A Question of Morals, Emotions, and Secrets

[SlickSlider]

Say you are a 17 year old girl (or boy, if you can't use your imagination), and your best friend, also a 17 year old girl (or boy, if...), had a stepbrother who ran away from home when he was 17 or 18, over five years ago, never to be seen or heard from again. Your best friend is a popular girl, who has many friends, and is friends with friends of those friends, ect. Everybody who knows her seems to like her, for the same reasons as you are her friend. Your friend, lets call her Cara, has a purely plutonic male friend named John, who is in his early 20's. One of John's friends is a man who Cara does not speak to although she has encountered him several times while in the company of John. Likewise, that man, Nick, shows animosity toward Cara when he sees her, and acts so far as to be annoyed by the sight of her, even being outright rude to her. His reasons? No one knows, not even John. And Cara, although your best friend, obviously has secrets she does not wish to disclose. But, one day she opens up and reveals to you that that man, that rude friend of John's, is her brother. Her mom and stepfather do not know where he lives or even that he has remained in the same county, and only you and John know that he is her runaway (step)brother. You do not understand why Cara has never revealed his location to her mom and stepfather, but you wonder if it has something to do with the dislike expressed between them. Yet you also remember that she told you that they were extremely close as children and that she missed him. Perhaps you wonder if that is the reason why she has spent time with John even when she knew that it would mean crossing paths with Nick.

But there is something that has bothered you. Cara has always been a moral, honest girl, but you ask yourself if by not telling her stepfather that Nick was safe and close by, even though Cara had never been asked by said stepfather, was her omittance of the truth a lie? Would you percieve her silence to be not only a lie but an immoral deception and deprivation of Nick's father's wish to be reunited with his son? Would you have a hard time going to her house, having recently seen Nick yourself, and not saying something to her stepfather? Would your conscious so nag at you that you would have to tell her stepfather, even though she has her (undisclosed) reasons for not doing so herself? Or would you mind your own business instead and tell yourself that if Nick wanted him to know where he was, he would have called him himself? If you were determined by morals that Nick's father had a right to know where Nick was, even though both Nick and Cara had their private reasons for not wanting him to know, would you openly contact him, knowing that it would destroy your friendship with Cara completely, or send an anonomous message to the stepfather and not tell Cara that it had come from you?

Now take the above scenarios and imagine that you are new to the area and have recently become friends with Cara (and the other girl mentioned above). You have met John, and eventually encountered Nick, and then found out that Nick was Cara's runaway brother, same as above. You envy Cara's life (her family has money) and popularity, and love her warmth and personality, and being new to the school you are thrilled to have made a friend in Cara. But the knowledge of Nick's secret bothers you, as does his rudeness and apparent dislike of the girl he once shared a home with, whom you and so many others love. Do you think you would have no trouble minding your own business, or would you morally feel that someone should tell Cara's stepfather about Nick?

I talk a bit more about the story in this post:

The above people and situations are part of one of my novels, a pure work of fiction. I would like to know how other people might react in that situation, not for the sake of laying out the storyline for it has been fleshed out already, but for the sake of wondering how people other than fictional characters created by me would react. And no, it isn't anything like Dawson's Creek (retch) about teen angst or some stuff like that. It involves Cara's life from the age of 17 to 28, but the story is really about John and his relationship with her and the tragedies he goes through in his life.

Opinions please?

[philippio]

I consider myself to be have strong principles but in a situation like this, I think I'd stay out of it even if Cara had become my friend and I knew that Nick was her runaway step brother.

[SlickSlider]

I consider myself to be have strong principles but in a situation like this, I think I'd stay out of it even if Cara had become my friend and I knew that Nick was her runaway step brother.

I think that would be the reaction of myself too. But I would try to get Cara to open up to me and share what her secret is, if she felt comfortable enough about talking about it. From what I wrote above, however, obviously she isn't, though that changes during the course of the story.

[SlickSlider]

[disk-ofreak]

first i was gonna say, don't get involved, then i was like wtf, days of our lives..

now i see, the only reason i could see her step brother running away is becasue hes gay, hes comes from a very moral back round rihgt? religously moral? even though his step sister loves him and could understand, her family doesn't approve...(but they don't know, cara does)it seems to be the only logical thing that fits?dunno, but john, or who ever it was that it was supposed to be shouldn't get involved, invovled in the respect of telling caras parents...

[SlickSlider]

first i was gonna say, don't get involved, then i was like wtf, days of our lives..

now i see, the only reason i could see her step brother running away is becasue hes gay, hes comes from a very moral back round rihgt? religously moral? even though his step sister loves him and could understand, her family doesn't approve...(but they don't know, cara does)it seems to be the only logical thing that fits?dunno, but john, or who ever it was that it was supposed to be shouldn't get involved, invovled in the respect of telling caras parents...

John is 22 at the start of the book, Nick is 23. John and Nick were both runaways and met on the streets with mutual dreams, and they've been trying to make something of their lives in the five years since. John would never tell Nick's father/Cara's stepfather anything.

But no, Nick is not gay. John's girlfriend is, but that is neither here nor there. People envy Carrie's (Cara) life for where she lives, her home, the cars her stepfather drives, the clothes she wears, and for her constant cheer and outgoing nature. But no one sees what goes on behind the closed doors of that home on the Intracoastal, or the bruises she cleverly hides under makeup. She can be your best friend and have her arm around you to cheer you up and make you feel better, and you won't know the pain she faces all too often.

[klubchat]

Having been burned by trying to intervene, I would stay out of it, but let the friend know I'm there if she needs to open up. SO please tell me you don't really have a friend who has to cover up bruises with makeup. Please tell me that is fiction!

