Flora Gonzalez

**Flora Gonzalez** was a citizen of Nettlebrook and is one of the teenagers that mysteriously disappeared from the town.

## History

### Family life

The Gonzalez family left Paraguay in 1996 or 1997, when Flora was only five years old, and moved to Nettlebrook. The true reason for why they left remains unknown, but according to Flora it had to do with her aunt and uncle. While her aunt continued to live with the family, her uncle was "out of the picture" since they arrived in the USA. Still not knowing why they left, and badly missing her old home, Flora vowed to return to Paraguay eventually.

Flora herself knows very little about her own ancestry and her father, but it can be assumed that he may be Peruvian, as Flora describes herself as "Peruvian/Paraguayan/American" on her Tumblr. Her mother's and aunt's parents were indigenous people of Paraguay who died when their daughters were at a young age. Maria Gonzalez gave birth to Flora at 18 years of age, having been left by the father. While Flora's mother and aunt were studying to be nurses in Asunción, she was taken care of by what she at the time believed to be her grandparents, though she later expressed doubt over whether she was really related to them. Her mother likely married another man after coming to the USA, as she is reported to be living with her husband. Either before or after the family's arrival, Flora's aunt gave birth to her daughter Carmen (Carma). The two girls grew close, and grew up more like sisters than cousins.

Growing up, Flora suffered from a controlling mother and a lack of privacy in their small home. To make up for her lost privacy, Flora kept some of her thoughts written down in a green journal with a combination lock, which she got as a birthday present from her aunt. She would keep this journal in an old chest in her and Carma's room, along with some other belongings that were precious to her, and would keep the key at her person at all times.

### Time at Bogwick Academy

Flora attended the Catholic elite school Bogwick Academy on a scholarship, due to her good grades. Her sophomore year started on September 4, 2007. As part of her scholarship, Flora had to work at the Nettlebrook Public Library.

Her passion for music inspired her to join the academy's choir (where she sang Soprano 2) and guitar class. Flora took voice lessons with Mr. Phillips, who was so impressed with her that he suggested she consider a career in music. It was at her guitar class that Flora also met her crush, James Graves, whom she would admire in secret, as she was too shy to talk to him.

While her grades were excellent, receiving As in all subjects, and an A+ in English, she initially had extreme difficulties finding friends at the academy. If she wasn't being ignored, she often felt that she was being regarded with suspicion or disdain by her peers. This changed when, after getting to know Christa Fuller at her party, she was invited to sit with the "popular girls" in the cafeteria, and would then regularly sit with them, having apparently been accepted into their group.

### Disappearance

In June 2009, Flora mysteriously disappeared shortly after being nominated Homecoming Queen.

As in many of the disappearances in the town, the case was closed despite technically still being an ongoing investigation. The circumstances of her disappearance are strikingly similar to the case of Zoey Bent.

While the Gonzalez family does not feel comfortable with publicly sharing information on Flora, a new investigation was launched into the disappearances by Hunter Holloway, Echo Rose as well as the team of Zipper Films, including Flora's cousin Carma.

## Personality

Flora was very shy and insecure about herself, and struggled with her social anxiety, especially in school. According to her blog, she would feel too self-conscious to speak at school, and "overanalyze everything". She reported that other girls would "look at [her] like dirt", and whisper about her in the locker room.

Despite this, Flora appeared to be very friendly and well-behaved, and described that because she would always follow rules, her "first night of teenage rebellion", in which she snuck out at night with her best friend, felt particularly exciting to her.

As a self-professed "literature nerd", Flora was a fan of poetry and novels, including the *Harry Potter* series. Her musical interests included bands like Green Day, Evanescence, Coldplay, Paramore, and in particular My Chemical Romance.

## Relationships

### Mother

Flora's mother seemed to be a very controlling presence in her daughter's life, who felt like she wouldn't trust her. She would not allow Flora to meet friends, contributing significantly to Flora's social isolation.

As Flora did not have a mobile phone, she had to use the home's landline instead. When she did so, her mother would reportedly listen in on her private conversations.

### Ana Brink

Ana was Flora's best friend, and for a very long time seemingly only friend. The two would often talk about various things, and even get up to mischief, as one night, they snuck into the bog at night and discovered an old abandoned house. For one Halloween, the girls even dressed up as characters from the *Harry Potter* series.

Ana seemed to have been accepted by the Gonzalez family, with one of the family's traditions being to celebrate holidays with the Brink family.

### Carmen Gonzales

The two youngest girls of the household grew up together like sisters. Flora took on the role of the big sister and took care of Carma, who would sometimes go through her older cousin's things, much to her dismay. Despite this and other "weird" behaviour, Flora has said that Carma was easy to take care of, being quiet and mostly keeping to herself.

