The Summer That Never Ended

Dear Reader, let me tell you a story that changed my fate— and with it, the life of my whole family.

A story that I haven't told to anyone in nearly 60 years. A story I stopped telling because nobody believed me.

A story that made me into someone else

It happened on the summer of 1967...

*

My father didn't even slam the door of his blue Ford pickup behind me, I was already plotting my escape. My thoughts tangled around the ideas like ivy vines clinging to trees.

I warned my mother of what I would do if she sent me away to Aunt Gabrielle's again, but it seemed as my parents only source of enjoyment was to torture me. So they sent me anyway.

For them, of course, it wasn't torture. To my mother, one month with aunt Gabrielle had been the dream vacation.

To me, it equaled Hell: long days of tutoring in maths, grammar, lessons in German and etiquette and endless chores around the house enforced on me in the name of becoming a "good wife material".

On top of that, I had to endure the presence of Marcel — a distant relative from aunt Gabrielle's side of the family . He had an unbreakable alliance with my sister, Elisabetta and their favorite game was to blame all their mischief on me.

Of course, Aunt Gabrielle always believed them.

"They look so innocent, how could they lie?" — was what she used to say while giving me some kind of punishment, like not being allowed to go to swim in the lake with the neighbor girl or having to assist with putting away pickled cucumbers into jars.

So there we were — arrived at Aunt Gabrielle's house at the same moment as Marcel and his parents. They were almost as old as my grandparents and raised him in old fashioned ways, so he was acting like them. At 8 years old he behaved like a miniature grumpy old man. I called him Mr. Know-It-All.

Elisabetta adored him. She'd follow him everywhere and would do anything he wanted. And he had plenty of ideas. Mainly, getting me into trouble.

When we arrived, Elisabetta jumped out of the car and rushed to Marcel in ecstatic joy.

I just rolled my eyes. I took my rucksack and marched straight to our usual room on the attic. Everything just as we left it. Just as every summer before since I was five.

I laid on the bed with my shoes on, waiting for my parents to leave. It didn't take long because they wanted to hit the road as soon as they could.

"We have a long ride home" —Dad usual excuse. Truth is he loathed our distant relatives just as much as I did.

My sister stormed in right after that and jumped on her bed. "They left! We're free!"

"Aunt Gabrielle, Marie's laying on the bed with her sneakers on!" - Marcel didn't disappoint. He followed my sister to our room before he'd even take over his, in hopes to find something he could use against me.

Normally, I'd hate him for it but this was part of my great escape plan. I covered my face with my arm, acting like I was mad but I was merely hiding my smile from him.

I knew very well that we aren't allowed in the house with shoes on and getting caught would bring some kind of punishment with it.

And that's exactly what I wanted. Being locked up in the house while these two were playing in the garden would allow me to prepare in peace.

Aunt Gabrielle arrived as clockwork, yelling at me to take the sneakers off and clean the entire room.

"You're grounded tomorrow."

When Aunt Gabrielle told you what's going to happen there was no place for argument, unless you were a masochist.

"Oh, no! But tomorrow is market day! We go to the market every time, it's our tradition. You can't just leave me home alone."

"You bet I do, Missy. Keep arguing and you gonna see what else is in store for you."

Marcel watched us like the Devil satisfied with his work. I saw an awful smirk that climbed up on his face despite his best effort to hide as he merged into the darkness of the corridor.

"But Aunt Gabrielle! Marcel did this on purpose. Tell her, Elisabetta! He hates me and wants me to be locked up all summer long."

"That's enough. Marcel is a good boy, you should take example of his behaviour. You have no manners, girl. On Monday, you'll start with reading the entire 'Little Book of Etiquette' again. Hope this time you gonna pick up something from it."

Easy. My plan worked out perfectly.

The next morning the three of them left to the market, then to church. I had about four hours before they'd return which was more than enough to prepare my rucksack.

I took everything from my aunt's house that I knew I might need on this mission — maps, a rusty compass, matches and fire starter, two bottles of water, an adult sized rain jacket that I planned to use as a tarp if I needed.

I found some canned food, too and yummy looking brownies but I had to take from those right before leaving, otherwise she would notice that they went missing.

I hid my clothes in my sisters bag and placed mine in its usual place to make it look as ordinary as I could. The last thing I needed was my sister or Marcel getting curious about it.

It worked out surprisingly fine.

