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

[spark]

1 hour ago, Lost Little Neppy said:

I keep seeing new posts here, then pouting because there's no new chapter, lmao

In Wattpad, he said that it would come tomorrow.  I can't wait because I want to know how they found out.

Knowing how MW pulls his stories along, I don't think we will get a lot of answers tomorrow.  

[JustaFoxGirl]

10 hours ago, spark said:

Mom might be able to escape the immediate prosecution, but they will know who she is.

If she goes on the run, that would solidify her as pure evil. If she was delusional and truly believed she was doing the right thing, she would likely try to convince everyone of that and not understand why people are mad at how she "raised her daughters"

 

But given how she never babied Sarah outside of the home, and if she actually flees, that means she fully knew what she did was wrong but did it anyway. I hope she gets what she deserves.

 

[spark]

36 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

If she goes on the run, that would solidify her as pure evil. If she was delusional and truly believed she was doing the right thing, she would likely try to convince everyone of that and not understand why people are mad at how she "raised her daughters"

 

But given how she never babied Sarah outside of the home, and if she actually flees, that means she fully knew what she did was wrong but did it anyway. I hope she gets what she deserves.

 

Mom might need to call Ed Galbrath and ask for a dust filter for a Hoover Max 60 vacuum cleaner.  Now that I know it's set in New Mexico, I've got a shared universe theory that Sarah and Emilia's father is Ted Beneke.

Mom fleeing might not be a bad thing for Sarah.   It keeps her completely out of Sarah's life and Sarah wouldn't need to testify in a trial.

I don't know how high of a priority law enforcement would put into finding Mom.  I'm sure they would secure the house, and try to locate her at work, but as far as we know, they don't know where mom works.  They will see her as a risk to her children, and if she has Emilia with her, they will treat it as though it's a parental abduction.   Even then, Mom would be fine as long as she doesn't get pulled over.

If she is apprehended, I couldn't see a way that she could avoid conviction.   There is no justification for what she did.  She can't say that she thought Sarah's lack of potty training was due to laziness and use that as justification.  I think what they saw after the raid is enough evidence to convict Mom, even if Sarah can't testify.

What would Mom's sentence be if she was convicted of felony child abuse?  I looked it up and it's 2 to 6 years in prison.  The fact that Sarah wasn't malnourished and had minimal bruising

[AdultInnocence]

11 hours ago, spark said:

Mom might be able to escape the immediate prosecution, but they will know who she is.

Unless there is a major FU, an LEO is securing that house the moment they spotted Sarah.  I'm guessing that law enforcement was present when they raided the house, and unless it's hidden very well, the evidence will be found.  Even Saul Goodman ain't touching Mom to defend her.

I haven't checked the last page of replies yet, but there is a chance that tape is in the VCR right now. She did mention her mom liked to watch the tapes even during non holiday season. That is the latest one and she could be watching that one to see more of how Emilia is growing up beyond her sister, at least in her mom's eyes.

I think the mother has something effed up inside her mentally to do what she is doing. This seems well beyond narcissism. I would like to hope that she isn't inherently this evil.

[BabySofia]

15 minutes ago, AdultInnocence said:

chance that tape is in the VCR right now.

Is it really something that's a tape? My personal guess is the author is using the same type of terms I use for it when I record still. Most likely everything is recorded on an SD card and either in the camera (most likely) or in the computer where she was storing it. 

(Personally, I haven't used even a Mini DV tape now for well over a decade!)

[AdultInnocence]

29 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

Is it really something that's a tape? My personal guess is the author is using the same type of terms I use for it when I record still. Most likely everything is recorded on an SD card and either in the camera (most likely) or in the computer where she was storing it. 

(Personally, I haven't used even a Mini DV tape now for well over a decade!)

I thought I remember reading camcorder.

[BabySofia]

4 minutes ago, AdultInnocence said:

I thought I remember reading camcorder.

Most stores and people still refer to them as that. Granted your average person only uses a phone to record video anymore (and they're sickeningly good at it to be honest!), but the digital cameras are typically known as digital camcorders. BHPhotoVideo is one of the places I prefer to buy a lot of equipment from, and you'll see that listed there.

