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Knock knock knock knock knock.
“Knock on wood” Bruno replied as he opened the door of his room. You chuckled and slightly tapped on his head.
It had started as a way for him to cope. He’d knock five times on wood and then on his own head. He’d always been very superstitious, even for the town's standards, but you noticed how he'd perform his little rituals more than usual and in more ‘drastic’ ways as his bad reputation grew in the eyes of the townsfolk. First came the knocking, then throwing salt (and sugar, for good measure). Then the knocking got more frequent and uncontrolled, making a teenager Bruno stop dead in his tracks or drop whatever it was he’d been doing to knock. Then he progressively began holding his breath to walk past certain areas as he'd cross his fingers.
You remembered how one day, after you’d slipped while carrying around some crates and scraped your knees, he’d helped you to a chair and cleaned the injured area while absentmindedly humming: “Sana sana, colita de rana-” before your chuckle interrupted him.
“What?” he’d asked with a smile on his face.
“Nothing. I think it’s cute you still say that”
His eyes had widened as his cheeks turned crimson red, realizing what you were referring to.
All of these small things made him weird in the eyes of the others, but you found the man to be too endearing for his own good. And every single time he'd let his quirky side shine your first instinct would be to cup his cheeks and kiss every inch of his soft, pretty face.
But what would make your heart clench in your chest every time without fail was the memory you asking him about the ritual before his visions. He had explained to you that his powers were very draining and would take a considerable effort on his side since people who sought him out wanted answers on very specific things; adding that to the considerable amount of visions his mamá tried to make him have on a daily on behalf of this or that person and the clear emotional taxing you were sure some of them were on the poor man, his revelation that sometimes he’d faint in the middle of the day because of them was sad but not at all surprising.
“To answer your question, my gift doesn’t require a ‘ritual’. It just, um, helps me focus. Prepare myself. Cope. It’s a necessity for me, you know?” he'd concluded while rubbing his arm nervously.
You'd never been fond of the triplets’ mamá, how she would always demand more and more from Bruno and Julieta or how she’d yell at poor Pepa to keep her own emotions at bay every time- even more so when they were kids and teenagers. She would sell her own kids’ gifts like they were her own, with little to no regard for their emotional and physical wellbeing. The triplets had told you her story many times in your childhood and you understood the woman had gone through some hardships and scars that still needed healing, but it still was no excuse for her to make her children feel miserable the way she was, whether it was done consciously or not. Especially after she began showing towards her own son the same remorseful nature the rest of the people in town seemed to harbour, instead of nurturing and protecting the poor child. It wasn’t like Bruno could control what his visions said, he couldn’t even control when and how he’d have them more times than not, and no one was even trying to hide anymore the fact that the man had just turned into a scapegoat for people’s frustrations whenever they wouldn’t get the visions they were hoping for.
“Soooo” he finally broke the silence, nervously fidgeting with his fingers.
You smiled, trying to look as reassuring and inviting as you could. “Why am I here, Brunito?”
He winced at the nickname: his mamá would call him that, leaving less than pleasant associations every time you’d use it. “You’re here because um…”
You waited.
“...Beeeecaaaauseeeee…”
You grabbed his hands. “Still can’t say it?”
He sighed. “I’m sorry”
“Don’t be. How about we meet again later? Just the two of us, no Casita or frantic preparations or risks of people interrupting us?"
“Errrrrr I don’t know, what if I still won’t be able to say a thing or-”
You shush him with a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll be waiting for you by the river, at midnight. Get ready for Mirabel’s ceremony and don’t worry about me!”
Bruno’s face was impossibly red; he nodded and let you leave his room.
You’d fallen in love with each other such a long time ago and never tried to show any sign of the countrary, but Bruno’s shy nature made it impossible for him to take the necessary step to finally say those three words and cross the metaphorical line, so you both had settled into this peaceful routine of being content to just be in the other's life even though that was still a bit too vague for your liking. You’d wait for him forever, you knew that in your heart, but at the same time you also hoped for him to muster up the courage sooner rather than later since you just wanted, yearned even, to be able to call the man your husband.
You could only dream of the day you’d finally start a family with your beloved Bruno as you finally reached your home and leaned on your bed, closing your eyes with the resolution to take a quick power nap before the evening’s ceremony
-----
“Ahhhh, I’m so late!” you yelled as you looked at the clock to your left: it was 11:30, and if you wanted to get to the river in time you’d have to run.
You mentally scolded yourself for sleeping through the whole evening, Mirabel’s ceremony included, but hopefully the man waiting for you would explain everything down to the smallest detail, as per usual whenever he’d tell you a story, whether it was one of his made up telenovelas, a piece of gossip heard around town or something he witnessed himself.
Finally the river came into your field of vision, but no mop of messy curls or worn out green ruana. It was weird, but not unusual: parties in the Encanto would last for many, many hours, sometimes continuing well past the first lights of dawn; maybe he was just too engrossed in the celebrations and lost track of time. Your house was, after all, pretty far from the rest of the town so you hadn't had the chance to pass by Casita and check for yourself. But you knew Bruno to be a man of his word, so whatever was holding him there had to either be something important or something he would patch up quickly and then come to you.
But that wasn’t the case.
You sat by the river for one, two, three hours. And still no sign of him.
When the shiest hue of pink crept up from the lowest sides of the skyline you got up and rushed to the Madrigales, worry pitching in the pits of your stomach.
When you got there you found the place to be quiet, definitely less crowded than you’d expected it to be.
“Hola Casita” you greeted as quietly as you could, getting in as soon as the house opened its doors to you.
“Bruno?” you called for.
“Don’t you ever say that name inside this household” startled you a yell. You turned to see Alma Madrigal giving you the death stare from the top of the stairs.
