Billie Sommerfield

[Skraal]

Name: Billie Sommerfield
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12
School: John Endecott Memorial Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Horror fiction, Music, Movies, Writing movie reviews online

Appearance: Billie is Caucasian, with black hair that is on the shorter side, almost reaching her shoulders. She typically keeps her bangs above her face with a red headband, which contrasts with her blue eyes and pale skin. There is a light assortment of freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her snub nose. This all sits above a mouth with thin lips, which can be most often seen shaped into some sort of frown. Her ears are pierced with small stud earrings in each lobe. She typically does not wear makeup, aside from concealer to hide the occasional outbreak of acne and other blemishes.

Though she is, for the most part, fairly unathletic, she does possess visibly defined muscle tone in her arms, especially in contrast with her legs, which are particularly thin compared to the rest of her body. From head to toe she is 5'6" tall, though the fact that she is in a wheelchair results in most of her classmates towering over her regardless. Her chair is a manual, rigid-frame model, with sturdy footrests and a padded strap to secure her legs in place. It also has a seatbelt, which she tends not to use unless going up a steep incline or otherwise traversing rough terrain. There are no push handles on the back of the wheelchair. Typically she owns two bags that can be secured to the chair: a larger one to hold her school books and other supplies which can be strapped to the back and a smaller one that attaches to crossbars, just below the seat, which she uses to carry her phone, wallet and other necessities. The wheels of the chair are mounted on a two-degree camber tube and can be prevented from moving by way of a plastic scissor brake that can be reached while her hands are still on their handrims.

Her wardrobe is composed mainly of black clothing. Regardless of the time of year, she prefers to keep as much of her body covered as possible, except in the hottest of weather, in which case she exchanges the tops that she usually wears for a selection of band t-shirts. The rest of the year, she prefers to wear sweaters and other long sleeved tops, as well as sweatpants or leggings. On the day of the abduction she was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and charcoal grey sweatpants, as well as a black hooded ski jacket and black knee-length winter boots that are tightened with clasps going down the side.

Biography: Billie was born a healthy baby to Jackie and Gavin Sommerfield, a nurse and a pharmaceutical researcher, respectively. Her early years were uneventful; she was a happy child who did well in school, being a precocious reader, and though somewhat introverted, nevertheless got along well with her peers. However, that all changed when she was eight years old, and the car she was in was hit by a drunk driver. When Billie woke up in the hospital, she found that, among her other injuries, she had suffered severe damage to her T9 vertebra, leaving her with no sensation or control of her body below the bottom of her ribs.

The period of time following this incident proved to be extremely hard on Billie. She spent months in inpatient therapy at the local children's hospital, a process that was extremely draining on her and her family, physically and emotionally. While her friends from school initially attempted to visit her frequently, she was not much in the mood for social interaction and soon pushed them away with her withdrawn, depressed behaviour and occasional aggressive outbursts. At her doctors' suggestion, she began attending sessions with a psychiatrist and social worker, though she didn't really feel like she connected well with them and their suggestions didn't seem to help much in making her feel better about the situation.

With overwhelming evidence of his guilt and the threat in place of being sentenced to ten years in state prison (the maximum penalty for causing a non-fatal accident while under the influence of alcohol, as outlined in the Massachusetts statute known as "Melanie's Law"), the driver who hit their car took a plea bargain to instead serve three years in prison along with five years of probation, as well as settling out of court for paying for Billie's hospital fees along with a significant additional settlement. The Sommerfield family were unhappy with this outcome, viewing the penalty as being not nearly harsh enough given how much harm had been done to their daughter. However, they chose not to further disrupt their child's life by pursuing additional legal action or taking their story to the media and resolved to do their best to move on and support Billie as best as they could.

