Seventh Ocean Media

The firstborn child of Linda Benson and her formerly-ex husband Neil Heyward, Mindy was a very outgoing girl who loved to read, play, and have fun like any other child, but she was very put off by the boys she went to preschool with, so much so that she prayed every night that the baby her mother was about to have would be a girl. She was relieved and grateful that she was able to welcome little Rachel into the world, but this would later invite great portent to their family in the years to come.

In elementary school, Mindy had befriended Jones cousins Ariella, Spencer, and Harold, having put to bed the incidents that happened in the past with boys. Even though she was only a few months older than her friends, she was one grade ahead of them, which made their time together more valuable, especially when all four friends had been blessed with the birth of baby sisters each.

Five years later, when Neil’s mother was dying in their home country of Portugal, the Heyward had to pull up stakes and move to Evora. Two years later, Mindy and the family moved back to Remington, and Rachel was reenrolled at Serene Plains, this time going by the name Rafael. The reason for this was that he never wanted to be, or thought of himself as, a girl. This caused a bitter divide between him and their father, and Mindy became aloof and distant; feeling like she was losing the little sister she loved so much.

On the surface, Mindy kept her distance, but whenever Rafe was in the hospital for his transition-related procedures, she always came and stayed watch. Whenever Rafe was sick or was dead tired after a game, Mindy would always read his favorite book to him: Strega Nona. By the time his transition was complete, Rafe had decided he would push Mindy and their father away before they could push him away. For a time, Mindy moved out to Wyoming with her father, then moved back to Remington after graduating from high school. While she was out of state, she met and fell in love with a guy who was also from Remington, and their courtship went by pretty fast — too fast, as Mindy would discover. Her fiancée was bigoted against LGBT+ people, which included Rafe, and was determined to make his life hell. Thanks to some sleuthing by a few of her college friends, Mindy learned what was really inside his heart, and cancelled the wedding; telling people that she was left at the altar so as to give deniability to Rafe.

20XX

While she was attending junior college, Mindy got a job at Target, climbing the ladder to store shift lead, which allowed her to spend more time with her mother, something which Rafe took great offense to. Their relationship had deteriorated so far that the mere sight of her face set off Rafe’s fight or flight reflexes. When Rafe was away from the house, Linda allowed her to take photos of Rafe’s yearbook pictures, newspaper clippings, and other positive articles about Rafe for her apartment walls. Rafe would often find her skulking around in his room and chase her out, never even wondering what she was doing it for. The worst came when Rafe was upset by something, but was cloistering himself and repressing it. Linda had pleaded with Mindy to do something to help him release that anger, so she blew her final chance with Rafe by waking him from a sound sleep and accusing him of taking her wallet, only to purposely drop it from her pants pocket for him to see. Rafe’s anger erupted, just as Linda had hoped; but was the last time he would ever show his sister any mercy.

Rafe’s Recurring Nightmare

When Rafe was facing expulsion for being provoked by a couple of bullies who were sexually harassing him and Twi Lan in front of the whole class, Team Panfan and Esther Jones came to Rafe’s aid, pointing out that this was fueled by discrimination, leading to the Prismed Banner Group (the school’s LGBTQ+ alliance club) to demand a town hall at the school to address the growing problem of cases that were similar to Rafe’s, pointing out a pattern of systemic discrimination and allowing Rafe and his advocates to speak to the community in his defense. To help Rafe cope with the situation, Ariella and Spencer Pansported Gwendy and Rafe to the Silverspice Neverzone, where Rafe met Slinkerbell for the first time.

At Slink’s insistence, she and Rafe traveled the eastern coast of the island, to a beach that Rafe had seen in his dreams. Expecting to see Gwendy come out of the water in a frilly black swimsuit and water wings, just like in the dream, he instead saw Mindy approach him in the same swimsuit. Angered for the subterfuge that Mindy undertook, Rafe indignantly stormed away from the Neverbeach and into the dark and murky Neverwoods. Mindy, still only clad in her swimsuit and shirt with croc sandals, fell into a rocky waterbed and sprained her leg. Slink and Rafe helped Mindy leave the cold woods and back to the Nevertribe’s village, where Silver Dart set Mindy’s leg.

Rafe had already been fed up with Mindy at this point, but knowing that she pulled such a stupid move really irked him. As he was about to leave, Mindy begged Rafe to give her ten minutes to try to talk to him, get him to see that she changed. The only thing that made him want to do it was when Mindy offered to surrender her copy of their mother’s housekey, and leave Remington for good. During the ten minutes, Mindy explained her point of view of losing the sister she loved, and how it was wrong. By the time the ten minutes were up, Mindy was preparing to share the reason why she and Rafe were more alike than he realized, but she was too late. A deal being a deal, Mindy sadly handed Rafe her key, and had Spencer Pansport her back to her apartment in Remington Heights.

After doing some grocery shopping, Mindy got a notification that a visitor was in her apartment. She assumed that it was her mother, but was shocked when it turned out to be Rafe. From the neutral scowl on his face, she assumed that he was there to get any extra copies of her key that she might have had. He shook his head and then said that he was going to give her something he had wanted to give her for years. Mindy closed her eyes and awaited the punch to the gut she was expecting; but, to her surprise, a sobbing Rafe was softly hugging her, telling her that he loved her, too. Mindy was confused, but the look that she had on her face when she was about to reveal her last statement to Rafe in Neverland-Silverspice, there was a look on her face that Rafe was all-too familiar with; it was a deep revelation that he knew he could empathize with.

Mindy wanted to divulge the secret she was keeping, but before name-dropping the person it pertained to, a psicon exchange led to Ariella Jones Pansporting into the apartment, right at Mindy’s side. With AJ’s consent and help, Mindy revealed that when they were in high school, Ariella and Mindy secretly were involved with each other; both romantically and sexually, for a few months. Ariella had missed Jesse so much because of the embargos that the Neverscape Royals placed on them, and Mindy reminded her so much of Jesse. Mindy always cared deeply for Ariella and the others, and was willing to help test the waters with her, learning something about herself in the process. Rafe was the only one that heard the true version of this story, and was humbled when he learned of it.

After Ariella left, Rafe asked Mindy if he could spend the night with her, get to know his big sister again. Mindy was more than happy to oblige; and showed him the clippings and articles that adorned her walls; all having to do with Rafe and his soccer exploits. Sensing that Rafe was still terrified about the Town Hall, Mindy gave him the Purple Heart that their grandfather had earned, posthumously; intending for Rafe to rely upon it for strength and courage — the two things she knew he had already.