ebony mars, district three | finished, cb

ebony m a r s

When she acts, she does so with purpose. Conviction. Jury, judge, and executioner all in one body.

If there are rules to be read in the manual, then Ebony will dissect every little sentence for every last scrap of information to be found. Thin them straight down to the sharp, final point of the matter. "I've never cared for dawdling about." She's read each edition of the dictionaries in her father's study, weaving big words into her speech all to prove that she knows. That she's bigger than anyone ever gives her credit for being.

Always, terribly, she finds a way to turn everything into a competition.

All her life, every stage of it, she has stood firmly with her feet planted on the ground — with her voice ringing clearly and loudly, always a rational message. She's never cared for being liked so much as being right. Lawful to a fault, strict not just with herself but with others. In every choice she must make, she strives to approach all obstacles logically, calmly, and forcefully.

Her brain is not always kind, honing in on fascinations and insecurities alike, often reacting coldly all in the sake of proving she's aware that things hurt. That she won't flinch when her heart aches. That's the reason she's the shoulder to cry on, why in spite of all of her intensity and blunt remarks, her family chooses to skirt around her difficult nature. She's the lightning rod to absorb all of their storms. She lives in the rage.

Somewhere, beneath all of that bravado, is a good person. Her father swore by it.

But what is past tense is not here, not trapped in a broken family in a suffocating home, and it devastates her. One day, with her chin raised high and her eyes cutting daggers, she will march her way through this world and claim her stake in it. But for now, in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy that cannot be undone, she listens to the sounds of her loved ones unraveling themselves. The astronomy tower is ashes now, but two houses burnt down that day. She sees the damage everywhere.

Forever, rationally, she will stay and choke on the smoke with her family. And she won't gasp for air once.