After she was discharged from the hospital, the three of them moved into a smaller, single story home to better suit their child's needs. Between the hospitalization and the large amount of time spent in outpatient therapy, her ability to keep up with her peers in their studies was severely impaired. However, she, her parents and her school's administration were able to coordinate in assisting her in catching up with the rest of her class in order to avoid having to be held back a year. Overall, however, adjusting to her new life was very painful and upsetting for Billie. Most everyday tasks that were once simple became extremely difficult and her routine became full of awkward workarounds to tasks that previously posed little problem. She was also very often sick during this period, suffering from frequent urinary tract infections stemming from her struggles in relearning how to use the restroom without full bowel and abdominal control. Though still withdrawn and depressed, Billie managed to maintain a few friendships with her peers, though her physical limitations put many restrictions on the activities they could do together, which was a frequent source of frustration. One source of comfort during this period was a childhood stuffed rabbit named Benjamin, named after the book "The Tale of Benjamin Bunny" by Beatrix Potter. She had received it when she was very young, and while sleeping in bed, hugging onto it helped her pretend that she was still living the happier life that she had back then.

All this time, Jackie became her daughter's advocate, accompanying her to both therapy sessions and meetings with her school's administration to discuss the necessary accommodations to allow her to succeed into school with as little hindrance as possible. Gavin, however, responded to the situation by throwing himself into his work. He was the one driving the car on that day, and despite reassurances from both his family and the police that the accident was not his fault, he nevertheless blamed himself for failing to protect his child, getting away with relatively minor injuries while she was disabled for life. Overcome with pain every time he interacted with his daughter, he rationalized spending most of his time at the lab as necessary to pay off the expenses associated with his child's treatment. Though it was suggested by the doctors at the hospital that he attempt to see a psychiatrist himself, he brushed off the idea as unnecessary. He had always been an independent and private person, and having to share his innermost thoughts with a stranger sounded extremely unappealing to him.

However, this withdrawal did not go unnoticed by his family. It was upsetting for Billie to have so little contact with her father, and her parents often argued about how much time Gavin spent at work, putting even more stress on the three of them. Eventually, shortly after Billie's twelfth birthday, Gavin received an offer for a promotion that would provide a large increase in salary but also require him to move to California to work at another facility. Jackie, however, was unwilling to uproot her daughter from what remained of her previous life. After much debate, Gavin took the position, moving across the country without the rest of his family. While he would make a habit of coming home to visit every few months, his relationship with his spouse never recovered, and after a couple of years the two of them formalized their separation legally.

This experience was extremely upsetting for Billie, who at first blamed herself for her parents' marital troubles. She began to view her dependence on her mother for assistance as a burden, and attempted to force herself to handle as much of her own life as possible without requiring outside intervention. Little improvement had already been made with the psychiatrist and social worker that she had been seeing since the accident, and even before the separation, she had begun to see their sessions as pointless. Before long she began to refuse to see them entirely, desiring only to continue with physical therapy. This was distressing to her mother, who, in her attempts to persuade Billie that helping her was not a problem, ended up sparking frequent arguments between the two concerning how much assistance her daughter was willing to accept. Puberty drove a further wedge into their relationship, being a traumatic experience due to Billie's frequent mood swings and frustration over the difficulties in dealing with the physical symptoms of puberty due to her condition. It was also during this period that Billie developed body image issues that would continue to dog her throughout the years.

Over time, Billie began to shift the blame for her family situation from herself to her father, resenting him for seemingly choosing his work over his family. Interactions with him became increasingly uncomfortable as time went on, causing his visits to become less and less frequent. Though her father still would send home money to take care of his family's needs, he began to only visit in person for Christmas and Billie's birthday, both of which became a somewhat awkward experiences for the three of them. After some time of this, Billie began to suspect that her father's furtiveness in describing his life in California was due to the fact that he had met another woman there and was considering starting a new family with her, a thought that she preferred to avoid due to the anxiety invoked by what she viewed as the possibility of being replaced like a defective appliance. She has not discussed her suspicions with her mother, and though their relationship has recovered somewhat from the rocky experience of her early teen years, Billie's desire for independence has kept her from getting too close to her mother. Jackie feels a deep concern about her daughter's unwillingness to accept assistance from others, but aside from gentle prodding, she has refrained from having an in-depth conversation about it with either Billie or Gavin, who eventually began to give up on visiting altogether.

Throughout this period, Billie spent most of her free time becoming immersed in fantasy, reading a wide variety of fiction novels and short stories. Her physical limitations and her family life had left her fairly depressed and in search of escapism, which those stories were able to provide. Over time, however, the benefit of such pursuits began to wear off as she became older and more critical of the works that she read. Her attempts to immerse herself in those fictional worlds became more and more difficult, the lives of the characters only serving to remind her of the things in her life that she both wanted but also didn't have, leaving her all the more resentful of the real world in comparison. Her already existing jealousy of her peers increased, resulting in her becoming fairly short-tempered with them and easily frustrated over any annoyances they would cause.

