was anxious about returning to psychiatry.

And yet as nervous as the thought of another session made her, going back to school and facing her teacher again absolutely petrified her. She was embarrassed for how she had acted.

Mark and Daisy had struck a deal that if Daisy went to psychiatry for the second day in a row, she wouldn't have to go back to school for the day.

It was Friday, which just meant that she'd have a longer weekend. But this was a one time thing, she wouldn't be skipping school regularly. She would be returning on Monday fully equipped with an apology for her teacher, Mark made that very clear.

Calypso was not having it, though. As the car pulled into the parking lot of her elementary school, she began to throw a fit.

"This isn't fair." Calypso whined loudly, pulling impatiently at her seatbelt. "I don't want to go to school. Why does Daisy get to stay home?"

"Daisy's not staying home, she's going to psychiatry." Mark tried to explain to the very upset six-year-old. "Okay? It's not a day off for her, she's putting in work."

"I'll put in work." Calypso volunteered. "I want to go to psychiatry. Can I come to psychiatry too?"

Mark laughed, thinking the kid was joking. "Goodbye, Calypso."

"No." Calypso sounded hurt, her bottom lip quivering. "I want to come too. I don't want to go to school."

Daisy turned around in her seat, giving the girl a sterner look. "Get out, Cal. Go to school."

Daisy noticed Calypso's eyes beginning to water up, and she felt like banging her head against something. They didn't have time for this. Daisy needed to get to her session, Mark needed to get to work, and Calypso needed to get herself into that school building.

The line piling up behind Mark's car was ridiculous. Daisy knew how irritated those parents probably were that they were taking so long in the drop-off zone, and she began to fidget a little at the sheer amount of vehicles lined up.

"You're making me anxious. Please."

Was trying to leverage her anxiety a little unfair to Calypso? Maybe.

But Calypso hates when Daisy's anxious. She hates making Daisy anxious, and Daisy was sure that her words would spark Calypso and get her on her merry way.

Calypso wasn't budging though. She was stuck in her seat, her eyes big and blue and upset, and Daisy thought she resembled a sad little puppy. It was clear she was seconds away from a breakdown as her lip trembled.

The car behind Mark honked loudly, clearly growing impatient at the wait.

Mark frowned as he looked in his mirror, seeming to also notice the very long line of angry parents. "Come on, kid. Get out."

Rather than getting out though, Calypso began to wail, and Daisy wanted to bang her head against something even more now.

Mark sighed, pulling out of the drop-off zone so that the rest of the line could move forward.

He did, however, pull into a parking space on the other side of the lot.

"Calypso." Daisy frowned, furrowing her eyebrows. "You're a big girl. This is not what big girls do."

"I don't want to!" Calypso sobbed, continuing her ridiculous tantrum. "I hate school! I want to go home!"

"Why do you hate school?" Mark frowned, trying to reason rationally with the kid.

Daisy, on the other hand, wanted to yell. She shouldn't want to yell. Calypso was clearly going through something, and Daisy should learn to have a little more patience.

But the wails were giving her a headache. Her little sister really was making her anxious, and she didn't know how to get her to stop.

"The work is...it's too hard!" Calypso cried loudly.

Mark's entire face scrunched up in confusion. "You're in first grade. What's so hard about making hand turkeys?"

Calypso evidently did not find any humor nor consolation in Mark's comment, that was made obvious in the way that her wails intensified and grew louder.

"Calypso." Daisy finally snapped as she turned to face her sister completely. "Get out of the car. You're being ridiculous. You wouldn't dream of acting like this in front of Mr. Walter, why are you acting like this now?"

"Mr. Walter?" Calypso's eyes grew frantic, and it was evident that the name of the familiar man had panicked the girl even more.

Mark wasn't sure how they had escalated to such a situation at 7:30 AM, but it was draining. It was far too early for any of this.

"Let's all take a deep breath-"

"Why do you act like that?!" Daisy snapped at her younger sister yet again. "He didn't even hit you! It was me, he...it wasn't even you! Stop acting like this!"

Calypso didn't think that was quite fair, though. Daisy was right, Mr. Walter never laid a hand on Calypso for some reason. But having to hear her sister scream in agony while she hid in the closet certainly wasn't a fond memory of hers. Calypso hated hearing Daisy in pain, and hearing her cry out like that made Calypso feel like it would hurt her less to just go out there and get Mr. Walter to hit her instead.

But presently, Daisy wasn't being hit. She was just being irritating.

"Stop it!" Calypso cried louder, Daisy's sternness obviously not making her feel any better.

Daisy's want to bang her head into a brick wall was apparently infectious, because Mark also had that same desire.

He had never met two siblings that cared about each other as much as Daisy and Calypso, but he couldn't comprehend how those same sisters were constantly bickering non-stop.

"Okay...why don't we take a second to-"

"You stop it!" Daisy snapped, Mark groaning as he was cut off for the second time. "You're acting like a stupid three-year-old! Stop being a crybaby! Go inside, Calypso!"

