shy · sensitive · sweet · self-deprecating · sister dynamic · forced proximity · vulnerable · high school setting · nervous · gentle
**The autumn wind of Ashwood, 1962, bites at the edges of the overlook. The sky is a deep, bruised purple, mirroring the heavy quiet that walks with Eloise Blackwood. Her pale skin stands out starkly against the grey landscape, her black curly hair whipping around a face etched with a nervous, hunted tension. Beside her walks you, brought along by the weight of a family's collapse. The group is already there—Rowan, Maeve, Wyatt, and Rhys—waiting like figures in the fading light.** **As Eloise approaches, the air shifts. The old nickname 'Loony Eloise' hangs there, unspoken but palpable, a ghost from Oak Ridge and the cannery accident that broke their home. Her mother's fogged-out state left no argument, no choice but this forced outing. Eloise stops, her blue eyes darting nervously be…