All My Mother's Rules (Ch. 70 & Epilogue - 2/13/24)

[BabySofia]

13 minutes ago, spark said:

I just reread the start and this started on October 1.  She had the fall the next day, and that was the day of her first accident.      The first baby days for Sarah was in November, but the real descent didn't start until her mom confronted her about the Pull-ups Sarah purchased.

Imagine the horror of having your child buy herself absorbent underwear to avoid wetting herself.   

For some reason, I thought there had been a summer break in there, but if that's right, it's really only been 4-5 months... (Hopefully this latest thing didn't go longer!)

@MinnesotaWriter I know you don't want to give away this last bit of timeline until you post the next segment. How long was the timeframe from the beginning to New Year's? 

[MinnesotaWriter]

On 1/16/2024 at 9:11 PM, Lost Little Neppy said:

I'm incredibly tense about how long it's been for CPS to finally get involved. I'd like to think that Lisa came to the rescue, but I dunno.

Someone/something definitely had to have tipped them off. They aren't going to come in like that of their own accord.

11 hours ago, Lost Little Neppy said:

The more I think about it, the more I can't help but make the comparison of Sarah's treatment to what children like Genie Wiley were subjected to. The silver lining is that Sarah, unlike Genie, wasn't subjected to this for most of her life before being rescued, so Sarah will hopefully be able to recover with the right treatments.

I'm hoping that Sarah and Emilia stay together and aren't separated.

We will have to see if the authorities decide that is for the best. Might be hard for Sarah to have that reminder of what she's been through.

15 hours ago, BabySofia said:

I think we're only maybe a year and a half to 3/4 through the timeline in the story though itself. I think that's part of what has made this such a well written (and painful) tale, is that it's not just a five day descent into babyhood for the rest of her life. Looking forward to some closure on it here soon though. (Tomorrow? Tonight? Please?)

55 minutes ago, spark said:

I just reread the start and this started on October 1.  She had the fall the next day, and that was the day of her first accident.      The first baby days for Sarah was in November, but the real descent didn't start until her mom confronted her about the Pull-ups Sarah purchased.

Imagine the horror of having your child buy herself absorbent underwear to avoid wetting herself.   

40 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

For some reason, I thought there had been a summer break in there, but if that's right, it's really only been 4-5 months... (Hopefully this latest thing didn't go longer!)

@MinnesotaWriter I know you don't want to give away this last bit of timeline until you post the next segment. How long was the timeframe from the beginning to New Year's? 

Yeah, so the story takes place over one school semester, starting in September and going through the end of Christmas break. I played a little fast and loose with the amount of time that passed between key holidays like Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas, there were definitely some extra days thrown in there to line up certain events with certain holidays.

And then of course there is the to be revealed amount of time that Sarah is being homeschooled/babied by her mother. 

[BabySofia]

14 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

Yeah, so the story takes place over one school semester, starting in September and going through the end of Christmas break.

Thanks! On the plus side, there's only a semester, and whatever happened in this hell time, they have to deal with the loss of schooling during it all... She may still be able to graduate on time, depending on what happened there with that time loss. She may not have had her entire schooling ruined? Just her life and what remained of her 'normal' last years of 'childhood' as a teenager...

Thanks for the response!

[spark]

55 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

 (Hopefully this latest thing didn't go longer!)

I'm hoping it's only a matter of weeks, but Sarah no longer being able to count the number of weekends makes me think months and not weeks.

BTW- I highly recommend re-reading the whole story once this is done.  I picked up on so many things and things that I missed completely like Lisa's uncle not letting her use the bathroom, even though she had a medical issue that should let her use the toilet when she needs to.  I thought the dude was a saint, but that doesn't fly with the special education teacher in me.

BTW- @MinnesotaWriter I did notice that you called Emilia on one part after Emilia gets put in diapers the first time.   At least in the Wattpad version

[JustaFoxGirl]

1 hour ago, BabySofia said:

For some reason, I thought there had been a summer break in there, but if that's right, it's really only been 4-5 months... (Hopefully this latest thing didn't go longer!)

