Abandoned

19

The small girl opened her eyes confused at her surroundings. It was all dark. Sienna hadn't awoken in the middle of the night for a while and had forgotten how uneasy the darkness made her feel. She looked around the room trying to look for her main source of comfort before noticing the woman sleeping in her makeshift bed across the room. Sienna let out a small sigh of relief, knowing her safety net was still there with her. Sienna smiled as she started trying to get off of the bed to approach the nice person.

A bed was not something familiar to Sienna and while she had been using one the past few weeks that she had been in the hospital, she still hadn't figured out how to get down safely. Sienna cautiously shuffled to the edge of the bed, swinging her small legs over the side. Her toes just barely brushed the cold floor as she wiggled forward. With a deep breath, she summoned all her strength and slipped down onto the floor and landed on her knees, scraping her back in the process. Sienna winced but bit her lip, determined not to make a sound that might disturb the sleeping woman. She had suffered worse than a small scrape anyway.

After a short pause the small girl continued with her night time adventure. She wanted to play. She slowly approached the sleeping psychologist, crawling on all fours. Reaching the side of the makeshift bed, Sienna hesitated only for a moment before gently tugging at the corner of the blanket. When that did nothing to awaken zareya the small girl reached up a bit higher to poke at the woman's cheek as she had done a few hours prior. Zareya stirred slightly confused as to what was going on but didn't wake. The small girl continued with her poking. This time, Zareya's eyes fluttered open, blinking sleepily at the eager face inches from her own her tired eyes focusing on Sienna's curious face. "Well hello my sweet girl. How did you get over here?" she murmured softly, stroking the little girl's hair.

Happy that her favourite person was finally awake, Sienna smiled and gently rubbed her face against the woman. Zareya chuckled softly, her heart warming at the affection before she sat up and pulled Sienna in for a cuddle.

"What are we doing up at this hour little one?" The psychologist asked as she checked the time, it was 2:30am. As she studied the girl she noticed that she was wide awake and judging by her twitchy nature, she would say that Sienna was full of energy. Zareya sighed with playful exasperation, knowing that sleep was not in the cards for either of them any time soon.
"You want to play don't you baby" she said whilst reaching to tickle under siennas neck.

Sienna squirmed with delight, her giggles filling the dimly lit room as Zareya continued to tickle her. The small girl released a string of giggles, it was a sound that zareya didn't hear often but that made this interaction much more special. Sienna's laughter echoed through the room, a bright melody that chased away the sleep from Zareya's mind.

The tickling soon turned into a back and forth game of zareya pretending to sleep, Sienna poking her to awake her and then the psychologist tickling the girl in return. Sienna's laughter erupted in waves as she squealed with delight. This game went on for a good 30 minutes until Sienna started to get too over excited. Zareya, sensing the excitement bubbling over, gently gathered Sienna into her arms but it seemed to be too late.

At first she was just gently kicking her legs which soon turned into her bouncing around on the psychologist. This soon turned into a frenzy of laughter and playfulness as Sienna flipped off of the bed, limbs flailing in all directions. Zareya caught her mid-air with a swift instinct, pulling her back to safety, her heart racing. "Careful baby, we don't want you bumping yourself do we!"

Now more cautious zareya continued the game with Sienna , adding in quiet moments of gentle words and warnings between giggles to help calm her down.
Still so excited Sienna took no notice of the warnings and continued playing. She was having so much fun that she didn't notice when she accidentally grabbed onto zareya face or when she bit her on her cheek. Surprised by the unexpected bite, Zareya let out a gasp, quickly shifting Sienna's tiny hands away. She gently reminded her, "No biting, sweetie. That hurts.

Shocked by the quick change in atmosphere siennas playfulness quickly dissipated and she became a silent statue. Tears welled up in her wide eyes, her excitement fading into confused concern. The room grew quiet as the gravity of the moment settled between them. Seeing Sienna's tearful expression, Zareya's heart softened immediately not that she could ever be mad at the sweet child. With a gentle smile, she caressed Sienna's hair and reassured her in a soft voice, "It's okay, sweetheart. You're just so excited aren't you"

As if she knew what was being said sienna hummed and leaned in for a cuddle. Zareya decided it was time to shift the tone, gently suggesting, "How about we read a story now?"

The psychologist started reciting one of her favourite childhood stories from memory. She had loved the story of the three little pigs as a child and wanted to share this with Sienna.

The small girls breath evened out just as the story had come to an end. Sienna was exhausted and had fallen asleep safely tucked into the woman's arms.
Zareya placed a soft peck upon the girls forehead before she carefully laid down with the child still clinging to her as she waited for sleep to overcome her once again.

"Good night baby" Zareya whispered as her eyes slowly closed, the two of them breathing in sync, surrounded by a comforting silence.