Re: Memory Lane, District Eight {Finished}

[Morgana]

Memory Lane

Gender: Female
Age: 17
District: 8

Appearance:

Memory was born with a head of hair that was a bright red color. As she got older, it dulled to a pretty shade caught somewhere between red and brown. It hangs just past her shoulders. Though Memory tries her best to look good, her hair has split ends, and often sticks out at odd angles. It is quite hard to get her hair to go back to it's normal position when it's like this. She does her best to wash her hair whenever it gets greasy, but at times she is too busy to do so. Because of this, her hair is sometimes left unwashed for days.

Memory has thin, arching eyebrows, the color of which matches her hair. Below them sits her eyes. They are almond shaped, and chocolate brown in color. She has always found her nose to be too large. Some may agree, while others would say her nose is just fine. However, Memory always argues by saying that you can only tell how large it is when you view it in profile. She has a thin upper lip, and the lower is only just a little thicker. They tend to curve downward naturally, so many assume she is frowning when she is really not. When she does smile, it is hardly noticeable, as it is only the slightest upturn of her lips.

The girl stands at 5' 6", an average height for a woman. One wouldn't call her skinny, but that isn't to say she's overweight. She has a perfectly normal weight for a girl her age, she just doesn't have many curves.

Personality:

Memory is a very serious girl. When she was young, she wasn't one to run about the playground at school, joining the other children in games. She was usually found reading a book somewhere. She preferred that to the company of other children. She's always preferred being alone to being in large groups. If she must be in a group at all, she prefers to be in a smaller one with maybe two other people. Larger groups are louder, and everyone always seems to be talking at once. She'd rather be in a group where people can hear what everyone has to say rather than shout to be heard.

Since Memory was always reading, she never really had time to develop her social skills, not that she had any desire to do so. She isn't the kind of person to just strike up a conversation with anyone. If she talks to someone at all, it's usually because they initiated the conversation. Some would call her shy, others would say she's antisocial. If you asked Memory herself, she'd tell you that she's just independent. She doesn't need other people with her all the time. Mostly, she's happiest when she's alone.

Since she was young, Memory has been studying hard and reading whatever she could get her hands on. She's always been a very good student. Never once did she turn something in late or incomplete. Her whole life, she's been working to get into the college in District Six. She knows they won't usually let people in that don't belong to that district, so she figures she has to be the best to get in. She's always wanted to do something greater than make clothes. She wants to do something that can help people, or change them for the better. She doesn't know for sure what she wants to study at the college, but for now she plans on becoming a doctor. She figures she can help a lot of people that way.

Memory isn't quick to get angry at anyone. If someone bumps into her on the street, she won't get mad. She can forgive little things like that easily, as can most people. But she can hold a grudge forever. If someone betrays her trust, it's likely that she'll hate them forever. She would never shout at them or shoot them dirty looks, though. When she hates someone, she does it silently. Instead of plotting revenge, she imagines all sorts of bad things that could happen to that person, or things she could do to them if she was just a little bit braver. That's another thing about Memory: she has confidence in herself, but she doesn't think she's very brave or courageous. She wouldn't jump into a crowd of Peacekeepers to save anyone, she wouldn't start a rebellion if she thought the Capitol was being unjust.

When comes down to it, Memory is a quiet person. She does what people expect of her. She wouldn't speak out against something she didn't believe in, and she wouldn't ever start a fight. She keeps mostly to herself, because being alone is what she's good at. It's what she knows, and it's what keeps her safe.

History:

Memory's story starts before she was even born. It starts with her mother, Alee, and her father, Hector. Alee was young. She worked in a factory sewing clothing together. She had to work to support her sickly mother and three younger siblings. One day, as she was leaving the factory, her hat blew off her head. Just as she ran off to catch it, a young man started chasing after her hat. He caught it and returned it to her. His name was Hector, and it was love at first sight. There was only one problem: Hector was married. It wasn't long after Hector's wife gave birth to a set of twins that Alee learned she was pregnant. Hector promised her he'd leave his wife. He said they'd run off together, start a new life in another district. But the day they were supposed to run off, Hector told her he was staying. He said that he had a god wife, and a good family, and he couldn't bring himself to leave them.

Heartbroken, Alee went through her pregnancy alone. Her mother died and her younger sister got married. Then her baby was born. She named her Memory, for memories were all that was left of her first love. She gave her Hector's last name: Lane. When Memory was a year old, Alee was married to a man that worked in the factory with her. His name was Jim McCaughtery. Alee decided not to change Memory's last name to match her new husband's, deciding that she liked the sound of Memory Lane. A year later, Memory had a baby brother named Caden.

Memory never treated Jim like her father. She knew without being told that he wasn't her father. She looked nothing like him and acted nothing like him. For a while, it didn't matter that he wasn't her father. She had someone to hold her hand and push her on the swing. But when Caden got older, Jim started paying more attention to him. Alee never had time for Memory, as she was always either working or off somewhere with friends of hers. She didn't seem to like being a mother very much, and didn't put in much effort. So Memory retreated to her books, convincing herself that she didn't need anyone.

As she grew older, Memory made sure not to let anyone get too close. She didn't want to get close to someone only to get replaced by someone else. She refused to let herself get hurt by anyone. Even when she was a teenager, and boys started noticing her, she didn't let them get close. She didn't want a family. How could she be expected to be a good wife when the only example she had to learn by was her mother? She couldn't raise children and make a good home; she just didn't know how. She was smart. She knew book things. But when it came to family and love, Memory didn't have a clue.

It wasn't until after the Reaping for the 57th Hunger Games that her mother told her the truth. She sat Memory down at the kitchen table and told her that Enigma Lane was her half sister. They had the same father. Alee told her the whole story. Memory watched the Games obsessively that year, trying to find similarities between herself and this sister she'd never known. She watched her die in the bloodbath after everyone started ganging up on her. She'd barely even begun to fight, barely had a chance. Memory would never meet her sister. But then something happened. Zack Detroff started hunting down her killer. She watched him kill one person after another, clinging to the hope that he'd live. Because if he lived, Memory might have a chance to talk to him, to ask him about her sister. But Zack died, too.

Memory decided then that she would never fall in love. You only got in the end. They either left you or chose someone else. She fell deeper into her studies, determined to get into the college, determined to leave her life behind and start fresh. She didn't want to know that she's had a sister, and lost her before ever speaking to her. She didn't want to know that her parents didn't care about her. She didn't want to know that Caden was her parent's favorite. All she wanted was to forget. But with a name like Memory, could such thing even be possible?

[ᕙʕ•ᴥ•ʔᕗ]