#plathtask

[freyadoe-blog]

❛ task 002. /   - ̗̀ alternate universe ̖́-

funny things happen when you teach a child how to love.               01. she learns how to love you back, how to scream the words at the top of her lungs when you’re dropping her off at daycare for the first time because she’s never been taught to be afraid of the feeling. hugs come easily and she smiles like the sun when you hold hands crossing the street. you tuck her into bed and she doesn’t flinch when you press a kiss to her forehead.               02. she learns how to love the world around her, how to be fascinated with the stars and the flowers in equal measure without fearing the loss of them -- the first time you take her stargazing, she brings her stuffed bear along and insists that he gets a turn. art teaches her how to observe, music teaches her how to listen and reading teaches her a thousand different ways to love a world she already adores.                03. she learns how to love the people around her, her best friend and her first crush and the girl that helps her with her history homework and the boy with the pink in his hair. she falls in love a hundred times a day and she’s never afraid of hitting the ground, never scared that she might not survive the falling. you watch her break her heart and you help her pick up the pieces, but once they’ve settled back into place inside her rib cage she charges off again, flying and falling and flying again like a bird with soft cotton wings.                04. she learns how to love herself and it’s the hardest lesson she ever learns, but it’s the most important. she learns how to look in the mirror without shaking, without tearing apart imperfections and drowning herself in criticism. her brown hair is beautiful and her mind is brilliant and her hands don’t shake when she presents her art to the world and you’re so proud when you realize she’s finally starting to see herself the way you’ve always seen her.

when you teach a child how to love, she grows up strong and kind and intelligent and beautiful and brave and most importantly, she grows up unafraid of love. sometimes you see children who weren’t so lucky, the way they shake and shout and tremor at the thought of the word you use so easily and you find yourself grateful that you gave her what she needed. 

you find yourself heartbroken by the idea of a universe where you didn’t.

[clementinesterling-blog]

❛ task 002. /   - ̗̀ alternate universe ̖́-

ＢＲＥＡＫＩＮＧ ＮＥＷＳ

This morning, billionaire heiress Clementine Hudson (nee. Sterling) was found dead by her husband, Trevor Hudson, in their LA home. Sources say that Trevor immediately called 911 after finding his wife unresponsive in the bath tub with self inflicted wounds on both wrists, but his efforts were in vain. Clementine was pronounced dead on the scene from an apparent suicide, though Mr. Hudson was taken in for questioning. When we asked a police officer on scene why he was taken in, the officer had this to say:                              “ We’re just covering our bases. It’s no secret that Mrs. Hudson                                 was an unstable woman with self destructive behaviors, so                                 suicide wouldn’t be entirely unexpected, but we still need to                                 make sure that no foul play was involved. ”

Even before her marriage to the influential (and much older) Trevor Hudson, Clementine Sterling was known for being a party girl. She’s been arrested over 20 times, though only 3 arrests resulted in convictions, one of which being a case of involuntary manslaughter when she was 16 that resulted in her spending two years in jail. As well as a large amount of reckless behavior, her drinking, smoking and drug use are well documented, including her recent overdose in a club in LA. 

Throughout the years, there has been large amount of speculation and scandal surrounding the Sterling family, including allegations of abuse and even the possibility of Clementine having a twin brother that was stillborn. Truth be told, of all the stories to come out of the Sterling household, none of them have been pleasant. With Clementine’s recent marriage to Trevor, there have even been rumors that her parents forced her into the marriage due to Trevor’s wealth, power and business assets. When asked about those rumors after exiting a nightclub a few months ago, this was her response:                              “ What? [ inaudible mumble ] Speak up, dumbass. I can’t hear                                 s**t. You think... [ inaudible mumble ] You really think that?                                 That’s fucking ridiculous. My parents are great and I love                                 Trevor. He’s amazing. Fantastic. Now fuck off. ”

Such attitude was common from the heiress and left the public with a rather divided opinion on the young woman. Some believe she’s nothing more than a spoiled brat with more money and power than she knows what to do with, while others think she’s a victim of a toxic family with no way out that’s coping the only way she knows. If the autopsy proves that her death was a suicide, it may serve to prove the latter right.

