The Miracle Was You

The Miracle's Collapse

"I... will never be good enough for you, will I? No matter how hard I try.... No matter how hard any of us trieS." Mirabel said angrily as a realization hit her. A tear cascaded down her cheek as her family watched from the sidelines, the person who had hurt all of them being right in front of her. The sound of cracking stone and wood surrounded them but none could take their eyes off Mirabel and Abuela.
"Luisa will never be strong enough, Isabella won't be perfect enough! Bruno left our family because you only saw the worst in him-"
Abuela interrupted Mirabel with an angry and frustrated shout.
"Bruno didn't care about this family!"
"He loves this family" Mirabel argued with conviction, confidence building against her Abuela.
"I love this family!" She shouted, unable to keep her rage in check.
"We all love this family, you're the one who doesn't care!" Her voice broke.
"You're the one breaking our home" Mirabel felt like sobbing as she said those words, the woman she had looked up to and listened to her entire life was becoming less and less of a saint in her eyes.
"Don't you ever-" Mirabel interrupted Abuela again.
"The miracle is dying because of you!" She shouted while staring Abuela directly in the eyes.
Suddenly, a massive crack came between Mirabel and Abuela and traveled up towards the candle, causing the whole house to shake and the candle to be imbalanced. Mirabel felt a wave of anxiety hit her as she turned her full attention towards saving the candle.
As Casita pushed the other Madrigal's outside, Mirabel, Isabella and Camilo ran to save the teetering candle. Isabella was the fastest but her powers gave out before she could reach it. Camillo ran along the second floor of Casita and transformed himself several times to dodge debris, his final transformation of José to reach the ledge failing as Casita caught him and helped him land safely. Casita pushed both of them out as Mirabel finally got up onto the ledge with Casita's help and struggled to reach the candle with her fingertips. Her mother and father shouted to her from afar to leave the candle but she would not give up yet. Just as she grasped the candle, Bruno's tower collapsed and her feet under Casita slipped.
Though Casita tried it's best to stop her damaging tumble to the ground. Time slowed for Mirabel as she saw the tower crumbling towards her, hundreds of pounds of debris coming to crush her as if she were no more than a bug. As soon as she hit the ground, she was knocked out. A huge gash in her skull where her head had hit the ground. The best Casita could do to protect her from the rest of the tower was make a tent of two firm doors and remain as strong as possible until it was finally done crumbling.
All the remains of the once beautiful and enchanting Casita was rubble and ruins. Augustíne was the first to rush in, his instincts as a father immediately negating the shock of the Casita's collapse.
"Mirabel!" He shouted desperately, digging through piles of rubble haphazardly. Julieta was next, rushing to his side and trying to find their missing daughter.
Camillo spotted a bit of light in the biggest rubble pile, immediately running towards it and digging.
"Over here!" He shouted as Julieta and Augustíne joined him in digging through the pile. The light slowly fizzled out as they pulled a partially broken door out. Beneath the door was a space barely big enough for a child with Mirabel's struggling body inside. Her breathing was labored and a large puddle of blood rested beneath her head. She was covered in dust which made the blood all that much more apparent. Camillo felt his veins turn to ice, letting himself be pushed away from his best friend and cousin. Julieta's sobs echoed throughout everyone's ears.
Abuela Alma carefully walked up to the trio, gently pushing Camillo aside to his mother and looking at her granddaughter being held in her daughter's arms.
Tightly gripped in Mirabel's hand was the candle, melted wax covering Mirabel's burnt and dirty hands.
Abuela realized in that moment that she should have turned the blame towards herself much sooner...