Bruno's Trans Son

Chapter 9

So here we are, standing in Antonio's jungle as Papa makes a circle of sand. The house rumbles and Mirabel looks to Bruno.

"We might wanna hurry," she says, pointing upwards.

"You can't hurry the future," he says with a laugh, having to go around one of the animals.

"Mateo," he says, gaining my attention from examining the forest, "would you like to be inside the circle or outside?"

"Inside," I say, quickly joining him in the circle, sitting beside him.

"What if I show you something worse. If I see something you don't like, you're going to be all 'Bruno makes bad things happen', 'oh he's creepy and his vision killed my goldfish'," he exasperates to Mirabel.

"I don't think you make bad things happen," she tells him honestly.

"Dido," I agree, joining into the conversation.

"Sometimes, family weirdo's get a bad rap," she continues. "You can do this."

"I believe in you dad," I tell him, giving his hand a squeeze.

Then, Antonio's little hands come in, holding a leopard stuffy Mira must have made for him and gives it to Bruno.

"For the nerves," he says, climbing onto Spots and bidding goodbye the Mateo way with a two finger salute.

"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this," he whispers to himself, pulling a little bit of salt from his shirt, throwing it over his shoulder and lighting a match.

He brings it to the leaf pile in the middle and it lights the four little piles around it. I watch him do this process in fascination, not taking my eyes off of it.

The wind starts blowing and he cracks his knuckles.

"You might want to hang on," he says, holding a hand out to both me and Mirabel.

We grab his hand, grabbing each others hands and I watch his green glowing eyes. The exact same green as mine when I use my powers. I knew it.

The sand around us starts to sparkle and lifts around us, forming a green snow globe of sand. Papa opens his eyes again and watches the sand around us.

The candle breaking, the encanto splitting in two, Tio Felix saving Antonio from a falling door and Mirabel standing in front of a broken and not broken Casita.

I look to the other side and see Casita falling, my mist trying to hold it up and then me laying there, I'm pretty sure dead, while Papa comes into frame, crouching over me.

"It's just the same thing. I gotta stop," Bruno says frantically.

"No, I need to see which way it goes. There's gotta be an answer, something we're not seeing," Mira presses.

"I don't think there's anything else to see Mira," I say, watching it.

"You're looking at the same thing that I am. If there was something else," Papa starts but she cuts him off.

"There! Over there!" She exclaims, pointing at a yellow butterfly.

"Butterfly! Follow the butterfly!" He calls, his eyes following it.

Mira grabs his hand while he grips mine, all three of us getting up to get a closer look at the butterfly. The butterfly lands on a plant and she looks at it confused.

"Where is that?" She asks softly.

"It's all out of order," Papa says. "The candle, the candle's getting brighter! I think you're going to help the candle!"