Raising Laila

Chapter 6 - 'Plees Com Back'

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You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it. 

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November 14, 2017: 9.12am. 

Since Jade had initially left the Thirlwall home to get back to work, in an attempt to resume normal life, it had become very clear to everybody that normal life wasn't going to go back to 'normal'. 

While Leoni and Baby Karl had returned to school, Laila had not. On the first Monday after Jade left, they had tried to get her in to the private school she had previously attended, and failed spectacularly. Just getting her dressed in to her uniform proved difficult and involved a bruised thigh and tears from everybody involved. 

So, they decided to wait just another week until trying again. Tomorrow was D-Day. Back to School Day. Nobody was looking forward to it, and despite Karl and Shireen (and even Jade's over the phone) attempts to get her to open up about what was so scary about going back to school, she hadn't shared whatever the fears where in her head. 

Other than her clear fear of school, the opposite to the popular, smart little girl of three weeks ago. Laila could also go from screaming and shouting at Karl one moment to dead silent refusing to speak the next, nobody knew where they stood and even Amara looked at Laila confused sometimes and everybody tiptoed on egg shells around her, scared that the slightest wrong thing would set her off. 

Every six year old got angry sometimes, but the majority of the time it was contained anger kept pretty quiet, but now when Laila got angry everybody knew about it. She would be set off by the smallest thing, losing her patience when something doesn't go her way and becoming overwhelming frustrated the only way to escape the anger would be to lash out. Many a shoe had been thrown at Karl and Shireen, thankfully nobody ever became seriously hurt but the discipline they had tried to put in place had pretty much been ignored and shot down immediately. 

Laila had stopped playing with other children altogether and would play alongside but never with, they had all tried to involve Laila in their activities, colouring/scribbling with Amara, building lego with Karl and Leoni had even offered to play 'make-up' with her. They all wanted her to feel like a part of the family but nothing would, Laila didn't feel like a part of it. 

Shireen had spent some special time with Laila during the past week, baking cupcakes and taking her a shopping trip to the mall, but nothing seemed to help the anger and defiant behaviour. 

"Shireen!" Karl called from upstairs where he was trying to get Laila dressed for the day, she seemed to be fighting pretty much everything they tried to get her to do at the moment. Guessing what the problems were she placed Amara in the playpen and hurried up the stairs to find Karl sat outside the bathroom door, where Laila was sat inside refusing to get in the bath. 

"She won't do anything, I tried giving her the bunny and her baby doll, and she threw it back at me," Karl explained showing both toys lying on the floor around him. 

"Oh, really!?" Shireen said exhausted, nobody knew what they could do to help Laila at the moment it just seemed like a bit of a waiting game until she gave up with the fighting. "You go down, I'll deal with her," she decided, they tried to take it in turns dealing with the girls outbursts and meltdowns and looking after their own children. 

"Laila, can you let me in please?" she sighed, the door didn't have a lock but Shireen didn't want to walk in just in case she lashed out at her. 

"No," came the whiny sad voice from inside the room. 

"Okay well at least tell me what the matter is from out here?" she tried, she guessed that the girl was tired, last night Laila hadn't slept well at all, she wouldn't say why she was scared to sleep with anybody but her bunny rabbit but between the two of them she was terrified of going to sleep and nobody being there when she woke up. "Have you been in the bath?" Shireen decided to try a simple yes/no question.