Summer Ghost Etiquette

Just like every other summer days, My Family and I stayed in my late grandmother's summer house, It was located at the top of a hill in the beautiful Ireland. The house was beautifully decorated, the Renaissance interior beautifully depicted the calmness yet somehow luxury of being able to have a peace of mind in this summer house, away from the busy streets of the city. As much as I hated repetitively coming back here every summer, this place held a special place in my heart. 

"Theo, You wanna come? We're gonna explore the next hill" My sister, Therese inquired, looking at me with those eyes that screamed 'hurry up'. I declined at first, thinking that I'm much too tired to waste another energy in walking, and for the reason that this velvet couch was too soft and welcoming for me to leave, but after endless bargaining, Therese had somehow convinced me to come, I thought maybe I was afraid she was serious about blackmailing me with a video of me unsuccessfully hitting that note from Mariah Carey's "Emotions", In my defense, I was drunk and I am obviously not Mariah Carey. 

Grabbing my disposable camera before joining my sister and my parents, I carefully placed the sling around my neck for it to hang. Not long after I was prepped up, we then started our journey extravaganza on the next hill. My parents and sister chatted along the way, they were talking about how she should really date someone if she doesn't want to be like me, a twenty nine year old man, unmarried and only dated one girl that lasted three months. I scoffed upon hearing those words but decided not to dive deep down on their conversation, I was rather busy taking pictures. I took pictures of the white sand beach from below, the blue clouded skies and the Irish Eyebright that flourished along the trails. I wondered if Therese liked this obscure flower...

"Therese, Look at this flower" I asked but heard no response, My head jolted up and my eyes wandered around trying to look for any sight of my sister. "Therese?" I called but to no avail, I earned no response. Anxiety then crippled at the pit of my stomach, I was too busy taking pictures that I lost track of where my sister and parents were headed. Then another feeling replaced the anxiety in me, I tried recalling what this was, but soon realized I was feeling a sense of Déjà vu... 

I knew this happened before, when I was seventeen...

I didn't really join in the conversation between my parents and my sister, I was busy taking pictures, soon enough liked my mother had said, I got lost and I was alone. Forgetting to memorize or even familiarize the path from the summer house to this hill, I groaned in annoyance. "Therese? Therese?" I tried calling out for my sister but silence answered me. One would think that I should just continue walking where my mind might lead me but speaking as an Overthinker, my frozen body couldn't decide whether to take the left or right path.

"hello? is anyone around ?" a feminine voice echoed around the woods, for a moment I thought it was Therese but soon realized the Irish accented voice that echoed together with her words the second time the female asked.

"hello? is anyone around?" This time around she showed herself, wind brushing past her red hair and a glimmering smile replaced her confused face upon seeing me. "oh hello there, are you lost?" her gentle voice calmed me down a little bit but I couldn't form the words to reply to her, not even the simplest 'yes'. Her beauty was too captivating, her red hair that highlighted her figure, the sparkly blue eyes the sky and ocean couldn't compare and her big bright smile that showed her cute crooked front tooth.

Her sudden movement of trying to keep down her flowy floral dress from the wind made me jolt, pulling me back to reality and stopping me from gawking about her. I muster up the courage to nod , although it was a late reply to her question. " My name is Laoise, and you are?" she quirked her eyebrows in anticipation as she waited for my response, "Theo, I'm Theo". I plastered the most handsome smile I could give but I doubt It was even attractive in anyway. "Do you want me to lead you down the hill? Or do you want to join me in my picnic?" She inquired pointing at the picnic basket that hang around her arm that I didn't notice until she pointed at it. 

As much as I don't want my parents or my sister worry about me, I couldn't say 'no' to the most beautiful girl I have ever seen!

"I'd like to join your picnic, I mean if you don't mind, I don't want you to be alone anyways-" I fumbled my hands in panic as I lost my cool when I talked. Laoise let out a small chuckle, one that stole my heart. She then gestured for me to help her set up her blanket. I noticed that her blanket was another floral patterned similar to her dress, this girl must like flowers so much.

She then sat down, putting her backpack down and placing the picnic basket in the middle. I assumed she only brought two sandwhiches for herself, since she have not expected for someone to join her picnic, but as soon as she opened her basket, I was met with strawberries, grapes, apples, waffles and a strawberry jam , French macarons, a bag of assorted candies and two bottles of apple juice. she told me she loves apple juice so much she brought two of them, not expecting the other bottle would come in handy.

