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The walls were breaking down all around him.
Bruno had been in his chair when the rumbling had started. There was a lot to think on; having a vision again after 10 years, the threatening doom of the miracle and of course meeting and actually speaking to Mirabel again after so long. Frankly, it was a bit overwhelming, but not necessarily in a bad way. He had finally gotten to talk to another human again and, well, when Mirabel had said she’d bring him home after saving the miracle he could only nod and hope. If the house didn’t crack any further, if his niece didn’t get shunned for it, then there was no reason for him to stay behind walls anymore was there?
But the house was cracking further. The tremors were worse now than any he had felt before, the cracks deeper. The urge to grip the armrests of his chair and sink deeper into it to wait until the tremors subsided was great, but when a loud creak echoed through the room and his rats scurried away Bruno got on his feet too. The floorboards underneath his sandals were shaking and huge gaps appeared in the walls.
“Casita?” He asked apprehensively.
The door of his small room swung open with a bang and he got the hint. He needed to get out of here.
Suddenly frantic he dashed through the room, grabbing the odd rat that hadn’t yet fled and hiding them in his pockets and under his ruana, hoping they’d have the sense to hang on. He also snatched an old and crumpled family picture from the wall and stuffed that into a pocket as well. Dust and wood were falling down from the ceiling when he ran through the door, stopping only briefly to knock on the doorframe five times before he crossed it.
The cracks he had tried to fix were busting open again, all of Hernando’s work undone in mere seconds. A loud crash behind him made him turn, part of the roof had collapsed right where he had just left through the doorway.
He exhaled, that was a close one. But now that one part had collapsed the entire structure of the house seemed to follow quickly, the sounds of the rooms above him crashing down echoed through the space eerily. With his heart in his throat he ran on, swerving out of the way to avoid being crushed by falling support beams. The house wasn’t just cracking, it was collapsing entirely! The vision had always stopped at the cracks, he had never thought it’d get this bad.
Where was Mirabel?
The air was growing staler by the minute with all the dust that was kicked up and he lost a sandal halfway through but kept on running to the exit as fast as he could, lungs burning with the effort.
If something had happened to Mirabel he would never forgive himself. He shouldn’t have shown her that vision, what if that had made everything worse?
Something hit him on the shoulder and Bruno stumbled, placing one hand on the ground for balance but then continuing on and jumping over the wide cracks in the floor despite the pain. He let out a frustrated groan when he reached the narrow stairs that led up to the second floor. He needed to get up there to reach the exit hidden behind the painting, but half of the staircase had collapsed and the parts that weren’t were blocked by rubble instead. There wasn’t really any other choice though. So he clambered over the structure fast as he could, cutting his arms on protruding wood and almost getting a heart attack when his feet slipped, but he didn’t dare stop.
Something crashed down beside him just as he reached out for the last step. Bruno wasn’t a stranger to fear at all, sometimes he thought he was afraid more often than he wasn’t, but nothing compared to the sheer terror he felt when the floor gave away underneath him, taking him down into the darkness with it. Instantly his arms flailed around for something to hang on to. Wood and stones were nowhere and everywhere at the same time and the sharp ends did nothing but leave hot and painful grazes on his face and arms as he failed to grasp them. Someone was screaming but he wasn’t sure if it was real or just in his head.
He landed feet first, left ankle twisting painfully as he fell down on the unforgiving stones with a smack. The world seemed to twist and turn and a sharp pain blossomed in his head. The darkness was stifling, the dry air making it difficult to breathe. He coughed harshly and automatically looked up to where he had fallen from. But the staircase wasn’t there anymore. The roof had completely collapsed on it and all of it was now plummeting towards him at breakneck speed. Bruno let out a startled yelp and just had time to bring up an arm above his head before the world went dark.
The miracle was dying.
Mirabel dashed towards the candle where the flame was flickering softly, glowing less and less bright by the second.
“Casita, get me up there!” She called out to the house, knowing she could count on Casita’s help. Her parents were calling after her as she climbed up onto the roof, begging her to come back before the house collapsed entirely. But she had to try. Around her she saw the gifts of the others fading, the doors flickering out one by one. At least they were all safe on the grass outside of the building.
