Post by Admin on Sept 17, 2015 1:02:05 GMT
Some of it is notelike or missgramaritized, but this is basically the overview for the characters in Outcast.
This WW (already lost count) is Various Outcast Bios
Simon's bio
When Simon's mother was scanned for the fetus o' Simon, they found that she had developed serious spinal cancer. In order to protect the baby (against the father's will), she refused chemotherapy that would cause even more risk for the baby. By the time Simon Fletcher was born in October 3, 1997, his mother was facing a slim chance of survival. Miraculously, she clinged onto life for almost another two years before dying.
As the years passed, Mr. Fletcher blamed both himself and the baby for the loss of his wife. Growing up, Simon faced physical abuse and neglect by his father who subsided into drinking and staying out late every night at the local bar. This led to the increasingly unstable mental health of Mr. Fletcher and Simon's dark childhood. Simon found his father's gun which lay nearly in plain sight in the hallway closet. For weeks, instead of finding reassurance in a stuffed animal at night, young Simon felt safe with the gun hidden under his bed as he lay awake at night.
One night, when Simon was nearly seven years old, his father came home in a drunken and insane rampage and tried to break down his son's door and kill him. His father tried to strangle him in his own bed, and Simon shot him.
Because of his family's very poor financial situation, lack of accepting family, and apparently 'unstable background' as officer Briggs stated, Simon was accepted into the McLone School for Unfortunate Children and remained there for two and a half years.
During this time, Simon was regarded as an especially crazy and distant student and was alienated by both the other students and by indifferent teachers. It was decreed by the leader of the children's secret society, Jade, that Simon was not to be looked upon at all. Needless to say, Jade was to become one of Simon's long term enemies. Although he wasn't despised by two other outcasts in the school, blind Dian and wheelchaired schizophrenic Jonathon, the only real friend Simon ever had here was a girl about his age, Ashlotte, who had been abandoned by her parent/s at the school years ago.
Routinely, Simon and Ashlotte would attempt to run away (or fake to do so), much to the exasperation of the lackluster staff. Finally just fed up with his lot, Simon convinced Ashlotte to run away with him for good, and on the night of November 23, 2006, they escaped with what little possessions they had.
However, unbeknownst to everyone, the foundations of the school, which were old and built on a terrible location, crumbled and led to a sinkhole that devoured the school and everyone in it. All inhabitants crushed or suffocated to death while Ashlotte and Simon left without a clue of their school's demise.
When the authorities eventually found the runaways, they decided to not tell them about the tragedy and transfered them to a slightly better care system, allowing them to attend public school.
Several years passed, and Ashlotte remained one of his only friends. The other school children were little more than ants in his eyes. A crawling nest of worthless, biting ants. The teachers were little more than medalsome, lying roaches in his ears. Any school he attended just seemed like a series of tunnels filled with whispering, cunniving cockroaches.
Despite support from Ashlotte, as time passed, Simon's mental stability continued to weaken, and thoughts of death and fear (often caused by his own thoughts) ran rampant in his mind.
Finally, Simon obtained a handgun, and on September 9, 2015, approached Ashlotte in the school parking lot with intentions of killing her and then killing himself to be rejoined in death. There are three endings to this decision.
1)Haggard
2)With Birds
3)Beep Beep
A short summary of the school's operations
McLones School for Unfortunate Children served not only as a secluded institute for young boys and girls from the city, but as a dropoff for them. Indeed, rumors surrounding the poor school held true that every few months or so, another feeble, little child (most no more than 2 years old) would show up on their doorstep with no parent in sight. Well, not always their doorstep. Sometimes the by the mailbox. Someplace the parents would be less likely to be seen dropping an 'unfortunate' child off at. Dozens of children throughout the years.
This school. Very secluded, yes. Very unfortunate children, indeed. The students themselves were both financially unfortunate and born unfortunate - blind, deaf, defected in one way or another, etc. The school was financed by McLone and the nearby city to accept the unlucky ones and care for them. The ones whose parents had no money, no way to pay for a 'less than perfect' baby, not enough sense of right or wrong to hold onto their own son or daughter.
These children were brought up by the school. They were cared for, looked after, and looked into by the staff and Mr. McLone himself.
The Children and other Characters:
Queen Jade – Regarded as the top member of the hierarchy and school, Jade was categorized by multiple exasperated doctors to have schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendancies. Despite her confusing state of mental health, she managed to earn the attention of most other students in the school and was one of the oldest students at 13 years old as of November 2006. Her intense see-saw mood swings and personality can be seen reflected in her rule since for one, the hierarchy's name changes constantly and for another, Jade has varying degrees of severity in hierarchy punishments (mostly based on her mood). From pouring salt into others' eyes, to tying children up to the fence and leaving them there for hours.
