name: Kingsley West
alias: King (Give him some nicknames!)
class: Human with slight supernatural abilities
abilities:
• Clairvoyance
• Able to see and speak to the dead in his sleep
• Can experience how a person has or will die
age: Around 17
date of birth: August 31st
• The Virgo Sun: calculating, logical, perfectionists
• The Cancer Moon: responsible, deep connections, emotional
sexual orientation: Closeted Bisexual
personality type: INFJ-T, The Advocate
Kingsley has always been reserved and quiet, preferring to listen to others speak rather than speak himself. That being said, you could describe him as someone of few words. However, he is incredibly thoughtful and tends to put the well-being of others first. It is against his nature to think poorly of others, so he can easily be treated as a doormat if he’s met with people who have bad intentions. Despite his intelligence, he’s aware of this but hardly brave enough to combat it.
Kingsly is insecure and unsure of himself in many situations. He often questions the motives of others thinking they may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or looking down on him. Kingsly expects the worst, usually, but tries hard to hope for the best.
He has a nurturing heart, a high moral compass, and always means well. When he’s going through a hard time facing his anxiety or agoraphobia, he can come off as strange or avoidant, or even questionably depressed. In times such as these, it's easy to look at Kingsly as extremely apologetic, weary, and downright sick, as it is sometimes so severe that it affects his physical health as well. Because he has a hard time sleeping due to seeing the dead, this can affect his health even more drastically.
Underneath the fear and sheepishness, Kingsly is imaginative, a deep thinker, and a giver. His love language is through acts of service and gift-giving, romantically and platonically. He feels deeply towards others whom he considers friends and will always try to stand for them when he’s needed (even if it comes across as timid or cowardly.)
History
Birth to Twelve: Discovery
When it pertains to his origins, Kingsly has no memory of his birth parents- the only thing he knows is that he was found by a patrol officer alone, crying, and taking shelter from the rain underneath a slide in a desolate park after hours, unable to speak. After a night at the station, a few phone calls and dead ends, he was placed in the foster care system the following day. Where he comes from, from whom he comes from, and just how long he had been alone remains a mystery to this day and has yet to be solved. There have been attempts to look into it and uncover the secrets, but so far it has come up with nothing.
He doesn’t have any foster care horror stories like most others. In fact, he was only within the system for about two years. It didn’t take long until he landed in his adoptive family’s arms; a family who had already been planning to adopt. They started there and had to look no further. Within a few months, Kingsly, “their gift from above,” was legally adopted by them.
Why were they looking to adopt? Mr. West had always wanted a son to keep the family name, and Mrs. West had a “barren womb.” They had wanted Kingsly and treated him like they would their own biological child. Although his relationship with his father is rough, Kingsly clicked well with his mother and always found himself drawn to her hip, holding at her hand or her dress in some way. He was afraid to be without her, and didn’t like to be left alone with men for reasons no one sought to figure out, as they presumed he would one day “get over it.”
In his childhood, perhaps due to whatever led him to be left all on his own, Kingsly had an obvious problem with anxiety. Unfortunately, his parents were very involved in their own familial religion— and they took it so seriously they had traveled to New York to spread the word of their cult to indoctrinate others in their own version of godly belief. They never saw the need to seek out proper medication or attention, relying on prayers to their god instead, and were totally against the idea of utilizing other methods. This led to it growing worse and worse until he achieved a full-blown panic disorder by his adolescence.
It is hard to go through life panicking about when the next panic attack will come. It could be very isolating, and for Kingsly, it was. He had an extremely hard time keeping friends and making them was even harder. He was very withdrawn from others, susceptible to being bullied or teased for his timid ways, most often made fun of for being a crybaby, and made to feel less than for not being very good at being social, or speaking as well as others his age. So instead, Kingsly took to hobbies that could cater to his lonesomeness. Reading, writing, drawing, and musical instruments were all ventures he took under his sleeve. The pages of every book he read would sweep him up and carry him to other worlds where he felt safe enough to tread. They left him inspired to create his own songs from the stories he’d read. By late elementary, his reading skills were far more advanced than any other student in his private school, and he began teaching himself to play the guitar and piano.
