From Owner to Owned

These kinds of days were always tough, but they had to be done. Marcia sighed, staring out of her car window at the rain pouring down outside. It was a gloomy start for what was sure to be a gloomy day, at least for some people…

Not for her, however. It was tough, because she had a lot of work to do, had needed to wake up not so bright, yet definitely early. The daycare she ran opened at the crack of dawn, practically, and she had things she had to get done before that if she wanted everything to go smoothly. She always hoped she’d have time to sneak to her office and take a nap… Normally, though, she knew she could expect her employees to be knocking at her door with questions and complaints, so that was very unlikely.

Before she could even get to that point, she had to get inside. For far from the first time, she wished she would have put her employee parking lot closer to the entrance. She’d wanted to leave plenty of space right outside the daycare for parents dropping off their children instead, so it was a bit of a walk. There was a sidewalk, and plenty of lighting… But that wasn’t going to help protect her from the rain.

Why hadn’t she brought an umbrella?! She’d seen the forecast last night, thought about setting one by the door… Then went to bed early so she could wake up and be here now, forgetting all about it until she was pulling out of her garage into a downpour. It didn’t help that she was wearing her big heels today, trying to make herself look as tall as possible – which was pretty difficult – so she wasn’t going to be able to run without risking a fall. She could take them off, yes… But then her pantyhose would be soaked through, and she’d have to lose them, or squelch around in them all day.

It was all a big mess, just like these days always somehow turned out to be. She pushed open her car door, shuffling along as quickly as she dared, knowing well before she reached the door that it wasn’t just her pantyhose she was going to have to worry about being drenched. She looked like a drowned rat by the time she fumbled her keys into the lock and scrambled inside, hardly the imposing figure she wanted to look like today.

Luckily, she had started out early, even more than she needed. She had a washer and dryer, since, as a daycare, there were always things needed to be washed up, so she was able to toss her clothes into that, but it felt wrong to walk around the place naked, waiting for them to be ready. She was the owner, sure, and she was alone… It just wasn’t right, however.

They had spare clothes, too, for the children, in case they had enough accidents to go through the spares their parents sent along for them. Marcia had never thought she might have to use them, didn’t think, even as short as she was, that she’d be able to, but with no other options, she headed to the closet, drying herself off with a towel, to sort through them.

Most of them were clearly too small, and weren’t worth trying on, while others, like some of the dresses, were too frilly, too childish, for her to contemplate wearing as an adult. She did find one thing in the back that wasn’t too bad, though, that she could see some people her age choosing to wear, possibly. It was a pair of shortalls, and, thankfully, they fit. She knew they’d been used before, that they were meant for kids – as if the snaps in the crotch hadn’t already made that obvious – which upped the embarrassment to contemplate her employees seeing her in them, realizing how tiny she truly was, but her own clothes out to be dry long before they showed up.

She had some other, very important, business to take care of first. She’d hoped that the dryer would ding before she heard the doorbell, had been squirming at her desk, waiting, and was about to go check on the progress when it happened.

She was here already. Apparently, she was one of those people who thought showing up super early was impressive, rather than annoying. Marcia cursed, wondering if she had time to run to the laundry nook and get changed, the doorbell ringing again to tell her she didn’t. Already blushing, she padded her way to the front door, readying her explanation for her absurd appearance…

“Well, look at you!” the woman outside smirked, lowering her umbrella and shaking it off. “Aren’t you cute?”

Cute… That was the word that had plagued her for years. She knew it wasn’t fair to take it out on this woman, that she didn’t know, but she hated being called that, especially here, in the business she owned. Momentarily forgetting about spouting off her story for why she had on a pair of snap-crotch shortalls, she glared at the woman silently.

“Hello, there,” the woman smiled, kneeling down to get closer to Marcia’s level. She was so tall, so beautiful… Marcia would have felt inadequate next to her even in the clothes she’d picked out for today, much less what she was stuck in for the moment. “This place is nice,” she nodded, taking the initiative to look around, brushing past Marcia.

Marcia ran through what she knew about the woman from the e-mails they’d exchanged. Her name was Willa, and she had plenty of experience, which was the only reason Marcia hadn’t scheduled other interviews for today. She always wanted to make sure she had someone new for these days, and she was confident Willa would be it this time around.

“They have everything here,” Willa commented, Marcia ready to point out that ‘they’ was actually her. “Hmm… But do they have diapers?”

“Of course,” Marcia rolled her eyes. There were shelves of them, fresh packages waiting beside… How could she not see them.

“I don’t know,” Willa paused, peering into the nursery. “Where?”

“They’re right here,” Marcia walked in, wondering if she was wrong, if she needed to find someone else to take the soon to be open spot on her staff as she made her way to the shelf, picking up one of the diapers. “See?”

“Thank you,” Willa smiled, Marcia jumping as she turned around, diaper in hand, to find the woman right there behind her. “You’re such a good little helper! Now, I think we’d better get you into that, don’t you?”

AusDpr’s New Magazine and Dollhouse Preview

AusDpr has just put out a new magazine, full of comics and stories, many of which involve the Diaper Dimension… Other than the ones I wrote, funnily enough. That’s right, there are stories from me in there, too!

One is an expanded version of Brat in the Hat. I went back and did some editing to the story, cleaning up and changing a few things, as well as adding a brand new epilogue. In addition to that, AusDpr has done 33 illustrations to go with the story!

My other story, Welcome to the Dollhouse, involves something you may have noticed mentioned in several of my other stories and captions, and as such, is a sequel of sorts to several of my stories, including The Hunt/The Affair, Scavengers, Christmas Shopping, and, in fact, Brat in the Hat itself. This is meant more as a prequel to the main Dollhouse story, whenever I get around to writing that, but it is the first glimpse inside, available exclusively here! And, to give you a taste, I’ll have the first couple pages below…

Along with my stuff, there are three Diaper Dimension stories by AusDpr, as well as five comics by him, JamJar Monster, and Pink Diapers, totaling over 400 pages of content! If you want more information, you can click the image above to go to AusDpr’s page on the magazine, or go here to buy it from Lulu. Thanks for your support, and I’ll try to have more captions up soon!

Welcome to the Dollhouse

“What was that, Ms. Hendrickson?”

“Nothing, ma’am,” Jordan grumbled from the back seat of the car, fidgeting restlessly, diaper crinkling loudly beneath the much too short for her comfort skirt of the pink sailor dress she’d been put in that morning when she’d arrived at the woman’s house.

“Are you sure? That sounded like a bad word to me. That or just general fussing. We talked about that, didn’t we? I don’t like either one, almost as much as I dislike lying.”

It took all Jordan had not to snap out that she’d said it was nothing, but her first couple weeks of work had shown her how bad an idea that was. “I was moving around a little. You probably just heard my diaper.”

“Do you need to go potty?” Mrs. Patterson asked. The stop light in front of them changed to red, giving the woman the chance to turn around in her seat and stare at the squirming girl there. “I told you to go before we left so I could get you changed. We’re not stopping just for that.”

“No, I don’t need to go potty!” Jordan rolled her eyes. “I’m not a baby!”

“Are you getting an attitude, young lady? Do you really want the first glimpse your new little schoolmates get of you to be you with your diaper around your ankles getting your bottom warmed? We’re already late because you thought you could fight me over your outfit.”

Jordan looked down, knowing full well that Mrs. Patterson would carry through on her threat from the still slightly sore backside she had under her diaper. As she was staring at the floorboards, she saw the woman’s hand reach out, pushing its way under her skirt before she could stop it.

“I guess you really don’t need to go potty, do you? Since you already went? There’s no need to be cranky, you know I’ll change you when we get there.” Jordan’s cheeks burned bright red as she glanced over to the side, seeing a little girl in the car next to Mrs. Patterson’s staring over at the spectacle. Without thinking, she pushed Mrs. Patterson’s hand away. The woman gave her a stern look, then shrugged. “A spanking it is, then,” she stated, before turning back around to see the light turn green, leaving Jordan whimpering and squirming in her seat. “I didn’t pack my hairbrush, but I have a feeling they’ll have a paddle I can borrow. And you might as well start getting used to it – if you continue acting the way you have, I have no doubt you’ll be growing quite familiar with it over the course of your… training.”