Though having lost enjoyment of the books she had liked before, she soon instead developed an interesting in horror and thriller stories, their plots and themes more interesting to her than the happy endings of her previous fixation. She had already been a fan of Clive Barker's Books of Abarat series, and upon finding his more adult-oriented work, quickly took a liking to it, and before long branched out into a wider appreciation of the horror genre. Though she did end up reading many of the more famous horror novels published in the last several decades, she tended to prefer short stories, feeling that they allowed writers to explore unusual ideas more easily without running the risk of those concepts outstaying their welcome. In addition to professionally published works, she also began to enjoy reading scary stories posted online on various websites, as well as dramatized readings of those stories by users on YouTube.

She began to spend a lot of her free time on the computer at this point, browsing the internet and looking for music to listen to on YouTube while she read. She developed a particular interest in the post-hardcore genre, cultivating a lasting routine of relaxing by listening to bands such as Orchid and City of Caterpillar. When she was particularly bored, she would often peruse the comment sections of uploaded songs on YouTube, getting in arguments with the other posters over matters that were usually fairly insignificant. However, she began to engage in that activity much less after figuring out how to download music through various file-sharing sites. She quickly accumulated a large digital collection of pirated music, though she would occasionally still purchase physical albums by artists she liked, mainly out of a collector's desire to own the physical release rather than any particular moral compunction. Listening to music, particularly louder music, allowed her to drown out the outside world while working or reading, and it was a comfort to her to be able to relate her more negative feelings to the often aggressive or melancholy tone of the songs that she listened to.

Jackie noticed the change in her daughter's overall mood and began to suggest to her that she begin attending therapy again. While initially hesitant, Billie obliged, going through a few months of unproductive sessions before giving up on the matter again. She continued to take the anti-depressant medication that had been prescribed to her for several more months before giving up on that as well, finding that they had little impact on her depression. The experience left her with a fairly negative opinion of mental health treatment in general, believing that the professionals that she saw intended to paper over her negative experiences by chemically adjusting her mental state and convincing her to avoid thinking about the things that made her most unhappy. Though Jackie remained concerned about her daughter's mental well-being, she decided not to press the issue again, instead resolving to keep an eye on Billie for any signs of self-harm or suicidal behaviour just in case, as well as remaining as encouraging and supportive as she could be as while her daughter continued with her physical rehabilitative treatment. It was during this period that Billie's grades in school began to slip from a B average down to a C average, a situation that would stick with her through high school.

In high school, she began to supplement her horror reading with watching horror films as well, loving the creepy atmosphere and often bizarre special effects. On a whim, she decided to start a blog where she posted reviews of the movies that she watched. Her blog sees hardly any traffic, and her writings often straddle the line between reviews and diary entries, sometimes containing only tangentially related rants about a variety of topics as well as the occasional philosophical musings. She also started to spend time browsing various social media sites to discuss and often argue about her opinions concerning music and fictional works with other users. In particular, she maintains a pseudonymous Twitter account where she seeks out arguments with others in order to blow of steam, though her harsh language has a few times resulted in her being banned and having to make a new account to continue with her hobby. She maintains strong opinions about the film industry and music in general, and will fiercely defend them whenever the opportunity arises. She maintains a particular hatred for the singer Billie Eilish, though that is less because of her music and more because she is extremely annoyed about the non-infrequent occurrence of people bringing up the artist's name when Billie introduces herself.

However, this increased level of social interaction has not resulted in much improvement in her relationships with her peers. She is especially sensitive to any signs of pity or condescension from those around her, which often results in her rejecting well-meaning overtures from those around her. She is fairly bitter about the fact that she didn't get to have what she views as a normal childhood and has developed a distinct lack of sympathy for those who she sees has having it better than herself. She has come to hold a particular resentment towards those that identify as disabled yet do not experience the same degree of medical issues as she does, which has prevented her from forming potential friendships with others who may have otherwise related to her. She also maintains a particular distaste for disability rights activists, as she feels that they tend to sugar-coat how unpleasant it is to be in a situation like hers, and has entered into many heated arguments online over the matter.

