Marigold Swinney

Marigold Swinney is an 11-year-old girl with straight blonde hair past her shoulders and bright blue eyes. Marigold is pale and thin, but she's a very beautiful young girl. Marigold goes to 6th grade, and she lives with her parents and her two older sisters Rebecca (16) and Annabelle (19). She has a very rough home life. Marigold came from an unplanned pregnancy and was never accepted as part of the family. Her sisters are cruel to her, and her parents are indifferent. Marigold is expected to do all of the chores around the house: Washing dishes, mopping floors, doing laundry, taking out the trash. Rebecca and Annabelle usually spend their free time lounging in the living room, eating snacks and watching TV. They'll berate Marigold for being lazy if she doesn't clean up after them fast enough. They're supposed to be doing chores too, but they just make Marigold do all of them and then take credit for it. Marigold's older sisters always put the blame on her for things they did themselves, and they'll take credit for anything she did. Rebecca and Annabelle often sabotage her when she's trying to do the chores that are expected of her. For example, they'll deliberately spill their soda on the floor so that she has to clean it up. Or they'll dump out the trash bin so she has to gather up all the trash. All of Marigold's clothes are worn out hand-me-downs. Her room is very sparse, she has no toys or decorations to speak of. Marigold has no privacy in her room, because her sisters will often barge inside without knocking (usually to do something mean to her). Rebecca and Annabelle's favorite pastime is a 'game' which they call "Make Marigold Cry". The game is exactly what the name implies. They'll be mean to her, bully her and play cruel jokes on her until she cries. What do Rebecca and Annabelle do to her? Some things they've done include calling her names, taking photos of her, giving her the silent treatment, cutting her hair, ripping up her homework, hitting her, spreading rumors about her, and much more (and worse) things. It's all a game to them, who can make Marigold cry? They'll claim that they're just doing it all as a joke and Marigold is just being a crybaby. And their parents usually buy it and tell Marigold to stop being a baby. Worse, Marigold can't even fight back or do anything in return. Because if her sisters torment her? It's all good fun, but if Marigold does anything? That's crossing a line and Marigold is in trouble. Mom and dad always come home late in the evening, and they never believe Marigold if she tells them what her sisters did. Marigold's parents are definitely in on it. They know how unfairly she's being treated, and they just go along with it because they don't really love Marigold. Her mom is much worse than her dad in this regard. She has always been cold to Marigold, and she has hugged her only on very rare occasions, and it always felt forced. Mom very obviously favours Rebecca and Annabelle over Marigold; Marigold is her least favorite child. Her mom didn't even want her, so she doesn't care about her much. Dad doesn't really participate in any of the abuse, but he doesn't do anything about it either. He just meekly lets it happen. Marigold's family always accuses her of being "selfish", "manipulative", "difficult", "dramatic", "narcissistic", etc. whenever she shows any kind of reaction to their abuse and neglect. No matter what her family does to her, they still convince themselves that they're the victim and she's the offender. Marigold is overwhelmed with feelings of sadness, anger, and frustration. She feels unloved, and she feels like she's constantly treated unfairly by her family. But her face is mostly expressionless since she's become used to hiding her true emotions from everyone around her. Despite resenting her family, she just wants to be loved and accepted by them. Marigold does whatever she can to please her parents. She does the chores, she gets good grades, she keeps her room clean. But she's never enough, and it doesn't matter what she does. Her family will never love her.