For what it's worth, Lisa mentions summer break several times, and I believe Sarah mentions it as well so maybe that's where it came from?

[spark]

8 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

Thanks! On the plus side, there's only a semester, and whatever happened in this hell time, they have to deal with the loss of schooling during it all... She may still be able to graduate on time, depending on what happened there with that time loss. She may not have had her entire schooling ruined? Just her life and what remained of her 'normal' last years of 'childhood' as a teenager...

Thanks for the response!

I know about catching kids up with credits.  My job primarily consists of pushing students who hate (for good reason) to complete enough units to graduate.   

A lot of schools start in early August to complete the semester right before Christmas, which means she got credit for the Fall.   She has lost her entire Spring semester, even if she was saved in February.  It's not easy to make up a semester and still graduate with her class, but it's possible.  She is super smart and knows how to get good grades because her mom beat the crap out of her when she got a C on an assignment.  

The bad is that she will be in the Foster System, and has extremely low self-esteem.  She will need a lot of emotional support to even go back to school.   She will also need a supportive environment at her school.  There are different types of teachers at high school.    You've got the I want to be your friend teacher, and that won't help very much.     She won't be helped by the teacher who is just a big kid either.   The worst case is the teacher who shares parts of her mom's personality, and some of those can be narcissists. 

What she really needs is a resource teacher.   It's not a place where she has to open up about her feelings, but she get to drop her shield.

[MinnesotaWriter]

57 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

Thanks! On the plus side, there's only a semester, and whatever happened in this hell time, they have to deal with the loss of schooling during it all... She may still be able to graduate on time, depending on what happened there with that time loss. She may not have had her entire schooling ruined? Just her life and what remained of her 'normal' last years of 'childhood' as a teenager...

Thanks for the response!

You're welcome.

49 minutes ago, spark said:

I'm hoping it's only a matter of weeks, but Sarah no longer being able to count the number of weekends makes me think months and not weeks.

BTW- I highly recommend re-reading the whole story once this is done.  I picked up on so many things and things that I missed completely like Lisa's uncle not letting her use the bathroom, even though she had a medical issue that should let her use the toilet when she needs to.  I thought the dude was a saint, but that doesn't fly with the special education teacher in me.

BTW- @MinnesotaWriter I did notice that you called Emilia on one part after Emilia gets put in diapers the first time.   At least in the Wattpad version

All of the story versions should be consistent as of last weekend when I finished with editing. The only difference is for Wattpad, for example, I will split up a chapter into 2-3 parts sometimes when they are longer.

As for the uncle. I think it is clear from the other instances where we see him interact with Lisa that he is respectful of her issues. For that classroom scene in chapter 3, I'd chalk it up to more of an attempt to treat her like any other student, knowing that an accident would be covered because she had protection on. Not the right way of handling it, but he wasn't intended to be anywhere similar to what Sarah's mom was.

8 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

For what it's worth, Lisa mentions summer break several times, and I believe Sarah mentions it as well so maybe that's where it came from?

I went and did a word search for summer, I think all the references are to the previous summer break that would have happened before the start of the story.

[JustaFoxGirl]

4 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

I went and did a word search for summer, I think all the references are to the previous summer break that would have happened before the start of the story.

Sorry, yea, that's what I meant. I worded it poorly, but I was referring to "summer vacation" being mentioned which might have caused some confusion.

[spark]

37 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

As for the uncle. I think it is clear from the other instances where we see him interact with Lisa that he is respectful of her issues. For that classroom scene in chapter 3, I'd chalk it up to more of an attempt to treat her like any other student, knowing that an accident would be covered because she had protection on. Not the right way of handling it, but he wasn't intended to be anywhere similar to what Sarah's mom was.

From what I recall, Mr. Higgins is the teacher that I'll push to get somebody in their class.  FTR- if a teacher to one of my students, they wouldn't do it a second time.  The way you have written him is similar to how I teach.  If Lisa was my student and that happened, it wouldn't happen a second time

FTR- even the best teachers FU on that issues.

[MinnesotaWriter]

Chapter 63: Rescued

I closed my eyes as tightly as possible and curled up on my side with my head buried in my arms.

