Story Basics

Genre & Themes

Realistic fiction & mystery. Themes of family, friendship, revenge, and religious trauma. Basically this story is about children dealing with the mistakes of their parents, for better or for worse. Despite what that probably sounds like I promise this story won't be angsty lol.

Setting

The story mostly takes place in and around a NY town on the coast of Lake Erie. It follows a group of teenagers from the beginning of 2007 to the beginning of 2010. (The story is divided into three year-length parts.)

Summary

After one of them goes missing under suspicious circumstances, a chain of events happen that slowly uncover and untangle the five decades worth of intertwined secrets of their different parents and grandparents. Each character deals with them, either in constructive or destructive ways.

I might detail this more later when I figure out how to do it without getting into spoiler territory, which probably doesn't mean much with how far the project is from the final stages but I would actually like to finish it eventually.

Characters

General Info

Click the buttons to open their sections. There's a lot more I've written for each of them and their families and their story, I'm just very particular about what I share publicly and a lot of the more interesting bits are spoilers for the webcomic I eventually want to do with them.

Each section also has a relevant family tree. The family trees are edited versions of the full set with any spoilers removed. Some information may be inaccurate or missing because it's based on the knowledge the main characters have at the beginning of the story.

Please ignore mistakes and the inconsistent styles in the reference pics, these are mostly from over a span of several years. Also age and height ranges refer to the beginning vs end of the story.

Ethan Song

^{| he/him | 5' 6" | 16-19 | January 19th, 1991}

ArtFight Profile | Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Ethan is reserved and introverted, but will stand up for himself and others. Ethan is somewhat impatient and stubborn, sometimes being really annoying about it.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Ethan's favorite hobbies are reading and writing, especially during rain or storms. He loves anything old-fashioned or antique. Favorite genre: mystery.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Nicky, Luna, Stella, Vanessa. He prefers the company of close friends and family and has trouble trusting others. His brother Nicky does the talking for him when he doesn't feel like making small talk.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS:

Ethan uses a cane as a result of an incident at age 12 that caused his original family to lose custody of him and allowed him to later get adopted by the Song family. (Most of the details of the incident are revealed in Part 1 but any actual spoilers are left out here:)

Ethan used to live with his bio father Ian's wealthy family. They lived in a mansion together with Ian's brother James, their parents, and James's wife and children. Ethan had a happy childhood and Ian would spoil him and give him everything he wanted. One day in 2003, Ethan ended up in the hospital with serious injuries from a fall from a balcony, which he had no memory of.

One of James's friends, Zachary Bradford (Michael's father), was in the mansion during the incident and claimed he heard unintelligible arguing coming from the room Ethan fell from and was convinced that Ian pushed him intentionally. Ethan was removed from the home and sent to live with the Song family while he recovered and waited for Ian's trial. Ethan trusted Ian and falsely testified that he remembered it was just an accident from a game they were playing. Because of this Ian was found not guilty.

However, a few days later some evidence released afterward by an anonymous witness proved that it was intentional and the Lakes lost custody of Ethan permanently and Ethan was later adopted by the Song family.

(Side note: The reason Ian did it is not revealed until Part 3 but I just want to mention it had nothing to do with Ethan being trans, he did not come out until later.)

Nicky Song

^{| he/him | 5' 4-5" | 16-18 | June 9th, 1991}

ArtFight Profile | Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Nicky is fun-loving, friendly, and exciteable.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: He loves music, video games, and junk food. He loves music and can play guitar and piano and writes his own songs. Favorite genre: comedy.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Ethan, Stella, Luna, Vanessa, Kevin, Lucas, Parker (Part 2). Nicky loves making friends and will go out of his way to make everyone feel welcome. However because he doesn't like upsetting people he will sometimes let things slide when he shouldn't out of fear of seeming rude. His brother Ethan does the talking for him when he has trouble asserting himself. Nicky's oldest friend is Kevin, who has been his neighbor since he was born. Info about their relationship in Kevin's section.

Stella Lin

^{| she/her | 5' 7" | 17-19 | March 24th, 1990}

ArtFight Profile | Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Stella is confident, intelligent, and sometimes snarky. She is high-energy like her cousin Nicky and in contrast to her more chill twin sister Luna.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Stella loves space, futurism, and is studying to be an astrophysicist. She also has an interest in technology and robotics, partially influenced by her mother who works more with older or analog machines/devices. Favorite genre: sci-fi.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Ethan, Nicky, Luna, Vanessa, Kevin, Lucas, Parker (Part 2). Stella will sometimes join Nicky in being convinced to do risky things with Kevin.

Luna Lin

^{| she/her | 5' 7" | 17-19 | March 24th, 1990}

PERSONALITY: Luna takes after the calm and collected personality of her father, although sometimes she can be passive aggressive.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: She's very into Wicca and anything magical and spiritual. Favorite genre: fantasy.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Ethan, Nicky, Stella, Vanessa, Kevin, Parker (Part 2). Like Luna and her twin sister Stella, their mother is also twins with Nicky's mother.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS: Stella and Luna picked their names to match after realizing they were trans around the same time.

