Episode Seven: Dos Oruguitas
45 years ago...
"Julieta darling, when you finish that batch, could you call your brother in, please? I need to start setting up outside."
"No problem, Mamá!" replied Julieta as she shaped the last arepa.
Julieta wiped her hands on her apron, then stepped from the kitchen into the adjoining dining room. A fresh breeze circulated through the room from the double doors that had been left wide open. When she reached the doors, she saw her brother alone in the sandpit, talking to himself cheerfully from within a fortress of bucket-shaped sandcastles. He had also been helping to make snacks for their birthday celebration but became distracted after their mother said she would remove the outdoor sandpit. Despite having a much better sandpit now they had their magical rooms, he had insisted on playing one last time in the old one.
"Bruno!" she called out. "Mamá says she needs to start setting up out here. So you'll have to come inside."
As she approached the sandpit, she began to make out what he was saying.
"Don't be silly, Jorge. Of course I'm not leaving you. You're welcome in my awesome new room any time you like!"
"Who are you talking to?"
Bruno looked up at her with a broad grin. "No one, silly. I'm just playing."
"Well, you should probably finish your game in your room. I'll come and get you when it's time to start setting the tables."
.
Later that day...
They didn't yet know what it could be, but Julieta was delighted that her brother had received a special gift like her sister. They had too much to do to prepare for the party to dwell on what had happened in his room, however. No sooner had the last place at the tables been set than the first wave of guests began to arrive. Amongst them was Félix. Although a little older than Julieta and her siblings, Félix was good friends with all three of them and often came over to play.
"Welcome, welcome," Julieta's mother called out as she greeted Félix's family with open arms. "How's the farm?"
"We're getting by for now, but this dry spell has us worried, Alma. We're well into October already..." Félix's dad said. "The work is so much harder when the soil's dry too... I've gone and done something to my back."
"I have a feeling all will be well very soon, my friend," Julieta's mother assured him with a knowing smile.
Félix then ran off to join the triplets under the arches, sitting himself on a bench beside Bruno.
"You look... fancy," Félix remarked when he saw Pepa's new dress.
It certainly was fancy. It was beautiful shades of golden yellow and orange, with elegant ruffles around her shoulders, reminiscent of the sun. Julieta knew that the dress symbolised her sister's new ability, but their mother had given them strict instructions to keep quiet about the rooms and their gifts until she could make an official announcement.
"You like it?" Pepa replied, stroking the fabric with her hands.
"It's alright. What's the occasion anyway? Will you be dancing?"
"Something like that," she replied, sharing a smirk with Julieta and Bruno, who both giggled.
Félix eyed them curiously. "Fine, don't tell me then," he said, folding his arms.
The Casita was soon bustling with guests as presents piled up on a round table near the children. Their mother instructed the house to make a small raised platform to the side of the back archway where the band was setting up their instruments. She walked up the steps, and the guests understood the signal to be quiet. She had informed everyone on their arrival that she had a very special announcement to make, so they had all been anticipating this moment.
"Thank you all for coming. As you all know, we were given a miracle five years ago, on this very day. Since then, our Encanto has kept us safe from the dangers outside, and we have all worked tirelessly to build this town and the farms that surround it.
"However, you will also be aware that we have had three exceptionally warm years with unusually low rainfall. This has threatened our perfect life here. Some of you may even be starting to doubt our miracle." She looked around the room as though singling out specific people individually. "Well, I have been praying, and the miracle has answered..."
She turned to her children and called out proudly, "Pepa, could you come and show everyone what you can do, please?"
Julieta's heart raced with excitement and pride as her sister jumped down from the bench with a knowing smile. She almost appeared to float as she walked towards the circular mosaic at the centre of the courtyard. The townspeople all turned to face her. Their mother asked the drummer to start sounding out a beat, and Pepa immediately sprung to life. She lifted her arms, and a vast cloud appeared above the Casita. Everyone gasped with astonishment, and murmurings of conversation began here and there.
"Quiet, please. Quiet, please. There's more," their mother urged.
Then just as she had been instructed, Pepa waved a hand, and rain began to fall into the courtyard and over the now euphoric crowd. There was an eruption of applause and cheers that Julieta assumed could be heard throughout the town. The band began to play as fervent dancing commenced.