“But-”
“EVER!”
You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion.
“Mi hijo is dead to me!” she finished as she entered her room, slamming the door.
“You haven’t heard, have you?” asked Julieta, who was in the kitchen.
You walked towards her and laid a hand on her shoulder. “What happened?”
“Mirabel, mi corazón, she… she didn’t get her gift…” she sighed, looking at her feet.
“But how? Is that even possible?”
“We don’t know. That’s why mamá had asked Bruno to look into the future and see if something’s wrong with the miracle, but it must have been bad cause next thing we know he just-” she couldn’t finish, hiccupping as tears fell down her cheeks.
“What did he do?” you gently pressed.
A shift in the air and the low rumble of thunder announced the arrival of the middle triplet along with her husband. “He went ahead and disappeared, that’s what he did!” Pepa snapped at you.
“Calm down” Julieta admonished her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, next time I spend toda la maldita noche looking for that man I’ll try to be more mindful of my words afterwards” she spat back, squeezing the hem of her completely wet dress.
“Pepa, mi amor, that’s no way of behaving in front of a guest” replied Félix as he brushed a hand along his wife’s arm. “We’ll find him, no te preocupes” he added, looking your way.
You nodded at him thankful and turned your attention to the older triplet once again. “Julieta, I’m so sorry about Mirabel. Is there anything I can do to help you?”
She offered you a shy and tired smile, shaking her head as she dried her tears. You could read the room and knew that such a time was for family only, making you one too many people around Casita, but you were also very worried about the missing man, so you silently made your way to his tower.
Knock knock knock knock knock.
Silence.
“Bruno?” you asked.
Despite not getting a response, deep inside you knew he was near you. You could feel his glowing green eyes on you, somehow.
“Bruno, mi vida, where are you?" you whispered. "What did you see?”
-----
Knock knock knock knock knock.
No answer.
It had been months since the man had disappeared and each and every member of his familia had abandoned any wish to find him, quitting any kind of research party at his own mother's insistence.
It would always go the same way: each and every day you’d show up to Casita, head to Bruno’s tower to knock on his door and wait for him to hopefully open up. But he had yet to show himself at the threshold.
Your frequent visits soon earned a scowl from Alma who, at this point, had begun to look at you as an unwanted guest despite everyone else always greeting you and inviting you over for lunch, dinner or whatever occasion they were celebrating. Everyone had slowly but surely gotten back to their old routine, Mirabel was learning to cope with her gift-less status despite her own abuela's barely hidden disappointment, and the miracle was as strong as ever.
In all but one place, at least: you'd noticed how Bruno's door's light was flickering.
-----
Knock knock knock knock knock.
No answer, as you were painfully used to by now.
You laid your forehead against the now completely dark wooden frame, running your fingers along the intricate engraved hourglass pattern. “Please, Bruno… I know you’re in there- you have to be!”
Silence.
You turned around and let your back slide down the door as you slowly fell asit, holding your knees tight against your chest.
“It’s been seven years” you sobbed, face still hidden against your legs. “You can’t do this to me!”
Not a single member of the Madrigales understood why you’d stick around after so many years, but they nonetheless never stopped you from taking the stairs to his room and knock. Julieta and her husband seemed to be the only ones to get how the lack of closure between you two had left you yearning for more than what you'd been left behind with; besides, it wasn’t like you were harming anyone and everyone there loved your presence whenever you'd join them downstairs.
“I’m getting married tomorrow, you know?” you interrupted the silence. “He’s a very nice guy, calm and gentle and understanding. He makes me laugh a lot, too”
You finally managed to raise your face and show a resigned smile.
“Sorry I never mentioned him to you before, I just-” you began, taking a minute once words began failing you. “...I didn’t know how to tell you. Or maybe I was just waiting for something on your part”
The ring on your finger shone in the dim light echoing through the tower's walls as you played with it. “Even a small sign on your part would have been more than enough for me” you added, starting to feel a slow burning sensation creep its way inside your chest.
"But clearly, I was just fooling myself" you sighed. As you kept talking, you noticed how your tone slowly became frustrated and increased in volume. "Clearly you did not, after all, feel those things for me. Because if you did, you would have sent me a signal by now, something I could grasp to while waiting for you- or even better, you would've come for me and taken me away with you!"
“I’m done waiting for you. I’ve thrown away years of my life to wait for some coward who never got around to admit his feelings for me!”
“And starting tomorrow, I’ll forget about you and move on! I’ll live a good life with a good husband, I’ll create a beautiful family of my own to love and cherish and take care of, and I won’t think about Bruno Madrigal anymore- not even for a second!”
The tears you'd been painfully holding back finally started rolling down your cheeks, those much needed tears you’d been holding back ever since the man disappeared; as much relief as they brought, you didn't want to waste any more time or feelings on the man and were quick to dry your eyes and storm off the tower, sealing completely this memory deep within your heart and swearing to never, ever set foot inside Casita again.
'At least Alma will be happy about me getting out of her way' you thought.
But what you weren’t aware of was the man sitting with his back laid against one of the walls facing the corridor leading to the door to his room, hidden in plain sight deep within Casita; he’d heard your every word ever since he'd gone missing, seen in how much pain you were from the small cracks.
He took a quick glance at the glowing glass in his hands where a beautiful close-up of you stood still, smiling and looking happy while wearing what he assumed was your wedding attire; then he looked at the wall in front of him where countless marks had been carved, each for a day he’d spent hidden from his own familia and you, the person he had never stopped loving.
Bruno hugged the vision you tightly and wailed as he finally realized he had no one left to wait for him in the world outside, understanding that now he could never leave the walls.