Whimsical Summer Reads: A Charming Short Story
A Summer Evening with a Book and a Friend Print - Just a lovely summer night on your porch away from the commotion in the house, maybe you will receive a friend to hang out with. Shop it as a print here.
The creeks of crickets are the only music in the background while the sky dims ever slowly this time of year. Evelynn could hear the loud music slowly fade to a muted volume as she walked out onto the dimly lit porch. She was greeted with the cozy silence as she fully escaped the commotion of the summer party happening in the confines of the house.
The cooler air touched her skin immediately as she hung outside. The air inside was getting a little too humid with the number of bodies populating the space. There wasn’t any crazy dancing, just a lot of friends together and hanging out, windows closed off from the cool breeze to circulate properly around the lower floor of the house.
As she moved towards the edge of the porch, she took a seat on the worn-out couch next to the window. She adjusted the flattened pillow and leaned her back onto it. She took a deep, relieving breath, smelling the crisp scent of the flowers that surrounded the entire porch. The crisp, fresh air seemed to relax her muscles, and the scent of the flowers overloaded her nose in a good way. There were so many in pots, large and small.
She opened the boxed foot stool to pull out one of the books she'd stashed in there when she arrived, and placed her phone on top. She got comfortable before she started her cozy reading session, where she left off in the story. She was ready to fall into the book’s world and forget the summer evening surrounding her.
It wasn’t that she hated where she was. She was excited to be hanging out with her friends at the house. When Roscoe, her fawn friend, told her Mitch was planning a huge game night at their house, she immediately said yes and offered to bring some good snacks.
However, as the night went on, and the game night turned more into blaring music and loud conversations, she needed the break from the overstimulation. So, without saying anything, she found a moment in the conversation where no one would be interrupted from her escape, and went out to the cool silence of the evening moonlight.
She also just wanted to get through the book she was halfway through. The book will be spoiled in the coming hours on social media if she doesn't hurry. The book was the final book in a popular fantasy series, and it was just released this morning.
“What’re you reading?”
Evelynn jumped out of her concentration on the book. But no one was around her. She looked about a little more before hearing little taps of paws walk up to the couch, and the cat stretched. They jumped onto the top of the couch and sat there, staring at her. She shook her head, deciding she had heard things, and went back to her book.
“Looks interesting! Is this the first book?”
Ok, now she’s not just hearing things. She placed the book back on her lap and looked about. But nothing caught her eye. No one came out of the house, and no one was outside surrounding the porch. Nothing.
The cat, however, sat back up. They were guarded and looked to be staring behind her. She slowly looked behind her, really focusing on the dark expanse of the yard surrounding her. But, she didn’t have to look far.
Sitting on the corner of the porch fencing was a translucent light blue spectre. They wore baggy shorts and a flowy tank top. Their long, wavy hair was down past their shoulders, with wisps of it floating gradually above their head like little horns. However, the wisps flapped in the wind like a little fire more than the spectre having actual horns.
Evelynn immediately jumped off the couch with a gasp, falling onto the cool wooden ground below. Her book was thrown, falling back onto the couch haphazardly and scaring the cat a bit to fall into the flower bed below. The ghost blinked at her, tilting their head a little as they examined the what’s now shocked expression on their face.
“Oh shoot. You see me!” They said, and proceeded to look past Evelynn to find the book again.
“Yeah, and can hear you!” Evelynn let out a little louder than intended.
The spectre focused on her again and was silent for a quick moment before looking back at the now abandoned book on the couch, “So what’re you reading?”
“Wait, that’s all you care about? Not that I can see you at all? How can I see you anyway? Am I a witch or something..?” Evelynn’s questions poured out of her mouth like a waterfall, one after the other, until she couldn’t create any more. There was silence for a second before the ghost shrugged.
“Well, nothing else to ask. More curious about the book, really.” The ghost popped off the fence to get to the book. They reached out for it, and the book lifted instantly. It turned front and back as the ghost looked at the title and summary.
Evelynn was thrown by the ghost's nonchalant behavior towards her. They only cared about the book. And no matter what they asked, this ghost was not gonna care, they were too invested in this book. Was this person a bookworm when they were alive?
“You only care about the book?” Evelynn asked, to which the ghost immediately nodded with glee. Evelynn took the book back into her arms and sat back down on the couch. “This is the final book in the saga, but I can tell you the broad summary of it.”
“Oh… the last book? I don’t want to be spoiled, though. Do you have the other ones with you?” The ghost’s frown felt like it made the air a little colder around them.
“Sorry, I can tell you the basic summary of the series, though. Spoiler-free.” Evelynn said. That piqued the ghost’s interest because they immediately plopped onto the couch, full attention on her now. Their translucent eyes almost gleamed in anticipation.
“The series follows an adaptation of the fairy Queen Titania. But instead of her making a fool of herself, she’s fixing all of her husband’s mistakes. A lot of misadventures, a little bit of rom-com vibes.”
“Ohh, that is interesting. Is each book just different misadventures, no big stakes?” The ghost turned the book to the first page again to see the beginning.
“Pretty much, which is nice after reading a lot of high-stakes series as of late.”
“Huh, would be nice to read again…”
Evelynn frowned, “You can’t go inside and steal a book from the shelf that I'm pretty sure Mitch doesn’t even look at?”
“No… still can freak him out with a book flying in the middle of the room.”
“Fair point,” Evelynn agreed before settling down again to read and think. She had one idea that popped into her head. When everyone’s together, no one uses the porch box all that often.
“Maybe… I can start leaving books in this box?”
The ghost beamed with excitement. Looks like that’ll do.
The next week, Evelynn and crew returned to Fawn’s house for a lunch get-together. Everyone was cheerful, bringing in snacks, soda, and all the necessities for a fun lunch meet-up. The group filed in one by one with cheers.
Evelynn, however, stayed behind for a short moment. Enough time to drop off the whole Titania series in the footrest box. Maybe the ghost will have some fun reading sessions while everyone is asleep.
Does this aesthetic resonate with you, and want more?
Thank you for reading another short story based on one of my cozy illustrations. I hope you found a new game to add to your inventory. If you’re looking for even more whimsical vibes, such as artwork, you can explore my full portfolio here. Want more cozy recommendations straight to you? Join my biweekly newsletter below!
