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/ EPISODE ZERO

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❀When I was ten, I fell and broke my ankle.

Conrad and Belly had been running after me, the three of us playing a simple game of tag that I was winning in. I was great at tag, always going undefeated.

That was until I stepped in a hole in the sand, my ankle twisting and breaking. I sunk to the ground, loud wails and never ending tears streaming down my face.

It had hurt so much that I wanted nothing more than to wake up from this dream that felt way to real. It wasn't a dream though, and by time Conrad and Belly reached me, I was wide awake in pain.

Conrad looked down at my ankle, grimacing at the way it was bent. He smiled sadly. "I'll go get mom."

He ran off after that, running as quick as he could towards the beach house I live in each summer. He was quick, and through I was crying heavily, I could still see him enter the back door of the beach house.

"Lonni." Belly said, trying to get my attention.

Belly stayed. Belly always stays.

"B-belly, it hurts." I leaned against her, my head falling against her shoulder as I cried against it. "So much."

Belly wasn't sure what to do, but she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me like she was trying to take away my pain. It was working, my chest didn't move so rapidly with my heavy breathing, and my cries started to quiet.

"It's okay Lonni, I've got you."

The stabbing, shooting pain in my ankle was there. But Belly Conklin was magic when it came to taking some of that pain away.

My mom showed up soon after I melted into Belly. My mom was crying as she and Laurel helped me up and practically carried me towards the beach house. Belly wasn't far behind, but she wasn't beside me anymore, and it's like all my pain came back.

Belly was my best friend, she was the one I was joined at the hip with, she's the one that say by me in the hospital and held my hand as the nurse and doctor reset my broken bones. She told me that neon green would look best on my ankle, so that's what I picked.

That night, when I was wrapped up in a blanket, Belly had knocked on my door and entered the room. She walked up to my bed, lifting up a blanket an laying down beside me.

That night she drew and wrote all over my cast, filling out almost as much as she could. Then she fell asleep beside me, the top of our heads pressed together.

It was just me and Belly.