When Summer Stole My Heart

The plane ride to Ireland was boring. Boring and way too long. I was visiting my grandparents for the summer and my own parents decided it would be good for me to go by myself. So here I was, looking out the window, down at the city of Dublin, the plane about to land. I groaned and closed my eyes, gripping the seat. Don’t forget to breathe. Now, it’s not that I have a problem with being in a plane, it was just the landing and taking off. And then there was a large bump, the plane shook a little and the pilot came over the intercom.
“Welcome to Ireland. Local time is 4:37 in the evening, local temperature is 16 degrees Celsius. Thank you for flying with us, enjoy your stay.”
When I got off and went through the little tunnel I looked around excitedly for my cousin and grandparents, but so far there was no one. I sigh nervously and walk along with the crowd to get to the luggage drop-off. As I was waiting for my things someone came up behind me and covered my eyes with their hands.
“Guess who!” A deep voice said with a chuckle.
I giggle and turn around, “Connor!” He laughed and engulfed me in a hug, “Hey there cousin, how have you been?” I smile. Connor was like a brother to me. He lived here with our grandparents after his parents died when he and I were ten. Every time I came to visit he and I would run around causing trouble. A few times we had wondered into Tomnafinnoge Woods. This was the woods that we were forbidden to enter. It was twilight and we made our way into the dark woods. The branches crackled beneath our feet and there were strange noises surrounded us we were so scared we ran all the way home.
“Evelyn!” I looked to where the voice that called my name was. It was my grandparents. I run into their arms and hug them tight. “Grandma, Grandpa!” The released me and grinned, “Why look at you darling,” Grandma begin holding me at arm’s length, “Why you are just gorgeous!” I blushed. I never quite saw myself as that. I was, at least I’m guessing, normal height, with long curly auburn hair and wide dark green eyes. My skin was too pale and I could never get a tan, no matter how hard I tried. I was pretty, I knew that, but not absolutely gorgeous. I heard Connor scoff from behind me and I smacked him in the stomach, “Oh shut up.” Grandpa grabbed my bags and huffed. Connor ran over to him and took them up. “No need for you to carry it, I’ve got them.” Grandpa nodded and began walked away. I looked at my Grandma, “What happened.” She put her hand on my back and we began following Grandpa.
“Your grandfather suffered a heart attack a month ago. He’s fine now, but the doctor told him not to push it.”
My eyes widened. Ohmigosh. A heart attack? Grandpa has always been so healthy and lively. I never thought that he would ever have a heart attack. Grandma rubbed my back and we made our way to the parking lot.
* * * * *
Finally we were in the car and on our way to Shillelagh, a village in County Wicklow. It got its name from the blackthorn walking stick that came from the trees of Tomnafinnoge Woods, one of the two Cork Oaks woods that still exist in Ireland. Connor was looking out the window, much like I was. Ireland is the most beautiful place I know. Rolling green hills with trees and flowers covering the land, it is always cold and moist here and I preferred that over the hot, dry climate of California.
We rolled into the village and down the streets and up to a nice quaint stone home from the sixteen hundreds with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a small sitting room and a kitchen. This was my grandparent’s home, right on the edge of the Tomnafinnoge Woods.
Connor led me to my room and opened the door and announced, “Voila!” It was the same room I always stayed in. I twin bed was in the middle of the room with two old-fashioned bed stands with old, very old, stain-glass lamps. To the right was a nice white vanity that matched the bed frame. There were two windows with simple green and pink curtains hanging above them that matched the quilt on the bed. The floors were wooden with a green rug in the center of the floor, and of course, thank god, there was a closet. I sniffed the air. It smelled like it always did. I musty hay smell with a hint of dog. Connor set my things down by the bed and looked at me, “It’s been awhile Evie. Why haven’t you come and visited; how long has it been?”
“Six years I think.” I guessed walking over to him and linking arms with him we walk into the sitting room. Scooter, their Border collie was sleeping over in the corner. I guess he sensed that I was here because his head popped up, spotted me, his tail began wagging, and he trotted on over to me.
“Hey there Scooter!” I say happily kneeling down and running my hands through his thick fur and scratching his head, he licked my face happily. “Six years,” Connor let out air, “How old were we then, eleven?” I nodded and stood up. “Yup, so what is there to do here that’s fun?” I inquired. He grinned, “Well, after supper you and I can meet up with some of my friends and head down to the local pub. Sound fun?” I bobbed my head in response happily.

After supper Connor and I set out down the street to one of his friends homes. When we got there he walked right in. I gave him a strange look. I don’t think I have ever seen anyone do that, I certainly would never think about doing something like that. I don’t even let my friends at home do that, whether my parents are home or not. “Hey Lucas, you ready?” Connor asked as he walked up to a guy wearing a leather jacket with dark jeans and light blonde tussled hair that fell into his light blue eyes. The dark clothing completely contradicted his features yet it looked good on him.
