The Graves had a son.

A bouncing baby boy with golden blond hair and sky blue eyes. Technically, it was Jebediah's nephew. Otto was born to the Hardgrave family. However, Otto had been an unexpected bundle of joy. A bundle that Mr. Hardgrave was not willing to expend any more income on. After all, they already had one child. Two, as it stood, would not work. Or that's how the story goes, it seems.

Jeb and Bethany, who could not have children of their own, adopted the boy after many long discussions on the issue. Sadly, as they found out, raising a child was not the same as babysitting. The couple who had longed for their own baby soon found out that parenting was not cut out for them at all.

They led busy lives; running the family business, in addition to Jeb's resentment of the boy. What Jeb saw in Otto was a representation his own failure to bring a child into the world on his own, of his own flesh and blood. Rather than have a son who looked like himself, he had to use his hard earned time and money on a child that looked like the spitting image of his sister in law.

That bitter resentment never died. It only grew.

Often, Otto's care fell to his grandparents. And in them, Otto had the only semblance of a happy and loving family he'd ever have. His grandmother was patient and kind, smothering the boy with affection, and fed him well. His grandfather was a goofy man, who always had time to let Otto roughhouse or play; things he could never do at the Graves house. Otto came to be inseparable from his grandparents, and their dog.

When Otto was old enough for school, his mother began to home school him. Jeb would have preferred he be sent to a public school, but the closest one was too far away. Neither parent had the time to commute their son back and forth each day.

On Otto's eight birthday, his grandfather took him out to buy his present. Otto had taken an interest in music, and his grandfather wanted to encourage this. He did not choose a guitar. Nor a piano. Nor a flute.
He chose drums.

After Otto turned ten, his grandfather fell ill. A few months later, he was gone. His grandmother was beside herself, and soon sent to live in a home in the city near another relative. The dog Otto had loved was taken in by that very relative. In only a few short months, the only home in the world he'd felt welcome in was gone.

It was from then on, Otto felt like a prisoner, punished every day for simply existing. For simply breathing and inhabiting space in Jebediah's home. The fairly happy parts of his childhood that had allowed Otto to know love, kindness and play was gone. Otto was soft hearted and sensitive, and unable to cope with the constant abuse and negative atmosphere. A strict parent was one thing; two strict parents was another; what made it impossible was the complete lack of support, the irrational temper that flared for things Otto couldn't always help. Screaming and berating from his father for not having done something he'd never even been asked to do. The blank stares and dispassionate encouragement from his mother, who had no idea what to do with him.

He built a shell. It was thin at first, but grew layers over time. He needed to protect the bleeding and fragile heart he had. Shield it with anger. Shield it with thorns. Shield it with distrust and everything he could patch onto it. The memories of love and happiness were forgotten, left behind in the mess of patch jobs and cement casings.

He lived in a world now that was never on his side. All alone, with nowhere else to go.

When he was old enough for High School, Bethany insisted they try and make the commute to get him out of the house and meeting others his age. The nearest High School was at least closer than any Elementary or Junior High.

He lasted all of two and a half months. Shadows continued to lurk around corners and play games with his mind, and he found himself butting heads with peers more often than not. He'd never had to interact with kids his age aside from cousins, and it just wasn't the same.
Eventually, what got him expelled was a combination of an infuriating bully, an ill times shadow sighting, and Otto using a desk to deal with both of them at the same time.

The bully earned a bump to the head, and Otto earned the same when Jeb found out.

He'd met a girl before he was kicked out of school; Kim. They were similar. They loved the same music, and hated almost everyone in the world. Peers and parents alike. Without school lunch breaks to meet up. their courtship became difficult. Otto biked to her house, a three hour venture, as often as he could.

However, her parents wanted better for her. And Otto's parents were sick of him being out at all hours, neglecting his chores and the school work his mother assigned him.

Kim broke it off one night, and Otto took it hard. She'd been his only friend, and the only excuse to leave the house. He had nothing now. He had no one, once again.