She sat in a tub of warm water, cautiously turning the razor blade over and over in her hand, careful not to cut herself. For some reason, she found it very stressful to cut herself accidentally. She slipped down in the water some and held up an arm, looking with some distaste at the lines of horizontal scars that covered her forearm. She never wanted to cause such marks, but the ritual had become so necessary to her day that she felt unable to cope without it. She flipped the blade one more time and then slipped it across her wrist in one practiced motion. Almost immediately, blood welled from the wound, quickly falling in a stripe of red on her bare skin, until it made an almost imperceptible “plink” as it cascaded from her elbow into the bath water. As she watched the blood fall down he