Chapter Three: Lost For Words

"And there I was. I was in the magical Casita. Abuela was the first one inside that noticed me there. Oh boy. That morning, there was a lot of explaining to do.."

Abuela was back asleep before she heard the crying. She looked out the window again to see the basket being rocked by the casita tiles to calm her down. "Oh Dios mío." She went out of her door and downstairs and picked up the basket. Noticing the letter for the family, Abuela opened it up and began to read it to herself.

"To whoever gets the message that lies with this basket, hello. Our names are Ricardo and Stella Sanchez. We are both sick and dying, and past the point of help. You might not have seen us around, we came from the outside.. Please, for our sake and our sanity, please give our daughter Celestia a good home.

From,

Ricardo Sanchez, Stella Sanchez."

Abuela brought Celestia into her room and prepped her a crib for the night. She sighs gently and sets her inside it. "You poor child.. you deserve a better life with a family that'll love you." She sees a new door appear next to Isabela's door. The Casita had accepted Celestia as their own. Celestia went back to sleep and felt safe again. Abuela on the other hand, sat down. She knew that there was going to be a lot of explaining to the family in the morning.

(Later in the morning.)

Everyone woke up and was ready for the day ahead of them. When they got out of their rooms, Pepa was the first one to notice while she held onto her new son Antonio. "Uh... why is there a second blank door?" She scratched her head and looked to her sister Julieta, to which she raised her hands in defense. "It's not me." Everyone was confused as they went downstairs for breakfast. Abuela was already there.

"Everyone.. I have an announcement to make. It has to do with the second door, which I'm sure some of you saw.." she spoke as everyone looked at each other. "We got a couple of outsiders that traveled far from here. They were both sick and couldn't take care of something that was near and dear to each other." Abuela picks up the basket and sets it down. Celestia woke up and looked at the new faces.

"They left this child in our care.." Abuela gave a small little smile. She passed the note around that explained the situation they had. "The poor little soul.. I knew something was up in the air.." Dolores chirped when she was reading the note. Luisa felt bad and looked to Abuela. "We have to find the family and give them a proper send off.. it's the right thing to do." Abuela agreed and made teams to search the town. "Ok. Felix and Camilo, search near the river. Isabela, you and me will go into town to see if anyone has any description on them. Everyone else should search high and low."

Mirabel smiled at Celestia. She was happy that there was a new member in the house. The question was who was she going to side with. "Abuela? Which side of the family is Celestia going to be on?" Julieta stood up and picked Celestia up in her arms. "I'll take her on my side. It looks like you'll have a new sister." Isabela was already infatuated with Celestia as she pets her tiny head. "I love her." She made it rain flower petals on her and Celestia laughs cutely. One of them tickled her nose and she gave a sneeze, and Isabela chuckled too. "Oops. My bad, little Hermana."

Everyone began to split up and search for the two parental figures. Mirabel stayed with her mom to watch Celestia. Keep her company since she has been through so much just to get here. A lot of the people were asked about this, and they did give small little details. It wasn't much, but it was something to consider. Camilo looked near the river with his father. He crossed the bridge, until he sees a hand sticking out of the forested area. Felix stepped closer and sees both Ricardo and Stella there. He checked the pulse, nothing. "We found them.. go find Abuela." He told his son. Camilo nodded and went to tell Abuela what they saw.

When the two were taken away, everyone began preparations for a candlelight vigil. Everyone made their own candles, some children made floating lanterns. Two headstones were made for the young married couple as well as special coffins. They were going to be buried in the flower bed of the town. Julieta sighs as she hears that they had found the family and sighs. "Little mija.. if only you can understand.." she shakes her head softly and fed her some food to heal the scratches on her body. They did heal up and was pretty quick. Celestia felt a lot better. Mirabel made an update to her outfit, making an embroidery for Celestia.

As the sun was setting, everyone gathered around for the candlelight vigil. The children had their lanterns ready and lit as they let them go up into the sky. Abuela had her candle ready. "Tonight, we gather to embrace the memory of two people. They traveled far and wide to come to our fair city. Unfortunately they leave behind a young child in our care. We promise these two that we will protect her on our lives." She sets her candle down near the graves. "May they shine on forever." Everyone nodded and puts their candles near the graves.

Two butterflies were flying by. They perch themselves on the headstones. Julieta was paying her respects from afar, holding Celestia. "Welcome to the family, little Celestia."

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