I wasn't sure exactly when I had fallen asleep but I awoke when the door nudged me over. My eyes were sore as I opened them and scrambled to my feet to face my mother. Lowering my head I attempted to hide my face as I knew my eyes would hold evidence of my crying.

"Dinner." My mother spoke softly. Nodding I slowly moved towards the door when she caught my arm and tilted my chin up. Her eyes studied my face and it felt like I was an ant under a magnifying glass. "What's wrong honey?"

"Nothing. I'm just...tired." I lied. She nodded and let me go. I made my way to the kitchen where I peered outside the window surprised to see that it was dark outside. On the table which would have seated four people was a small steaming bowl of soup.

"What about you?" I questioned.

"I ate already." She explained.

"Right." I nodded walking over and taking my seat. I watched my mother leave and suddenly I was alone all over again. I didn't have much of an appetite but I managed to eat some of the soup. It was warm and soothing to my throat which was raw from crying.

Staring at the table I tried to distract myself by observing its surface. It was smooth and glossy with a nice finish to give it a sleeker appeal. The wood was knot free and it had dark nearly black like veins of wood running through its caramel colored surface. In certain places the glossy finish was scuffed or scratched from countless uses or accidents that had happened.

"Oranges and Lemons say the bells of saint Clement's." The words came on their own and I couldn't help but laugh ever so softly. "Bring me three farthings...say the bells of saint Martin's."

Setting my spoon down in the bowl I pushed it aside and rested my head in my hands. I didn't think I'd be able to go back in there, to see my father suffer so much, yet to feel as though he were so disappointed in me. I couldn't take it. But there were things I wished I told him, things that I wanted to say but didn't know how.

"You can see him if you'd like." My mother had returned and stood at the entrance of the hall leaning slightly on the wall.

"I don't think I want to." I admitted. "Not yet anyways."

"Alright then." She nodded and stood awkwardly in place.

"You don't have to act as if I have the plague." I mumbled glancing at the bowl off to the side.

"I know." Came the reply. "You were crying...earlier, why?"

"Life is more difficult than you can imagine." I laughed shaking my head in dismay. "Just damaged pride that's all."

"I see." Glancing up from the table I studied my mother.

"You know you avoid holding a conversation with me at all costs. How come?" I questioned.

"Well there isn't much to say now is there?" She asked.

"No there's plenty to say but some of us don't wish to talk of it. Believe me I know." Her eyes narrowed slightly at my words and with an almost pained sigh she shook her head.

"Not now Anna, dear." I wasn't surprised by her answer.

"Right because we will never have the perfect moment to discuss what is clearly driving us apart." My words were bland and left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Not with an attitude like that." My mother responded with a bitterness of her own.

"My attitude? My attitude is not the one causing the problem. I have never been anything but accommodating. Remember how I was always left taking Ben places because you didn't want to be embarrassed by him in public?" Raising an eyebrow I waited for her reaction.

"This has nothing to do with your brother Anna." She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Right. You don't have time to even discuss him let alone raise him." I laughed standing and carrying my bowl to the sink where I tossed it inside and began to wash it.

"You are getting out of line young lady, you may be an adult but you are under my roof." The water grew warm to the touch but I turned it to full heat letting it scald my hands.

"Sorry. Wouldn't want to upset you now would I?" I asked glancing over my shoulder at her and turning off the water. My hands were pink and tender as I began to dry the bowl.

"What had gotten hold of you? You were never this troublesome as a child. You never spoke out of turn." My mother frowned her eyebrows creasing together.

"Because I was never a child. I raised Ben, Mama, or have you forgotten your constant pawning off of him onto me?" Opening the pantry I placed the bowl inside and closed the door maybe harder than I should have.

"How dare you." She scoffed. "I will not have you speak to me this way. You only care of yourself Anna, this isn't a pity party for you. Your father is struggling to survive and all you can do is bring yourself to argue."

"That's an unfair statement and you know it." Crossing my arms I returned her glare. "I have given up much more in my life than you could possibly comprehend."

"I have sacrificed so much for the sake of raising two disgraceful children." Mother straightened and walked slowly over in my direction. "Don't discuss sacrifice to me."

"I sacrificed my social life to care for my brother, my childhood to care for my brother, I am missing work to stay here, and all either you or Papa do is talk as if I'm nothing more than a parasite. Sucking the very life from your limbs well I'm sorry I'm such a horrific burden." I snapped tossing the towel onto the counter in a sad spurt of rage.

"You are one ungrateful daughter. If it is so difficult for you to miss work and those pathetic idiots you work with then feel free to leave early I can assure you your father will hardly miss you." Her words seemed to physically pain me. Like each syllable was a careful stab to the chest in order to prolong my suffering.

