Mike knocked softly.
"Sue?"
For a few seconds, there was no answer.
Then a quiet voice came from the other side of the door.
"...Come in."
Mike slowly pushed the door open.
Sue was sitting on the floor beside her bed, her knees pulled tightly against her chest.
Her forehead rested against them.
Frankie's heart tightened.
She had never seen her daughter look so... small.
The sound of the door opening made Sue quickly lift her head.
Without thinking, she wiped the tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her hoodie.
Smile.
Smile.
You're okay.
She tried.
Nothing came.
She simply looked at them with an almost empty expression.
That frightened Frankie more than if Sue had still been crying.
Frankie quietly crossed the room and sat beside her on the floor.
Mike lowered himself onto the carpet on Sue's other side, resting against the side of the bed.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Mike cleared his throat.
"...The school called."
Sue looked at him.
"...Oh."
"They told us what happened."
A small knot tightened in Sue's chest.
So...
Now they knew.
Frankie reached for her hand.
"We were wrong."
Sue instinctively pulled her hand back into her lap.
Not because she was angry.
She just...
Didn't know what to do.
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart."
"We should have listened to you."
Sue forced herself to nod.
"It's okay."
Frankie's heart sank.
It wasn't okay.
It sounded exactly like the way Sue always answered whenever someone apologised.
Too quickly.
Too easily.
Sue lowered her eyes.
"I shouldn't have sworn."
"No," Frankie admitted quietly. "You shouldn't have."
Before the silence could settle again, Mike spoke.
"I would've done worse."
Both of them looked at him.
"The bastard deserved it."
For just a second...
A tiny chuckle escaped Sue.
Almost against her will.
Mike smiled.
"There she is."
She wished she could keep laughing.
She really did.
Instead, the smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"I'm sorry."
Frankie frowned.
"What for?"
"For making you leave work."
"No."
"For worrying you."
"No."
"For..."
Sue swallowed.
"...Everything."
"Sue..."
Frankie could already feel tears stinging her eyes.
Even now...
She was apologising.
"It really is okay," Sue said quietly. "I'm fine."
She even managed a small smile.
It didn't reach her eyes.
Mike watched her for a long moment.
Then, in his usual awkward way, he pushed himself to his feet.
"Well..."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm glad we cleared that up."
Sue nodded automatically.
"Yeah."
He turned to leave.
"Mike."
Frankie's voice stopped him.
He looked back.
She didn't say another word.
She didn't have to.
He followed her gaze back to Sue.
Still sitting in exactly the same position.
Still staring at the floor.
Still wearing that empty expression.
His stomach sank.
She wasn't fine.
She was trying to convince them she was.
Frankie moved before she could think.
She wrapped both arms around Sue.
"I'm so sorry."
Sue froze.
"I'm so, so sorry."
For a heartbeat, she didn't react.
Then Mike quietly knelt beside them again and rested a gentle hand on Sue's shoulder.
That tiny touch...
Was enough.
The wall she'd been desperately holding together all day finally shattered.
She buried her face against Frankie's shoulder.
One sob escaped.
Then another.
Then another.
No...
No, no, no...
Please...
Not again.
Please don't let this happen again.
She had promised herself.
This life would be different.
She would be different.
She wouldn't hide.
She wouldn't spend her life pretending she was okay.
She would speak.
She would make people listen to her.
She would finally matter.
But none of that had ever healed the person underneath.
She had buried the pain.
Ignored it.
Pretended it wasn't there.
As though deciding to be happy could erase everything that had come before.
It couldn't.
Today proved that.
The classroom.
The dinner table.
Nobody listening.
Nobody letting her finish.
The familiar voice she'd spent so long trying to silence whispered once more.
See?
Nothing changed.
You're still invisible.
You're still the problem.
"I'm trying..."
The words came out between desperate sobs.
"I'm trying so hard..."
Frankie held her tighter.
"I know, sweetheart. I know."
Sue shook her head violently.
"You don't..."
She couldn't stop.
"Why doesn't anyone see it?"
Her breathing became uneven.
"I... I'm the problem..."
"Aren't I?"
The thought she'd fought so hard to bury forced its way back into her mind.
Maybe...
Maybe I was never meant to get a second chance.
Maybe...
I didn't deserve one.
Then why did I come back?
Why was I given another life...
..if I was only going to end up like this again?fno
I should have died in that car accident.
No.
She didn't want to think that.
She didn't want to become that person again.
But the thought was there.
No matter how desperately she tried to ignore it.
The words never reached her lips.
She couldn't tell them.
She couldn't explain.
So she simply cried.
Harder than she ever had before.
"No, no, no. Don't you ever say that. You hear me? " Frankie whispered, tears running down her own face. "You are not the problem. You are my little girl."
Mike's heart felt like it was breaking.
He had never been good with moments like this.
He never knew the right thing to say.
But he couldn't just stand there.
Not while his little girl fell apart in front of him.
He awkwardly rubbed slow circles on her back.
"We're here, Sue," he said quietly. "We're here."
"We love you," Frankie whispered, holding her as though she were afraid she'd disappear. "We love you so much."
Over Sue's shoulder, Mike and Frankie looked at each other.
Neither of them understood why their daughter seemed so utterly broken.
But they both understood one thing.
Today hadn't broken her.
It had only broken the walls she'd been using to hide how much she was already hurting.