Multiple voices were talking now, two, maybe three people. I caught only bits and pieces of a hushed conversation that was now happening in my bedroom. They were all talking about me, glimpses of shock in their whispers.

I opened my eyes, but only slightly. Two women and a man wearing blue jackets huddled together in the middle of the bedroom.

I closed my eyes again when the one woman facing me made eye contact. That was followed by footsteps that stopped right next to the crib. I opened my eyes again.

A woman was standing next to the crib, peering down at me. “Everything is going to be all right. We’re going to get you out of there.”

I shifted to the far corner of the crib, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her now that I could see more clearly with the flashlight not shining in my face.

“Hey, my name is Amanda. What’s your name?”

The word stuck in my throat for a few seconds until, at last, I could whisper it out. “Sarah.”

“We’re going to get you out of here, Sarah.” Amanda stood over the crib, attempting to figure out how the sliding door worked until she flipped the right latch and pulled it open. “Why don’t you sit here on the edge for a second?”

I complied with the request, even though it meant sitting on my now messy diaper.

Amanda placed her hand over her nose as she leaned in toward me, feeling both of my arms and my legs with her hands.

She turned to speak to the two other people in the room. “Minimal bruising. No broken bones. Doesn’t seem malnourished. Just…” She let her words trail off as she looked down at my diaper and then back at the bottles and pacifier in the crib, as if at a loss for how to describe what she was seeing.

“Is that what I think it is?” the woman behind Amanda asked.

“Is it what, Jody? The man asked.

Jodie was pointing to something on the dresser. The baby monitor.

The man walked over to the baby camera that was on top of the dresser, pointed down directly at the crib. He picked it up and shifted it in his hands for a few seconds before pressing a button that turned it off.

“We need to figure out who was watching this right away,” the man said. “They’re going to know that something is off, even if they hadn’t already seen us.”

“Would it be her parents?” Jodie asked.

“No, it’s just the mother,” Amanda said.

“Then we need to figure out where she works and contact the sheriff’s office. Can’t risk her getting on the run. Not after this.”

I was still sitting on the edge of the crib, watching their discussion, their attention momentarily diverted from me. My pacifier must have been kicked out behind the crib when I had sat up, so I placed my thumb into my mouth instead.

“Are we going to need an ambulance?”

“I don’t think so; she seems more or less fine physically; we can get her to the hospital in one of our vehicles.”

“But we can’t do it like this. Let’s help get her cleaned up first.”

The man turned back to look at me briefly. “How are we going to manage that?”

“Probably best to get her cleaned up in the shower. We passed one on the way to the bedroom. I’ll go and get it started.”

“Yes, you two can help the girl with getting cleaned up. I’m going to get in touch with the sheriff’s office and the hospital. They need to find her mother ASAP.”

Amanda walked back over to me and then crouched so that her eyes were level with my own. “We’re going to take you to the hospital, but you need to get cleaned up first. Can I help you up?”

I nodded, and Amanda slid her hands under my armpits and helped me to my feet. Amanda held my hand as I toddled alongside her to the bathroom. Jodie was in the middle of adjusting the shower temperature.

I hadn’t stepped into a shower since that day when I had failed potty training when Mom had rinsed me clean from my accident with frigid cold water.

Since then, Mom had given me baths, sometimes with Emilia’s help, but it was hard to ascertain how frequently I had been cleaned up like that.

“Should be all set now,” Jodie said.

I held my hand out tentatively, stretched out nearly enough to touch the water, but not quite there yet.

“It’s OK, you can go ahead and touch it. It’s all nice and warm.” Amanda pulled up her sleeve and held her hand in the water, keeping it under the shower stream.

I put my hand in next to hers. The water was just right. Warm, but only gently so, not anywhere near so hot as to scald me.

“Here’s what we are going to do,” Amanda said. “We’re going to get this off of you, wipe you up some, and then we’ll finish cleaning you up in the shower.” She looked down at me as if she was expecting a response. “Can we do that?”

