Kiera Hart

## History

### Early Life

Kiera was born September 10, 1796 and is the second of 10 children born to the Hart family.

From a young age she loved horses and spent a lot of time down at the stables on their families land, caring for the creatures and learning to ride.

Kiera was considered to be a sickly child, as she took ill quite often after taking a trip into town with her parents, or attending a church service. It would start off as a cold sweat, then she would seemingly become paler and weaker as the day went on until the point she was in bed with little to no energy and lack of interest in the things around her, and a loss of appetite it would last for three or four days sometimes longer then she would be back on her feet.

Her parents requested the doctor to visit the home often to see her when this happened.

The first time was when she was 4 the first time it happened, her father was frightened she had caught Scarlet Fever or some other sickness and had immediately set out for the doctor. Upon examination the doctor insisted she had no fever, and he had no explanation for ailment, suggesting rest and to keep a close eye on her and to alert him if her condition worsens.

The ailment continued periodically throughout the next 7 years. The Dr. diagnosed her as suffering with melancholia, or what had been recently coined as depression.

In the winter of 1809 when Kiera was 13 she didn't attend a church service with her family due to being ill, and instead stayed home with her mother to rest. The priest spoke to her father after the sermon, commenting on the absence of Mrs. Hart, and Kiera. Her father explained Kiera's ailment to the priest who in return requested to see the child himself. Explaining that depression was caused by an internal conflict, and he along with many other health professionals and holy men believed the internal conflict was one of two things, possession, or a person's conscious feeling guilty over unacceptable impulses or sinful deeds.

Mr. Hart insisted that Kiera hadn't acted in any sinful ways, but agreed to let the priest come and see the child.

That evening after the service the priest came to the home, and asked to speak with Kiera alone.

He felt the child's head for any signs of a fever, and took notice of the distant seemingly disinterested look in the child's eyes.

He asked her if there was anything she wished to confess.

She shook her head no.

He asked her to tell him what was wrong with her.

She told him she didn't feel good, and that she felt worse now.

He asked her if she knew what was causing her to feel bad, and she nodded her head.

"Mr. Steinburg passed away… And you… You're going to die too. I only get sick when someone is dead or dying."

"We're all going to die someday my child"

"But you're going to die soon."

She had spoken in such a calm and sweet manner, and the unfocused far away haze in her eyes that it sent chills down the priest's spine. He began to talk to her more, and she explained that she didn't know how she knew, besides she always got sick and the person she saw when she began to feel that way would later die usually within the year.

The Priest became convinced that she was indeed possessed by a demon and left the room to speak with her parents. He returned to the home the next night with one of the sisters of the church, and a younger priest from a neighboring town.

Mrs. Hart left the home with her other children that night as she couldn't bear to listen to the screaming and shouts that came from the child's room. She told the rest of the children that Kiera was ill and they were helping her to feel better.

The Dr. came by that night after the clergy had left, having been called in to treat the child who was now exhausted and bruised. She had never seen the old Dr. angry, but he had harsh words to say to Mr. Hart for allowing such treatment to happen, and explained that depression wasn't a demon, nor was the ideology that her sickness coincided with the death of another.

Kiera had promised the Dr. and her father she wouldn't get sick anymore after that. The Dr. treated her and stated fresh air and limited time around big crowds was probably the best, and suggested she be tutored at home.

From there on out Kiera was tutored at home and visited town only on rare occasions when she went shopping with her mother or sisters, and then church services on Sunday, and the rare party or dance at another's house. She didn't mind however as it gave her plenty more time to spend at the stables.

She wasn't true to her word as she still fell ill often, she just found ways to cope with it forcing herself to stay active and busy when she would feel herself start to get down. And within a few years it became a rarity for her to be bed ridden. Her mother believed the Drs suggestion had done the trick, her father believed the priest had cured her of her afflictions.

She visited the doctor often as he found it good for her to speak about things, and often reassured her that the deaths that happened were coincidences, and advised her to not speak of such things apart from with him as he feared she would be admitted to an institution otherwise.

The priest died the following year, as did one of her younger sisters - Elizabeth

In the summer of 1818 while on vacation in England with her family, Kiera spent most of the time riding horses with her youngest sister Ella. As she came increasingly ill the more time she spent with her family. The only one she didn't feel sick around was Shilo. And often made trips into a nearby town to visit with Dr. Marxs, a friend of the Dr back home to continue her sessions.

Compared to the Dr back home this one was different. His eyes were the oddest color and his skin was pale and he was often cold to the touch. But he was kind and she enjoyed talking to him. He himself had taken an interest in her particular case. He himself had his own peculiar condition- a rare skin disease that kept him from being able to be out in the sun.

Near the end of the Summer Kiera understood why, Shilo had set the mansion on fire, and then proceeded to kill her siblings. Kiera can't remember much of that night. She remembers the fear, and the pain, and the crackling of the fire and the screams of her sisters and brother. And she vaguely remembers the knife that was stabbed repeatedly into her abdomen and falling from the balcony of the second floor. But nothing else.

After that all she remembers is pain that lasted for what seemed like days before it slowly began to fade only to be intensified as it felt like her whole body caught on fire.

She awoke days later in Dr. Marxs home, still wearing the same bloodied clothes she had been in the night the house burnt. He explained to her what had happened, and what she had become before taking her out to hunt, curing the agonizing burn in the back of her throat.

She stayed in his company, posing as his daughter for many years before going her own in way the late 1900's