Vanessa Valentine

^{she/her | 5' 2-4" | 16-18 | February 28th, 1991}

Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Vanessa is kind and helpful, but can be prone to being nosy and giving unsolicited advice. She can be bad at listening even though she tries not to be. She is very romantic and daydreams a lot.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: She enjoys figure skating, ballet, and gymnastics. She shares Ethan's love for reading and poetry. Favorite genre: romance.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Ethan, Nicky, Luna, Parker (Part 2).

Kevin Callahan

^{| he/him | 6' 0" | 17-20 | October 30th, 1989}

Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Outwardly friendly and cheerful, but also manipulative and devious. Facetious and irreverent. Over his life, Kevin has mostly learned how normal people behave and express their emotions and uses it as a mask.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Kevin enjoys painting. He also loves attention and making people laugh. He is usually very good at not getting caught for trouble he causes, usually starting fires.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Nicky, Stella, Lucas, Parker (Part 2), Aidan (Part 2). Kevin is very loyal and protective of people he actually likes, but has no problem betraying people he doesn't care about. Lucas is probably the only person he has ever loved. Nicky has always seen the good in Kevin, or at least the good he wishes was there, and has always given him the benefit of the doubt. His friends know there is something "off" about him, but consider him a good person for the most part. The exception is Ethan who has always been distrustful of him.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS: Growing up as Nicky's neighbor, Kevin would always encourage Nicky to get into trouble with him. This led to Nicky's parents eventually banning Kevin from their house when he accidentally(?) set a fire in the living room about a year before Ethan moved in.

Lucas Harland

^{| he/him | 6' 0" | 17-20 | November 13th, 1989}

PERSONALITY: Lucas is generally cheerful and energetic, but if he feels he is wronged, he lashes out with a quick, intense temper.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Lucas is a pyromaniac who tries to control himself, but when he gets stressed he uses it as an excuse to give in and start a fire.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Kevin, Nicky, Stella. He meets Kevin very early in Part 1/2007 and they begin a romantic relationship, bonding over their love of setting fires. Kevin integrates Lucas into the rest of his friend group, who try to give him a chance although they are mostly wary of him. Lucas is the opposite of Kevin where he is unlucky and will often get caught for his crimes and get in trouble, while Kevin knows how to get away with it.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS:

Lucas was raised by his single mother Rachel who loves him very much but is often overwhelmed by the trouble he causes. She is engaged to Eric Miller, the county sheriff, who helped them out in 2005 when Lucas got expelled from his old school for starting a fire. Lucas and Eric argue often ever since Eric has let him and Rachel move in with him. Eric is friends with Kevin's father and also has a connection to the Lake family.

(The following is not a spoiler, it's the inciting incident for the rest of the story:) Lucas and Kevin decide to set a fire inside the local lighthouse near the end of Part 1/2007. They don't realize Charley is inside, having gotten permission to study the lake from the lighthouse as part of a school project. Kevin runs when he realizes this, but Lucas stays around to help Charley get out, which gets Lucas caught. A few days after the fire, Lucas goes missing. At first, everyone else thinks he just ran away to avoid impending legal consequences, but soon evidence is revealed that suggests foul play.

Gabriel/April Parker

^{| he/she/they | 5' 9-10" | 17-19 | February 17, 1990}

ArtFight Profile | Deviantart tag

NAME/GENDER NOTE: Parker mostly goes by their last name "Parker" as a gender-neutral nickname. He also doesn't mind his given name Gabriel, or her chosen feminine name April. Parker's different pronouns and names do not have to line up with their presentation at any particular time.

PERSONALITY: Parker is a very kind and gentle person. They are a pacifist who literally would not hurt a fly. Parker can get distracted easily and can sometimes be flighty or flaky.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: They love animals and nature and prefer being outside to being indoors.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: (All Part 2:) Kevin, Nicky, Stella, Luna, Vanessa. (Part 3) Charley.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS:

Parker is seen in Part 1/2007, moving into the forest outside of town from a commune a few states away. Even though they had lived in that commune for a year, their neighbors there didn't know anything about Parker's past or why they decided to move on because of how secretive Parker was about it, but none of them felt it was their place to pry.

Parker lives in the forest for about a year, and doesn't interact with the main characters until Part 2/2008 when Kevin finds them in the woods and invites them to live with him. Kevin introduces Parker to his friend group who quickly take a liking to them. But they find it strange how unwilling Parker is to share anything about where they originally came from or why they are there. Parker does have a specific reason they showed up in that specific town, which is not revealed until Part 3/2009 or the end of Part 2/2008.

