thunder

The Basics

Name: Henry Isaac Rosenberg Faceclaim: Bill Skarsgard Age / Birthday: 30/ April 9th, 1995 Gender / Pronouns: Cis Male/ he/him Hometown: Houston, TX Occupation: Bartender at The Whiskey Barrel District of Residence: Downtown Time in Blackstone Ridge: 8 Years Sexual Orientation: Closeted bisexual (openly heterosexual)

Physical Appearance

Height: 6'4" Tattoos: Various stick n' poke tattoos littered throughout his body. Smaller black and white tattoos on his arms, hands, and fingers. giant thigh tattoo of a crawling panther in traditional style. Piercings: earlobes Scars: Lots of small scars from doing stupid things. His biggest scar is on his hand from breaking a glass beer bottle

Biography

TW: underage drinking, rehab, alcoholism, alcohol poisoning, alcohol, hospitalization

Henry Isaac Rosenberg was born into this world kicking and screaming on April 9th, 1995 at one in the morning in Houston, Texas. His mother Marie, and his father Scott were so excited to welcome their second child into the world.

Before Henry was even five years old, the family already grew. Two more Rosenberg babies were born. The end result was four kids with Henry right in the middle. 

Henry grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. His family came from generational wealth, and worked high paying jobs. They weren’t millionaires by any means, but they had a lifestyle that most of the population couldn’t afford.They took long vacations every summer, had enough rooms for every kid to have their own, and never had to struggle. Everything seemed picture perfect. 

Before he started school Henry was already learning how to read, do a little math, and even spell words. His parents always prioritized education, despite this all four children went to public schools. Marie and Scott chose their home mostly based on how good the school district was.

Once in kindergarten Henry succeeded academically. His teachers were very impressed with his performance. On top of great academics, Henry was a fairly reserved child. He never spoke out of turn or raised his voice. Nobody ever worried about Henry.

As he grew older, the more he flew under the radar, both of teachers and his parents. Henry was around ten when he realized that no one was paying close attention to him. As long as he didn’t get into too much trouble he could commit small acts of rebellion, however things would escalate as he approached his teen years. 

When Henry was 14 he tried his first sip of alcohol. It was Christmas Day, dinner had finished up, the presents were open, so all that was left was for all the guests to mingle with each other. Henry and his older brother Jeremy had retreated to the basement with the rest of the cousins in their teens. Everything was fine until a cousin brought out some alcohol that they had stolen from upstairs. Henry tried a few shots, and it didn’t take much for him to get drunk. He loved the feeling. It wasn’t like anything he had ever experienced. He felt light and fuzzy. All he could think was ‘I could get used to this’ and from then on a bad habit was formed.

After that Christmas he would steal beers from the fridge, drink until he was tipsy, and just go to bed after. It didn’t seem very harmful. Shortly after turning 15 he started getting invited to parties with some of the upperclassmen at his high school. Parties unleashed a different side of Henry. He was a lot more reckless, often drinking until he blacked out. He wouldn’t know what he did while under the influence until people told him at school the following week. One day he woke up with pierced ears, unsure of the events that led up to that. His parents never caught onto this because he would usually come up with lies about his whereabouts. Sleepovers, study groups, football games, anything would be a good alibi.

He was able to get away with these lies until he decided to spike his morning coffee one day. A teacher noticed something off about Henry, and when she pulled him after class to ‘chat’ that’s when she smelt the alcohol on his breath. She let him know that she had to report this to the school administrators and his parents. Henry quietly accepted his fate as he made his way to the principal’s office where they were already calling his mother to pick him up and start his suspension. His mother only said two things to him once they were alone in the car: 1.) his father would be hearing about this and 2.) that he would be going to rehab the following summer, while the rest of the family was away on vacation.

It was a long and lonely summer at the rehab center full of painful withdrawals. His parents told people who questioned Henry’s absence that he was away at a band camp. He hated feeling so isolated from his family.