.
40 minutes later...
After their mother had announced Pepa's new ability, guests gathered around the upper balcony to watch as Julieta and her siblings revealed their magical rooms. Jubilant celebration ensued, and the triplets split off in the chaos.
"Are you okay, Mamá ?" Julieta asked with concern as she entered the kitchen. Her mother had been clutching her head and seemed to be in pain.
"Oh, I'm fine, my dear. There's just a lot to do," she explained.
Julieta looked around the room. "Where's all the food we made?"
"It's already gone. More guests are arriving by the minute, so I've a lot more to make."
Julieta didn't wait to be asked. She rolled up the sleeves of her pristine white dress and picked up her apron. She was not allowed near the hot grill on her own, but she could at least mix and shape arepas while her mother mingled and greeted guests.
She had no idea what her gift could be. She didn't even have a hint of something like her brother had. Not that it bothered her. So long as Pepa and Bruno were happy, Julieta would be happy too. Her new room did have an endless supply of herbs, however, so she decided to add some of the ones she recognised to the dough.
The music outside abruptly stopped. Julieta finished what she was doing and hurried to the entrance to see what was happening. A man had taken to one knee and seemed to be proposing to someone. It didn't seem so unusual initially, but it quickly hit her.
The music struck up again, and Julieta hurried across the courtyard to her brother who was sitting under the arches with Félix. Pepa had the same realisation, and they both reached him around the same time.
"Did you see that?" Julieta asked, catching her breath.
"That's your gift!" Pepa cried out with delight as she sat next to him on the other side to Félix.
Bruno didn't speak, and Julieta could tell he was struggling to process the situation. She opened her mouth to reassure him, but the music suddenly ceased once more, and the adults all stopped talking. Julieta looked around the hauntingly silent courtyard. All eyes were on her mother as she stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding the glowing plate. Then, with eerie synchronisation, the many heads turned at once towards Bruno.
.
The music had struck up again, and everyone was dancing, feasting and drinking. The children finally had a little time to themselves to talk and process what was happening. Félix seemed particularly thrilled by the news that his friends had magical abilities.
"I'm going to come over to play every day from now on!" he announced proudly. "With my amazing buddies."
Pepa looked a little sad. "I'm sorry, Félix, but I won't be able to play for a while. Now I can make it rain, I have to spend every day on the farms. At least until the rain returns."
Bruno added, "Yeah, and apparently, I have to see the future for just about everyone in the Encanto. Mamá already made a list of names. It's gonna take weeks."
"Well that's no fair," Félix grumbled. "Kids shouldn't have to work."
Julieta felt herself agreeing with his sentiment. She was delighted that Pepa and Bruno had special abilities but had already spotted a flaw; they seemed to be more about making other people happy, than benefitting her siblings themselves.
"Yeah, well, we're special kids now," explained Pepa. "That means we have special jobs to do." At least she didn't seem to mind.
"And I'm sure it'll only be for a few weeks. Once the fields are watered and everyone's had a vision, I'm sure our lives will go back to normal," added Bruno optimistically.
Félix didn't seem so convinced. "Well, if you say so... I guess you're the expert on the future now..."
"Anyway," Pepa began brightly, "I'll be coming by your farm every day. Apparently, your family can start growing rice now. And it'll need a lot of water."
"RICE!?" both Félix and Bruno repeated excitedly. There had not been any rice in the Encanto since their supply ran out two years prior, and the triplets could hardly remember it now. So maybe their gifts did benefit Julieta's siblings after all.
Félix seemed to cheer up at this. "And I don't have to work, so maybe I can come with you around the other farms too?" he suggested, then looked down sheepishly. "My papá says I need to walk more, so it'll keep him off my back as well."
Pepa looked delighted by the idea. "Sure. That sounds like fun!"
Something then appeared to catch Félix's eye.
"What's he doing?" he said, seemingly to himself.
The triplets followed his gaze and saw his dad dancing and pulling off some pretty daring moves. Félix looked at each of them in turn. "He's hardly moved all week. How's he doing that?" He then got up and headed over.
Julieta furrowed her brow curiously and glanced at Bruno, who just shrugged back at her.
