High School Sweethearts: BLOODLUST

41: What It Was Becoming

She closes her diary and got up from her bed. "Coming!" She calls out while making her way to her mother's room. Sian was sitting on her bed and the woman was on her phone, talking to someone, "Yes, Mummy?" She motions the child over to her and she goes to sit on her lap.

"I'll talk to you later, Debs," she hangs up. "Was that Perrie's mummy?" The woman hums and fixes the small child on her lap. She leans against her, putting her head in the crook of her mother'sneck.

"Lee-Lee, I need you to tell me what happened while you were with Sairah," she starts gently. Leigh licks her sore lip and glances over at her oldest sister. She looked a little mad, it made the girl nervous.

"I-I told you already."

"Lee-Lee," she starts in a soft, warning tone. "You didn't tell me everything." Leigh starts playing with her fingers, feeling more nervous. "Um," she starts, but then her stomach growled loudly. Her mum and sister look at each other, "Leigh-Anne, when was the last time you ate?"

She looks up at her mum's worried eyes. She licks her lip again when it started hurting. "Breakfast."

"Wait, what?? Sairah hasn't fed you since I've been to work?" She shakes my head and her mother stands up with the girl still in her arms. "Sian, come with me," she says and the young adult follows them downstairs.

Just then, the front door opens and the girls' father comes in dressed in his doctor's uniform. She squirms out of her mummy's arms and ran to him. He smiles and hugs her tight.

"I missed you, Daddy," she said, almost crying. He squeezes her a little with a grunting noise, making her giggle. He lets go of her and flicks one of her pigtails that Sian did for her.

"I missed you, too, Ladybug. I haven't heard from you almost all summer. What happened?" He looked sad when he asked that. "Sairah wouldn't let her call either of you. And I need to buy a new phone."

"What happened to your old one?" He asked, picking her up. Sian glances at her briefly, "Around the beginning of summer, her and I got into a fight and she broke my phone."

The man furrows his brows and looks at his oldest daughter. "Why were you fighting?"

"Lee-Lee wanted to call you, but Sairah didn't want her to," she answers and he looks at the girl with the same look her mother had a few moments ago. "What happened here?" He points to the plaster on Leigh's nose.

"Um, Sairah threw a rock and it hit my nose."

"Why was she throwing rocks?" She plays with his loose necktie and shrug, "I dunno."

"She purposely hit her with it. Lee-Lee told me she asked for a snack and she threw one of those decorative rocks at her," Sian says. "I'm gonna have a word with her. Where is she?" He demands.

"Probably her boyfriend's. She's left Leigh by herself like five times while I was a work. I'd come home and she's sleeping on the couch with the tele on. Then Sairah would stumble in and I'd hear them," she grimaces.

Daddy's eyes widen, "Did she?"

"No, Lee-Lee was asleep," Sian assures. Said girl have no idea what they're talking about. The older woman then calls her youngest daughter's name and her father carries her to the kitchen. "Whoa, I didn't realize how light you were, Ladybug," he comments.

"Yeah, because of Sairah, I'm sure she dropped a stone," Sian says. "What?" He asked while sitting her up on the counter as her mummy sets down a plate of dinosaur nuggets and chips.

She knows boys like dinosaurs, but she thinks they're cool, too.

Leigh quickly began eating and Debbie told her to slow down as she got her a cup of juice. "Last time she ate was this morning, before I went to work. In fact, I wasn't even dressed yet." John raises a brow and puts his hands on his hips, "So it's been over 12 hours since she's eaten?"

Debbie sets her cup next to the girl and she thanks her with a nod since her mouth was full of salted potato sticks.

"How often did she do this?" Sian shrugs, "I work four days out of the week. I'm guessing those days. She eats otherwise. I make sure of it."

The doctor comes over to the youngest and pushes back a stray curl that rested on her forehead. "Is that true, Ladybug?" His tone was very gentle. She nods, chewing on a nugget. She swallows her food before speaking, "We only ate when Sian's home so we can all eat together. That's what Sairah told me."

Her sister sucks her teeth then mumbles, "Bullshit."

"Language, Sian-Louise," her mother warns while putting her phone to her ear and she apologizes. "But that's never been a thing. Hell, we only ate together because Lee-Lee was there and she wanted us to."

Leigh takes a tentative sip of her juice, a little spilled on her bright yellow shirt. "She called me a little 's' word," she says, before eating another nugget. Leigh looks to see her mummy with her hand on her hip.

"I'm gonna go get washed, I'll be back," John says then kisses his both of his daughters' foreheads. He leaves the kitchen and the child watches him until he disappears and all she heard were his footsteps.

"Sairah, why hasn't Leigh-Anne been eating?... Sian is telling me that you leave Leigh by herself late at night... she's eight! Why is she alone in that big house? What if something happened to her?!"

Her sudden yell makes the child flinch and Sian pats her leg to calm her down. "C'mon, let's take your food to your room, okay?" She says while picking up Leigh's plate. She almost whines since she had swallowed what was in her mouth and wanted more.

Sian carries her to her room, seemingly upset. She kept muttering about how Leigh's too big for her to be able to carry like this and how she feels no heavier than a five year old. She's turning nine this year.

When they got to her room, Sian sets her down on her feet and puts her plate on her table where her unicorn, Mrs. Rainbow sat along with Berny Bear and her favorite purple and green dinosaur that was as big as she is.

They were in the middle of a tea party.

Leigh sits in her seat and continued eating. "Lee-Lee?" She turns her head to see her biggest sister sitting on her bed, looking at her funny. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to apologize for all of the fighting you heard over the summer and the times you didn't eat," she crinkles her eyebrows. "But you fed me when you were there, so Sairah should say sorry."

"I know, but still...," she sighs. "When I get my own house, I'm gonna make sure there's food there for you." She smiles big, showing her missing teeth on the top row.

"Really?" Sian nods, smiling also, but then it starts to slowly go away.

"What's wrong?" Leigh asks, drinking her juice after she spoke. The older girl doesn't say anything for a minute until she sighs, "I just ha- really don't like the fact you went through all of that with Sairah."

Leigh sets her cup down then picked up her last nugget. "You want some more?" She doesn't answer, just sets her food back on my plate. "I didn't like my summer too much," she says sadly, pouting a bit.

"I know, Lee-Lee."

"But I missed you so much."

"I know, Lee-Lee," she repeats sadly.

"How about I visit whenever I don't have work? Would you like that?" The child smiles and nods happily. She then looks back down at her nearly clear plate, staring at what she had left.

She wanted to save it, and she didn't know why.

"I'll go make you some more. How many more do you want?" She eats the nugget as Sian took her plate. The eight year old put up five fingers and she nods with a soft smile.

"You got it, Lee-Lee," she winks and flips one of her braids before walking out of her room.
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