Ardianna Fletcher, 16, bored and annoyed. This was possibly the biggest change Ard had ever had to face. A whole new home, new school, new location, new atmosphere. She was terrified.
Vital beach, a quiet seaside community where nothing exciting ever really happened, or at least Ard thought so. Secrets are well kept among the seaside community, big secrets. As the word starts to unravel around Ard she finds herself stumbling into mystery after mystery, finding new friendships, romances, and new enemies. New mysteries creep into view, unexpected, obscure, enigmatic, seemingly unsolvable. Leaving her to tackle possibly the best or the worst summer ever.
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-The smell was unbarable, decaying flesh smelt worse than anything imaginable, but this had to be done. They wanted to get away with it, to live anther day, free to walk the earth. The guilt was punishment enough in itself, they thought. Each of them helped to haul up the limp, rotting corpse, rolling it, letting it go down, down to the mouth of jutting rocks, like claws piercing the skin, where that body would never be found again. They left the scene, washing their hands, despite them being clean. Trying to wash the guilt away. -
- Grzq vkh ihoo, wr rfhdqv khoo, qhyhu wr eh irxqg, ehqhdwk wkh vzhoo-
Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option.
*****
Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her...
Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault.
[[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]