THE PAST RETURNS

Luke couldn't pull his eyes away from the young girl who stood with Seth. Her eyes were amazing, a hazel brown and gold, filled with an inner strength. When she laughed he whole face lit up. He watched as Seth showed her to a seat behind Marissa who greeted them warmly. Something was said and the girl tilted her head, half smiling. The action looked so familiar to Luke but he couldn't place where he had seen it before.

The whistle blew and the game begun.

Marissa turned to Seth. "We'd better go help them out at the snack stall."

As soon as she turned Rachel lifted her head from Seth's shoulder and he awkwardly removed his arm from around her shoulder. This only made Marissa smile.

"It's okay guys, your secret's safe with me."

Rachel Seth looked at each other.

"You'll be okay for a while?" Seth asked getting up.

"Yeah, go help," Rachel replied.

He kissed her on the forehead and she playfully pushed him away. Rachel watched as they left, now sitting alone amongst a crowd of strangers she'd never seen before. The ones she figured knew Seth and Marissa gave her curious looks, which she tried her best to ignore. She fixed her eyes on her brother who was busy running around the field. He had improved a lot since she had last see him play.

When half time came Rachel moved away from the stands and closer to the pitch where she could be away from the prying eyes of the crowd. She watched Ryan's team in a tight huddle, his eyes were scanning the stands, until they finally fell on her. He smiled and gave her a small nod and she winked at him.

Seth came back near the end of the game, once Rachel had moved back up to her original seat. Marissa stayed behind to help.

"Hope you didn't miss me too much," he said sitting down.

"Miss you? What are you talking about?"

"Very funny."

"You'll just have to make it up to me later," she said kissing him.

"No complaints here," Seth replied.

"Damn straight."

The final whistle blew and New Port won the match.

"Come on."

Rachel pulled Seth up and headed for the pitch where Ryan was already preparing to leave. She ran up and threw her arms around him. Ryan lifted her into his arms and twirled her around like he had done when they were little.

"How's my favourite soccer player?" She asked.

"Tired," Ryan replied with a half smile.

"Nice game," Seth said finally catching up.

"Thanks man."

"You gotta get more fit Cohen, can't even keep up with me," Rachel said playfully.

"What are you talking about Rach? I do plenty of exercise," Seth argued.

"Seth, making your character run around on a Playstation game isn't exercise."

Luke stood not too far away still trying to figure out what the girl was to Ryan. He had already worked out that she had come to see him, so...

Girlfriend...? No, too young, plus he's with Marissa. Daughter...? No, too old...

"Kirsten and Sandy were sorry they couldn't make it, something to do with work...you know how it is," Rachel told her brother.

"That's cool, doesn't matter," he answered shrugging.

They headed for the parking lot talking about the game and Marissa's absense when a man in his mid-twenties approached them.

"Hello Deary," he said.

Rachel instantly froze and Ryan moved a little closer.

"Remember me?"

Flashes of her past instantly came flying back, things that she had managed to block out. Pain, suffering, anything that her worst nightmares had contained hit her all at once and Rachel began to shake slightly from the impact.

"I told you..." she said, her voice a little strained.

"You told me a lot of things," the man replied.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked knowing that the answer was not going to be a good one.

"Come to see an old friend."

The man lunged at Rachel but Ryan was quick to intercept him, knocking him back with a punch.

"Seth, get out of here," Rachel whispered.

"What?"

"Just go!"

Seth took one last look at her before obeying her wishes and disappearing back into the stadium to find help.

The man circled Ryan before attacking again, this time with more power than expected. Ryan was knocked off his feet before he knew what had happened. A group of men, looking very similar to the original attacker jumped on him and kept him from getting back up.

"Run Rach!" He screamed

But the girl didn't have the chance to go anywhere because the man – Marsal she recalled – was stalking her.

"You don't want to do this," she said.

He smiled at her and leapt forward, slamming her to the ground. Rachel's head hit the concrete with a violent slap and her vision went blank for a moment. She struggled beneath his hold trying her hardest not to cry out from the pain she was feeling.

"I'm gonna give you so much pain, you little bitch," Marsal whispered.

Rachel shook off the agony and smashed her head into his, knocking him back but causing more damage to herself then anyone else. Marsal punched her twice with a blinding force. Rachel's head rocked but she managed to double-fist him in the chest and kick him off. She rose to her feet shakily, looking over at Ryan who was finishing off the last of his attackers.

