🕯 About

If a weary traveler came across his house, Micah would gladly give the traveler his last loaf of bread and his blankets, and would be perfectly content shivering on the floor with an empty stomach. He ties his self worth to how helpful he is to others. Martyr complex + anxious need to people-please + slight masochism = kind of a mess but he's doing his best.
In his opinion, there is nothing more unpleasant than coming across as a greedy or self-centered person. It's very embarrassing for him to admit to any wants or desires, even such base needs as water, shelter, etc. The leaves that reach out the furthest (the greedy!) are the most likely to be chewed by worms (the devil!).

🕯 Likes/Dislikes

+ singing, reading, libraries, small spaces, candles, old places, tall men
- selfishness, ingratitude, total darkness, deep water, big families (due to jealousy)

🕯 History

A wealthy merchant's affair resulted in a baby boy named Micah, left on the steps of a cathedral in a small wintery town in the north of France. He was raised in the church and believed wholeheartedly in all the teachings there. Though he was on friendly terms with others his age at the cathedral, he had no close friends. Though his peers knew he was simply an abandoned child, his religious zealotry made them feel as if they weren't good enough, like his pure and unyielding belief would allow him to see and expose whatever darkness they had in their hearts. Due to not having any close relationships, he sought out praise and affection from helping others.

Since he had no family to go home to during holidays, he spent his free time doing whatever was needed in the cathedral or around town. However, this desire to help others no matter what it cost him meant he was often taken advantage of. Once other boys in the dining hall saw Micah give his soup to a brother who was punished to skip dinner, anyone who wanted an extra helping could just ask Micah for his. Even if he knew he was being used, it fueled his martyr complex and he would bear it with a serene smile all the same. Though he would never admit it, it gave him a sense of satisfaction to be so generous to those that he knew sought to exploit him.

When he became a teenager, new desires and thoughts began to appear in his head. Shaken by dreams in which he touched the skin of other men in varying states of undress, he began sneaking out at night to read texts and scriptures to clear his head. And so he picked up a love of reading as a respite from stress, as a time just for himself where he didn't have to do anything for anyone. One moonless night, as he walked through the cathedral grounds to the library, he noticed a girl in the graveyard alone. He went to speak to her, meaning to warn her of the dangers of being out at such an hour, and found himself falling into a comfortable conversation with her going back and forth about their lives, until the night turned to dawn. This girl who called herself Angeline, who only appeared on dark nights in that particular spot in the graveyard, became Micah's best friend. Though he never knew when he'd see her next, he found his fear of the dark lifting ever so slightly on nights he was able to spend talking with her.

Some nights they would sit on a blanket just listening to leaves rustling and crickets chirping. But soon enough, rumors of a serial killer began circulating around town on a cold wind and Angeline wasn't standing in the graveyard for a few weeks, a few months, a year. Micah prayed for Angeline every night before he slept, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened to her.