I could be wrong and she is using some ancient camera, but this would be a common way of saying things these days.

[JustaFoxGirl]

1 hour ago, spark said:

Mom might need to call Ed Galbrath and ask for a dust filter for a Hoover Max 60 vacuum cleaner.  Now that I know it's set in New Mexico, I've got a shared universe theory that Sarah and Emilia's father is Ted Beneke.

Mom fleeing might not be a bad thing for Sarah.   It keeps her completely out of Sarah's life and Sarah wouldn't need to testify in a trial.

I don't know how high of a priority law enforcement would put into finding Mom.  I'm sure they would secure the house, and try to locate her at work, but as far as we know, they don't know where mom works.  They will see her as a risk to her children, and if she has Emilia with her, they will treat it as though it's a parental abduction.   Even then, Mom would be fine as long as she doesn't get pulled over.

If she is apprehended, I couldn't see a way that she could avoid conviction.   There is no justification for what she did.  She can't say that she thought Sarah's lack of potty training was due to laziness and use that as justification.  I think what they saw after the raid is enough evidence to convict Mom, even if Sarah can't testify.

What would Mom's sentence be if she was convicted of felony child abuse?  I looked it up and it's 2 to 6 years in prison.  The fact that Sarah wasn't malnourished and had minimal bruising

lmao, as soon as MW said New Mexico I thought the same thing.

 

Her mother thinks Sarah is just being lazy, and Sarah breaking to the point where she begins to think she IS a baby would just reinforce that to her mother. However, Sarah had an accident when leaving the room with CPS, and I imagine at some point she'll get a medical examination and find out she has actual bladder issues, which would be explained in any court. My concern is if her mother successfully hides, how long until she tries to come back? People like her don't typically give up even if they hide at first.

 

I can't begin to guess what her sentence would be, but if it's that short, then it's entirely possible she'd be free during the sequel story.

[BabySofia]

17 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

I can't begin to guess what her sentence would be, but if it's that short, then it's entirely possible she'd be free during the sequel story.

It was already mentioned that would be six years in the future. Even if her mom ends up in prison, she'll be out long before then. As bad as Sarah's treatment and trauma are, she still won't end up with more than a year or two behind bars if I had to guess. If it was a longer sentence, I could see the sequel dealing with her and her mother reconnecting post-prison. 

@MinnesotaWriter It's not often that I feel the same pain as my readers with cliffhangers, but to be truthful I'm feeling slightly like karmic payback is coming my way with the wait! 🤣

[JustaFoxGirl]

19 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

It was already mentioned that would be six years in the future. Even if her mom ends up in prison, she'll be out long before then. As bad as Sarah's treatment and trauma are, she still won't end up with more than a year or two behind bars if I had to guess. If it was a longer sentence, I could see the sequel dealing with her and her mother reconnecting post-prison. 

Yea, sadly. Kinda. It's a weird thing because her sentence would be lesser since she never did any serious physical abuse, which is good. She was also apparently feeding Sarah enough (although I suspect that's only so if she ever took Sarah outside, nobody would realize she was malnourished, which just feeds back what I said earlier about how evil she actually is and knowing what she was doing was wrong).

So it's good Sarah wasn't physically abused, but it's also going to ensure her mother doesn't get the max sentence. Although even the max isn't a lot.

[AdultInnocence]

On 12/31/2023 at 3:34 PM, MinnesotaWriter said:

Chapter 58: Nightmare on Christmas

The first was that the stockings came before any of the presents. Emilia and I both had one with our name on it. Once we had gone through our stockings and perhaps snacked on some of the candy in them, we were to take turns opening our presents. ((You mention opening presents here, then next paragraph you mention breakfast, then presents again))

That would be followed by breakfast, which was always cinnamon rolls. Then, after the presents, there was a marathon of Christmas movies to watch. In other years, I would slip off to play video games on my computer. That wasn't an option with how I was grounded. I think Mom was more likely to make an exception to my rules to force me to watch a bunch of Hallmark movies with her than allow me to play video games.

 

MW, In this part of the paragraph, it sounds like they do stockings then open presents, then have breakfast and finish presents. It doesn't reflect later in the chapter, that they do stockings, then eat, then do presents, then watch movies. It could be just me, but it didn't seem to flow right?