Wait.
Not everyone, Mirabel realised with a shock. Bruno was still inside the walls! She looked around at the fields surrounding the house but didn’t see him storm out, didn’t see him standing in the treeline somewhere, didn’t see him at all.
Casita was collapsing all around her and the candle was on the windowsill just in front of her. She ran over quickly, grabbing onto the sill and reaching for the flickering light. It was so close. But not close enough, her fingertips just didn’t reach far enough. It was like a cruel reflection of the miracle that had stayed just out of reach her entire life. She tried again but the tiles of the roof were slippery and unstable and she would’ve fallen down if it hadn’t been for Casita.
Mirabel glanced around quickly again, the others were all shouting at her in front of the house, but she still couldn’t see Bruno. The candle dimmed even further. She could try to reach for it again, might even succeed, but the walls were swerving, the doors were falling down and tiles and beams were shattering on the ground. Mind made up she turned around and slid off the roof swiftly, shoes landing on the broken floor of the courtyard with a thud. Abuela might hate her even more after this, if that was even possible, but someone’s life was more important than the family’s superpowers right now. She’d deal with the rest later.
Her parents for one looked relieved to see her run back. But their expressions turned to surprise when she ran past them to the right side of the building.
“Not everyone’s out of the house yet!” She shouted as a way of explanation, as if that would make any sense to them. Dolores, however, did look shocked, her eyes widened in realisation as she took off after her cousin immediately. Now if that wasn’t interesting.
Mirabel ran a hand along the walls she thought should be between them and Bruno’s space, looking for an open spot or a weakness they could break through. Cracks had formed in this wall as well and they were now widening and expanding, maybe with something heavy they could-
“Mirabel!” Someone grabbed her shirt collar from behind and pulled her away from the building roughly, just in time to see the walls cave in and the roof coming down directly in front of her.
“No!”
Dios mío, no! Was Bruno still in there? Were they too late? Enormous clouds of dust swirled up and surrounded them as they watched the house collapse entirely. Dolores had let go of Mirabel’s shirt and now turned away to cough. Mirabel waved a hand in front of herself to make the cloud disappear faster.
The world had suddenly gone quiet.
When the dust cleared away a little Mirabel stepped towards the rubble, unsure of what to do. Her heart felt heavy. He had to be alive. This couldn't be happening.
Dolores walked past her and stood at the edge of the rubble that had once been their beloved Casita. She gazed over the wreckage silently.
“I can’t-” She started and turned towards her cousin with an expression on her face Mirabel could only call desperate. “I can’t hear anything. My gift- it’s gone. I can’t locate him.”
This couldn’t be it, it couldn’t. Mirabel stopped next to Dolores, searching the rubble to see if she could spot movement, something green, anything. It had all happened so fast. She didn’t dare walk on and through the remains of the house in fear of shifting the debris that had fallen all on top of each other.
Her heart dropped further with every second that passed and they didn’t see any movement. Hopelessness threatened to overwhelm her. They had lost the miracle, they had lost Casita, she didn’t think she could handle it if they lost Tío Bruno for good now as well. It would be her fault. She remembered the look on his face when she told him she’d bring him home. A mixture of fear, relief and apprehension, but most important of all was the glimmer of hope she had seen in his eyes. No way that it would end before she could keep her promise, before he could finally come back again. It couldn’t be.
Something caught her eye. Instantly Mirabel grabbed Dolores’s arm. “There!” She almost shouted it, she was sure she had seen something move! She pointed at the spot, not too far away from them. There it was again! But, oh.
“Just rats.” Dolores voiced her thoughts, the same dejection in her voice as Mirabel felt.
“Wait!” They turned to each other at the same time. “Rats!”
There were just a handful of them but the rodents were escaping through gaps in the debris at roughly the same place, that couldn’t be a coincidence! Hope made Mirabel’s steps lighter than they had ever been, now with an approximate location they didn’t have to be as careful around the rest of the rubble anymore. The two of them climbed over the remains quickly, eyes fixed on the spot where the rats had pushed through the rubble.
