tw: sibling death, tw: boating accident, tw: drowning accident, tw: emotional abuse mention, tw: mental abuse mention, tw: physical abuse mention, tw: miscarriage mention
Cooper Elias Hawkins was born on October 31st back in 1984 to two loving and hardworking parents named Thomas and Heather (nee’ Cooke) Hawkins. The Hawkins clan was very well known and well liked in their town of Southport, North Carolina which is where they resided and where Cooper had grown up. Thomas & Heather are very successful owners of a diner that’s family owned. It’s beloved in their town. It was a small town and one of the hot spots for tourists to always go to.
Ryan Hawkins was the first of the Hawkins clan, then Ethan, the Annie, then Cooper and finally the baby Megan whom they call Meg. Growing up Cooper idolized his older siblings, his brothers were his best friends and his sister Annie was someone whom he admired and aspired to be like. Meg was someone Cooper always took care of and adored. He made a promise to himself to always watch out for Meg. The Hawkins siblings were well known and well liked by the town and could do no wrong.
They were one big happy family. They were fun and successful and everyone loved them. That was until one 4th of July Annie and Cooper had decided to take their family boat out onto the water alone, without their parents permission. Thomas and Heather were too busy at the diner to notice they were gone. He was eleven at the time and Annie was a little bit older. They drove it illegally, neither of them having a boating license but Annie really wanted to go and she always had a way of making Cooper follow in her footsteps. So he did, because all he cared about at the time was if Annie was happy.
They were having a good time and being safe until Annie decided to jump into the water after Cooper had told her and begged her not too. It was a while until cooper had realized she hadn’t come up from the water. Panicked and scared, Cooper illegally drove the boat back to shore for some help. Once reaching his parents & some cops, they ruled it as a drowning accident. This nearly destroyed not only the family but the town. They always said that Annie held the family together and her death tore it apart.
His father was furious and devastated and wrongfully accused & blamed Cooper for Annie’s death even though he knew it wasn’t his fault. Growing up for Cooper wasn’t easy anymore. He wasn’t the happy go lucky kid he used to be. His father mentally, and sometimes would physically and emotionally abuse him for years, and his two older brothers followed in their fathers footsteps. Cooper closed himself off and didn’t talk to them until he actually needed too. The only ones who truly cared about him and were worried about his well being was his mother & his little sister Meg. He was thankful for them even if he didn’t show it often.
He kept to himself and got into reading and writing. Cooper found that he hid himself away in his room, and only had a couple of friends. He felt exiled in his own family and in his own town. Excelling in school Cooper kept his grade average high, he graduated high school with honors and had decided to move as far away from Southport as possible to get a fresh start. Choosing the city that never sleeps, Cooper was accepted into almost every New York City College but ended up choosing Brooklyn College. He majored in Criminal Justice, and minored in Florescence Science.
However that wasn’t what he wanted to do in life. After graduating college with honors again, he decided to go into the academy and become a police officer. A couple years of being a cop, he took the detectives exam and has been in the homicide unit ever since. He was in Brooklyn for a really long time, up until he fell in love with his partner who was his best friend. Their Sargent soon found out, and Cooper had decided to transfer to move to another state so that this way, he can officially start over.
A place where no one knew him. A place where no one knew his story or what had happened to him and his family as child. Or what had happened to him within his young, adulthood life. The one spot he chose was Eureka, California. He essentially transferred so that his ex girlfriend, the love of his life, Nora Freeman wouldn’t have too. Cooper was trying to not only protect her but protect her career as well. However what Cooper didn’t know, was that before he moved to a different state, what broke them up was their big fight. The big fight that killed Cooper in so many ways possible.
What Cooper also didn’t know was that Nora was pregnant with his child. Though she sadly miscarried and never got to tell him. The death of his sister still haunts him. When he can not sleep, he’ll sit out on his front porch and smoke cigars to make himself feel at ease. He’ll leave empty beer bottles on the living room table and his house a mess. Though he’s happy, he’s happy in Eureka. A new state and a new town where no one knows who he is, what he had to go through in order to get here. He’s been living in Eureka for a year and has loved every minute and has officially called this place home.
