JR blinked away the after burn from the last white flash of light. He was sat back on his bed in his room in the hospital. He was still holding AJ's letter and the magazine clippings. Had that been just a dream?

"Almost." said phantom Marissa leaning closer to peer over his shoulder at the letter in his hand.

JR jumped at the sight of her.

"Leave me alone." he snapped.

"But we have so much more to do." said the ghostly figure of his ex-wife, retaking her seat on the edge of his bed. "You've faced your past and now it's time to face your present."

JR simply laughed.

"So what you are going to do, lead me out of the hospital, back to Pine Valley?"

"No, we are going to talk." said Marissa.

She looked around the room with apparent interest.

"How are you finding the hospital?" she asked.

JR snorted with derision.

"Seriously? I want to be anywhere but here!"

"But there must be good points? They're helping you aren't they… or they were until you stopped taking your medication. And you're roommates; how are they?"

She was turning her attention to the bedraggled figure of JR's silent roommate, sat hunched up on the edge of his bed staring at nothing.

"He never does anything." said JR.

JR looked across at his still room mate who never spoke only stared into the distance. He only moved when the nurses came to take him for his meals and then he would come right back to the same spot and stare at nothing once more. Looking at him now JR could see a new tension in his room-mates shoulders now though, he wondered how he was taking the fact that JR had clearly started talking to himself.

"The other fellow inmate, Old Shane, he's alright." JR added, "A little too into his sports but… he sympathises. His wife took his son away from him so he knows exactly how I feel. He's been encouraging me to fight back."

Marissa frowned.

"You've been taking advice from one of your fellow patients?" she asked.

JR shifted uncomfortably at the implications.

"This is the minimum security unit. It's not like he's crazy… Not like tall, dark and silent over there."

"No." corrected Marissa. "It just means he isn't a risk to others any more, it doesn't mean he isn't delusional."

"Maybe about sports…" quipped JR, not quite understanding where this conversation was going.

Marissa slowly sighed.

"I think I need to tell you a story." she said…

…

Once upon a time a woman and a man fell in love and got married, it was the happiest day the woman had ever known! And then just a year later the woman discovered she was pregnant. Now this should have been a blessing, a joy, but it wasn't. Her marriage wasn't what she thought it would be. She tried so hard to keep the house clean, put food on the table, make a perfect home for husband. She tried so hard because any part atht wasn't perfect was punished with a fist or a boot. Oh he always said he was sorry afterward and that he would change and she always believed him, but still the blows kept coming and the harsh words…

When she told her husband about the child growing in her belly the man swore to change. He was going to have a son. His useless wife had done something right at last. He swore that he would never lay a finger on her ever again…

One wintery day in October six months later a traffic jam delayed the bus which meant the woman got home almost half an hour late from the shops, so dinner wasn't on the table when her husband came home from work. The man forgot all his promises and oaths and rained down kicks and blows without a thought. In his rage he forgot he wasn't just beating his wife he was also beating the unborn child in her belly. The woman was beaten so badly she lost an eye; the child was beaten so badly he died in his mother's womb…

The man was horrified by the death of his child! Of course it wasn't his fault, his wife should have known not to anger him; she should have known that the dinner should be on the table for him when he got home from work. His wife was the one to kill the baby it was her fault not his!

When the woman was eventually released from hospital her husband found her and nearly beat her to death for the crime of keeping a father from his child!

…

JR listened to Marissa's tale, but shook his head when he realised her implication.

"Are you telling me that was Shane?"

"Maybe…" said Marissa her expression grave. "Denial and lies can never change the crimes you commit. Putting the blame on the world means you are simply playing a part. The joke being that you often end up hurting yourself justas badly as anyone else! And the worst part is that deep inside you know it is your fault! You know that if you could only face the consequences of your actions then maybe you would be able to learn from your mistakes. The greatest hope being that you never make them again!"

JR just stared back at Marissa, what was she trying to say?

"I have another tale as well if you want to hear it." she added.

…

Once upon a time there was another husband and wife. When their son was born they thought they were so lucky… they hoped the child would save a marriage that was already on the rocks. For five year a husband and wife went through the motions, making a show to the world of being the perfect couple but every night screaming arguments echoed round the walls and resentment grew. There was nothing that could save this marriage, every day the husband and wife spent together just made them hate each other more.

