It was late when Sienna woke the following morning. She was confused for a moment until she remembered it was a teacher development day. She yawned and stretched luxuriously, reveling in the tranquillity that had been missing for so long. As she sat up and shrugged a small 'crick' from her neck, she noted from the light spilling through her window that it was much later than she would normally have slept. Normally her mother would have woken her, knowing Sienna wouldn't have wanted to stay in the room for a moment longer than she had to. It seemed that that was no longer the case.

Sienna pulled the comforter up as she slid out of bed. Her toes curled into the pile of the little rug that graced the side of her bed, and sunlight kissed her face as she took a fluffy pink dressing gown from the end of her bed where her mother had placed it when she had looked in on Sienna. A bedraggled item Sienna had 'claimed' when her mother had shown a preference for her father's old bathrobe. Wrapped in thee voluminous folds, Sienna walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. A bowl of dry cereal sat next to a scrap of paper.

Sweetheart,

I had to leave for an early opener but didn't want to wake you on a student free day. Mrs Graham is waiting next door. There's sandwiches in the fridge. Take them with you when you go over. Make sure you lock up and please be safe.

I love you,

Mummy.

Sienna wrinkled her nose at the childish nickname scrawled on the bottom of the page, but smiled because she knew that, while she didn't call her that anymore, she would always think of her as Mummy.

By this time Sienna had added milk to her breakfast and started devouring it hungrily. Her head whipped up and milk dribbled down her chin as someone knocked on the back door. She sat frozen for a moment before Mrs Graham's voice calls out. "Sienna Love, are you up yet?" Sienna grinned as she got up to undo the deadbolt. "I'm right here." Mrs Graham gave a small snort of relieved laughter as she took in the bed rumpled little girl standing in the open door. "I was expecting you a while ago. I was starting to worry." The corner of her mouth twitched, "now I realise I should have been jealous instead, sleeping the day away."

Sienna cocked her head as she asked what time it was. Her eyes widened at The elderly lady's reply. "It's almost lunchtime! No wonder I was so hungry." Looking at the small goatee of milk that was drying on Sienna's chin, Mrs Graham couldn't stifle a small laugh. She lent forward and wiped at Sienna's chin, "Maybe you're having a growth spurt?" Sienna giggled and shook her head away before scrubbing at her chin with a floppy sleeve. "Yup, I'm gonna be a giant."

While laughing at such an obvious exaggeration, Mrs Graham again felt confused by Sienna's personality make over. While she'd giggled at Mrs Graham's silly jokes from time to time, Sienna herself had always kept herself to herself, choosing to observe others interacting and listening to conversations quietly, keeping shyly to the edge of social groups, be they adults or neighbourhood children.

Most seemed to let her be, simply accepting her on the fringe of their company while leaving her to follow if she chose.

This was not the girl in front of the older woman now. Yesterday hadn't been an anomaly. Sienna was the same bouncy, excited little girl who had come to Mrs Graham's door yesterday. She chattered eagerly and made silly remarks as she demolished the last of her cereal. Mrs Graham sat opposite Sienna and basked in the internal light that shone from young girl, really seeing all the quirks and hearing the full silliness of her sense of humour for the first time.

When Sienna had finally emptied her bowl she went upstairs and changed while Mrs Graham rinsed the bowl. A quick wipe with a damp flannel and a pair of jeans and Sienna was set. She grabbed her book bag and stuffed her notebook in it before jamming her feet into her sneakers. Looking at her reflection for a moment, she swooped her her hair back, tucking it behind her ears. Deciding that that was good enough, Sienna closed the door behind her as she started down the stairs.

She still hadn't noticed the small, white square that lay folded on the floor beside the bed she slept in every night.

********************************************************************

Mrs Graham watched Sienna carefully as she locked the door, noticing that even with her new joie de vivre, Sienna was still the same conscientious and responsible child she'd been for as long as she'd known her, even taking the time to add: LOVE YOU TOO!!! to the bottom of her mother's note that was still propped on the kitchen table. Starting to feel more secure in Sienna's changed disposition, Mrs Graham was quickly rocked again.

"So what are we doing today? Do you need my help?" Mrs Graham shook her head at Sienna's offer. "I don't think so Dear. One of the boys was going to help me in the basement. He can't come though so I thought we might just have a quiet afternoon." Sienna didn't hesitate, "I can help if you want." Eyes glued to the back of the girl who hadn't even flinched at an offer that would have previously caused a small melt down, Mrs Graham stood frozen in disbelief. "Sienna?"

Sienna turned at the sound of her name. She waited as Mrs Graham struggled with the questions she was trying to figure out how to ask, finally settling on "You want to go into the basement?" Sienna looked almost confused, "If you need me to help..." She shrugged. Again Mrs Graham opened and closed her mouth before simply stating, "You know it's quite dark in there."

Sienna's smile faltered as she took a couple of steps back towards her elderly friend. "I'm not scared of the dark anymore. I'm tired of being scared, so I'm not going to anymore." The small face was as serious as Mrs Graham had ever seen it. A small shiver made Mrs Graham uncomfortable. She couldn't help a tinge of fear as, eyes darker than she'd ever noticed before, Sienna stated with a decidedly calm determination,

"Now I'm gonna be angry"