#hdintro

[spruce-ryland]

Hi everyone! Spruce and I are so excited to get to know you all.  It’s not really an intro, exactly, but here’s all the info you’ll need to know about Spruce at this link HERE.

TW: HIV/AIDS & Divorce

[allegracruz]

       ❝ the way i see it if you want the rainbow you gotta                                          put up with the rain.❞

                                 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 / 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓

❨－－𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ∖❩

NAME: Allegra Joan Cruz NICKNAME(s): Allie, Lally. AGE: Twenty-five   BIRTHDAY: January 20th, 1996 BIRTHPLACE: Heartsdale, Georgia  HOMETOWN: Heartsdale, Georgia NATIONALITY: Mexican GENDER / PRONOUNS: Female / She, Her ORIENTATION: Heterosexual OCCUATION: Nurse at Grand General Hospital  LANGUAGES(s) SPOKEN:  English, Spanish, Italian and Sign Language

❨－－𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ∖❩

PARENTS : Jordan Williams, Claudia Cruz SIBLING(s): Anette Williams ( half sister / father’s side ), Derek Williams ( half brother / father’s side ) ** honestly I am open to any half sibling connections! EXTENDED FAMILY: Peter Williams ( uncle / father’s side ), Andrew Cruz ( mother’s / father’s side ), Zora Williams ( aunt / father’s side ), Stella Cruz ( grandmother / mother’s side ).  ** open to cousin connections as well!! PET(s):

Kitie, the stray cat she’s feeding.

Bubbles, the colourful beta fish.

❨－－𝐏𝐇𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ∖❩

FACECLAIM: Renata Notni HAIR COLOR: Dark Brown EYE COLOR: Green HEIGHT: 5' 8" WEIGHT: 110 lbs BUILD: Slim   TATTOOS: None.   PIERCINGS: Ear piercings ( lobe, upper lobe, helix )

❨－－𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ∖❩

POSITIVE TRAITS: Bright, Calm, Adaptable, Compassionate, Creative, Gentle NEGATIVE TRAITS: Stubborn, Silly, Secretive,  Unforgiving, Insecure  FEARS: Astraphobia.   HOBBIES: Singing, Cooking, Hiking, Daydreaming HABITS: Twirling rings around her fingers, the ability to fall asleep anywhere, chewing the tip of a pen or pencil.

❨－－𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ∖❩

TW: / TEEN PREGNANCY / CHILD ABANDONMENT / ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

Born to a teen mother, Allegra was never considered a blessing. Her father didn’t want to be involved, and left to complete his degree a few months before she was born, leaving seventeen year old Claudia to raise a baby on her own; a responsibility she wasn’t ready to face.

A year passed, before Allegra was dropped to her grandmother’s trailer with the excuse her mother needed someone to watch her while she was at work, only to never be seen again. She took off, with a much older guy who promised her the world, leaving her daughter behind.

No phone calls, no letters. Ever since she could remember herself, her grandmother was the only constant person in her life. Stella took the responsibility of raising her, teaching her the best values in life and more importantly, loving her like she was her own daughter. Like Allie always liked to say, the trailer was small but full of love.

Growing up at the trailer park was both a blessing and a curse. Allegra was always known as the kid without parents -- the abandoned one, and was often bullied at school.  

She was fifteen when her father reached out. He had a new family, new wife -- new kids and a new perspective in life. Or so Stella thought, when he allowed Allegra to go and stay there for the summer. Not only she was back at the trailer park in a week, but her relationship with her father wasn’t going to improve after his wife’s mistreatment.  

Despite her hard upbringing, Allegra graduated with high honors; wishing to make a new start and leave high school behind. By that time, her grandmother’s health was deteriorating with the woman being in the early stages of dementia. This was exactly the reason why young Allie decided to study hard in order to get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing; hoping that she could care for the only motherly figure she knew.

Unfortunately, by the time she graduated and was able to understand more about the disease, Stella was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

❨－－𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 ∖❩

Allegra tried her hardest to care for her grandmother, but her condition worsened to the point she needed twenty four hour support. The decision was a hard one, but Allie eventually had to place her in a nursing home. Now, she visits Stella regularly.

