Heather Granville
Age: 18
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hobbies: Television,
Shopping
Birthday: August 2nd
Heather has always been perfect—perfectly petite,
perfectly blonde, perfectly polite. Perfect, perfect,
perfect. If even the teeniest, tiniest thing in her life
isn’t perfect, it gives Heather a headache. Sometimes
her headaches get so bad it feels like something is
trying to dig its way out of her skull. But even that
doesn’t wipe the perfect smile off her face.
Heather’s eldest sister is friends with Jenny—why,
Heather doesn’t really know. After all, Jenny’s certainly
NOT perfect. Heather knows Flash and Professor
Longfellow from school. Vivian is a friend of her
mother’s, has been for years.
Heather’s greatest fear is that she isn’t actually perfect
after all.
Jenny LeClerc
Age: 21
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 142 lbs.
Hobbies: Reading, Soccer
Birthday: March 4th
Jenny is a quiet girl. She loves soccer, but sometimes
she’s too shy to cooperate with her teammates the
way she should. Jenny’s greatest pleasure is curling
up alone in a tiny place reading a gigantic book—the
older the book, the better. The books keep her from
dweling on her mother’s disappearance, that day
fourteen years ago when Mom went to the store and
never came back, leaving Jenny alone. Alone forever.
Jenny’s only real friend is Caitlyn, Heather’s older
sister. Jenny also knows Ox, since she grew up only a
few doors away from him on Mulberry Lane. And Jenny
knows Madame Zostra from the library, a place they
both adore.
Jenny’s greatest fear is being trapped in a crowd or
lost out in the open.
Ox Bellows
Age: 23
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 288 lbs.
Hobbies: Football, Shiny
Objects
Birthday: October 18th
Ox Bellows was always aa big kid. Never got beaten
up. Always did the beating up ... but only when he had
to do it. (Well, except for that one time.) Ox doesn’t
like to think about that, but the blood and screams
creep into his dreams on cold, lonely nights.
Ox has known Jenny since they were kids growing
up on Mulberry lane. He met Professor Longfellow at
Greenwich University. Ox has known Father Rhinehardt
all his life. He’s been confessing his sins to the priest
since he was small (except for that one sin he doesn’t
like to talk about).
His greatest fear is of the dark.
Darrin ‘Flash’ Williams
Age: 20
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 188 lbs.
Hobbies: Track, Music,
Shakespearean Literature
Birthday: June 6th
Flash isn’t the most original name ever for someone
as fast as Darrin. But he likes it. It’s comfortable and
it fits him, just like his favourite pair of track shoes.
Darrin lives to run, and runs to live. When he’s not
running, Darrin feels like there’s something coming for
him ... something Not Good. Even when he runs, the
wind sometimes whispers in his ears, and he swears
he can hear the Not Good Thing coming up behind
him—fast. No wonder he’s the star of the track team.
Flash knows Jenny from the neighbourhood. She’s
okay, but she’s real quiet. He’s known Madame Zostra
for his entire life. After all, he’s her nephew. Zoe’s his
little cousin, but he’s only met her a couple of times.
Darrin’s greatest fear is that he’s going to be caught
by the Not Good Thing (whatever it is).
Vivian Lopez
Age: 42
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 142 lbs.
Hobbies: Old Movies,
Horses
Birthday: January 11th
Vivian’s perfect day is to get up late, have coffee and
doughnuts, and then ride one of her horses all day.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t get to spend too many days
likee that, since she’s so busy trying to keep her little
used book store from going under. Some days she
gets so frustrated she just feels like burning the place
down, or maybe just burning the little shed out back
... or the school. But she’d never do anything like that.
Still, sometimes she has nightmares about striking the
match ...
Vivian is a friend of Heather’s mother, Sarah. She
also knows Madame Zostra and Father Rhinehardt as
cutomers at her little book store, Something Written.
For extra money, Vivian has been babysitting Missy
Dubourde at least once a month for the past few years.
Vivian’s greatest fear is of fire ... and her fascination
with it.
Madame Zostra
Age: 37
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hobbies: Astrology,
Cooking, Baseball
Birthday: December 10th
Madame Zostra, or ‘Belladina’ (as her mother name
her), has been a tarot and tea leaf reader since
college. She started out working part-time sitting in
the window of an occult bookstore, but now she has
her own home astrology business. Although Madame
Zostra reads cards for a living, she won’t ever read
her own cards. She is terrified that she’ll see her own
death in the cards, something she can’t bear to think
about.
Madame Zostra is familiar with Vivian and Father
Rhinehardt from seeingg them at Vivian’s bookstore.
Flash is her nephew, and she never fails to buy him
birthday and Christmas gifts. She sees Jenny regularly
at the library. Zoe’s mother comes to Madame Zostra
for tarot readings.
Madame Zostra is terrified of death ... particularly her
own.
Missy Dubourde
Age: 9
Height: 4'2"
Weight: 62 lbs.
Hobbies: Swimming,
Medicine
Birthday: February 14th
Missy can’t remember wanting to be anything except
for a doctor. Her favourite gift ever in the whole
wide world was her first doctor’s kit. She practices
‘medicine’ on anyone who will let her. She even
cuts up dead frogs and stuff she finds in her yard.
