Abandoned

17

Sienna stayed distracted by the butterfly lamp for about 5 minutes. As soon as she realised the safe woman wasn't next to her she made an unhappy noise demanding her attention. Nothing. The nice lady still didn't come. She made the noise again. Where has she gone?

Tage approached the small girl trying her best not to startle her. "Hey Sienna, Zareya is in a meeting, she will be back soon." The officer tried to explain. Sienna was clueless to what was being said to her, all she knew was that this is not the safe lady.

The little girl was still feeling funny from the medicine that she had to have a few times a day. She didn't know what it was but she knew it helped her ouchies not hurt. She wanted cuddles and comfort from her favourite person. Not this lady.

Sienna started to get upset and began rocking back and forth. Where is the nice lady. Where is the warm soft lady. Where is she.

Sienna had been trying to find her voice for the last few days. She used to be able to talk when she was a baby, she could say lots of words but the bad man made her forget. But thinking of this nice lady there was one word that came to mind. Mama.

The girl had been trying so hard to find the word in her memories. She remembers feeling warm and safe from before with a person called mama. Maybe this was mama.

She wanted so badly to call out for her but the 9 years of conditioning wouldn't let her form any words. The bad man was gone maybe she could get her words back again.
No! What was she doing. It was a pretend game, the bad man would be back soon. No mama, no words, no hurting.

Tage looked on worriedly as the little girls rocking became frantic. She had started shaking her head and was very close to whacking it on the wall behind her. She needed to calm the child down but she didn't know how to without touching her, and she knew that was not a great idea.

This went on for almost 10 minutes when the officer had decided that it was enough. She ever so gently stroked her hand down the side of the girls face effectively snapping her out of her trance and causing her to jolt backwards.

"It's okay darling, it's only me, zareya will be back soon." She reminded.

After coming out of an awful memory the little girl wanted nothing more than her safe person to comfort her. But she wasn't here. She became very overwhelmed and didn't know what to do with herself. She sat frozen in her position and stared at the door as tears started to leak out of her eyes and into her cheeks. She wanted to hide away until she felt safe.

The small girl stayed in that position for the next hour waiting for the psychologist to return as she avoided the officer. When she still wasnt back after this time the girl had given up hope and crawled her way under the hospital bed and curled in on herself. She felt so exposed, so vulnerable, and so lost.

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"I will say to you that she doesn't normally react well to new people and she is very good at reading the atmosphere, if you're nervous she will pick it up and it's likely to unsettle her. She looks so much better now than when I first met her but seeing her for the first time you may get overwhelmed."

Zareya was leading the new social worker Laila to siennas room. She was giving her gentle warnings about how not to react. She did not want Sienna getting upset. The psychologist had managed to keep the little girl happy and calm for the past few days since her surgery meaning her wounds were slowly healing.

"I understand, I would like to see how she interacts with you and I will follow your lead. If you think I need to leave I will leave."

"I appreciate that, and I'm sure Sienna will too." The psychologist replied just as they approached the little girls hospital room.

Zareya slowly opens the door expecting to see the small girl on the bed or sitting near the night light but all she sees is Tage crouched down next to the bed. She gives the officer a confused look before she is directed to look under the bed.

"Once she realised you were gone she stated looking for you and then I think she fell into a flashback or something. I scared her out of it accidentally then she sat rigid for almost an hour and maybe 25 minutes ago she curled up under the bed."

"That would be her defence mechanism. If she had a flashback or memory spiral she would've thought about the basement and there she just stayed curled up in a dark corner."

The woman didn't want to wake the child to avoid startling her again so she sat within her eye line as she spoke with the social worker.

Sienna could hear the safe persons voice but she didn't have the energy to act upon it. It was only when she heard her own name that she opened her eyes and came face to face with the nice lady.

"Hello there my darling, do you want to come out? I've got a new friend for you to meet." The woman cooed. She of course didn't get a response however Sienna reached her arms out towards her.

Zareya carefully scooped the child up into her arms being mindful of her recently bandaged wound. She sat the girl on her lap whilst she stroked her tear stained cheeks. Sienna leaned into this action before suddenly twisting her body and clinging onto the psychologist who made sure to adjust her grip.

The woman held onto the small girl tightly and gently stroked her hair as she continued her conversation about Sienna.

The little girl sighed a breath of relief as she fully relaxed into the woman's arms, resting her chin against Zareyas shoulder.

"I got you baby"