 |
 |
elizabeth.myfastforum.org
An archive of my AB/DL stories.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:15 am Post subject: |
  |
|
Chapter Twenty
"Careful," Jen warned, pausing with one hand in the sink's soapy water, eyes worried.
"I'm fine," I insisted, even though my heart was still pounding. The damp plate she'd just handed me had almost slipped out of my grasp, but I somehow managed to keep ahold of it, just barely. I was almost glad my diaper had already been wet since lunch, sagging beneath my jumper - not my favorite, although it used to be, until I'd gotten my purple denim one. This one was a rather bright yellow, trimmed with pink, and just barely long enough to keep my diaper hidden as I stood there on my footstool, drying dishes.
To be honest, I'd almost forgotten I had it, as had Jen, apparently, from the pleasantly surprised tone of her voice when she noticed it, and declared I would wear it, while flipping through my closet, deciding on my outfit for the day. I hadn't worn it since near the beginning of second grade, when I'd been playing at recess, not paying attention to anything but having fun, and heard some nasty boys singing about seeing my underpants. I was pretty sure Nadine had encouraged them, although she, and the boys, once I'd worked up the courage to ask them about it, or go near them at all, which took until almost the end of school, denied it.
The boys had gotten in trouble for making fun of me, but I had gotten sent home with a note for mommy, something about wearing shorts under my dresses, like I usually did for school, actually, or I had the year before. Still, I decided to wear shorts or jeans for most of second grade, and whenever I didn't, my tummy was always full of butterflies until I got home, no matter how long the dress was - that didn't seem like the important part at all. And I hadn't put this jumper on at all since then, having hidden it away in a corner of my closet, angry at it for "betraying" me.
Until Jen had found it, and slipped it on over my head, spreading the skirt down and smiling happily as I tried to find a good way to sit without exposing my diaper. I was beginning to wonder how Jen had failed to notice the state of my diaper yet, since it had been mostly exposed while I sat on the couch next to her and ate, boredly watching the news, although I had been doing my best to cover it after my accident.
Before that, though, I had almost forgotten about it, or, rather, about how visible it was. I guess it just didn't matter that much, when Jen was the only person there, and she knew about it already. The day had been pretty boring so far, since I'd been too nervous to venture over to the barn, or even outside to my swings, knowing Nadine might be waiting for me. So I'd just stayed inside, following Jen around and complaining about how boring she was, and begging her to paint my nails again.
"Maybe tomorrow," she'd said, but I knew she meant "Probably never again." I don't know why she wouldn't, although apparently whining wouldn't change it, or so she'd claimed. I'd tried anyway, which prompted her to lament again her decision not to buy a pacifier. I stayed quiet after that, having the feeling she would have no problem changing that next time we went to town if I kept bothering her. I'd still followed her around the house for a while, however, until she made me sit on the couch while she cooked lunch, to get me out from under her feet.
I rubbed the plate sulkily, until it was mostly dry, set it down in the rack on the counter. It had been nice having pretty fingernails, even for just the morning; it wasn't fair not to let me have them again, especially without any sort of explanation. My mind wandered back to the day before, and my conversation with Nadine, the unspoken dare.
Maybe I'd do it anyway. That would prove to Nadine that I wasn't a baby, and show Jen how much I wanted it. Of course, I don't know how well she'd take me stealing her nail polish... It wasn't like my plan to get my ears pierced so she could see how good I looked with earrings. She already knew how I looked with painted nails. She just didn't care for some reason.
"Penni!" Jen scolded, over the sound of a cup I hadn't noticed her handing me bouncing off of my footstool, and down onto the floor. Luckily, it was plastic, not one of our glass ones, so it was okay, but Jen didn't see it quite that was, apparently. "All right," she said, taking my towel and drying off her hands, "If you're not going to pay attention, I'll just put you down for your nap now."
I pouted as she lifted me into her arms, trying to stomp on my footstool before my feet rose unwillingly off of it. "I don't need a nap!" I protested.
"Are you going to tell me that every day?" she rolled her eyes. "You didn't mind for the past couple days, so I don't think it will kill you today, either."
"I'm not tired today!" I tried to squirm out of her arms, but she was, of course, still too strong. "And I'm s'posed to help you with the dishes!"
"They're almost done," Jen shrugged. "And having you asleep will be more of a help than you in there dropping everything."
"I only dropped one thing," I told her, sulking.
"So far," she corrected, kissing the tip of my nose to take some of the harshness out of her comment. "Besides, you're overdue for a change." I blushed, nodded meekly as she laid me down on the changing pad, still spread across my bed, pushing my jumper up to pull open the tabs and clean me off, giggling like she always did as I shivered at the touch of the cool wipes. "You want to use the potty?"
My cheeks gave her the answer I couldn't bring myself to vocalize, and she set me down on the floor. "Give me a kiss, and you can go," she said.
"Thank you," I mumbled, kissing her on the cheek before running down the hall to the bathroom. I was glad she'd asked, or else I probably would have had to go during my nap, and I wasn't sure if she'd let me up then, even for that.
By the time I'd finished and returned, she had my new diaper laid out on the pad, waiting for me to be set on top of it and taped inside. She was all too happy to oblige it.
"Sweet dreams, baby," she whispered in my ear, kissing the side of my hair. I watched her fold the changing pad and set it down on the floor, and slip out, closing the door all but a crack behind her.
"Don't need a nap," I sniffled, curling up into a ball, grabbing Mrs. Ellenstofalix from behind me a hugging her. "Stupid Jen." But, even so, I found myself asleep after a few minutes of tossing and turning unhappily, and I was still that way when Caileigh and Nadine came to visit.
"Hi!" Jen exclaimed, setting the last plate in the cupboard before opening the door for her friends. "Whatcha up to?"
"Just coming over to visit," Caileigh smiled, stepping inside. "You busy?"
Jen shook her head. "Nope, just got finished." They went into the living room, found their favorite seats, sank down into them.
"Penni over at the barn?" Caileigh asked, glancing around the room and finding no me.
Jen shook her head, smiling. "Nope, she's taking a nap."
Caileigh raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought she was too old for those now." She and Jen shared a gently sardonic smile.
"She's actually been taking them for a few days now," Jen explained, paused. The connections began to fire up again in her mind, reminding her of my actual babyhood, and who had always been there with her as she dressed me up, and painted my nails, and did God only knows what else. To her credit, she did pause. But not for long.
"Do you want to see her?"
"See her?" Caileigh's eyebrows furrowed. "But she's sleeping; I don't want to wake her up."
Jen waved her hand dismissively. "She'll be fine. C'mon!" She stood up, offering her hand to her friend to help her to her feet. They crept through the house, quiet as mice, and Jen pushed my door open a little further, so they could see me, curled up in bed, arms around my dragon, back of my dress leaving my diaper almost completely exposed. "Isn't she adorable?"
Caileigh pulled the door closed, pushed Jen further down the hall, away from my door so their voices wouldn't wake me. "Was she wearing a diaper?" she whispered.
Jen nodded gleefully. "Cute, huh?"
Caileigh's eyes narrowed, suspicious. "Why?"
It was then that Jen realized Caileigh wouldn't approve of her methods of turning me back into her doll, whether she liked the results or not. So she lied. "She asked me to. Weird, huh? But she really seemed to want to, so I figured, hey, why not?"
"She wanted to?" Caileigh's voice was skeptical, but Jen was a master, and she could tell her friend was starting to buy it.
"Isn't that cute?" she gushed. "I mean, I never would have expected it from her, the way she always tries to act all grown up. Guess you can never tell with kids, huh?"
"Guess not," Caileigh answered slowly, tiptoeing back over to my door, glancing in again. "She -is- pretty cute in it."
"Isn't she, though?" Jen giggled.
"And she really asked you to let her wear one?" she twisted her neck, again focusing on my sister.
"Of course," she nodded seriously.
Caileigh watched me for a little longer, wiggling and twisting in my sleep, before closing the door, turning on Jen, who took a step back, just in case her friend had seen through the ruse. And then she smiled, giggled, but softly, so I wouldn't wake up. "Why didn't you tell me before?"
By the time I woke up with a huge yawn, during which I was pretty sure I had my mouth open big enough to nearly swallow Mrs. Ellenstofalix's head, if she had been so unlucky as to be a little closer to my head, they were in the living room again, giggling and scheming, as big sister do. I turned over onto my back, disappointed to feel my diaper's padding still wrapped around my bottom. I'd gotten accustomed to waking up and finding it gone, like magic, but apparently I hadn't slept long enough for that to happen yet.
I yawned again, arms tightening around Mrs. Ellenstofalix as my eyes closed to give my mouth more room on my face. When they opened again, I noticed Nadine sitting next to me on my bed, smirking.
"Ack!" I shouted, sitting up quickly, dropping Mrs. Ellenstofalix onto her head in my hurry. "What are you doing here?!"
"I came to visit," she said simply, staring down at my diaper, making me realize it was exposed again. I blushed, hurriedly tried to cover it up. "Did Baby Penni have a nice nap?" she teased. "Does she need her diaper changed?"
I stuck my tongue out at her, didn't bother to answer as I scooted down the length of my bed so I could slide off of the foot instead of having to go around her. She didn't seem to care, and I bet she even messed up my jumper as I walked past her to my door, since I could have sworn I had straightened out the skirt all the way.
"Awake already?" Jen asked as I stumbled into the living room, still a little sleepy.
"Hi, cutie," I heard Caileigh say. I jumped, blushing as I turned around.
"Hi," I said bashfully, although Caileigh's smile made me feel better, up until I felt Jen smoothing down my skirt.
"Your diaper was showing," she explained casually, like it was no big deal.
"Jen!" I yelled, tears filling my eyes as I spun around towards her, then back towards Caileigh in case my diaper was still exposed, and then I just glanced between the two of them, bottom lip quaking. How could she have just come out and said that with Caileigh right there?!
"Penni, it's okay," Caileigh soothed, standing up and walking over to me, laying her hand on my shoulder gently. I glanced up at her nervously, tears starting to flow down my cheeks. "I already know."
Of course, that didn't make me feel a whole lot better. "You told her?!" I raged, turning back to Jen, my fingers curling up into fists. "How could you?!"
Caileigh knelt beside me, put her other hand on my other shoulder, twisted me towards her. "Sweetie, it's all right," she told me, staring me straight in the eyes, so that I would know she was telling the truth. "It's all right."
"No, it's not," I shook my head. "I'm not a baby, I'm not!"
Caileigh smiled, reached up to smooth my hair. "I know you aren't, Penni. You're a big girl, and diapers don't change that."
I sniffled softly. "Yes, they do," I pouted.
Caileigh laughed, gently. "No, I promise you they don't. I don't care if you're wearing diapers or not, you're still the same old Penni."
"Really?" I glanced into her eyes, trying to make sure.
"Really," she nodded, getting up and sitting back down on the couch, patting the cushion beside her, where I always sat when she came over. I hopped up onto it happily, resting my head against her side and letting her run her fingers through my hair, sticking my tongue out at Nadine as she stood watching us, obviously disappointed by her sister's reaction.
Even though she said she saw me as the same old Penni, I could tell that Caileigh liked me better in diapers, too, just like Jen. I don't know what it is with big sisters and liking to see little sisters in diapers, but Caileigh was paying more attention to me than usual, looking over at me and smiling more often. As I realized this, a plan began to form in my mind, and, before I could think it through all the way, I was bouncing off the couch.
"Can I go play on the swings?" I asked Jen.
She shrugged. "Sure, if you want to. Just put something on your feet."
I nodded, raced to my room to slip on my flip-flops, ignoring Jen's instructions, too late anyway, not to run in the house. As I passed the living room again, seeing Nadine sulking at one end of the couch, unhappy about her sister paying even more attention to me than normal. Well, she was about to get more upset.
"Caileigh," I called, smiling my biggest, prettiest smile. "Will you come push me?"
"Sure, cutie," she agreed, getting to her feet and walking over to me. "You sure you don't want Jen instead?"
I nodded, slipping my hand into hers. "Uh-huh." I saw her smiling as we walked outside, giggled, knowing my plan was working. This would be easy. I let her lift me up onto the swing, even though I didn't really need her help, and just swung for a while, feeling the wind against my face, her hands gently pushing against my back.
I considered just coming out and telling her about the day before, and what Nadine had done, but I knew she didn't like to hear bad things about her little sister, and probably wouldn't have believed me anyway. No, I couldn't pull it off that easily; fortunately, I knew how to wait, when I needed to.
"You're really good at this," I told her after a few minutes. "You're a lot better than Jen."
Caileigh laughed. "Well, thank you, sweetie."
"It's true!" I insisted. "She always pushes too hard, and I'm afraid I'm gonna get launched up into outer space or something."
"I don't think that would happen," she assured me.
"It might," I shrugged, fell silent again. I could tell she wasn't quite ready. What else could I say? I tried to think of something else to compliment her about, but my mind didn't want to work too hard so soon after my nap, and my bladder was starting to feel full.
And then it occurred to me. Jen seemed to like changing my diapers quite a bit - maybe Caileigh would, too. It would be a little embarrassing, but she already knew about them, and probably knew that I had to use them, too. Besides, it was the best idea I could come up with, so I gave a little sigh, and let my bladder flow.
"Caileigh, could you stop?" She slowed down immediately, taking a moment before grabbing the chains and bringing the seat to a halt.
"What's wrong?" Her voice was concerned; I almost felt bad for making her worry so much.
"Umm..." I blushed, staring down at the ground shyly. "I... uh... I need my diaper... I mean..."
"Oh, you need a change?" she supplied helpfully, so all I had to do was nod. "Well, we'd better go get Jen to take care of that, huh?" she smiled, lifting me down and heading for the door.
I grabbed her hand, but stood still. Unlike Jen, who would have just dragged me inside anyway, Caileigh stopped, turned to see what was wrong. Or she stopped, at any rate - if she turned, I didn't notice, because my face was pointed at the sand, still red as I mustered up the courage to speak.
"Is something the matter?" she spoke gently, brushing the hair out of my face.
"Can you - I mean, if you don't mind - would you... change me?"
At first, I was sure I'd misjudged her. The sight of her shocked expression made my tummy knot up, and I frantically began to attempt to take it back, until I saw the grin spread across her face. "Sure, I will!" she exclaimed, hugging me. "I'm glad you trust me enough to ask that, sweetie."
I smiled bashfully, leading the way inside, through the house. "Done already?" Jen spoke up from the couch, staring curiously at us as we passed the living room.
When she saw I was too embarrassed to say anything, Caileigh said, "We're just going to take care of a little something."
Jen nodded knowingly, while Nadine was confused for a minute before starting to giggle. I wished Caileigh would tell her not to, but she didn't seem to notice; she was like that with her sister. "Go ahead and put her panties back on her," Jen instructed, glancing at the clock. "Mom will be home pretty soon."
"Sure thing," Caileigh nodded, then smiled as I tugged on her hand to get her going again.
"Jen changes me on my bed," I explained when we got to my room, and Caileigh had shut the door behind her. "She puts that big plastic mat on top of it."
"Got it." Caileigh spread my changing pad across my bed while I went to my dresser, picked out a pair of pink panties with little roses on them and set them on the bed. I raised my arms towards her - she smiled and lifted me up and laid me down, pushing up the hem of my dress some, not nearly enough. She did seem pretty happy with me, though, so I decided to risk it.
"Caileigh," I began, her hand brushing against the first tape and freezing at the sound of her name. I froze up for a moment, working up my courage again. "Caileigh," I repeated, voice strengthening, a little too much, so that I had to make it go softer as I went on. "I'm sorry I make you mad all the time."
Her eyes went wide for a moment before she bent over to kiss my forehead. "You don't make me mad all the time, Penni."
"But I do," I insisted, all sweet and innocent, eyes big. "And I'm sorry." I batted my eyelashes, sniffling sadly, the closest I could come to making myself cry. "Do you still love me anyway?"
"Of course I do!" she said, voice loud with surprise.. "I'll always love you, sweetie."
I squirmed a little, bringing another smile to her face. "We'd better get you dry, huh?"
I nodded, let her un-tape the first side before going on. "Do you love me even when I'm in diapers?"
She stopped again. My tummy clenched - was I going too far? "Of course."
"Okay," I said, sounding skeptical.
"Why wouldn't you think I'd love you just because of diapers?"
I shrugged, acting shy again. "I dunno..."
She cocked her head to one side, sensing different. "Are you sure?"
"Well, it's just that, yesterday, Nadine made fun of me because of them." I blushed immediately, bringing a hand up to my mouth.
"Oh," she said, her voice a tiny bit colder.
"I didn't mean to tattle," I insisted. "I didn't, I promise. But she did..."
"All right." She patted the side of my leg reassuringly and went back to untaping the other side of the diaper. I wasn't positive, but I thought she might be starting to believe me this time.
I giggled and squirmed as she used the baby wipes, getting a laugh from her before she turned to stick the diaper into the genie. I quickly reached down, pulled my jumper further up, put my hand back down to my side as her attention returned to me, picking up my panties and sliding them up my legs. I almost thought she would miss it, and I began thinking of a way to bring it up casually, yet quickly, before I heard her gasp.
"What happened to you, sweetie?" she breathed, her fingers reaching up tentatively, eyes wide an sympathetic.
"It was nothing," I blushed, turning my head away from her.
She knew I was lying - I wanted her to. "There's no way nothing did that," she shook her head, sitting down beside me and putting me into her lap. "What really happened, Penni?"
I kept looking away from her, focusing on me feet now. She began to rock me gently, fingers brushing against my hair. When I stayed silent, she bent down and kissed my forehead. "You can tell me, sweetie, no matter what it is. What happened?"
"I don't want to make you mad," I sniffled pitifully.
"You're not going to make me mad." I looked up at her then, eyes big and innocent.
"Pwomise?" I lisped, having to force myself not to wince. I hated doing that on purpose, but sometimes it was necessary, and this was one of those times.
"I swear." She was serious, as much so as I'd heard her in a long time. "I won't get mad at you if you tell me the truth."
I nodded, making myself sound just as serious. "Then I promise to tell the truth." She nodded back. I took a deep breath. It was now or never - if she wasn't ready to listen, and believe me, after all that, she never would be.
"It was Nadine," I told her quietly. "It was her, she shoved me yesterday and made me run into the tub, and that was after she stole my shorts to see if I had a diaper on. And she wouldn't let me come up the ladder, and she took my book, and she hit me with a sword, and..." I broke off for a quick sniffle, partly for added effect, partially because the memories weren't exactly pleasant.
As it turned out, I didn't need to go on. I could feel Caileigh starting to grow angry as I spoke, like she usually did when I tried to tell on Nadine to her, except this time, I had a good feeling that it wasn't me she was getting mad at, that she had realized at last that her sister wasn't the little angel she thought she was.
She took me off of her lap, set me down on the bed, and stormed out. I heard Jen asking what was wrong, and a squawk from Nadine that I imagined came from Caileigh grabbing her wrist and pulling her up from the couch. I wish I could have heard Caileigh start yelling at her, but unfortunately, that didn't start until they had gotten back to their house. I did hear the back door slam, though, and I laid back across my bed, smiling, feeling very satisfied.
For once, I had won. And, boy, did it feel good.
Chapter Twenty-One
"It's not fair!" I declared again, to make absolutely sure mommy and daddy knew my position on the matter. Why I expected them to react any different now than any of the kazillion other times I'd protested, I don't know - I guess because I was a few days older than I had been the last time. Or maybe they'd just get tired of hearing me complain, and cave in. It worked sometimes... If only I had taken my bath a little later in the day - if could have persuaded mommy to let me - I might have been able to use my still wet hair as an excuse, but it was sadly already dry.
"No, it isn't," mommy agreed, somewhat surprisingly until she continued. "But you're going to do it anyway."
"But why?" I whined, eyes wide, sniffling. I knew better than to expect phenomenal results on mommy, since she was even more immune than Jen, but after my victory that afternoon, I was willing to give it a shot. It probably would have been a better idea to go after daddy, who was the weakest in my family; where was the sport in that, though?
"Because I said so," she answered simply, a response I still had no defense against, unfortunately. "And I'm the mommy. When you're the mommy, you can make the rules."
"When I am, I won't make my daughter go to bed, ever, unless she was tired," I proclaimed, in the hopes that they might consider taking my theoretical lead.
"I'm sure you won't," mommy smiled, bending over to kiss my forehead. "Now go brush your teeth."
"Fine." I gave a sad, persecuted sigh as I unfolded my legs from underneath me and slid off the couch, my jumper's skirt fluttering. Jen glanced up from the book she was reading to watch me make my slow way across the living room, stopping to pick up my coloring book and crayons from the floor where I'd left them a few minutes earlier to go curl up next to mommy for the end of whatever television show they had switched to after Jeopardy and set them down on my desk before changing into my pajamas and going back down the hall.
I shut the bathroom door behind me, climbed up onto my footstool so I could pull open the mirror and get my toothpaste off of the shelf behind it. My reflection stared back at me as the mirror swung closed again, so I smiled at it, since it was getting put to bed way too early as well. You had to stick together in times like this. It looked like she had eaten chocolate cake earlier, too, and still had a few crumbs in between her teeth. Nothing was sweeter after victory than whipped cream, and nothing was better for under that than chocolate cake. I could feel my mouth water just thinking about it.
I squeezed out a little blob of toothpaste onto my toothbrush, making extra sure to hold it steady while I set the tube down on the edge of the sink. Mommy had told me before, quite a few times, that I was supposed to brush for at least two minutes. Since I had no idea how long that was, however, I generally just took as long as I could stand before starting to go out of my mind with boredom.
I dragged my feet on the way back to my room, listening to the sound of the television floating in from the living room. It wasn't anything interesting, just people talking. Mommy and daddy really need to learn to watch more interesting shows, I decided, shaking my head, pushing my door open, hardly even recalling that it shouldn't have been that closed.
I jumped and gave a loud gasp when I saw Jen sitting on my bed, smiling, the diaper bag sitting on the floor in front of her. My tummy began to sink as I quickly closed my door, getting the bad feeling that this was the reason Jen had hidden the bag, along with the Diaper Genie, in my closet instead of hers, as she had the afternoon before.
"I just think it would be easier to have them in here," she'd claimed, pretending to be innocent; I was much better at it. "At least during the week."
And I had been in too good a mood to argue with her, or suspect her motives, or do much of anything other than nod at the last part - mommy still liked to pick out my clothes for church, so having the diaper bag in with most of my good clothes would be a patently awful idea.
"There's my little Penni," Jen grinned. "Almost all ready for bed."
"What are you doing?" I asked nervously, still standing with my back against the door, not wanting to get any closer.
"Well," Jen began, her voice getting all condescending, like she was explaining something to a baby, which, I guess in her mind, she was, "I thought it would be a good idea for you to wear diapers a night, because babies sometimes have accidents when they're asleep."
"I am not a baby!" I hissed at her, barely keeping myself from yelling it, and bringing mommy and daddy to see what was the matter.
"Maybe so, maybe not," Jen shrugged casually, like she didn't particularly care one way or the other. "Don't worry, I'll tuck you in, and I'll come in and change you before breakfast. Mom and dad will never notice."
"Jen, c'mon..." I sniffled, making my eyes big.
She ignored it, spread out my changing pad on my bed and, when I stayed glued to my door, walked over and picked me up, ignoring my struggles as she laid me down and stripped me of my pajama shorts and underwear, taping me up into my diaper quickly, before I could squirm away from her, or she she said, laughing, although I was pretty sure I was never in any danger of escaping.
"Maybe you should just go to bed like that," she glanced me over thoughtfully, smile cracking her face at my look of indignation. "What? You'll be tucked in by the time mom and dad come in, they'll never see that you don't have your bottoms on."
I furrowed my brows and snatched at them, only to have them pulled out of my reach easily. "Calm down," she soothed, pulling them over my feet and up over my padded butt. "There you go!" She smiled as she started to put my changing supplies away, hiding the bag once more while I climbed under my covers sulkily, diaper crinkling with every movement. How were mommy and daddy -not- going to notice that?! This was a bad plan; I could feel it.
"Goodnight, babe," Jen cooed, kissing my forehead and getting a kiss on the cheek from me before she started straightening out my blankets, tucking them in gently. She was almost done when she was interrupted by a light tap on the door. My eyes shot up, staring at her worriedly, but she was smiling, without a care in the world. "Come in!"
"What are you girls up to?" mommy asked, pushing open the door.
"Just tucking her in, mom," Jen said innocently.
"Oh, really?" Mommy's eyebrow raised for a moment, and I was sure we were caught.
"Yeah, she asked me to, so how could I say no?" Jen gave a quick giggle and kissed me again, this time on the tip of the nose.
Mommy smiled. "I'm glad the two of you made up."
"Me, too," Jen grinned, slipped out of my room, leaving me alone with mommy. I stared up at her, having to force myself not to start chewing on my bottom lip, or, preferably, my fingernails, although I didn't dare move my arms in order to do that, in case I brushed against my bottom.
"Sweet dreams, Penni," mommy said quietly, her voice tinkling like a pretty bell in a light breeze. I smiled, gave her a kiss and got one back, and then she was gone, flipping on my night light before she left. After a few seconds, daddy was there, but he left even more quickly than her, turning off my lights and shutting the door after saying goodnight, not giving any indication that he noticed anything strange.
Well, that wasn't too hard, I thought with a relieved sigh, rolling over to see Mrs. Ellenstofalix, a little more scary looking by night light, but still harmless enough to cuddle with as I drifted off to sleep, almost able to forget about the diaper between my legs while my eyes closed, dropping me off into darkness.
When they opened again, they were invaded by light, glittering all around me, shining down from the chandeliers above as they gently spun around in lazy circles in the air.
I straightened my gloves nervously, tummy feeling rather queasy as I prepared to cross the ballroom floor, much more crowded than it had been on my last visit there. I should have just gotten the job done then, I berated myself, even if both the moon and Jen had been there, scheming and laughing. It would have been much easier that way, but, hey, what can you do? The life of a hero isn't an easy one - if it was, there would be a whole lot more of them.
A blush colored my cheeks as I stepped forward, accompanied by a loud crinkling, and nearly falling over from the unexpected thickness under my dress. I ducked down behind a table frantically, lifting the skirt of my dress, much shorter than it had been at the last ball, with more ruffles and ribbons, though still pink.
A smiling blue dog stared out at me, printed on a big, plastic garment that I recognized right away, but took a few blinks for me to begin to accept. Why was I wearing a diaper, especially here, when I was trying to be sneaky? What was I thinking?
But it was too late to do anything about it now, I realized with a sigh, smoothing my skirt back out. And besides, the padding around my bottom was starting to give me an idea that just might work, if I was careful...
I started to stand up, quickly ducked back down as I spotted a group of guards approaching my table from several different directions, holding my breath in the hopes that it would help them to forget they had seen me, if they indeed had. It seemed to work, as they stopped right in front of the table and began talking, low and hurried, too quiet for me to make out anything more than the general idea, which was that they were supposed to be finding someone.
Yeah, that would be me, I was sure. I swallowed nervously, waiting for them to move away before standing, walking around the table to join the crowd,my progress slowed by the waddle I was developing in an effort to deal with the diaper. I spotted Dr. Irvine through the crowd, playing with his scalpel idly and glancing around boredly, every once in a while walking up to some random person and asking them something, only to be rejected.
I made sure to walk the opposite way, making my way through the crowd easily - even if there were a lot of people, they were grown-ups, and so slipping by unnoticed wasn't too difficult. I had almost made it to the table I was sure stood over the stars' prison when I felt my arm brushing up against somebody's hand. I turned hurriedly, stomach trying to transform into a pretzel when I saw who it was.
Mommy.
I froze to the spot, remembering the last time, how she'd tried to take me away before I could finish my mission. Would she do that again?
But she was deep in conversation, chattering away with Mr. Chaon, apparently about how awful my grades were, and how that meant I should repeat second grade, or maybe go all the way back to kindergarten just in case, instead of going on to third, and didn't even seem to notice me. I began to inch away quietly when I saw her nose twitch.
"I say, do you smell baby powder?" she asked after a moment.
Mr. Chaon sniffed the air, too. "Yes, I believe I do. Rather strange, that, isn't it?"
Mommy nodded. "Indeed. Now, you were saying she couldn't possibly have done any worse in math?"
Mr. Chaon shook his head slightly, though not to disagree. "I could absolutely swear I smell it now. Whatever could it be?"
I ducked under a table, cheeks burning, sniffling softly. They had to let me go to third grade... Didn't they? I didn't even think I'd done that badly in math, no worse than some other people in my class. I certainly didn't want to go back to kindergarten - there would be no end to the teasing that would cause, not ever.
"Is that you, Penni?" The voice was small, frightened, far away, but, thankfully almost right below me.
"It's me," I assured it, and all the other captives, quickly, reaching behind me to lift the tablecloth enough to see where the hole started. "I'm here to rescue you all." I let myself grin for a moment as they began to cheer, before quieting them down. I held my breath, swinging my legs in front of me, dangling them down into the pit. I tried not to look down - it was a long way to the bottom, but I should be fine, just as long as I landed on my diaper.
"Well, here goes nothing," I breathed, closing my eyes as I slid forward, scooting across the ballroom floor for a few inches, and then out into open space. I braced myself for the impact, muscles tensing all through my body.
I came to a stop much more quickly than I expected. Much, much more quickly. I opened one of my eyes a crack, glancing down to see that I was still a long way from the bottom. I opened it a little further, curiously, and found that, while I was small enough to fit through the bars, my diaper was far too thick.
"No," I whispered, tears starting to flow down my cheeks, splashing down onto my dress, a few making it past and falling down, down, into the pit below. I wriggled frantically, even though I could tell it was hopeless, and I wouldn't be going down or back up on my own. I was stuck, pure and simple. "No!" I screamed, starting to bang my fists on the bars around me, not caring if the people outside heard. I deserved to be caught for being so stupid; and it wasn't like it wouldn't happen eventually anyway, now.
I was still crying when light flooded into my prison, accompanied by a face. "Why, Penni, I don't believe you belong down there," he said thoughtfully, musing over it for a second. "How can we get your surgeries done if you're underneath the table?"
"Dr. Irvine!" I squeaked.
"Yes, yes, very good," he nodded, reaching down and grabbing me under my arms, pulling me free with a sound like a plug being pulled from a drain. "Good to see you remember me." He stood up, laid me out on the top of the table, not even bothering to move the food this time. I could see my bottom sinking into a bowl of applesauce, and my arm was right in the middle of a large platter of cake, but it was white, and boring, so I didn't feel too bad about it. "Now, this is much better," Dr. Irvine nodded his approval.
"Please let me go," I begged, clasping my gloved hands in front of me. "I promise I'll be a good girl next time I come to see you, I really will, and I'm sorry about the time I hit you and called you evil, but please let me go this time, please..."
"There's no time like the present," he admonished. "Besides, this will only take a minute, you know."
"But I think I need my organs," I protested.
"Pish posh," he waved his hand dismissively. "We're not worried about those today. Most babies have them, after all, and since it turns out that's all you are, you might as well keep them."
My tummy started to twist as my mouth moved against my will, asking the question I knew I didn't want to answer to. "Then what -are- you doing?"
"We're going to fix that nasty problem you have of walking around," he informed me, holding up his scalpel and turning it this way and that in the light. "Babies like you are meant to crawl, but you seem to have forgotten that." He paused, smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, we can get that taken care of right quick!"
I started to squirm as he bent down, blade aimed towards my stomach, although I wasn't sure how cutting anything there would stop me from walking. Suddenly, an inch away, he paused, turned.
"I'm sorry, but that is my patient," Dr. Hugo said stiffly. "You'll kindly step away and let me get to work."
"I'm afraid I saw her first, so I get to work on her first. It's only fair, you know."
Dr. Hugo shook his head, eyes narrowing. "She is mine first, doctor. I need to remove her teeth as soon as possible, so she can go back to eating baby food. You can surely wait until after that is done."
"I hardly think that is more important than keeping her from walking," Dr. Irvine scoffed. "Now leave me alone."
