school...he'll get bored!"
"Giulia, the other kids usually have fun at summer school. Francesca and Giuseppe's children are enjoying it very much. You know very well that he's not gonna do anything at summer camp! We need to find another option, something that makes him fight back. He doesn't even look alive. Do you remember how vital when we were his age?"
"Of course, I do!" My mother would yell on our doorstep that dinner was ready. But, most of the time, I would not even hear her because I was busy running in the fields and rolling over the grass. We were free and happy. We certainly cannot offer him this kind of life in the city. Yet, he does not know how to make the most of summer camp. He doesn't have any friends, no one to invite over and help him cure this monotony he's been living in. He doesn't let anyone get attached to him. Sometimes I ask myself how he feels about us. He's so elusive when I try hugging him..."
"Giulia, teens do not want to be cuddled by their mothers. I am sure he still loves us, but we're not communicating with him in the right way. We need to find a new one. We need to find a way to wake him up. Maybe he could talk to Ida? She's got two young boys. Maybe she can give us some useful advice. "
"Are you afraid he's gonna turn out like Libero? That he's suffering from a hereditary psychological disorder?"
"No, with Libero it was different. His problems were due to his father's death. But there is a common ground, and Ida's experience might be useful. She really worked miracles with that boy after they moved to the countryside. And she did that all on her own! With the farm too."
"Yeah, do mention it to her. I trust your sister. She has her own way of seeing things, and I like it."
"When are we getting the school report?" asked Carlo to his wife.
"June 19th..."
"It'll be too late to decide what to do. You should ask his Italian teacher to have a one-on-one discussion with you. We have to decide where we are sending off our kids. Applications to both summer camp and summer school close before the 19th." suggested Carlo.
"Yes, you are right. We need to be sure of the situation, although he doesn't do that badly at school. It's just that he doesn't put his soul in anything he does. Do you know that the new tenants from the second floor have moved in? They seem to be good people. Mrs Giovanna told me they moved here from Potenza. That's far! It certainly won't be easy for them at the beginning. They have a son who's the same age as Elio. I could invite him over some afternoon..."
Giulia then noticed that Carlo, who was lying on the couch, had already fallen asleep.
"Come on, honey, let's go to bed." She gently whispered to him to wake him up.
Second Chapter
A cold whisper was obsessing him
Elio was standing on the wide pavement in front of his school. All the other kids around him were speeding up, quickly getting in their parents' cars or chasing each other around on the way home. He, on the other hand, was dizzily looking everywhere for his mother's car as if it were his lifeline, hoping that she had not left yet after the one-on-one session with his Italian teacher.
After the school yard emptied out completely in a short amount of time, Elio gave up on waiting and started walking home. He hated walking. And he hated even more walking down that unbearable lime tree-lined road that connected school to his house.
He waited a few more minutes and then he decided to head home on his own. Then, he ordered his foot to move forward. For anybody else it might seem an easy task, but for Elio, who had been communicating very little with his legs, was a struggle.
He turned left on Via del Corso; and at the corner he found himself in front of that stretch of road he despised. A grove of lime trees ran along the main road. To anyone else it was only a grove of beautiful lime trees in bloom whose perfume was carried along by the wind, and made the whole neighborhood smell good. As he was starting down along the line of trees with difficulty, he got the feeling of being followed.
He turned around sharply and thought he had seen a black beast hide behind a tree.
"It can't be" he kept repeating to himself "Have I just seen a clothespin glasses on that strange dog's nose?"
He frighteningly went back to walking as he was seeing shadows behind the trees. As if that was not enough, the wind was blowing through the branches. A cold whisper was obsessing him; it was tickling his ears and then getting stuck in his brain.
He could not understand the meaning of those sounds. Caught up in that nasty feeling, he ordered his body to try and run away. He was sweating, and the more he ran, the more those sounds seemed to be chasing him and the closer the shadows seemed to be getting to him.
He started running as fast as he could. Then, he heard a brutal voice order him to stop running. He turned around sharply and once again noticed a black figure hide behind a tree nearby. He had already reached the intersection with the main road, which could have marked the end of that nightmare.
However, he felt a cold breeze behind his neck. He turned around again, this time without stopping, but something hit him hard and threw him onto the ground.
Elio was startled and curled up in a ball with his head in his arms.
In that very same moment, he heard a familiar voice call him:
"Elio! Elio! What the heck are you doing?"
It was his sister who was scolding him. She was upset because he had run into her. Afterwards, she realized that Elio was in an awful state.
She calmed down and asked:
"How are you feeling?"
Elio, after hearing her voice, raised his head.
Gaia noticed that he was freaked out, all sweaty and his face was paler than usual. For a second, she tried to figure out why he was running. It was very unusual for him. It seemed to her that he was running away from something or someone. In the meanwhile, she helped him up.
"Why were you running like that?" she asked. "Did something scare you?"
Gaia could not remember the last time Elio had run. Elio did not answer. The only thing he wanted was getting away from the road as soon as possible. He turned the corner without saying anything.
Gaia went worriedly after him.
"Elio!" she called him again.
"It's nothing!" replied Elio rudely. "It's really nothing!"
Elio's behaviour was causing Gaia to get angry again.
"It's nothing, uh? You literally just ran into me. Yet, you say it's nothing!"
Elio apologised to her only to avoid further discussions, which would only wear out his body even more.
"I'm sorry." he said.
Those superficial apologies ended up upsetting Gaia even more. However, she kept walking behind her brother, worried about him.
By Sunday morning, Carlo and Giulia finally had made a decision. As they were making breakfast, they were discussing their idea whilst waiting for their children to wake up.
"She
