MOLTEN HEART ♱ BELLY CONKLIN

02. Surfing Is A Painkiller

ILLICIT BLUES.
02.   ╱ Surfing Is A Painkiller

For as long as Marigold could remember, she had been hidden.

   Whether it was done by herself or others, she was hidden. Herself meaning her feelings, shoved away by the importance of others taking up space. Hidden in the back of her mind, and waiting to be pulled out. And the others, such as her father, who often hid her away from society. Social meetings, business meetings───he was always sending her away to the kitchen, her room, anywhere where they weren't.

She hated the feeling of being pushed away, but her mind never allowed her to talk to anyone about it, so she just stays hidden.

   No matter how weary her body or soul began to feel, she hid it away. She hid everything away from anyone who would try to break down her walls. No treasurer had been able to find that chest hurried deep inside her mind, blocking her true thoughts and feelings.

   Except for Belly.

   Waves crashed onto Marigold as the thoughts of the girl came rushing into her mind. Her breath hitched as the cold water surrounded her legs that lay on each side of the board underneath. The thoughts corrupted Marigold's brain, mind poisoned by the ethereal girl that had wrapped herself around her heart.

Belly Conklin, the girl who broke the barricades in her mind.

From the moment she had met Belly (since they were just infants), she felt bare around her. Nothing was hidden from her, nothing was kept secret. Every thought she thought, every feeling she felt, everything was simply on display for the Conklin girl───except for one. The one if she were to find out, everything could fall to pieces. Nothing would be the same, and Marigold couldn't handle that pain.

   The pain of losing the one person who made her feel like herself, not hidden, seemed impossible. It was a gorgeous and brutal sight: falling in love with Belly.

The one secret that was kept secret, the one bizarre story that Marigold wasn't able to tell her.

From a distance, the waves washing up onto her lap, Marigold watched the girl. It wasn't creepy, she just happened to glance over, noticing the Conklin with her older brother. She admired from afar. They were laughing together, throwing each other into the water. She was smiling big, Marigold could tell, even from afar, and she looked gorgeous.

She always looked gorgeous.

The sun slowly began to set behind the water, disappearing beneath the ripple of the water. Marigold felt the water growing colder on her skin and decided to paddle myself back to the shore to get ready for dinner. She lied flat on her stomach, using her arms to push the water behind her. Soon enough, she had reached shore, peering over to see that Belly and Jeremiah had recruited back inside just as she was doing.

Marigold put away her board, resting it beside the many others. Ever since she was a young, she always had her own board, and decorated it in her own special way. It was something she loved dearly, though some may find it weird whenever she said she had a strong connection to her board.

But it was true, the board was hers, only hers, and that made it special.

Jogging into the house in her blue bikini, she spotted her mom and Laurel laughing together in the kitchen. Some people compare the two of them to her and Belly, but deep down, she knows that isn't true. But sometimes, she couldn't help but wish it was. It would be way more simple that way. Just friends.