Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow; no tomorrow, no tomorrow

Despite being so fragile, so transient... the years and months composing ten billion years ...are, to the point of sorrow, endearing

Harsh Realities & Surviving

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you've seen or experienced a traumatic event that involved the threat of injury or death. Symptoms of PTSD fall into three main categories: repeated "reliving" of the event, which disturbs day-to-day activity, avoidance, and arousal sch as anger and hypervigilance. (Google Health ).

Sara's story is enough to turn anyone's stomach, animated or not. We have this young girl, she's only 15, who is taken from her home due to mistaken identity and ends up in he future. After her captors realize their error they imprison her, only to have her raped by different soldiers for who knows how long.

After the first rape, Sara sits in her cell, clothing torn, disheveled, and bruised. Her eyes glazed, staring into the darkness, and tears spill down her face. She appears utterly broken. If Kazaam did rape her as well, we know she was raped three times that we know of. By the fourth time, she has had all she can taken and she lashes out. It ends with this man crumbled on the ground after she has bashed his head in with the butt of his own gun. She runs to his water supply and guzzles it down, dresses in one of his uniforms and escapes from Heliwood. Once a safe distance, she striped down to a tank top and her underwear, cuts her long hair to shoulder length and continues running through the desert..

From one of the rapes, Sara has become pregnant. She is angry and hates not only LaLa-Ru but the child growing within her. In an attempt to abort it, she slams a stone into her abdomen but is stopped by Shuu. Sis' dying words is what completes Sara's conversion from anger to acceptance and the will to live on. Sis tells Sara she must not hate the child. No child is born into this world, for the purpose of being hated. From here on o, Sara decides to keep the life growing within her, and take Sis' place as mother to the orphaned children. She even saves the little Heliwood child soldiers huddled n fear as Heliwood is being destroyed by LaLa-Ru flood. In the end she decides to remain in the future and build a new life instead of returning with Shuu back to the past. She is also the one who gives Abelia the chance to start over, instead of persecuting her.

Sara's story has to be the most moving. Rape is a violation not only physically, but emotionally. Sara could have crumbled and folded in upon herself, and who could blame her? Instead, Sara finds incredible inner strength to fight not only her fear but her anger. She does not remain bitter and angry, but she salvages her life and determines to live on. Sara's story s one of triumph, and she has to be the strongest character in ImaSoko. Being a woman myself, I couldn't begin to imagine, and I'd have no idea where to start rebuilding my life. In the end, Sara is stronger than she was before the rape and before being taken away to the future, almost as if she is a different character. She stands tall, shoulders squared, head help high, and speaks in a way that is authoritative. It is for this reason, I don't even feel like I could diagnose Sara with any psychological condition, because she triumphs.

ImaSoko contains very serious, very real themes. For the sake, if visitor here is a rape survivor or knows someone who has been victimized in this terrible way, I want to share some links that can lead to help: Dancing in the Darkness, Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network where you can access tollfree phone hotlines as well as online hotlines, 911 Rape provides what steps to take medically. Whether you use these links or not, please please please talk to someone and seek help.