Chapter Text
Mirabel went to touch her doorknob. Nothing could distract her from this moment, not even her goofy primo , Camilo. As soon as her hand rested on the doorknob she felt this sense of lightness flow through her and then…The door started to fade. That didn’t make any sense. Why did her door fade? Did her gift allow her to make her own room? She looked up to her abuela , searching for answers, but her abuela looked just as confused as she did. What was her gift? Was there something wrong with her gift? Is that why abuela seemed frightened? The niñita watched her abuela descend the stairs towards her tío Bruno. Mirabel went to go follow her but her mamá stopped her, pulling her into a hug.
What was happening?
Mirabel was soon ushered into the nursery. Where was her room? Her mamá came in with her and Mirabel hugged her mamá’s arm. Why did everyone seem so frightened? “ Mamá ?” Her mamá looked down at her, “Where’s my room? What’s my gift?” She continued. Her mamá inhaled sharply, “ Mija …” She began, “Whatever happens, just remember that you’re an amazing, talented niña and I love you with all my heart,” She punctuated her sentence by giving Mirabel a little squeeze. It still didn’t answer Mirabel’s question though. She wanted to ask again, but her mamá seemed a bit too distressed for questions at the moment, so she held her tongue.
After a few more minutes, Mirabel’s abuela came into the room and requested Mirabel’s mamá outside the room. Her mamá kissed her forehead, “I’ll be right back mija . Te amo ,” She got up to leave. “ Yo tambien te amo mamá ,” Mirabel smiled at her mamá , the biggest smile she could muster. Her mamá gave her a sad smile before exiting her room with abuela . As soon as she heard abuela and her mamá leave the room she heard a ‘click’. It sounded as if someone locked her door from the outside. This made her furrow her eyebrows. Why would she need to be locked in? Too many questions swarmed her brain, so she decided to sleep, after all it was pretty late. She’d figure out her gift tomorrow.
Mirabel woke up to shouting outside her door. She checked her alarm clock and found that it had probably only been a few minutes since she’d fallen asleep. The voices outside sounded like her mamá and her abuela with her papí sometimes adding in. She tried to ignore it at first and go back to sleep but it was too noisy. She decided to press her ear to the door to see what the adults were talking about. Sometimes she wished she had her prima Dolores’ hearing gift. “...No mamá !” she heard her mamá shout, “I don’t care about a stupid vision! Ella es mi hija! ” Were they arguing about her? “ Mija , I understand pero es mejor para la familia ,” Better for the family? Why did her mamá sound so upset? “ Doña Alma, this is my daughter we’re talking about. Just because she didn’t get a fancy gift doesn’t mean that she has to leave!” Mirabel’s papí butted into the conversation. Mirabel was shocked. Leave?
She was going to have to leave? Why didn’t anyone tell her? Will she get to say goodbye to everyone? Her prima ? Her primo ? She started to tear up. Mirabel didn’t want to leave. She let out a sob at the thought. Suddenly, a wave of anger hit her. Rage in fact. It wasn’t fair. She was angry. Angry at the miracle for not giving her a gift. Angry at Casita for not giving her a room. Angry at Camilo for getting a gift only months prior (̶m̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶g̶i̶c̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶d̶l̶e̶?̶)̶. For a moment she briefly wondered if this was just a cruel joke that Camilo was playing and everyone except for her was in on it. She brushed the thought away as quickly as it came, Camilo wouldn’t do that. However, Mirabel was still angry. Papí was right.
She didn’t have to leave just because she didn’t get a gift, she wanted to leave. She didn’t know why abuela wanted her to leave, but if she was going to leave it would be on her own terms. She started to shove things into her bag. Clothes, a notebook, a pencil, a blanket, a pillow, and a book or two. Casita tried to stop her, hiding her things, blocking her path, but the house’s attempts were futile. Mirabel threw her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the nursery’s window. Looking down at the drop made her hesitate for a moment, but then Casita (hesitantly) stuck out a few of its bricks so the niñita could get down safely. Mirabel silently thanked Casita and made her way towards the ground. Her foot slipped a few times but Casita was always there to catch her.
When she made it to the ground she ran. She didn’t even care if Dolores heard anymore she ran as fast as she could. Up one of the mountains around the Encanto that always seemed impossibly high. When she made it a quarter of the way up the mountain she stopped at a clearing. She sat down and looked back to the Encanto. Was this the right thing to do? What about mamá y papí? She wanted to cry. She started to cry. All the anger and rage slowly morphed into sadness. A sob wracked her body and she started to hyperventilate. She didn’t want to leave. She just wanted her mamá. But it was too late for that. She had already gotten this far, she couldn’t go back.