But Dr. Hugo refused, reached into his pocket to pull out his mirror on a stick. Dr. Irvine's eyebrow raised. "A challenge, eh?" He held out his scalpel, and the two of them began to circle each other warily.
I watched for a few seconds, making sure they were focusing on each other, before sitting up, brushing cake from my elbow. Before I could even swing my legs around so I could slide off of the table, I felt something getting stuffed into my mouth, a rough hand pushing me back on the table.
"Now, now, be a good baby," Jen cooed. I felt myself sucking on the pacifier Jen had been lamenting not buying before I realized it, found I couldn't get myself to stop. I stared up at her with big, frightened eyes, as she pulled out a strap, and then another, and another, from the side of the table, and began to fasten me down, helpless. She watched me squirming ineffectively, a wicked smile on her face, then turned to the two doctors.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen, calm down," she soothed them, in much the same way she talked to me. They turned to look at her, Dr. Irvine's glasses askew, the sleeve of Dr. Hugo's coat halfway falling off his arm. "Why don't you both work on her at the same time?" Their expressions were doubtful, as if that were an absolutely preposterous proposition, until she pointed out, "Her teeth and her feet are at opposite ends of her body, after all."
"Oh," Dr. Irvine coughed, straightening his glasses. "She -is- right..."
"I suppose she is," Dr. Hugo nodded.
I began to struggle against the straps frantically, still sucking on my pacifier, trying to figure out some way to get free, some way to get loose, and run away.
And then I was. My bonds came free, and I sat up, ready to dash away as fast as I could, while my legs still worked, until I noticed that the room had gotten much darker, and a good bit smaller. I blinked a couple times, disoriented, then removed my thumb from my mouth with a deep blush.
I looked down at myself, giving a relieved sigh to see that I was wearing my pajamas again, although the fact that I was diapered underneath them left me baffled for a few seconds until the memory of Jen sitting on my bed came back to me. At which point I quickly laid back down, pulling my blankets up to my chin even though I could see through my window that the sun had already risen, and it was time to get up.
I started to reach up to check my mouth, to make sure my teeth were still there, stopped myself by recalling my revelation of a couple days before. That wasn't me in the dream - it was the other Penni, the one that belonged here in the mirror world. But why had she been wearing diapers? And why had she mentioned hitting Dr. Irvine, when that had been something I had done when I was really little?
I sank down further under my covers, wishing Jen would get up soon, as I could feel the urge to pee growing, as much as I tried to ignore it. I guess I could have gotten up and went to the bathroom, but what if I ran into mommy or daddy on the way to the bathroom? So I waited, fidgeting, trying to figure out this mystery.
Perhaps when I dreamed, I was somehow taking the place of the Penni in the real world. I wasn't quite sure how that worked, but, as it was the only explanation that seemed to make any sense, I decided that must be it. The other Penni would never have let herself get caught like that... I hoped she could find a way out. I felt bad for leaving her in such big trouble, but I hadn't realized what I was doing. Besides, she would be better at escaping than I would.
Where was Jen? I craned my neck to look at the door nervously. If she didn't hurry up, mommy and daddy would come in and see why I was still in bed. If I hadn't been so worried about them seeing me, I would have just ran across the hall and woke Jen up myself, but, even though Jen's room was only a few feet away, I couldn't bring myself to risk it.
So I waited. And waited. I started to chew my nails nervously, worried Jen had forgotten about me, or wanted me to get caught. "Stop staring at me," I hissed at Mrs. Ellenstofalix, who was looking very disappointed in me. "I'll bite my nails if I want to, so you just shut up." And I threw her behind me, just to show her who was the boss. Even if she was the only thing I felt like I had control over at the moment.
By the time Jen came into my room, yawning, my diaper was soaked. I just couldn't hold it anymore, and I still couldn't make myself so much as get out from under my blankets, protecting me from staring eyes.
"'Morning," she smiled sleepily, shutting the door and sitting next to me on the bed, ruffling my hair playfully. "You have a nice, wet diaper for me to change?"
"Yes," I sulked, pouting.
Jen giggled at me. "Oh, don't look so grumpy. I probably wouldn't have let you out of bed until you did, anyway. This just makes it easier for both of us."
"Nuh-uh!" I protested, though I'm not sure why I had a difficult time thinking she would do something like that, after everything else.
"Well," she winked, bending over to kiss my nose before standing up, heading to the closet, "why don't we try again tonight if you don't believe me? I mean, if you can't keep your pants dry for this long, maybe you should be in diapers after all."
"If you didn't sleep so long, I could've made it to the bathroom on time, easy," I protested, crossing my arms.
"I'm sure you could," she called back to me, her voice all sing-songy, playful, unbelievable.
"I could," I pouted, letting her lift me free of my covers and set me down on the changing pad, sliding down my pajama bottoms. "I'm not a baby."
"Of course you're not," she cooed, smiling down at my soggy diaper. "Not at all."
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Twenty-Two
I squeaked loudly, leaping to my feet, as if that would help me to escape from the wet feeling growing around my bottom, and now flowing down my legs. "Dang it!" I pouted, staring down at the damp spot on my shorts, and the floor below me. I -knew- I shouldn't have drank so much at breakfast. And I knew I shouldn't have put off going to get my diaper changed, but I had been so engrossed in my book, a little squishiness was a small price to pay. I sulked, blushing even though, thankfully, there was nobody else around to witness this humiliation.
If Nadine had been there... I shuddered at the thought, the images in my mind of Nadine laughing and blabbering about just how much of a baby I really was just about as bad as the real thing. Even though I wasn't entirely sure I didn't deserve her mocking for this. I certainly felt like a baby, standing there in my wet things, feeling like I'd just had my accident again, the accident that had started this whole mess.
And, just like that accident, I was going to end up depending on Jen to fix it, I knew. There was really no way around it; not that I particularly wanted to deal with my soggy clothes myself, but on principle, I knew I should, if I was half as grown-up as I had thought I was at one point. Big girls weren't supposed to go running to their older sisters to fix everything.
Of course, big girls weren't supposed to have these sorts of accidents, either. I could remember earlier that year when one of the girls in my class, who I hadn't particularly liked anyway, had wet her pants at school. I hadn't made fun of her, like a lot of the other kids did, until Mr. Chaon scolded them, and ushered the girl away, even though Nadine had tried to get me to. Still, I also hadn't tried to do anything to help her, and, in my mind, I was laughing at her with everyone else. I couldn't help but wonder if this was my punishment for that.
It had to be a punishment for something, in the grand scheme of things. Even if the moon hates you, and your sister is convinced you're only about half as old as you really are, these sorts of things just didn't happen.
At least not in the real world.
I contemplated putting off my journey home, but the uncomfortableness of my pants outweighed my reluctance to let myself be seen by anyone. So I climbed down the ladder, squeezed out the door, trudged back home, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland clasped in one hand. It had been a nice morning, too, for the most part, once Jen had taken off my diaper from the night before and we went out to the kitchen for our breakfast.
It was French toast, the very best kind of toast there is, especially the way mommy makes it, with a swirl of cinnamon sugar, a little dollop of whipped cream, and half a strawberry on top, all pretty, and yummy. I must have been feeling rather hungry, not to mention thirsty, after my misadventure in the ballroom, because I finished off two pieces before I realized it, and half of a third.
Jen had painted my nails again, much sooner than never, as I'd been expecting. She chose the color herself this time, but at least she did a good job - pink, with glitter so that it was all sparkly. I couldn't recall ever seeing Jen wear it; it was really cute, though. Jen told me I could have it, once mommy said I could paint my nails.
Also, I had gotten lucky, and found the barn empty, after spending a while wandering around the field just in case. I'd even picked some flowers, mostly honeysuckle, some daisies, although I was most of the way home before I remembered setting them on the overturned bucket Nadine sat on sometimes so I could take them home for when mommy got home from work. By then, I realized how much hotter it had gotten outside, and just wanted to get into my nice, air conditioned house. The flowers would still be there tomorrow, unless Nadine went over later on and stole them.
And the next day was Saturday, too, so I wouldn't even have to wait for her to get home to give them to her! And since she would be home, that meant I wouldn't even have to wear diapers! If I hadn't felt so icky, and if I wasn't approaching Caileigh and Nadine's house, I probably would have skipped the rest of the way home, heart lightened by these happy thoughts.
As it was, I slowed down instead, not wanting to attract any extra attention as I slipped through their backyard. I was most of the way across by the time I worked up the courage to look over at the porch, although by then it was a little late, I suppose. Still, I was glad I waited so long, as it meant I didn't have nearly as far to run to get back inside my own house when my eyes locked with Nadine's.
She was sitting on a chair on the back porch, sulking. Then she saw me. Her eyes went as wide as mine, and she jumped up from the chair, heading back inside, a split second before I took off. It wasn't until I was ducking inside my back door, leaning against it with a rapidly pounding heart, that I realized there was something different about her, something familiar, in an odd sort of way.
As I let my head hang for a second, to help me catch my breath, my eyes caught on the sight of my wet shorts, and I realized what it was. Had her shorts been a little puffier than usual, like mine? I couldn't remember for sure, but as I thought on it, I could have sworn I saw a little band of white plastic sticking up above the waist of her shorts. The thought would have made me much happier if not for the state of my pants that made me wonder if she hadn't been right to call me a baby after all.
"What's wrong with you?" Jen asked, too preoccupied with making lunch to even glance over at me until the question was out of her mouth. "Oh, honey..." she sighed as she saw me, blushing and staring down at my feet, wishing I was anywhere but there. "Well, just wait there a minute and I'll take care of it, okay?"
I nodded, but she was already focusing on the pans again, stirring one around, poking at the other. I couldn't quite tell what they smelled like - a bunch of stuff. I felt happy to see her flip the contents of the second pan, though, revealing them to be a tortilla. After another minute or two, during which I started to get bored of watching her cook and started fidgeting unhappily, she lifted the tortilla again, setting it onto a plate I hadn't noticed before, where a few others waited. She switched both the burners off, wiped off her hands, turned back to me.
"Poor Penni," she smiled sympathetically down at me, bending down to pick me up, carrying me through the house, but not, as much as it surprised me, to my room. We ended up in the bathroom instead, where Jen set me down on the toilet lid, sliding my wet shorts off of me and setting them down on the floor, while she retrieved my washcloth from the little rod inside the bathtub, dripped a little water from the sink's faucet onto it, then washed off my legs.
"I didn't realize my baby sister was a waterfall," she teased, smiling up at me as she used my towel to dry off my legs, trying to cheer me up. I just kept pouting, all the way until she started tickling the bottoms of my feet, at which point I couldn't exactly help myself, since that was cheating, as I made sure to tell her. "Sorry," she grinned insincerely. "Well, let's go get that diaper changed, huh?"
She reached out for me, but I scooted back bashfully. "Umm... Not yet." She cocked her head, attempting to figure me out, like staring at me from another angle would help.
"Sweetie, you're soaked. I'm pretty sure you need a new diaper."
I glared at her - did she think I didn't know that? I was the one wearing it! "I don't want to stay in this one," I informed her, rolling my eyes like she was so fond of doing at me.
Her eyebrows furrowed. "Then...?"
I gave a long suffering sigh, wondering if she could really be this dense, or if she was trying to torment me on purpose. "I don't want to have a new diaper yet, either, 'cause..." The fire in my cheeks drowned out the rest of my words even as I came up with them.
"Why's that?" She blinked innocently, but I could see a smile forming on her lips against her will.
"Jeeen!" I whined, getting even more agitated as the smile fully emerged.
"Since I don't know what you want, babe, maybe I should just get you changed, and... Well, we can deal with whatever happens," she winked deviously.
"You're mean," I told her, sniffling, not even acting.
"Aww, I know I am," she cooed, picking me up. I blushed as I turned my head, saw the wet spot on the toilet lid, just for a split second before Jen wiped it up with my washcloth, which was set on top of my shorts, before I was whisked off to my room, where, luckily, the changing pad was still set up from that morning, ready for my soggy bottom to be sat on top of it.
"Jen, c'mon," I pouted as she pushed me down onto my back, fishing a new diaper out of the bag and setting it down next to me.
"I'm going just as fast as I can," she said, un-taping my diaper and pulling it away from my bottom. "I know you can't wait to get into a nice, dry diaper."
I couldn't believe this - how could she do this to me? How could I be such a chicken that I was letting it happen? The day had started off so good, too, and now I couldn't imagine a way it could get worse, after a leak, and the promise of an imminent messy diaper. I felt tears sliding down my cheeks, but didn't pay much attention, instead concentrating on the cold feeling of the baby wipes against me, and then the pause that came from Jen feeding the genie, just waiting to feel myself being lifted up, set down onto the new diaper.
It didn't come. Instead, I heard Jen laughing, and I opened my eyes, without remembering having closed them. "Go on," she smiled, lifting me to my feet. I glared at her for a minute, first suspiciously, then angrily, before I took her advice and returned to the bathroom. I considered staying in there the rest of the day, so I wouldn't have to deal with any more of her evil, awful little jokes, but, since there wasn't a lock on this door, either, I knew my solitude wouldn't last long.
So I went back out, let myself get diapered by a still grinning Jen, who declared that there was really no need to find a new pair of shorts for me to wear, since I would be taking my nap soon, and since I supposedly looked so adorable in just a diaper and shirt.
"Besides," she said, giving my tummy a quick tickle as she stood me up next to the bed, "I think we both already know you have this on." She gave my bottom a quick, crinkly pat, giggled. "Why try to hide it?"
I thought the worst was probably over when I walked to the living room, flopping down onto the couch while Jen took stuff downstairs, to the washing machine. I even convinced myself that, now that Jen had all that out of her system, she might even be nice, and not make me take a nap, even if she had just mentioned it not too long before.
I heard her messing around in the kitchen, didn't think much of it as I flipped through the channels quickly, before she could come in and turn on the boring old news. But there was nothing good on, just a bunch of commercials for stupid stuff, so I saved Jen some trouble, switching to the station she liked, mostly, from what I could tell, because the weather guy was cute, or so I had overheard her tell Caileigh.
"Here you go, babe," Jen smiled sweetly as she came into the living room, having a little difficulty balancing everything until she handed me two things. The first I was expecting - my plate, covered with a tortilla, still unrolled, since she knew I liked to do that myself, a line of sliced chicken and cheese going down the center, surrounded by green peppers, mushrooms, and the occasional onion, none of which I liked much on their own, but which I could stand together, if only because eating things wrapped up in tortillas was fun, almost no matter what they were. Except for baked beans. Not even that could make them edible.
The second I wasn't expecting, and wished I could have believed was a joke.
"I'm not drinking from that," I informed her, shoving it away from me, onto the couch. She quickly picked the bottle back up and shoved it at me, until I finally, begrudgingly, took it from her, still resolved not to use it.
"You don't have to drink it right now," she shrugged. "But I would if I were you, unless you like warm juice."
I slumped further down into the couch cushion with a pout. "Why are you doing this?"
She smiled, bending over to kiss my forehead, which made me pout more. "Because I found it in the attic earlier today," she explained cheerfully. "Lucky, huh? I didn't think mom had kept any of your bottles."
I decided not to tell her just how lucky I thought it was, since I had resolved neither to talk to her, or touch the bottle. Jen didn't seem to notice, or mind, either one, until we had finished eating. I took even longer than normal, moodily picking out the few onions that remained in my tortilla - I was pretty sure Jen had done her best to get as few as she could into mine, since they were my least favorite, but that wasn't good enough for me.
"I expect you to finish that bottle by the time mom gets home," she said as she took my plate, saw the still full bottle sitting next to me.
I folded my arms, glared at her angrily. I guess I was hoping she would pick up on my unhappiness and take that back, let me have a drink in a normal cup.
Instead, she shook her head. "Being a cranky baby today, huh? Well, then, off to bed with you."
I gasped, pouted, glared again at the unfairness. "I'm not tired!" I yelled, picking up my stupid bottle and throwing it at her. "And I don't want that dumb bottle, either!"
Jen rolled her eyes, set my plate back down on the couch, exchanging it for me, squirming and thrashing, and the bottle, which she shoved into my hands. Twice, in fact, more roughly the second time, as I dropped it as soon as she gave it to me the first. "Penni, behave yourself!" she scolded.
"Why?" I shot back at her, eyes burning with tears and anger. "I'm already being punished, why should I be good?!"
"You're not being punished," Jen sighed, laying me down on my bed. I rolled away from her immediately, stared at stupid Mrs. Ellenstofalix, grinning like she always did. "You'll feel better after your nap, you'll see." She gave my diaper a soft pat and set the bottle next to my dragon, who was too dumb to even try to bit off her hand, like she should have, then kissed the side of my head. "Sweet dreams, baby."
Of course I'd feel better after my nap, I thought grumpily. I wouldn't be in this stupid diaper then, and I'd have mommy home for the whole weekend to protect me from Jen. No diapers, or naps, or bottles, or anything.
I stared down at the bottle in disgust, though more at myself than it, since I knew I was thirsty, and not willing to risk Jen's wrath, were I to go back out into the kitchen for a real cup, like I should have had. I wrinkled my nose and picked up the bottle, sucking gently on it - just so I wouldn't die of thirst, that's all.
Although the juice did taste good. And I was pretty thirsty...
My eyes blinked open a couple hours later, an empty bottle sitting right in front of them. I rolled over onto my back, yawning, trying to figure out why I had woken up when I still felt so sleepy.
It only took me a second to figure that out, as my full bladder begged for release. I glanced down at myself to make sure Jen hadn't changed me already, and let go, just wanting to get it over with so I could go back to sleep. Except, once I had, I was feeling awake, at least enough to be aware of the squishy feeling around my bottom, and be bothered by it enough that I found myself tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to get away from it, which was, of course, impossible.
I rolled over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling with a sigh. Maybe if I got up and got Jen to change me, I could fall asleep again. However, getting up and moving around would wake me up even more...
Suddenly, as if detecting my thoughts, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching my door. I gasped, shut my eyes, not sure why, but deciding it would be a good idea. I heard my door open after a moment, and Jen entered, mumbling frantically under her breath, pausing only for a brief giggle I assumed was brought on by the sight of my wet diaper.
I heard the changing pad being spread out over my bed, felt myself being moved over onto it. For some reason, I was finding the whole thing kind of funny, and having a hard time stopping myself from laughing. Jen didn't seem to notice, luckily, as she quickly removed my diaper and cleaned me up. I was proud of myself for barely even flinching when the baby wipe touched my bottom, after dreading and bracing myself for it for what seemed like a year or two. I even covered up the flinch with a little yawn, and started to roll over onto my side, only to feel Jen's hands guiding me back onto my back so she could slip my panties and shorts back up my legs before I got moved back onto my pillows.
I let my eyes open a crack then, so I could see her grabbing the bottle and stuffing it into the diaper bag, then rush out of the room with that and the genie, returning with a bottle of something and a tissue. I closed my eyes again when she sat down beside me on the bed, before she could see they were open. There was a swish of liquid beside me, and then she grabbed my hand, and I felt something cold brushing across my fingertips.
I shivered, unable to help myself. My tummy began to tighten, sure she had noticed, but if she did, she didn't care, just went about her work, until the sound of mommy's car coming up the driveway greeted us. "Crap," she muttered under her breath as she roughly finished my second hand, then stood. I heard her feet running across my room, and my dresser opening, then a second later, something was getting pulled over my feet, and she was gone, tossing the bottle onto her bed and throwing the tissue away before greeting mommy in the living room.
I stayed still for a little longer, listening to them talking, trying to decipher their words, before sitting up and pulling off the socks to see that, sure enough, they still had their pretty paint on. I stared at them for a moment, debating, before I decided to chance it.
I hopped down off of my bed and stumbled into the living room, rubbing my eyes, trying to act like I'd just woken up. Mommy and Jen were sitting on the couch, so I squeezed between them, tilting my head up with a smile. "Hi, mommy!"
"Hi, sweetie," she smiled back down at me, giving me a kiss. "How was your day?"
"It was good," I answered innocently, letting my legs start to swing back and forth.
"That's good," she said, reaching up to run her hand down my hair, and continuing to talk about some boring thing or another, not paying any particular attention to me.
I tried to swing my legs further up, so my feet would be more noticeable, but that didn't work either, so, finally, I was forced to interrupt them. "Look at my pretty toes, mommy!" I demanded proudly.
She glanced down, her expression freezing for a brief moment that made me worry I had messed up, although I thought it might be worth it just for the shocked look on Jen's face. "Penni, why are your toes painted?"
"Jen did them for me," I told her, ignoring the angry poke from the other side that earned me. "Aren't they pretty?"
"Yes, they are," mommy agreed. "But we decided you weren't allowed to wear nail polish, remember?"
I glanced down with a blush. "But Jen said it was okay..."
I could practically feel mommy's glare as it passed over my head to Jen. "Did she now?"
"No, I didn't!" Jen interjected, obviously searching for something else to add.
Mommy lifted my chin with one of her fingers, looking me in the eyes. "Penni, are you telling the truth?"
"Of course!" I exclaimed, trying to sound offended. Mommy nodded, looked at Jen pointedly.
Jen was starting to squirm now, struggling to find a way out of this. "Well, I did paint them, but..."
"But what, Jen?" mommy urged patiently. "Are you going to tell me your little sister - who is, what, a third your size? - forced you to paint her toenails for her?"
Jen's mouth opened and closed a couple times, looking quite funny, although I made myself keep from giggling.
"Penni, why don't you go play in your room a minute?" mommy asked, her voice making it more of a command than a suggestion. "I think Jen and I need to have a talk about overruling my decisions without consulting me."
"Okay, mommy," I chirped sweetly, bouncing down off of the couch.
As I left the living room, I turned and, making sure mommy was focused on my target and not me, stuck out my tongue at Jen, who glared daggers at me. Sure, I might not get to wear nail polish again for a while now, but I could live with that. This was what Jen got for making me drink from a bottle.
I was -not- a stupid little baby, no matter what she thought.
Chapter Twenty-Three
My revenge did cost me in the end. It earned me a diaper under my pajamas that night, although I couldn't help but wonder if Jen would have done that anyway, even without me provoking her.
And, anyway, it was definitely worth it, since it cost Jen a trip to the movies with her friends she had been planning for that weekend. That made me feel a little bad, to be honest, until I reminded myself of everything she'd done to me lately. Then I was sure she deserved it, along with the big, long lecture she'd gotten from mommy.
Still, as the weekend wore on, I began to worry that Jen wasn't quite finished with her revenge, not that she really deserved any, since I had only been paying her back. I doubted she saw it that way, however, and began to dread that Monday, dreaming up all the horrible possibilities the day could bring with it.
So it had been kind of disappointing, though in a good way, when it came and went without any major incidents, other than Jen cutting herself while making lunch, but I didn't even see that, since I was still at the barn, reading. Tuesday went by without Jen making any attempts to do anything particularly awful to me - she was still making me drink from the stupid bottle, however.
I saw an occasional flash of Nadine here and there those couple days, for no more than a second or two, though each time sharpened my suspicions that she was, indeed, wearing a diaper. I almost felt sorry for her, perhaps even could have if her sister was Jen and not Caileigh. Caileigh was too nice; I doubted she would do anything horrible to Nadine, like make her eat in a high chair. Of course, I wasn't sure how well Nadine would fit into a high chair, but that wasn't the point.
Besides, I was pretty sure Caileigh was better at changing diapers, too. I -almost- wouldn't mind wearing them, if it was for her and not Jen. Almost.
Wednesday started off like the first two days of the week had, hot and boring as I ate breakfast, scrambled eggs, which wasn't my favorite by any means, but I did my best to finish as much as I could, or at least spread them around on my plate so it would look like I had.
When mommy spoke up, I thought for sure it was going to be to scold me for playing with my food, but her voice was more cheerful than scolding, and probably more aimed at Jen. "So, do you two have any big plans for today?"
I started to shake my head, got interrupted by Jen. "Yep, we're going shopping," she announced.
I looked up at her, surprised. "We are?"
She rolled her eyes. "I told you yesterday, remember? We're going out with Caileigh." The "and Nadine" that should have proceeded that was left unspoken - Caileigh had probably told Jen what I had confessed about Nadine.
"Well, I'm sure you'll have a great time," mommy smiled, turning to face me. "Stop playing with your food, Penni."
Even though I wasn't sure it should count as playing, since I wasn't having much in the way of fun, I obeyed anyway, although I didn't really eat anymore after that, either. My tummy was feeling full enough,and what places weren't were filling up with anxiety. Nadine had been running away from me lately, but I knew better than to think that meant she was afraid of me.
I was certainly right about that. When Caileigh and Nadine showed up, I was sitting on my bed, tying my shoes while Jen readied the diaper bag, although I wasn't sure what she really needed to do with it, since it already had everything in it, and herself, I guess, after having been dressed in my purple denim jumper, glad that Jen had been nice and chosen that one rather than the yellow and pink one again, with a light and dark purple striped shirt underneath it. Jen had considered putting me in tights, as well, but I managed to convince her it was too hot out for that, and eventually she agreed.
Caileigh went straight to Jen's room as soon as she heard the shout to "Come in!", and Nadine, rather than hiding again, came right into mine, dressed rather similarly to me on my first diapered trip into town, with a long green shirt that hung down well past her bottom, although it looked much prettier and more grown-up than my kitten T-shirt. And, rather than jeans underneath, she had on black shorts, with just a few inches of the legs showing, due to the length of the shirt.
She hopped up onto my bed, glaring at me dangerously. "If you ever, ever tell anybody about this, you are -so- going to regret it," she growled quietly. I scooted away from her, glad for our big sisters being right across the hall, since I had a feeling I would be regretting it already.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," I whispered, doing my best to sound sincere. I just wasn't very good at outright lying, especially with someone who was obviously not pleased with me.
If her eyes had suddenly started shooting fire at me, I couldn't have felt more uncomfortable, as I squirmed nervously under her gaze. She didn't say anything; she didn't have to. I knew that she could tell I was lying, so I just swallowed, went back to tying my shoes, trying to ignore her as best I could, knowing she wouldn't dare do anything too bad to me here.
"This is all your fault," she hissed behind me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, in a way I had never felt before. I had heard the phrase used before, of course, but I always figured it was one of those things grown-ups said that wasn't really anything at all like what really happened. Guess I was wrong. "If you weren't such a baby that Jen had to make you wear diapers, this never would have happened."
I bit down on my bottom lip, doing my best to push her words out of my mind, to fool myself into thinking they weren't true. This whole thing had started because of something pretty babyish, though, and the only person I could blame it on was working with Jen already, and Nadine thought I was crazy for being afraid of. I'd never really mentioned the moon's evil schemes to Caileigh - she might actually believe me, but I didn't want him to start going after her, too.
I sniffled softly, a little surprised to see a tear falling down, past my shoe, splashing down onto the floor below. I heard Nadine snickering behind me, hearing already her voice mocking me, asking if she'd hurt the baby's feelings, or did I need a change? I turned on her, another tear starting to make its way down my cheek, although I was resolved it would be the last one.
"I didn't make you do all those things to me. If you weren't such a meanie, you never would have had to wear diapers," I whispered, my voice sounding pleasantly stronger than I'd expected.
"Then maybe you shouldn't make it so easy to be a 'meanie'... Tattle tale," she stuck out her tongue.
Luckily for me, Caileigh broke in then, sticking her head in the door, diaper bag that looked surprisingly similar to mine swinging off of her shoulder, keeping me from having to form a reply to that, since I couldn't quite deny having told on her. "Whatcha doing?" she asked, her smile turning a little shy as she looked at me.
"Nothing," I answered quickly, Nadine echoing me a second later.
"Well, we're just about ready to go," she informed us. "You get your shoes tied?"
I nodded, although the answer was actually, "Almost."
"Jen went to get the car started and cooled off some," Caileigh explained. "I'm gonna go get a glass of water before we leave, all right?"
I nodded, she left, and after a few minutes, I glanced over at Nadine, who seemed a bit less angry than before. "Your diaper bag looks just like mine," I said, voice nearly casual.
"That's because it -is- yours, dummy; we have to share," she rolled her eyes. "My parents didn't keep all my baby stuff like yours did. I guess they actually realized they wouldn't be needing it anymore, since I'm not a baby."
"Guess they were wrong," I stuck out my tongue, then quickly hopped off the bed and raced towards the kitchen before Nadine could do anything about it, nearly running straight into Caileigh, who was setting an empty glass down on the counter.
"I don't think you're supposed to be running in the house," she reminded me, though she was giggling as she did it, so I don't think she minded. "Ready to go?"
She smiled as I nodded, leading us outside, out to the running car. She got to sit in the front seat, so Nadine and I had to share the back, diaper bag sitting in between us. Nadine would glare at me over it every few minutes, prompting me to find my feet incredibly interesting for a while. Our big sisters didn't seem to notice our lack of conversation, talking enough for the whole carful of us.
By the time we got to Wal-Mart, I was certain it had gotten at least a hundred degrees hotter than when we got into the car. "It's soooo hot," I complained, leaning against Jen's side pitifully, not caring about Nadine's soft snickering behind me, because it was true. I could practically feel myself melting as I stood there, growing shorter and shorter, until I was the same size as that little toddler in the mall, and then even smaller, until there was nothing left.
And we hadn't even started moving yet. The doors looked like they were a million miles away - I wondered if Jen was trying to park as far away as she could on purpose.
"Sorry, babe, there's not a lot I can do about it," she shrugged, though as she turned away from me, I saw her eyes light up. "Unless..."
I followed her line of sight, saw the shopping carts, sitting all stacked up against one another. I thought about it for a second, but not any more. "Okay!" I said quickly, before she could change her mind. At least it would be better than getting carried through the store again, or trying to keep up with everyone else's longer legs, although I knew Caileigh at least would go slower for me, if she thought my legs were feeling tired.
Besides, it wasn't -too- babyish, or at least I hoped not. I didn't do it nearly as often as I used to, but mommy would still offer every once in a while.
Jen smiled as she picked me up, resting one hand on my diapered bottom and giving it a pat or two as we walked over to the shopping carts and she pulled one out, sliding me down into it. "Hey, Caileigh, do we need two?" she called over her shoulder.
I giggled at the blush that suddenly appeared across Nadine's face, as she quickly asserted, "I can walk!"
Caileigh must have agreed, since she shrugged, said, "We don't need very much," as she walked over and set the diaper bag down into the cart, straightening out my skirt, which I hadn't noticed had risen up some as I was set down, allowing a peek of my diaper.
It was my turn to be giggled at as I blushed, from two different people, one trying to hide it so as not to get in trouble, the other pretending she hadn't so she could sound all upset. "You're ruining all my fun," Jen teased Caileigh, shoving her lightly on the shoulder.
The trip to the door was much easier, now that all I had to do was sit back and relax, taking some satisfaction in watching Nadine's face starting to turn red as she worked to keep up with Jen and Caileigh, her diaper slowing her down.
My head was also a good bit higher than normal, and it was kind of fun just getting to look around at things I didn't usually see at this angle. I was busy looking around, as we stepped forward through the first set of doors, when I happened to notice something on one of the big message board hanging on the wall.
"Look, look!" I exclaimed, pointing over towards it, before Jen just wheeled past.
"What is it, babe?" she asked, bringing the cart to a stop and looking at me.
"Look!" I repeated, jabbing my finger towards the board, and, more importantly, the poster hanging there, advertising a play. Not just any play - a play based on one of my favorite books, Peter Pan. If it wasn't for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, it might have been my very favorite, but as it was, it had to play a close second.
"This one?" Caileigh asked, walking over to get a better look at it.
"Yep!" I confirmed happily, feet swinging a little. "Can we go, please, please, please?" I tilted my head up towards Jen, eyes big and sweet. I'd never been to a real play before, just a puppet show at the library once, but I was sure I'd love it.
Jen glanced at the poster skeptically. "I don't know, honey..." I hurriedly started thinking of some way to convince her, something I could promise that would make her say yes.
But it was Caileigh who completely crushed my hopes. "'fraid you can't," she shrugged sympathetically. "The last show was on Sunday."
