Dear John Vergile,Out of all the characters I've created in the last 5 years, I think it's most important that I introduce you to the rest of the imaginary family.
There's Alexandra. She's the oldest of my little bunch. I wasn't expecting to write about her but she was at the age of 28 in 1998. She's a tough one. Alex has dealt with imprisonment in a mental institution and drugged for several years because of the knowledge she had of her boyfriend Noel's misdeeds. You don't want to cross her; she's killed two men out of self-defense.
There's Sally, too. I named her after myself because I wanted to feel ultimately close to a character. She went a bit postal after making too big a deal out of a one night stand. She actually withdrew all of the money out of her bank account to fund a European vacation, determined to find herself. You'd be proud of how she's made out since then, John. Sally now lives in England with Aden, a bass player she met in Leeds. They share a small home.
Dhani was created in 2000. He's a photographer who succumbed to the Y2K conspiracies. He met Cecelia in an online chat room and they both agreed to meet, move up into a bunker in northern Canada and come back out alive as the last remaining souls on earth. They met, he fell in love. But the world didn't end so their love did instead. He'd keep traveling back to Toronto, her hometown, thinking she'd just gone back from the bunker, but something always happens on the way there and it gets in the way of him completing the journey. He made it there one year but doesn't talk about it anymore. He's with Maggie now.
Around this time I wrote about Murray Odner. He was a clerk at the video store in his town when he fell in love with the sister of Jobey Stites.
I made Jobey in 2001. He was a closeted gay man with a talent for the art industry. Jobey lived with his gay roommate Sebastian for about five years before Sebby made a move on him. The next morning, Jobey left for Las Vegas for two months in order to figure himself out with the help of some prostitutes. Ask him about the first and last prostitute he ever tried to sleep with. Jobey and Sebastian include it as a part of their "How we met" story.
I waited a while before starting up with Jude Hawn in August of 2001. Like you, John, she's a singer and guitarist. In your world, you've probably heard her remake of "The Girl from Impanema." She fell in love with Hunter, her manager, a la Celine Dion. But, unfortunately, their romance fizzled and she was let go of her recording contract after dwindling sales and her one-hit wonder. Jude then went on the road with Luke and Brenton [who I loosely based on Jian (a former friend who you'll never meet)] in an effort to find another recording contract. They had no idea they were blacklisted if Jude remained with them. Regardless, she secretly slept with Luke for a long time as a means of numbing herself to the pain of losing Hunter. But when that wore off, she turned to Brenton for sexual comfort. To make a long story short, Hunter haunted her before his death in the end and she is now with Luke. I think. We never really clarified. I want you to meet her. A lot of things happened between when I shared her existence in December 2001 and when I was finally driven to create something new in August 2002.
John Vergile, you just had to show up. You came along and never before have I worked harder at making anything. Now you're here and I don't want to stop exploring who you are. And in a way, this works to your advantage because now you're no longer stuck in a perpetual drive home from Albany. You helped in getting me through my breakup with Nick. I've been very very proud of myself for creating you. I only wish I could meet someone like the person I've made you turn out to be. I've blown your mind with the situations I've thrown at you in the past year. I'm telling you now, sit back and enjoy the show. It's rocky now, but the road is about to get a lot smoother for you.
Love,
Sally
