S007 - Caldwell, Derek [DECEASED]

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Name: Derek Caldwell
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: Senior
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Beatboxing, Digital Art, Goth Rock, collecting vinyls

Appearance: Derek is 5'7'' and weighs 140 pounds. He uses hair gel to make his black roughly two inches long hair stand upwards. His skin is pale, his nose is thin, his jawline is round and his small oval eyes are dark blue. His eyebrows are thin and barely noticeable while his lips are short but full. Derek's posture tends to be very straight. He has a strikingly cold voice and often comes across as gruff.

Most of his clothes are either black or gray, with some white stuff now and then. He also sometimes wears T-shirts with pictures or logos of bands. Since his family isn't rich, many of his clothes are from cheap brands and worn out.

On the day of the abduction he wore dark, worn-out jeans, brown running shoes, a gray jersey and a black T-shirt with a big, yellow star.

Biography: Derek Caldwell was born on May 23rd, 2004 as the first child of Lucas and Frederika Caldwell in a hospital in Salem. Since he found his job as a journalist to be more important, Lucas was not present at the birth, very much to Frederika's chagrin. Even apart from that, the pair had married very fast after meeting in college against the concerns of their families and had a very strained relationship. They would often argue over the smallest things. Their decision to have a child had been partly fueled by the hope that having to share the new responsibilities of being parents might bring them closer again.

This didn't work out, as both had different views on who should do the majority of childcare. Frederika wanted them to spend time with Derek evenly, while Lucas had assumed Frederika would do all the work. Despite that, both felt obligated to stick with the other, partly for Derek's sake and partly because they felt that breaking up would be admitting defeat. After the many arguments they had had with the relatives who had seen the red flags before the marriage, they were too prideful to go back on their decision. Lucas was often away at work and when the three were together, both of his parents tried to avoid fighting for his sake. However, over the years the two became more and more frustrated with this loveless relationship and less focused on what was best for Derek. As a result, moments of them arguing in front of Derek would slowly grow in number. Derek quickly learned to not intervene and stay out of their arguments.

Derek himself was a calm but curious child who enjoyed creative activities such as drawing and playing with Legos. The only passive activity he liked turned out to be listening to music. In school, he proved to be more in the background and not that interested in group activities.

Not long after he entered elementary school, Frederika revealed that she had accidentally become pregnant a second time. She never said it out loud, but it was obvious that the child was not from Lucas. Because most of her friends and family were vehemently pro-life and she was afraid of social backlash, Frederika refused an abortion despite both of them not wanting a second child. At the end of Derek's first year in school, his little brother Abel was born.

Similar to Derek, Abel's birth had a short calming effect on the marriage of Lucas and Frederika. The two made a token effort to halt their fighting, not only in front of Abel but also in front of Derek. However, after a few years, they returned to the old routine of daily clashes. Having to feed a fourth person was a heavy toll on the family's finances, resulting in yet another reason of dispute.

When he entered middle school, his parents forced Derek to give most of his toys to Abel, arguing they lacked the money to buy new ones. With him in middle school, his parents decided he was old enough to use the family computer and neglected to supervise him. Looking around on the internet led Derek to find out about digitally created art, a topic that instantly caught his attention. What fascinated him was the contrast between precision only possible on a computer and the human factor of art. It didn't take long until he made his first attempts using Microsoft Paint. He eventually started to upload them under a pseudonym online.

Another interest he picked up online was beatboxing, which he took a liking to after hearing some, enjoying the unique beats that are only possible via beatboxing and that it doesn't need any expensive equipment. Just as with digital art, he slowly started his own attempts at it and uploads his beatboxing. The quality of his works in both hobbies has improved a lot over the years, but is still far away from being professional due to being self-taught. Derek has now switched Paint with PhotoShop. His creations are mostly scenery pictures with dark or angsty atmospheres and only few living beings.

