Teresa looked at herself in the mirror in fright. Her face was red and puffy, the veins in her eyes were bugged out and her pupils were enlarged, there were pools of salty tears beneath her eyes making the purplish bags under her eyes more noticeable. She could have sworn that those lines had not been there on her forehead earlier. Well at least not earlier in the year for sure.

She had entered high school as the most perky and upbeat kid, not to mention number one, of her class. Now she looked like this, a frightened monster destined to lead a life full of misery and regret. The mirror was a constant reminder of how terribly everything had changed over the last year. Teresa wept some more, unable to control everything pounding inside. Control was beyond herself, never again would she be happy. Never again.

One year. Just one year, that's all it took. In fact it only took a split second to ruin her life, though everything throughout the year had been leading up to that one second. "Everything, wow...what a lot. Couldn't I have prevented anything?" she whispered to her terrible mirror counterpart. "Yes of course I could have...love, what a load of BS! Gary, jerk..if it hadn't been for him my parents would still be alive. I'd still have a life." Teresa put her head down on the sink and cried. And cried. And cried. Her heart was breaking within her and everything was too much for her to handle.

"Leave her alone, she's had it rough. Danny, no! Come back here."

"But Mom! I think I can help."

"No, leave the poor girl alone. She needs time to adjust. Leave her be. Maybe we can get her to talk about it, but not now."

"Mom..what is there to talk about? The lady at the center already told us her story."

"Honey, that was only the barest details. What she needs to talk about is the inner pain she's felt and all the things she's been through within her mind. Danny, don't you have any homework or something?"

"Are you nuts? It's summer! School doesn't start for another month, and besides to you think she'll be normal enough to go to registration with me?"

"Does she register the same day as you?"

"Yeah, she'll be a sophomore too."

"Then you'll take her...but don't count on her being as you call it, 'normal.' These things take time. Time is what we have to give her." Danny muttered something about getting back up in the saddle.

Teresa heard them in the background discussing her. Everyone felt like an enemy. If they had anything to say, why didn't they just say it to her face? She slipped out of the bathroom and into her room, though it looked nothing like her real room. Then she remembered, that room was gone along with everything else.

She fell onto the bed exhausted. How could she have caused something so horrible to happen? Five people dead, another's family torn apart, her life ruined. "It would have just been better if I'd died too. Why did they have to save me? They would have done me a favor letting me die..rather than going to a foster home where I feel like a burden and I'm just suffering. Gary, come on back and put me out of my misery!" Teresa pounded the bed and slid off. She hit the floor and proceeded to smash her fists against the carpet, screaming as memories bubbled over in her mind. Tears splashed down her face, leaking down to her cracked lips, burning as the salt touched the raw flesh.

"Mom!" Danny yelled.

"Honey, what is it?"

"Just come here!"

Mrs. Grower joined her son at Teresa's door. "Can't you just hear her in there? She's crying and screaming her heart out! Why can't I go in and talk to her? There's just a door separating us."

"Danny, I told you.."

"Yeah yeah, that she needs time. But Mom, I think she needs a friend as they're all dead."

"Don't you think that having someone being friendly might rip open that fresh wound?"

Danny hesitated, "Yes...but, no one should have to feel that kind of pain alone."

"Leave her be, don't come to her until she comes to you. Teresa needs to feel welcomed however, just let her know that she can come to you whenever she needs. Alright?"

"Yes Mom," Danny's lips said, but in his mind he was already formulating a plan to talk to Teresa as soon as possible.

Teresa's sobbing slowly subsided and she dragged herself back onto the bed. She stared up at the dark ceiling. Night had already fallen around the house and she felt so lost and lonely. Night always brought memories and feelings that tore her apart. She stared into the darkness, the memories of the start of the year flooding back.