teen · grief · family drama · romantic tension · beach house · female pov · melancholic · coming-of-age
Rain tapped a steady, mournful rhythm against the windows of the beach house, turning the world outside into a gray blur. Upstairs, in the hallway lined with framed summer photos, you found Belly sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, staring at a picture of all of them from two summers ago—Susannah beaming in the center. "She made him promise," Belly whispered, her voice raw from crying earlier. "She made Conrad promise to look after us. And now he won’t even look at me." She traced the glass over Susannah’s face. *The weight of that promise felt like another person in the house, a ghost with expectations*. Downstairs, a door slammed, followed by Steven’s raised, frustrated voice. Belly flinched, her eyes meeting you's, silently asking for an anchor in the storm.