It Started With A Pair Of Pink Knickers

Kyra: Dancing

Kyra's POV

Izzy was in one of her moods again. Mom had come home an hour ago, and had completely ignored us. It was the norm, and Izzy was used to it by now, but today was different. Today was her fifth birthday. I guess she had expected mother to care about her today, if not any other day.

She had dressed up in her Rapunzel princess outfit I had brought her as a present and had been waiting by the door for mom to arrive.

When she did arrive, she brushed past Izzy and went straight to her room, slamming the door shut behind her. The hopeful smile that had been on her face slipped of, and hurt replaced it.

Anger soon replaced that, and she began ripping the toys I had brought for her, shouting, and pulling at her auburn locks.

She had learnt a very long time ago that no one would come or pay attention to her, unless she acted out, so whenever she craved attention, she would throw a fit, hoping to get at least a response from our parents. It had worked, to degree, till last year, when they both completely dissociated from us. Before that, they would have at least spoken to her, if only to scream. Now? Nothing.

"Hey, baby, it's all right. Come here" I cooed at her curled up form that was currently squeezed into the corner of the room. As always, she didn't respond.

I sighed, and felt my heart clench. The 'things' I called parents had hurt Izzy before she even knew what 'hurt' meant. Five years ago, when things really started to go downhill, they had sent me off to live with my grandmother from my mother's side.

During the four years I was gone, 'mother' gave birth twice. Both times the father was someone other than my dad. For four years I didn't know I even had siblings, and then grandmamma died and I had to come back home.

When I did, I met my two younger siblings, Izzy, short for Isabel, and Jay, my baby brother who was currently sleeping.

My parents, so busy dealing with their own 'pain', had neglected both of them to the point that they now suffered from reactive attachment disorder.

It was why Izzy didn't respond to me. She was unused to affection, so couldn't respond to it. Giving up on the cooing, I moved on to a method I knew would bring her out of her shell.

I had figured out how to reach her when she went to her dark place about a month after I had come back home.

I had been changing in my room which I shared with them both when she burst in, angry and upset. Startled, I jumped and fell on my butt, kicking the laundry basket into the air at the same time. Somehow a stray knicker had fallen onto my head, and after staring at me for a couple of seconds, Izzy had begun laughing.

Her laugh was beautiful, and that was the first time I had heard it. I swore that day that I would do anything to make her smile. And I would.

I gave a loud, exaggerated sigh that I knew she would hear, and stripped down to my blue short-shorts and sports bra. I had planned to run of some steam, but dancing was just as good a stress reliever.

"Okay, Izzy, you asked for it. Now I have to dance for you." I stared at her, but her head was still safely tucked into her knees. I went to my iPod dock, and flicked through the song choices, vocalising my thoughts as I went.

"Hmmm. What should I put on? Frozen? Cinderella? Tinker-bell? Or maybe..." I looked over my shoulder at her to see if she had reacted. She hadn't. I wasn't disheartened. I knew it would take a lot to get Izzy acting like a normal five year old.

"A-ha!" I exclaimed "the Little Mermaid it is!" I pressed the play button and stood back as the beginning tune of under the sea began to play.

Turning back to look at her, I saw that she was now peeking up at me. She was still curled up, but it was and improvement. I looked at her and tapped my chin thoughtfully.

"I seem to be forgetting something. Hmm," I pretended to look around, but really, I was just giving her time to answer me. It was better for us to strike out a dialogue. The more she spoke with me, the stronger our bond would become. It was the only way to help her.

"Da under-wear," her sweet voice whispered. I smiled. Yup. I had my Izzy back.

"Of course!" I exclaimed throwing my hands up in the air. She flinched at the movement, and I saw red. Those bastards had physically hurt her before. It was why she sometimes flinched at sudden, harsh movements.

I lowered my hands slowly, and picked up a pair of bright pink underwear from the draw. I placed the offensively bright coloured knicker on my head, and began to do a weird dance for Izzy.

Soon she was smiling and laughing, and when I motioned for her to come join me, she came eagerly.

We spent the rest of the afternoon like that, her in her Rapunzel dress, me in my underwear, dancing and laughing our worries away.