Flames by the Shore

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𝓣𝓻𝓾𝓽𝓱 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓼 𝓸𝓾𝓽, 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓻𝔂  𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓮𝓽 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓽 𝓫𝔂 𝓲𝓽 - 𝓔.𝓒

My mother always told me that the truth always comes out, it doesn't matter if you like it or not. You have to be prepared for the day that people figure it out, and start telling you. It could be tomorrow, in two weeks, or maybe in a year. But just be prepared to get hurt by it, because sometimes the truth can be ugly.

It's not always the things you wish to hear. It can be very mean words that could bring your inner child out and it could get hurt.

It happened to me once, and I would never give the same feeling to anyone else.

*************************

It was June 24th. 7.39 am.

I pressed the snooze button on my phone and sat up in my bed. It was the day that Belladonnaire's coming to town. I got up and went to my closet to pick my outfit for the day. I chose white shorts, a blue crop top, and a white jumper. I dressed up, washed up, and went downstairs to meet my mom.

"Morning hon." My mother sipped her coffee on the counter, scrolling on her phone. Didn't have to look up to know that it was me.

"Good morning," I say as I pour myself a coffee and sit down by the table. When you sit in my spot, you get to see the whole beach, not the shore but like boats, people jumping off a cliff. Pretty early to kind of do that right now...

She puts down the mug and sits next to me, still on her phone "Hey uh you that place where you used to buy fruits from?" I nod, the man who sold them was always nice and gave us a discount every time we came to buy from him.

"Well it says here that he will no longer be selling fruits, he will be moving across the country and staying at his sister's house... Hmm, I wonder what happened, but it's not our business." She sighs and stands up, "I'll be going now honey. Don't do anything stupid. Love you." She leaves.

Everything happened so fast, sometimes I couldn't even speak and she didn't question it. She speaks with herself, she doesn't ask for my opinion. The history repeats itself, but it's constant. It's every day now.

Maybe this time, this summer will change everything?

I grab my phone and look in contacts for 'Sheavns'. I call her if she wants to meet up, we do this every day now since we were kids. She mumbles on the of some type of a 'helloo?.'

"You want to hit the beach?" I ask, going up to my room to look for my swimsuit because I know she'll say yes.

"You even dare to ask me?" I hear her voice get a little louder meaning she is getting up and getting ready to meet up.

"Okay, I'll see you there!" I quickly hang up and look for my 'swim bag' that has everything I need for the beach. I put it on my shoulder and go to my kitchen to grab some fruit. I grab an apple for Shea and a peach for myself.

I lock the doors and go outside, I wave to people who are walking by the road. Some just nod their heads, some look away ignoring me like I never was there. I don't care, they just don't know the truth. They know Belladonnaire's coated lies to not hurt their sons.

My feet start to meet the sand and I remove my shoes, I find mine and Shea's lying spot by the swings. I put the blanket on the sand and grab my swimsuit to go change.

Since it was this early there was almost nobody here, I came closer to the changing booth and saw a person's feet there. I wait.

Hearing them coming out made me look up at the person's face. I wish I hadn't done that. My heart dropped to my stomach to see Isaiah's face. William's brother.

"Elodie, oh wow... Didn't think I would meet you here," He says moving away from the changing booth in case I push him away.

Yeah, you weren't part of our friend group who would wake up every morning at 7 am to go to the beach... Lies. You knew.

I just simply nod, look down, and go into the changing room. I hear his feet shuffle against the sand meaning he's going away.

They're early this year, which means that William is somewhere here too in this town. I don't have to be scared of him, no. I just hope to not see him, in a good way. If we see each other, It will open up the wounds that we healed. I don't know how much he healed over this school year, but I know that it would hurt both of us.

I change and go out of the booth, I see Shea lying in our spot already with her swimsuit. She wore it before coming here, smart. I could've avoided that interaction of knowing Belladonnaire's are in town if I did the same.

"Morning El. Did you go to the water already?" She asks, I shake my head.

"I went to change, and guess who I saw." I look up at her and she knows. She already knows.

"It couldn't be William, so... Isaiah?." She looks at me with a worried look, and I nod. It was him. There's a secret between us about her and Isaiah. She liked him, dearly, and wanted what was best for him. But she saw how his family treated me in the past year and she didn't talk to him or anyone from his family anymore.

Well, we had some type of a friend group consisting us four and a couple. They still live here but on the other side of town. I don't go there, neither does Shea. They stood by Belladonnaire's side while I stood there alone with Shea standing by my side. The only person who stuck with me since my childhood years was her. And I love her for that, and I will do the same if she needs me to.

"It's going to be okay, right?" I ask, worried about not making mistakes this summer. For all I want to make up with people and I want someone to know the truth about what happened that night. It was nothing special but they coated with their lies to push everything on me.

"Of course it will. You know as much as I miss it, I would never do that to anybody like William did to you. He's a shitty person El. And you know that." She says holding my shoulder, "Let's go for a swim." She holds my hand and pulls me towards the water.

We laugh getting into the morning ice-cold water, we scream a little bit but it's not something we're not used to.

𝓘 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓸𝓷. 𝓐𝓹𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓲𝔃𝓮 - 𝓔.𝓒