But sometimes that gets bad, and she dreams of
dead frogs hip-hopping into her bed at night and
smothering her. Then she screams.
Missy knows Peter (and his gross bug collection) from
school. She knows Father Rhinehardt from Sunday
school (he talks funny and smells like chocolate).
Missy lives in the same neighbourhood as Brandon.
He delivers her family’s paper, but she doesn’t really
know him. (She thinks he’s cute, though.)
Missy’s greatest fear is of dead things coming baack
to life and hunting her.
Zoe Ingstrom
Age: 8
Height: 3'9"
Weight: 49 lbs.
Hobbies: Dolls, Music
Birthday: November 5th
Zoe likes to play in her room with her dolls. Each doll
has its own name, family, history, pets, and everything
else a doll needs to be happy. Zoe helps her dolls play
out little dramas, mostly happy ones, but sometimes
the dolls get mad at each other and hit. Not that
Daddies would ever hit Mommies. That doesn’t
happen. Leastways, you’re not supposed to talk about
it. So, Zoe plays with her dolls.
Flash is Zoe’s cousin, but she doesn’t know him real
well. Zoe’s mom goes to Madame Zostra for tarot card
readings. Zoe likes playing with her dolls under the
table there. Zoe’s family sometimes goes camping
with Brandon’s family. But Zoe doesn’t like it, so she
mostly stays in the tent and plays with her dolls.
Zoe’s greatest fear is the boogeyman ... whoever he is.
Peter Akimoto
Age: 13
Height: 4'11"
Weight: 98 lbs.
Hobbies: Bugs, Basketball
Birthday: September 3rd
Peter’s two favorite places in the world are the basketball
court and under his house. He likes the basketball court
because that’s where he can play his favorite game. He
likes being under the house because it’s a great place to
hunt for bugs, plus it’s a good place to avoid his five older
brothers. Sure, all older brothers pick on their younger
siblings, but Peter’s brothers really pick on him. But
what’s a few broken bones among family? Peter loves
bugs and wants to be an entomologist when he grows
up—an entomologist who never has to speak to his
brothers.
Peter earns extra money taking care of Professor
Longfellow’s yard (and finding cool bugs—bonus!). He
knows Missy from school. She likes to do pretend medical
exams on him and check out his real broken bones, but
she doesn’t like it when he shows her his bug collecion.
Peter’s greatest fear is that he’ll get trapped somewhere
and never be able to escape.
Brandon Jaspers
Age: 12
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 109 lbs.
Hobbies: Computers,
campin, Hockey
Birthday: May 21st
Brandon loves computers and camping. He takes his
new laptop with him wherever he goes. That way he an
program AND camp at the same time. Cool. Brandon’s
never liked playing with regular toys, action figures, or
that kind of thing. In fact, he hates puppets. He had a
clown puppet when he was little, and some mornings
when he woke up, he’d find it had moved closer to
him. Brandon’s pretty sure his big brother, Chris, was
messing with him. But he still hates puppets.
Brandon sometimes sees Zoe’s family when they go
camping. Zoe usually hides in the tent with her dolls,
though. Yuck. Brandon delivers the newspaper to
Professor Longfellow (in his big old freaky house) and
to Missy’s family.
Brandon’s greatest fear is of puppets, particularly
clown puppets.
Professor Longfellow
Age: 57
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 153 lbs.
Hobbies: Gaelic Music,
Drama, Fine Wines
Birthday: July 27th
Professor Josiah Longfellow is very proud of his
aristocratic roots. His family used to have money ...
at least until his father lost it all on gambling and
alcohol. The Professor still lives with his aging mother
in the rundown Victorian that used to be the finest
house in town. His father disappeared one day. Ran
out. His mother has a rather large life insurance policy,
but of course, he doesn’t want to collect on it any time
soon, no matter how nice the money would be.
Professor Longfellow knows Ox, Flash, and Heather
from the university. Brandon is his paperboy. Peter
mows the yard and takes care of other petty chores
around the house.
The Professor’s greatest fear is that he will lose
everything he has, proving to everyone that he’s no
better than his deadbeat father.
Father Rhinehardt
Age: 62
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Hobbies: Fencing,
Gardening
Birthday: April 29th
Father Rhinehardt was born in Munchen, Germany (or
Munich, as Americans call it). He moved with his family to
America when he was 15 ... and then got beaten up for the
next three years. Father Rhinehardt turned to religion for
the reasons why people treated him so badly. Eventually,
he entered Seminary and became a priest. Since that day,
long ago, many people have confessed their sins to him.
But there is one man who haunts him, every few years,
a stranger who sits in the confessional and whispers of
murder and madness. In recent years, Father Rhinehardt
has found he’s starting to agree with the madman’s
arguments. Blood, pain, death—they are all a part of life,
of God’s plan, are they not?
Father Rhinehaardt is familiar with Vivian and Madame
Zostra from seeing them aat the Something Written
bookstore. He knows Ox from hearing him confess his
petty sins. He also knows Missy from her appearances at
Sunday school.
More than anything, Father Rhinehardt fears going mad.