When He Left

Rain, Rain, You Can Stay

     Dolores and Camilo shuffle around the table in front of Casita on a sunny morning, clearing the table after the Madrigal family had finished breakfast. It was scrumptious as always, especially since Julieta made breakfast once again. Today the menu was arepas along with a few sweets. Camilo smiles proudly and sets his hands on his hips as he finishes. Dolores comes out of La Casa after she put away the last of the plates, and smiles as well when she sees her younger brother.
      "Good job, hermano. We finished," she says in her usual quiet tone, making Camilo smile more.
      "What should we do now, Dolores?" the shapeshifter asks, making his sister's face contort into a thoughtful expression.
     "I don't know. Maybe I'll just go to my room," Dolores says, turning around and starting to walk into the grand house.
     "Aww, come on, hermana! Let's play a game! Or maybe I can present a show for you?" the brunet boy suggests playfully, shapeshifting in between his words to different members of the family.
     His sister sighed, though it was easy to tell that she was trying to suppress a smile. "Alright, Camilo. You can," she responds, sitting down on a chair at the table.
     Camilo grins and starts to turn into multiple people, making skits out of all the citizens in the marvelous Encanto. He was able to get Dolores to laugh for at least a bit. The two continued this ritual for a few more minutes until the quiet girl's face turned into a slightly concerned expression as if she had seen her brother fall and scrape his knee.
     "What's the matter?" questions Camilo, confused. The clouds in the sky were turning gray.
     "Mami's crying again," Dolores answered, cupping her ear with one hand so that she can hear better, though it's really not necessary since she has super hearing. Their tio Bruno had suddenly disappeared a few days ago and nobody had even attempted to look for him except for Dolores and Camilo's father Felix and their tio Augustin. Since then, both Pepa and Julieta had been visibly upset no matter how hard they tried to hide it. Pepa had been showing an angry front each time Bruno's name was mentioned and Julieta would just look even sadder. Even if the siblings' mother did try to look like she didn't care, Dolores was easily able to hear her cry if she ever did, which was often these days.
     Camilo's face changes from confusion to concern. "Again?" he asks, his sister nodding in response. "Hmm, I should do something to make her feel better," the shapeshifter thinks aloud, putting a finger on his chin.
     "I don't know, Camilo, maybe she just needs to be left alone..." the worried brunette girl replies.
     "But Dolores, I have an idea for today that might help her feel better!" her brother says with a confident smile and a determined tone of voice. The curly-haired girl raises an eyebrow at the smaller boy, indicating her curiosity.

     Camilo only grins more. He exclaims, "You'll see!" Before his sister could say anything else, he runs quickly into the Madrigal household. He dashes up the stairs and charges into his mother's room, where he is greeted by a large, thick, fluffy raincloud. Pepa jumps, startled by the sudden bang of the door. She turns around and her raincloud immediately becomes one that struck lightning, thunder booming throughout the room. Her puffy eyes meet her son's and anger vibrates throughout her body, her eyes flashing with intense energy. Camilo started to think about retreating but immediately remembered his goal, confidence flooding his body once again.
     "Why are you here, Camilo?" Pepa demands hoarsely, a bit more harshly than she meant it to be.
      "Welll, Mama..." Camilo starts, tilting his head to a side mischievously. "I have a surprise for you!"
     The woman's expression remains angry and the thundering cloud still stays above her head, but her face shows the tiniest bit of curiosity. 
     "...What is it?" she asks cautiously.

     "You see, Bruno-" the playful boy starts to say, only to hear loud, booming thunder. He glances at his mother, who had eyes flaming with anger.
     "We do not talk about him!" the woman yelled coldly, turning around so that she wasn't facing Camilo. The cloud becomes larger and thunder booms louder. More lightning starts to flash above Pepa's head.
     The angered lady starts to trail off. "He...is not a good person...his gift was not helping the family or the town! He ruined...my wedding...a-and many other things! He...he did...."
     The brunet's smile falters. Even if his mother is talking bad about her brother, the boy could tell that she's only trying to convince herself that Bruno was a bad person, no matter how young Camilo was and no matter how hard Pepa tried.
     And he knew that she wanted Bruno back.
     Camilo watches as his mother continues her incoherent rambling, her shaky fingers anxiously stroking her messy, orange hair. The boy slowly walks up to Pepa so that he was standing right beside her. He then uses his gift to switch into a certain someone.
    "Hey, Pepita!" says a man's joyful voice. "I missed you!"
     Pepa's head quickly turns towards the voice. When she sees who it is, her face goes pale.
     She's staring at Bruno.
     Her brother, Bruno.
     "How are you, hermana...?" Bruno says with an awkward smile.

     Instead of smiling like Camilo had expected her to, the orange-haired woman starts to cry, and her thundering cloud becomes a heavy raincloud. She covers her face with her hands, failing to prevent a sob from emitting from her mouth.
     Looking at his mother, the shapeshifter turns back to himself. His face expresses confusion and then sadness. Before he could do anything, he hears footsteps coming into the room. Pepa looked up as well, revealing the shimmering droplets dripping down her cheeks. Felix and Dolores were standing there. Felix walks up to Pepa and pulls her into a gentle embrace as she shook with heavy sobs. Dolores grabs an umbrella in the corner of the room and hands it to her father, who rests it under the soaking cloud floating atop his wife's head. Unfortunately, that was no use since another cloud formed under the umbrella. Pepa's head leans against Felix's chest, soaking his shirt with tears as her husband strokes her head while whispering soft and reassuring words into her frizzy hair. Their two children watch, soon hugging their sobbing mother. As Pepa, Felix, Camilo, and Dolores sit in a puddle of water while listening to the rain pounding on a window with the occasional thunder, a mysterious man peeks through a hole in the wall that shows bits of Pepa's room.

      It's Bruno. Not the one Camilo shapeshifted into, but the real one.
      Bruno sighs sadly as he leans his back against the wall. He felt guilty. He felt so, so guilty. He wanted to get out of the walls and comfort his sister so badly. In fact, he wanted to do that for both of his sisters. He wanted to hug them and tell them that everything will be alright and that he's here now, and he'll stay.
     But he can't.
     If he did, his gift would ruin everybody's day, including his family's. The hate and conflict would start all over again.
    The curly-haired man sighs again as he steps away from his sister's room.

    While Bruno reluctantly retreats from the room, Camilo starts to wonder;
    Why is it still raining?
   I did what I was supposed to.
  I brought Bruno back.
  So why is it still raining?