ＵＰＤＡＴＥ

While going through her things after his release from custody after it was proven that Clementine had taken her own life, Trevor Hudson discovered a letter she had apparently written and left to be found after her tragic death. Keep reading to see an exclusive copy of that suicide note and what was written in her final hours.

dear world,                  yeah, i mean the whole fucking world. believe it or not, i’m not stupid. i know this is gonna end up published in every fucking magazine and you’re all going to make it seem like any other celebrity drama and ignore the fact that your shittiness killed someone. but what’s new right? you’re all fucking vultures. i hope this gets you views or whatever.

                 so now for the main event, the big question, the reason you’re reading this. why? why did i do it? why did the stupid rich bitch off herself? how selfish could someone be?                 pretty fucking selfish, at least based on my parents. tell a kid she’s useless for twenty years and break down her confidence enough for her to believe you when you say the only way she’ll be worth anything is by marrying some old guy with a lot of money. at least trevor was a good guy, unlike most of daddy’s business partners. he knew it wasn’t about love as much as i did so he was my friend. a real friend, unlike pretty much everyone else.                                 but that doesn’t answer your question. why did i kill myself? because i didn’t have anything to live for and i don’t think i ever have. my parents hate me, every lover leaves, all my friends are fake and the world looks at me more like a toy than a person. i have nothing and no one besides trevor and he isn’t enough. what point is there? parties aren’t fun anymore, tabloids make me feel sick.                 i was hoping the cigarettes and drugs would kill me before i could, but you fuckers wouldn’t let me go peacefully. this time i won’t fuck it up. this time it’s my choice and you can’t take this from me. no one else gets to decide this for me.                                                                             no love at all,                                                                                                  ᶜˡᵉᵐᵉᶰᵗᶤᶰᵉ ˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤᶰᵍ                 P.S. if you play my funeral on TMZ, i’m fucking haunting all of you.

[lydiaasher-blog]

❛ task 002. /   - ̗̀ alternate universe ̖́-

rewrite the story.            tell it again.                  i want to hear it differently.

i want to hear the version of the story where she makes it out alive, where the ambulance got there in time to find her bleeding but not dead, still gasping for breath and choking on the answer that everyone is terrified to hear. when she limps into class two weeks later, she’s wounded but alive and there’s whispers but she’s not the only one that’s subjected to the wandering eyes and wondering questions.

there’s camaraderie in survival and the drowning girl, the paint can girl, christmas boy, boy with the book, wildfire girl, and gemstone girl have all found some kind of balance in their pain, some way to be alive without being alone. the victims of the violence; the ones who had no choice in their agony. she isn’t one of them -- she chose her fate -- but still they don’t abandon her. when the pain comes and the stitches fail, she has a hand to hold that pulls her back to her feet again.

together they feel the grief and worry that comes when the soldier never comes home, silent glances exchanged in the hallway as they each wonder together if trauma has escalated to murder. in this version of the story, they don’t already know. there is no funeral service for a girl with no family, no broken hearted boy with hole where his first love should be. there’s pain and there’s fear and there’s loss, but no new graves are dug. 

it’s another month before they find out just how far the creeper is willing to go.

when the body falls, she’s there with the boy she loves. he holds her when she starts shaking, when she starts cursing the dress she’s wearing because she’s never cared for the fabric around her ankles when she starts running. he holds her close and she confesses the secret of her fear and for once, she accepts that bravery isn’t always in being fearless. bravery is living despite the fear.

the next day, she skips class and spends all her waking hours in the gym. her body still hurts and the wounds are still healing, but she can’t stand being weak. that’s nothing new, but this time it’s different. this time she needs to be strong for other people. she needs to be strong for the ones who aren’t, the ones who are terrified and unable to fight for themselves. 