On 12/31/2023 at 3:34 PM, MinnesotaWriter said:

The video camera was one Christmas tradition I had completely forgotten about.

I turned away from the camera, but the damage was already done. For the rest of my life, every time Mom replayed this Christmas tape, there would be stark evidence of this period in my life.

@BabySofiaThis part is what made me think VCR. "every time Mom replayed this Christmas tape"

 

[MinnesotaWriter]

On 1/19/2024 at 10:53 AM, AdultInnocence said:

Darn! Was hoping to have one chapter or part of one from Lisa's perspective if she does play into CPS getting involved. I do understand keeping everything in Sarah's perspective though.

You have had a very good writing style throughout the story. When this one is done the Sequel will be a pleasure to read.

Yeah, I very much prefer to writefirst-person perspective only. And I'm not nearly good enough to switch between two different characters in the same story like that. (In fact, the only time I've seen an author do that is Robin Hobb in one of the later Farseer books, and it was pulled off perfectly.)

That said, we'll get a good explanation for what went down and why with CPS. Though it might be a couple chapters out.

On 1/19/2024 at 11:28 AM, AdultInnocence said:

Right? We have been in single digits at night and next week looking at 50s and 60s.

I missed that part in his replies, been a lot to keep up on outside of story and sometimes I can miss something right in front of me when looking. I swear things go invisible just to mess with us sometimes. It could possibly be spring just before summer which would be plausible as the school wouldn't have gotten in any results from testing. I am not exactly sure how homeschooling works but I think they have to do periodic reports?

MW must have had a lot of fun writing the chapters knowing we would all be speculating.

On 1/19/2024 at 5:01 PM, BabySofia said:

Uh... Santa Fe is at 7200 feet in elevation. Plenty of days that it's below freezing for the high there. Yes, sometimes there's a warmer winter where it's in the 50's for highs, but New Mexico is mostly higher elevations than a lot of people realize. The southern part of the state stays pretty warm, but central to northern New Mexico can have a true winter.

I had forgotten or didn't realize it was set in New Mexico...

 

I only mentioned it a handful of times at the start. I think I probably just threw a mental dart on a map to select a warmer state than Minnesota. I wouldn't get too caught up on what the exact temperature is. 

On 1/19/2024 at 11:42 PM, spark said:

I don't think that is that is true.  AFAIK, CPS has no legal jurisdiction, but they work closely with local with the local sheriff.  FTR- calling the local sheriff meets my mandated reported requirements.  The very second they confirmed that what happened, it became a crime scene.  That means, other than getting Sarah to a hospital, the scene stays sterile.  AFAIK, a detective will pull every source of data there is present to assist a DA.    They will find those tapes and use them.  Especially in a case like this, because presently Sarah isn't able to support the prosecution.  Those tapes, along with Amanda's recount is more than enough to warrant a grand jury charge. 

There is a section in this chapter where the 3rd voice says that they need to contact the sheriff, and I would expect a LEO would be present.  In fact, in most cases, the social worker wouldn't even open an unsecured door, but maybe Amanda is more protective (read Diapers Never Lie- might not be the same character, but maybe she is)

Not the same Amanda, just me being not terribly good at randomly coming up with names for side characters.

On 1/20/2024 at 9:31 AM, Lost Little Neppy said:

I keep seeing new posts here, then pouting because there's no new chapter, lmao

One way to check is that I always update the title of the story with the new chapter and date within a few minutes of posting the next chapter.

20 hours ago, BabySofia said:

Is it really something that's a tape? My personal guess is the author is using the same type of terms I use for it when I record still. Most likely everything is recorded on an SD card and either in the camera (most likely) or in the computer where she was storing it. 

(Personally, I haven't used even a Mini DV tape now for well over a decade!)

It would be a mix. Older videos on tape, newer ones on an SD card.

19 hours ago, BabySofia said:

It was already mentioned that would be six years in the future. Even if her mom ends up in prison, she'll be out long before then. As bad as Sarah's treatment and trauma are, she still won't end up with more than a year or two behind bars if I had to guess. If it was a longer sentence, I could see the sequel dealing with her and her mother reconnecting post-prison. 

