The Sitter's Sister

Chapter 5

"Wanna like . . . stay up and talk instead of sleep?" Sairah was in Leigh's bed that night.

Leigh-Anne was not sure of what was happening.

Ever since she woke up from that nap at Jesy's house, her sister had been acting nicer. By her standards of course. She kept asking if she was okay and patting her head. Maybe she was still concerned about her 'flu'.

"No, we don't need to do that. Plus you need to rest. You've got a lot of work to do tomorrow. You said that that old man agreed to let you mow his lawn at four a.m." Leigh had found it weird that Sairah had randomly asked to mow that guy's lawn but she just guessed that her sister wanted to make as much as possible.

Sairah was kind of happy to hear that. She really was tired. Her job was not too demanding but it required her to be pretty alert. Plus Jesy keeps being weird. What was wrong with that girl? Why was she suddenly acting nicer? Maybe her mum really got through to her. Or maybe Jesy was thirsting over her in a new way. Yeah most likely. Creepy kid. As soon as she had gotten home she had smoked two cigarettes. "Oh yeah that. You know . . . I kinda agreed to do that for the guy to get a hundred dollars so I could take you to the doctor."

Leigh sat up. "What? Why? Because of the flu I've got? Sairah it's not actually the flu you know. Plus I feel better." She had never been to a formal doctor in her life.

"I'm glad that you felt good enough to have some lunch and to eat your dinner but I don't know man. Whatever you've got, you've got it bad and I don't want it to drive you crazy and . . ." Sairah flapped her hands. "You know. I don't want you to f*cking off yourself."

Leigh remembered the gun shot again and she jolted. "I-I wouldn't do that. What does that even have to do with what's been happening with me?"

"Well . . . I was talking about it with Jesy and Joe and they said that you're showing signs of mental diseases that can kill you if you don't talk to a doctor or something. Hey maybe the fact that we couldn't get her to a doctor or that she didn't even think of seeing a doctor is why she-"

Leigh held the sides of her head and shook it. "Sairah d-don't talk about that." She mumbled.

"Huh? What did you just say?"

"Don't talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because . . . when you talk about it it makes it worse. I feel sick again."

Sairah sat up quietly.

Now that they were both silent Sairah could hear Leigh breathing.

Leigh-Anne was trying to breathe normally.

"Are you like . . . breathless or something? What is it?"

Leigh kept taking in breaths but she seemed unable to stop and the breaths were getting quicker.

"Hey come on. Stop that. Just like . . . hey look at me."

Leigh-Anne felt disconnected from the world. Sairah was just a faint entity and all she could hear was her breathing. A sensation of doom was taking over and she was suddenly terrified.

Her eyes leaked and she kept darting them around.

Oh my God . . I'm gonna die . . . I'm gonna die . . .

"Leigh-Anne! Hey!" Sairah didn't know what to do. Clearly this was more serious than she had initially thought. "Shit." She hopped out of the bed and ran to the kitchen for some water.

There was a knock on the door.

"I'm busy!" Sairah started walking back to the room.

"Oh but to keep this place you've got to respond whenever I call. And I am hungry tonight!"