Dreams Of Fame
1.32 - Sylvan Curse
“You know what, José? We never went on a honeymoon,” Summer said, looking at herself in the mirror in José’s room.
“You said you didn’t want one, Summer,” José said, stopping strumming his guitar to look at her.
“Yeah, I know,” Summer shrugged. “Just thinking. Since we never wasted money on that, and we have plenty… we should all take a family vacation to Windenburg! Wouldn’t that be fun and extravagant?”
“If you’re thinking extravagant, why aren’t you saying Del Sol Valley? That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of the word.”
Summer shook her head. “There’s just something about Windenburg…”
José smiled at her lovingly. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to bring that up to everyone else then.”
Summer didn’t respond, her eyes glazed over, seemingly transfixed on her appearance in the mirror.
“Summer?” José asked, worry entering his voice.
Summer suddenly collapsed.
“Summer!” José yelled. He threw his guitar to the side, and ran to her side.
He knelt down, and shook her. She didn’t respond. José placed his fingers on side of her neck and was relived to still feel a pulse. She was still breathing… but… what had just happened?
Once José gathered the family, he ended up laying Summer down on the couch in the living room.
“So you’re saying she just… fell over?” Travis asked doubtfully.
“Yes!” José exclaimed. “One moment she was fine, talking about vacations, the next, she was collapsed on the floor. I don’t understand what could possibly be wrong!”
“She’s cursed…” Giovanna muttered. “She’s cursed!”
José sighed, exasperated. “Granny, I love you, but could you not right now?”
Giovanna gave no sign that she’d understood, and continued smiling into the air like she usually did.
Zoe stood over Summer, studying her quizzically. “Yeah, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her… but... jeez.”
Travis and José looked at her curiously.
Zoe looked at the two of them, wide eyed. “Oh, sorry. I just didn’t realize how… how do I say this… old… Summer looked until this moment.”
Travis frowned. “Maybe you just shouldn’t have said it.”
“Is this what the old, mean Zoe was like?” José asked Travis audibly. “I sure hope not! It’d be completely unreasonable for anyone to move in with a bitch like that.”
Travis ignored the obvious jab at Zoe, and focused on the situation at hand. “It’s clear the the four of us here aren’t going to have any answers of our own. We should probably get ready to head to the hospital.”
José shook his head. “No.”
“Huh? Why not, José?”
“Summer talked to me about how much she hated being a patient there, hated feeling trapped in a hospital bed, and I can’t do that to her again where she was there a little less than a year ago. Plus, whatever this is doesn’t seem too bad, right? She just passed out!”
“I can’t say I entirely agree with you, José, but if that’s what you think is best, I’m not going to argue against you,” Travis said quietly.
“Thank you.”
“Then… what should we do?” Zoe asked.
I think our best option would be reaching out to everyone we know…” Travis muttered thoughtfully. "José, could you reach out to Jo? Zoe, you can keep an eye on Granny and Summer. I’ll, uh, try to contact Liberty and Beatrice. Liberty installed a program that’s supposed to be able to contact the research base she’s staying at last time she was here… but she didn’t sound all that confident.”
José nodded curtly, and headed out the door.
“I’m not totally useless, you know Travis?” Zoe sighed, walking over to Travis.
“I never-“
“Yeah, I know, you never said that. But whenever something comes up, I’m usually ignored, or asked to do the meaningless tasks. The one time I was actually asked to do anything, it was when Summer went missing, and guess what? I was the one who ended up finding her.”
“Zoe, I never intended-“
“I get it though. Don’t want to rely on the girl with two personalities, one that’s totally ditzy, and the other a total bitch. But I’m trying Travis. I am! Focusing on this school… I really think I’m finally reaching some middle ground between the two. So next time? Give me a chance. I think I’ll end up surprising you.”
Travis stood there, speechless, as Zoe took Giovanna’s hand, and led her away, just as he’d asked.
Maybe… maybe she was right. Zoe had definitely seemed more present recently. More present then she’d seemed in a long time, outside of bitch Zoe. Travis resolved that once Liberty made it home, he’d ask her what she thought of Zoe. Nodding to himself, Travis headed off to his computer.
Surprisingly enough, Travis’s message ended up going through to Liberty, and she promised him that she’d be back the next day. Beatrice was going to stay behind, as she didn’t have much knowledge of any diseases outside of those native to Sixam.
So, everyone decided to reconvene the following day.
But, before heading off to bed, Travis went down to the basement to talk to José. José was seated at the basement dining room table, staring vacantly into thin air.
“Hey, José,” Travis said, sitting down next to him.
José nodded to show that he recognized his presence.
“I, uh, just wanted to check in and make sure that you were still completely certain we shouldn’t take Summer to the hospital. Also, sent the kids to an overnight daycare, like you suggested…”
“I’m positive that Summer should stay right here,” José said firmly.
“Just… it’s been half a day now, and Summer hasn’t budged at all. Every time I walk into that living room, I see her feet dangling off that couch, and it just feels… wrong. Almost like there’s a corpse just sitting there.”
