Old Wounds

This picks up a few months after the final episode of the Prospect Park version of AMC. I am bringing an old character back to Pine Valley: Jack's sister Christine AKA Kit who's storyline ironically got me hooked on the show in 1998!

Prologue

Seattle, Washington
Late March 2012

She had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the airport. In her dream, she was back in Pine Valley the night It happened. She was dressed in that sexy black dress that screamed for attention, the hem barely flirting with her knees, her bodice lacy and sheer. She was teasing every hungry-eyed man in the place, flaunting herself shamelessly. Then there was the one who refused to take no for an answer. Ryan. They dirty-danced, did everything on that floor but actually have sex. They kissed and he wanted to take her home and he had groped her just so but she was tired of being that cheap girl in that moment – the one men tossed aside when the encounter was over. She had made him no promises though every man in that nasty, edge-of-nowhere bar would say otherwise. He angrily bent her back over the bar and yelled at her, calling her nasty names, saying she was just a slutty princess like Gillian. She hadn't even known Gillian. Not then, but she would get to know the woman over the course of the next five months. She would get to know them all, and get to know the pain of the most ardent scorn directed at her. She would come to know the worst kind of shame and guilt. She would learn things even couldn't have comprehended before.

In the silence of the car, she kicked her legs lightly outwards. A cry was on her lips. She was back in the alley with the man in the mask. The terrifying Halloween mask. To this day, she couldn't watch a scary movie, especially one about werewolves. Miranda had tried to show her "New Moon" once and she was shooting out of her seat so fast and running for the safety of the bathroom where she holed up in the corner, pressed between the tub and toilet, for twenty minutes, Miranda hammering on the door in worry the whole time.

There she was in the alley again and he was yanking at her skirt, her panties, her whole body was tensed in fear. He kept his hand over her mouth and he laughed cruelly as she struggled, bucking beneath him as he penetrated her and made her cry because he was ripping her apart inside and out. And he was enjoying it too.

In her mind, she screamed as he left her bloody and broken in the alley, righted his clothes and took off like a shot into the murky dark of the night.

In reality, she was screaming too and only the sound of Jackson mercifully calling her name through the darkness wrapping around her could awaken her. He knew better than to touch her in moments like this….

Kit's eyes snapped open and she realized the car was stopped. She looked forward. They were stuck in downtown traffic. Kit finally turned to look at her brother. "That was … well, thanks," she murmured.

"You're welcome." Jackson eyed her carefully. "Are you sure you're ready for this, Christine? It's not too late to turn back."

Kit dashed at the humiliating tears staining her alabaster cheeks. "Oh, Jack, its fine. I'm fine. Just had a lil nightmare…" She sighed. "It's been almost two decades … I can handle this. No reason for me to renege on a perfectly good invitation. Besides, how often does my great-niece turn Sweet Eighteen?"

Jackson looked at her with a penetrating stare. "You're sure?"

"Aren't you the one who always says I can't run away from my problems?"

Jackson nodded. "That was me."

"Well I'm taking your advice. It's been years and I'm ready … I'm ready," she lied through her perfect, pearly white teeth.