Character Name: Calypso Adair
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Appearance: Calypso grew up in her world with messy long black hair. It sort of moved on its own. Some days it would be curly, some days it would straighten itself out. No matter what, it looked good and effortless. People stared at her because she looked out of place. She came across innocent yet seemed to have a dark side. Most people might think it impossible to get hair the color of Calypso's because it was so jet black that, in the right light, it looked dark blue. Since she was on her own for a while, she cut her own hair, so it looked a little choppy at times. What completed her hairstyle were her bangs that hung over her left eye. It made her appear even more mysterious.
Calypso's eyes are peculiar. They change color from deep, coal black (like the color of her hair) to a soft, dark brown. It all depended on her mood. When she feels uncomfortable, upset, or angry her eyes get darker. But when she is feeling a little more outgoing and cheery they'll get lighter. It really is quite fascinating. You can always tell when Calypso isn't feeling up to a chat or if she's ready to go jump off a cliff.
Her face gives off her sweet impression. All of her features lie on a heart shaped head. Calypso’s eyes are a little squinty, and her nose is a little big, but she’s unique like that. No one is perfect. Her smile is probably one of the most beautiful things about her. When it flashes at you, you go numb for a little bit. Her teeth came in straight, with just a couple of them crooked at the bottom (hey, she never got to see an orthodontist). Everything has its own little flaw that brings out Calypso’s personality.
Of course, she is very thin. Living without a constant meal waiting on the table made her very skinny. Her clothes always fit too loose, and her ribcage would occasionally begin to show. She was, however, on the tall side. She grew pretty quickly; shooting up like a rocket. Calypso sometimes intimidated some younger kids when she walked past them. Since she was out in the sun all day, she had a bit of a tan. It wasn’t insanely dark, but it wasn’t pale white either. It was a healthy earth yellow color. Being tall, lean, and tan made her look almost elegant.
History: Calypso Adair's story is... quite unusual. She hardly knows it herself. It was when she was about six or seven years old, where she woke up lying in the middle of a dark, eerie road. It was beginning to rain, and Calypso had no idea who she was, where she came from, or what the heck was going on. It’s still clear in her head how it was night, and there were drops of rain trickling down her hair onto her face. She was confused, yet had no one around to help. Imagine, a little girl walking all by herself with nothing. It was amazing how she managed to survive jerky thugs and poisonous creatures. Actually it was very strange, but Calypso hardly realized it.
At first, she just began to wander the streets of big cities like Chicago, Nashville, St. Lois, and many other places that would provide her with the things she needed. But exactly were those things? She did not know. Calypso didn’t know what to do with herself most of the time. She spent countless nights freezing, starving, and very, very tired. She was literally on the verge of death with no food, money, or a second pair of clothes.
But, one afternoon when she was about nine years old, as the sun was setting against the horizon, and Calypso was searching for the warmest place in Indianapolis to sleep, a tall man in a bright white suit came up to her. She questioned the man, but he never replied. Eventually Calypso just decided to walk away, but there was the man again right in front of her. She asked him again what his deal was, but once more, no reply. Not after long she got irritated and began to scream. A lot of people waiting at a nearby bus stop noticed, and looked puzzled. Some looked as though they didn’t care, and others looked like they were ready to call 911 and tackle the white-suited man for stalking a poor little child. But Calypso was too clever. When the man looked around to see who had realized that he was with her, it gave the nine year old the perfect chance to run for it. She ducked behind bushes and trees to keep hidden; however that man was still following her. He was clearly very odd, and that frightened Calypso. She was too scared to move from her current hiding spot inside a playground tunnel. Finally she got up the courage to make an attempt to dash out and into a crowd, but there he was: tall and thin and extremely bright in his white suit. Calypso gasped, but could not scream.
It was too late. Everything suddenly got dark. Instantly she was in a dark room; pitch black actually, and alone. It felt like years went by as she sat in that darkness. But, she didn’t get hungry, smelly, or even tired. She just wandered the space for hours and hours on end. There were no walls, no ceiling, and possibly even no floor. But was it really just a dark room? Was it really years or hours that ticked by? Was it all real?
One day (or was it really a day?), in the dark space she lived in, she unexpectedly realized that she had to get out. She looked for exits, entrances, holes, and any light, but found none. Calypso noticed that she began to feel things; pain, hunger, weariness, confusion. She began to panic, maybe even go crazy. The room felt like it was closing in, even though there was nothing around her. She felt like she was being squeezed and crushed until she was sure she was going to die. But, right when it all seemed over, she awoke. Calypso’s head lifted from a wooden table, and felt her neck ache from sleeping in the wrong position. It had all been a dream? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. She has always been positive that at least the white-suited man was real.
