Cocooned

It's so quiet...

The last thing any of the Madrigal grandkids remember was being dragged into their rooms. It was too fresh, too vivid in their minds.

They screamed and yelled, crying, trying to get Casita to stop. They yelled for their parents. But no one came back to get them. They could feel Casita's last life pushing them into their rooms. Next thing they know, they were back in their collapsing rooms.

They barely had any time to process what was happening. The children banged on their doors, jiggling the doorknobs in a futile attempt to open the door. At the last moments of the house collapsing, they felt tired. Too tired to continue banging on the door. Too tired to shout for the parents. Too tired to do...anything. Each of the children in their own rooms respectively, fell to the floor, slumping into a small pile, while crying.

-

Isabela tried to use her powers, but it was no use. She looked at her room, it was falling in on itself. The flowers were wilting and her furniture was breaking. They scooted back against the door. "Is this how it ends? Is this how my life ends? I never even got to say goodbye!" her eyes welled up with tears, she started to cry. She felt sleepy. Involuntarily yawning, her cries went down to hiccups.

Why had it gone quiet? Her room was further apart. It was so loud a second ago. She laid down on the soft flowers next to her door. "So this is my last moment..." She looked around her one last time. Her room was dying, the flowers wilting. She couldn't feel the flowers anymore. Or smell them. Her eyes closed, Isabela finally falling into a deep sleep.

Dolores gave up on opening her door and instead was hiding in her wardrobe. She shivered among the clothes, crying heavily. She could hear the things in her room breaking and falling. She clenched her eyes shut, pulling her knees to her chest as she slumped to the floor. "It's so loud! Make it stop! I don't wanna go!" she whimpered.

And her wish was granted. She was met with silence. But she also could not feel the warmth of the clothes or the cold of the wood she was leaning on. She couldn't open her eyes. "It's so quiet...mamí...papí...I'm sorry I never got to say goodbye..." she thought. Her mind shut down, and she went to sleep.

Luisa kept ramming into the door. She had to get out, she had to save the others! But she had no strength. For the first time in 15 years, she felt weak. Luisa began to cry as she rammed into the door once more. Her shoulder hurt so much. "I'm so tired..." she whispered. Her room was falling apart, the gray of the room somehow feeling so much more dark. So hard. She stumbled back, barely avoiding being hit by a vase falling from the top shelf. She sat down against the wall, finally giving up. Her arm hurt so much. Her eyes closed.

"I'll just go to sleep. Mom, Dad, Abuela, familia...I'm sorry...I'm just so tired..." she leaned her head back, completely ignoring the debris from her room surrounding her. Once her eyes closed, it seemed as if all her other senses shut down. She couldn't feel the pain in her arm anymore, the noises died down, and she finally felt relaxed. "Maybe this isn't so bad..." she thought, finally relaxing, going limp.

Camilo couldn't believe Casita would do this. As he desperately jiggled the door knob, he could hear his room breaking. The glass from his mirrors breaking, the wood from his mini stage breaking down, his furniture falling over. "I need to get out, let me out!" He continued to scream until voice was hoarse. Suddenly a large plank from the ceiling fell in front of him, followed by more, much larger ones, blocking him from the door.

He backed away, his throat was dry and eyes were watering. "I don't wanna go! Let me go, please! I promise I'll be good, I won't pull any more pranks, I won't take seconds anymore, p-please!" he fell to his knees, shaking. He whimpered some more, before finally laying on his back and staring at the ceiling. The dust falling from the crumpling supports made him close his eyes. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." he apologized over and over, before finally giving in and falling unconscious.