When Félix returned, he told Julieta and her siblings that his dad had probably just had too much aguardiente, so had forgotten about his back pain. He had at least sat back down in the hope it would not be twice as painful in the morning.
.
As the evening turned to night, some of the guests started heading home. They came over to say goodbye to the magical children, congratulating them for their gifts and wishing them well.
"Do you think Mamá would mind if I went to bed?" Bruno asked with a yawn before resting his head in his arms on the table in front of him.
"Ask her yourself. She's coming over," replied Pepa, nearly as sleepily.
Julieta looked over to see their mother approaching with a smile.
"Oh dear, you three do look tired," she remarked when she reached the table.
Bruno lifted his head from his arms and looked like he was going to speak, but then he just yawned and lay his head back down.
"Julieta," their mother continued, "I think we've worked out what your gift might be!"
Julieta felt a rush of excitement. "You do? What?"
"We should know better tomorrow, but everyone who arrived with aches or pains today has felt them disappear after eating the food you helped prepare."
"I have healing powers?"
"It seems so! Someone even had a bruise on their leg that vanished right before our eyes. A few people couldn't make it tonight because of an injury or pain, so their families will report back tomorrow."
"See! You are a witch," Bruno muttered from his arms. "Called it!"
He was trying to tease her, but Julieta didn't mind. She had the best gift of all. All she wanted was to know that her family members were safe and well. Now they always would be. She would always be there to take away the pain and make them smile again. What better gift could there be than that?
xxx
Present day…
She burst into tears the second she closed her bedroom door, and hurried over to one of the three beds. She slumped on the first one she came to: the one Pepa would use when her siblings snuck into her room to tell stories long ago. Julieta had always felt sadness intensely and had cried far more often than her brother and sister when they were children. It felt to Julieta as though other people could feel a mixture of emotions at once. Perhaps they were sad, but there would be other feelings such as anger, fear, hope or even excitement all mixed in, diluting the sorrow. Yet for Julieta that sadness would fill her entire body, seeping into the remotest tips of her fingers and toes, trickling through every vein and artery, engulfing every organ in a dense, depressive fog that pushed out all other feelings until all that was left was the all-consuming despair.
At no time was this feeling more intense than when it was not her own sorrow, but the sorrow of someone she loved. She could recall occasions from when she was very young, younger than most people can remember, when her brother or sister would hurt themselves. They would cry with the pain and begin running to their mother, only to stop in their tracks when they noticed that Julieta was right there with them, crying even harder, her heart breaking at the thought of their pain. Their pain was quickly forgotten as they instead comforted their sister, insisting they were fine and begging her to cheer up.
Her mother would become angered by what she called Julieta's 'second-hand-tears', and would reprimand her, putting it down to attention-seeking. She couldn't comprehend that someone could feel the pain of another person so deeply. When this didn't work, she learnt to use Julieta's sensitivity against her. Whenever she or her siblings misbehaved, the other two would be punished. They loved one another so much that they never dared to skip their chores or forget to do their spelling practice for fear of causing trouble for the others.
For Julieta, this meant suppressing her tears when her mother was around, lest Pepa and Bruno might be punished for her inability to control herself. If one of her siblings was hurt, she would make her way quickly to the nursery where she could cry in private. This would usually be followed by the door being pushed open by her sibling, who knew she would be upset and so had chosen to ensure she was okay, rather than continue crying themselves. She and her siblings had learnt to conceal their true feelings at such a young age, and Julieta felt partially to blame for that.
After she received her gift, there was no longer any need to cry when she saw her siblings hurt. Being able to take their pain away was truly wonderful. Or at least, it had been until they were older and Julieta realised that not all pain was physical, and there were some sorrows that even she couldn't shoulder for her siblings.
Then she became a mother herself. She had always thought it impossible to love anyone as intensely as she loved Pepa and Bruno. A bond so strong that their pain felt like her own. Yet the love she felt for Isabela the moment she first held her in her arms, was so intense it hurt. Her love hurt when her other two daughters came along too. It hurt because she knew that those little girls each had a lifetime ahead of them. There would be bumps and scrapes along the way, that of course Julieta would heal immediately, but she couldn't prevent them, or protect those precious girls from feeling even a second of pain. Worst of all, there was nothing Julieta, or anyone, could do to protect them from sorrow. Oh, she could cry for her daughters, and she would. Though she would never show it. Except to Agustín. He knew all too well how much sorrow Julieta had been secretly carrying over the years. He didn't, however, know anything about the matter that pained her in that moment.