"Awwww," I pouted, slumping down in the seat, until I realized Jen was smiling because my diaper was showing again, and I sat up, straightened my jumper, stuck my tongue out at her. "It would've been fun," I sighed.
"I bet it would have," Caileigh rubbed my arm consolingly. "I'm sure you'll get another chance to see it someday."
"Oh, I hope so!" I smiled, sitting up a little straighter as I imagined walking into the theatre, all dressed up like I had been at the moon's first ball. I was pretty sure you were supposed to dress up to go see plays, anyway, even though nobody really had for our class play. The thought of that reminded me of my own, slightly stunted, career as an actress, and my smile lit up a bit more. "Or maybe I could be in it one day!" Sure, there were only a few girl characters, but it would be cool to be Tiger Lily, or even Wendy, although she wasn't nearly as fun.
"Why, so you can faint again?"
I blushed, stared down towards my feet, at Nadine's question, though more at the reminder it contained. I had only had about one line, but I spent a lot of the play onstage anyway. I had tried to do like Mr. Chaon said, and pay attention to what was going on around me, and try to react to it and all, but once my gaze had drifted off into the audience once, it froze there, on all the people out there. There were so many, more than I ever would have imagined could fit into the auditorium, which seemed to have grown to about a hundred times its normal size.
I'm not sure if I even made it to the part of the play with my line - after a few minutes, I could barely even hear the other kids talking, the sound of my own breathing, going faster and faster, filling my ears as my eyes grew wider and wider, and the people in front of me seemed to multiply, until there had to have been at least a billion.
And then even the sound of my breathing seemed to get drowned out, although I wasn't sure by what, exactly. It just seemed like it was getting further and further away, as if it were somebody else. I wasn't sure how long I'd been up there - it felt like an hour or more, but Jen told me later it was only a minute or two. Then it was all gone, and I woke up backstage, Mr. Chaon standing over me, looking worried.
Nadine giggled. "I guess that would be pretty funny to see."
I tried to ignore her, and the growing heat in my cheeks. She was just jealous she didn't get a part, that was all.
"I bet you'd be great, cutie," Caileigh assured me, but since I was still staring at my feet, I didn't get to see the dirty look I was sure she shot at her little sister, who promptly shut up. Jen patted my leg softly, and we moved on, away from the sadly unfulfilling poster.
Once we got into the store, it started to get less interesting being in the cart, getting parked while the big sisters searched for some specific kind of whatever on Caileigh's list. While it was nice getting to sit down as they did that, since they tended to take forever, after the second or third time, I started to wish I could at least pace back and forth behind them, to show them I was ready to move on. And, after I wet my diaper, it started to get less comfy, having the squishy padding pressed up against my bottom constantly.
Caileigh and Nadine went off on their own as Jen steered the cart towards the baby aisle, saying they would be back in a few minutes, once they'd found the right kind of dish soap in the aisle beside ours.
"Why are we here?" I pouted, watching the sights, still familiar from the week before, moving past. "We still have plenty of diapers!" I didn't actually know that, but I suspected it, since we had been here not too long ago, and it had seemed like there were a lot of diapers in the package Jen had bought.
"We don't have that many," Jen contradicted me, her voice turning condescending again. "Besides, we wouldn't want you to run out, now would we?"
"No, that'd be horrible," I sulked, crossing my arms and pouting.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Jen exclaimed happily, backing up the cart a little to grab a pink pacifier from one of the shelves. "Can't forget this, now can we?" she smiled.
"Jeeeen!" I cried, sniffling, sticking out my bottom lip, and tilting my head up at her.
Jen kissed the tip of my nose, but put the pacifier into the cart anyway, and moved forward. "Look at these," Jen said after a moment or two, bending down to do the same.
"So what?" I asked, bored, starting to fidget, glance up and down the aisle nervously. Was she taking this long just to annoy me? But I was a little curious anyway, so I looked at the package. "Why do babies need special diapers for overnight?" It seemed kind of dumb, although I guessed it was kind of like how you wore special clothes to sleep in.
"Well, it's so they don't leak while they're sleeping," she explained, picking up the package and flipping it over to see the other side. "Sometimes, regular diapers just aren't good enough for that." She glanced from the diapers to me, a thoughtful glint in her eye. "These aren't size 6, but I bet you could fit into them just fine. I've heard Huggies are a little bigger than most. And you -did- fit into those Pull-Ups..."
"I don't need those!" I said quickly, blushing as she started to put them into the cart. "I don't leak at night!"
"I wasn't thinking about them for night time," Jen smiled. "I just thought we'd try a thicker diaper."
"I don't want a thicker diaper," I pouted, the padding around my bottom feeling quite thick enough as it was as I squirmed, trying to imagine what these new diapers would be like.
"I guess that's too bad, isn't it?" Jen teased, patting my leg.
"I only leaked once," I complained, sulking. Jen didn't pay attention, didn't seem to care. It wasn't fair! One little accident, and this is what I get... No fair at all.
Caileigh and Nadine returned soon afterwards, and we headed back towards the front of the store to check out. Our regular cashier wasn't there; I wasn't sure if I was glad for that or not.
"She's an antsy little thing, isn't she?" the one we got instead, probably around mommy's age, asked, not even looking at me.
"Well, I'm sure you know how they get when they need a change," Jen winked. I tried to kick her from the cart, but she was too far away.
All in all, I was glad when I got lifted out of my seat, even if I didn't get put back down. Jen ducked down and grabbed the diaper bag, and the bag with my new baby stuff, Caileigh telling her she could get the rest by herself.
"Can Caileigh change me?" I asked, staring over at her hopefully, even though the question was aimed at Jen, as the bathroom door swung shut behind us.
"I don't mind," Caileigh shrugged.
"You can do it next time, if you want," Jen offered. "I get her now, though."
I pouted. "But Caileigh is better at changing me than you are," I told her.
I heard Caileigh giggle beside me as Jen reached up to tickle my tummy and tell me, "Tough luck," as she carried me to the handicapped stall, kicking the door shut until she could set me down and latch it, then get my changing area ready, and lift me up onto it.
"Let's try out your new diapers!" Jen grinned, tearing open the package.
"But they're for night," I pointed out, wondering if the argument would work this time. It seemed like wearing them during the day would be breaking some kind of rule.
Jen ignored my warning, and proceeded to change me into one of them. She was, unfortunately, correct in her assumption that they would fit me just fine. They really were thicker, I could tell, and I knew they would make me waddle even more than my regular ones. "How's that?"
I glared up at her, preparing to say something particularly scathing, just as soon as I thought of it, when she remembered what else she had bought, and popped it into my mouth as I opened it to tell her how awful they were. She looped the ribbon attached to the back of it around my neck and stared down at her work, apparently very pleased.
I wrinkled my nose at the pacifier invading my mouth, reached up to take it out, only to have my hand swatted away. "And don't think about spitting it out, either," Jen warned, "or you'll be sorry."
As if I wasn't already sorry enough for having gotten myself into this.
Jen lifted me down from the changing table at last, leaving the diaper bag in the stall, and led me out, where we washed our hands, and she took all of the bags from Caileigh. I stared down at my feet as Nadine glanced over at me, sucking on my pacifier, too scared of what Jen might do to me if I disobeyed her to consider taking it out.
Strangely, though, the look in Nadine's eyes wasn't nearly as gleeful as I had expected. If it had been on anybody but her, I might have called it sympathy, but pity might have been closer. She glanced up at our big sisters, then slid a little closer to me.
"I know the perfect way to get revenge on Jen," she whispered. I stared at her skeptically, not sure whether I could believe her or not.
I didn't have time to decide before she and Caileigh vanished into the stall. I knew I really shouldn't listen to her - she had the habit of trying to trick me, even when I hadn't given her such a good reason to want to. Still, maybe she had realized that we were both in this together, and decided that the best way to get through it was to stick together.
Could that be it? Sure, she had been making fun of me like normal so far on the trip, but, when I saw her and Caileigh emerging from the stall, the diaper bag slung across Caileigh's shoulder, and a deeper blush than I'd ever seen on her plastered across Nadine's face, I couldn't help but wonder.
Besides, it couldn't hurt just to listen, see what her idea was. Listening was harmless. I didn't have to actually do it.
Caileigh took a few of the bags from Jen, after she and Nadine washed their hands, and we left, preparing ourselves for the long trek back to the car. I declined the offer of another cart, even though I had been right about my waddling getting more pronounced with these diapers. I'd had enough of that for the day, thank you.
At least I thought so, until we had actually gotten outside, and halfway across the parking lot. I felt like I was melting again, even more rapidly this time, my pace getting slower and slower as more and more of me flowed away behind me, across the pavement. "Here, take these," Jen told Caileigh, shoving a couple more bags into her arms, so she could pick me up. "Slow poke," she rolled her eyes at me. I just glared at her over my pacifier, not sure what else to do.
Not until I had gotten into the car, the diaper bag set next to me, Nadine climbing into the other seat, while our sisters worked on piling the bags into the trunk. I leaned over, pulled out the pacifier, staring at it with disgust.
"So," I whispered, "what were you saying about revenge?" |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Twenty-Four
I leaned back against the soft back of the bench, tummy feeling very full and happy. Nadine watched me from the bench on the other side of the table at our booth, although it didn't seem like she was searching for something mean to comment on, as she usually did.
She didn't appear to be too eager for conversation, either, so I picked my chopsticks back up and practiced holding them; I'd almost had it earlier, at least well enough to eat most of my food until having to switch to a fork. I couldn't remember how at all, now that I didn't have Jen helping me. She was really good at it.
It had been a nice meal, much better than I had been expecting, if only because it had passed without me getting put into a high chair and bib. Jen had suggested it, after we sat down, but Caileigh managed to get her to give in when she saw just how much I liked the idea. Besides, I wasn't sure how well Nadine would have fit into one, since she -was- older and bigger than me, and not nearly as scrawny, and it wouldn't have been fair for it to be just me, especially since I wasn't the one being officially punished here.
Not that Jen would have cared about that. Honestly, I still wasn't sure why she had agreed to let me sit on the benches like everyone else, but I was pretty sure it had more to do with Caileigh than me. Either way, they were both gone now, after a couple quick diaper changes and strict orders for us not to leave the table unless the restaurant caught on fire, off to use the bathroom they had denied us.
"Did you have a good meal?" a voice most decidedly not Nadine asked beside me, making me jump suddenly, dropping the chopsticks onto my mostly empty plate, heart pounding. "Didn't mean to scare you," the waiter apologized, quickly stacking up everyone else's plate, hand pausing as it came to mine. "You done with that?"
I nodded, worked up my courage for a little smile. "It was good," I squeaked. I saw Nadine nodding her agreement across the table, much more calmly than me.
"Good to hear," he winked, setting down a little tray with the bill inside on the table to replace our plates, glancing at us a moment before counting out a few fortune cookies and setting them down on it. "Have a great afternoon!"
And then he was gone, before I could tell him he had miscounted, leaving us with only three cookies, not four. Nadine and I stared at the center of the table for a minute or two, as if waiting to see if the cookies would multiply. They didn't.
After a moment, something I never expected happened. Nadine glanced up from the tray to me, then said with complete sincerity, "Go ahead, you can have it."
"What?" I blinked, staring up at her to make sure I had heard her correctly. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she shrugged, settling back in her seat. "I don't like them that much, anyway."
I started to reach out for it, stopping my fingers a few inches away, almost close enough to touch the wrapper. "We can split it if you want," I offered, starting to feel bad to just be taking it, when she was being so nice. Maybe I'd been right earlier, I thought, and she realized we need to work together.
She shook her head.
"You can have Jen's cookie," I giggled, although I knew if that happened, Caileigh would probably end up giving Jen hers, so it wouldn't really be fair. Luckily, Nadine denied that offer, too.
"I don't like them," she told me again. "Just eat it, okay?"
I watched her for another few moments. Had she always been this nice, deep inside? Maybe I just hadn't been looking hard enough, giving up whenever she did something I didn't like, assuming she was an awful person. Did that make -me- an awful person?
"I'm feeling pretty full," I said slowly. That was definitely true, although I wasn't quite too full for a cookie. I could live without it, though.
Nadine rolled her eyes. "Eat the cookie, Penni. It's yours."
I reached for it again; my hand froze again. I could see Nadine start to roll her eyes again, so I moved my hand over to another one of the cookies, picked that one up instead, and was still struggling to rip open the package when Caileigh and Jen reappeared, chattering about something or other.
"Here, let me get that," Jen demanded, snatching my cookie away before I could tell her I'd do it myself, getting it free with no trouble. "Do you need me to break it in half for you, too?"
I stuck my tongue out at her and snatched my cookie away, snapping it in two just to show her. I pulled the fortune out carefully, folding it up so I wouldn't inadvertently see any of it, and gobbled up the two halves, forgetting how full I already felt for the few seconds it took. I wasn't sure what it was about fortune cookies that I liked so much - they didn't taste all -that- good, compared to a lot of other cookies I'd tried. Perhaps it was the novelty of them, since we didn't exactly go to Chinese restaurants all that often.
Once that was finished, I picked the tiny slip of paper back up from the tabletop, making sure to check the lucky number - 34 - on the back before slowly unfolding it, heart starting to jump about in my chest nervously, but in a happy kind of way. As much as I loved fortune cookies, I loved the fortunes inside them even more. They didn't always make sense, but there was simply something magical about them.
"What yours say?" Jen asked, rudely leaning over to try to read it before I could.
I glared up at her, scooted further against the wall so I could have a little privacy. Jen shrugged, started breaking the second half of her cookie into a few more pieces before eating it.
After I made sure she wasn't looking, I began to open the fortune again, heart resuming its fluttering as the two ends of the paper moved away from each other, further, further, revealing...
"So, what's it say?" Jen inquired again.
I blinked a couple times, turned it over, then over again. "Nothing," I blinked once more.
"Nothing?" Jen reached over and took the paper from my shocked hands, turning it over like I just had, with the exact same result. "Huh... Weird."
"Yeah," I mumbled quietly, not even sure what to feel, although betrayal was at the head of the list. How could the cookie do this to me, after seeing how anxious I was to read its words of wisdom, or whatever?
Worry was a close second. What could it mean?
"Do you want to trade?" Caileigh's voice interrupted my thoughts gently, as she leaned across the table, holding out her own little slip of paper. "Mine's pretty good..."
I shook my head. "No, this is mine," I informed her. I chose it. It was mine, for better or worse.
I was still wondering about it as we slid away from the table and headed up to let the big sisters pay for lunch, Nadine and I wandering over to watch the fish in the big aquarium that stretched around their little waiting area, empty now except for us. I wondered about it as we walked out to the car, got inside, drove away. I was wondering about it so hard, I was surprised to feel the car stopping after what felt like just a few minutes.
Where we home already? But even before I raised my eyes to see that we were quite certainly not, I could hear the rush of traffic not too far away, which told me the same thing, although it was more specific about it, telling me that we were instead at Blockbuster. I vaguely remembered hearing mommy ask Jen to pick up some movie they had been wanting to see, although I wasn't sure if I had been supposed to hear that, since she had mentioned it to her after saying goodbye to me, and I just happened to still be near my doorway when she spoke to Jen.
I couldn't recall exactly what the title of the movie was, though I knew it sounded cool. Which I also knew most likely meant I wouldn't be allowed to watch it.
Since I was pretty sure that would be the case, my mind rapidly moved away from thinking about it, back to my empty fortune, as I jumped down out of the car, pacifier bouncing off of my chest a couple times thanks to the ribbon, once Jen opened the door for me. I probably would have spent the whole time in Blockbuster wondering, if I hadn't felt Jen's fingers slipping into the leg band of my diaper.
My eyes opened wide with surprise at the unexpected feeling, and I felt my body jump as I turned to see what was going on, and saw my skirt sliding out of the fingers of Jen's other hand. I felt my cheeks burning as I realized what she had done, and where - right out in the middle of the parking lot.
"Jen!" I shouted, stepping back away from her, glaring with angry eyes, starting to get teary.
"I was just checking!" She held up her hands defensively, but couldn't hide the smile on her face. "You had a weird, far away look in your eyes, so..."
"Jen, you couldn't have at least waited until we got into the store?!" Caileigh scolded, shaking her head.
Jen rolled her eyes. "You're no fun, you know that?"
Caileigh ignored her, took my hand gently. "Come on, let's go inside." I nodded with a sniffle, followed her quietly across the parking lot, thankfully much, much smaller than Wal-Mart's.
But inside my head, I was raging, throwing the huge fit I wished I had the courage for in real life, and which Nadine had suggested earlier, at least at first. "Just throw a big tantrum," she'd told me, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, voice low, unreadable as far as true intentions.
"In the middle of a store?" I'd asked, nervously starting to chew on my bottom lip. "I... I don't know if I can do that."
Nadine sighed. "Jen would absolutely hate it, though, you gotta admit."
"I dunno," I wavered. "I think she likes people paying attention to me."
She shook her head. "Trust me; not that kind of attention," she'd assured me.
I still wasn't convinced, though mostly because I knew I wouldn't have the guts to do it. "I dunno," I shrugged.
She rolled her eyes. "Well, if you're gonna be a wimp about it, there is something easier you could do..."
I shuddered a little thinking about her second suggestion, nose wrinkling a bit. I wasn't fond of it any more than the first, except for the fact that it -would- be easier to do. But if it really make Jen as sorry as Nadine seemed to think it would, then it would be worth it. It would have been worth it just for making me use the stupid pacifier - it would definitely be worth it now.
But could I do it?
Jen and Nadine came into the blessedly cool store a few steps behind us, just as Caileigh was letting go of my hand.
"Go look in the kid's section," Jen instructed Nadine and me. Or at least me, though Nadine followed anyway, and Caileigh didn't seem to mind, as she was too busy grabbing Jen's arm and pulling her into one of the grown-up movie aisles, hissing something in her ear that I had a very good feeling had something to do with me, and how if she wasn't nicer, the Society of Big Sisters would revoke her license. Or badge. Whichever one they had; could be both. Jen probably had to cheat to get it/them in the first place, anyway.
I glanced boredly over the movies sitting on the shelves, already having a pretty good idea what I would get, since I probably rented it every other time we came in here. I used to alternate between Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, until Gramma got them for me for Christmas. While it was nice to be able to watch them whenever I wanted, as long as nobody else was using the television, and even better to think that I actually owned them - me, just me! - it had left me with a bit of a dilemma. What to rent now?
Luckily, I happened to catch the end of another movie on television a month or two later, and, although I didn't get to see very much of it, it looked interesting and funny; even more luckily, Jen had recognized it as The Sword in the Stone.
Sure, I would take a chance and get something else every once in a while, if there was a cover that looked particularly cool. Mostly, though, I stuck with that. Jen told me once that it was based on a book, but unfortunately, it was always checked out whenever we went to the library.
I knew exactly where the movie was, however, and walked straight over to it and grabbed it, not in the mood to spend any more time browsing the aisle. I didn't want to go back over to Jen either, and Caileigh was still right by her. Stupid Jen, I growled in my mind, hand squeezing the cover of my movie. Even stealing the good big sister so I couldn't look at video boxes with her.
"Are you gonna do it?" Nadine whispered into my ear.
"I dunno," I said hesitantly, keeping my voice quiet, too. It felt like the right thing to do, somehow - I guess because it was sort of like a library, and you weren't supposed to talk in those, either.
"Aren't you mad at her?"
I nodded firmly, glaring across the store at her. Oh, I was definitely mad at her, but still... It might make her regret this whole thing, yet it wouldn't be fun for me, either. It was so icky, and babyish, not to mention humiliating. Jen did seem to hate me acting like too much of a baby in public, however, and I didn't imagine she would be happy with having to clean me up afterwards. I know I wouldn't. Which was probably why Nadine suggested it. As bad as it would be for me, it would be worse for Jen.
At least, I was pretty sure about that, and Nadine seemed to be, too. She had been pretty nice, too, for her, since Wal-Mart. I had a good feeling about this. It might even be enough to cure Jen of wanting to baby me at all! And -that- would certainly be worth a few minutes of embarrassment, since that was a state I was almost constantly living in anyhow.
I just didn't want to do it.
"Well, whatever," Nadine shrugged, wandering off down the aisle again. I watched her for a few minutes, building up my resolve. My tummy was beginning to hurt now, anyway, and I wasn't sure if I'd make it back home without an accident. So, I would either have to beg the completely horrible Jen to let me go to the bathroom here - which I imagined she would love, seeing me struggling to ask, like I always did - or I could take Nadine's advice.
When I thought about it like that, there wasn't much of a choice at all, really.
I glanced over at Nadine nervously one more time, getting an encouraging nod from her, then I turned to watch Jen, eyes narrow, cheeks turning red, teeth around my bottom lip.
For a moment, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it, that my body simply wouldn't let me, but then I felt it start to let go. I started to have second thoughts, but it was already too late.
"You actually did it?" Nadine asked, sounding shocked, obviously not expected me to have the nerve. I nodded, nose wrinkling at the icky, squishy feeling now in the back of my sagging diaper.
"It wasn't that hard," I stated, blushing again at how it had came out, almost like a boast.
Then Nadine started to giggle, not in a friendly way. My heart began to freeze in my chest, slow, horrifying revelation spreading across it, stopping it in its place. "You really are such a baby," she shook her head.
My mouth fell open, bottom lip trembling. "But..."
"That's what you get for tattling on me, dummy," she said, turning away and skipping back down the aisle, her giggles continuing, floating back to me and dancing around my head mockingly.
I was still standing there, shocked, when Jen came over to me. "That again?" she rolled her eyes. "Don't you ever watch..." Her nose started to twitch, and she glanced down curiously. "Penni, did you..?"
I blushed, hugging the movie box to my chest, stepping backwards as she reached out towards me. "I'm just trying to check your diaper," she told me, as if I didn't know, and it wasn't why I didn't want her near me.
"Go 'way," I sniffled, backing up again, this time running into the corner of the shelf, nose wrinkling at the touch.
Jen smiled at me patronizingly. "It'll just take a second, baby," she cooed, reaching over to grab the hem of my jumper. With nowhere to go, I started sniffling harder, as she pulled me closer to her, turning me around.
"Guess you didn't like those potty breaks that much after all," she said, sounding much less upset than I'd hoped. She sounded almost happy, and, by the time she spoke again, letting my skirt flutter back down against my legs, she was almost overjoyed. "Well, don't worry - you won't have to worry about them anymore."
"But... No!" I exclaimed, tears starting to gather in my eyes as I stomped my foot. "No!"
"Oh, I think so, babe," Jen grinned, kissing the tip of my nose, handing me her movie. "Hold this for a second, okay? I think I'd better go get your diaper bag."
Stunned, I watched her leave the store, still trying to figure out just what had happened. It had been a good plan! It should have worked! At least, it made enough sense that I was sure it would work. I turned my head, seeing Nadine, still giggling, who stuck her tongue out when she saw me.
Had they been working together, to get me back for getting both of them in trouble? Or had Jen just taken advantage of the opportunity to get me back? Did it really matter? The end result was the same, no matter how many people had been planning it.
I stared back at the front of the store, all glass, so I could watch Jen unlocking her car, retrieving the stupid, stupid diaper bag out of the back seat. Not even the sudden rain from the storm clouds I had been too preoccupied to notice as we came into the store, soaking Jen by the time she got back inside, was enough to make me feel better.
So much for my little victories.
Chapter Twenty-Five
I jumped, gasped as thunder crashed somewhere outside, far too close for comfort, although it was probably nowhere near me. Lightning lit up my room for a split second, revealing my small form, huddled up next to my door, ear pressed against the slight opening, trying to catch my breath, glad I had none left with which to squeak.
It wouldn't do to draw attention to myself, not now. I was supposed to have been asleep about an hour ago, despite my vehement protests. I was also probably not supposed to be listening to the movie mommy wouldn't let me watch, although I was really just barely doing that, since it was difficult to make out any but the loudest sounds - generally either a weird kind of growling, or maybe roaring, sound, or a scream - well.
As if that wasn't bad enough, I was also in a diaper. There was only one person in the house I would want to see me like that, and I wasn't even fond of that idea. Jen had decided I needed it, saying it was to keep me from "getting too curious" about the movie. I was pretty sure she was breaking some sort of rule, since the diaper was one of the regular ones, not the overnights. Which I had worn during the day. It just didn't seem like the sort of thing you were supposed to do; she didn't care.
I jumped again, this time at a particularly loud shrieking coming from the television in the living room. My eyes drifted over to my night light, the only source of light in my room, now that the sun had gone down, dark clouds, which had been hanging around since that afternoon, keeping the moon from performing his one useful function.
I had actually gotten rid of my night light once, and been very proud not to need it anymore; it was a sure sign I was growing up. And then I'd watched some TV show with Jen one night, a rerun of some old show I thought I might have seen some other time, too, but I wasn't sure, except that some of the people looked familiar.
And there were these things in it that glowed, kind of like fireflies, but green, and they attacked people in the night, if there wasn't any light around. I didn't want Jen to know how scared I was, so instead of curling up against her, I wound myself around one of the throw pillows on the couch instead, fingers digging deeper and deeper into it as the show wore on, and I couldn't help but keep watching, eyes wide.
I hadn't wanted her to know; I liked watching TV with her, sitting close to her on the couch and stealing her popcorn, when she decided to make it. But I had already gotten scared once, by something she'd watched, about people who just caught on fire for some reason, leaving behind ashes and feet, and nothing else. Every time I'd started to feel warm after that, I ran to the shower and turned it on, cold as it would go, desperate to keep the same thing from happening to me.
So I pretended it didn't bother me, almost believed it myself, until Jen said goodnight, and closed the door, plunging my room into darkness. I lay in bed for a minute, heart pounding, before I sprang out and switched the light back on. Mommy came in after a few minutes and asked why I wasn't asleep yet. I lied, told her I wasn't tired.
She let me come out to the kitchen and sit at the table in my fuzzy pajamas, all pink and warm, while she heated up some milk for me. Then she put me back to bed and turned out my light.
The moon wasn't out that night - I don't know whether it was cloudy, or if he had left, like he did every month. It was the only time I ever missed him, really, really missed him. It was winter then, and I was glad for that. It meant there weren't any fireflies around, and by the time they did start coming back, the show was just a distant memory, sitting at the back of my mind, getting more and more fuzzy as time went by, and all that I could really remember from it was not to sleep in the dark. Because that's where the bad things were. By then, I didn't remember the green things very clearly, thankfully - it would've sucked to be afraid of fireflies.
But that night, it was still fresh on my mind, the memory of the green lights swirling above their victims, closing in for the kill. I waited as long as I could before I switched my light back on. I was crying when mommy came in, looking annoyed. I told her everything, and she hugged me, got my night light back out and plugged it in, said I should go back to sleep, that the show wasn't real, and neither were the green bugs.
I stared at the night light for a long time, hoping and praying its light was bright enough. After a long time, I turned my light on again, just in case, and sat up the rest of the night, shivering despite having my blankets pulled up to my chin, waiting for the sun to rise.
And that was why I couldn't watch scary things anymore. Which wasn't fair at all, because that had been months and months ago, and I'd grown up a lot, despite what Jen's opinion on that matter was. I could handle it. But mommy and daddy didn't believe me, and they sent me to bed before they watched that sort of thing.
Like they had this night.
And, for once, I had to agree with that decision, and wish I had just stayed in bed and went to sleep, rather than trying to listen in. I could only imagine what horrible kinds of things were happening in the movie, and whenever I did, I immediately regretted it. Visions of monsters, all bug eyed and tentacley, covered in slime and spikes, pointy fangs glistening inside their cavernous mouths, swam through my head. With every roar, they seemed to get scarier, growing a few extra spikes, or their teeth getting longer.
With every scream, I imagined them catching me, grabbing at me with their slimy little hands, fingers resembling the arms they were attached to, long and bony, ending in razor sharp claws that dug into my skin as they tried to hold me still long enough to get their drool-dripping mouths around me. They weren't all that big, as far as monsters went - probably around Jen's size - but that was still big enough that my struggles to get free were mostly useless. Still, somehow I managed to get free each time, only to find myself caught again the next time I heard a scream.
The monsters followed me into my dreams as well, once I had enough and scrambled up into my bed, curling up into a ball, clutching Mrs. Ellenstofalix tightly to my chest. Not that she was a lot of help against the monsters.
To give her some credit, she -did- try, even offering to let me ride on her back as we ran through the darkness, neither of us willing to stop long enough to figure out where we were. She really wasn't very fast, however, and her wings were too small for flying, so I turned her down, since there didn't seem to be much point. We were going to get caught either way.
She was the first to see the group of monsters waiting ahead of us, licking their lips as they moved closer, claws on their toes digging into the dirt at their feet with every step. I came to a stop as quickly as I could, heart still racing as I nearly lost my balance before scrambling next to Mrs. Ellensofalix, eyes darting back and forth through the trees - we must have been in the forest, I realized - and the creatures stepping out of the shadows everywhere.
What were we doing in the woods? It wasn't autumn yet! We were so stupid, so very, very stupid...
I felt Mrs. Ellenstofalix stir, start to move away from my back gently, slowly.
I grabbed onto her fur before she could leave me there alone, or lead me out into the midst of these things.
She shook off my grip easily, then shook her head, as if to tell me not to follow. I stepped back, eyes wide; was she abandoning me again?
And with that, she moved forward, teeth bared, eyes gleaming with a light I hadn't seen before, as if there were something vicious lurking behind them. Her fur began to stand on end as she hunched down, then her head bent back, and a horrible roar came from her throat, seeming to last forever, every moment an eternity, as everything in the forest froze, shivering in anticipation and fear.
It finally died down, and for a moment, silence invaded my senses, nearly as loud as the roar. The whole world appeared to be still now, including the dragon, but I could feel the tension building up, and knew that wouldn't last long. Not even the leaves were moving; the wind was holding its breath.
It was one of the monsters who broke the calm, snarling as it leapt forward, claws flashing in the moonlight filtering down through the trees. Mrs. Ellenstofalix growled at it, then opened her mouth, breathing out a thick cloud of smoke. I could hear faint coughing sounds from within the cloud in the moment before my dragon jumped inside herself, and then all I heard was yelping, slashing.
I didn't dare get any closer, but even from where I was, I could see flashes of movement inside the smoke, a great green arm reaching forward to swipe at one of the monsters, knocking it onto its back, a tail swinging, slamming into a few more of them. If my throat had been working, I'd have apologized to Mrs. Ellenstofalix for ever calling her a worthless dragon.
Crack.
I spun around, found myself face to face with one of the monsters. My throat still wasn't working, I found as I tried to scream, tried with all my strength, backing up until my feet slipped on the leaf covered ground.
I never hit the ground - the monster was too quick for that. Maybe his mommy had told him not to eat food that fell on the floor, too. I felt his hands wrapping around my tummy, lifting me bodily into the air. I struggled, trying to break free, wanting to scream, to get Mrs. Ellenstofalix's attention, to do anything but sit there and get eaten.
I was getting closer to its mouth, too close for comfort. I braced myself to touch its scaly, slimy skin, wincing a little as I moved my hands down, trying to slip my fingers underneath his, to pry them loose. His fangs were getting closer, and closer, his breath blowing hotly against my skin.
And then he hissed, and I was falling, down onto the leafy ground, where I scrambled away quickly, before turning to see what had stopped him. For a few seconds, I wasn't sure. There wasn't anything over there other than it, still hissing and alternating its stare between its finger and me, expression switching from pain to fear every time.
Huh? Was it afraid... of me?
Suddenly, I noticed the handprint on his finger, still glowing a light blue color. I glanced down at my hands, saw the same glow around the left, lifted it curiously, only to find the glow starting to drip away, like water, as it faded back to regular ol' skin color.
I got to my feet, feeling a little more confident now, holding out my hand like a shield. The monster scrambled back as I approached, the glow on both of us getting stronger. I almost started to laugh, until I saw another two monsters out of the corner of my eye, trying to sneak up on me. I turned, swung my arm around, both the glow and the dripping getting stronger.
These monsters didn't seem to care. They kept coming, circling around me now, claws clicking together. I began to hold my breath, waiting, waiting for the first to make its move.
