CHAPTER SUMMARY: Before losing his sight, Bruno had a vision of a positive future for one of the villagers. A future that never gets to come true. The man retaliates and takes his anger out on Bruno.
Chapter 8: An Eye For An Eye Makes the Whole World Blind
As Bruno made his way to the town center, his cane held out in front, he grinned as the local villagers welcomed him kindly. It felt good to be outside without worrying about the judgmental looks and gossip regarding his supposed bad luck. Instead, individuals inquired about Luna or playfully teased him about his plans to marry Ashleigh.
Waiting at an intersection for traffic to stop, Bruno heard someone angrily shout his name before he was violently shoved to the ground. Crying out in pain as he felt his right wrist break as he hit the concrete, Bruno rolled onto his back just as a boot slammed into his side, breaking his ribs.
"Bastardo! It's your fault she's dead!"
Groaning as he tried to sit up, a punch to his remaining eye sent Bruno back down. "What are you talking about?" Bruno moaned, trying to place the voice.
"My wife, you monstruo maldito! Nina Gomez! You told me she would live to see her nietos but she died last night because of you!"
After a moment of wracking his muddled brain, Bruno nodded slowly as he recalled Eduardo Gomez asking him to look into the future to see if Nina would survive her breast cancer treatments. "I did see Nina with your grandchildren," Bruno insisted, cursing mentally as he felt it getting harder to breathe. "I didn't know she'd relapsed."
"The cancer spread to her lungs!" Eduardo shouted, tears streaming down his face. "But we didn't know until it was too late! We could have gotten her treatment if you still had your damn Gift!" Seeing Bruno try to sit up again and reach for his cane, Eduardo kicked it away before bringing his boot down as hard as he could on Bruno's wrist.
"Alright, now that's enough!" Alonzo Ortiz said, sharply as he pulled the crazed widower away, pinning the man's arms behind his back. "Penelope, call an ambulance for Bruno!" Looking up as more people started towards the scene, Alonzo breathed a sigh of relief as he saw two police officers stepping forward to detain Eduardo.
Traffic cleared as an ambulance came down the street, stopping next to where Bruno lay on the pavement, fading in and out of consciousness.
"Bruno? Stay with us," Penelope Ortiz ordered, squeezing the man's forearm.
"Can't... breathe..." Bruno rasped, faintly.
"Disculpe, senora," one of the paramedics barked as he knelt down next to Bruno, listening to his breathing. "No breath sounds on the right." Feeling Bruno's chest, Ricardo Flores swore aloud as he noted, "At least two broken ribs. One of them probably punctured his lung. We need to get him to the hospital now!"
As Bruno was loaded up and taken to emergency, Ricardo intubated Bruno while his partner drove through the emptying streets.
Part of him wanted to simply dose Bruno with the quick-dissolve tablets Doctor Julieta Madrigal made for such situations, but experience told him to wait.
Julieta's healing ability was capable of addressing most injuries, but it could also make serious issues more complicated. For instance, while her magic could fix broken ribs and a punctured lung, a situation where blood began to pool in the lung could be life-threatening. Similarly, the severe injuries to Bruno's right wrist could have caused nerve damage, potentially requiring surgery for proper repair. Rapid healing might result in pinched or severed nerves, and Bruno could end up losing the functionality of his hand.
As Bruno was taken into the trauma room, nurses removed his ruana and shirt, putting them aside as Hector Sandoval assessed the injuries. "I need a chest tube tray and x-rays of his right arm, head, and chest!"
It was several long minutes before Bruno was stabilized and sent up to radiology and when Hector headed out to the waiting room, he wasn't surprised that the entire Madrigal family was there. "Bruno is stable, but in critical condition," he reported, quickly. "We need to get a better idea of the extent of his injuries before we can treat him properly."
"What kind of injuries are we talking about?" Julieta wanted to know.
"Pneumothorax, for one," Hector replied. "We need confirmation, but it sounded like Bruno was bleeding into his right lung. There was significant trauma to his right eye. Also, there were crushing injuries to his right hand and wrist."
"I want to see Papi!" Luna cried as Pepa held her.
