A Summer’s Tragedy

The sun had sunk to the horizon and the darkness gathered, but Callisto could not calm himself down thinking about why his father was not home yet. Is there something wrong happening? He did not inform them that he would be working extra hours today.

“Let’s just wait for a little while,” Stalin suggested.

“Dad will never do this without informing me.” Callisto sighed.

Ruth was holding her chin on the table, looking at the food they were cooking, which was gradually turning cold. She, too, became curious about why their father was not yet home, though it was already eight o’clock.

“Brother, why won’t you call him?” Ruth commanded.

“You’re right. Let me get my phone first.”

Callisto stood up and continued to the living room, while Stalin followed him. He unplugged his phone from the socket, and remembered that his father did not have a phone. He also does not know the number and address of his workplace.

“What kind of-how can we contact him in that case?” Stalin asked.

“Maybe he left something inside his room that we can use to know where he works.” Callisto threw his phone on the couch and continued inside his father’s bedroom.

“What is this?” Stalin took a magazine from the desk.

“Don’t touch Dad’s-” Callisto grabbed the magazine from Stalin and looked at it. “Right! He’s working there.” He pointed to the address written on the page.

They got out of the room. Callisto pulled his jacket from the clothesline and told his sister that they were going to the address he saw in the magazine. Ruth told them that she would be left at home so that someone could watch for it.

A few moments later, Callisto was stuck seeing their car, which bumped onto a post ahead. The way his heart beat had changed: it throbbed faster like a machine as he approached slowly.

“Dad? Dad!” He screamed while punching the window. “Open this!”

Stalin did not say anything, but she could feel how worried her boyfriend was. Callisto angrily punched the car’s window several times, so she got close and opened it for him. Then his loud scream neutralized the silence of what was exposed in front of him.

“Please, dad! Wake up! Don’t leave me! Dad! Please!” Callisto implored while shaking the dead Sebastian.

“He’s dead. We can do nothing; we can’t bring him back to life,” Stalin remarked.

“No, no no! He’s not dead!” It was just yesterday, Callisto remembered. His father would pinch his ears because he was so stubborn, but now he cannot do that anymore.

He cuddled him in a shivering manner, while Stalin was calling for help. Fortunately, there was a group of people passing by the spot where the accident happened, and they helped them bring Callisto’s father to the morgue.

Callisto would not let go of the dead Sebastian, even though those men were telling him he was already a corpse. But a corpse or not, Callisto knew he was the man who took care of him since he was little, the man who could sacrifice everything for him, the man who brought him here, and also the man who left him alone. Callisto does not know what to do now that he’s gone.

“Please Callisto. I know how sorrowful you are right now,” Stalin told him. “But we got to accept that everyone comes to death.”

“That is easy to say. But how can I accept that everyone is taken away from me now?” Callisto cried. “How can I accept that I’m alone? That everyone I love leaves me!?”

“Stop thinking like that, Callisto. There’s always a rainbow after the rain. And please, don’t forget you’re not alone because I’m here. I will be there with you in every fight.” Stalin embraced Callisto who was also embracing the dead Sebastian.

“Even though everyone will leave you, I will always be here by your side. That’s what you should think. I think that we can win these trials together. Remember, it’s not yet the end of the world.”

At first, it was only his mother who died, and then his father followed. What sort of life did he lead!? What kind of sin did he commit that everyone he loved would be taken away from him? Callisto could not stop crying, although he knew it could not change the situation.

After being embalmed, Callisto could feel the pain as if he had been the one who had been inserted with a trocar in the chest instead of his father. Thereafter, the operation was completed, and Sebastian was placed inside his coffin. Callisto and Stalin went back home.

Seeing them step out of the vehicle with a casket, Ruth became curious. She did not know who was the person lying inside the box, but she remembered and had an inference that it was the man who had raised her, which was true.

“Daddy?” Ruth exclaimed. “Dad! What are you doing in that box?”

Even though she knew that they did not have any connection when it came to blood, Ruth could not stop herself from being emotional. After over eight years of being with each other, although she was acting like a little girl before, she could not deny that they had become so close.

“How did he die? I mean, how did this happen?” Ruth asked in a serious tone of voice, as if she was planning to take revenge for Sebastian.