@MinnesotaWriter It's not often that I feel the same pain as my readers with cliffhangers, but to be truthful I'm feeling slightly like karmic payback is coming my way with the wait! 🤣

I think you understand how much fun it is to write cliffhangers, though.

But don't worry, another chapter is coming later today, but I can't promise that it won't have another cliffhanger.

16 hours ago, AdultInnocence said:

MW, In this part of the paragraph, it sounds like they do stockings then open presents, then have breakfast and finish presents. It doesn't reflect later in the chapter, that they do stockings, then eat, then do presents, then watch movies. It could be just me, but it didn't seem to flow right?

Thanks for catching that, I'll need to take a look at it later this afternoon and see if it needs to be re-worked for continuity.

[BabySofia]

22 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

but I can't promise that it won't have another cliffhanger.

It's okay, just karmic justice as I said! 🤣 Looking forward to it! 🙂

[MinnesotaWriter]

Chapter 64: The Wheels on the Bus

The wet pants accomplished what I hadn’t been able to find the words to say. I wasn’t potty trained and had no business wearing big girl underwear.

From the looks on their faces as they both stared at the puddle on the floor, Amanda and Jodie both now realized that not allowing me to wear a diaper had been a big mistake.

I didn’t find myself being embarrassed by the accident. It had been completely expected, as odd as that is to say, about something called an accident. I was more embarrassed by the lack of any protection and the ensuing mess but not by the act of peeing itself.

At least they didn’t make me take another shower to get cleaned up. I laid down on the bed as Amanda wiped me clean with a wet wipe. They’d found the changing pad for me to lie on as they cleaned me up.

They should have put me in a diaper right then and there, but instead, Amanda grabbed a pull-up that must have been left in the underwear drawer.

“Why don’t we try this instead?” Amanda said. She stretched out the pull-up to slide it up my legs and around my waist. “That’s it. I’m sure you’ll have better luck next time.”

The only true thing about that statement was that the only way I was going to make it to the toilet on time was if there was a lot of luck involved. I acquiesced to their desire to have me wear a pull-up. At least the next time I wet myself, it wouldn’t result in a puddle all over the floor.

The next question was what to wear over the pull-up. I got up from the bed. Walking felt more comfortable now that there was at least some padding between my legs.

Amanda led me to the closet. “Why don’t you pick out something that you would like to wear?”

My eyes immediately went to a knee-length dress. Long enough to be warm for the winter weather, but it would make changing a lot easier. I struggled with taking my shirt and hoodie off for a moment, and then Amanda assisted in pulling it over and off of my head.

Jodie found a pair of knee-high socks and helped me into them. I was nearly set to venture outside. At the front door, Amanda slid a jacket over me, tugging the hood over my head.

 I shivered as I stepped outside and breathed in a breath of crisp air. The yard was covered in sporadic patches of snow. I could see my breath as I walked down the driveway.

There were two cars parked outside. One that Amanda and Jodie had come in, and another for the man who was staying behind at the house. Maybe he would let Mom know where I was, once she got home. Amanda and Jodie had said something in hushed tones to him before they took me outside.

The last time I had been in a car had been that trip to the mall before Christmas. And I had been seated in the passenger seat, not the back one.

I completely forgot about needing to buckle my seatbelt. Jodie ended up doing that for me. Then we were off. My stomach felt a little uneasy around some of the sharper turns, and I occasionally had to keep my eyes focused on the interior of the car to prevent myself from feeling sick.

How far away was the hospital, anyway? I couldn’t recall. I hadn’t gone there very often.

An empty sensation in my mouth made me realize that I was missing something. My paci. How had I not remembered to bring that with me? I was beginning to suspect that Amanda and Jodie wouldn’t have prioritized bringing it with them as they grabbed some extra clothes and things to bring along to the hospital. They had packed a few changes of clothes and some pull-ups and had even included two pairs of underwear but had failed to pack a diaper.

My thumb found its way into my mouth almost automatically. I didn’t realize it was there until I had already been sucking on it for several seconds. Amanda was focused on the road, but I caught Jodie taking a peek at what I was doing in the mirror. I didn’t remove the thumb even after I saw a look from her that seemed quite close to disapproval.