"Daisy." Mark frowned. He could deal with the bickering, but he knew name-calling would open a whole other can of worms, and he wanted to shut that down before it had the chance to even begin.

Calypso was overwhelmed, Daisy was annoyed, and Mark was as helpless as ever.

"Daisy...will go." Mark spoke slowly, turning to face Calypso. "Okay? If you go to school, I'll take Daisy to her school next."

Daisy was even more peeved, looking at Mark sideways. She had really been counting on not having to face her teacher today, and...now she has to go just because her sister threw a stupid tantrum?

Calypso looked warily at Mark, not seeming to believe him. "You're lying."

Mark shook his head. "I'm serious. If you go to school, Daisy will too."

That was clearly the stem of the tantrum, Calypso wanted to be out of school with her sister, and she was jealous.

Calypso blinked, her face red and heavily tear-stained. "Do you promise?"

"I promise."

Calypso stuck out her hand, looking expectantly at Mark.

Mark cocked an eyebrow as he looked over at Daisy. "What is she doing?"

"You have to pinky promise." Calypso stated firmly, sniffling in an attempt to calm herself down. "Everyone knows you can't break pinky promises. Otherwise you'd be the worst person ever."

Mark was 99% sure that the six-year-old was trying to guilt trip him, something he wasn't appreciative of.

He wasn't worried about that though. He was more presently focused on making sure Calypso actually got out of the vehicle and went to school.

Mark sighed as he linked pinkies with Calypso. The girl looked relieved, the sweetest look on her face as if she hadn't just completely shamed Mark moments prior if he dared break a pinky promise.

"Okay." Calypso spoke quietly. She almost sounded like she was trying to coax herself into leaving the vehicle. "I...I can go. I've got it."

Mark nodded, and Daisy continued to peer out her window as she ignored the conversation.

Daisy was annoyed. Mark was an adult, yes, so trying to undermine him maybe wouldn't be the greatest idea ever. But Daisy had been doing the whole parenting thing far longer than he had, and she knew that you never just give a kid what they want when they're having stupid tantrums. Then they want more. They think they're entitled, they'll keep asking.

And this was happening at Daisy's expense? Apologizing to her teacher was going to be fatally embarrassing, but it wasn't impossible. It was definitely something she could do, just as long as she had time over the weekend to compose what she would say.

Mark was throwing her into this entire uncomfortable situation today purely to appease Calypso, purely to just hand her what she wants. It's the easiest way to avoid conflict for him, Mark doesn't even care that it's coming at Daisy's expense.

Calypso gathered her things together, taking a breath to calm herself as she wiped at her eyes. She didn't want her school friends to tell she had been crying, that would be far too embarrassing.

"Goodbye." Calypso mumbled as she opened the car door. Mark gave her a goodbye back while Daisy said nothing, and that made her sad. She knew she had annoyed her older sister, and she knew she would be receiving a very stern talking to later.

But she set about for the school day, ready to go in now that she knew Daisy was too. She wanted to be just like her sister in every way, and that meant doing everything that she did too.

Daisy watched Calypso walk up to the school building, her annoyance not leaving in the slightest. Stupid little sisters.

Once Calypso had made it to the front of the building, Mark began to pull out of the lot. Daisy mentally prepared herself for the day ahead.

How does one apologize for what transpired?

Hey, sorry that I screamed at you in front of your entire class and undermined your authority. I hope that we can move past this!

Daisy internally groaned, thinking about how mentally unprepared she was as well as...physically. She realized she didn't bring any of her things.

"I don't even have my bookbag." Daisy mumbled, her eyes glued on the passing scenery.

"Mhm." Mark nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I thought we already established that you're going to psychiatry instead of school today."

Daisy frowned at that, her confusion sinking in deep. "But...you pinky promised."

"Pinky promised." Mark laughed quietly, Daisy's confusion spiraling even more. "You two are so sweet, stay that way."

Daisy was quiet for a moment as she tried to piece together what was happening. But after a moment, the wheels in her head began to turn.

"You're gonna break your pinky promise?"

Despite not wanting to go to school, Daisy sounded devastated at the fact that Mark would break the promise he had made to her sister. She sounded so sad, actually, that Mark felt sort of obligated to apologize on the spot.

Mark instead shrugged it off. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"But you promised. You're lying to her."

"Promises break all the time, people lie all the time. It's okay."

But it wasn't okay. Mark was breaking his pinky promise, and that was something that the sisters never did. Lying to each other wasn't their thing.

"But...but you promised that you would-"

"Would you like to skip school today or not, Daisy?" Mark sighed, Daisy instantly shutting up.

But still...breaking a pinky promise? To Calypso nonetheless? That made Daisy feel all kinds of guilty.

She wouldn't push it anymore, because Mark's patience seemed to be wearing thin a bit. He could lie to Calypso if he wanted to, but Daisy wouldn't. If Calypso asked, Daisy decided she would tell her the truth.

