HOPELESSLY! ━━ CONRAD FISHER

prologue!

━━000,
i'm high on emotion!

⚘⚘⚘

The summer at Cousins beach was a sacred space. For it is timeless and predictable. The same families have owned houses on the beach for decades, and the kids who come for the summer have all grown up with one another. So despite only living there for three months out of the year, when they all come back together, it was like they had never left that previous August.

At least, that's how it used to be.

But, life has a funny reputation of moving way too fast. And as the Conklin and Fisher blossomed into beautiful teenagers, so did the Sunil twins. Hormones and puberty were inevitable, but all six siblings had secretly hoped they'd never grow up. Because then things wouldn't have to feel so different.

All of their mothers had met in college, as they were paired to live in a triple, and somehow the three of them made it out alive with only a few minor fights... and since then they've been the greatest of friends. A honest inspiration to the six children who, as they grew up, watched their mothers love one another so deeply, it felt like they should have never married their husbands and instead raised their children on their own (it would've saved them all from some trauma).

*

The last year for the Sunil's had been difficult... and even that felt like an understatement. Their father, had always been sort of a temperamental man, and though it seemed to be out of love... out of protecting, it had been taken to an unpredictable and threatening level.

They needed space from the man, and in the middle of one night, after tears, screams and glass being shattered, their mother, Angelina, had enough. So she woke both teenagers up, asking them to pack their necessities quickly and quietly, before they headed off to their grandparents house. A halfway point between Cousins beach and their own house in Syracuse, New York.

Though it was never requested by their mother, both Cora and Ben knew they wouldn't speak a word of this to the Conklins or Fishers. They had to pretend everything was perfect.

Perhaps it was due to their mother's wealthy inheritance, or due to the normalized amount of absents that occur in their private school back in Syracuse, but the administration had no issue allowing the teenagers to finish their junior year online. There were only a few weeks left anyway.

And so there they were, sitting in their grandparents sunroom, finishing up their final assignments, knowing that in twenty-four hours they'd be on the beach with their favorite people in the world. It wasn't as fulfilling as Cora had hoped it would be, but she had learned from the last year to not expect anything from anyone anymore, for that led to disappointment and loneliness.

*

It is no surprise that the last year has changed them, any noise causes Cora to flinch, and Ben has a new tendency to clean the house to look like no one has ever lived there. Though their father, John, never physically hit them, the scars from his threats wounded their hearts so deeply, it made them feel and look helpless.

Though they found a form of comfort in a pack of Malboros, together they'd sit in silence on the roof of their house (and then grandparents house, and now inevitably the Fisher's house). The two would smoke in silence, every exhale made their shoulders sag ever-so-slightly, and though it wasn't much, it somehow was enough to keep the two afloat.

Perhaps it wasn't their smartest form of comfort. It had started off months before in an attempt to get their father to stop smoking — they had hidden the lighters, and when he wasn't home, one would sneak into his office to steal a few singular cigarettes (taking the entire carton would raise immediate red flags). At first they would just throw them away, but eventually they were desperate enough to feel something other than emotional pain. And since then, they've been hooked. (But Ben promises he could stop whenever... Cora isn't that strong).

They hadn't heard from their father since they left, but no don't get excited! If anything, that makes it so much worse. As they had no idea what he was feeling or thinking. And every night as Cora falls asleep, she dreads that she'll be awoken to shouts of her father dragging them back to their house in New York.

*

Summer at Cousins Beach is supposed to be perfect, filled with laughter and love, and though that's all Cora wanted, she couldn't help but get a bad feeling.

Nothing's the same as it was before!

—
alright be honest!
what do you think?