Left Princess Clementine and Right Princess Esther– Clementine was accepted into the orphanage at about the same time as Esther and neither of them found anyone more enjoyable to spend time with (both were formally deemed orphans before arrival, not abandoned at the doorstep). While Clementine was deaf, Esther was mute, so they created their own secret form of comunicating, along with sign language. Abuse at the hands of Mr. McLone and some of the staff led to a very close bond between the two, and they began sleeping in the same bunk most nights to keep eachother company and 'safe' (of course this did nothing to stop the abuse). As of November 2006, Esther and Clementine were 11 and 12 respectively.
Prince Adam – Adam was found abandoned at the orphanage mailbox at two years old (as many students that attended the school were). Born with a shriveled frame and limbs, Adam's personality more than made up for his deformities. He has been seen as much more sociable than other children, thoughtful towards friends, and lustful for inflicting pain upon enemies. (P.S. Keeps scissors in his back pocket at all times, which certainly helped his rise to princehood.) He is 9 as of November 2006.
Duke Jonathon – Jonathon was abandoned in winter; he was found, half froze on the cold front steps. He was found to have misfuctioning knees and full blown schizophrenia which worsened with time. Ever since toddlerhood, due to his leg problem, Jonathon was given a wheelchair and a small bedroom on the first floor unlike the other children in the dorms on the 2nd floor. He was called Wheelchair Jonny behind his back. For a time, Jon had the ability to tell entertaining stories (many that he saw just outside his bedroom window everyday). Jonathon didn't quite understand that the other children thought he was making up stories – he was vastly unable to comprehend between hallucination and reality on a daily basis. In November 6, 2006, he turned 10.
Bishop Prentice – Prentice had more parents than most other children. Until he was 6, Prentice lived in a poor home. They lost the house, and there was no real choice to the parents but to let Prentice attend McLones School with food, a home, and schooling. Not much is seen of the parents after Prentice's drop off. Perhaps they died, while Prentice concluded that they had forgotten about him. At 8, Prentice was diagnosed with latent inhibition which explained his advanced learning development and intense fascination on the ins and outs of literature. It was through this that Prentice was able to forget about himself. He was 9 in November 2006.
Maiden Dian – Dian was often compared to Prentice because of her advanced studies and obsession in books. Dian was even less sociable than Prentice however, and her go to place was the tiny school library where she muttered to herself as she read any and all braile books available there (and snuck several to her bunk). Dian was known as a blind, dirty hermit and only made it to the upper class by her wit. She was 8 in November 2006.
Knight Billy – Billy was also abandoned at the orphanage at the age of four. As he grew older and "never gained a proper mind due to autism," (Dr. Birk, 2004) Billy stayed at the orphanage much longer than other children. He was known for his brute force and knighthood under Jade; he was regarded widely (by students and teachers) as an ugly ogre, behind closed doors. He was 16 in November 2006.
Ashlotte and the Soloist Anthem – Ashlotte resembled Simon's arrival to the school, because instead of being dropped off like other unfortunate children whose paretns didn't have the money or care for their tots, her parents had died almost penniless at the hands of a murderer. Also similar to Simon, Ashlotte did not recieve a warm welcome to the school and was considered another outcast, though the reason for this is unclear. Ashlotte guessed that maybe Jade was in one of her terrible moods when she arrived and it all went downhill from there. It is also a possibility that Ashlotte was simply a scapegoat for the children – someone to mock for no reason. Or maybe Jade hated her because her parents actually loved her. In any case, Ashlotte spent the first year or two in the school relatively alone, until Simon arrived. Simon and Ashlotte went on to create the Soloist Anthem, an underdog society, if you will, that annoyed Jade in particular. Simon and Ashlotte even went so far as to change their own names when around eachother, just to proclaim their independant royalty – Sir Sirious and Archduchess Alyssa. Several times, they would run away or hide from the school until someone, anyone, noticed their disappearance; then they would return. Often, this took a while, as mostly no one noticed. Finally, on November 23, 2006, Simon proposed they run away permenantly, and so they survived the sinkhole.
After several days of hiding, they were found by police and transfered to a public school without knowing of their school's destruction. Through the following years, the two still relied on eachother for support, however, Simon increasingly seemed to become more and more distant to Ashlotte. As they growed up, Simon no longer called her archduchess affectionately, and one day, he scorned her for calling him "such a childish thing and causing more bullying" (Simon, 2010) for both of them. They remained friends and still did strange things together. Most afternoons in the parking lot, the two of them would look up at the sky or gaze at blades of grass before heading home. While Ashlotte constantly tried to reflect on their pasts and people like Jonathon and Dian who were actually fairly nice to them before they ran away, Simon always avoided such subjects. And while both of them were shy and quiet, Simon was fiercely so. It concerned Ashlotte greatly that Simon was taking life so hard. In fact, on September 9, 2015, Ashlotte was sitting on the grass and debating whether to confront Simon about his seclusion problems when Simon came up behind her and shot her.
