Stuck With You ⇁ Carlos Madrigal

08

Again,
you're asking yourself what you
did to be stuck with him.

___

You had been walking for a while now, unsure of where you were actually going, all while the shapeshifter trailed right behind you.

"Don't you have better things to do in life than to bother me?" You huffed out, crossing your arms. You were starting to believe that his true gift wasn't shapeshifting but rather being incredibly annoying.

"Nope." He answered with a hum.

You groaned, steps slowing before coming to a halt, turning around - you met his eyes. "Leave. Me. Alone."

Carlos took a step forward, leaning down. "Make me."

You bit your lip for a moment, then pressed your mouth against the palm of your hands - muffling a scream. You glanced back at him, heart racing in anger and annoyance. "Honestly, were you trained to be this annoying, or does this just come naturally to you?"

He tilted his head slightly, chuckling. It was clear he found your misery oh-so entertaining.

You let out a sigh, fingers twitching. Don't punch him. Don't punch him. You repeated in your head like a personal mantra. There was no doubt that you could land a punch on his irritating face but the problem would be what comes after that. Stupid life - having stupid consequences.

"Alright."

You blinked.

"I'll leave you alone." You waited, wondering the catch would be to his amazing proposal. His grin stretched. "--under one condition." Ah, there it was.

You raised a brow. "Which is?"

"Tell me your secret." His voice was a bit deeper than usual, not a trace of the usual hint of mischief it carried.

Your face twisted, confused. "What?"

"I'm not stupid, I know you're hiding something." Carlos said, taking another step towards you. "Ever since that day you called me by that name - Camilo - you've been acting strange."

Your heart dropped, the air in your lungs seemed to disappear. Still, you tried not to seem affected, letting out a laugh - more strained than what you would have hoped for. "I don't understand a word of what you're talking about. Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see."

His lips tightened, before curling up into a grin. "Like I said - you're a terrible liar."

You opened your mouth - only to shut it, unsure of what to say, it was clear denying it would get you nowhere, and what else could you say; the truth? 'Hey, I'm from another world, it's like this one but different! You were way nicer!' Of course, he wouldn't believe you, no one would - your own parents didn't - how could he?

You found yourself gripping at your arm, squeezing tightly. "I-it's nothing you can help with, so please, just - just don't bring this up." Tears threatened to slip from your eyes, you wiped them away, you turned around, and without another word began walking.

He didn't follow.

____

Your vision was rather hazy, even you were surprised by the fact that you hadn't run face first into anything so far. Why did he have to remind me? You thought, bitterly, trying to push away the memory.

Being stranded here was already hard enough, you didn't need anyone, especially him, to remind you.

You grumbled incoherent sentences under your breath, anger and sadness mixing and bubbling inside your stomach.

There's a familiar voice that snapped you out of your thoughts, looking off towards the corner you spot the youngest Madrigal - he flashed you a toothy smile, calling out your name before running towards you - his assembly of animals followed right after.

He gave you a hug, one you hesitantly returned, giving him a pat on the back. "Hola, Tonito." You greeted him, mustering up a small smile. The boy pulled away, as he looked up at you, his own smile faltered.

"Were you crying?" The bird beside him asked in his stead.

You waved your hands, laughing. "No--" He raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. Apparently you were so bad at lying at the moment you couldn't even fool a child. "Well, yeah."

He took your hand, gently. "Is there anything I can do?"

You couldn't help but chuckle, giving his nose a small boop. "You can be cute - but you're already doing that."

He giggled. "Oh, I'm sorry I couldn't sit with you last time, Carlos said he wanted to be close to you to check up on you -- but I'll sit with you next time for sure!"

"Check up on me." You repeated, the concept seeming foreign. "Carlos said that?" Perhaps his and your definition of 'check up' are different, for him it could be 'constantly annoy'.

Antonio nodded. "He's been worried about you ever since you and your family went into the city. You're not sick anymore right? If you are, just say so, I'll ask if Tia Julieta to make you like-super healing arepas!"

You smiled, looking down at him. "No, I'm not sick anymore. Tonito, don't worry." Carlos worried, that sounded weird just thinking about it.

"What did--" You stopped, something catching your eye; off to the side where Antonio had previously stood, was a girl, she was glowing, not in the normal 'she was pretty' sense, but actually glowing. A warm light covered her.

You tapped the boy's shoulder -- "Antonio?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you seeing a glowing girl too?"

The boy followed your gaze before letting out a confused laugh. "Uh, there's no one there." He said, looking up at you worriedly.

You paled, blinking, but the girl still stood there, watching the two of you with curiosity.

Antonio called your name, almost afraid. You turned towards him. "I- I got you didn't I?" You feigned a laugh. "There's no one there, just tryna scare you, anyways, it's gonna get dark soon, you should go home."

He stared for a moment, as if debating on what to do, finally, he nodded. "Yeah, I probably should but you should get home soon too!"

"I will, I will." You smiled.

He gave you another quick hug, and waved you goodbye. "Get home safe!" He said, and began walking away, his animals following right behind him.

Once he was gone - you quickly looked back towards the girl; your eyes met. She blinked, and with a tilt of her head - she pointed to herself.

"Yes, you!"

She squeaked, and suddenly - she was running, and without a second thought - you ran after her.

"Wait!" You shouted, trying your best to catch up. Of all the places she could have sprinted to, it just had to be into the woods. "Wait - please!"

She ran faster.

But after what seemed like an eternity of cat and mouse -- the girl finally came to a stop. You placed a hand on your knee, pushing yourself up, trying to catch your breath, lungs burning in pain. I should exercise more.

With a few deep breaths, you glanced at her, looking over her head to toe. She glowed the same warm and bright light, another notable thing about her was that she was barefoot, a year or two younger than you.

". . . Why." You began. "Why could I see you and not him?"

The girl gave you a nervous smile, tilting her head to the side, she gave you a shrug. "It's, uh, probably because of the magic in you."

What?