Seer's Eye // Bruno Madrigal Angst

Ch. 3 Julieta the Lifesaver

     Pepa was the first to open the door, dark clouds were beginning to form above her head again from stress, as it had taken them 10 minutes to get Bruno to the house in his condition.

He began staggering once they got to the driveway, clutching his sides and wheezing.

"Bruno, are you ok?! Can you make it inside?" Pepa had asked, wind beginning to whip around her.

Bruno simply nodded in response, in too much pain to say anything.

He wasn't actually sure if he could make it inside. His ribs were sending shooting pains down his body and his head was pounding. He was hoping the girls hadn't heard his occasional pained gasps and whimpers.

The last thing he wanted to do was worry them.

But they did make it inside.

Dolores was holding Bruno up now as the two walked in the door. It was strange to see the seer pass under a doorway without bothering to hold his breath or cross his fingers. All he did was whimper softly and try to keep himself upright.

"Julieta!!" Pepa yelled, "Julieta! We need your help!!"

Moments later, she came running down the hallway.

"What? What happened? Whose-?!" She gasped when she saw Bruno, weakly leaning against Dolores with a bloodied forehead, clutching his side. He offered her a weak smile, but grimaced at his own attempts.

"Bruno! Come, come sit down! Don't say anything, don't even move! You can explain after I heal you." She quickly scurried into the kitchen to make something for Bruno to heal his wounds.

Dolores gently sat Bruno down on the couch. "Bruno.." she said softly, "I'm so sorry we didn't show up earlier."

The seer shook his head softly, straining slightly from the effort of getting to la casita. "Dolores it's ok. You-you helped me." He took a moment to himself as he waited for a sharp pain to go away. "You have nothing to worry about, we have a really good cook in the family after all." He said with a slight chuckle, then clenched his teeth when he realized that was a bad idea.

She placed a hand on Bruno's shoulder as Pepa ran out of the room to fetch something.

It was quiet for a moment before Dolores spoke again, softly. Now was the perfect time to ask Bruno about why he'd been acting so strange. It wasn't like he could run off to his room in his current condition and he needed a distraction from the pain.

"While we're here, I've been meaning to ask you something." Dolores lowered her voice even more than usual, "What's going on with you? Even when you lived in the walls you didn't mutter this much. I hear it all the time."

"Ah s-sorry-" Bruno said strenuously, "I-I didn't think- well-...it's not keeping you awake, is it?"

Dolores sighed, "Everything keeps me awake. What's keeping you awake?"

"Nothing, nothing. Everything's fine."

"If it's nothing why do I hear you pacing around your room at night? Or trembling? I hear you trembling sometimes and I'm just worried about you. And the other night you were muttering something about 'holding it back.'"

"Holding it back?" Bruno echoed. "...oh, right." He sighed. "Dolores, if I tell you, you have to promise you won't tell anyone."

Bruno wasn't sure why he had made the decision to tell her. People are more honest when they're tired and at the moment Bruno was very tired. That combined with the fact that Dolores was the reason he had gotten help probably contributed. He always felt he could trust her.