Isabelle Shepherd! (OC lore dump) 🩻

ISABELLE SHEPHERD LORE DUMP!! :D

Isabelle Shepherd is a fan character I made for an assignment in class. I was supposed to make a character that'd fit into the haunt we're making and create a moodboard that'd go along with them. I ended up making Isabelle and fell in love with her!

Warnings: Isabelle is a horror character I created, meaning her story may tackle some odd themes. This specific blog entry will mention things such as religion, religious psychosis, medical malpractice, mentions of gore, hearing voices, paranoia, and various other things that I may have forgotten to mention. Please do not read if any of this may trouble you. Also, I'm not trying to mock anyone for being religious! Being religious is perfectly fine, Isabelle's just a bit crazy.

Isabelle Shepherd, born on November 1st, 1959, was raised in an incredibly religious household. Her father, the head pastor of ______, and her mother, a self-proclaimed stay-at-home-mom, made it their mission to shape her into the perfect example of a god-fearing woman.

Isabelle was an incredibly shy and obedient child, loving and cheerful as any good child should be. Just like any other kid, she was incredibly curious and loved learning. In particular, she took a deep interest in reading and studying human anatomy, animal biology, and health related topics. Due to this, her family prepared themselves to have a little up-and-coming nurse in the family. In this day and age (1960s), women having jobs was something that could not be avoided sometimes, and the role of a nurse was “feminine enough” to satisfy the two parents. Isabelle went along with this, going through high school with the intention of going to medical school afterwards until she suddenly began to have second thoughts.

After being moved by a mortician's words at a local career fair, she suddenly decided that she'd love to become one. She wanted to have a hand in taking care of people after they pass, and helping families who were mourning the loss of their loved ones. Her parents were not pleased by this sudden shift, thinking the job was too unfeminine and disturbing. But, Isabelle's reasons for wanting to get into it made her parents not want to fully shut it down, so they tried to be as supportive as they could be, while still hoping she’d go back to wanting to be a nurse. Her parents, especially her father, believed that if they supported her through this, God would reward them by making Isabelle realize that her purpose in life was to be something more divine, like a teacher or wife.

Isabelle was stuck on being a mortician though, and made it her mission to become an incredibly skilled one so she could make her parents realize that she could be "good enough" as one. She graduated from a local mortuary school when she was twenty one years old, and with the help of some friends, secured herself a job as a mortician's assistant at the highly appraised _________ Memorial Hospital.

The place was incredibly popular at the time for their clever procedures, known for being quick to cure all of their patients. But, as soon as Isabelle entered, she realized the horrors hiding behind its pristine white walls. Electroshock therapy, lobotomies, risky surgeries, and acts that were purely meant for the workers sadistic pleasure, Isabelle realized that she had gotten herself tangled up in a horrible situation. She couldn’t just quit though! That would mean disappointing her parents and potentially putting a giant target on her head, even if she promised not to leak any damaging information about the hospital.

It all was too much, and Isabelle ended up having a full mental breakdown on her first day on the job. She hid herself in one of the employee restrooms, trying to ignore the heavy scent of blood that hung around as she hid and cried. She was spiraling, and she only managed to calm down after she realized that one of the voices in her head didn’t belong to her. The voices, melodic and holy, sung comforting words and praises into Isabelle's ears. They claimed to be angels, and told Isabelle that the hospital was actually purgatory, the workers being demons with the goal of tormenting the patients and keeping their souls trapped in the hospital forever. The only way to save their souls was to listen to what the angels said, even if their requests seemed odd or grotesque. They also promised that if Isabelle listened, she’d be able to prove herself worthy of going to heaven as well.

Isabelle was almost giddy after accepting the angel's truth, and hurried to follow their orders. No one even batted an eye at Isabelle as she worked, stealing bodies from the mortuary cabinets and doing whatever the angels beckoned her to do with them. She wanted to prove herself desperately, even when she was fully aware that the bodies she was working on were still breathing. The orders she was given changed often. Sometimes she'd bleed out bodies, hoping that their lifeblood being removed would help them escape. Other times she'd remove organs, burn them, pose them, etc. The tasks could go from mildly bizarre to insanely gruesome quickly, but she fully believed she was doing the right thing.

During this time, Isabelle fully isolated herself, no longer contacting family and friends outside of work, thinking that if she did, they'd be dragged to purgatory with her. Her descent into madness was also ignored by colleagues, who were used to seeing maniacs experimenting on and torturing innocents already. Isabelle's actions towards the bodies in the hospital were only stopped in 1984, when the boiler room exploded, killing hundreds of patients and workers including her. At that point, Isabelle had been working there for four years.

Little facts about her:

Despite pretending to hate it, Isabelle really likes rock music. Her parents hate it, but Isabelle can never get enough. When she was young, she used to ask God to help her suddenly gain a distaste towards rock, since she didn't like it being a guilty pleasure of hers. It obviously did not work.

Isabelle's favorite animals are sheeps and cats, she thinks they're adorable.

Isabelles parents are very strict, yet try to be loving. They want to maintain a good reputation, even if that means pretending to support every decision their child makes. They do try to nudge Isabelle towards the direction they want her heading though, by means such as getting sad if Isabelle does something unladylike or saying that if Isabelle does certain things, they won't be able to invite her to family dinner anymore. (Basically saying they won't give her emotional or financial support if she steps out of line.

She's never had a crush before, and thinks she'd hate having one.

Isabelle is a giant germaphobe

She gets paranoid easily. If she heard about the rapture that was "supposed to happen" recently, she probably would've believed it, not because she wants to get raptured, but because she'd be incredibly anxious if she didn't believe it and it actually happened.

She has a very matter-of-fact way of speaking, she also tends to move her hands or head while talking to others. She's very expressive!

Moodboards:

https://pin.it/3WHIQFgHj (most recent. not same as image)

(This image is the one I made for class,,, I was really inspired by how people in the middle ages thought human anatomy worked. Isabelle's changed a lot since making this picture though. xD)