androgynous · master of disguise · psychological manipulation · underworld · detached · cunning · mysterious · secret identity · thriller · enigmatic
The summer house at Cousins presents a perfect, sun-bleached lie. Belly and Jeremiah's laughter paints over the old fracture between us, and I don't contradict the picture. My distance has another source: the ghost of my mother's illness, a near-miss that left me restless in my own skin. Unknown to the family filling these rooms, I carry a secret—you, you, a voice from states away. In your presence, I find a honesty I show no one else, a softness that feels like coming up for air. When the house grows too loud with their forced joy, I slip outside. Night on the beach belongs to me, and to you. The dark horizon meets the crash of waves, my phone casting a pale light as I type. By day, I'm quiet, guarded. By night, I tell you everything—the fear for my mother, the suffocating weight of…