( DANIELA RUAH + FEMALE ) â Have you seen SAMANTHA GRACA ? This THIRTY-SEVEN year old is a PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT NYU who resides in MANHATTAN. SHE has been living in NYC for A MONTH (LEFT INITIALLY WHEN THEY WERE SIXTEEN), and is known to be EARNEST and CHARISMATIC, but can also be ABRASIVE and UNFORGIVING, if you cross them. People tend to associate them with INK STAINED HANDS and BOXING GLOVES CHUCKED CARELESSLY ON HER DESK â @codstartersâ
Trigger warnings: death, murder, violence, sickness, ptsd
PAST
The Smith family were as normal as the name itself. Mia Grace and William Smith seemed like a match made in heaven. Both from rich families (hers being based primarily in England), with personalities that balanced each other out. Once the children came along, they were the quintessential American family.
Unlike many families it hadnât felt like a facade. Despite their many roles, both Mia and William were heavily involved in the lives of their daughter. WHether it was going to Samâs soccer games or little Madelineâs dance rehearsals. They were always there.
Sam (called Samantha only by her parents) was the oldest daughter by eight years. She always had been a little combative, a difficult child per say. Too much energy her teachers used to say. Even so, she was sweet and kind and her anger was always in defense of somebody else. Usually Madeline.
While she loved both her parents, she was always a dadâs girl. She wanted nothing more than to become a big time soccer player like him and then coach afterwards.
Then she turned sixteen and a few days afterwards, everything fell apart.
For the six months beforehand, New York had been shook by a series of murders. Young girls, twenty-two of them. Every female in the city was scared and for good reason. Samâs parents had even refused to allow her out at night until the man was caught.
Ironic, considering that a few days after her birthdays, a couple of detectives came to the house and arrested William Smith for the murders. Even just over two decades later, the memory of the police pulling him away, her mother sobbing and asking what the hell could have been going on, remains burned in her memory.
One should never think that things couldnât get worse because just when Sam thought it couldnât, it did. On the day of his trial, William Novak disappeared. No one is exactly sure how, just that he went into the police van but when it got to the courthouse, he was gone. It was almost like a magic trick.Â
Oh the city kicked into gear again and both Mia and Sam were interrogated what felt like constantly, detectives and agents desperate to find the man that had terrorised the city for what felt an age. After six months, he was still in the wind.
After that, the family was public enemy number one. The house was vandalized, the family excluded from every social event and on one horrific occasion, Mia was attacked on the way home. She was okay, but it was the last straw. How could they stay in a city that hated them, that would not soon forget such hate? Already Sam was skipping classes to stand outside Madelineâs class and lunch area, determined to not let anyone get to her or say anything at all that might scare her. So, with nothing left to lose, Mia packed up her life and her daughters and moved them all back to her home in London.
From there, Mia was determined to forget New York and for her daughters to do the same. They changed their last names back to Miaâs maiden name and endeavoured to pretend that it never happened. For little Madeline, who wasnât quite old enough to understand the intricacies of what was going on, it was easier. For their mother and Sam however? It was not the same.
Sam pulled away from the world. She was angry and people made it worse. Madeline was the only one who didnât receive her anger. Her baby sister still had light in her and sheâd be damned if it was lost.
She stopped playing soccer then. Soccer was her and her dadâs thing and she wanted nothing more than to be rid of him. So instead of sport and instead of people, her time was spent studying. It was a distraction and it was a damn good reason to tell people to piss off. Which she did, alot.
It wasnât until she got to Oxford (her mum cried when she got the acceptance letter) where she started to find a new part of herself. One that William Smith had never met.
Studying Elizabethan History felt like studying a whole different world. Maybe that's why she fell in love with it. The idea that this world had existed not all that long ago was thrilling. She canât pinpoint the moment where she decided that this was it. That she wanted to spend her time on Earth talking about Queen Elizabeth and all her intricacies. A far cry of a life in soccer thatâs for sure.
Oxford became a version of home to her. She liked being talked about for reasons that she was proud of. For being good at her job, the best even. Despite everything, she had created some sort of life for herself.
Madeline ended up back in the states. That was hard. The longest Sam had ever lasted there, even in San Francisco, was a week. Visits were rare but it was okay right? Oh well if she missed her baby sister more than anything. Maddie was happy and free of the chains that her mum and sister still wore. It was okay.
Until Maddie got sick that is. Then Samâs world fell apart again. The worst might have been that she couldnât be there. America was still too much for her. It was embarrassing and it felt shameful. Her heart wanted to be as close to her baby sister as she could but also couldnât handle it. Their mum was the same. Letâs not even talk about what William Smith still being out there did to them. What if he heart about his youngest daughter dying and decided to turn up?
Maddie was too young to remember the terror her father caused and reading about it just wasnât the same.
Despite all hope, two years ago, Maddie still died. It felt wrong. Madeline, the best of the whole family was the one to suffer so badly. Sometimes she wished she could have swapped places with her. Maddie deserved better. Always.
PRESENT
Sam has always bounced between teaching and researching/writing. The past two years however has been spent primarily working on her latest book. This one was on the School of Night and their influence in England and beyond. Â
Soon after it was published, two months ago, she was offered a professorship. Now such steady work is hard to come by as an academic and any in their right mind would jump at the chance.
The catch though? It was in America but not only that, it was in New York. Oh, how she had agonised over what to do. It was the perfect opportunity for her but it was New York and New York was the big bad.
Eventually it had been the idea of what Maddie would have wanted that made her take it. She had disappointed her when she had been alive and there was no going back. Maybe this would help. Maybe Maddie would be looking down on her big sister and be proud of her. Sam hoped so.
New York is different then she remembered, parts of it at least. Last time she was here, there were posters of her father everywhere but no longer.
Being Professor Samantha Graca is a lot easier than being Samantha Smith. She tends to spend most of her time at NYU, still unable to bring herself to explore the city, to trust that city but even still. It was progress.
Sheâs some kind of happy here, sometimes at least.
EXTRA
Sam has a distinctive birthmark in her right eye called the nevus of Otis. It gives the appearance of one of her eyes being black instead of brown. Her little sister used to call it her dead eye.
She has a 1968 Dodge Charger called Billy that she is currently dearly missing. Itâs been an absolute ordeal trying to get it shipped from England.
Thereâs a tremor in her right hand, one thatâs been there since everything that happened with her dad. It only tends to start when sheâs either really stressed and upset or when anything at all to do with her dad comes up. Itâs a good judge of how badly sheâs doing to be honest.
