THE CHAMELEON AND THE TRACE OF LONGING | camilo madrigal

01. La Familia Madrigal

Chapter One. La Familia Madrigal.

It was a new morning in the town of Encanto, birds chirping around and you could hear the sound of music playing from a distance. The people in the town were pretty much waking up one after another, and you were taking outside the wet laundry to put them on the line to dry.

It was an unusually hot morning this day, and you couldn't help but wonder if a certain Madrigal was having a bad day to have caused it. Her gift was to change the weather based on her mood, so it was only natural for you to suspect she was the culprit.

You heard the woman you were living with yelling to grab your attention. With a sigh, you therefore placed the laundry basket on an empty chair outside, before plopping your head inside the door to see what she might've wanted.

She sat by the kitchen table, stuffing her face with some arepas as she was fidgeting with a fabric and needle on the table.

"What is it, tía?" you asked her, leaning in the doorframe as you watched every move she made with the needle closely. She picked herself a few times, some looked on purpose. Even if it wasn't accidental, it seemed like she was going to need a certain Madrigal's special cooking to heal them.

That reminded you of why she even yelled for you. One second she's yelling at you to do your chores, the next she's yelling at you while you're doing your chores, and then she yells at you for not doing your chores.

Somehow it felt like this time it had something to do with the Madrigal's. Every morning they'd come to the town's plaza to meet and help everyone there. That also included the Madrigal with meals that healed, and the one Madrigal that could control the weather based on her mood. It seemed like your tía had at least one to speak with that morning.

"The Madrigal's are on their way", your tía responded. Called it. "Do you think they'll like this for Antonio's ceremony?"

She handed up the fabric you saw her fidgeting with before, and you actually had no clue what it was supposed to be. At one angle it looked like a duvet, the next it looked like a small shirt. In the end you were completely stunned at what you were looking at that you just shrugged your shoulders.

"I guess", you said before walking outside to continue putting the laundry on the line.

You could hear your tía cursing at you from inside the house, which honestly just made you roll your eyes at it. That was before you could hear the music from before, getting closer, and you knew that this was the sound of the Madrigal's coming to town.

You heard the children of the town become hysterical at the sight of the family, that they all began to wander around the second youngest child of the family for answers. That was Mirabel Madrigal, sadly the only Madrigal child that hadn't received a gift. That is if you didn't count Antonio, who was the youngest. He was actually going to receive his own gift that very evening. If it went correctly, that is.

"JUST TELL US WHAT EVERYONE CAN DO!" you heard one of the children, who seemingly was drinking a cup of coffee early in the morning, yell at Mirabel.

She took the cup of coffee from the kid's hand, before she noticed you watching the whole ordeal. Mirabel gave you a quick smile and wave before turning her attention towards the children again.

After you placed the final piece of clothing on the clothing line, you quickly grabbed the laundry basket to place it inside the house. Your tía was long gone, most likely on the way to find the Madrigal to heal her needle wounds.