The rest of the day was spent quietly. It was a Sunday, so we were forced to rest in silence since it was the day God rested as well. I was sitting in the living room with a book by the window, pretending to read. But I was staring at the edge of the forest that seemed to whisper my name louder and louder as my big moment inched closer.

Then Monday arrived and I was doomed to read the book of etiquette while Elisabetta and Marcel was playing int he backyard. I saw Marcel pushing my sister on the ground but I couldn't intervene. That would ruin the plan.

I felt bad for leaving my sister behind, but she'd be more safe and happy here than walking home with me.

At 11 o'clock my aunt went over to the neighbors to buy eggs. She did this every single week since I've known her. And that was my window to sneak out of the house, unnoticed and vanish into the forest.

The moment the door clicked shut, I was already in her pantry pocketing cans and a jar of preserved pears. I left the box of brownies on the shelf.

I ran up for my rucksack and quietly left the house through the front door. I jumped behind the flowering bushes in the front garden and ran to the fence, climbed over and run as fast as I could towards the woods.

I hid behind a wide oak whose bark peeled like curling paper to cover myself, has anyone spotted me running through the meadow. I had to catch my breath before I could move on.

I felt like a cat - so quiet and acrobatic. I was impressed by how I jumped over the fence, almost like a deer. Though probably I looked more like a goat but there was no one to tell.

I knew my way around this part of the forest. We often came here on walks and Aunt Gabrielle gave us biology lessons about the flora and fauna. But I had no idea where to go beyond the known area.

The forest was larger than I imagined and smelled like lilacs though there wasn't a flower in sight. I didn't want to go out on the main road until I had no other choice, so I unfolded my map and followed the path that leads in and through.

My dear Reader, you might be thinking now that this was all too easy for me. And I agree. As I walked through the forest I had the feeling that my plan worked out too smoothly.

Something had to go wrong. I just couldn't shake off the feeling that my aunt will find me and drag me home with her. My stomach was in a knot, and my heart was beating rapidly.

I was becoming paranoid.

I heard footsteps behind me but I couldn't see anyone. It sounded too soft to be a human. A stick snapped like a bone breaking, giving me shivers running down my spine. I became ultra-alert.

The leaves seemed to whisper and I almost understood it. A bird-call rose like laughter caught in the throat. I was sure the joke was me.

An old, bony hand reached out and grabbed the strap of my rucksack. I tripped in my own feet and fell on the damp ground.

"Let go of me!" — I shrieked, but it was only a dry branch hanging off my bag. I felt ridiculous and scolded myself for my scarcity.

I tried to shut the weird and eerie noises out of my head as I walked but I couldn't ignore one consistent rustling in the underbrush.

I was being followed.

I started to walk around in a circle in hopes to see who or what is behind me. I had to circle around for quite a while before it revealed itself.

My sister.

"Marie!" — she called my name the moment she noticed me staring at her.

"What on earth are you doing here, Lizzy? You're not allowed to be here alone."

"So are you. I saw you climbing through the fence and I wanted to come, too."

"Did you come alone?"

She nodded. — "And I brought these, too."

She pulled out the box of brownies from a tote bag that she put on like a backpack.

"Can we sit down for a minute? I got really tired trying to catch up with you."

"Sure. You could have just call out for me, you know?"

She didn't answer, just laid her sweater on the ground next to some mushrooms she liked and took out two brownies from the box, offering the first to me.

"Are you trying to run away?"

"What makes you think that?" — I took a bite from my brownie.

"I found your clothes under my bed and saw what you packed instead. So I did the maths. Don't worry, I didn't tell Marcel. I don't like him anymore, he's rude with me. He pushed me in the garden and said not to tell to Auntie or he will beat me."

I was surprised how mature my sister sounded. She was only 7 but talked like an adult. She always had a golden heart so I couldn't blame her for her naivety and blindly trusting Marcel. In the end, who knows what he filled her head with?

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to leave you behind but you always seem to have so much fun with him. I was worried that you'd tell him and then we both would get in serious trouble."

"I know. I feel so stupid. You got into so much trouble because of us and I didn't do anything. I wish I could be like you. You're so clever and so pretty, and you're the kindest, Marie. I wish I could be you. I thought Marcel was good but he's really bad. I'm scared of him."

As she confessed, tears flooded her blue eyes and made them appear like gemstones.

"You better be scared of me both, you silly little skanks. I'm gonna tell Aunt Gabby about everything. You stole from her and ran away when you were grounded. And you! You pushed me and I got hurt."