another two weeks pass and she feels strong again and when she walks down the halls, she’s a thunderstorm in beauty and strength. a girl raised on injustice learns how to fight against everything she’s ever known for the sake of the people she never thought she could care for. she’s still messy brown hair and dirty clothes and a foul mouth, but when she fights, she does it with purpose.

i want to hear this version of the story where gun becomes girl becomes shield. i want the version where she doesn’t die alone and instead she learns how to live, how to turn her anger into love and how to become everything she should be without losing who she is. i want the version where the girl marches into battle for people she barely knows and turns herself from tragedy to a hero. 

i don’t want the story where she lives happily ever after.                                                                                          just let her live happily.

[plathacademyhq-blog]

task 02 // alternate universe

Everyone wonders from time to time, what their life would be like if that one thing hadn’t happened. If they’d turned left instead of right, chosen not to do something that they did or vise versa or anything else. This is especially true for people at Plath, many of which have had their lives defined by certain events.

So for our second task, we want you guys to show us who your character would be if one event in their life had turned out differently. It’s up to you what event you choose and how different you want it to be, just make sure it’s something particularly important to your character’s development as a person -- it’s no fun otherwise. It’s also up to you how you choose to complete this task, whether you want to write a self para, make a timeline, create a graphic or anything else. However, this is just a task, not an event, so no AU threads please!

There’s no time limit on this and it’s completely optional, but it’s a fun way to explore character development and have a little fun with alternate universes at the same time. Make sure to tag your post with #plathtask and let us know if you have any questions, comments or concerns. We look forward to seeing what you create and learning more about your fantastic characters!

[sarahsays]

t i m e l i n e

1. CONGRATULATIONS, IT’S A GIRL

19-year-old Alexandra Muñoz hadn’t grown up with much, but maybe things would be different for her newborn child. Her traditional parents had turned their backs on her after the news of the pregnancy, but she would get through it. She had someone new to concentrate on now: 

Sarah Leah Matthews was born on November 23rd, 1999, at 5 lbs 2 oz. She was two weeks early, which later would ring quite true to her personality: when she wanted something to happen, she wanted it done right then.

Although Alexandra she hadn’t wanted a child at first, she knew immediately that she wouldn’t change a thing about Sarah. When she looked at her newborn daughter, only one word came to mind: Perfect.

When her boyfriend at the time, Christopher Matthews, glanced over at Sarah, he said, “Oh. She’s  … pretty.”

2. BANG! BANG! IT’S A SHOTGUN WEDDING 

Alexandra Muñoz entered the new millennium as Alexandra Matthews. Christopher’s upstanding parents had pushed for marriage–it was the right thing to do–and even though Christopher seemed lukewarm about the idea, he conceded.

They were a nuclear family: a mom, a dad, and a daughter. All they needed was the white picket fence and the dog, and maybe everything would be okay. Maybe, at least on the outside, it would look like everything was okay.

Everything was not okay.

3. TABLE FOR FOUR ON A FRIDAY NIGHT

Their union was rocky on its good days and scathing at its worst. The two young parents had grown to resent each other in ways they could have never imagined. Still, they brought their son Caleb into the world under their facade. Maybe everything could be okay if they just tried harder.

Sometimes, they could play the part. When the kids were around, they tried their best to hide it. But Christopher had so much potential, so much of his youth left to live, and hated that he was wasting it playing house. He was supposed to go to college, see the world, date other women before deciding on the right one. He wanted that choice back. 

4. DRIVE AWAY AND TAKE YOUR LOVE WITH YOU

About a week after her seventh birthday, Sarah caught her father packing a suitcase. I’m going to stay at my mother’s for a little while, he said. He kissed her on the forehead, packed up his car, and left. 

That was the last of their nuclear family. 

It went on to prove to Sarah that love is worthless, and nothing is a guarantee. Don’t settle your roots in people; anyone can leave you at any time–and it can ruin your life in the process.