It seemed to take another eternity, but finally it did, leaping forward, its partner only a second behind. I let out my breath in a quick sigh, falling to the ground, rolling to the side, leaping to my feet as they landed where I had been a moment before. I darted forward, hand in front of me, pressed directly onto its chest. It hissed, began to back away, running into its companion.
I began to make my way around them, to touch the other so it would leave me alone as well, only to find myself on the ground again, this time on my stomach. I rolled quickly, expecting to find another creature behind me. There was nothing.
My brow furrowed curiously, trying to figure out why, then, I had fallen, until my gaze fell on the stone at my feet. It wasn't very big, mostly buried in the dirt, but I reached out for it curiously, my hand lighting it up enough to see that it looked familiar somehow.
I put my hand down onto it. It felt like any rock; I knew better. I push gently, the glow vanishing, leaving the forest bathed only in moonlight, as my hand slips into the rock, vanishing inside with a slight ripple. I hear feet approaching, unafraid now that I'm defenseless. I ignored them, reaching down further, and further, knowing it had to be there somewhere.
My fingers brush against it, finally, almost my entire arm inside the stone now. I wrapped my hand around the hilt, hold my breath, pull up as quickly as I could, before the monsters' breath got any closer to my back. My arm came free, and then my hand, now holding a large, blue glowing sword. My arm continues upwards, supported immediately by the other, as it is freed, as if they know what to do on their own, lifting the blade up above my head.
I heard the monsters beginning to move backwards, feel a pulsing in the palm of my hand, hold my breath again instinctively, right before the forest exploded with a bright blue light, emanating from the sword, pushing everything back, including the cloud of smoke, letting me see Mrs. Ellenstofalix, still fighting, but not nearly as hard now, as she was getting attacked by four or five of the monsters at once, all piled on top of her when the flash struck them, freezing them in the middle of their attacks for a split second.
I got to my feet shakily, leaves, blown loose a moment earlier, starting to float down around me, as I looked around, seeing what looked to be every monster in the forest not attacking my dragon gathered around me, surrounding me from every side, yet standing still, their eyes glowing blue.
I lowered the sword to my side, the only thing moving in the forest other than the leaves. Was that it? Was that all I had to do?
Then the monsters closest to me began to blink slowly, to shake their heads. I lifted the sword again, turning slowly as the monsters began to wake up again. My hands tightened around the sword, teeth clamping around my bottom lip. My arms were my own again, expecting me to know what to do now.
I spun around as the first monster jumps forward, swinging the sword wildly, just happening to catch one of its arms, slicing it in two. It howled, moving backwards, but I didn't have time to watch before turning, blocking the claws of a second with the sword, pushing it off and away into the crowd. I heard another set of claws dragging behind me, so I twisted again, beginning to feel somewhat dizzy.
That was when the one beside me struck, knocking me over, sword flying from my hands. As I lay on my side, trying to catch my breath, I watched it spinning upwards, ever up, almost above the tops of the trees before it came plummeting down, point first, sinking down into the ground in the midst of the creatures, who immediately began to move away from it.
But not away from me.
I tried to get to my feet, felt something wrapping around my ankles, slamming me back down, dragging me along the ground, helpless, as the tentacle began to move further up and around me, pinning my legs together, and then my arms, pulling me in towards the monster's gigantic mouth.
I sat up with a gasp, or at least tried to, but had to get myself untangled from my blankets first. My night light was still glowing next to my bed, though I wasn't sure it was strong enough any more.
I looked around my bed frantically, finally finding Mrs. Ellenstofalix almost falling off of the edge. I rescued her, gave her a kiss on the forehead before hugging her to my loudly thumping chest again, glad to see she was still all right.
I laid back down, turning to stare at my night light for a minute or two before turning to stare out my window. It was still dark out there, although I didn't see any lightning, nor hear any thunder. The storm must have stopped, finally, but the clouds were still there, keeping the outside pitch black.
I rolled over, just wanting to go back to sleep, only to be greeted by the sight of the monsters every time I closed my eyes. After a few tries, I got up, still clutching Mrs. Ellenstofalix, and began to stumble sleepily out of my room. The slight crinkling sound coming from my bottom, however, put a stop to my original plan, slowed me down enough to peek out of my door and make sure the rest of the house was dark before slipping out of my room.
The door to mommy and daddy's room was closed, like it usually was. I stood in front of it for a few minutes, tummy wriggling inside of me. That was where I wanted to be, in there with them, where nothing could hurt me. I was more than a little embarrassed to be waking them up for this, though, especially in a diaper. It was just a nightmare, I knew they'd say. They might even get annoyed at me for bothering them over something so trivial, when I was supposed to be so mature.
So I did the next best thing, no matter how little I wanted to. I went into Jen's room instead, not even bothering to knock on her door before opening it and moving inside. She already knew about the diaper, since she had put it on me, and I knew she wouldn't expect me to be grown up about this, or anything else. And I knew that, no matter how mean she was, she wouldn't let the monsters get me.
I climbed up into her bed and curled up next to her, wishing I had brought my pillow, since she was hogging all of hers. After a few minutes, I felt her move over a little, then roll over, groggily opening her eyes, finding mine, still wide with fear, staring back at her.
She looked confused for a moment, then smiled gently, reaching out to stroke my hair, hand moving down to my back, which she rubbed gently for a few moments before starting over again, until I felt my eyes closing.
I woke up one more time that night, just long enough to feel curious as to why Jen was in my bed, and to feel a sharp pain in my bladder. I wiggled my bottom a little, making sure I was still in my diaper, then let go, slipping back to sleep before the warmth finished spreading around my bottom. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:18 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Twenty-Six
I rolled over with a humongous yawn, back arching, arms stretching out, one brushing against Mrs. Ellenstofalix's fur, the other bumping up against something else.
"Ack!" I shrieked, rolling away from the other person in my bed, brain racing to find the answer as to just who it was an how they'd gotten there, all the way up until I realized I was closer to the edge of my bed than I usually slept, close enough that my movement had taken me halfway off. I had enough time to try to grab onto something before I lost my balance, crashing to the floor, dragging a blanket down with me, straight onto the cold squishiness of my diaper.
My nose wrinkled and tears sprang to the corners of my eyes at the same time, but both were quickly ignored as I realized that this was not my floor I was sitting on. My heart began to beat at twice its normal rate for the three seconds it took for Jen to sit up groggily, looking for the source of all the noise. By then I was starting to recognize this as her room, so her arising wasn't quite enough to get another shriek out of me, although only because I managed to stop it in my throat.
"What are you doing?" she asked, sleepily blinking her eyes.
My memories of the night before started to return to me then, reminding me why I was now sitting on my big sister's floor in a wet diaper, instead of in my own bed, where I should have been. "I was just... Uh..." I blushed, decided it was too early in the morning to try to lie. "I need a change," I pouted up at her pitifully.
"You couldn't have waited another fifteen minutes?" she yawned, pushing back the blankets I hadn't taken down with me.
"No," I sulked, feeling a little cranky now that my confusion and embarrassment were wearing off. "Maybe you should try wearing a wet diaper and see how you like it."
She raised an eyebrow, stepping out of bed and offering her hand to help me up. "Well, -somebody- got up on the wrong side of the bed."
"Only 'cause you were hogging the right side," I glowered. What was that supposed to mean anyway? What did it matter what side of the bed you woke up on? What did that have to do with anything.
"Hate to remind you, babe, but it -is- my bed." I shrugged at her, grabbing her hand and letting myself be pulled to my feet, led across the hall. Jen paused for a moment after closing my door. "Speaking of which," she said as she began to move again, this time over to my closet, "what happened last night, sweetie?"
I blushed, having sort of hoped she would have assumed the answer. "I had a nightmare," I explained, holding my breath to see if she would leave it at that.
"Awww, poor Penni," she cooed, removing the changing pad from my diaper bag. "What was it about?"
I let out my breath in a sigh. "It was about the movie you watched last night," I confessed. It was too early to come up with anything better, especially since whenever I tried to think of something scary, the monsters were the only thing that came to mind. "I... kind of listened to it..." I glanced down at my shuffling feet nervously, until they were lifted out from under me as I was put on the pad to have my shorts and diaper removed.
"Penni!" Jen scolded sharply, shaking her head.
"Nobody told me I couldn't do that," I pointed out in my defense, pouting.
Jen rolled her eyes, slipping my diaper off and putting it into the genie. "In the future, I think it would be a pretty safe bet that if you're not allowed to see something, you're not allowed to hear it, either."
I glanced up at her, starting to reach up a hand to bite my nails until I saw her starting to reach out to slap it. "Are you gonna tell mommy?"
"That depends," Jen shrugged. "Are you going to tell her if I let you watch the movie today?"
"Really?" My eyes widened at the offer, although I was a bit hesitant to accept it, even if she was telling the truth.
"If you want." She pulled the panties I could wear for all of half an hour up my legs, followed by my shorts, then set me down on my bed. "I figure, if you're already scared by listening to it, seeing it most likely isn't going to do any more harm. Might even help." She held up a warning finger. "But if you use this to get me in trouble, too, you -will- regret it."
I blushed nervously. "Okay," I agreed.
"All right, then!" she exclaimed, patting my leg and standing, starting to pack up my diaper bag while I went out to the kitchen for morning kisses and breakfast.
It was just cereal that day, since mommy had to go to work early. I didn't mind, though; I liked Cap'n Crunch, even if he wasn't a very good pirate. Jen followed me after a few minutes, pouring her own coffee, then sitting down to pour her cereal, and drench it with milk. I watched her with a certain sense of disgusted curiosity for a moment or two before returning to eating. I never could understand her desire to put milk on her cereal - I had tried it once, and I thought it tasted icky. But she was weird that way.
Mommy was already done eating, and almost finished getting ready, wandering between the living room and the kitchen, straightening things up and putting in her earrings. She always found the most stuff to do on the days when she had no time to do it, she'd told me once. If she just stayed still, I was pretty sure she wouldn't have that problem, but she never seemed to think of that.
"Have a great day," she told me, kissing the top of my head as I started poking at my food, like I did when I was just about full. She told Jen the same thing, then mumbled something I couldn't quite make out to daddy, and they both gave a weird little giggle before kissing.
Daddy left a little while later, after telling his princess to have a fun day, and to finish her breakfast. I pouted at the last part, since I was sure I'd already eaten plenty, but I somehow managed to eat the last few bites, after Jen put the box back into the cabinet above the fridge, the one I couldn't reach even with a chair, after returning from waving to daddy in the driveway to find me trying to put the rest of my cereal back.
"So, what are you going to do today?" Jen asked once I had gotten that over with and we went back to my room to get me dressed, digging through my clothes as I sat behind her on my bed, wearing only a diaper.
"I dunno," I said innocently, my eyes drifting to the window, through which I could see the glistening, rain soaked world outside. The storm the day before had been a pretty good one, and there were still a few clouds hanging around, keeping the sun from shining too brightly.
I didn't notice Jen was watching me until I heard her voice, and I glanced over to see her rolling her eyes. "If you're going to go play in the mud, you might as well just go out like that."
"Nuh-uh!" I protested loudly, blushing furiously. I didn't care if the only people around who might possibly see me already knew I was wearing a diaper - there was no way I was leaving the house in nothing but one.
"I was just joking," she soothed quickly, a little too much to keep me from wondering if she really had been, pulling out an old T-shirt I'd gotten when we visited Chicago the year before. It was bright orange, and had the silhouettes of a bunch of buildings on it, as well as a pretty big pizza sauce stain from the day after I'd gotten the shirt. Mommy hadn't been too happy about that.
I waited for a few moments after she tossed the shirt onto the bed beside me before realizing that, for once, she was letting me dress myself. Or at least giving me the opportunity to do so, which I snatched up eagerly, before she could turn around and change her mind, if that was what she had intended me to do in the first place.
The slightly surprised expression on her face when she did turn around told me she probably hadn't, but she didn't say anything about that - rather, she started to put the old pair of shorts in her hands back into my dresser. "I think that should be good enough," she proclaimed.
"Jeeen!" I whined, sliding down off of my bed, trying to grab them away from her.
"Calm down," she laughed, picking me up, effortlessly keeping the shorts out of my reach while she placed me back on the bed and slid them up my legs and over my diaper. "Try not to get -too- dirty," she instructed, patting my bottom to send me racing for the door. When I heard Jen calling my name, I considered pretending not to hear, but I slowed down just enough for her to catch up to me.
"Hold on," she smiled, even though I had already stopped, and was beginning to turn around, seeing my pacifier and flip-flops in her hands. "Here you go," she said, voice light and sing-songy as she slipped the pacifier's ribbon around my neck, heading towards the door.
I followed her, baffled. "Where're you going?"
"I'm going to put these by the door," she held up my shoes. "So you don't track mud through the house when you get back."
I raised my eyebrow, like she and mommy always did, watching her as I stepped out of the house and started to head towards the field, making sure she wasn't following me, seeing her watching me in return, until finally she went back inside.
I giggled happily, feeling free as I started to run barefoot across Caileigh's yard and out into the field, holding out my arms and leaning my head back, feeling the air whip by, water splashing under my bare feet and up my legs. I stopped about halfway across the field, catching my breath for a minute before turning and starting to drift off of the path, feeling the mud squishing around my feet.
I started to wander about, searching, until I finally found a decent sized puddle, sneaking up on it before hopping into the middle of it. I splashed for a minute or two before moving on to the next one. Each of them were different, in their own way, some shaped strangely, some deeper than I expected, but each of them had a different splash, and I wanted to see them all, to make them all.
I was so busy with that, I hardly cared when I felt my bladder starting to hurt, and simply let it go, not wanting to stop long enough to worry about it, not that it would have done any good if I had. My new diapers soaked it up quickly, and well, so that I barely even noticed it as I kept playing, although I was too preoccupied to think about it much, or the growing fullness in my tummy.
I zig-zagged across the field for a while, a destination in mind, but not too concerned about reaching it anytime soon. Off by the edge of the field, where the grass thinned out, almost to the forest, luckily far enough away not to have to worry about the monsters coming out, at least not without giving me enough time to run away, was a fairly large mud puddle. Jen used to take me out there to play after it rained, made mud pies with me.
At first, I felt a little embarrassed as I knelt down, feeling my knees sinking into the mud, but once I had sunk my fingers into the dirt, I no longer cared, losing myself in my own little world, drawing pictures all around me, making a story with them, one about a princess who escaped from her evil big sister, who had locked her in a tower, and traveled the world with her pet dragon, all the while getting chased by her sister. I didn't even mind that I had, at least in my mind, to put my pacifier into my mouth, to keep it from getting dirty.
I'm not sure what made it so much fun, whether it was just the memory of the fun I'd had here when I was little, or just that, here, I didn't care about doing a good job, like I always tried to do when I was drawing something for real. I didn't care so much that the princess didn't look quite so much like a princess as a slightly smaller blob than her big sister - in my mind, I could still see her, ducking into alleyways, directing her dragon to go the opposite way, to try to confuse their pursuer.
I might have stayed out there all day, if my tummy hadn't started to hurt, in a way that I knew wasn't completely from it knowing it was getting awfully close to lunch time. I procrastinated for a few minutes, wanting to finish up my story, and maybe make a mud pie, for old time's sake, until I realized I had already been putting it off so I could keep playing for what would probably turn out to be too long.
Not that it mattered, I sulked, struggling to get to my feet without slipping and falling into the puddle, which I was quite certain would qualify as "too dirty" to Jen. I wasn't too keen on the idea, either, since I didn't like mud -that- much, at least not anymore. I just wanted to get home before I had to use my diaper, so that I at least had a chance to talk Jen out of making me use it. Not that I expected her to give in, but, hey, stranger things had happened.
No such luck.
I was barely to the last puddle I had jumped in before moving on when the next pang hit my stomach, not bad enough that I couldn't hold on, yet enough to let me know I didn't have much of a prayer of getting home with just wet pants. I glanced down at my feet nervously, kicking at the blades of grass and watching the droplets of rain shower down to the ground, attempting to distract myself.
It worked until my tummy twinged again. I bit my bottom lip, toes curling down, sinking into the mud underneath me, as I winced, gave just enough of a push to let my body do the rest, filling up the seat of my diaper, making it feel almost as squishy as the mud squeezing between my toes, but much more icky. I stood there for a minute, nose wrinkling, wishing I hadn't gone so far across the field.
But, unfortunately, I wasn't going to get back by way of regrets, so I sighed and started to walk, even more slowly and gingerly, not caring if I looked like I was waddling. Stupid Jen, I thought grumpily, ignoring the fact that I probably would have waited just as long to go home even if she hadn't decided to cut off my use of the bathroom completely the day before. It was all her fault anyway.
"I wondered if I was going to have to go looking for you." Jen eyed me when I opened the door, bashfully slipping inside, flip-flops on. "Looks like you had a good time."
"I guess so," I blushed.
"Well, c'mon, I have a bath ready for you," she got up, holding out a hand to lead me to the bathroom. A devious smile spread across her face as she took my hand, then pulled me closer to her, using her other hand to pull back the waistband of my slightly mud spattered shorts and diaper. "Uh-oh, did someone have an accident?" Her giggles only grew louder when I glared at her, trying to free my hand. "Don't worry, babe, we'll get you all cleaned up, and then we can have some lunch, okay?"
The water was a little cooler than I wanted, at least while Jen got the worst of the mud off of me, as she had apparently expected me back sooner. Jen told me it wouldn't kill me, and I guess it didn't, but it didn't make me happy either. It wasn't too bad once she filled the tub back up to wash the rest of me, and my hair, though. I might have drifted off to sleep if I wasn't feeling so hungry. It felt nice to be all clean, after my adventures, and in equally clean clothes, even if those included another diaper.
Lunch was a starting to get cold, too, but Jen actually did something about that, warming up my fish sticks and tater tots - though not the applesauce, which she luckily hadn't put onto the plate yet - and sending me into the living room, switching on the movie, leaving the remote control beside me in case it got too scary for me, promising to be there as soon as she got some stuff done.
The movie started out pretty boring, so I watched her going to the bathroom, coming back out with my dirty clothes. I heard her walk downstairs, and, after a few minutes, the washing machine started, only to be drowned out by the door being closed when Jen returned to the upstairs, and replaced by the sound of her doing dishes.
I felt a pang of guilt, knowing I should be helping her. She had gotten by without me for the rest of the week, and part of the week before, however, since she had sent me to my room for my nap before she started them; she would be fine for another day. Besides, babies didn't do dishes, and if she was going to treat me like one, I didn't mind acting the role, or at least the parts that got me out of chores.
By the time I started to actually watch the movie, all of the main characters had already gotten introduced, or so I assumed, while I'd been distracted, which made it both boring and confusing. Nobody really seemed to be doing anything about the monsters - who were only showing up every once in a while and roaring uselessly, much less scarily than I remembered, in the shadows - until one of them got killed.
I was done with my food, or at least as much of it as I planned to eat, if I could get away with it, before the monster was actually shown. That was when I simply turned off the television, disappointed. Sure, it had big teeth, just like the ones in my dream, and kinda creepy big eyes, but, after last night, it didn't look scary at all, just kinda dumb. If it had been them in my nightmare, I never would have gotten knocked down, I was sure of that.
Jen hurried in, hurriedly drying off her hands on the towel she was holding. "Are you okay?" she asked frantically. "I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't think..."
"No, I'm fine," I shrugged, handing her my plate and hopping off the couch. "I'm just gonna go take a nap."
"You sure?" she raised an eyebrow. I nodded, yawned, started towards my room. "Penni, get back here and finish your lunch."
"I'm too sleepy," I claimed, giving another big yawn, a little faker than the last, at least to begin with, before rushing off before she could catch me. I heard her sighing behind me, but she didn't say anything else, except for "Sweet dreams, baby," when she came to my room to drop off a bottle of juice for me.
I even drank a little of it before I fell asleep, one arm around Mrs. Ellenstofalix while I held the bottle with the other, satisfied that, if we -did- get attacked by those monsters again, we could take care of them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
"Well, -I- think it's cute, no matter what you say," Jen told me, straightening out the top. "Don't be such a little sourpuss."
"I'm not," I protested, glowering and crossing my arms, until Jen reached over and moved them back down to my sides before opening the door of the dressing room, where Caileigh was waiting, looking a little uncomfortable to be standing in Wal-Mart in a light blue bikini, even if she did look pretty, which I made sure to tell her.
"Thank you," she smiled down at me, in my own swimsuit, a two piece as well, though much different than hers, both parts being a good bit bigger than their counterparts on her. Mine was also pink, the shoulder straps of the upper part all ruffled, with a rhinestoned picture of a flower on the front, which went down to a few inches above my belly button. The bottom had a skirt attached - hiding the diaper underneath quite well - the hem of which had even more ruffles, and a little appliquéd flower on one corner. "You look adorable."
I guess it -was- kind of cute, but that didn't mean I had to like it. If I thought it would do any good, I would have said no to every swimsuit in the store. Jen wasn't overly concerned with what I wanted, however, as usual.
"Looks good," Jen nodded to Caileigh, who was turning around for her.
"I guess," she murmured doubtfully, staring down at herself. "It's probably the best I'll find, anyway."
"That's the right attitude to have," Jen teased, starting to push me back into the dressing room. "I think we're going to get this one."
"Well, I'm going to try on a few more, just in case," Caileigh shrugged. "I'll meet you guys up by the bathrooms, okay?"
"You sure?" Jen asked, keeping a hand on my shoulder, but starting to turn to face her friend. "We can wait if you want."
Caileigh shook her head. "No, I'm good. You still have stuff to get." I heard Nadine, sitting on the floor next to her sister's changing room, boredly playing with her shoelaces, giggle at that, and I felt my face grow warm.
I still couldn't believe Jen was planning on buying swim diapers for me, though I wasn't quite sure why I couldn't. I mean, it wasn't like it should have been a huge surprise. I was more surprised to hear Nadine tell me Caileigh wasn't making her wear them, but, then again, she -was- the one with the nice big sister.
Even if it hadn't been for that, I still wouldn't be looking forward to the trip, any more than my near constant complaints on the car ride into town, until Nadine had quietly offered to tape my mouth shut, would have indicated. I'd only been to a pool once before, and I had only vague recollections of that, all unhappy.
Yet, Jen had still been surprised when I told her I didn't have a swimsuit, at first thinking I was using that as another excuse to try to get out of going. She had one, and Nadine had one, and they wanted a chance to use them. Caileigh had, too, although she was closer to being on my side, since Jen had needed to talk her into coming with us, assuring her it wouldn't be a bother to go shopping for a swimsuit with her, since we were already going to have to do that.
I hadn't even gotten talked into it - Jen had just told me it was what we were doing, and if I wanted to be a spoil-sport, that was fine, but it wasn't going to change anything. And she was right. No matter what I tried, I couldn't convince her to change her mind about anything.
"I don't see why I need those," I pouted, once I was redressed in my yellow sun dress and standing beside her, in the baby aisle once more, most likely incredibly lucky Jen hadn't yet dug my pacifier out of the diaper bag. "It's not like I'm gonna go in the water or anything."
"We're getting them because they match your towel," Jen proclaimed, lifting up a package and showing me the design - Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and Flounder and the crab whose name I could never remember. It did look a lot like the beach towel I had, probably back from the last time I'd gone to the pool, since I couldn't remember getting it. "And because you might change your mind, once you see everyone else having fun. I really think you'll enjoy it, Penni," she claimed, for about the zillionth time.
I didn't bother to disagree with her, even though I knew it wasn't true. There was no fun to be had in the pool, that I knew for sure.
I felt even more certain of the fact once we arrived at the pool, and I got ushered into the changing room, where Jen switched out my by then wet diaper for one of the Little Swimmers, gushing over how cute it was, lamenting that I wouldn't let her take me out into the pool in just the swim suit top and that.
"Quit teasing her and get changed," Caileigh demanded impatiently, looking only slightly less nervous to be wearing the blue bikini at the pool than she had been in the store, but still eager to get into the water.
"Well, you finish her up, then," Jen stuck out her tongue, although I could tell she knew Caileigh wouldn't really mind, then went to get changed, almost running into Nadine as she came up to my stall as well, already in her dark purple suit, a little smaller than mine, and without the skirt, although otherwise quite a bit like the one I was half dressed in, except with stars instead of flowers.
"I can put it on myself, if you want," I offered as Caileigh reached for the bottom of my suit.
"I don't mind," she assured me gently. "Although if you don't want me to..." I shook my head, hearing her voice grow a little sad with those last words. She smiled at my gesture, slid the second piece of my suit up my legs, over the diaper, before lifting me down, brushing out the skirt a tad. "So, why don't you want to go swimming, cutie?"
"I just don't like it," I shrugged, wishing I had a somewhat more concrete reason, as Caileigh seemed to expect me to have, since she waited for a few moments before speaking.
"I'm glad you decided to come anyway," she told me, giving me a little hug.
I decided not to correct her about my "decision", instead hugging her back for a moment before asking, "How come you didn't want to?"
She blinked, tilted her head to the side. "What are you talking about, sweetie?"
"You didn't wanna come either," I informed her.
She continued to look confused, only slightly less so. "Well, I didn't want to go shopping for a swimsuit, because I knew I'd end up with something like this."
"But you look pretty," I insisted again.
"Thanks," she smiled, arms tightening around me once more, not making her voice sound any more convinced.
"Ready?" Jen asked, reappearing in her green swimsuit. I nodded reluctantly, preparing myself for what was sure to be a rather boring afternoon, but when Jen took my hand, she didn't lead me to the pool, but to one of the showers along the back of the changing room.
"Why are we taking a shower?" I grumped at her. "We could have done this at home."
"Oh, shush," she rolled her eyes, turning the faucet, sending cold water spraying down onto my head. I gave a squeak and jumped back, not expecting it to feel quite so cool, but Jen grabbed me and pulled me back under for a minute before turning the water back off.
"That was dumb," I told her. "What was the point of that?"
"Penni, would you like me to get your pacifier out right now?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and glaring down at me.
I drew back, a little offended, but not as much as I tried to sound. "I just asked a question," I sulked.
"It's one of the rules, babe, that's all, okay?" she sighed, reaching down to try to ruffle my wet hair.
"I guess," I shrugged, let myself get led outside, where Jen stashed the diaper bag in a little locker before we finally got to the pool. My tummy started to twist up as the water came into view, and all the people in it, and around it. Most of them were Caileigh and Jen's age, though there were some around my age, maybe, off at the shallow end, where Jen took me.
"Now, are you sure you don't want me to try to teach you how to swim?" she asked, glancing over to the other end of the pool.
"I'm still not going in," I said adamantly. "Still don't need to know how to swim."
"If you say so, sweetie," she shrugged. "But you stay right here, okay? If you change your mind, don't go out any deeper than this without getting me first."
"All right," I agreed, mostly to get her to leave me alone, since it wasn't planning on changing my mind. And if I did, I wasn't going to do so in water that was taller than me. Even the shallowest part wasn't -too- many inches shorter than me, at least judging by the marking on the wall of the pool, underwater.
"I'll be right over there if you need me," she pointed towards the part of the pool Caileigh was reluctantly climbing into. "And I'll come check on you in a little while."
"I can sit by myself just fine," I hissed, wishing she would leave me alone. "I don't need to be checked on."
Jen started to open her mouth, most likely to once again try to convince me I would have a good time if I would just let myself, but closed her eyes and sighed instead, I guess realizing that it wouldn't do any good. "I'll be back in a little while," she repeated. "Don't drown."
"I'll try not to," I stuck my tongue out at her as she walked away, then wandered away from the edge of the pool, to where my towel was spread out across the ground, my copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland waiting for me. I laid down on my tummy, picked it up, and pretended to read a page or two, legs idly kicking back in forth in the air behind me, as I attempted to block out the sounds of splashing and laughing and yelling all around me.
"You are so boring," Nadine informed me as she walked up, dripping slightly, and grabbed the book out of my hands.
"Give that back!" I demanded, sitting up quickly, angrily.
"I don't think I will," she breezed lightly, completely and obviously unworried about me being mad at her, maybe even enjoying it.
I switched tactics. "Nadine, please, just give it back... Please?"
She hesitated for a moment, looking as if she were planning on taking off and making me chase her, before tossing the book back to the ground. "Fine, don't cry, baby. Take it." I glared up at her, but she didn't give me a chance to come up with a good reply. "Are you planning on laying here all day?"
"Maybe," I shrugged.
"Jeez, you -are- boring," she rolled her eyes. "You probably can't even swim, can you?"
"I can swim just fine," I fibbed, figuring it didn't count if it was to Nadine. "I just don't like to."
"Suuuure you can," she nodded.
I blushed, stared back down at my book. "Go 'way."
"Fine, have fun being a bookworm," she shrugged, leaving me alone to go back into the pool. I lifted my head, watching her slip back into the water and start swimming off, sitting up with a sigh once I was sure she wasn't paying any attention to me. I knew I wasn't going to be getting anything read with all the noise, and if I was just going to be sitting there, I reasoned, I might as well be a little cooler.
I slipped off my flip-flops and edged closer to the edge of the pool, dodging around a couple boys playing with water guns, until their mommy told them to stop it, and sitting down, cross legged, on the concrete. It was pretty warm, so I worked up the courage to move my legs off of it quickly, uncoiling one and cautiously lowering it towards the water.
I drew it back just as quickly as my toe descended into the liquid, even colder than I would have imagined. Still, it was probably better than it being hot, since the rest of my body already was, so, after a few moments of procrastination while my foot waited patiently above the water, I plunged it down, all at once, shivering with the coolness starting to rise up my body. After another minute, I put my other foot down as well, the shivering not lasting nearly as long that time.
Nadine was still swimming off on the other side of the pool, by herself. She didn't seem to have noticed me, so I started to kick my feet lightly, giggling a little at the splashes I was making, perhaps a little more engrossed with it than I realized, so that I didn't notice the person squatting down beside me until he spoke.
"Pretty hot out, huh?"
I swallowed back a loud squeak, unable to keep from jumping, inching away from him. He was probably around Jen and Caileigh's age, I figured, like most of the others, though there was something different about him I couldn't quite place.
"Sorry about that," he smiled. I wasn't sure if he was trying to be nice, or talking down to me, so I just glared at him suspiciously. "My name is Mark," he held out his hand.
I shook it, still feeling a bit apprehensive, but not wanting to appear rude. "I'm Penni."
"Well, Penni, I've been watching you, and I was wondering - do you know how to swim?"
I gave a loud sigh; why was everybody asking that today?
He held up his hands quickly. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything, I just thought you might be interested in coming to one of my swimming classes. You look about the right age, and we can always use new students."
"I dunno," I shrugged, since it sounded better than just plain no.
"Let me know if you want to know more about it, okay?" He started to get up, then settled back down. "So, are you here by yourself, Penni?"
I shook my head, pointing across the pool. "Nope, Jen and Caileigh brought me. And Nadine too, I guess."
He nodded, began to get up again, stopped this time by me. "Do you think Caileigh's pretty?"
He froze, blinked a couple times, start to laugh lightly. "I don't know which one she is, hon."
"She's right over there," I rolled my eyes, pointing at her again. He should have just paid attention last time, but I decided against telling him that. Boys could be a little slow at times, or so I'd noticed with the ones in my class. "In the blue bikini."
He looked around for a minute before -finally- seeing her. "Yeah, she's pretty. Is she your sister?"
"No," I sighed sadly. He glanced at me quizzically, didn't ask anything else. "You should go tell her," I told him, starting to kick my legs in the water again. "She won't believe me."
His expression was amused, surprised. "You think so?" he asked after a moment.
"Yeah." I was starting to get annoyed with him. Why would I have suggested it if I didn't think so? Yeesh...
"Well, I'll see what I can do." He got to his feet, towering over me. "See ya, Penni."
"Bye," I called politely, so as not to sound -too- glad to have him gone. I almost wished he wouldn't take my advice, if only to spare Caileigh from having to deal with him. At least she was more patient than me.
