(And before we start... thTW : References/ideas of (really) underage ra*ing and not (really) graphics descriptions of vomiting.

But when they opened the door, there was a real surprise...

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad..." Mabel cracked an awkward smile. "I'm home..."

Caryn gasped at the sight of a young girl, nearly instantly dropping on her knees to wrap arms around the small child. Filbrick slowly knelt to the girl, gently strocking her face, through it caused her to shiver. But it was only for a second, before she was able to recognize the strong and steady hand of her foster father and lean into it.

Hesitantly, Mabel also wrapped her arms around her foster mother, tears starting to drop from her eyes, mixing up with the rain. The soft cries of both, mother and daughter stood there, were nearly silent, but they both felt relief of finally being here now. In the familiar street of small town, at the good old Pines Pawns, in arms of the family's father around them.

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"May-May!" A small voice nearly shrieked across the room, before two pairs of arms were locked into a hug.

"Shermie..." Mabel whispered into the boy's hair, letting his sent sink into her. A small smile crossed her face, as their parents watched the scene.

No matter how happy they were to see Mabel back and, hopefully, not seriously harmed, neither of two parents could imagine they'd ever see their daughter like that...

The poor girl was wet due being in the rain for so long. Her hair were a mess and, in some places, it seemed like it was thorn down or roughly cut. Her clothes were dirty, old and... were those even her clothes? Caryn could've sworn the girl was in completely different outfit on the day she went missing.

Through it didn't matter much. She was finally home, in safety.

"Come on, Mabel... let's get you cleaned and some dry clothes, hm?" Caryn said gently, taking the girl's hand. Mabel replied with a nod.

"Shermie... can you wait in my room?" Mabel asked quietly. "I'd like you to be with me tonight..."

With that, Shermie sent his sister another smile and ran off to her room.

"I'm going to call Pauline to tell the news..." Filbrick said, as he watched Caryn take their daughter to the bathroom.

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"He was our substitute..."

Filbrick felt his blood going cold when he heard those words. Nearly a month after her return back home, Mabel decided that she was finally able to be asked for statements about her kidnapper.

She was taken away by her substitute teacher. Mr. Edward, she recalled his name. But it then turned out that Mabel was far from the first one who suffered from the man's hands.

Over course of last year, many young girls would go missing all over the state, and most of them were found two or three weeks later, but in bad condition.

No one knew, who that man was, as each girl said he gave them different name, upon meeting. And still, he would often pick somebody of power, just to gain trust of the young girls and lure them into his clutches.

Most of turned up girls were back home eventually, but the results were shocking. According to the kids, the man tended to do horrible things with them (and not alone, by reports of few girls, who had clearer memories of their imprisonment), through made sure they stayed well and healthy. And still, from the looks of it, he kept them drugged to prevent them from calling for help or escaping.

"But why is he doing that..?" Caryn asked, gently strocking Mabel's hair, as the girl held onto her foster mother, now sleeping. "What's the point of all that..?"

"We don't know, Mrs. Pines." The lead investor replied with a sigh. "All, the girls could tell, were that they were injected something in them during their stay, but the doctors weren't able to find anything out of ordinary, through they'd like to keep an eye on Mabel for now, just in case."

"Alright. But she's still very scared of being touched, if it's not us..."

The man nodded, looking into his list. "Of course." He said. "This girl has been through a lot... we can't have her anymore unsettled than she already is..."

Caryn sighed again. "Thank you..."

Filbrick walked to his wife, taking Mabel into his arms. He froze on the spot, when the small girl shivered against his chest, whimpering slightly. She was scared. And both parents hated it. They hated that their daughter was scared of being touched or picked up, unless she was on guard.

"Shh..." Caryn gently rubbed Mabel's hand. "It's okay, sweetheart. It's just your father. You're safe..."

And they hated that she needed to be comforted, to feel okay with something that meant to be comforting in first place. All because of some sick man's fantasies.

On the way to the car, Mabel seemed to calm down a bit, as she curled up in a small bundle against her father's chest, holding onto his shirt.

She then let out another whimper. "No... please... I promise, I won't act out again..!" She said, barely above whisper, trying to cover her head, getting her feet closer to her body. "Please... no more... I will be a good girl..! Put that back!"

Caryn quickly sat back to Mabel, wrapping her arms around her in attempt for comfort. But first, she put a familiar blanket on the girl. It was one, Mabel herself knitted. It was purple, with a yellow shooting star on it.

All while their daughter's insleep meltdown, the woman was trying to comfort the little girl. Filbrick stood on guard, but he couldn't ignore the struggles, Mabel had to face and was now suffering from the consequences.