While she manages to maintain a few friendships, her prickly and unpleasant attitude has alienated many of her peers, and it is difficult for her to get close to new people as she is constantly on the lookout for potentially untoward intentions on their part. Additionally, she has come to stubbornly insist on doing things herself and refuses to accept assistance from others, no matter how small or insignificant. Any suggestion that something may prove too difficult for her to do alone will increase her drive to complete the task out of spite, unless the task is evidently impossible. While she often feels lonely and isolated, she is also unwilling to act in a more agreeable manner, viewing it as an admission of weakness. She continues to maintain a secret anxiety that others see her as generally incapable and merely refuse to say so out of politeness which reinforces itself through colouring her interpretation of the actions of others.

While she has become accustomed to the occasional stares when she goes out, she resents the fact that those she encounters are often from her perspective inordinately polite with her, which makes her feel that she is being treated like a child or a pet rather than the young adult that she sees herself as. The frequent frustrations that result in interacting with people in person has caused her to prefer to socialize online, as while others there are often rude or downright mean, at least she can feel confident that they are treating her the same way they would treat anyone else.

Her relationship with her parents, while not perfect, has improved from her turbulent early teen years. She and her mother have, for the most part, reached an understanding about her desire for independence, and though fights between them still arise from time to time, they are usually resolved without hard feelings. Due to how long she has lived with her mother, Billie gives her a little more slack than she would give others, though she still views her as being a little bit too overprotective for her liking. Additionally, while she still has not fully forgiven her father for leaving, the space of time has caused the sting to fade somewhat. In recent months, he has made an attempt to reconcile with her, and though she is not certain of the reasons behind this change in behaviour, she has responded positively to them, though she still does not feel ready to accept his offer to come visit him in California.

While she has occasionally mulled over in her mind the possibility of tracking down the driver who injured her all those years ago, she has ultimately decided against it. Hearing him apologize would do little to make her feel better about the situation and neither would whatever revenge she could possibly take. Moreover, she feels that if she were to have him apologize to her in person, the socially expected thing to do would be to forgive him, and while her hate for him has faded over the years, forgiveness is not something she ever plans to grant.

Academically, her performance has been mostly average, though she struggles to keep up with mathematics, a situation exacerbated by her refusal to seek help or tutoring from others. She hopes to study film in college, and is excited at the thought of being able to live independently from her home. Currently, she and her doctors are working to put together a treatment plan that will suit her needs, as living away from home will limit the frequency with which she can check in with her doctors at the hospital. Her parents are both supportive of her plans, and her father has offered to help pay for her tuition, which has definitely lightened some of the anxiety involved in the transition.

Overall, Billie maintains a generally negative outlook on life, and while it has recently been lightened by the exciting opportunity of college, it has also been tempered by the anxiety surrounding how big the transition will be for her. She still feels that her quality of life is significantly worse than that of her peers, and the fact that she has struggled with depression for so long has made it difficult her to imagine a future where she is satisfied with her life. Suicidal feelings have come and gone throughout her life, but have not made more than a momentary appearance in her mind for over a year. A source of comfort to her is Benjamin, now considerably more tattered and worn than when she had first received him. Though she is somewhat embarrassed about still having an attachment to a stuffed animal at her age, viewing it as childish, she is loath to part with a possession that she has so many positive memories attached to. When she is certain that others are out of earshot, she occasionally directs her venting towards the rabbit, the activity softening the blow of many a bad day despite the toy's inability to return her affections.

Advantages: Billie’s suspicious nature makes it less likely for her to be manipulated by others, and her unwillingness to give up in the face of challenges may prove advantageous. Additionally, the lack of sensation in the lower portion of her body may allow her to shrug off injuries to that area that would immediately incapacitate others, at least for a short period of time.
Disadvantages: Billie's mobility issues will prove a significant hindrance, and her unwillingness to accept assistance may result in her ending up in otherwise avoidable danger. Her prickly attitude has caused many of her fellow classmates to dislike her, and her lack of trust in others will make it difficult to find allies. Her history of depression may also pose a difficulty, especially if her past suicidal ideation returns.

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Hello again, Skraal! I'll be critiquing Billie today, so let's jump right in with her.