“This isn’t fair!” Jordan whined. “You can’t do this to me! I am an adult, you can’t..!” Mrs. Patterson turned around quickly, silencing Jordan with the pacifier clipped to the front of her dress. Normally, that would have worked, as Jordan knew the consequences for taking out a pacifier when a “grown-up” put it in, but she was already getting a spanking, and in a bad mood. “You can’t treat me like a toddler! You can’t send me off to some…” She stopped, unsure, really, of just what this place she was going to was – all she knew was that she didn’t want to go there.

To her surprise, the car pulled over to the side of the road, stopped. Mrs. Patterson reached into her purse, grabbed something, then got out, walking around the car to the back and opening Jordan’s door. When she saw the expression on the woman’s face, Jordan immediately regretted not having controlled herself a little better, but a quick, squeaked, “I’m sorry!” wasn’t good enough, and she was yanked out of the car, then turned around and pushed up against it.

“What are you doing?” she asked desperately as she felt her dress being lifted, then her tights and diaper pulled down, exposing her bare bottom. “No, stop!” she whimpered, bracing herself for the spanking she was sure was coming. Instead, she got an even bigger surprise as she felt Mrs. Patterson’s finger push something deep into her bottom. Her eyes went wide and she squirmed at the sensation, feeling whatever it was being pulled deeper inside by her own muscles. “What did you do?!” Mrs. Patterson didn’t answer, but pushed in another, and then a third, before pulling Jordan’s diaper back up and turning the girl around.

Jordan fidgeted, feeling confused and violated, while Mrs. Patterson opened the passenger’s side door, taking a baby wipe from her purse and wiping her finger off. “Do you think I’m stupid, little girl?” she asked, replacing the pacifier in Jordan’s mouth before she could say anything. “No, don’t answer – I know you do. You think you’re so smart, don’t you? I told you when you started working for me that I expected you to use your diapers, and nothing else. Did you really think you were so sneaky that nobody noticed you running off to the bathroom? Or that you somehow never messed your diaper?”

Jordan bit into her pacifier uncertainly, having a sudden, very bad, idea of what the woman had done to her now.

“They’re not going to put up with your bratty ways here,” the woman told her. “Right now, I’m having them take it easy on you, but they assure me I can change that at any time. Or you can, by continuing to act the way you have been at work.”

Jordan started to remove her pacifier, to try to defend herself, only for the woman to shove it back in. “You know better,” she said sternly. “I’ll tell you what, little girl. We’re only a few minutes away now. I’ve arranged a tour for you when we get there – if you can keep your diaper clean until we finish with that, we’ll call this whole thing off. We’ll go back to the office, and I’ll give you a real shot at the position you applied for. I’ll even think about forgiving you all that money you cost me paying for your shoplifting.”

That did sound good, but Jordan was hesitant. She had no doubt that Mrs. Patterson wouldn’t be doing this if she honestly thought Jordan had a chance at doing it, and she wanted no part of what was going to happen if she failed. She didn’t take her pacifier out, but she shook her head, crossing her arms.

“Did you think you had a choice? This isn’t a game, sweetie. If you want to give up and fill your diaper right here, that’s fine with me, but that means you’ll be giving up your only chance of avoiding all this, and of ever working for me without a diaper. Now, are you going to go potty now, or shall we get going? The longer you play around here, the harder it’s going to be for you.”

“Fine,” Jordan sighed, ducking back into the car. If she really didn’t have a choice, she supposed it was better to at least try, even if it meant playing into this woman’s strange, sick game. She didn’t want to have to stand out there by the side of the road any longer, anyway, she told herself.

She reached up to start to put her seatbelt back on, but, no matter how quickly she moved, it seemed Mrs. Patterson was always quicker, the woman’s hand blocking her own and pulling the belt down, clicking it into place with a condescending, “Good girl.”

Check out Strangest Adventures Magazine, Vol. 2 to find out what happens next!

The Star

House Call

Marissa looked up at the sound of her doorbell, slight annoyance bubbling inside of her as she looked up at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes early! She was almost tempted not to let the girl in yet, but she didn’t want to risk having her leave. Besides, she knew everything was fine, ready to go. It always was. She just liked having the chance to double check, just in case.

She wasn’t quite able to keep the exasperation out of her voice as she announced, “You’re early,” to the figure standing in her doorway. It quickly faded as she saw the girl there, but she didn’t regret it one bit, as it put the girl off balance, made her shrink a little further into herself, her confidence eroding ever so slightly.

“O-Oh,” the girl blushed, wide-eyed. “I’m sorry, I thought… I didn’t mean… I’m sorry to interrupt. I’m just always early, so I didn’t think… I can go wait in my car, it’s okay!”

Marissa reached out, stopping the girl from turning. The girl was small, about the same size as most of Marissa’s students, and already fidgeting like one of them. “You’re here now,” Marissa told her, “no need to sit out in the cold. Come on.”

Despite the somewhat chilly weather, the girl was in a rather short, pleated pink skirt and white knee high socks, which Marissa couldn’t imagine were terribly warm. She couldn’t help looking at them, and the purple jacket she had on, and wondering if the petite thing had gotten them from the children’s section. She looked about the right size… Enough so that Marissa couldn’t help but ask, “How old are you, dear?”

The little thing stood up as straight as she could go, obviously used to being mistaken for someone younger. “I’m 19,” she stated, with all the bruised dignity of a small child after a grown-up guessed she was a few grades lower than she really was. Marissa could practically hear, “and a half,” added onto the end of that age.

She was perfect. More than anyone else Marissa had encountered this way, and she was sure of that even before the girl began to squirm, seemingly unconsciously chewing on her thumb nail as she stood in the entryway. “Do you want to get started?” Marissa asked finally, though she wouldn’t have minded seeing her wriggle a little longer.

“Yes!” the girl nodded, reaching into her purse for a pamphlet.

“Why don’t we go into the living room?” Marissa suggested.

“Okay,” the girl agreed, before letting out a cute little sneeze.

It was a little quicker than usual, but Marissa couldn’t let this perfect opportunity pass her by. “It’s right through there. I’m going to get you something warm to drink. Do you want tea or hot chocolate?” Normally, she wouldn’t give a choice – hot chocolate was more childish, and easier to hide things in – but she was just getting started. Besides, the newest drug mix would still be all but undetectable in tea, too, which she had no doubt the girl would choose. She was right.

As she got some water boiling, she got down a white mug and a black one, some tea, and retrieved a vial of the drug from her fridge. They were always tinkering with it at the lab, trying to get it just right, making sure it was tasteless, and that it didn’t last too long. After all, you could always give them more, but letting it wear off every now and then was always useful for giving them a false sense of confidence. She emptied the vial into the white mug, then poured the water, letting it sit for a moment before taking it to the living room, along with her own mug and a pair of spoons.

“Now, we’ll have to wait about five minutes,” Marissa lectured, setting the cups down on the table, being sure to put the white one in front of the girl. “Will you be all right until then?”

“Yeah,” the girl blushed, eyes darting to the front door. “Actually… Umm…”

“What’s wrong, dear?” Marissa asked, starting to worry that, somehow, the girl suspected something was up, that she had just wasted one of the doses of the drug that she’d risked her job to sneak out.

“It’s just… I feel so stupid…” the girl stared down at her sneakers. “I’m still new at this whole thing, and I forgot to bring in the vacuum.”

“Oh! Well, that’s okay. Why don’t you wait until you’re warmed up a little, then go fetch it?”

The girl shook her head. “No!” she pouted. “No, I’m supposed to show it to you first thing! That’s how it’s supposed to be done! So, I’m sorry, could you excuse me for just a minute?”

“Of course,” Marissa nodded. She wondered why the girl hadn’t simply gone to get it while she was in the kitchen, but maybe she’d thought Marissa would think she’d run away or something. “Go ahead.”

The girl nodded, still hesitating slightly before standing up and heading back toward the door. Marissa kept a smile on her face, but inwardly she was starting to panic. She hadn’t even started her usual routine – could this girl really be suspicious already? She was acting an awful lot like she was about to run.

“Do you need some help?” she finally asked, giving herself an excuse for going outside with her.

