𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤.

Stage four: Depression

Third p.o.v

The encanto was restored, and casita has been rebuilt in the last five days. But it felt so much longer. It had been five days since Luisa's little sister went missing. Maybe if she was stronger she could've saved Mirabel.

Or if she was faster she would've seen Mirabel and brought her back home. But no, it just had to have played out this way. Luisa couldn't help but blame herself, if she wasn't so emotional and she was stronger, Mirabel would still be here.

Not a night went by where Luisa didn't cry hearing her mother yell helplessly for her youngest daughter to come back home. Sometimes she would help, but she got so overwhelmed by the sense of failing her little sister, that she just had to leave..

The helpless mother cried every single night that her daughter was missing. Always blaming herself for never standing up for her own daughter. Julieta didn't feel as if she should've been a mother..how could she be a mother when she couldn't protect her children?..

Everyday Luisa would ask Dolores if she could hear anything from Mirabel, only for Dolores to look at her sadly and shake her had solemnly.

Breakfast was more quiet, as was lunch and dinner. Mirabel wasn't there to crack them up, she wasn't there to help serve everyone, it wasn't the same without the giftless Madrigal.

At night, Luisa would wonder how Mirabel was doing, is she safe? does she have somewhere to sleep? is she hungry? or hurt? or worse- Luisa tried so hard to push away those negative thoughts, but all she could see when she closed her eyes, was the lifeless body of her sister, cold and limp, covered in bruises, scratches, and bloodied cuts.

She would shoot up in bed at night when she had those dreams. But the screams of her missing sister echoed in her head.

Luisa couldn't function knowing one of her family members could in danger, or hurt.

She couldn't eat not knowing if Mirabel had eaten as well. How could she? Just imagining Mirabel starving, looking longingly for food, made Luisa feel selfish for even thinking about eating.

She couldn't sleep in her bed, because what if Mirabel is sleeping on the cold, hard, uncomfortable forest floor?

Luisa didn't want to leave her room. She didn't want to face the world, she just wanted to curl into a ball and cry, and she wasn't the only one who felt like that.

When Luisa was in her room, she would look at the pendant that Mirabel gave her when she was 16, it was a butterfly shaped locket that had a small hand drawn picture with words that read 'to the worlds bestest strongest sister:)' Mirabel was 12 at the time, the pendant had rusted over time, but the picture remained in fairly good shape.

"How can I be strong when I let you down Mira?" Luisa couldn't help but ask herself that when looking at the pendant, tears rolled down her face as her strong facade finally collapsed completely. She sobbed, her body shook. Luisa only stopped crying when she heard her door open, she looked to see who it was, it was her father, Augustín.

He walked to Luisa, and engulfed her into a hug, he whispered softly, telling her everything was going to be okay, he was there for her, Luisa continued sobbing as she held onto her father, forgetting about her strength, but Augustín wasn't going to say anything about her basically crushing him.

They stayed hugging until Luisa fell asleep, tired from constantly worrying and crying. Augustín covered his daughter with a blanket, kissed her goodnight and left. Tears of his own falling from his face.

He wiped them and walked to his wife's room, it was his turn to be strong for his family.