But sometimes, she wonders what would have happened if she had protested. What if he had stayed?

5. WHAT IT MEANS TO BE POOR

After the divorce, with only a high school diploma and no one to turn to, Alexandra struggled financially to keep her family afloat. They moved into a smaller house. She sold any fine jewelry she owned. And as a quick, temporary solution while she looked for work, she applied for welfare and public assistance. 

This would be the start of a vicious cycle: once you entered The System, you never left. 

For Sarah, this meant being treated like a second-class citizen. It meant being forced to live in a dangerous neighborhood because no upstanding neighborhood wanted to drag its reputation down with welfare recipients. It meant not being picky about food, and her family barely earning enough money to survive. 

It meant never having her mother at school functions, and as she grew older, sometimes going almost twenty-four hours without seeing her if their schedules conflicted enough. And even if she understood the situation the best she could, Sarah would grow to resent her mother for not being around. 

6. GIRL MEETS GRAFFITI

She had always been an artist, but at fifteen, Sarah discovered her affinity for spray paint.

She met a girl in her neighborhood who made the city her canvas. The girl was an orphan, a foster care kid, who had to get out of the house and entertain herself the best she could. She went by the name ILUSHUN–at least, that’s what her tag said. Sarah was enchanted, by the way the girl in the baggy, gray hoodie could flick her wrist and turn a crumbling brick wall into a work of art.

Sarah lingered around her for months, talking to her, learning her techniques. One day, ILUSHUN suddenly stopped showing up, and although Sarah figured she’d just moved away, she always wondered what had happened to her.

7. BUSTED! 

For over the course of a year, Sarah decorated the slums with her graffiti art. She lived for the adrenaline rush of picking the best spot, writing the perfect message, just making those close-calls of getting caught. It became an outlet for all of her rage, for the neglect she felt, the anger that always threatened to escape her lips. She spilled her emotions out onto the buildings under a new name: RAJA.

RAJA made the city her own, but it wasn’t hers for long.

One night, she got a little too cocky and a little too angry, and picked the perfect wall: the one behind the social services building that plagued her family. In big, black letters she wrote: DON’T BE A SLAVE TO THE SYSTEM.

She was caught teal-handed by the police, and she was sorry.

8. WELCOME TO PLATH ACADEMY

As it was her first offense, she was sentenced to either the juvenile detention center or this newly-reopened, ritzy-looking boarding school. Sarah and her mother chose the latter. She’d gotten a full scholarship due to her social standing, and it seemed like a win-win for everyone. One less mouth to feed, one less person to use hot water and electricity. And Sarah could talk to a therapist about all of the pent-up resentment she felt, and learn in a safe environment.

“A safe environment,” they had said.

9. T͉̳H͇̳E̪͎�� ̙̺D͙A̜R̝̩̺͓ͅK͉͚̦͔͇͎ ̯̦R̹̖͎̞O͔͓͉̠̲͈̙O̯̪̩̩M̼̳̥̫̠͎

Things were fine, for a little while. Sarah naively started to settle down at Plath, despite her better judgment. Even if she knew she would be forced to leave one day, she couldn’t help growing attached to some of the people here. There were other kids like her; the staff understood her. It was nice. 

Until the maze. 

There was no passage of time in The Dark Room: the abandoned warehouse-turned-booby-trap with no lights. They had only been trapped down there for three days, but it could have easily been three weeks, three months. 

Three days of navigating traps, three days of blood, three days of abandonment. 

Somehow, she made it out alive, and with only a few scars to bear. But now she was afraid. 

Still, RAJA couldn’t be beaten that easily. 

10. CALL ME KING

She was starting to recover, just beginning to return to her old self again. The red irritation of her face had dissipated and she almost felt like herself again. Less like a victim.

And then the masquerade happened.

Someone with a death wish had nominated her for King, and then the rest of the school had followed. It had all been fun and games and first, until the announcement.