I wasn’t concerned with any disapproval from Amanda or Jodie. They didn’t understand what I needed. But Mom did.

What was she going to do when she came home from work to find me gone? What was the man going to tell her? And what would she say when she found me wearing a pull-up when we were reunited?

“McDonald's or Burger King?”

The question they were asking may as well have been in a foreign language. I turned my attention to the front of the car and shrugged my shoulders.

“Alight, if you don’t have a preference, McDonald’s it is,” Amanda said, turning on her blinker and making a right turn toward McDonald’s.

My stomach rumbled as we pulled into the drive-through. There were a few cars ahead of us waiting to place their orders.

“What do you want to eat?” Jodie asked.

I took my thumb out of my mouth to answer her question. “Dunno.”

Jodie sighed loudly.

Amanda looked over at Jodie. “I think it’s easier for Sarah if we just give her some options.” Amanda leaned over and peered at me through the gap in the front two seats. “Chicken nuggets or a hamburger?”

“Nuggies.”

“Alright, nuggies it is.”

When we finally arrived at the place to place the order, Amanda ordered a happy meal with apple juice for me, an iced coffee for herself, and a soda for Jodie.

I reached into the bag to grab a nugget. Hot. I let it slip from my grasp and back into the bag. I would need to wait at least a few minutes before they had cooled off enough to eat.

I slipped my thumb back in my mouth, sucking on it to cool it down.

We were back on the road again, headed to the hospital with no further detours planned.

The car slowed to a stop at a red light.

A yellow bus pulled in alongside us. I peered up out the window at the faces in the vehicle next to me. A few were looking at me at first, then lips were moving, fingers were pointing, and more and more faces began to appear in the window, glancing down in my direction.

There were kids. Slightly younger than me. Some of them were staring at me. None of them had pacifiers. None of them had their thumb in their mouth.

A wave of memories came roaring back. Early morning bus rides to school. Classes. Homework. Cheerleading practice. Eating lunch in the cafeteria with my friends. Playing Fortnite with Lisa. Sleepovers. Game of Truth or Dare. Shopping trips to the mall.

I looked down at my hands. They were both on my lap, right above where the pull-up was beneath my dress. I licked my lips. My thumb was no longer in my mouth.

Something was wrong, but I couldn’t put a name to it. I didn’t belong in that world anymore. I’d made that decision the day before this year began. I chose diapers.

What was it that the woman had told me back at home when they had been getting me cleaned up and ready to go? They had said that how Mom was treating me wasn’t right, as if everything that had transpired had been Mom’s fault, as though I was a literal baby, lacking any agency over my life.

But that wasn’t true. Was it?

Mom hadn’t kept me locked inside the crib or chained to a wall. The baby monitor would have done nothing to prevent me from leaving and being long gone by the time she noticed and was able to get home from work. With my bike, I could have gone anywhere I wanted. I could have left at any time, and yet I chose to stay.

And what about before then?

There was nothing Mom could have done to stop me from telling Samantha and Desi the truth. There was nothing Mom had done that made me push Lisa away instead of asking her – the only person I knew who had been through anything similar – for help. There was nothing that Mom could have done that would have stopped me from telling Mr. Higgins or going down to the nurse’s office. Nothing that would have stopped me from picking up my cell phone and calling CPS myself.

Exit signs had been present at each point along the way, and each time, I had willingly passed them by. Why had that been? Was it because of a determination to handle all my issues on my own? Was it the shame and embarrassment of having my friends find out what I had been through? Was it the fear that any act of defiance wouldn’t be enough to get away from any consequences that might be awaiting me from Mom?

Or, at some point, had I already begun to subconsciously accept my fate? Had I known, deep down, with each ensuing accident, where everything was going to lead? That it would end with me knowing that I deserved, needed, and wanted diapers.

I’d spent the past who knows how long staying in a crib all day long, pissing and shitting in a diaper because I had chosen to do so. I couldn’t blame Mom for it. I could have ended it at any time if I had chosen to do so.