"The only idiot here is you. You are a disgrace for a mother. A selfish disgusting hag who only enjoys making people feel like the scum of the earth because she despises herself. You neglect to realize that you're miserable because it would injure your pride! Well news flash, God does not care for pride only the devil." The words poured from my mouth in an angry burst of fire. My veins seemed to roar with my pulse as my heart beat in a frantic frenzy.

A sharp sting fell upon my cheek and sent my head reeling as I stumbled to the floor in a heap. Biting my lip to keep from crying out my eyes welled with tears from the pain. Using the counter for support I managed to drag myself to my feet. Loose strands of my hair had become unfastened and fell into my face.

My mother stood wide eyed her hands shaking. "Anna-"

"Don't." I choked the word out. I wiped a tear from my eye and turned to the door. Grasping he handle I threw it open.

"Anna I'm sorry I didn't mean to-please  don't go." My mother's voice cracked but I did not pause to comfort her. She did not deserve it, I'd spent far to many years of my life fooling myself into thinking she and my father really cared for me. Trying to make them happy when I earned nothing in return.

Slamming the door shut behind me I made my way down the steps and to the side walk. A mixture of emotions I could hardly describe swirled around in my chest along with the thoughts in my head.

Tears blurred my vision but for once they weren't ones of sadness or bitterness but a violent and emotional anger. As I walked quickly down the streets people turned their heads and watched me pass wide eyed. I could only imagine what kind of sight I was to them let alone at night.

I had no idea how bad the mark on my cheek was but I was certain it was hard enough to show five distinct finger prints. I had one destination in mind and that was getting home. I would have signaled a cab but that would have only left my emotions pent up. At least with walking I could burn some of the fumes off.

It was a long walk to my apartment and my feet were aching when I was only halfway there. Still I did not stop to rest and went on in almost a blank state of mind, empty, robotic like. The looks of others began to distract me less.

In the distance I could see the gleaming lights from windows in the apartment complex. Not much farther. In my brief moment of distraction I accidentally knocked shoulders with someone. I only mumbled a half hearted apology.

"Hey wait." I turned at the sound of the familiar voice and was not exactly surprised to see Henry. He caught my arm and rotated my face. "Woah."

"Please just let me go home Henry. I don't want to talk." My voice sounded painfully hoarse to my own ears.

"Anna who did this?" He asked touching the tender skin lightly. Wincing I pulled back from his grasp.

"My mother." I replied dryly. His eyebrows furrowed as he processed what I said and a brief flash of realization came over his features. He covered it quickly with a blank expression and I was prepared for him to bombard me with questions.

"Well the least I can do is escort you home the rest of the way. How long have you walked it must have been a horrible distance." He studied my appearance once more.

"A handful of miles I shrugged." Not exactly sure of the distance. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Impressive that is a long way to travel but I insist on you not walking another step further. You know I heard once that a true gentleman carries ladies to their doorsteps." He smiled charismatically in that childlike way of his.

Even I couldn't resist giving a partial smile. "Is that so? I've never heard of that being the case."

"Well it's a new rule." Henry said. "Now hop on board the Henry express fair lady I will be your cab driver."

Rolling my eyes I allowed Henry to tuck an arm beneath my legs and one behind my back. He hoisted me with ease and began walking at a fairly quick pace. I didn't realize how exhausted I truly was, both emotionally and physically, until I was tucked up in his arms like a child.

"How is my driving so far?" Henry asked keeping the mood light for my sake I presumed. It occurred to me that while I had the day off of work he'd spent the entire day there on his feet doing who knew what.

"Wonderful." I mumbled staring at the sky in hopes of catching the stars peeking out. He paused at the door of my apartment complex and pushed it open before walking up the stairs to my room number.

"Here it is." Henry said setting me down so I could unlock it. Opening the door I walked inside expecting him to follow but he remained outside.

"You can come in Henry." I said.

"Are you sure? The last times I was here you were horribly mad." Henry said bashfully.

"Never mind that for now." I smiled faintly. He nodded and stepped inside easing the door shut behind him. He remained awkwardly in the center of the room while I headed towards the small bathroom that adjoined my bedroom.

Peering into the mirror I saw the extent of the slap. The skin had grown redder and puffed up in the shape of my mother's hand. It was a welt across the right side of my face. Seeing it caused an even more painful response than it had when I'd originally felt it. Somehow it was like my heart had been crushed in her palm as well.

Sighing I leaned on the counter resting my head in my hands. A light knock on the doorframe caused me to glance up.

"Mind if I take a closer look at it?" Henry asked leaning on the doorframe with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"You are the doctor after all aren't you?" I asked. He smiled and gestured to the small counter top. Moving I sat perched on its edge. Henry moved in front of me and tilted my chin so the mark caught the light better.

"Why in the world would your mother do this?" Henry breathed.

