S125 - Chen, Amy

#1

Name: Amelia ''Amy'' Chen
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Trivia and game shows, sculpting, knitting, cooking, wikis, worldbuilding

Appearance: Amy is 125 lbs and 5’2'', giving her a slightly smaller frame than her peers. She has naturally darker beige skin but is relatively paled by an indoor lifestyle, with a top-heavy fat distribution on an unathletic body. She is of Chinese descent, with medium-length, straight black hair and bangs, large brown eyes, a low brow ridge, and a flat nose. She has a small mouth with a soft chin on a rounded face. Amy has naturally oily skin and usually has at least one prominent pimple or two on her face at all times; at the time of the abduction it was near her right temple. She speaks with a soft and flat-toned voice. She is very slightly farsighted, but sometimes forgets to wears her glasses since she can function well without them.

Amy specifically prefers clothes that are either very flowy or tight. Without much care for presentation, Amy’s wardrobe is full of older clothes and is quite plain, and she shares several jackets and shirts with her mother. She has the same lack of attention towards makeup and beauty products. On the day of the abduction, she was wearing black, tight trousers, a knee-length tent dress of several shades of blue, a white zip-up jacket, and a thick black, white, gray, brown and blue parka. She had on worn white sneakers with ankle socks and, at her mothers’ insistence, a hand-knitted cream and brown scarf for the cold.

Biography: Amy was born in Salem to second-generation immigrant parents Tiffany and Agnes Chen. She had a relatively stable childhood in her middle-class family; Tiffany is a librarian and Agnes is a driving instructor, and both of them tried their best to raise her, their only child. Amy was a quiet girl, and rarely caused any trouble.

Though she had several friends as a kid, Amy was usually the one being approached instead of the other way around, which meant she wasn’t able to develop her social skills. Amy’s parents tried several times to arrange playdates with their friends’ children, but the relationships never really stuck as she grew older. To this day, Amy still considers maintaining human relationships to be a difficult chore most of the time; she doesn’t feel particularly lonely and enjoys being alone. Young Amy vastly preferred animals over humans, but her parents told her that she would need to be responsible for a pet if she ever got one, and she never got around to it. As a child she began feeding local animals like raccoons by leaving food out as an alternative, and her parents begrudgingly accepted this behavior.

Amy’s mother began involving her in household chores early on, and as a result Amy started cleaning, cooking for the family and repairing her own clothes as a preteen. She feels stabilized by how organized her household is; she always felt like she fared better under the schedules of her home life and school because she isn’t good at making plans herself. Amy also found these chores relaxing and often volunteers to cook dinner. Though her parents could never understand why, Amy specifically likes cooking soup— not only are they easier for her to cook and more comfortable, but she is specifically attached to the texture experience of several recipes.

Because many women in the family knit and do other textile-based arts, they were passed down to her. Whenever there were family gatherings, scarves, sweaters, and hand-made clothes would be traded around, and they’d knit together as a tradition. She has been knitting for almost a decade, and wears her own works all the time. When knitting, Amy tends to zone out, which is something that already happens often, as she's quite a spacy person, forgetful person. She finds it hard to recall names, and often misplaces for forgets items. Amy has several large gaps in her memory, for instance barely recalling anything about a week-long road trip she went on in seventh grade. She is quite sure that this is just because she has a bad memory, and has never talked about it to anyone, except for when she is asked specifically about them, after which she tends to try to fill the gaps in herself. As a result, Amy's recollection of her past is often hazy and unrealiable, as she's prone to the misinformation effect and imagination inflation.

Though Amy likes arts and crafts, she never really shares what she makes, online or in-person, beyond that of immediate friends and family. She tends to sculpt figures and trinkets after discovering an affinity for it in elementary art classes and sometimes hoards her creations, refusing to give them away out of possessiveness. Amy would like to call herself an artist, but is entirely self-taught; she tried going to an art studio once but found it too restrictive when she wasn’t allowed to sculpt the way she usually does.

Amy’s favorite form of entertainment media is the game show, particularly Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, which her parents watch every night at dinner. She likes answering the questions alongside contestants, and found that she is actually quite good at it. Amy is drawn to tidbits of random knowledge, and often goes through Wikipedia, Wikihow, and other online resources when she’s bored, reading on a variety of niche topics. Her focus jumps from topic to topic every few weeks. Despite this, she’s uninvolved in any communities online regarding whatever she’s into at the time, because of her parents’ internet monitoring.

Most of the knowledge feeds to Amy’s elaborate fictional universe, which she has been working on for the past few years. She started daydreaming about the adventures of a character, similar to herself, back in elementary school when she was bored to pass time, and has added more and more to the fictional world around her as time went on, having abandoned the character a long time ago in favor of a more varied cast. She writes down some of what she thinks about, but most of the time keeps it to herself because it would take a lot of energy to fully explain her world and she doesn't want to come off as being weird. A lot of her artistic projects are also about clothing, items, and other parts of this fantasy setting. Amy daydreams near-excessively, and tends to fall into it at inopportune times, like in class, waiting in line, and any time where she isn’t mentally stimulated. Amy has created several very detailed fictional nations, cultures, and groups of people within her own mind, using details taken from what she’s read about on wikis. Amy also unconsciously acts out what her characters are like, such as mimicking movements in fight scenes, saying their lines, etc.

Despite her hobbies, Amy has no real close friends whom she’s bonded with over them. She finds extracurriculars exhausting and gave up on several clubs, even the ones about her hobbies, after forgetting to attend for weeks in a row. Her lack of motivation in reaching out and bonding with people worries her parents slightly, and they offer to pay for expenses and tickets whenever she goes out to any social gatherings to motivate her. They don't, however, pressure her and are willing to accept that she's simply just introverted. She does show up at some official school events, like homecoming, but skips some if she forgets to pay for tickets.

Though she’s a good student with a high GPA, she has been paying less attention in class, mostly because she felt like her senior year’s grades don't really matter since she already sent her college applications out. Her parents have also been notified about her napping at lunch and accidentally skipping class, and they aren’t really sure what to do with that, because her grades are still mostly As and she doesn’t have a history of misbehaving. Amy is slightly sleepier than the average person, but it's not a big cause of concern for her and those around her.

Because of her lack of extracurriculars and friends, Amy has a lot of free time, which she spends either watching TV or otherwise indulging in her hobbies, daydreaming, or napping. She also spends a lot of time preparing for and thinking about college, even though she already applied to several local colleges. She has no idea what to major in, since she doesn’t want to do art as a job. The sciences don’t interest her much, and she feels unsuited for blue-collar work.

Advantages: Amy is generally knowledgable about a wide variety of topics, some of which can be applied in a survival situation. Her lack of connections within the student body may allow her to cope with the situation better, since she might not be as emotionally affected by their deaths as most. Most of her peers don't know much about her, and she doesn’t have any negative relationships with them.
Disadvantages: Amy not only lacks friends amongst her peers but isn’t knowledgeable about them, and most likely wouldn’t even know most of their names, which leaves her vulnerable to deception and without many potential allies. Amy has a tendency to detach from her surroundings, and/or daydream, which can get her caught off-guard. Her episodic memory is noticeably poor. She sleeps more than the average person, and as a result will have her guard down for longer periods of time. She is unathletic and on the smaller side.

Designated Number: Student No. 125

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Designated Weapon: Bulletproof vest

Conclusion: We couldn't put a friend for you in the bag, but we did give you a bullet proof vest. Vest day ever! - Abby Soto