Holding up a calming hand, Hector cautioned, "Bruno might not be conscious. And depending on what the doctors upstairs say, he may need to go into surgery straight away." Seeing the worried faces from the Madrigals, he finally relented, instructing that only two people could see him at a time.
"Luna and I will go first," Julieta said, taking her sobrina from her sister and leading the way to the elevators.
x
"Bruno? Bruno, can you hear me?"
Feeling her brother faintly squeeze her fingers, Julieta breathed a sigh of relief as she guided Luna to her father's side.
"Papi?" Luna sniffled, taking her father's hand. "Y-You promised you wouldn't leave me for a long, long time. Okay? You promised." As his hand squeezed hers, Bruno reached up until his fingers touched her curls before falling limply to his side.
"Papi? Papi!" Luna cried as Bruno was rushed up to the surgical suite. "Papi!" she wailed, holding on to her tia as Julieta picked her up again, taking her to the surgical waiting room.
"Bruno's going into surgery to repair the damage to his lung, eye, and hand," Julieta explained, sitting down as she held Luna. "He was barely conscious. It... It's bad. There's nerve damage to his hand and wrist... They're going to drain the blood in his lung. He's probably going to lose his other eye."
"Who would attack Bruno like this?" Pepa wanted to know, shivering as her cloud started dropping fat snowflakes.
"I heard it was Eduardo Gomez," Felix replied, pulling his wife close as waving off her cloud. "Because he was angry that Bruno didn't tell him that Nina was going to relapse."
Julieta nodded her head in sympathy as she reflected on the unfortunate woman. "Her breast cancer was in remission. However, when that type of cancer returns, it frequently becomes too advanced for standard treatment unless the individual undergoes a complete mastectomy. Even in that case, the battle is challenging. Nina likely wished to focus on being with her family rather than being confined to a hospital undergoing chemotherapy and radiation."
Alma stiffened as she pointed out, "Be that as it may, Senor Gomez attacked Bruno with no real provocation. He needs to be punished for his crime. Julieta..." Her voice shook as she asked, "As a doctor... do you believe Bruno will be alright?"
As Julieta glanced from her mother to Luna's tear-filled face and pleading eyes, she felt a tightening in her heart as she answered, "Will Bruno survive? Most likely. Once the doctors drain his lung, the fast-dissolving tablets I create should heal the puncture and the fractured ribs. The same applies to the broken bones in Bruno's face and hand. However, that doesn't guarantee there won't be nerve damage. Additionally, crushing injuries can take weeks to heal completely. Bruno will need a cast on his hand for some time and... even after it comes off, he may still struggle to use his hand properly."
Making her way out of the hospital and toward the Encanto courthouse, Alma tried to maintain her composure. The prognosis concerning Bruno ignited a deep-seated anger within her, and as she stood in front of Eduardo's prison cell, her gaze was frosty as she declared, "Bruno hasn't seen the future for over five years. He hasn't seen anything since he blinded himself. And now he's going to lose his other eye because of you—"
"I lost MY WIFE!" Eduardo shouted, filled with rage. "My children lost their mother! Excuse me, Senora High-and-Mighty Madrigal, if I find it hard to empathize with Bruno losing an eye that doesn't even function anymore!"
"I could still lose MY SON!" Alma shot back, anger evident in her tone. "Bruno is undergoing surgery to fix the damage to his lungs! If he doesn't survive, YOU will be charged with his murder!" An inner voice, reminiscent of Pedro, chastised her for overstating Bruno's injuries, but she didn't care.
"And what will you do if I'm found guilty?" Eduardo pressed, snidely, as he leaned against the bars. "Hmm? Execute me? My children have already lost their mother. Will you kill their father as well... make them orphans?"
"You made my nieta, Luna, an orphan by killing her father! Why shouldn't I do the same thing to your children?"
The moment the thought entered her mind, Alma stood up straight, gazing into Eduardo's eyes, doing her best not to empathize with the anguish she noticed there.
She recognized that pain all too well; it was a sorrow she had carried for a long time following Pedro's murder and during the early years of the settlement. However, Alma eventually transformed her emotions into the drive to develop Encanto into the vast township it had become. Building a refuge for others helped alleviate the pain in her heart. In contrast, Eduardo Gomez had opted to retaliate against the person he believed had robbed him of his wife.
