April 1976
Chris has always had a good relationship with her Aunt Lisa, who is her mother's younger sister.
It has been a while since her last visit, but today she's there with baby Emma, who isn't so much of a baby anymore, at just over two years old.
Her own mother coos over the little girl, with her big brown eyes and long dark lashes, giggling as she is passed between them.
Chris holds her cousin briefly, though she avoids too much eye contact with the toddler, who plays with her necklace and babbles at her before being returned to her mother to be showered with kisses.
She is so loved.
And with good reason.
It was no secret that Lisa and her husband Mike had been trying to have a baby for years before Emma came along, adopted at just days old. Her own mother says that nature can be cruel – that people like Lisa and Mike make great parents but can't have a baby of their own, and other people don't have to try very hard at all.
Still, Emma is here now. They dote on her.
And she is happy. Oblivious.
Chris thinks she should feel more, but can't feel less.
Instead, she settles on the thought that for once in her life, she has done something good.
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Cause & Effect: The Five Defining Moments in the Life of Christine Hargensen
FanfictionChristine Hargensen - a notorious bitch and the most relentless bully at Bates High School. A look at how she might've got there. 'Carrie' Pre-series/ Backstory - based on the 1976 film by Brian De Palma
