Hunger in the walls

Tío Bruno had been gone for three days now. Dolores hadn't heard a peep from him the night of Mirabel's Gift Ceremony, but she supposed he was the quietest of the family. Even calm, collected Abuela spoke more than Tío Bruno did. She supposed that's why she liked him so much. In such a loud family, it was always nice to get some peace and quiet. He always had the softest voice, he seemed to talk more to himself than he did anyone else; he was often counting, muttering about salt and sugar, and knocking on wood as he passed certain areas of the house. She missed the soft 'good luck' knock he tapped on her door every night before bed, he used to do it to every bedroom in the house before shuffling off to his tower.

But now he was gone. Simply vanished. And even though Bruno was so quiet, Dolores couldn't help but feel like something was missing from the sounds of the house. An empty space, where Tío Bruno's mutterings and knocks should've been.

But she shouldn't be worrying about Tío Bruno. That's what Papa said, he said the adults would take care of it, and all she needed to do was try and get a good night's sleep.

Though that was rather difficult with the grumbling noise sneakily making its way to her ears. Every time Dolores was just about to fall asleep, a loud growl would suddenly jolt her awake again, leaving her tossing and turning in her squishy bed. Normally she could block out the noises of the house pretty well, even Mama's snoring, but this noise. It seemed determined to keep her awake, not letting her rest for even a moment.

Another grumble made her sit up in her bed with a scowl, glaring at the door of her room.

"Casita!" she snapped. "Are you making that noise!?"

Her pillow jumped up and fell on top of her head, Casita clearly offended she would assume it was the one making such an atrocious sound. Dolores groaned and took the pillow off her head, glaring up at her ceiling.

"Well, do you know what is?" she said. Casita bent her closet doors in a shrug, and Dolores sighed, swinging her legs over her bed. "Guess I'll go see then." Casita shuffled her fluffy orange slippers over to her and opened her door, letting Dolores peer down at the rest of the house. The soft glow of the doors illuminated Casita, but other than that there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary.

Another grumbling noise made Dolores jump, and she groaned in annoyance. Though as she listened, she realized she's heard this noise many times before, though usually it was right before a meal...

"Camilo," Dolores snarled. Of course it was Camilo. He was always hungry, always in the kitchen asking Tía Julieta for arepas. It was his stomach, rumbling so loud Dolores couldn't sleep. Normally you could trust Camilo to eat his fill before bed, but apparently he was going through a growth spurt or something, because it sounded like he hadn't eaten in days.

Dolores made her way down to the kitchen and grabbed the bowl of fruit from the table. Knowing Camilo, he could probably eat the whole bowl and still have room for more. Then she tiptoed back up the stairs and over to Camilo's room, opening the door.

Camilo's room was always full of junk. He never seemed to clean, and when Casita tried to do it he would stop it, saying everything was in exactly the right place he wanted it, and if it was cleaned up then he wouldn't be able to find anything again. Dolores wasn't sure how much she believed her little brother, but it was his room after all, he could do whatever he wanted with it.

However she did wish she didn't have to step all over his clothes in order to get to his bed.

"Camilo," she whispered as she got closer. He didn't answer, in fact he seemed to be fast asleep. "Camilo!" she whispered a bit louder, now standing right next to him. Another grumble responded to her, and she wondered how he was sleeping with his stomach making so much racket. "Camilo!" she said, and threw one of the bananas from the bowl at his head, making him jerk awake.