S105 - Hayes, Kiera [DECEASED]

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Name: Kiera Hayes
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Country and folk music, acoustic guitar, singing, camping, hiking, fishing

Appearance: Kiera is 5' 7" and weighs 135 lbs., with an average build. She's Caucasian and has olive skin. Her black hair is long and straight, and generally worn in a long French braid. She has brown almond-shaped eyes, a rather prominent and long nose, and a relatively long and thin face and thin lips.

Kiera tends to dress in comfortable clothes that are practical for her outdoorsy lifestyle, such as long pants and long-sleeved shirts made of durable fabrics. She favors clothes with muted colors and minimal patterns. She generally wears minimal makeup and jewelry, only really doing so for special occasions. On the trip, she was wearing a dark red coat over a thick long-sleeved white blouse, dark brown slacks and black boots.

Biography: Kiera was born in Salem, Massachusetts, the only daughter of Amanda Hayes and David White. The two had met in high school and dated for years before marrying while Amanda was still attending college, with Kiera being born just a year later. Their relationship had grown rocky since their marriage, however, and her birth created a great deal of additional stress and financial strain that would contribute to their marriage falling apart within the year. David, not wanting the burden of a child, gave up any custody of the girl to Amanda. Amanda, in turn, would return home to her parents, Doris and Robert Hayes, to get help caring for Kiera.

Growing up, Kiera would never meet her father in person; the closest thing they had to contact were his at-times-inconsistent child support payments. As an older teen, she would make some effort to reach out to him, but received no real response and would eventually abandon the endeavor. However, her home, living with her mother and grandparents and in contact with a large extended family, was a warm and loving one, and thus she didn't usually feel his absence. Her grandparents would handle a fair majority of her care while her mother finished law school and then pursued a career as a defense attorney. Despite her lesser involvement in Kiera's upbringing, Kiera and her mother would still have a good relationship, but she nonetheless was closer to her grandparents overall.

Robert, who was in his forties at the time of Kiera's birth, considered himself a bit of an outdoorsman, and once Kiera was old enough she would frequently accompany him on camping or fishing trips. He taught her a wide variety of skills useful to such activities, such as tying knots, performing first aid, and lighting a campfire. Kiera came to enjoy spending time in nature quite a lot. Her closest friendships were often with kids who also enjoyed these activities, and as a teenager she would go on hikes by herself or with friends and occasionally organize her own camping trips with them.

Kiera's grandmother Doris would bond with her granddaughter in another way. Doris was a huge fan of both country and folk music, and had a large collection of records of both that she would frequently play. Kiera loved the sound and intricate stories such music could tell. While she would branch out in her listening tastes as she got older, country and especially folks music would remain her personal favorite genres. She listened primarily to older artists her grandmother liked, such as Patsy Cline, Woody Guthrie and Elizabeth Cotten; however, she would also branch out and listen to more modern country and folk acts, like Rhiannon Giddens and Eric Church.

Around the age of twelve, she developed an interest in learning to sing and play such music herself, and asked her grandmother for a guitar and to receive guitar lessons. She would get both such things as a gift on her thirteenth birthday. She would keep attending such lessons throughout middle and high school, becoming reasonably skilled in the instrument. She never received formalized vocal training, and while she was often complimented on her voice she never felt quite as confident in her singing skills as her skill in the guitar. She would perform on camping trips or in small gatherings of friends and family, but had no interest in performing publicly or pursuing music as a career.

Kiera was never particularly academically gifted. She generally only maintained a B-to-C average at best, with occasional Ds or Fs, particularly in math subjects. Her family did their best to help her with this, and she would frequently seek tutoring from friends or other students whenever her grades dipped into the failing range. Despite her lacking talent for schoolwork, in junior and senior year she would start working very hard to try and improve her performance. This would bear some fruit, getting a more consistently B average in these years compared to prior ones.

From an early age Kiera had a personality that was friendly, but reserved, and tended to go with the flow. She was agreeable and easy to get along with, and found it fairly easy to make friends. She wasn't especially outgoing and didn't generally seek to be the center of attention, but other kids her age found her easy to be around and she found herself forming a large number of casual friendships. She would get occasional invites to parties and other large social gatherings, and would usually accept to be polite even if such outings were not really her thing. She also found her good nature occasionally being taken advantage of, such as people asking to copy her homework or hitting her up for money, which she more often than not acquiesced to, not wanting to cause disagreements or make people dislike her.

In junior year, while hiking alone in the woods near her home, she would meet fellow junior Shu Hawthorne. They hiked the rest of the way together until she went home, talking the entire way. Kiera found his appearance cute, and in her view he seemed clearly interested in getting to know her. They would soon make such hikes together a regular thing, and start dating not long after. Their relationship was a rather casual one; Shu was too standoffish to really open up or reveal too much of himself, and Kiera's passivity prevented her from making the first move or coaxing him out of his shell. Even so, things between them were stable and the two would continue dating into senior year.

Kiera is uncertain on what she will do after graduation. She's considered attending college, but has yet to decide what major she'd pursue or what career she'd want to go for in life. She's hoping inspiration on the matter will strike sometime before graduation, but isn't actively seeking an answer to the question just yet.

Advantages: Kiera is friendly and warm, and generally well-liked by those who know her. Her experience with the outdoors provides her with a fair bit of knowledge and skills that could be useful to survival on the island.
Disadvantages: Kiera is trusting and patient to a fault, and prone to letting others take advantage of her good nature. She is quite passive, usually not taking charge in situations and often merely following other people's lead.

Designated Number: Student No. 105

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Designated Weapon: 20m alpine climbing rope

Conclusion: You may not know where you're going in life, but I do: right into your loverboy's body count. - Christina Stockton