I dared another glance up toward the school bus. Only a couple faces at the window now. The rest had moved on from the spectacle, now that the older girl in the car was no longer sucking on her thumb.

That had been me in the bus, not long ago. And I’m sure I would have called Samantha and Desi over to gawk out the window had I seen a fellow teenager doing what I had just been doing.

But why had I pulled the thumb out of my mouth? And why wasn’t I able to bring myself to put it back in? A tiny bit of shame was gnawing at the back of my mind. I didn’t know any of those kids. They were young enough to be in middle school. From the name of the school on the bus, it wasn’t the one that I had attended last year.

Yet, the discomfort at the idea of them seeing me behave like a baby was enough to prevent me from doing so. Why? Was I just being self-conscious? Or did I actually have something to be ashamed of?

My mind kept replaying the reactions of Jodie and Amanda to finding me wearing a diaper and lying in the crib. The shock and discomfort on their faces. But also compassion and empathy. But all those emotions stemmed from the firm belief in the wrongness of what they were seeing.

When I decided that I wanted to wear diapers, had I made the wrong choice?

But if Samantha could choose to wear diapers, why couldn’t I? Would Amanda and Jodie consider Samantha’s decision to be just as wrong as mine? Or were both Samantha and I right? Or were the circumstances between myself and Samantha too different to be compared?

The light turned green. Our car accelerated faster than the bus, leaving the school kids behind.

With their eyes no longer on me, I slide a hand under my skirt, feeling the front of the pull-up. Dry still, but not that much time had passed since I had made that puddle on the hallway floor.

I tried, for the first time since failing at potty training, to get my bladder to tell me something, anything, but it refused to give me any sense of its condition, whether it was nearly bursting or still in the process of filling up, I didn’t know.

And that is where I was stuck, between this growing sense of wrongness in the back of my head and the practical reality that I had no idea of what was going on in my bladder. Between wanting to wear a diaper and wondering how I would be able to get through life at this point without one. Between the comfort of no longer fighting against my condition and the shame of seeing myself contrasted so sharply with my peers. Between the acceptance of what I'd allowed Mom to do to me since the start of the year, and the insistence of the social workers that it all was wrong.

The hospital building loomed on the horizon with the sun setting directly behind it. I shielded my eyes as we entered the parking lot.

I remembered the plethora of tests that Lisa had described undergoing as doctors worked to diagnose her own continence issues. How I’d attempted to bluff my way through a conversation with her by saying that I’d been through similar examinations. I recalled how I had snuck onto a computer at the school library, all the medical terms and theories about incontinence that I’d read.

But I hadn’t undergone a single medical test since my issues had begun. The closest to a medical attempt Mom had made to treat my sister and I had been the laxatives, and there must have been some truth to that strategy as it had appeared to help my sister.

The car came to a stop. Amanda turned off the ignition. Was I going to be poked, prodded, examined, tested? What could they tell me that I didn’t already know?

What was going to be waiting for me in the hospital?

[BabySofia]

15 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

What was going to be waiting for me in the hospital?

Hopefully counseling and answers. I'm glad to to see that the big her started to peek through to see the surface. Makes me think she can come out of this and have a future. I'm hopeful based on your hints here that it wasn't more than a few weeks of time. I do hope that man who was left back there lets the police in and they slap the handcuffs on her mom though!

[JustaFoxGirl]

As someone who struggled with their own incontinence issues, I fully understand how Sarah feels right now. It also seems like she's struggling with her own desire to be babied? If we ignore her mother's abuse for a moment, she did mention how she enjoyed the relief from stress it brought and I'm sure many here can relate to that. How much of that was a result of her mother, and how much was because she had time to really think about it, and consider how Samantha may have felt about it? The private talk Samantha and Lisa had as well, whatever Samantha had told her seemed to not only calm Lisa down, but actually convinced her to take care of Samantha herself.

 

It's still much too early to say, and it's entirely possible Sarah is only trying to convince herself she could have left at any time, but I'm beginning to wonder if her experiences with Samantha's reveal and Lisa have planted ideas in her mind that only recently started to really take root.

