Moonlight

11 |Don't talk about them|

It's been a few weeks since Luna and Bruno moved into the walls and Luna was finally getting more comfortable with the change of scenery. She found herself getting back into drawing and acting out stories she's created to Bruno and the rats. It made Bruno happy to see Luna adjusting well. Especially after he noticed how the family acted to the topic of them.

He's noticed how no one talks about either of them, as if they never existed to begin with. That broke his heart but he knew it would break Luna's heart even more because she was still too young to understand. So...he kept quiet about it.

Luna adjusts the tiny bow on Dolores's head and steps back "There we go." The rat tilts her head quizzically, as if asking Luna why she has a bow in the first place "Oh my cousin usually wears a big bow, so I thought you can have one too." She explained. Dolores squeaks again, happy with the answer. Luna looks up to show Bruno "Papa, look!" Bruno glances from the empty bag in his hands and to her "I made Dolores a bow!"

Bruno smiles "Aw, that was very sweet of you." He says, he glances back to the bag "I need to get us more food, so I'll need to step out for a bit." Luna gasps "Can I come with you Papa? Please?" She begged. Bruno thought about it. It would be good for Luna to get some fresh air "Ok, you can come. But you need to stay by me and don't go running off." He explained.

Luna is quick to put on her shoes and run out the door "Luna, wait for me!" Bruno catches up to her and grabs her hand before she got to the painting "Luna, I told you to stay with me." Luna smiles sheepishly "Sorry, I got excited." She says. Bruno sighs "It's fine but...please stay by my side." "Ok Papa."

Bruno peeks out a bit and looks around, he determines the coast is clear and opens the panting wider before stepping out. Luna struggles to climb out which prompted Bruno to help lift her out of the walls "Aw, mi pobre hija. You're so tiny." He chuckled.

Luna huffed "I'm not that tiny, Papa." She argued, Bruno shrugs "Sorry kid, I don't make the rules. You're tiny." He puts her down and Luna crosses her arms "Oh, it's not so bad Luna. As you get older, you'll grow taller." Luna's eyes lit up at that "Taller than you?" "Probably. Everyone's taller than me." Bruno grumbled the last bit which made the girl giggle.

They got to the kitchen where Casita greeted them with excitement, especially for Luna. Luna laughed "Hola Casita, I know it's been a while since you've seen me." Bruno rifled through the cabinets looking for anything to eat while Luna walked around a bit. She noticed the plates from this morning were still out 'They all must've not had time to clean up.' She thought to herself.

Luna pulled up one of the chairs so she can help put away the plates, she went through each of the names but was puzzled when she didn't see her or Bruno's plates "Papa, where are our plates?" Bruno paused at grabbing some arepas and turned to Luna "Oh, I'm sure they didn't take them out cause we weren't eating with them." He says.

"But, I've seen Casita also put our plates down on the table. Through the small crack in the wall." She remembered seeing it clearly. But she was unaware of Alma smashing them in anger one night after Casita kept pushing them towards her. Bruno remembered seeing that.

Bruno struggles to think of an answer "I'm sure they just misplaced our plates, mariposa." Bruno finished putting the arepas in his bag and took Luna's hand. They begin to walk back upstairs when they heard voices coming from outside. Bruno quickly picks Luna up and they hide behind a pot as Alma, Julieta and Pepa enter the house.

"Mama, you're taking this too far. The kids are confused and you being dismissive isn't helping." Julieta says, the tone in her voice made Luna's curiosity peek. What were they talking about? Bruno motioned for Luna to stay and carefully made his way to the painting without being spotted.

Alma turned to her oldest "Julieta, this isn't up for a debate. It's been weeks and it's obvious they aren't coming back. It's time they know that." Julieta's expression became angry "By trying to erase them? Bruno and Luna are our family! Your son and granddaughter!" She shouts. Luna froze at this. Erase her and Bruno?

Bruno had managed to carefully open the painting and motioned for Luna to come towards him, she slowly moves from pot to pot while still listening to the argument "I am doing what is best for the family." Alma responded. A dark cloud formed over Pepa's head "Mama, this isn't best for the family. You're just telling the children to forget about their uncle and cousin. You're just telling us to forget about our brother and niece!"

Pepa's anger caused dark clouds to form in the sky followed by a loud clap of thunder. It made Luna jump and clutch the pot. Alma's expression darkened, Luna couldn't tell what emotion it was but she remembered Bruno having the expression a few times before.

"They chose to leave this family. As far as I am concerned, they are dead to this family."

Everything around Luna faded into nothing as the words echoed in her head. Dead to the family. She and Bruno were...dead to the family. The girl didn't notice Bruno had grabbed her and snuck them both back into the walls until he was kneeling down in front of her with a worried look on his face.

"Luna, are you ok?" He asked hesitantly, Luna didn't know. She couldn't understand what she was feeling, she didn't feel anything. She felt...numb. Luna glanced up at Bruno and he saw the tears she was trying to hold back "Oh, mi vida..." he gathered her in his arms as she began to sob into his shoulder.

"I-I don't understand what we did wrong, Papa. P-Please tell me what we did..." Luna begged. Bruno opened his mouth but closed it, he didn't know what to tell her. They didn't meet Alma's expectations. Bruno refused to let Alma control him and Luna. That is what they did wrong.

Instead Bruno sighed and hugged her tighter "I don't know..." He lied.

Luna spent the remainder of the day quiet. All of the joy that she had been radiating for the past few weeks had disappeared from that one sentence. They are dead to this family. The rats had noticed and crowded around her as she laid on her hammock, Bruno's ruana being too big for her but providing comfort.

Bruno knelt down beside her "Mija, do you want to talk about what happened?" He asks, brushing a few hair strands from her face. Luna shrugged "I don't know...but can you lay with me?" Her voice was so small. The seer gave her a comforting smile "Of course." He gently picks her up and climbs into the hammock, adjusting them so Luna laid against his side.

"Papa...you know when I fall, it hurts?" Bruno nodded "Yes, you sometimes end up scraping your knees or arms. Why?" He questioned. Luna picked at his ruana "Well, what abuela said...hurt. And it hurts so much but I can't see where I got hurt." Her voice trembled as tears began to fall again.

Bruno gently wipes them away "I can see it." He says, "This isn't an outside pain, mija. This is an inside one and they tend to hurt more." He explained. Luna buried herself more into his side "Will it go away?" She asks. Bruno nodded "Eventually. But it sometimes takes time." Luna looked disappointed but nodded.

They both laid there in silence for a bit, Luna had manage to drift off leaving Bruno alone with his thoughts. How had he managed to get them here? Living in the walls, what was he thinking? This was not an appropriate living space for a person, much less a child. If Aminta was here...

No. Bruno shook his head to clear those thoughts. No, he shouldn't think like that. He did what he thought was best for Luna and himself. Aminta would've been proud of him.

Bruno glances down at Luna and presses a kiss to the top of her head "I'll make this work for us. I promise." He murmured.

Unbeknownst to him, a small butterfly watched the two from the small table in the room before flying away through one of the cracks in the wall.