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Mirabel Madrigal stretched in her bed as she prepared to get up. Her first day in 11th grade, how exciting!
As soon as she felt “woken up” enough to start her day she immediately rose to her feet and skipped to her wardrobe, grabbing a simple white shirt and embroidered skirt that went just below her knees. As she put on her trademark green glasses she raised her feet slightly to allow Casita to pass Mira her shoes, and finally exited her room as soon as she slipped them on.
That last bit might have sounded weird to anybody else, but to Mirabel and her family it was just how it worked.
Five decades ago their Abuela Alma was blessed with this sort of miracle, that protected her and her fellow villagers, building mountains all around the beautiful place they named el Encanto and even going as far as gifting Abuela a sentient house and the opportunity for all of her descendants to receive a magical gift on their 5th birthday, as well as a sort of magical candle that could never go out no matter what.
The last one had to be the most important of them all since it allowed all of the other miracles to exist, and without it their beloved house wouldn’t move her (yes, her) furniture on her own, nor would it ‘communicate’ with the family through gestures such as moving her tiles around or opening and closing repeatedly her shutters in excitement.
And right in that moment Casita was showing just how excited she was for Mira’s first day of school since when the holidays had started. And it wasn’t just Mirabel, but also two of her cousins’ as well, so Casita was three times as excited as she would’ve been otherwise.
Mirabel tried to enjoy the frantic sound of the shutters and tiles flapping repeatedly, as she knew it wasn’t going to last long. After all her two older sisters as well as their eldest cousin were going away to study at university soon, and when that was going to happen…well, poor Casita felt like just another inanimate house when she’s sad.
And though all those sounds were admittedly annoying Mira really, really couldn’t stand not feeling her house moving stuff around to express her thoughts and feelings.
-“Camilo,”- Mirabel’s tio Félix scolded her cousin ‘Dolores’ as ‘she’ grabbed some more arepas. -“Stop pretending you’re Dolores so that you can have seconds.”-
‘Dolores’ scoffed, and asked: -“What makes you think I’m Camilo?”-
-“Mh!”- Behind Félix was a young woman completely identical to the one stuffing her plate with food. -“I’m here, Milo.”- she said in her low, almost whisper-like tone, much quieter in comparison to the tone used by the fake Dolores.
The woman with the plate instantly shape-shifted into a young boy the same age as Mirabel, with thick auburn curls and a bright yellow ruana laid on his shoulders.
-“Worth a shot.”- He simply sighed as Casita’s shutters shoved him away from the table with the food. Oh, Camilo, he was never going to change, was he?
At the table everyone seemed just as excited as Casita for Mirabel’s and Camilo’s first day in 11th grade, and even more so for Antonio’s first day of school in general.
The six-year-old however looked as nervous as ever, even on the verge of tears.
-“I-I don’t wanna go!”- he pleaded. -“I want to stay here with Mamà!”-
Mirabel took her little cousin’s hand in hers, and reassured him. -“Come on, Toñito, you’re gonna meet new kids and have fun.”-
-“B-But I don’t want to leave you!”-
-“Oh, don’t worry about that. I promise you’re only going to stay in there for some hours, and then tio Bruno’s going to come pick you up and get some ice cream.”-
Bruno’s eyes widened. -“I what?”-
-“You heard me. At lunchtime you’re gonna go at school and walk him back home.”-
The older man sighed. -“Està bien, I guess…”-
Poor tio Bruno, Mirabel thought. Not only he was single and childless at the age of 51, but he had spent 10 full years of his life hiding in his house, away from society. And to top it off the reason behind his reclusion was being shunned and even threatened by the rest of the village because of his gift to see the future and all the bad stuff he saw, regardless of whether or not he actually had any amount of control over what was going to happen. So, yeah, he wasn’t exactly the best at socializing.