Laoise and I were quite a pair actually, she loves to talk and I love to listen. she talks a lot about the smallest details , like how her favorite flower which was the Irish Eyebright could be seen in her dress and the blanket we were sitting on, which was extremely cute, honestly everything about her makes my heart explode.

"These are actually freshly picked strawberries from my nana's farm" She explained with a proud grin on her face as she picked the strawberries from the container and gestured me to eat it, my heart should count its days for I knew that this weak heart of mine could explode any moment now. Later on, Laoise fed me her waffles with strawberry jam, which she rather preferred than a sandwhich. I don't know if the food was tastier because it was fresh or because I was eating it next to the girl of my dreams, maybe both...

Laoise was a girl of many talents, she was a talented painter, she knew how to crochet and she knew how to play a kalimba! she took out her journal and watercolor and started painting anything she could see, from strawberries to flowers to the beach. The world was more vibrant after seeing her paint the things from her perspective. she even took the time to crochet me a small blue heart which I planned to make it into a keychain. She also held a small concert for me, as she played various sweet melodies on her kalimba. 

whilst she was busy with her hobbies, I was also busy taking pictures of everything. from our picnic set up to her painting, crocheting and playing the kalimba. "I like your camera, we should take a picture together!" the redhead exclaimed as she excitedly studied my camera. I chuckled and gestured to scoot over. We both smile in unison, "1..2..3.. cheese!" "oh no I don't like cheese!"

after hearing the camera's 'click' I hurriedly checked to see how the picture turned out, turns out I was a blushing mess and Laoise thought I looked funny. The redhead asked me again if I wanted to come with her to the beach, and once again I couldn't say 'no'. So we both cleaned up our picnic mess and kept everything back to her magical picnic basket. After realizing that we're going downhill and I didn't want to tire m'lady, I convinced her that I'll bring her backpack and picnic basket. she was quite stubborn on not letting me help...

We were slow when we went downhill, we didn't want any accidents to happened and just chatted along the way, but Laoise couldn't control herself when we were near the beach. Her soft hands found its way to mine, locking our hands together as she dragged me towards the beach. I slowly placed her bag and picnic basket down the sand without breaking our holding hands.

Today I also learned that Laoise liked collecting shells, she's a peculiar little thing. Her flowy dress went well together with the ocean's waves, I couldn't help but take pictures of her. Upon hearing the familiar 'click', Laoise turned around to see me and plastered her smile, showing her crooked tooth once more, and another 'click' echoed once again.

when the sun went down, Laoise led the way back to our summer house but told me she was sorry she couldn't stay for dinner. " as an apology... i'll give you this"... In all honesty, I was expecting maybe a painting or another cute figure she crocheted or maybe perhaps one of the shells she collected earlier, but I wasn't expecting this...she tiptoed to reach my level and smiled her eyes forming a crescent this time before her soft plump lips met my cheeks. I was Starstrucked, couldn't move any bones, and the next thing I knew was Laoise laughing and running towards where she was headed.

I never saw her again after that summer, I was so happy to hike to the same hill the next day, but I was met with no sign of Laoise, everyday of that summer and the next was spent waiting for her on that very same hill, until I turned twenty four. I tried searching for her on Facebook, I tried searching the neighborhood near the summer house with the help of my parents and sister and when my grandma was alive ( I told them the whole story and I was quite embarrassed, or maybe really embarrassed ) but the people in the neighborhood all claimed that they know no one of the name Laoise.

That was until I came upon a strawberry farm, a little further from the neighborhood. It reminded me of Laoise and her nana's freshly picked strawberries. I had the chance to speak with the owner of the farm, but she was old, she told me she had terrible hearing and had the hard time speaking. I was losing hope when she told me she knew no one of the name Laoise not until the housekeeper interrupted us.

" Excuse me sir, Ma'am has Alzheimer's disease, and I heard that you were looking for Laoise, she's her granddaughter"

I was so happy I finally had a lead but the housekeeper, whose name was Kayleigh confessed that she was only a new housekeeper and had only heard from the previous housekeeper that Laoise's full name was Laoise Flynn. After that I searched her name on Facebook but only one account with no profile picture nor any friends appeared with that name.

twelve full years later, I still haven't seen Laoise.

Reminiscing that bittersweet summer, a sigh escaped from my shaky lips. I admitted to myself that she was the reason I never lasted long in a relationship, I was still thinking about her. Laoise was like a ghost, not a terrifying one but a ghost that still lingered around in my mind and heart, every thought of her still makes my heart pound. Laoise was a ghost that made summers worth waiting for and a ghost that left me sweetly.

SUMMER GHOST ETIQUETTE