She still hasn’t heard from her mother. Her relationship with her father is not the best to this day, as his wife would constantly mistreat her when he wasn’t around, prioritising her own children’s needs and excluding her from most things. He calls every once in a while to check on her.

Because she is paying for her nana’s retirement home, Allie is still staying at their old house, which she would love to renovate at some point. 

She has an amazing voice but hates any attention. This was the reason why despite winning a singing competitions and 10,000 dollars, she quit right after. Nowadays, only close to her people know about her talent.

Loves her job. Really loves her job. She will often take up extra shifts, just so some of her colleagues can take a day off, so a lot of times people will take advantage of her nice and generous spirit.

[benwclker]

THE STATS

NAME: benjamin ‘ben’ walker

AGE: 39

GENDER/PRONOUNS: cis male, he/him

ORIGINALLY FROM: heartsdale, ga

RESIDENTIAL AREA: harrison west

OCCUPATION: owner of a garage & racing team

SEXUALITY: heterosexual

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: recently divorced

LENGTH OF TIME IN HEARTSDALE: 39 years

THE DETAILS

born benjamin elias walker to a working class, happy, loving family in heartsdale, georgia. he is the oldest of 3, his 2 younger siblings are sisters named shawna and eleanor.

growing up ben was a jock, into all the sports: football, baseball, basketball, and dirt bike racing. throughout school (jr high, high school, and college) football was his main sport.

went to the university of georgia on a football scholarship. ben was a running back that gained a bit of popularity and fame as a powerhouse player. he set some records, was a heisman candidate, and was set to go pro with the NFL but it wasn’t his dream.

ben’s dream was moto gp. his love for racing, cars or motorcycles, came when he was a preteen and kept growing until he couldn’t imagine a life not involved in it in some way. his dad put aside some money and with a business loan, not long after ben graduated from UGA he opened up a garage where he designed racing engines along with the cars and motorcycles themselves.

it took some time but the investments and vision paid off. ben was big on the racing circuits attending when and where he could without sacrificing family time both because of his passion and his desire to help his business grow.

some partnerships later and ben ended up as part owner of a top tier racing team, in which he runs his part successfully out of his hometown of heartsdale.

at UGA ben met the woman who’d become the love of his life. he married her not long after finding out she was pregnant with his child, a discovery he considers one of the single most happiest moments of his life.

her father didn’t approve and ben really didn’t care. he has his wild side but is mostly considered fun-loving and carefree, not really someone that sought approval from anyone else. that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sore spot for ben for some time, it was, even if it was mostly because of the way her father cast her out simply for being with him.

apparently the man couldn’t see the kid had ambition and a vision. it may have been a humble start, when they were married and soon after welcomed mia into the world, but they never struggled and eventually ben’s dreams came to fruition.

wedded bliss, a happy and healthy kid, and a success in business — it seemed something had to give eventually. when his wife became a bit wayward, skipping out on the small family to travel and seemingly live a life away from them for her own career, ben began to hurt.

considering his wife the love of his life, seeing her time and time again choose anything and everything over her family (him AND their daughter), it really wore him down.

when he couldn’t take it anymore, not just his own pain but mia’s, ben served his wife with divorce papers. and since it’s been a long, rough battle.

he still loves his wife and holds hope (secretly) that things will work out in the end, but he’ll sacrifice himself for the sake of mia. ben may fight and be incredibly stubborn and unmoving/unforgiving but he can’t fully resist his wife’s charms — making their divorce incredibly convoluted and more of a mess than it ever needed to be.

what he realized growing up is that you can’t have it all. at least not all at the same time. as long as his daughter is happy and his businesses are a success then he’s content.

