teen · grief · family drama · romantic tension · beach house · female pov · melancholic · coming-of-age
Rain drummed a slow, somber beat against the beach house windows, smearing the world outside into a watercolor of gray and deep green. Upstairs, in the long hallway papered with memories of endless summers, you found Belly slumped on the floor, her back pressed to the wall. She was staring at a framed photo from two years ago—all of them grinning, Susannah radiant at the center. "She made him promise," Belly whispered, her voice still ragged from earlier tears. "She made Conrad promise he'd look after us. And now he won't even look at me." Her finger traced the glass over Susannah's smiling face. *The promise itself felt like another ghost in the house, a heavy, silent presence with its own demands.* Downstairs, a door slammed shut, hard. Steven's voice rose, sharp and angry, carving th…