LOCKHART, Mina Amoris

[mina amoris lockhart]

MINA AMORIS LOCKHART

FULL NAME: Mina Amoris Lockhart.
NICKNAMES: Mi, Mi Amor – her ex called her this and she hates it.
AGE: Twenty-four
GENDER: Female
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Student.
GRADE: Freshman.
MAJOR: Creative Writing.
JOB OCCUPATION: Academy Records Assistant.

HAIR: Natutally light brown, but Mina has played with dyes over the years and still does now, so it frequently changes. She keeps it mid-length to long, typically growing it out and then cutting it short again. .
EYES: Blue.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: Nothing she can remember the story to.
TATTOOS: None.
PIERCINGS: Ears once.
PLAY-BY: Bella Heathcote!

LIKES: writing, talking with her step-father, cocoa butter, chicken, perfume bottles, tea, gardens, the quiet, thrillers – both movies and books, mustard yellow, cream cakes, her own company, cats, theatre masks, loose clothes, embarrassing her mother, bad boys, throw pillows, scarves, The Bachelor, frozen yoghurt.
DISLIKES: Talking to her mother, doctors, hospitals, large meals, bad boys, orange juice, being lectured, talking about herself, sports, video games, being injured, short dresses, strangers just approaching her and not shutting up, reading her writing aloud, gut feelings, crowded places, temptation.
FEARS: Relapsing, turning into her mother, people from her past finding her.
SECRETS: Mina doesn’t talk about her drug addiction problems, or how she spiralled so hard not so long ago.
PERSONALITY: Mina is a pretty closed off person these days. She knows she has developed quirks that people will only want to talk about and she doesn’t think she’s ready for anything like that. She doesn’t want to talk about what she’s been through. She’s intelligent and spent most of her life at the top of her classes, being pressured by her mother to do well because she could. She’s sweet and girly, but a lot stronger than she appears, so people make the mistake of underestimating her quite often. She doesn’t always identify her strength though, and instead focuses on her weakness, or the temptations that she gave into in the past. She’s very insecure in herself, and finds comfort only in her writing and hearing reassurance from her step-father. She’s something of a loner, but at the same time she likes being out and about even if she doesn’t talk to a single person while she’s out. Mina gets stressed out fairly easily these days, and although her anxiety is what she considers to be under control, there are moments when she feels like she can’t handle what the world is throwing at her; but she has her coping mechanisms now to stop her relapsing and reaching for drugs again. She’s emotional when she’s mad; the type of person to pace and shout and scream, and maybe smash up a few things, but she doesn’t take it out on anyone. She’s reluctant to date, just because of her own judgement. Mina has always been attracted to the bad boys, but they’re also her downfall. She needs someone who can make her feel like there’s more to her – and to life – than reputations and status, and treat her as a person rather than the next Lockhart lady.

MOTHER: Lady Alicia Grace Lockhart, 50.
FATHER: Michael Bennett Thornly deceased.
SIBLINGS: None.
OTHERS: Gregory Sean Kingsley, step-father, 52.
PETS: Luna, Persian cat of one!
HOMETOWN: Suffolk, England.
HISTORY: Lady Alicia was the heir to the family title and estate. So when she met Michael Thornly, who was another familiar face among the rich and elite, but who came without title, she was the one who held most of the spotlight. Not that there was much to hold, but he was always going to be below her. They met at a polo game, and from there they were fortunate enough to marry and later have a daughter; Mina. Mina would inherit her mother’s title and so Lady Alicia was keen to keep the Lockhart name running with her daughter, insisting that it only seemed right. Michael had no title or estate of his own since he was the youngest of three sons and his elder siblings inherited what their parents had. Mina would take everything from her mother when the time came around.

And so, Mina was groomed for that role before she could even walk. Her whole life she was constantly being told by her mother about who she was supposed to be. She had to be a lady, be proper, be clever. She had to know when to speak, when to laugh, when to hold her tongue, and when to impress people. Mina never had a childhood where she could scrape her knees and climb trees. She had books and lessons. She learnt the violin and hated it, and had to speak French because it sounded beautiful. She was naturally quite bright and once Alicia knew that she pushed her daughter to be at the top of her class. If she could make good marks at school without trying then there was no excuse why she couldn’t be the very best if she studied. If a test came back with a low score then there was a tutor to be hired. Mina’s whole life was constant scrutiny and pressure. Every compliment Alicia doled out came with a note of improvement. There was always something Mina could have done better. “You fiddled too much with your hair.” “Your laugh was too raucous.” “Try not to slouch when someone is speaking.” Always a note to take away and remember for next time. Mina was Alicia’s legacy and Alicia did not want to leave behind a sloppy legacy.