[nadiaburakgazi]

— THE STATS —

NAME: nadiye ‘nadia’ burakgazi

AGE: 30

GENDER/PRONOUNS: cis female, she/her

ORIGINALLY FROM: manhattan, ny

RESIDENTIAL AREA: suffix mills

OCCUPATION: mergers & acquisitions banker

SEXUALITY: bisexual

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single and please mingle

LENGTH OF TIME IN HEARTSDALE: a few months

— THE DETAILS —

born and raised in manhattan, new york, the oldest daughter of three to immigrant parents from turkey, nadia’s childhood was very strict and structured. her parents were very conservative and very religious and believed in heavy involvement and discipline in their daughter’s lives.

growing up, nadia had little in the way of freedom, and much pressure to be the top student at any school she attended over the course of her education. as the first child, nadia has always considered she had it the hardest as the one to set the standard and the one her parents learned from.

as soon as she graduated high school nadia left, couldn’t get away fast enough, and was attending university in miami, florida. she never liked the weather and the vibe of new york city, it was an amazing place with endless things to keep someone busy, but the sands and ocean breeze were in her blood.

at the university of miami, nadia studied business and language. with a few creative writing courses and certificates along the way, of course. her dream was to be a writer — whether that were books, film, or television it didn’t matter too much. she simply felt like a storyteller from birth.

it turned out the first job she would obtain straight out of university would be in language and take her up north to georgia — the state capital to be exact. there she would work for a diplomat as a translator and interpreter, and it wasn’t a job she loved, at all, but it paid the bills and it was an interesting look. especially inside politics.

in looking to branch out and find her way more into the field she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl, nadia ended up in a job as an assistant acquisitions banker with nik castillo, a man that would become her partner in more ways than one. the pay was too good to pass up and it was a way out of the political realm she’d fallen into, plus nadia convinced herself that in some way that this could be a foot in the door to the entertainment industry. it was all about meeting the right people and networking, right?

only — her position with nik would soon become compromised and their professional/personal boundaries would become so convoluted that nadia would end up too involved and in a relationship that was never defined as such, just something she personally felt towards the man.

what felt like a good thing eventually came to an abrupt end, and one that was offered to her without a word or a goodbye. nik just disappeared from her life and it seemed both their working and professional relationships were over.

decidedly, nadia stayed with the company because the money was good and she found that she performed fairly well in the field. there was also the fact that she was too afraid to really chase her dream of being a writer.

she doubted her talents and wasn’t sure how many rejections she’d take when it came to her real passion. it remains something of a quiet pursuit, but will take a back burner to her new assignment in heartsdale — a small town not too far from atlanta.

[viviennefonseca]

the muse - VIVIENNE PALOMA FONSECA

about / pinterest / wanted connections (tba) / playlist

character inspo: Nell Crain (THOHH), Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffanys), Vignette Stonemoss (Carnival Row), Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls), Arwen (LOTR)

TW: depression, death, mugging, gun violence, bad parenting

Full name: Vivienne Palmoa Basílio Fonseca

Nicknames: V and Viv

Age: 33

Birthdate: March 07, 1988

Hometown: New York City, New York - Brooklyn

Current residence: Heartsdale, Georgia - Downtown

Occupation: Curator at The Heart of Art. Co-owner and art instructor at Brush & Brunch

Zodiac: Pisces sun, Scorpio moon, Aries rising

MBTI: INFP-T

Enneagram - Type 3 the achiever

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Alignment: Neutral Good

Vivienne grew up idolizing her mother and wanting to be just like the Fonseca matriarch, and her mother shared the same damning sentiment. Perfection was the standard for the Fonseca family. Unfortunately, perfection and closets were full of skeletons. Family greed and secrets were kept tightly locked away, but Vivienne was unfortunately privy to not only the expectation and fortunes of being a Fonseca but also the secrets. Many of which she kept to herself in favor of gaining attention and praise for doing well in school, succeeding in extracurriculars, and winning medals in gymnastics. Her mother pushed her even without realizing it. Viv made everything appear perfect and seamless, but the truth was far from perfect. Viv worked herself ragged to be the best in every endeavor she attempted and twice as hard to make it appear effortless. By fourteen, she was training for the Summer Olympics, and by fifteen, and brutal injury had put a hold on her plans.

 Anxious and depressed during recovery, she was introduced to art therapy, where for the first time in her life, she found something that not only felt good but she was effortlessly good at. She tore her parents’ dreams for the athlete star and switched her focus to the arts. Local theater, painting, and by the time she graduated art school. Vivienne was finally happy and even considered moving out of the city, but after college, she found her way back to working in one of NYC’s most famed museums. Love found her, and she was so confident in every step of her life. Her relationship with her parents was strained between a narcissistic mother and a father who never seemed emotionally mature, but she was happy.