"I will not have you executed for Bruno's death, if it comes to that," Alma promised, shaking her head. "You will remain here. Your children will be cared for and they will be allowed to visit you whenever they wish. But you will have to live with the burden that your pain and grief caused you to kill someone. A murder that will do nothing to bring Nina back." Turning and heading for the door, she thought she heard Eduardo start to cry.
X
Returning to the surgical waiting room a short while later, Alma raised an eyebrow when she saw that Luna and Julieta were the only family members remaining.
Luna was nestled in a chair, wrapped in Bruno's ruana while Julieta paced back and forth. Noticing her mother, Juli quickly checked on Luna before pulling Alma aside and whispering, "Pepa and Felix took the girls to the ice cream shop nearby. Agustin went out to find Ashleigh." A bittersweet smile appeared on her face, and she sniffled while nodding towards Luna. "She said she would stay with me. She thought Bruno would want to ensure I wasn't left alone." Taking a deep, shaky breath, she shook her head and whispered, "I don't know what we'd do if we had to tell her that Bruno is gone." After another shaky breath, she continued, "The surgeons have repaired Bruno's lung and removed his right eye. They are finishing up setting the fractured bones in his hand and wrist. Once they give him one of the healing tablets, they'll put his hand in a cast for about two weeks, just to be cautious."
"I went to see Eduardo Gomez," Alma explained as she and Julieta sat down. "I told him that his trial and punishment would be contingent on Bruno's recovery."
"You're not actually thinking of letting him go, are you, Mama?" Julieta asked, horrified. "He could have killed Bruno!"
"Grief can lead us to commit awful acts, mija," Alma observed. "I don't support his actions, nor am I justifying them." She took her daughter's hand as she continued. "However, the man is suffering greatly, a pain I wouldn't wish on anyone. When he gains clarity, he will understand the harm he has caused. And he will have to bear that guilt."
Puzzled by her mother's comments, Juli shook her head in disbelief. "Well, Mama, you're a better person than I would be if I were in your position."
Holding Julieta's hand firmly, Alma disagreed. "I'm not better, corazon. Just older and wiser."
As the sounds of various machines beeping filtered into Bruno's consciousness, he gave a soft groan as he tried to blink his right eye.
"Easy, hermano..." Julieta cautioned, gently. "How are you feeling?"
"Where's Luna?" Bruno wanted to know. His little girl had to be so worried about him... Feeling a small hand take his, he smiled weakly. "I'm alright, moonbeam. 'm right here."
"Don't scare me like that again, Papi!" Luna sobbed, holding on tight.
"Your Papi's tougher than he looks," Bruno assured her. He knew his bravado was courtesy of the painkillers he was on, but what did that matter if it made his daughter feel better. "I'd have taken that rogue down if he hadn't snuck up on me."
"Whatever you say, Brunito," Julieta snickered as she picked Luna up and sat her on the edge of Bruno's bed before adjusting the incline. Putting a hand on his right shoulder, the smile faded as she reported, "You lost your other eye, Bruno. And your wrist is going to be in that cast for a few weeks." Taking his right fingers, she instructed, "Squeeze my hand."
Bruno did as instructed, although it felt strange with his thumb, pinkie, and ring fingers immobilized. "That hurts," he muttered as Julieta gently raised his forearm, poking his fingers with a sensory needle.
Julieta felt a surge of relief as she lowered her brother's arm back onto the pillow it had been resting on. "Pain is a good sign. That means that your nerve responses are getting back to normal. You should be just fine in about a month."
After reaching up and tugging on Luna's curls with his good hand, Bruno asked, "Is Ashleigh around?"
"I'm right here," Ashleigh said, taking Luna's spot after Julieta took her out of the room, closing the door behind them. "You look a bloody mess."
Bruno laughed for a moment before wincing as he felt where his chest tube had been. Feeling for his girlfriend's hand, he beamed as he said, "I need to ask you something. And I'm doing it now while I'm brave enough."
Ashleigh tried to stop him but he shook his head insistently.
"Ashleigh Lachlan..." Bruno began, cheerfully. "Will you marry me?"