I see you, Bruno

Epilogue

It was strange to return. Not for a short holiday, as she had done for Pepa and Julieta's weddings, but forever. It felt surreal like she was in a dream, but that's how Encanto felt most of the time; an enchanted village in the mountains of Colombia cut off from all progress.

Ay, how much had she missed it?

Far too much. Her heart longed for the village.

It yearned for Bruno.

How many years now had she lived her dream? Too many to count. She was happy, she loved it, certainly. But her heart had always groaned for someone she couldn't see. Bruno. The name had burned into her heart and for over twenty years it still glowed. She cursed herself for making such a simple-minded decision at her young age and returning to Medellín.

She should have stayed and opened a simple little theatre in the village with Bruno. She would have been happy, happier than she was in Medellín.

But now she was there. After all these years, she had made the right decision and returned. Back to Encanto and back to Bruno.

Yet her decision had been very hasty. She had been in the middle of an interview for some newspaper when she had been given the letter that changed everything. No, it wasn't one from Bruno, even though she received several from him every week. It had been a letter from Adella.

Her Tía Adella!

In the letter, she asked Lucia to come back and to apologise for all the terrible things she had once said to her. Lucia wanted to throw the letter away, barely glancing at the sender, but then she noticed that the letter contained more than one sheet of paper.

Her mother had written to her as well and put her letter in the envelope with Adella hers. There she informed Lucia that her Tía had died and that Adella had left her house to her. She also said that Adella had shown great remorse towards her actions all these years and she hoped that Lucia would now call the house her own.

Lucia had not hesitated. She interrupted the interview and ran off to buy a ticket for the train, as well as to pack her things.

And now here she was - not in front of the house that had belonged to Adella, but in front of a house, she could equally call home.

"Hola, casita," she said with a smile, waving her hand lightly.

The Madrigals' house waved back joyfully with its shutters and Lucia felt tears burning in her eyes. "I'm back, Bruno"

"We don't talk about Bruno," a girl's voice suddenly said beside her.

Lucia winced. "What?"

"We don't talk about Bruno," a girl with a big bow on her head had joined her. "The grown-ups don't like it when you mention his name."

"Why?" asked Lucia. Of course, she knew that the Madrigal family and the village did not speak well of Bruno, but to declare his name taboo even though he still lived with them - that was a bit excessive.

"He disappeared three years ago. The night Mirabel didn't get her gift. I heard Abuela talking about how he must have had some vision, but she never found out what exactly he saw."

"Strange," Lucia murmured. She had been writing letters with Bruno for decades, but he never mentioned that he had left his family. She took one of his letters out of her bag; no, he only wrote about his family and his rat.

"I know the writing," the girl said, making a small noise in response.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mm," she nodded. "Sometimes rats leave letters on my doorstep with the same writing and I take them to the post office. Then, as a thank you, the rats give me little hats or capes for my dolls."