It worked out better than she’d hoped. “Could you?!” the girl beamed. “That would be so great… The stupid thing is so big, and my car isn’t, and it’s such a pain to get out… It’s why I get to my appointments early, so I can wrestle it out, but I’m being such a ditz today, I didn’t even think about it…”

“No problem, dear,” Marissa said, getting up and heading outside, waiting as the girl unlocked the car door, then tried to pry the vacuum out of its place lodged in the back seat of the coupe by herself.

“God, I’m so lame,” the girl lamented. “You’re the customer, I shouldn’t be asking for your help…” Biting her bottom lip, hands wrapped around the vacuum, she began pulling on it, but there was clearly not enough room between the seat and the door frame. When that didn’t work, she pushed it back, then yanked it forward, over and over, as if one of those times it would have magically shrunk.

Marissa stood back for a minute and watched as the girl’s movements and the wind caused her skirt to flutter up, revealing momentarily the white cotton panties underneath. They looked rather full and thick – likely also from the children’s section. Marissa found herself wondering if they had the day of the week printed on the front, and how much this girl got teased by her peers back in high school for dressing like she did.

“Doesn’t the seat fold?” she asked finally, starting to worry that the girl was going to break the vacuum, or herself.

“No!” the girl pouted. “The stupid thing has always been broken, I’ve never been able to get it to work!” Frustrated, she kicked the side of her car, then came very close to losing her balance and falling on her backside.

“There’s no need to throw a tantrum,” Marissa lectured, gently taking the girl’s shoulder and pushing her away from the car, doing her best to hide her excitement. She was perfect! It was hard to believe her parents had never enrolled her at the school! “Let me take a look.” Marissa looked at the seat, finding the lever, and, after fiddling with it for a moment or two, managed to slide the seat forward. “There!” she nodded. “It was just a little stuck.”

The girl’s cheeks turned bright red. “I feel like such an idiot,” she said quietly. “That’s all you had to do?”

“It was a little tricky,” Marissa lied. “And I’m impressed you managed to get the vacuum in with it like that! That must have been hard!”

The girl nodded. “Thank you… I can get it out from here if you want to go back in.”

Marissa almost let her, thinking it would be rather cute to see the girl lugging the giant machine across the driveway, and that the girl might need it to make her feel a little more like a big girl, but she noticed the girl shivering a little. “I can get it,” she said. “I think you’d better go inside before you catch a cold.” The girl started to open her mouth, but Marissa cut her off with a, “No arguing!”

The girl nodded and scurried back into the house as Marissa wrestled the vacuum out of the car, shutting the door before pulling the thing to her own front door. Even for her, it was fairly difficult – she couldn’t imagine how the girl had managed it. She had a feeling the girl was even newer than she’d let on – this was likely her first solo house call. Why else would she be so nervous, so unprepared? That only made things better.

“I really didn’t realize how big these things are,” Marissa commented as she pushed the vacuum into the living room. “I think these may be a little big for me.”

The girl’s face fell at that, and she frantically grabbed for the pamphlet, searching through it before stumbling through, “B-But it’s as great for the home as the… the office… ‘Cause it’ll pick up anything you cna throw at it… No mess is too big… Or too small…”

“Calm down,” Marissa chuckled. “It’s okay. If nothing else, I can always tell my bosses at work about it. I’m sure it would get a lot of use there.”

“Really?” the girl’s eyes lit up. “That would be great!”

“Of course,” Marissa smiled. “Now, I think our tea should be ready by now… Why don’t we have a drink before we get started?” The girl nodded, reaching for the white mug and stirring it for a moment before lifting it to her lips. Marissa tried to hide how eagerly she was watching by sipping at her own mug, but she always loved to see this part, as the girls took the drink that sealed their fates. They always looked so sweetly oblivious, like innocent little lambs.

But this time, as she took her first sip, the girl’s eyes widened. Marissa’s mind began spinning – what was wrong? Hadn’t she mixed the drug in well enough? Had she suggested they drink too soon? Her own tea tasted fine, but maybe she should have let the girl’s steep a bit longer to cover the slight taste of the drug. “Is it too hot?” she asked nervously. “I suppose I should have warned you to be careful…”

“No, it’s fine,” the girl said. “No, it’s just… I’m actually not much of a tea person…”

“I could make you some hot chocolate,” Marissa offered. She hated wasting a dose that way, but she wasn’t about to let this girl get away from her now.

“No!” the girl shook her head. “No, I was just surprised at how good this is! I’ve never tasted anything like it!” She took another big sip as Marissa relaxed, relieved.

“Thank you,” she smiled. “It’s my own special mix. Go on and drink it up… I can make you some more once you’re done with your little presentation.” That should give it plenty of time to kick in, she thought, and probably by the time she came back with the second cup, the first would be just about to find its way into the girl’s cute little white panties. She only hoped it didn’t happen too soon… The best part was watching them squirm, then gasp as they realized what was happening, and where. By the time the urge hit them, it was already too late, but sometimes they made a mad dash for the bathroom anyway, and that was pretty fun, too.

The girl did as she was told, draining her cup, ensuring that she got the maximum dose of the drug, then standing up and starting to show off the vacuum, reciting off facts mechanically, stopping every now and then to flip through the pamphlet worriedly. Marissa took it all in, slowly finishing her own tea. This child was clearly not meant for this line of work. Or any, really. She belonged in diapers, in a playpen, shaking a rattle… It was a good thing Marissa had found her. Even her name, Mia, which she had stumbled over almost as bad as everything else in her pitch, was cute.

“Now I’m supposed to demonstrate it,” Mia announced. “Umm… Is there anywhere specific you need cleaned?”

“Why, yes,” Marissa smiled, getting to her feet, “there is. Come this way.”

She let Mia pull the vacuum down the hall, knowing the physical exertion would only help speed the drug along. She led the girl to the last door on the left, pushing it open to reveal the nursery. “Oh, I didn’t know you were a mother!” Mia blinked, staring in at it all, pausing only slightly as she began to notice just how big everything was.

“Not me, my sister,” Marissa sighed. “Her daughter is special needs, and I take care of her rather often, so it just made sense to make her a second bedroom here, so she’d be comfortable.”

“That’s very nice of you,” Mia said, still looking around at the crib, the rocking chair and horse, the high chair, the changing table – well stocked, as always. Her eyes seemed to linger there the longest, on the stack of diapers.

If she only knew, Marissa thought giddily to herself. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so excited about her prey. Her head was almost swimming with thoughts of what the rest of the day would bring. She wanted nothing more than to pick up the little girl, strap her to the table, and tape a diaper on her, but she knew that letting the game play out would make it all the sweeter. But seeing her there, so close to the crib, fumbling ineffectually with the vacuum was almost more than Marissa could bear. Mia seemed to be rather klutzy on her own, but she seemed to be having a specially hard time with this, making Marissa sure the drug was kicking in, and that it was almost time.

“Why don’t I go get that second cup of tea started?” Marissa suggested. “You just keep working, and I’ll be back in just a minute.”

Mia grunted an okay, and Marissa hurried off. She felt a little weak in the knees as she grabbed the mugs and took them to the kitchen, filling up the kettle to get the water boiling. Should she give the girl another dose? It wouldn’t hurt, but she had a feeling that once she had an accident, Mia would fall into line very quickly, and it might be better to save that dose for later, if she got too big for her britches, or for another girl. It was hard to think clearly through her excitement.

After all, it was almost time – it had to be. She should probably hurry, in fact, she thought as she started getting the tea ready, pushing the brown mug on the counter away from the black and white ones with a hand shaking with excitement before putting the tea in those. She was starting to feel the urge to go to the bathroom, so surely Mia was almost there. She had a nanny cam set up in the nursery, so if she did miss the girl’s first accident, she could always watch the tape again, but she still hated not seeing it in person.

It was just when she picked up the teapot that she felt the warmth. At first, she looked at the pot in confusion, wondering how she had spilled it already, and then her brow furrowed as she realized the warm feeling was still coming, spreading down the legs of her pants, faster and faster, gushing out like a waterfall. Still not comprehending what was happening, she set the pot down, glanced down at herself… ANd only then did she gasp, as she saw the rapidly growing wet patch on her crotch, down her thighs, dripping onto the floor. She had seen in many, many times, but never on herself.

