25. Isabela's insides

Isabela locked herself in her room. She had spent the last week spending every possible moment inside of the only place where she could truly be alone.

The garden of flowers that she had been met with when she had first opened her door were now completely purple and pink. The colors that Abuela had said suited Isabela perfectly. Of course her room was purple and pink! Those were perfect! And she was perfect! She didn't want to change. No. Perfection was what she was.

Did she feel like she could fall to the floor and never be found again? Yes. Did she want to do that? Maybe. Was she going to hide away from the entire world and pretend that Isabela Madrigal didn't exist? Of course not! She couldn't do that.

Everything had been perfect. She was all set to marry Mariano. All set to fit into her role. She was prepared to marry him and have his five perfect babies. She knew that that was her fate. But...

The uncle that she refused to name had told her once, years and years before, that her power would grow. That she would thrive. She was thriving now wasn't she? Look at what she could accomplish! She could cover the entire Encanto with fleur de mayo! She could make everyone happy!

His eyes had shone so brightly as he stared at her future. He had been so happy as he handed her the glass pane. She remembered how he had pulled her into a hug and told her that he was proud of her. How unique and amazing she was. How much he loved her.

What a load of hogwash.

If Bruno had loved her he would have stayed. If he had loved any of them he wouldn't have left. If he loved Isabela then he wouldn't have stolen her baby sister away. If he truly loved them he would... would have actually been a good person.

The moment Mirabel called their mother 'Tia' Isabela felt her anger towards her least favorite uncle double. Not only did he steal her sister away physically, he had taken her mentally. Mirabel didn't believe that they were sisters. She called their parents her Tios. And now... Now...

Luisa was losing her magic. Luisa gift was fading. Would they all start to lose their gifts? Who would Isabela be without her magic? Would Abuela still think that she was useful? Isabela wasn't a useful person when she wasn't making the town beautiful.

Her room seemed to be too big. She watched her flowers start to wilt as her thoughts turned sour. Isabela yelped, and focused to fix the flowers. The petals were rejuvenated, and she let out a sigh. There was no point worrying about her power. Abuela would know if there was something wrong with the magic, and Abuela could fix it.

If only Abuela could fix Mirabel.

She had tried, several times, to talk to Isabela. But any time Isabela looked at her sister she could only see the uncle who had stolen her. Mirabel had adopted so many of his mannerisms that it physically hurt Isabela to look at her for more than five seconds.

There was the incessant knocking on wood. The way she'd lick her lips before speaking. How her left foot would cross over her right. The hourglasses scattered over her skirt. The way she fidgeted around whenever she was talking. It all reminded her of a man she had tried so desperately to forget that Isabela couldn't help but start to feel a strange animosity towards Mirabel.

But at the same time Mirabel had interrupted Mariano's proposal. She had given Isabela more time to sort out her feelings towards him. But as every second passed Isabela felt more and more trapped.

Mirabel was loud. Bright. And completely unaware of how she made the other family members feel. She was, well, Isabela's opposite.

Isabela was constantly paying attention to how her family member's received her. She focused on making sure that her Abuela was happy with her, that her parents never had to worry about her, and that her Tios never saw how jealous she was of their love for each other.

She was perfect Isabela. She had stopped relying on her parents ten years ago, when their needs became larger than her own. The family needed her to be okay, so she was okay. She was fine. This was all fine.

She heard a knock at the door, and the flowers around the door shifted to look like Mirabel. Isabela glanced down at her dress, and thought for a second. Mirabel was trying to pester her again. And Isabela did not want any pestering at the moment.

Isabela had to admit she did feel a little happy when she heard Mirabel yelp on the other side of the door as the handle turned into a bundle of thorns.

Satisfied. It satisfied Isabela to shut Mirabel out. It satisfied Isabela to hear Abuela tell Mirabel to leave her alone.

But she wasn't satisfied with completely shutting her sister out of her life. Whether Isabela liked it or not Mirabel was here to stay. Mirabel had crashed into her life, and she wasn't going anytime soon.

“Again! Again!”

