She asks me to teach her how to use compression software. I show her WinRAR. She giggles at the “WinRAR whale.” Small bonding moment. She later compresses her own drawings into a test archive. Week 4: The Letter Day 23: Mika writes a letter to her homeroom teacher. Not explaining, not apologizing. Just: “I’m not ready. But I haven’t given up.” She doesn’t send it. It goes into the RAR.
“I can’t.”
The school calls. They mention “educational neglect.” My mom cries in the kitchen. Mika hears everything. That night, she writes in the notebook: “It’s not that I hate school. I hate the person I am there.” 30 days with my schoolrefusing sisterrar link
The cat “Truant” gets lost. Mika spirals. Writes in the notebook: “I couldn’t even keep a stray. How can I keep myself together?” I write back: “You’re not a stray. You’re home.” She asks me to teach her how to use compression software
What followed was a month of chaos, silence, small victories, and devastating setbacks. I decided to document everything—not as a therapist or a parent, but as an older sibling who was confused, angry, and eventually, transformed. She later compresses her own drawings into a test archive
A breakthrough. Mika asks for colored pencils. She spends 3 hours drawing a comic strip. The main character? A girl who turns invisible at the school gates. I scan every page into my phone. Week 3: The Routine Day 15: We agree on a “minimum viable day.” No school, but she must: 1) Eat breakfast with me, 2) Read for 20 mins, 3) Go outside for 5 mins. She rolls her eyes but agrees.