
Faceclaim: Karen Gillan
- Scarlet Brooks -
The Medic
Gender: Female
Age : 21
- Physical Appearance -
Bright red hair falling just past her shoulders, dark chocolate brown eyes. Petite, slender build, porcelain skin tone.
- Significant Traits -
Shy, Nervous, Appreciative, Fragile, Low Self-Confidence, Skilled Medical Knowledge, Self-Sacrificing
- Backstory -
Jennifer Brooks was a bit of a rowdy young woman, and it could be said that if it was a Friday night, she was undoubtedly out at a party. She was a self confident young woman who knew what she wanted, and what she wanted often changed. Such was the case with men, so naturally Jennifer dated around quite a bit. Even so, her pregnancy came as a complete shock. It wasn't that she was being careful, she just never really thought about having a child before. Surely it wouldn't be so bad, babies are pretty cute, right? She wasn't quite sure who the father was, but in the end she didn't think that really mattered. The further along she got, the more discontent she felt about keeping the child alone. By the time she actually wanted to get an abortion, she was too far along for that to even be an option.
And so one dreary afternoon in the cold winter of December, Scarlet Brooks was born. Grandma Linda Brooks did her best with Jennifer, encouraging her and helping her with Scarlet as much as she possibly could. But Jennifer had a personality that tended to be static. She was a party girl, always had been, always would be, so naturally when New Years Eve parties rolled around, Jennifer went off to celebrate as she always did. The only difference this time was that she never did come back. Grandma Brooks was left with an infant, but in all honesty, she had expected and prepared for this very situation. Linda Brooks provided little Scarlet with the best possible childhood she could. Her husband had passed away not long before Scarlet's birth, so Scarlet was all she had left. The baby was raised by her single grandmother, and she turned out fairly well, all things considered.
Scarlet had seen pictures of her mother and heard a story of her childhood on occasion, and only after much pleading and prying from her grandmother. Linda didn't like to talk about Jennifer. She worried it would bring Scarlet to wonder why her mother hadn't stuck around for her, and she was right. But the young and growing girl had a curiosity nonetheless, and she couldn't help but ask when her mind began to wander. She did try not to dwell on thoughts about her mother all that often though, for they did tend to bring down her mood. Linda was enough of a mother for her anyway, and that was all she felt she truly needed in life.
Scarlet's time in elementary school went well at first. She made some friends and was starting to develop an outgoing little personality. Her teachers had noted that she was quite a fast learner, and would qualify for gifted programs later on. A girl named Georgina was her very best friend starting in Kindergarten and lasting all the way up until fourth grade. But in the middle of the fourth grade year, Scarlet's whole world changed. Some of the girls in her class had started picking on Georgina at recess, calling her names and making fun of the way she looked. Scarlet stood up for her, shaming the girls for their behavior and telling the teacher, who scolded them for their comments. They, of course, did not like this, and began to pick on Scarlet next. Even Georgina turned on her. Her very best friend who she had trusted.
Things only got worse for her by the time middle school rolled around. What was once nasty comments every now and then progressed into constant bullying, and Scarlet was often teased for her hair color, being stupid, being ugly, being fat, and just about any other unkind word a kid could think of to call their classmate, whether it was true or not. Scarlet was never a very confrontational girl, so when she was made fun of and called mean names by so many people, she never really knew how to respond. Oftentimes she would retreat to the school bathroom where she would lock herself in the last stall and curl up in the corner to cry. Sometimes she worked on homework there, too. It was a welcome distraction for her mind.
One day during high school, the group of girls who picked on her had followed Scarlet around all morning, calling her names and making fun of the way she dressed. Her grandmother didn't make very much money and she couldn't afford fancy clothes. Besides, in all honesty Scarlet wasn't really very well versed with the world of fashion anyway. She kept her head down and weaved through the halls to her all of her classes, doing her best to ignore the leering girls behind her. Scarlet even skipped lunch that day to hide out in a classroom, making up questions to ask her teacher as a reason to stay after class. When it was time for gym, she could only hope that the girls would forget about her, or just leave her alone.
