A Summer’s Tragedy

“Stalin?” Callisto queried. His feet immediately brought him near, and he embraced his girlfriend. “Why did you ran on that road again?”

“Who are you? Please don’t get too close! I want to go home.” Stalin pushed Callisto away. “Why did you bring me to this cabin?”

“Huh?” Callisto’s lips fell sideways. With an asking gaze, he turned back and stared at his sister. “What’s happening to her?”

“Sorry, brother, but your girlfriend, your girlfriend is-” Ruth hadn’t finished saying her words when their father interrupted.

“I said it! You’re just here. Why did you leave me alone-” Sebastian entered the door and got stuck. “She’s already awake?”

“Yup, but we have another problem.” Callisto sighed.

“What do you mean?” Sebastian walked towards them.

“Who are you? And why are you talking about me?” Stalin inquired while trying to stand up. “Please, I really need to go home.”

Hearing her words, Sebastian easily realized the answer to his question. Stalin had amnesia, and she undoubtedly needed a carer.

“Can we have a talk for a while, son?” Sebastian requested

Callisto stood up and followed his father outside the room, while Ruth was trying to calm Stalin, telling and trying to stop her from standing up with her small arms.

“Have more patience. It’s not easy to take care of someone who doesn’t have memories. I’m not telling you this because I disagree with you, but because I know you need to be patient,” Sebastian advised.

“Don’t worry, dad,” Callisto replied. “I won’t give up, just like mom didn’t give up on you when you were sick. I loved Stalin more than anything else, and I’m willing to be her caretaker.”

“Well, we’re always here if you need help.” Sebastian tapped his son’s shoulder and they went back inside the room.

“Do you know where you live?” Callisto asked.

“I don’t know, but I want to go home,” Stalin replied.

“Okay, we’ll go home tomorrow if everything is fine. But for now, you need to take a rest so that we can go home.” Callisto kissed the crown of Stalin’s forehead, which drew her into curiosity.

“You can’t sleep?” Callisto asked when he noticed his girlfriend had closed her eyes and opened them again. He held her hands and asked, “What happened anyway that the curse didn’t penetrate you?”

“Son!” Sebastian called. “I already told you not to ask her anything, because you’re only giving her a headache.”

“I don’t know what curse you were talking about. I don’t even know who you are, and why I am here,” Stalin replied. “Please, I want to go home.”

“Even me?” Callisto forced himself to smile, hoping that maybe by this time Stalin would remember him. “I’m your boyfriend. We met on that bench by the roadside, and you were so crazy, so I took care of you.”

“Is that so? But why did I see you leaving? I mean, I already told you. I don’t remember anything and I need to go home.”

“Son, let her rest first. Don’t ask her frequently, or else, you’ll just worsen her condition,” Sebastian reprimanded.

Callisto told his girlfriend to take a rest. Then he got out of the room to get ventilated. He knew how difficult it was to take care of the crazy girl, but how much more difficult is the amnesia girl?

And his studies; he wonders how he can go to school while keeping an eye on his girlfriend. Callisto remembered that he could ask Ruth to look after Stalin, which sounded impossible.

As the night turned into day, the cold wind entered Callisto’s bedroom, and it woke him up. For a while, the dark room blinded him, and everything gradually became apparent. He stood up, got out of his room and continued walking towards the kitchen where his father and sister were having coffee.

“You wake up early, how about your girlfriend?” Sebastian asked.

“She’s sleeping soundly. Perhaps she was so tired of what we did last night,” Callisto replied.

“Why? What did you do, brother?” Ruth queried.

“What we did, don’t forget that we just sneaked out of the hospital, because we don’t have money to pay the bills.”

Ruth just laughed while her brother blended his coffee. She thought about different things they did. Well, she knew no one saw them escaping the hospital.

“I’m going to look for work today. So you and your sister will be left here,” Sebastian interrupted. “Please take care of everything, son.”

“Don’t worry dad, I’m of age to do what I need. Ruth is also big enough that she can cook food by herself.” Callisto sat down beside his sister.

“Nope! Don’t let your sister touch anything dangerous, or I’ll pinch your ears if something bad happens.” Sebastian put his mug on the table, then walked out of the kitchen.

“I was thinking that we were leaving this house,” Ruth broke the silence.

“Sorry. It was because of me that dad chose not to go back,” Callisto apologized. “I hope you won’t be envious of my girlfriend.”

Ruth knew that she must be the one to say sorry to her brother because she hides a lot of secrets, but what she didn’t know is how he knew that she was envious of Stalin, so she asked him.

“How did I know? I saw you putting something in her water,” Callisto answered. “Please don’t do that again.”

Ruth fell down into the silence of embarrassment. “Sorry brother, I won’t do that again. I was just prompted by my feelings. You know, even if you’re not my real brother, I still consider you.”

“But I’m really curious, especially about that goddess who wants to kill my dad,” Callisto changed the topic.

“Do you want me to tell you a story?” Ruth asked.

Sebastian left the house in his collared shirt and black pants, not bothering to tell his son that he was leaving. But when his eyes strayed to the high mountain, he remembered something.

The goddess who fell in love with him is still vivid in his memories. Although he had just gotten off from the disorder, he knew the past could do nothing with the present, so he tried his best to stop himself from thinking and continued inside the car.

Even this, Sebastian thought, the car made him remember something, and wherever he would look, all he could see were tragedies that happened. On the verandah, inside his room, and in the kitchen, he could feel the presence of his wife, the bloodied Dorothy.

“Estrella had deeply fallen in love with a man, but because of an ordinary woman, he didn’t love her back. The goddess was so mad that she attempted to curse them several times, but no matter what she would do, her impression, and the man’s impression of the woman stayed the same, until Estrella was tired, so she decided to take rest.”

“But what’s the connection between that to me and to my father? Why does the goddess want to kill us?” Callisto queried.

“You didn’t get it until now?” Ruth responded. “Your father was the man, and your mother was the woman, and the goddess was Estrella.”

“Oh! That’s interesting. My parents had an interesting past. But how did you know the whole story anyway?”

“Don’t laugh, but I was the, the blue bird named Cryrie.”

Hearing his sister’s words, Callisto accidentally spurted out the coffee from his throat. So he stood up and cleaned the table.

“But I regretted being her servant. I never wanted to follow her orders, but because she was so close to me,” Ruth added.

“Wow! Good that you freed yourself from her,” Callisto remarked. “But I still can’t believe that these things are happening. Maybe I’m just hallucinating after watching fantasy movies.”

“I know, it’s difficult to believe if you’re an ordinary human, but seventeen years earlier, people in this place were not influenced by technology. Let me tell you how their lives were.”