Isabela, even though she was only nine, had been put on babysitting duty while their mother was out in town. Her three year old sister was bouncing in front of her, a circlet of roses resting on her brow. The flowers now fell in between her eyes and her new green glasses. Mirabel's goofy smile was what convinced Isabela to throw her hand up again.

A vine dropped from the ceiling and wrapped around Mirabel's stomach and arms, pulling the little girl up a few feet in the air. Mirabel let out a large laugh and Isabela found herself giggling along.

As Mirabel was dropped gently to the ground she smiled at Isabela. “You're the best sister ever!” she proclaimed, and Isabela laughed loudly. “Aw, thanks Mira. You're a pretty cool sister too.”

Mirabel beamed at her, then she said, “I hope that when I get a gift its just as cool as yours.” Isabela found herself ruffling her sister's hair. “Of course Mirabel. You're gift will be soooooo cool. And your room will be cooler.”

Mirabel nodded, shooing Isabela's hand away from her head. “What do you think my gift will be?” she asked, and Isabela held a hand up to her chin. “Maybe... Teleportation! Or time-travel. Or being adorable... Oh wait! You already have that gift!”

Isabela poked Mirabel gently in the stomach, causing her little sister to laugh loudly. “Isa! Stop that! I'll tell Mam á!”

“She's not here.” Isabela said, continuing to poke at her sister. Mirabel's peals of laughter echoed through the room.

“What's going on in here? Where's the tickle monster? Who do I need to fight to keep Mirabel safe?!” Isabela finally stopped tickling her sister as their Tio walked into the room, a mug of steaming liquid held in his hands.

Mirabel scrambled away from Isabela and grabbed onto their uncle's legs. Isabela giggled to match her sister, and said, “There's no tickle monster Tio Bruno. Its just me and Mirabel in here.”

Bruno lifted an eyebrow at her, and glanced down at his younger niece. “Mirabel, is this true?” he asked, and Mirabel shook her head. “No! There was a tickle monster! It took over Isabela's body and made her poke me!”

“Oh no!” Bruno said, pressing his free hand over his mouth in shock. “How horrible! Do you think it could take over someone else's body?”

The three of them all froze, then Bruno crossed the room to kneel in front of Isabela. He put his mug down, and Isabela barely caught a glimpse of the dark brown liquid inside it before her uncle's fingers were wiggling towards her belly.

Isabela did her best to scramble away from Bruno, but he picked her up before she could even take a step. “Oh no! Isabela!” he said. “The monster's taken over me and is forcing me to tickle you!”

Isabela let out a loud yelp before Bruno started tickling her. Mirabel gasped in horror, then cried, “Leave my Tio alone tickle monster! He doesn't want to tickle Isabela!” Her little hands turned into fists, and she pounded them on Bruno's legs, stopping him from tickling Isabela further.

He put Isabela down gently, then turned towards Mirabel. “You're gonna have to work harder than that.” he said in a voice deeper than his own, and he reached his hands out towards Mirabel. He grabbed onto her as she turned around and tried to run from him.

“No!” Mirabel shouted as Bruno started tickling her as well. “Isa- Isa-”she tried to call out, but she was laughing too hard to properly out for her sister.

“Leave my sister alone!” Isabela cried, and to all of their shock a long flower stem burst from the ground...

And hit Bruno square in the nose.

Mirabel was dropped immediately. Isabela screamed, Mirabel screamed, Bruno, surprisingly, didn't make a sound, he just held his hands over his face and blinked at his eldest niece.

Isabela was frozen. She stared in horror at the pain she had caused to her uncle. Abuela would not be happy with her. She reached a hand out towards her uncle, and pressed it lightly on his arm, trying hard to not look at the blood seeping through his fingers.

“Ti- Tio Bruno?” she asked hesitantly. “I am... so sorry...”

To both her and her sister's shock, Bruno started to giggle. He took one hand off of his face and poked at the flower Isabela had hit him with. “Wow...” he said quietly. “Remind me to never mess with you.”

