Posts: 8,838
Threads: 747
Joined: Aug 2008
Staff roles: Moderator
"Don't blame yourself," Doreen said softly through an equally soft smile, "you cared and I got scared. I ran."
She paused, unsure of what to say. She thought of the toy that he had given her that was now in her son's crib.
"His name is Benjen," she said to him, a look of confusion on his face. "My son," she added, "....the toy put him to sleep before I came here for some enjoyment."
She didn't want to bore him but her life was rather, well, boring. But she continued anyway with her slight Rheinland accent, "We are all we have, Benjen and I. His father is dead and my family is for all intensive purposes, gone too."
She paused again, "I'm not used to people being nice to us, well, save the staff here."
She paused in thought, giving her drink a stir, "So, I'm planning to raise Benjen alone. That said, I intend to finish my studies here as a nurse to provide for him, get my life straightened out and be done with smoking...all for him."
She sat in thought for a moment after mentioning smoking. She sighed, the cravings building again. She imagined how good it felt with her chest full of smoke, letting the tensions release and her nerves calm only to let them out into the air. Still, it wasn't what she wanted and vowed to herself to stop. For the most part, she was succeeding. A bit of a cramp rolled through her chest as she knew that soon she would have to return to feed her son. She held her hand to it and took a breath. Satisfied, she smiled again at Chris.
"I'm sorry to bore you," she said, "I'm not much for company I guess."
![[Image: 7Md2x4D.png]](https://i.imgur.com/7Md2x4D.png)