Thirteen to Seventeen: The Horrorshow
Kingsly started to have encounters with the dead, or soon to be dead, when he turned 13 years old. His first nightmare involved an aggressive elderly woman who tried desperately to cling to him for help and avoid her fate. Mistakenly calling him her grandson by a different name, she eventually fell to shock and suffered a gruesome heart attack in front of him. He recognized the woman as one from his neighborhood- Ethel Greene, a quiet and gentle person always tending her garden. Telling the story of his nightmare to his parents, they told him to ignore it and that it was only a nightmare. One wellness check a few weeks later, and Ethel had been found dead in her home by cardiac arrest. Startled by the strange coincidence, the family prayed and tried to move past it, but situations of the sort would only now come more frequently.
One of the dreams that sticks out to Kingsly the most is dreaming about a young teenage boy named Tyler who had gone missing for over two years. The family were still on the search to recover his body, and were unsure of what truly happened to him. Tyler confronted Kingsly in his nightmare, allowing Kingsly to see from his perspective where he was running away from a grown man in the woods. It looked like he was just about to make it back to the public park before he was caught and his throat slashed open. As he twisted on the ground, Kingsly was able to get a clear look at the man’s face. It turned out to be the boy’s father. After once again telling his parents the situation, they started to grow angry with him- seeing it as a sign of wickedness. Kingsly went against them and left an anonymous tip where the boy was finally brought justice and put to rest.
Some nightmares were harder than others, and they ended up traumatizing him quite a bit. The more frequently they occurred, the more Kingsly preferred to stay inside and not leave home, afraid of what may happen to him. He’d find comfort in the solace of his room where nothing could find or harm him. Slowly, Kingsly started to develop agoraphobia- and simply coped with it by locking himself inside, avoiding everything aside from school and church.
Growing up, Kingsly had goals of one day being a published poet as well as a singer, much to his father’s disagreement and dismay. He’d wanted his son to be an evangelist and recruit others to their church. Mr. West blamed the dreams on evil, and he felt that it was due to them that Kingsly was straying further and further from the light and what his “true purpose” was. Like a shepherd tending to the flock, Mr. West did whatever he felt necessary and made sure that Kingsly was always punished for having different ideas, wants, opinions, and even his strange nightmares. His books were taken from him and burned, and there were many times where he’d be forced to sit up for days reading their own sacred text out loud to avoid falling asleep and having more nightmares. Eating spoiled food, having his clothes taken, and constantly having to introduce himself as an unclean sinner to other members of their church were some other punishments that occurred. He had declared it always to be for his own good- that one day, Kingsly would thank him.
His goals started to come true in high school, however, when he became super involved in an annual magazine that featured his classmates’ works of art and literature his sophomore year, convincing his parents that he could use it to bring attention to the church. While the teasing was still very much a thing, his talent in poetry and creative writing had earned him a small amount of respect. This respect even came from Eleanor Anne Crosby, a girl with a fiery personality and troubling reputation. Despite his struggles, the two hit it off over time, falling deeply committed to one another.
This relationship didn’t come without trials and tribulations, though. The two dealt with each other’s hardships, had to learn and grow around their polar opposite personalities, and had different ways to handle their problems. When she had had enough of her life at home enduring physical abuse, Eleanor had concocted a plan to run away to join her uncle’s family, begging Kingsly to leave his adoptive family and come with her. He was so in love with her, and so saddened and tired of his own torment, that he almost convinced himself to go. By the time he was supposed to board the plane, Kingsly grew too afraid and stayed behind, running home and putting their relationship on an obvious end.
Rumors had circulated when Eleanor had run off, all of which entangled Kingsly. The school counselor became suspicious of what could be going on inside the West family home. After calling social services, Kingsly was allowed to stay in the home as long as the family agreed to therapy and counseling. Mr. West was forced to lay off Kingsly to avoid trouble with the law, and things- despite being a bit dreary and depressing at first- started to kind of gain some normalcy. While things are still rocky, the family is working to resolve their differences to this day in Kingsly’s life.
. . .