On the sixth year they filed for divorce. It was a bitter break-up, husband and wife doing all they could to punish the other. Every possession and asset they owned was to be split cleanly down the middle. What couldn't be divided in two was to be sold, money a divisible asset no amount of argument could change the value of. But the husband and wife had one thing that couldn't be split in two, something they both treasured dearly and something they knew taking personal possession of would greatly hurt the other; their son…

The child found himself having to choose between his mom and dad, but how was a child to choose. Mom tried emotional blackmail, she loved him, she gave birth to him, she was the one to raise him… Dad tried bribes, promises of holidays and toys, anything a boy could wish for would be his…

How was a little boy to choose? A boy who grew up in a home full of angry silences and bitter rows? How could he recognise the value of love when all he'd grown up knowing was hatred? Of course he chose his father… of course he chose the money… of course he chose the selfish path; selfishness was the only thing he could understand.

It led him to success; building a multi-million dollar company; raking in the money became his only desire. He had everything a man could wish for, a hot girlfriend, a mansion, fast cars, the latest gadgets but he never had time to stop and enjoy it. If he was having fun he wasn't making more money.

But growing up believing that property and profit are more important than people has a price.

He had everything but he felt empty and he had no clue on how to fill the void.

One day he woke up, climbed into his car and drove to the beach, piled his clothes up on the sand and strode into the surf… he could see no other way out.

His suicide attempt failed but a piece of him never came back from that day… He got lost within his own head. The only companionship he had left, was the only person he knew he could rely on… himself.

…

"Was that supposed to be him?" JR asked, looking across to his scraggly haired roommate.

"He has a name!" said Marissa.

"Does he?" asked JR.

"Mike." said Marissa. "His name is Mike, and if I know that then so do you!"

JR looked from Marissa to silent Mike.

"So what you are telling me is that an unhappy childhood could lead you to commit suicide. Not very subtle. I love my son and I don't have to buy his love! He is going to come home and be happy!"

"Whether he wants to or not!" finished Marissa, glaring at JR as she spoke. "And every day you are going to hate Marissa and every day you are going to tell AJ that he wrong to love his mom and every day you are going to make your son hate you that little bit more. And bit by bit you will wring the warmth and affection out of him and make him as bitter and angry as you are!"

JR felt a chill run through him at her words. That couldn't happen to AJ?!

"Do you want to hear my last story?" she asked.

"Do I have a choice?" JR asked.

"No." said Marissa.

…

Once upon a time there was a baby born in a dark and stormy night in a cabin the winds. This little baby was snatched from his mother from the moment of his birth and taken away to be raised by strangers.

It was his mother's determination that found him again but he had a father too and his father was just as possessive of his child. For years the child became a pawn pulled in the battle between his mother and father as they found worse and worse ways to hurt each other. Both willing to go to any lengths to keep the child as their own. A mother and father that fell in love, broke apart and fell in love again. But the boy doesn't see this. He loves them both, his mother and his father, and he knows they both love him.

Then, when love draws his mother and father back together again, a storm even more violent than the one that raged at his birth comes to town. His mother proves her love one last time by sacrificing herself to save her child…

Now all he has is his father, but he still has love.

Then a miracle occurs, a new woman comes into their life. A woman who falls in love with the father… but she falls in love with the child as well and wants more than anything to be his mother.

Just like before however this families happiness is short lived because his father cannot step away from a fight, or stay away from temptation… Now the child has a mother and father fighting for him again… only this time there is love there that is stronger than the hate. His new mother is not a woman who'd do whatever it takes to keep the child as her own… She is a woman who would go to any lengths to make her son happy. She is the one to give up the fight she was bound to win and share custody with the man who had betrayed her, for the sake of her son.

They become a family again in a new way. The happy child is safe in the knowledge that even if his mother and father don't love each other they at least both love him!

But his father sees their family and wants back what he broke apart… he wants his wife back! But the mother has found someone else… as much as the thought terrifies her, she has found someone new to take care of her heart. She has found a new family that is equally happy to welcome the boy to their heart right along with his mother.

This makes the father jealous, this drives the father to drink, this make the father forget that his son has feelings too and is not a possession to fight for. This father lets hatred turn him into a monster.

What is a boy to do torn between a mother who loves him and a father he no longer recognises. Who would question the motives of a child choosing the parent that he feels safest with?

…

"AJ." said JR, recognising her narrative.

"You have been fighting for AJ almost all his life. Just as you have been fighting your addictions… And I'm not talking to the alcohol… I'm talking about hatred… JR you are addicted to hate. When you feel wronged you don't think of the consequences of your actions beyond you own ends, you just lash out and do what feels good, what feeds your rage… without accepting that anger always comes with a price! JR I want you to try to look at those pictures you have there of AJ, Marissa and Bianca's family. See your child's smile and celebrate the fact that AJ is safe and loved and happy. For one second try to think of him without taking slight or feeding your jealousy… try just to be happy for your son because he's happy..."

JR shook his head but he looked down at the picture in his hand, and he saw the smile on his son's face.

…