Pearl Llewellyn has never fit within the mold that society made for her. Some might say that’s because society threw it into a grinder before trying to place her in it... or at least, she would. Born to Adi and Gwen Llewellyn, Pearl had an happy early life. Things changed for her though when she was six.
On her sixth birthday, Pearl was having her first school play, she was a carrot, for the record. Her parents rushing to the school from work and home both got into an accident. A lot of people got into the same accident, for as they were crossing the town’s main bridge, it collapsed. They lived through the accident, but only long enough to say goodbye to their daughter before dying in failed surgeries.
After burying her parents, and settling their debts, she had a small amount left to her. She might have even had enough to make it through high school even. Sadly, her aunt who took her in spent it all on drinks and drugs. Within a year it was all gone and than social services found her and took her away.
For the rest of her life she lived moving from foster home to foster home, as for one reason or another they couldn’t foster her anymore. These homes were at least decent and clean, but moving all the time made it hard to get or keep friends in school.
At first, her only comfort was a small collection of fantasy novels and japanese manga she found in her mother’s effects. But she soon found the internet at around 11 years old. This became her second happiest time, reading webcomics and novels online. Along with that she joined forums and instant messaging apps, finding friends with similar interests.
She let it consume her life. She quickly learned, though, that she would lose access to this new joy if she didn’t do well in school. Studying was part of her daily life after that. She never became the best or a model student, but her grades were above average.
The end to her troubled life happened pretty suddenly on her senor trip. With two weeks left before graduating, the class was staying in a hotel overlooking the ocean from atop a cliff. This day the plan was to hike two miles along the shore to a nice sandy beach.
Pearl was walking along with the rest of the class, with her freckled face planted in her phone. Walking and reading is a skill long ago mastered. Coming up behind her was a group of three girls, her tormentors. They never really crossed any major lines though. Pearl did not always react to their ploys, which made her their fourth favorite target instead of their first.
Still on this day, Pearl’s 18th birthday, what should have been some light teasing turned into something far worse. The leader of her tormentor clique casually bumped into her as she walked by, knocking Pearl’s phone onto the ground. Pearl mumbled a quiet, “sorry” as she tried to grab her phone. Sadly, this is where Pearl tripped, rolled a few feet and slammed into the railing along the side of the cliff.
That’s what should have happened, but that spot of railing was in bad repair and rotting. So instead of having a light bruise due to her clumsiness, she rolled off the cliff. Falling 20 feet to the rocks below. The last thing she saw was the sun framed by her deep red hair.
That is exactly what a non-human would say.