The Sitter's Sister

Chapter 20

Leigh-Anne was outside, walking straight towards Jade's car.

"Leigh-Anne we told her to hide but it was too late. You can't just leave. Don't let her ruin your night." Perrie caught up and held her arm. Leigh-Anne was not running so it was easy.

Jade stood at her other side. "You alright?" To her, the girl looked completely fine.

Leigh-Anne stood silently.

Perrie wondered what was going on through her head. "You . . . did seeing her bother you?"

She didn't say anything.

Jade could guess that this was a trauma response. "Leigh-Anne? Can you hear us?"

Leigh-Anne was not responding.

"Okay we should probably take her home." Jade told Perrie.

Perrie had been looking forward to showing her how to skate. "Okay fine."

They hopped into the car and turned on some music. Leigh-Anne liked music so they hoped she would at least sing along. She tended to do that these days.

But she sat there, staring ahead silently.

When they brought Leigh home, she instantly started walking to her room.

Jade and Perrie quickly followed her up the stairs.

Amanda was in the living room folding some clothes. "You girls are home ear- is everything alright?" She went to the foot of the stairs to ask.

"Eh . . ." Jade appeared at the top. "Leigh's having an issue but we're trying to handle it." She disappeared once again.

Amanda brought the clothes to the basin and started going up.

Perrie was in Leigh's room watching her head to her bed. "Leigh-Anne maybe you should sit and brea-" She frowned because the girl was going under her bed.

Leigh-Anne went underneath and stayed there quietly, laying on her front.

Perrie scratched her head. "Okay?"

Jade and Amanda entered after her. "Everything alright?" Amanda asked.

"She went under the bed?" Jade pointed.

Perrie nodded. "I guess seeing Jesy made her want to hide? It's just like what Sairah said about hiding in the closet. Who knows how long she'll stay under there."

Amanda knew about that story too. "Oh dear. This is bad." She looked around. "Sairah's out right now. All the girls are out. I was expecting everyone to be home by nine."

Jade sighed. "Maybe we can try dragging her out?"

Amanda made a face. "I'd rather not use force though." She walked up to the bed and knelt next to it. "Leigh-Anne darling, how is it under there?"

Leigh-Anne was staring in space blankly.

Jade chewed her lip. "Is there anyone we can call? A doctor?"

"I can probably try the doctor but I'm not sure if he'd know what to do. All I can think of is to ask Sairah how she ended up getting out of the closet when they were children. But it seemed that their older sister had dealt with that and Leigh-Anne had just come out when she felt it was necessary. But she can't just stay here." Amanda stretched to rub one of Leigh-Anne's arms. "It's okay. You're not in danger. You're safe here. This whole house is safe. Life is safer for you now. You have a stable home, lots of food, your sister, someone to take care of you. You live in a safe neighbourhood . . . you're okay."