Cocooned

The Search

Pretty soon, the town of Encanto made their way up the large hill to see the family searching. What had they been searching for, they didn't know. But whatever it was must have been of the utmost importance as they noticed that the family was doing it frantically and were crying. And...was that Bruno?

But the more the town looked, they slowly came to a realization: Only the parents and adults were looking. Where were the children?

"Hey, where are the kids? I don't see them," a villager asked.

"Good question, me neither," another answered.

"¡Oh dios mio!" A elder villager woman exclaimed.

"Senora Alina? What's the matter?" the blacksmith, Senor Andres asked.

"Th-The children! They aren't here!" Alina put a shaky hand over her mouth.

"Wait, you mean...Isabela, Luisa, Camilo...uh, Dolores, Mirabel and...Antonio?" Andres looked towards the Madrigals again. Alina was right, they weren't there!

"Did they get caught in the wreckage?" A villager from the back asked.

"They must have, because not one of them is there!" one said.

"We must go help them!" Mariano ran the rest of the way, climbing the large block of wood and helping Felíx push a rather large piece of debris.

The rest of the village followed, following Mariano in looking through the broken down house. It was mostly the men helping move away large pieces while shouting the kids names, while the women (and some of the older kids) helped Alma in looking around the rest of the encanto.

The little kids and their grandparents searched the town, up and down, left and right, their little voices calling out the various names, being carried with the wind.

This continued for hours, and had yet to end. When the Madrigals had finished scouring the ruins of Casita, they met up with some of the villagers. Pepa broke down again, sobbing into her husband's chest.

"They weren't there! Th-They weren't there! Why?!" she sobbed loudly, the villagers looking in sadness.

"No, no! W-We just have to look harder, they have to be somewhere in this place!" Julieta frantically looked around, Agustín holding her tightly.

"We'll search the forest. Everyone split up into groups of 5 or 6. We...We must find them. We have to. Grab your lanterns and some supplies to bring along with you. If you find one of them, call out loudly." Alma stepped forward. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were red and swollen, bloodshot from her crying helplessly for her grandchildren.

The villagers nodded. While the ones who were much too old to go search stayed back with the smaller children, the other villagers gathered their things. Candles and lanterns were lit while first aid kits, blankets, water and food were packed away in baskets.

The town and the remaining family headed towards the surrounding forest, splitting into groups and going in different directions.

They searched for hours.

From dusk to dawn and then well into the morning. They only headed back to either gather more food and supplies or check in on their children. Then it was back to the forest. They had combed through the vast greenery thrice, but never found anything.

It was dusk, 2 days after the collapse of Casita. They had been searching tirelessly for 48 hours and more, but never found anything. They had even gone through the broken down Casita, but it was no use. None of them were ever found. No bodies, none of their clothes, nothing. They had looked for even traces of them, but were met with cold nothing.

Isabela's flowers and plants were never found. Not a trace of Dolores was there, not even her signature red bow. Despite how big and tall she was, it had seemed like Luisa was never there. Camilo's ruana wasn't found either. Mirabel's glasses were nowhere to be found, despite them clearly almost slipping off of her face in the crash. And little Antonio's red scarf he always had tied around his shoulders, had disappeared from the face of the planet.

The villagers had all gone home, saddened that they couldn't find the 6 missing children. It had pained everyone, but they knew that the remaining Madrigals had been hit the hardest, distraught at the revelation they had unfortunately come to. They had to assume the absolute worst.

Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, Mirabel, and Antonio Madrigal, had passed away in the collapse of La Casa Madrigal, Casita. Their bodies were never found, nor had anything linking to them before the collapse was found either.

The Madrigals were devastated. Pepa and Julieta cried like never before, their husbands Felíx and Agustín trying their best to keep themselves composed, but it was more than obviously not working. Alma had a blank look on her face, devoid of almost all emotion except for the slight dread and sadness present in her empty eyes. Bruno cried silently, tears coming from his eyes. He would open his mouth, but no sound would come out.

The family had taken refuge in one of the larger houses that was vacant, as the previous owner had moved in with another member and it was now empty. They had tried to eat, but each of them had only really managed to eat a little, not being able to finish a full plate of food. Bidding each other a quiet good night, they each went off to their rooms.

The moment Julieta had laid down onto the bed, she clutched her husband's shirt tightly, sobbing into his chest. He could only hold her back, crying into her now messy and disheveled hair.

"My babies...my poor sweet babies..."Julieta sobbed harder, shaking once again. Agustín could only whimper in response, not being able to work up any words to comfort his grieving wife. He only held on, both of them tightly in each other's grasp, not being able to let go of each other throughout the night in fear that what had happened to their children would happen to the other.

Pepa was being cradled by Felíx, who was rocking his wife back and forth while crying tears of absolute despair. Pepa was overwhelmed. For the first time in almost 5 decades, she cried her eyes out. Her sobs and calls to her absent child broke Felíx's heart.
"Dolores...Camilo...Antonio...my ninos, where are you?" Pepa dug her face into her husband's side. "Come back...please..."

Bruno sat in the dark room, not bothering to even light a candle. He stared out the window, looking at the bright moon. He couldn't think straight, too much was going on. He looked into his hands. Tears began to pour and pour and never stopped. Putting his head in his hands, he began to sob uncontrollably. The only time he would stop was to take in a deep breath, only to let it out in another big heavy and deep sob.

"Mi sobrinas y sobrinos..." he whispered between sobs. He had just met them, he had just gotten back. And now it's all over.

Alma walked to sit in the chair in the corner of the room. She slumped into the chair, uncaring of her appearance now. She sunk into it, weeping silently. The woman looked at the single candle sitting on the desk in the corner. The candle. She was so caught up in keeping face, that she lost sight of what was so important to her to begin with: her familia. The woman had basically used her descendants, not caring of how they felt. Worst of all, she didn't listen. And what did it lead to? The death of 6 precious family members. Family members that had so much to live for.

The situation was all but too familiar to Alma. "Pedro," she finally let out a loud wail, crying into the arm of the chair. "What have I done...What have I done?!" she yelled into her arms. Because of her actions, or rather, lack thereof, she had once again lost family. Not one, not two or even three, but six. Six of her precious grandbabies. And it all added up, she had lost a total of 7 family members far too early in their lives, leaving her with only 5 others. 7 lives that were, and still are so precious to her.

Gone.