ELOISE “WINNIE” STERLING is a 13 year old RUNAWAY in the MEDICAL WARD. She has been diagnosed with CONGENITAL INSENSITIVITY TO PAIN & STOCKHOLM SYNDROME and looks a lot like (Sadie Sink).
MAYBE THEY’RE HIDING
From the moment she was born, Eloise was treated as a thing to be protected. Her parents, especially her mother, monitored everything she did and everyone she spoke to. They felt had a good reason to. It was discovered at an early age that Eloise had been born with a rare genetic condition that left her unable to feel pain. Her life felt like a series of nos and do nots. Eloise loved her parents, and deep down she knew they were doing this because they cared about her safety, but she felt trapped, especially as she grew older. With her parents interfering in every aspect of her life, it was hard for the young girl to make friends. Lonely, with nothing but books to keep her company, she began to entertain the idea of running away. She didn’t even have a real school to go; she was homeschooled . And then one day, she made the greatest discovery of her young life: she could climb over the fence that surrounded her yard. At first, she would only stay out for a few minutes, returning before her parents could notice she was gone. However, soon her excursions grew longer and longer, until eventually things reached a tipping point when she was eleven.
WE HOPE THEY ARE PLAYING A GAME
There was a fair, coming to the town she lived in. Eloise longed to go to the fair- for the opportunity to be a normal girl. It was pointless asking her parents. She already knew the answer. Her parents would never have let her go to a place like the fair-there were too many ways she could get injured- so she took it upon herself to go to the fair herself. The fair was new and exciting, everything Eloise had dreamed it would be and more, but it was never her intention to stay out so long. But somewhere among the cotton candy and carnival games she’d lost track of time, and then she’d had a grim realization. Her parents were bound to have noticed her absence by now, and when she returned, things could only get worse. They’d never let her out of their sight. She decided her only option was to run away. The idea she’d once entertained had become her reality. But life had other plans for Eloise. A man and a woman - a desperate couple with no kids of their own, visiting Eloise’s state on a vacation- saw the young girl on her own, and figured she would not be missed. After all, what good parents would let such a young girl go to a fair by herself? They could do much better than that. So they lured Eloise away from the crowds, chloroformed her, and kidnapped her.
BUT THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING
She woke up in their car as they crossed the state line into Oregon and the couple told her that she was their child now- that they’d call her real parents and they’d given her away. Eloise was scared of course- this made no sense-, but she was surprised to find she was also excited. Wasn’t this what she had wanted? Adventure and the great unknown? So she went along. Her new parents gave her the name Winnie, dyed and cut her hair, and bought her all new clothes- including a pair of fake glasses she was to wear at all times. It wasn’t so bad actually. The glasses made her feel like super man and her new “parents” were much less strict. For the first time in life she was allowed to have sleepovers, play sports, and- by the benefit of a fake birth certificate-go to a real school. Her “parents” didn’t know about her condition, and nor did she plan to tell them. In the end, this is what would reunite Eloise with her real parents. One day at recess, she fell out of a tree she was climbing. She felt nothing, even though it was quite obvious her leg was broken. An ambulance was called and when her ‘parents’ met her at the hospital, suspicions were raised. Their lack of knowledge about Eloise’s unique condition was concerning, especially when the medical history they made up didn’t quite add up. Things fell apart quickly. And it wasn’t hard to find a missing child’s report for a girl with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain who matched Eloise’s description. The only problem was that Eloise swore up and down that her real name was Winnie Tucker, that she’d never been outside of Oregon- even when a dna test said otherwise. She’d had taste of what being normal was and she wasn’t going back. In frustration, the Sterlings sent their daughter to Brielle, where hopefully she could realize the full extent of what had happened to her, and more importantly, where could never be hurt again.
CONNECTIONS: None
Fortunately, Eloise is OPEN!