A younger, more troubled woman's past: Book I - Isis
Back in late 2010 the young Isis O'Conner, or Joanne King as she was known at that time, was in well over her head - double agents, HomeSec, clandestine meetings with government officials, Adam Monroe, Ferrymen…
Bad Luck. Trouble. Call it what you will, but for a time this fateful force seemed to follow the young lady. Some days she blamed Murphy's Law, other times she blamed herself and the vice of curiosity. She couldn't leave anything well enough alone, that's for certain. As such, the our young and short-fused redhead clearly remained entangled in the mix and the fray of the civil war, at least to some degree. Fate has written her into this life, it would seem - born November 8, 1988, birthdays have been celebrated and devastated (not once but twice now) by literal bangs.
Brian Winters was the last influential party to have his hands on this young Evo, and also having obtained the redhead's trust went a long way. She did as she was told at first, working small side jobs of no significant importance for Adam's organization while spending a fair amount of free time at the Lighthouse. Soon Adam's trivial jobs weren't so interesting or important… Kids have a way of really putting things into perspective and as 2011 loomed nearer, the growing tensions and dangers came into clearer focus for Isis. Kick in maternal instinct and life changes…
2011
As tensions broiled and danger loomed, Isis made for Maine and the Canadian border with Brian's permission and just a few of the young children with whom she had boneded most closely. The small group settled in a secluded cottage in the midst of nowhere, designed to be little more than a train stop on this New Underground Railroad north to safety. After the children had helped to set things in order, they moved on - some it seems were trained to take a more hands-on role with Brian and some across the border for added safety. It was just as it was planned, but what Isis had not planned for was the crushing weight of her own thoughts in that empty home…
Do you know a panic attack feels uncannily like dying? It starts with shortness of breath. The air is too hot. You aren't getting enough oxygen. Why is your left arm tingling? It must be a heart attack. No one is around. These are your last moments. What do you do? On no, now it's your legs. They're cold and numb. Soon it'll envelope the rest of you. You start to replay what you know of your life, what you should have done, what you could have changed, all as the bitter, relentless numbing seeps up the other arm now. Your fingers are curled at awkward angles, distorted and almost unusable - is this what they will be stuck looking like when you're dead? Are you dead already?
2011-2012
Panic attacks being something like the illegitimate cousin of a "near death experience", have a similar way of changing one's life - whether you want it to or not. Isis found herself sitting in the med clinic some hours later - not even clear on how she was still alive. The triage doctor, Dr. James, holding a stethoscope to her heart, explains that what the young redhead experienced was not a heart attack, or looming death, but a natural reaction of the body to panic - as a survival method the body diverted blood away from her extremities to her core. Isis's response? "A panic attack? No, no, no - you don't understand. That shit is for weak people. I was dying. Check again."
Neither Dr. Matthew James or Isis expected that day to be the start of a very complex relationship, him being nearly 10 years her senior and her being clearly damaged. It started out rocky, a one-way street kind of relationship. MJ, a resident from the nearby small town, was an ever patient friend and confidant as Isis progressed through stages of loss, realization, and self discovery, keeping her out of the worst of the dangers and comforting her when things were there worst. Clearly, Matthew saw something in the redhead that she couldn't see for herself. Those outbursts that plagued her youth - triggers, PTSD, Borderline Personality disorder. Label things and a sense of understanding comes with it, and with understanding comes changes.
There are portions or chunks of her past that go missing, her brain conditioned to wipe away the misdeeds, the aggression, and the devastation of some of her worst moments. The rocky start to her relationship with MJ? Gone. She's aware outwardly, from MJ's video evidence and retellings, but it's much like an out of body experience (something she is very familiar with, mind), when she hears about the tumlutous start of their love. Ask her and she can recall more easily the happy strolls, the late night adventures, winter parks, etc.
2012-Current
A year alone with MJ. A year of self-discovery and understanding. Thus, "Isis", the inflated and short-fused ego to which this redhead previous subscribed, has fallen away. She has embraced the life of Joanne, or "Jo", now. It was a year before the next group of children was sent her way and it became clear that a recurring theme of love and loss was to be her burden in this act of seeing the children to safety. Maternal instincts turned her previously short-fused temper into more of a "mother bear" switch. A protective outlet, if you would. Together Isis and MJ took children in only to see them safely across the border or to other safe houses set up by Brian, Kaylee, and the LightHouse Team. Hunkered down in relative obscurity, they watched the Second American Civil War rage on from afar.
The kids have stopped coming. The kids have grown, and so too has Joanne. A letter has made its way through the Evo Underground Railroad and into her hands: "Come home." The sender is unclear, the intent even more so. For all her growth, however, Isis cannot leave it well enough alone - curiosity prevails. She kisses her lover and promises she'll be back, she leaves him the abandoned cabin and a piece of her heart and heads back to the Safe Zone, to what end she's not quite sure just yet…