Calypso was in a room that looked like a kitchen. But she didn’t have a home. She was a clueless child in the streets. There were papers lying a few inches away from her. They looked like registration forms for something. As she was pondering what was happening, a small woman, and a burly man walked through the doorway of the kitchen. They greeted Calypso as if she were their daughter, but had a trace of fear in their voices. They quickly grabbed the papers away, and sat down in the chair next to Calypso. She was very perplexed, so she asked questions that probably sounded stupid and insane. She found out that she had been living in San Diego, and that she was really 11 years old, and that she was going away somewhere. Apparently there had been some problems with the family, but Calypso didn’t know what exactly what meant. She decided to go along with this new life of hers to see what would happen.
But she learned that it was a cruel life. Where she was “going away” to was really a rehabilitation center for those with mental problems. Calypso wasn’t that fanatical! Okay, so maybe she was a little. But this was not was she was looking for in life. It just wasn’t what she needed. Her “parents” had noticed very abnormal behavior from her and things around her. They thought she needed help.
Calypso only spent a few days talking to psychiatrists and social workers at rehab until she couldn’t take any more of it. She was diagnosed with Schizophrenia because they thought she was seeing things. What Calypso saw weren’t illusions. She was positive that they were real, whatever they were. Sometimes they looked like monsters, and other times they were just plain strange. What upset her was that she was the only one who saw them. They treated Calypso like a little 4 year old because, according to them, her ADHD and Dyslexia is extremely severe. To be honest, she had many tantrums, and panic attacks. Big men and women had to hold her down and sometimes even put her on a drug to calm her down. She was almost always locked in a big white room. Calypso didn’t know why! Everyone told her that things get odd when she’s around. But that only confused her even more.
Finally she decided to break out. It may not have been a super complex plan with a billion steps but it got her out. Basically while she was acting all quiet and collected while having a conference with her psychiatrist, she stood up and bolted for the door. She always had the meeting in the cafeteria, where there were two exits (how stupid to put a dangerous girl in such a room) so she chose the closest one and slammed it open to get out, leaving everybody around open-mouthed. She ran, and ran, and ran until she was too tired to continue. There were no cops in sight; Calypso was free. Free again? Who knows? She was back to the old days when she was in the big cities (that is, if that ever happened). Away from all of those who saw Calypso as some unknown monster. It made her feel renewed and happy. She was still clueless about her past, but that was just the way she lived. She was different, and she had to find out why. She needed to find where she belonged.
Personality: Calypso Adair’s mind and personality are very diverse. She is constantly changing because there are a million things running through her mind at once. That’s the reason why she’s often quiet, and looks lost or confused. She has lived her life without much social interaction, sadly, but understands how to make conversation, even though she didn’t talk much.
You could say that Calypso is polite and a goody-two-shoes. But if you really knew her, you would find out that she was a daredevil; that she was curious about most mysteries; that she thrived off of adventure. Why do you think she ran away from rehab? Since Calypso spent most of her life as a runaway on the streets, she was surrounded by conflict; conflict that she had to learn to solve on her own.
She was tough. She wouldn’t cry over a little paper cut her finger, or a failed mission. Calypso dealt with it and moved on. Her mind was focused on the future, and most importantly, the present. Instead of dwelling on the past (partly because she grew up knowing nothing about herself), she stayed determined as much as she could. Her inspiration was finishing what she started because Calypso always felt wonderful when she accomplished something.
She did have a stubborn side, though. She liked to prove her points, and she hated when someone didn’t believe her (so you can imagine how mad she got in the rehabilitation center). Naturally, she would get upset if things didn’t go out the way she planned, but she tried to keep her cool. She found that being alone helped her relax a little bit better. Yet, being out by herself in the past, she got lonely. She wanted to love and be loved, but who would acknowledge some freaky teenager sleeping on top of a dumpster, or in front of a McDonald’s?
Days of hiding from cops and getting away from thugs built up Calypso’s strategic ways of thinking. As the weeks went by, she came to be able to get herself out of sticky situations. She was able to trick people, outsmart them, talk her way out of problems, and such. It really helped her move through the cities unharmed.
Unfortunately, there was a little bit of insanity in her. A little bit. But come on, who wouldn’t start to go crazy when you have no parents, no past, no life, and nowhere to go? She starved herself, froze, and did get hurt. Her “illusions” got worse and worse as she began to see more and more weird things. Her experience in rehab, the “dark room”, the white-suited man all scarred her. She will never be the same, and will always have that sinister past looming on her shoulders, affecting everything about her.
