𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑜 𝑥 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 | 𝐥𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞

Chapter 6. Only The Future

As we laid out opposite each other on the grassy patch, I was finally able to take the scene in. We began speaking about life and he asked me more about home. I came to the conclusion that he was a curious young man but still, something about seeing him and those big deep hazel eyes made me want to crawl out of my turtle shell. He told me how his Casita came to be, the whole story, the candle's spirit; he told me of how they spoke to Bruno and brought him and their Abuela close again. He told me the silly bits of all their gifts. But then he began pressing me for more answers to the questions he asked.

"Did your Abuela put you up to this? As a spy?" I asked.

"Y/N, don't be ridiculous. She likes you."

"I know, but still. It's a little strange."

"I don't think it's strange at all. I mean, you can ask me anything you want too."

"I don't think I need to. I've been sitting back and listening. You reveal a lot about yourself that way."

He was silent for a few moments before quickly changing the subject. "Did anything ever happen to your family... like someone long ago who could've given you a gift?"

I thought for a moment before speaking. "I... I shouldn't talk about it."

"So there's something?" He seemed to light up at the idea that someone in my family could've given me the gift.

"Maybe it's like Mirabel, where it runs in your family and it's jus to a fluke that leaves one person out."

"I don't know."

"What happened?" He questioned.

"I really shouldn't say." I insisted.

"Please? It'll make you feel better, and maybe we'll know where your gift is from!" He urged.

"It was a long time ago when they were digging the big hole." I began the story. "They liked to give us a hard time, everyone who was from there. Just to be assholes."

"Americans?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yes. They were big stupid men. My Abuela was younger than I am now and she had a little sister, a little older than Antonio..." I paused. "They took her from the doorstep, and brought her out to the forest and played monkey in the middle with her. Except they're big old men and she's a little girl, and she's not like you, she can't shift and get bigger to protect herself."

"I see." He said pondering.

"She got upset and wouldn't stop crying so... so they shot her and left her on her mama's doorstep." It took everything in me not to burst into tears. We never, ever spoke of this event; it was a cautionary tale told to all of the children in the village, to guide us to stay away from strangers.

He thought for a minute or two. "Y/N... I think she gave you your gift."

"Why? How?"

"Raiders killed my abuelo, and so his spirit–through the candle–blessed us with gifts. But she was a little girl, maybe she could only give one gift, and she chose you."

"That doesn't make any sense!" I replied, slamming my hand down into the dirt.

"Sure it does! Dead people can see the good in us from all the way out there, they can see our whole future and our past, just most of us can't see it. But...My Tio can. He'd know you were doing good!"

"Well, can we ask him? He can see the future, can he see the past and tell if that's why she gave it to me?"

He laughed. "Fat chance!" But then he began to think. It was almost like I could hear the gears in his mind cranking. "Maybe... if we ask him if you'll do good with your gift, that's all we need to know!" He smiled and I could see the hope in his aura.