Not The Only Ones

Chapter 1 - The Family Now

10 YEARS LATER...

"MIRABELLLLL!!!" Camilo yelled running down the stairs with a disoriented Dolores coming out of his room irritated and fighting off a headache.

Mirabel stuck her head out her door, eyebrow raised already quite honestly unimpressed by his clear state of distress. "Qué hiciste ahora Camilo? Huh? Tell me. What did you do now?" She said, clearly already on Dolores' side.

Camilo stopped abruptly in his tracks, immediately turning into his Tia Julieta. "ME?! AY MIRABEL HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A THING." He dramatically said leaning against the stair banister, one arm draped across his forehead. "My own daughter! ACCUSING ME?! AY NO!! How could this be?!?!" He shouted. He twirled, dramatically falling to the ground and sitting on his hip. Casita added some flare by dimming all the lights and only leaving one of the stage lights from upstairs that are used for the door ceremonies, beaming on him. "After all the hours....OF LABOR. I spent with you ....bringing your ungrateful, big nosed, kinda bug eyed behind into this world. THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?!?!?! Julieta of the Arepas?! SACRILEGE! We must simply throw you away in the garbage Mija. TO THE TRASH WITH YOU!" He dramatically said while standing up and pointing at her.

Mirabel stood on top of the stairs looking down at him. Why must he be this way? She laughed and shook her head. "My apologies Ama. How may I help you today?" She said, descending the stairs. Camilo laughed and turned back into himself. He met her at the bottom of the stairs.  Even though they were the same age he was well over her height now despite her standing on the bottom step. "Even with the extra inches your barely come up to my chest 'Bel. What happened?" He bantered. She shoved him and kept walking. "Dejame. So whats the issue?" She asked looking at him.

"Tell your cousin to leave me alone before I bite her like a rat." Camilo said, almost pouting but still feral as he always is. "She's still going on and on about how we both need to find someone and get married cause we're old, dusty and no longer young beautiful plump chickens." he said with a tinge of hurt in his voice.

Mirabel let out a dramatic gasp, hugged him close and glared up at Dolores who was watching them from the banister upstairs. "We are the JUICIEST of chickens Dolores!!! How dare you?!"

Dolores sighed rubbing her temples. "Look. LOOK. You're both 25 years old now. How long do you plan to just sit around in Casita and mess around?!" She said leaning against the beam now. "Do you plan on just letting me and Isa carry on this family?! Thats not fai—" before she could finish...in they came. Manny, Benny, and Emmy, or if they were in trouble Manuel, Benedicto, and Emilia. Dolores and Mariano's kids. Not only were they three kids. They were triplets. Not only were they triplets, she was pregnant. AGAIN.

Mirabel and Camilo gave a silent prayer in their head as they watched Dolores come down the stairs. She's been extremely irritable these past few months with Mariano working on the other side of the town helping build additional houses for the growing population. He was typically gone a few days out of the week but those days were filled with watching the triplets. All who, you guessed it, were five years old.

Emmy was the oldest, she was quiet and hardly says anything even though she's able too. We think its because she knows her mother has sensitive hearing so she tries to ease the noise as much as possible. She was given the gift of invisibility. Yup. Thats right. An almost mute child with the ability to disappear. She caused some pretty panicked situations when she learned how to use it.

Manny was the middle child. A very sweet boy much like his Tío Antonio. He was given the abilities to feel  people's emotions. A perfect gift for some as sympathetic as him. He was known to worriedly look at you those days when  you'd tell everyone you were okay, when you really werent. He never hassles you when you lie like that BUT he will leave candy  on your bed to try to cheer you up.

Then there was Benny. Good boy Benny. Just like his dad. A muscle head with a heart of gold. He can usually be found reading poetry with his dad, both in tears. He was given the gift of projection. He could make life sized illusions of anything he wanted. He sometimes would even go help his dad by projecting images of a house or church or road before it being built so they could get an idea of how itd look before they started. He was honestly just a good boy.

But they weren't the only great grandkids. "Wheres Eva?" Camilo asked picking up Manny who was already almost in tears from sensing his stress from dealing with Dolores. He pulled out a candy from his pocket and offered it to Camilo with a sniffle and trembling hands. " I would die for you Manny." Camilo said in a stern tone with the candy already in his mouth. "I would simply pass away if you asked." He held him close. Mirabel rolled her eyes. He never said it out loud but Manny was definitely his favorite of his neice and nephews. She knelt down looking at the other two, "Where's Eva you guys? Isnt she usually with you this time of day?"

Emmy looked at Mirabel and in the most monotone but adorable voice said "She's right here." Pointing to nothing next to her. Mirabel could however see she was holding something in her hand. ".....D-d-did you turn her invisible too?" Mirabel mumbled her glasses sliding down her face. 

Again, in her cute flat tone now paired with a proud nod and expressionless face Emmy announced  "Uh huh. I did. I didnt know I could but I did! But I dont know how to make her not invisible anymore. Do you think Tía Julieta can fix it with an arepa?!"

Camilo quickly turned. He was fighting for dear life holding the laughs in while trembling. Mirabel just let out a panicked laugh as she felt her way to Eva and picked up the invisible mass. "This is fine! We just have to...OH!" Mirabel stopped and placed her down. She quickly took a ribbon off her own hair and placed it on Eva's. How it looked? Who knows but it was there and they could see it.

Camilo placed his nephew down and they gathered the four of them in a small herd. They looked to Dolores who looked absolutely defeated and minutes away from running away and never returning. "Dolores don't worry. We'll figure it out. You just go relax in your room." Camilo said leading the kids to the kitchen. "Now lets go fix you before your Mom makes us puke rose petals for a week Eva." He added before stopping dead in his tracks again making Mirabel run into his back. "Why did you sto— " she didnt finish. Because there in the kitchen sharpening a knife and helping prepare dinner...... was Señorita Perfecta herself.

"H-heyyyyyy Isaaaaaaa." Camilo and Mirabel said in unison, both holding one of the triplets as a shield.

***This is part one of two for the beginning of the story! Lets go!!***