FULL NAME : Mabel Rosemary Hughes ALIAS : May AGE : 32 DATE OF BIRTH : January 1st, 1994 HOMETOWN : Kismet Harbor, Oregon. TIME IN KISMET HARBOR : Disappeared july 2020, returned xx 2026 RESIDENCE : Downtown FACECLAIM : Halston Sage
trigger warning: divorce, kidnapping, cults
EDUCATION : Bachelor of Journalism at Chapman University OCCUPATION : Unemployed GENDER : Cis-Female PRONOUNS : She/her SEXUALITY : Straight HAIR COLOUR : Dark blonde, dyed lighter EYE COLOUR : Hazel HEIGHT : 5'3" BUILD : Lean ACCENT : American LANGUAGES : English, Spanish TATTOOS : wolf tattoo on her shoulder. SCENT: Prada Paradoxe ZODIAC : Capricorn LOVE LANGUAGE : Quality time CLOTHING: Jeans mostly, t-shirts and cardigans.
CONDITIONS : Retinitis Pigmentosa ALLERGIES : Shellfish EATING HABITS :Overnight oats for breakfast. varied for dinner, does plan ahead for the week. EXERCISE HABITS : audio instructed workout SLEEPING HABITS : Pillow hugger, wakes up multiple times at night. ADDICTIONS : None DRUG USE : None ALCOHOL USE : Social Drinker
POSITIVE TRAITS : Altruistic, Motherly, Adaptive. NEGATIVE TRAITS : Stubborn, Cautious, Reticent PHOBIAS : None FEARS : Never being reunited with her daughter again, being taken again HOBBIES : painting, listening to audio books HABITS : Pulls her sleeves over her hands, combing her hair with her fingers, hold the strap of her bag when she's nervous. USUAL DEMEANOUR: Does what she can so she's not the center of attention. Stays out of people's ways but when warmed up will talk their ear off without exposing much about herself. Has a bitching rest face but when approached is the complete opposite.
FATHER : Orlando Hughes MOTHER : Claudia Hughes SIBLINGS : Declan and Lily PARTNERS : None CHILDREN : Cathy (february 8th, 2021) PETS : None.
BIOGRAPHY
Mabel Rosemary Hughes was born on January 1st, 1994, in the postcard-perfect coastal town of Kismet Harbor, Oregon. The youngest daughter of Orlando and Claudia Hughes, she grew up in a warm and close-knit family alongside her older brother, Declan, and her sister, Lily. Her childhood was marked by salty air, long walks along the beach, and the sense of security that only a small town can offer.
Growing up, Mabel was an adventurous, free-spirited child and teenager, someone who always wanted to help others yet who also had trouble in making safe choices. Her heart leaned towards the wellbeing of a society and maintaining a handle on the truth, a passion that began to take root early in her high school years. She had an easygoing nature, yet she often felt a deep empathy for others’ struggles, a quality she carried throughout her life. With her easy smile and genuine kindness, Mabel quickly became popular among her peers. Her best friend, Francisco, was her confidant during high school and college, often talking about their future dreams and plans.
Throughout her entire childhood, she had been attached to the hip with Jeremy Lieberman-Diaz, the son of her mother's best friend and the two became inseparable. It was with Mabel's successful academics she was allowed to skip a grade in school, even becoming classmates with Jeremy, often being separated by teachers for 'having too much fun' and 'causing distractions'. Even throughout high school this did not change. What did change, however, was their friendship blossoming into something more. To their peers, them not being together was something they could not remember. Where Jeremy was, there was Mabel, and if they had different classes, the other was always waiting outside of the classroom or at their usual meeting spot as soon as class was over. Even if they were to have a fight, it never took long for them to make up.
Outside of her entire school career, Mabel was a loyal girlscout. Though wild and reckless as a child, often giving teen scouts the stress of having to make sure she wasn't getting hurt somewhere (especially since Jeremy was right beside her), like Francisco Fontenelle, she was a responsible and dutiful teen scout herself. The goodbye to her little girlscouts when she took a gap year after graduating high school was hard for her.
Despite her outgoing nature, Mabel also learned early on that life could be unpredictable. During her teens, she was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a progressive eye condition that gradually affects peripheral and night vision. The diagnosis was devastating at first. Mabel had always loved independence, and the idea of losing parts of her sight frightened her. But in typical Mabel fashion, she adapted. She became more deliberate, learned to plan ahead, and developed a heightened awareness of her surroundings. Rather than letting the condition define her, she treated it as one more challenge to navigate.