I looked around for Nadine, who appeared to have vanished, though I didn't spend too much time searching for her before my gaze drifted over to Caileigh and Jen, who were now both talking to Mike. I waved to them when he pointed me out to a somewhat flustered Caileigh, and an amused Jen.
They were still talking when, a few minutes later, I felt my tummy start to twinge. My face turned red, as suddenly it seemed as if there were twice as many people around me. I tried to wave Jen over to me, not expecting her to let me out of the diaper or anything, but hoping she would at least take me to the bathroom beforehand so I wouldn't have an accident around all these people.
When she didn't notice, too busy talking, I pulled my feet out of the water with a sigh, putting them under me to stand up, stretching a little, then started to make my way around the pool. My pace picked up once my tummy told me to, though I did my best to obey the sign they seemed to have up every five feet, saying "No running."
I guess I didn't follow it quite as well as I should have, however, as I was only halfway to Jen when retribution struck, and I felt my foot slip, seemingly helped by a shove on my back, probably delivered by the purple suited person I saw rushing off, a second before my body struck the water, the sound of my shriek drowned out as I fell into the waves, eyes closing automatically.
I started to splash around desperately, my mind going completely blank, unsure of what I was supposed to do. I tried to gasp for breath, without really thinking about it, ended up with a mouthful of water, then another when I tried to cough up that one as it rushed into my body. I felt fresh air on my arm for a brief moment, before it was submerged again.
I forced my eyes open, so I could figure out at least which way was up, winced and squinted as the water flowed around my eyeballs, like it was trying to move past them, and fill up the inside of my head, the only part of me that didn't already feel soaked. I started to kick my legs, vaguely recalling seeing the people swimming doing that, as I squeezed my eyes shut again, sure, for just a moment before they closed, that I saw the moon at the bottom of the pool, laughing up at me.
And then I felt somebody's arms around me, and I was back in the air, coughing violently as I got laid down next to the pool. "You all right there, Penni?" a voice asked, and I heard a splash as the body attached climbed out of the pool beside me.
I opened my eyes cautiously, closed them most of the way when I felt the sun shining straight into them. "I guess," I groaned, starting to sit up.
"Oh my God!" Jen screamed before scooping me up, hugging me against her. "Are you okay, baby?"
"I just said I was," I glared at her, trying to push away from her too-tight embrace.
She didn't seem to notice, lifting her face from the top of my head. "Thank you, Mike," she gushed. "Thank you so much!"
"Just doing my job," he shrugged, suddenly embarrassed for some reason.
"And here I thought your job was talking to pretty girls," a gruff voice spoke up behind him. "Or I would have guessed as much from watching you." The man leaned down, face softening for Jen. "Is your little girl all right?"
Jen blushed, while I rolled my eyes; did -nobody- listen to me? "She's fine," she said, quickly adding, "and she's my sister," though that was directed more at Mike than the man.
"That's good to hear," the man nodded. "At least I'm not paying this idiot for nothing." Mark shifted uncomfortably, began to open his mouth. "Oh, just go watch the pool, and I'll deal with you later," the man told him, and Mike vanished, up the weird, tall chair by the side of the pool, while the man wandered off, muttering.
"What happened, sweetie?" Caileigh asked, so that I finally noticed her sitting beside me.
I began to tell her Nadine had pushed me again, but she looked so worried; I didn't want to risk making her mad at me, in case she didn't believe me this time. Besides, I guess I didn't know for sure if it had been Nadine or not, or if I was really lying as the words, "I slipped," spilled from my mouth.
Then I remembered why I had slipped, and my face turned red again. "And... umm... I..."
Jen's hand moved from my back down to my bottom as she stood, taking me up with her, for once not making me try any harder to admit it. "Well, let's go get your diaper nice and dry."
My blush deepened, but I couldn't correct her, not with all these people around, and probably not even if we were alone. Then I felt somebody else taking a hold of me, taking me away from Jen. "I'll take care of it," Caileigh said quietly, rubbing my back. "I never did get the chance the other day."
Before I could protest, we were on the way back to retrieve the diaper bag, just the two of us. I squirmed nervously, remembering Nadine's evil plan, and wondering if it would work on Caileigh, the person I -didn't- want mad at me? But, on the other hand, since it was her, and she was nice, she might let me use the toilet, like a big girl. I wasn't sure if she knew about Jen's proclamation in Blockbuster, but she might not.
I almost got the chance to find out, working my courage up nearly to the brink of asking before chickening out, and purposely wetting my diaper while she got the changing pad out and spread it out to lay me down on it, tummy twisting and groaning while she gently changed my diaper.
"There, that's better, isn't it?" she smiled down at me, kissing my forehead.
"Yeah," I agreed, trying to sound more grateful than listless, although that was difficult to do when you know you're going to have another accident in not too long. She took my hand, picking up the diaper bag with the other, led me towards the door, back out to the pool, away from my possible freedom from diapers, if only for a few minutes. Anxiety forced my voice to work before I realized it, saying her name quietly, but not too much so that she couldn't hear me.
"What is it?" she knelt down, brushing a damp strand of hair out of my face.
I began to blush again, stared down at my feet, the words vanishing from my mind instantly, their replacements true, though not at all helpful. "You're a lot better at changing me than Jen."
"Thank you, sweetie." She was still grinning when we got back to my beach towel, where, after confirming I was okay, which somehow wasn't nearly as annoying when she did it, she left me to read, and try to keep my diaper clean for as long as possible.
After a little while, I saw Nadine again, splashing in the water by herself, as if nothing had happened, and she hadn't just tried to drown me a few minutes earlier, tore my eyes away before she could catch me staring.
Someday, I told myself, shifting uncomfortably in my squishy pants, too embarrassed to get off of my towel in them, not entirely comfortable with the thought of getting near the water again. Someday she would understand what it was like, and then she'd be sorry for how she treated me.
Someday.
Although, as I squirmed with wrinkled nose, waiting for Jen to come check on me, I wished that day had already happened, back before I had been stupid enough to take her advice.
I -knew- we shouldn't have gone to the stupid pool. Dumb Jen, and her "You'll have fun if you give it a chance!"s.
What did she know? |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"Don't need a nap," I repeated to Mrs. Ellenstofalix, who was at least sympathetic, if quietly so, and not enough to actually do anything about it. She could be pretty lazy, really, but I was willing to forgive her, since she did come in handy every once in a while. She was probably just saving up her energy for when she needed it.
Mrs. Ellenstofalix listened, anyhow, which was, by itself, better than Jen's reaction of completely ignoring me, handing me my bottle and switching off my light even before I had finished my protest.
I sat up grumpily, crinkily, grabbing the bottle for a long drink, listening for Jen bustling about outside. She hadn't even gotten the dishes done before shooing me into my room, despite my offer to help her, like I was supposed to be doing anyways. Well, too bad for her, I told myself with a nod. I didn't want to help her, after all. She could do them all by herself for all I cared.
I leaned over to open my door a crack, nearly falling off the bed as I reached my arm over the vast abyss underneath me, stretching off in every direction - well, other than behind me, where there was a wall I, and the pillow behind my back, was leaning on - for miles and miles. I managed to keep from falling in, from falling forever and ever, always downward, like Alice in the rabbit hole, except with no Wonderland, because there was no bottom, by grabbing onto the doorknob with the tips of my fingers, just barely enough to save my balance.
"Watch out," Mrs. Ellenstofalix called, a little late.
"Thanks for the help," I stuck my tongue out at her, inching a little closer to the edge, so that my fingers went further around the knob, and I could begin to turn it, slowly, slowly, trying to be quiet as a mouse, even if Jen was likely on the other side of the house by now. Better safe than sorry, especially in times like these.
The door swung open, slightly, once again nearly causing me to fall, one knee slipping an inch before my hand moved over to the door frame, keeping me steady enough. I could see out into the hallway, a little more than I had meant to be able to. Luckily, I could hear then the dishes clanking around in the kitchen after all.
I listened for a few moments, making absolutely sure what I was hearing before crawling back across the bed slowly, careful not to get thrown off the bed, or make too much noise, as it did tend to squeak at times. My bookshelf was too far away from the foot of my bed, no matter how far I dared to lean over the darkness, so, instead, I headed over to my desk, which was also too far away, floating serenely in the black.
The chair, however, was -not- too far away, or at least it didn't look that way. I stood up cautiously, toes dangerously close to the abyss. I moved one foot back an inch or two, just to be safe, then stepped over the darkness, gulping, keeping my eyes up until I was pretty certain my foot was right above the chair. My eyes darted down for a split second, just to be safe, and straight back up as I set my foot down, then brought the other foot over to the chair, hoping it wouldn't start floating away, or else I wouldn't be able to get back onto the bed. At least not without alerting Jen of my not-sleepingness.
Although I was more worried about the moon knowing, to be honest. I was pretty sure Jen couldn't reach me here, in the darkness, but he could. He was used to getting around in space, and, while I wasn't certain if this was space or not, it was at least similar enough that he would probably feel more at home here than I did.
My desk was mostly empty during the summer, since I didn't have a bunch of homework to spread out across it. Every now and then, I would put a book I was reading on it, but mostly there was just my little can, which I kept most of my pens and pencils, even a few colored ones, from a couple sets I'd gotten, then lost the boxes to. There was a purple marker in there at the moment, too, but only because I'd forgotten to put it with my others last time I'd used them.
For the last couple weeks, however, my sticker book had been sitting there as well, removed from its normal spot on the top shelf of my bookshelf, the only one tall enough for it to fit in, in the hopes that, if it was out, I would remember to work on it. The sheets of dragon stickers Jen had bought me at the bookstore were sitting inside the cover, waiting to be put on the pages, along with a couple smiley face stickers from Wal-Mart, which I might have had enough of by then to have one on every page of the book.
At least this exile to nothingness would give me time to get it up to date, I thought happily, picking it up, running my fingers over its soft, purple cover with a giggle. It felt so weird - that was probably the biggest reason I had chosen it to hold my sticker collection. That, and the pages were nice and thick, with a nice feel to them as well, more like construction paper than normal paper.
I turned around to face my bed, heart falling down into my tummy when I saw that it appeared to have gotten further away after all. Mrs. Ellenstofalix was still resting next to my pillow, as it was obviously too much work to even mention this sort of thing to me. "Thanks a lot," I hissed at her, patience beginning to wear thin. I didn't care if she had saved me in the forest or not, that had been long enough ago that she should have had enough energy stored up to help out again. After all, pretty much all she did was sleep.
The soft snoring that greeted my ears, forcing my eyes to roll almost of their own accord, informed me that was what she was doing even then. "Wake up!" I whispered, not daring to let my voice get any louder. "Mrs. Ellenstofalix!"
She rolled over, ears flapping a tiny bit. Well, fine. I didn't need her. I glanced nervously from the chair to the bed, thought quietly for a minute or two, nodded. It should still be -just- close enough to step onto, if I got close enough to the edge of the seat. I inched closer, weighing in my mind whether I would rather know I had good balance there, or if I wanted to make sure I could get across.
I settled on what should have been a good mixture of the two, keeping most of my heels firmly on the chair, though my toes were completely out in the open, leaned forward as far as I could, lifting one foot gingerly, the courage to step over the void almost built up.
Then I felt myself falling. I gave a shriek, launching my book in front of me to free up my hands to wave uselessly, though I was glad to see it land safely on my bed. Most of me wasn't quite as lucky, although I did manage to grab a hold of the bed and pull myself the rest of the way up, ignoring the pain in my knees. The abyss was harder than I thought it would be.
And louder.
"What in the world are you doing in there?!" Jen shouted, her voice coming closer with ever word. "You're supposed to be asleep, young lady!"
I didn't have long, and my options were limited, none of them - well, except for the one where I got Jen's sympathy, then convinced her that I didn't need a nap while she was under my spell - helped any by the tears that started to well in my eyes. I spared my knees a quick look, glad to see that they weren't bleeding, and also glad to note that the floor appeared to have come back, since I could see my chair tipped over on its side on top of it, most likely to assist Jen more than me.
Too bad for it, I decided. For a second, I considered going across it, to my window, so I could go out of it, like people on television did, but I knew there was a screen in my way, and, despite being on the first floor, it had always seemed like there would be a long drop from the window to the ground. Snatching up my sticker book, I rolled off the side of my bed further away from the door, sliding underneath just as my door came open and the light turned on. I inched closer to the other side, watching the shadows of Jen's feet walk across the floor, over to my chair, which she picked up.
"All right, where are you?" she demanded, standing still, probably looking around. The way I saw it, she would search one of two places first, when I didn't answer. One was my closet, and the other was where I was actually hidden.
I held my breath, clutching the book tighter to my chest, watching her toes rise and fall impatiently. "You're asking for it, Penni," she told me, not bothering to inform me just what this "it" was, although I assumed it wouldn't be pleasant. Her feet moved closer to the bed, and I began to squirm backwards with a sharp intake of breath, but at the last moment, she turned, headed for the closet instead.
I let out a sigh of relief, mostly on accident, although I was happy to see that she apparently hadn't heard. I moved closer to the edge of the bed, waiting for the sound of my closet door coming open. It seemed to take a year or two, but finally it came. I hurriedly crawled out, keeping down on my knees and hands, dragging along my sticker book with me, until I was out my doorway, when I broke into a full run, knowing Jen had probably seen me by then, and that was the only way I'd have a chance of getting away.
I heard her voice behind me, though didn't stop long enough to pay any attention to the words. I could probably have guessed them rather easily; I just didn't particularly want to. The handle of the back door was my biggest obstacle, other than keeping from falling on my face as I turned to head towards it rather than the sink. I fumbled with the knob for a few moments, heart pounding, sure I was about to feel Jen's hand on my shoulder any second, but then the door came open, nearly dropping me onto my knees again, this time onto the step outside.
I kept running, across our yard and into Caileigh and Nadine's, even though I doubted Jen would bother chasing me any further than the house. I only let myself slow down when I was halfway across the field, and dared a glance over my shoulder, where I found nothing but grass, gently blowing in the breeze. I stopped altogether for a minute, to catch my breath, then continued, much more slowly, on my trek up to the loft.
I didn't work on my sticker book up there too often, because it was too dusty, and sometimes, if I wasn't careful, I would have trouble getting the stickers to go onto the page correctly, especially if I left them stuck to the tip of my finger for too long, deciding on the best place to put them. Besides, I didn't like to take the chance of getting the cover dirty. Just once wouldn't hurt, though.
I was glad not to find Nadine waiting for me - she thought my collection was stupid, and might try to steal my new stickers, or even my whole book. The tub was still out behind the barn, I knew, and a little shudder ran up my spine at the thought of Nadine throwing the book into it. It was the sort of thing she would do.
I set the book down on the old chair up in the loft carefully, once I had dusted off the seat, then pulled the chair over to the overturned bucket, where I could sit and work without having to kneel, since my knees didn't feel very happy with me.
The chair was big enough that I could have the book open on it, but doing so didn't leave much room to spread out the stickers around it, as I liked to have it, since I tended to forget about them if I couldn't just see them. Still, there weren't too many new ones, so I didn't think it would be much of a problem.
What -would- be a problem, on the other hand, wasn't really anything I could have helped, in the short time I'd had to plan my escape, and then execute it. Unfortunately, it was a rather large problem, almost enough to send me straight back home, to see if I could find a way to sneak back inside. That would be much harder than getting out, I knew, since at least for that I didn't have to worry about Jen knowing what I was up to, once I reached a certain point. If she even suspected I was back, I was certain she would find a way to lock up the entire house before I accomplished my mission.
Yet it might have been worth the risk. After all, without my crayons, and color pencils, how was I supposed to actually get anything -done-? I never liked just putting the stickers on a blank page - that just seemed boring. Instead, I preferred to draw around them, to make them part of a bigger picture, or sometimes a story, even. Besides, none of the fresh pages even had a border around the edges yet.
But I would just have to make do, I decided sadly. If I went back now, not only would I be put back to bed, Jen might decide to keep my book, at least until she decided I was being well behaved enough to get it back. Or, to be more precise, when I was being enough of a well behaved baby, she might give it up.
So I pulled out the stickers and started trying to imagine the scenes I could make on each page - a recreation of the darkness that had invaded my room earlier, but with decent dragons around to help me out this time, instead of a lazy one who just slept; a castle, where all the dragons lived, unless they were out breathing fire, or fighting with knights, or whatever; a field, like the one outside, a little muddy, but not too bad, just right for playing.
I had wet my diaper by the time I started peeling off the stickers and carefully putting them in the right places, hoping I could remember what the pages were supposed to look like once I got home. I made sure to put the smiley face sticker that normally would have gone on the top right of the abyss page, like the sun, except not quite, since I hadn't drawn the rays around it yet, onto the next blank page, behind the ones I would be filling up. That should remind me which one that was, anyway.
I sighed sadly as I stuck the face onto the page, seeing that there weren't many more pages behind it. I'd had the book for awhile, but it still seemed like it shouldn't have gotten filled up so quickly. I mean, sure, I had pulled out one of the pages to write my letter to Santa on last Christmas, figuring he would like the special paper, and then taken out another when I remembered I had already asked mommy for most of the things on that list, and I had ripped a couple of pages I'd screwed up out, therefore losing the coolest unicorn sticker I'd ever found, but even so, I should have had more pages than that.
There was enough for what I was going to do that day, anyway, and enough pages already finished to lose myself in once I had finished that and started flipping through. I'd forgotten a lot of the pages, really, and as I looked at them, I began to wonder about my new ones, worried they wouldn't stand up to my older works, that they would stand out, and look dumb. Had I wasted another three pages? I asked myself nervously, although I knew I wouldn't have the answer until I got home, and broke out the crayons.
I glanced up from the book, eyes squinting a bit, curious as to what time it was. My bottom felt a little numb, not to mention damp, more so than normal, when I stood up, and I glanced down quickly to make sure I hadn't leaked. My shorts still looked dry, thankfully, but my diaper was feeling pretty heavy and wet, definitely ready for a change, hopefully back into panties.
As I wrestled the barn door closed, I happened to notice my fingernails, getting a bit long. Mommy would have to cut them soon, I thought with a sigh. I didn't particularly mind the thought of it, but the actual execution was sooo boring, because it took forever, at least. When I'd cut them on my own, I had tried to prove that you didn't have to be so slow about it, and ended up cutting down too far, which really, really hurt. I'd let mommy take care of it ever since, and did my best not to complain. That didn't mean I couldn't -think- about how awful it was, however.
I took my time walking home, so I could be certain Jen wouldn't have any excuse to put me in another diaper, since it would just be dumb for me to wear one for like five minutes before mommy got home. As it turned out, I didn't have to worry about that.
Mommy's car was waiting for me in the driveway.
At first I was glad my plan had worked, all the way up until I remembered the sagging diaper under my shorts. My tummy gave a sharp twist, nearly causing me to burst into tears where I stood, between our and Caileigh's yard.
"That isn't going to help," I told myself sternly, reaching up to wipe my eyes. If I could make it out of the house around Jen, I could surely make it back in... Couldn't I?
I crept up to the back door, put my ear against it, listening for any tell tale signs that mommy had started dinner yet. If she had, she was being very quiet about it, though that was how she tended to be. Back against the wall, I slid over, hopping off the step, moving under the window.
I got up onto my tip toes, stretching up as far as I could, feeling the warm air blowing against my tummy as my T-shirt raised up, too. If I wasn't holding on to my sticker book, I might have been able to grab the window sill and lift myself up a little higher, so I started to look around, nearly having a heart attack when I saw an amused Nadine beside me.
"-There- you are," she whispered, grabbing my arm and pulling me out from under the window. "Jen is going to kill you, you know."
"I told her I didn't need a nap," I sulked, twisting around a bit in an attempt to loosen her grip. "Look, will you let me go in? I need a change."
"Yeah, I'll say you do," she murmured, turning me around critically.
"What?" I tried to look over my shoulder, nearly swallowing a mouthful of hair.
Nadine sighed. "Just go around to the front door, and I'll try to keep your mom distracted while you get in. And don't let her see the back of your shorts."
I nodded, blushed, wondering if I'd leaked after all, then narrowing my eyes suspiciously. "How do I know you're not going to tell her I'm coming in the other door? I can remember how well your last plan went."
Nadine rolled her eyes. "If I wanted her to find you, I'd just yell for her right now, and she'd open that door in a second, well before you could get away from me."
"I... guess..." I said, still doubtful.
"Go, go," she shooed. I took her advice, turning as I got to the corner of the house, where she waved me on from her position on the back step.
I listened at the front door before pulling it open, satisfied that, if mommy was waiting for me, she was doing so quietly. Perhaps as quietly as Nadine was distracting her, I thought bitterly as I slipped through the house, heart jackhammering.
It almost exploded when I heard my name being said behind me. I squeaked loudly, spinning around, moving my hands, still clasping my book, down to cover up my bulging shorts as well as it could. "Hi, mommy," I smiled weakly, pretending everything was normal.
"You all right?" Her eyebrow raised, and my face began to turn red. Had I turned too late? "I need you to come set the table in a few minutes, okay?"
"Okay, mommy," I nodded. She didn't stop looking at me.
"Did you work on your sticker book?" I nodded, starting to inch backwards, towards the hallway. "I'm sure you did a great job, sweetie."
"Uh-huh," I gulped, taking another step back.
"Make sure to come set the table soon, all right?" she said finally. I nodded again, waiting for her to turn around before taking my next step backwards, then my next, which happened to be straight into a wall. Mommy spun around. "What happened?"
"I'm fine!" I insisted as she started towards me, giggling nervously when I heard the volume of my voice. "I'm fine," I repeated, a little quieter.
"Okay," mommy blinked, went back to the kitchen. Once I was sure she was gone, I turned around, dashed into Jen's room.
"Jen, I need a change, hurry up!" I hissed.
She glanced up from her desk, so slowly I was sure it was on purpose. "Oh, if it isn't little miss nap-skipper," she smiled coolly, not precisely happily.
"I'm sorry," I told her quickly, to get it out of the way, since that was obviously what she wanted. "I won't do it again, just change me!"
"What's the big hurry?" she shrugged casually. "You have somewhere you need to be?"
"Jen!" I whimpered. "Mommy's home, and I leaked, and I need you to change me, now!" I made my eyes go wide with a big sniffle. "Please?"
"Your timing is wonderful, Penni," Jen rolled her eyes as she got to her feet and ushered me across the hall. "You couldn't do this -before- you ran off?"
"I didn't plan on leaking," I glowered, waiting for her to get my diaper bag back out of my closet, eyes darting over to the door every moment or two. "And I told you I was sorry."
"Yeah, I'm sure you are," she muttered, spreading out the changing pad and setting me on it, not sounding overly convinced. "You're just lucky mom is home already."
I decided it was better not to say anything else for the rest of the change, so I just laid there obediently, let myself be put back into panties, and a new pair of shorts that were pretty similar to the wet pair. If it hadn't been for the jelly stain on the old ones, I probably couldn't have told the difference, so hopefully mommy couldn't, either.
"You think you can distract mom for a minute?" Jen asked, hiding everything again.
"Sure," I shrugged. "I'm s'posed to go set the table."
Jen shook her head, exasperated. "And keeping her in the kitchen would help me sneak to the washing machine -how-, exactly?"
I glared at her, feeling a little mad, and a little stupid, but decided not to bring them up. "I guess I could show her my new pages," I said hesitantly. I didn't like showing anybody my work until it was finished, but this called for desperate measures.
"Good idea." She picked up my shorts, headed for the door. "I'll wait in the bathroom until you get her to your room, then I'll go down to the basement. Got it?"
"Got it," I nodded, following her out.
Mommy was mostly done cooking, well past the parts that involved a lot of shuffling around the kitchen and telling me to get out from under her feet. "Oh, there you are," she glanced over her shoulder. "The plates are already down," she tilted her head towards them, sitting on the counter.
"Hey, mommy," I started, moving up next to her and batting my eyes.
"What is it, sweetie?" she asked, setting down the spoon she was holding.
I blushed, stared down at my feet for a second. "I missed you," I spoke up, lifting my face a bit.
"I missed you, too," she smiled, bending down to kiss the top of my head. "Now what did you do?"
If I hadn't been trying to trick her, I would have been offended. As it was, I tried to pretend I was anyway. "I just wanted to show you my new pages," I pouted.
"How about we wait until after dinner?" she patted my shoulder. "I'm sure they'll be just as pretty then."
"No, they won't!" I insisted loudly, blushing and looking down quickly when she looked at me, surprised. "I just want you to see them now, 'cause..." My mind raced, frantically searching for anything. "...'cause I want your advice on what to draw for them."
"You didn't do that already? I thought you did that first."
"Usually," I shuffled my feet. "I just... wanted to try something different."
"Are you sure this can't wait until later?" she inquired, although I could tell she was actually pleased I was asking for her advice. I nodded, grabbed her hand, started to lead her to my room.
If close calls were the real thing, I would have had my fourth or so heart attack of the day as we passed the bathroom door, and it swung open, revealing Jen, who promptly tossed my shorts at me. "You were supposed to take those downstairs, not leave them on the floor," she scolded.
My whole body would have turned red, if it could have. I tried to fold up the shorts, but my hands were clumsy, and ended up dropping them on the floor. "I can explain!" I exclaimed quickly, although I really couldn't.
"It's all right," mommy soothed, smiling gently down at me. "Just take them down after you show me your stickers."
I blinked, glanced down at my shorts. There was no wet spot. Nor was there any on the other side, once I bent down to pick them up, turning them over curiously as mommy went ahead of me to my room. I hadn't leaked after all.
Jen ruffled my hair as she walked past, an evil smile on her face all the way to her room, from which I was sure I could hear laughing through the closed door as I went into my own room, not sure whether to be relieved or angry.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
"So, how have you been, Penni?" Dr. Veitch folded her hands on her lap, smiled down at me, shifting uncomfortably in the Pull-Up I'd had to practically beg to be allowed to wear, sure now that I was in her office that she could notice even that. She had that tendency, to notice things you never would have expected her to.
"Okay, I guess," I shrugged listlessly, poking around the crayon box. I wasn't sure what color I wanted to make the trees, and none of the crayons particularly appealed to me. I knew there was one called "Forest Green" that should have been perfect, but it was just boring. At least for the trees - I pulled it out and set it carefully down on the floor next to the coloring book, for when I got to the horse's hooves.
"Anything new you want to talk about?" she started lightly tapping her pen against her clipboard. Already. Not a good sign, I knew. I suppose it had something to do with the fact that I hadn't really answered any of her questions yet, at least not with anything more substantial than a "maybe". Still, we weren't quite done yet. There might be one or two I felt like talking about, eventually. I had a feeling her next question would be if I didn't like talking to her anymore, or asking if I knew I could tell her whatever I wanted, though, neither of which I had any desire to hear again.
"Jen is making me take swimming lessons," I offered, my eyes twitching over towards her, gauging how frustrated I had made her so far. Other than the pen tapping, however, she seemed pretty relaxed, so I picked up the crayon box and tipped it over, letting the contents spill out into a pile that I began to sort, still watching her out of the corner of my eye. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind, since she had something new to talk about.
"Do you like swimming?" Her voice was almost excited, like she'd done something amazing. I didn't think I'd ever understand her.
"I dunno, I've never done it." I ran my hand over the crayons, smoothing them down into one layer, so I could see them all. "I don't think I will, though, because I don't like the pool."
She nodded, leaning back. "Is there any particular reason you don't like it?"
"It's cold," I started, picking out a light red crayon, holding it against the trees for a moment before shaking my head and setting it back down. "And I almost drowned. Which is why Jen says I should learn how to swim."
"Oh my!" she gasped, nearly dropping her pen. "I'm sorry to hear that, Penni. Are you all right?"
"Sure," I shrugged, sliding a blue crayon over to the trees, shaking my head slightly. "It was all stupid Nadine's fault anyway."
Dr. Veitch opened her mouth, as if about to ask another question, then changed her mind, waited for me to elaborate on my own. Instead, I settled on a green crayon, though a rather bright one, at least, and set to work on the trees. I was almost done with the first one before she got her question out, although I wasn't sure if it was the same one from a few moments before. "Are you all right with swimming again after that?"
"I don't know," I rolled my eyes, starting to get impatient with her, for a change. "I haven't ever swam before."
I thought I heard a quiet sigh from Dr. Veitch, but by the time I turned to look at her, she was the same as before. "Do you think you'll mind being around the pool, after that?"
"I guess it will be fine. Mike'll be there, and he saved me last time, so I s'pose he'll do it again if something happens." I was pretty sure nothing would, since Nadine wasn't taking the lessons.
"Oh? Who is Mike?" I could practically hear her eyebrow raise.
"He's my teacher." I skipped one of the trees, a sudden impulse striking me, making me move a gold crayon to it, so I would remember to use that color for it, once I was done with the other trees. "I'm pretty sure Jen only wants me to take the lessons so she can see him again."
She had denied it, of course, when I'd suggested it to her, after she'd brought the lessons up to mommy at dinner, glaring at me as she was bombarded by a bunch of questions about who Mike was, and how old was he, and whatever. I hadn't been paying much attention, because it was easier to push my lima beans around on my plate, which I had already been forbidden to do - "even if you aren't having fun", mommy had told me after I protested her accusation that I was playing with my food - when everyone else was distracted.
"Which is stupid," I added. "He wasn't even supposed to tell Jen she was pretty, he was s'posed to tell Caileigh. But he's kinda dumb, so he probably got all mixed up."
"Why do you think Mike is dumb?"
I rolled my eyes, glad I was facing away from her. Why wouldn't anybody pay attention to me lately? "Because he told the wrong person they were pretty. Jeez."
"Sorry, sorry," she apologized, pen scrabbling across her clipboard quickly. "Is there anything else bothering you, Penni?"
I swallowed silently, pressing down a little harder on the crayon, smushing the tip into the picture. Could she know about the diapers, somehow? Jen had assured me the Pull-Up wasn't noticeable, and I was wearing one of my longer T-shirts over my scooter, but Jen was known to lie at times, and I wasn't sure how far down my shirt went when I was lying on my stomach. I reached behind me and tugged it down nervously.
"No, not really," I fibbed, immediately returning to my coloring, tummy twisting anxiously.
"Are you sure?" she moved forward, bending over a little. "You seem uncomfortable. You know you can tell me anything you want to, right?"
"I know," I sighed. How couldn't I know? She told me that every time I came in, yet when I tried to tell her what I wanted to, she always wanted something more, or different. Why could grown-ups never make up their minds?
"So, there's nothing bothering you?"
Suddenly remembering something to talk about, I rolled over, sat up, pulling the hem of my T-shirt down unconsciously. "Mommy says I can wear nail polish again!" I exclaimed happily, showing Dr. Veitch my nails, although, since they had been cut, which had seemed to take even longer than usual, as mommy had given me the good news at the beginning, once she saw that they didn't look chewed on at all, and I couldn't wait to tell Jen the good news, mostly so I could beg her to take me shopping for my own polish.
"Oh, congratulations!" she smiled encouragingly.
"Uh-huh," I nodded, glancing down at my fingers, a little bashfully. They were short now, so the temptation to bite them was pretty low, but I was already worried that I would start again once they got longer. I couldn't even remember how I'd stopped myself before, although I did have a vague recollection of Jen always slapping at my hand if she saw me try to start. I guess that might have helped. Still, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep it up, and mommy had warned that if she saw me so much as nibble on any of them, I wouldn't be allowed to wear it again.
Even so, it was exciting, going to get my first bottle of my very own nail polish. Jen had offered to paint my nails with some of hers before we left, but I declined, wanting to use my own. I wanted to put it on myself, too, although I'd probably let Jen do it the first couple times, so I could watch and try to figure out how she did it without getting it all over.
"We're gonna go shopping after this," I added.
"That sounds like fun," Dr. Veitch grinned. "I bet you'd rather be there than here, huh?"
I blushed, staring down at her floor, running my finger over the carpet. "Well..."
"It's all right, Penni," she assured me. "We only have a couple minutes left anyway. Go ahead, if you want."
