27. Crumbled home. Crumbled family

What scared Mirabel more than Abuela's angry face was Isabela's reaction.

Isabela, who had looked so amazing and confident just a moment before, was reduced to a terrified little girl. Her eyes her fear-filled, and her head bowed down. Mirabel watched her shrink into herself, and she saw the bright flowers she'd grown just a moment before disappear.

Isabela was absolutely terrified of Abuela.

And Mirabel couldn't blame her. As Abuela stormed into the courtyard she looked like she could make a storm like one of Pepa's. Mirabel felt herself start to wilt herself as she felt Abuela's wrath pile on top of her.

“What are you doing?!” Abuela shouted, and Mirabel felt her resolve suddenly grow. She needed to stand up for Isabela, since she obviously couldn't right then. She glanced at Isabela's scared face, and then she said confidently, “We're saving the miracle-”

“You are not!” Abuela said, waving a hand at their surroundings. “Look at our home. Look at your sister!” Mirabel froze, glancing at Isabela once more.

Isabela was staring at Abuela, her face a mixture of fear and regret. She inched her way away from Mirabel, and Mirabel saw Luisa come out of her room and stand next to Isabela. “Isabela wasn't happy... I made her happy.” Mirabel said, looking back at Abuela, who glared back at her.

“Of course Isabela wasn't happy! You ruined her first proposal, and now it seems you want to do so again!” Abuela said, waving a hand towards the woman in question, who shrank towards Luisa and grabbed onto her arm.

“But she needed me to ruin her proposal!” Mirabel said, her mind desperately trying to come up with a plan to explain everything. If she just explained everything everything would be okay. She didn't need to fight with Abuela right then. “You see-”

“Mirabel.” Abuela said, stepping towards her and lifting a hand out. Mirabel took her a step back, and she continued, “We did all of this because I let her be who she is! And the candle burned brighter! That's why I'm in the vision-”

She heard what she said a moment too late. Abuela stared at her and then said in a voice that made Mirabel's blood run cold, “You knew? You knew about the vision?!”

Mirabel gulped, trying to keep her resolve up inside of her. “Well... Yes... But I did what you said! I didn't go into Papá's tower after you told me not to.” she smiled a bit then added, “I mean... I mighta thought about it maybe a little... But I didn't! And I figured out the vision! I'm saving the miracle! If you'll just take the time to look then you'll-”

“YOU HAVE TO STOP MIRABEL!” Abuela yelled, throwing her hands out in rage. “Don't you see what you are doing?!”

Mirabel felt her blood run as cold as ice. She saw Dolores and Camilo enter the courtyard, terrified looks on both of their faces. She saw Pepa and Felix as well, the two of them holding hands and staring at the scene happening in front of them.

And lastly she saw Julieta and Agustin enter the house, staring in horror at what was transpiring.

“Yes I do.” Mirabel said, glancing at Isabela and Luisa before staring down Abuela. “I'm saving my family.”

“No you are not!” Abuela yelled, and Mirabel let out a small gasp. “You are what is ruining the miracle! Don't you understand!?”

Mirabel felt herself start to shut down as Abuela listed her list of Mirabel's sins. “The cracks started with you. Bruno left because of you. Luisa is losing her powers, Isabela's out of control because of you. The miracle is dying, because of you. I don't know why you weren't given a gift! But it is not an excuse for you do tear this family apart!”

Mirabel stood there frozen. She wasn't... she wasn't... tearing this family apart was she? She had made... Four... of her family members cry... since she'd come... Bruno had taken her away.. The vision showed her in front of a broken Casita.

“That was why Bruno left! He took you away because you are hurting us!” Abuela snapped, and Mirabel felt something break inside of her.

“Papá... took me...” she said, fighting tears that threatened to rise to the surface. “Because he saw... me in danger. He said that he needed to protect me. That there were people who didn't understand...”

Suddenly it all clicked in her mind.

Why Bruno never talked about his mother to her. Why he promised her that she was perfect. It wasn't some stranger he wanted to protect her from. It wasn't the town who hated her. It wasn't the world that didn't understant...

It was Abuela.

