Character Introduction: Matt Hallow
Born August 28th, 1989 in Kensington, California as a simple human boy who loves music and has wanted nothing more in life than to make a career out of it. For the entirety of Matt’s life, his family consisted of his younger half-brother by five years, Nick, and his estranged mother who loved her career more than she loved him… or so it appeared. He never knew his father and was told that he was a deadbeat. Although Matt grew particularly close to his brother as they got older, he always felt distanced from Nick in a way that he couldn’t explain. As much as he loved his little brother, he felt he needed to get away from California and start a new life.
Growing up, his mother was always distant from him and focused on her career as a teacher at a prestigious private school that she never took him to and never spoke of. Instead, because he was a troublemaker in her eyes, Matt’s mother sent him off to a boarding school on the other side of the state where he was unable to be with any friends or family. Being alone at a school he didn’t want to be at, he had no choice but to excel in his academics, which got him into one of the top music colleges in the country.
Throughout his life, Matt had always openly questioned the legitimacy of the few stories his mother told him of their family, especially given the vagueness that would be paired with the stories. The more he questioned his mother, the more distant she became from him as he could tell she grew frustrated with him. As her stories regarding her children made less sense, Matt’s frustration with his mother grew as well, and eventually he decided her lack of communication and honesty wasn’t worth sticking around for.
Upon graduating high school, Matt moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music on a scholarship, eager to get away from his alienated life. As Matt began college, he met his now best friend, Sam Williams, through the city’s nightlife. He stumbled upon a bustling club one night filled with an odd assortment of characters ranging from goths, metal heads, emo kids, and even punks. The owner of the club, Sam, welcomed Matt with open arms and they connected instantaneously. Matt met all his friends through the club, and they all became very loyal and protective of him as he was the youngest in the group. He had never had a moment with them where he felt like he had to doubt his friends, they were his chosen family. When they first met, Sam seemed oddly familiar to Matt as if they had met a long time ago, but Sam always swore they had never met before. He told Matt that he’d owned the club for a few years now and he had barely spent any time in California long enough to settle any roots down.
When he thinks of Sam and his mother, Matt’s thoughts are filled with confusion as there is much Matt is unsure of regarding their places in his life. Although Sam has never given Matt a reason to not trust him, there has always been something oddly familiar about him that Matt could never place. He constantly feels certain that he has met Sam before. As much as Matt tries to ignore them, he feels gaps in his memory that should not be there, gaps that he constantly questions and only come into question when he’s around his mother and Sam. As soon as he is no longer within range of either of them, he no longer remembers the memory gaps.