She was so small, and the pose didn't do her any favor right now. Despite being thirteen, she was still yet to outgrow her baby face, which already showed the harsh loss of it's childish innocence. Filbrick had an idea of what might have happened to Mabel to cause such reaction, but he deeply hoped it wasn't the case. The mere thought of somebody touching a child, especially HIS child, in that way was sickening. Just what was this man thinking on day he took her? Not that he wanted any other girl to go missing in Mabel's place, but he still wondered why did his daughter had to suffer being hurt like this.

And that fact that she was completely defenseless against him. Maybe she could've ran, if it was a normal day, but on exact this day, Mabel wasn't feeling well due the having a bad night, Filbrick knew it. That made her so helpless on that day... and not to mention she was still so young...

Just what has that man done to you, child..?

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"Ma... can I have scissors..? I wanna cut my hair..."

Caryn's eyes widened at this.

It's been bit over a week after Mabel first came to give statements, but she wasn't doing any better.

Her and Filbrick still couldn't let the kids go to beach, through neither really minded to stay in. They had enough to do inside, according to them. Not to mention that Mabel was still too scared to leave adult's side too far while on outings.

And despite that, she was still making some progress. In their most recent outing to grocery shopping, she made  as far as few aisles in the store. No matter how small this achievement actually was, or if it was normally laughable for people her age, Caryn was still very proud of her daughter for doing it.

And yet, that question seemed to some out of nowhere. Mabel's hair was obviously damaged while she was in captivity, but there was nothing Caryn couldn't fix with brush and some hair care things.

But by the looks of it, Mabel was still unsatisfied. But she couldn't put a hand on why she would want it. And still, Caryn didn't want to get too deep into girl's reasoning. If she wanted to cut her hair, she could do so.

"Well..." Caryn started. "Alright. To be honest, Mabel... I think it would be a good idea to give you a small makeover." The woman smiled, getting a surprised reaction from her daughter, but then it turned into a smile. "You know, how us, girls, pride ourselves with our hair, right? So that's a good thing that you want to change it. It means you're getting ready to get through this experience and go on with your life!"

Mabel let out a giggle for Caryn to return a smile. It was the first giggle, she let out since she was back. And the first giggle, that didn't sound forced or nervous, but instead genuine and sweet, like Mabel's laugh normally would.

"Yeah!" Mabel said, throwing her hands up. "But... you don't mind I do that? It's just..." She sighed. "This happened out of my control. But, if I'll be getting my hair cut myself... I think that might help... because I'll be doing that. So I can feel I'm in control of my life again."

Caryn was slightly surprised by this train of thought from her daughter, but she couldn't argue this this logic. It seemed to be good and, if Mabel says it might help her to go back to her normal self, that so be it.

"Just let me know, if you'll need any help."

Caryn handed a pair of scissors to Mabel, who happily accepted them.

"Yes, Ma."

After Mabel ran off, the apartment went quiet again. Shermie sat with his mother in kitchen, working on a homework assignment, he was given, while Caryn made some sandwiches for the kids to eat.

The peace hanged on for about half an hour...

Before noise came from the bathroom. It was wet, like some liquid hitting a sink, as well as noises of human distress, which followed by coughing.

"May-May?" Shermie asked, standing up from his chair to go to her, with Caryn following him, a glass water in her hand.

They reached the bathroom door, when Caryn knocked on it.

"Mabel?" She asked. "Mabel, darling, are you alright?"

"Yeah, Ma... I'm-!" And then Mabel was cut off by, seemingly, another wave of vomiting.

"It doesn't sound like it. Can we go in?"

"N... noooo..!" The girl whined through her suffering, but then she sighed out. "Okay... go in..."

"Thank you, dear..."

Once Caryn opened the door, she saw her daughter standing against the table.

Her previously long hair were not cut up to her shoulders, the rest of on the floor, scissors on side of the sink. The girl's face was, indeed, raw from the distress she was feeling, and her pose was slightly weakened to lean against the sink, through she did seem to try to get to the toilet. She wiped her mouth her her hand to get rid of the last bits of acid, through there was still a tiny bit of spit on edge of her mouth.

But what Caryn picked on was that she was holding onto her stomach area, in lower part, but not in place where you'd expect person's hand to be when they're having this problem. Something our of normal, and yet... something that she felt familiar. Something that she herself had experienced not awhile.

She didn't notice that, but her head followed to Shermie, who stood next to her, concerned about his big sister.

And then it snapped in her head.

Of course. That was the way she would hold her belly, when she wa-...

No.

No, no, no, no, no!

"Mabel..." Carny said, getting attention of both her children. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but we're taking you to the doctor."

Moses, please, don't let me be right!