MCQUILLAN, Garrett Austin

[garrett austin mccauley]

GARRETT AUSTIN MCQUILLAN

FULL NAME: Garrett Austin McQuillan.
NICKNAMES: Gar
AGE: Thirty-three
GENDER: Male
SEXUALITY: Bisexual.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Citizen.
GRADE: N/A.
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: Video game programmer.

HAIR: Short and tidy. It’s a very light brown/dark blonde shade – depending on the light. He keeps the sides shorter than the top, but only just. Styled with a bit of wax when he’s trying to look smart and less like he’s caffeinated at a desk.
EYES: Blue.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: He has a neat but noticeable scar on his chest from his heart transplant. He also has two older, smaller scars on his chest; one from his central line tubing and another from his chemotherapy port.
TATTOOS: None
PIERCINGS: None.
PLAY-BY: Tom Hopper!

LIKES: vegetable snacks, RPG games, hiking, ice water, Terry Goodkind novels, large lattes, grilled cheese, butter popcorn, poetry, travelling, building computers, dungeon raids, bats, the Olympics, physics-defying bugs, triathlons, lime & soda, DVD boxsets, heavy duvets, meditation before bed, audiobooks in the car, rats.
DISLIKES: People trying to force him to drink, overworking himself, more than two takeaways in a month, warm juice, birthday cake, poor cable management, thin walls, hospital appointments, needing to see a doctor before he could travel, talking about himself, Stephen King, washing the dishes, clowns – they’re not funny or scary; just try hards.
FEARS: Becoming seriously sick again, meeting someone who wants biological children, sewers (he got lost in one with friends when he was a kid – caused a two hour parental panic).
SECRETS: He has a nickname for his donated heart. He called it Howler. It makes many people think he has a pet dog or something similar when he refers to it. There are too many times when he won’t correct this assumption, simply because it amuses him.
PERSONALITY: Garrett is a pretty laid back kind of guy. He’s been through enough to know that life is too short to take it too seriously. At the same time though, he’s reliable enough to be considered hardworking – after all his career isn’t one for slackers. He’s health conscious for what he considers to be obvious reasons. Garrett believes others can live their lives how they please, but he won’t let anyone try to convince him to change his ways; they’re his ways for a damn good reason. He’s a friendly guy, and he’ll give anyone a chance, but he won’t be treated like a doormat. He’s understanding and makes a pretty good listener. Garrett will walk away from conflict; for health reasons, and because he’s just not the type to waste a temper he doesn’t have on another person. He will simply cut someone out of his life if he feels it’s right. He might send them a message explaining why, but then he’s done with them. Again, life is too short. He considers himself unlucky when it comes to love. There are reasons why relationships have never manifested into something serious, but over the years there have been a few near misses that he still thinks about. This leaves him honest – maybe too honest for the early days – and nervous when he really starts to like someone. Garrett wants someone to spend his life with, but it’s not as easy as the fairytales paint it to be.

MOTHER: Lorraine Flynn, 62.
FATHER: Garth Neville Flynn, 66.
SIBLINGS: Portia Vivienne Flynn-Byrne, 36.
OTHERS: Mitchell Devin Byrne, 39, brother-in-law
Samantha Harley Flynn-Byrne, 6, niece.
Alex Bryce Davis, 34, ex-boyfriend.
Felicia Kayleigh Vaughn, 29, ex-girlfriend.
PETS: Pinky and The Brain, two rats!
HOMETOWN: Canton, Ohio.
HISTORY: Medical Lab Technician Garth Flynn was not the type who flirted with women in bars. It was mostly that reason that saw him as the last single guy out of his college buddies. He wasn’t upset about it though. Especially not after he met Lorraine at her family’s café in Canton, Ohio. He hadn’t been in town long; he had moved there for a new job with better pay. Lorraine was recently divorced from a not-so-nice guy, and while she hadn’t been planning on dating for a year or so until she was back on her feet confidence wise, Garth made her laugh with his terrible jokes and lost expression when he was trying to get from one place to another. Their friendship lasted nine months before they went on their first date, and then slowly for them (but quickly in the eyes of others) their relationship bloomed. Garth proposed on their first “proper” vacation (they went to Russia of all places), and she surprised him a month into their wedding plans by telling him she was pregnant. Eventually, Lorraine waddled down the aisle and three weeks to the day, she gave birth to their daughter, Portia.

It would be three more years before Garrett was born. He was a lively little boy, full of curious wonder about everything around him. Most of the time that resulted in injuries or near-misses. Lorraine was terrified that a doctor was going to think they abused him in some way because of how many cuts and bruises he got by himself when he was growing up. Her father, and Garth, would point out that he was just ‘a real little boy’ who was into mud, and sticks, and climbing trees. Portia had been quite dainty in comparison, so it had been a bit of a shock for Lorraine to have a child who quite literally would swing from the light fittings if he could reach them.

However, when Garrett was eight, Lorraine was concerned by his bruising. There seemed to be a lot more, and they all looked a lot worse than before. At first she thought he was being bullied by some kids at school because of how bad they were, but Garrett insisted he got on with almost all of his classmates (the ones who didn’t like him so much were girls and that was because ‘he was gross’). Lorraine even went to the school to see if there was a problem, but his teachers could only tell her that Garrett was a good kid, if a little distracted sometimes.
Eventually, Lorraine took her son to a doctor, and her concerns were shared. He sent them to the hospital for some tests, and soon the family’s world was shook when Garrett was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia. Being only eight and a half at the time, he had no idea what was happening when he was suddenly told he had to take all these different drugs. He was taken out of school so he couldn’t hurt himself – a risk he was at given how the APL could affect his blood and its clotting capabilities – and kept under near constant supervision. He made good progress with the chemotherapy and the treatment given to him. By the time he was ten, he was back in school with his friends.

