Charm

Chapter 10

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Sleep little one~
Close your eyes~
Your body's cooling, with the night~
Let your worries, slip away~
Tomorrow brings a brand new day~

Shimmering moon and satin sky~
Soft wind breaths it lullaby~
Your dreams are here to set you free~

Till dawn will bring you back to me~

The dawn will bring you back to me~

-Themla Plum (Maddie's lullaby)

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Lusia's breathing slowed and her shaking stopped. We sat there for a little while just melting into each others embrace. After a bit Luisa pulled her head up out of my chest. When I looked at her she still had that sad expressing on her face.

'I-im sorry' she says.

I raise a brow. 'Why are you sorry' I ask and wipe a few of her tears.

'I'm supposed to be the strong one, the one everyone relys on, the one who you come too to shed tears too, not the other way around' she says.

'But Luisa-' she cut me off before I could go further.

'That's what my gift means, to carry everyone's burdens that they can't handle, and I must live up to it, I strong so I can carry all these things' she rants.

'Luisa' I say softly trying to catch her attention. She loosens her grip on me but continues talking.

'If that's the gift the miracle gave me than I must use it! You know! Like if Abuela says something to me I must keep that between us or its "my burden to bear" as she always says' she says using her fingers in quotation marks. 'I-i just don't get what they want from me' she says and stops. I look at her to make sure she is done before I speak.

'Luisa, your gift isn't for holding burdens' this captures her attention and she looks at me properly. 'Your gift is to help people with things they can't do!, like lift churches or round up cattle! Your gift is amazing! Just like you! And don't ever think anything different, you don't need to live up to it you have it already and that means you have it already in your grasp. Just because your emotional state isn't as well known to you jts hard to understand but that is nothing to be ashamed of, bueno?'

She looks at me in awe. 'Gracias María' she says and gives me a bone crushing hug. I smile.

'Cualquier momento (anytime) Luisa' I say as she releases me. 'If you ever need me for just a long cry or something is bothering you please come and get me, I don't care if its in the middle of the night, I'll talk with you all night long' I say. She nods.

'I don't know how it's so easy to talk to you like this, I have only known you for what three days now' I smile.

'I guess it's my miracle gift' I say softly. She chuckles and nods. She then walks out of the allyway with a bright smile on her face. I follow shortly after but in the opposite direction to her.

After finishing up in the kitchen I went outside to check the washing (laundry). When I touched the dresses and shirts they were completely dry. I smile in satisfaction. I take them off the clothes line and start to sort them into different piles for the different familia members. I fold them neatly and place them in the big wicker basket. I walk back inside Casita and start to go to each Marigal door and place their fresh clean clothes on their beds as neatly as I could. To be honest it was my first time entering each room. In Señora Pepa and Señor Felix it was various types of weather in ea h corner of the room. In Dolores room it looked like a cloud as the room was stuffed with white thick cotton to block out the sound. In Julieta and Señor Agustín's room was a kitchen and on the walls were recipes of everything possible. In Lusia's room it was a bunch of weights and treadmills scattered around the place. Camilo's room changed every five seconds, one second it was a theatre then it turned into a bakery, it was awesome. Mirabel and Antonio slept in a gorgeous blue coloured room as neither of them have gifts. The last door I had to open was Isabela's.