The door opened.
"Agustín?" she sniffed, wiping her eyes with her apron.
Her husband entered, closing the door behind him.
As he approached the bed, he considered her intensely, then said, "This isn't about Mirabel, is it? Or your brother." He sat on the bed beside her and took her hand. "There's something else. Something Abuela and Pepa know too."
Julieta didn't want him to worry, so stayed quiet.
"Please, Amor. Abuela wouldn't force Pepa to stay home for no reason. And she's been plagued by dark clouds all morning."
Julieta wiped her eyes again and looked at his concerned but loving face. If her fears were correct, then he deserved to know.
"It's about what Mirabel saw last night," she began. "It's about the cracks."
Agustín's eyes went wide and his mouth fell open.
"She didn't imagine it, did she?"
xxx
32 years ago...
Julieta finished clearing the dinner table and took the last of the dishes to the kitchen for Pepa to wash. It had been five days since their brother last joined them to eat. These absences were getting more frequent, and her sightings of him further apart. Julieta picked up a basket from the bench and began filling it with various foods and a few flasks of water.
"Is that for him?" Pepa asked, gesturing in the direction of the tower with her eyes.
Julieta nodded, "Mm-hmm."
"You know you're only encouraging him by taking him food, right?"
She knew Pepa was right but she couldn't stand by and let her brother starve.
"I need to do this, Pepa. I'm worried about him. He hasn't been right lately."
"Lately?" Pepa scoffed. "Bruno hasn't been right for years."
Julieta squeezed the last she could into the basket and headed towards Bruno's tower.
.
"Bruno! It's me. I've brought food!" she called out, her voice echoing through the cavernous stone structure.
After a few moments, she could make out a small green dot as it began its descent down the many steps. She smiled and started walking up to meet him.
When Julieta reached her brother, she had climbed less than half the distance due to him travelling down much faster. Bruno sat on a step, and Julieta lay down the basket before throwing her arms around him.
"Hey, thanks again for doing this. I'm—"
"It's no trouble," she said, cutting him off before he could start apologising. She was still catching her breath from the climb. "You know I'm worried about you, right?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Really I am," he insisted with a smile.
Julieta picked up the basket and handed it to him. He immediately took out a buñuelo and started to eat it. She huffed at the sight of this.
"Well you don't seem fine," she said. "You seem warn out, and you're clearly hungry. Every time I come here, your tower seems to be getting taller and—"
"And that's all it is," Bruno interrupted. "It's just a lot of stairs..."
Julieta looked up towards the top of his tower.
"What are you even doing up there all day? Aren't you bored? Don't you get lonely?"
"Me? Nah. I mean, I have José after all and—"
"José?"
"A rat."
"A rat?" she repeated. "You're naming the rats now?"
"Just the one rat, actually..."
Julieta reached into a pocket on the front of her apron, took out a pouch, and handed it to her brother. He hooked his arm through the handle of the basket so he could untie the long chords. It was herbs from her room.
"You said you were running low."
Bruno smiled. "Thanks."
"Does it help? Burning the herbs?"
"I dunno."
"What do you mean, you don't know? Do you feel any better? Are the visions more positive?"
"Well not exactly, but—"
Julieta took the pouch from him, a little frustrated that he had let her go to the trouble of drying and mixing them. "Bruno..."
"But maybe it'd be worse without them..." he said, snatching the pouch back like a child grabbing the last lollipop in the jar. He then put the chords around his neck and tucked it into his ruana before she could grab it again.
"Anyway. Thanks again for doing this. It means a lot." He gave Julieta another brief hug, then turned to head back up the tower. Julieta was not finished with him though.
"Wait!" she called out, and he turned back towards her. "Join us for dinner tomorrow."
"Well, you know I-I'd love to... but it really—"
"If you're not down by seven thirty, I'll come and get you," she insisted. "If I have to drag you down, I will. Down every last step!"