Happy until her boyfriend of four years disappeared without a word. Happy until the job she’d seen herself staying at until she retired or made it big as an artist was dissolved and left her without work. Depressed, jobless, and alone, Vivienne found herself too full of pride to ask for access to her trust fund early and moved in with her elder brother and his family. Things were slow to build back up, but life had a way of taking with both hands when you least expect it. In a terrible mugging of her brother, Ivan lost his life protecting her. Full of guilt and suddenly unable to face the city where she’d lost most of the important pieces of her adult life, Viv took a job in Heartsdale. A peaceful and beautiful part of her childhood where she had hoped to begin again.

PERSONALITY TRAITS + passionate, determined, emotional, exciting, empathetic, daring - jealous, impulsive, perfectionist, prone to burn out, obstinate

[augustortiz]

𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠  💌  𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒛.

about.     wanted.     pinterest.     affiliated with heartsdalerp !

𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬.

full name  :   august santiago ortiz

nickname(s)  :   aug,  auggie  ( by his mother )

age  :   twenty-nine  ( born february 11th )

gender & pronouns  :   cis man & he / him

hometown  :   heartsdale, ga

residential area  :   downtown  ( haven apartments )

occupation  :   tattoo artist at icon tattoo parlor

relationship status  :   single

orientation  :   bisexual

positive traits  :   passionate & amiable

negative traits  :   restless & noncommittal

faceclaim  :   tommy martinez

inspirations  :   jack dawson  ( titanic ),  josh  ( younger ),  more to come !

frequented locations  :   icon tattoo parlor,  fifth & high secondhand store,  karma art gallery,  legal grounds espresso bar,  the nickelback

𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐲.

born to a young mother in a dense suburb just outside miami, august was raised under the combined care of a nineteen year old girl and her stern yet supportive parents. his mother, valentina, was a lounge singer, her angelic pipes landing her a cushy gig on a cruise line. she’d spend months at a time at sea, serenading travelers with her siren song while her young son learned to walk, talk, and play under the watchful eye of his grandparents  ---  first generation  immigrants who taught him all about his venezuelan heritage and filled his upbringing with latin culture. growing up, august never thought to question why his mother was hardly around --- it was just his normal. besides, he loved when valentina was in town. it certainly helped that she always brought presents, souvenirs from ports of call all over the world; a stuffed moose from juneau, chocolates from cozumel, and his all-time favorite --- a set of charcoal drawing pencils from an open air market in crete.

everything changed just shy of august’s fourteenth birthday. one day, he came home from school to find his mother waiting for him --- and she wasn’t alone. jonathan winthrop was southern royalty, his great-grandfather having discovered some rare diamond a hundred years back before settling in none other than heartsdale, georgia. widowed two years prior, jonathan’s friends dragged him on a singles cruise, where he fell hard and fast for a lounge singer with a voice like an angel. no more months at sea for the future mrs. winthrop --- she quit her job the second jonathan proposed, and the two eloped the very next week. as if this wasn’t enough for august to wrap his newly adolescent brain around, the newlyweds had one last surprise in store.

leaving his friends behind and making the harsh transition from his grandparent’s crumbling shotgun home to the winthrop’s massive waterfront compound on sugar hill lake was a lot, but it was nothing compared to the horror of discovering he had two new step-siblings. they were right around his age and everything august wasn’t --- cotillion-bred and spoiled rotten, they quickly mastered the art of making him feel like he didn’t belong with a simple bless your heart. after a long summer of doing just about anything to avoid being in that hollow shell of a house, he started high school and was quick to find a home among heartsdale’s edgier crowd. many of them were artists like himself, and on his sixteenth birthday, he received his first tattoo --- a cluster of stick and poke stars just behind his left ear.

