Summer Without You ✔

Epilogue

In the blink of an eye, my entire youth seems to disappear as my last note to Ross demolishes into ashes over the fireplace. The phantom note calls for me to come and retrieve the words that once meant something. Now, my mind breaks down as my feet carry me as fast as possible upstairs and into my bedroom with the slam of the door. 

I look around. Boxes tower to the ceiling. The mattress that once laid on the springs of my bed is rolled onto the floor. The glorious green walls are tattered and torn off the original layer. Childhood memories have been stored into one of the many boxes. I collapse onto the ground in tears. Cries escape my chest as fast as possible. 

"Laura." Vanessa's voice echoes outside my bedroom door. "Can I come in?"  

My voice staggers as I speak. "Y-yeah." The door creaks open, and in a matter of seconds, my sister has gone from being on her feet in the doorway to on her knees at my side. "Why aren't you mad at me? I'm leaving. Doesn't that upset you in the least?"

With her beaming smile, my sister shakes her head and gives me a warm hug. "If there's one thing I know, family doesn't have to worry that you won't return. You always return to family. Boyfriends will come and go, but family is forever." 

"Why are you the logical one," I ask with a laugh. My voice is nearly breaking. My sister Vanessa always knows the right thing to say. If there's anything I'm going to look forward to when I come back to Los Angeles it's her. 

"Because I'm going to college to become a therapist," Vanessa says with a scoff. 

As I wipe the last of my tears away, her and I share a good laugh until I'm breaking down into tears once again. "Vee, I'm gonna miss you so damn much." Her and I hug once again and we pull back laughing for no reason whatsoever.

"I know what we can do," Vanessa says with a smile. The last time she wore that smile was right before we were grounded big time. Despite being grounded and all, it was one of my favorites times ever. 

At the same time, her and I say with undying laughter, "Let's make Mom and Dad super angry one last time!" We get to our feet and race each other to our parent's room. Above the kingsized bed are the antique swords my parents got from the Renaissance Faire. That's actually how they met. Now it's an annual tradition.  

I climb onto the bed and pull one of the swords from the metal stand on the plaque. Vanessa takes the other sword and we bound downstairs into the kitchen swinging at each other. 

"My name is Iracebeth. You shoved the tart crumbs under my bed." I give my best battle cry the metal clashes together. "Prepare for my army."

"My name is Mirana," Vanessa replies and I duck below her swing.  Instead her swing misses and knocks my mom's priceless vase onto the floor, shattering into a quintillion tiny little shards. "I see you are evil. Prepare to be stopped." 

"Girls," I hear Mother from the living room.  "What's going on in there? Are you playing around with your father and I's Renaissance Faire swords again? You do realize that those are priceless antiques. They've been preserved from the Renaissance Era itself." 

Still, we proceed swinging at each other. "You said I ate the last tart!" 

"And we are reciting lines from a movie," Vanessa chuckles. I hold my sword on her shoulder as we take a breath for a moment. "How desperate do we sound now?"

"Pretty desperate," I offer and raise my sword into the air with a smile painted across my face. In response, my sister smiles too. "Continue anyways?"

"Continue anyways," Vanessa declares, and swings at my side, I back into the drawers, most of which are open, and send the silverware clanging on the ground. At my feet the forks, knives, spoons and more scatter across the tile and chime as they hit the ground.