Outside the Encanto

La Casa Madrigal

The sunset is your favorite thing to see.. and you look into it with both eyes open. A warm hand settles on your shoulder, and you hesitate to look up.

Abuela stands before you, a grimace on her face you believe is the same as yours. You look nothing like Abuela, but the way you pull your faces into the same kind of expression is identical to one another.

"Soldiers, line up." Papa refuses to look at you as he inspects his soldiers. "Alright." He nods to Abuela, and heads outside.
  The family says goodbyes to one another, Maria cries and throws herself into Andrés' arms. You hug Joshua, knowing he will not cry, therefore not risking your own tears.
Marco is a different story. It's only his third time leaving, but each is worse than the last. You cry and he cries as you dribble snot onto his freshly made uniform.
Eduardo and you are close, but your goodbye is easier to handle. You shed tears, but lots of residue from Marco's goodbye.
The twins are strange. They do not hug you, although they're both like sisters to you more than primas. Your goodbye is communicated through eye contact, but your silent goodbye says more than a thousand words.
You never said goodbye to Papa.

"You've been standing here for seven hours, amor, please come inside. Once you change we will head out." She plants a kiss on your forehead, then gently holds your hand and leads you inside. You avoid eye contact with Maria and Tia Sophia, and dash into your room. Awaiting you is a F/C dress and white lace trim, an addition Tia Sophia must've done while you were outside.

You throw it on, but add a white and gold belt around your waist to tighten it up a bit, and strap on your sandals. You throw on a tad bit of mascara, remove the braids from your hair, which leave beautiful curls, so you decide to leave it be. You remind myself of someone, and your throat tightens. Mama. You've cried enough already. Not again.

Downstairs your family awaits you, and you take Maria's hand and begin the journey to La Casa Madrigal. It's not hard to find, nor a long walk. Maria takes a sparkler and runs inside, and you take a minute to admire the outside of their Casita. You glance over and see Luisa carrying donkeys over to a fenced off area. She's awesome. You look back toward the house and see Camilo, shape shifting and greeting guests, and realize you're in the line of fire. You turn around and walk backwards, into the house to avoid eye contact, then spin back around. You let out an involuntary gasp.

This isn't your first time in La Casa Madrigal, but it's certainly the first you can really appreciate it. You can really take in the colors and music around me. You see Isabella dancing for everyone around her. You're impressed, keep that up and she could be a mighty fine stripper. You'd never liked Isabella, so you must be biased. You head over to the dance floor and dance, with plenty of space considering everyone moves away from you once you hit the dance floor. You incorporate a bit of water bending in your performance, and even Isabella looks jealous. You tilt your head upwards for a particularly difficult move, when you see him.

Bruno.

He's watching you, or at least he was until he realized you spotted him. Bruno dashed down the hallway and you lose him. You would've followed him, but at that moment the music died down. A woman in a fuchsia dress held the miracle candle, and spoke.

Señora Alma. Everyone knew her, so there was no need for introduction. A path was made for a child, Antonio you believe his name is, to walk. To gain his miracle. Little did anyone else know Maria's gift would be arriving soon, most likely in a day or two. Nobody in town cared to know. The curtains open, and you see him, Antonio, standing ever so still. His entire family was waiting at the stairs for him, his Tia and Tio, four Madrigal granddaughters, and you notice the one with glasses has tons of patterns on her dress. You can't help but wonder who sewed it.

But to your most interest, Camilo was standing there too. His eyes were fully concentrated on his brother, but for a flicker of a second, his eyes turned to you. He waved, and something in you made you wave back. He grinned.

Suddenly a wailing came from your right, and your eyes dashed to the child standing alone. He had begun to cry, turn around, and run into the darkness and out of La Casa Madrigal.