Better Off Dead (Kellin's Daughter)

Chapter 7

There is a knock on the door. Vic answers it and I watch him hug the person on the other end. Sami and Eric both come in. I see Danielle peak in and I wave to her. Sami hugs me.

"Sami, this is Vic's fiancée, Danielle. They are getting married a month before you are." Eric is staying quiet, much like Tony. I revert back to my normal quiet self, letting them talk. "So Sami, what do you do for a living?" "I am a paramedic through the fire department now."

She smiles at me. "Going through high school I was heavily into soccer. I almost went to college on a full ride scholarship because of it. I ended up dropping soccer to focus on studies. I was going to go to medical school. My plan was foiled when I realized who I thought was my dad had the BRCA gene running in his family. I want to have kids and I knew if I went to medical school, I probably wouldn't have had that chance had I carried the gene. I love my job though."

He smiles. I see realization cross Vic's face. "Wait, Rachel, she was who we were talking about earlier?" I nod. "Can I tell her?" I nod. "Rachel was invited to join SDSU in the fall on a soccer scholarship. Her coach wanted me and you to train her once her knee is healed enough to do so."

She gives me a curious look. "What did you do to you knee?" "A lot. Ended up with a torn ACL, MCL, and MPFL. I had surgery back in May." "Wow." There is a knock at the door again. "Oh fuck, I forgot Mike and Jaime were coming. You'll get to meet your other uncle, Mike, and my other bandmate, Jaime."

Danielle opens the door and I see Mike with Alysha and Jaime with Jessica. Mike has a moment of processing. "Why does there appear to be two Rachel's?" "Well I mean, technically we are half-sisters." She looks at me. "Really? Mom or dad?" "Mom. My dad I share with this little munchkin." I give Copeland a side hug.

I hear Vic talk to Mike. "Mike, meet your biological niece, Sami." I'm getting overwhelmed fast. I see Vic notice and he whispers to me. "You could go inside, second door on the left. Try not to break anything, but touch whatever you please besides the computer. It's soundproof." I nod.

I go inside and end up in a music room. I grab one of the acoustic guitars and mess around with it and my song. I hear the door open and close. Tony is in the room with me. "Are you okay?" I nod. "There was too many people. I just got overwhelmed."

He nods. I look at him. "Can I go out on a walk?" He nods. I put the guitar away and walk out of the house. I'm just walking down the street with my music playing when I feel a sharp pain in my left leg. I hear a police officer. "Put your hands where I can see them."

I immediately obey. He arrests me and I get thrown into the back of the car. When we get there he pulls me out. "You have one call." I shrug. "I don't know anyone's number." I get thrown into a cell rather violently and I fall to the floor, hitting my head on the ground.

I immediately retreat to the corner of the cell. I feel horrible. I don't know what I did wrong. Tears begin falling from my eyes and I begin scratching myself, hard. "Kid, could I talk to you?" "No, leave me alone."

I hear the person sigh and walk away. Eventually, I hear a familiar voice. "Rachel, what happened?" I shrug and stay in the corner. "You didn't do anything, right?" I nod. "I'm taking you out tonight." I don't respond and he leaves.

I go back to scratching my arms. I get taken out of the cell and I'm handed my phone. I get back to Tony. He leads me to the car. I stay quiet. "Did they hurt you?" I shake my head, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Are you gonna talk?" I shake my head again. He sighs. We get back to his home and I immediately lock myself in the room he is letting me use. I take the blade out of my phone case and drag it against my arms. I don't know what I did wrong, but obviously it was something.

I curl up into a ball on my bed. I hear the door click and a sigh. The blade is taken from beside me and a few moments later my bed shifts. I feel him take my right arm away. He cleans and wraps it up, adding liquid stitches to a few of the deeper cuts. He pulls my left arm right after and does the same.

"Rachel, I want to talk about this." I look at him with sad eyes. "What happened?" "I-I don't know. I-I was j-just w-walking down the s-street. S-Suddenly, t-there was a b-burning p-p-pain in my leg and I was b-being told to p-put my arms w-where he could s-see them."

I see him look at my leg. "C'mon, you need to go to the hospital." He picks me up and carries me out of the room. He places me in the car. I watch him shake his head. "They said you were vandalizing things. That would've given them no reason to shoot you."

I go back to being silent. My phone rings and I jump. My heart begins hammering as I see it's Dad. I click answer. "Rachel, what did you do?" I immediately flinch away from the tone of his voice. "I-I d-don't know. T-They j-j-just sh-shot me and th-then ar-arrested me."

Tony takes the phone. "Kellin, she didn't do anything. You don't see how broken she is right now. She is terrified and you are making it worse by yelling at her." I'm shaking really bad at this point and tears are streaming down my face once again.

He puts the phone on speaker and I hear Dad. "Rachel, I'm sorry." I don't reply, I'm not sure if I can. I pull my knees up to my chest and bury my face against them. We pull to a stop and I feel someone pick me up. "Shh, it's okay. Breathe."

I'm trying but I can't. "Kellin, I'll talk to you later." He ends the call and carries me inside. I get brought back quickly. "She needs surgery to remove the bullet. Is there any way you can get one of her parents on the phone?" I hear Dad a few moments later. "Tony, is she okay?" "The doctor wants to talk to you."

"Hello Mr Quinn, Rachel will need surgery to remove the bullet from her leg as well as to fix other potential damage. You need to approve it." "Yeah, of course." I'm slipping in and out of consciousness.

I feel them prepare me as I'm being brought back to the OR. I hear the heart rate monitor beep a few times before it slips into a solid line.