Miranda Rykes-age 21- biography
Miranda had what seemed to be an idyllic childhood, with all the toys and clothes a child could want. Sure, her father would fly off the handle sometimes, but her mother was always there too calm him. And if the next morning the makeup on her mummy’s face looked a little purple, little Miri didn’t think much on it. She was too busy being a kid. When she was seven, to everyone in the family’s delight-excepting, perhaps, dear old dad-her sister, Ally, was born. As soon as the baby could walk, Ally was following Miranda everywhere.
By sixth grade, Miranda was the top of her class in every subject, and proud of it. She was a member of the drama club and art club, and she had too many friends to count.
This life did not last long as her mother died of mysterious causes when Miranda was fourteen. The last thing her mother said to her was, “If I’m not around, Miri…take care of your dad and Ally, okay?” Miranda hadn’t thought much on it when the words were spoken, but they would become the resounding theme of her life.
After her mother’s death, Miranda’s father quickly sank into the world of drugs and alcohol, taking the family’s money with him. Miranda quit high school at the beginning of her sophomore year to earn enough to keep her family afloat, and to save up to get nine-year-old Ally out of there. Both girls were abused, though Miranda tried to protect Ally best she could. Finally, when Ally was eleven, Miranda put her on a plane to California where one of her mother’s friends lived. When he found out, her father’s fury was monstrous.
It was the first time he raped her, though surely not the last. When she awoke, bruised and bloody, her drunken father was passed out on the couch. She would have gotten the hell out of Dodge right then, except she remembered those brutal words. “Take care of your father.” She slipped out to buy enough medical supplies to last a few more months. She grew to hate her nickname, Miri, as it was always what he called her, whispering lies in her ears until they morphed into truth. Gradually, as her father’s “punishments” grew more and more brutal, Miranda began experimenting with drugs. At least, until her father was sober enough to notice she was not. She spiraled into depression.
She tried to run away when she was eighteen, having whacked her father over the head with a bedpost to knock him out more than he already was. To hell with her mother. He came after her and went into a rage, screaming abuse, hitting, and finally stabbing her in the stomach with a kitchen knife.
Miranda managed find a phone and call 999. At the hospital, having refused to answer the doctor’s questions, she was taken to court. She would not tell her story, and her father, who had been called as a witness, drunkenly told them that his daughter had been stabbed by a mugger. Miranda was diagnosed with BPD, depression, and PTSD. She’s been in three asylums since, resisting treatment everywhere she’s gone. She doesn’t believe she deserves to be helped; as she was not able to protect Ally from their father for all those years.
Still walking with a slight limp, Mranda chooses her words carefully. She is closed off and terse at first, but opens up to kindness. If she likes you, she will talk to you about everything- everything except what matters.
