Poison Arepa || My First Encanto Fanfic

II. Gameplan

Bruno's Eyes

I was excited for today's dinner. My sister Julieta had the best arepas. As we sat down as a family at the dinner table, I noticed that Pepa and Julieta weren't yet in the dining room. I figured that Julieta could be in the kitchen getting ready to serve us dinner, so where could Pepa be? Looks like Mamá was wondering the same thing.

Alma: Where's Pepa?

Felix: She should be in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Alma: (Confused) Shouldn't Julieta be doing that?

Felix: Well, yeah, but Pepa said that she would be covering for her tonight. You're not upset about that, are you?

Alma: Well, no. I just wanna know why.

Finally, Pepa and Julieta came into the dining room with three trays of food. Pepa was carrying two of them while Julieta was carrying the other with her left hand. I also noticed that she was hiding her right arm behind her back, but I couldn't understand why.

Pepa: Hope I didn't keep everyone waiting. *Sits the trays on the table and sits down in the seat next to me*

Finally, we could all sit down and eat in peace.

Alma: Hey, Pepa, do you mind telling me why you were cooking in Julieta's place?

I then noticed strange expressions that fell on both Pepa's and Julieta's faces. What was wrong? It was just cooking, right?

Julieta: Mamá, we need to talk. It's about my gift.

Alma: What about your gift?

Julieta: Well, I think something's wrong with it. I was in the village, giving my arepas to the ailing villagers and healing them. Everything was going fine until Carmelita showed up.

Almost everyone including me at the dinner table groaned once the name "Carmelita" was mentioned. Who could blame us? She's so annoying, that Camilo won't even shape shift into her.

Isabela: Why does Carmelita have to be such a pain? We did nothing to her.

Mirabel: Isabela's right. We're just doing our part for the village. What does she have against that?

Camilo: Its a wonder how the village can tolerate her. It's been years and they haven't even kicked her out yet.

Dolores: Well, it's not like she can really go anywhere. The mountains around the village are pretty tall.

Luisa: You have a point, prima Dolores, but she could at least be thankful for the things we're doing for her and her family.

Alma: Alright, everyone. We know that Carmelita is obnoxious, *to Julieta* but what does she have to do with your gift, Julieta?

Julieta: *Sighs* She asked for one of my arepas to heal her sprained ankle, so I gave her one. However, instead of healing her ankle, it broke her foot.

We all gasped. Julieta's arepas causing pain? That's not right at all.

Me: Are you saying that your arepas made the pain worse?

Julieta: *Nods head* But the worse part was that she completely escalated the entire thing. She even humiliated me by calling me a witch and a freak. She was accusing me of cursing my own food and how I'll be after everyone else. Now I'm sure that the town's afraid of me.

I could feel a bit of anger bubbling inside of me. Carmelita was always pestering Julieta back when we were young. Out of all of us, her gift was the one that really set her off.

Me: Carmelita shouldn't have said those stuff about you, Julieta. You're a kind and caring person. You would never curse your food. You couldn't even curse them if you wanted to. She's gone too far. We need to talk to the mayor about her. She's becoming more problematic as the years go by. We have to keep tabs on Antonio because of her.

Pepa: You're right, Bruno! Maybe the mayor can give her a strict punishment.

Julieta: No, we don't have to do that, guys. She was just scared that's all. I'm sure she was just hysterical with the "witch" part.

Pepa: (Concerned with a hint of annoyance) Come on, Julieta! *Cloud forms above her head* She wasn't being hysterical when she called us "freaks" those years ago. She knew exactly what she was doing when she started saying all those things. She can't spread lies about you like that, and when the day comes, you're going to have to stand up to her. I know you don't wanna be mean, but you can't let people take advantage of you.

Antonio: Uh, Mom? You have a cloud.

Pepa: *Looks up* Oh. *Shoos the cloud away* Thanks, Antonio! *To Julieta* Julieta, I'm not mad at you. I'm just concerned.

Alma: Right. *To Julieta* Well, Julieta. You and I are going to see if we can find out what's wrong with your gift and how we can fix it. *To me and Pepa* Pepa, Bruno. You'll go down to the village and see if you can calm everyone down.

Me: Mamá what about the children? Now that people believe that Julieta's a witch, they might begin to think the same thing about her children. Dolores' ability to hear well might concern them more into thinking she's a spy and they can think the same thing about Camilo and Antonio with their gifts. They'll wonder how Isabela can make plants grow with just her fingers and how Luisa can hold up a building all on her own. They might even suspect that Mirabel's lying about not having a gift. They won't just go after Julieta, they'll go after all of us. Even Felix and Agustín who married into the family.

Alma: You're right, Bruno. Dolores, see if you can listen out for the village and decide if it's safe enough to use our gifts. Antonio, you do the same with your animals. Camilo, try to keep your shape shifting to a minimum.

Isabela: What can Luisa and I do, Abuela?

Alma: You and Luisa can manage the meals until I fix your mother's gift.

Mirabel: What about me, Abuela?

Alma: Mirabel, you can help Bruno and Pepa spread the word around. Being gift-less might be your advantage, so don't forget that. Is everyone clear?

Everyone else: Yes, Abuela!

Alma: Good, now eat up. We have a busy day ahead of us.

Mamá was right. We did have a busy day ahead of us. How will Alma help Julieta? How will me, Pepa and our niece be able to calm the village about our sister's gift? How can we be sure that we won't make things worse?