She still remembers the blood that sprayed her face, the peacock feather sticking out of Philip’s head like a trademark. Perhaps she had been part of the problem: perhaps she had been the partial cause. Classic Sarah Matthews, unable to keep her big mouth shut, like always.

But it’s been two months since then. Maybe the hell is finally over. Maybe she can finally do what she came here for and heal.

She can only hope.

[jonahbjames]

t i m e l i n e

Well I heard there was a secret chord That David played and it pleased the Lord  But you don’t really care for music, do you? 

Jonah Benjamin James was born to Mary Anna and Abraham James on August 23rd, 1998. 

Children were the greatest blessing a life could bring. They were central to a woman’s purpose, and Mary Anna was delighted to fulfill her duty and bring her husband a son. It was God’s plan for their happiness, as He said to Adam and Eve, “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”

And that they did.

Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth The minor fall and the major lift The baffled king composing –

Jonah had a little over a year to soak up being the pride and joy of the James family before his first sibling entered the equation.

Meet Leviathan James. Soon to grow taller, blonder, and kinder, Little Levi was the new talk of the town (though not for long, of course). Sometimes Marry Anna would tie a bonnet around his head and think to herself that he had such a feminine face. Such a pretty boy. She wasn’t sure whether to marvel or scowl at that fact. 

It took Jonah some time to grow into filling his older brother role–about ten years, in fact.. Until then, he found ways to cope with the loss, such as using a line of toys to separate the halves of their shared room.

By the time Mercy was born, he had a slightly better idea of what it meant to be the oldest, and with each passing sibling it got easier. So when Serenity was born, he was ready. 

Your faith was strong but you needed proof You saw her bathing on the roof Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you

What better place to raise a family than the house next-door to the town’s bishop? Aliya and Dallin Snow were just one white picket fence away from the James property, and they also had young children. 

Enter Eve Snow, the oldest of the two girls. The same age as the eldest James son, she visited with the family often (The families had a habit of pushing their children together, in the way that adults usually do). 

As they reached puberty, it was thought that perhaps the two might be a good match–after all, it was never too soon to start thinking about marriage–but that bubble was soon popped. 

The eldest Snow daughter was clumsy. Unbecoming. Her embroidery was sloppy and her mousy brown hair was flat. She would stumble and fall like a toddler, even as she reached her teenage years. Her voice always came out as a hushed mumble, her eyes rudely never meeting the gaze of her elders. She would never be good enough for the favorite James child.

Bethany, on the other hand, could make stitches smaller than Leviathan’s baby teeth. She could walk with two books sitting atop her head, get the wrinkles out of any fabric, and mend a pair of pants like she was born to do it. Her lips held an ever-present smile, her long, shiny brown hair neatly wrapped behind her head into a bun. She made God proud. She would be perfect for Jonah. 

It was suggested that perhaps Eve should not visit with the neighboring family as much anymore.

There was a time when you let me know What’s really going on below But now you never show that to me, do you?

The first time Jonah truly realized how different boys and girls’ roles were, he was eight years old. 

The rectangular room in the basement of the church was one of the largest spaces in town. Lined with colorful posters and spiritual proverbs, the community of Sparkville, Utah (an ironic name for such a dull town) had grown to accustomed to it as their safe space. Though also doubling as the location for most town functions, it mainly served as the teaching room. 

Today’s lesson: the story of Adam and Eve’s fall from the Garden of Eden. Prophet Ezekiel, voice loud and booming to the small boy, looked up from his holy book and explained, “The only way a woman will ever be happy–the only way she ever can be happy–is if she lets her faithful husband rule over her. That is her only way back to the Heavenly Father for a Woman. She must obey her husband.”

It all sounded so odd to Jonah, but the Prophet expressed the virtue from the Lord. He was his Messenger. There was no way he could be telling them anything but His absolute truth. 

Oh, how wrong he had been. 