When collecting all his toys for Abel and cleaning up the basement, Derek found an old record player and some records with mostly Goth Rock vinyls from the 80s and 90s, mostly from bands like Bauhaus and The Cure. As it turned out, this was the old collection of Frederika's father. Out of curiosity, Derek tried out the still working player and actually found that the music was a lot to his taste. Over time, he started listening to newer music of the genre as well. Towards the end of his time in middle school, he found a small record store on Essex Street and started to grow the collection.

Shortly before Derek entered high school, the relationship of his parents was worse than ever before. One day Frederika openly taunted her husband with the reveal that Abel was not his child while both Abel and Derek were in the room. This incident led to Derek vocally demanding the two to leave Abel and him out of their quarrels. Both were shocked by this, since Derek had almost never raised his voice against his parents. This made them realize they had overstepped a line and resulted in them being more conscious of trying to not involve Abel in their fighting, but the fighting continued nonetheless. However, Abel was deeply disturbed by this revelation and Derek made it his first priority to care for his half-brother despite being shaken himself. Lucas on the other hand barely cared, having suspected something like that the moment Frederica announced her second pregnancy.

Derek's first year in high school was loaded with trouble. Between his constant worries about Abel and also affected by his home situation, Derek was always on edge and often acted passive-aggressive. He missed his chances at connecting with his new classmates, even driving away those who reached out to him. Especially damaging proved an incident during the very first week at school, where Derek, who had had a short shouting match with his father before school, snapped at some classmates who had just wanted to start some idle talk. With an annoyed expression, Derek told them in no uncertain terms that he wanted to be left alone, which resulted in many people avoiding him. By the time Abel's mental state got better and Derek could properly focus on his new school life, most of his classmates had already written him off as a cynical loner who wasn't worth trying to befriend. While Derek eventually made a few friends, almost all of them are from lower grades. He had an easier time befriending them since they weren't present during his first year at school and therefore had no bad first impression of him. Most of his friends share at least one of his interests.

His grades are a little bit above the class average, enough to keep the teachers off his back. He excels in creative subjects and loathes math due to the strict rules.

Derek is still listening to Goth Rock and similar genres, mostly on vinyl. The dark vibes of the music resonate with him, and Derek even took on some aspects of goth culture like the dark clothing. Despite that, he doesn't consider himself a full goth. He sometimes attends concerts, but not often.

Despite knowing that they are only half-brothers, Derek's relationship to Abel is a very deep one. Abel is a curious child and enjoys the time with Derek. He looks up to his big brother and often confides in Derek first when something troubles him. Since Derek remembers how ugly his own childhood in this household was, he tries to be the best brother possible for Abel and often takes him out to visit the park, museums, the zoo or other places.

In order to afford such trips despite the low finances of the family, Derek has gotten a part-time job as a cashier for a clothing store in the Salem Mall on some days after school. It's not his favorite way to spend the afternoon, but since the money helps Abel have a brighter childhood and gives Derek more independence from his parents, he puts up with it.

Derek is often brooding and prefers to express himself in a calm manner, but can get irritated very quickly. The constant fighting of his parents has left him with a rather pessimistic world-view, especially in regards to relationships. For that reason, Derek prefers to have few strong bonds over many weak friendships. He is often blunt and doesn't shy away from being honest, even if he knows that it might hurt the other person. However, those who know him better know he is actually nicer and more caring than he lets on and don't mind his behaviour.

After finishing high school, he plans to attend university in the hopes of studying digital arts to make a job out of his hobby. He would love to get out of his parents' house as soon as possible, but he doesn't want to leave Abel alone with the two.

Advantages: Derek is used to taking care of himself and is unlikely to expect or seek any help from others. Also he has experience in staying out of trouble and taking a background-role, which could help him in avoiding danger.
Disadvantages: Derek has only a few friends, some of which won't even be at the island due to being in other grades. Most of his classmates see him as a loner and are likely to approach him with caution. His blunt behavior might result in avoidable conflict.

Designated Number: Student No. 007

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Designated Weapon: Nodachi

Conclusion: Oh, angst and vinyls. Cry me a river, Holden. Embrace the shitty mall ninja you're obviously destined to be and maybe I'll find you a shred more interesting than the book. - Veronica Rai