Luchas Internas

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If there was one thing Isabela couldn't stand, it was hate. She'd known hate since forever. It was hard not to, especially when you're five years old and getting dragged around to hand out stupid flowers. Isabela hated hate, because it means you forget that something was hurting someone else. It was hard not to hate the townspeople, but she tried. She didn't know what they were going through, just because they overworked Luisa to dirt doesn't mean that they aren't struggling, they probably don't know any better, it's okay.

Camilo disagreed. It was one of the few things they disagreed on. He hated one person, and one person only, although Isabela could see why. Osvaldo was blind to her philosophy. And didn't know when to stop talking. And didn't know he was hurting people. And never learned social cues. Sometimes, Isabela wondered what his parents had taught him.

Either way, Camilo was able to hate Osvaldo, and the hate stayed with Osvaldo. It wasn't like Isabela's hate, all-consuming and prickling.

Well, Camilo and Mirabel were self-proclaimed twins...

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It had taken her 4 months to regret her decision, but by then it was too late. Mirabel hated her.

Isabela got what she wanted. Now, Mira wouldn't hate other people.

Just her.

No matter, because things could go according to plan. She hated her, but Mirabel sympathized with others. It was okay. Just cause Isabela was out of the Mirabel Love circle, it didn't mean that Mirabel didn't love her. It was just... Different. Isabela had pushed her buttons, but it was okay, because they could fix that later. Mirabel would fix things, with their help, and then Isabela could finally just exist. No more Senorita Perfecta, no more pretending, everything would be amazing.

That was the only thing that kept her going. The knowledge that someday, things will get better.

________

When Mirabel came to her room, Isabela tried to stop herself. She tried to stop the pricking in her veins, tried to stop the longing in her heart to finally just be Isabela. She tried to make Mirabel hate her. She was too young for this. Once she was older, when Mirabel had her own feelings under control, once everything was fixed, Isabela would speak.

She messed it up. SHe overshared, let her relief and anger that this would come back to haunt her out wrong, and Mirabel got the confession she'd saved for her mini-family.

Isabela gasped when the cactus had popped up. It had been a sign, in her desperate eyes. A sign to let it all out, loud. And so she did. And Mirabel listened to her.

And Abuela showed up, and Isabela knew she'd messed up, because Mirabel couldn't get through her own emotions, so how the heck would she handle Isabela's too?

Mirabel cried there. Isabela tried to get herself under control, to go help her sister because she'd gotten her into this situation and owed her a way out of it, but she was frozen, because Mirabel saw Isabela, and Isabela saw Mirabel, crying.

Isabela didn't know when the last time she saw Mirabel crying was.

The house crumbled under the weight of Mirabel's truth-filled words. Crumbled under Abuela's conviction that her lies were right, they could never be wrong. Crumbled under the unwashable secrets in that house, the anger, the hatred, the sadness, the longing the inhabitants held.

And Mirabel ran farther into the crumbling, hurting walls.

So did Isabela. She could see Camilo out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't register that he was there, until later, when she fell. She ran, using anything to get to her sister. Mirabel wouldn't die because Isabela had shoved her emotions onto her.

She fell. At the time, she'd cursed the symbolism. She'd never be able to help Mirabel. Camilo landed next to her, and they locked eyes. She could see the desperation in his eyes. She was sure he could see it in her eyes too.

Casita pushed her out. She clawed at the moving tiles, trying to get back to her sister, who was risking her entire life over a candle that had tried to save her and only made her hurt different, because Isabela could see her hurt now. She screamed her lungs raw, trying to get to Mirabel.

It didn't work. She landed half on top of Abuela. She shot up, watching as the house crumbled to nothing but ruins in front of her eyes. 

The moment the rubble settled, she came to her senses, she pushed herself off of her grandmother, dusted her skirt, and ran into the ruins. She screamed her sister's name, screamed her pleas, screamed out, trying to find her sister. Julieta found her, she'd told them. They returned, only to see settling dust.

The raw panic Isabela had felt at that moment almost overwhelmed her. She brushed it off, screaming until she lost her voice. 

Abuela walked over with Mirabel and Bruno. Isabela wanted to run to her sister, but her bones ached, and she could barely stand up. She sat on a large chunk of rubble, watching in wonder as her mother and Tia hugged their brother, lifting him off the floor.

Later, after her legs stopped trying to kill her, she and Luisa did the same to Mirabel.

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