After The Incident or The Bad Day as they called it, Thursday has never felt lonelier.

Her sisters barely spoke to her anymore. And while being stuck with the six of them, in an apartment with nowhere else to go, would technically make communication inevitable, Thursday quickly realized how difficult it would be to make it up to her sisters when they were constantly pushing her away and outright ignoring her and in their way punishing her for disregarding their well-being for her own personal benefits.

Thursday has tried to make the first step: she initiated the conversation, cracked weird jokes, helped out with the chores but her efforts turned out fruitless which pained her more than she would let know.

But mostly, and which hurt her most, they've all actively been pretending she didn't exist — the same way she pretended not to be aware of the consequences that would follow her breaking the rules and leaving home while one of her sisters was already out.

Grandpa Terrence said they would come around. It's just sisters's thing. Sisters fight all the time, he said, and they always find their way back to each other because that was what families do. Family sticks together no matter what.

And she really wanted to believe him, she tried hard, after each hateful glare and cold shoulder from one of her sisters. She tried to believe him but now it's almost been a week and they were having dinner and they were all speaking to each other while intentionally keeping her out of the discussion despite Grandpa's attempts to include her in the exchange and Thursday felt like crying because she just missed her sisters so much.

"Thursday? What's wrong, honey?" Grandpa asked, noticing the shaking of Thursday's shoulders as big bright tears glistened in her eyes.

Thursday let out a shaky breath and tears started rolling on her pale cheeks as words quickly spilled out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for disobeying and going out. I'm sorry for falling and losing my finger. I'm sorry that Grandpa had to cut all your fingers so we all would match again. I'm sorry for everything. Please, please, stop being mad," she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "Stop hating me, I won't do it again, I swear. I'll break my skate if you want to."

Six pairs of eyes were looking straight at her, faces colored with sympathy and shame? Terrence didn't have time to dwell on it as an aching surge to protect his granddaughter ran over him. He took her in his arms, letting the little girl sob in his chest, trying in vain to soothe her pain away like he used to do with his own daugther—their mother—a long time ago.

"I don't hate you," Friday spoke and Thursday, still in her grandpa's arms, turned slightly to look at her. "Promise. I don't hate you, Thursday."

"It doesn't even hurt that much anymore," Wednesday added, not sure if it was the right thing to say but it was true. "The Settmans are pretty tough. Grandpa always says so."

And he nodded in agreement, patting Thursday's back.

Tuesday and Sunday offered her a small, reassuring smile and Thursday took it as a good sign and smiled back.

"I don't hate you either, T. I did at first, for real, because when Grandpa cut my finger off that hurt like hell—

"—Saturday," he sighed. "What did I say about this kind of language?" he reprimanded.

"But Grandpa the girls at the dance practice always—," she started whining, trying to defend herself but the glare coming from him made her swallow and stop. She thought of her next words wisely. "Sorry. It hurt a lot—" she emphasized the words and when she received an approving look from him, she continued. "But it's fine now. I'm not mad anymore. It was Monday's idea to ignore you anyway."

Realizing what she just said Saturday immediately turned red and stared down at her plate. Terrence's smile quickly dropped and his eyes searched for his granddaughters's but they were all avoiding his gaze.

Finally his eyes set on Monday, who had slouched in her chair and now only her head was visible above the table. "Monday? What is Saturday talking about?"

She shrugged, her eyes darting around. "Dunno."

He sighed. This wasn't going well. "What did I say about lying? No lies and no secrets in this household," he repeated once more. "You all know the rules."

"But you also said no going out and she—," Monday's fury eyes and finger pointed at Thursday, who unconsciously took a step back, pressing herself more into her Grandpa. "—didn't listen. She broke the rules! She hurt us—hurt me. And I wanted to hurt her back."

If Terrence was taken aback by the sudden outburst, by the boiling fury from Monday, he didn't let it show.

"This is not okay, Monday. I'm the adult here and I'm the one in charge of punishing those who misbehave which I have done with Thursday," He put a gentle hand on Thursday's shoulder. "You had no right to take the matter into your hands and turn your sisters against Thursday. I'm very disappointed in you all," he told them and the girls didn't dare look up or make a sound, shame overwhelming them. "And I'm especially disappointed in you, Monday. You're supposed to set the example."

Her grandpa's words sank in and Monday hiccuped. Dissapointing her Grandpa wasn't what she aimed for. Her lips trembled a little and she wanted to be anywhere but here at this moment.

"I'm sorry Grandpa."

"I'm not the one who you should be apologizing to."

She blinked rapidly as angry tears began to appear. She loved all her sisters and she loved Thursday very much—for many reasons. She also admired her younger sister because Thursday always looked tough and fierce, with her back straight and her chin up, confidence burning in her eyes and Monday secretly wished she was more like that, like her, but then Thursday had to mess up and hurt them all. And she was supposed to protect them all—she was the oldest after all, and how could she do that if they all started to disregard the safety measures, break the rules and hurt each other in the process?

Reluctantly, Monday sat up straight on her chair, her thumb softly caressing over the missing part of her left index finger.

"M'Sorry, Thursday," she mumbled, eyes meeting her sisters's for the first time tonight.

"It's okay, Moon," Thursday said using her nickname for Monday. "I'm sorry too," and she meant it.

And she wished she could change things, she wished she hadn't gotten herself and her sisters hurt but it was too late now. And she learned her lesson the hard way. Never again, she'll break the rules.

"I know that," Monday said, wiping the tears away. "But it doesn't make it hurt any less, you know."

"I know," Thursday replied, biting her lips. "But I'll apologize and make it up to you until you forgive me, okay?"

The silence following Thursday's request was insufferable but finally Monday whispered a soft "okay" and she even cracked a smile. She was tired of being angry at Thursday in all honesty.

Thursday ran around the table and hugged her sister tight. Monday felt into the embrace and she already knew she would forgive her sister very soon.


xxxx

Sorry for any mistakes/typos, English isn't my first language.