He peered passed Connor’s shoulder, “Who’s she?” Connor looked at me, “That my dear friend is my wonderful cousin who has come to stay with us for the summer.” He announced then leaned in and whispered something into Lucas’ ear. Lucas’ eyes darted up at me and he smiled. “Okay, okay, calm down.” I rolled my eyes, “Alrighty then, let’s go boys.” I urged as I opened the front door and ushered them out. “American I see.” He pointed out. I raised a brow, “Irish I see.” He laughed and swung his arm around me, “I have a feeling we are gonna be friends.” I laughed as well and took his arm off me, “And I have a feeling that you have quite the charm.” He smiled at me and shrugged, “If you say so.”
“Alright you two, tone it down. So, Lucas, are we meeting Emmet and Max at the pub?”
Lucas nodded, “Yes, I think Julie may be coming too.”
When we walked into the pub I was immediately hit with the smell of Guinness and a lot of noise. There was a drunken man singing horribly at the karaoke section with people cheering him on and the lights were dimmed throughout the entire pub. The boys led me over to the bar where two other boys were sitting clinking their mugs together and laughing. “Emmet, max we have a new friend.” Lucas said taking my forearm in hand and pulling me over to them. They turned, grinned, and waved. Connor put his hand on a cute red haired boy, “This is Emmet.” Then he put his hand on an extremely hot black haired boy, “And this is Max.” Max stuck out his hand, “Pleasant to meet you love, and what’s your name?” Oh my, he’s from England. “The names Evie, and it’s nice to meet you as well.” Emmet coughed and waved again, “Hello Emmet.” He still didn’t say anything. Connor put his hand on my shoulder and leaned against me, “You’ll have to forgive Emmet, he is shy around girls.”
“Pretty girls, that is.” Lucas cut in.
I scoffed. I swear I don’t think I have ever had so much attention from a guy in my life. I mean yeah I have gone out on a date or two but I don’t think any of them were this nice, or charming. I turned to Lucas and patted him on the back, “You may want to tone it down Lucas.” He blushed slightly then shook it away.
We ordered three lagers. Emmet and Max already had theirs. After the boys had a few lager and I only had one they came up with the brilliant idea to go into the woods. That’s right folks, the woods. Those ominous woods that I was told never to go into. I objected to the idea. Connor only teased me saying I need to grow up and get over what my grandmother told me when I was a little girl. They are just woods, nothing can hurt me there. I could tell he was wrong but just looking at the woods you could tell there was something wrong about them, something terribly wrong. The last time I had ventured into Tomnafinnoge I was with Connor and we were seven. It was almost night and we wanted to do something fun, something that scared us. And let me tell you, it did exactly that.
Two tiny ants, that’s what we were compared to those massive oak trees. The woods were so dense, so dark it was hard to breathe. We just kept walking further and further in. The leaves and branches that had fallen from the trees broke underneath our feet and eerie sounds surrounded us. We had been so scared we ran all the way back home and into the arms of our parents.
I didn’t want to go and I made that perfectly clear. There was no way that I was stepping into those woods, especially at night. So we stayed and drank; a typical night for Connor and his friend, as I was informed.
* * * * *
The next day it rained non-stop.
Connor had told me not to worry. It might rain a lot but we can still have plenty of fun. He invited Lucas, Max, and Emmet over and we all sat in the living room munching on some Doritos and sipping some tea Grandma had brewed. Max and Lucas continuously flirted with me which I did not mind one bit, Connor just rolled his eyes and told them to cut it out, but in the end I was beginning to like Lucas, even though he was a bit too charming for my liking.
It was getting dark out and by now we were all bored. We had watched all the movies we could, played poker, played board games; even played a little COD. For those of you that are illiterate to the world of video games COD is an acronym for Call of Duty.
Personally I don’t understand the appeal to the game. All you do is run around and shoot people. There was no real strategy or meaning to it. But the boys seemed to enjoy it immensely so I put my own personal preferences to the side and allowed them to have their fun.
Max got up and drew back the curtains.
“Hey, it’s stopped raining.”
I wicked grin spread across Lucas’ lips, “Let’s go into the woods.”
I shake my head vigorously, “Absolutely not!”
Connor laughed and stood up, stretching out his long legs, “Don’t be such a wimp.”
“I’m not a wimp!” I pout with an offended tone.
The boys all grabbed hold of me and dragged me outside, leading me up the hill and to the entrance of Tomnafinnoge. My eyes darted around, taking in the dark scenery. Rain was dripping from the leaves, the moon shone brightly above us, creating an even more eerie feeling. I heard an owl hoot, wings flapped and I quickly grabbed hold of the nearest arm. Lucas chuckled, “Come on! It’ll be fine.” I scoffed, God, he couldn’t be more wrong. His grandparents obviously never told him the stories that mine did. But how could he not be scared? I mean just look at this place, even with the light of the moon above us and the lights of the town behind us the scene in front of us was all black, only the tips of the leaves were visible, but nothing farther than two feet at the most.
Lucas tugged me forward and I quickly made sure to grab onto Connor’s arm, if I was going so was he.
I groaned silently to myself as I was pulled into Tomnafinnoge.