Must I Say Sorry?

Suddenly the pieces seemed to fall into place. Chione's odd behaviors began to make sense. Natalya had noticed her daughter's frequent mood swings, erratic statements and actions. Once in a while she had heard her when she was younger speaking with someone, who turned out to be apparently no one. Natalya had thought that Chione had an imaginary friend, but that it had vanished with age. Apparently she had just gotten better at hiding it, but the stress seemed to be making her crack.

What would happen if Natalya were to tell her daughter she couldn't hear him? Would Chione just get worse? But Natalya couldn't exactly lie to her daughter and say he did speak to her. It would be wrong. It seemed, from her wording, like Chione was being taunted by this man she thought she saw - he was not a kind friend. As Natalya pondered what to do, Chione had an outburst, and instinct decided for her in that instant.

"Chione, dear," she started in a soft, but commanding voice. "You must overpower him. You musn't let the words of any brute affect you. You are whoever you want to be. Ignore him, as you would a pesky sibling. Eventually he will get bored and he will have to leave you alone." Natalya had no idea what the man was supposedly saying to her daughter, but she knew that the only way to get rid of such a voice was to pretend it wasn't there until that became truth. And she knew from experience that, even in real life, the only way to deal with a wolf putting you down was to prove them wrong.