[spark]

Wow!!  At least Sarah is out of her infantile, but she has a ton of guilt over what happened.   

e still didn't get any of our questions answered🙁

27 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

I do hope that man who was left back there lets the police in and they slap the handcuffs on her mom though!

So do I.  I hope it happens in front of every body so mom is humiliated.

 

48 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

 

My mind kept replaying the reactions of Jodie and Samantha to finding me wearing a diaper and lying in the crib. The shock and discomfort on their faces. But also compassion and empathy. But all those emotions stemmed from the firm belief in the wrongness of what they were seeing.

I think you meant Amanda here.

3 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

As someone who struggled with their own incontinence issues, I fully understand how Sarah feels right now. It also seems like she's struggling with her own desire to be babied? If we ignore her mother's abuse for a moment, she did mention how she enjoyed the relief from stress it brought and I'm sure many here can relate to that. 

I think that's going to be one of the things that Sarah will have to process

Sarah's mom put so much stress on her before all of this but then took away all control.  I think that explains some of my ABDL desire- the elimination of adult stress.   

It doesn't excuse what her mother did.  Right now she is not in a space to process any of this because she's been brainwashed.

[Night Rain]

I feel like all that's gone on and everything that is happening. Has led to a point where Sarah will or might have a nervous breakdown.

[BabySofia]

9 minutes ago, Night Rain said:

Has led to a point where Sarah will or might have a nervous breakdown.

She's going to breakdown, I don't think there's a question there. She's in denial about her mom at the present, and at some point the realization of how bad everything got is going to weigh on her even more deeply. I don't think it has really hit her yet that she's been removed from her mother's custody and will probably never see her as her legal guardian again. 

[JustaFoxGirl]

15 minutes ago, spark said:

I think that's going to be one of the things that Sarah will have to process

Sarah's mom put so much stress on her before all of this but then took away all control.  I think that explains some of my ABDL desire- the elimination of adult stress.   

It doesn't excuse what her mother did.  Right now she is not in a space to process any of this because she's been brainwashed.

Oh no, it absolutely does not excuse anything her mother did. She deserves to get several books thrown at her for what she did. I do understand what I said might seem like a hot take though, but many of these ideas come from a place where I try to see even the smallest positive in a terrible situation. I do understand that Sarah is, currently, in a very bad place mentally.

 

 I just think that seeing Samantha willingly be babied, and seeing it as something you can switch on and off as needed, while also understanding the benefits of it after having spent however long doing it herself has been beneficial in a way. Sarah is struggling, but she's not entirely struggling to "grow up" I think. Like yes, she IS trying to reconcile two parts of her mind that are at odds, but If she was truly that far gone, she wouldn't have cared that the kids saw her. Her mind may have been screaming at her to stop while she continued to suck her thumb anyway. Instead, she immediately stopped sucking her thumb, even if she wasn't aware of it. Her normal self is still there telling her to be ashamed, but at the same time, another part is telling her she doesn't need to be ashamed because it's okay that her friend does it, and she needs to believe it's okay that Samantha does it, or it could cause problems with their relationship. Something else I feel many of us can relate to.

 

But either way, I maintain that she needs Lisa, Samantha and Desi to truly recover from this.

 

Of course, the bad alternative is she grows to hate it so much that it shatters her friendship with Samantha, and possibly Lisa (as an enabler of it) and I think we can all agree that would be an awful outcome.

[spark]

5 minutes ago, BabySofia said:

She's going to breakdown, I don't think there's a question there. She's in denial about her mom at the present, and at some point the realization of how bad everything got is going to weigh on her even more deeply. I don't think it has really hit her yet that she's been removed from her mother's custody and will probably never see her as her legal guardian again. 

From Sarah's perspective, this has to be terrifying.  Short of the one moment when Amanda pointed to the nursery and said, "None of this is right, you're a teenager," they haven't tried to explain much of this to Sarah.  There has been a lot of talking at her, which is normal for her.  I know that it is part of the narrative to keep us in suspense, but Amanda should be talking to her in an appropriate way to reinforce that she is a teenager and explain what is going on.

Of course, Jodie and Amanda appear to be completely shocked with what they've witnessed and likely need to process their thoughts as well.   They should be explaining every step to Sarah so she can' get out of the flight or flee mentality.

