𝙎𝙒𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 | Will Graham

S1. Ep. 07 | The Show Must Go On

"YOUR TURN" She spoke, now allowing the lost woman to her fate.

Her dark opaque eyes scanned the chessboard, searching for a clue, a sign that could indicate a better strategy, her hands floated in the air, creeping up above the pieces, almost picking a white bishop up when she suddenly stopped.

"Where's Jack?" Amelia Brooks mumbled as she looked over at her opponent again.

It was the 12th time in 2 hours that she called him, and that seemed to drain once again Teresa's color, turning her into a dark shade of blue.

It was the same, over and over again.

"He's not here," Teresa told her mother, as the nurses nearby watched for any sign of a possible crisis. "I told you, he's not here."

But Amelia pursed her lips, as if she was in her 20s again, a vivid, confused expression on her face. "But he said he'd meet me today." She spoke with true conviction. "We'd go to the movies..."She chuckled. "And we'd watch that stupid Silvester Stalone action movie he likes..."She shook her head, her smile filled with tenderness poisoned her daughter's heart.

If Teresa knew how hard it would be to endure that afternoon with her mother, she should've never listened to her aunt's advice. At that mental hospital in Westmoreland, where the walls were a pale peaceful white tone and everything smelled like remedies, Teresa Brooks almost felt like she was the one about to go mad.

"Do you know what time it is?" Another man who seemed very disoriented asked her for the 4th time in a row.

"It's 4 p.m." She replied.

He nodded. "Do you know what time it is?" He asked again.

She controlled herself not to curse. "4 p.m." He opened his mouth to speak again "I don't know!" She almost shouted, making the nurses slightly offended with their gazes at her. "Sorry."

Teresa looked down, a bit ashamed. The truth is, she didn't know how to deal with this she didn't know how to deal with it since she was 10 years old, when she saw her mother attempting to freeze to death with the snow outside their house late at night hours, or when she locked the bathroom's door to later find her lying on the floor unconscious, blood on the ground from recent cuts to end her existence.

And she would repeat the same name.

"Where's Jack?" Amelia mumbled bringing Teresa back to that twisted reality.

What hurt most was to speak to her.

"He's gone," Teresa replied.

"Gone? To where?" Amelia furrowed her eyebrows. "When is he returning?"

Brooks inhaled air deeply to say the next sentence. "He's gone, to Italy."

Amelia scoffed, she scoffed as if that was the most idiotic lie she had ever been told, as if that was so unrealistic that Jack Crawford would show up at that door at any moment with a bouquet of violets just for her, proclaiming his endless love to her.

"Be honest, where is he?" She looked around with a grin. "This must be one of his jokes, he loves to play pranks on me."

"It's not a joke, he traveled to Italy in an FBI program. He's not returning in a year." Teresa said more seriously now, watching as her mother's smile slowly faded.

"...But he hasn't told me." She said in a weak tone.

"He did," Teresa said. "He's gone, mom."

Amelia shook her head, attempting to smile and not believe her. "You're lying" She shook her head. "Mom? I'm not your mom!" She laughed, stuck in the loop of her mind.