Charley Beaumont

^{| he/him | 5' 10-11" | 17-20 | August 24th, 1989}

Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Charley is rational, responsible, and ambitious, but on the flip side can also be very anxious, restless, and perfectionistic. He can be unintentionally critical of others and especially himself. He feels guilt very easily. His mind is more analytical than creative so he has trouble thinking outside the box sometimes and tends to limit himself and his ideas.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Charley loves the ocean and is studying to become a marine biologist. He is very interested in all saltwater or freshwater life. He also has an interest in insects and observing them.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Aidan, Jenny, Michael, Parker (Part 3). Charley, Aidan, Jenny, and Michael all go to the same private school.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS:

Aidan Lake

^{| he/him | 5' 8-9" | 17-19 | July 25th, 1990}

Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Aidan is generous and loyal, but can also be insecure and dramatic.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Aidan loves art, both viewing and making it. He is very creative and expressive and enjoys going to galleries. After Lucas goes missing, Kevin meets Aidan in early Part 2/2008 and they begin a relationship over their shared interest in art.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Charley, Jenny, Michael, Kevin (Part 2). Charley, Aidan, Jenny, and Michael all go to the same private school. Aidan had an unrequited crush on Charley until he met Kevin.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS: Aidan does not know Kevin was at the lighthouse fire (details in Lucas's section), but after Aidan introduces him to his friends, Charley connects Kevin's voice with the vague memory of Lucas calling the name Kevin that night. Charley tells Aidan about it, but because Charley isn't 100% sure, Aidan convinces him he's just mistaken.

Jenny Lake

^{| she/her | 4' 9-10" | 15-17 | April 12th, 1992}

Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Jenny is cheerful and friendly, but also can be stubborn with a fast temper.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: She loves designing and making clothes.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Aidan, Charley, Michael. Charley, Aidan, Jenny, and Michael all go to the same private school. Jenny is closer to her parents than her brother Aidan is.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS: When Ethan still lived with the Lake family (info in Ethan's section), he and Jenny were best friends and would play together all the time. She took it very hard when he was temporarily sent away and harder when she found out he wasn't coming back. She tried to contact him over the next couple of years, but Ethan didn't want any connection to the Lake family at all and never responded.

Michael Bradford

^{| he/him | 6' 2-4" | 18-20 | June 30th, 1989}

Deviantart tag

PERSONALITY: Michael is very shy and anxious. Although he's shy, he is an extrovert who hates being alone. He is also clumsy and has a bad sense of direction and coordination.

INTERESTS/HOBBIES: Although he's clumsy Michael is good at fixing things. He loves working on cars. He tries liking football but is bad at it.

RELATIONSHIPS: Best friends: Aidan, Jenny, Charley. Charley, Aidan, Jenny, and Michael all go to the same private school. Because their fathers were friends since high school, Michael and Aidan were also friends for their whole lives. Aidan helps Michael with his confidence issues.

STORY/BACKSTORY BITS: Michael's father Zachary was always overprotective of him because one of his (Zachary's) brothers went missing in the 80s. (The identity of this brother and what happened to him is revealed in Part 3/2009)

Writing Progress

History

I've always loved drawing and what I've always drawn the most is my OCs. They were always mostly just a personal fun thing for me, and although I wanted to start a webcomic a few times, I felt like their story wasn't at a point where I was ready to start. Their story has changed a lot over the years, but it was only the last couple of years when everything started falling into place and at the beginning of 2025 I finally fully outlined all the major plot points and flashbacks in a cohesive and coherent order.

Goal/s

I'm hoping to finish writing it by the end of 2025, or at least get to a rough draft that I can start editing down and finalizing. If it becomes too long for me to realistically draw the entire thing as a webcomic, I might just partially illustrate it. I might post writing updates here.

Current Progress

2025:

Since starting in January I've made a page for each major and minor plot point and flashback to make it easier to go in and freewrite whenever I get inspiration and already have it be organized. They're in order by year, month, and sometimes day.

The prologue was the first thing I finished and I'm pretty happy with it. I also finished a good portion of the early scenes and filled in a lot of scenes in between the major plot points.

I got kind of stuck with how to connect the plot points with character interactions and development and I think I accidentally used making my Neocities site as a way to procrastinate all month lol AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

WIP. Mostly done making my Neocities site so I should be able to be less distracted from writing now.

OC Sketchbook

These are random OC-related sketches that I probably won't post on my main accounts. There's only a few things here for now but I'll eventually go back through my older art and put some more here. I'll organize it better when there's more. [Finished OC art in Art page]

2024

Character/s: Lily

This character is an ancestor of a few characters whose story isn't really important to the plot so i'll probably leave it out. She basically just exists to explain the origin of this doll.

2024

Character/s: Nicky

random sketches of Nicky being weird with food except for the hot dog that's normal

2024

Character/s: Ethan

Ethan using a cane is an idea i considered for a few years but i only decided to make it canon this year. idk why i didn't just do it before since it fits so well with his backstory. He wouldn't need it all the time but does better with it so in the story he'd be using it more often than not.

2024

Character/s: Michael, Jenny, Aidan, & Charley

i don't draw these guys as often as the others i do want to explore their dynamics more
i didn't draw this with the intention of having them specifically looking at anything but it's probably Kevin