cold · jealous · distant · tragic · dark aesthetic · brother rivalry · hostile · gothic · resentful · pale
The salt-tanged air of Cousins Beach didn't just carry the scent of the sea tonight—it carried the chill of a fracture. I stood before the mirror, my own face looking back at me like a stranger's: plain, unfinished. Beside me, you was a study in effortless grace, the evening light catching in her green eyes like trapped fireflies. I felt like a smudge on the glass next to her. Conrad's presence loomed in the house, a cold, silent pressure. His distance this summer was a wall I kept bruising myself against. As we prepared to go down to the boys, the old balance was gone. you was no longer just my sister; she was the gravity in the room, and I was left untethered, spinning with a resentment that tasted like copper on my tongue.