Daisy was relieved as the car sped right past Daisy's school, Mark not stopping to drop her off. They were headed to the hospital. Though Daisy knew she was headed for another session of deep-diving into trauma and talking about feelings, she preferred that as opposed to having to apologize to her Algebra teacher.

Mark frowned as his eyes fell on Daisy's school, the looming building zooming past as they drove. His brain instantly began to whir to life as he thought about something he had been meaning to address.

"You didn't happen to write a Thanksgiving paper in English, did you?"

Daisy actually had written a paper in English recently about the upcoming holiday. She figured something must be up for him to ask such a specific question.

"I...I did." Daisy spoke cautiously. "...Why?"

"I read it." Mark shrugged, a small grin forming. "Your teacher e-mailed it to me. She said it was the most disturbing piece of literature she'd read in years."

Daisy felt herself redden a bit at that part. Maybe she had gone a little overboard with her English assignment.

But it's not her fault. The prompt said to be specific, and the prompt was also as stupid as ever.

What in your life are you most thankful for, and why?

They had been required to write a paper and present it in front of the class. Every kid had the same stupid answer.

They said they were thankful for their parents. For their families. For their best friends. For their stupid suburban puppies.

"I'm thankful just for waking up every morning." One girl had claimed. "I'm thankful I've been given the opportunity to live my life with my parents and brothers."

Daisy swore she wasn't a mean person, but she had never in her life been so close to vomiting as she had in that exact moment listening to Lacie Welsh's disgustingly cheery paper.

It was just all so...nice. Everyone had great lives, and that made Daisy angry. She didn't want to be a jealous person, but she was. These kids had never experienced the pain of being alone, and she was envious of that. She wanted what they had.

"I'm not thankful for anything." Daisy spoke in front of her class. "This is more of an 'unthankful paper' than it is anything else. I'm unthankful for diseases, and poverty. I'm unthankful for ovarian cancer. I'm unthankful for semi-trucks. I'm unthankful that the only real parental figure in my life is a narcissistic maniac with a god complex. I'm unthankful that my sister doesn't see what I do for her in the moments she thinks I'm just being controlling. I'm unthankful for the sorry life that I have, and I'm unthankful that I have to wake up to it every day. Above all, I'm unthankful that my English teacher is so ignorant, she believes that all of her students are fortunate enough to stand in front of the class and brag about their perfect lives."

Daisy had deadpanned to her English teacher when she finished reading what she had wrote, her English teacher reddening immensely.

All her classmates had only blinked, all of them staring. Half looked terrified, half looked weirded out.

Ohhhh. Daisy had a lightbulb moment as she thought back to her presentation. That's why I don't have any friends.

"A narcissistic maniac with a god complex." Mark whistled as he recalled the words he had read. "That part kinda stung, I'm not gonna lie to you."

Now it was Daisy's turn to redden. If she had known Mark would be reading her paper, she would've written something much kinder about the man. She would've strung together a sentence that didn't include the words "narcissistic", "maniac", and "god complex".

"Why would she e-mail that to you?" Daisy spoke quietly, still trying to turn off of her embarrassment a little bit.

"Not sure. She probably wanted to see if I could pull away from the mirror long enough to read an e-mail." Mark joked, really deciding to reel it in on the whole narcissistic thing.

Daisy evidently didn't find Mark's comment amusing at all, that was made obvious in the way that her face reddened even more than before and she lowered her head.

"Oh come on, I'm kidding. I don't care. I didn't bring this up just to give you a hard time." Mark spoke, but Daisy didn't quite believe him. It definitely just felt like Mark was trying to mortally embarrass Daisy for the things she had written.

Daisy looked at Mark expectantly. If he didn't bring this whole thing up to give her a hard time, then why did he bring it up?

Mark frowned when he saw the look on Daisy's face. "I think your teacher is just...concerned. Some of what you wrote was a little dark. Given your recent, um...diagnosis, I just want to ask. Are you thinking about...you know..."

Daisy didn't even have to let him finish that sentence because she knew what he was ready to ask.

She merely shook her head. She was telling the truth, too.

There had been a time when Daisy wanted to be over with everything. She wanted nothing more than to be done with all the cruelness that surrounded her world. Ending everything was something that used to plague her mind on a constant 24/7 basis.

But presently, no. She wasn't ready to be done with life yet. Daisy had found a method of coping that worked for her, and she used it to carry herself through life and make her days a little less unbearable.

"Good, good." Mark nodded. "That's good. Calypso needs you, you know."

That was probably the biggest reason Daisy didn't want to leave. Calypso needed her, and it was the same way around. Daisy needed Calypso. The two couldn't live without each other.

So presently, no. Daisy wouldn't be leaving any time soon.

The car pulled into the hospital parking lot, and Daisy sighed. It was already time for Round 2 of exploring trauma. Daisy figured she was lucky though, because exploring trauma had to be less unbearable than facing Algebra.