“Well, well, well…”

Marissa gasped again as she heard the voice, spinning around before she thought about it, then clamping her hands in front of her pants, trying in vain to mask the still expanding evidence of her accident. “I-It’th… It’th not what you think…” she slurred.

“Isn’t it?” Mia raised an eyebrow. The clumsy little girl was gone now, replaced with a confident young woman, staring cockily at Marissa, arms folded. “Because it looks like you’re peeing your pants like a little baby. Or like your ‘niece’ – wasn’t that your cover story?”

Marissa’s knees trembled, and she fell to the floor in the middle of her puddle. “C-Covew stowy?”

“Does it work that fast?” Mia mused. “Or were you just that stupid to begin with? I’ll be charitable and assume it’s the double dose I gave you.”

“No,” Marissa shook her head desperately. “No, I don’t pee pants… You do!”

“Do I?” Mia smirked, lifting her skirt, showing off the front of those white cotton panties, revealing that they did, indeed, have ‘Thursday’ on the front, along with a cartoon frog. “Hmm… Nope, they look dry to me. You, on the other hand?” She shook her head. “It was smart of you to use different colored cups, so you wouldn’t mix them up. It made my job a little harder, but I just had to go find another one to help make the switch.” She eyed the brown mug sitting on the counter. “You didn’t hide your stockpile of the drug very well, either. Right there in your fridge next to the ketchup and mustard. Weren’t you afraid you’d grab it by mistake and send yourself back to diapers?”

Mia strutted over the the refrigerator, pulling it open and grabbing one of the vials. “I guess it’s a little late for that now, though, isn’t it? You should know better than to take what isn’t yours. And this isn’t, is it? It says right here – ‘Property of The Dollhouse.'” Mia dangled the vial in front of Marissa’s eyes for a moment. “But if you wanted it so bad, you can have it.”

“Noo…” Marissa whined. If a double dose made her feel this weak, another would likely make her a helpless, drooling infant until it wore off… And she wasn’t about to have that. If Mia had doubled the dosage to begin with, she must have really been afraid of her, and she wasn’t about to go down that easily. She let the little brat take another step or two closer, then, gathering up all her energy, sprang back to her feet, grabbing the surprised girl’s wrists as she forced her backwards, pinning her against the fridge. It was much harder work than it should have been, but Marissa felt a smile creep across her face as she held Mia in place, feeling the little thing squirm.

“You’ll be sowwy,” Marissa growled, and though the mangling of her language made it hard for her to feel tough, knowing how easily she was overpowering Mia helped a lot. She forced both of the girl’s arms over her head, letting her hold both of the tiny wrists in one of her hands while she used the other to snatch the vial. She could see Mia’s eyes widen, saw her shake slightly. She obviously knew about the Dollhouse, about the drug, and what it would do to her. That only made her fear more palpable, as she realized she was about to be peeing her pants just like Marissa had been tricked into doing. And with her smaller frame, that would surely be enough to put Marissa back in charge of this little situation – hell, she was already handling the situation, with the girl at full strength, though she wasn’t sure how much longer she could maintain it.

At least not until she got Mia dosed up, like she was supposed to be. She fumbled with the vial for a minute, trying to remove the top one-handed, then, frustrated, lifted it to her mouth, hoping she could get it off that way. It was then that Mia saw her chance, thrashing against her grip, making her drop the vial and almost let the girl break free as well. The vial clattered to the floor, not breaking, and, even through her continually more clouded mind, Marissa reacted quickly enough to use her now empty second hand to keep Mia from escaping, wrapping both her hands around Mia’s and glaring into her eyes, annoyed.

“You awe vewy naughty,” she lisped, her anger only growing at how thick and clumsy her tongue felt in her mouth, how difficult that made it to speak correctly. “I think you need a punishment.”

With that, she turned the squirming girl around, keeping her hands above her head and pushed into the front of the fridge, as she reached around her to the counter, where she could, just barely, reach one of her wooden spoons. She preferred hairbrushes, or paddles, and she liked taking her girls over her knees, to really show them their place, but she was having to improvise – she didn’t think moving from the spot at the moment was a good idea, especially not while trying to drag an uncooperative girl with her. A good spanking was often just as good at regressing someone as the drug, and once she’d done that, she was sure it would be much easier to dose Mia, and get things back on track. Sticking the spoon in her pocket, she tucked Mia’s skirt into its waistband, began to pull down her panties.

“What are you doing?” Mia growled, still struggling, trying to turn around. “You let me go, you…” She stopped short as Marissa began to rub the spoon across her pale, bare bottom. Almost immediately, that confidence she’d been exuding since seeing Marissa pee her pants vanished, leaving her sounding an awful lot like the silly child she’d been acting like earlier. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“I do,” Marissa grinned, happy to see her plan working so well before it had even begun. “I’ll have to hit you extwa hawd, too… I don’t know how much that dwug affected me.”

“No, you…” Mia started, but a quick smack to the backside shut her up quickly. She let out a gasp that made Marissa feel quite confident that she still had enough strength to teach this little brat a lesson, wet pants or no. “No, listen, I…” Marissa let her get that much out before hitting her again. This one produced a yelp, and she nearly lost her grip as one of the girl’s hands twitched, less like it was trying to escape, and more like it just wanted to protect her tender rump. “I won’t tell them anything, just stop…”

Instead of doing that, Marissa started in earnest, giving each of the girl’s cheeks a few hard thwacks before adapting her technique to her slowly failing strength, going for a series of softer, but much quicker, spanks, giving the girl no chance to recover in between, spreading them out so that, no matter how little Mia sat for the next day or two, she’d get a nice little reminder of what happened when she tried to outsmart Mommy. Of course, in her nice, thick diapers, it wouldn’t be so bad, but Marissa had no doubt the girl would earn another spanking before too long. And once the drug had worn off, Marissa would be capable of giving her one that was much more thorough. Her aim now left a little to be desired, and some of the spanks traveled a little low, or to the side, and every now and then she missed entirely, but enough landed where they needed to get the job done for now.

The girl’s bottom was becoming a nice shade a pink by the time Marissa really began to feel tired. For a moment she debated wearing herself out more by continuing it, or risking Mia noticing how much softer the spanks were getting, but finally she decided, instead, to give up. The girl had stopped wriggling, and was sniffling softly, so she had a feeling the spanking had already done what it needed. After one final slap, she tossed the spoon onto the counter and reached down, tugging the panties up over the warm, pink bottom.

“You’we going to be a good giwl fow Mommy now, huh?” she asked, giving her a little smack with her hand. She decided to leave the skirt tucked in, showing off her handiwork and those cute, soon to be soaking wet, day of the week panties. “Now, it’s time fow youw medicine…”

Tentatively, she let go of the girl’s wrists, watching as her arms flopped to her sides before one started rubbing her bottom, and the other her eyes. She would have to work fast, but she took that as a good sign that the girl was subdued for the moment – she wasn’t sure how she’d get to the drug while still keeping ahold of Mia, or how she’d be able to open it one-handed, since her coordination was getting even worse than it had the last time she’d tried. As she knelt down, she started to regret doing such a good job with the spanking, as her muscles, free from the excitement of that task, began to feel much weaker.

She shook her head, telling herself it was just a little more, then she could get Mia to the nursery, lock her up, and sleep off the effects herself. She reached for the vial, but it slipped through her klutzy finger once, and then twice, before she finally grasped it. Smiling proudly at having managed to do it, she turned, hoping her legs were still strong enough to lift her back up, only to find Mia standing right behind her, tears still shining in her eyes. “Wait…” Marissa started to say, but before she could get the whole word out, before she could at least try to hide the vial behind her back or do anything but hold it up, Mia snatched out out of her hand and opened it.

Marissa leapt forward for it, but her legs gave out on her, resulting in her falling flat on her face. She wasn’t there for long, however, as Mia grabbed her, flipped her over, holding the drug right in her face. Marissa tried to bat it away, but the drug had settled too far in, making it far too easy for even little Mia to walk in and hold Marissa’s nose until she was forced to open her mouth, then dumping the drug in and holding her mouth shut until she had no choice but to swallow yet another dose.