"Okay," I beamed, getting to my feet quickly, my bright mood quickly darkened a bit by the sight of the crayons, still all over the floor. "Oh," I said quietly. "I'll pick those up!" I offered, quickly kneeling down and starting to scoop them up into the box, wishing I could remember how they had been arranged.
"Don't worry about it," she bent down, putting her hands over mine and gently taking the box away from me. "I'll take care of it. Go on."
"You sure?" I knew I should help anyway, since I was the one who made the mess, but she nodded, so I got back up, headed for her door.
I was almost all the way across the room when I heard her say, "Penni!"
I froze, wondering if she'd noticed the Pull-Up after all. If I could have moved my hands, I would have straightened my shirt again, for all the good that would do me.
"Have a good time!" she grinned, waving. My arm thawed out enough to wave back before stumbling out, heart racing.
Jen smiled at me when she saw me, standing up to mess up my hair before taking my hand and leading me out into the horribly hot world outside. "Did you have a nice talk?" she asked, once she had lifted me into the front seat and buckled me in.
"I guess." I squirmed a little, but made myself wait for her to close the door and start walking around to the other side before letting my bladder free in my Pull-Up, feeling rather relieved to have it over with, even if it made my bottom feel all squishy. If I hadn't been so eager to look at nail polish, I would have gotten Jen to change me before we started shopping.
As it was, I shot back a hasty, "Fine!" when she asked "How's your Pull-Up doing?" in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and was glad she didn't bother to check me, although she did look suspicious.
Her next question was "You want a ride?", and took me by surprise, not to mention utter confusion, until I realized she was looking at the shopping carts. I considered it for a moment, all the more time I was willing to waste, before shaking my head. If I was in the cart, I couldn't look at the different nail polish myself, at least not very easily. And, besides, for once it felt like it was Jen who was struggling, and not very hard, to keep up with me.
"Come -on-!" I ordered, tugging on her hand pointlessly.
"It'll still be there when we get to it," she informed me calmly, picking up a basket. "We have some other things to get first, okay?"
"Jeeen!" I whined, only to be ignored, and pulled through the store, in what I was rather certain was the complete opposite direction of my nail polish. Stupid Jen, I sulked. What could we need that would be more important?
As it turned out, Jen wasn't entirely sure, either. She led us to the baby aisle well enough, but once we were there, she just started looking around, eyes lighting up as they passed over each shelf, but settling on none.
"Why are we here?" I rolled my eyes, pulling on her hand with a pout.
"You need more diapers, for one," she said, still enthralled with everything in the aisle that wasn't me. "And I thought we might pick up some other things, just for fun."
"We don't need anything else," I informed her, starting to get angry at her. "And I don't need more diapers, you're just being mean!"
Jen rolled her eyes. "Yes, you -do- need more, babe. I think I would know better than you, huh?" I just glared at her, though in my mind I was begrudgingly admitting she was right, at least on that count. I had never really looked in the diaper bag myself, and I guess it had been a little while since the last time we'd gone shopping. The days had just been pretty boring, and blended into each other for the most part.
But she wasn't right about us needing any other baby stuff. We already had diapers, and a bottle, and a pacifier that I was lucky not to have to wear in to see Dr. Veitch with, and even luckier she hadn't gotten it out for here yet, although I had a feeling that would change once I got changed. What else could we need? I couldn't even think of any other baby things. Then again, I wasn't obsessed with them, like she apparently was.
Jen's eyes fell on the baby food, all lined up next to us, dozens of pictures of the same dumb baby staring out at her as she approached, her grip on my hand loosening so she could reach up and touch them, pull one out and glancing at the label.
"I'm -not- eating that," I glowered, for all the good my protests had done me so far.
"Uh-huh," she nodded, hand moving to the next jar, enchanted. I watched her for a minute, readying another complaint, before my mind told my mouth to stay quiet. If she was busy with this, then she would never notice if I left, just for a second or two, long enough to get my nail polish and come back. The memory of the mall still haunted me, my bottom wriggling with remembered pain when I thought of it, but this was different. I wasn't sure exactly how, but I knew it was.
I took a step away from her side, paused to see if she would say anything, took another step when she didn't. We were still pretty close to the beginning of the aisle, so it only took a few more cautious steps to take me out, so I could duck into the next aisle, and plan my trek across the store from there, once I remembered exactly where my destination was.
"Penni!"
My head shot up at the voice, heart and tummy quaking at the sight of Lilly waving to me from further down the aisle. I raised one of my hands weakly, unable to find the strength to actually wave back, or run away, like I would have liked to.
"How are you doing?" she smiled, bounding down the aisle towards me.
"I-I'm fine," I stuttered, throat suddenly feeling very dry as I finally lowered my hand, moving it down to the hem of my T-shirt.
Lilly was quiet for a second, as if expecting me to say something, but there was no way that was going to happen. She began to glance around, looking almost as nervous, or perhaps just uncomfortable, as me, before her face lit up. "How was your appointment with Dr. Hugo?"
I blinked, mind blank. Dr. Hugo? When had I seen him? Lilly was starting to blush lightly, her mouth beginning to open with an apology, by the time I remembered. "Oh!" I exclaimed, then lowered my voice anxiously, recalling that Jen was just one aisle away. "It was okay," I shrugged. "I hafta go to an orthodontist, after my birthday."
"Ahh," she nodded, expression a bit perplexed for a moment before continuing. "I had to go 'cause Rose had a cavity." She shuddered at the last word, her nose wrinkling. "I hope I never get one of those."
"Yeah..." I glanced away from her, even though something she had said was tugging at the edges of my memory. "Well, I should prolly..."
"Go?" Jen finished for me, her hand clamping around my arm. "Yeah, I think you'd better, young lady."
"Jen!" I squeaked, glaring up at her and then glancing over at Lilly. Jen's eyes softened, but only a little.
"Oh, who's your friend?" she asked, voice surprised, yet gentler.
"I'm Lilly," she smiled up at Jen nervously, though I could see her eyes drifting over to the basket, where a new package of diapers and a few jars of baby food sat, and then to me, as if she was putting something together. I started to blush furiously, too petrified to do anything. "I didn't mean to get Penni in trouble or anything..."
"No, it's all right," Jen assured her. "At least you kept her from getting any further than this."
I saw a familiar figure coming down the aisle, unfreezing my body as my mind began to make frantic, horrible connections. "Jen, let's go," I hissed, pulling on her hand desperately.
"Penni!" she exclaimed, sounding a bit shocked. "Don't be so rude."
"I'm not!" I insisted, turning to Lilly and putting on the best smile I could muster. "It was nice seeing you, we hafta go, see you in school!" I told her all at once, with just enough breath left over to tell Jen, "C'mon!"
"Well, it was nice to meet you," Jen smiled down at Lilly, giving me an odd look.
"Nice to meet you, too," Lilly replied politely. "See you in school, Penni!"
I nodded, tugged at Jen, who finally started to turn, ever so slowly, almost making it all the way around before she saw the figure coming towards us, smiling and waving as she recognized Jen. My heart sank as Jen waved back to Breadstick Girl, at least as well as she could with one hand holding the basket and the other me, and I yanked on her arm again. "Come on!" I begged, feeling tears start to slide out of the corners of my eyes. "Please?"
Jen's expression softened again, and she shrugged apologetically to Breadstick Girl - or Rose, I guess - tilting her head in my direction. Rose seemed to understand, nodded in return, a knowing smile on her face.
We retreated, none too soon, and made our way back across the store, Jen lecturing me once again about not wandering off like that, and how I'd scared her half to death, blah, blah, blah. I wasn't listening to that, nor did I particularly care about it. I couldn't even bring myself to care all that much when she walked right past the nail polish, telling me I could forget about shopping for it that day.
All I could think about was the sight of Breadstick Girl walking up to Lilly just before Jen and I turned around, bending down with a smile to ask Lilly how she knew me. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Thirty
"Go away," I hissed, glaring up at Jen and yanking the book back out of her hands. "I can look at books by myself."
Jen held up her hands defensively, backed away a couple of steps. I knew she was trying to be funny, but I didn't care; it was nice to see her draw back for once. Even if it might not be the best idea to give her any further reason to be mad at me that day.
The trip to the library had mostly been made to pacify me, I was pretty sure, just as I was certain it had been Caileigh's idea. Like it was most likely her who convinced Jen that putting me into a high chair at the Mexican restaurant, whose name I could never remember because it was in Spanish - Lost Naples, maybe, or something that made equally as little sense - would be a bad idea. I suppose they might have been meant as apologies, of a sort, though, as much as I appreciated them, they hardly made up for anything.
It had been almost a week since Jen had possibly let one of the only nice people in my class find out about my diapers - not nearly enough time for me to get over it, if I ever would. It didn't feel like I would, but eventually, I might forget about it. If I ever managed to live it down. Sure, Lilly was nice, or she had always seemed that way. I'd never given her any reason to be nice to me, however, and Jen might have been right about me being rude to her in Wal-Mart.
Jen offered to call Breadstick Girl, to try to explain, as if that would help. Although, if she was anything like Jen, she probably could just trick her sister into keeping quiet, or something like that. For that matter, I wouldn't have minded attempting an explanation, followed by a begging, to Lilly, if I could keep my heart from bursting through my chest while I was on the phone. Unfortunately, I had no clue what her last name was, making matters a bit difficult.
As was I. Jen had been putting me down for my nap earlier and earlier, stating crankiness as her reason, but I hardly ever went to sleep then, instead staying up and drawing, or reading, until I fell asleep, stretched out on my tummy, not caring if Jen saw I hadn't laid there quietly like I was supposed to. I almost got a spanking when Jen tried to feed me one of the jars of baby food she'd bought - chicken and rice or something like that - and I had knocked the jar off of the table, let it shatter on the kitchen floor.
Not even Nadine had dared to cross me, which was a rather nice, empowering, though lonely, feeling, knowing she was too scared to come over to the barn when she knew I was there. Still, I was lucky she hadn't told Caileigh she'd gotten the bruise on her shin from my shoe, moments before it descended onto her toes. It was almost scary how good it had felt, nearly enough to mask how much it had made -my- foot hurt. I knew Nadine would snap out of it soon enough, and make me regret ever standing up to her, but for the time being, I was enjoying the victory.
Even mommy had noticed I was in a foul mood. I'd heard her asking Jen about it, and been asked directly, although my answer had always been a shrug. I wanted so badly to tell her, to let her know what Jen had done, how she had ruined my life, but if I did that, I'd have to explain about the diapers. And, as always, that would lead back to my accident, and, almost certainly from there to my getting sentenced to an even worse punishment by her. It wasn't worth it; that didn't mean it wasn't tempting, however.
I glanced down at the book in my hands with a soft sigh. Maybe Jen was right, and Rose wouldn't even have mentioned the diapers to Lilly, after she found out I was her classmate. Maybe Lilly would turn out to be even nicer than I thought, and she wouldn't care. Maybe this whole thing would blow over, if I'd only let it, and everything would look brighter in the morning.
It was just hard to notice the light when you had to wake up in an already, or soon to be, wet diaper. I'd complained about that as much as I had about everything else over the past few days, yet Jen never changed her mind.
"Don't you like not having to get out of bed in the middle of the night?" she'd asked, reaching up to tickle my tummy lightly. I'd shaken my head, keeping my face serious as long as possible before starting to giggle at the tickling. In all honesty, I suppose that part wasn't -too- bad, although I was starting to worry, after waking a couple times to find my diaper wet, with no memory of using it. If I thought about it fairly hard, I could generally dredge up a vague recollection of waking up at night just long enough to let my bladder go; there was a night or two where I didn't have even those, however.
"What are you looking at?" Nadine asked, voice quiet, meek even, if it were being used by someone other than her.
I held the book up a little higher, so she could read the cover. Really, though, she should have known it by sight without needing to, after the number of times I'd checked it out already. It was a little beat up, the edges of the soft cover all taped up, most of the pages having a corner, or both, creased, where they had been folded over by some unknown person certainly not me.
I was expecting an eye roll, an "Again?"; all I got was "Ahh," before she wandered off to check out the books on another shelf. I began to flip through my copy of Peter Pan, trying to remember just how many times I'd held it over the past couple years, once I'd learned to read. It was the first chapter book I'd ever gotten from the library, probably because of how much I'd liked the movie.
The first time had been pretty tough going, and sometimes, it felt more like daddy - and Jen, every once in a while - was doing most of the reading. Yet, by the time it was over, I was in love with it, in spite of, perhaps because of, the struggle it had been. Once, I'd tried to convince Nadine to read it, but she always claimed to have something better to do. Too bad for her, I suppose.
I glanced around at the other books on the shelf, my eyes running over their titles. Someday, I'd have to get around to reading them as well, especially the big, long series a shelf down from Peter Pan's spot, about Oz. While the movie had been kinda creepy, I was interested in seeing what other adventures Dorothy would have there, especially since, with any luck, the flying monkeys wouldn't be around, now that the Wicked Witch was dead.
But, on that trip, I wasn't in the mood for anything new. I wanted the same old thing that I was used to, and practically didn't need the book to read anymore. There was only one other thing I would have been interested in checking out, but, as always, its spot on the last shelf, way down near the bottom, was empty.
Since Jen hadn't returned yet, or sent Caileigh to retrieve me, I sank down into one of the big, comfy chairs around the little table in the center of the kid's section, began to flip through the book, smiling as passages of text seemed to pop out at me, reminding me of different parts of the story, as if I could forget them. It was easy to get lost between the pages, and that was exactly what I did.
"You about ready to go?" Caileigh whispered, kneeling down beside my chair, snapping me out of my thoughts. I nodded, after giving myself a moment to consider it - I had gotten almost all the way through the book on my quick little flip-through, far enough to fill the car ride home with happy thoughts, since I couldn't read in the car without getting sick.
"All right, we'll meet you up by the front desk, then, okay?" Caileigh smiled, and I nodded again, more quickly this time. I wanted to thank her for getting Jen to do this, since I was pretty sure she never would have thought of it on her own, but by the time I came up with any words that seemed sufficient, she was gone again, leaving behind only the memory of her hand softly patting my arm.
I reluctantly got up from the chair, wishing we had one like it at home, where I could take off my shoes and curl up in the seat. I'd been tempted to try that with the chairs here a few times, but my desire to not get thrown out of the library was stronger. I fished around my pocket for my library card as I walked over to the librarian's desk, smiling shyly up at her as I slid the book and card to her.
She was a nice old lady, with glasses and light brown hair, at least where it wasn't gray. She was also pretty short, although still taller than me - I'd asked her once if that was why she worked in the kid's section, which had gotten a shocked gasp and quick apology from Jen. The librarian had just laughed, winked at me, said, "Well, the main desk -is- a little tall for my tastes."
I knew what she meant; I couldn't see over the top of that desk, which made it incredibly boring when I finished looking for books before Jen, and then followed her around until she gave in and went to check out. It was kinda fun watching my librarian check my books out, because I could watch her scan my card, and then my books, and see all kinds of stuff come up on her computer screen, too quickly for me to read it all, although one day, I was sure I'd be able to. When Jen checked books out, I couldn't watch any of that.
"Hello, there," the librarian chirped, setting down her book, pages facing towards me so that I couldn't read the title on the spine, though I could still tell that it was really, really long. But I guess if you lived in the library, you would have a lot of time to read. Still, I had my doubts about any book managing to stay interesting for -that- many pages.
"Hi!" I grinned back, bouncing on my toes. "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing great," she beamed, sliding my card under the red lights of the little scanner thing, handing it back to me once a beep came from the computer. "Thanks for asking, honey."
I smiled bashfully, but kept my eyes from drifting down to my feet, like they were trying to, until I scooted to the right enough to see the computer screen more clearly.
The librarian never teased me about taking out the same book so many times, for which I was glad, since I was pretty sure one of the things that came up on the screen was probably a list of every book I'd ever checked out. The second time I had gotten Peter Pan, I had been worried she wouldn't let me have it, that you could only take out the same book once, ever. I'd never asked her about that, in case she'd just forgotten about the rule. She -was- old, after all, and old people tended to have a hard time remembering stuff.
But not her, apparently. Either that, or the sheer number of times I'd bugged her had helped her memory, about this, at least. "I think I have something you might be interested in," she told me, pausing with her finger above the keyboard, about to press whatever she did that made the slip with the due date print out.
"Umm... Okay..." I was a little doubtful, unsure of what it could possibly be, though my tummy was hoping for chocolate, even if it was still feeling pretty full from lunch. One piece wouldn't kill me.
It wasn't chocolate, however, that she placed on the desk in front of me, after vanishing underneath it for a few moments, with the sound of things being moved around.
It was even better.
At first, I wasn't sure what it was, because the picture on the cover was just of a boy, nothing particularly special about him, looking nothing like he should have, given the movie I realized was based on the book, once I noticed the title. It was The Sword in the Stone, finally, all ready for me to read at last. I reached towards it, eyes wide, hands gently caressing the cover, making sure it was truly there, then flipping it open to make sure it was right, that somebody hadn't switched the dust cover with another book.
The inside confirmed it, and showed me another picture of the boy on the cover, this time trying to, rather appropriately, pull a sword out of a stone. My heart began to thump happily as I started to flip through the pages, pausing at the baffling illustrations I came across, like one of something that looked like a giant pig, another of a big bird of some sort, perched on another boy's arm. There was one of a woman I thought might be the witch from the movie, even though she looked very different, and one of a bunch of ants.
It was strange, unsettling, yet at the same time, exciting. It must be like Peter Pan, I decided, where the book was completely different, but still just as good as, the movie. Or I hoped so, at any rate.
"So, do you want to get that one, too?" the librarian inquired, eyes twinkling, once she was sure I was enthralled enough to nod, as I most certainly did, before anyone else could try to take it.
"Did you find something good?" Jen asked, once I came wandering into the main part of the library. I nodded dreamily, allowed myself to be led out to the car and put in, where I spent the entire ride home just looking through the illustrations, attempting to decipher what was going on in each of them. I didn't care if I was starting to feel tired or not - I knew I was going to start reading as soon as we got home, no matter what Jen said.
Surprisingly, home came more quickly than I'd expected, as I'd prepared myself for what was sure to feel like a long, boring ride, full of a lot of impatient bouncing and kicking the back of Jen's seat so I could get her attention and ask how much longer it was going to take. I guess I had gotten more lost in the pictures than I'd thought.
I didn't even wait for Jen to open my door; she was lucky I waited for her to turn the car off. I unbuckled my seatbelt once I noticed we were turning in to our driveway, and my hand had been waiting on the door handle ever since.
I hopped down out of the car, feeling more cheerful than I had in a long time, giving the nice, fresh air, still damp from the rain the day before, a big sniff before taking the first step towards our front door, so I could wait to be let inside.
I didn't notice Nadine sliding across the seat behind me, or begin to hop out of the car as well, not caring that I was still too close to the door for her to get out yet. All I saw was her darting around me as I felt myself stumble forward, arms flinging themselves outwards impulsively, one slamming into the car door painfully.
"Penni!" Jen scolded loudly, bending down quickly, while I worked on regaining my balance, heart still pounding, before I even realized I had dropped my library books, much less that I'd dropped them into a puddle.
My stomach dropped as I saw her picking the dripping books up, felt almost dizzy at the sight. My books... The library was going to kill me, or at least never let me have a library card again.
"Jeez, way to go, Penni," Jen sighed, shaking them off. "You have to be careful with these - they aren't yours."
"I know!" I yelled at her, eyes watering. "It's not my fault!"
"Then whose fault is it?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "I certainly didn't drop them."
"Nadine ran into me!" I growled - what was wrong with her? Was she blind?! "She made me drop them, it wasn't my fault!"
Jen sighed, set the books on top of the car. "Penni..." she began, her tone calm, but in a forced way that told me she didn't believe me.
Of course she didn't. Nobody ever believed me. I glanced around, but Nadine was already gone, maybe back off to her house, which she had her own key to, unlike me, or maybe somewhere else, who knew? The important part was, she wasn't there, and, even if she was, I doubted she would admit what she had done.
"She did!" I insisted, fuming.
"Penni, you can't blame everyth..." Jen started, reaching out towards me. I jerked away from her.
"Why do you always take her side?!" I screamed at her, wishing she wasn't so much bigger than me, so I could kick her, too, without getting taken over her lap. So, instead, I shouted, "I hate you!" and ran away, before she could see my tears, blindly racing towards the barn, not caring if she was following me or not.
I had to pause at the barn door, too worn out from the long run to muster the strength I needed to pull it open. I dared a glance over my shoulder, wiping my eyes, though that only made them slightly less bleary, and didn't help me figure out if the little figures across the field were Jen and Caileigh, or, more important, if they were heading towards me.
In case it was them, I pulled myself together, inched the door open, slipped inside, not bothering to close it, for once, because I had a feeling I would be using it again in a few moments. I was absolutely right - at the top of the ladder, Nadine was waiting for me, looking not quite satisfied with herself, or as mean as usual. She still wasn't somebody I wanted to talk to at the moment, so I climbed back down.
I paused as I reached the bottom, knowing she would probably jump down and block my way out the front door before I could escape. Instead, I turned around, fiddled with the old chain on the gate to the sheep's old pen, heart racing, praying I could get it undone fast enough. From this side, it was a lot easier, especially since there was an old crate beside the gate I could climb up onto.
Finally, the chain slipped off, fell to the ground with a soft clang. I pulled open the gate, slipped inside, pushed it closed as Nadine landed on the pile of hay, much slower than normal. The little door opened, and closed again, easily, and I was back outside, free, for the time being. I stormed around the barn, destination uncertain.
"Where are you going?" Nadine called from behind me.
Since there was no answer, I kept quiet, wandered over to the tub, letting my tears fall down into it, watching the ripples slowly vanish, turning the surface smooth again, almost solid looking, like a mirror.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, closer now, quieter.
I shrugged listlessly. If that had been Jen and Caileigh approaching, they would be to the barn in a few minutes. I suppose I could have hidden in the hay upstairs, but even that would only delay them a little while. However, there weren't exactly many other places to go, other than back home, once they were inside. Yet, if I did that, they'd probably see me crossing the field from the window. I wanted more time than that would get me away from them, or at least away from Jen.
My eyes flashed up to the forest, for a split second, no more. It wasn't autumn yet, and I didn't even have Mrs. Ellenstofalix with me. If I went in alone, I wouldn't stand a chance.
That left me with only one option, really, and I didn't know for sure if it would work. I walked around the tub, not caring that Nadine was following behind me, although I wished she wouldn't. The ground was still very wet and muddy around the tub, and I had to be careful not to slip, and fall, and give Jen something else to yell at me about, seeing as how I was in a fairly new skirt, tie-dyed, and the pink bear T-shirt she'd gotten me with the shortalls.
I bit my bottom lip, tentatively reaching towards the surface, the water, if that was really what it was. This was the mirror world, after all, and things weren't always as they seemed.
"Penni, get out here!" I heard Jen shout, not yet at the barn, but still close enough to make me gasp, begin to spin around nervously.
I felt my foot slip, thought I felt a shove, and then I was falling forward, eyes shutting on their own, head and chest slipping into the tub, although my tummy caught on the edge, knocking the air out of my lungs, forcing me to look for more, which would have worked better, had I not been underwater. I gasped, tummy hurting more, since, now that my legs were kicking uselessly in the air, all my weight was resting on it.
I reached in front of me, scrabbling to find the bottom of the tub, to get myself back up. One hand, then the other, brushed against the slick porcelain, pushed upwards. For a moment, I thought it would work, and then I felt my hands slip, felt myself falling. I gasped again, even more water trying to make its way into my mouth, tried to open my eyes to see what was going on.
They would only open a tiny bit, or at least that was all they had time to open. I saw the bottom of the tub rushing towards my head, all too quickly, before I squeezed my eyes shut again, not sure what to brace myself for.
I opened my eyes again a few moments later, ever so slowly, and found myself sitting on top of what appeared to be a fireplace. I started to stand uncertainly, glancing behind me, at the large mirror, still rippling, on the wall there. I had been right after all!
The real world didn't really look all that different from the mirror world, except for this fireplace in the middle of what looked otherwise exactly like my living room. We might have had a bigger television here, too, although it was hard to tell, since here, it was on the floor, glass shattered and scattered in front of it. In fact, everything was broken here, it seemed, pictures lying next to walls they appeared to have been thrown against, coffee table and couches overturned.
I was still looking around, confused, trying to work out what was going on, when I heard the voice.
"Perfect timing," the moon smiled his evil smile, floating into the living room from what was likely the kitchen. "I'm so glad you could join me."
Chapter Thirty-One
I had just enough time to jump off of the mantle, luckily managing to land right beside the overturned couch, rather than on it, before the moon crashed into it, sending bricks and wood raining down on top of himself.
He was tough, however, and not still partly in shock, so he recovered almost as quickly as I did, giving me just enough time to stand up before spinning around, like a top. I wasn't ready for this. I shouldn't have had to be ready for this yet; I hadn't expected to be the one to take on the moon, not after finding out the truth about the two worlds. Even if I hadn't figured that out, I still never expected to be facing him this soon.
Obviously, he had other plans. My eyes darted around the room frantically, searching for something, anything, to defend myself with. Everything was broken, however, and even if it hadn't been, none of it really seemed like good weapon material, any more so than the stuff in my other living room. I could have thought much clearer, I was pretty sure, if I hadn't still had my stupid diaper on under my skirt, making me feel even less like I should be here, facing my greatest foe.
Then, at last, my brain got around to reminding me of my encounter with the monsters in the forest. Sure, this was the moon, not just some monster, but since they had most likely been sent by him, he might have the same weakness as them. And, if not, he should at least be able to be hurt by the sword - hopefully.
"Stay back!" I warned him, holding up my left hand like a shield, backing away, looking for any available rocks to get the sword out of. The moon's expression was puzzled for a moment, before his booming laugh started.
I allowed myself a careful glance towards him, trying to decipher just what was so funny, only to find that my hand wasn't glowing like it had been in the forest. It wasn't glowing in any other way, either. It was just a plan ol' useless hand, which I quickly dropped down to my side, blushing.
"That won't work here," he informed me, gliding closer. "You're in the world you got that power from, little girl. It only works on the other side."
I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, or he just didn't want me to get the sword, but it was obvious that, if it was there at all, the glow wasn't doing a lot of good. Before I could come up with a new plan, he was zooming straight towards me again, nearly too quickly for me to leap out of the way of this time. I didn't have enough time to get out of the way at all gracefully, having to all but throw myself sideways, landing on my side with an "Oof!"
Luckily, I had gotten far enough away that he hit the couch rather than me, sending it flying, where I watched it climbing into the air, before crashing into the ceiling and plummeting downwards.
And straight towards me.
I rolled out of the way, hearing it crash down right behind me, as well as a curse as, I assume, part of it also hit the moon. Seizing the opportunity, I sprang to my feet, dashing for the hallway that should lead to my room, where I hoped the other me had some kind of anti-moon weapon, or at least a lock, not that the moon would be stopped by a door for long.
Once I got out of the living room, however, it was like I was in a completely different house; not even a house, to be honest, more like a castle. The walls were made out of stone, cool as my arm brushed against them as I ran, and very, very tall. If I wasn't in such a hurry, I would have searched them for a loose stone, since, in the movies, those always led to a secret passage, or a hidden key, or something like that. At the very least, I would have known for sure if the glow worked or not. I suppose I could have tried it on the wall itself, but neither the stone Arthur used, nor the one in my dream, had been standing up like that, so I severely doubted it would work.
The first door I passed was standing open, half hanging off of its hinges, so that I could plainly see that it was our bathroom, though with a bigger bathtub, with big pink curtains with embroidered fish hanging behind it, apparently able to be drawn around all four side, should the need arise. The fishes' mouths were opening and closing, little embroidered bubbles floating up from their mouth, going up along the curtain until they reached the top and popped.
The mirror was broken, the glass filling the sink, which also had a crack in it, not quite as big as the one in the toilet, which had nearly been broken in two. My footstool, or, actually, a much fancier version of my footstool, with a padded top that might have been made out of silk, and a crown carved on the bottom part, was sitting on top of the toilet, also broken nearly in two, as if it had been thrown there, quite violently.
There wasn't anything useful there, nor would it make a good hiding place, so I kept going, unsure whether to be worried about the state my room would be in when I got there, or glad to know that I should be getting there soon, since I had already passed the bathroom. My footsteps sounded incredibly loud, as they echoed behind me, but slowing down wasn't worth it, and the moon had probably seen what direction I'd gone, anyway.
The hall seemed to go on forever, twisting this way and that, getting narrow - not too much for me, but hopefully enough to at least slow him down - then wide, sloping upwards for a while before coming suddenly to spiral staircase, almost without enough warning to keep me from crashing into the first step. I twisted my head around, found the hallway empty but for the sound of my own footsteps, still bouncing off of the walls lazily, let myself sink down onto one of the steps, shaking slightly and gasping for air.
Maybe I could stay here, I mused, fairly certain the moon would have a difficult time getting through the hall, until he got a lot less full. But there wasn't anything around for me to eat, and the moon would eventually make his way here. I hoped it would be the other me that greeted him when he did. I couldn't fight him... I was no hero.
And, once she was greeted on the other side by an angry Jen, and gotten diapered, I was sure she'd be more than ready to head back here and do her hero-ly duty. She was probably really smart, too, since I wasn't, so it shouldn't be any trouble for her to figure out how to get through. It had taken me seven years, after all - she could likely do it in a minute or two. She might even be back already; I wasn't sure how it worked, exactly, as I'd just assumed I would automatically be taken back to the mirror world when she reappeared. Maybe not, though.
Yet, the step wasn't incredibly comfy to sit on, even with my extra padding, nor did the walls around it have anything interesting about them. And the moon might surprise me and find his way through. So I stood up with a sad, tired sigh, and began to climb.
The staircase stretched upwards for what felt like forever before finally coming to an abrupt stop, in the center of a big, circular room, with a door at either side. The walls were a little better decorated than the hallway had been, with cloth, in a variety of soft colors, yellow, and pink, and the like, hung around jovially. Each of the doors had a crown, like the one on my footstool, carved into it, one a bit bigger than the other.
I was pretty sure the door with the bigger crown would belong to "me", but, curious, I went to the other door first, pushing it carefully, in case I was wrong, or if there were traps or something set up. Luckily, neither of those things were true, and the door, heavier than it looked, likely because it was also thicker, creaked open, revealing a huge, and rather adorable, nursery.
The walls were pink, and not made out of stone, like most of castle. I wasn't sure what they -were- made out of, except that it was the same as the walls back in my other house. Not wood, exactly, or I didn't think so at least, but something kind of like that. Along the top and bottom of the wall were a series of paintings of waddling ducks, marching back and forth. There were a few groups of them, and whenever they would run into each other, they'd all fall over, and have to pick themselves back up, feathers ruffled, before turning back the other way.
The crib in the center of the room looked very big, definitely large enough that I could have slept in it still, if I was strange enough to want to, but, since I hadn't seen a real baby's crib in a long time, I wasn't sure if they were normally that size or not. The outside of it was wrapped in dark purple cloth, and a mobile hung over it, a group of stars ever circling, chiming a song I'd never heard before softly. There was a changing table, too, plus a playpen and high chair, all of which seemed big to me, but, again, I didn't really know.
The carpet looked nice and fluffy, and soft, and yellow, so I gave a little jump, giggling as it bounced me up once I landed. I thought about checking out the dresser, which was probably about twice as tall as I was, with about a hundred drawers, or the door that almost certainly led to the closet, but I decided, instead, to look into the crib, to see what baby Jen looked like.
I sprang lightly over to her, giggling softly, a little annoyed to find the crib was too tall to look over. I could barely reach the top with my fingertips, and I knew that, even if I could pull myself up far enough, I probably couldn't hold myself there long enough to see anything. So I pulled back the cloth, still smiling from my walk over, yet preparing myself for an even bigger grin.
The crib was empty.
"Getting a good look at your new room?" a voice, not the moon, but almost as scary, asked from behind me. I spun around with a gasp, finding a normal aged big sister waiting there, smirking. "I'm sure you'll love it here."