while most of his friends went their separate ways after graduation, august made quick work of moving in with the two that remained, eager to leave the winthrops behind once and for all. the trio was aimless without the enforced structure of school, and their lack of direction manifested some not so great habits. august, for one, couldn’t hold a job to save his life. he bounced from employer to employer, barely scraping by  ---  it certainly didn’t help that he couldn’t stop spending his money on tattoos. one month, when money was particularly tight, he had the brilliant idea to break into the winthrop house ( was it really breaking in if he knew the alarm code ? discuss ! ) and steal a necklace valuable enough to keep him in ink for years to come. naturally, his stepsister caught him in the act and in a surprising twist of fate, she let him go --- of course, the winthrop’s state of the art security system brought him to justice in the end.

though they hadn’t spoken in well over a year, valentina begged her husband not to press charges, and valentina winthrop né ortiz always gets what she wants. instead, he was given a fate worse than jail --- weekly dinners at the compound with the people he so desperately tried to escape. a few months later, august got himself into yet another jam --- a tab on a half-finished sleeve he could in no way afford. this time, he didn’t turn to mom for help. quick on his feet, he struck a deal with the owner of icon tattoo parlor, trading free labor around the shop for ink --- but when said owner got ahold of his sketchbook, he decided august’s gifts were wasted sweeping floors and answering phones.

thus began august’s apprenticeship, and an overall turning point in his life. he finally had something to channel his restless energy into --- better yet, he got to be artistic while doing it. and while he’d always loved getting tattoos, he’d grow to love giving them more. it felt as though this was what he was meant to be doing all along. over the next two years, he’d hone his craft, and by twenty-four, he would become icon’s newest full-time artist. at twenty-eight, he’s still shacked up at haven apartments, but he’s managed to squirrel away enough for his own place. and as for those weekly dinners in sugar hill lake ? yep, still a thing.

𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬.

let’s get one thing straight : august will never judge you for your tattoos. he can’t stand those pretentious artists who refuse to do something because it’s stupid or basic. he’s a firm believer that tattoos don’t have to have meaning to be meaningful. that said, he absolutely loves hearing the backstories behind his clients’ designs, and offers commissions on the side for anyone interested in a custom piece.

in addition to his day job, august enjoys sketching and photography. his apartment is every bit the artist’s loft --- pictures adorning every available surface, a drafting table pinned with his latest work in progress. on his off days, he’s been known to visit the various museums in town and sketch for hours.

a regular face on the local tinder scene, august is an avid dater and, for lack of a better word, a hookup machine. one could blame his inability to commit to one person on the artist in him, but really, he just hasn’t found the one. that doesn’t stop him from trying, however. he’s a romantic at heart and his one night stands are never shameful --- most of the time, he winds up cooking breakfast in the morning !

speaking of romance, august is bisexual  ---  he even has a teeny bi flag pinned to his favorite jacket. he’s been casually out since twenty-two !

family is . . . complicated. august loves his mother but he doesn’t like her, you know ? she also refuses to speak spanish in the house, which is kind of a sore spot. in any case, he’s always felt more of a connection with his grandparents, who he kept in close contact with until their passings two and three years ago. also his formerly evil stepsister is now lowkey his best friend. wc ?

generally a super easygoing, sociable guy ! he was a bit of a shithead in his teens and early twenties, but he’s definitely mellowed out over the years. it takes a lot for him to hate anyone. in short, be nice to him and he’ll be nice back !

[dcrkdvreax]

character name: derek devereaux age: forty gender identification: cismale / him-he residential area: sugar hill lake  occupation:  founder/ceo of the children’s clinic ( amongst other companies)  two positive traits: charismatic &. Generous  two negative traits: impatient &. self-destructive length of time in heartsdale: his whole life  faceclaim: charles michael davis. 

𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

Derek Devereaux comes from a long line of kings &. Queens, his great-great grandfather made it big in just the outskirts of New Orleans before it was even called New Orleans. The name devereaux surely held it’s own weight but home was anything but perfect, his father was a king in his own way &. was exactly like his grandfather, always had to have the last word. His mother on the other hand was a middle class woman, someone who worked everyday of her life and never took anything for granted. At the start that was something that his father enjoyed about his mother but as years passed it seemed a treat that he ignored about her. His father instilled in him that money was what made the world go round, while his mother did his best to to drive him through the most humble ways ; her ways. derek ended up taking more after his father, the luxuries of what life had to offer him seemed to be endless &. way more fun than being thankful for people who were not on his level. 

things change , fast and out of nowhere. derek loved where he came from, even though his parents thought two different ways, raising him correctly and respectfully was always something that they agreed on as well with his siblings. derek had never truly met anyone who moved him, there was always girls here and there but nothing serious, no one until her. the one who would leave him completely broken, a complete disaster. he fell hard for her and like all fairytales, they just come to an end. things didn’t rule in his favor, due to choices his father thought was best, he lost the girl and the future child that he would have wanted. after losing what he loved the most , he coded himself off to anyone , even his parents and siblings. he simply wasn’t the same, he was meaner and colder, related a lot to his grandfather who he despised when he was much younger. 

life is cruel , isn’t it ? Not to people like him though, he got anything and everything that he wanted, no questions asked. as he grew older, he started making investments for himself. none that had no type of connections to his grandfathers or father money, his own source. putting his money in ideas he just knew would sky rocket was a gift that he had and worked all too well. yet visits with his grandfather became more and more frequent and his grandfathers life and mottos instilled in his brain ; love is weakness &. he would live by that til the day that he died. 

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍'𝐒

love of his life ( childhood sweetheart ) 

siblings ( two brothers &. two sisters ) 

best friend ( guy ) 

best friend ( girl )

cousins’s ( mom side )

cousin’s ( dad side )

[owenrockholt]

❛  I don't want you looking back at all the ghosts left behind... ❜

Name: Owen Rockholt

Age: 35

Gender identification: Cis male, he/him

Sexual orientation: Heterosexual

Relationship status: Single

Residential area: Harrison West

Occupation: Singer/songwriter, owner of Record Revival

Two positive traits: Solicitous, imaginative

Two negative traits: Escapist, maverick

Length of time in Heartsdale: 23 years

Faceclaim: Chris Evans

tw: drugs, overdose, death

At  nine years of age, Owen Rockholt found himself at an unfathomable  crossroads in life. He had always been aware that his mother was sad,  though the depths of it evaded his young perceptions. Despite being  inseparable, spending so much time together, Owen would have never been  prepared to walk into what he saw coming home from school that day. Upon  entering the house, he called out for his mother but the place was  eerily quiet, too quiet, and that’s when he found her slumped on the  floor at the foot of her bed in his parent’s room. There was a rubber  tourniquet on the floor by her leg, drug paraphernalia on each side of  her, and when he reached out to shake her in hopes that she was only  passed out, her body was cold. Owen’s childhood was gone in an instant.  He cried and screamed, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end,  instinctively knowing the worst while reacting mindlessly in efforts to  revive her. His mother’s chest refused to rise and fall again like it  was supposed to, air would no longer travel in and out of her lungs, and  of course there would come no answer from that almighty up in the sky  somewhere. A trauma psychologist would later explain to Owen’s father,  Matthew, a sex crimes detective, that the boy’s blocking out of his  childhood was due to Owen’s find and that he curled up next to her  corpse, his mind and her body had shut down—didn’t think to call, Owen  just couldn’t leave her side. While he will not speak of it, the only  memory Owen has of that time was his dad pulling him away from his  mother and he’s still angry about it, no matter how unreasonable.

When  your system gets shocked and your heart and mind work to find a way to  cope, to move on, life changes completely. For months Owen wouldn’t  speak, he would barely eat, and his relationship with Matthew only grew  worse after his mother’s untimely death. The blame from the young boy  was placed on his father’s shoulders. He and Matthew had never been  close, his father’s profession as a detective had always kept their  relationship distant and strained. Owen would also learn later on as he  got older that his father had plenty of affairs, cheated too many times  and his mother knew about it. The betrayal had attributed to the  sensitive woman’s sadness and depression. However Owen was before was  gone and he could hardly stay home, if his dad was there he found  somewhere else to be, whether it was at his uncle Thomas’s or a friend’s  place. The boy’s father made more of an effort to be home, to be the  single parent and care for his son that sometimes seemed beyond repair  and the more Owen saw Matthew, the more his resentment grew. His mother  had been lonely and sad because of him, she tried to find fixes and ease  the heartbreak she felt at the core of her being because of him. Owen’s  mind was made up on that and he never allowed anyone to tell him  otherwise—he’d yell or walk away, likely to never talk to or see the  person again. Thomas never pushed the subject and Owen was never sure  why but he couldn’t ever bring it up to talk about, deciding on his own  that he was sad over the loss too. Maybe even blamed his brother Matthew  as well.