“No...” Mirabel said, wiping her tears and looking into Abuela's eyes. “He took me to protect me... from you.” Abuela stiffened, then said, “Don't you dare-”

“He took me so that I could know that I was enough! Because he knew that he had been messed up! Messed up by you! He took me so that I would be happy and safe! Safe from the unrealistic standards you've placed on everybody else!” Mirabel took a step towards Abuela, who backed up accordingly. “Isabela will never be perfect enough for you! Luisa will never be strong enough! Camilo isn't appreciated for Camilo! Julieta believes she has to sacrifice herself for everyone without a thanks!”

Abuela's face contorted with rage, “You-” she began, but Mirabel didn't let her continue.

“Dolores is watching the man she's in love with get engaged with her cousin. Who doesn't even like him!' Mirabel said, throwing her hands in the air. “If that's not messed up, I don't know what is! Papá-”

“THAT MAN IS NOT YOUR FATHER!” Abuela yelled, and Mirabel felt her confidence dwindle a bit. She stared at Abuela, who glared back at her, then Mirabel said in a low voice, “You're right. He's not my father. He's more than that. He's my Papá.”

Abuela stood there, seething with anger. Mirabel took a step forward, and continued. “And there is not a soul who loves this family more than him. And I am part of that family. He threw away everything... because he loves me. And he loves me enough to take me away from you.”

Just as a strange glint developed in Abuela's eyes something happened that shocked both of them. A large crack, looming and menacing, split the floor in between the two of them in half. Mirabel had just enough time to stare down at it before the entire floor rolled from beneath her.

“No!” she heard from behind Abuela, and saw her aunt holding her hands out towards... something behind Mirabel.

“The candle!”

The floor jumped, and Mirabel was thrown away from Abuela... towards the candle. She looked up at it, now burning fainter than she had ever seen it. And... was that... wax? It was melting!

A magical flame mija. It will never go out. It's where our powers come from.

“I've got it!” she heard Camilo yell, and she watched her cousin sprint towards the window that the candle was resting on. But as he was running the house started falling apart around him.

Mirabel found herself unable to do anything but sit there and stare as Camilo ran. Her mind and body started to shut down.

The house was crumbling. The house was falling apart!

Slates from the roof were falling around her, but she just watched them shatter next to her. The house... the magic... the miracle...

The walls started to collapse in on themselves... the doors stopped glowing... they looked like Bruno's...

Animals burst from Antonio's room.

Isabela was swinging on a vine, going for the candle like Camilo...

But it wasn't enough. Their doors turned off, and their gifts faded. Isabela's vine vanished, and Camilo couldn't reach the roof in time.This was all Mirabel's fault! This was all her-

The floor rolled underneath her, and she was shoved out of the house along with her family. She didn't care. She was numb.

Numb.

This was what Bruno had seen. This was what he wanted to protect her from. She was... She was... She was... the reason that Casita...

She heard a loud 'boom', and saw Bruno's tower fall into the rest of the wreckage, and then her brain decided it was time to shut down.

Julieta felt her mind go completely numb as she lay next to the wreckage of the only home she had ever known. She felt her husband's arm resting underneath her, but she couldn't bring herself to worry about if he was in pain.

Casita was broken. She looked at the ruins and saw a single whole cabinet door swing open and shut in a makeshift wave, and then the house seemed to breathe its last.

What shook her harder than the house's collapse was the events that directly preceded it; Her mother had yelled at her daughter.

She looked over and saw Mirabel sit up and straighten her glasses. There was dust covering her face, all except for two streaks coming from her yes and trailing down her cheeks. Julieta sat up, and forced herself to walk over to Mirabel.

She cupped Mirabel's face in her hands, and she asked in her most mothering voice she could muster, “Mirabel? Mirabel are you okay?”

Mirabel looked up at her, and her eyes looked dead inside. Julieta felt her heart seize up and she was about to hug Mirabel when she heard her sister's voice call out, “Julieta! Julieta come quickly!”

Fearing the worst Julieta froze and turned to look in Pepa's direction. She saw her family moving away from where Mirabel was, and she sighed loudly. She looked back down at Mirabel, who looked down again, and she said quietly, “Don't go anywhere Mira, I'll be right back...” She offered Mirabel a small smile before heading to where Pepa was.