Today, after Flora's disappearance, Carma seems to still be grieving the loss of her cousin, mentioning her only rarely. Some cards she wrote for the "ritual" in the video *Full Moon Party!* indicate that she wants to figure out what happened to her.

### James Graves

Flora often professed her crush on James on her Tumblr, but for a very long time also stated that she did not have the courage to approach him.

In late 2007, James approached Flora and invited her to a party hosted by Christa, even offering to drive her there himself. Flora gladly accepted, and considered herself extremely lucky for this chance. Later that evening however, James suddenly left for unclear reasons, leaving Flora at the party. Flora had mixed feelings about the event, until James offered to make it up to her the next school day.

They would go on to have their second date at a restaurant, where they talked a lot about common interests, as well as their personal problems. James revealed his struggles with anxiety, and Flora talked about her similar feelings at school. While they both opened up to each other, Flora would still try to hide her "emo side" from him. James also admitted that while he wanted to hang out with Flora anyway, his friends were the ones who pressured him into inviting her to the party.

They first met in Bogwick Academy's guitar class, but would also go to Bible Study together.

Flora and James would eventually start dating in late 2007.

### Christa Fuller

One of the popular girls at the school, Christa was never a part of Flora's life until the party in December 2007. Despite their different social statuses, Christa was immediately open and friendly to Flora, and tried to make her feel more comfortable after James left her at the party. Generously, she even offered to drive Flora home that night.

Following the party, Christa invited Flora to sit with her at the cafeteria table with the other popular girls, and continued to try integrating her into their clique. While Flora felt honoured by this, she also reported feeling pitied.

## Tumblr

*Main page:* Flora Gonzalez/Tumblr

Flora's Tumblr handle is floraflow.

She used the blog to share various interests of hers, including music and imagery related to the emo subculture, but also used it as her personal diary, with increasingly extensive posts about her life.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *unhappy birthday to meee* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/613608751104245760/unhappy-birthday-to-meee
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *My History: Mystery UNSOLVED* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/692877475320070144/my-history-mystery-unsolved
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Flora Gonzalez and Zoey update* on Hunter Holloway's blog; https://hunterhollowaynettlebrook.blogspot.com/2019/07/flora-gonzalez-and-zoey-update.html
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Post on Carmen Gonzalez's Instagram; https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/618874338619424788/630227657291989012/Screenshot\_20191005-221932\_Instagram.jpg
5. ↑ ~The\_Value\_of\_Privacy~ on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/688602184550612992/the-value-of-privacy
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 *shiz i ~H A T E~* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/190935720228/shiz-i-h-a-t-e
7. ↑ *AHHHHHHHH SCHOOL STARTS SEP 4th!!!!!!!* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/190722424328/ahhhhhhhh-school-starts-sep-4th-sophomore
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Untitled Post on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/688598109475012608/i-swear-they-make-the-scholarship-kids-work-5000x
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Is This A Dream??* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/688914960459448320/is-this-a-dream
10. ↑ *oh. my. god.* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/190900340083/oh-my-god
11. ↑ Untitled Post on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/190937195558/okay-so-im-feeling-a-little-better-abt-school-my
12. ↑ *hes the reason for the teardrops on my guitar…* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/190934779718/hes-the-reason-for-the-teardrops-on-my-guitar
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *I'm Not Okay* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/688600712224047104/im-not-okay
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 *I don’t care if monday’s blue* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/690002122319822848/i-dont-care-if-mondays-blue
15. ↑ *YAY FOR WINTER BREAK!* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/690002497529692160/yay-for-winter-break
16. ↑ *dr0nk makeup tutorial* on Echo Rose's YouTube channel; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fTwyDCT-bY
17. ↑ *Zoey Bent* on Hunter Holloway's blog; https://hunterhollowaynettlebrook.blogspot.com/2019/07/unsurprisingly-nettlebrook-hasnt.html
18. ↑ *College scandal and more updates* on Hunter Holloway's blog; https://hunterhollowaynettlebrook.blogspot.com/2019/08/college-scandal-and-more-updates.html
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 *Our First Second Date... Sorta* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/690245240967380992/our-first-second-date-sorta
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 *Untitled Post* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/190951972258/ok-soooooooooo-omg-i-mean-omg-so-last-night
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 *~~HALLOWEEN~~* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/688597337071927296/halloween-is-my-fav-holiday-ever-i-dressed-as
22. ↑ *MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/690244565133869056/merry-christmas
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 *…Often Go Awry* on **Flora Gonzalez**'s Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/689690452452130817/often-go-awry
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 *it’s 2008!!!* on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/690423337833381888/its-2008
25. ↑ the weirdness continuezzz on Flora Gonzalez's Tumblr; https://floraflow.tumblr.com/post/692051385874776064/the-weirdness-continuezzz