Disappeared once or twice

25. The ability to be a baddie

His hand moved slowly to the door, his throat was dry and breathing became troublesome. Needless to say he was incredibly nervous as the eyes of the Madrigals pierced through his soul. This moment could lead to an amazing discovery or a total flop. The candle burned brighter as he laid his hand on the doorknob. The overwhelming lights blinded everyone in a radius of 10 metres, Bruno opened his eyes. 

The small town had surrounded him, his mother and his siblings. Pepa was so overwhelmed that thunder started to emerge from a cloud above her head. Abuela smiled at the sight of her children getting their gifts. Out of the three of them, only the bubbly lighthaired girl had a gift that was immediately noticeable. On her door appeared her portrait, a shining sun behind her and thunder to her sides. Casita even added the little detailed scarf wrapped around her hair. 

Nor Bruno nor Julieta felt any different than usual. Their doors reacted, yes. But the imagine was yet to appear.

The same thing was happening with Alberto. The door lit up, a good sign. However small particles started to appear, Julieta en Bruno got flashbacks from Mirabels giftceremony. The door had discharged particles then, too. Alberto and the people around him closed their eyes in an attempt to not get permanent eyestrain. 

Alberto didn't dare to open his eyes. His future laid before him, the answers to one of his many questions too. But now the push came to shove, he backed out. He felt scared, scared of the future. What if the answers weren't what he expected of them, what if he was wrong all along. What if Julieta's speculations were just that, speculations. 

He slowly opened his eyes, not facing the door just yet. He looked carefully and cautious at the people behind him. Bruno was staring wide-eyed to the door, he met his gaze of terror. Alberto was sure of it, his door showed a picture. He quickly turned around to be faced with a portrait of himself. His curly hair danced wildly around the face of his older self. His hands were placed in an awkward position, both pointing up, his elbows bent in a strange way. The top of the door carried his name, Alberto, the golden letters proudly presented themselves. Embracing Alberto as a true Madrigal.

Above Alberto's hands there were three items, a small bunch of circles indicating air, a strong object representing rocks and wavy squiggly lines projecting water. He immediately thought his power might be some avatar shit or whatever. The bottom of the door was decorated with all the three figures combined. It looked stunning and Alberto was too surprised to speak. 

He now had gained two new things. A father and an overwhelming gift what he had yet to figure out the true meaning of. The poor kid was overstimulated with emotions and the first thing he did was engulf his dad in a big hug. The second thing he did was punch the man, soft punches, tears flooding from his eyes. It had been a busy day and containing his emotions was very hard on him. 

 "Why did you leave me." He chanted, "why, why, why. I needed you. I needed you and you weren't there." "I know kid." Bruno pet Alberto's hair softly, "I know and I'm so so so sorry." Bruno remembered something, something in this hug triggered him to have a flashback. They had been in this exact position before years ago. A different time, a different place but the same scenario. Him apologizing while the kid asked him why. 

The kid asked him why his mother left. 

Bruno had no answers to that question, Bruno didn't know either. He only knew that this was his fault. He blamed himself, he never once blamed Alberto and he never once intended to leave. So why did he? Why did he leave, if he had taken care of Alberto before, why would he have stopped? Bits and pieces of his memory were still left out. 

A very awkward silence arrived when Alberto stopped hitting his father. Julieta smiled softly, she had seen this coming and was way more eager to find out about Alberto's gift, however she didn't want to interrupt this tender moment. The moment where Alberto finally recognized someone as his dad, it brought tears to her eyes when she heard the boy's voice crack when he spoke to her brother. She knew Bruno would never leave his child without a good reason, it just wasn't like him at all. 

The moments Alberto spent close to Bruno seemed a matter of minutes to the two of them, but it felt like forever to the ones watching. Gradually they were getting more interested in Alberto's gift and Camilo was simply wondering how Abuela would react. 

Father and son finally let each other go. Julieta took this as a chance to ask Alberto to test out his powers, he agreed and moved like his body told him to, he focused real hard and then...