Baby I've been here before I've seen this room and I've walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you

As Jonah grew older, he started to question things:

Why had their father been banished?  Why did his two youngest siblings not share the rest of the family’s blue eyes?

Sometimes when he looked into Prophet Ezekiel’s eyes, he saw his little sister in them, but he couldn’t figure out why. He couldn’t put the pieces together, but he knew better than to ask. Questioning the elders only brought punishment. It was something he’d seen over and over again. 

To his surprise, he found a questioning soul that matched his in Eve Snow’s shy temperament, the girl from his youth. As the years went by, he found himself seeing more and more of her, and though it wasn’t technically wrong, they kept their friendship a secret from their parents. 

It didn’t stay a ‘friendship’ for long.

But remember when I moved in you And the holy dove was moving too And every breath we drew was –

By the time Jonah and Eve reached sixteen, they had grown comfortable in their game, their rendezvous. It was fun, hopping over the fence after midnight to see her. And if their parents didn’t know, then God might as well be clueless, too. (Not to mention the other things Jonah did without them knowing)

One cold night, they committed one of the biggest sins of all: fornication out of wedlock. It was awkward and thrilling and scary and wonderful, and it certainly didn’t feel like a sin. 

–That is, until Eve realized she was pregnant. 

She tied you to her kitchen chair She broke your throne and she cut your hair And from your lips she drew the –  

They had been pretty careful about not letting anyone find out about their escapades–always careful to act no more than friendly in public, possible even overcompensating with civil–but a large, round belly on the small girl would certainly give them away. 

There was no other option: they would have to run. They would pack their bags, meet at their usual spot after everyone else had fallen asleep, and escape. Once they crossed the town border they would be fine. They just had to cross the border. His motorcycle would be too loud, so they would have to walk. It would be a long trek, but it was the only way. They had to get out. They couldn’t be found. They couldn’t stay here. 

They were found long before they reached the border.

The whole night was a blur of screaming and crying. There were two possible punishments for fornication and apostasy: BLOOD ATONEMENT or BANISHMENT. His mother, tear-stricken and betrayed, chose the latter. It was the last thing she could do for her disappointment of a son.

And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch And love is not a victory march It’s a cold and it’s a broken –

After that, Jonah was put on the next plane out of Utah and was sent to live with an Aunt Jess and Uncle Amos whom he had never met. They had left the lifestyle behind over a decade ago, and had now assimilated themselves into the Real World. 

He arrived on the doorstep in Texas in the middle of the night, eyes red-brimmed and puffy. The boy was a sinner and a criminal in need of healing, and they were his last hope. 

They tried their best. 

Public school was too much of a shock for the sheltered boy. So, they sent him to Plath Academy for Troubled Teens as a middle ground. Perhaps the boarding school could provide the healing and societal integration that he needed. 

Perhaps one day he would be able to atone for his sins.

– h a l l e l u j a h 

[clarisaacosta-blog]

a timeline of clarisa acosta’s life ( click for captions )

god has no place in a godless town, even less in a godless girl

[maikwons]

girl meets + timeline      mai kwon. ( click photos for captions )

[plathacademyhq-blog]

task 01 // timeline

A while ago the idea of tasks were brought up and we’ve been thinking about it for a while, but we’ve been busy. Now what better time is there for a little character introspection than after the horrific trauma that almost all of them suffered at the lovely St. Patrick’s Day Masquerade. So we present to you our first task:

As we all know, everyone at Plath has lived an exciting or unusual life, but there’s a lot that we might not know about your characters. Our task for you is to make a timeline that shows at least ten significant events in your character’s life. This can be done through a self para, an actual timeline, a graphic, or really any other method that you can dream up. You can also have more than ten events; if you’d like, you can have as many as you want. How you do this is up to you!

This isn’t a mandatory task by any means, just an optional thing for you and other players to get to know your character a little better. We’re keeping it fairly simple to start out and if everyone likes it, then we’ll see where tasks can go from here. Remember to tag your timelines with #plathtask and ask us if there’s any questions!