The Missing Gift

Around the age of five, Mirabel Madrigal's door finally appeared in the corridor along with all the others, glowing golden but empty of design. It awaited her small hand to turn the doorknob so it could bestow upon her a Gift and create a perfectly suited bedroom inside.

In anticipation, her family began planning a party. As was customary with the Madrigal Gift celebrations, the whole community was to attend. There would be food, music, drinks and dancing as everyone came together to have fun. And to everyone's surprise, very few things went wrong. The food didn't burn, the decorations didn't go missing, and none of the kids managed to ruin their outfit. (Ergo, already a much bigger success than Camilo's Gift celebration had been).

Guests were starting to walk up the hill, and the music had been turned on. Delores was playing a spirited game of Tag with her younger cousins, Isabela and Luisa. The only thing missing was the main girl herself.

"Why is she taking so long?" Julieta fretted, pacing up and down next to the tables of food. "She said she needed some time to try on her dress, but she's been taking a while. Maybe I should go up and check on her."

"No hermana, she doesn't need you stressing her out," said Pepa, rather ironically considering she had her own storm cloud following her around. She turned and caught sight of her youngest son, who was busy piling arepas onto his plate.

"Camilo, sweetie, would you be a dear and go see how your cousin is doing? We're starting to get worried." Pepa figured if anyone could calm poor Mirabel down right now, it was her son. He'd make her laugh and feel relaxed and soon enough, the two of them would be running back down the stairs together.

Camilo reluctantly set his plate of food back down. "Okay, Mami." He raced up the winding staircase as fast as his little legs could carry him and approached the turquoise door of the nursery, which was still technically Mirabel's room until the day was over.

He knocked softly. "Mirabel, you in there?"

When no reply came, he rapped on the door a little louder. "Hey Mirabel, everyone's looking for you..."

He shuffled on the spot nervously for a moment, before gathering enough courage to push open the door. He peered round uncertainly, eyes scanning the room. There seemed to be no sign of human life anywhere. Until his vision focused on the bed and he saw a small Mirabel-sized lump hidden beneath the blankets.

"Mirabel?..." Camilo tiptoed over to the bed and reached out to gently pat her. "You awake?"

There was a muffled groan, some fidgeting, and then the girl's mass of curly black hair popped up into view, eyes hazy and glasses slightly askew.

"What is it?" she asked tiredly, as if she'd rather he walked straight out again instead of giving her any kind of answer.

Camilo frowned. "It's... your celebration day. Y'know, you get your Gift? And a bedroom. All that cool stuff."

Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh no, that's today?!"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yes prima! So hurry up before all the good food gets eaten."

Mirabel's shoulders slumped. "I... can't."

Camilo had already started racing back towards the exit, but he skidded to a halt at her words. He turned back around. "W–What do you mean you can't?"

But now that he was properly looking at her, he sort of realized why. Her small round face was pale, and the bags under her eyes were very visible.

"You're sick, aren't you?"

Mirabel nodded, and then crashed back into the pillows behind her with a dejected sigh. "I can't believe I'm letting Abuela and the whole family down."