local | capitol hill | forensic scientist | twenty-six | female
trigger warnings (abandonment, single parent)
Summer Elise Adams was welcomed into this world by a young and happy couple. Her parents were the cause of envy to essentially every other couple around them—they were high school sweethearts, crowned prom king and prom queen, survived long distance throughout college, the list went on. People even had ongoing bets about how long they’d last, including their own parents and Summer’s grandparents, but the pair proved them all wrong. They were soul mates, and that was something Summer realized at a very young age. She knew that one day, she wanted to be looked at like the way her dad looked at her mom. Unfortunately, she was in for a rude awakening and found out that there was a reason why fairytales ended when they did. Just days before her thirteenth birthday, Summer found her father in shambles upon returning home from school. It had been clear he was crying, seeing how bloodshot his eyes had been. He had broken open a new bottle of whiskey and it had barely been three o’clock. Letter in hand, he glanced up at his daughter at a loss for words. Needless to say, the blonde knew something was wrong.
It took awhile for his father to muster the courage to explicitly say what had happened, but Summer knew in her gut that whatever he had to say would change her life forever. That was one thing she desperately wanted to be wrong about, which rarely happened considering the girl had always been stubborn, but she was right. Her dad kept going on about how sorry he was, about how everything was going to be okay, about how they were going to be fine just the two of them. She wasn’t convinced, and to be completely honest, she wasn’t so sure that he had convinced himself either. To simply put, her mom packed up her bags and left them both. Something about being too young when she committed to him, something about not knowing who she was, something about being unhappy with her life. Truthfully, as much as she wanted to understand why her mom did what she did, Summer couldn’t justify her behavior no matter how hard she tried. She didn’t care what her excuses were—none of them made her feel any better, none of them would make the feeling of abandonment go away. Suddenly, the optimistic girl began to hold a grudge close to her heart that would last for what felt like an eternity.
Following that, Summer had to grow up rather quickly. She had to figure out a lot of things for herself and no matter how hard he tried, her dad simply could not be both parental figures. She began to repress the feelings of being abandoned and attempted to live her life as normal as possible. She joined clubs, did well in school, graduated high school, and went off to college. She ended up at the University of California—remaining on the same coast as her father, but still somehow managing to get away from the home where so many tears were once shed. She loved Seattle, always have and always will, but she figured she needed to go away for awhile even if it was only temporary. In college, that was where the girl truly flourished—she found an interest in forensics science, found a great group of friends, fell in like a few times. She had the best college experience imaginable and it was hard to say goodbye after the four years passed her by. Those four years acted as a distraction. Nevertheless, that day came quicker than she wanted, and it was time to move on and officially grow up. Summer decided to move back home in spite of her wandering soul—one woman had already left him, surely she knew she couldn’t do the same to her dad.
Upon her return to Seattle, she was able to find a job almost immediately. She was a native, after all. Her dad was born and raised in Seattle too, with many friends who worked at the station. The new shiny degree from UCLA certainly didn’t hurt her either. Needless to say, Summer was able to settle back into her old life rather quickly. Most aspects of her life remained quite similar to the life she was living years ago, though some things changed. She decided to move out her from her childhood home—living there again would be too difficult and she was well aware of that. Disregarding that fact, it didn’t make sense for someone out of college to move back into her teenage room. She begged her dad to move to somewhere new as well, to have a clean state. For some reason, he just wouldn’t budge. Summer had an uneasy feeling that this was because he was still grasping onto the tiny glimmer of hope that her mom will one day return and they could continue to live their lives as though she never left to begin with. Summer, on the other hand, wasn’t as much of a dreamer as her father. She knew that she had to get out of there if she were ever really going to make a life for herself in Seattle.
Though sometimes she fears that she will remain in Seattle forever and never manage to escape the shadow her mother left in her life, she feels content with the way her life is at the moment. She lives on a day-by-day schedule at work, though she tries to find things to do outside of her routine very often. Summer thrives off of doing unpredictable things—she’s the girl that will be caught dancing on the roof in the middle of a storm if she’s in the mood to do so even if she’s stone cold sober. She loves her job, but Summer probably doesn’t realize that the reason as to why she loves it so much stems from her problem with abandonment. Upon the initial shock, the barely teenage girl at the time found herself questioning what it was that her or her dad did that caused her mother to leave them. She never quite got the answer to that and it’s been something that she puts in the back of her mind ever since. It hurt her head too much thinking about it because truth was, there was no answer. She doesn’t think she will ever get the answer to that hopeless question. Being a forensic scientist, her job is essentially to get answers and to figure things out. Summer likes being in the know and hates being in the dark—she likes to find solutions to problems, to find out why something is the way it is.
Despite all that has happened to her, Summer remains to be one of the bubbliest people alive. She resembles sunshine. She constantly attempts to brighten up a room when she walks in, to make those around her smile, to have a good time in general. She’s very open when it comes to giving others her opinion or her advice, though those who know her well enough will come to notice that she is actually quite reserved to tell her own story or talk about the happenings in her own life. Of course those she grew up around know the tragic backstory that is the Adams family, but that doesn’t mean she is inclined to discuss it. In fact, most days, Summer likes to pretend that it never happened to her. It’s really not that she’s a private person at all, it’s because thinking about it will only cause her to be upset and she knows better than to dwell on something that she simply cannot change. Summer has always been more of a listener and less of a talker—she’s never been keen with talking about her own feelings, rather that regards her neglectful mother or the guy she’s seeing for the week. Though she doesn’t recognize it, Summer has an extreme fear of commitment—she’s always the first one to leave when something gets to be serious because she’s scared that if she doesn’t, she’ll eventually be left. She doesn’t let that insecure side of her show, though. Summer is consistently joking around her peers and coworkers, knowing full well that most things in life can’t be dealt with in such a serious manner. It is very rare to see Summer Adams in a serious mood as the only thing that she really does ever take seriously is her job.
❝ happy girls are the prettiest. ❞