“You’re the naughty one,” Mia shook her head, scowling. “Luring in girls, using school property to subdue them for your own purposes… What if you’d been caught? Can you imagine the scrutiny that would have put the Dollhouse under for having hired you? A lot of people would have enough trouble with what we do without thinking that we hire complete pervs like you. It’s one thing to enjoy your job, but this sort of thing would cause a major scandal that we can’t afford.”

“I-I sowwy…” Marissa sniffled. “I won’t do it again…”

“No, you won’t,” Mia said softly. “Now you just wait here… I’m pretty sure that changing table is too high for me to get you on easily.”

With that, Mia walked away, remembering halfway out of the kitchen to tug down her skirt over her well-spanked posterior, leaving Marissa alone and desperate. She tried to get to her feet, but her legs simply weren’t strong enough. Her stomach churned as she glanced around, suddenly feeling like a prisoner in her own home. How could she get away? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this helpless. It made her feel bad for the girls she’d dosed, but it was never this bad for them. She liked them to be able to walk, still, but be cutely klutzy about it, waddling around in their thick diapers like overgrown toddlers. Of course, she always chose small girls, so she didn’t need to weaken them this much to be sure she could handle them.

Before she could come up with an escape plan, or even finish wallowing in her self-pity, Mia returned, spreading one of Marissa’s changing pads on the floor next to the woman, a few inches from her puddle of pee. Next to that, she set out baby powder, oil, and three diapers. “It looks like you ‘borrowed’ these from work, too,” Mia said, patting the stack, the garments crinkling slightly at the touch. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to have them back.”

“No, pwease…” Marissa begged, staring at them in fright while Mia opened one, spreading it out on the pad. They were specially made for the school – extra thick, designed to look like real baby diapers. They looked absolutely adorable on the students, on her girls… But she didn’t want to wear one herself! And definitely not three! She had never really been sure why she’d taken any in that size to begin with, since she preferred smaller girls. She had told herself it was ‘just in case’… She’d always just assumed she could use them when she put someone in multiple layers, to be sure she had one that would fit over a few others. Little did she know…

Weakly, she tried to fight back as Mia began to pull off her shirt, and then her wet pants, tugging them and her panties down, but the drugs did wonders for evening the playing field for the girl, and despite the size difference, it wasn’t long before Marissa found herself naked, being pulled onto the pad, her backside guided into the center of the thick, thirsty pad beneath it. She let out a soft groan as she felt her bottom sink into it, as she felt Mia’s small hand press against her own chest, pushing her onto her back.

“I’m sure they’ll shave you once they officially process you into the school,” Mia mused, “but for now I think you’ll be okay.”

“No, I can’t go thewe…” Marissa whined. “What if my students see me?”

She felt the cold, slimy touch of the baby oil as it was squeezed onto her tender skin, felt Mia’s hands begin to massage it in. “Maybe they won’t recognize you,” she suggested. “After all, you aren’t going to be Miss Bennett anymore. You’re just Marissa, a student like them. You aren’t that much older than most of them. In fact, you won’t even be the oldest person there. Besides, I’m sure you’ll be staying in the nursery for a while before they even think about letting you move forward… Though that doesn’t mean they won’t let you visit your old class sometimes. Maybe they’ll even let me take you. After what you did to me, I’ll be sure to visit you and make sure they’re treating you like you deserve.”

“Nu-nuwsewy?” Marissa gulped, the sweet smell of baby powder greeting her nose as Mia began to sprinkle that on. “No, pwease, not thewe…” At least her students got to move around, to “learn” things, to interact with people who treated them at least like toddlers, not infants. They even had a chance, however slim, of making their way into training pants, if whoever had signed them up allowed for that. But the nursery… The thought made Marissa shiver.

“It’s not up to me,” Mia shrugged, wiping her hands briefly before grabbing the front of the diaper, pulling it up between Marissa’s legs. Marissa sniffled softly as she felt her thighs being pushed apart by the padding, then again at the distinctive sound of the tape being pulled, readied for action. She could barely feel Mia rubbing the front of her diaper, pressing the tape to the landing strip, but she knew it was happening, knew that meant the diaper wasn’t coming off easily now. “But I’m sure they’ll want you to go through a good, thorough re-training.” Mia gave the other side of the diaper a good tug, making sure it was good and snug before taping it down, fully sealing Marissa into her padded prison.

Marissa shivered at the sound of that. Girls sent back to the nursery, especially for a full retraining, very rarely managed to regain full continence. Of course, generally they were sent there for that purpose, to be kept in diapers permanently, but  even if that wasn’t the fate meant for them, it was unlikely they’d find themselves in anything thinner than training pants ever again.

Below her, Mia began ripping at the plastic cover of the first diaper before sliding the second one under it. Marissa could tell it was a struggle for the woman to lift her, even enough for that, but she knew she was too weak to take advantage of that, and there was no way she was going to help. If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend things were as they should be, that those little grunts of exertion were coming from the girl as she squatted in the corner, eyes wide as she made a present in her diaper for Marissa, one she was all but helpless to stop. But only if she managed to ignore the sound of the tapes, the sensation of her legs being pushed further and further apart.

When she opened her eyes, all her little fantasies came crashing down. From the floor, it was easy to see up Mia’s skirt, to tell that, despite how naughty and little she was, as evidenced by her childish panties, and the coloring beneath them, she was not the one in diapers. She was so clearly just an errant child, one who needed Marissa’s guiding hand… But, somehow, Marissa had been outmaneuvered by this child, and now she was thickly diapered, in her own house, at least until her co-workers came and carted her away for her reconditioning. Until then, she was in Mia’s hands… She was her babysitter, Marissa supposed.

“Come on, it’s time for a little nappy-poo,” Mia told her. “Get back to your nursery and I’ll strap you into your crib, and when you wake up, you should be in your new home.”

When Marissa had bought her nursery furniture, she had made sure to get it bigger than she thought she’d need it, to make her subjects feel extra small when they were inside them. She’d never regretted that choice, until now. She knew the crib was big enough to fit her, and that once she was inside, there was no getting out, not if Mia was smart and cuffed her wrists and ankles and locked the side up. Even if the drug wore off before the handlers from the Dollhouse arrived, she’d still be stuck there, waiting for them.

“I can’t,” she whined, wiggling on her back, trying in vain to press her legs together. “Can’t walk…”

“Of course you can’t. You’re a baby. You’re going to crawl.”

Marissa tried to give the girl a pitiful look, but Mia responded with an expression that made it clear she wasn’t playing around. Pouting, Marissa rolled over and got up on her hands and knees, crawling slowly through her house, marvelling at how different it looked from this angle. Everything seemed so big, so imposing, not least of all Mia, who followed behind, at least until they reached the nursery door, when she went ahead to open it. Was this how the nursery had looked to her girls? The changing table and high chair loomed over her like towers, as the crib sat waiting, like a giant cage. The rocking horse glared at her with painted eyes, looking like some sort of medeival torture device. She felt every bit like a baby, even before she noticed a warm trickle making its way into her diaper.

“This is an impressive set-up,” Mia said, looking around. “I’m sure once you get out of the nursery at the House, they’ll let you keep all this. Won’t that be nice? Then every time you get your poopy bottom changed, you can remember how many diapers you put on others on there; every time you get a spoonful of oatmeal shoved into your mouth in the highchair, you can remember all the girls you put there, all the gross baby food you forced down their throats, and you can wonder if your food is dosed up like I’m sure theirs was. And don’t think I didn’t notice your paddle there on the rocking chair… You’ll be getting a taste of that, too. I’m going to make sure you get a visit to the spanking machine first thing when you get to the Dollhouse, even before they diaper you up.”

Mia walked to the crib, unlocking the side and pushing it down. She paused for a moment, looking back at Marissa with a slightly concerned expression before tugging at the side again. Marissa’s eyes lit up as she realized the problem – Mia hadn’t taken into account the fact that the crib sat up off the ground a bit, and that the side didn’t come all the way down, meaning that, to get Marissa in, she would have to pick her up. Not quite as much as to get her onto the changing table, which Mia had doubted she could do, but still quite a bit.

