Moonlight

07 |Mirabel's gift ceremony|

A few months passed and it was finally Mirabel's 5th birthday, the girl was bouncing off the walls she was so excited. Luna watched from upstairs how everyone went around making sure everything was ready for Mirabel's ceremony.

Luna couldn't help but feel her jealousy rise as she remembered the positive attention Camilo got from Alma at his ceremony and how Mirabel was receiving extra attention from her today. Dolores noticed the girl sulking on the stairs "There you are. I didn't see you at breakfast." Luna glanced at her before grumbling to herself "I know Tío is busy trying to help set everything up, so I can keep you company." Dolores suggested.

Luna shrugged her shoulders "Sure..." she mumbled, Dolores settled next to her "I know today is hard for you." She says "And I know I'm gonna sound like tío Bruno but you can't get mad at Mirabel." "I know and I'm not mad at her." Luna sighs "It's just....I miss Abuela." Dolores knew that. There were so many nights she would hear Luna crying from her room, wishing for their abuela to look at her the way she used to.

Dolores knew how Alma played favorites, she saw it a lot with Isabela and now Mirabel. She couldn't blame Luna for feeling jealous after their abuela stopped showing her the love she's given her since she was born.

"Did you make anything for Mirabel's birthday?" Dolores asked, Luna glances at her "I...made her a drawing. But it doesn't matter cause I can't give it to her anyway, Abuela won't let me." Her eyes darkened "I'm bad luck apparently." She moves away from the stairs and stomps into her room. Dolores flinches from the door slamming and sighs.

She goes back downstairs to find Bruno, she walks into the dining room where she sees Alma and Bruno arguing "Mama, you are not giving Luna that talk again." "I cannot let anything ruin Mirabel's night. It must go perfectly." "So you think Luna will ruin it!?" Dolores had to cover her ears before letting out a squeak.

Bruno and Alma stopped arguing and turned to her "Um..I talked to Luna but she got upset." Dolores explained. Bruno sighed "She slammed her door?" The girl nodded "I'll go talk to her." He says. He gives Alma a look before going upstairs. Dolores looks at her abuela, she swallows before managing to get out "You need to be nicer to Luna." Alma didn't look at her.

Bruno gently knocked on Luna's door before opening it "Luna, I heard you were upset and..." He trailed off when he saw that Luna was on the floor, ripping her drawings in half. He hurried over to her "Why are you ripping your drawings?" Luna ripped another one "I don't like them." She said before tossing it into her trash can.

The seer gently took her hands "Luna, look at me." The girl looked up at him and Bruno could see the tears she was trying to hold back "I-I don't want to be upset. It's Mirabel's birthday and I should be happy." Her lips trembled "But I'm not!" Her hands go to her hair and she begins to pull the few hair strands she was able to grab.

"No, no. Don't do that Luna, remember what we talked about? Deep breaths amor, deep breaths." Bruno takes her hands again and does a few breathing exercises with her. Luna takes shaky breaths but manages to calm herself down "There we go. Do you want to try and tell me why you're upset?"

Luna slowly nods "...I...I can't really go near Mirabel to give her my present." She mumbles, "Oh Luna, that's not true. Of course you can go near Mirabel." Luna gave him a look "Abuela won't let me." She said it in a tone that meant 'I'm not stupid.' Bruno sighed "Luna, your abuela can't tell you whether or not you can go near your cousins." "She did with Isabela and Luisa. And look what happened, they haven't really talked to me in months!"

Bruno flinched from her yell and she noticed, he hated people yelling just as much as she did, "I'm sorry Papa." She looked away ashamed, "It's ok mija. I know you didn't mean to yell." Bruno reassures. Luna takes out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to him "Can you give this to her for me? It's her present." She explained, Bruno started to shake his head but the desperate look on his daughter's face made him stop and nod "Ok, I will."