The next few years passed by without incident, but when Garrett entered high school, he got sick again. At first, it seemed like nothing. He had a few stomach bugs, a couple of bouts of the flu; the family were aware that his immune system was a little worse for wear after the leukaemia. When the bruising came back after he had done nothing more than stumble into a support column at the local mall, he was rushed back to the doctors. At sixteen, Garrett was informed that the APL had returned. They pushed on with heavier treatment, getting him into remission for the second time before insisting that he would benefit from a bone marrow transplant. Luckily, Portia was a match. The siblings went into surgery and the doctors were happy with the progress of them both when they were in recovery. They were hopeful that Garrett would be completely out of the woods after this. Although, he was informed that the intensity of the chemotherapy and undergoing it twice, had very likely rendered him unable to have children. At seventeen, that was hardly something Garrett was thinking about. He was happy to have a chance at living for a start, and secondly, he was questioning his sexuality.

He had met Alex Davis during high school. Alex was a transfer student who had become fast friends with Garrett. Alex wasn’t shy about being gay, and he openly flirted with Garrett, even though he hadn’t expected anything to come from it. Flirtatious and bold was just his personality. Still, Garrett found himself thinking about Alex in a way he had also thought about the girls in his class. He hadn’t dated much because of his illness and because he was still considered pretty gross by some of them. Garrett liked getting dirty from time to time! Still, things developed between himself and Alex, and the boy who was already comfortably with his sexuality was patient and sweet with Garrett. He helped him realise that he could indeed like both sexes and that it was no big deal. He was there when Garrett came out to his supportive family (Portia made a joke that he liked guys now because of her transplant donation), and Alex held his hand when he was told he was officially an outpatient who only needed an annual check up again.

The two were dating when they started college. Both were still in Ohio, but in different schools. Garrett was studying computer science after getting an itch for it after spending so much of his youth bedridden with only computer games for company. He wanted to make a game of his own one day, or at least be the lead in a team that did. He already had built his first PC; a powerful gaming rig that he didn’t have enough time for in his opinion. Alex and Garrett spent weekends together when their timetables allowed them to, making the most of the time they could afford to visit each other. Their relationship was strong, but they were both still young guys so it never got to the stage where they were planning their lives together.

One weekend, Alex came to visit Garrett after the latter had been run down all week. They planned to go to dinner, to catch a movie and just have a relaxing weekend together. Only, they never even made it to dinner. Garrett collapsed at the bottom of the stairs in his apartment building. Alex called for an ambulance and stayed by his side the whole time until the Flynns arrived at the hospital. Garrett’s heart was failing. Doctors said it was a very rare result of the chemotherapy previously, assuming that the stronger batch given to him between the ages of sixteen and eighteen had caused the damage. It was such a rare turn of events that Garrett wasn’t even being monitored for it, nor was it checked at his last consultant appointment three months earlier. His only option was a heart transplant.

Garrett was in for a long wait, and he felt sicker than ever before. He broke up with Alex, telling him to go and live his life. He didn’t want him to be tied down to a sick boyfriend who might not even survive this fight. Alex argued with him, but in the end Garrett convinced him. They made one of those pacts to hook up again when they were forty if no one had claimed them. It took eighteen months before Garrett had a match. It was almost down to the wire, too. If this heart didn’t work then there wouldn’t be time for another. Someone must have been looking out for him, because his body accepted it. Of course, he was on medication for the rest of his life now, but it was a small price to pay to actually have the rest of his life.

When he was cleared by the doctors he returned to college, ready to continue his degree. Some people who didn’t see the seriousness of what he had been through mocked him for not partying with them, or for nursing a non-alcoholic drink at the bar. Garrett wasn’t going to bend to their will – not for the sake of his health, and not after everything he had been through. He was in his final year of college when he met Felicia. She worked on his college campus, and was sweet as anything. They were together for just shy of two years. That was when Felicia started talking about their future; weddings, families and the like. When Garrett informed her that he was infertile it was like the end of the world. In his view, if he ever met someone he wanted a family with, they had options such as adoption, fostering, surrogacy even. Felicia, however, wanted none of that. She wanted her own children with the man she loved. Obviously, it ended their relationship because Garrett couldn’t give her that dream and he felt she was being unfair to him for acting like he was ruining her life. He hadn’t been responsible for what fate had handed to him. Hell, he was lucky to be alive!

After that break up, Garrett chose to spend a year travelling. He took it easy, only going to a few places, but he wanted to at least see some of the world now that he had the chance. Afterwards, he came home to a job in New York with a games company. He was a low rung programmer for them, but over the years he climbed up the team positions until he was just shy of the top. He ended up in control of some big chunks of the games they worked on. He had a nice apartment, kept in good health thanks to his own regime and his doctors advice when he went for his annual check ups. His relationships never became much of anything, either because he couldn’t be the “traditional family man” or because someone just wanted him to keep their bed warm at night. Some people saw his scars as a sign that he was just a ticking time bomb that they shouldn’t get involved with. Garrett – sometimes – understood these people. Other times he felt like he was cursed in all matters of the heart. Guys could be just as bad as the women, and honestly Garrett didn’t know who he’d be better off trying to settle down with.

Currently, he’s just winging it. Life is far too short to run by a plan or a schedule. He keeps that sort of thing for work and tries to let everything else happen in its own time. That doesn’t mean he’s always patient enough for it though.

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: IN YOUR MIND.
SAMPLE:

I’ll pass.

[kim]