Sonya Rae {District 11}

Sonya Rae stands at a mere five feet and it is quite clear that she isn’t going to be growing any more. Her frame is just as petite as she weighs just under a hundred pounds. Though she is underweight it is not that evident when looking at her body. Her arms are small but the bone is hidden by small muscles from caring buckets of apples. Her face is naturally round hiding the lack of nourishment from the feature though during “dry” days as she calls them her checks can hollow out noticeable. The rest of her small body is normally covered with clothing. Even in summer she wears long pants not risking her bare skin to any kind of injury. While she normally wears large bag shirts that almost seem three sizes too big for her. (All of them being hamy-downs from her older sisters who are considerable taller than she is).

Her skin is a deep tan color from practically living outside. Her hair is dark brown and falls around her face in heavy curls. She normally keeps it long letting it flow down her back expect while in the fields when she ties it back in a pony tail. She has a sweet face and has been said to be quite attractive though in an innocent kind of way verses the more intense “hotness” of other girls. Her almost childlike innocent look does carry her a long way however. Sonya’s eyes are the first thing anyone notices about her, however. They are a deep chocolate brown that seem to look into your soul. They seem as if they can see everything even and easily draw people into them. However upon closer examination they hold no life. None of the fears, memories, happiness that can be seen in a normal person’s eyes. They might be extraordinarily beautiful and supernaturally smart but they are empty as if no one lives instead them. As if they have never seen the beauty and despair of the world.

Sonya is not the typical teenager even in Panem. She does not let anything get in her way of doing what she wants. Not society and especially not her own physical constraints. She isn’t exactly a rule breaker following the law to the pin point if she has to knowing that there is nothing but bad things waiting if she does disobey. However she also knows that to survive she needs to do what is right and what is right might not always be what is expected and fear of letting her family die is trumps any fear of punishment or even death. In many ways she has the social personality of a first born not a last. Wanting to protect and help her family when in the end she is the one that needs the help. However that is one thing she doesn’t want. She wants to be able to take care of herself prove to everyone that she is strong. She values being independent just as much as being a provider. Because even if she is blind she is not weak. Sonya is probably one of the strongest people there is knowing how to deal with hardship and struggle not only from her poor background but from her disability. She never takes no as an answer and will find a way to do something and in the end if that means breaking the law she will do it.

The last thing she is is selfish always thinking of everyone else and rarely herself. She knows the sacrifices her family went through to help her when she was a baby. Giving up their own food and risking their lives to make sure she had enough to eat. And now was the time for her to repay them by doing the same. This can do attitude is probably one of her biggest flaws though because though her intentions are good and for years have only lead to good things for her family in the end she is bound to end up dead for doing something not even a normal person could pull off or imprisoned, anoxed, or even executed for her crimes. But none of this stops her because though she knows she’s not invisible she does think she is smarter than anyone else and can pull it off. Of course she is quite smart skating through most of her studies. She’s even formed an interest in history wishing to learn all she can able events in the past all the way back to when the land they live on was called America.

Though Sonya appears to be just like any other determined and as cheerful as one can be while starving child there is a deep side to her. One that she doesn’t let any see not even her sisters who are her closest friends in the world (Not having many other friends since no one ever seems to want to deal with the blind girl.). First and for most is guilt. A feeling that she has felt since before she can remember. She knows that she is the reason her mother is dead. It was her birth. Her stubbornness in the womb or some other trait an infant could never have possessed that had killed her. It was her mother’s death that caused the still baby herself Harper to have to grow up to fast. And though they were poor even before her death Sonya couldn’t help but think things could be better. The second secret feeling was an inward need to please her father. The man that disowned her when she was one year old. The man that did everything but hold a gun to her head wanting her dead. Yet still her father and the only one that she wanted to say he was proud of her. It was his opinion alone that Sonya looked for as if he could release her from her dark prison, though he was still the only one that failed to see what a great person Soni is. Finally the last and most important feeling hidden away was the sense that she was nothing but a freak. Someone that couldn’t do anything, was doomed to live out the tragic story of failure everyone seemed to already have planned for her. Even is she had learned to be independent and could work go to school and do just about everything anyone else could she still saw herself as a failure.

Sonya Rae was the third child born to Mia and Archer. She had two older sisters Harper who was six at the time and Cala you was two. During labor there were complications. The Applica cord had began wrapped around Sonya’s neck. They did all that they could to free the infants life but knew that there was little they could do without risking the life of the mother even more. Never the less the delivered the baby. Though she did not cry when removed from the womb. She seemed to have never little sign of life at all. As the doctors worked on brining life to the baby no one noticed that Mia’s own health was declining and before anyone could even do anything to save her she slipped off the trauma of the birth too much- though there was never a real reason found for the death. All was not lost however and Sonya soon began to breath and let out one shrill cry before falling silent again as if she could sense the loss of her mother and did not want to draw attention away from the moment.

