Who You Are: Camilo's Story (After Encanto)

His Name

Camilo spent the rest of the afternoon practicing the guitar. It had been a long time since he had even touched one and he was having difficulty with some of the chords. He sat there on the only chair he had on the stage trying to remember his favorite songs. He got so frustrated at one point that he thought he'd give up. After a couple of hours, Camilo finally set the guitar down. The fingers on his left hand ached a little from pressing the strings for so long.

"No, I can't give up," he said to himself. "This is just gonna take some time."

He started pacing around on the stage. "I need motivation," he said. "Something that'll really keep me going."

Then, Camilo stopped walking.

He slowly turned around to face his reflection in the mirror that served as a backdrop.

One idea came to him, but he rejected it immediately.

"Nope," he said, shaking his head. "I can't. No, I won't. It'll be too...weird."

Camilo started pacing around the stage even faster, trying to get the idea out of his head.

"No! STOP IT!" he said, grabbing his hair.

But then he paused again and let out a sigh. He finally walked closer to the backdrop mirror and stared into his own eyes. Up until this point, he had no trouble shapeshifting into anyone he saw. Men, women, kids, family, it didn't matter. He could shapeshift into a little baby with a mustache! Yet shapeshifting into her just felt...wrong to him somehow. Like he was a really messed up creep. But he also needed that spark. 'Okay. Just this once,' he reasoned with himself. He took a slow deep breath in, then out. In one, swooping motion, he shapeshifted into Hanna.

"Oh," Camilo said as he looked in the mirror.

He placed a hand on the glass and the Hanna in his reflection did the same. He then turned to see the stage transforming. It became a wide, fancy-looking bedroom with white walls, a huge bed in the corner, a shiny, chestnut wardrobe, a vanity in another corner, a little table with a tea set, and a writing desk. There was no doubt, this was Hanna's room back home in Bogotá. Camilo looked in the mirror again to see Hanna's face looking back at him, nervously. He shut his eyes for a second and when he opened them again, he tried smiling. The Hanna in the mirror awkwardly smiled back at him. 'That's it,' he thought. Camilo changed back into himself, and Hanna's room disappeared. He then walked back to the guitar and picked it up.

Dolores was outside, helping her father take down the laundry they had hanging out to dry and carrying it into the house. All the while, she was listening to Camilo's guitar playing. 'He got better in a hurry,' she thought. She smiled as she tilted her ear up to listen, but in doing so, another sound caught her attention. She could hear Tío Agustín's voice from the summer house by the river.

"We apologize that this is short notice, Cal. But we would like to invite you and your family over to our house for a late welcome party, tonight. I promise it won't be too boisterous. Just a few dozen people coming over to say thank you for making it all this way," he said.

"Oh?" Dolores said to herself, with her full attention on the conversation.

"We would've asked you to come sooner," she heard Julieta say, "But we also knew that you needed a little time to rest up after your long journey."

"Hmm," Cal said. "Ah well. Why not? I can't say no to having a drink with some good company. Right?"

"Right," Agustín said, cheerfully.

"You hear that Amalia, darling? Better get yourself ready and look your best," Cal said.

"Oh, but Johanna is invited too, of course!" Julieta said.