Chera

Chera was Noah's mother, a young woman who grew up in the Backstreets. She is also the main protagonist of the game CHERA -A Flower in the Dark-.

Appearance
Chera was the spitting image of her daughter. Like Noah, she had long, curly milk tea-colored hair, soft grey eyes, and pale skin. She had a much different demeanor than Noah though; Chera was said to always have a smile on her face.

As a child, Chera wore a grey-green dress which reached her knees and frilled at the sleeves. She also wore black mid-calf length boots. In her teenhood, she wore a long, bright blue peter pan collar dress, paired with a red sweater. During this time, she had also cut her hair to chest-length, and frequently wore it in low pigtails.

As an adult, Chera's hair had grown a little longer, which she styled in a low side ponytail. She wore a long-sleeve off-white dress, with a detachable turquoise wrap covering most of the skirt.

Personality
Chera had a very kind spirit. She was never one to judge, and while she spent most of her life looking extremely happy, she suffered deep loneliness and paranoia as a child due to the abuse she received from her adoptive father Renato and his girlfriend Marie.

Starting in her youth, Chera possessed an eerie indifference to death and violence. Each time Oddman dragged someone into the Darkness in her presence, whether that be the Suspicious Man or Marie or the thieves who tried to raid Renato's house, Chera didn't seem to mind, and quickly grew delighted that no one was bothering her any longer. This did not seem to affect her adulthood, though. She was a very loving wife and mother to her family.

Backstory
Both of Chera's parents had died in an accident when she was young. Following that, she was supposed to go live with her aunt, but a man named Renato offered her aunt a large sum of money in exchange for Chera, so she was sold to him.

Renato forbade Chera from ever leaving the house, so most days she spent her time alone in her bedroom. However, it is heavily implied that Renato had sexually harassed her during her childhood.

Story
One day, Chera manages to sneak out of her house and goes to go pick flowers on the outskirts of town. On her way back, she wanders into the Darkness and meets Oddman for the first time. He hadn't actually planned on letting her escape with her life, but he changes his mind the second he sees the bundle of flowers in her hands - and demands to know what those are called. After a brief conversation, he proposes a deal with her: if she takes him to the place where she had found all of those flowers, he would let her exit the Darkness unharmed. Naturally, she agrees.

They share more brief conversation once they arrive at the flower field, when Chera reveals that she's not supposed to ever leave her house and laments the fact that she won't be able to see these flowers anymore. Oddman pauses for a moment, before suggesting that he could pick flowers for her when she can’t. He justifies himself by saying he’d be coming back here anyway; flowers bring him peace of mind, he tells her, but they wouldn’t be able to flourish in the Darkness. So he’ll be stopping by often.

Oddman begins visiting Chera several times after that, and the closer they get the softer Oddman becomes. He starts to associate his love for flowers with Chera's smile: they're both something he wants to protect at all costs.

Which is why once he realizes just how miserable Chera is with Renato and Marie, Oddman drags the two of them into the Darkness - however, without the master of the house there anymore, Renato's expensive estate begins to attract the attention of local thieves. For a short while, Oddman would drag anyone who stepped foot on the property into the Darkness too, which prompted rumors to spread throughout the town that the house is inhabited by a demon and a cursed child.

Eventually Chera and Oddman decide to move. They don't have enough money to leave the Backstreets, so Chera gets a job as a singer at a tavern on the outskirts. She wore a mask so that no one would recognize her as Renato's "cursed child," and eventually the residents and owner of the bar rewarded her hardwork by giving her a vacant house to stay in.

It is here that she meets Allen, a foreign soldier who had fallen in love with her singing. Apparently he had been watching her walk home from the tavern for a while before he first introduced himself, but Oddman, who had noticed this immediately, hadn't stopped him because he realized Allen was an innocent, hopeless romantic.

We don't see much of Allen and Chera's blossoming relationship in-game, but he eventually proposes, and they have a child together - Noah.

Seeing that Chera has started a strong, happy family, Oddman realizes that there isn't really any point in him staying around anymore, so he decides to leave her. She becomes very distressed over this and begs him not to go, but he tells her that he was never meant to bring anyone happiness, and so long as he stays around he feels like she won't be able to live her life to the fullest. Chera insists that Oddman brings her so much happiness, but he is unfazed and takes his leave.

In Oddman's absence, Allen leaves for the war again - but this time doesn't return. Chera also catches a disease from a plague that had swept the town, and was slowly succumbing to it when Oddman hears from Riley and Bruno how chaotic circumstances had gotten in the Backstreets and immediately rushes back to check on her.

Chera is overjoyed to see Oddman alive and well, but she is already past saving when they reunite. Oddman religiously stays at her side for the remainder of her time.

On her deathbed, Chera asks him what would happen if she melted into the Darkness. Oddman explains that the souls of humans are trapped there, unable to go to heaven, and are forced to wander for eternity. Then she asks if she and Noah could go with him there, so they could all be in the Darkness together - but Oddman quietly dismisses this idea, telling her they wouldn't be able to stay together.

Chera lets out a soft laugh and murmurs that she has to stay here for him and Noah then, so that neither of them get lonely. ...And she passes away.