... even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes. It also can come from the most unexpected of places...

Tilly’s mother Mandy was getting her ready for her first day at special needs college, at least that’s what Tilly thought she was doing.

What she was actually doing was getting her ready to kick her out. She had been fed up with the precocious little brat’s antics, as well as having to deal with her ongoing health problems and her having issues sometimes, dealing especially with things like dressing and looking after herself. She wasn’t well herself; suffering from cancer, and addicted to strong pain medication, she knew she couldn’t last much longer, anyway. This was all for the best.

The weather was looking very grey outside, and Tilly was always catching colds and flu, so she wasn’t too surprised when her mother started dressing her in a really thick rubber raincoat, saying it was a present for her. Just before she pulled the hood up, however, she pressed something against Tilly’s mouth, then reached behind her head.

There was a click. Tilly was now effectively gagged, with it looking just like a storm shield. Tilly moaned, trying to ask her mother what was going on. Mandy just carried on dressing her, pulling the hood up and fastening the ties. She then fed a small padlock through two loops in the ties and locked it under Tilly’s chin. Tilly’s head was now locked into the hood, so she couldn’t get to any of the fasteners to undo the gag.

Tilly moaned at her mother, trying to get her to undo the hood and gag. Suddenly, her mother grabbed her left arm, tucked it inside the coat and fastened it into a pocket on the right side, crossing it over her waist. She then did the same with the right arm.

Now struggling, Tilly tried to get free. Mandy fastened the poppers above and below where Tilly’s arms went in, then locked them with a special key. She then brought out the black cape…

The cape was soon fitted over the raincoat and locked in front. Tilly was now completely helpless, and sealed in. She moaned and wailed as her mother fastened a clear visor to the hood of the cape, further sealing her inside.

She then slapped Tilly on the backside, hard, and pointed to the front door.

“Out you go”, she said. “Your father is expecting you at his place across town. He’s got another set of keys to your coat and cape. You’ll be living with him from now on, I can’t cope with you anymore. Hurry up, as I said, he’s expecting you to be there before he takes you to college.”

Tilly frantically shook her head. She didn’t want to live with her father, he mistreated her!

Mandy opened the door and shoved Tilly out of it, as hard as she could.

“It’s really for the best”, she said. “You’ll have a better life there with him.”

Tilly stood there, crying her eyes out. She wouldn’t be better off with her father! She still stood there as her mother went inside and shut the door. Sadly, Tilly turned and started walking down the road.

What was she going to do? She felt like her life had just ended. She didn’t realise things were about to get even worse…

Evan Davies was causing trouble as usual, petty theft, shoplifting, etc. Then he saw Tilly walking dejectedly along the road…

He knew Tilly was handicapped but, at the same time, knew she had a beautiful body. What the hell was she wearing, though…?

Even stood in front of Tilly, to make her stop, then tapped on her visor.

“What’s the outfit for, Tilly? Are we expecting floods, or something?”

Tilly, unable to answer, tried to step round him. Evan blocked her every time, badgering her. He eventually tried to rip her cape open.

His mouth dropped open in surprise as he realised the cape was really sturdy and locked shut. “What the…?”

Tilly couldn’t stand it any longer. She just sagged to her knees, wailing and howling.

Then Evan did something really unexpected…

“Hey, don’t cry, I was only larking about”, he said. He hugged Tilly, gently rocking her back and forth. Suddenly, he realised Tilly’s tears were building up behind her visor. The poor girl was going to drown!

Diving into the nearest hardware store, he grabbed a swiss army knife from the counter and raced back out. The shop assistant came charging after him, to find him hacking at Tilly’s cape and coat…

“Help me! She’s drowning!”. He yelled, hacking at the cords holding Tilly’s hood on. Tilly knew he was trying to help, but she couldn’t stop crying. She was coughing into her gag as the water from her own tears rose higher…

Evan managed to saw through the cords and pushed back the hood of the cape and the hood of her coat. As soon as he did, the water rushed out.

Realising what was happening, the shop assistant dived into his shop and came back with a pair of bolt cutters. These soon made short work of the padlocks, and Evan ungagged Tilly. They also used the bolt cutters to undo the cape and coat fasteners and soon Tilly was free.

“Mum did this to me!”, she said. “She threw me out; told me I had to live with my father.”

Evan hugged Tilly as she cried again…

It turned out that Tilly’s father had raped her as a child; that was one of the reasons the family had split up in the first place. Her mother, panicking trying to get rid of her, had completely overlooked the fact that Tilly was over 18 and able to make her own choices. She was also an incredibly good influence on Evan; saving Tilly’s life had made him a hero, with all his past minor misdemeanours forgotten. Tilly also had a real crush on him, as well, that developed into true love. She moved into the spare room at his place and ended up working at his parents shop.

The trauma of throwing Tilly out had weighed heavily on her mother, and she overdosed on her painkillers the same evening, supposedly ‘an accident’. Tilly didn’t even go to the funeral…