Dr. Birk – The doctor served as the physical and phychological doctor for the children at the school. He was known to sexually abuse some of the children that went into physical therapy and hand therapy. He was often dealing with the children because of often rampant diseases in the poor school and 'accidents' that Jade often arranged for enemies to her kingdom. Dr. Birk dies in the collapse of the school.
Mr. McLone – The rich land lord financed this infamous school to open on a corner of his land. His default answer as to why he did this was "out of the goodness of my heart." A real answer was a bit darker. He often visited the childrens' dormitories at night and was known to them as 'the man' who sometimes laid down with the children. This man, Dr. Birk, and other staff that abused the children came back in their nightmares and imagination as stinging, merciless bees.
The Apparitions (as seen in Outcast)
The Exterminator – (I accidentally made this bio present tense, deal with it) The Exterminator is the equivalent of Simon's father. In Simon's Revelation to himself, he sees the exterminator as a man constantly clad in scary, black exterminating gear and clothing. He's employed by Jade's hierarchy to get rid of the bees, roaches, ants, and other pests plagueing the school. Everytime Simon crosses paths with the Exterminator, the cold, mad eyes are the only thing he sees of the scary man. As in the name, the Exterminator also seeks to terminate Simon, the child and 'pest' that ruined his life and killed his wife.
The Basement Burrower – This creature made its debut to Simon in the basement of the orphanage. It created tunnels under the school and filled their walls with the hateful thoughts Simon kept bottled up inside. Its grey, stretched out skin and spindley limbs made it an agile and dangerous creature that the Exterminator was tasked by Jade to kill. Bringing Simon down into the basement to help with such a beast, the Exterminator shone a flashlight down one of the bottomless pits and saw infuriating words directed at him. Essentially, it represents his fury and hidden maddness at everything and everyone around him. It is hidden deep within Simon, hence its home in the dank basement. And Simon believed it was responsible for killing his father and Ashlotte. Simon sees the Exterminator and Alyssa get dragged away by it.
The Crouching Hag – Seen by Simon to resemble the people he killed, first it was the form of his dad when he was young, then Ashlotte after the afternoon in the parking lot. Usually, Simon didn't see her move around and seemed to appear before him at random, causing him to immediately become petrefied or faint. She didn't ever speak, rather, Simon believed that she occasionally spoke directly to his mind (many times, she just seemed to enjoy watching him jump and squirm). Its purpose in tormentor to him was largely unclear until Haggard or Beep Beep Ending.
Alyssa – The two, Simon and Ashlotte, gave eachother nicknames, like Archduchess Alyssa for Ashlotte. In the book, Simon sees a young version of Ashlotte, Alyssa, in the school but can't recognize her as Ashlotte (until the Haggard Ending). He sees her get dragged off by the Basement Crawler, a metaphor for his anger and distance from Ashlotte in high school killing her innocence, severing their once close connection, and eventually taking her life.
Simon's Endings:
Haggard: 1
Simon fears guilt over death and the unknown and so when faced with the murder of Ashlotte cannot bring himself to join her in death. Simon lives on, thus, Simon sees his old manefestation of shame and guilt over death, the Crouching Hag, this time resembling Ashlotte (when Simon killed his father years ago, the hag's appearance resembled his father)(btw he sees the CH in all endings). However, Simon strives to keep a positive front on, and he forgives his main enemies, the ants (other children). Right not left. Simon remembers the afternoon that he shot Ashlotte and tripped. Most of all, he sees his demons for what they are and faces his mistakes (ex: he sees the Crouching Hag as Ashlotte, the Exterminator as his father, insects as the pests in his life). The Haggard ending is decided before the end of the story and includes Simon shooting the Crouching Hag and realizing he killed Ashlotte in the parking lot and caused this reality. Upon leaving the orphanage, Simon returns to reality in which the storm is over and the orphanage is in ruins before him. It is implied that he is taken into custody by the police shortly after.
