Novel Title: Too Late
Time Setting: 2020
Genre: Life
Minimum Word Goal: 90,000
Timespan: September–November
Location: Islington, London, England
Main Characters: Callan Reid, Amarina Todd
Background Information:
Born the only child of an artist and his waitress wife from Keith, Scotland, Callan was something of a miracle child, as his parents had suffered several failed pregnancies before his birth; thus he was particularly beloved by his father — who was the one who had wanted children more.
Desperate for riches her husband couldn’t provide, Callan’s mum was able to get him into some advertising as a baby and a toddler, which led to severe arguments between his parents, as his mum wanted the money for herself, while his father wanted the money entered into a trust for Callan when he got older.
When Callan got a bit older his father introduced him to football*, which Callan quickly took an interest in, leading to his being enrolled in competitive play, in which he distinguished himself rather quickly.
Although initially displeased by his interest and enrolment into football, when his mum found out that professional footballers could make millions, she decided that she needed to ensure that her son got the biggest share of it he possibly could.
Thus she did extensive research to see where the best programme for developing professional footballers was located, and learned that Arsenal of the Premier League had one of the best development programmes in existence.
Promptly — and without notifying her husband — she packed Callan up and moved him to Harrow, near to London, where Callan was enrolled in both academic school and football school.
When his education didn’t occupy his time Callan and his mum returned to Scotland, staying with his dad in Keith until he turned twelve; at that time his parents agreed to a divorce and thereafter Callan and his mum lived in Harrow year round, only venturing into Scotland when he was invited to participate in training and tournaments for the Scottish National Team.
Throughout his childhood and teenage years he continued to be a football standout and was lauded by everyone who worked with him or watched him as a future football star, however, at home things were a struggle.
Despite knowing little about football, Callan’s mum constantly criticised his performances, always finding some sort of a fault, no matter how lauded he was by even his coaches and teammates, and would often punish him by withholding food or other privileges for his failures in her eyes.
The abuse caused Callan severe anxiety to the point that he engaged in self harm and even made an attempt on his life that was thwarted by the quick action of the Arsenal Women, who found him at the Arsenal training facility in London Colney.
His coaches were listening, sympathetic, and helpful, getting him counselling and offering all kinds of support while his mum maintained her unsympathetic and abusive treatment of him until he decided to run away from home and move in with his coach in his mid teens.
For the remainder of his years as a minor Callan lived with the coach, even as he moved up to higher levels of the training programme and came under the tutelage of different coaches.
At the age of eighteen Callan made his début with Arsenal proper and became something of a sensation, remaining with Arsenal for the whole season, which finally granted his mum the riches she desired, although Callan was able to get enough of a share to get himself a flat in the converted East Stand of Arsenal’s old stadium of Highbury, as well as most anything else he really wanted.
He also reestablished his relationship with his dad, who’d been barred from seeing him or having custody of him following his parents’ divorce, and has made it a point to spend all the major holidays with his dad, as well as spending far more time in Scotland than he had while in his mum’s care.
Since achieving adulthood and a permanent place on Arsenal’s roster, Callan has settled into life as a footballer, although he’s not wholly comfortable with his stardom, as he fears rejection, should people find out about his emotional struggles in the past.
Born the youngest of three children to parents who both worked office jobs in London, Amarina was actually unexpected, as her parents had not been actively seeking a child, but had instead been grappling with a strain in their marriage that nearly pushed them to divorce.
Because of the impending child, however, they elected to give their marriage another try, although it did eventually collapse by the time Amarina was six years old; not knowing the cause of the breakdown, Amarina was distraught by it.
Her older sister, being resentful of Amarina’s existence as a fellow female, told Amarina that the divorce was her fault, claiming that their parents hadn’t wanted Amarina, which quite devastated her.
Following the divorce Amarina’s mum moved back to the borough of Islington, where she’d grown up; during the work week Amarina and her siblings were sent to stay with their maternal grandparents, who lived just a little ways down the street.
Also living in her grandparents’ home was a half uncle, whom her grandmother had given birth to by another man before she’d gotten married, and who was rather a deadbeat; he frightened Amarina and her siblings with his skulking about and constantly staring at them, and thus they avoided the basement wherein he dwelt.
When Amarina began school she quickly became ostracised because of her older sister’s having been there for some time before her; her sister still resented her and started picking on her, which her sister’s friends joined in, as did others who either wanted to be a part of the crowd her sister was in or just took some sadistic pleasure in picking on others.
No one had the boldness to come to Amarina’s defence, which left her alone and quite ostracised; thus, even as she got into her teens she would still spend time after school with her grandparents while her sister and brother hung out with friends.
She had befriended her elderly next-door neighbour, a retired baker and widower who kept at least a half-dozen cats and invited her over whenever she liked to share biscuits* with him and watch Arsenal, his favourite football team.
His fandom passed on to her and gave her a sense of belonging she’d never felt before, to the point that she got her dad to take her to an Arsenal game, although her fandom of Arsenal didn’t actually reduce the amount of bullying she suffered at school, as everyone thought it strange for a girly girl like her to be a fan of Arsenal like she was.
The bullying she suffered at school, however, became the least of her concerns when, at the age of twelve, she arrived at her grandparents’ house to find her grandparents weren’t home, leaving only her uncle.
Frightened by him and convinced he was going to harm her, which she suspected he’d done to her grandparents, Amarina threw her mobile at him and ran away to her home; she later learned her grandmum had fallen and hurt herself, necessitating a hospital visit, and her mum had tried to get a hold of her, but because her mobile had died and she’d left school too quickly she hadn’t known.
Not wanting to confess her fear of harm at the hands of her uncle — even though she knew no one really liked him — Amarina lied to her mum that she’d lost her mobile and got a new one, on which she started a new social media account, among other things.
Soon — and to her horror — she was contacted by her old social media account and discovered that her uncle had charged her mobile and gotten into it. Even if it was unable to function as a mobile, it was still capable of connecting to wifi and using all the other noncellular features, enabling him to contact her.
Amarina attempted to get him to discard her mobile by threats, but he wouldn’t unless she sent him very undesirable pictures, which she resisted doing for some time before finally she decided to capitulate so that he would leave her alone.
Unfortunately, her uncle didn’t stick to his word, but, instead, used the images she sent him to masquerade as her and solicit men, to whom he gave her new mobile number, leading to her getting unwelcome calls and texts from strange men seeking to romance her, which has made her life an unbearable existence.
Her only solace or escape is spending time with her neighbour and watching Arsenal — as even the job she got so as to make money for the purchase of Arsenal tickets and merchandise involves her being bullied by coworkers — or to engage in self harm, which she typically hides as much as possible.
As of late her favourite player on Arsenal has become Callan Reid, the Scottish phenom, and sometimes she lets herself dream that he’ll come swooping in like some knight in shining armour to spirit her away from all the abuses and torments she suffers for all time.
*these words are all being used according to their British definition.
