InsaneJournal

Alpha was born Carl William Craft in El Paso, Texas. He was raised by his mother, and the true parentage of his father forever remained unknown. His mother told tales of being seduced by a Vietnam war veteran named Jack Worthy, but this was generally disbelieved. Her extended family expressed a great deal of suspicion that Carl’s violent grandfather was also his father. The point became moot, as his grandfather and possible father died shortly before he was born. His mother, uncle and aunt raised him, with his uncle being a father figure. He was often very involved with Uncle Craft’s hobby of taxidermy, gaining a morbid fascination for knives. Through theft, he amassed his own collection of knives, and soon began killing neighbourhood animals. He amassed a large graveyard of animals, and continued well into his late teens. However, he began to hunger for larger prey.

In his early twenties, Carl kidnapped a young woman named Nita Walsh. He kept her for days, slashing up her face before being caught. He didn’t get a chance to kill her, but all evidence (the premeditation, the ‘murder kit’ found in his car) pointed to a budding serial killer. While in prison, his mother, uncle and aunt died in a house fire, leading to increased stress on Carl’s part. His attorney eventually managed to get him moved to a mental facility, and it was here that Alpha was born.

Put on sedatives, he became calm and collected most of the time. The real Carl boiled under the surface, and unable to enact his savage tendencies, he created a fantasy world to play in. The characters in this world were all based on people he knew in the facility, such as Steven Kepler and Bobby. He began to study them like animals, and grew increasingly delusional. He referred to the other patients as, ‘empty dolls’ due to the effects of numerous medications, and called the facility, ‘the dollhouse’.

‘Bobby’ and other personalities that he imagined began to speak to him, eventually convincing him to throw up his sedatives. He became enamoured with a fellow patient named Caroline Farrell. It was this infatuation that led to him attacking another patient who had insulted Farrell unintentionally. He slashed said person’s face brutally, and was dragged away to be sedated. He blinded the orderly trying to subdue him, murdered a doctor, and tried to escape before being stopped by a brave security guard who tackled him off the second floor. The guard was paralysed, and all the screaming voices in Carl’s head interwove to become Alpha.

It was concluded that Alpha’s problems were too vast to be treated by the current facility (especially with the staff members’ hatred towards him). And so, he was sent to Cheshire Crossing.

Alpha doesn’t just have a split personality, despite his claim to having 48 personalities (one of whom is a split personality). He can be best described as a knitted blanket, with many different threads combining together to create the, ‘Alpha’ persona. He maintains control most of the time, and can choose which personality is dominant (although certain, ‘smaller’ personalities occasionally ‘die off’ when not fed) and in times of extreme stress, those threads disentangle and fray before he can hastily jumble them back together into a bizarre ‘hive mind’ that forms the creature known as Alpha.

One of these personalities is, ‘Bobby’, a cunning masochistic criminal with a penchant for torture. Another is Steven Kepler, the designer of the ‘Dollhouse’, who Alpha imitates perfectly. Kepler is nervous, environmental and agoraphobic. Most of the time, he is aggressive, brutal, unstable, and so unpredictable that even he can only take a gamble on what he’ll do next.

He considers himself an, ‘evolved mind’, a new stage of human evolution that gives him license to do whatever he wants.

The Whiskey – The Whiskey is someone who Alpha barely considers, taunting her at every opportunity due to their history together. He is irritated and disturbed by her childlike innocence, possibly due to his own repressed self-loathing.

The Claire Saunders – The Claire Saunders is someone who Alpha considers to be utterly false, and despises her for it. To Alpha, everything about her is a lie that needs exposed, the epitome of everything Alpha is against. (Taken by Brandy Wyatt)

The Echo – Alpha is obsessed with The Echo. He loves her intensely, at least in the way that he understands love. He lusts deeply for her too, and considers her and himself to be two of a kind. He can manipulate her perfectly most of the time, but she might just surprise him. (F)

The Boyd Langton – The Boyd Langton is the first and last line of defence for Echo against Alpha. He is an obstacle in the way, and nothing more. Alpha will be merciless towards The Boyd Langton. (M/F)

The Adelle DeWitt – Alpha’s intellectual equal, who has trouble with his unpredictability but copes better than most. For most of the time, she is in control of Alpha….at least as far as anyone can control Alpha. (Taken by Dr Roseanne Queen)

The Paul Ballard – Alpha sees The Paul Ballard as a blunt tool to be manipulated and used for his own ends….and possibly a competitor for The Echo’s affection. (M/F)