With Birds: 2
Simon clings onto whatever illusion and reality his own mind creates for him and so he doesn't wake up. Instead, he continues on, nearly completely blissfully unaware of what he really did. While he still keeps up a semi-positive front, he doesn't see his demons for what they really are. He refuses to reveal to himself the terrible truths. It is also implied that Simon followed through in his suicide after killing Ashlotte in the parking lot. Simon revisits his past but is kept from her in death. In this ending, Simon becomes king, as Jade is no longer capable of ruling. By kicking off several children and lightening the load, the school is finally able to fly away into the clouds. Simon believes he is finally going to be okay, now that Jade and the monsters are gone.
Beep Beep: 3
Simon fears the unknown the most and fails to feel compassion for himself and others, so he does not come to terms with any reality. The Beep Beep ending is named because of the sound of hospital machinery. It is thought that in this ending, after killing Ashlotte in the parking lot, Simon nearly kills himself but miraculously survives because he aimed the gun a tad bit too high and the bullet passed by his skull, narrowly missing his brain. His coma is where he sees his past again, and once he rejects this reality, he wakes up in the hospital. Simon loses the will to live shortly after his awakening.
Keep in mind, this does not mean that in every ending, Simon was actually in a coma. Depending on the ending, Simon has either been (a) tripping balls (so to speak), (b) dead, or (c) in a comatose state.
Jade's Hierarchy
Jade's hierarchy of the students in McLone's School was really a skewed sort of popularity meter. Due to Jade's bossy nature and her longest attendance at the school, she became the queen over the other children. Her rule was seen as final and complete truth in the eyes of most other students.
Jade's caste system isn't given a lasting, solid name, as every so often, Jade would change her mind and switch some of the words to make it sound decidedly more fancy or classy - not surprising for an absent minded, bipolar developing child such as Jade. One month it was just the Children's Secret Society, another time it was Queen Jade's Kingdom of Class and Nobility, next week it was just Jade's Hierarchy. The latter most name was the most used for the group.
Putting the other children into posistions was tricky however, as Clementine and Esther were inseparable and niether wished to be higher than the other. To solve this, the queen dubbed them Left and Right Princesses (based on which side of the bed they would sleep on when they slept on the same bunk for company). Dian, the blind book worm, found herself near the bottom of the upper class, dubbed the Quiet Maiden. Adam, the cunning and greedy boy born with a shriveled frame, was eventually found near the top, a prince, mostly due to his obsession to be better than others. Jonathon, a boy born with both deformed legs and a disillusioned brain, rose to Dukehood because of the entertaining and strange stories he would tell (which eventually dried up along with his social skills) along with surprisingly straight forward advise and help for others (which also grew short with age). And just below him, was Prentice, dubbed Bishop, partly for the psalms he would read aloud to anyone (or no one) in the room. Prentice also rose 'politically' above Jonathon after his health declined. Finally, not quite considered an upperclass member but still important, Knight Billy was the extra bit of security that the kingdom needed. Billy was an autistic teenager all through the reign of Jade and served as a key, but dumb, supporter of Jade who could be sent to do nearly any task involving brute force. These were the main aristocrats, if you will, that remained in power for the years that Simon spent in the school. Of course, there were many other students that made up the lower class, peasants, but they had little to no impact on Simon as they just followed along in the societie's rules.
For the duration of her rule, Queen Jade instituted inside laws that the other children were to obey unless they be left out and alienated. A main rule was to never look towards Simon because of his apparently "rabid and particularly evil past deeds." It is assumed that Jade caught whiff of Simon's killing from the staff who weren't particularly fond of a new unstable orphan jumping onboard. Ashlotte, already an outcast, became friends with Simon almost from the start. Forming their own bond free of Jade, Ashlotte and Simon created the Soloist Anthem, a proudly independant party.
This vicory was short lived however, as Jade sought to make them suffer and got Billy to do all sorts of more aggressive moves to strike them. They tied Ashlotte to the outter fence and locked Simon in the dark of the basement on two occasions, each lasted hours.
Despite this, Jonathon held sympathy for the two of them, and Dian was the one to unlock Simon out of the basement. This was not looked upon kindly by Jade who denounced them further on her chain.
The Soloist Anthem
The following was a spoken declaration by Simon (Sir Sirius) and Ashlotte (Archduchess Alyssa), a confession of independance and a bond deeper than any other. It was written on a single sheet of paper that was ripped apart several times by a hateful Jade whenever it was found, but the two taped it back together again. Created circa Christmas, 2004.
The Soloist Anthem,
The song of independance and dependance
Of being solo together,
Making a bond stronger than any other.
The Soloist Anthem.
Dr. Birk's 5 Friendly Rules of Physical Therapy:
1)Don't say an exercise is easy, cause I'll just make it harder.
2)Don't lose count of your exercises, cause I'll make you start over.
3)Don't whine, cause I'll only make you stay longer.
4)Don't say it's hard, because that's how it's supposed to be.
