[ WP ] `` Do you still think about what you did ? ''

The night was a cold one. Blackness swarmed beyond the windows. Frost caressing the glass flickered and shimmered in the firelight within the fireplace. Nothing other than dancing sparks and an antique lamp illuminated the sitting room. The hour was late and most were long asleep. Only two figures remained motionless, staring into the flames with identical, pale eyes. 
 
 Erren and his family had decided to spend Christmas at his parents' house. His father, sister, niece, wife, and children slept soundly, but he was not given that option, for he knew something they did not. 
 
 As he sat on the floor wrapped tightly in a soft blanket, his mind wandered to his wife's family. Nearly a year ago her mother had succumbed to cancer and her sister had overdosed. Distraught, her father had soon followed in their footsteps. 
 
 Another figure sat on the couch behind him, still in her day clothes with a thousand yard stare. His mother, Scarlet, who had seen more than any woman should. 
 
 `` Do you still think about it?'' Erren's rasp was hardly louder than the crackle of the fire. 
 
 `` Think about what?'' Scarlet muttered distantly. 
 
 `` What you did.'' 
 
 This caught the red-headed woman off guard. Her eyes flickered to her son and she shifted, crossing her arms, but remained silent. 
 
 `` Do you?'' Erren pressed, twisting his torso to look at her. `` Do you think about how you poisoned Beth?'' 
 
 Scarlet's face fell. She had confided in her son after the burden had weighed so heavily on her mind. Yes, she had poisoned her friend, but only because she could no longer watch her suffer. `` She knew what I put in the wine,'' Scarlet mumbled in a hushed tone, gaze returning to the fire. `` It was cruel and selfish to keep her here for as long as we did.'' 
 
 `` It was cruel to take her from Will and Rose,'' Erren countered bitterly. 
 
 Scarlet threw an accusing stare at her son. `` William was dead long before she was,'' she snapped quietly. `` Rose has you, does she not? I did not condemn Elizabeth.'' A silence stretched between the two. After only moments, Erren turned back around, sorrow weighing heavily on his features. Scarlet released a slow breath. `` I freed her.''
