Glenda walked out of the bedroom. The house was empty. She scanned the floors to see if there was any sign of Stella running around. Of course she could just look under the couch to see if she was there but it would be really rude to invade her privacy during such a sensitive time for her.

“Stella, I'm going to make some breakfast. Please speak up if you decide to wander around.”

After a moment of silence, Glenda strolled her way towards the kitchen, careful of where she stepped just in case Stella was already wandering around, probably looking for a way out. Glenda couldn't really blame her; many abused humans recoiled at even the gentlest touch from a giant. Stella was no different, but like a lot of humans, she could overcome her trauma. Heck, Stella already made progress in the two months she had lived with them, this is just a minor set back in the road to recovery. There was still hope for Stella.

The smell of pancakes soon filled the house. If anyone else was here, they'd stop what they were doing and run straight to the kitchen table, how could Stella resist? After preparing the hotcakes on a tiny plate, Glenda walked out to the living room and set the plate down by the couch without even glancing under the sofa. She didn't say a word as she walked back to the table. Stella obviously wasn't going to talk right now, but the most important thing was that she ate something.

~~~~

Hours past by and the pancakes still remained untouched. This was concerning. Glenda didn't want to push Stella during a traumatic time, but she couldn't let her starve.

“Stella, you're breakfast is getting cold.”

Nothing.

“Look I understand you're going through a lot. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just want you to eat something.”

Not a word was spoken.

Glenda sighed, know what she had to do. “I'm going to check on you.” She lowered herself onto the ground, and peeked under the sofa. Her blue eyes grew in fear as she noticed the little human was gone.

“Stella?” She began restlessly crawling through the house, looking around any place Stella may be able to hide around. Not behind the TV, not under the dryer, not in any other room! No sign of her anywhere! Did she escape? No she couldn't have, there was no way Stella could leave without help from someone helping her. Did someone take her? Maybe Jason tried to help her by taking her? Glenda quickly rushed over to her phone to call her husband.

“Hello?”

“Stella is missing.”

“What?”

“She's not under the couch and I've looked everywhere for her.”

“Well, she was under there this morning.”

“Did Jason try to get her this morning?” She asked.

“He wanted to, but I didn't let him.” Richard said. “I made sure he left before we did. The only one who was still home was you and-!”

Both fell silent. They could instantly tell what the other thinking.

“I gotta call you back, dear.” Glenda quickly hung up the phone and frantically began dialing Clair. There's no way Clair could do something to harm Stella. She knew what Stella dealt with. She knew doing something would only bring her more trauma… right?

“Hello this is Clair Seward, I can't get to the phone right now, please leave a message and I'll get back to you.”

“No, Pick up! Pick up!”

She dialed, again and again, and again, but all calls left with no answers. The hairs on her arms stood up as she realized it was too late, whatever her daughter was going to do, was already done.

“Clair…. Why?”