5)If you don't cause a fuss and follow the rules, you get a lollipop at the end of your visit.
This WW (already lost count) is Various Outcast Bios
Simon's bio
When Simon's mother was scanned for the fetus o' Simon, they found that she had developed serious spinal cancer. In order to protect the baby (against the father's will), she refused chemotherapy that would cause even more risk for the baby. By the time Simon Fletcher was born in October 3, 1997, his mother was facing a slim chance of survival. Miraculously, she clinged onto life for almost another two years before dying.
As the years passed, Mr. Fletcher blamed both himself and the baby for the loss of his wife. Growing up, Simon faced physical abuse and neglect by his father who subsided into drinking and staying out late every night at the local bar. This led to the increasingly unstable mental health of Mr. Fletcher and Simon's dark childhood. Simon found his father's gun which lay nearly in plain sight in the hallway closet. For weeks, instead of finding reassurance in a stuffed animal at night, young Simon felt safe with the gun hidden under his bed as he lay awake at night.
One night, when Simon was nearly seven years old, his father came home in a drunken and insane rampage and tried to break down his son's door and kill him. His father tried to strangle him in his own bed, and Simon shot him.
Because of his family's very poor financial situation, lack of accepting family, and apparently 'unstable background' as officer Briggs stated, Simon was accepted into the McLone School for Unfortunate Children and remained there for two and a half years.
During this time, Simon was regarded as an especially crazy and distant student and was alienated by both the other students and by indifferent teachers. It was decreed by the leader of the children's secret society, Jade, that Simon was not to be looked upon at all. Needless to say, Jade was to become one of Simon's long term enemies. Although he wasn't despised by two other outcasts in the school, blind Dian and wheelchaired schizophrenic Jonathon, the only real friend Simon ever had here was a girl about his age, Ashlotte, who had been abandoned by her parent/s at the school years ago.
Routinely, Simon and Ashlotte would attempt to run away (or fake to do so), much to the exasperation of the lackluster staff. Finally just fed up with his lot, Simon convinced Ashlotte to run away with him for good, and on the night of November 23, 2006, they escaped with what little possessions they had.
However, unbeknownst to everyone, the foundations of the school, which were old and built on a terrible location, crumbled and led to a sinkhole that devoured the school and everyone in it. All inhabitants crushed or suffocated to death while Ashlotte and Simon left without a clue of their school's demise.
When the authorities eventually found the runaways, they decided to not tell them about the tragedy and transfered them to a slightly better care system, allowing them to attend public school.
Several years passed, and Ashlotte remained one of his only friends. The other school children were little more than ants in his eyes. A crawling nest of worthless, biting ants. The teachers were little more than medalsome, lying roaches in his ears. Any school he attended just seemed like a series of tunnels filled with whispering, cunniving cockroaches.
Despite support from Ashlotte, as time passed, Simon's mental stability continued to weaken, and thoughts of death and fear (often caused by his own thoughts) ran rampant in his mind.
Finally, Simon obtained a handgun, and on September 9, 2015, approached Ashlotte in the school parking lot with intentions of killing her and then killing himself to be rejoined in death. There are three endings to this decision.
1)Haggard
2)With Birds
3)Beep Beep
A short summary of the school's operations
McLones School for Unfortunate Children served not only as a secluded institute for young boys and girls from the city, but as a dropoff for them. Indeed, rumors surrounding the poor school held true that every few months or so, another feeble, little child (most no more than 2 years old) would show up on their doorstep with no parent in sight. Well, not always their doorstep. Sometimes the by the mailbox. Someplace the parents would be less likely to be seen dropping an 'unfortunate' child off at. Dozens of children throughout the years.
This school. Very secluded, yes. Very unfortunate children, indeed. The students themselves were both financially unfortunate and born unfortunate - blind, deaf, defected in one way or another, etc. The school was financed by McLone and the nearby city to accept the unlucky ones and care for them. The ones whose parents had no money, no way to pay for a 'less than perfect' baby, not enough sense of right or wrong to hold onto their own son or daughter.
These children were brought up by the school. They were cared for, looked after, and looked into by the staff and Mr. McLone himself.
The Children and other Characters:
Queen Jade – Regarded as the top member of the hierarchy and school, Jade was categorized by multiple exasperated doctors to have schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendancies. Despite her confusing state of mental health, she managed to earn the attention of most other students in the school and was one of the oldest students at 13 years old as of November 2006. Her intense see-saw mood swings and personality can be seen reflected in her rule since for one, the hierarchy's name changes constantly and for another, Jade has varying degrees of severity in hierarchy punishments (mostly based on her mood). From pouring salt into others' eyes, to tying children up to the fence and leaving them there for hours.
