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Cheers, laughter, and muffled conversations by the townspeople can be heard all over the main hall of casa Madrigal, all excited for what’s to come this evening.
And rightfully so. The youngest Madrigal, Antonio, will be granted a gift by the candle tonight.
Mirabel hears all the excited talks and cheers from the townspeople behind the rose curtain. They all sound so happy, so cheerful without her. They doesn’t even bother to ask where she is. The 15 year old can’t help but feel saddened by it.
Yesterday, her abuela basically forbade her to come at Antonio’s ceremony, in case her presence affected the moment. It broke her when hearing that. Was she that much of a bother to her own family? But, in the end, the girl just agreed, and went along with it.
And now, when Mirabel snaps out of her self-pity, the ceremony is about to begin.
“Many years ago, this candle blessed our family with a miracle. Our house, our Casita came to live with magic.” Alma starts, holding the magical candle as she tells the townspeople the story of how their family received the magic, just like she had every other ceremony. “In time, every member of our family was given their own magical gift.”
Mirabel looks away from her abuela and the happy scene for a moment, barely managing to hold back tears. They just…hide her away. As if she doesn’t matter to this family…
But as much as the girl just wants to leave, she still wants to stay for Antonio.
“And tonight, Antonio will receive his.” Alma finishes, smiling at the youngest Madrigal, urging him to step towards the candle.
The 5 year old does so, and, with a bit of hesitation, touches the flame of the candle.
At first, there’s silence, and nothing really happens. That, until a toucan flies to the boy, landing on his left arm.
“Uh huh. Uh huh.” Antonio says to the toucan as the animal chirps. “I understand you!”
As the Madrigals smile warmly and hold each other, the townspeople gasp out of wonder, all happy for the young boy.
Mirabel is happy for her cousin too, obviously, but she can’t really express it, since she isn’t even allowed to be there…
Within a a few long seconds, a door slowly appears with magic, drawing Antonio’s name and known gift in the process.
The ceremony is settled.
The townspeople clap and cheer, while Pepa and Félix hug their youngest son proudly, not being able to be any happier.
“Can I…look in my room?” Antonio asks Alma, still a bit unsure, since this is still new to him.
“Por supuesto.” Alma says, giving the boy a warm smile.
With that, Antonio rushes to his new door, though opening it a bit careful. And his eyes are immediately sold on what’s inside.
What he sees are trees, grass, waterfalls and branches covering the entire room, along with a tiger, birds, and toucans, making for a beautiful and magical rainforest.
“It’s a rainforest!” Antonio happily calls out to his family, jumping up and down in excitement to show them. “Look!”
Pepa and Félix are the first to take a look in the room, being taken by wonder instantly upon first look.
“It’s wonderful, hijo!” Félix says, turning back to look at his youngest son. “We’re so proud of you!”
The other Madrigals walk inside the room as well, leaving the townspeople in the hall for now. All of them stare and look at the inside of the new magical room in awe and wonder, obviously happy for the 5 year old.
Mirabel though, is still behind the rise curtains.
Upon seeing that the rest of her family step past the open door, she just wants to join them so badly. But…can that still ruin Antonio’s gift like abuela had said to her?
Instead of staying hidden behind a curtain, Mirabel decides to just join her family in their celebration in the new room. She quickly pushes past a few townspeople, ignoring the looks of others, and steps inside the rainforest room.
It’s…beautiful.
All the bedrooms of her family look magical and beautiful, something the girl wishes she got as well.
“There you are, Mirabel!” Luisa says, immediately shoving a photo camera in her cousins hands. “Here. You mind taking a picture for us?”
“Uh, sure…” Mirabel answers, though her family doesn’t wait for it, already posing with their magical gifts for the picture.
It takes a lot of willpower not to burst into tears as she takes the photo. Having done what she was asked, Mirabel leaves the room, her family not even noticing. She pushes past the townspeople to go outside, ignoring the weird looks and stares again.
She…really needs some fresh air.
•+•
It’s already pitch dark when Mirabel is finally outside.
She takes a deep breath, as if desperately needing air. And then another, and another, until tears finally burn in her eyes.
All alone with her thoughts, she can’t help but feel useless, ignored, meaningless and alone. Her entire family looked so happy when she took that picture for them, as if they would be just as happy if she didn’t exist…
Mirabel hates that feeling of being left out, ignored, or even purposely excluded. And she has been dealing with that for a decade.
She just wants her gift so that she will finally be loved!
But that will only be a miracle. And now, it looks like she’ll be ignored and left out and detached from her family forever…
Realizing that, it breaks the girl’s heart into peaces.
Suddenly, Mirabel snaps out of her thoughts by something that sounds like a ‘crack’. At first, she thinks nothing of it, as it might be something from further away.
But then follows another crack.
And then another.
And another.
Mirabel looks all around, trying to figure out where those cracks come from, but she soon sees it. A visible crack in the stone ground of the house.
“Casita?” the girl asks, taking a closer look at the crack, wondering what’s going on.
Then it hits her. Casita is breaking down.
They all have to get out of here…
As quickly as she can, Mirabel runs back inside, pushing through the crowd of the townspeople yet again to reach her family.
“Casita is breaking!” she yells, not even having reached Antonio’s room. “Casita is breaking!”
Finally, she reaches the rainforest room where her family still is, completely out of breath. But they apparently have already heard her, as their gazes are on her, some confused, some concerned and some annoyed.
“Casita is breaking! We have to get out of here!” Mirabel manages to repeat while catching her breath.
“What do you mean?” Julieta asks her daughter, a bit confused yet concerned.
“Sounds like she wants attention again.” Pepa remarks, giving Mirabel a look of annoyance.
“It’s true!” the girl doesn’t give up, desperately trying to warn her family. “I saw it-“
“This is Antonio’s ceremony, so don’t you dare ruin it!” Pepa yells, getting a bit fed up.
“But-“
“Our tia is right, Mira.” Isabela says, trying to comfort her little sister, but instead comes off as condescending. “You already had yours, so just let us celebrate Antonio’s, okey?”
The 15 year old is stunned by this, and looks at her entire family. They…don’t believe her. She can see it in their expressions…
They don’t believe her…
“I saw it! I saw cracks in Casita!” Mirabel yells out, desperate for them to just listen to her. “Por favor, believe me!”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you here!” Alma yells at her youngest granddaughter, getting fed up as well. “If you’re only here to make things up to ruin this night, then get out!”
“But-“
“Mirabel, I think it’s better that you should leave.” Julieta says in her soft and caring tone, trying to comfort her youngest daughter.
But Mirabel has heard enough, and leaves the rainforest room again to go outside, feeling thick tears burn in her eyes again. The townspeople once again stare at her with weird looks as if she’s a stray animal, but that doesn’t matter.
Her own family doesn’t believe her…
No one believes her…
They just think she wants attention…
But that isn’t true! She was just trying to warn them! To tell them about what she saw!
Instead, they just ignored her as if she was making it all up, as if she was trying to shift their attention towards her like some spoiled brat…
While walking in a secluded hall, Mirabel sees more and more cracks from inside Casita, but she already knows.
Now, it’s for everyone else to figure out.