"You're not s'posed to be that old!" I stammered, trying to back up before I remembered I was right in front of the crib. "-I'm- the big sister!"
"You were," she corrected, moving closer. "Until the moon saw how well things were going on the other side." Jen started to laugh, holding out her arms and spinning around. "Isn't it wonderful? Aren't I pretty?"
"No!" I exclaimed, stomping my foot, sending myself bouncing, although that time, I didn't giggle. "I'm the oldest, not you!"
"Sounds like I have a cranky baby sister, huh?" she cooed, scarily like the one in the mirror world as she bent down to pick me up. "Does she need a diaper change?"
I dove out of the path of her hands, searching for something to help me get away from her. My eyes happened to fall on the bottle of baby powder sitting on the bottom shelf of the changing table, grabbed it and pointed it at her, squeezing the sides as hard as I could. I only expected it to make her cough for a minute, to give me the chance to run around her, but, through the cloud of powder, I saw her form growing a little smaller.
"You little brat!" she growled, lunging at me. I squeezed the bottle again, catching her in another storm of powder, feeling very satisfied to watch her shrink more. "Stop it!" she demanded, voice getting higher. I didn't. I managed to push in the sides one more time, prepared to do it another, but she surprised me and came out of the cloud, swatting the bottle out of my hand, still shrinking. The baby powder bounced a couple times on the carpet before coming to rest, spilling its contents out onto the floor.
Before I could try to retrieve it, Jen's hand wrapped around my wrist, began to drag me across the room. "I'm still big enough to spank you!" she seethed, voice squeaking slightly, though her words were still true, unfortunately. However, she wasn't still strong enough to keep a hold of me when I yanked my arm free of her grasp, and shoved her. She didn't fall over, but she had to take a few steps to get back her balance, followed by a few involuntary bounces.
By that time, I was out of the room, and into the other, pleased that I was right about it, as well, in that it had a lock, which I quickly clicked into place before sinking down onto the floor, panting. It was too bad the Jen in the real world wasn't affected by baby powder that way, I mused, considering how much she liked to use. I giggled at the image of Jen changing me, then turning into a baby herself once she pulled out the bottle of baby powder. Too bad, indeed.
I heard a dull banging on the door, accompanied by Jen's squeaky voice demanding that I let her in. I ignored it, of course, as I got to my feet, and eventually it went away, leaving me in peace, though probably not for long. She would likely be going to see the moon, I thought, to see if he could make her older again. I wondered if he was still trying to make it through the hallway, or if he was satisfied to have chased me into the tower, and the nursery.
My room wasn't nearly as big as Jen's had been - I guess Jen was still the favorite, even here - but it was bigger than the one I had back home. The walls were light purple, the carpet the same color as the cloth around the crib. My bed was there, only now with a curtain that went around it, pure white, and pulled back at the moment. I had a desk still, too, but my sticker book wasn't sitting on top of it.
A sword was. I walked over to it in awe, running my hand over it carefully. It was cool to the touch, almost slippery, and black as night. The blade stretched the entire length of the desk and then some, which, considering the desk here was almost as big as me, was pretty impressive. I put my hands around the hilt, feeling a bit weird about just taking it, even if it did kind of belong to me; I reasoned that I would need something to fight with, should Jen return, or if the moon decided to come calling.
As it turned out, I needn't have worried about feeling bad for taking it. I couldn't lift the thing even an inch off of the desk, no matter how hard I tried. I would have felt more disappointed if I hadn't noticed the bow sitting next to the desk, just as pretty as the sword, only much smaller, and with carved stars running up it, and a rather large blade on the top. That, I did pick up. There were a few arrows behind it, but, since I didn't know how I was supposed to shoot them anyway, I left them there. Just the bow itself made me feel a lot safer.
I carried it with me as I crossed the room, over to the closet door. I passed the dresser, not quite as big as Jen's, but still good sized, considered for a moment opening it to see if I could find any normal panties to replace my diaper. That seemed weird, though, whether or not they were sort of mine, so I left the dresser alone, and pushed open the closet door instead.
I gasped loudly as lights began to turn themselves on, one after another, more than I could count, stretching back and then around a corner. Though, really, it was the clothes I was gasping at rather than them. There were what looked like a kazillion outfits here, everything from beautiful, elegant dresses, to jeans and T-shirts, all hung up prettily, waiting for someone to try them on. I could have spent a year in there, easily, and I almost wished I could.
I didn't get the chance, getting pulled out of my enthrallment by a loud banging on my door, way louder than Jen should have been able to make. The moon had gotten through after all.
I rushed out of the closet, eyes darting around my room for a route of escape, finding only my window. With a nervous swallow, I went over to my bed, pulling off the sheets before heading over and crawling up onto the window sill, pushing back the curtains, dark blue and covered in stars, twinkling merrily. The window was already open, a light breeze blowing in.
I heard a cracking noise from behind me, didn't glance back to confirm that it had been my door. Instead, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, making sure my fingers were tight around the bow, and the sheet, and jumped.
At first, the fall felt like it was going far too fast, and I worried that the sheet hadn't worked after all, but finally it filled with air, puffing up like a parachute, or so I assumed, and my descent slowed. I didn't dare to open my eyes until I felt my feet landing on something solid, after about a day or so of falling, at the very least.
My eyelids parted reluctantly, while I set the sheet down, tried to figure out where I was. It wasn't the ground, that was for sure. I stepped forward carefully, then took another, more confident step when I didn't fall. I took one more, starting to feel sure that I had gotten away, not noticing the large crack right under where my shoe was heading until it was too late.
The roof, since that's what it was, split open, and I was falling again, screaming. I heard the moon's angry roar somewhere above me, just barely louder than my shrieking, for a moment, before I landed on my back, eyes clamped shut, bracing myself for anything, except the soft bouncing that actually greeted me.
I opened my eyes, finding myself back in the living room, which now had a large hole in the ceiling, right above the couch the moon had run into earlier. Despite the rather intense desire to just lay there and take a nap that suddenly overcame me, I hopped to my feet and ran into the kitchen, where I could escape out of the back door before the moon got back down there.
The kitchen, other than being larger, the same as everything else, was mostly the same, other than a series of chutes along one of the walls, each with a fancily written label above it, the first, and biggest, of which read "Bread Crusts." I didn't have time to read the others, once I noticed the other big difference.
There was a dragon chained beside the stove, looking very unhappy, flames licking down from its nostrils, across its very scaly, green skin, as it glared at me.
"Mrs. Ellenstofalix?" I whispered, moving closer.
"It took you long enough," she complained, shaking her head, making the chain around it jingle. "The moon was about to make dragon stew out of me."
"I'm sorry!" I gasped, although I wasn't sure why I was surprised that the moon could be so cruel. "Are there keys around here somewhere?"
Mrs. Ellenstofalix rolled her eyes. "Do you really think he's that stupid?"
I shrugged, continued to search anyway, just in case, until I finally gave up. "Well, how am I supposed to get you free?"
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What is wrong with you today? Or are you always this dumb?" I blushed, staring down at my feet. I heard her sigh, felt the heat of her breath blowing across my face. "Why don't you try to break the chain?"
I started to ask, "With what?", before I remembered the bow in my hand. Well, I thought, it was worth a shot. I turned it around, so that the blade was facing downwards, and slammed it against the chain, which began to crack, then, with my third blow, crumble apart.
"C'mon," I urged Mrs. Ellenstofalix, praying we hadn't taken too long here already. "We hafta go!"
"Aren't you going to fight him?" her eyebrows, or, rather, the scales above her eyes, raised. "You -are- the hero, aren't you?"
I stared up at her, biting my bottom lip, and slowly shook my head. "Not me," I said quietly. "I'm nobody."
She bent her long neck down suspiciously, sniffing at me. I winced, half expecting her to bite me in half with her gigantic teeth, but, once she was finished, she just drew back. "Oh," she snorted. "You're -her-." I blushed again, only to have her ignore me. "Well, run away if you're going to. I'll hold him off for as long as I can."
"All right," I nodded, heading back towards the living room, and the mirror.
The dragon stepped in front of me. "You can't leave this way," she told me, slowly, talking down to me almost as badly as Jen did. "He's coming."
"But..." I protested. She shook her head, tilted it over towards the back door. I nodded again, figuring that there might be another way back out behind the barn here, like there was in the other world, and opened the door.
It led to another long hallway, even longer than the one in my house, I turned around to ask Mrs. Ellenstofalix what was going on, only to find the door slamming shut behind me, and the sound of a fierce battle starting on the other side.
I should have helped her, I knew. This Mrs. Ellenstofalix might have been tough, but I knew that not even she could take on the moon alone - that was the job of a hero. However, that wasn't me, and, if I went back in, I knew I wouldn't be able to do any good. So I ran, again, as fast as I could go, further and further down the hall, until it came to a large door. It was nearly as hard to open as the barn door, but, like that one, I only needed it open a little bit to squirm through, out of the hall, and into...
The ballroom.
I was too surprised to even gasp as I looked around at my surroundings, finding what appeared to be hundreds, if not more, of doors just like the one I'd just opened around the edge of the room, probably leading to more castles, just like mine. Except, less wrecked, most likely, since they would belong to people who helped the moon, rather than tried to fight him.
The ballroom itself was blessedly empty, other than the tables, which were apparently always there. The food from the last party the moon had thrown was still sitting there, but the plates and bowls were covered with cobwebs, surrounded by the sea of dust that had gathered on the tabletops. I tried not to look at it as I walked across the center of the floor, tummy squirming uncomfortably, starting to feel sick.
Even if I couldn't fight the moon, there was still one thing I could do, I decided. And, if it kept me hidden, once the moon made his way down the hall, it was all the better. I knew exactly which table to go to - it was the one that still had a series of black straps hanging off of the edge, looking cleanly slice in two, hopefully by the other me, and not Dr. Irvine once he was done with his surgery.
"Penni?" the stars called, sounding weaker than I remembered, further away.
"I'm gonna save you," I assured them, glancing critically at the bars in front of me. I remembered getting stuck on them last time because of my diaper, and I couldn't afford that mistake again. "Just hold on!" The blade on the bow tapped against the metal of the bars, making a light clinking sound, much less impressive than I'd been expecting. "Well, phooey," I pouted.
"Try again," the stars called up to me, their voice twinkling. "You can do it!"
"No, I can't," I replied, setting the bow down. "I can't do it. I'm not the hero."
"Yes, you are," they tried to tell me. "You're just as much of a hero as she is."
I straightened up quickly, almost hitting my head on the bottom of the table. "You know I'm not her?!"
"Of course," they laughed. "We've always known."
"Then you know I can't do it," I sighed, sinking back down again, defeated, tired. "I'm not strong, like she is, or smart, or anything. I'm not a hero."
There was a long silence, as my eyes began to close slowly, and I realized I was crying. Then, one voice rose up from the pit, soft, insistent. "You're my hero."
My eyes didn't seem to want to open again, but I forced them to, blinking down into the darkness. "What?"
"You're my hero," it repeated, sounding further away, only to be replaced by another, this one closer, saying, "You're my hero, too."
"But... I've never done anything," I sat up sluggishly, bewildered. "I'm just... me."
"That's enough," they twinkled.
I picked up the bow again, fingers loose around it, still uncertain. "I don't understand..." I protested, but, somewhere, deep down, I realized that I didn't have to. I lifted the bow, slammed it down against the bar.
There was a much louder sound this time, a ringing that seemed to fill the whole ballroom, and I saw a crack begin to race around the bar, growing larger and larger, spreading out like a spider web.
All of the sudden, I could see it much cleared, as the table flew out from over me, crashing into one behind it, sending food and broken dishes clattering to the floor. I stood up and spun around, the movement making me feel very dizzy, but not enough to keep me from seeing the moon waiting, eyes almost red with anger.
"You're not getting away from me this time," he growled.
Then he rushed forward, before I had the chance to clear my head, to consider getting out of the way. He slammed into me, throwing me backwards, the bow flying out of my hands, clattering under another table uselessly. I saw a clump of spinach crawl over towards it, another moving slowly towards me as I sat there, gasping, head spinning, my lungs and chest burning.
Was this the end? I wondered idly, watching as the moon approached, grinning triumphantly. I had screwed everything up. I never should have come here... It wasn't my world, not anymore. Why was I always so dumb?
Somewhere, through the fuzziness that had invaded my mind, something from Peter Pan came to me, bringing a soft smile to my lips. The moon's own expression grew more perplexed, until finally, I let him in on it, my voice as quiet and far away as the stars' had been.
"To die," I coughed, a little surprised to find water coming out of my mouth as I did so, but not concerned enough to figure out where it had come from, "would be an awfully big adventure." |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Thirty-Two
I, of course, never got the full story of what happened in the mirror world while I was gone. I guess it would have helped if I'd asked Jen about it, but she doesn't like talking about that day very much. I do, however, have a pretty good idea of the basic shape of it, if nothing more.
Jen came charging across the field, fire in her eyes, having had enough time to fully digest my words, and get angry over them. Caileigh was there, too, just behind her friend, since she had never been quite as fast as her, begging her to calm down.
Jen calmed down for nobody, not when she was on one of her tirades, certainly not when she lost her audience in the middle of one. So she just glared back at Caileigh and ignored her, yanking open the barn door easily. "Penni, get your little butt down here!"
"Jen, you're going to scare her half to death," Caileigh admonished, following my sister into the barn. "She's already in a bad mood, I really don't think..."
"Look, why don't you let me handle it?" she snapped back, halfway up the ladder already. "I think I know more about how to handle my sister than you do."
Caileigh crossed her arms, glaring up at Jen, beginning to lose her patience. "You know, if anyone should be angry here, it should be me."
Jen paused, hand on the next rung, rolled her eyes. "Are you saying you're not? Because you sure could have fooled me a minute ago."
"I think you have anger covered for the both of us now," Caileigh said coldly.
I suppose they would have gone on bickering like that, if it hadn't been for the sudden noise out back that made them freeze, turn, then stare at each other, puzzled for a few moments, before jumping off of the ladder - or not, depending on who it was - and running around behind the barn.
The sound was definitely not Nadine, who had run off, probably after Jen and Caileigh went into the barn, doing her very best to conceal her evily satisfied giggles as she crossed the field. She would have skipped, I'm sure, if she wasn't trying to stay low.
Caileigh, who had the advantage of already being on the ground, rounded the corner first, eyes going wide at the sight before her, jaw dropping. "Oh my God," she breathed, all that she had the breath for.
Jen's reaction was just about the same when she followed a second later, the scene enough to quench her rage. "Penni?" she whispered, hand twitching at her side, unsure whether or not to rise to her mouth.
"Where... am I?" Penni asked, stepping out of the tub uncertainly, her long, elegant blue dress soaked, but, since it was already pretty torn up, she didn't seem too concerned about that. She was still a little shaky from her fight with the moon, after being taken by surprise, and without her weapons, and now being suddenly transported to some strange place.
"Penni, what in the world happened to you?" Jen stepped forward tentatively, reaching her hand out to brush against the torn fabric, Penni drawing away from her touch, as she suddenly remembered where she had seen her before - at the last ball, the one she'd been forced to escape from after I let myself get captured, then left her to fix the mess, and escape, back up to her tower, where she had unknowingly said goodnight to her again-baby sister before flopping down into bed, exhausted. "Where did you get this?"
"Get away from me!" Penni growled, moving backwards, hands balling up into fists.
"Jen, I don't..." Caileigh began, moving up behind her friend, only to be waved silent.
"We're not going to hurt you," Jen assured her, holding up her hands to show that they were empty. "Just tell us what happened, sweetie."
Penni circled around them, ignoring the mud squishing up onto her pretty shoes. "Where are your other friends?" she sneered. "Or do you really think you can take me on with just her?" She nodded towards Caileigh, eyes narrowing even more as she recognized her at last. The Caileigh she knew must have been pretty scary, because that was enough to make her back off a little, although she kept well away from the two of them. "Why did you bring me here?"
Jen's eyebrows furrowed. "Penni, we didn't... You came here yourself, babe. Don't you remember? You yelled at me, and then..."
Caileigh put her hand on Jen's arm, quieting her stammering voice as she leaned in closer, voice quiet, eyes fixed on the little girl in front of them. "Jen, that isn't Penni."
Jen snorted, shook her head. "Of course it is! It looks..." But she couldn't bring herself to say "Exactly like her," because it simply wasn't true. This Penni was taller, by a few inches, maybe just shy of the four foot mark, if she wasn't right at it. "Scrawny" was also a word that couldn't quite be applied to her, although "thin" was still well within reason. Her hair was a little shorter as well, and a darker red, almost the color of blood, and her eyes were hazel, instead of green.
"That is my name," she informed them, rolling her eyes, even if it was reassuring in a strange way to see that grown-ups had the same disrespect for her here as at home. "I'm Penni." By then, she was already suspecting that these weren't the same people she thought they were, letting herself relax a bit.
Jen, on the other hand, was getting much less relaxed, her anger starting to resurface quickly. "What did you do with her?" she demanded, rushing forward and grabbing Penni's arms, shaking her. "Give me back my sister!"
Penni broke loose from her grip easily, knocking her off balance in the process, sending her down into the mud on her knees. "I don't know anything about your sister," she said simply, now sure that this was a different person than she had met at the ball. Her eyes moved to the tub, the water still rippling slightly from her entrance. "But I think I know where she is..."
And with one more look around, she forced herself to ignore the ache in her bones, the cuts on her body, the tiredness in her mind, and, once the water had calmed down again, leapt back into the tub, without a second thought. Because, even if I wasn't, she was a hero, and that was what heroes did - they helped people, no matter what. Whether or not she realized just who I was, I don't know; I don't even know if they have Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the real world. But she knew there was somebody else in danger instead of her, and she knew that she could save them.
"Penni!" Jen screamed, scrambling to her feet and pulling me out of the tub, once my body had reappeared, replacing the other Penni. She laid me out on the ground, kneeling down beside me, head turning to shout, "Go and call mom!" to Caileigh, who nodded, dumbfounded, for a moment before snapping out of the shock at seeing me lying there like that, looking even smaller than ever, after encountering the other me, and following her friend's orders.
She paused at the corner of the barn, brain finally catching up to her. "Jen, what am I supposed to tell her?"
"I don't know!" Jen closed her eyes, heart thumping so loud I could almost hear it. "Just... Keep her on the line."
"Jen..." Caileigh started, her eyes fixed on me.
"I know!" Jen said quietly, her hands hovering over my still chest. "Go!" Caileigh nodded and ran, faster than I would likely ever see her move.
Jen's hands froze as her eyes closed again, murmuring a silent prayer, hoping she could remember what to do. Then her hands pushed down, down.
"Breathe, damn it!" she screamed, tears flowing from her eyes. "Breathe!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mommy was already pulling into the driveway by the time Caileigh got back to her house, having gotten off of work a bit early that day, like she'd told Jen she might at breakfast. Jen's car was still sitting there, doors standing open, diaper bag on the back seat, my wet library books resting on the roof.
Mommy, however, wasn't given any time to wonder about these things, since she was immediately greeted by a panting Caileigh. "Barn... Penni... Bathtub," she gasped, leaning up against the side of mommy's car. Mommy was out of the car in an instant, almost before she turned the engine off.
"Caileigh, what's going on?" she demanded, but all Caileigh could do was shake her head, point at the barn. Mommy, not exactly happy with the answer, nodded anyway, dashed away across the back yards, and to the field.
She was met halfway across by Jen, walking slowly down the path, my body gently cradled in her arms. Mommy froze as she saw me, her eyes moving up to Jen's, frightened. Jen met her gaze, her expression unreadable, and, for a long moment, they stared at each other. Finally, mommy reached out a trembling hand, brushing it across my forehead, pushing my wet hair out of my face, away from the large bump above my right eye.
"Hi, mommy," I smiled weakly, holding out my arms towards her, almost sure I could see tears in her eyes before she took me out of Jen's arms, pulling me into a tight embrace, kissing my forehead over and over, stopping only for a moment as her hand settled onto my bottom, meeting a strange, squishy feeling there.
She carried me back home, Jen following behind, her mouth opening and closing, as if trying to find something to say, and consistently coming up empty. She wandered over to the car to retrieve our stuff while mommy unlocked the back door, setting me down on one of the kitchen chairs, getting out a baggie and filling it with ice, wrapping it in a wash cloth.
"That's cold," I complained when she pressed it to my forehead, guiding one of my hands up to keep it in place.
"That's the point," she smiled, eyes darting towards the front door, which we both heard open, giving a little nod when she saw what Jen was carrying. "Penni," she began, pulling another chair out from the table and sitting down in front of me, "is your head feeling all right?"
"I guess," I shrugged. It had been hurting some before, but now it was hard to tell through the cold.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked, lifting her hand with two fingers outstretched. I copied her with the hand that wasn't freezing off, and she nodded, looking relieved. "I don't suppose I need to ask if you want to go to the hospital." I shook my head. She lifted my chin with her fingers, getting a good look at my head, then moving her sight downwards, watching me breathe, I guess. Finally, she nodded. "Well, you seem all right for now, but if anything comes up, we're going straight to the hospital, and I don't want to hear any complaints."
"I'm fine," I assured her, with a little wince.
"Penni," mommy leaned forward in her chair, staring at me seriously, so that I wondered if she was going to take me to Dr. Irvine right away anyway, whether I liked it or not. "Are you wearing a diaper?"
I gasped, looked away, blushing.
"That's what I thought," she sighed. "How come, sweetie? If you haven't been feeling well, you really should have told me."
My blush deepened, but I was resolved not to cry. Mommy knew, and I couldn't lie to her, not now. Maybe she'd be merciful, after my ordeal. "I'm sorry, mommy," I sniffled.
"It's okay," she soothed, reaching forward to rub my back. "Maybe you'd better go get changed, and we can talk about this later." I nodded with another sniffle, hopping down to the floor and waddling off to the bathroom to grab my towel, then my room in my soaked diaper, passing Jen on the way, just having enough time to hear mommy ask her, "What do you know about Penni wearing diapers?" before I closed my door.
I set the ice down on my bed as I tromped over to my dresser, grabbing the first T-shirt and shorts I could find, just so I could get out of my wet things. I almost forgot to get my panties out, hoping this wasn't going to be the last time I got to wear them, now that Jen was surely telling mommy the whole story.
Luckily for me, I had seen Jen using the genie, which had been hurriedly tucked into the corner of my closet, enough times that I could figure it out, since otherwise I don't know that I would have. I realized, a bit late, that maybe I should have changed in the bathroom, since my clothes were wet, and muddy, and probably not good for me to be putting down on my carpet, even if I did my best to keep just the wet side down, while I dried myself off and got dressed again.
Mommy and Jen had moved to the living room by the time I got out, slunk down to the basement real quick before going back to my room to get the ice, so I could pretend I had been keeping it on my head. I couldn't quite make out most of what they were saying, other than mommy's rather loud "You kept your sister in diapers all summer?!", as I climbed back up the basement stairs, and then Jen's quieter, more timid, "Well, not -all- summer," when I passed by the living room.
I considered staying in my room while they talked, my tummy feeling anxious. Still, if they were going to decide the fate of my underwear, I wanted to be there, in case something very odd happened, and something I had to say about it could make a difference.
When I got to the living room, climbing up onto the couch, mommy was sort of half laughing, in a way that I wasn't sure I was completely comfortable with. "You want me to believe -Caileigh- would actually have something to do with... this?" She glanced over at me, sliding up next to her, and for a moment, looked like she was going to tell me to go back to my room, before she put her arm around me, pulled me close, rubbing my shoulder comfortingly.
Jen shifted uncomfortably in the chair, eyes nervous. "She would if she thought it was what Penni wanted," she said quietly.
"Oh, really?" mommy scoffed, shaking her head. "Penni, did you want to wear diapers?" Then, realizing how her voice had sounded, she softened it, and her expression. "Did you, sweetie? You can tell me if you did, I promise I won't get mad."
I wasn't sure if I could believe that or not, since she already seemed pretty mad. Not that it mattered too much, as my answer was a definite, "No," with the other answer only buzzing through my mind for a split second before getting washed away with all my bad memories from the past few weeks.
Neither Jen nor mommy appeared surprised by the answer, but I could see Jen starting to melt under mommy's glare, affixed on her once more. Earlier that day, I would have thought she deserved it. I might have even thought that a little still, yet I couldn't just sit there, when I could help one of the people who had helped save me.
"Mommy," I spoke up softly, loud enough to bring both of their attentions to me, and I started to squirm uncertainly.
"What is it, sweetheart?" mommy asked after a minute, and I removed my teeth from around my bottom lip, gathered my resolve, and moved ahead.
"It wasn't Jen's fault, mommy," I admitted, fighting back a sniffle. I wasn't going to let myself cry, not even if I got sentenced back to diapers forever. I was going to try to keep that from happened of course, but even if I failed, I wouldn't cry. "She was trying to help me."
Mommy's eyebrow raised, her gaze shifting momentarily to her older daughter. "Was she now?"
I nodded haltingly. "She... I..." I was blushed so hard, I thought I would melt the ice on my forehead, but I kept going. "I had an accident a while ago, an' I wet my pajamas." That time, I couldn't keep the sniffle down as I started to bed. "I'm sorry, mommy, I am, please, please don't make me wear diapers all the time!"
"I wouldn't do that, Penni," she assured me, her eyes firmly fixed on Jen. "Accidents happen, sweetie." She bent down to kiss the top of my head, then straightened up. "Jen, go to your room."
"Look, I'm sorry," Jen pleaded. "I know it was wrong, but... I just saved her life! Why are you treating me like a criminal?"
Mommy's voice wavered as she spoke, her anger seeming to have vanished. "I know you did, honey. I just... I can't deal with this right now, okay? Please, just go to your room."
Jen nodded stiffly and left me and mommy alone. I cuddled up closer to mommy's side, resting my head against her, hardly realizing I had fallen asleep until I woke up in my bed, blinking blearily and finding Caileigh standing above me, handing resting on the door she had just knocked lightly on.
"Are you asleep?" she whispered. I shook my head and sat up, wincing as the pain in my forehead returned. The sun was still up outside, so Caileigh didn't turn my light on, just walked through the doorway, sat on the foot of the bed. "How are you feeling, cutie?"
I shrugged. "My head hurts," I told her, "but I guess I'm okay." I started to glance around nervously. "Did you bring Nadine?"
Caileigh drew back a bit at the question. "Penni..."
"It's all right if she's here," I said quickly, even though I wasn't completely sure about that. "I guess it was probably an accident..."
Caileigh closed her eyes, hiding the growing, not-good light behind them. "Penni, don't do this now, please."
I crossed my arms, starting to feel like she had punched me in the stomach, where I already had a bruise forming, from the edge of the tub. "It's not my fault!" I sulked. "Why do you always get mad at me for stuff she does?"
"Penni, just stop it!" She moved up closer to me more quickly than I expecting; I scooted back, starting to get scared. "I came to see how you were, not listen to this..." She stopped herself, though I could see her chest moving up and down with her buried words. "You know what? I'm just gonna go."
"Caileigh, I'm sorry!" I apologized, reaching out to grab her hand. "Please don't be mad at me!"
She paused, settling back down on the bed. "Then stop it, Penni. Just stop."
"But I'm not doing anything!" I protested, feeling more confused with every minute. "I just wanna know how much trouble Nadi..."
"For God's sake, Penni, stop it!" Caileigh yelled, grabbing my arms and shaking me. "Don't do this to me, not today!"
I stared up at her, frightened, a way I had never looked at her before. And then she was gone, pulled off of me by Jen. "What the hell is the matter with you?" she hissed, dragging her friend out into the hallway.
"Just let me go!" Caileigh demanded, disgusted. "Let go, Jen!"
"Not until you tell me what you think you were doing to my sister," Jen growled. "What are you thinking? She almost died today!"
"Maybe now you know how I feel," her friend said quietly, coldly, "Every time she brings her up."
Jen's voice got quieter as well. "Caileigh, she's just a kid..."
"And Nadine never got to be," she growled. "And I get to remember that whenever your little sister decides she needs someone to blame everything on."
"She doesn't know any better," Jen pleaded. "Cai, calm down, please."
"Well, maybe she should learn," Caileigh broke away, coming back inside my room, where I was huddled against the wall, staring, frightened, at the doorway. "Find your own damn imaginary friend, and leave my baby sister out of it!"
And with that, she stormed off, pushing past my confused parents and ignoring their questions, slamming the door behind her.
The moon didn't show up that night. I'm not sure if I just fell asleep again too early after picking listlessly at my supper, if it was his normal monthly disappearance, or if the other me had managed to win, once I'd gotten out of the fight. If anyone could do it, I was certain it was her. It definitely wasn't me.
“She's just worried about you,” Jen tried to tell me when she came in to give me my goodnight kiss. “You'll see, she isn't really mad at you. She was just scared that she was going to lose you, too. And... Well...”
I didn't think that was it at all, but I shrugged anyway, since there wasn't a whole lot else to do. Jen gave me another kiss instead of finishing her sentence.
“I love you, baby,” she whispered.
And, for once, I knew it was true.
Chapter Thirty-Three
And life went on, as it was prone to do.
The days dragged on, until I realized just how far into the summer it had gotten already, at which point they began to zoom by somehow, despite being just as empty and boring as the ones before. Except for that day, which decided to skip back to prolonging itself as long as possible, as I sat on the swings and stared down at the ground below, down past my pink painted toenails, waiting.
I hadn't seen Nadine, since the day I'd made my journey to the real world. I had only seen Caileigh briefly, and, remembering how she had reacted back on that day, I knew better than to ask her about it. Truth be told, I was a little scared to talk to her at all, and she didn't appear too eager to speak to me, either.
Maybe she had been right. I don't know for sure. Sometimes - well, most of the time - it was hard to tell. She was smarter than me, though, so I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to take her word for it.
I shook my head, not wanting to dwell on that, not today. Sure, I might have made Caileigh hate me forever, but, if that was the case, I was fine with pretending it had never happened, at least for the time being. I didn't know how to fix it, or even if it could be fixed.
This wasn't the day to worry about things I had screwed up; if it was, I would have had much more to do, other than sitting out on the swing. I'd tried to get mommy to let me do more, but she just shooed me out of the kitchen.
"You can't help make your own birthday cake," she told me, shaking her head. "Maybe when Jen's birthday comes around, you can help with that, okay?"
But I didn't expect that to happen, either, or at least it never had before. Although now that I was going to be eight, she might realize I was old enough to do more than lick the bowl. Not that I had any problems with that, of course - I was just sure there was more I could do, if she would let me.
My cake was going to be chocolate, because I wanted strawberry ice cream, and Jen said that getting the same flavor for both was boring. I guess she was right, even though it wouldn't have bothered me too much. Chocolate cake was still good, especially with fudge icing, and the smell that had been wafting through the kitchen the last time I went in to use the bathroom told me I had made the right choice in listening to her, at least this time.
I'd managed to sneak a peak into the living room while I was inside as well, catching a glimpse of a few balloons that seemed to have magically appeared from out of nowhere - or the trunk of mommy's car after I went to bed the night before, as Jen told me later - and my sister was now arranging around what looked like a nice sized pile of presents. I didn't get a very good look at either, however, before getting chased back outside.
It felt weird, sitting out there, knowing everyone else was working on something for you, something you hadn't really done anything to deserve. It felt a little bad, to be honest, deep down in my tummy, making - however indirectly, since I hadn't actually asked them to - mommy and Jen do all this. At least daddy wasn't slaving away because of me. He was just at work, and he was going to try to get off early, he'd assured me at breakfast.
I glanced around idly, lifting my head, a little smile crossing my face when I saw Jen's car, sitting next to the house.
"For starters," mommy had said, what felt like either forever, or just a few days, ago, depending on how boring a day I had been having before thinking about it, "You are only allowed to drive your car to take Penni places she wants to go, and, in the fall, to school."
It had been the day after my trip, which mommy had taken off, so she could "watch me", whatever that meant. I didn't really do anything all that entertaining, other than giggle as she pronounced her sentence on Jen.
"That's all I ever do anyway," Jen had grumbled, although I could tell she was somewhat relieved that she hadn't gotten anything worse.
