Chapter Text
The party seemed to have flown by for Dolores. Before she knew it, it was early morning and the sun was peeking over the horizon. They hadn’t planned on staying this long but in the end, they’d all been having so much fun that they hadn’t noticed the time.
Isabela had thrived in the exciting setting, not drunk but certainly tipsy as she danced her way around the room. Dolores herself could feel the buzz from the alcohol as she swayed with Mariano near the edge of the room. Luisa had avoided the alcohol but she was practically beaming, having made a few connections with the girls her age that she’d always been too busy to form before. Dolores wasn’t surprised that the village girls liked Luisa after getting to know the sweet girl she was under all the overworking.
Admittedly, Dolores only knew this from the few glimpses she’d caught of her primas during the night. Mariano had taken up most of her focus and she couldn’t remember being happier.
As light started to creep in through the windows though, she started to look around for the youngest members of the family that had attended the party. Both Camilo and Mirabel were social butterflies so she hadn’t been surprised to see them with multiple people during the night.
She felt like it had been some time since she last saw them though. Had they grown tired and dozed off somewhere? None of them were really used to such late nights and she could see that even Isabela was flagging now.
Dolores was feeling tired herself and genuinely thinking that she might head home. The other partygoers seemed quite happy to keep going for now and she wondered where they got their energy from.
Leaning her head against Mariano’s chest, she focused on listening for her hermano and prima.
It took a while, something that was unusual. Normally, Dolores could pick out Camilo’s heartbeat and voice in seconds.
However, it took her almost a minute to search out his heartbeat. And when she did… worry started to settle in her chest. There was something off about his heartbeat. She couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong, but something didn’t sound right. On top of that, he was upstairs where the host of the party had requested they didn’t go. The party had been confined to the first floor of the house. Camilo wasn’t the type to ignore boundaries like that. A few more seconds of listening let her identify Mirabel’s heartbeat in a different room upstairs.
Something wasn’t right.
Frowning to herself, she pulled back from Mariano and looked towards the stairs. Why were they up there? Alone? Not even together.
Mirabel’s breathing was even like she was asleep. But her attention kept going back to Camilo and she couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that something was wrong.
“Dolores?” she looked back at Mariano who looked concerned. “Is something wrong?”
She bit her lip before making a decision. “I’ve just got to check something,” she murmured, pulling away and slipping through the crowd towards the stairs. Mariano followed her and everyone was so busy with the party that they didn’t notice the pair head up to the second floor.
She moved straight for the door she could hear Camilo behind, opening it quietly and looking in.
In a moment, she knew that something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong and her knees went weak for a moment before she threw herself into the room and over to her hermano.
He was sprawled limply over the bed, ruana on the floor and shirt open. Her stomach rolled at the sight of the scratches down his chest and the marks on his neck. She was frozen for a moment as she took in the sight. His lips were red with lipstick and dried blood and his hair was in disarray.
The room stank of alcohol and… her hermano’s pants were thrown aside carelessly, hanging partially off the bed.
“Cami?” her voice shook as she took a hesitant step forward.
His clothes were all saturated with alcohol, more splashed over his chest and the bedding around him. Like someone had just dumped a bottle over him.
Her foot hit something and she glanced down briefly to watch the empty bottle roll away from her.
When she looked back up, her heart just about stopped.
Camilo’s eyes were open slightly, glazed over and unseeing. She stumbled forward to lean against the bed, staring at the tear tracks that were still visible down his temples.
“Cami?” she whispered, nearly begging for a response.
His eyes moved but she didn’t think he was actually seeing her. She brushed a shaking hand over his temples as new tears slowly slid down.
“Milo,” she pleaded.
Her heart pounded as he let out a faint groan. She carefully cupped his cheeks and turned his head to face her. He stared right through her, lips moving slightly like he was trying to talk.
“‘lor…” the attempt at her name was nearly inaudible, even to her.
“I’m here,” she whispered, feeling tears well up in her eyes.
She didn’t want to reach the inevitable conclusion of what had happened. She didn’t want to think about it.
Not to her hermanito. Not to Cami.
She wiped the tears away as he tried to speak again. She barely caught the word and her blood went cold as she processed it, eyes widening.
“Dr…ugs…”
Her hands were shaking again as she stared down at him. Someone had… he said drugs? Someone drugged her hermano? And then- they had-”
She tasted bile at the back of her throat. She couldn’t avoid the truth, not when it was staring her in the face like this.
Someone raped her hermano. Drugged and assaulted him before attempting to make it look like he was drunk by pouring alcohol all over him. Had they forced him to drink some too? She could smell it on his breath.
He would never have drunk it willingly, not after promising their mamá.
Her breathing hitched.
He was fifteen. Fifteen.
“Dolores?” she faintly heard Mariano say, sounding faint and sick himself.
She didn’t get a chance to say anything to him as Camilo suddenly jerked under her hands, eyes widening a fraction. He made a faint choking sound and it took her a moment to realise what was happening.
He was throwing up, but he clearly couldn’t move. He couldn’t turn over and flat on his back he couldn't clear his airways. He was drowning.
If she hadn’t looked for him when she did, he would have been alone when it happened. He would have drowned, choking on his own vomit.
She rushed to grab his shoulder, rolling him over with shaking hands and turning his head so that the vomit fell onto the floor.
“Someone drugged him,” she whispered faintly, Mariano gasping at her words.
Suddenly he was there, helping Dolores adjust Camilo into a better position so that his airways were clear.
“With his metabolism…” he breathed in horror. “They might have overdosed him.”
Dolores tightened her hold on Camilo as he weakly gagged. Even throwing up, he seemed so weak.
“They might have made him drink alcohol,” she choked out.
Drugs and alcohol rarely mixed well.
Mariano cursed and Dolores panicked as Camilo’s eyes slipped shut again.
“Cami? Milo?!” she pleaded but he didn’t react at all this time as the gagging stopped. His heartbeat sounded wrong. His breathing sounded strained now.
Mirabel was in the other room.
She needed- she couldn’t-
She pulled her hermanito into her arms and screamed, her own voice piercing her ears and leaving them ringing.
“Isa!”