11 minutes ago, JustaFoxGirl said:

But either way, I maintain that she needs Lisa, Samantha and Desi to truly recover from this.

I think that would be the healthy thing to do, but there is also privacy issues.

If this happened in real life and the media found out about it, it would be sensationalized viral media fodder.  The NY Post would be all over a story like this.  I'm sure they would avoid naming Sarah, and Sarah would get a new name.  I don't think they would send her back to her old high school.  Ideally, if Sarah approved of it, they would reconcile her with her friend group.

I'm not even sure if Sarah and Emilia would be in the same placement.

[kerry]

The way that you have narrated this story from the start, one eye on where it is going but the other firmly on how it will get there, suggested precisely what happened in this chapter. No way were we going to go quickly to a diagnosis; rather, we need to see her slowly emerging from the stupor she has been in since school restarted...and to a great extent long before that. Otherwise, nothing good can happen: Sarah needs to begin to process for herself all of the ugliness that her mother's insanity has foisted upon her. That same careful narrative structure is why we see this:

2 minutes ago, spark said:

they haven't tried to explain much of this to Sarah.  There has been a lot of talking at her, which is normal for her

Sarah is not yet in any position to understand anything they might say even if they had a real clue what they were dealing with. That they don't is evident from their reactions. If Lisa or whoever brought them there told them about the abuse, she could not have known how bad it had gotten. She could not have known that her mother had broken her with all of this. It makes total sense, then, that the CPS people would assume she didn't really need diapers, etc. I do, however, assume that (no matter who reported it) they know that she is not normally the way she is currently coming across, and that they will immediately understand the depth of what her mom has done.

[JustaFoxGirl]

11 minutes ago, spark said:

I think that would be the healthy thing to do, but there is also privacy issues.

If this happened in real life and the media found out about it, it would be sensationalized viral media fodder.  The NY Post would be all over a story like this.  I'm sure they would avoid naming Sarah, and Sarah would get a new name.  I don't think they would send her back to her old high school.  Ideally, if Sarah approved of it, they would reconcile her with her friend group.

I'm not even sure if Sarah and Emilia would be in the same placement.

The media getting involved is something I've worried about as well. Even if Sarah's name was kept out, people would put two and two together and even if they can't confirm it was her, they would still suspect it, and Sarah's reaction to people would give it away. I agree that she can never go back to her school. That way, at least she won't have to face the people who now know.

Also yea, privacy is one thing, but I'm hopeful Sarah convinces them to make an exception since those friends are all she has now. Even if she stays with Emilia, she's too young to understand anything and given how she took part in Sarah's babying, she would only be detrimental to Sarah's recovery right now, as awful as it sounds.

[spark]

34 minutes ago, kerry said:

The way that you have narrated this story from the start, one eye on where it is going but the other firmly on how it will get there, suggested precisely what happened in this chapter. No way were we going to go quickly to a diagnosis; rather, we need to see her slowly emerging from the stupor she has been in since school restarted...and to a great extent long before that. Otherwise, nothing good can happen: Sarah needs to begin to process for herself all of the ugliness that her mother's insanity has foisted upon her. That same careful narrative structure is why we see this:

Sarah is not yet in any position to understand anything they might say even if they had a real clue what they were dealing with. That they don't is evident from their reactions. If Lisa or whoever brought them there told them about the abuse, she could not have known how bad it had gotten. She could not have known that her mother had broken her with all of this. It makes total sense, then, that the CPS people would assume she didn't really need diapers, etc. I do, however, assume that (no matter who reported it) they know that she is not normally the way she is currently coming across, and that they will immediately understand the depth of what her mom has done.

They would know that Sarah was a cheerleader and that she took honors classes.  I'd guess they were completely shocked with what they saw.  I think they expected to find Sarah emaciated and probably held captive in a room.  I doubt they had any clue that would find an otherwise healthy 15-year-old girl who was treated as if she was an infant.

[Lost Little Neppy]

I can't imagine them not performing any sort of test on her for her incontinence, but given how long it's been going on since she's had this start, who knows if they'll be able to fix the issue.

I also really want to see how the mother reacts to this information. That would be so nice.