Name: Mercy Faye Swann
Origin: Marchwood, Pennsylvania
Age: 15
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Activities: Cheerleading (quit), Ballet (quit), Piano (lame), Reading
Quote: "Ugh. I can't believe how I used to find this interesting."

Relationships: Rev. G. Buckley Swann (Father), Bethany Swann (Mother), Prudence Swann (younger sister), Eva Taylor (friend), Christiane Thomas (tormentor), Merry Hess (adult friend/mentor)

Description: Through most of her childhood, Mercy looked as if she were competing for the title of "Little Miss Marchwood." Her mother made sure she was always dressed as femininely as possible, with her hair done up in ringlets in a style that has not really been popular for over sixty years.  Such care about outward appearances led Mercy to avoid most of the ungainly awkwardness of adolescence. At the time, she saw it as a sign of her own moral and social superiority.  Now, she regards her past look as a facade of conformity to values which she does not, in her heart of hearts, share.

These days, Mercy is letting her hair grow long and straight.  She has even experimented with colors calculated to annoy her parents, and currently the tips of her long hair are dyed shocking blue.  Her body is hovering at present between adolescence and adulthood, and her pretty face would probably earn her the attention of many of the more popular boys, except for her recent reputation as the school basket case.

Personality: Mercy likes to think that her personal crisis has allowed her true personality to come out, but the fact is that much of her "tough girl rebel" self is a show she puts on for parents, teachers, and the popular kids.  When she is relaxed around people she trusts, she is affable and kind. The sense of humor she suppresses during the day can bubble to the surface.  Part of her misses the security of knowing absolute truths, but when she thinks about going back, she finds that the old ways seem fake and artificial to her.  She values honesty and tries to be as honest as possible to the people she meets, and she lives in fear of betrayal by those in whom she invests her trust.

History: Mercy Swann is the daughter of the local Pentecostal minister.  She grew up as a true believer, utterly respecting the authority of her father and the Bible. She was as clean-cut as they come, being something of a teacher's pet.  Pretty and sociable, she was the girl that boys aspired to and girls envied.

Then, in her last semester of middle school, her world came crashing down around her.  Details known to school are sketchy, but there were rumors that she had been having violent fights with her parents and that she had stopped doing work in school.  Some even said that she was a lesbian, or a witch.  She distanced herself from her school friends. Then, about three weeks before the end of the school year, she vanished with no explanation. Her parents said she withdrew for medical reasons, but they offered no explanation beyond that. She returned to her parents' home in the middle of  summer, but she shunned all contact with her peers.

Now, in a new school, Mercy is a much different person. She has a rough truce with her parents, but she rebels in every way she can: her music, her clothes, her friends.  She even took up smoking.

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