Deadly Coping Mechanisms

It was a Monday morning, and Elena Greenwood was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, when she was approached by her husband of nine years, Brennan Greenwood. As Brennan entered the kitchen, he took note of his wife's chipper demeanor, seeing a smile he hadn't seen in a month.

"Good morning, dear!" Elena greeted warmly.

"Elena, you're beaming!" Brennan said proudly. "It's been a while since I've seen this side of you."

"Well, Brennan," said Elena, "I took some time to think about things. And, well, you were right. All I needed to do was put things in the proper perspective. I just needed to focus." Brennan gave Elena a kiss before sitting at kitchen table.

"I know it wasn't easy. It's been hard on all of us," said Brennan, who later gave a lengthy pause before making the following statement:

"After all, he was my son, too."

Brennan was referring to his and Elena's son, their only son, Evan. Evan was their miracle baby; born after four years of trying. Tragically, four years was all they had with Evan. The mention of Evan brought back a haunting memory for Elena: the day she cradled her son as he struggled to take his last breath. That memory was from a month prior, still very fresh, but Elena managed to bring herself back to the present. She handed a plate of eggs and toast to Brennan, and sat next to her husband.

"I know," said Elena. "And you're right. Evan was our boy. Our sweet, beautiful boy." As Brennan dined on the eggs, Elena delivered a biting statement to her husband:

"Yet I was the one who protected him."

Before Brennan could respond, he started feeling peculiar after having just a few of the eggs, and all the while, Elena gave an expression that partly said worry, but also said something else.

"Something wrong, hon?" Elena asked in a halfway coy manner.

"Is there fish in this?" Brennan asked.

"Just a tad of fish oil, dear," said Elena, still being saccharine. "That's not a problem for you, is it?"

"Come on, Elena!" Brennan exclaimed, before quickly getting out of his seat. "You know I'm allergic to fish!"

"Oh, come on, Brennan!" said Elena. "You're not doing this again, are you? You're supposed to be a real man! Be strong!"

"Elena, that's not funny!" shouted Brennan, who started to wheeze.

"Is that right?" Elena asked, her voice becoming filled with fury. "You thought it was funny when you said it to our son. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm mistaken. It was your mother who said it to Evan. You just sat there with that Cheshire Cat grin, like you always did when your mom berated me for 'not getting pregnant' fast enough!"

Nearly a decade's worth of memories flooded back to Elena, and they were not good ones. The day that Brennan introduced Elena to his mother, Pamela Greenwood, was disastrous. Pamela couldn't wait to make snide comments about Elena, which included the comparisons to Gina Farrell, Brennan's ex-girlfriend. Their attempts to have children saw Pamela repeatedly blast Elena for being "barren," even going as far as trying to get Brennan back with Gina. When the news of Elena's pregnancy hit, Pamela actually said, for everyone to listen, that she hoped the baby looked like Brennan.

All the while, Brennan always gave the same responses to Elena:

"That's just Mom being Mom; she doesn't mean it."

"Mom loves you, you're just being oversensitive."

It got worse when Evan's allergy to nuts was discovered. Elena kept anything with nuts away her son, but when Pamela noticed this, she mocked Evan for being "soft" and Elena for "coddling" and "enabling" Evan. Brennan, through all this, still sided with his mother, even after Pamela suggested "exposure therapy." Elena knew Pamela was a danger to Evan, but telling Pamela "no" was seen as "disrespect" and resulted in arguments that saw Brennan actually tell Elena that she should apologize to Pamela. Despite this, Brennan did inform Elena that he'd talk to Pamela and inform her about the exact rules regarding Evan's allergy.

Then came the day in question. A family gathering that turned into panic when Evan went into anaphylactic shock. A frantic search for Evan's EpiPen went for naught. Turns out, Pamela's "special cookies" for Evan had peanut butter that she intentionally put in the batch, because Pamela still believed Evan was faking his allergy and wanted "proof." Elena thought that the admission would finally open Brennan's eyes. It did, but not the way she hoped:

"You're going to punish my mom over a mistake?! If you even think of reporting her, I'll leave you on the spot! Ruining my mom's life isn't going to bring Evan back! You need to put things in the proper perspective."

Those words served as the last straw for Elena. She looked down at Brennan as his condition was worsening and as he was slowly crawling towards his cell phone. "If you're looking to call your precious mommy," Elena said, "don't bother. I put a knife into that old bat yesterday."

All Brennan could do was stare in shock over Elena's statement, as he was still gasping for air.

"Elena...," said Brennan. "I'm... sorry..."

"You certainly are," snarled Elena. "Every time you grinned as your mother berated me. Every time you said I was being oversensitive. Every time you let your mother insult our baby boy. You really are sorry. But I'm sorry, babe, baseless apologies won't bring Evan back." She moved herself closer to Brennan, and gave one last statement to her husband:

"I already put things in the proper perspective, now it's your turn."

Brennan took his final breath, and in what seemed like fitting timing, Elena heard a knock on the door, and saw that the police had arrived. Officers had informed Elena that they found Pamela's body, with the knife still in her chest. Elena didn't waste time, she confessed to killing her mother-in-law and her husband, and willingly turned herself in. She told the police everything; how Pamela mistreated her, how Brennan made excuses for her, and how Pamela's intentional dismissal of Evan's allergy resulted in Evan's death.

Elena didn't want sympathy, but she did get it from some people, mainly women who had been in relationships with "mama's boys." Elena pleaded guilty on trial and expected a life sentence, but instead, she was sentenced to 25 years to life, with possibility for parole. Even as the gavel went down and the sentence was made, Elena had one focus: fondly remembering her son.