CHARACTER 2
American, caucasian
Male or female
18-25 years old
Has played around with drugs - you decide the extent
Has lived through a tragedy
Second Background story of Character 2 (told by someone who knows her)
By Wind River
There was no way I could get out of interviewing Erica Holmes. I tried,
but Dad said I was the best person to do it since I went to school with
her. It's not that I didn't want to see her. She always was eye-candy,
but I would have preferred to see her at a distance. Yeah I admit, guilt
was a big part of my reason for wanting to avoid her.
I was a couple of years older than Erica, but even at fourteen, she was
the kind of girl any guy would want on his arm. With a thick mane of
auburn hair and soft blue eyes, she looked much older than she was. Her
figure was already formed. Erica had led a sheltered life with parents
who really cared. I was aching to go out with her, but her mother said
she was too young to date.
I arranged to see her by meeting her at a Young Christian's Group. We'd
duck out of the meetings and go to the movies or to a friend's house. I
was her first boyfriend and introduced her to things I probably
shouldn't have. I don't think she ever loved me, but at such a young
age, I don't think she knew the difference between love and infatuation,
and I took advantage of that.
On about our third or fourth date, I took her to a party at my cousin's
house. I'd already introduced Erica to drugs, and at my cousin's, drugs
always flowed freely -- all kinds. It was a bit much for Erica, and she
crashed from the mixture of drugs and alcohol. I took her to an empty
bedroom, telling her that it would be a safe place for her to sleep it
off. She never really woke up as I helped onto the bed. She was like a
sleeping beauty from a fairy tale. Her purity gave me a major hard-on,
so I removed her jeans and pushed my way into her, pleased with myself
for bedding a virgin so easily. I'd only slept with ****ty girls before,
so I didn't realize it could be painful for her.
She screamed and called me all kinds of names I never knew she even
knew. I lied and told her that she had agreed to *** with me. That small
.... okay big ... lie has haunted me ever since. She refused to talk with
me ever again. When I'd call and try to discuss the situation with her,
she'd hang up. She changed from a outgoing, happy girl to a quiet girl
who spent all her free time with only a few friends and her brother. She
spent a lot of time with her brother. They were very close. I wanted to
tell her how sorry I was when he died, but I was probably the last
person she wanted to see.
As she grew older, she became even more beautiful, but she never
acknowledged me. If I was in the hallway at school, she'd look the other
way to avoid meeting my gaze. I was so stupid taking advantage of her,
because I lost the girl that every guy dreams about.
After all those years of her refusing to talk with me, she was about to
be interviewed by me. I wondered what was going through her mind. I knew
she was engaged to some guy in her band, and I wondered how he captured
her heart. As far as I knew, she never dated again after that night at
my cousin's.
I held my breath as I opened the door to the room where the interview
would take place. She was sitting on a couch next to her bandmate. He
looked like a typical rock star with long hair. Erica was a lovely as
ever, and I wondered what she saw in him. It didn't take me long to
realize that they were more like one person than two in their thoughts
and words.
She stood as I entered the room and held out her hand.
"Hi Bert."
"Erica." I took her hand and wondered how she could be so calm.
"This is Ian, our lead guitarist," she said.
"And your fiancé?" My voice cracked a bit.
"Yes."
"You're a lucky man, Ian."
"I know I am."
My hands were sweating, so I wiped them on my pants.
Erica glanced at Ian, then looked me in the eye. "Bert, you don't have
to be nervous. The past is the past."
I swallowed and nodded.
"Ian knows everything."
Again, all I could do was nod.
"Shall we get on with the interview?" Ian asked.
I was thankful he had focused us on our purpose. The past wasn't brought
up again, but once more I realized what I had lost. Ian really was a
lucky man.
END
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