Post by BAILEE RENEE ROSS on Jun 15, 2013 21:36:37 GMT -8
| [atrb=style,width: 420px; background-color: efefef; background-image: url(http://24.media.tumblr.com/0478144b9f16c95a37367d1aca56b45c/tumblr_mkfax8tDxp1s97ldco1_500.png); padding: 5px, bTable] BAILEE R. ROSS 14 | HETEROSEXUAL | UNEMPLOYED | HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT | AMANDLA STENBERG zero to ten years old |
Bailee's story began on the evening of May fourth, fourteen years ago. A young, teenage mother hardly capable of caring for herself let alone another, gave birth to a tiny baby girl in the state hospital of New Hampshire. It was there that the girl was left, just after birth, to the caring hands of the Ross family. Renee and Zachariah Ross were a younger couple, in their late twenties. Having been high school sweethearts, the two had married straight out of high school at the young age of nineteen. They were a loving couple, who both had always adored kids and spoke of having them, but, due to a car accident around the time she was sixteen, Renee had been told she would never be able to have children of her own. The news was heartbreaking, but the young couple didn't let it crush their dreams of having a family. They settled on the next best option: adoption.
So, on the evening of May fourth, Renee and Zachariah welcomed little Bailee into their family. They named their little girl Bailee, putting what Renee liked to consider an 'artsy' twist on the baby's birth mother's name, Bailey. And her middle name came from her new adoptive mother's first name. The two were delighted to take the young child home to the farm that they lived on with Zachariah's parents and where two other young children awaited. They were instantly in love with the little girl, happy to introduce her to her new siblings as well as the rest of her new family.
It was from that farm that Bailee began to grow up. A family farm, it was located in the far southeastern corner of New Hampshire. The family lived in an old farm house just down the lane from where Zachariah's parents still resided. Zachariah worked long days on the farm, growing crops and taking care of cattle with his father, while Renee spent her days in the house with the children. She was an aspiring artist, what many deemed to be a free spirit. She didn't like the restraints that a more 'normal' or 'typical' job imposed on her, and hated the idea of leaving their babies with a sitter. So, the arrangement seemed to work well for the small family. It was a happy first few years for Bailee. To this day, she can still remember finger painting in the den, or making pottery by the stove with her mother. Her mother had always believed art to be a necessity, and seldom laid down any real rules. She tried to make the environment as fun as possible for her children.
And, it seemed to work well. Bailee grew close to her siblings, especially to her older brother. She and her sister shared a room, often butting heads more often than not, but, in the end, they were close as well. As the children grew, the Ross family eventually decided to adopt one more child, another boy who was just a little younger than Bailee herself. She was six when the boy was adopted, and he was quick to integrate his way into the close knit family, as well. Overall, they lived a fairly happy childhood, enjoying life on the farm as much as any small child would. The outdoors, the scenery, the animals, there was really little not to love. It was an ideal place to raise children, and Bailee loved it.
Of course, farming wasn't the best way for a family to gain money. Very few people can make it rich off of farming. And, when there was eight mouths to feed (counting Bailee's grandparents) from the farm, they were hardly well-off. A middle class family at best, the children were always fed, but sometimes it was rough to make ends meet. As Bailee got older, this seemed to be a bit more apparent from the small arguments she could pick up through the vents of the old farm house. Money issues, her mother's lack of a real job, and the stresses of farm life were slowly putting a strain on her parents' relationship. Though, like any ten year old, Bailee really never put those pieces together until after the fact.
eleven to fourteen years old
A divorce. Something so final, so simple, seemed to be the solution that everyone in the household knew was coming long before it actually did. The once happy couple was far from as happy as they once appeared. Renee couldn't handle the structure of farm life, nor the stress and pressure to get a 'real job'. Zachariah could barely stretch to feed their large family, and couldn't handle Renee's 'free spirit' lifestyle anymore. After many, many late night arguments on the matter, the two eventually came to the realization that they couldn't make this work anymore. So, like so many couples, they split. Both Renee and Zachariah loved all four of their children dearly, however, so it didn't take much convincing for them to work out a deal and try to get along still. Renee planned to take the children with her, as Zachariah's job hardly allowed him the time to watch after four young kids. And, when holidays, the summer, and the occasional weekend rolled around, the children would just be sent back to see him.
Bailee had just turned eleven when the final divorce papers were signed. Packing her belongings up, she and her siblings piled into the car with their mother, and road off to start their new lives in a town about two hours from their beloved farm. Brunswick, Maine. It was there that they moved into a smaller town house, next door to Renee's mother's home. The children were enrolled in a local school district and sent to start fresh. Renee's mother watched the kids during the day whilst Renee went out to look for and work odd jobs. Eventually, Renee decided to go to night school, which lead to the children spending even more time with their grandmother.
