Shattered Dreams: Meet the Teen Uprooted from the Wilds

Forged Series Character Profile: Contessa Wright

Photo by Louis Galvez on Unsplash

Tessa Wright

• Pronouns: she/her

• Age: 14

• Birthplace: Lower Columbia Zone, United Pacific Territories

• Occupation: first-year student at Owyhee High School

• Relationship profile: never had a boyfriend but has a crush on Isaiah Iverson

• Family: Conseula & Jonathon Wright (parents, deceased), Isabella ‘Sis’ Wright (age 5, sister, deceased), Clarissa & Finn Roberts (aunt & uncle, guardians)

• Hobbies: reading, meditation, looking for more as her world expands

• Personality Traits and Quirks: shy, homeschooled until the first year of high school, grieving the death of her family, previously isolated to family home due to being immunocompromised, prefers the garments commonly worn in the Wilds (hemp wrap dresses) and her bread without butter or jam

Adult Advocates

The following email thread is between Dr. Donnel, principal of Owyhee High School, and Clari Roberts, Tessa’s Aunt and guardian. Aunt Clari is the sister of Tessa’s deceased mother and is a math teacher at the middle school.

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From donnel.iris@osd.ohs.oz.upt
To roberts.clarissa@osd.oms.oz.upt
Date Monday 19 July 2134 10:34

Mx. Roberts,
I see that your niece has been enrolled as a first-year at OHS this fall. I contacted the middle school in West Portlandia to obtain her school records. They informed me that Contessa Wright was not enrolled but was listed as an Independent Learner.

Before placing her in classes, we will need her last testing results. If none are available, she will need to take the placement exam. I trust you are comfortable acting as proctor of the exam in your home as time is of the essence with school starting in two weeks.

Also, please provide me with some background on Contessa so I can better meet her needs as a student in my building.

Regards,
Dr. Iris Donnel
Principal, Owyhee High School, Owyhee School District

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From roberts.clarissa@osd.oms.oz.upt
To donnel.iris@osd.ohs.oz.upt
Date Monday 19 July 2134 13:16

Dr. Donnel,
First of all, thank you for your recommendation of Dr. Shay Weaver. We immediately reached out to her for grief counseling. Our niece has met with the psychologist each day since her arrival and is starting to show some progress in adjusting to her life with us. As can be expected, we are all reeling from the tragic accident that took the lives of her parents and sister. My husband, Finn, and I are grateful for the doctor’s care and plan to have Contessa continue treatments throughout the coming months. As you mentioned, Dr. Weaver’s office is conveniently located near the high school. Even more importantly, the doctor seems aptly skilled in her craft, so thank you for connecting us with her.

You are correct; my sister homeschooled Contessa. As far as I understand, she’d planned to have Contessa take the placement exams at the high school in West Portlandia during the first week of July, which obviously did not happen. When I asked Contessa just now, she told me she’d been preparing for the test, so she agreed to take it tomorrow. I am happy to proctor the exam.

Though Finn and I have had limited contact with my sister’s family over the last decade, I feel like I have a good understanding of Contessa. She was raised in a loving home, but her life has not been without difficulty.

Contessa became very ill at the age of four. High fevers, muscle cramps, and severe headaches ravaged her poor little body. After a short time of living on a feeding tube and being intubated, doctors were able to stabilize her. Contessa was diagnosed as immunocompromised, so my sister kept her home and out of the school system. The goal was to limit Contessa’s exposure to illnesses that could have been devastating to her health. Her doctor recently released her to attend the public school system in West Portlandia, so from a health perspective, no accommodations are needed. However, Dr. Weaver did suggest that Contessa’s participation in P.E. be restricted to start.

From a psychological perspective, you have my permission to speak directly with Dr. Weaver to ascertain if she recommends any accommodations for Contessa to ease her transition.

As I said, Contessa is progressing slowly in terms of her new life. I know she is a resilient young woman—I can see the fire in her eyes when certain subjects are brought up. She hasn’t expressed any interest in exploring the urban center, but she willingly attends her appointments with Dr. Weaver on her own. I doubt she will find the schoolwork itself difficult, but she will likely struggle with making friends. She is often quiet and more of an observer. She will need a gentle hand as she learns to navigate public school. If I may, I recommend that she be placed in Ruth Philon’s class for her language arts course, depending on Contessa’s placement results of course. I personally know Ruth and believe she would make a great connection with Contessa.

And, of course, we will support her in any way possible, so please contact me any time. Thank you for taking an interest in helping Contessa succeed.

Clari Roberts

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Shattered

In the remnants of the Pacific Northwest, 110 years from now, fourteen-year-old Tessa Wright's idyllic life in the Wilds is disrupted by the death of her family.

Haunted by mysterious memories and thrust into an urban society, Tessa struggles with grief while navigating high school among the privileged Elites and attempting to understand her true identity. She is drawn into the plot to uncover the truth behind a devastating terrorist attack and the sinister plans of the Ryker administration.

