Hidden Identities

Chapter 1

It was late at night, practically morning by now, and Caissie was just getting home from one of her shows. She walked in, kicked her shoes off and softly shut the door behind her. Then she noticed Rachel at the dining room table, seemingly engrossed in schoolwork.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing up so late?"

Rachel looked up from the work she was doing. Her eyes had bags under them.

"What? Oh, just working."

Caissie frowned upon seeing how tired she looked.

"Well, I think it's just about time for bed," she said as she made her way over to Rachel, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Rachel sighed. She looked down at the work she was doing. Intro to Law. How fun.

"This case just makes no sense. I'm supposed to outline it but it's all over the place. I don't understand how one could be convicted of murder when she wasn't even in the country."

Caissie sat down beside Rachel, peering over her shoulder at her work.

"Well, why don't you tell me a little more about it? Maybe I can help."

Rachel nodded. She had read the case about 6 times so she basically knew it from memory.

"This woman, Brooke Winston, she's being accused of murdering her 45 year old husband but her alibi was that she was in Mexico when it happened. The only one that was home was her stepdaughter. Elizabeth" Rachel explained.

She bit at the skin around her nails, something she had suffered from for a while. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop. Most of the time she didn't even realize she was doing it.

"Nuh-uh," Caissie moved Rachel's hand away from her mouth, "none of that."

Then she thought for a moment. Law wasn't her strong suit but she would offer as much insight as she possibly could.

"Any more information on Elizabeth? She sounds pretty suspicious to me."

Rachel sighed. Her hands shook lightly as she wasn't able to bite them. Well, she tried not to.

"That's what I thought but they aren't considering her because she doesn't have any motive for killing her father." Rachel shook her head. Her nails subconsciously went to the skin she was previously biting, picking at it nervously.

Caissie noticed Rachel's increasing nervousness. The picking and biting at her skin was a telltale sign that something was just becoming too much.

"How about... we put this away for now, and get some rest?" Caissie suggested, rubbing her back gently as to ease her nerves.

Rachel continued to pick at her skin which was now becoming red and beginning to bleed slightly, unbeknownst to her.

"I would love to but this is due at 8 AM tomorrow. I'm not taking a zero" She replied.

Caissie sighed. She couldn't bear to watch Rachel do this to herself any longer. Standing up, she made her way into the bathroom to grab band-aids. When she made her way back over she sat down, taking Rachel's hands in her own, and proceeded to wrap the wounds up. Afterwards she held Rachel's hands firmly in her own as to prevent her from causing any more harm to herself.

"Okay, so we'll figure it out. But I can't have you hurting yourself in the process."

Rachel's leg bounced slightly. She could feel it. It was slowly rising in her chest. It felt as if she was being seared from the inside. She stared off to the right of her mother as her breathing quickened.