Her brother seemed to read her expression to make sure she was joking. She felt another excuse was coming, so she quickly added, "and if no one calls for a vision after dinner, you're staying downstairs with me. Pepa too. We'll stay up past midnight, eat snacks, and make up silly stories. Like we used to."
That seemed to work.
"Fine... I'll be there. Seven thirty," he agreed with half a smile, then turned again and, this time, headed back up the tower.
Julieta watched as her brother skipped over some of the steps, sometimes clearing two at once, the basket swinging as he went. It looked exhausting.
"What are you doing?" she shouted after him incredulously.
He stopped and called back over his shoulder. "You shouldn't step on the cracked ones... it's terribly bad luck," he said simply, then added, "But don't worry. You can reverse it by knocking on wood. Though sometimes you've gotta do it a lot. Like, a lot a lot..." and then he continued on his way as though nothing he had just said sounded even the tiniest bit obscure.
What's happening to you, Bruno? Julieta thought to herself as she watched him for a few more seconds. She then made her way back to the rest of the Casita.
xxx
Present day…
"What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?"
"Pepa, please, you have to calm down," Julieta pleaded.
She, Pepa, Agustín and Félix were gathered in the lobby behind the front door, as a lightning storm raged throughout the Encanto. The last time her sister's gift had been that out of control had been on her wedding day. While all hopes of keeping the situation with the cracks a secret were already long gone after the disastrous proposal dinner they had just witnessed, Julieta didn't want it to escalate any further.
"Calm down? How can I calm down? Are you calm right now? Because I'm certainly not calm right now," Pepa yelled.
Félix took Pepa's arm and encouraged her to sit on the stairs.
Julieta then turned to Agustín. "So, you said she found it in the vision cave? What was she thinking going up there?"
"She's just scared," Agustín replied. "And knowing what I know now, I'd say she has a right to be."
There was a flash of lightning when he said that.
"We're all going to lose our gifts, aren't we?" Pepa said from the stairs, clasping her head with both hands. "You saw Luisa just now. It's only a matter of time before it comes for us."
"We don't know that," Julieta said, desperately trying to reassure her sister.
"Don't we? You heard what our brother said. What he claimed to see. Don't pretend you haven't thought about it every day since that night. He damned us all and you know it."
"That was just a spill!" Julieta snapped, no longer able to suppress her feelings.
"A vision's a vision," Pepa scoffed, waving Julieta's words away with a flailing arm. "And now we know what was in his vision the night he left. Not looking great, is it? Or what? The golden boy who's never been wrong, is suddenly wrong twice because that's more convenient?"
"Pepa, I just—"
"Agustín! A word, please."
Julieta was suddenly interrupted as Abuela appeared at the steps where the courtyard met the lobby. Her expression was one of raw fury. For a split second Julieta felt the fear she had always felt upon seeing that look, but it quickly subsided as a new emotion took over. Her mother had already pushed one chic from the nest, she was not going to let her do it to Mirabel. Whatever her mother might have to say, Julieta was ready for her this time.
xxx
24 years ago...
Exhausted from the climb, Julieta stopped on the steps to the corridor at the top of Bruno's tower to catch her breath. She had not climbed all the way up since they were children. There were far fewer steps back then, and stairs are much easier when you are thirteen. She had never needed to climb to the top since that time. No matter how tall the tower became and how far her voice needed to travel, the little green dot never failed to appear if she called up to him, and when they wanted to spend time together, they had her room. Not today, though. Julieta had been calling for him periodically since the previous evening and again all morning, but he had not responded. It was now mid-afternoon, and she was becoming increasingly concerned.
Once she had caught her breath, she entered the corridor. The emerald eyes of the effigy on the wall depicting her brother's visions had been scratched out and lay on the floor.
With a feeling of unease, she opened the door to the vision cave. Inside, she saw the glow of her brother's latest vision, resting on the floor, showing an image of and older Pepa and Félix dancing euphorically together in hail.
Julieta couldn't recall where the door to his room was, so she called out, her voice echoing around the chamber.
"Bruno... it's me." When he didn't respond, she tried again. "I know you're in here. There wasn't any sand on my way in... At least let me see you, so I know you're not dead in there, half-eaten by rats... I'm not leaving until I see you."
A stone door pushed open, and light flooded into the vision cave. Julieta hurried over, relieved to see her brother safe in the doorway.
