You are a madrigal

Part 2

The next couple of months weren't helping with the tension in the house.

The grown ups would pretend everything was fine to make sure the kids didn't suspect anything but they knew, or at least Dolores knew.

After that night Bruno went missing, His door that once shined bright didn't shine at all. Abuela was so upset she made sure no one would ever bring up his name again. Her Tia Julieta and her mama have been heart broken ever since he left but they put on a brave face. Felix would calm Pepa down whenever her mood suddenly changed, and if he wasn't there Abuela would tell her to fix her mood.

Julieta began cooking at almost every hour of every day to take her mind off of it. She'd go down to the town and help those who were injured and only occasionally came back if her job was done or it was getting late. Her Tio Augustin was kept busy with Mirabel, keeping her out of the way of everyone else when they were busy.

Luisa would be in town alongside her mama and helped the people by carrying things and moving buildings around. Isabela is basically Abuela's shadow at this point. When she was finished with whatever chores she had she would tail behind the older woman almost all day.

And that left Dolores, who was currently sitting by a river to get away from all the other noises she heard. Sometimes it became a bit too much to listen to everyone talking at once, and when they moved it only became worse.

She started making a wall in her mind to block out the sound but sometimes it wouldn't work which resulted in what she was doing now. She focused on the sound or the running water, and if she stayed long enough it would calm her down.

Before she could fully focus on just that one sound she heard a shuffle that seemed relatively close to where she was. She turned her head and saw that a boy who looked to be around her age was walking over to where she was with a guitar strapped to his back.

He wasn't paying attention, his mind seeming to be somewhere else. Once he fully came into view he saw her outline and was startled when his eyes met hers. Dolores saw he had tan skin, and black curly hair, and wore a daring red shirt thought about his reddish brown eyes.

"Uh...Hola?" Dolores tilted her head and the sound of his voice and realized she was staring. She got up and brushed off her long orange skirt before looking back at him. " Lo siento, Hi, I'm Dolores." he nodded his head in acknowledgement and gave a light smile. "I'm Alejandro, but my friends call me Alex."

They stood there and looked at each other for a minute before Alex began to play with his hair. "So, um what are you doing out here?" Dolores shrugged her shoulders and looked back to the river beside them. "The noise can be a bit overwhelming. Always hearing everything. So I came here to calm myself down. The sound of the water is very soothing."

She looked back at him with a smile on her face and he smiled back before sitting a few feet away from her. "Yea, I come here all the time, didn't really know anyone else knew of this place. When I'm not too busy I like to play my guitar." He then moved the strap to take the guitar off and showed it to her.