"Give me your keys," mommy demanded, holding out her hand. Jen rolled her eyes and walked off to her room to get them. Once she returned, mommy removed the keyring that had Jen's car keys, handing them to me. "Now, be careful with those," she warned. "Make sure not to lose them, okay?"
I nodded, still giggling as I stared at my new prize, never expecting my first keys to go to a car.
"Are we done?" Jen asked, sinking down onto the couch and glaring at me, like it was my fault she was getting in trouble.
"That," mommy smiled, "is up to Penni."
I glanced up in surprise, the allure of the keys forgotten. "Me?" I squeaked.
Mommy nodded. "Do you think Jen needs more than that? It -was- you she was diapering all this time, after all."
For a moment or two, evil images began to flood into my mind, thoughts of Jen doing all my homework for me, and all my chores - not that she hadn't been doing most of them lately anyway. My nose wrinkled at the memory of all the messy diapers I'd endured for her, all the places she'd taken me and treated me like a baby. The incident with Breadstick Girl and Lilly was still fresh on my mind, of course, and I certainly didn't forget the spanking at the mall, squirming in my seat with the recollection.
I hadn't even told mommy about that, I realized, and I doubted Jen had, either. While it wasn't quite the same as everything else she'd done, I suspected mommy wouldn't approve of it nearly as much as Jen had told me she would. It might even be enough to convince mommy to give her a taste of her own medicine - or to let daddy give it to her, once he got home, since he spanked a lot harder.
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I told myself. You could probably get mommy to do -anything- to Jen, and Jen couldn't even get mad at you for it! At least, not while mommy was around, and then I could always tattle on her. I could get revenge on her for being such a rotten big sister, show her just how much of a baby I was -not-.
But then, I remembered the day before. My eyes opening as I coughed, water spilling out of my mouth, half expecting to find the moon hovering over me, waiting for me to awaken so he could finish me off. Her, kneeling over me, tears spilling out of her eyes as she saw mine come open at last, harder than I had ever seen her cry before, bending down to fold me up into her arms, covering the top of my head with kisses, not caring if my hair was all wet, and probably muddy.
"No," I shook my head, nobody more surprised than me to hear the quiet word coming from my mouth, although the other two people in the room were plenty shocked as well.
"Are you sure?" mommy leaned forward in the chair, putting her hand on my arm. "You don't have to say that, you know. You don't have to let her off that easily."
"I know," I blushed at the feeling of their eyes on me, glancing down awkwardly as I failed to come up with anything to follow those words with.
After a minute, mommy shrugged and stood up, kissing the top of my head, looking over it to Jen, still too shocked to say anything, on the other side of the couch. "You got off easy," she told her. "But if I hear about this happening again, I'm not going to leave your fate up to Penni."
Jen must have believed her, because she didn't even mention the word "diaper" for the rest of the summer. Of course, as big sisters do, she found other ways to get on my nerves, and make me wish I had given a different answer, but most of it wasn't anything I could go to mommy about. I doubted she would be on my side about getting upset over Jen snatching her car keys away from me when I refused to give them to her so she could take me to my check-up with Dr. Irvine.
She had taken the keys away from me so I could go to my swimming lessons as well, at least for the first one. She told me we didn't have to stay, if it was too much for me, but, surprisingly, it hadn't been that bad. Most of the other kids were a year or two younger than me, which was weird, and, I assume, a result of Jen never having told Mike just how old I really was, but I decided not to bring that up, ever, since they were also, as a whole, better at swimming.
Jen hadn't been nearly as excited about getting me to go after the first lesson, however, although she would still grab the keys when I got reluctant. Even though I was having fun, I was always a bit worried that the other students would find out how old I really was, or that something would happen and I'd end up humiliating myself or drowning again.
Jen, on the other hand, stopped watching me from the edge of the pool after the first time, and, eventually, let me go in all by myself, waiting for me in the car. I had a feeling that had something to do with our other teacher, Anne, or maybe with the fact that she spent most of her time before and after the lessons talking to Mike. She was nice, though, and told me that she liked my swimsuit, so I liked her well enough.
We still had a few more lessons left, but they had been moved to the weekends now, since some of the schools around had started already. I felt kind of sorry for the kids who didn't go to my school - we still had a couple weeks left. Mommy kept bugging me and Jen to go shopping for school stuff, even though I told her that we had plenty of time. I don't think she believed me, but -I- knew it was true, anyway.
I suppose it was only fair to let mommy bug me, since I kept asking her about something else. Ever since my adventure, I had been enthralled by the memory of the other Penni's bow. I knew that the ones on this side wouldn't be nearly as cool, or as useful, as hers was, yet I still wanted to know how to use them.
"We'll see, sweetie," mommy told me hesitantly, every single time. "They're not toys, you know. You could get hurt."
I rolled my eyes just thinking about it, staring up at the clear blue sky above me. If I had any guts at all, I'd have refused to go school stuff shopping until she let me have archery lessons. I didn't, of course, so I left the threat unspoken, although in my mind, that was the real reason we hadn't done it yet.
That, or so I could pretend third grade wasn't coming up, rushing at me faster every day. I tried not to dwell on the subject too long, but it was getting hard to avoid now, no matter how hard I tried to pretend otherwise. It made my tummy knot up every time I thought of it. I mean, sure, I'd been glad to find out I hadn't failed second grade, as I'd feared, and Nadine had assured me I had, but that didn't mean I was smart enough to make it through third grade.
I almost wished I was turning seven again, somehow, that mommy would run out of candles - even though she'd had plenty for daddy's last birthday, and he had a bunch more than me - and I could start the year over. I could go back to second grade, where I would at least have a better idea what the teachers were talking about. I wouldn't have to worry about the stupid orthodontist appointment mommy had made for me, just a few days before school started. I could fix everything I had messed up so badly.
Then I felt the big, strong hands on my back, pushing me forward, further up into the air. "There's my birthday princess," the voice attached to them smiled. "Why the grumpy face, today of all days?"
So I giggled and shook my head, letting the air blow against my face, fan out my hair behind me. "There's no grumpy face here," I said, almost able to believe it myself, at least until he stopped pushing, and the swing came to a slow stop.
"I think your mother and sister are waiting for the guest of honor," he confided in me, holding out his hand as he stepped in front of the swing. "Are you too big to hold your daddy's hand anymore?" he asked, after what I suppose was a minute or two of silence, even though I didn't notice it.
"Of course not," I shook my head, smiling, reaching out to take his hand and let myself be guided to the back door, pretending to be surprised when mommy and Jen yelled "Happy birthday!" at me, and one of them put a paper crown on my head. I blushed as daddy picked up his camera from the counter and got a picture of me, one of what I was sure would be hundreds and hundreds, judging from past years.
"So, what do you want to do first?" Mommy sounded like she was more excited than I was. "Do you want presents, or cake?" She paused thoughtfully, tapping her finger on her lips. "Though I guess you might just want to go ahead and eat supper first instead."
"Nope," I shook my head with a grin, my worries having melted away, long forgotten, for the time being, at any rate. "Let's open presents!"
So we went into the living room, which was littered with balloons saying "Happy Birthday!" or, more specifically, "Happy 8th Birthday!" or, every once in a while, didn't say anything, but were pretty anyway. I felt another twinge of guilt when I saw them, knowing how much time Jen must have spent getting them arranged all over the room like she had, and how long it must have taken mommy to pick them out, and buy them.
"If you're not going to let us take you out to eat, the least you can do is let us decorate for you," mommy's voice echoed from a few days earlier.
I guess if it was what they wanted, it wasn't that bad, I reasoned, walking over to the couch, where I knew I was supposed to sit, since the coffee table had been pulled closer to it, and covered in presents and envelopes. I had seen most of the envelopes already, since they'd been coming in the mail for the past week or so, and Jen would always take them away, even though they were addressed to me. It hardly seemed fair, but mommy obviously thought otherwise, since Jen would give them to her once she got home from work.
I opened those first, knowing it would keep daddy from taking too many pictures, since he took most of those for presents. Most of the cards were cute, and kind of funny, and some even had money, but it was hard to get too excited about them, when I wasn't entirely sure who most of the people sending them were. Mommy told me I had met them at the family reunion; she was probably right, but that had been last year, and there were so many people there, I didn't really remember any of them individually.
I was almost ready to move on to the presents, taking my time unsealing the last couple envelopes to brace myself for the barrage of camera flashes sure to come my way, when I heard a knock on the door.
"I got it," Jen assured everyone, getting up from her side of the couch, returning with a red-faced best friend.
"I'm so sorry I'm late!" Caileigh apologized, dropping a pair of presents onto the table in front of me, then freezing as she saw me sitting there.
My eyes tried to go downwards, but I forced them to gaze up at her, feeling as awkward as she looked. Her eyes moved downwards, too, meeting with mine for a split second before I saw her smile bashfully.
"Happy birthday, cutie," she said, moving around the table to give me a hug. I smiled, too, just as shy.
"I'm sorry," I whispered in her ear when she tried to pull away.
Her arms tightened once again, even more so than before. "I'm sorry, too, sweetie. I could never stay mad at you for long."
If I hadn't been so happy to hear that, I would have protested - it had certainly felt like a long time. But now, at least, it was over, a lot easier than I had expected it to be. I guess maybe some things weren't so hard to fix after all. Or perhaps Jen had been right. Maybe she had just been worried.
Either way, I felt a lot better once she got there, barely even minding the near constant clicking from daddy once I reached for my presents, pulling out a random one that ended up being from mommy and daddy. It was big, and flat, and probably a box, which meant there could be just about anything inside, so I wasn't sure just what to expect.
Even so, I was still shocked at just what I found inside. I glanced up at mommy, eyes wide, confused. "But..." I began.
Mommy smiled. "I think half a year is really enough of a punishment, don't you?"
I nodded, confusion slowly melting away and revealing the happiness underneath as I pulled my new Girl Scout uniform out of the box, running my hand over the fabric, just to make sure it was real. Maybe Dr. Veitch had talked to mommy after all.
There was a dress in the presents, too, a pretty light blue one with a ribbon around the waist, and a pair of pink jeans, both of which - along with my uniform - I knew I was going to have to try on once I was done opening everything else, so that mommy could make sure they fit right, and so daddy could take even more pictures. But I didn't mind all that much, I realized.
Once I had gotten through those, I decided I couldn't wait any longer, and picked up the box that the man in the big truck had brought back the day before, and Jen had, like my cards, hidden away, although not before I could see that it was from Gramma and Grampa. They'd called me earlier in the day, to apologize for not being able to come in person, and to wish me a happy birthday.
The top of the box was all taped shut, so that mommy had to go into the kitchen for a knife to cut it open. That wasn't even enough to get to my presents, however, because they were surrounded by those little packing peanuts, with their card on top. I opened the card first, giggling at it for a few seconds before my curiosity got the better of me again, and I carefully lifted the first present out of the box, doing my best to keep the peanuts inside, although a few managed to escape onto the rug.
Gramma always had the best wrapping paper, and this was no exception, all silver and shiny, with balloons and streamers. It was a lot easier to get the tape off of it without ripping it than from most of the other wrapping paper, so it didn't take me nearly as long to get it open, and find, inside, my own copy of The Sword in the Stone video.
I smiled happily as I held it up, even though I knew it meant I would have to find something new to rent next time we went to Blockbuster. The second present from them was even better - a little makeup kit, with its own carrying box thing. I saw mommy roll her eyes as she saw it, thinking I wasn't watching. Sure, she probably wouldn't let me wear most of it in public, but at least I could get Jen to show me what most of the stuff was, for when she finally did. And there were a lot of pretty fingernail polish colors, too.
Jen's present was a lot heavier than the rest of them had been, and hard. Probably a book, although I was apprehensive as I unwrapped it, eying it nervously and sort of hoping I was wrong, since no book that long could possibly be very interesting.
As it turned out, I -was- wrong; it was two books, not one, which admittedly made me feel a bit better. The fact that they were the first two Harry Potter books helped even more.
"I thought it was about time you read them, since you already saw the movies," Jen smiled, reaching over to ruffle my hair through my crown. "Besides, you could use something new to read, huh?"
I nodded, blushing as the camera's flash went off while I gave Jen a hug.
Caileigh got a hug, too, though she had to share it with the rest of her family, once they got home from work. They had all gotten me a bunch of new stickers, all kinds, more than I could count almost, and definitely more than I could fit into my sticker book, which had me worried until mommy had me open another one of the presents from her and daddy, and I found a whole new book to use, exactly like my old one, except pink instead of purple.
Caileigh's second hug, however, was all for her, since her second present had been from just her - a stuffed unicorn, with a shiny, rainbow colored horn. "It just reminded me of you," she shrugged as I threw my arms around her and thanked her again. I wasn't sure what her name was yet; hopefully she would get along with Mrs. Ellenstofalix. She probably would, since she seemed pretty quiet, like she wouldn't disturb the lazy dragon's sleep too much.
Once I had finished opening the rest of my presents - new colored pencils and crayons, and some more clothes, among other things - and everyone else had migrated to the kitchen to bring out the cake, which mommy said we could eat in the living room, since it was a special day and all, I leaned over and rested my crowned head on Caileigh's arm, still hugging my new unicorn. "You really were better at changing me than Jen," I whispered, smiling at the blush that spread over her cheeks.
She got to stay for cake and ice cream, but said that she needed to be getting home when mommy offered to let her stay for dinner. She promised to come see me again soon, and apologized once more before vanishing out the door, leaving us to our food, and the mini fashion show that followed as I tried on all my new clothes.
I left daddy and Jen to clean up the kitchen once we were done, returning to the living room to start taking all the rest of my stuff back to my room, and finding mommy already there, flipping through an old picture book.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" I asked, getting up onto my tip toes to try to peek around her arm.
Mommy smiled, moving the picture book to give me room to climb up into the chair with her, settling down on her lap happily, not even caring that the pictures had turned out to be boring ol' baby pictures after all, the same ones that she looked at every year, and I had mostly ignored as much as I could. I cuddled up next to her anyway, putting my head on her arm and listening to her turn the pages.
"Isn't this an adorable picture?" mommy whispered, making my eyes flutter open again, and I let me eyes move away from her face, over to the book, where I saw a baby version of myself staring back, along with some other girl. We were sitting on the ground together, next to our trees, hands covered in dirt, giggling.
If it hadn't been for the trees, I never would have realized the other girl was Nadine. She looked so much different; even her eyes were another color, blue instead of some undefinable dark color.
I blinked at the picture a couple times, confused, before I began to remember, vaguely, a day not too long after that picture had been taken. A day when mommy and daddy and Jen all left me alone with my babysitter, even though I didn't feel good, any more so than I had for a while. They had all been wearing black, and mommy was crying for some reason, but I never quite understood why. It had only been a day or two after that when Nadine cam bouncing into my room, apparently all better, bugging me to get up and play with her.
I guess it was around then that Jen stopped paying much attention to her, and Caileigh might have stopped then, too, although I didn't know for sure, since I had to stay in my bed for a long time after that, and didn't get to see Caileigh very much. Nadine would come over almost every day, though, keeping me company, bugging me to get out of bed. I'd complain about her to Jen, every once in a while, when I was feeling especially sick, but all she would do was smile sadly at me, open her mouth as if trying to explain something, then shutting it again and kissing my forehead.
I don't know for sure, but maybe... Maybe the Nadine from the real world had gotten switched with the one here, just like I had been, and maybe that was when it had happened, and why Jen and Caileigh didn't like her as much anymore. I'd gotten switched a lot earlier than her, of course, and so I had known the mirror Nadine before then. Ever since then she -had- been different, in a way I hadn't quite been able to place, at least once I started to notice it. And then, maybe that day, back when I'd gone back to the real world earlier in the summer, she had realized what had happened, and followed me back home.
But if that was the case... Where was the other Nadine now?
I was sill pondering that when daddy and Jen finished doing to dishes, and we started to watch my movie, even though it wouldn't be over until a little after my bedtime.
"It's your birthday," mommy smiled. "You can stay up a little later, I suppose."
So I did, and I eventually let myself get lost in the movie, curled up next to Jen on the couch until I decided to get a head start on my new sticker book, and I moved down to the floor, lying on my stomach while I drew up a big birthday party picture, bigger than any I would ever have, and started to put the guests around the big table. I didn't have time to finish before the movie ended, and mommy told me I could do it tomorrow, since, even if it was my birthday, I couldn't stay up -too- late.
I got my goodnight kisses, twice as many as usual, breathed a sigh on relief once mommy had come and gone, once more without diapering me. I'd had a few nighttime accidents, ever since mommy had made Jen stop babying me, mostly because I would wake up in the middle of the night and, forgetting I was free of Jen's torture, just let myself wet, expecting there to be a diaper there to take care of it. It hadn't happened all that often, and mommy would just smile and tell me "Accidents happen" every time it did, but I was sure her smile was getting a little more weary every time, and she was beginning to sound less and less convinced that was all there was to it.
I lay awake in my bed, even once they were all gone, and my room was dark, other than the glow of the night light, unable to get myself to go asleep. It had been a good birthday, sure, but there was just something missing. It didn't feel like it should be over, not yet. Despite blowing out my candles, all eight of them, and getting my birthday spanking, complaining the whole time, even though daddy just tapped my bottom lightly, I didn't feel any older.
All of my other birthdays had felt different, somehow, in a way that set them apart. This one had just felt like any other day, but with presents. There was just something wrong, and I couldn't quite figure out what I could do about it. It had always just happened before - the electricity in the air, the excitement that permeated the whole day, taking me over as if there was nothing I could do about it, nothing I could do to stop it. They had been different, special.
I glanced out of my window with a sigh, watching as the moon, all curvy and dangerous looking, climbed into the sky. He had come back, of course, and gotten back up to his full power, although it was waning once again now. And none of the stars had gotten free, or looked any happier, up there in the sky. The other me had failed after all.
I stared up at the moon for a long time, listening as Jen went into her room, although not to bed just yet, since, just barely, I could hear her radio playing through her door.
Maybe, I pondered, pulling my blankets up higher around me, I was old enough. Maybe, this year, I was expected to make the day special for myself. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 172
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
Chapter Thirty-Four
I had never realized just how long everyone else in my family stayed awake, until I decided to outlast them. I suppose it might have been a better idea to go to sleep, and hope I woke up before morning, since, when I did that, I usually awoke to a nice, quiet house. But I needed to make sure I got it done that night, and I couldn't think of any good way to assure that without risking waking everyone else up as well, which would sort of defeat the purpose.
So I waited, staring boredly up into the darkness hovering above my bed, not quite in reach of my night light. I couldn't see my clock, over on the other side of my room, since it wasn't a cool one like Jen had that actually came right out and told you what time it was. No, it was an old fashioned one, with hands and everything, that you didn't have a chance of reading in the middle of the night.
Whatever time it was, I knew that it was a long time after my bedtime, and Jen was -still- awake, unless she had fallen asleep with her radio on in the past few minutes. And mommy hadn't even told her to go to bed when she'd gone into her room to say goodnight not too long ago. That was so unfair! Did she even -have- a bedtime?! If it wouldn't have revealed that I had been awake that late, I'd have made a point to complain about it to mommy the next morning, and ask why I needed one if Jen didn't.
Stupid Jen.
I yawned, picking up my nameless unicorn, watching the faint light from the night light reflecting off of her shimmering horn. "You're very pretty," I told her, and she shook her head, blushing. "You are," I insisted. "I wish I was pretty like you." Mrs. Ellenstofalix rolled her eyes - was she jealous? I couldn't remember ever telling her she was pretty, since she wasn't really. Oh well. Too bad for her.
Something pretty deserved a pretty name, I thought to myself with a sleepy nod. I would have to think about it for a while, most likely. These sorts of things took time. And, with any luck, I would still have that, after the night was over.
Finally, I heard Jen's radio switch off, her door open, her feet moving towards the bathroom. After a few minutes, they moved back in the direction of her room, then stopped. I turned, eyebrows furrowing, then shut my eyes quickly as I saw my door opening. There was silence, other than my beating heart and my breathing, which I was sure was too loud.
"Goodnight, baby," she whispered, and I felt her lips brushing against my forehead. "Happy birthday."
Then my door shut again, and, a moment later, so did hers. I cautiously let my eyes open, my heart slowing back down to its normal rate. Had she known I was awake?
I made sure to wait extra long before pulling back my covers, just in case she had. I kept still as long as I could bear, although, since I had already been lying there for a long time, that didn't amount to much. I slipped on my flip-flops, briefly considering changing into some actual clothes, but figured that my shoes would be difficult enough to explain, if Jen was waiting for me after all.
At first, I'd considered sneaking out of my window, like I'd done in the real world, since that one had been a lot higher than the one I had in this room, and I'd survived just fine. Unfortunately, here my window had a stupid screen in front of it that I wasn't sure how to take off. Or put back in, for that matter.
I went into the bathroom first, in case she was, and because, after staying still for so long, I kinda needed to pee anyway. I didn't hear any doors opening, and, when I came back out, there was no light shining out from under any of the bedroom doors. A sigh escaped my throat at the sight, imagining my family slumbering inside those doors, wishing them all a cautionary goodbye.
I stood by the back door for a few minutes, drawing up my courage, forcing it into my hand, so that it could raise itself, grab the doorknob. I hadn't been outside this time of night very often, mostly just when we were driving to or from visiting Gramma and Grampa, and even then, I usually wasn't awake when we went from the car to the house. I had never been outside on my own so late. If I wasn't so much of a wimp, it would have been almost exciting. As it was, I mostly hoped that the monsters didn't leave the forest, when it was this dark out everywhere.
The door was quiet, thankfully, so that I doubted Jen could have heard it even if she was still awake. I slipped outside, a bit surprised that the night air felt so chilly on my legs and arms, where my pajamas didn't cover. Once I had stood there for a moment, though, I realized that it wasn't that cold after all, and I had already wasted enough time, so I started to close the door instead of heading inside for my coat, or clothes, or bed.
At the last second, I pulled the door open again, prompted by my tummy's sudden jump as I remembered that I would need to unlock the door, if I wanted to get back inside later. If I could.
I closed the door slowly, turning the handle to keep it from making the loud click it usually made when you just shoved it shut. I breathed a sigh of relief when I twisted the handle the other way, gave it a gentle tug to be sure it wouldn't blow open accidentally. So far, so good.
"It took you long enough," a voice said from behind me, familiar, yet different, and unexpected enough to get a jump and squeak out of me, before I clamped my hands over my mouth. The voice giggled nervously. "Sorry."
"You should be," I sulked. "It's not fair to sneak up on somebody on a top secret mission, you know."
"I know," Nadine apologized with a shrug, blue eyes still smiling gently.
I smiled, too, my whole face lighting up as I realized why she was different, or at least was pretty sure sure about it. "You wanna help?"
She nodded, "Why else would I be here?", held out her hand. I slipped mine inside, and we began our trek, trying not to think about how it might be our last. There were some things that had to be done, even if you failed.
I blinked and paused when we passed our trees - or mine, really, since that was all that was left, or all that should have been. And all that was, when I looked again, although I could have sworn I saw Nadine's standing there again, just a little taller than mine.
"C'mon," she urged, tugging at my hand. "We don't have much time."
I nodded, bending low as we crossed Caileigh's yard, since there were still a few lights on in her house, standing up again once we were in the field, hand tightening around Nadine's as I saw the expanse of darkness between us and the barn, hardly visible, so far away. I could see shadows slipping through the trees, just a little ways beyond that, waiting, prowling.
I swallowed nervously, eyes darting to my friend's face. She didn't seem to notice, but I could see her expression turning a little less certain. "It's the only way," she murmured, more to herself than me, although I nodded my agreement.
We stuck close together as we crossed the field, me doing my very best to keep my eyes fixed firmly on the barn, not moving downward to the grass, where any number of slithery things could be hiding, to the side, where the monsters were waiting, watching, in case we were thinking of moving into their territory, or up, in case the moon was watching us. I didn't want his attention. Not yet.
Nadine helped me open the barn door, although I guess we were both pretty tired, since it didn't feel like her assistance made much of a difference. After instructing her to wait outside, so that we wouldn't have to open the door any further than it already was, I slipped into the darkness. The door wasn't letting in enough light to show more than a tiny sliver of the bottom part of the barn, just enough to show me the way to the ladder. I stretched out my fingers in front of me anyway, to make sure I didn't run into anything on the way, although there never had been before. Better safe than sorry.
Why didn't I get Nadine to do this part? I wondered to myself as I slowly climbed up the ladder, hand frantically searching up the sides for the next rung. Not that her job was easy, either, but, now that I thought about it, far too late, it would have been better than this. I could see moonlight spilling out onto the loft floor above me, through the window, but it seemed miles away, way too far.
"You're my hero."
The voice echoed up out of my memory, swirling and twinkling around me before vanishing into the darkness again.
My hand tightened around the rung as I cleared my mind, ignoring the darkness pressing around me as I headed up towards the light. It didn't matter that I knew those stars had been wrong; I was here, and I was going to do the best that I could.
The loft, while lighter than downstairs, was still a bit darker than I'd have liked, especially as I crawled up into the hay, searching for my swords. Back there, it was nearly impossible to see anything - any moment I was expecting something to leap out and grab me. Unfortunately for them, I had a good idea of where I'd hidden the swords, so I could get back out quickly, walk over to the edge of the loft and toss them down onto the pile of hay there to free up my hands for the climb down.
"Here," I shoved the second sword into Nadine's hand as we walked back across the field and away from the forest, hoping she had learned how to use one in the real world, since the other me apparently had. She took it awkwardly, but, after a moment, her hand adjusted itself more comfortably around the hilt. We stared at each other for a long moment, eyes full of fear, determination burning behind that.
I let my head tilt upwards finally, let myself stare up into the face of my opponent.
"I think we have a little unfinished business to take care of," I told him, both of my hands twisting nervously on my sword, where I hoped he couldn't see them.
For a minute, I thought he hadn't heard, or didn't think I was serious. Then he came spinning down from the sky like a boomerang, landing in the grass in front of me, an amused smile on his face. "You mean to challenge me?"
I shook my head, surprised to find my voice working so well, when deep inside, all I wanted to do was turn and run, like I had last time I'd faced him, though possibly with a little more pants wetting beforehand. "-We- mean to challenge you."
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather run away?" he asked, as if he were reading my mind.
I gritted my teeth, tightened my grip. "Not this time."
"Whatever you say," he shrugged his two pointy tips, a moment before flinging himself at us. I gasped, not ready yet, but, luckily, Nadine was, blocking him before I could even lift my sword, flinging him back away, spiraling towards the ground, where he sliced the tips off of a few blades of grass before spinning back up.
His eyes were beginning to turn red now, the color slowly draining out to the rest of his body as he came towards us again, this time aiming more for Nadine. She managed to keep him away from her, but he caught the blade of her sword in one of his curves before she could push him back, pulled it out of her hand, tossing it into the air.
I leapt forward, sword lifted above my head, bringing it down as hard as I could onto his back as Nadine ducked under one of his ends, glistening sharply with his own light. I managed to surprise him enough to give Nadine the chance to dive away, fingers wrapping around her sword again as she landed, foot sliding in the grass an inch or two before she ran back into the fray, just as the moon shoved me away, laughing.
"Did you honestly think you could hurt me with those?" he mocked, not even bothering to try to stop Nadine's blade, just wrapped one side of himself around it.
I rushed forward, slamming my sword down into his other side, nodding to Nadine quickly. We both pushed down, pressing him out of the air, down into the dirt, his back slicing into it easily. He was writhing wildly under our weight, but I managed to get my left hand free anyway, moving it to his face and touching him.
I thought about saying "Maybe this will," but was glad I didn't when I noticed that he was barely flinching, that the blue glow, while having returned, now all over my body - I guess since all of it had been through to the other world - was much, much fainter, as if most of it had already dripped away over the weeks between then and now.
The moon launched himself upwards, out of the slice he'd carved in the earth, sending me and Nadine flying backwards. He rose into the sky, spinning even faster, so that it looked like his body was a hoop, instead of half of one, buzzed straight towards me. I rolled out of the way, just barely having time to land and regain enough of my breath to do even that, much less avoid him another time when he turned and tried again.
After that, I could see him change direction, preparing for another pass, and I felt my fingers pressing more tightly around the hilt of my sword, a little surprised to find I was still holding it. I tried to lift it, to protect myself, but my arms were content to lay in the grass, useless.
What was the point, really, anyway, I wondered, closing my eyes so he wouldn't see my tears. I had lost. I'd screwed up, like I always did, like I knew I was going to this time.
But I'd tried. At least I could say that.
"Penni, get up!" Nadine screamed at me.
My eyelids sprang open in spite of themselves, finding my friend standing in front of them, over me, between my body and the moon, hands outstretched and bleeding as his body dug into them, arms quivering with strain.
"Finish him, Penni!" she commanded, voice almost more like the other Nadine, the one I was used to.
"I can't," I sniffled. "I can't do it!"
"Yes, you can," she said through gritted teeth, tears of her own starting to flow down her cheeks, turning into prisms in the light of her enemy shining in her face.
"I'm not the hero!" I cried, closing my eyes again, as useless as ever. Why had she even bothered stopping him? She had a better chance of beating him on her own, without having to worry about me doing something stupid again.
"You don't have to be," a voice spoke quietly. At first, I thought it was Nadine, but after a moment, I recognized it as one of the stars. I opened my eyes, found myself surrounded by them, twinkling merrily all around, as cheerful as ever. If there was one thing I had always admired about them, it was how happy they could seem, even when they were being held prisoner.
"But I can't hurt him," I told them, wishing they would understand. "I can't do anything."
"You'll think of something," they shone. "You always do."
"No, I don't!" I protested, shaking my head violently. "You're thinking of the other me again! I could never do what she does!"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not a hero!"
The stars giggled. "But you're fighting the moon now, aren't you?"
I shrugged. "So what? I couldn't even do that without help! And we're just going to lose."
"Not today," they twinkled. "Look down, Penni."
I obeyed, confusion growing when I saw nothing but more stars, and the sword, still grasped between my hands. "I can't beat him with this," I told them, lifting the sword, getting ready to toss it aside, before I noticed the hilt was glowing blue. I forgot about the stars for a minute, watched as the glow from my hands dripped slowly down, landed on my sword, stayed there.
"That's our hero," they whispered.
When I opened my eyes again, they were gone, replaced once again with Nadine struggling. "Let him go," I told her, my voice calm, collected.
"Penni, I'm not going to let you..." Nadine protested, groaning.
I rolled my eyes, but I didn't have time to explain. I let go of my sword with one hand, long enough to push myself up and get my feet under me, then I stood, moving around Nadine as I did, bringing my hands together as I lifted the sword above my head. I saw the glow from my body streaming upwards, towards it, towards the stars we were protecting, moving along the wooden blade, transforming it, turning it into the sword I'd seen on my other desk.
Then I sliced, straight down, right through the moon's thin, sharp body, before he even had time to cry out. The two pieces fell out of the air, landing on top of one another on the ground. I saw Nadine stumble, suddenly free from her burden, but didn't have time to help her as I stabbed the sword down, through him again, this time pinning the two halves to the dirt.
I don't know how long I knelt there, panting, not daring to believe we had actually won. We. It didn't make me much of a hero, I knew, if at all, but I didn't care. Even if I couldn't do it alone, I'd still won, and that was something.
Finally, I allowed my mouth to form into a smile, glancing up at my friend as I announced, "We did it!"
But she wasn't there anymore. I looked around, confused, finally spotting a shape at the barn, walking slowly around it. "Nadine?" I called hesitantly, starting to get to my feet, eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't be leaving again so soon... Could she? "Nadine, don't go! Please, don't leave me alone!"
And then I saw them.
I got to my feet shakily, smile widening into a grin as I bent back my head, staring up at the night sky. As I slowly started to giggle, stretching out my arms and turning in a lazy circle, I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, eight wouldn't be such a bad age after all.
And the stars continued to fall, laughing and twinkling merrily while they spun around me, brushing lightly against my face, as if to assure me that they had known I could do it all along.
The End.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
|
