most likely spill everything without even thinking about it. It would all just fly out of the seer's mouth. He chuckled at the thought as he walked into Bruno's room. He could hear the man shuffling through some things in his bedroom and immediately turned toward the tunnel. He rolled his eyes a bit at the muttering until he heard what it was Bruno was saying to himself.
"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Oh dios por favor lo necesito. Lo necesito ahora."
He heard a quiet whimper and rounded the corner to find his tío looking frantically around his room, one hand grabbing hold of his hair and pulling hard. He had a tendency to do that when he was really, really upset. He was straight up panicking and Camilo paused as he debated just going to get his papi. His padre just seemed to have a way with Bruno.
"Tio Bruno?" He called and Bruno's head snapped around to look at him with wild eyes while he gasped for breath.
Oh he was really panicking and obviously tried to hide it when he quickly let go of his hair and glanced away from Camilo.
"Mamá sent me up. She said dinner is ready."
"I-is it really that late?" He asked in a small voice and Camilo nodded. "Oh...well, um, I-I yeah I'll be down in-in a minute I just...uhm...joder donde esta?"
"Are you uh, looking for something?" Camilo asked as he looked around the room and realized that Bruno had torn the place apart looking for whatever it was he felt he needed.
"Uhm, I-I just I can't find my tiger's eye. I need my tiger's eye." The hand went right back up to grip his hair and Camilo winced because it seriously had to hurt.
Yeah, that was a new thing. Ever since he figured out that there was a specific kind of energy that each kind of stone held he'd gotten a little obsessive about it. Tiger's eye was the one that he was most attached to. It was supposed to bring good luck. Or so Camilo had heard. He'd never thought to actually take any of that seriously but apparently there was something to it after all. Camilo could tell right away that there was no getting him to leave until he found what he was looking for.
"What does it look like?"
"Hm?" Bruno's gaze snapped back to him.
"I don't know if I've ever seen tiger's eye. What does it look like?"
"Uhh...i-it's a-about the size of a quarter. It's, uh, it's a golden brown colour and kinda looks like it's got stripes an-a-and it's kinda silky looking." He picked up a stack of papers to look underneath and just tossed them all over his shoulder.
That would explain the mess that was his room.
Bruno's half crazed gaze followed Camilo as he walked further into the room and starting digging around on one of the shelves.
"W-what are you doing?"
"I'm helping you look for it." Camilo rolled his eyes.
His tío could be so dense sometimes.
"You, uh, y-you don't have to."
"I know." He moved to a different shelf.
There was silence for a moment before Camilo heard the sounds of Bruno returning to frantically tossing things around the room as he looked. Turns out that it had rolled under the shelf nearest the tunnel at some point. It actually hadn't taken that long to find his tío was just in a panic and wasn't thinking straight. He'd either looked and missed it or it hadn't even occurred to him to look under the shelf. Camilo didn't ask. He just watched Bruno hold it to his chest in a white knuckled grip and took a deep breath. Camilo could see the tension leave him and he hoped that would be enough that he could get at least a little food into his stomach.
"Come on. Let's get something to eat before my mamá comes out here or worse yet…..my padre." He said the last two words like the ending of a kooky campfire story.
Sometimes Bruno made it too easy Camilo thought as he watch the man scamper off toward his door. His mamá looked like she was about to say something about how they took too long but Camilo waved a hand over his neck. A sort of chopping motion that was the universal signal of 'stop talking'. She caught on quick that Bruno had not fully recovered from that panic attack yet. Not that she knew he had one. He was just still stressed out from it. He'd yet to let go of the stone in his palm but he was breathing normally.
Dinner actually went well. There was good conversation, a few funny stories like what Bruno did to Camilo in town, and Bruno even put the tiger's eye in his pockets within a few minutes of sitting down. All together Camilo would say that he was happy with the day. It hadn't been the best day in the world but it had been a good one. He'd learned a few things about Bruno and even helped pull him out of a panic. Sometimes Bruno recovered from those situations quickly and today just held one of those moments. He understood a bit more about his tío and that was good enough for him.
Although he did feel that it took far too long for Julieta to notice that he kept sneaking small spoonfuls of Arroz Con Pollo onto Bruno's plate without him noticing. In fact Bruno had wound up eating a full serving without noticing before his hermana caught on to what Camilo was doing.