Dolores reached it first. “Here, here!” Her voice was high as she knelt and grabbed onto something between the stones. When Mirabel came close enough to saw what it was she gasped and fell down on her knees besides her cousin. A corner of Bruno’s green ruana was poking through the rocks, the rest disappearing underneath the debris in front of them.
“Mirabel! Dolores! Where are you?” Julieta was calling out to them.
For a moment Mirabel thought about how their Tío could’ve just lost his ruana or left it somewhere else and that that was all this was, but then she banished the thought from her head. She couldn’t give up hope now.
“Mirabel, Dolores!”
“Over here Mamá!” She shouted back, voice wobbling weirdly. “Get Luisa, quick!”
Their gifts might be gone but Luisa’s muscles weren’t just for show either. They would get Bruno out, alive. They had to. Mirabel didn’t want to think about the alternative.
He wasn’t out for long. At least, Bruno didn’t feel like he was. Coming to felt much like being woken up by a 6 am alarm when you went to bed at 5, wondering if it wasn’t better to just skip sleep entirely. Only this time the alarm was a horrible headache and a searing pain in his right arm.
Slowly he opened his eyes, not remembering what had happened. Sand pricked in his eyes and he had to blink many times to get it away, leading him to wonder if he had fallen asleep in his vision cave again. It wouldn’t be the first time. But the air was heavy here, heavier than normal. It felt as if every breath he took was filled with more sand than oxygen. It scared him a bit.
He tried to breathe more deeply and immediately erupted into a coughing fit. Automatically Bruno moved his right hand to his chest but with a start found that he couldn’t move his arm at all. Panic engulfed him. He tried to gasp for breath in between the half formed coughs and pulled on his arm with all the strength he could muster. White hot pain spread throughout his arm and travelled to his shoulder and torso, but his mind was too hazy to put two and two together and he kept trying anyway because he needed to get it free. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe and his arm was stuck and he was stuck and-
Lack of oxygen made him dizzy and he had to stop trying to pull on his arm. For a while he stared up in the darkness blindly, gasping for breath, thinking he might just die here. But then he could get a few good coughs in and finally he could get the tiniest bit of air into his lungs again. He was still breathing way too fast and his heart was racing but after a few moments he didn’t feel like he was on the verge of passing out anymore.
At least, not from a lack of oxygen. The pain however, was starting to become a different story.
Now that the panic was subsiding a bit different pains took their chance for a place in the spotlight. The worst by far, was his arm. It was twisted up in some sort of body-builder position elevated a little higher above his head and it was obviously stuck, but he couldn’t tell how or why. Bruno could move his fingers a bit but even that shot sparks of pain throughout his arm all the way up to his neck. Maybe it was best to just, just leave that alone. For now.
His head felt like someone had used it as a drum. Or was maybe currently still doing that. He realised that in his blind panic he had moved his left arm around without too much trouble. He raised it now, only for it to smack into something hard maybe 30 cm above his head. What the-
Oh. Ohh.
Now it was starting to come back. Casita collapsing, his haste to get outside. He didn’t remember exactly what had happened but he clearly hadn’t made it out in time. He dropped his arm on his chest and startled when the movement caused some rats to scurry out from where they had stowed away under his ruana.
“Oh sorry, sorry.” His words were hardly a whisper and slurred, but it’s not like they actually understood him anyway.
Bruno looked at them as they disappeared out of sight, wishing he could follow them. They always knew how to get out of tricky situations. As it was, he felt the lack of oxygen in the air pressing down on his chest. Something wet rolled down the side of his face but he couldn’t tell if it was sweat or blood.
He needed to get out of here. Time was running out. But for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how to do that. He pulled on his arm again, then remembered that that didn’t work when the pain flared up strongly. But maybe his legs still worked? He tried to move them and it worked only marginally. They were painful but Bruno couldn’t exactly pinpoint where the pain came from. His left leg seemed to be stuck between two things, though the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as that of his arm. He could move the other one, but only a bit before it met resistance. And even doing so hurt badly enough that he wasn’t keen on trying that again.