Somehow Owen managed to make it through  school, though he hardly attended and created many problems for Matthew  with truancy. It had been troubling for him, losing his mother but also  being relocated from Ireland to Georgia. His grades were never  spectacular but he wasn’t failing and he was actually scoring very well  on tests, despite the fact that the upheaval came in the middle of his  school year. Matthew only stated once he couldn’t stay where all the  memories were. Owen focused on music, teaching himself to play guitar  after he’d received a hand-me-down with a missing string. Writing songs  or music wasn’t a goal either, even if he was greatly talented at it.  Playing was cathartic and it was always personal even though he’d allow  other people to listen. His lack of friends didn’t bother him, he had  attention from people and some wanted to be close and tried but Owen was  afraid of connection. Loss, losing someone, had become his greatest  fear and found life to be easier without. He found ways to fill the void  that loneliness leaves with music and whatever too short lived thrill  could take his thoughts away. He didn’t bother to attend his high school  graduation even though Thomas had told him he would go. Owen was sure  his dad was busy and even though he couldn’t stand the man, it was  another thing to be mad at him for.

After high  school life became a never ending routine of finding whatever he could  to pass the time. He’d find people to play music with, stay with, and  would work odd jobs. Matthew mostly only knew what his son was up to by  way of Thomas, whom Owen shacked up with at various different times and  kept in the loop of what he was doing with his life. The young adult had  no real ambition for anything and playing guitar or writing poetry were  the only activities that eased his pain and kept the memories at bay,  they were like wild dogs scratching at the door trying to get out. He  remembered everything but would never tell anyone that, Owen felt he  would lose her mom, Faye, forever if he did. Even girls that he spent  any real time with reminded him of his mother in one way or another, he  always found some connection but then it made him completely push away.  With Matthew often getting into his face when they’d have their run-ins,  often to throw Owen into something constructive or try and get him to  attend the university he had been accepted into, he’d yell at the young  man to grow up. Always saying that life goes on and it’s time he lets go  of the past. She’s never coming back. It’s those visits with dad that  send Owen spiraling out of control—he’d trash the place he was staying  or go get drunk and then speed down the main drag of downtown running  all the lights. Thomas and his guitar always bring him back and pull him  out of the depths of the hell he goes into.

It was  only a semester later that Owen began attending classes, after a dark  night where he swore he heard his mother’s voice telling him he needed  to save himself. So many years his life had been marked by grief and his  inability to let go, and the change was to focus on himself and settle  down. The more he practiced and played on his skill, the more he opened  himself up to writing and socializing on campus. He was able to make  real friends and find some happiness. The parts of him he kept shut down  and buried opened up and blossomed. Owen began performing at open mic  nights at back alley bars and pubs, singing and playing guitar to let it  all out. And just maybe because music was in his soul. It was a life  he’d become content with—working odd jobs, being a street performing,  and occasionally playing a gig here and there. Only, life seemed to have  other plans for Owen.

One of the good things that  has come of his life has been his gift in the ways of playing his  guitar. A talent manager found Owen playing on the street one day and  she has been booking him for gigs ever since, even helped him land a  record deal. To date he’s released an EP or two. Dakota, his manager,  can sense that Owen has some deep troubles buried, yet there’s something  in him that comes alive when playing music or writing on his guitar.  With music and playing with or for people, he’s allowed to do something  he loves and something that connects for him spiritually—Owen will  always cite it as his savior. With the bit of money he began making from  his music and live gigs, the Irish immigrant bought a record store in  Heartsdale early on in his career, wanting nothing less than to be  surrounded by music.