"I've been shouting for you since yesterday. You didn't answer," Julieta said, then waited for him to reply. When he didn't speak, she added, "I was worried."
"Well, you've seen me now. So, you don't need to worry anymore."
He went to close the door, and despite her surprise, Julieta managed to grab it in time. Luckily her brother had never been particularly strong, so she managed to keep it open.
"Shouldn't we at least talk about what happened yesterday?" she asked, putting all of her weight into stopping him from closing the door.
He gave up trying and let go of it. "Why? I ruined Pepa's wedding. What else is there to say?"
"But I know that wasn't your intention."
"When's that ever mattered?"
Julieta had seen her brother unhappy many times, but something seemed different this time. He seemed so small as he stood in the doorway looking at his sandals.
"Aren't you at least going to invite me in?" she asked.
Bruno shrugged. "Do what you want," and moved out of the way to let her get past.
The moment Julieta entered his room, hundreds of memories came flooding back to her, one after another in rapid succession.
"Your room's hardly changed!" she said, looking around with child-like awe. "Though I can't say the same for the rest of the tower. The stairs are getting ridiculous now, Bruno."
"Oh great. Something else I'm being blamed for."
Julieta could usually read her brother's emotions with ease, but this was not one she had seen often enough to recognise right away.
"Have I upset you?" she asked.
He paused and kicked the sand under his foot as if deciding whether or not he should answer.
"No... well... I'm upset, I guess... But it's not..." He took a deep breath and then finally said, "I wish you would've said something to defend me yesterday."
That hurt.
"I was trying to, but I had to tread carefully, or I could have made the situation worse. Then it all happened so fast. You know I've always had your back. Always." He didn't say anything, so she added, "Bruno, please don't be angry with me."
"I'm not angry with you. I just... I don't know what I'm feeling."
Julieta wanted to break the tension a little and so tried to change the subject.
"I see you had a vision for her."
"Yeah. Not that it matters now."
"Sure it matters. She'll still want to know what you saw."
"Well you can tell her Félix is truly her soulmate. There won't be a single day where they don't love each other just as much as they do right now. Oh, and they'll have three children. One girl and two boys."
"No. You should come and tell her that yourself. Maybe it'll help make amends."
"What?" he scoffed. "And find out they wanted four kids. Then get something else thrown at me for killing their baby? No thanks."
Hearing her brother talk like that was making Julieta extremely uncomfortable. She kept watching him closely, trying to get a read on what was going on in his head. Over the years, he became exceptionally skilled at hiding his emotions, but Julieta always saw through the act. This was something she had never seen before, though. Then it finally hit her.
"This isn't like you at all. I've seen you sad, and you were nearly always scared, but you never felt sorry for yourself. No matter how hard things were for you. Not once."
"Yeah, well, this time it's different though, isn't it? It's never been my own sister before."
Julieta thought about what to say next. She hated that her siblings had fallen out and wanted everything to go back to how it was. She didn't know where to start, though. It had all unravelled so fast, and now it seemed near impossible to put her family back together again.
"You'll come down for dinner tonight, won't you? Seven thirty..."
Bruno answered immediately.
"No, Julieta. I won't. I'm sorry, but I'm not coming downstairs anymore. And I'm not having any more visions, either. You can let the family know that. Unless it's life or death, I'm through with it. People will just have to learn to make decisions on their own... I always have."
"What are you talking about? You know that's not an option. We have to use our gifts."
"No. We don't. I believed that too. For years I've tried to do the right thing, frightened that I might offend the miracle. Thinking that everything was my fault. But you know what? The miracle doesn't care. And it doesn't make the slightest difference what we do."
"You can't know that!" Julieta tried to argue.
Bruno narrowed his eyes. "Really, Julieta?"
Things seemed to be getting out of hand, so Julieta tried once more.
"Well, you at least have to come to dinner."
"I don't, though, do I? I don't have to do anything."
"But you need to eat, Bruno, and I'm not bringing you food every night again."
"Well, you won't have to. I've got a kitchen now. My room's been... changing." He glanced briefly towards the far wall.
"But you can't cook," Julieta remarked, unable to suppress a giggle.
"I'll manage."
