Salem has seen many villains grow out of childhood trauma, and Rachel’s story has many people worried that history is about to repeat itself.

After the shooting of EJ and a series of deviant behaviors that Marlena temporarily shields, Rachel enters a period of greatest vulnerability.

She is the child of two people with too much tragedy, too many wrong decisions: Brady and Kristen.

Amidst all that twisted love, Rachel gradually forms a worldview where the line between right and wrong is no longer as clear as in a textbook.

Brady, despite loving his daughter dearly, is not always there at the right time. He is torn between his own affairs, complicated adult relationships, old obsessions with Kristen, and the constant guilt of letting Rachel witness so many terrible things. When a father is tired, it is almost inevitable that he will miss the small signs in his daughter. Rachel’s occasional bouts of insecurity, her half-joking comments about wanting to control everything, sometimes just flashed through Brady’s mind as a fleeting worry, then were overshadowed by other drama.

That’s where Sophia stepped in. With her sweet, sweet exterior, Sophia was the kind of friend any little girl would want: understanding, a good listener, willing to stand up for her when adults wouldn’t. But those who observed closely would see something slightly off about the way Sophia influenced Rachel. Instead of pulling Rachel toward healing, she often subconsciously (or intentionally) pushed her friend to feel like a special victim, someone who had been wronged by the world, someone who had the right to react more strongly than usual.