High By the Beach

A summer of healing.
That’s what my mother calls it.

But Grove isn’t some magical fix. It’s a place to hide while the dust settles — except dust doesn’t settle when your twin sister‘s been in the ground for six weeks, and the ache in your chest won’t stop echoing the goodbye you never said.

I’m not here to heal.
I’m here to forget.
So the plan is simple: run fast, drink deep, and steer clear of the ocean.

That last rule falls apart my first night here.
One high.
One slip beneath the surface.
One pair of hands pulling me back up.

Carson Eli thinks he has me pegged from the jump — party girl, shallow, reckless.
He wants no part of me.
Hates that I’m taking up space in his circle.

But the thing is… he keeps watching.
And maybe that’s why he starts to see pieces slipping loose.
Starts showing up on days I’m fading into nothing.

Disdain softens.
Numbness fractures.
And everything starts to hurt in colour again.

But the thing about chasing highs — there’s always a come-down.

Carson might be teaching me to stay above water, but he still doesn’t know the reason I keep going under.
And if he gets too close, he won’t just get pulled in — he’ll drown with me.