When Mina was nine her father died. He drowned in the lake on the family estate one night, his body found the next afternoon when a caretaker spotted him floating in the water. No one said much to Mina at the time and it was nearly ten years later when she found out that he had been drunk and that there were even rumours that it was suicide. Nothing was proven though and everyone and the media called it a tragic accident. He hit his head and was unconscious. Alicia paid a good amount for them to omit the alcohol and the rumours of anything more shocking.

Two years later, Alicia met and soon after married Gregory Kingsley; another man around the circuit who was also an artist. He was completely different to Alicia, but brought out a better side to her. Unfortunately, it was a side that did not spread to Mina. Greg did dote on her though. He was unable to have children of his own and he loved Mina. He gave her the time and attention that no one had done before. He was actually interested in the things she enjoyed, and encouraged her to pursue them even when Alicia pulled a face and told her it was a waste of time. They were close, and he covered or made excuses if Alicia scolded Mina for a slip up. Greg always thought she was too harsh, but Alicia kept insisting that Mina needed to be the best.

And she was. At school she was always at the top of her classes, and people could not stop singing her praises. But then Mina went to university and things changed. She chose to go to school in France – a choice Alicia approved of – because it was an experience of culture and of the world. However, when she got there she suddenly wasn’t the smartest in the room. No matter how hard she tried there was someone better than her. She could slave over an assignment and still not have the highest possible grade for it. Mina was thrown by this and it began her spiral. By the start of her second year she was a wreck. Her first year results were not up to scratch and she had done nothing but study and lose sleep to try and be utterly perfect in every single way. By the October, she was close to giving up, when a boy she knew from her class offered her a pill to help relax her after an exam they had sat. She took it, desperate to calm down. It was the start of her addiction right there. That night she was completely released from the hell she had been living in, and she wanted more. She went back again and again to this classmate, who eventually introduced her to more friends and more pills. Soon, Mina was taking stronger things, swapping pills for needles and completely forgetting about school entirely.

Mina lost track of everything. Days turned into weeks and the classmate became her boyfriend who was also happy enough to let her flirt and sleep with his own friends. Mi Amor he called her, handing her another fix as soon as she needed it. Mina was a mess, but she didn’t see that. She just saw the first escape she had ever experienced in her life. It was beautiful. The greatest thing ever. Until she took too much, was abandoned by her so called friends and was found literally in the gutter outside some Paris café in the early hours of the morning. An overdose almost killed her, but she woke up to find Greg next to her bed. The hospital had called home and he had been the one to answer. Alicia was at home micromanaging to cope now that they knew Mina was going to be okay, but Greg was not leaving her side. They put her through a rehab programme that ensured her privacy and safety, and it took a long time before Mina felt confident to be on her own again. She had been running wild in Paris and playing with hard drugs for two years before that near fatal overdose. She wasn’t going to be clean and confident overnight.

She was twenty-three before she voiced a desire to try university again. Alicia had kept her locked away since she came home, ashamed of how thin and sickly Mina looked since her ‘ordeal’. It was no life to live and Mina needed something more than group therapy at the clinic and the library at home. She wanted to get away again. It was Greg who suggested New York. He had a studio there which he hadn’t used in years, but if Mina liked the idea then he would start flying out there again every month or two to check she was doing okay, and see if she needed any support. She thought about it, and liked the idea of pushing herself to regain some independence. She didn’t want to hide behind the title of Lady Lockhart that she would one day have, and she wanted to prove to herself and her mother and step-father that she was more than this screw up. Mina also knew that she couldn’t push herself the way she had once before, so she elected to take Greg’s advice and choose something she enjoyed and didn’t need to be the best at; creative writing. It had been an escape for her during rehab, and she had filled so many journals since then with thoughts and ideas.

It was several months later before Mina was finally able to enrol and move out there. Alicia was less pleased with the idea of it all, but Greg shushed her complaints and protests by reminding her that he would go out to work from his studio for at least a week every so often to make sure that Mina was doing alright. Plus, he called weekly to check she wasn’t spiralling. Mina is still settling in, finding her bearings and making sure she avoids all the right people to stay on the straight and narrow. She’s doing good, but she’s stronger than she gives herself credit for and needs to let go a little bit to really start living the life she wants to live.

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: In the valley.
SAMPLE:

Nahh!

[kim]