Once Upon A Time In Colombia...

The Catastrophic Collapse Of Casita and The Cowardly Cat

"What is going on?" Abuela walked in, sounding angry. I winced, hearing it. The three us sat up.

Isabela, she just looks upset that the time with us has ended and is upset and concerned because she probably know what's about to go down. Isabela looks terrified. She flinched when she heard Alma. She looked down at her clothes. They're messy, colorful, not perfect. This poor girl is terrified.

"Abuela? It's okay! Everything's... We're gonna save the miracle. The magic..." Mirabel tried to reason, excited. I tried to act excited, but I really wasn't. "What are you talking about? Look at our home! Look at your sister!"

"Please just... Isabela wasn't happy and she didn't—"

"Of course she isn't happy. You two ruined her proposal."

Then I saw the flowers dying. Isabela got rid of them. She's ashamed. She tries to clean herself up. She's glancing nervously between Mirabel and Abuela and making sure that what they just did isn't able to be seen around the house.

"No, no, no. She needed us to ruin her proposal. And then we did all of this! And the candle burned brighter and the cracks-"

"Mirabel."

"Let her finish, please." I gently spat, allowing Mirabel to continue. "That's why Oscar and I were in the vision! We're saving the miracle!"

Isabela moved to Abuela's side. After Mirabel says "she needed us to ruin her proposal," she glances nervously over at her like she doesn't want Abuela to know that she does not want to marry Mariano. She doesn't want her "perfect" image that her Abuela has of her to go away. As she walks towards Abuela, she also tries to wipe her face. Mirabel is trying her hardest to explain what's going on, but she just isn't listening... As always.

But then...

"You two have to STOP!" Abuela yelled. Very much like Luisa, Abuela has seldom yelled at me. The only other time I remember her yelling at me was this morning during breakfast.

Stop what? Influencing her siblings? My cousins? Standing up to Abuela? Trying to change things and make them better? Trying to figure out how to help the family? She's just telling us to stop trying to help the family because we're doing nothing but being in the way.

And we're not trying to be in the way! You fellows out there at home know that! We are trying to help this family! We have been saying this through the whole picture! WHY CAN'T ABUELA SEE THAT?!

"The cracks started with you two. Bruno left because of you two."

Although she's technically right that Bruno left because of us, it wasn't because of us. It was for us. He knew that if Alma saw the vision of the house breaking behind Mirabel and me, because Bruno often saw the future and it had bad outcomes, he broke the vision and left to protect Mirabel and I.

Mirabel continued to shrink and move backwards. As she moves backwards, so does all of the progress she's made to help the cracks and the miracle. And on top of that, my sense of self worth is shattering.

The cracks started again. We're scared. Upset. Abuela is yelling at us. I'll remind you that Mirabel is only 15 and Abuela is ranting about how everything bad that has happened in the last 10 years is because of her. And for the past year, because of me also.

Because in this godforsaken world, blaming every bad thing that happens on other people is fair.

"Luisa's losing her powers. Isabela's out of control. Because of the two of you! I don't know why you weren't given a Gift, Mirabel, but is is not an excuse for you and Oscar to hurt this family!"