It makes sense that Billie's lower body would be somewhat atrophied, but if her wheelchair can only be moved manually, I think she'd actually have pretty decent upper body and arm strength, since she's the one propelling herself around all the time. Basically, her upper body has to make up for the fact that the muscles in the other half are not as functional, so she'd have a little more muscle just on that basis. This isn't something that seems extremely relevant to her hobbies or daily life, but is something you could mention in the appearance section.

Right now, I'd like more expansion on most of Billie's hobbies, particularly the reasons why they appeal to her. Each hobby on the list should have its own dedicated paragraph covering when and why Billie got into them and how she engages with them in the present day. Her blog is covered well, as is her general interest in film, but horror and music are only lightly touched on. We also have a decent description of what else she is doing online, but not exactly why arguing on social media interests or fulfills her enough to actually be called a hobby.

Spelling/grammar:

Typically she owns two specially special bags that can be secured to the chair - a larger one to hold her school books and other supplies which can be strapped to the back and a smaller one that attaches to crossbars, just below the seat, which she uses to carry her phone, wallet and other necessities.

Replace that hyphen with a colon.

Her early years were uneventful - she was a happy child who did well in school, being a precocious reader, and though somewhat introverted, nevertheless got along well with her peers.

This one should be a semi-colon.

That's what I've got on the first pass. Billie's looking quite solid, and I think that you've done a good job of addressing the tricky stuff here, so it's just the other fiddly bits that need filling out, and she should be good to go! Post in here when you have made those edits, and I will give her another look.

[Skraal]

It's always the hobbies that get me, lol. I've edited the profile.

Changelog:

[+] Deletions and Rewordings

"Arguing on social media" has been removed from hobbies section

Though she is, for the most part, fairly unathletic, she does possess visibly defined muscle tone in her arms, especially in contrast with her legs, which are particularly thin compared to the rest of her body.

Typically she owns two bags that can be secured to the chair: a larger one to hold her school books and other supplies which can be strapped to the back and a smaller one that attaches to crossbars, just below the seat, which she uses to carry her phone, wallet and other necessities.

The wheels of the chair are mounted on a two-degree camber tube and can be prevented from moving by way of a plastic scissor brake that can be reached while her hands are still on their handrims.

Her early years were uneventful; she was a happy child who did well in school, being a precocious reader, and though somewhat introverted, nevertheless got along well with her peers.

Though having lost enjoyment of the books she had liked before, she soon instead developed an interesting in horror and thriller stories, their plots and themes more interesting to her than the happy endings of her previous fixation.

She began to spend a lot of her free time on the computer at this point, browsing the internet and looking for music to listen to on YouTube while she read.

[+] Additions

Though having lost enjoyment of the books she had liked before, she soon instead developed an interesting in horror and thriller stories, their plots and themes more interesting to her than the happy endings of her previous fixation. She had already been a fan of Clive Barker's Books of Abarat series, and upon finding his more adult-oriented work, quickly took a liking to it, and before long branched out into a wider appreciation of the horror genre. Though she did end up reading many of the more famous horror novels published in the last several decades, she tended to prefer short stories, feeling that they allowed writers to explore unusual ideas more easily without running the risk of those concepts outstaying their welcome. In addition to professionally published works, she also began to enjoy reading scary stories posted online on various websites, as well as dramatized readings of those stories by users on YouTube.

She began to spend a lot of her free time on the computer at this point, browsing the internet and looking for music to listen to on YouTube while she read. She developed a particular interest in the post-hardcore genre, cultivating a lasting routine of relaxing by listening to bands such as Orchid and City of Caterpillar. When she was particularly bored, she would often peruse the comment sections of uploaded songs on YouTube, getting in arguments with the other posters over matters that were usually fairly insignificant. However, she began to engage in that activity much less after figuring out how to download music through various file-sharing sites. She quickly accumulated a large digital collection of pirated music, though she would occasionally still purchase physical albums by artists she liked, mainly out of a collector's desire to own the physical release rather than any particular moral compunction. Listening to music, particularly louder music, allowed her to drown out the outside world while working or reading, and it was a comfort to her to be able to relate her more negative feelings to the often aggressive or melancholy tone of the songs that she listened to.

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