Everyone says that my sad, depressing stories are the best (should I be worried?) so that's what I'm doing here. This takes place waaaaayy back in the first season, in "Lazarus", when Scully has been kidnapped by Dupre. This is based on background I came up with and spoke of in a script, as a kind of explanation as to why Scully always seems so businesslike and doesn't really just "kick back". Please send all comments, cheers and flames to the address below. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are characters belonging to Chris Carter. Story idea is mine alone. No copyright infringement intended. Insert favorite disclaimer here: WHEN THE PAST COMES BACK TO HAUNT YOU By: Alyse Wax (AlyseW@aol.com) ************************************************************* Friday evening March 14, 1984 Dana glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. Her parents had gone out to dinner, and Ryan was supposed to pick her up for dinner. Except she didn't want to go to dinner with him. He had been growing increasingly violent. Okay, so he mostly just yelled at her. But there was that time when he slapped her.... She had tried to get in touch with him all day, but his brother said he had errands to run, and wasn't going home before their date. _Ding dong ding_. The doorbell. Dana took a deep breath and then answered the door. "Hi. You look great," Ryan complimented her as he walked into the foyer. "Ready to go?" "Um, there's something I want to tell you first," Dana said slowly. Ryan's face grew cloudy. "I-- I don't want to go out tonight," she stammered. Ryan tightened his hands into fists at his sides. Dana backed up slowly, wishing someone was here with her. Except no one knew what was happening. "I don't want to go out with you at all. I can't take all the... violence." Ryan exploded. "Great. First my parents, then you. Doesn't ANYONE believe in me any more?" He charged towards Dana. Before she had time to do anything, he grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her against the wall. "Maybe that will teach you not to betray me, you little slut!" Those last words were lost in a sea of darkness. ************************************************************* Saturday morning March 15, 1984 Dana awoke slowly. The first thing she saw were her parents. "Mom! Daddy!" "Feeling better, Starbuck?" her dad asked softly. "A little. My head hurts." "Honey, do you know who did this to you?" It was her mom's turn to be concerned. "Ryan. He did it." She spoke with more certainty than she ever had in her life. "Ryan? Why in the world would he do a thing like this to you?" Slowly, the whole tale came out. ************************************************************* Wednesday afternoon May 9, 1984 "The court finds the defendant, Ryan Foster, not guilty." The judge slammed his gavel against the desk. "Court dismissed!" Dana rose slowly from her seat. It was all over. The prosecution couldn't get any of the charges to stick. Sure, he had been expelled from school, but it just wasn't enough for Dana. She took a deep breath as she walked out of the courtroom with her parents. She wasn't going to let this ruin her life. It was time to move on. ************************************************************* Friday night\Saturday morning June 16\17, 1984 Dana was having the time of her life. A friend was having a huge summer party, and had invited hundreds of people, apparently everyone she knew. She was talking to her best friend, Cathy, when another friend, Caryn, came running up. "Hey Dana. Take a look at who's over there." Dana looked through the crowds of people to see Ryan talking to some old classmates. She tried to turn away before he spotted her, but it was too late. He was heading their way. "Shit," she muttered. "See ya." Caryn began to drag Cathy away. "Don't you dare," Dana hissed, grabbing them by the wrists. "Hello Dana, long time, no see. You look lovely," Ryan said. "What do you want?" she asked coolly. "Well, I just wanted to see how you were. I haven't seen you in so long." "I'm fine. Thanks for caring," she retorted. Dana spun on her heel and stalked away, Cathy and Caryn following behind. ************************************************************* Later that night... Dana had forgotten about Ryan. She went over to the refreshment table, and helped herself to what must have been her twentieth glass of punch. "Hey, ya know I heard someone spiked the punch," said the football quarterback, Neil Garrison said, coming up besides her. Dana giggled. "That must be why I feel so light headed." "Me too," Neil agreed. Just then, Cathy came up to them. "Dana, I'm leaving. Do you need a ride?" She eyed her warily, noticing her drunken state. "No, I'll catch a ride home with someone," she said, her speech slurred. "Let's dance Neil." She dragged him out onto the dance floor. Cathy shrugged and left. ************************************************************* Early that morning.... Dana's bloodshot eyes were so blurry that she could barely make out the time on her watch. 4:31. There were very few people left, most of whom she didn't know. There was Ryan, on the other side of the patio. He noticed her stumbling around, and walked over. "Dana, you don't look too well. Do you need a ride?" "Yeah. Okay," she mumbled. He put his arm around her to help her out to his car just in time, for she passed out. ************************************************************ Saturday afternoon June 17, 1984 Dana awoke slowly. She had a cramped neck, her eyes were watery, there as a foul taste in her mouth, her head felt as though she were Wyle E. Coyote and had just had an anvil dropped on her head, and her wrists and ankles were sore. It took her a few minutes to realize that her wrists and ankles were bound together, and her neck was stiff from sleeping on a hard, wood floor. It looked familiar. She had been there a few times before. Then the horrifying reality hit her like a brick. It was Ryan's parents' cabin. "Well, well, well. I see you're finally conscious," Ryan's cold words reached her ears through the pain. "Why, Ryan? Why do this?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Why? I was denied a normal life by my parents, and you were the only one I really cared about, and you left. I want you to feel the pain I felt." "You sure didn't show it," she grumbled. "What?" Ryan kicked her in the back. "What did you say? Tell me, bitch!" He kicked her again, causing Dana to jerk away. "I said, you sure didn't show me you loved me by beating me!" Ryan kicked her again. "Don't you DARE talk to me like that!" He administered three more kicks to her body, but Dana only felt one before she fell back into the blissful nothingness of unconsciousness. ************************************************************* Dana slipped in and out of consciousness for a week. She was always grateful for the unconsciousness to return, which luckily occurred more often than consciousness. The times when she was aware of her predicament, she was horribly beaten. Ryan would kick her aside if she was in the way. He would poke her in the chest with a fork, and sometimes with a knife, asking what she thought it felt like to have your heart ripped out by someone you trusted. He would walk all over her, literally, and pulled her hair saying sometimes "he had been so frustrated, he pulled out clumps of hair." Dana tried to disassociate herself with what was happening, but it was hard. Occasionally, he would give her a few sip of water, but never enough to satisfy her. The only thing Dana could do was to pray. But it seemed her prayers would never be answered. And than she fell back down the dark hole. ************************************************************* Sunday evening June 25, 1994 Dana jerked awake sharply. How long had she been out? Where was Ryan? What was he about to do? She looked around at her surroundings, confused, before she realized it had all been a dream. She wasn't back in Ryan's cabin, although her current situation wasn't much different. She was chained to Jack Willis' radiator, his hostage. At least, it was Jack physically. Mentally, she wasn't sure anymore. Dammit, she thought that the nightmare's had stopped. She thought that she had finally put the... incident with Ryan behind her. No one knew, not even Mulder. Just her parents. She had been fine. But this thing with Jack opened old wounds, and poured salt into them. She heard a door slam, and knew she was alone. She wept. Finale. "I got the anti-Christ in the kitchen yellin' at me again... silent all these years" "Silent All These Years" -- Tori Amos "She screams in silence... a sullen riot penetrating through her mind" "She" -- Green Day