Sibling Love (Sequel to I Just Want To Be Loved)

Mental Health

Warning: Talks about very serious and disturbing issues. Don't read if you are faint of heart.

When Kirika returned to school on Monday, she thought of what she had learned about her brother and their parents. To her shock, she saw a disturbing image at the front of her school.

A young boy was lying unconscious on the road. His eyes were closed and he looked deathly pale. Kirika screamed when she saw him.

"What happened?" asked a voice.

Later, it was revealed that the boy had been running away from some older kids tormenting him and he had run onto the road and was hit by a car.

Kirika was terrified. She had heard of kids getting bullied before. No one dared bully her because she was related to Shu, but she had seen other kids get picked on.

After lunch that day, the whole school had been called to the auditorium. The principal said that she wanted to discuss something.

"I'm sure that many of you were disturbed by what you witnessed this morning. As you guys know, this school has a strict no bullying policy, and the perpetrators had been punished. However, I think that some of you are old enough to understand mental health. There will be a psychologist who will come to the third, fourth and fifth grade classes to explain it."

Sure enough, during the last lesson, which was Art, a psychologist knocked on the door. She introduced herself as Mrs Henton.

"Now, I know that you are all still children, but I believe that you are old enough to learn about mental health. First, let's talk about bullying."

Mrs Henton told the class a story about a boy who was beaten up every day after school. It became so bad that the boy ended up killing himself. Some of the children screamed at the ending.

"Bullying doesn't just happen in schools," said Mrs Henton. She proceeded to tell a story about a girl whose parents beat her horribly and people made fun of her on social media. The girl lost her sanity and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

"As you can imagine, cyberbullying and abuse is even more horrible than bullying at school," said Mrs Henton.

Kirika raised her hand. "And your name is..."

"Kirika Kurenai," said Kirika. "Is neglect also considered abuse?"

"Yes, neglect is a form of abuse," said Mrs Henton. "A child needs to feel safe and secure, and they can't feel that way when they don't get the proper care and affection."

Kirika made notes in her notebook. Her brother definitely was a neglected child. No wonder he was far from mentally healthy.

Mrs Henton also talked about depression and how it could affect behaviour. "Some people may hurt themselves or lose interest in activities that they used to enjoy. If you have trauma or feel that you aren't good enough, you could fall into depression. It's best to see a therapist when it happens."

Kirika wasn't big on the idea of therapy. Last year, she had been addicted to a Netflix series called Wednesday, which was about the most famous member of the Addams family. Her least favourite character was the therapist, who intruded Wednesday's privacy so bad that the emotionless girl actually showed shock.

As if Mrs Henton could read her mind, she said, "Of course, if a therapist makes you feel uncomfortable or tries to force you to do things, that is a sign that you should stop seeing them. You won't get better if you don't feel that you can trust your therapist. I once had a therapist like that when I was thirteen. I was struggling after my father's death.

"When the therapist heard that I wasn't making any progress, he snapped and told me to stop being miserable or I will never get married. That was the last time I saw him."

Kirika made one note in her notebook. Note to self: Get Shu therapy.