1845

Encanto, Colombia 

Five-year-old Maribel Madrigal sat with her Abuela in The Nursery of their house, preparing for The Ceremony. Abuela was reminding Maribel  of the reason behind the ceremony

Fifty years ago

Alma Madrigal and her husband, along with their newborn triplets and other families from their town, that had just been set aflame, ran as far as they could. They were being chased and her husband decides to sacrifice himself as a distraction so the rest can get away. Now a homeless widow, and lone mother of triplets, Alma is left in despair.

The candle she'd been holding for light, and had placed in front of her when she fell to her knees, cradling the triplets close to her chest, began to glow brighter than it had been previously. It looked as if it was being enchanted, the flame becoming everpresent. The candle practically exploded with magic and before her, a beautiful house was built.

When her children, Julieta, Bruno, and Pepa turned five the candle gave them a Gift and a beautiful bedroom specialized to them. Every child born in the family since has received a gift when they come of age.

To say Maribel was nervous was a huge understatement. She knew that her gift is what makes her special like the rest of her family.

"Maribel, it's time!" Her mother, Julieta, called from the courtyard. Maribel nervously emerged from The Nursery and made her way to the entrance to the courtyard, where she was told she was to stand.

"Are you ready, M?" Her cousin, Camilo who had received his Gift just a few months ago.

"I'm nervous."

"You don't need to be your Gift will be just as special as you are!" He exclaimed, before being pulled away by his mother, Pepa, so they could begin the ceremony.

"Fifty years ago, in our darkest moment, this candle blessed us with a miracle. And the greatest honour of our family has been to use our blessings to serve this beloved community. Tonight, we come together once more as another steps into the light to make us proud," Abuela says to the crowd of people, before turning to Maribel, who has made her way up to the door. "Will you use your Gift to honour our miracle? Will you serve this community and strengthen our home?"

"I promise" Maribel responded placing her hands on the candle for a couple of beats. She pilled her hands away from the candle and turned to the door, reaching towards the knob she hesitated, wiping the sweaty hands on her dress and taking a breath. She extended her arm and took hold of the doorknob, but when she turned the doorknob something unexpected happened.

The door faded away.

Bruno Disappeared The Next Day.

2016

Los Angeles, California

Tony woke up on this lovely Tuesday morning and almost immediately regretted it. There was only like two more days left before school started back up again, and that means the start of his Junoir Year at the incredibly prestigious Lonely Angelica Academy. But that's not till Monday, today he's meeting with his dealer at 3, then going to his lab.

He groans and rolls over to reach his phone to check the time, 1:58. So he has about an hour to shower and get to the rendezvous point. He sighs and rolls out of bed and into the ensuite to shower. He put on his shower playlist, which was just a mix of AC/DC and Breaking Benjamin songs, and tossed his phone onto the counter. Walking to the shower he spent a minute fidgeting with the knobs until the water was the desired temperature. Sighing, he removes his sweatpants before stepping under the spray of the water.

When he's done, and significantly more awake, he turns off the water and wraps a towel around his waist. On his way out of the bathroom, he moves the discarded sweats from the middle of the floor, where his half-asleep self left them, to the laundry basket. Picking up his phone he walked out of his bathroom and tossed his phone to his bed, before making his way to his closet.

Tony picks up a pair of boxers and slips them on, before discarding the towel and grabbing a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, a Led Zepplin t-shirt, a flannel, and a pair of checkered, slip-on vans. On his way out of his room he froze.

Was his brother home? Because Peter will definitely not be happy about where he's going. Making a quick decision he made a beeline for his bedroom window. Making sure he has his phone, wallet he picks up his backpack and climbs onto the balcony, that's right off his bedroom, and climbed down the tree that's next to it.

Making a run for it, Tony makes his way into the forest behind his house. Following the route, he's followed so many times before. He slows to a stop for a few moments, as he always does since he came across the lone gravestone in the middle of the woods. He kneels down and pulls a single Rosemary on top to replace the old one. Tony doesn't know who Alma Madrigal is, as he's never met them or anyone who knows them (he asks everyone he meets), and he doesn't know who buried them here. He always puts a rosemary to show that even though they have seemingly been forgotten, he knows their there.

Looking at the time he realizes he's only got like ten minutes to meet Jax, his dealer. Closing his bag he stands and takes off one again in the direction of downtown, where pretty much everything is.

Emerging from the forest by the high school's football field, he cuts across it circling around the school and into town, making a beeline for the alley between the diner and the laundry mat. When he gets there he checks the time and sees that he managed to be a couple of minutes early, looking up to see Jax has yet to arrive.

~~~

Climbing up the tree and onto his balcony, Tony dropped into one of the many beanbag chairs. He'd just gotten home from meeting Jax, and now has a small stock of Xanax, Percs, Adderal, and Weed -- which he plans to spread strategically across his balcony, bedroom, bathroom, closet, and Private lab, in hopes that his parents, the housekeepers, or worse Peter, won't find it. First, he has to get up, but he was tired from running through the forest twice.

After about ten minutes he finally manages to pull himself up and starts stashing the little plastic bags sporadically across the beanbags and couch cushions of his large personal balcony. After a while of this, he takes his backpack and moves to his bedroom to repeat the process, before moving on to the closet and bathroom. When he's done with that he takes the remaining contraband and makes his way to the spiral staircase in the centre of his large walk-in closet and makes his way down to his private Workshop.

Stashing some to it, leaving him with a few joints worth of weed, he settles down at a workbench and rolls them up, setting two of them aside he lights the third and brings it to his lips. 

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1200 words

Unedited 

Started: 1*31*22

Finished: 2*12*22

Published: 2*18*22

~Anxiouspuffball <3