Prior to the start of gym class, it was required for students to change into gym clothes in the locker rooms. The locker rooms at Scarlet's school were separated for boys and girls of course, but there was a hallway that connected both locker rooms to the gym. When Scarlet made her way towards the girl's locker room, she skidded to a halt outside in that hallway. The group of girls were standing in the doorway chatting. Scarlet had turned around in attempt to retreat, but one of the girls had already spotted her, and swiftly stepped in her path. They circled her like a pack of wolves, and the already petite Scarlet shrunk ever further behind her textbooks and notebooks as the others spat nasty comments and laughed at her. Her hair hung over her face as the tears swelled up in her eyes, and she became very tense, waiting for it all to be over. The more Scarlet crumbled, the more power it seemed to give her bullies, until one of the girls- Georgina- abruptly reached out and shoved Scarlet back against the wall. They had never been physically violent towards her before, so this came as an absolute shock. When Scarlet cracked back into the stone of the hallway, her eyes widened and the breath was knocked out of her, all the notebooks and textbooks falling from her hands and scattering loudly onto the floor. Georgina advanced once more, grabbing onto Scarlet's hair and yanking it, throwing her to the ground before she started to kick her.
Scarlet curled herself into a ball, and everything else was such a blur. She truly thought that she was going to die there, laying bloody on the floor in a high school hallway that smelled like sweaty armpits. But fate would not have it, for out of the boy's locker room came a brave soul who deemed Scarlet worthy of saving. He shoved past the girls and threw Georgina aside, making sure the whole pack scattered as he bent to help Scarlet up from the floor. Her lip was already swollen and blood was all but gushing from her nose. Her eyes were pink and her hair was a mess, but the boy did not seem repulsed by her, and helped her out regardless. He escorted her all the way to the nurses station, where he refused to leave until they agreed to call her an ambulance so she could get x-rays for broken ribs.
She never did find out who the boy was. She was dazed and barely conscious, so she couldn't remember much about the way he looked. But she never did forget him. Scarlet transferred schools after that incident, and she kept to her studies for the rest of her time in a private school for gifted girls. After graduation, she went on to study medicine at university with dreams of one day becoming a doctor. She learned some basic medical skills such as how to suture different types of wounds before the world started falling apart.
It happened pretty quickly. News on the radio, classes cancelled, hopeful speeches from the government, then.. nothing. Abandonment. By this time Grandma Brooks wasn't doing too well. She had been primarily bedridden for the past two years of Scarlet's life, and the girl had been taking care of her. There were many sleepless nights of Scarlet wondering and fearing that her grandmother would attack her in the middle of the night. Eventually it got to the point where Scarlet felt like she no longer had a choice with what to do. The world outside was starting to get violent, and normal life wasn't going to last much longer. She couldn't just abandon her nana who had taken care of Scarlet all her life.. but she certainly couldn't take her along either. Nana Brooks was exhibiting many symptoms of the early stages of the virus, and it wouldn't be long before she started getting violent.
So Scarlet made one of the most difficult decisions she ever had to make. She broke into one of the medical supply rooms at the hospital she had been training at and stole enough morphine to kill an elephant. She cried the whole way home, and switched out her grandma's IVs. Barely coherent, Linda mumbled something to Scarlet, and reached to hold her hand. Scarlet gave her grandmother a squeeze, and the tears began to spill. "I love you nana," she murmured. "I love you so much, please never forget that," she creaked out, leaning over to give her a kiss. Linda wasn't going to make it through the night.
Scarlet was quick to pack some necessities and medical supplies, throwing them into her car. Everything felt like some kind of a bad dream. How could it be that just a year ago life was totally normal? How had the world fallen apart so quickly? The tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but she told herself over and over again that she was doing the right thing. Shifting the car into drive, Scarlet took off, and never looked back.