The Sitter's Sister

Chapter 43

Jesy was bored without her phone that night. She had been writing in her journal all day so had gotten tired of it.

Sairah was over to play games with Joe but they had exhausted themselves of doing that so were just sitting on the floor with legs crossed, talking about any and everything.

"Just tell her you like her then." Sairah said while spinning one of Joe's fidget spinners. It was kind of addicting to do this and it made her feel a lot calmer. She never showed it but not being able to smoke had made her a lot more tense. She worried about Leigh-Anne and thought about her relationship with their older sister often and sometimes it drove her crazy. I mean I eat a whole lot to distract myself but the cigarettes were the real jam. They really helped with numbing her mind. But I can't smoke anymore so . . . maybe she should talk to Dr Jung about th- Oh shit! Leigh remembered our mum forcing her to help her with an abortion. That had slipped her mind for a second. What if Leigh-Anne thought about that and her nose bled so much that she died? It can happen. I looked it up. The search results for 'can someone die from a nosebleed' had not confirmed her fear but she pretended it did.

Joe looked to his lap. "I don't know. All of the lads in my class already like her and I think she likes someone else,"

Sairah chuckled. "Aren't you guys eight?"

Joe blushed. "Doesn't mean we can't fall in love."

"That is so weird." Sairah stretched to ruffle his hair.

Jesy watched them and tried to think back to a time where she had been that affectionate with Joe. She was his older sister and yet . . . "Hey." She hopped off the couch and sat next to Sairah.

Sairah seemed to only notice she was here at this moment. "Oh . . . you . . ."

Jesy remembered Sairah's sister collapsing in the doorway of her room. "Um am I interrupting something?"

"We were talking about my love life but if you have something to say I guess you can say it." Joe had noticed that his sister was a lot milder these days. He wondered what was on her mind.

Jesy did not really know why she came here. "I'm bored."

Sairah rolled her eyes. "Isn't that always the story with you?" Her eyes were stuck on the fidget spinner as she spun it between her fingers.

"I don't have a phone to entertain myself so . . ." Jesy shrugged.

Sairah sighed then looked at her.

Jesy's face heated. She was still very into Sairah wasn't she? "Are you mad at me about everything?"

Sairah spun the toy and looked at it. "I don't even know how to feel about you anymore. You're tiring."

Jesy's shoulders fell.

Joe would usually agree with Sairah but he did not think that it was okay for her to say that while Jesy seemed to be 'in between fazes'. Is that what Dr Jung said? Sairah was just being honest though. "I-if you're bored you can watch some TV. Or maybe a movie?"

Jesy for once wasn't irritated by him. "Maybe later."

Joe tapped his forefingers together. "You've been writing in your journal a lot. What do you write in there?"

"Don't people write in journals because they don't wanna say things out lou- you know what? My dead sister had one." Sairah just remembered this. "Ah shit. I burned down the house so I'll never know what was in it. Grr! F*ck you Sairah you stupid idiot!" She threw the fidget spinner across the room.

Joe and Jesy were stunned by her outburst.

Sairah only realized what she did after she did it. "Oh my- s-sorry Joe. I think I broke it." She got up and ran to pick up the pieces.