Ch.2

Fox walked Teresa to her door.

She hadn't said anything the entire way home.

He reached for the knob. It was locked.

"Do you have the key Resa?"

She shook her head.

"I can't go in there," she whispered.

Fox placed his hand on her back.

"I'll go with you," he murmured into her ear, gently kissing her temple.

She closed her eyes and handed him the key.

He opened the door and gently swung it open.

"Are you ready?"

She took a deep breath and walked in, immediately bursting into tears at the sight of their Christmas tree, surrounded by freshly wrapped presents.

"He won't even get to open these," she said, picking one of the boxes up. "I'm his mother, and I can't even give him his presents for the holidays…"

Fox said nothing. To be honest, he didn't know what to say to her. He couldn't even imagine the Hell she was going through.

She walked over to the fireplace, picking up a frame. She smiled through the tears as her fingers traced the outline of her son's face.

"My sweet little boy," she whispered.

Suddenly her face was filled with anger and rage.

She slammed the picture down on the fireplace.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, banging the picture over and over again, the glass shattering everywhere.

"TERESA!" fox ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her, trying to get her to stop.

"Teresa, calm down!" he cried, fear in his voice.

Finally she threw the frame down and collapsed in a sobbing heap on the floor.

She looked at the shattered picture.

"My poor baby, I'm sorry," she said trying to piece the glass back together. "I didn't mean to break you…I didn't mean to lose you…"

"Teresa you're bleeding."

It was then she noticed the cut on her arm.

Fox ran and got a towel from the bathroom, immediately trying to stop the blood.

"You must have cut yourself on some glass." He said, focused on her arm. "Does it hurt?"

Teresa stared at the line of red that had slowly made its way towards the floor.

"No," she said. "It doesn't hurt at all."

~ In fact, ~ she thought. ~It feels good. ~

"Here, put this bandage on it," Fox said, wrapping her arm in the white cloth.

Teresa looked up at him.

"Thank you," she mouthed.

He winked.

"I think it's time for you to try and get some sleep," he said, wiping her wet cheeks.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked, her voice almost pleading.

"Of course." He slowly stood up, then reached down and helped her to her feet.

A few minutes later, Fox was lying in bed. Teresa had gone to the bathroom.

"Teresa, are you coming?"

She sat on the cold toilet seat with the lights off. She hesitated as she reached for the small razor by the sink.

"Yea I'm cling." She called back.

She gently ran the sharp metal over her skin, too afraid to press down. Finally, she did.

She winced as she saw a trace of blood form across arm. She sighed as the blood began to flow.

"So this is what it takes to make the pain go away," she said, her voice barely audible.

Once she got the bleeding to stop, she walked back into the bedroom, and crawled in beside Fox.

"Are you ok?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

"Yea," she said, closing her eyes as she drifted to sleep.

"I'm fine."