She wasn't a secret, per say. She was more, a little bit hidden. Like, pushed in the back of a photo, so no one noticed her. It wasn't her doing, more of her parents. She wasn't important. She was even less important than her closes brother, Peter. All the shine and glory had to fall upon her oldest brother Nathan. But, she never blamed him. She blamed her parents. Nathan had his life pretty much planned out for him since birth.
Still, growing up, she was also closer to Peter. When she needed help with her homework, the logical solution would to go to Nathan, because he is older and smarter. Yet she went to Peter. Nathan would hardly have the time or want to help her, but Peter would. He would set aside anything he was doing to help her.
With Nathan and politician, Peter a nurse, Rachel didn't have much else to choose from that differed from the category or genre of jobs that her brother's choose. When she was little, she always dreamed of growing up and becoming some important person. So then, she could shove it in her parents faces and say "Ha! See, I can be somebody, too!". But, that dream soon expired when Peter taught her that being somebody really important wasn't as important as it seems.
Nathan had always been adored and favored by their father. And their mother had always favored Peter. So, in a way, Peter didn't know what it was like to be her, exactly. No matter how much she wished he could really understand.
She was the forgotten third child. And that was how it always was. Her parents hardly bothered with her, and Nathan was too busy with his own life, which was actually his parents life. Peter was a little more compassionate, but never truly could understand exactly how she felt. How lonely and how she knew how much of a disappointment she was to her parents.
The phone rang softly, and Rachel watched as no one bothered to answer it. The table was full, as all of the Petrelli's sat there. With the exception of Mr. Petrelli, who had six months ago died of a heart attack. They had dinner like this, every other month. Rachel never knew why and hardly ever showed up. It's not like she ever felt invited anyway.
She continued to pick at her food. Peter sat to her right, and Nathan to her left. Nathan's oldest, Simon sat across from her, with Heidi to his right and his brother Thomas to his left. Mrs. Petrelli sat at the head of the table. "Aren't you going to eat, Rachel?" She asked with that voice Rachel had grown to live with. Right now they were having dessert. Typical ice cream sundaes.
"Yes." She said as Peter pulled the three cherries off her ice cream and put them on his plate.
"Why'd you take her cherries? Rachel, don't let him do that." Angela said.
"She's allergic to cherries." Peter said, looking over at his mother.
"Since when?" She asked him.
"Since birth!" Peter answered.
Rachel drowned her ice cream in chocolate syrup and took a bite. After a moment, Angela asked, "Rachel what do you plan to do with your life? You can't sit around and mope. I think-"
"Seriously, mom? I don't need you fiddling with me life. I know that is all you do with Nathan, but leave me out of it." Rachel snapped out of nowhere. The table grew silent. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "I just have a really bad headache. That was…offhand." She said before taking another bite of her ice cream.
"Yes it was." Her mother said to her. "Perhaps you should learn to control your anger."
Rachel faked a smile before tightening her grip on her spoon in anger. The lights suddenly flickered in the house. Rachel looked up. "What was up with that?"
"How am I supposed to know? Retched city should really learn how to handle the simple task of keeping the cities electricity on." Angela Petrelli said.
Rachel shifted in her seat. "Are you okay, mom?" She asked. "You seem…" Rachel struggled over the word.
"Bitter." Peter mumbled.
"You obviously don't spend a lot of time with her." Heidi threw in jokingly.
Everyone laughed, but it was forced laughter to cover up what they were thinking. Sighing, they ate for the next few moments in silence. After finishing her bowl, Rachel leaned over and took a spoon full of Nathan's ice cream, much to his complaint. She smiled before taking a sip of her water.
Rachel sat back in her seat and sighed. "I think I better go soon." Nathan said. "I really need to work on my speech for this party we are having next week."
"What do you want to talk about?" Rachel asked, starring at the empty bowl.
"I don't know. Probably something along the lines of how if at first you don' succeed, don't give up kinda thing. Something with a moral."
"It's not a matter of if you fall down, because you will. It's more of a question of if you're going to get back up. If you choose to get back up and continue on, it'll make you stronger, although you may not think so. You will probably consider giving up and staying down, but you never do. You will always find an inspiration to keep moving on. And if you are one of the ones that do stay down, then obviously you deserve to fall. Because if you are going to give up without a fight, obviously you don't deserve a chance to fight and prove yourself. You either get back up and fight your very hardest until you fall back down, and then some. Or, never try to fight at all and drift wherever the wind can drag you, not making anything out of what you have." Rachel said. "And then you flash a few flirty and political smiles, maybe a wink as they start to clap, and tell them all that you plan on always getting back up, and helping others get up as well."
The table was silent. "That's good. I like that, sis." Nathan said. "Maybe you can fax it to me later. But for now, I really have to go."
Rachel nodded as Nathan got up and made his way out of the room. "I think I should put the kids down to sleep." Rachel expected the boys to argue or complain, but they followed their mother out of the room obediently.
Rachel turned and opened her mouth to say how well the boys behaved when her mother cut her off. "It must have taken you a while to think up that speech, Rachel." Angela said.
"What is the matter with you?!" Rachel asked angrily. "Why can't you just leave me alone and appreciate me for the person I am! God! Maybe, if you stepped back from your own pride and stopped putting me down, you would see how smart I really am!" Rachel yelled as she stood up.
"I am merely pointing out your flaws so you are aware of them." Angela said, calmly. "And that is no way to behave."
"I am a grown adult. I think I am aware of my flaws, which seem to be all you care about me!" She yelled.
"Guys!" Peter tried to calm them down. The lights flashed before going out completely.
"Great." Rachel muttered.
"Okay, this…this is good." Peter said in the dark. "Why don't you two just take a deep breath?"
Rachel did as he said. A few seconds later, the lights flickered back on, but Angela was gone. "Of course." Rachel muttered before turning around and storming out of the room. Peter quickly followed her.
"Rachel! Rach, wait!" He called after her.
"What?" She snapped, stopping and turning around to face him.
"She doesn't mean what she says. She's just trying to make sure you are on the right path." He told her.
"Really? Cause I thought it was just the pleasure of seeing my pain." Rachel answered sarcastically. She turned and looked at the fireplace, where there were family picture on top of the shelf. She threw a look at Peter. There were five pictures. One was of Nathan, smiling that political smile and standing at a podium. The second was of Peter and Nathan. The third was of Angela and her husband. The fourth was of Nathan and his family. And the fifth was a family picture from when Rachel was ten, Peter was thirteen or twelve, and Nathan looked around twenty-one. Angela sat down in the front, with Nathan standing her behind her with one hand on her left shoulder, Peter was right next to her, and Rachel was off to the side departed form the others, a half smile half frown on her face.
Rachel grabbed the family picture. "See this? Remember this picture? Mom TOLD everyone where to stand. And then she pushed me off to the side, barely in the picture. That doesn't sound like she's trying to put me on the right path. It's sounds like she hates me and regrets me!" Rachel said as she slammed the picture down on the fireplace where it was.
"Listen." Peter said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "She loves you. Dad loved you. Nathan loves you. I love you. You are apart of this family whether you like it or not." He told her. "Besides, if you hate this family, that means you hate me, too." He smiled charmingly.
"It's like, I'm the one she loves to hate." She said. "I don't know what I ever did wrong!" Rachel said, her eyes watering. "I tried to do as I was told, I got great grades. Never disobeyed her. Never bugged or asked for anything. I just wanted to be included!"
Peter pulled her into a hug. "You know what, you just gotta get back up and keep running." Peter said to her.
Rachel gave him a hug back and smiled. She stepped back, told him she should go, glanced at the photo's one last time, and turned and left.