QUINN MORALES. backstory

{ EARLY LIFE }

Quinn Ember Morales was born on January 3rd, 1982, in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. The second and youngest child of Nick Morales and Ember Morales neé Garcia and little sister of Milo Juan Morales. She is of Mexican, Cuban and American descent and speaks both English and Spanish. 

Her birth was complicated and her mother had to be brought to the hospital for a C-section. Quinn survived, but her mother died on the operation table. Her father was unable to cope with his grief. Nick Morales turned to alcohol to drown his sorrow, which got him fired from his job as an ambulance driver. He blamed his daughter for her mother's death and thus abused and neglected her. It was for that very reason that Quinn was moved out of her house. At five years old, Quinn was left in the care of her uncle Javier Morales and her aunt Miranda Morales.

Growing up, Quinn was a quiet kid, deeply feeling the absence of her mother. She didn't have many friends and instead kept mostly to herself at school. She loved learning and was considered a very intelligent child by her teachers. The person Quinn did have a friendship with, was her 8 year older brother Milo. He regularly came to visit his little sister and the two formed a close connection.

At four years old Quinn found her mother's old ballet shoes in a box in the attic. From that moment on she knew she wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up. She told this to Milo who, because her father refused to pay for her lessons, took on a job beside his school work to pay for her lessons instead.

When Quinn was thirteen years old her aunt got pregnant with her first child. But the pregnancy was complicated, forcing Miranda to quit her job. Uncle Javier tried to work as hard as he could but times were hard. They didn't have enough money to care for both Quinn and their own child. Milo, being twenty-one years old at the time, had managed to buy a little apartment of his own. He took his little sister in and cared for her. To pay for both his own classes and his sister's ballet lessons Milo joined the local street gang. Though he never told Quinn about this. Despite being placed out of their house, Quinn often visited her aunt and uncle and grew to love her little nephew Louis and niece Eliza.

{ DOWN THE DEEP END }

Quinn managed to finish high school, though her grades were significantly worse than they could have been. This was because the stress of her dancing lessons and the situation at home were a great weight on her shoulders. Quinn grew distant, quickly irritated and depressed. To keep her energy up to be able to keep dancing. Quinn started to use stimulants. She quickly grew addicted but without the drugs she wouldn't be able to dance either, and so a downwards spiral began.

Finally, at the age of twenty-two, her drug abuse started to affect her condition to such an extent that she was forced to quit dancing. After losing the one thing that had given her life any meaning, Quinn spent most of her days getting high, going to parties and wasting away. It was Milo who provided most of her money from his position in the street gang. He was forced to drop out of college to keep making enough money, but he never wanted to place this guilt on his sister's shoulders and so he never told her.

But it was inevitable that Quinn would eventually find out about her brother's activities. One evening, when watching the news, a photo of Milo and his crew was shown with the question if anyone could provide information about their whereabouts. The guilt for destroying his career path and any chance at a normal life he might have had almost broke her. And though the two still cared deeply for each other, their relationship became very strained for a time. But that wasn't the only consequence. When finding out about Milo's job, their aunt and uncle cut all ties for the safety of their children.

{ THE TURN AROUND }

At age twenty-seven Quinn had become a favorite of the local drug boss Marcus, also called the Magician. But like any addict, she had abused her position and used too much drugs without any means of paying Marcus back. And so he wished to speak with her, meeting in an abandoned parking lot. Here he offered her a way out, though Quinn knew that way would most likely lead to a jail cell. Marcus' way to get rid of people he no longer trusted was to send them on risky runs, which usually ended with the police capturing them.

By chance, that same night Milo's crew got a tip for Marcus' location. They had been wanting to catch the boss for a while and set out to do so. When they arrived at the scene Milo realised his sister was caught in the crossfire. After a short struggle, Milo managed to kill the drug lord and thus freed his sister.

But the police had caught word of the fight and so Milo was forced to flee. After a long chase the police managed to get the car off the road but a fire fight followed in which officer Rick Grimes was shot and hospitalized and Milo's boyfriend Aiden Stevens was killed. Milo was the only survivor of his group and was taken into custody.

The capture of her brother was enough for Quinn to turn her life around. She entered a rehabilitation program. She managed to succeed and for the first time in 10 years Quinn was clean. She managed to get a job at the local theater, watching the ballerinas dance away on stage with an ache in her chest. She visited her brother as often as she could. Until he was moved to another prison too far away for her to visit often. And so they kept contact through calling.

Her life was finally looking a little brighter. Then the world ended...

the lakes. quinn morales