Besides, he was tired. Moving everything around and trying to make sense of the situation had sapped so much of his energy. Or maybe it was the diminishing oxygen levels in the air. Either way, he really just wanted to close his eyes and try to get out sometime later. It probably wasn’t even possible.
The fear that had held his heart in an iron grip ever since he discovered he was trapped was slowly ebbing away, making place for the quiet acceptance that he could always try again later, after he woke up. Maybe the pain would have faded a bit too by then. For now the lure of sleep was getting stronger and stronger.
But then he heard something, a bit further up above his head. Something that wasn’t caused by rats. What it was exactly he couldn’t discern with a head still full of cotton, but it did make him a bit more alert.
And then a bit of light, just the tiniest ray, broke through and he could see the outline of the rocks above and around him. He really was firmly trapped. It was an entire new kind of miracle that his chest or head hadn’t been smashed to pulp. He wondered if he had Casita to thank for that. More importantly however, was that with the ray of light a small stream of fresh oxygen had made its way to where he was as well. The air got just a bit lighter and Bruno almost laughed.
Suddenly he could make out a voice. A high voice, saying something that sounded important, even though he could not hear the words that were spoken.
“Bruno?”
That, he could hear. Relief blossomed in his chest, there was someone there! Someone who was looking for him. Someone who could get him out. He tried to say something back but no sound escaped his lips.
A voice cried out, muffled by the rocks still in between them. “He twitched, he twitched!”
It was only when someone grabbed his right hand that Bruno realised he could actually feel the wind on that hand now, the appendage being freed from the cramped space even if the arm was still trapped. It took a lot of effort to remember how to give the hand holding his a squeeze, but he must’ve managed it a bit because the hand held onto his even tighter.
“We’re here Brunito, don’t worry, we’ll get you out okay?”
Tears welled up in his eyes at the sound of that voice. Julieta. His sister. How long had it been since he had heard her talk to him directly? Yet there was something in her voice Bruno couldn’t put a name to at this moment. Something that shouldn’t be there and that he immediately wanted to try to remedy. He tried to squeeze her hand again but he wasn’t sure he managed it this time. He missed her immensely.
“Listen up Bruno, if you can hear this, don’t you dare leave us again.” This was Pepa, no doubt. “I’m telling you now, if you don’t hang on I will, I will… I’ll do something.”
Even muffled as it sounded from underneath the rocks the familiar frustration in her voice was clear to hear. She was serious. For some reason it made him tear up even more. Pepa always got angry when she worried. For once it was almost comforting, she didn't hate him too much then.
Despite Pepa’s unspoken threats he must’ve drifted off for a bit because when he opened his eyes again the air in his lungs was fresh and there were suddenly a lot more people around him, saying things he couldn’t hear. The obstructions above him were gone and he could finally look up at the grey sky again.
He groaned. Everything hurt like hell. Especially his head.
“You’re back!” Pepa’s voice came from somewhere besides him. “Querido Dios Bruno, you scared the hell out of us.”
She was tightly squeezing his left hand with both of hers but when he tried to turn his head towards her he found that he couldn’t. Two hands held his head gently but firmly in place, looking up at the sky where he had been staring at rock before.
“Lay still okay? We don’t know what injuries you might have.” The message behind the words passed by him but did recognize the voice.
“Julie?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” Her voice came from somewhere above him. “You’ll be okay.”
Pepa shifted a bit closer so he could finally see her without moving his head. There were tear tracks on her cheeks. It hurt Bruno’s heart.
“You can’t see them but Félix, Luisa and Dolores are moving debris so we can dig you out further.” She explained. “The doctor’s on his way too. He'll be here soon.”
It was strange to see her so sad without the accompanying raincloud above her head soaking everything in the vicinity. It also meant something important, Bruno realised, but he couldn’t quite grasp what it was. Something about the miracle…
Wait! He tried to reach out to her with his other hand, found that he couldn’t move it but ignored the pain because this couldn’t slip his mind again.
“Hey stop, stop that!” Pepa let go of his hand and pressed a hand on his shoulder to keep him still instead.
“No,” he managed “this, this is…” This is important. Holding onto thoughts was like holding onto a pile of sand in his hands.