It was through a contact of her father that Mabel and Jeremy got to join the crew of a charter company. Mabel worked as third stewardess (Jeremy as a deckhand), meaning she got most of the laundry duty, but she didn't care. The pay was good, the tips better and as a bonus, she got to explore islands she otherwise wouldn't. Together with Jeremy, she learned the culture of his ancestors in Puerto Rican, traveling the island, getting to know the people. It was a fantastic year she would never trade for anything, which also served as a distraction for the messy divorce their parents went through. Her parents divorced after Claudia Hughes became increasingly devoted to the teachings of an online spiritual figure whose influence grew more controlling and extreme. Orlando viewed the movement as dangerous, but Mabel held onto hope that her mother was simply searching for meaning and would eventually return to herself.
Returning to Kismet, it was time to get started on her college studies. Speaking truth and informing communities was important to her. She chose journalism over social work, feeling like she would be able to reach more people as a journalist. Those four years were stressful, but accomplishing. The moment she held her bachelor's degree in her hands, she couldn't be more proud. But not just because of that.
Barely graduated, and Mabel found that she was pregnant. Becoming a mother at the age of twenty-four had not something she'd planned. Her and Jeremy lived in a small apartment above a hardware store, wanting to work on their masters and build up a career so that they could start a family in their thirties. Yet neither Mabel and Jeremy were upset at the fact they were expecting. They would manage with the finances and their studies and do it like a team. With pride, they announced to their family and closest friends only that they were expecting, waiting to announce their pregnancy once she'd be out of the first trimester.
In July 2020, Claudia invited Mabel to New York under the pretense of a mother-daughter trip and a chance to reconnect. Mabel, newly pregnant and hoping to mend their fractured relationship, accepted. She kept the pregnancy private, sharing the news only with her partner, siblings, and closest friends while she waited to enter her second trimester.
It was a trap.
The retreat her mother brought her to was a secluded religious cult led by a man known as Father John. Upon arrival, Mabel quickly realized she had been deceived. Her identification, phone, and access to the outside world were taken. Once Father John learned she was pregnant, Mabel became even more valuable to the group.
Because the child she carried had been conceived before her captivity, Mabel clung to the pregnancy as the last tangible connection to the life she had lost. Cathy was proof that the world outside still existed and that she had once been loved freely.
Several months into her captivity, Mabel gave birth to a daughter, Cathy Hughes. The cult attempted to claim the child as one of their own, but Mabel refused to let them take away her identity as Cathy’s mother. Every sleepless night, every whispered lullaby, and every milestone became a reminder of what she was fighting to survive for.
Within the cult, Mabel was expected to devote herself entirely to domestic life. Women were taught that their purpose was to obey, nurture, and serve. They cooked, cleaned, cared for children, and submitted to Father John’s authority without question. Her education, independence, and opinions were treated as threats to the group’s ideology.
The one person she came to trust was Naomi Carter, another woman in the group who recognized Mabel’s fear and quietly took her under her wing. Naomi offered practical advice, emotional support, and small reminders that Mabel was still her own person. Their friendship became a lifeline.
Over the years, the stress, poor nutrition, and lack of medical care accelerated Mabel’s vision loss. Father John framed her worsening sight as a spiritual failing, insisting she needed to pray harder and submit more fully. In the dimly lit compound, Mabel increasingly relied on memorizing layouts, counting steps, and identifying people by voice. She concealed just how much her vision had deteriorated, terrified that appearing vulnerable might give the cult reason to separate her from Cathy.
By the time she escaped, Mabel’s peripheral vision had narrowed significantly, and she struggled in unfamiliar or low-light environments.
In early 2026, law enforcement raided one of the cult’s compounds after a lengthy investigation. Amid the chaos, Mabel was separated from Cathy. Panicked and disoriented, she escaped the property alone.
Hours later, exhausted and wandering along a rural road, she was found by a stranger who brought her to the nearest police station.
There, Mabel learned the truth that still haunts her: Cathy had not been recovered.
Father John and several loyal followers had escaped during the raid, taking a number of women and children with them—including her daughter.
At thirty-two, Mabel has returned to Kismet Harbor for the first time in nearly six years. She now lives in a modest apartment downtown and is currently unemployed while she adjusts to life outside the cult. The woman who returned is quieter and more guarded than the one who disappeared. She avoids being the center of attention, clutches the strap of her bag when nervous, and still wakes several times each night. Yet beneath her caution remains the same kind, intelligent, and deeply empathetic woman she has always been.