I didn’t understand why she needed my permission to change my messy diaper or why she seemed so hesitant to call it what it was, but I nodded up and down, anyway.

Her fingers fumbled around on the diaper tapes for a few seconds, unsure exactly what to do. Then she ripped them off one by one, keeping a grip on the diaper so it didn’t immediately drop down to the floor once all the tapes were off.

Then the diaper was off, and with it, any remaining barrier preventing the smell of what I had done in it from escaping. The odor wasn’t pleasant in any way, but I was much more used to it than the two women who were helping me get cleaned up, both of whom appeared to be stifling the need to gag.

One woman held the diaper beneath me while the other ran cold, wet wipes along my bottom, depositing them into the diaper. After a dozen wipes, she rolled up the diaper and tossed it in the trash.

“There has to be an air freshener somewhere,” Jodie said as she turned on the bathroom fan and opened several cupboards. She found the can she was looking for and made a few broad, sweeping sprays across the bathroom.

“Just one more thing to do now: we need to get you in the shower.” Amanda placed a supporting arm around me as I stepped into the shower. The warm, pounding water caressed my skin as I stood with my back to the shower.

Each woman grabbed a washcloth and began to wipe me down, both around my waist and then my arms and legs, everything except my hair, which they had done up in a bun to avoid it getting wet.

Had they said they would take me to the hospital after this? But why? I wasn’t sick. Even Amanda had admitted that I appeared healthy? Everything in my mind still felt a bit fuzzy. I was struggling to make sense of what was going on.

I shivered as the water was turned off abruptly, and then a large towel was draped around me as Amanda helped me out of the bathtub.

“Sarah, can you tell us where your mom might be?”

“Work.”

“And where does your mother work?”

I shrugged beneath the towel. “I dunno.”

“And your little sister? What about Emilia?”

“School.”

The brief interrogation ended as they finished drying me off and led me back to the bedroom.

I laid on the bed out of habit, even though they hadn’t placed a changing pad onto the sheets.

There was a raised voice coming from somewhere else in the house. But just one person. It sounded like the man was yelling at someone over the phone.

The women looked at each other.

“I’m sure there have to be clothes for her somewhere,” Jodie said.

They went over to my dresser and pulled open nearly every drawer before selecting an outfit for me to wear.

I held my arms up as the women slid a t-shirt and hoodie over me. But seeing the next item of clothing they wanted to put on me caused me to cross my legs and shake my head from side to side.

Amanda was holding a pair of underwear that she must have found in the dresser.

“You can do it,” she said, holding the underwear out in front of me. “No one is going to make you wear diapers anymore. You can put it on yourself if you want to.”

What was she talking about? Being made to wear diapers? That wasn’t true. I wanted to wear them. I wanted to wear them because I wasn’t capable of being potty trained.

“But I wanna wear diapies.”

Jodie sighed softly and sat down on the bed next to me. She placed an arm around my shoulder.

She waved her other hand around the room. At the crib. At the stacks of diapers in the closet. At the diaper changing supplies sitting atop the dresser. “None of this is right. You’re a teenager. And it wasn’t right for your mom to treat you like this for so long. It’s OK for you to want to wear underwear again.”

I looked back and forth between the two women. They didn’t get it. Maybe Mom could explain it properly to them in a way I couldn’t, not with baby words. I tried to think of some big girl words that might do the trick, but they all seemed to elude me.

But if there was one thing that Mom had fully ingrained in me, it was being obedient to authority figures, so I let the women dress me how they wanted to.

After I uncrossed my legs, the women continued dressing me, getting the underwear on and then pulling on a pair of leggings and socks.

I still felt naked as I got off of the bed. Walking felt unnatural with the absence of a diaper and the way the padding between my legs would impact my gait. I waddled a little as if there was an imaginary diaper still between my legs.

At least the yelling off on the other side of the house had stopped.

“Jodie, can you go find a jacket for Sarah? It’s getting pretty cold out right now?”

Jodie hurried off ahead while Amanda walked slowly beside me, holding my hand. I didn’t really want to go to the hospital. But I didn’t want to not comply with these nice ladies, either.

