Her Secrets

Prologue

Four years prior

She stood at the cliff that overlooked the ocean.

She watched as the waves crashed against the solid rocks beneath the surface. This was her happy place at one time. But it wasn't anymore.

She never saw it coming. Her heart pounded in her chest, leaving her feeling as if she'd explode.

This was never supposed to happen. It wasn't supposed to end like this. She thought to herself as the tears began to fall.

She was supposed to create a life to call her own. To have a career, to marry, and maybe even have kids one day. She wasn't supposed to grow up without her. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

She wasn't supposed to have her life cut short at the young age of nineteen. She hadn't even lived yet. All these years, she'd only been surviving. She never got out of it. It would only end when she was dead but for her it wouldn't end. The lies would continue. The secrets kept. Her death was her own fault. She could only hope her sister wouldn't fall into her own footsteps.

It would be a death sentence. The curiosity had killed her.

It was never supposed to happen like this. The words repeated inside her head sending her into a never ending spiral of self loathing and pity for herself.

The mascara smeared across her face, a direct result of the misty air and her salty tears that streamed like a river down her face.

She was scared and afraid. All she wanted was to run into the warmth of her mothers arms. All she wanted was to tell them she loved them.

Will they hate me? She wondered.

Will they find me? She thought.

She hoped they wouldn't hate her. She hoped they wouldn't find her. On either end, it would be painful.
She knew what it would look like. She knew what it would be ruled as. And it was the last thing she wanted them to think. She didn't want them to believe she had given up.

A figure of a man sped towards her not allowing her to have much time to comprehend what was happening.

Help me. She didn't know if she yelled it aloud or in her head but one thing she was sure of was that she was scared.

Before she knew it she was already falling as she lost her balance slipping over the edge.

The last thing she thought before her body hit the ocean as if it was concrete, was that she knew who it was. Even at just a show of eyes, she knew.

As she began to sink after a fight, with no way out, she thought about how much she loved her family.

Her real family.

The ones that loved her.

*

"Cam told me she was going to the beach with her friend." Mia told her parents for the millionth time.

"What friend? Mia you haven't been clear." Her mother spoke gently. Her usually buttery smooth voice was shaken, it was clear she was on the verge of having a mental breakdown.

Any mother would when their teenage daughter, legally an adult, disappeared and their other daughter wasn't straight up with her. It was driving her insane.

Take this to the grave. Camille had said. Don't tell them I was out with a guy friend mom and dad will kill me but not before I do the same to you.