-“Okay niños,”- Abuela said, -“Time to go.”-
And so the two teens and the little boy walked down the path from their house to the school. Mirabel was just behind the other two, busy fantasizing about her new school year, when she stumbled on something and almost fell.
When she looked down at what made her trip she saw a small tile belonging to the path, raised up as to try to tell her something.
-“What’s up Casita? Wanna come with me?”-
The small tile flapped up and down.
-“Fine then, come here.”- she chuckled as she put the small tile in her backpack, rushing to catch up with her cousins immediately thereafter.
~~~~
-“Hey, Mira, wanna come to my house for lunch?”- a young girl about the same age as Mirabel asked her, slipping on her blue backpack as she walked out of her school’s doors.
Mirabel thought for a moment. -“Well, sure…why not? Wait, I have to tell my cousin.”-
She turned to face Camilo, who was slightly ahead of them.
-“Hey, Milo! Tell Abuela I’m having lunch with the Dìazs!”-
He gave a thumbs up.
-“Està bien sis!”-
-“I’m your cousin!”-
-“No, you’re my twin sis.”-
-“Cami, please, that was okay to do in like 2nd grade, not now…”-
-“Fine, you’re my cousin!” he sighed. No point in arguing with someone with such a poor sense of humor.
~~~~
Lunch with the Dìaz family wasn’t that bad. The food was nice, the only problems were Carolina’s parents and their passion for making the most awful ‘dad jokes’ of all time.
-“Okay, I have to go now. See you at school Lina!”-
-“Bye Mira!”-
Mirabel began strolling down the cobblestone path in front of her classmate’s house, when a small droplet of the liquid cement that held together the tiles on the roof came raining down on her. Luckily it didn’t dirty her dress, the only thing hit was the inside of her bag. Specifically, Casita’s path tile was now painted gray with the substance.
-“Oh. Well. Guess it won’t be too bad if I just put the clean side up, right?”-
The tile moved slightly, agreeing with her.
~~~~
The day proceeded as normal. Homework, playing around the street with her two cousins, dinner, bedtime. Nothing out of the ordinary.
It was the next day, that Mirabel realized what was going on.
-“Buenos días Casita!”- she exclaimed as soon as she woke up, ready for yet another day of school. But when her feet touched the ground, her slippers weren’t there. It was weird; Casita always passed them to her from under the bed as soon as she woke up. It was rare for her not to listen to what Mira’s or Abuela’s said.
Mirabel tried to ignore the weird behavior, getting her slippers herself and going to the bathroom to get herself ready. But even then, Casita didn’t pass her the soap when the girl was washing her hands, nor did the shutters move in the slightest to give a good morning to the two boys that entered right after.
That was starting to get weird, but Mira still thought none of it. Even if it didn’t happen often it was possible for Casita to go to sleep and not realize everybody else was awake.
When the three kids went in the kitchen they were greeted by their parents’ and tio Bruno’s worried questions, one on top of the other, giving a really confused Abuela what Mira guessed was the worst migraine ever felt by the matriarch.
-“SILENCE!”- the old woman finally shouted, causing the room to fall quiet. The pure silence was almost eerie, especially in a family so big that was never truly quiet.
-“I…I have no idea what is causing this. Yes, Casita sometimes behaves like this, but this time it is much worse. She can’t just be tired.”-
-“Is she…”- Tia Pepa begun, obvious worry in her eyes as she held close her husband’s arm, a small cloud forming above her head. -“Dead…?”-
Abuela paused with her mouth half-open, realizing that her hija might have been right.
But Casita immediately calmed the family down when she waved her shutters.
-“Oh, gracias a Dios, Casita.”- Abuela sighed in relief, putting a hand on her chest. -“Now, could you please explain why did you scare us like that?-
Casita didn’t answer; she just made the cupboards tremble. Mirabel had a feeling that wasn’t on purpose.
And she was right, judging by how right after all of the cupboards’ contents were ejected out, all the spices, sugar and salt raining on them.