Left Princess Clementine and Right Princess Esther– Clementine was accepted into the orphanage at about the same time as Esther and neither of them found anyone more enjoyable to spend time with (both were formally deemed orphans before arrival, not abandoned at the doorstep). While Clementine was deaf, Esther was mute, so they created their own secret form of comunicating, along with sign language. Abuse at the hands of Mr. McLone and some of the staff led to a very close bond between the two, and they began sleeping in the same bunk most nights to keep eachother company and 'safe' (of course this did nothing to stop the abuse). As of November 2006, Esther and Clementine were 11 and 12 respectively.
Prince Adam – Adam was found abandoned at the orphanage mailbox at two years old (as many students that attended the school were). Born with a shriveled frame and limbs, Adam's personality more than made up for his deformities. He has been seen as much more sociable than other children, thoughtful towards friends, and lustful for inflicting pain upon enemies. (P.S. Keeps scissors in his back pocket at all times, which certainly helped his rise to princehood.) He is 9 as of November 2006.
Duke Jonathon – Jonathon was abandoned in winter; he was found, half froze on the cold front steps. He was found to have misfuctioning knees and full blown schizophrenia which worsened with time. Ever since toddlerhood, due to his leg problem, Jonathon was given a wheelchair and a small bedroom on the first floor unlike the other children in the dorms on the 2nd floor. He was called Wheelchair Jonny behind his back. For a time, Jon had the ability to tell entertaining stories (many that he saw just outside his bedroom window everyday). Jonathon didn't quite understand that the other children thought he was making up stories – he was vastly unable to comprehend between hallucination and reality on a daily basis. In November 6, 2006, he turned 10.
Bishop Prentice – Prentice had more parents than most other children. Until he was 6, Prentice lived in a poor home. They lost the house, and there was no real choice to the parents but to let Prentice attend McLones School with food, a home, and schooling. Not much is seen of the parents after Prentice's drop off. Perhaps they died, while Prentice concluded that they had forgotten about him. At 8, Prentice was diagnosed with latent inhibition which explained his advanced learning development and intense fascination on the ins and outs of literature. It was through this that Prentice was able to forget about himself. He was 9 in November 2006.
Maiden Dian – Dian was often compared to Prentice because of her advanced studies and obsession in books. Dian was even less sociable than Prentice however, and her go to place was the tiny school library where she muttered to herself as she read any and all braile books available there (and snuck several to her bunk). Dian was known as a blind, dirty hermit and only made it to the upper class by her wit. She was 8 in November 2006.
Knight Billy – Billy was also abandoned at the orphanage at the age of four. As he grew older and "never gained a proper mind due to autism," (Dr. Birk, 2004) Billy stayed at the orphanage much longer than other children. He was known for his brute force and knighthood under Jade; he was regarded widely (by students and teachers) as an ugly ogre, behind closed doors. He was 16 in November 2006.
Ashlotte and the Soloist Anthem – Ashlotte resembled Simon's arrival to the school, because instead of being dropped off like other unfortunate children whose paretns didn't have the money or care for their tots, her parents had died almost penniless at the hands of a murderer. Also similar to Simon, Ashlotte did not recieve a warm welcome to the school and was considered another outcast, though the reason for this is unclear. Ashlotte guessed that maybe Jade was in one of her terrible moods when she arrived and it all went downhill from there. It is also a possibility that Ashlotte was simply a scapegoat for the children – someone to mock for no reason. Or maybe Jade hated her because her parents actually loved her. In any case, Ashlotte spent the first year or two in the school relatively alone, until Simon arrived. Simon and Ashlotte went on to create the Soloist Anthem, an underdog society, if you will, that annoyed Jade in particular. Simon and Ashlotte even went so far as to change their own names when around eachother, just to proclaim their independant royalty – Sir Sirious and Archduchess Alyssa. Several times, they would run away or hide from the school until someone, anyone, noticed their disappearance; then they would return. Often, this took a while, as mostly no one noticed. Finally, on November 23, 2006, Simon proposed they run away permenantly, and so they survived the sinkhole.
After several days of hiding, they were found by police and transfered to a public school without knowing of their school's destruction. Through the following years, the two still relied on eachother for support, however, Simon increasingly seemed to become more and more distant to Ashlotte. As they growed up, Simon no longer called her archduchess affectionately, and one day, he scorned her for calling him "such a childish thing and causing more bullying" (Simon, 2010) for both of them. They remained friends and still did strange things together. Most afternoons in the parking lot, the two of them would look up at the sky or gaze at blades of grass before heading home. While Ashlotte constantly tried to reflect on their pasts and people like Jonathon and Dian who were actually fairly nice to them before they ran away, Simon always avoided such subjects. And while both of them were shy and quiet, Simon was fiercely so. It concerned Ashlotte greatly that Simon was taking life so hard. In fact, on September 9, 2015, Ashlotte was sitting on the grass and debating whether to confront Simon about his seclusion problems when Simon came up behind her and shot her.
