A/N: Rachel meets someone unexpected and get the gauntlet thrown at her as the Dark 22 nears its end. Enjoy.

9: Letter 8

October 17, 2017

6:25 A.M.

On my usual mornings before school I would do a mile lap of my neighborhood and the surrounding vicinity. This always gives me a chance for reflection and clearing my thoughts. And boy had Ross been on the brain.

"Take me away Ed Sheeran…"

As the opening bars of Castle on the Hill began to echo in my ears my feet began leading the way. As much as people would like to badmouth Schenectady for being full of drugs, and gangs just as much as the greater Bronx area, its my home and the home of the people I'm proud to call my family.

"I'm on my way…" The turn onto the street was quick as my slow and steady pace wasn't. This reminded me of Phoebe dogging me because she ran through Vischer once flailing her arms around like Kermit. As the blocks slowly passed the dim streetlights slowly began to switch off as the first rays of sun began to trickle through.

"We watched the sunrise over the…" But as I turned again my foot slipped onto the open sewer grate sending my body lunging sideways into the nearby fence. My head smacked it hard as I fell limp into the grass.

"Wait isn't…" The last thing I knowingly saw before my vision went dark was an elderly woman. I don't remember what she looked like from the distance, but she did seem really familiar.

2 Hours Later

My head throbbed in pain as my vision slowly came back to life. In the distance I could hear humming, I knew that wherever I was I wasn't kidnapped. Cause James MacCavoy wasn't talking to himself in 8 different pitches. As the sight became clear I now saw the pictures the woman who rushed to my aid was in a majority. Along with a brunette girl and a younger guy with a really familiar face.

"What the…" It was then that the woman came out carrying a tray with tea set to match as she noticed me gendering at the photo of the 3.

"Judy…" The woman mentioned as she set the tea set down. "My late daughter."

In horror I now realized where I was. "Are you…"

She smiled and rubbed my face where I had smacked into the fence. "Althea Geller, and I see you and my grandson have taken quite the liking to each other."

My embarrassment was heavy as I slowly lifted myself from the couch. "Is Ross here?"

"No, that Julie picked him up just 10 minutes after I took my morning stroll. You don't have to worry about school I gave something to Ross to let them know you were going to be late."

Althea had that mix of wisdom and grace, something that you can admire for someone who now was the primary guardian of a bonafide orphan. Now she checked the scratches on my face to see if there was additional blood while handing me the poured teacup.

"Here, Herbal always gets Ross in the right mindset when he's studying."

Pain throbbed repeatedly so I took the quick hot liquid sips no questions asked. But all that was on my mind was the fact that I'm in Ross Grandmas house and he barley said a peep.

"Althea, does he say anything about me?"

"Ever since he lost his mom that second day of school and recovered in record time, he can't help talking all sorts of nice things about the five of you. Even that Julie who has glued herself to him. I know I'd love to be there for support since I'm the last line in his family, but my age makes that difficult. However, the way you and your friends have endeared himself to him just makes me grateful to see him alive again."

Now I was really set to cry, whatever I had written down from 10 years in the future seeming predictions have already started to alter. It may not yet be April but if this truth from his Grandmother is a first step this path forward needed to take. I only wish I could tell the others about this. The warm smile of Althea was rewarding enough.

"Rachel, are you feeling okay now."

"Yes, I think I can find my way from here."

"I already have a bus called to run you to school. Take it slow ok?"

It took another 16 minutes before the city bus arrived and that allowed me to get to my feet. Thankfully I have extra clothes in my gym locker to tie my over. On the bus ride to school everything was in flux, I may have labeled this as the Dark 22 but Althea just brought my light into clear focus.

After arriving at school however, Julie saw me check into the office, she came my direction as I headed out and moved for the gym.

"Rachel Hi."

"Hi Julie, you're looking well."

"You're not bleeding, are you?"

I checked my head to make sure of that. "No, Ross grandmother took care of that."

"Ok, just keep your distance from her house ok."

Now my face went into a bit of shock. "Why…"

"Well, lets just say Ross wouldn't want you diving into his personal stuff without his knowledge would you?"

The tightening on my face mixed with the anger that was now starting to boil. "Exacty what do you know?"

"Enough for the concept of extortion. You'd best be telling the other 4 of your group to keep it the same way as well."

As she hopped off Monica's trick of giving the finger without actually doing it reared into my hands and I repeated it for nearly a minute until she was gone. The anger swelled in me as I reached the locker room and changed.

"You, Bitch."

This Julie issue was going to come to ahead, and now I just got the ammunition needed to end this dark 22.

A/N: We conclude the Dark 22 in Chapter 10: Letter 9 As Always Subscribe for more.