Karen Harlen

Karen Harlen is a fictional character in the Dreams to Reality continuity, having appeared as a very minor character in the web series (2000-2004), but willl be more fleshed out as a character in the rebooted novel series (2013-present). She is the mother of Jarrid Harlen.

In the Web Series (2000-2004)
On May 24, 2000, Karen Harlen learned from her son, Jarrid, that his ex-girlfriend, Nicole Halloway, had been injured at school and was taken to Portage General Memorial Hospital. She agreed to take Jarrid to the hospital, along with a couple of his friends after school. After school, she sat in her brand new Pontiac Grand Am in the parking lot to wait for her son and friends to exit the school. Jarrid, Jack Brock, Dustin Finley, and Rachel McCarey approached Karen's car and talked amongst themselves for a moment, until an unseen assailant shot at the car with a crossbow, and an arrow with a note attached to it became wedged in the passenger side door of Karen's car. Karen exited the car to see what had happened, and Jarrid was the first one to see the arrow stuck in the side of the car. At this point, Jarrid's friend Michael Bennett arrived on the scene and asked what had happened. Rachel explained to him that they had just been talking until someone shot the arrow at them. Michael asked who it was, and Dustin tracked the estimated trajectory of the arrow back to a group of bushes near the school building, but there was no one there. Jarrid dislodged the arrow from the side of the car and read the note attached to it and was immediately shocked by what it said. After Jack read the note as well and handed the note to Michael, Michael read the note aloud, which read, "Jarrid, your girlfriend Nicole is dead. Get in my way, and you'll be next." Karen was worried by the note's warning, and Rachel wondered who would do this. Michael vowed to find out who did this. Dustin wondered if this meant Nicole was dead, and Jack said that she must have been murdered. Jarrid was visibly upset by this turn of events. Karen would soon take Jarrid, Michael, and Rachel to the hospital to check on Nicole's status. (DtRW #2)

Background & Trivia

 * Karen was not named other than "Jarrid's mother" or "Mrs. Harlen" in her appearance in the web series. She is not named until her appearances in the novel series.