Cocooned

Sickness Reveals the Truth

The kids had gotten sick. Really sick. All six newly turned thirteen-year-olds had gotten sick. Really sick. And only two weeks after their birthday. It had started with Mirabel, who, even with her own gift and her mother's, had always been a little more prone to sickness than her siblings or cousins. She had felt dizzy after lunch one day, and soon Julieta had pretty much confirmed she had gotten sick. But they didn't really know what it was.

It didn't take long for the other five to follow behind. Likely they had picked up the same thing Mirabel had. But not just that, they had been visiting her, despite their parents and family's warnings. Now they are bedridden. It didn't seem like they were in an intense pain, but it was very clear that they weren't exactly in the right state of mind. They were always mumbling, and their gifts kept acting up, hence why the older madrigals did their best to keep them confined within their rooms.

It didn't seem to stop them from leaving the rooms though. Every so often, one of the adults, mostly Alma or Pedro, would find one of them wandering around. Alma had found Isabela in the garden wrapped in her own vines, and then Dolores had been found asleep in a storage closet with her ear covers on. Camilo was shifted as Felix and was just staring at the stove in the kitchen, and Luisa was moving furniture around Casita, made clear by the trail of miscellaneous strewn about. It took an hour to find Antonio, and thankfully his animals helped; he was sitting by the piano, and Mirabel was just in the nursery, mumbling about something while looking out the window.

It worried the adults, to be entirely honest. The kids had never been like this, not before or after their gifts. And Julieta, she felt like she wasn't of any help. Her gift wasn't much help, and though she did give them medicine, they just didn't seem to be taking it at all. They were still sick, even after the strongest of medicine were taken. And Pepa wasn't any better. She had been storming almost the entire time, worried sick for her kids and sobrinas. She constantly checked on them; the moment she finished her work days, she went straight to the kids' rooms.

Alma was probably the most worried. Something kept telling her that the candle had something to do with it. Her nightmares became more frequent, and a particularly vivid and brutal one left her paranoid. Pedro had told the others to keep an eye out for her, because she wasn't getting much sleep at night and she kept darting her eyes around. She frequently checked on the kids, more than Pepa. She pretty much holed herself up in Casita, not wanting to leave for a minute. But the thing is, she wouldn't tell even Pedro about the dream she had. And it worried him. Just when he thought she had recovered, they had come back, even stronger than before.

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Pedro was in Dolores' room, checking on the girl. He had been doing rounds through the kids' room, checking on them, and she was the last one. She was muttering and mumbling about something, and at one point she shot up, tears in her eyes.

Pedro pushed her back down gently, worry etched on his face. "¿Dolores, equivocado?" Dolores shook her head, crying as she looked at her abuelo.

"They keep talking abuelo. They won't stop talking about...about Casita. They keep saying Casita fell and killed us!" Dolores said frantically, gripping Pedro's arm tightly. The man's eyes widened, and he gently petted Dolores' curly hair, calming her down. He stayed there, his mind racing. Finally, Dolores passed out from exhaustion, her breath shallow as she fell into a difficult sleep.

Pedro stumbled from the room, still thinking about what his granddaughter had said. Pedro himself had not been there when Casita fell, but Alma could recall the entire event in such vivid detail that he felt like he had been there himself. And for the past almost decade, neither him nor any of the other family had told the kids the full truth. They were still waiting to tell them that, waiting until they were at least 15. So how in the world did Dolores know that? Did the others know?