-“Oh well, guess I’ll have to go shopping later.”- Julieta sighed, as she dusted all the ingredients off her hair and clothes.
Abuela looked even more confused than before. -“Yes, please.”- she turned to Mira and her cousins. -“You children go to school now, we’ll figure this out after you come back.”-
~~~~
The entire Madrigal family was reunited for lunch that day, discussing the situation.
Isabela was the first one to speak. -“Let’s see. Casita is suddenly ill?”-
The matriarch nodded. -“And we don’t know what’s causing this either. All we know is that she’s really lethargic, and has no control over some movements.
Dolores scratched the back of her neck. -“Such as?”-
-“Today she vomited all of tia’s spices and stuff on the floor!”- Camilo chimed in.
-“Milo, please, don’t say that, you know I’m grossed out by that stuff…”- Luisa said while cringing.
-“I mean, he’s right.”- Tio Felix had to admit. -“It really did look like that.”-
-“LOOK!”-
Everyone turned to Antonio, who was pointing outside of the window.
-“That hill wasn’t there before!”-
Alma scratched her head. -“You’re right, Toñito. I don’t remember seeing it last night.
The elderly woman sighed. There was only one way to find out what was going on. She slowly turned to her green-clad son.
-“Bruno, I’m really sorry to say this, but I think we’ll need your help.”-
-“Fine mama. I’m going right now.”-
~~~~
Ever since he had come back to living with his family Bruno had installed a sort of elevator in his room, so that it was easier to go up to what he liked to call “The prophecies room”. The stairs were way too many after all, he almost couldn’t believe Mirabel had climbed them all just a year or so before.
When he reached his destination he started doing all of his little rituals. None of them were necessary, but he was a very superstitious one, so he still felt the need to do them.
As soon as he finished and got everything ready all the sand began storming around him, turning green.
And in front of him, he saw…
~~~~
It had been around 5 minutes since they had first heard the unmistakable sound of whooshing sand, and in the meantime it even stopped, signifying that Bruno had seen what was going to happen. But still, he wasn’t coming down.
Mirabel was just about to go check on him to see if he was alright -it wasn’t unusual for him to pass out right after a vision, after all- when they heard a scream coming from up there.
-“BRUNITO!”- Alma called. -“IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?!”-
Slowly, silently Bruno emerged from his cave, holding an emerald tablet in his hands. Only when he came down the family noticed how pale he was.
-“Brunito…?”-
For a couple seconds he didn’t answer, keeping the tablet close to his chest so that no-one else could see it. Then he spoke.
-“ ¿Qué mierda acabo de ver?”-
[TRANSLATION: What the fuck did I just see?]
Mirabel’s eyes widened. She had never heard tio Bruno swear even once. What could possibly cause him enough terror to make him say such things?
-“BRUNO!”- Tia Pepa yelled, covering Antonio’s ears. -“Not in front of the kids!”-
Her brother didn’t say anything. He just showed her the tablet.
And everyone saw what had caused his reaction.
The emerald tablet showed Casita right next to a much smaller house, placed right where the hill had grown.
Antonio was the first to break the silence.
-“Is Casita pregnant?”- he asked, jumping up and down in excitement.
The whole family shared an awkward look, like to ask each other for an answer.
Finally Abuela replied.
-“Sì, Toñito. She is.”-
~~~~
Mira stood on the Diaz house’s porch, silently praying that no-one was at home, so at least she wouldn’t need to have this conversation.
But unfortunately for her Carolina answered to her knocking, and opened the door.
-“Oh! Hola Mira!”-
-“Yeah, yeah…listen, I know this sounds weird and all, but-“
-“You love me.”-
-“Uhh…maybe...not? Just maybe? But anyway, my house is pregnant with your house’s child.”-
The girl went silent, and stared at Mirabel right in her eyes.
-“What.”-
-“Uh, look…”-
She showed her tio Bruno’s vision tablet.
-“Fuck.”-