Madison Summerville—Women’s History Month

In honor of Women’s History Month, Atlantis is publishing artists and writers who identify as women. Introducing Madison Summerville.

Please don’t leave me again

My sister was a regular mastermind.
She was 10 years older, wiser, and stronger than I was
And until her divine intervention, I was never creative with where I put my body.

It didn’t fit in tiny places
So hiding didn’t come naturally
But my sister was able to fit anywhere she wanted.

On one summer night
She crawled into my room hoping to be released from her barren prison
Also known as the guest room.

It used to be her room- before she left for college
Our parents converted it, getting rid of all her remaining possessions
And turned it into the wasteland.

No personality
No remnants of her
Just sand-colored walls and beach signs.

We talked under the covers of my bed for hours
And when it was time for her to return to the wasteland that was once hers
We heard an unmistakable moan come from our parent’s room.

She gripped me tight and led me to the closet
On that fateful night she chose to protect me from the horror
Of hearing my parents having sex.

We hid together in the closet all night
Her space was now my space
And it was the only space we couldn’t hear them.

That closet used to be ours before she left
And she used to hide there
Until our stuff became intertwined in that small room.

Her old softball cleats
Left marks
On my collection of stuffed animals.

After hours of walking down a lane of memories
She left
Again.

Her hiding place
Was now our hiding place
Was now my hiding place.

I didn’t need the closet
I had always hidden with her
And an older sister is the best hiding place a young girl can find.

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Madison Summerville is a junior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She enjoys writing horror and nonfiction in her free time. Her published works can be seen in Atlantis, Second Story Journal, and The Howler Daily.