Chapter Text
The tremor threw Mirabel off-balance and she almost tripped over the crack that had ripped through the floor in front of her. Casita saved her from the fall, the tiles desperately forming into shapes around her to support her.
She felt as if her mother had grabbed the back of her shirt, but it was only for a moment. The fingers on her neck were gone and she heard her mother screaming for Mirabel to come back.
Mirabel was the only one Casita hadn’t pushed out yet, and she knew why. They both knew what she had to do and that she was the only one who could do it.
“Help me, Casita. I need to get to the candle.”
The house obliged and the tiles and floors pushed various objects for her to climb on. When it was too high for the objects, the bricks on the walls pushed outwards, giving her something to hold onto. The shutters on the window were desperately flapping about, as if to push the candle towards her.
She ignored the screams calling her name. They were telling her to leave. And she would. Right after she got the candle.
Mirabel tripped as her fingers almost grabbed onto the candle. The screams got louder as she fumbled and managed to grab onto the windowsill.
They were telling her to leave. Why couldn’t they see she was doing this for them? The past few days had been about nothing but saving their miracle.
The house shook with more intensity than ever but Mirabel felt she had a proper hold now. With a deep breath, she let go of one hand from the windowsill and inched it slowly towards the candle. A pain was spreading throughout her entire back, but she ignored it.
Almost there. The hot wax was dripping onto her fingers.
Just as her hand wrapped around the candle, there was a loud crash and Mirabel screamed as she fell to the ground. It only lasted for a moment; tiles and bricks and shutters desperately came together to shield her from a grisly death.
Mirabel was about to thank Casita when a single shutter opened and flapped once. As if to say goodbye.
Someone had grabbed her but she didn’t notice-or care. She only looked on where Casita had once stood. Nothing remained except for a mountain of rubble and debris.
“Mirabel?! Mirabel?! Answer me, are you alright?” The voice and hands belonged to her mother but Mirabel didn’t turn back to answer.
“Pepa, do you see anything? Mirabel, answer me!”
Her aunt’s voice was shaky. “Julieta. Look at her hand.”
At this, Mirabel looked down at her hand. The stump of the candle was in her right hand, its flames weakly burning against her skin. It should hurt but she didn’t feel anything.
The candle flickered for a few more moments before it went out completely. All that remained was the pool of wax that slowly trickled down Mirabel’s hands.
She felt heavy, almost tired. There was the urge to close her eyes and go to sleep. So, she went limp and felt her eyelids begin to droop.
Arms were shaking her desperately but she ignored them as the world started to go dark. Perhaps, this was just a bad dream. Maybe she would wake up in her room and everything would be right.
Just as it should be.
Mirabel was standing by a river.
She would have called it a beautiful sight, were it not for the weeping woman in front of her. The woman was young and cradled three babies in her arms. Mirabel had never seen the woman before but something about her felt familiar and the sight made her heart ache.
Mirabel was about to move forward to comfort the woman when the horses materialized on the other side of the river. Their riders soon followed into existence and one of them had come into being as it swung something at a shadow in front of it.
The shadow went down and the woman screamed as if the thing had cut her down instead. The horses slowly approached the woman as they began to cross the river.
Mirabel wanted to yell at the woman to run but she felt as if she had no mouth to scream with, no limbs to run with.
The horses were halfway through the river when the woman started to pray.
“I just want them to be safe. I don’t care what happens to me but I just want my children to live.”
It’s as if the world was waiting for the woman’s words. The river swallowed the horses whole but not a droplet landed on the woman or her children.
The earth was shaking and there was a bright light now.
The last thing Mirabel felt before the light enveloped the world was the sensation of something erupting from her feet.
Mirabel woke up with a gasp. It took her some time before she could muster the strength to sit up. Everything about those two dreams had felt so real. Even now, she could feel the tears as they trailed down her cheek. A dull ache spread throughout her body.
It's fine. I’m back in my room. Casita is still here.
“Mirabel! You’re going to be late!” Mama called.
Late for what? But Mirabel didn’t care as she rushed out the door towards the voice. After everything she had seen in her dreams, all she wanted was for Mama to comfort her.
Mirabel tripped as she exited her room to find that she wasn’t in her home. The house was unfamiliar, and as she turned back towards her room, she realized that the room looked nothing like the nursery.
“C-casita? Are you there?” Mirabel called out in a small voice.
There was no response. Not even a single tile moved.
Isabela rolled her eyes at her as she passed by Mirabel. “Talking to the walls, are we? Will you ever grow up?”
She glared up at her sister. Some things had clearly not changed.
“Mirabel!” Mama’s voice was impatient as she poked her head from a doorway. “Stop dawdling- you'll make your father late!”
The sharp tone didn’t register with Mirabel; she pushed Isabela aside and wrapped her arms around her mother.
“Mama….Casita….” It was difficult to even say the words.
She was surprised when her mother stiffened and awkwardly patted her head. Mama never did that; she would have wrapped Mirabel in her embrace and Mirabel was always the one to pull away, insisting that she was fine now.
“Are you sick, Mirabel?” Mama pulled away from her arms and Mirabel wasn’t sure if she could describe how hurtful that gesture had felt.
“She’s lost it, Mama.” Isabela gave her a glare as she walked by. “She was talking to the house.”
Her father had entered the room. There wasn’t the usual spring to his step and he barely glanced at Mirabel, and only paused to give Mama a nod.
“Mirabel, you haven’t even changed.” Her father’s voice sounded so….weary. “You know I have to be at the school early to prepare the lessons.”
Mama nudged her towards the table. “You heard your father. Hurry up and eat.”
They were only five chairs at the table.
“Where is everyone else going to sit?”
Everyone paused and gave her strange looks. Luisa was kind enough to humor her.
“Who are you talking about?”
“Abuela. Tia Pepa and everyone else.”
Her parents stiffened and Isabela gave Mirabel another sharp glare as she looked up from the flowers.
“Why would they come here? They’re all back in their homes.”
She didn’t resist when Mama pushed her into a chair. “Stop stalling, Mirabel! Eat!”
What did Isabela mean by their homes? They all lived together in the Casita. Mirabel couldn’t call this place home if half the people who lived here were gone .
Mama shrieked and grabbed her right hand, jerking Mirabel out of her thoughts.
“Luisa, get the medical supplies.” Mama’s voice was horrified as she looked down at her hand.
When Mirabel looked down, she saw that her hand had burns all over her hand. They were most severe in the place where the candle had burnt her in the dream.
“How could this happen?” Her mother whispered to her.
Mama snapped her head back towards Mirabel. “Mirabel?! Mirabel?! Answer me, are you alright?”
Mirabel felt her throat go dry. Those words…
She gave Mama a weak smile and reached for the plate in front of her. “Its alright, Mama. It’ll go away soon enough.”
She stared at her hand as she brought the spoon to her mouth. The burns didn’t disappear as she had expected to. Her Mama wasn’t looking at her now, and yelled at Luisa to hurry up. Mirabel brought the spoon to her lips again, and yet, the burns still remained.
Isabela hadn’t looked up from the flowers on the table as she arranged them. They didn’t seem to respond to her touch as they had always done.
Luisa was struggling with the heavy box in her arms as she came back into the room.
As Mama grabbed the hand again to inspect it, the pain coming from her hand finally registered in Mirabel’s head.
She took another bite.
The pain was still there.