“Where’s mommy?”

“We don’t know where mommy is right now. But I think it’s best to have a break from seeing her.”

I paused a few feet from the bedroom door. My voice quivered slightly. “But…”

Amanda took hold of my hand. “We’ll get a nice warm jacket on you before we get out to the car. And then, we can stop and get something to eat on the way to the hospital. Does that sound good?”

I was hungry. It had to be close to when Mom would come home with Emilia. I let Amanda lead me out of the bedroom.

I took three steps into the hallway, and then everything was warm and wet in my pants. Only I didn’t have a diaper on, so the wetness spread out, running down the legs of my jeans and dripping into an ever-growing puddle between my feet on the floor.

There is a reason that only big girls are allowed to wear underwear.

[JustaFoxGirl]

Well this confirms a coworker didn't accidentally see the nanny cam feed, or Emilia telling someone about her "baby" sister. That leaves one of her friends to alert someone, or perhaps a teacher. I do wonder what gave them cause to break down the door though. They seemed surprised when they realized Sarah was in a crib with baby bottles, so I doubt they knew she was being babied, and they're apparently unaware of her incontinence issues.

Very interested to see the reveal later.

Sarah's inability to talk normally fills me with dread that this has been going on much longer than it seems, but we know it's still winter at least.

[APhil]

25 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

winter at least

It could be winter again...

[JustaFoxGirl]

6 minutes ago, APhil said:

It could be winter again...

 Even though that's possible, I want to have hope that SOMEONE, like Lisa, Desi or Samantha wouldn't wait so long before realizing something is very wrong

[thedman]

I feel like Sarah is going to have a long road back to getting out of diapers.  Beyond the physical regression that has occurred due to what seems to have been an extended period of forced usage, she will also need to overcome whatever condition or injury that was causing her incontinence on the first place.

 

Beyond that, she will have to overcome whatever mental condition and regression that has occurred beyond the abuse.

[GQLF]

The worst-case scenario is that Sarah's bladder has already suffered mechanical damage and cannot be completely cured. Of course, none of these are important. The next few chapters are expected to be intense, and the controlling mother is likely to become hysterical as a result.

I'm a bit looking forward to Sarah and Emilia coming into a new family. At least Emilia has never subjectively hurt her sister, but she's just doing things out of her portrayed "big sister" mindset. She's still a 3-year-old child and there's no way she's wrong.

[spark]

3 hours ago, thedman said:

I feel like Sarah is going to have a long road back to getting out of diapers.  Beyond the physical regression that has occurred due to what seems to have been an extended period of forced usage, she will also need to overcome whatever condition or injury that was causing her incontinence on the first place.

 

Beyond that, she will have to overcome whatever mental condition and regression that has occurred beyond the abuse.

Her mental condition is a shell and he wasn't allowed to communicate like a normal.  There are part to her that will never go away.  Her mom is so controlling that Sarah has developed this natural obedience for authority figures, which might explain why she's fallen so deep. In the recent chapters, I thought Sarah accepting her status as a baby was a survival, but she truly believes that's what she is.  She can't use the potty which makes her a baby.

The mom is even sicker than I thought.  There is a scene when she is babying Emilia after an accident and from it looked like the mom enjoyed it from Sarah's perspective.   I think mom loved that she turned her 15-year-old daughter into a helpless baby. 

FTR- I don't normally like stories in which the regressed is turned into a helpless baby who can't even speak.

[JustaFoxGirl]

3 minutes ago, spark said:

Her mental condition is a shell and he wasn't allowed to communicate like a normal.  There are part to her that will never go away.  Her mom is so controlling that Sarah has developed this natural obedience for authority figures, which might explain why she's fallen so deep. In the recent chapters, I thought Sarah accepting her status as a baby was a survival, but she truly believes that's what she is.  She can't use the potty which makes her a baby.

Her incontinence is probably permanent, but the babying may stay with her as well. At the very least, she'll need time to recover and return to being a teenager. Hopefully whoever she ends up with is both capable and willing to do that for her. Perhaps someone who has done it for someone else already...