Dr. Birk – The doctor served as the physical and phychological doctor for the children at the school. He was known to sexually abuse some of the children that went into physical therapy and hand therapy. He was often dealing with the children because of often rampant diseases in the poor school and 'accidents' that Jade often arranged for enemies to her kingdom. Dr. Birk dies in the collapse of the school.
Mr. McLone – The rich land lord financed this infamous school to open on a corner of his land. His default answer as to why he did this was "out of the goodness of my heart." A real answer was a bit darker. He often visited the childrens' dormitories at night and was known to them as 'the man' who sometimes laid down with the children. This man, Dr. Birk, and other staff that abused the children came back in their nightmares and imagination as stinging, merciless bees.
The Apparitions (as seen in Outcast)
The Exterminator – (I accidentally made this bio present tense, deal with it) The Exterminator is the equivalent of Simon's father. In Simon's Revelation to himself, he sees the exterminator as a man constantly clad in scary, black exterminating gear and clothing. He's employed by Jade's hierarchy to get rid of the bees, roaches, ants, and other pests plagueing the school. Everytime Simon crosses paths with the Exterminator, the cold, mad eyes are the only thing he sees of the scary man. As in the name, the Exterminator also seeks to terminate Simon, the child and 'pest' that ruined his life and killed his wife.
The Basement Burrower – This creature made its debut to Simon in the basement of the orphanage. It created tunnels under the school and filled their walls with the hateful thoughts Simon kept bottled up inside. Its grey, stretched out skin and spindley limbs made it an agile and dangerous creature that the Exterminator was tasked by Jade to kill. Bringing Simon down into the basement to help with such a beast, the Exterminator shone a flashlight down one of the bottomless pits and saw infuriating words directed at him. Essentially, it represents his fury and hidden maddness at everything and everyone around him. It is hidden deep within Simon, hence its home in the dank basement. And Simon believed it was responsible for killing his father and Ashlotte. Simon sees the Exterminator and Alyssa get dragged away by it.
The Crouching Hag – Seen by Simon to resemble the people he killed, first it was the form of his dad when he was young, then Ashlotte after the afternoon in the parking lot. Usually, Simon didn't see her move around and seemed to appear before him at random, causing him to immediately become petrefied or faint. She didn't ever speak, rather, Simon believed that she occasionally spoke directly to his mind (many times, she just seemed to enjoy watching him jump and squirm). Its purpose in tormentor to him was largely unclear until Haggard or Beep Beep Ending.
Alyssa – The two, Simon and Ashlotte, gave eachother nicknames, like Archduchess Alyssa for Ashlotte. In the book, Simon sees a young version of Ashlotte, Alyssa, in the school but can't recognize her as Ashlotte (until the Haggard Ending). He sees her get dragged off by the Basement Crawler, a metaphor for his anger and distance from Ashlotte in high school killing her innocence, severing their once close connection, and eventually taking her life.
Simon's Endings:
Haggard: 1
Simon fears guilt over death and the unknown and so when faced with the murder of Ashlotte cannot bring himself to join her in death. Simon lives on, thus, Simon sees his old manefestation of shame and guilt over death, the Crouching Hag, this time resembling Ashlotte (when Simon killed his father years ago, the hag's appearance resembled his father)(btw he sees the CH in all endings). However, Simon strives to keep a positive front on, and he forgives his main enemies, the ants (other children). Right not left. Simon remembers the afternoon that he shot Ashlotte and tripped. Most of all, he sees his demons for what they are and faces his mistakes (ex: he sees the Crouching Hag as Ashlotte, the Exterminator as his father, insects as the pests in his life). The Haggard ending is decided before the end of the story and includes Simon shooting the Crouching Hag and realizing he killed Ashlotte in the parking lot and caused this reality. Upon leaving the orphanage, Simon returns to reality in which the storm is over and the orphanage is in ruins before him. It is implied that he is taken into custody by the police shortly after.
With Birds: 2
Simon clings onto whatever illusion and reality his own mind creates for him and so he doesn't wake up. Instead, he continues on, nearly completely blissfully unaware of what he really did. While he still keeps up a semi-positive front, he doesn't see his demons for what they really are. He refuses to reveal to himself the terrible truths. It is also implied that Simon followed through in his suicide after killing Ashlotte in the parking lot. Simon revisits his past but is kept from her in death. In this ending, Simon becomes king, as Jade is no longer capable of ruling. By kicking off several children and lightening the load, the school is finally able to fly away into the clouds. Simon believes he is finally going to be okay, now that Jade and the monsters are gone.
