Her family arrives

Lucy was dozing off on her hands and knees, her shoulder leaned against the cold bars of her cage, when the doors slammed open again. Her parents were the first to come through them, followed by Abigail and Mr. Ashcroft, the college dean. Spotting Lucy, her family started running her way while the dean walked slowly after them.

"Mom! Dad! Oh thank god. Get me out of here!" Lucy shouted, lifting a hand to cover her breasts in front of her family. "I don't know what's happening, but they're all in on it."

"Why the hell is it still talking?" her dad demanded, turning on the dean angrily, "We were told it would be taken care of until we arrived, not locked in a box and ignored."

Mr. Ashcroft raised his hands defensively. "After Miss Wicks fell through we thought it best to wait for you. Lucy is your daughter-"

"That thing is not my daughter," Lucy's mom stopped him, tears in her eyes, "We raised her as our own, but there is no way that came out of me. They must have switched it for our baby in the hospital, and we've been paying for their mistake ever since. So don't go dumping the blame on us."

"Mom?" Lucy whimpered. She couldn't believe her ears. What had these people told her parents?

"I wasn't blaming anyone, I merely..." while the dean and her parents continued arguing, Abigail crouched down in front of the cage. "Hey Lucy. You poor thing. I'm sorry everyone's yelling, you must be scared enough in there."

Lucy opened her mouth to speak. Her sister had always looked up to her, if she just told her what was happening she had to be on Lucy's side.

"Shhh..." Abigail stuck a hand through the bars, pressing a finger against Lucy's lips, "You'll make them even madder if you keep acting like a person. I know that's what you think you are, but it's not true. It's not your fault though, how could you have known when everyone was treating you like one?"

Then she noticed the empty bowls and the stray kibble on the floor of the cage. "Is that all they've fed you?"

Lucy nodded, the bland taste of the crumbly dog food still on her tongue. Abigail stroked her cheek gently before standing up and facing the arguing adults. "Will you cut it out already? I thought we were here to take care of Lucy. Where's the key to this stupid cage?"

For a moment the room was silent except for a stray bark. Then Mr. Ashcroft nodded and started walking over, his hand in his jacket's inner pocket. "Stand back," he admonished before bending over to unlock the cage.

Ignoring his warning, Abigail crouched down again and pulled the door open. "Come on out Lucy, it's ok."

"I can't watch this," her mother said from the end of the row. "That isn't our child, Tom."

Lucy's dad put his arm over his wife's shoulder and guided her out of the room. The dean frowned at Abigail, "You really should keep your distance too. Lucy is a dangerous animal, she's already injured one man and physically overwhelmed her temporary handler."

"Oh shut up," Abigail said while Lucy lowered her hand from her breasts to crawl gingerly out of the cage. Spending hours on her knees had done a number on them, and the tile floor outside was no **** to them than the cold metal floor of the cage. "I was Lucy's sister for eighteen years. I love her and she loves me. She's not going to hurt me, see?"

As if to demonstrate, she held a hand out to her approaching sister. Thinking it might earn her a reprieve, if only for a brief time, Lucy nuzzled her face into it like a cat asking for scratchies.

"Hmm," is all the dean had to say in response.

"Just leave us alone! Go yell at my parents some more, you're not helping me."

"Harrumph!" The man stroked his moustache in irritation as he left. He had not agreed with the other faculty that waiting was the best option, and if the dumb girl got herself hurt it would just be more evidence in favor of his recommendation that Lucy be transferred to a strict animal obedience facility.

"They're all gone now," Abigail whispered when they were as alone as one could be in a room full of whining, barking dogs. "I have something for you."

Lucy looked up when her sister dropped her backpack on the floor and started rummaging around in it. Did she have something in there that could help her escape somehow? Had she only been playing along to get the dean off her case?

Her face fell when Abigail procured a bag of doggy biscuits. "I bought treats! Dad says you're not supposed to get any without earning them, but I already know you deserve them. You were never a violent person, when you were living like a person I mean. If you hurt anyone they must have been hurting you first."

"They did! Sis, listen to me. Whatever they told you..."

"Uh uh uh," Abigail interrupted. "I guess there is one thing you gotta do for these treats. No more talking, ok? I won't let anyone else hurt you, but you have to stop trying to do people things or daddy will get mad again. You have to be a good girl if you want to come home with us. Can you do that for me? I'll let you speak for a minute so you can answer me."

"Abby, don't you see how insane this is? I'm a human being. I need human food to live, these things are probably missing a bunch of important vitamins or something!"

Abigail turns the bag around in her hand to look at the ingredients. "It looks similar enough to me. I'll ask someone when I can, and until then I'll sneak you some human food on the side. But you better not tell yourself that means you're a person, I just don't want you to get sick. Now, no more talking. Show me you can be a good girl by eating your treats quietly."

Lucy looked at her sister pleadingly. She hadn't even gotten a chance to say dog treats didn't taste good, making them a lousy reward. But Abby was the only one being nice to her, and she couldn't risk annoying her by speaking up again. So she just waited quietly while the bag was opened, and then licked one treat after another off her sister's hand.

Abigail giggled every time Lucy's tongue scraped over her palm. When the bag was half empty she wrapped a rubber band around its top and buried it at the bottom of her backpack where it had come from. "The rest are for later. It's going to be a long drive home for you if I can't convince dad not to put you in the crate in the back, and I want you to have something to look forward to on the way."

Lucy licked her lips clean, glad to be done eating. The treats were better than the dry 'biscuits' Kim had fed her yesterday, but they were hardly candy and having to eat something meant for an animal out of her sister's hand was demoralizing. Shuddering at the thought of being locked in a crate for an hours-long drive after having spent most of the day in a cage already, she allowed Abigail to wrap her hand around her pink collar and walk her through the rows to the door.