The Other Side of the War (Tobias Eaton X OC)

Chapter 20

"I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want. Just not home."

EMBER'S FUNERAL WAS POORLY PLANNED. There was no casket, no flower display, no honorary shrine. Instead, it was just a tear infested event where people happened to wear black. Adding more salt to the wound, everyone was told in a rather insenstive manner. Eric didn't speak ill of her but there were certainly no niceties either. He gave a half-assed speech which entailed the details of her supposed suicide.

Rather than have the occurance of two simultaneous suicides, that would no doubt make people suspicious, Drew's disappearance was explained by an elaborate story.

It went like this: Drew, and two unknown assailants attacked Storm in the middle of the night. Ember bravely came to her rescue, but Storm had already knocked out the two boys. The unknown men in the mask eventually fled after they woke up. Drew was the only one left standing. He revealed to the two girls that he planned the whole thing, hoping to taunt them into submission. Drew tried to kill both of them, but in the struggle he was accidently shoved off the chasm. The next night, Ember killed herself out of guilt because she blamed herself for his death. Her heart was just simply too kind for this world.

It was complete and utter bullshit; though it fufilled it's purpose. The initates swallowed the story like a delicious cake. There we no questions, and certainly no suscipcions.

Just how Storm planned it to be.

But of course there always has to be a couple stragglers ruining the plan: Four and Tris. Otherwise known as the Stiffs, according to Storm's brain.

"She wouldn't have jumped," Tris told Storm as they stood in the crowd for her funeral. Tears flowed freely from the abnegation girl's eyes. She was scolding herself for being weak in front of Storm, but she couldn't help it. "She wouldn't have left us, not like that."

"You have no idea what happened Tris. You have no idea what they tried to do to us. And you certainly have no idea of how Ember reacted when she shoved Drew off the chasm. You didn't see the look of horror on her face," Storm responded coldly. Her eyes were stained red, but no tears could be seen. Lying had always been natural to her. "But even after all that, I didn't think she would go this far."

"It's not your fault," Tris's eyes pleaded for an explanation, a reason Ember would leave her. She gently placed her hand on Storm's shoulder. Tris didn't believe her words, rather she was trying to prompt Storm to say something of use. Something that would give her a hint of what really happened.

And technically, Ember's death was her fault.

Storm scanned the crowd of people who showed up to the funeral. It was large crowd, but Storm expected nothing less. Everyone around Ember had grown to love her; she was a people pleaser; even if she had started off initation on the shy side.

Will held a crying Christina in his arms. She didn't have the strength to hold herself up. It was a pitiful sight. Uriah stood with his dauntless friends; you could see the strain on his face, the way he tried to stop the tears from flowing. Al was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't surprise Storm. He was a coward. A boy too afraid to own up to what he did. Peter was still in the infirmary. Storm was going to return the favor someday, just not yet.

"I can't stay here any longer," Storm shook her head in annoyance. A part of her soul had been emptied the moment Ember left. Her eyes had become greyer, her tone colder. "I'm surrounded by fucking pussies, who are acting like they acually knew her."

"You're right. People are making this about themselves. We are the only people who actually knew her," Tris mumbled in agrreement.

"We." Storm raised her eyebrow. A realization instantly flooded her brain. Ember never valued Tris as a better friend over Storm. It was something completely different: from the beginning, she had read the situation wrong. She internally scolded herself for her stupidity.