It all started with a Mariposa

Verdant Chaos

I stood horrified. The yellow butterfly rested on my finger, clueless of what was happening outside the vision. 

I could hardly breathe. The pain in my shoulder was torturing me and I fell forwards, landing on my knees. Mirabel, Camilo and Bruno looked at me for a split second before they turned back. All of our eyes were glued to the vision in front of us. 

The grass, trees and creek background behind me in the vision all disappeared, and the crumbling house reappeared. Everything was falling. Felix saved Antonio from being crushed and Juileta seemed to be crying out to Mirabel. 

Meanwhile, the vision continued to glitch. The me in the vision was just outside the door, watching all of this with wide eyes. The candle fell, Mirabel caught it, and then suddenly the butterfly on my finger flew towards it. Towards the candle and merged with the design. 

The candle zoomed in again, so that nothing else could be seen. And when it zoomed out, that design was the butterfly on my finger. That's all the vision did before it began to repeat. Crumbling house, glowing candle, flying butterfly, confused me.

Back in reality, debris from Antonio's room were flying all over the place. Stray strands of hair flew in front of my eyes, the power of Bruno's gift becoming out of control. Mirabel was yelling something to Bruno but I couldn't hear anything. 

All I could do was watch, clutching my shoulder in horror as I watched Bruno's vision glitch over and over again. House, candle, butterfly, me. House, candle, butterfly, me. House, candle, butterfly, me. 

Every now and then, vines and plants would grow from the side of the vision. But the glitching would instantly overtake the new content and the malfunction would continue.

I gasped for air. I couldn't breathe. It was all too much. I clutched my head with wide eyes and tried to steady my breathing but nothing was working. What did this mean? Did this mean that I was the cause? I knew coming to this place was a mistake. I knew it and yet, I needed a friend so badly that I was willing to put innocent lives in danger!

How could this have happened without me knowing it? How could I have led to the destruction of the foundation of magic here without realizing it? How could I stop it? Was it already too late?!

The chaos from the vision and the house slightly breaking faded away and I was left with my own thoughts...

...And this excruciating pain!

I violently slapped my hand over my shoulder and squeezed my eyes shut, the faint glow of orange illuminated from in between my fingers. What the heck was going on?!!

I felt eyes on me. Not many. Just two. I lifted my head. Mirabel and Bruno were trying to figure out how to stop it. The house breaking seemed to make Bruno's gift malfunction in ways that nobody could have ever imagined. But their eyes weren't on me.

I turned to my right, seeing that Camilo was silent. He looked at me amidst all the chaos, his curly hair dancing in the wind and our gazes locked. 

We stared at each other for a minute in shock. But then he took a step toward me and moved closer, collapsing to his knees beside me. He extended his hand towards mine, the one that was covering my shoulder. His fingertip grazed against mine and I felt weak. 

He gently took my hand and held it in his, revealing the intensified glow. The orange was much more visible now but the pain was unbearable. I clenched my hand and sat up, my breathing slowing down just a bit. The pain persisted, but Camilo's fear mirrored my own. There was something there, I knew it. But I was frozen, scared to know exactly what. 

Bruno's vision was dialing down. The wind growing softer and more stable. Camilo's eyes didn't leave mine. We were so close yet neither of us moved. It was as if something had frozen us but the pain didn't go away.