“Bruno-” Julieta started sternly, hands still keeping his head firmly in place.
“Mirabel! Where’s…” His words were slurred but he couldn’t help that now. “Don’t blame her, where’s.. is she ok? Don’t blame-”
“Mirabel is fine,” Julieta told him quickly, “she’s at the river with Mamá, getting water for you.”
“Oh.” And just like that the weight of the world dropped off his shoulders. She was okay. She was with Mamá which must surely mean she hadn’t been kicked out. Yet, at least. “’S not her fault. I, I… I gave her a, a-” What was the word again?
“No one is getting blamed for anything hermanito, calm down.”
Bruno closed his eyes. Good, that was good.
Seeing him relax a bit Pepa grabbed his hand again and squeezed it gently, though her voice was stern. “Don’t fall back asleep, you hear me?”
“’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, just-”
“No, no, I mean… Sorry ‘bout everything.” Bruno looked at Pepa, who had fresh tears in her eyes, and brought their interlinked hands to his chest. Even that simple movement hurt but she needed to know he meant it. “Pepita, the wedding...”
Before he could say anything else his sister rolled her eyes and huffed, though he could see the smile forming on her face. “Tonto. Don’t worry about that now.”
It was good to see her smile again, though Bruno knew he would apologize properly later, when his words weren’t on the verge of sounding like gibberish.
A sudden sharp pain in his legs made him cry out and hold onto Pepa’s hand tightly. An apology was shouted his way but it was lost over the haze of pain. Eyes squeezed shut he tried to breathe through it, the fingers tapping his cheek softly kept him in the present even though the world was spinning.
“…with us, stay with us.”
Jueputa!
“They had to remove some big rocks. It’s okay hermanito, deep breaths.” Bruno couldn’t see Julieta from where she sat, but her steady voice was calming. It had been that way since as long as he remembered.
“S-sorry.” He said to her once he could hear his own thoughts over the pain again, trying not to think about the fact that his right arm needed to be freed sometime soon as well. The word felt sorely inadequate; there were so many different things he needed to apologize for.
“Don’t be. We’re just glad you’re here okay?” His oldest sister reassured him. “Look,” she added then, “here’s Mirabel now too, do you want to see her?”
It was of course a stupid question to ask, and Julieta must’ve realised it too because she didn’t wait with calling her daughter over. When Mirabel appeared in his line of sight Bruno sighed in relief.
“Hey Tío.”
“Are you… Are you okay?” He had to ask. He noticed that there were tear tracks on her face as well but the hint of sadness in her eyes was overshadowed by relief and something new that he couldn’t put words to.
She laughed. “I think I should be the one asking you.” When he didn’t answer she patted his shoulder lightly. “Yeah Tío, I’m okay.”
Bruno smiled back at her. It was such a relief to hear her say that.
“Sorry I didn’t get to you sooner.” Mirabel added then, but before Bruno could manage to say something about that it was his Mamá who spoke up.
“I need to say sorry too. To all of you.”
If Bruno wasn’t sure he had hit his head before he sure was now. He glanced over at Pepa, who looked equally confused.
“I’ve been too hard on you all.” Alma continued. “I made it seem like I appreciate your gifts more than yourselves. You are so much more than that.” Truthfully, Bruno followed very little of what else she said, it was difficult to concentrate on her words. But at one point she sat down next to him, taking Pepa’s place at his left. She took his hand in hers and pressed a kiss to it.
“Brunito, I am so sorry.”
With Pepa gone the only other one he could see was Mirabel, who only nodded encouragingly upon seeing his confusion.
“I have failed you in many things,” his Mamá continued, “and now we almost lost you a second time. Forgive me.”
For the second time today it was as if the world had gone upside down when he looked away for a moment. It was as if the collapse of Casita had not only shaken the ground but with it also the hearts of its inhabitants. Bruno squeezed his mothers hand and smiled, too overwhelmed by it all to conjure up the right words to say.
After that it was as if a barrier had been removed from the family, a veil of perfection. He could see it in the faces of the others, hear it in their reactions.
The walls were breaking down all around him. This time, he didn’t mind at all.