Charlie's POV:

It was several hours before Alex came back home. I didn't really pay mind to the extent of the visit. They were probably recording. That's quite a long process. Also, I had been filming so time had passed quite quickly.

Alex came behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Anything I can do to help?" he asks, before kissing me on the cheek.

"Yeah," I reply "I've got all of the scenes scripted out," I hand him a thin packet of typed pages.

"You can go over it tonight and we'll film it tomorrow. Alright?"

Alex stares at the packet blankly, "Alright," he says, his voice distant.

"Are you feeling okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, fine," he answers.

He returns his gaze to mine, finally, and forces a smile. His eyes give away that his mind is somewhere else.

"Did something happen with Tom?" I am starting to get a bit worried now.

"Yeah," long pause followed.

I was beginning to think he wasn't going to answer when he said, "He's back with Kathrin".

"He's what?"

"I know".

"What has that psycho bitch done now?"

"I'm not sure the extent. I found some bruises on his arm. He won't talk about it".

I turn away from Alex, beginning to pace, "damn it! Doesn't he know what's good for him? Does he really want a repeat of last time? He's still got that scar. He's lucky he lived. I still can't believe he wouldn't let us call the cops. Everyone would benefit if that mad woman were put behind bars".

"Well, nothing can stop us if it happens again".

"It won't happen again," I insist.

I'm not sure how long I paced back and forth, ranting on and on before I picked up my phone.

"What are you doing?"

I turn back to Alex, "what does it look like I'm doing? I'm calling Tom".

Alex steps closer to me, "I'm really not sure that's the best idea".

I set my phone down on the desk, "I guess you're right…" after quite a bit of silence, I speak up again, "Well, what do we do, then?"

"We'll go over tomorrow. Get him out of the house. As long he's with us, he won't be with her. Then, maybe, we can try to start getting her away for good".

"Alright," I say my mind temporarily preoccupied with thoughts.

Eventually I wonder over to the bed and lie down. A few moments after the last bit of light has been sucked from my room, Alex wanders in. He goes to remove my trousers. I let him, not wanting to startle him. He drops my jeans to the floor and joins me in the bed. I continue to lie there, feeling a little more comfortable now that he is lying next to me. Eventually, I do will myself to sleep.

I'm sitting on the couch with Alex, playing Smash Brothers for the Wii. My phone rings.

I pick it up, "Hello?"

"Charlie!" comes Edd's frantic voice on the other end, "Come over right now, something's happened to Tom".

He hung up before I could ask questions.

I rush for the door, grabbing a coat and sneakers on my way out.

"What's going on?" Alex calls after me.

"Tom's in trouble".

I hear his muffled cursing and then footsteps on the stairs behind me. We make our way to Tom and Edd's house.

We arrive in the belly of chaos. Tom is writhing on the floor. His hands are groping his freshly bandaged side.

"Shit," Alex hisses, "How deep is the cut?"

"At least two centimeters," answers Edd, "all along his side"

"That won't be enough to hold him; we need to take him to the hospital".

We are bound away in the waiting room for what seems like years. Finally, a doctor comes to approach us. We stand to greet the incoming news.

"There is no internal damage. He'll heal up quite nicely. I'm afraid he'll have that scar for the rest of his life, though. Do any of you know how this happened?"

"No," Edd answers for all of us, "He just came home that way".

He didn't say what we all knew. It was Kathrin.

I wake up with a start. I peel off my shirt, sweat coating my body.

"Charlie?" comes Alex's calm voice from the dark.

"Just had a bad dream. Sorry to have woken you".

I fall back on to the bed and try to beckon sleep once more.