Marcel appeared out of the blue, like the devil he was.

"I did not! It was you!" — my sister jumped on her feet fiercely, but Marcel was faster and pushed her back down again.

"Don't you dare to touch her!" — I stepped in front of Lizzy to protect her.

"Why? What will you do? I can do whatever I want."

"No, you can not!" — my sister stepped in front again. Marcel slapped her.

"I'm a man, no girl can talk back to me."

Lizzy spit her bloody milk tooth on the ground. It was wobbly for weeks.

I jumped on him and pushed him on the ground, and turned back to my sister.

That moment, my dear Reader the strangest of the strange happened.

The breeze picked up but only moved one tree in front of us. The forest dimmed suddenly like it always does before a sudden storm. The scent of the lilacs climbed into my nose again. The mushrooms my sister liked so much started to shimmer, drawing a perfect circle around me and Lizzy.

I saw Marcel outside the circle, picking up a large stick and stepping towards us, with a mad fire glowing in his eyes.

"I wish you would disappear." — I muttered as I lifted Lizzy up. Her mouth was bleeding. I clutched her and buried my face in her hair.

The breeze turned into a strong wind, the buzzing of the fireflies droned like the humming of a power line before it breaks. I held Lizzy as tight as I could.

What happened after that, my dear Reader? I wish to know it, too.

I woke up in a hospital bed, tucked under my favorite patchwork blanket, feeling like I wasn't quite myself. My body felt strangely small. Almost like it wasn't mine.

My parents came to visit when I woke. I immediately asked them about Elisabetta. They exchanged a confused glanced and called the doctor. They said I must have hit my head and prepared for examining my brain.

Apparently, I was wandering for a week in the forest before a hunter found me. My body temperature was low, it was a wonder I even made it.

Marcel got back home fine and reported that we ran away. The whole village was looking for us for an entire week before they found me.

My sister? We never saw her again.

Except, I see her every day when I look into the mirror. Her wish came true, and I woke up in her body with an odd rhyme ringing in my ears that I won't ever be able to forget.

"One heart to hush, one name to wear,

What’s hers is yours, what’s yours is gone,

Speak not in haste, for we may hear,

Bone to blood, so shall it be,

Your wish we grant —

Not what you seek, what suits our spree."

For many years, we were looking for Elisabetta but there was no sign of her. I willingly returned to my aunt's house every summer, searching the forest, looking for mushroom circles and strange trees with no luck.

Though I swear at times I heard her laugh in the wind, or saw the edge of her skirt vanishing behind a bush, but I could never grasp her. I even felt the scent of brownies when her vision appeared in the periphery of my sight.

Eventually, I was sent to a sanatorium, being treated like I was insane. I must have sounded just like that.

A poor girl, traumatized by being lost in the forest for days, believing that she is her sister who disappeared, yet desperately looking for her.

Our great-aunt used to tell us folk tales about the forest by the house — the evil fair folk who grant your wishes in tricky ways, the copper-penis owl, and the star-eyed shepherd, but we never believed them.

When I told the adults and the doctors about what happened in the forest that day they didn't believe me, either. And who could blame them?

But I wasn't the only one who changed after the incident. Of course, the disappearance of Lizzy — or me, Marie as they believed — shook every member of my family.

Even Marcel changed. He stopped interacting with me and never vacationed again at our aunts house at the same time as I did. He was really careful to avoid me.

I stopped talking while I was living at the sanatorium. But I never shook that rhyme out of my head and the feeling that if I ended up in my sisters body, she must be living in mine somewhere — as she wished.

I just couldn't wrap my head around why was it her who disappeared, and not Marcel when it was him I wished away.

I spent years with reading and researching folk tales and myths, trying to find a way to recover my sister.

I carry a blade, fresh brownies and one of my wisdom teeth in my purse everywhere I go. If I ever find another fairy circle I can offer the same sacrifice to get my sister back, even if it will come in a tricky way.

You see, my dear Reader, that summer never really ended. Not for me.

You don't have to believe me. After all this time, I do not care what others think.

I simply want to keep the memory of Elisabetta alive. The memory of the real Elisabetta.

I only wish my parents understood before they passed that I, Marie never left them without saying goodbye. So I could relieve them from the pain and regret they lived with.

~~~

🕯️ NOTE:

I wrote a cursed manual that relates to the story for the "Instructions for Disappearing" challenge.

This children's rhyme could explain what happened to Lizzy and Marie.

You can read it here: