Depression/ anxiety one shots

Sometimes you need family tw⚠️talk of sh

Me and my sister are super close. Always have been. But my sister and my niece, not so much. My sister is a single mom so she has to work a lot and that sometimes makes her more on the rough side. I'm the one that Annabelle comes to and my sister is hurt by that, but she's always been glad her daughter is going to somebody at least.

My niece Annabelle came to me that day and I knew it was something bad by the look on her face when I saw her on the door bell cam.

" Hey hun, how are you?" I said ushering her inside and shutting the door behind her.

" I'm bad auntie. I'm real bad." Annabelle said and she began to cry.

" Okay pumpkin, okay, tell me what's going on." I said and we both sat on my couch after I got her a bottle of water.

" You can't tell mom." She said scared.

" Well hun you know that if it's something your mom needs to know, I have to tell her. I know you two don't always get along but she's your mom. She loves you so much and wants you to be happy." I said honestly.

" Okay." She said disappointed.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as she contemplated what to do.

After a couple more minutes, she spoke. " Please don't be mad, but I self harm."

" Okay." I replied trying to not let her see how I was panicking internally. " Can we talk more about this right now? I have a lot of questions."

She nodded her head in anticipation.

" First question is when was the last time?" I asked and she started tearing up again.

" Yesterday." She replied.

" Hey, it's okay. I'm not mad. But I have to ask, did you take care of it? Like bandages and everything?" I said.

" Yeah." Annabelle whispered.

" Okay that's really good pumpkin. So how long has this been going on for?" I asked.

" A couple months." She said. " I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

" It's alright. You're telling me now which means we can get you some help yeah?"I asked hoping she was open to that.

" Yeah. I told you because I know I need help. I can't keep doing this." She answered.

"That's great. Um, can I keep asking things?" I questioned.

" Yeah." She said.

" Where and what do you do to hurt yourself?" I asked, wanting to get all the details so I could properly talk to my sister about everything.

" I cut myself, on my thighs. I know it's awful auntie. I'm so ashamed." She replied.

" No, don't be ashamed. Be proud. I know how hard this must've been for you and I'm so proud of you." I said and hugged her. " You know this is a conversation we need to have with your mom though now, right?"

" I know. Can you just tell her. I can't do this again." She said.

" Yeah, how about I call her and then we can figure this whole thing out yeah?" I asked.

" Okay." She said. "Can I stay over tonight though please? I don't want to go home the same day she finds out."

" Yeah you can always stay over hun. I'm gonna step out and talk to your mom right now okay. Feel free to raid the fridge and put on whatever you wanna watch." I said and she nodded and thanked me before I stepped outside to the porch.

I took my phone out and called her. The line rang a few times and she finally picked up.

" Hey! I was just about to call you! Is Annabelle with you? I just got back from running a bunch of errands and she's not here!" My sister Sonia rambled out, panicked.

" Sonia. Breathe. She's with me." I replied.

" Oh my god. That's good I was so worried. Tell her to get her ass home, she's 14, she can't just leave without telling me." She said upset.

" I'm not going to do that Sonia. We need to talk okay. I called you because Annabelle isn't doing good. She came over to tell me that she's been, cutting herself. Now..." I went to explain further but she cut me off.

" She's been what. Oh my god. How did I miss that. I'm a horrible mother. Is she okay? Does she need a hospital?" Sonia said and I could hear that she started to cry.

" Hey, deep breaths sis, deep breaths. Annabelle told me because she said she wants help. She wants to stop. You and I, we can help her. It's not going to be all on you, I got you and I got her, always, you know that."

" Okay, okay thank you. I just want to see her. Can you drive her here? Or I can come there." Sonia asked.

" I'll see if that's cool with Annabelle. To be candid she did ask to stay over because she was worried about your reaction." I replied.

" Oh. I see. Then will you just let me know please?" She asked. " And she can stay if she wants, but I'm picking her up tomorrow if she does, okay."

" Okay, I'll talk to her and I'll text you." I said.

" Thanks Rose. I love you, and tell Annabelle I love her too." Sonia said.

" I will, love you too sis. Bye bye." I said and hung up.

I walked back inside and Annabelle was anxiously eating at some popcorn and watching some random tv channel.

" How'd it go?" She asked as soon as she heard the door shut.

" She's worried and she said she loves you. She wanted to come and pick you up but I told her you wanted to stay over and she said that was fine if that's what you wanted to do." I answered.

" She can come over. But I still wanna stay the night if that's okay.When I asked earlier, I just didn't want to go home, it was partially cause I was worried she'd be mad, but also just my room and my bed, I don't want to be there tonight." Annabelle said.

" That's totally fine sweetie. Let me text your mom then." I said and texted Sonia what Annabelle had told me.

Annabelle and I watched a show until her mom showed up. When the doorbell rang, Annabelle was in the bathroom so I opened it and Sonia pulled me into a crushing hug and started to sob.

" Thank you so much Rose. You're the best sister and the best aunt." She cried.

I nodded in appreciation and wiped her tears like I used to do when we were kids before saying, " It's gonna be alright sis."

As Sonia and I pulled apart in our hug, Annabelle came out of the bathroom, also in tears. Sonia saw and ran to her, practically picking her up in the tightest hug.

"Oh my baby. I'm so sorry I've made you feel like I would be angry at you. I'm not, I'm worried, but I love you Annabelle, so much, I would never be mad at you for this." Sonia said while rubbing Annabelle's back to soothe her, as she was now sobbing.

" I love you too mom. I'm so sorry." Annabelle cried.

Sonia smoothed her hair and said, " Nothing to apologize for. I'm gonna get you help, along with your aunt, and everything is all going to get better okay. We got you."

The two of them moved to the couch and I brought them both water before sitting on Annabelle's free side. Both me and Sonia held her until she eventually fell asleep, and then we spent the rest of the night figuring out how to help her.