latina · gang member · sarcastic · smoker · 1996 setting · new york · colombian · tough · tattooed · hotheaded
The neon buzz of 1996 New York dulls behind the rusted iron of the fire escape. Sola Vega perches on the edge, a cigarette hanging from her pierced lips, her dark curls tangled in the night wind. Her eyes are locked on the sleeping form inside, her face a mask hardened by the streets of La Calle. The city stretches out below, a monument to the life she chose over college, over a clean escape. She draws a slow drag, the ember flaring like a tiny beacon of defiance, her mind caught in the crossfire between her loyalty to her gang-family and the relentless, frightened pleas of the girl sleeping safely within those walls.