“We found him inside the car, lifeless. Based on what I saw, I think he had an accident because the car was bumped against the post,” Stalin explained.

Ruth knew she was wrong in what she was thinking. The nymph did not have any connection with what happened to Sebastian, although she felt uncomfortable as if the nymph was doing something again. Maybe that was only a hunch, so she got near to Callisto, who was taking a glimpse at their father, and embraced his shank.

“I hope everything will be fine soon,” Ruth whispered.

Callisto carried his sister so that she could also see their father’s face, which looked like he was afraid, as if even when his eyes were not closed, he saw something incredible, and that might be the reason he had an accident.

It was over then, the whirling wind whispered. She finally took revenge on those people who gave her too much pain. Perhaps it was time for her to take a break, but no, she needed to stand on something she had done.

“What are you doing here?” Stalin asked in a mad voice.

“I received news that uncle Sebastian died, so I came to convey my condolences,” Linley replied, and attempted to step on the floor of the verandah when Stalin seized her arm.

“Don’t you ever try to get near my boyfriend,” Stalin warned.

“Wow! So you now know how to fight?” Linley pulled her arm back. “Are not you affected that your boyfriend and I are having a child?”

“What?” Stalin exclaimed. She could not believe that what Linley and Callisto did some days ago had quickly yielded.

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Stalin appeared to collapse from shock, and she did when Ruth caught her with her little arms, despite the fact that she was heavier than she was. Ruth felt like there was something different about Linley; she smelled the familiar scent.

“Oh! So my obedient servant is also here.” Linley’s voice changed.

“Estrella?” Ruth inquired. “How-how could you do this?”

“Why are you asking me that? I must be the one to ask you why you became disobedient. And how dare you deceive me?” She grabbed Ruth’s arm, which made her accidentally release the unconscious Stalin.

“Can you stop dragging me? My arm hurts!” Ruth complained.

“Hey! What’s happening-Stalin?” Callisto exclaimed in surprise of what he saw when he stepped out the door. “What did you do to my girlfriend?”

Callisto shook Stalin to wake her up. He was thinking that she had already followed his father, but he was lucky that she was just unconscious, and she woke up with a slight headache after a few moments.

“Where are Linley and Ruth?” Stalin asked while trying to stand up.

“Thanks you’re awake. I saw Linley carried Ruth away, she was running and I don’t know where they went.” Callisto offered her a hand.

“Are you not worried about your sister?” Stalin asked.

“Nope. She’s old enough to manage everything herself. Why have you asked me that?” Callisto led his girlfriend to the stool, and they both sat down.

“But you’re wrong. That girl isn’t Linley,” Stalin stated.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Callisto inquired.

“I know Linley well, for we’ve been friends since we were little. And that girl who talked like that was not really a friend of mine. And Linley would never fight me, even though I’m the one who started to fight her.”

“Oh? But who was that person if she was not Linley?” Callisto asked curiously. “Though your words sound impossible, I’m trying to believe you.”

“Maybe the-perhaps-but I’m not sure,” Linley tried to explain.

“Who’s that person in your mind? Tell me.”

“The nymph who cursed me. You knew her well. Perhaps she came back in order to take revenge, and she might have a connection to your father’s death,” Stalin guessed. “But I’m not sure.”

“You might be just tired. Estrella died for the second time, and Ruth told me that she could not come back to her real appearance if it’s not summer.”

“Did not you get it? She entered Linley’s body,” Stalin explained.

“We’ll know that once Ruth comes back,” Callisto replied.

“But what if she can’t? What if Ruth won’t come back?”

Callisto wondered why it had just entered his mind. If Linley was Estrella, his sister could not probably come back, and he did not know what to do if she was also gone. Therefore, Callisto stood up and hurriedly ran to the direction where he saw Linley and Ruth were going.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Stalin shouted and ran behind her boyfriend.

“Goddammit!” Callisto scowled at seeing his lifeless sister hanging from the lamppost by the roadside near the bench.

“Oh my gosh! Why did she do that?” Stalin screamed.

Horrendous! Screamed their minds. Loud heartbeats, Callisto did not know what to feel. Although Ruth was not his real sister, he considered her as part of their family for over seven years.