Summer Without You ✔

Epilogue

That's when our mother comes in, face red and hot as lava. With her unbeatable force, she removes the swords from our Vanessa and I's grip as she storms by. Her feet are like the thunder - loud and powerful. Her eyes are like lightning. "How many times have I told you, leave your father and I's swords alone?" As Mom raves on, my sister and I share a quick smile. "Just - ugh! Just clean up this mess." 

Vanessa falls to her knees as she gathers the fallen silverware in her shirt. Meanwhile Mom gets a glass of water and then adds, "Laura, are you finished packing?" 

I shrug a shoulder and sigh. "I still have pack my clothes and memory book." I drag my fingers down my eyes and storm upstairs to my room. I throw my drawers onto the floor and pile all of my clothes into a small box. In one of the drawers is my memory book which I flip through quickly. 

I stop on the last page, where I find the picture I retrieved when scavenging through the box of photos of Ross. It's the one where him and I are hanging out in the treehouse a week before graduating. Sunlight radiates from our smiles. I still find it very hard to believe that this guy, the sweetest guy and safest driver I know is dead. Just like that. And I'm leaving. 

I curl up into a ball and just rock back and forth against one of the boxes. I feel the pain for one last time. I erase every tear shedded in this room because of this summer. I efface the heartache, the depression, everything. Connecticut is on the other side of the country. Connecticut is my fresh start. I don't have to experience any of this again. 

I feel my phone buzz in the back of my pocket. I reach for it and examine the notification on my screen. Maia has texted me. I read what she says:

Meet me outside in the treehouse, pronto.

My feet take off like a horse at the derby. The wild stallion inside me has taken over and makes my brain go spinning in circles. I don't even realize I've made it to the treehouse in just about a minute. I stop to catch my breath. I look around awaiting for some sort of remark to come screaming from inside the Lynch's house. Today, it's absolute silence. Even the crickets are too scared to make a sound. 

With a grunt I pull myself up the rope ladder step by step. My arms climb higher with each second. Every moment, I'm a little farther away from the ground, but no matter what, I don't look down. My feet begin to cry when I reach the wood platform. Somehow, someone has managed to decorate the tree house with dim lanterns and cover the surface with rose petals. They weren't here when I came by a few hours before.  

"Maia," I call out. My voice is quiet, but nevertheless trembling. You never know if the Lynches are preparing a sneak attack. There's no answer. Just solitude, and a soft rattling coming from the ceiling, which sound oddly close to crawling. "M-m-Maia, where are you?" 

Slowly, I scamper over to my favorite spot in the treehouse - the corner, which now happens to be the only area not infested with lanterns and rose petals. Instead, my feet step on something else - a piece of creamy paper with words written perfectly in calligraphy. My eyes squint as I make out every word on the page. 

Step 1: Lead the girl to believe you've disappeared. She'll be all sad and start coping with your "disappearance" by writing little notes to you in hopes that you'll read them. 

Step 2: Lead the girl to believe that your mother is going to destroy your favorite place - in this case, it's a treehouse. She'll be set on saving it so she can hold onto your memory.

Step 3: Once you're sure that the girl is ready to save your favorite place, make sure your siblings reject her the same way people rejected ordering cookies from her in Girl Scouts. She'll be vulnerable and left alone to reflect on memories of you and her's relationship.