You know those kids who always sat off by themselves in a world of their own? There's at least one in every classroom, in the office, walking down the street. In Kendall's case, he's that kid. Shy almost to the point of not having any friends at all, he was a daydreamer that tried very hard to go off into his own little world.
At the tender age of 13, he was off visiting relatives when the bomb struck, so he was out of the city and missed the worst of the damage, although his school wasn't so lucky, and neither was his home. His parents, a minor architect and an interior designer, were more than a little miffed at the loss of the home THEY designed and decorated, not to mention the huge loss of income. However, they got partially reimbursed for it, so set out to design a brand new home… farther away from the city in case there was any sort of repeat.
A year later, while off in his own little world, he started drawing things, having taken several art classes by this time, and then what he drew started to come to life, coming out of the paper. What he drew didn't last very long, and was very susceptible to things such as rain, humidity, and general smearing. Naturally, not wanting to seem like some sort of freak, he hid this from everyone. On the plus side, he could make his own friends, though they don't have much to say. He hid this ability even from his parents, which was no easy task, since he lived at home. All they would know is that he'd go off by himself every once in a while and draw while blasting music they didn't like, which was enough of a deterrant. Being busy with their respective jobs, they left him well enough alone.
This continued until right around February, and when the public became aware that there were people with special abilities, he kept going back and forth about whether or not he should tell someone. After all, he didn't even have his license yet. For the most part, he stopped drawing completely, and his parents worried that something happened with him, and signed him up for counseling with limited success. The main reason for hiding his ability was the rants his father occasionally made over the dinner table about 'freaks' and how they were a menace to society, they should all be locked up, and how they Threaten Life As We Know It and The Way Things Should Be. Kendall, being rather intelligent for his age, figured that his father was afraid of people with special abilities because they were different, and threatened his sense of superiority. This was even more of an impetus for Kendall to keep his own ability secret, since while his father was very vocal about it, his mother never objected, tacitly agreeing with everything he said.
Kendall vacillated between deciding to tell someone and keeping it a secret all the way to November, around the time when his school was blown up in the terrorist attack on the 21st. Fortunately for him, his parents had taken him out of school that week to help them move into the house they finished, so he was absent that day. Having been the second of his schools to be destroyed, he considered dropping out completely, having erroneously come to the conclusion that someone found out about him and was targeting him for it. He knew this way of thinking was wrong, but it was a niggling doubt in the back of his head. His parents would not hear a word of it, however, and merely sent him on to the replacement school the board of education provided.
Of course, the curfew and the general disorder of the city kept him home most of the time, only venturing out once a week or so to go play cards with his friends in a strictly supervised (and safe) setting, or else going out to dinner with his parents. About then, he began being curious about his power again, thinking that maybe he had imagined it, and started drawing again. He kept alert while doing so, not daydreaming while he drew like he usually did, and nothing happened. It was only when his mind started to wander that the art started showing up, and that sparked another retreat. He started actively avoiding other people in school, sitting in the back of the classroom and being the last one in and the first one out, and avoided meeting anyone's eyes.