As if she'd been holding it in for the past minute, Mirabel started crying, loudly. Bruno took his other hand off of his nose, and held his arms out towards the little girl. But that only served to make Mirabel more miserable, so he covered up his face again.

“Girls... We're... going to get your mother.” he said quietly. Isabela froze, then she said quietly, “Am I... in trouble?”

Bruno let out a laugh, then a pained gasp. He pressed his hand over his nose down, and said in a voice that actually showed how much in pain he was, “No Isa. You're not in trouble. I just... could really use some of her food right now.”

He looked at Mirabel, and directed his next sentence at her, “Hush Mariposa. It's okay. I'm okay. I'll go to your Mami and she'll fix me up. Good as new. And then we can color...” Mirabel sniffed and rubbed under her glasses. “O...kay.” she said, smiling a little. “Can Isa color with us?”

Bruno glanced at Isabela, and said, “Of course. Just as long as she uses crayons instead of blood...” Mirabel yelped, and Bruno gasped out, “Sorry, sorry... I mean... Of course Mirabel. Let's just... Go.”

Isabela only exited her room when it was time for dinner. She took her usual spot, in between her Camilo and Dolores, and took her plate of food without saying a word to either of them.

Camilo seemed to be about normal, but there was something a little... off, about his appearance at the moment. But Isabela found herself not caring about him at the moment. She was more focused on her best friend, who seemed to be tenser than usual.

“Dolores!” she said as she sat down, “Is there something wrong? You look like you've seen La Llorona!” Dolores stiffened, and looked at Isabela with fear-filled eyes.

“Oh no,” she said, a smile sliding onto her face. Her eyes relaxed, though there was still a nervous air around her. “I'm fine Isabela, just... A little tired. The kids ran me ragged today.” Dolores glanced off in the direction of Luisa's empty chair, and Isabela felt her heart drop a little.

Luisa was losing her gift. Dolores must be hearing something wrong. But if it was serious she typically couldn't keep it in. She always told Isabela her secrets. Was there something wrong? Or nothing at all?

But before Isabela could say anything else Mirabel waltzed into the room. “Isa! Hey!” she said, and Isabela sat down quickly. Camilo glanced at her, and Mirabel seemed to dance/walk over to them. “Isabela, I was wondering if I could talk to you... after dinner.” Mirabel said, and Isabela glanced at her before grabbing her full wine glass.

“About what?” Isabela said, taking a long sip. Mirabel shrugged one shoulder and said, “Just a few things... Nothing life changing or anything. Definitely not something Papá saw in a vision or whatever.”

Isabela froze. A vision? Bruno had another vision about her? Ugh! Why did she equivalate Mirabel's 'Papá' to be Bruno! Isabela felt like burying her face in her hands, but she forced herself to sit there calmly.

“And... If I were to talk with you...” she said, but she saw a hand rest on Mirabel's shoulder. Abuela was standing behind Mirabel, and Mirabel spun around to face her.

“Oh hi!” Mirabel said, and Isabela found her eyes glued to Abuela's stern, yet not angry, looking face. “Uh... I was just talking to...”

Abuela sighed. “Yes Mirabel, I know. But now is not the time for chit-chat. It is time to begin dinner. Please take a seat.” Mirabel glanced back at Isabela, mouthed the word 'later', and then nodded once at Abuela. “Of course,” she said, and then navigated herself to the other side of Camilo and sat down.

Isabela felt tense all throughout dinner. She didn't feel hungry, but knew that her family would worry if she didn't eat. Dolores wouldn't make eye contact with her, and was eating even less than Isabela was. And Camilo... Camilo was talking with Mirabel the entire time, and seemed to be having fun doing so.

Great. Now another person in her family was friends with Mirabel now. Isabela, who had been Mirabel's best friend before she left, couldn't bring herself to talk to her. But Camilo, the boy who had freaked her out, could.

Why couldn't she just talk to her!? Why did Isabela do all this!? What was going on with her!?

She didn't even listen as Abuela made yet another announcement. But what did prick her ears was at the very end when Abuela said words that felt like brands to her psyche:

“Mariano will be proposing again tomorrow night.”