A rough year and a half behind them, Renee had a teaching license and set out to become an art teacher in the local school system. It was hardly the 'free spirit' lifestyle she had once desired but, it paid the bills and helped to keep her children happy. She worked all day, coming home just long enough to check in with the kids, before heading off to local art galleries in hopes of selling some of her own masterpieces. Between this and living away from Zachariah now, the rules and structure became even more lax in their household. Renee was as firm of a believer as ever in just letting kids be kids and leaving them all to do their own thing, and with her not there to enforce the few rules she did have, the children were pretty free.
Bailee's eldest sibling became almost frustrated with this. Their father two hours away, their mother never home, and their grandmother just left to check in on them from time to time, he brought a lot of pressure on himself to look after the younger siblings. He was still in school, and that was a lot of pressure for anyone, let alone just a teenager. And this, would be where things began to go down hill.
Bailee and her brother were as closer than anyone in the family. Even with the age gap between them, she felt more comfortable around him than anyone. So, it was no surprise when she started to pick up on the signs of depression. A few years had passed since the divorce, but it had always been obvious that her brother had taken it harder than anyone. That, plus the stress he had brought on to himself seemed to make him all the more depressed. She was thirteen, and didn't really know the severity of the problem until it was almost too late.
Her brother got in a car accident. He had just dropped her off at a friend's house, and their mother was out late yet again. Her other brother and sister were out, too, and she could recall him telling her that he was going out for a drive. It was late, rainy, Friday night that night, and something definitely seemed off. But, no one really expected anything serious to go down.
Her brother woke up in the hospital, truck totaled, and he, himself, in severely bad shape. He wasn't going to make it, or so it appeared, and it was a rough time for the Ross family. Eventually, he began to bounce back, though he was pretty roughed up and it took a while. Bailee sat with him in the hospital room most nights, praying that he'd end up okay. When he was awake, they spent their time talking. He never felt up for saying much -and most of what he said was mumbled and incomprehensible- but, one thing stuck with her.
The car accident wasn't an accident. He knew full well what he was doing and he drove straight into that tree on purpose. He didn't intend for anyone to know that it wasn't an accident. In the few months since the accident, he's started to bounce back, and she's not even certain he remembers telling her. She hasn't breathed a word of it to anyone, but it's slowly eating her up. Bailee knows that she needs to tell someone, but she hasn't. Nightmares have been frequenting her because of it, but she's still keeping it a secret.
personality
Like most people, Bailee is a girl with many sides. By first impression, one would easily pick up on the fact that she's reserved, even a bit shy. It takes her a bit to open up around new faces, and even then, she's far from the most outgoing of individuals. She enjoys the company of others, but she's much more a of follower than a leader. She's content with just fading into the background most times, letting others have the limelight. It's often difficult for her to find the right words to express her feelings on things, making her a much better listener than a speaker. She much prefers listening to others and trying to give them advice over talking about any of her own problems or her own life. Her advice isn't always the best, but she tries.
And, since she can't always find the words to express her emotions, Bailee has a hobby that helps her to do so. Growing up as the child of an aspiring artist, it's almost a given that Bailee would be creative in nature. Especially when it come to to the world of art. She loves art, and it's the one place where she doesn't have a problem trying to express herself. It's the one hobby Bailee is confident in. She practically lives for art, enjoying the idea of creating somethingwith her hands. She's happy to paricipate in just about any form of art. If art were a core class in school, she'd be a straight-A student. But, unfortunately, it's not. So, she's more of an average student with just a passion for art. She also likes to dabble just a bit in music, participating in the drumline when she's not in the art room.
Once you get past her reserved nature, Bailee has a more open side. as much of a free-spirit as her mother, Bailee still has a small part of her that just wants to have fun. Once you get past her shyness, this side of her shines a bit brighter. She's a bit more open, a bit more relaxed, and more likely to let lose and have a good time. She likes to be silly, a bit of a dork, and to just hang out with friends. Family members or close friends probably wouldn't even believe that she's all that shy until they get her back around a group of new faces. That free-spirited side is a side that only the closest people to her get to see. It just takes a bit to get her to warm up, but once you do, she's much more fun than you probably would have thought. It's hard to be uptight when you were raised in a very lax world, after all.
The one trait of her personality that shines through regardless of if she knows you well or not is the fact that she's naive. Gullible, even. With very little worldly experience under her belt, it's only natural that she'd have a bit of this. Some would even consider her to be a bit gullible. She sometimes takes listening to people a bit too far. With just a little work, Bailee can easily be convinced of the strangest of stories. And, often, she'll sometimes take those to heart. The naive and gullible side is something she can't help but to let show, and her siblings have gotten a kick out of using it against her from time to time. It's just Bailee.
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BEHIND THE MASK
LYNN | 19 | USA EASTERN | CAUTION 2.0 | ELSIE SINCLAIR