Even with the loss of Mia’s life went on for the Rae family and Harper quickly was forced into the role of surrogate mother for not only Sonya but also two year old Cala. Harper took the new responsibilities in stride though nothing that would have been what her mother would have wanted. Their father went on working blocking out the world as if nothing had happened. He was still a good father caring for his children giving up on many occasions what like food he had for himself to make sure his three girls had enough. It wasn’t until Sonya was six months old that anyone started to notice something was wrong with her. She had been making all her milestones and was already starting to pull herself up to try and walk though she had just learned to craw. But she never made eye contact and often looked right past people into nothing. When she crawled she would only move so far before stopped as if something unseen had stopped her. The family consulted many in the district and many came to the conclusion that she was brain damaged and was bound to be stupid and slow. But Harper refused the conclusion. And when she learned something in school she would teach it to her little sister. Singing her the ABCs and other primary school thinks.

It wasn’t until near one years old when Sonya started to fully walk that anyone paid any attention to her eye sight. And before long it was clear that Sonya was completely blind and more likely had been since the moment she was born. At this realization people saw the sweet little baby differently. Instead of a possible worker and contributor she was going to have to be carried through life. Never able to take care of herself. Many thought she should be killed right there and then but no one had the guts to act on it. After all she was still just a baby. Many figured it wouldn’t matter anyway with a handicapped child the family of four who was barely getting by as it was was going to run out of food some day and Sonya would fall victim they were sure.

But even at Seven years old Harper saw her sister differently. She wasn’t a burden she wasn’t any different than any other child. She just needed special care. To be taught how to live in her world of darkness. Sonya had already proven that she could develop and grow just like any other child what made the rest of her life different. Harper went to work trying to teach Soni how to live life and with an almost understand determination Soni grow up normally for the next 2 years. However since the discovery of her blindness Sonya’s father had practically disowned the child acting like she never even existed. He brought home food enough for three and never even acknowledged the babies existence. Cala and Harper never let her starve though learning quickly how to steal a few apples from the orchards without being caught. By five years old Sonya had out lived everyone’s expectations and some were even amazing by her. So when eleven year old Harper reached out for help in helping Soni be more independent it wasn’t a surprise that she found an older boy to help her. At the age of 18 he was just old enough to know a few tricks like teaching Soni to count her steps everywhere she went so she could easily re trace them next time. As well as using a stick to feel for things that might block her path. They were even able to find an old woman- that most though was mad- who started to teach Sonya what she called echolocation. A technique- she said- that bats use. Basically it involved making some sort of high pitched noses- which she taught as a simple click- and listening for it to bounce of the objects in rooms. It never seemed to work as well as she claimed but compared to nothing it worked just fine.

So when she started school she was in fact able to go on her own without Harper or Cala there to guide her. She even was able to help out during the harvest transporting buckets of apples from the orchard to the transporter to be packed and shipped. And though she out did herself most still wished to see her fail if only to prove that different was not good. However as time passed those who found fault in her turned their eyes down out of boredom. Even though she was blind it turned out she did little more than any other six year old. However Sonya Rae did have one secret. Even since she was old enough she had Cala had been stealing fruit from the plantations using the techniques Harper used when Soni was just a baby. Normally apples from where they now worked but anything they could get their hands on. Mostly it was half rotten apples that no one would have suspected of anyone stealing but one slow days when no one really wanted to pay any attention they would often stuff their pockets with rip apples. No more than they could pass off knowing the strict punishments if they got caught but just enough to sooth an empty stomach at the end of the day.

When Harper finally turned twelve she wanted to get as many ____ as she could but Sonya and Cala’s plead stopped her. She knew the risks. If she was chosen she would surely die and then where would her sisters be? Cala only eight years old. Sonya only six. What would their neighbors do to the blind girl. So instead only went for one- enough to get them by but not enough to raise her chances of being picked by any considerable amount. Instead Sonya offered a way to get food planning a way that they could steal more than just a few apples a day but instead enough to keep them alive. And for once her blindness came in handy. Having extra good other senses she was able to move through the darkness of night without any troubles and with her small size she was easily hidden. A few times a month she would sneak into the fields and steal a bag of whatever she could her hands on easily pulling off what many were to afraid to try. After all stealing is one of the worst crimes to commit. Yet for the next nine years she continues to pull it off. Now at fifteen years old she has learned how to support her family. Harper being 21 years old has since moved away and is starting her own life having found the “one” she says. Cala at seventeen is now the protector of Sonya though in many ways Sonya protects her. Her father still acts indifferent toward his blind daughter though he does act like she exists though the two share only a fleeting word a day. And though they are still poor Sonya goes on as if there is a brighter tomorrow though one may never come.

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