José was silent for a while, then when he finally spoke again, his voice was quieter than ever. “Honestly Travis, I don’t know what to do. I want to respect Summer, and her wishes, but I’m just really worried, you know? Worried for both her and our unborn son… I’m trying to be strong for them, but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep that up…”
“How about this? If no one has any ideas once we gather tomorrow, we’ll go to the hospital. Once Summer is better, I’ll let her know that we had no other choice, and it was my decision.”
“You really think… that would work?”
Travis snorted. “Oh, yeah. For sure. Summer’s forgiven me for a lot worse than that. Falling in love with another woman, for one.”
José chuckled slightly. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ll be fine.”
There was a sudden scream from upstairs, killing any semblance of a good mood that Travis had just created.
“That sounded like-“ José said quickly.
“Zoe,” Travis said, finishing his sentence.
The two quickly rushed upstairs. They found Zoe upstairs, unharmed, but she was staring at the couch where Summer was laying.
José didn’t even blink. He was at Summer’s side in an instant. When he saw what Zoe had seen, he took several steps back.
“What? What is it?” Travis asked. “I’m afraid to look.”
“Summer… she’s… she’s aging… like really fast…” Zoe said breathlessly.
Travis finally worked up the courage, and stepped over to the other side of the couch. What he saw took his breath away. Somehow, in the last few hours, Summer’s hair had gone completely grey.
“I… I don’t know what to say…” Liberty said quietly, looking at Summer.
Everyone but Liberty was seated at the dining room table, ready to figure out just what exactly was going on with Summer.
She’d aged even more overnight. She looked almost as old as Giovanna. Whatever was going on was pretty far from natural.
So far from natural that both Travis and José had decided not to bring her to the hospital, even though it was obvious she’d reached a point where she needed some form of help. There was nothing the typical doctor would be able to do to reverse the whole situation. So, instead, they left her on the couch.
“When you asked me over, what exactly were you hoping I would do?” Jo asked. “I’m nothing but an old woman.”
“Well, uh, an old woman typically has… experience?” Travis stammered. “So, I, uh, thought…”
“I may have experience, Travis, but not the slightest idea about any of this…” Jo said quietly, looking pensively down at the table.
“I get the feeling you wanted Beatrice more than you wanted me for this, huh Travis?” Liberty said, walking back over to the table and taking her seat.
“I-“
“Before you get all defensive, I get it. Cause, I mean, this sure seems like some alien disease, doesn’t it? She collapses out of nowhere, and has symptoms like none of us have ever seen before…” Liberty muttered. “Beatrice just didn’t feel safe… she came down for José and Summer’s wedding, because she respects them, and is going to visit for their baby shower, but in general? This is the last place she wants to be. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think you could still reach out to her with that software you have on Travis’s computer?” José asked.
Liberty nodded. “Yeah, of course. Now that I know that works, I’m definitely going go try that. I can’t promise that Beatrice will get back right away, but we can hope!”
The room fell into silence after that. It wasn’t like anyone had an idea about what was happening.
Until Zoe broke her silence. “Um… do you guys think it could have anything to do with that Sylvan Glade she fell asleep in?”
There was a while before anyone responded.
“But… wasn’t that months ago, Zoe?” Liberty asked. “Wouldn’t this have already happened if that was the case?”
“But can anyone else think of anything else unusual Summer has done in the past year?” José asked. “And Zoe, didn’t you say that the tree told you that anyone who mistreated the forest would face the consequences, or something like that?”
Zoe nodded.
“I’m sure Summer passing out drunk in Sylvan Glade was the last thing the forest world have appreciated,” José said, shaking his head. “That’s got to be it, guys!”
Travis, Liberty, and Jo all gave them weird looks.
“José, Zoe… trees don’t talk,” Travis said simply.
“That one did,” Zoe insisted.
“It didn’t talk to me personally… but I believe Zoe,” José said. “That glade… it was otherworldly. There was something so naturally unnatural about it. You’d have to be there to understand, but it makes complete sense to me. Now the question is who here knows the most about Willow Creek, and by extension, Sylvan Glade?”
Liberty and Travis still looked doubtful, but they weren’t arguing. In their minds, José could run with it, and they’d just have to hope for the best. It wasn’t like anyone else had any leads.
Jo, on the other hand, spoke up. “I… I don’t have much knowledge myself. But I think I know who does. We need to reach out to the Goth family.”
“The Goth family?” Travis sighed. “Seriously? After what we did to Cassandra, that seems like the group least likely to help us right now.”
“Definitely not Cassandra, I agree,” Jo said. “She’s busy being secretary to the President-whatever that entails, and regardless, she doesn’t even live in Willow Creek anymore. We’ve got to talk to either Bella or Mortimer.”
“And Beatrice erased Cassandra’s memory. We should be fine reaching out regardless,” José added. “Although… I guess she knows that her memory was erased here, cause, you know… I reported it…”
“Don’t dwell on that, José. And I’ll still get in touch with Beatrice, just in case she has any ideas,” Liberty smiled.
“Zoe?” Travis asked. “Could you reach out to Bella and Mortimer? Out of any of us here, I think it’s most likely they’d respond to another local celebrity.”
Zoe smiled radiantly. “Of course!”