The Myth, The Legend: Kiley Flinn

Every day, the face of a smiling former Carver Center student stares down at me from my seat in DP. I look up and wonder “Who is she?” “Why are there several posters of her in the props closet?” “Is she even real?” So, you know, I did some digging. 

“Kiley” is a supposed “former acting student” according to my research. I say supposed because no one seems to agree that she ever graced this earth. I needed to get down to the truth of the matter, so I bought a magnifying glass to legitimize myself as the PI of this long and intense investigation. I conducted several interviews to unveil the truth, spanning from close friends of Kiley to people who swore to me that she had never walked the hallowed halls of Carver. The first person I interviewed was Sasha Kostakis, a current vocal prime student. Sasha (Class of ‘24) told me, “Kiley has been my idol since 6th grade when I found she went to my middle school before me. She came to see me as Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, was so nice to me, and an idolization was born. Despite the fact that she was very much aware of my existence and I was good friends with her brother, any time she slightly acknowledged my existence, I was shocked, honored, and elated. Kiley has been my biggest supporter and inspiration.”

The second interview I arranged was with Olive DeVille, who claims she was, and still is, Kiley’s “best friend.” Olive is a Carver vocal prime alumni who I have confirmed is in fact real. She agreed to sit down with me to talk about “Kiley” this past Saturday afternoon. Olive (Class of ‘21) reminisced about her and Kiley’s time at Carver. “Of COURSE  Kiley’s real! That’s so funny. Kiley’s my best friend. We talk on the phone like almost every day. We met in sophomore year during Memphis the musical. I used to hang out with her and our friend Ethan all the time at school and during rehearsals. We still all hang out when we’re home on break!”

I managed to get a comment from Ethan Holler (Class of ‘21), “Kylie? Hmm, I don’t know a Kylie…Oh, she spells it like ‘Kiley.’ I DEFINITELY don’t think I know her. There was a girl in my acting class who left at the end of freshman year. I don’t remember her name…could’ve been her.” The plot thickens…

I got possession of a yearbook from when “Kiley” allegedly went to Carver.

 The photo may look normal at first glance but when you look closely, especially at the edges of the image, it is clearly photoshopped. Her quote is also suspicious, almost like it’s trying to prove she went to Carver…I tried to find this “Kiley” on Instagram for proof of her existence yet could not track down her digital footprint. Coincidence or not? 

To find out the truth once and for all, I had to look up Kiley’s name in the system. I used the administration’s special student information system. Although it’s not usually available to students like myself, I gained special privileges in order to investigate this situation. To my surprise, her name did not appear at all in the system. I now have enough proof to present the truth, Kiley Flinn does not, and has never, existed.

Finally revealing the truth to the public, I put my magnifying glass away until the next mystery of Carver Center. While we now know the reality, to this day we still do not know why or how the myth of “Kiley” came to be. Maybe someday we will find out, but today is not that day. For now, we can rest at night knowing that the legend of “Kiley” was just that, a legend.