Of course, the side could fold outward, but it was a little tricky, and Marissa wasn’t about to help. In fact, as she watched Mia fiddle with it, getting more and more absorbed in the activity, she got an idea. Slowly, she crawled her way forward, inching closer and closer to the girl and the crib, waiting for the right moment…

Mia bent forward, over the side of the crib, examining the inside of the rail. Marissa’s heart thumped – had it happened too quickly? – but she quickened her pace anyway, crawling forward with all her might, moving as fast as she could go, building up what meager strength she had left. The girl was sticking her backside out as she bent forward, making a perfect, and familiar, target, for Marissa to barrel into, jumping up slightly, pushing her forward, trying to push her off her balance.

It worked. Mia yelped, fell forward into the crib in a jumble. She started to thrash around, trying to figure out what had happened, giving Marissa enough time to grab the side and push up, gritting her teeth. The wood slats had never felt so heavy as they did now, but the exertion was paying off, as she watched it raise higher and higher, though, below her, all that pushing was having a different effect. Every centimeter higher she pushed the side, it seemed, her body squeezed out another rush of warm, muddy goo into her diaper. She had hardly felt it, though, given how much of the drug she had in her, that was hardly a surprise.

Finally, as Mia began to untangle herself, Marissa heard a click. She was tentative to let it go, knowing that if she was wrong, if she had misheard and the side came crashing back down, she wouldn’t have the time or strength to lift it again, but when she did, it stayed up. She crawled up the length of the crib as fast as she could manage, to the front, so that, when she looked through the bars at the still slightly dazed Mia, she saw her head, and her hands, reaching out to touch the bars, trying to put together what had happened.

She would only have one chance at this, most likely, so she waited as long as she could, then, as Mia began to lower her arm, she reached out, through the bars, grabbing the girl’s wrist, pulling it back toward her, maneuvering it into the cuff built into the corner of the crib. Mia very nearly pulled her hand free, but Marissa was determined, yanking it closer and closer, until she was able to close the cuff around it. Heart pounding, she fumbled at the padlock she had set out, waiting for this very moment, and slammed it into place before clicking it shut.

Marissa sank to the floor, so exhausted she barely felt her bottom sinking into the mess she’d expelled into the seat of her diaper. Luck, it seemed, was on her side after all. If she had missed, trying to put the lock in place, as was entirely likely, considering how bad her motor skills were at the moment, she might not have gotten a second chance before Mia pulled her arm free. But she’d done it, and now Mia was locked in the crib, according to plan. She wasn’t in a diaper, of course, but she’d gotten a spanking, and she was right where she belonged.

“Give me the key!” Mia demanded, thrashing against the restraint. It was only one, but that was still enough to keep her in her place. “Give it to me!” she whined again.

Marissa couldn’t help but smile at the desperation in the girl’s voice. It was obvious that she was afraid of what would happen if she were found like this. It was probably bad enough that she’d let herself get spanked by a subject that had been doped to the gills. To be outsmarted by her, too, and trapped in a crib… That didn’t reflect highly on her training at all. The Dollhouse team was sure to show up when it didn’t hear from her – if she hadn’t already contacted them at some point to tell them to come – and maybe, by then, she would have had no choice but to wet those cute little panties. She’d wish she’d let Marissa diaper her then, but at least the crib’s mattress would be safe – Marissa always kept a plastic sheet on it, of course. Surely, if they saw Mia like that, they’d realize what Marissa had – that she was just an overgrown baby, useless for anything beyond using her diapers and looking cute. At the very least, if there were any other operative like her – and Marissa doubted the Dollhouse would have trained only one – they wouldn’t be able to let this disastrous mission go unpunished. It would set a bad example. The Dollhouse hired only the best – incompetence was quickly met with a matching level of incontinence, and there were very few, if any, second chances.

Marissa made a token attempt at getting away, but she barely made it halfway across the nursery before her body gave out, and she slumped to the floor. Yet, as she drifted off to sleep, there was a smile on her face. She had a good feeling that when she woke up, in that other, much worse, nursery, she’d be seeing Mia right alongside her, getting the treatment she so obviously deserved. And that had been all she wanted in the first place.

Christmas Shopping

‘Santa is feeding his reindeer,’ the sign read. ‘He’ll be back soon… But, remember, he’s always watching!’

It almost seemed like a threat, Jordan thought, though it was hard to feel intimidated by a fat man in a red suit, especially for a smart girl like her. She was a newly-minted adult, just turned 18 the week before – though she’d already been out of high school for a year as a result of skipping a grade – and that made all of this Christmas nonsense seem especially silly to her now. Of course, she’d always found the story of Santa a little too far-fetched to make sense, and, even as a child, had never understood how other kids could fall for it. She guessed they were just greedy and liked the idea of someone whose only function was to bring them new stuff once a year.

“He’s still going to be a little while,” came a voice from behind her. “Did you mommy leave you here to wait?” When Jordan turned around in confusion, she found a girl there, perhaps sixteen, tall and trim, and dressed like an elf. She had on a green Santa hat, a red dress puffed out at the skirt with petticoats and adorned on the front of the chest with a green bow, though most of it was obscured by her coat. It was green, trimmed in white fur to match her hat, held closed with a black plastic belt with a big buckle, obviously meant to look like Santa’s, and made to leave the top and bottom of her dress showing. Beneath, she had on red and white striped tights, like a pair of long, fairly muscular looked candy canes, and a pair of pointy-toes elf boots.

Though the girl was taller than Jordan even in her high heels, despite looking younger, Jordan couldn’t help feeling superior to her. She’d just come from yet another job interview, one that seemed to have gone as well as all the others she’d been on since she’d graduated, so she was in her black pinstripe skirt suit, a red shirt beneath the jacket. Her mother told her it made her look professional, but that had never seemed to help her, and mostly she just thought it looked stuffy. Now, however, staring at this girl’s silly get-up, she couldn’t help feeling proud of it.

Her pride did take a bit of a hit as the girl cooed, “Oh, your mommy really dressed you up, didn’t she? Are you excited to see Santa?”

“Umm, no,” Jordan rolled her eyes. “Look, kid, why don’t you mind your own business?”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” the elf apologized. “I saw you standing here in front of Santa’s chair, and I thought you were… younger. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

“Yeah, well… I guess it’s okay. Just be more careful next time.” Jordan almost felt bad now for being harsh with the girl. Besides, she didn’t exactly want to draw attention to herself. She couldn’t quite bring herself to apologize, since she thought it was far worse that this girl had called her a child than anything she’d done to her, but she did manage a, “Merry Christmas,” before moving on. The elf parroted it, but almost before she was done, she had her cell phone out.

“Gee, real professional,” Jordan snorted to herself. There weren’t any little kids around that she could see, but if there had been, did they really need to see Santa’s helper acting like a typical teen? She knew it was a little hypocritical of her to act like she cared, when she thought it was silly to pretend Santa was real at all, but she was happy for any reason to disparage the elf. Really, she couldn’t help but feel slightly jealous of her. This kid had found a job – a dreadfully simple job, but still a job – while Jordan, who was older, and no doubt smarter, was still searching for one. She was almost desperate enough that she might have taken that job, if she’d known about it, even if being around little kids all day sounded like torture. She was sure she looked young enough to pull it off, and elves were supposed to be short, weren’t they? She was certainly more qualified in that way than that girl had been.

She made her way to the jewelry counter. It wasn’t as empty as she’d have hoped, and, almost right away, she had someone popping over to ask if she needed help. “I’m just looking,” she told her, starting to flip through the displays on top of the counter. Most of them were locked, though she felt like she needed to spin them around once or twice anyway, to make it look like she was browsing before moving on. There were definitely some nice things there, but none of them had prices displayed, which was enough to tell Jordan she had no hope of affording them, though the locked glass cages around them were also a good indicator. Finally, she found a couple of plainer displays, both in terms of security and the items they held.

“That’s pretty,” the worker commented from behind the counter as Jordan picked up a set of earrings. “And those are 30% off right now!”

“Yeah, I see.” There was a sign on top of the display saying the same thing, making Jordan want to point out that she was capable of reading, but she decided to be a little more civil. “They’re for a present – I’m not sure they’re quite right. Oh, I think you have a customer!”

It was lucky, and probably not the wisest design, that the cash registers were at the opposite end of the counter from these open displays, but it worked out quite well for Jordan. As the cashier scurried over to do her job, Jordan began to slowly spin the display again, inconspicuously looking around herself. It was a weekday, and not deep enough into the Christmas season that it was terribly crowded, and the people who were there were busy with their own shopping. Only the customer at the register seemed to be looking her way, and that changed as the cashier got to her and started ringing her up.

