Dolores Madrigal is 12 and her tĂo Bruno just left, except she can still hear him. Not in a wistful thinking way. She can literally hear him: his light and nervous steps, his rapid heartbeat, his quiet muttering to himself, knocking on wood every five minutes, trashing in his bed at night because of nightmares.
She tries to tell someone but nobody listens. Mom starts literally thundering at the sole mention of his name (she says sheâs angry over some old fight they had, but she heard her raining the night after he left, heartbroken). Everyone else is tense, tiptoeing around Mirabelâs lack of gift, trying not to incite Abuelaâs anger. So Dolores does the one thing she learned soon after she got her gift: she keeps quiet.
Dolores is 13 years old and itâs been four months since her tĂo left when she hears him whisper from the first floor at night.
âYou know Iâm here, donât you, kid?â
She squeaks affirmatively, but knows he canât hear her with the clarity she does.
âYou havenât told them. Will⊠will you tell them? I canât come back. I canât. You donât understand. I canât do that to- I canât.â
His heartbeat is so loud, Dolores is surprised no one else can hear it. She puts on her sandals, walks down to the kitchen, where his BUMBUMBUMBUM is coming from. She pours herself a glass of hot water, makes a tila tea and leaves it by the old portrait.
âI wonât tell them,â she whispers.
She pretends not to hear his relieved sob. Sheâs already by the stairs when she hears the portrait crack open and shut again, the gentle blowing over the hot surface, the hum of delight at the warm drink. His heartbeat finally settles.
Dolores is 17 and an expert at her tioâs moods. If she grabs extra arepas from the kitchen every morning and leaves them by the family portrait, she can always blame it on Camilo. Bruno laughs quietly at whatever joke is told on the table. He laughs most at dad and tĂo Agustinâs jokes, but Dolores finds he has a soft spot for Mirabelâs dry sense of humor. Once, he chuckles so hard, she has to pretend to bump into the table and âaccidentallyâ knock over a glass of juice to cover the noise. Abuela chews out Mirabel over the mess, for some reason and Dolores can hear Bruno muttering guiltily at himself for hours.
âWhy did you leave?â She asks, late at night, alone in the kitchen. His heartbeat jumps a little, but he doesnât reply. She leaves a chamomile tea with some honey by what sheâs come to think of as âhis spotâ and goes upstairs. He is specially quiet for weeks after that.
Dolores is 21 and in love and just found out Mariano loves Isabel. Everyone in town knows already, but she refused to believe it until she heard him tell his mom just now. She sobs quietly, little squeaks that no one else should be able to hear. No one must know. She canât do that to her prima. Itâs not her fault. And she wonât be the reason Mariano is unhappy.
Thereâs a knock on the door. Tiny. So tiny, she almost thinks she imagined it. (She never doubts her ears, though). When she opens the door, in the hallway is a warm cup of tea. She hears steps rushing away from inside the walls. She takes the tea, blows gently, takes a sip and feels her heart settle. âI am so sorry, nena, I wish Iâd been wrong. Just this once.â
Dolores is 22 and just ruined her cousinâs proposal. She didnât mean to, did she? No. She just had to tell someone. This is important. Itâs about the magic and about that old prophecy Bruno sometimes still mutters about and about the miracle and sheâs just so tired of holding it all in. She was already about to spill it all when Mirabel came asking, let it âslipâ that she can still hear him, pointed her towards the rats in the walls⊠she is desperate for someone else to know.
She shouldnât have talked, though. She listens, while everyone else loses their minds âabuela yelling for Mirabel, Luisa crying, Isabel fuming, Camilo trying to calm mom down, Agustin and Felix cleaning up the mess, Marianoâs distant sobbing, wondering what went wrongâ but she tries to focus on her youngest prima to make sure sheâs alright.
She hears everything. Mirabel! Bruno! She knows! Finally, finally, someone else knows. After years, Dolores finally discovers Brunoâs reason for hiding and her heart breaks all over again.
Before she can tell anyone, all hell breaks lose. The house falls apart and her gift is done and she canât tell if her tĂo made it out alright. Mirabel is missing. Everything is a mess and the world for the first time is muffled and distant to her. She feels disconnected.
And then they come back. Mirabel, Abuela and Bruno. Together. Thereâs hugging and laughing and even if she canât hear it anymore she can guess her tĂo Brunoâs frantic heartbeat when she finally approaches him.
âYouâre much taller than I remembered,â he blurts out.
She finally gets to do what she wanted since she was twelve. She hugs him. He only hesitates for a second before returning the embrace. âYou snore so loud,â she whispers.
He laughs, loud and clear. No more hiding.
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