Marianne had been having a really bad week. Her weeks were usually bad, but this one seemed worse than normal. That was fine, she didn't deserve to have a good week. However, she still found herself missing the regularly bad weeks.

The change from normal bad to really bad happened on Monday. Marianne had tried to kill herself Monday. She had twisted the sheets into a rope and tried to hang herself from the railing on Lysithea's bunk. Her timing had not been very good, which figured. Marianne wasn't very good at anything so of course she screwed this up. Lysithea had discovered her and saved her life.

Marianne had been listless ever since. She spent all her time lying in bed, watching the sunlight shift along the walls. The beds in their room had been unstacked, and were now crammed against the back wall with only a tiny walking space between them. Lysithea said she didn't mind, preferred it in fact. That didn't stop Marianne from feeling terrible about it. She had forced the staff to rearrange the room, requiring a lot of heavy lifting, all because of her failure. That, and it was slightly embarrassing to be the only one who didn't have a bunk bed in their room. Marianne didn't like to stand out.

She had given up on eating. It felt wasteful for the hospital to spend its resources feeding someone as worthless as Marianne. She had cut back to one meal a day, a meal that usually required a nurse to coax her into leaving her room for. Another thing she had given up on was taking her medicine. The drugs were expensive, and just like the food, Marianned felt like they were wasted on her.

She could tell the nurses were becoming desperate, trying to get her to take her medicine. Yesterday, they had even let Lysithea attempt to convince her to take them. Her roommate hadn't been successful, but she had tried her best. Marianne had been awake all night with the guilt she felt over having let her roommate down.

Judging by the lighting on the wall, it was late afternoon when she heard a knock on the door. Marianne didn't respond, just continued to lay there and stare blankly at the wall.

"Marianne?" asked a soft voice, one that belonged to Ms. Dr. Eisner. "Can we come in."

Marianne lifted her head up just enough to look over at the door. The Dr. Eisner twins were standing in her doorway. Those two had a rather fascinating story. They were fraternal twins, separated at birth and adopted by different families. Coincidentally, they were both named the same thing by their adoptive parents, and grew up never knowing the other existed. Both pursued a career in psychiatric medicine and met for the first time during their internship in Garreg Mach Mental Hospital.

The two of them seemed to think their whole story was quite funny, and insisted that they both be addressed as Dr. Eisner. They stuck together after their internship and were eventually hired by the hospital, working their way up to lead physicians in the mental ward over the next few years. During that time, it became the running joke to call them Mr. Dr. Eisner and Ms. Dr. Eisner respectively. Which also provided some clarity when talking about one or the other.

"Ok," Marianne bade them enter, not finding the energy to smile at them.

They came in, Mr. Dr. Eisner doing a very poor job of hiding a large crate behind his back.

"We have brought you something," Ms. Dr. Eisner said.

Marianne sat up, turning her body to face the twins. She wasn't sure how comfortable she felt accepting a gift, not after she had been such a bad patient all week, but if they had gone to all that effort to bring her something then she couldn't refuse them.

Mr. Dr. Eisner brought the cardboard box out from behind his back. It was an animal carrier, with little holes poked all around the side so the creature inside could breathe. He placed the crate on the end of her bed and opened the top.

Immediately a small, gray kitten popped out of the box. She landed on the bed between Marianne and the twins, and then froze, as if just realizing she was in an unfamiliar place. The kitten's surprise didn't last long, she lifted her tail high and began to investigate Marianne. Still overcoming her own surprise, Marianne held her hands out to the little creature, palms up. She sniffed, little nose working overtime considering the new smell of Marianne, and then began to clawlessly bat at her fingertips.

"We talked with the hospital and got clearance to provide you with a therapy animal," Ms. Dr. Eisner explained. "My brother and I both think that this kitten could do you some good. Will you accept this gift?"

Marianne was overcome with emotions. "What is her name?"

"We thought you could name her," Mr. Dr. Eisner said.

The little kitten climbed into her lap, stumbling over her legs.

"Dorte," Marianne whispered.

"That's a wonderful name," he said.

The kitten, now Dorte, placed her tiny paws on Marianne's chest and stretched up as high as she could in order to sniff Marianne's face. Marianne gathered Dorte up into her arms and buried her face in the kitten's shaggy fur. The kitten began to purr and went limp in her embrace. She didn't know how to say thank you. How could you express the gratitude you felt when someone gave you something as precious as this? She had only known Dorte for a few seconds, but she was already the most important thing to Marianne.

Sniffing into the soft fluff, Marianne said, "I think I'd like something to eat."

Both doctors gave her identical, tiny smiles