Jordan took a pair of earrings from their hook on the display, turned them over to pretend to look at the price, then did the same with a necklace, then another pair of earrings, before slowly lowering her hand, slipping them into the pocket of her jacket. She glanced around again before starting to walk off, only then noticing another pair of earrings. She debated for a moment before taking them as well. She didn’t want to give too much jewelry as presents for Christmas, or it might seem suspicious that she had been able to afford it all, but this pair wasn’t for someone else – they’d look much better on her than anyone she was giving gifts to.

She kept her hand in her pocket as she walked away, her fingers wrapped around that last pair of earrings. The price really wasn’t that bad, especially with the discount, and it might seem less suspicious if she bought something after lingering so long at the jewelry counter. But why? She was pretty sure nobody had seen her, and if she wasn’t paying for anything else, why start now? There were better things she could use her money for than Christmas presents.

“Do you need some help?”

“No, I’m just looking,” she said, only intending to give the speaker a brief smile before moving on until she realized it was the elf again. “Are you following me?”

“No, of course not,” the elf told her. “I’m just looking around, too. I’m on my break. But if you needed any help finding something, I could…”

“I’m fine,” Jordan cut her off. She didn’t need someone trailing after her, especially someone dressed like this girl was.

“Okay,” the girl shrugged. “But remember – Santa’s always watching!”

“Of course he is,” Jordan smirked. “Bye-bye now.”

She turned and walked away, only remembering a moment later that she had intended on leaving the store, going on to the rest of the mall to finish her Christmas “shopping”. That door, however, was now behind her, and she knew it would look silly to just spin right back around, especially if the elf was still behind her, watching, so she committed to her mistake and soldiered on. Maybe it was for the best, she mused. She had parked by this store – maybe she could head out, empty her pockets and her purse, then drive to another of the mall’s entrances so she wouldn’t have to see the stupid, nosy elf again.

But first, because of the route she’d chosen, she had to pass by the lingerie section. “Who would wear this?” she wondered out loud to herself, stopping to look at a sheer babydoll nightie, red and trimmed in white fur at the top and bottom, obviously meant to look like Santa’s usual costume. Did guys find it hot when their girlfriends dressed like an obese, bearded man? She couldn’t say that she saw the appeal. She shook her head as she turned away, starting to head for the door again before noticing something else.

There were a few tables set up to display panties, most of which looked fairly normal. The last table, however, looked like it belonged in the kid’s section more than with the grown-up clothes, as it held panties decorated with Hello Kitty and Sesame Street characters. She almost wondered who would wear those, either, but she already knew the answer. She had a friend, Chelsea, who would love them – she had quite a collection of cute panties that she didn’t hesitate to show her female friends when she had them on. It was a habit Jordan had always found incredibly juvenile. But these were exactly the sort of thing Chelsea would wear.

Especially one pair with Cookie Monster’s face plastered all over, and a waistband proclaiming “Yum Yum” over and over. She was a little shocked at that, and a little amused. Chelsea, whose favorite Sesame Street character – Jordan also considered the very idea of having a favorite quite childish – was Cookie Monster, so they would be perfect. It might be a bit odd to give one of her friends underwear for Christmas, and she wasn’t sure she really wanted to encourage this behavior in the girl, but she hadn’t found anything else for her.

“Looking for new panties?”

Jordan looked up in frustration to see the elf again, having apparently walked around her without her noticing, since she was now in front of her.

“Uh-oh… That’s usually not good.” The elf shook her head with a wry smile before breaking into a mock whisper, “Did you have an accident, sweetie?” Jordan wasn’t even sure how to respond to that. It was stupid, ridiculous, inconceivable. “Well, those look like they’ll be perfect for you. Do you want me to show you where the checkout is so your mommy can buy them for you?”

“Okay, look here,” Jordan growled, taking a step closer to the girl. “This whole ‘acting like I’m a kid’ bit isn’t funny, and it’s getting on my nerves. So stop following me around and leave me alone, or I’ll get your manager and have you fired. You got that?!”

The elf held up her hands and took a step back. “Sorry, Miss Crankypants.”

Jordan watched her leave with relief, and as she grabbed the Cookie Monster panties, she decided to take a pair of the design next to it – it featured Elmo and the phrase ‘Tickle Me’, which struck her as even more surprising for something featuring a character from a kid’s show. She might give those to Chelsea, too, or she might just throw them away; mostly, she was just getting pissed at the store for hiring such an obnoxious person. It served them right, really.

After tucking them into her pocket, she started, once again, for the exit. This time, it was a hand around her wrist that stopped her. Her heart began to thump wildly as she turned, expecting to find a security guard. Instead, it was still the damn elf. “I told you to go away!” she hissed.

She was surprised at the girl’s strength as she found herself being pulled back over to the panties. “Put them back,” the girl told her quietly.

Her heart began beating a little more quickly again, but she wasn’t about to let herself be defeated this easily, certainly not by this girl. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she claimed. “I decided I wasn’t going to spend my money at this store after dealing with you, and this manhandling of me is just reinforcing my decision. Now let go!”

She struggled futilely in the elf’s grip, only to have her hand swatted, to her great shock. “Stop it,” the girl ordered. “Look, loss prevention has seen you, and they’ve been following you. I’ve been trying to warn you. If you try to leave here with that stuff, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

“Shit.” Jordan knew that would only confirm that she’d done it, but it didn’t sound like there was much doubt. She tried not to be too obvious as she looked around herself, especially as she noticed a guy who she was sure had been over by the jewelry counter when she was there, too. She’d almost been out, too, almost been that much closer to finishing her Christmas shopping. The thought of having to put it all back to start again almost made her want to cry, but not as much as the thought of having to pay for it all from her ever-shrinking bank account. “You don’t understand, I…”

The elf pretended to take something from Jordan, then reached over to the panty table, ruffling its contents slightly before giving a thumbs-up to the man following them. “What are you doing?” Jordan asked, confused.

“They won’t miss a couple of those,” she shrugged. “But you need to work with me here. I can’t fake it all.”

Jordan looked at the elf with surprise, and appreciation. This girl was really taking a risk for her, for no real reason, after Jordan had been so mean to her. She couldn’t help feeling bad about the way she’d been acting. “I know,” she agreed reluctantly. “But… Well, I kind of need all of this. Why don’t I act like I got away from you, and just make a run for it?”

The elf shook her head. “That won’t work. They know what you look like, they have people posted at the exits. Although…” The girl eyed Jordan hesitantly. “I don’t know…”

“What?”

“Maybe you could disguise yourself. Most of LP is stationed at the exits, so there’s only one following you. I can distract him, and you can go and change into a different outfit. Leave your purse with me, and I’ll say I managed to keep ahold of it, and I’m sure he won’t try to hard to catch up with you, because obviously you’d have to come back for it.”

“Yeah, but…” Jordan shook her head, biting her bottom lip. “What if he looks at my driver’s license and gets all my information, though?”

“You’re not officially a shoplifter until you leave the store,” the elf informed her. “So he doesn’t have any authority to do that. And he won’t get it, because he won’t hear from any of the rest of his team that you left. I’ll stash it in my locker in the back so he knows you’ll have to come to me to get it. Then you come up to me when I’m with Santa, pretend you lost your mommy, and I’ll take you back to the office to ‘help you find her’. Got it?”

“I guess… But why a kid? Why can’t I just change into normal clothes?”

“The women’s fitting room is right over there,” the elf nodded slightly. “There’s no way he won’t notice you go in there. And if he notices you taking something from here and then coming back around here in it… Well, that won’t work. But there are no exits near the kid’s section, or that fitting room, so there shouldn’t be any LP over there.”

Jordan nodded reluctantly. She had to admit it made sense, even if she didn’t like it. The elf put her hand on Jordan’s purse, then let Jordan break away from her. She didn’t have the guts to see if she was being followed by security or if the girl had done her part. She slowed down as she rounded the corner into the kid’s section, not wanting the people there to get suspicious of what was going on. Luckily, there weren’t many people there in the first place, and she quickly managed to blend in by browsing through the clothes, searching for something that would fit her and not make her look too silly. She found a sweater and jeans, and, deeming them good enough, started for the fitting room.