"Because I spoke out of line. I said things I shouldn't have." My words were soft and hardly above a whisper.

"What sorts of things? What was your reason behind them?" He asked giving me a gentle but probing look. With a sigh I told him everything that had happened trying to be as vague as possible but he could see through it, that I was sure of.

"I'm sorry. That's horrible. You don't deserve to have parents like that." Henry shook his head. "I'll be back wait here."

Nodding I remained in place. I could hear him rummaging around in the pantries and after nearly ten minutes he came back with a bowl with some sort of thin liquid paste inside of it.

"This is a natural way to help reduce the inflammation. You can wash it off in about ten minutes after I apply it." Henry explained. He dipped his fingers into the bowl and gently began to smudge it onto the slap mark. It was cool and soothing as soon as it touched my skin and I was unable to hold back a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." I mumbled.

"Of course." Henry smiled. Once finished he rinsed his hands off in the sink and dried them on a towel. "Anna I also wanted to tell you that I really am sorry for lying. It's just I figured you'd like me less if I told you that I aided Alexander for a short period of time. And truthfully you seemed so happy I didn't want to ruin it with the news of your brother. I figured false hope was better than no hope at all."

Pursing my lips I nodded at his words. "I know. I may have over reacted but my whole life has been built on lies for the most part. I can forgive you for what you did but I can't just pretend it never happened."

"I understand and it's alright if you don't trust me. I did some thinking today as I scrubbed those stupid dishes. You're right, I am being cowardly, I've decided to help you. If nothing more than to earn your trust again and to put Alexander in his place once and for all."

"You don't have to Henry, I don't want you jeopardizing anything for my sake." He shook his head and set the towel down folding it neatly.

"Don't worry about it. Besides things have only gotten worse. He's crammed the rooms with as many people as he can fit, and he seems in no particular hurry to finish the new building to move the new patients. It's causing serious security problems. There were six fights yesterday, two people were murdered. Not to mention that as far as I can tell no treatment is even in effect at the moment. The patients are all simply crowded into tight confines and left in the dark." Henry leaned on the wall resting his head back against it.

For the first time I noticed how tired he really looked. "I'm sorry Henry."

"It's not your fault." He assured.

"I know. I'll be back at work tomorrow." He seemed surprised by this information.

"What about your father?" He asked.

Taking a deep breath I felt a small sinking feeling in my chest. "He will pass whether I am there or not. As far as either of my parents are concerned I believe it's better if I continue to remain removed from them."

"I understand." Henry nodded. "I hope you know they're fools if they can't see how smart and beautiful you are."

"That's very kind of you but I'm average, Henry, I'm okay with that. I never wanted to be anything exceptionally special just to make a small difference." I stared at the tiled floor as if it too were somehow listening to my words.

"Sometimes average is better than extraordinary. The world needs a lot of average people. And the world needs those to make small differences." Henry smiled. "If one man makes a large difference it'll last for a while. But if many people make multiple tiny differences, well then it'll never fade."

"How are you so...wise?" I asked.

"I'm not wise. I just see things from a different perspective." He laughed.

"Well it's a nice perspective. You know I used to tell my brother eyes were the most beautiful thing in the universe because each pair saw the same world differently." Henry's smile grew.

"You must have been an amazing older sister." Laughing I shrugged at his words.

"I don't know about that but I was enough for him. That's all that really mattered." I explained.

"Well I best be going. Don't forget to rinse that off." Henry gestured to the salve on my cheek. "And thank you once more for giving me another chance. I hardly deserve it. The guilt after last night chewed at me. If there's any way I can possibly make it up to you, tell me."

"There is a way." I said. He peeked up at this clearly intrigued.

"Say it and it shall be done." Laughing at his eagerness I thought for a brief moment.

"May you always tell the truth to me and in turn I will always tell the truth to you." He nodded. "Honest?"

"Honest." He smiled. "Good night Anna."

"You too Henry." With that I watched him escort himself to the door. He left rather quietly. With a sigh I bowed my head, I did forgive him, I understood his reasoning. Yet I wouldn't forget it at least not for a while, it would take time to move past it, and I was thankful he understood that.

Getting off of the counter I washed off the salve and dried my face. Already the slap mark had faded so that my cheek was hardly tinted red. Closing my eyes I touched the reddened area and felt a small sting but the pain was significantly less.

Smiling to myself I switched off the lights in the bathroom and made my way to my bed fully clothed. I was aware of the fact that I'd left my belongings at my parents home but I didn't mind. Nothing important was there anyways. Sighing I stared at the ceiling for a long time.

Tomorrow I'd return to work. Tomorrow I would face a whole new environment but I was ready, or at least I thought I was. Closing my eyes I let sleep wrap its gentle arms around me.