Kimmy Katrel hasn't seen her father since sophomore year. It wasn't like she wanted to see him either. She was trying to forget about him and everything she experienced while under his wing. It was better to forget.
Her father had called at the start of the summer- wanting to see his kids. Kimmy couldn't understand if he wanted to see them why he couldn't come back to Riverdale. Not yet at least. So she agreed to spend the summer with him.
No school so she couldn't be distracted. It was almost as if it was all perfect.
Almost.
Her brother didn't want to come with her- he was angry with his father. He was young when he left, but he wasn't that young to not hold onto that anger. To understand the pain that his father had caused the two most important girls in his life. Of course Kimmy was angry too. But she felt that her father reaching out was a good thing.
He wanted a relationship.
So she packed her bags and her mother dropped her off at the train station. A train arrived and soon enough she was on it. Headed for Toledo with her valuables and ready to hear out her father. Ready to move on.
And when he picked her up from the station she didn't see what was wrong.
All she wanted was her father's love. If she had to prove herself to him she was willing. That is exactly where her father slithered in. Even though he had been the one to screw up and leave. She was still begging for love.
The summer started normal.
They'd hang out when he wasn't working. She got introduced to a few new people. Not people she'd consider friends. Izzy was back in Riverdale texting and calling every night. It seemed like everything was going well.
Until he introduced her to the Toledo serpents. It wasn't the serpents themselves that did this to her. No it was all her father. He had wanted his daughter to join the gang- something that her mother wouldn't allow.
But it was hard to say no. After all she was around them more often now that her dad introduced them- and because it was his place of business. Not even a week later she had begun to work with him. Still not part of the gang but nonetheless in it's business.
Stealing car parts, selling them. She knew it was illegal. She knew it was wrong. But it was her father. She was willing to overlook it because- it was him. So she stole stereos, radios, anything he asked. He was coming up short on rent and she was there to help him.
She stole and stole, until she got caught. A cop caught her red handed jimmying a wire into a window of a locked car. He took her in without question and let her sit in a cell overnight. At this point Kimmy knew she was fucked.
If she got caught- who'd she call? Her mom? She can't know. Her dad? Wouldn't that just be ratting him out? Before she could make up her mind about her one phone call her father appeared like a ghost out of thin air.
He promised that he would get her out. That she didn't have to worry. That her mother would never find out. If she would become a Toledo serpent, and stayed with him. And then it hit her like a ton of bricks. How he was slowly showing her the ropes, introducing her to the serpents, everything.
He planned this.
Maybe he even called the cops on her.
But she had no other way out. So she went through. She accepted his offer. And just like that- the cop let her go. He showed her a wide smile as her father walked her out of the jailhouse. They both got into his car and straight to the serpent hangout.
There was Gladys Jones herself. She didn't know what was happening. All she knew was that a new serpent was joining. And she couldn't be happier for some new hands. Without another thought Ms.Jones did the tattoo herself.
Right in the center of her back- where her bra strap covers- a Toledo serpent gang sign was inked on her. Kimmy hated every minute of it. She hated how the stinging felt like nothing compared to the anger she felt towards her father. As the needle pierced her skin she pictured her father getting punched in the face.
He could see the look on her face. He knew that she knew.
After she got the tattoo the drive home was silent, he spoke up. He told her that it was for the best. That it meant that she was really his blood. That before this they never really had a bond but now- she was daddy's little girl. Kimmy didn't say a word.
She knew the only thing left to do was leave. If she left then he couldn't do anything to her. If she went home there was no way she was coming back to him. No way. She'd tell her mom as soon as she came home about everything and have her in her corner.
Thats what she did. She brought a train ticket with the money she earned from the hustling. The money that she kept on the side of what she gave to her father to support the rent. Kimmy got on the train with her bag and headed straight home. As soon as she saw her mother in the kitchen she broke down and told her everything.
Her mother consoled her, told her she would protect her. Kimmy's mom told FP- Ms.Jones' husband. She explained to situation to him and he felt horrible. He vowed that if Kimmy didn't want to be a serpent then she wasn't. And if her father ever came to Riverdale she'd have the protection of all of them.
The next person she told was Izzy. And Izzy seriously wanted to go to Toledo to punch her dad in the face for her. But Kimmy calmed her down, promising her that she was never going back there, she was never going to see him. Izzy spent the whole summer trying to revert Kimmy back to her oldself.
It didn't work. Izzy soon realized that and just stuck with being her friend instead of trying to bring back the old Kimmy.
She wasn't going to return to being the girl she was before. Instead she turned into something better. A girl who had been screwed over and was still loyal to all the people she knew. She was going to channel all that love she had for her father into loving the ones she really cared about.
But now that her father is in town, is she safe to do that?
