Character Sketch - Girl in a Window

Believe it or not, I am actually capable of scheduling a post so it goes up when I want it to, even if I'm gone.  I was planning on doing that this week, while we were out of town on vacation ... but you can see just how that worked out.  Then, Monday was one of the busiest days of my life - five hours at the zoo, driving an hour to a cousin's party, driving back - and managing the kids without my husband, who was at a conference (my extreme sympathies to all single parents out there - it's hard work!).

The whole time we were gone, I was haunted by a character.  She came to me in a flash, and I can't get much more than a picture of her.  I have no idea if her storyline is a Cinderella story or that of a rebellion leader (i.e. Hunger Games) ... or maybe I just haven't hit on the right storyline for her, which would explain why I can't make anything stick.

I've found the easiest way for me to nail down my characters is to do a character sketch, so, because this is my blog and I can do what I want, that's our prompt for the week.  Choose a character and write a little sketch.  They can be from your work, someone you saw on the street or at the mall, or just choose a random image from the internet.  Choose a character, and have fun!

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My response:

Name: Skate
Age: Unknown - young teens
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Varied
Hair Color: Black
Skin Color: Walnut Brown
Eye Color: Brilliant Green

Our footsteps were soft in the ventilation shaft.  None of us had proper shoes, and we'd learned when we were young to walk softly.  Thumping meant calls to the local gumps, and if they caught us, it meant a week or two in the brig, where the food was rancid and the water worse.

I carried my small, linen sack in the crook of my elbow.  The strap hung loosely around my body, but the tiny space of the shaft made me lean over.  I didn't like the bag smacking my shins, so I clutched it tightly.  Benjy was in front of me, his loping gait - half walk, half skip - a remnant from a childhood bout of the Ezz.  Down in the town, he wouldn't have had to suffer through something like that.  He'd have seen a doctor, and one week later, he'd have recovered.  But he was born in the sky, and even if we knew which medicines to use, stealing them was a bigger job than we could take on.

The ventilation shaft led up, up, into the outer edge of the station.  Other shafts branched out in unmarked passages, but I'd grown up here.  I knew where the window was.  We passed it every day on the way home.  Derk never let me stop long, but sometimes I could get a real good look before I'd hear his sharp voice calling me back.

Just a few more steps.  Around another bend.  And there it was.  I sped up to get to the window, then stopped in front of it.  The line moved on, Benjy limping ahead.  Rag pulled up sharply behind me, calling ahead to Derk even before he'd come to a stop.  "Derk, Skate's at it again!"

I stared out the window, blocking out their voices.  I was in luck today.  In the darkness, a blue-green planet filled half the window.  White clouds swirled around in patches, as if they'd been frozen in time.  It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"Skate!"  Derk's voice snapped.  I knew I'd have trouble if I pushed too hard, but I couldn't help stopping.

"Coming ..." I called, keeping my eyes on the window as my body turned and moved away, further up the shaft.  Derk just didn't understand.  He had everything he ever wanted.  He was only twenty-two and already king of our end of the sky.  The guys like him, and the girls can't get enough of him.  Honestly, I have it pretty easy as his baby sister.  I've never had to go without food, and he'd always bring me something new to wear before I outgrew my last outfit.  He just couldn't understand that I wanted more.  I wanted to know what it was I saw through the window.  I wanted to walk through Town, just once, without worrying about someone stopping me and trying to scan my wrist, then finding I don't have an ID tag and throwing me in the brig for a week.  (Apparently it's a crime to have no identity, but the Town won't put out the money to give new tags to criminals.)  There's got to be more to life than just the sky ...

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UPDATED:

Ok, wait, let's try this from another angle:

I was born in the Sky.  It wasn't as mystical as it sounds.  When you live on a planet, the sky is a broad expanse of freedom and opportunity.  When you're born on a space station, the Sky is the outer layer of ventilation shafts and empty supply rooms packed with the uneducated, unwanted gutter trash of society.  I didn't realize then how unusual my life was.  My brother was the local "king".  That afforded me unique protections.  I thought I was happy, though I used to gaze out the one window in our part of the Sky and wonder at the blue-green orb that hung in the darkness outside.  When I got caught, I fought with every last ounce of strength I had.  If I had known then what I know now, I would have turned myself in.  Now I live in a palace full of windows, where the breeze flows in from the gardens, bringing the scent of fresh lilacs with it.  But it wasn't all a bed of roses.  This is my story.

 
Coming at it this way, a few things changed, but that always seems to happen, and seeing as her story is so fluid right now anyway, I'm not surprised at all.  Who knows, maybe she'll have her own novel one day? :-)