I think among all the character stories in Scarlet Hollow the one that hit me the hardest so far was Kaneeka's... Like she starts as an interesting contrast to Stella who is very open and willing to believe in the supernatural, because she is very rooted in reality and more idk... What you would expect from a person you just met in terms of openness. Like she's friendly esp if you are friendly with her but it's not over the top in a way gregarious Stella can come across (and even put people on guard with how open and friendly she is lol).
I also like the subtle elevation of stakes when it comes to her story. Like there are hints that something is off but at first it comes across as idk... Expected family problems. Bc ofc she as an elder sister is being smothered in favor of her brother. Of course she's the one who has to bear all responsibility. And then it slowly unravels that it's not only this, but she has been groomed to be the next sacrificial lamb in her mother's quest for power. She is a sceptic not only bc it's her belief but also since she was a child her mother possibly denied her own powers lest she slips out of her control. She called Kaneeka back and is not letting her leave, trapping her in the family house. The way Kaneeka genuinely talks Abt her inner life if you romance her is also just so heartbreaking bc she has been purposefully deconstructed as a person so she has poor self esteem and that poor self esteem is making it hard for her to seriously commit to deep relationships with people so she can't even escape emotionally too much (her outlet could be Reese or Stella but Reese is locked in a basement and Stella illoves keeping up the status quo and she is also not the most emotionally available person).
Like ik other people also talked Abt the racism angle here, how Sybil is willing to use her black daughter like this, like a discardable tool. Like specifically exploiting her body... I also think it might have been a malicious conscious decision on her part because the last daughter she did not want to sacrifice looked just like her and that's what made her hesitate.... So instead choosing to have mixed children who are unlikely to have her green eyes for example feels so insidous...
And it's all just so heartbreaking because you meet Kaneeka and she's smart and self assured albeit prone to freaking out. And she is a cool goth girl. And then her entire existence and her agency in the story is slowly getting erased and destroyed by her mother. It's horrifying.
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