THE SCARS

"What did she say?" Ryan asked Seth as he walked out of the pool house after saying a few words to Rachel.

"In her exact words; 'Can you get Ry'?' Does she ever call you Ryan?" Seth said.

Ryan looked through the glass walls of the pool house, at his sister who was sitting on the bed, one leg tucked under her.

He shook his head at the comment. "She never has."

And with that he entered the pool house, noticing that Rachel had already changed. She now wore seat pants, a turtle neck to hide her latest wound, and Ryan's favourite jacket. It was more her usual attire, and Ryan wasn't sure how long it would take before she could be convinced to dress up and attend another party.

He sat down on the bed with her. "I remember when you gave me that," he said referring to the jacket.

Rachel looked down at the garment and went to take it off. "Do you...?"

"No," Ryan replied. "It looks good on you."

He reached out a wand and smoothed down her still wavy hair.

"Ry'..." she began.

Ryan looked at her. Really looked at her. "Yeah?"

"Can I..." Rachel couldn't find the words. "You wanna know right? What he did to me...you want to know."

Ryan placed a hand on her arm as if for reassurance. "I don't have to know, but I'd like too."

"I wanna show you...but I..."

"You can trust me Rach, with anything."

Rachel took in a deep breath and nodded. "I know."

She then removed the jacket placing it next to Ryan who was unsure of what she wad doing. Rachel removed the turtleneck to reveal a black spaghetti strapped top underneath. She pulled down the left side only slightly, to reveal a heart shaped scare below.

"It was burned," she whispered.

Ryan couldn't believe what he was seeing and he knew that this was not the worst. Somehow he just knew.

Rachel put the top back down and touched his now shaking hand.

"Are you..."

"I'm fine," he lied.

He hated lying to her, almost as much as he hated seeing her get hurt. But this time was different, he was lying to her only to help her.

Rachel pulled the bottom of the black top up until her pierced navel was showing. Deep scars lay from the base of her sternum to the top of the blue stone which pieced her flesh.

"They were nails."

Ryan touched her stomach where the scars were trying to think of what kind of a monster would do this to an innocent child. He could feel her muscles trembling beneath his touch and something clicked within Ryan's head.

"That's why he grabbed your waist. The first day he came, he rapped his arm around your stomach."

"He knows my weak spots," Rachel replied though her voice was hollow.

Despite its toned appearance, Ryan knew that this would be one of her most vulnerable areas. There was no telling how deep the wounds were, or if they would ever fully heal.

Letting the top fall back to its original place Rachel moved band on the top left side of her pants down to her hip line and Ryan's eyes fell upon a black tattoo inked into her flesh. 'Hate' was all it said in a demon style of writing.

"The first," she said.

Ryan felt numb. "He did that to you?"

Rachel shook her head. "No."

Ryan looked up at her and their eyes met as she spoke the words.

"I did."

Ryan frowned at that.

"It was after the first time anything had happened and I had just gotten to the point where I was on the edge...literally. One more step and I was gone."

"When...when was...?"

"Soon after you left, as you know, mum was close to follow, which left me pretty much to fend for myself. You don't know what it's like Ry', to think that...this is how it's gonna end. You're alone, you're scared, you're in a town where no one is safe...and you're being pushed constantly by some wacko you don't even know."

She paused for a long moment, her minds eye travelling back to the time itself.

"I remember, just thinking, 'what am I doing?' I was mentally and physically, just so broken. And I thought, why not symbolise that, mark it into my life."

Fixing the band to its original place Rachel let Ryan take in what she was saying. His face showed the shock of hearing her story at last, but also curiosity.

"Was that the only one?" He asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No. I've got a few more, not as straight forward as this but...the same kinda deal."

Ryan went to speak but found that he couldn't, the words just wouldn't form in his mouth. It was only when Rachel told him to say it did he.

"Can I see?"

His sister looked at him for a time suddenly realising everything that she had revealed to him. This was the life that she had lived, the life that he had not been apart of, the life she had sworn she would never tell. But somehow she knew that she had too. No matter how much she used to think he didn't, her brother cared about her more than anything. He wanted to protect her, to help her through whatever it was that she was going through.

Like him she had the skill of shutting herself out, of not letting people in and that would one-day get her killed.

Rachel moved her hand to her left wrist and removed the silver watch along with the bangle, which she wore. Turning the palm of her hand to face up, Ryan's eyes fell upon a tiny tattoo, the size of his little fingers nail at most. It was a small half of the Yin and Yang symbol. It was the dark half.

Leaving her things lying next to them, Rachel turned so that her back was to him and pulled the bottom of her top up yet again.

"You might have to..." she began.

Ryan took the material from her and moved the top up until he saw what appeared to be a 1 inch heart with a dagger hanging overhead, on her left side. The weapon was placed as though it would fall and destroy the vital organ at any moment.

Ryan touched the art and felt Rachel's muscles stiffen slightly.

"They're all in black," he said.

"They're all on my left side," she replied.

Ryan put the top back down and Rachel showed him the last of the symbols. She placed her foot on his thigh and rolled up the bottom left leg of her pants revealing a chain of word's in a language Ryan had seen before, linked around her ankle.

"At the end of all things," she translated. "It's Latin."

She unrolled the material and crossed her legs in front of her. "That's my canvas," she said.

Ryan looked interested. "Why are they all on the left?"

Rachel shrugged. "That's the side all my scars are on, it's pretty much the dark side of me. It's the part that represents who I used to be, how I used to deal."

"Has Seth seen them?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah," she said nodding. "A couple of days ago. It was an accident though, I normally try pretty hard to cover them, but you know how it is when you're sharing a room with someone."

Rachel cut herself off. She didn't want Ryan to think that anything had been going on between her and Seth. Nothing had. Yet.

"Does he know..."

"Their meaning? No. Accept for the obvious." She met his eyes again. "No one but you does."

Ryan smiled slightly. "When are you going to start on the light side?" He asked pointing to her right.

Rachel looked directly at him. "When things turn that way."

Ryan nodded at that knowing full well what she meant. Everything that had lead to this moment in her life was based around pain and loss. She would only start believing in something good, the day she moved past the hurt.

"You know what I think?" Ryan asked.

"No."

He touched the side of her face. "I think it's time you stopped hiding."

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

(Hey all. I know this chapter was a little short but I wanted to have the whole admitting-to-everything-that-had-happened chapter. The next one has a few things that were taken from the episode 'The Best Christmukkah Ever'. I've changed some of the scenes and stuff so that they fit in with the story. Hope you enjoy. Please review.)