As Tessa unravels her past, she must fight for her newfound friends and dwindling freedoms. The lines between loyalty, love, and the cost of rebellion are blurred. Can she reclaim her true self before it's too late?

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I Am Me

This poem by Tessa Wright was written for an assignment for Mx. Philon’s Creative Writing class.¹

     I Am Me
          By Tessa Wright

     Names I recognize
       And yet are unfamiliar
         Cause sadness, deep and raw.
           Sister. Friend. Stranger.
             I am all these words.

     But who am I?

     My heart being ripped
       From my chest
         Until only emptiness remains.
           Sad. Alone. Angry.
                  I am all these words.

     But who am I?

     A sorrowful longing ache
       Pulses through my body.
         Darkness down to my toes.
           Lost. Abandoned. Alone.
             I am all these words.

     But who am I?

     Even in silence, we are not alone.
       I am not alone.
         My eyes are staring back at me.
           Determined. Resolute. Confident.
             I am all these words.

     But who am I?
       I am fearless.
         I am me.

~Excerpt from Shattered, book one of the FORGED Series, coming in late 2024 from Provender Press

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Character Inspiration and Role

Throughout the FORGED Series, the “layers” of Tessa, the main protagonist, are slowly peeled back. When we first meet her, she is the sweet, sheltered Contessa, content to live in her little bubble with her family in the Wilds of the United Pacific Territories. She doesn’t want to go to public high school; she wants everything to stay as it has always been.

But the universe has other plans. An accident shatters her perfect world, and she is forced to leave her rural home to live with her Aunt and Uncle in the Capital, the largest urban center in the nation. As each layer of security is removed, she taps into emerging strengths to tackle new situations and finds the courage to face those who bully her. As Tessa unravels her past, she must fight for her newfound friends and dwindling freedoms.

“Though she be but little, she is fierce”
~ Helena, from William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream

On her journey, Tessa grows from a timid bystander in her life to a fierce advocate for herself and others. For example, on the first day of school, she decides that instead of going by Contessa, which her family always called her, she wants to be called Tessa.² Throughout the FORGED Series, we see her empathy, her selflessness, her determination to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and her willingness to fight for what is right despite the potential harm to herself.

Tessa’s role as the main protagonist is to uncover the truth (her truth and force others around her to admit their truths). She doesn’t take on the task willingly so much as out of obligation to the ones she loves. And she’s not too proud to ask for help, though she tries really hard to make it seem that her acceptance of the help was only because someone offered it.

Inspiration for Tessa came from several people who are larger than life in my eyes: devoutly loyal friends with a strong sense of justice (and injustice) and a bit of fire in their personalities. (In other words, don’t piss them off, or you’ll find yourself groveling for their forgiveness–and rightly needing to do so!) My goal with her character was to model a strong female who stands up to bullies without becoming one herself.

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Before you go

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What I’m reading

Here are some other dystopian and SciFi fiction pieces available on Substack or as a published book(s) that you might enjoy. Plus some thought-provoking non-fiction.

1. The Fair Folk (Part 2) -

   S.E. Reid
   ’s second part of the Fair Folk backstory from her Ferris Island world. A perfect story for the spooky season! Start here.

2. Age of Innocence - Be warned, where you think

   Jim J Wilsky
   ’s writing is taking you is not where you end up. The twists are… fascinating! This is just one example.

3. The Way Forward - “From this moment forward, your life will be forever changed.” Thank you,

   Meg Oolders
   .

4. The Ghost Diaries: Episode I - What better way to spend October than reading ghost stories?

   John Coon
   weaves a purely entertaining comedy horror serial.

5. Madisonville Murder, Part 1- Keeping with the spooky theme, check out this from

   Bill Hiatt
   and watch for part 2.

Questions

1. What other questions do you have about Tessa Wright?

2. Have you ever given yourself a nickname or changed your name? What prompted you?

3. Do you have a fire-spitting friend, or are you the one others turn to when a stand needs to be taken?

1. This is not the poem I alluded to in Ruth Philon’s character profile, but one that I wrote as if I were Tessa completing the actual assignment from the Creative Writing class. Mx. Philon does a mediation class, and the poem is the resulting reflection from the mediation. I still plan to share my high school poetry… soon.

2. Easter Egg: I never had a nickname growing up, so when I checked into my dorm my freshman year at college, I gave my name and said, “But I go by CB.” BOOM! Nickname granted. In fact, I had a professor during my freshman year who thought he was being cute and called me by my given name during class. To which I replied, “Only my family and close friends call me that name, and you, sir, are neither.” [You must imagine me saying this with venom dripping from my mouth as I leaned back, crossed my arms, and shifted my head side-to-side.] I’m sure he had a good laugh telling the story to his dinner partner that night.