She couldn't stay here.

How could Mirabel stay here after what she had done!? Abuela was right. Mirabel had hurt the family. She hadn't meant to, but she had. She had taken their home, their powers... their lives away. All because she was selfish. Because she thought she knew better.

Maybe... Abuela was right. Maybe... maybe that was why Bruno had taken her. This was what he had seen after all. If Mirabel had just... just...

She didn't feel her body stand up. She didn't feel herself turn from her family, who were all fussing over the stump of a stupid candle. She didn't feel herself start to walk away, towards the mountains. Towards where she knew her home, her real home was.

She had to go home. Papá would be able to find her, if he ever got there. Papá would tell her everything. Papá wouldn't care. She hadn't ruined his life any more than she already had.

She heard the first of the rest of her family's calls. But she didn't pay them any mind. She couldn't go back. Not after what she had done to them. Maybe she should have apologized, but it was better this way. She needed to go away. Get away from them. They'd understand one day.

For now... Mirabel needed to get away. She needed to go home.

Pepa had always tried to bury her emotions. There was no way she could feel everything that she did when a storm cloud presented itself whenever she felt too strongly about anything. But now that the magic was gone... Now that her home was in shambles...

Her husband was holding their youngest, Dolores had her hands covering her ears, and Camilo...

Hadn't Camilo been taller last she had seen him?

What was wrong? What had happened? One moment she was returning from town to a house covered in a million plants, the next she was watching her mother fighting with Mirabel.

Pepa saw it. She saw Mirabel's eyes fill up with tears. And as she fought back with her own words she looked even more like Pepa's brother.

The words Pepa's mother were using made Pepa want to crawl into the walls and never be seen again. She couldn't imagine how Mirabel must feel. If Pepa wasn't already terrified of her mother she would have stepped in between the two of them.

Alma might have gotten angry at the family, but she never yelled at them. The only person she remembered hearing getting yelled at was Bruno. But he would yell right back, and at the end of the argument he would always have said the same amount of hurtful things to their mother.

Had Abuela ever apologized? Did Pepa remember that? She couldn't think of any examples...

And now Mirabel was missing. She had needed Julieta, and when her sister went back to where Mirabel had been she found her missing. No one had seen the girl go. And now Mirabel was missing again...

And Pepa couldn't blame her. She would have left too if someone she barely knew told her that she ruined her life.

That was why Bruno had left as well, wasn't it? He'd always promised that he was fine, but Pepa knew that he was blamed for things that he saw. It wasn't fair!

Abuela sat there, the bottom of the candle clasped in her hands. She stared at their surroundings with a dazed look in her eyes. Pepa watched her daughter offer to help Alma stand up.

Something in her finally broke. She felt her tears start to build up in her eyes, and she took one last glance at her husband and sons before storming in front of her mother.

“This is all your fault.” Pepa hissed, and Alma looked up into her eyes. She heard her sister gasp behind her, but she didn't care. Finally, for the first time in forty-five years Pepa knew she could be angry without getting lectured. “You did this.”

Her mother stared at her, and Pepa clenched her hands into fists. Dolores stared at her, her hand on Alma's shoulder.

“You yelled at a child Mamá!” Pepa yelled, and her mother winced. “Mirabel is a literal child and you blamed her for all of our problems!” Her mother looked into her eyes, and she opened her mouth. Pepa felt her anger get washed over by a sense of profound sadness.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she glanced over at Julieta, who had tears coming down her cheeks. Pepa placed her hand on top of her sister's, and then looked back at their mother. “Maybe I should have left like Bruno!” she said quietly, and she heard her daughter gasp. “Maybe Bruno... Maybe my brother... Ugh!”

Pepa fell to her knees, tears pouring down her cheeks. Julieta knelt next to her and pulled her into a hug, like Julieta always did. But Pepa could tell that she was crying just as hard as she was.

“Pepita...” Alma said, moving forward and placing her hand on Pepa's shoulder. Pepa looked up into her eyes, and then she said quietly, “Mamá... You drove her out...

“And now we need to get her back...”