Julieta knew it was pointless trying to change his mind. If his room had added a kitchen, then the Casita knew how serious he was about not joining the family for meals anymore. That probably meant he was just as serious about not using his gift.
"Mamá's going to be furious."
"Yeah, well she's angry no matter what I do. At least this way, I only have to disappoint her once more."
With a deep sigh, Julieta tightened her apron.
"So... Are we done here? Are you going now?" Bruno asked, obviously keen to get back to sulking on his own.
"Nope," she replied frankly, linking her arm with his. "Show me this kitchen of yours. I'm teaching you to cook."
.
10 years ago...
Julieta put on a brave face in the aftermath of her daughter's failed gift ceremony. She couldn't let Mirabel see how upset she was. Now that the family had retreated to bed, the Casita was deathly silent. She sat at the kitchen table, sobbing and eating leftover arepas. She knew they would do nothing to numb the pain and helplessness she was feeling, but she didn't know what else to do. When the last one had been consumed, she wiped her eyes and started heading back to bed.
She turned towards the back stairs and instantly jumped as she noticed a figure tiptoeing down them.
"Julieta?" her brother whispered, sounding just as startled as she was. "What are you doing up?"
"Would you be surprised if I told you I couldn't sleep?"
Bruno glanced towards the nursery. "Well, no... I guess not..."
As her brother hesitated, Julieta's eyes fell on the large bag he was holding and the books he had clutched to his chest.
"You're... leaving, aren't you?" she gasped.
"Julieta, please... shhh." He started down the stairs towards her. "Dolores..."
"It's almost three in the morning. She's asleep," Julieta remarked. She looked again at her brother's bag. "Besides, I should wake the whole Casita. Right now."
"No no. Please, you've got to let me go. Trust me, this is important," Bruno pleaded.
Julieta knew in her gut that he was serious, but she didn't understand why he would be so determined to leave.
"Is this because Mamá asked you to have a vision?" she tried. When he didn't deny it, she continued, "If you don't want to, then we can say you tried, and it didn't work... I'll come with you."
"Actually I—"
"We'll say you've lost your gift... or... Or maybe we just try to make her understand how hard it is for you... How hard it's always been. Maybe if she can see things from your—"
"Julieta!"
She stopped to let him speak.
"I had the vision!"
Julieta clasped her hands to her mouth.
"I had the vision," he repeated. "I don't know why any of you thought I wouldn't."
"You... you did? Then that's great. What did you see? We should go and get it right now," she said, tugging at his arm.
"No. We can't. Because I've destroyed it. Just let me leave, please. I have to go." Bruno shook his arm free, almost dropping a book.
"You destroyed it? Why? What did you see?" she tried again.
He didn't answer but simply brushed past her and marched quickly towards the front door of the Casita. Julieta hurried after him. The reality of the situation had become starkly apparent. She knew her brother intended to leave, but she couldn't allow that to happen. In desperation, she tried to hug him, hoping his love for her would convince him to stay, but he immediately shrugged her off.
"I'm sorry, I can't. You have to trust me. Let me leave," he pleaded again. He sounded desperate. Julieta always knew when her brother was scared, and he was terrified.
"Your place is here, with us, Bruno!" Julieta said, trying a different tactic.
It at least made him slow down.
"No, it's not. I haven't belonged here for a long time, and you know it. Mamá is ashamed of me, and Pepa can't even look at me anymore."
"Mamá loves you."
"Loves me? Who do you think told me to leave?"
"What?" Julieta didn't believe that.
"She said if I didn't have a vision, I'd have no place in this family."
"If you didn't have a vision... but you did..." She paused for a second, reminded of the vision. "What did it say, Bruno? Why won't you just tell me?"
"It said..." He hesitated. "It said I have to leave the Encanto. That's what it said."
He bolted for the lobby and made it through the front door before Julieta could stop him.
"Casita, please!" he ordered, and the wood of the front door quickly rearranged to create a barrier and prevent Julieta from coming after him. "See," he remarked flatly. "Even Casita wants me to go."
All Julieta could do was watch as her dear brother disappeared into the darkness at a run without a single glance back. The door returned to its usual form, and she collapsed to the floor. She had been holding back tears all night, and she could do nothing to stop them now. Her brother would not be coming home.