[MinnesotaWriter]

5 hours ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

Well this confirms a coworker didn't accidentally see the nanny cam feed, or Emilia telling someone about her "baby" sister. That leaves one of her friends to alert someone, or perhaps a teacher. I do wonder what gave them cause to break down the door though. They seemed surprised when they realized Sarah was in a crib with baby bottles, so I doubt they knew she was being babied, and they're apparently unaware of her incontinence issues.

Very interested to see the reveal later.

Sarah's inability to talk normally fills me with dread that this has been going on much longer than it seems, but we know it's still winter at least.

Yep, adding the jacket wasn't important to give some context for how long. We'll get an actual date in a chapter or two. And of course, some more details on why CPS got involved in the way that they did.

5 hours ago, APhil said:

It could be winter again...

That would be an excellent twist, but I'm not being anywhere that evil to Sarah, and that would be pretty bad if things went that long without her friends managing to help.

5 hours ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

 Even though that's possible, I want to have hope that SOMEONE, like Lisa, Desi or Samantha wouldn't wait so long before realizing something is very wrong

I think it would be hard for them not to notice that something was up, especially with Sarah not returning to school.

4 hours ago, thedman said:

I feel like Sarah is going to have a long road back to getting out of diapers.  Beyond the physical regression that has occurred due to what seems to have been an extended period of forced usage, she will also need to overcome whatever condition or injury that was causing her incontinence on the first place.

 

Beyond that, she will have to overcome whatever mental condition and regression that has occurred beyond the abuse.

Yep, but she is going to have the right people helping her with it, this time around.

2 hours ago, GQLF said:

The worst-case scenario is that Sarah's bladder has already suffered mechanical damage and cannot be completely cured. Of course, none of these are important. The next few chapters are expected to be intense, and the controlling mother is likely to become hysterical as a result.

I'm a bit looking forward to Sarah and Emilia coming into a new family. At least Emilia has never subjectively hurt her sister, but she's just doing things out of her portrayed "big sister" mindset. She's still a 3-year-old child and there's no way she's wrong.

I doubt CPS would be inclined to let the mother have any further interaction with Sarah at this point. They've got plenty of evidence that things aren't right. But yes, we will also find out what happens with Emilia in this scenario.

18 minutes ago, spark said:

Her mental condition is a shell and he wasn't allowed to communicate like a normal.  There are part to her that will never go away.  Her mom is so controlling that Sarah has developed this natural obedience for authority figures, which might explain why she's fallen so deep. In the recent chapters, I thought Sarah accepting her status as a baby was a survival, but she truly believes that's what she is.  She can't use the potty which makes her a baby.

The mom is even sicker than I thought.  There is a scene when she is babying Emilia after an accident and from it looked like the mom enjoyed it from Sarah's perspective.   I think mom loved that she turned her 15-year-old daughter into a helpless baby. 

FTR- I don't normally like stories in which the regressed is turned into a helpless baby who can't even speak.

In the beginning of the story, the Mom is passing off most of the parenting duties to Sarah, with Sarah having to do all the potty training and diaper changes. I think that the Mom does want both her daughters out of diapers. She was quite happy to have Emilia fully toilet trained. Sarah is very much being punished for what the Mom views as extreme acts of disobedience. 

5 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

Her incontinence is probably permanent, but the babying may stay with her as well. At the very least, she'll need time to recover and return to being a teenager. Hopefully whoever she ends up with is both capable and willing to do that for her. Perhaps someone who has done it for someone else already...

We'll have to see what the answers to both those issues are. Sarah at least is going to get professional help now that she's been rescued by CPS. 

[Lost Little Neppy]

Hm, judging by the fact that she needs a jacket and not a coat, it had to have been at least a month. February at the very earliest. Maybe March.

Man.

[spark]

18 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

In the beginning of the story, the Mom is passing off most of the parenting duties to Sarah, with Sarah having to do all the potty training and diaper changes. I think that the Mom does want both her daughters out of diapers. She was quite happy to have Emilia fully toilet trained. Sarah is very much being punished for what the Mom views as extreme acts of disobedience. 

