Burning Heart Alice!

Until her brother's disappearance, Alice spent much of her time outside school at home, either watching her brother or cooking. As her brother has gotten older and a bit more able to take care of himself (8, 9, 10-year-old range or something like that) she's started spending nights and weekends away from home whenever possible, to avoid any possible run-in with her father, while her brother spent time with his own friends. She's been folded into a group of upperclassmen and young adults, stoners and macho men and prima-donas, who she uses as social cover; it's not that sad to be out alone late at night when you're with "friends." She views them with growing disgust, the fire inside her wanting to lash out at each of them.

Alice is a good cook, maybe even an excellent one for someone her age, mostly out of necessity. It's one of the few aspects of herself she's proud of, outside of her growing musical knowledge and ability.

Her father works upwards of seventy hours a week. When he's not working or sleeping, he's usually drunk, as he has been since Alice's mother died roughly three years ago. They live in an apartment, as they have since a few months after her mother's death. Her father couldn't stand memories of his wife in that house, and he still can't deal with the memories from his own head. He makes more than enough money to give his two children everything they could reasonably want--except a loving, caring father.