Sophomore, Rasmus Hagen

RASMUS Jóel Hagen

Children had been growing up on coasts and islands for ages, giving rise to pictures of children framed against tan-hued beaches. In fact, the picture of a child running away from the camera, glancing back, and laughing, was almost as popular on the beach as it was in a grassy field.

Rasmus was not one of those kids. His beach pictures- though they captured true moments of childhood abandon and creativity- showed a dark-haired, bright eyed child making sand castles out of deep gray, nearly black sand beside a light-haired female twin. Or, they would show a dark haired child pouting. No matter what his parents tried, there was no way to keep Rasmus happy. They'd describe him as a storm- his emotions swirled unpredictably, and unavoidably, through their lives. When he was happy, he was really happy, and when he was upset, well, there were no boundaries that could keep him in line. If he felt like being destructive, no threat of punishment could deter him.

Rasmus would grow up to believe that maybe if he'd been a more tolerable child, his parents wouldn't have had so many maritial problems. But, perhaps that was just the normal sentiment for a child dealing with his parents divorce. Either way, his parents divorce was incredibly tough for him. It challenged his morals and prompted him to grow up much faster than he had been up until then.

Matthew Hagen was not a bad man. He put up with Ras' attitude better than Ras' own parents, in fact, and gave the boy ample space. He was a patient man, the sort of man Ras wanted to be. In time Ras would come to respect him above all others, and to answer to him rather than his parents. Matthew was a college ex-boyfriend of Ras' mother, and a natural choice for her to hook up with after the divorce. As if being alone were too much for her.

Aside from the divorce, Ras lived a pretty normal life in Iceland. After the divorce he, his mother, and his sister moved into Matthew's home near Regency Academy. Matthew adopted them both, formally, and their life as the newly formed family began.


Though the twins lived near Regency Academy, they spent a year in the public high school system (for socially motivated reasons) before applying and being accepted for their sophomore year.