Mirabel wiped her nose with the back of her hand and got back up. She had to keep going. She grabbed the little bag of things she brought and kept making her way up the impossibly high mountain.
—-----
Dolores heard everything. Duh. That was the c̶u̶r̶s̶e̶ gift that she was blessed with on her fifth birthday. She heard everything, knew everything. At least, most of the time. So why didn’t she see this coming?
Mirabel had always been quite the loud kid. Whenever she came home from spending time with tía Julieta she would announce her presence quite loudly. She could be constantly heard laughing at an abnormal volume and you’d most definitely know when she’d enter a room.
Right now, however, she was probably the quietest Dolores had ever seen her. When Mirabel touched her door it faded. That didn’t add up. Why would Mirabel’s door have faded? What could’ve caused it? Was the ceremony done incorrectly? Did Mirabel do something wrong? Did abuela do something wrong? All these questions ran through the 10-year-old’s head as her youngest prima was ushered to the nursery by tía and abuela descended the stairs towards her tío Bruno.
“What just happened?”
“What is Mirabel’s gift?”
“Did she get a gift?”
“Was she adopted or…?”
“I wasn’t paying attention, what’s the kid’s gift?”
The villagers of the Encanto were whispering among themselves (̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶l̶o̶u̶d̶ )̶. Dolores tried to focus on her abuela and tío ’s conversation. “...need a vision Brunito,” abuela said in a hushed tone, not meaning for anyone to hear, “We need to make sure the miracle will be okay, that our familia aren’t losing their gifts,” tío Bruno sounded hesitant, “Are we um…Are we sure we need a vision? ‘Cause- ‘Cause I don’t really do that many, uh, visions anymore,” He said, nervously. “Brunito.” Abuela’ s tone left no room for arguments.
Dolores heard her tío heading up the stairs to enter his room. She heard his door shut, but couldn’t hear anything after that, only the constant falling sand. Ch, ch, ch . Her thought process was interrupted by her mamá’s voice. “ ¿Mija, estás bien?” Her mamá placed a hand on her shoulder. “ Sí,” She responded simply, “I’m going to grab something from the kitchen, ¿bueno?” Her mamá gave her a warm smile despite the dark cloud that loomed over her head, “ Bueno,” Her mamá confirmed .
Dolores didn’t need anything from the kitchen. To put it simply, she went to the kitchen to eavesdrop on Mirabel and her tía. The villagers were clearing out of Casita which meant she would have an easier time listening to her prima y tía. She would go to her room, but it was soundproof (more or less) and it would be too far away from the nursery. Though she’d had five years to utilize her gift, she still wasn’t very good at listening to specific conversations if she couldn’t see the people she was listening in on. She would’ve rather stood on the stairs, but it would look suspicious, so instead, she opted to grab an extra arepa and (slowly) eat it, while she was listening to what was going on upstairs.
“...And I love you with all my heart,”
It fell quiet. It seemed Dolores got there just at the wrong time. Dolores listened to their heartbeats. Her tía’s heartbeat was slightly sped up, but overall, normal. Mirabel’s heart was beating faster than usual, she was probably still high on adrenaline from all the eyes being on her as she walked towards her door. Surprisingly, she didn’t hear any crying. She thought for sure that Mirabel would be balling her eyes out by now. Maybe she was confused. Maybe her little five-year-old brain couldn’t understand what was going on.
Dolores sighed. She finished the rest of her arepa and headed back upstairs to call it a night. Hearing everything could be exhausting at times. She saw her abuela talking to her tío but she was too tired to even try to decipher what they were saying in the millions of other voices of the villagers. “ Buenas noches abuela. Buenas noches tío.” She said in a slight whisper. Her tío y abuela seemed to be more anxious than usual, their heartbeats pounding quite quickly, but they still wished Dolores a good night. She heard her abuela’s hurried footsteps towards the nursery as she entered her room. Dolores made a beeline towards her bed. It was quieter in her room than anywhere else in Casita (which wasn’t saying much, but anyway,). She could still hear faint noises outside her room. Outside of her room, she heard muffled arguing but was too comfortable to care.
She’d figure out what it was about tomorrow.