Mosquera López Sara, Secrets Ruined By Acceptance

SECRETS RUINED BY ACCEPTANCE

Written by Sara Mosquera López

It was the last day of school, before the vacation, when

Olivia, her boyfriend, and her friends arrived at school. Olivia was a tall, skinny girl with light brown hair, brown eyes, and a beautiful face and her boyfriend Ethan was a year older than her; she studied in a very privileged school named Sabot at Stony Point, the classes started at 8:30 am, Olivia and his friends arrived at school on time and she had to say Goodbye to Ethan because Ethan’s classes were located in the senior section hall and she and her friends went to the classroom.

Once the school day was over, Ethan had invited some Friends at Olivia’s home to plan for the vacation trip they had been talking about for years, the plan was to go on a trip together for around 22 days to the beach of Novagio, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece. Navagio is a fantastic beach surrounded by mountains and crystal blue water.

Despite the beauty of this island, Olivia didn’t want to go to this island but she was peer pressured by her boyfriend and her friends, and she didn’t know what else to say, so she agreed, just to make Ethan happy. So; they began looking for everything; the tickets, the hotel, and activities to do in Novagio, they wanted to have everything well organized since they were planning to travel across the continent alone without their parents. Fortunately, their parents were very supportive and had approved their trip since they were very close and all the parents knew each other for a very long time.

Their parents had bought the flight tickets earlier and their flight had to leave super early in the morning, they didn’t sleep that night because of the excitement, and also because it was going to be a long traveling, they wanted to sleep on the plane.

They were scheduled to arrive in Greece, the next day earlier in the morning, and start organizing their arrival by searching for the right hotel, but Since there were no hotels in

the Navagio beach they had to arrive and stay in Psarou Beach. The flight was long, but it felt short for Olivia; as she was still afraid about this trip to the beach but the rest of her friends were immensely excited about the journey, they had been planning for years.

Finally, they arrived at the airport of Greece, The Athens Airport (IATA: ATH), they went through the security system and the migration, after finishing all the procedures, they took an Uber to the bus station and once they arrived at the bus station, they got the bus; heading to the hotel.

They were very amazed when they saw the place. It was a dream come true. The landscape was insanely beautiful, they felt like they were in a fairy story. Arriving at the hotel Porta Del Mar Beach resort, they took 4 different rooms, Olivia stayed in the same room with her boyfriend, and the friends shared the remained rooms. The hotel was the nearest one to Navagio Beach, it was 10.3 miles away so they had to rent a car to get there. The hotel they chose had a great review score so they were very sure that it was a great place to stay. Belatedly after, they all went to sleep since it had been a long day and they wanted to enjoy every second of the following day.

The next day, Ethan was the first to get up, he went to rent a car from the lobby of the hotel, and then he went back to the hotel room to wake up Olivia and the rest of his friends. After a short while, they all headed to the island; as everyone seemed to be amazed and intrigued by this beautiful island, Olivia started to feel uneasy, she tried to tell Ethan that she wasn’t feeling well but Ethan insisted that she was going to feel alright once she arrives at the beach. Ethan didn’t know that Olivia had been keeping a big secret from everyone.

A few moments later, they were almost arriving at the beach, Olivia decided to act normal because she didn’t want anyone to suspect anything.

Suddenly after, they arrived at the beach and started to put the towels on the sand, organizing the drinks and snacks they were going to eat all day. Olivia, unlike her friends, decided to stay on the towels tanning herself while everyone else went to the beach.

Olivia started to be afraid, because her friends were calling her, asking her to get in the water, but she was calmed and acted as if she was sleeping, but the calm didn’t last long because Ethan started to wonder why Olivia didn’t want to get in the water, as she kept telling him;

“I will join you in one moment...” “In one moment...in one moment”

Ethan finally decided to stop asking, and Olivia felt as if Ethan was angry at her, then she thought to herself;

“My secret will soon be revealed, soon or later, I might as well take my chances now, that I am surrounded by my close friends, rather than a group of strangers” Olivia got stood up from her towel and approached the water when she stepped in the water, she started to feel strange, and as she got closer and closer in the water, her body started to transform second by second. Her friends couldn’t understand what they were witnessing with their own eyes. Shortly after the transformation was completed, and she had turned into a blowfish.

Her friends were in shocks and Ethan didn’t know what to say or to do about the situation, then Olivia got out of the water and turned into a human being again, and they all shouted and she started to cry begging them to listen to her, and while crying she confessed to them that she was born like that, and she has always been afraid to tell them the truth because she was afraid of losing them, Olivia started to cry, and cry until Ethan approached her and gave her a hug and her friends did the same thing too.

Olivia was happy to see Ethan’s reaction, as she was crying, saying; “I am so sorry, I should have told you”

“Don’t worry, we will work this out together” Ethan responded.

Finally, when she was able to calm down, they all asked for more details, how it all started and how it happened, then I said;

“My mother was a professional surfer and she was all the time working in the water, she was really like a fish. One day she was surfing like her routine of every day and out of nowhere, she was stung by a blowfish, at that moment, she endured a lot of pain, the doctors tried to control the infection but the actual problem started in the future when I was about to be born, my mom took a picture of the ultrasound, the doctor noticed that the baby’s movement was unusual but they didn’t pay too much attention because It looked healthy... 9 months later, when I was born, my parents later noticed that my body turns into a blowfish when in contact with the water, they tried to keep it as a secret from the public. When I was growing up, we avoided all the public pools and I wasn’t allowed to leave home when it rained and so years after years, it became a part of my life until now.” Olivia concluded with her watery eyes.

Ethan gave her a close hug and told her that it wasn’t her fault and she had nothing to be ashamed for, her friends started to cry as well, it was a terrifying day that later became a beautifully emotional day for everyone.

The friends enjoyed the rest of their vacation together and with no secrets, they felt closer and stronger. Although it was still a little hard for some to understand her, and as the last few days went by, Olivia finally learned the essence of telling the truth because the truth always comes out.

The last day of the trip arrived and they all headed back

to the airport, and they were all happy about the memories they had created and they couldn’t wait to see their lovely and supportive parents back in Richmond, and Olivia couldn’t wait to tell her parents about everything that happened, and how good she felt when she finally said the truth to her friends and Ethan.