Body Language. [Discontinued]

CH. 20

hello.

A few days had passed by, Thanksgiving now arriving. Since leaving Raj's house, Lei had been staying over at her parents house. She showed up at their doorstep with a face full of tears, completely hysterical, that it took almost an hour to calm her down and get her to tell them what had happened.

Though they agreed with Siraj and Ximena that what she did was wrong, they kept it to themselves, figuring it was best to not give her a lecture about the situation. Since being at their house, Lei didn't come out of the room much. Vanessa and Xavier took turns checking on her, but they didn't get much of a response from her.

Vanessa knocked on Lei's bedroom door, she heard her faint voice telling her to come in. She opened the door and walked in, seeing that Lei was still in bed. She walked over to the closed curtains, and snatched them open, letting the sunshine rays beam into the once dark filled room.

Soleil shot her mother an irritated look, but remained quiet as she started to squint her eyes, adjusting the light she had been avoiding for the past few days. She was drained of energy, due to the distressing cries from the previous night before. She wanted nothing more than to sulk and drown in her tears.

"Soleil, I know you're upset but don't you think it's time to come out and try to take your mind off of that situation?" Vanessa sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, Lei's dark, weary eyes piercing into her soul as she stared back at her.

Vanessa deeply sighed, getting up from the bed, finding it useless to try and get her to talk. Lei had been a complete mess since the incident. She had high hopes that Lei would have gotten better by now, but it seemed like as the days passed by, she only gotten worse.

As much as Vanessa wanted her daughter to talk to her about how she was feeling, Lei shut them out, leaving them to wonder what kind of thoughts were running through that mind of hers.

She felt hopeless as a parent, unable to comfort her child as she use to before. She reached the conclusion that she would probably have to take drastic measures, and get Lei the professional help that she desperately needed. Though she knew Lei wasn't fond of the idea of going to see a therapist, it was the only other option left in hopes of getting her daughter back on track.

"Today is Thanksgiving, all I want from you is to at least spend the day wit' your family. It might make you feel a little better, especially when you see your sister." Vanessa said, Lei furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, as Vanessa turned her attention towards the bedroom door.

Lei quickly sat up and followed Vanessa's gaze, seeing that Selah was indeed standing at her door, watching from afar. "Selah?" Lei finally spoke in a dreary voice. Selah walked into the room, a small smile on her face as she extended her arms out to embrace her sister.

Lei got out of the bed, rushing into her sister's arms, beginning to bawl her eyes out for the umpteenth time today. "It's okay Boop, I'm here." Selah comforted her, rubbing Lei's back as Lei held a tight grasp on her.

Selah and Vanessa made brief eye contact, Selah slightly nodding her head, indicating that she could leave the two girls alone. Vanessa walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her, the two girls continuing to stand in the same spot.

Selah didn't say a word, instead she let her sister continue to cry in her arms, giving her a moment to gather herself together.