The Madrigal Boy

Fiesta de Amor

I never thought anything could pull us apart.

The frigid night stood upon the Rojas family, the sky painted black and the stars dull that night.

Daniela's abuelo had passed away at 1:00 AM.

"...Papá? Papá, can you hear me? Papá?" Her mother impotently cried. Once she had realized he was unresponsive, she dropped to her knees wistfully, breaking out into boundless sobs. Daniela, who had been hearing all this from her bedroom, immediately swung open her door, rushing to her mother's aid.

Her mother collapsed in Daniela's arms, tears pouring down her face rapidly.

"What's going on?" Valeria's high voice entered the room as she rubbed her eyes. "Go up to bed Val," Daniela ushered, ignoring her question. "No, I don't want to- why is mamá crying? What happened?" Valeria protested, concern filling her face. "Valeria, I'm not asking you. Upstairs, now." Her mother's weeping had gone silent, but hadn't stopped as Daniela felt her shaking in her grasp.

Valeria furrowed her brow, storming away without saying another word to her big sister. "Mamá, it's gonna be okay," She comforted, glancing over at where her Abuelo laid, lifeless. And she couldn't help it as the stream of hot tears began to fill her eyes, trailing down her cheeks, silently sobbing as she held her mamá.

The next morning was depressing.

Dani and her mom made sure to have Abuelo's body taken out before Valeria had woken up. Neither of them had gotten any sleep, dark circles were printed under their eyes.

"Where's Abuelo?" It was the first thing Valeria asked when she came downstairs. "Honey, I know... this is hard to hear, but, your Abuelo didn't make it through the night." Her mom choked, crying as she said this. Valeria looked up at Daniela as if to confirm it was true, to which Daniela nodded sorrowfully.

Valeria hugged her mom as the both of them cried.

But the truth was, Daniela couldn't mourn that much. To her, it felt like her Abuelo had died the day he was diagnosed with dementia. Now that he was actually gone, it felt like the only difference was the lack of commotion from him screaming at her mother.

Two days later, Daniela found that her mother was spending her time to sleep. Whether it was because she was catching up from the sleep she lacked taking care of abuelo, or if it was her way of coping, she didn't know.

"Mamá, you need to get out of bed." Daniela opened the window, letting the sunlight flood in as her mother groaned. "That's it, Abuelo wouldn't want you to be like this. The Madrigal's are having a Fiesta de Amor for Dolores and Mariano, and I'm bringing you with me,"

Her mom sat up at once, shaking her head. "No, I'm not ready for that. I haven't left the house in almost a year, Dani. I mean, I've sent you to get all the groceries for pete's sake." She protested, raising her hand to block Daniela's face. "Mamá, I'm not taking no for an answer."

Radiant fireworks the color of a flower field glittered in the sky, appearing in the shape of hearts. Daniela noticed a trend of people heading down the dim streets and towards Casita, they were all couples. The ladies excitedly clung to their lover's arms, twirling around to the lusty music coming from the party.

Daniela's mother anxiously looked around at the village as her and Daniela made their way near the action.
She hadn't been out since last fall, and taking her to a Madrigal party as her first steps might've been a bit enervative.