Marsal ran at her again and she sidestepped out of the way. He, however, had anticipated the move and snaked an arm around her waist, throwing her against a nearby car. Pain shot through her middle like she had only felt once before, the same pain had caused once before. She threw a punch at him, but her strength was gone.

Marsal suddenly was calm, almost intimate.

"We could have had something," he whispered.

He kissed her gently but Rachel pulled away.

"It was all in your sick mind, you freak," she spat.

"Now..." he said pulling out a knife and holding it to her throat.

"Rachel!" Ryan cried before being knocked down again.

"...you leave me no choice."

Rachel closed her eyes and expected the worst. When nothing happened she looked around and found Marsal unconscious at her feet. She let out a breath and her legs gave from beneath her as she collapsed only to be caught by a young man she had seen Ryan playing alongside. He helped support her weight against his body as Rachel breathed shallow, her head pounding so hard, she thought she might black out.

"Who...who are...?" She began, looking up at her rescuer.

"Luke," he answered rapping an arm around her for extra support.

Ryan ran to her then, the last of his attackers finally giving up. "Rachel..." he said.

Rachel breath caught for a moment and Luke let her lean on him more as her body began to shake.

"We should get you to a doctor," he said.

"No...I'm fine. I just want to go," Rachel replied.

She went to move but stopped short as her vision went blurry. A crowd was now beginning to form around the parking lot. Ryan nodded and Luke lifted Rachel easily into his arms walking to the four-wheeled-drive and placing her in the passenger seat. As she stepped away Seth came running up.

"Rach..."

"Seth," she began. "You're okay?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Then I'm okay."

He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant and leaned in to kiss her. Ryan's eyebrows went up at the gesture before he jumped in the car and drove back toward the house.

.........

After a couple of hours rest Rachel was up and about, almost back to her usual self. Ryan had been able to patch up most of her wounds and was relieved to see there was no serious damage to her skull.

"Hey," she said walking into the lounge where he was watching cartoons.

"Hey."

Ryan rose form his seat and went to help her but she brushed him off.

"I've had worse and you know it."

They sat together on the couch, Rachel laying across the length with her head resting on Ryan's chest. He didn't know what to say to her, didn't know how to ask about the previous incident even though her knew she was aware of what was going on. She and Seth had not been a surprise, Ryan knew that it was only a matter of time before they both admitted to their feelings.

"So...are you going to tell me what just happened?" He asked thinking saying it straight would be the best answer.

"Bugs Bunny got hit with a hammer," Rachel answered watching the television.

"It's nice to see you haven't lost your humour."

"Comes with the package."

Ryan ran his hand through her hair, it was still as soft as it had always been, smelling of strawberries and something that reminded him of the ocean. Rachel closed her eyes, trying to savour the moment. It was just like when they were younger.

"Well..." Ryan pried.

Rachel was silent, she didn't know what to do because she knew everything to say. She knew who the man was, she knew why he was in New Port and she knew the reason for the attack. But knowing all this made it even harder to open up to a brother who had not been there to experience it all with her in the last few months.

"Rach, you can tell me anything."

"I know...it's just..."

"What?"

Rachel took a deep breath. "The guy – Marsal – he moved in next door after you left. Not the best of people to be around, but it was Chino, no one was decent..."

"It's okay," Ryan reassured.

"He talked to me a lot, said that we had something...threatened some stuff."

Ryan wasn't going to force her to repeat everything, he was just happy that she was telling him the minor details.

"Did he ever...do more?"

Rachel was silent again and Ryan knew the worst had yet to come.

"One day, he came over drunk, going on about how great our relationship was and how we should..." she stopped, the words catching in her throat. "He hit me...abused me...I never knew if he..."

Ryan's voice was calm. "Why not?"

"Cos I was out cold before anything happened."

Ryan's heart ached for her, guilt ran through him in waved. If he had been there, he could have stopped it. If...

"I woke up on the floor," she continued a slow stream of tears now running down her face.

"It's okay," Ryan said. "He can't hurt you any more. He's long gone by now."

He felt her take a hold of the front of his shirt as if for reassurance. Rachel sat up slightly resting her hand on his leg for support.

"Luke," she said.

"What about him?"

"I never...I never got to say thankyou."

"It's okay. Rest now," Ryan said as Rachel layed back down. "We'll see him in the morning."

Rachel did as she was told and was soon fast asleep in her brother's arms.

TO BE CONTINUED.........

(I told you this was where it started to get interesting. Hope you liked this chapter. Please continue to review with any ideas, improvements, you know the drill. In the next chapter things get even more messy with Marsal as you realise that he will do more than just threaten. I'll update soon.)