DAVID PEREZ || PETER GADIOT
thirty. unemployed. los angeles, ca.
TW: murder, bank robbery, death, injury
Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, he grew up around fast cars, flashing lights and living in a city that never slept. The sound of cars driving around all hours of the night put the young boy to bed.
He grew up with two younger siblings, the apple of his eyes if he’s being honest with himself. David would do anything to protect them. Literally anything.
Both of his parents worked very hard to live in Los Angeles. Rent wasn’t exactly affordable and they didn’t grow up very rich, but there was always something free going on. David didn’t learn much about his parents finances until after they passed away.
He was only sixteen when they passed away. His mother, a 3D artist and father, mechanical engineer had been at the bank when things went all wrong. They went to the bank and never came back. It was bad luck, bad timing, wrong place, wrong time. All the cliche sayings that anyone could give him after losing his parents. It was a bank robbery gone wrong and it left him to raise his siblings.
David did not take lightly to losing his parents. For a year, he did his best to keep the family together. He couldn’t afford the mortgage on their house, leaving them to live together with a set of aunts and uncles, but David’s mind was never really the same. His grades slipped and friendships withered away, all but his one with Adrienne.
They were dating, though not long, but the stubborn and strong-willed brunette refused to let him get away with pulling away from her. However, David only lasted in the real world for a year. The day that he turned seventeen, he went to enlist in the army. He merely wanted to forget the pain he was feeling when it came to his family. His siblings were in good hands with their aunt and uncle, but David needed out.
It put pressure on his relationship with Adrienne, but they withstood just about everything. He wrote her letters, visited when he could and above all else, she kept him grounded while he was away. It didn’t matter how close he was to breaking in boot camp or being over seas, she managed to bring him back to earth.
Adrienne was the fire inside of him that he didn’t know he needed. They snuck out to see each other in the middle of the night. Made out under the bleachers. And were always seen hand in hand. They knew everything about each other at the end of the day. He knew going to the army would test their relationship but together, their lives had already thrown so much, that he figured it would be worth it. A few years in the army and the would be back to her for good.
That did not exactly go as planned. After his first four year contract, David couldn’t walk away. His enlistment took them many places and he never really saw how she truly felt about it all. All David knew was that this was the place for him. It helped him numb the pain that he had been trying to do since his parents were killed in a robbery gone wrong. It was something he couldn’t let go of, wanting to get justice on their deaths but never knowing how.
For years, he would come home for months at a time, but then be gone almost as long. It brought arguments into their seemingly good relationship. She was busy with her celebrity clients and their communication became less and less over the years. But, they had a house together. He was ready to propose to her but his return home kept getting delayed.
Until it didn’t. Like one other incident in his life, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After a bullet almost rendered him unable to walk, he was sent home. Earlier than anticipated, but apparently not early enough.
When he returned to their home, trying several times at the airport to call her, their house was entirely empty. He was left with nothing but her silence. It took weeks for him to track down where she was and even then, David didn’t have the guts to go and face her.
He was still recovering from his injury, in physical therapy and trying to figure out all the things that he had done that wrong in their relationship. Adrienne hadn’t even left him a note or returned any of his phone calls. When he found out she was in Tupelo, he couldn’t imagine her there. Not after the two of them growing up in Los Angeles their entire lives.
Five months after she left him, he was able to travel once more and he flew out to Tupelo, with intent to find her. It’s been a week since his arrival ( Sept 20, 2020 ) and he has ended up in a cheap motel in the mean time. He hasn’t run into her yet and really doesn’t even know what he will say when he does.
