Name:
Ryan Alexander Matthews
Age:
11
Appearance:
Height: 4’ 7’’
Weight: 79 lbs.
Body Type: small, short, skinny
Offence:
illegal second child
Biography:
He was an unplanned surprise to his parents. This wouldn’t normally be that much of a problem as they were already married, however, they had already had one child, Zachary Ellis Matthews. His parents firmly believed that abortion was wrong and they had always wanted a second child despite the rules against it, so they decided to keep the child and hide it as a secret. Ryan’s mother decided to quit her job and stay at home to “take care of Zach.” She stopped leaving the house, but no one really found it suspicious since they were such a quiet couple that no one missed them or even batted an eye. Ryan was born in the apartment and never set foot outside.
As the illegal second child, Ryan spent his entire life hidden inside the apartment. His family built him a small secret room to hide him in with a piece of furniture set in front to hide the secret room. Ryan never received a formal education, however he gained a lot of knowledge from the time that he spent immersed in the electronic books that his parents purchased. He read books of all genres from fiction classics like Les Miserables and the Harry Potter Series to nonfiction books explaining the universe. Since both of his parents worked and his brother spent most of his day at school, Ryan spent a majority of each day reading books by himself. He grew up malnourished since he received only portions of the rations his other family members would give to him.
During Ryan’s eleventh miserable year of life, one of the police officers going through records to look for rule breakers, noticed that both Mr. and Mrs. Matthews were reading quite a lot of electronic books during the time that they were supposed to be at work. During the investigation, the officer found out that the family had an illegal second child. Mr. and Mrs. Matthews were immediately Floated as they were both over twenty-one and the obvious offenders. However, the fate of the two children was much more tricky. Zach had known about his brothers existence and hadn’t reported it to the authorities, however it wasn’t his crime to begin with. After much debate, Zach was allowed to continue life on the Continent. Ryan did not get the same mercy. As a child that was not supposed to exist, the officials didn’t want to let him live, however they didn’t want to Float him since he wasn’t 21. After several weeks of debate (all of which Ryan spent in a cell) the officials decided to send him to Earth to let him die there instead of dealing with the public unrest from Floating an 11 year old.
Personality:
Timid, super shy, socially awkward, completely insecure, very intelligent (especially for his age), childish, easily startled (but doesn’t make noise), scared of a lot, very quiet, yearning for someone to fill the big brother/sister role, envies his older brother, knows a lot of “fun facts”, constantly thinks about book heroes and wants to be one
Skills:
Hiding- excellent at hiding. literally did it for 11 years, can sit still and quiet for long periods of time, also an expert with small spaces
Hearing- developed a keen sense of hearing since he always had to be ready to hide for his life and knowing when “the coast is clear”
Creativity- still a child, no formal education to get in the way, inspired by the thousand or so books he’s read
Knowledge- read a lot of books that talk about Earth and its geography and wildlife before the nuclear blast and some books on the planet and history afterward