All of You Chapter 1

Hello, fellow friends! I (Erin) have a special surprise for you today. I wrote a fanfiction on the Disney movie Encanto, and it is one of my favorite books I’ve ever written! However, it’s a fanfiction, so I can’t publish it, right?

Wrong. I can publish it on this blog because I’m not making money on it! How neat is that?

So, once a month, I’m going to post a chapter of this fanfiction for your enjoyment!

So, without further ado, Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home.

***

“Home sweet home,” Mirabel said, nodding at the nearly finished casa “I like the new foundation.”

“It isn’t perfect,” Abuela noted, frowning slightly.

Mirabel laughed, bumping her grandmother’s shoulder. “Neither are we.”

“That’s true,” Abuela conceded. “Just one more thing, before the celebration.”

Tío Bruno ambled over. “We need a doorknob.”

Little Antonio, dreadfully shy and quiet, whispered, “We made this one for you.” He placed a golden doorknob engraved with the letter ‘M’ in his older cousin’s hand.

Mirabel could feel her eyes tearing up. Her familia had cared enough to craft her a doorknob, even after the mess she had made. Just four days before, Mirabel had discovered Bruno, who had supposedly left ten years before after her gift ceremony but instead was living in the walls of Casita. After begging him to have another vision, Mirabel knew that it was up to her to save the family by hugging her Prima Donna sister, Isabela.

That had been the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. Mirabel had no desire to hug her big sister; after all, Isabela was the perfect golden child, a title Mirabel could never claim, having no gift herself. After discovering that Isabela felt constricted by all the pressure put on her by Abuela to be perfect, Mirabel encouraged Isabela to let go and be the girl she wanted to be, not the angel everyone expected her to be.

They hugged, but Abuela interrupted the hug. Mirabel flushed to remember what happened next. The fear, shame, and abandonment Mirabel had felt since her failure of a gift day ten years earlier bubbled out, and she had shouted that all the problems in the family had occurred because of Abuela, not because of Mirabel. The house had cracked and destroyed, taking the candle, along with all the Madrigal magic, down with it.

Mirabel ran away.

Nobody found her until the next day when Abuela discovered her by the Rainbow River’s edge. After a long heart-to-heart, Mirabel discovered that the reason Abuela put so much pressure on the Madrigal family was because of Pedro’s sacrifice. Mirabel had in no way understood the full gravity of that sacrifice until that day when Abuela shared the full story with her. It was Pedro’s undying love for them that had given them the gift.

Love was what held the family together.

That was three days ago. As Mirabel stood in front of the door to their new casa, which the villagers had built with them, she worried about what was going to happen when she put the doorknob. Would she wreck everything again?

“Abre los ojos,” Abuela whispered as Mirabel stared at the doorknob at the engraved ‘M.’ “What do you see?”

Mirabel took a deep breath and willed herself to respond. “Me. All of me.” Slowly she pushed the doorknob onto the door, turned it, and opened the door to their new casa.

As she stepped inside, Mirabel gasped as a burst of magic flowed through her and into the casa. Swirls of pure, simple magic flowed from her into the casa as she stood at the door. Watching awestruck, Mirabel saw the casa come alive, the courtyard brighten with color, and glowing doors come into view on the balcony above the courtyard. Slowly, the doors engraved themselves in birth order… Julieta, Pepa, Bruno, Isabela, Dolores, Luisa, Camilo, and Antonio.

To Mirabel’s surprise, there were many more doors that still stood and glowed! One in particular caught her attention. As she stepped into the casa to get a better look, Mirabel noticed something curious: the door had an image of her on it! Mirabel gasped. What did this mean?

Mirabel felt the floor roll up beneath her as she was carried into the courtyard. The casa’s doors opened and closed, shingles bobbed up and down, and the floor rolled and swirled. “Casita!” Mirabel cried. “You’re back.”

Dancing in circles around the newly instated courtyard with her family and friends, Mirabel was lost in her joy. Nothing could take that joy away from her. She all but forgot the strange door with her picture that she had noticed just moments before.

***

Yes, I did just leave you with that cliffhanger. I like doing that, just so you know.

See you next month with Chapter 2: Operation Matchmaking!

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