I based that off of the first time that Emilia was spoonfed and Sarah implied that her mom seemed to enjoy.   I know that Mom is done with her interactions with Sarah, but I would like to hear what Mom's thoughts were with this extreme punishment. 

Most of the extreme abuse situations that we hear about also includes extreme neglect.   In those cases, the child is extremely malnourished and their hygiene is neglected.  Mind you they found Sarah in a soiled diaper and she wasn't in a condition to take care of herself.

I'm just hoping that my theory of mom seeing the commotion on the baby monitor and she high tails to the daycare and skips town.  When you produce the movie, I'm hoping that you show Mom's arrest at work and her perp walk through the office with everybody to see.  I'm sure Mom is a major B to her colleagues as well.

13 minutes ago, Lost Little Neppy said:

Hm, judging by the fact that she needs a jacket and not a coat, it had to have been at least a month. February at the very earliest. Maybe March.

Man.

As a West Coast guy, I didn't pick up on that.

[JustaFoxGirl]

5 minutes ago, Lost Little Neppy said:

Hm, judging by the fact that she needs a jacket and not a coat, it had to have been at least a month. February at the very earliest. Maybe March.

Man.

A coat is just a longer jacket, so it's the same thing either way, really.

But yea, It's really awful for her.

[BabySofia]

Thank you for finally bringing her rescuers into the picture. Unfortunately, the heartbreak for the girl is far from over. You wrote her character as having very realistic reactions to her rescuers and her lack of understanding of what's going on. Knowing some of the studies of people put in solitary confinement (she's not quite as bad, but similar), it might not take that long to devolve into this state. It didn't happen overnight going into either... 

Totally knew that underwear thing was not going to end well for anyone... 

Looking forward to the rest of the answers and hoping she gets the help she desperately deserves and needs. (And that they catch her mom before she gets away with her sister. If she saw it, I can almost guarantee she went straight to that school, picked her up, and left town... Hope the sheriff's officers are on the A-Game!)

[Night Rain]

Will we get to see how the mom reacts to having the cops arrest her? I'm still waiting to see what the answers are for what Sarah's friends thought when she wasn't able to contact them.

[spark]

16 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

Totally knew that underwear thing was not going to end well for anyone... 

The scene where they tell them that nobody is going to make her diapers anymore was a tough one to read.  Her incontinence issues throughout the story were severe and getting worse.  She wasn't able to last an hour without peeing.  Now she has the psychological effect.  She might not even realize that her diaper needs to be changed anymore.

This is one time that I wish the full story was already published.  I have so many questions, and to be honest, most of them weren't answered in this chapter.

What did CPS know about Sarah's condition?   I wonder if the fact that Mom and Emilia had likely been seen, but nobody has seen Sarah since Christmas.    I think that would be enough of a red flag for a wellness check, and they might not have been prepared to see what they saw if they expected it to be a standard wellness check.

[JustaFoxGirl]

8 minutes ago, spark said:

The scene where they tell them that nobody is going to make her diapers anymore was a tough one to read.  Her incontinence issues throughout the story were severe and getting worse.  She wasn't able to last an hour without peeing.  Now she has the psychological effect.  She might not even realize that her diaper needs to be changed anymore.

What did CPS know about Sarah's condition?   I wonder if the fact that Mom and Emilia had likely been seen, but nobody has seen Sarah since Christmas.    I think that would be enough of a red flag for a wellness check, and they might not have been prepared to see what they saw if they expected it to be a standard wellness check.

She does know when she needs to be changed, but she's been conditioned to know she'll be changed when her mother gets to it. I agree fully that it was heartbreaking to see them think the diapers were entirely punishment, and seemingly have no idea she actually needs them. At least with her accident they'll likely allow her to wear them again for hygiene reasons.

As far as a wellness check, my understanding is they would knock and attempt to see her and confirm her condition. They can't legally enter a home without cause, and they apparently kicked the door in. That tells me they had cause, but they were also unaware of her babied status. I'm very interested in seeing what they were told and with what evidence to cause them to jump straight to breaking in to rescue her.