Beep Beep: 3
Simon fears the unknown the most and fails to feel compassion for himself and others, so he does not come to terms with any reality. The Beep Beep ending is named because of the sound of hospital machinery. It is thought that in this ending, after killing Ashlotte in the parking lot, Simon nearly kills himself but miraculously survives because he aimed the gun a tad bit too high and the bullet passed by his skull, narrowly missing his brain. His coma is where he sees his past again, and once he rejects this reality, he wakes up in the hospital. Simon loses the will to live shortly after his awakening.
Keep in mind, this does not mean that in every ending, Simon was actually in a coma. Depending on the ending, Simon has either been (a) tripping balls (so to speak), (b) dead, or (c) in a comatose state.
Jade's Hierarchy
Jade's hierarchy of the students in McLone's School was really a skewed sort of popularity meter. Due to Jade's bossy nature and her longest attendance at the school, she became the queen over the other children. Her rule was seen as final and complete truth in the eyes of most other students.
Jade's caste system isn't given a lasting, solid name, as every so often, Jade would change her mind and switch some of the words to make it sound decidedly more fancy or classy - not surprising for an absent minded, bipolar developing child such as Jade. One month it was just the Children's Secret Society, another time it was Queen Jade's Kingdom of Class and Nobility, next week it was just Jade's Hierarchy. The latter most name was the most used for the group.
Putting the other children into posistions was tricky however, as Clementine and Esther were inseparable and niether wished to be higher than the other. To solve this, the queen dubbed them Left and Right Princesses (based on which side of the bed they would sleep on when they slept on the same bunk for company). Dian, the blind book worm, found herself near the bottom of the upper class, dubbed the Quiet Maiden. Adam, the cunning and greedy boy born with a shriveled frame, was eventually found near the top, a prince, mostly due to his obsession to be better than others. Jonathon, a boy born with both deformed legs and a disillusioned brain, rose to Dukehood because of the entertaining and strange stories he would tell (which eventually dried up along with his social skills) along with surprisingly straight forward advise and help for others (which also grew short with age). And just below him, was Prentice, dubbed Bishop, partly for the psalms he would read aloud to anyone (or no one) in the room. Prentice also rose 'politically' above Jonathon after his health declined. Finally, not quite considered an upperclass member but still important, Knight Billy was the extra bit of security that the kingdom needed. Billy was an autistic teenager all through the reign of Jade and served as a key, but dumb, supporter of Jade who could be sent to do nearly any task involving brute force. These were the main aristocrats, if you will, that remained in power for the years that Simon spent in the school. Of course, there were many other students that made up the lower class, peasants, but they had little to no impact on Simon as they just followed along in the societie's rules.
For the duration of her rule, Queen Jade instituted inside laws that the other children were to obey unless they be left out and alienated. A main rule was to never look towards Simon because of his apparently "rabid and particularly evil past deeds." It is assumed that Jade caught whiff of Simon's killing from the staff who weren't particularly fond of a new unstable orphan jumping onboard. Ashlotte, already an outcast, became friends with Simon almost from the start. Forming their own bond free of Jade, Ashlotte and Simon created the Soloist Anthem, a proudly independant party.
This vicory was short lived however, as Jade sought to make them suffer and got Billy to do all sorts of more aggressive moves to strike them. They tied Ashlotte to the outter fence and locked Simon in the dark of the basement on two occasions, each lasted hours.
Despite this, Jonathon held sympathy for the two of them, and Dian was the one to unlock Simon out of the basement. This was not looked upon kindly by Jade who denounced them further on her chain.
The Soloist Anthem
The following was a spoken declaration by Simon (Sir Sirius) and Ashlotte (Archduchess Alyssa), a confession of independance and a bond deeper than any other. It was written on a single sheet of paper that was ripped apart several times by a hateful Jade whenever it was found, but the two taped it back together again. Created circa Christmas, 2004.
The Soloist Anthem,
The song of independance and dependance
Of being solo together,
Making a bond stronger than any other.
The Soloist Anthem.
Dr. Birk's 5 Friendly Rules of Physical Therapy:
1)Don't say an exercise is easy, cause I'll just make it harder.
2)Don't lose count of your exercises, cause I'll make you start over.
3)Don't whine, cause I'll only make you stay longer.
4)Don't say it's hard, because that's how it's supposed to be.
5)If you don't cause a fuss and follow the rules, you get a lollipop at the end of your visit.