Post by Raleigh Durden on Nov 21, 2013 11:01:28 GMT -8
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; height: 380px; background-image:URL(http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy284/brooklynlolli/x0r3w0.png)] RALEIGH S. DURDEN  RALEIGH | TWENTY-FIVE| PHOTOGRAPHY | ------------------------------------------------- They say there is a moment in your life where everything becomes crystal clear. I would probably say that for me...it was the moment my dad didn't come home from overseas. He had been a good soldier and a good husband as well as a great dad to me and my younger brother. The moment that those men showed up at our door with my mom shaking her head I knew that something wasn't right. It didn't really hit me until I was standing in front of the hole that held my father's coffin. There would be no playing catch in the yard or his fingers ruffling my hair as he passed me. This was the moment when I lost my emotions because it hurt too much to feel the pain of losing my dad. From that moment on, I became the man of the house. At ten years old, I made sure that my brother had food in his belly and tried to get my mom to eat a little something. Since dad's death, she hadn't been able to keep anything down. She just mostly wandered around the house or sulked in her bed. It killed me each day to see the sorrow eat away at her. Finally, I did what any good kid would do. I called the cops on her for neglect. It wasn't really a smart thing, but at least, I was getting her the help she needed. It wasn't right that had I had to care for a seven year old boy by myself while grieving, and she was allowed to break down into almost a comatose state. My reign as man of the house had lasted two years. The foster system was not kind to me, but my brother found a good family that took him. That was the last I really heard from him. It hurt that I hadn't tried to end up in the same home. In a way, I felt responsible for him ending up there so maybe it was better that I was treated the way I was by the system. I bounced from home to home. There were a couple of nice families, but they felt I was too damaged from my past life to really mingle with their pretty picture of a family. Then I came to the Michaels. They had seemed like a nice family at first look. They had been smiles and open arms. There had been a darkness there though that I should have seen coming. It only took one smack from the father after too many drinks to know I was in trouble. The Michaels were my home for a year before I finally escaped back into the system. When I reached the Durdens, I was sixteen and a scrawny boy that didn't really have any muscles. The bruises were fading and the Durdens knew that the previous family hadn't been very nice. They were a middle-aged couple that took me in as if I was their own son. It felt nice to be wanted. I didn't want to screw this up, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I did. High school. The joys of being humiliated day in and day out by the jocks. It never got any better than being shoved into lockers by burly football players that had nothing better to do with their time. I grew angry and wanted to make them pay. The anger was something I had always dealt with growing up and it had started when my father had died. Now, it was a monster inside of me slowly waiting to be unleashed. It seemed to dim though when I saw her for the first time. Lily Davis. She was an angel in my eyes. Intelligent, beautiful, and popular everything that I would ever want in a girl I found in her. She was in yearbook and so I joined the yearbook as a photographer. It gave me an excuse to be around her. I had to be around her. Lily was the only thing I ever thought about. Unfortunately, she was dating a jock which was a big problem for me. I thought she deserved better, but I waited being the nice friend that she seemed to need in her life. The other people always tried to put her down and make her think she wasn't perfect. She was perfect. She was an angel. Finding that I had a real knack for photography, I put all my time into it finding excuses to take pictures of her that I could keep for myself. This was how I lived my life. At night, I would develop the pictures in my room having turned my closet into a dark room. Every smiling picture of Lily's face, well, it made me want her even more. I started waiting for her after classes or asking to walk her home. Her boyfriend really didn't like that. He stayed quiet though because I was sure Lily was assuring him that I wasn't a problem. Little did he know, I was going to be the biggest problem of his life. It was senior year, and I was determined to take Lily to prom. She kept giggling and avoiding the question until she finally said yes. It was great. She had dumped that jerkwad of a boyfriend she had during the summer. It meant we had a chance to be together. Prom night. I was dressed in a suit looking rather handsome. I picked up Lily and we made our way to the prom. We wouldn't make it though. A truck pulled out in front of us making me slam and hit the brakes. The car swerving before it flipped. The sounds of breaking glass and screeching of metal wouldn't ever leave me. When it finally stopped, I looked over seeing Lily slightly dazed but okay. We made our way out of the car leaning on each other. The driver, Lily's ex, came lumbering toward us. He was drunk obviously and holding a gun. My mind went to Lily. Looking towards her, I started to move forward not afraid to hurt this jerk. We fought for the gun before a shot went off. Looking over, Lily was holding a hand to her abdomen. She pulled it away revealing the flow of blood that seemed to drain the color from her face. Without a thought to her ex, I took her into my arms holding her closely to me. This was supposed to be our night. Instead, I had screwed this up just like I had screwed everything else up. Her body grew heavier in my arms as the light went out of her eyes. Tears streaked down my face as the monster inside of me wanted to be unleashed. The rest of it was a blur until I woke up in the hospital cuffed to a bed. I wasn't charged with anything, but the kids at my school didn't mess with me any longer. The Durdens thought it would be good for me to get out of Washington for college. Washington held too many memories that kept making it hard to sleep. That was how I ended up in San Fransisco attending King Protea. From there, I continued my schooling for photography finding out I really had an eye. Every time, I picked up the camera I saw Lily there smiling at me. It got better though as I started to take meds to even me out. This was all going to make everything okay. The meds failed though because it made me want to just zone out. King Protea was exactly what I needed in my life. I was enjoying my time there. It got easier to hold a camera as time went on. The girls were gorgeous, but no one could compare to my Lily. The monster was still there as well waiting to be unleashed once again. I continued my schooling becoming the teacher's assistant in one of the photography classes. Twenty-five years old and a past I didn't like talking about. I was definitely going to make it in the world of photography where no one knew anything about you but your name. These were my moments of clarity, and I could see the outcome perfectly. I was a screw up and I would always be a screw up unless I found another angel to make me a better person. ------------------------------------------------- THE PERSON BEHIND THIS WONDERFUL CHARACTER IS GENERALLY CALLED BRINEE AND SITS AT 22. SHE LIVES IN THE CST TIMEZONE. ALSO, THIS CHARACTER LOOKS PRETTY SIMILAR TO SEBASTIAN STAN, DON'T YOU THINK? |
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made by brooklyn at caution[/center]
