Enviously Infamous

Part 15

Cleo's POV:

I'm currently sitting on the couch with Axel clinging onto me tightly. I'm looking at the family with a pissed off look on my face. The atmosphere is tense that you'll need a chainsaw to cut through it, and you can hear a pin drop from a mile away.

I decide to speak as it seems that nobody else has anything to say. "What the hell is the matter you all? You almost gave him an anxiety attack!" I say carefully, not to wake the sleeping four year old.

"Anxiety attack?" Antonio says in a confused tone.

"Yes an anxiety attack!" I yell. Axel flinches in my arms and I rub his back until he relaxes and goes back to sleep.

"But...he doesn't have anxiety." Luca whispers.

I look around at everybody's addled expressions with a perplexed look on my face.

*Are you kidding me right now?*

"You guys aren't serious right now right?" I say to no one in particular.

They all give me a look that tells me they were one hundred percent completely serious.

I let out an loud sigh and let an irritated expression cover my face. "You guys are completely fucking clueless." I deadpanned.

"He has the signs. Restlessness, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, feeling of impending danger or panic, he's tense all the time, blasé blasé." I list.

"Let's not forget the anxiety attack that happened literally 15 minutes ago, the nightmares that he has, and oh! Here's a big give away! His selective mutism!" I say looking around the room.

"What do you mean selective mutism? That's because he's hearing impaired." Angelo says.

*Is that the only thing he heard?*

I let out another sigh before turning to Angelo with an impassive look. "Im surprised you out of all people couldn't pick up on the signs. You are the doctor here. Do you know what the causes of selective mutism are doctor?"

"Yes I know what the signs are Cleo." He says matter of factly.

"Then list them brother dearest." I say rubbing my fingers through Axel's black hair.

"Problems with sound processing."

"Check."

"Self-esteem problems."

"Hmm."

"Poor family relationships."

"Shocker."

"An anxiety disorder."

"Check."

"A traumatic experience."

"Check."

"What? No he hasn't!" Lorenzo impedes.

"Shut up." I say glaring at him. "Continue." I say to Angelo.

"Untreated psychological issues."

"Check."

"Family history of anxiety disorders." He finishes.

"Hmm. So do we see a pattern here?" I say to everybody in the room. Nobody speaks a word, seeming to be deep in thought.

"You guys need to pay attention more. Do you know why he has anxiety? Hmm? Do you know about the nightmares that he gets almost every night? About the bad men in trucks coming to get him? About how they took his twin, Theo. About how his 'mommy and daddy were sleeping in the car' when this happened?"