I've been working a story right now about a memorable period of time in my life. Truth is most certainly stranger than fiction.

GOOD LUCK!

[SlickSlider]

Having been burned by trying to intervene, I would stay out of it, but let the friend know I'm there if she needs to open up. SO please tell me you don't really have a friend who has to cover up bruises with makeup. Please tell me that is fiction!

I've been working a story right now about a memorable period of time in my life. Truth is most certainly stranger than fiction.

GOOD LUCK!

Of course it is fiction as far as the inspiration for that element in my story, but I have known people in that situation with abusive boyfriends and husbands. I've had 3 female employees in the last 6 years who have been beaten by boyfriend/husband and came to work upset with bruises on their body. I pushed them in 2 cases to photograph the bruises and go to the police immediately, and in the 3rd case she was already going. However, those instances came after I wrote my book, and it seemed that life was immitating art around me.

[disk-ofreak]

I think that would be the reaction of myself too. But I would try to get Cara to open up to me and share what her secret is, if she felt comfortable enough about talking about it. From what I wrote above, however, obviously she isn't, though that changes during the course of the story.

AAAHH! i got it, somehow get cara to sleep with you, if you start having an affair, she trust you with her inner most secrets, or actually it could be more like you start seeing each other, you get to know the parents really well, which makes it harder for you to keep the secret!!..maybe?

[disk-ofreak]

John is 22 at the start of the book, Nick is 23. John and Nick were both runaways and met on the streets with mutual dreams, and they've been trying to make something of their lives in the five years since. John would never tell Nick's father/Cara's stepfather anything.

But no, Nick is not gay. John's girlfriend is, but that is neither here nor there. People envy Carrie's (Cara) life for where she lives, her home, the cars her stepfather drives, the clothes she wears, and for her constant cheer and outgoing nature. But no one sees what goes on behind the closed doors of that home on the Intracoastal, or the bruises she cleverly hides under makeup. She can be your best friend and have her arm around you to cheer you up and make you feel better, and you won't know the pain she faces all too often.

[SlickSlider]

AAAHH! i got it, somehow get cara to sleep with you, if you start having an affair, she trust you with her inner most secrets, or actually it could be more like you start seeing each other, you get to know the parents really well, which makes it harder for you to keep the secret!!..maybe?

Whaaaat? It's a story, LOL! Although I have to admit if Cara was a real woman that I met I could easily fall in love with her. I already know everything about her and her deepest thoughts and...well of course I do, I wrote the character.

But truthfully, as far as the story goes were it real, I would do as a friend exactly what Cara tries to do in the story. Although Nick reacts to her with coldness and bitterness, she tries to get close to him especially through her friendship with John (Nick's close friend), and persuade him to call his father. She wants 2 things: she wants the burden of guilt off her shoulders (but she believes that if her stepfather found out that she has known where his son was all that time, that he would beat the hell out of her. Which he does find out, and does do.)

And 2, she wants to be close to Nick again, like they were when they were children. Her stepfather treats her with coldness and animosity and she hates him. Nick treats her with coldness and tries to remain distant, but she loves him immensely and never forgot how he protected her from his father when they were kids.

[philippio]

I wanna see a photo of this Cara chick! Have you got one?

[SlickSlider]

If only she were real.

She is 5'3, 105-108, long dark hair, olive skin, half Cuban, half French, Miami born, Fort Lauderdale raised. She loves hip hop and all forms of dance music but also digs some hard rock. She's very sweet, gentle, and very loving.

[philippio]

If only she were real.

She is 5'3, 105-108, long dark hair, olive skin, half Cuban, half French, Miami born, Fort Lauderdale raised. She loves hip hop and all forms of dance music but also digs some hard rock. She's very sweet, gentle, and very loving.

Are her tits real?

[SlickSlider]

OMG, too funny.

[disk-ofreak]

If only she were real.

She is 5'3, 105-108, long dark hair, olive skin, half Cuban, half French, Miami born, Fort Lauderdale raised. She loves hip hop and all forms of dance music but also digs some hard rock. She's very sweet, gentle, and very loving.

shed be cooler if she listen to techno

get rid of the hip-hop

give her a nose ring (septum) and a huge dragon tattoo on her back...

yaaaaa

[philippio]

shed be cooler if she listen to techno

get rid of the hip-hop

give her a nose ring (septum) and a huge dragon tattoo on her back...

yaaaaa

Are you trying to make her look like you?

[disk-ofreak]

i don't have a dragon tattoo on my back.. and i love prog house over techno anyday!! im just saying shed be cooler...

[philippio]

And a clown hat... somebody should get her a clown hat!

[SlickSlider]

A clown hat? Oh please. You have a strange fetish my friend.

[philippio]

A clown hat? Oh please. You have a strange fetish my friend.

Fine. Then how about pilot goggles?

[SlickSlider]

Fine. Then how about pilot goggles?

WWI style goggles, with a long scarf? Now you're talking. When she's dancing I can see her looking sexy in aviator goggles and scarf.

[philippio]

WWI style goggles, with a long scarf? Now you're talking. When she's dancing I can see her looking sexy in aviator goggles and scarf.

No scarf!

[SlickSlider]

Check this out, boyos. This is the "finished" version of the book, chapter 1, but this chapter is being rewritten entirely in a new way. As it is, it is thick and too detailed at the start, and in the new draft of the book that I'm doing, in which I'm reeditting the first 20 chapters and introducing the charactes in different ways and at different times in the story:

[philippio]

I think you should give John an STD just to make things more interesting...