The rest of high school was tough for Henry. He never stayed sober for very long, and would sneak out to parties on weekends. He did find that he was able to distract himself with music, both by making it and listening to it. He never signed up for his school’s band, he just would plunk out some songs on his parent’s piano in the basement. His parents noticed the positive impact music had on him and bought him a guitar for his 16th birthday. When he was home, he was always practicing his skills. 

Henry graduated high school in 2013, and managed to get an acceptance to University of Houston as an undeclared student. While in undergrad he had a class with a girl named Collette. She was sweet and smelt like hyacinths. Henry just adored her. She wasn’t like him at all, she was serious and studious. She would always contribute to class discussions. He wasn’t sure how to approach her so he never did, until she made a rare appearance at a party. Luckily it was early in the night so Henry hadn’t been too drunk, but had enough to drink to give him some courage to speak to her. She initially brushed him off, but the following week she slid him her number on a post-it note after class. He texted her almost immediately, and planned a date for the upcoming weekend.

Despite being polar opposites they hit it off immediately. He was so happy to have her by his side. He took her out to parties and she would help him study. Everything felt very balanced in Henry’s life. They continued to go steady even after Henry decided college wasn’t for him and dropped out. She didn’t give him any flack for his decision, unlike his parents. They had a lot to say about his future, and how he would never achieve any of his goals. He didn’t fight with them, instead he quietly packed his things and moved out. 

He found a cute little apartment just outside of Houston and a job serving tables where he made a decent wage. He would let Collette study in his living room and bring her tea when it started to get late. His living situation was humble compared to what he grew up with, but he liked it. 

The two continued to date for a few more years, then shortly after Henry’s 21st birthday he proposed to Collette. She happily accepted and moved into his apartment for her final year of undergrad. 

Things went smoothly until one night he accepted an invitation to go out with some friends from high school. It was a fun night, but Henry lost all control. He drank until he could barely stand or hold anything in his stomach. It was clear that he needed to be taken to an ER. His friends rushed him to the nearest hospital. Henry didn’t want Collette to know, but his friends had already called her using Henry’s phone by the time they were pulling into the ER. She arrived shortly after. It was clear that she had been crying. She begged him to get help, but Henry didn’t want to. He couldn’t go back to rehab. It was too painful the first time. 

Henry felt restless for days after he was released from the hospital. He didn’t want to bring Collette any more pain. He had some issues he knew he needed to work on before he could ever marry her. So just like he had done to his parents he quietly packed up his things and left in the middle of the night. He didn’t have any destination in mind, so he just drove south. He drove until he could barely stay awake and pulled into a motel to stay in. He slept for a little, and woke up a little bit before noon. His phone was filled with missed calls from Collette, and weirdly enough his sister. Colette must have let her know. He didn’t answer either of them, instead he went to the nearest convenience store and bought a copious amount of booze. Henry felt so low at that moment, but he had already bombed everything else in his life, what was one more night of drinking? 

He didn’t answer anyone until he got a text from his sister saying she would involve the police if he didn’t pick up. He sighed and reluctantly gave her a call and told her where he was when she demanded. Just a few hours later Henry was so drunk he couldn’t walk, and Annalise was pounding on his door. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red. She pleaded with him to get help. His heart sank at the sight. He knew he was causing pain to the people he loved. A few days later Annalise took him to a rehab center promising to visit him when she could.

The month he spent in rehab was hard. Just like when he was a teenager the withdrawals made him feel ill, but at least Annalise kept her promise to visit him. Once he was ready to leave the facility Henry realized he didn’t have anywhere to go. He couldn’t go back to his parents, and he couldn’t return to the little apartment he shared with Collette. He had already packed his bags when he left her. He felt he had no choice but to restart his life. So again, Henry drove and drove until he hit a little town called Blackstone Ridge, Texas. 

He got a motel while he figured out what his next steps were. Get a job, get an apartment, and give Annalise an update. Getting a job was fairly easy, he started bartending at The Whiskey Barrel. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to work in a bar directly after getting out of rehab, but he desperately needed to work. It took a little longer for him to find an apartment. He spent a few weeks living out of his car while he waited for his lease to start. Once he was finally settled in his new apartment he felt a million times lighter. He needed to escape.