"AMARILLO" (A Camilo Madrigal Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Her Return

Walking through the streets, and seeing new faces instead of trees, the Guerrera triplets were in awe of their new environment.

Lauro spun around each time he saw a person pass by, while Lorenzo rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes from feeling woozy from doing the same thing as his brother. They couldn't contain the excitement they feel as it is reflected in their smiles and in the glimmer of their eyes. Luna, however, remained quiet as she let the noise of everything around them pass through the other ear. She kept a stern look with her eyes as cold as ice, contrasting the warmth of their color. Her brothers never noticed her expression because half of her face was covered by her sombrero. Chest out, stomach in, a perfect posture for a young lady indeed. She seemed unbothered by the weight of her luggage, despite it weighing around twenty kilos. Her brothers swayed their luggage along with their bodies as they kept dropping their jaws at the sight of the large buildings around them. It's barely a city. It's just a village! But it felt like a whole new world for these children. Although they may not be surrounded by trees anymore, it is in fact a breath of fresh air. Her brothers' behavior remained the same as she led the way to their destination. She walked about 3 feet ahead of her brothers. Her pace went from fast to slow as she turned a corner and faced a big, yellow, pinkish, almost peach-colored, two-story house. The roof was crimson red. The seemingly faded colors of the windows made it impossible to determine whether they were originally green or blue. Six decorative columns can be seen in the front view of the building, along with three balconies decorated with beautiful bougainvillea plants dangling around. Below the middle balcony was a big, red, rectangular door with a wide door casing.

She inched closer and closer to the door as her heart pounded. Her brothers were oblivious that the house they were facing was in fact the very house they'd been searching for. They mindlessly followed their sister and mimicked her pace. She began to feel the weight of her luggage being pulled by gravity closer to the ground. She hadn't realized how heavy her luggage was till then. She then came to a halt. She placed her luggage in front of her own feet, and a tiny sweat rolled down the side of her face from her forehead. She gulped and took a deep breath. She let out a long and heavy breath of air, trying to calm herself down while closing her eyes and slowly opening them once again. She pulled down her sombrero revealing the hidden part of her face. She let it hang on to her back with a thin piece of string tied into a knot beneath her throat.

Lorenzo noticed his sister's gesture and awkwardly exchanged a look with Lauro, feeling weirded out by their sister's strange demeanor. After seeing their mirrored expression, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his sister. "So, I guess this is it."

She nodded. "Yes, it is."

Lauro looked at Lorenzo and gestured for him to knock on the door with his eyes. Lorenzo shook his head and raised both of his hands to the level of his chest, facing his brother. Lauro rolled his eyes and took a brief gasp of air. He took one good step to stand right beside his sister and knocked on the door three times, with precisely a two-second gap in between. Lorenzo followed and fixed his wrinkled sleeves.

The moment Andres heard those knocks from inside the house, he immediately dropped the broom he was holding. He had been expecting to hear those particular knocks all morning, and he managed to hear them from the kitchen, which was far away from the main door. He made his way to the door so fast, that it was almost as if he was running. He fixed his hair and the wrinkles on his shirt. Standing in front of the door, he heard those same knocks once more. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted it hard before he flung the door open. The door creaked. The light of the sun greeted him and stung his eyes. He looked away for a second to rub his eyes for a bit, and then sprung back up to meet his niece and nephew's eyes. "You're here!" Both of the boys had bright and warm smiles that reflected his. But this warm and happy feeling quickly declined into a sudden feeling of uneasiness when he saw his niece's cold and lifeless stare. "Hehehe" He awkwardly chuckled while rubbing the back of his neck and quickly stepped aside to let the Guerrera triplets into their new home.