A Woman Called 'Rey'

Though her fingers ached from a long day of scavenging, a young woman began making herself evening meal...If one could even call it that. It was rather sparse and consisted of veg meat and dehydrated polystarch. This particular meal had lost its appeal many years ago. When she had first been left behind on the desert planet, the food wasn't so bad, but now in present times, the luster of it was completely gone. The brown-haired girl noticed her bread was finished and gathered that up with her veg meat and some water and headed outside of her home.

While the desert was very plain, watching the setting sun day after day never got old. This also meant the young woman would get to mark another tick on the wall of her home. She had kept track of the days, waiting and hoping for whomever left her here, would come back. However, there was another thought that crossed her mind. That she had been stolen away from home and she would never truly remember to whom she belonged. Long had she been in the service of Unkar Plutt, but the hazel eyed woman had learned to deal with being tied to him, even when she had earned her full keep and her freedom. Although, on Jakku, no one was ever truly free. Not from earning a living in the harsh desert nor from being indebted to someone.

The woman sighed and as she quietly munched on her supper, she briefly stopped to pull on an old helmet. A pilot's helmet. She had often studied the writing and symbols upon it, hoping to absorb its contents. While she could speak many languages because of the many walks of life that often came to Jakku, she had never really learned to write or read very well. Sure, there were some things that she could. Necessary things but that was the extent of it. However, there was something that she liked to write and most often when she sat outside having her meals, it would be written in the sand several times over.

Her name. The way the 'R' curved and the 'E' was bold, and the 'Y' was her favorite. It seemed like pathways leading to unlimited possibilities. While she could not remember much of her previous life before she was dropped on Jakku at the ripe age of five and nothing truly belonged to her, the young woman remembered the very day she gave herself that name.

Eleven years ago...

"Come along girl, I don't have time for your dawdling."

"Where is the girl?"

"What do you think you're doing girl?!"

"Fine go on and sulk then! One quarter portion for you tonight!"

A young, eight-year-old girl sat a good distance away from Unkur's tent. The shop had closed for the night and Unkur no longer needed her assistance. Today had been hard in the hot sun and something had also worn her heart to pieces. The way the "sea" alien called her girl. Unkur said it with such annoyance and irritation, that it sounded like he was just about done calling her anything at all.

Her heart felt heavy as she couldn't even recall her own name anymore. It disheartened her. The last piece of what she had from the past, gone from her very mind. There were no memories and with Unkur's voice, most things faded except the need for survival. Each day that need was becoming stronger, but she couldn't take being called girl any longer. While she was surviving physically, just barely, her mental state was startling. Her being felt as though it were breaking. She needed something, something to show her the way.

The eight-year-old flinched slightly as the sun cast a ray of setting light in her face. She placed a hand above her eyes to shade herself as she watched the sun began to set behind the dunes. Her eyes studied the way it moved and how it caused heat waves on the sand. Flashes of the sunbeams casting their final moments on the ground until the next morning came. Sunbeams...Rays...That's it.

"...Ray...I'll call myself Ray..." She whispered at first. The girl realized that she looked for the suns coming every morning. Looking for a ray of hope. A sign that another day was here, and it was another day closer to find those who would come back for her. That's what her name would mean. Hope. Hope for survival. Hope for a family. Hope for herself.

For several minutes, she repeated the name over and over until it was ingrained in her mind, so she would never forget it. Not the moment or the day or the hour that she came up with her new name. The only thing left was the matter of spelling. She had watched Unkur sometimes spelling things in common tongue, so the concept of letters and words were there as well as numbers. The eight-year-old thought about it and soon began to use her finger to write in the sand different ways to possibly spell her new name.

"...Ray..."

"...Rae..."

"...Raye..."

"...Rei..." She stopped on the last one. The first two letters looked right, though she could tell her penmanship left a lot to be desired. Her little eyes studied the shapes of all the words she wrote. Slowly, she found a different spot to try to write her name again. The sand felt smooth as she drug her right pointer finger through it, forming three shapes. "...R...E...Y..."

That was it. That was it! That was how her name was to be spelled. Her heart leaped about in her chest as she began to spell her name over and over again. So much so that over the course of those few minutes "Rey" was written perfectly. And for the first time in quite a while, she felt herself smile.

Present day.

A smile formed on the now nineteen-year-old Rey's face as she saw her name drawn in the sand through the yellow tinted goggles of the helmet she still wore. Sure, Unkur still called her girl, but everyone else called her Rey for she had told them that was her name. Not only did she like it, but a few times some of the kinder people in Niima told her that name suited her. That she seemed like a light on Jakku. One of the few times she felt helpful to others and herself. She sighed and brushed her hand off on her pants to rid them of sand and crumbs before going inside.

Beeeep.

Rey's head snapped up at attention. She swallowed hard at the noise, wondering if she had just imagined it. That tended to happen a lot, especially when she was asleep, dreaming of odd things that made no sense.

Beeeep. Beeep.

That was no regular noise Rey now realized and she quickly took off the helmet and grabbed her nearby staff and took off over a few dunes to find out where and what direction the noise was coming from. Although, the woman who called herself "Rey" was unaware of the coming adventure that was about to begin…

It's been quite some time since I have written and I hope that you enjoyed reading this story. I have had this one stored up for a while and was inspired by one of the Star Wars books that had come out a while ago. (Before the Force Awakens)

I'm going to try to get back into writing and hopefully I haven't lost my touch! If you have any questions or anything feel free to look at my profile or PM me. Have an awesome day/night! :)

Cover Art designed by me