“What are you doing?”

Jordan’s eyes went wide as she once again saw the elf. “How did you get here so fast? Didn’t it work? Couldn’t you distract him?” Jordan began glancing around, searching for the man she was sure was following her.

“Huh? Oh, no, it’s fine. Your purse is in my locker and everything. He knows you’re trapped, so he’s not too concerned. But you’re not going to pull this off with that.” She took the clothes from Jordan, who wasn’t exactly pleased about getting her fashion sense critiqued by someone dressed as an elf. “That might make you look a little younger, but you need more than that if you want them to think you’re somebody else. You need to look like a kid.”

She began ushering Jordan to the other side of the department. The clothes got smaller, and less mature looking, as they went, Jordan getting more restless as they passed outfit after outfit that she could have tolerated, if only for the few minutes it would take to pull this scam, and she started feeling more and more sure that the clothes they were seeing were bound to be too small to fit her. Finally, they stopped in front of a rack of dresses. They were obviously meant as holiday dresses, all red and puffy and cutesy, but none more than the one the elf grabbed. It was red velvet, the hem of the skirt and ends of the sleeves ringed in white fur, a white ribbon around the waist tied in a bow at the front. It seemed she couldn’t escape Santa after all.

“What about…?” Jordan started to ask, starting to reach for another red dress, covered in embroidered flowers, with a sweater to go over it, but she was already being pulled toward the fitting room.

“We have to hurry!” the girl said, urgently shoving Jordan toward an open door. “We don’t know how long we have!”

Before she knew it, Jordan had been ushered into a changing room, the door closed for her. At first she thought to herself that it was lucky this place didn’t have the fitting rooms set up for anyone to watch them, but luck had little to do with it – it was a big part of why she’d chosen it for her first stop.

She sighed as she stared at herself in the mirror. She’d never exactly looked her age, but she’d found little ways of helping that along, and she’d felt quite proud of how she’d looked that day. Dorky or not, the suit really was a big help in making her appear somewhat close to an adult, at least when paired with everything else. But now… She looked down at the dress that had been chosen for her with disgust. That was not going to make her look mature at all; that was the point, of course, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

She could always stop this now, go find security and turn herself in, and try to explain. Since she hadn’t actually taken anything yet, she wasn’t sure they could do much, if anything, to her, other than take her spoils, and either ban her or watch her extra close each time she came in. Considering most of the new clothes she’d gotten over the past year or so had come from there, very little of which she’d paid for, that wasn’t exactly ideal. Maybe it was a sign that she was getting too old for this shoplifting thing, that she should stop, but if that was so, then wouldn’t that suggest that this elf showing up to help her was a sign, too? And that sign seemed to be saying that it wasn’t time to give up after all.

She gave one more sigh, then began stripping out of her clothes, laying them carefully on the bench before slipping the dress on over her black, lacy underthings. It was a tight fit, especially around the chest, and the skirt was perilously short, but, to her annoyance considering the age the dress was actually intended for, it technically fit. However, one look in the mirror revealed just how ridiculous she looked. She wouldn’t say she looked like a kid, but she certainly didn’t look like an 18 year old, either. She wasn’t entirely sure what she saw staring back at her. A pre-teen who had gotten into her mother’s make-up?

“This isn’t going to work,” she told the elf. “Isn’t there something bigger?” Just the act of turning toward the door to call out caused the skirt to swish upward, revealing a hint of her black panties beneath her pantyhose.

“Let me see,” the girl said.

“Can’t you just..?” Jordan started to ask, only to see the door handle jiggle for a moment, then unlock itself and open. It wasn’t a difficult thing to do – she’d figured out how to do it long ago with just her house key and a little luck – but having it used on her was a different thing entirely. “What are you doing?!”

“I have to see what I need to look for,” the girl said matter-of-factly. “Hmm… Well, those shoes will have to go. And… Yes… Uh-huh… Okay! You sit tight in here and I’ll be back in a jiffy!” The girl vanished, closing the door behind her. For a moment, Jordan wondered if this was a strange set-up, and the girl was going to be bringing a security guard in with her, but why go to all this trouble? It didn’t make sense.

She stood there for a moment, doing her best to look away from the mirror, looking instead at her old outfit, her real clothes. How was she going to get those out? She hadn’t thought about that. She wasn’t about to leave them here and hope that, when she came back through, they’d still be there. She needed to take them with her. But how? Clearly, they weren’t going to go on under this dress, or likely any other that would be picked out for her. Her purse was in the elf’s locker, and the purse section of the store was too far away, and too close to the women’s section, where LP had been last she knew. Besides, seeing a supposed kid carrying a purse might set off some alarms. But what else could she do? How did kids carry around stuff?

The answer hit her suddenly, and was rather obvious once she’d thought of it. Slowly, she opened the door, sticking her head out and looking around, relieved to see she seemed to be alone in this little corner of the store. The store didn’t carry backpacks all the time, just for the start of school, but she felt sure she’d seen a few on the clearance rack, left over from then. Quickly, she scurried that way, not wanting to be seen like this, and also not wanting anyone to get into her fitting room stall and take her things.

There truly were only a few backpacks left, and two of them were duplicates of one another. She groaned as she stared at her choices – Dora the Explorer or Disney Princesses – loathe to choose, then have to carry around, either one. Maybe she could just have the girl put her clothes in her locker as well? But then if LP asked to see her purse for some reason, they’d probably find the fact her clothes were there pretty suspicious, if the sight of the girl carrying them through the store wasn’t enough already.

“What are you doing out here?”

Jordan spun around, shocked to find the girl back already, her arms full. “How did you get all that already?”

“Get back in there!” the girl ordered, and when Jordan didn’t move fast enough, the girl juggled her armload a little to give her an extra hand, which immediately went to Jordan’s ear, pulling her, squealing in surprise and pain, back to the fitting room. “Sorry!” she apologized as soon as they were in, and she’d dumped everything on the floor. “I just wanted it to really look like you were a kid, you know? In case anyone’s watching.”

It made sense, Jordan had to admit, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. “Yeah, fine,” she grumbled, rubbing her ear. “I was just getting a backpack to put my old clothes in.” She tossed the bag down onto the bench on top of her clothes. In the rush, it had barely even registered that the one she’d been holding when she’d been so unceremoniously dragged off was the Princesses one. Not that it mattered, but there, in such direct contrast to her normal clothes, it looked extra juvenile.

“All right, let’s get to work,” the elf announced. “Take that dress off.”

Jordan would have been more than happy to do so, except the girl gave no indication that she was going to leave. “I can do that on my own,” she pointed out after a minute.

“No, you can’t. You’re a kid now, remember?”

“I’m not that young a kid,” Jordan grumbled.

“You’re as young as we can make you look. The further from the truth the better, right? Now, come on. Off.” She rolled her eyes when Jordan still didn’t move. “Okay, fine, let’s start somewhere else. Take off those shoes. Little girls don’t wear high heels. Especially not that high.”

“Yeah, but…” Jordan stammered, but she couldn’t argue with that. Slowly, she stepped out of them, and down onto her pantyhose-clad feet. Instantly, she felt more childish and vulnerable, having to look that much further up at this kid.

“Those, too,” the girl pointed to Jordan’s legs. When Jordan started to protest she shook her head. “Girls don’t wear pantyhose, either, do they?”

“No,” Jordan sighed. “Could you maybe at least turn around or something?”

“Come on, you’re taking all day!” the girl snapped instead. “If you complain about every step, you’re going to get us caught!”

Jordan wasn’t sure how to get her hose off in this dress without flashing her skimpy panties, but the girl hardly seemed to notice. She pulled them down, revealing the pale, skinny legs beneath, and tossed them over with her other clothes. The girl handed her a pair of white ankle socks trimmed with lace, still in their package. She didn’t even like pantyhose – it was just another step to make her look professional – but even she thought these were a pretty big step down. “I think you’re going a little too young,” she voiced her concern again.

“Do you not want my help? I’m risking my job here! Do you really want me to go back out and find you something else?!” Jordan did, really, but obviously that would be pretty unfair. She ripped open the package and took out the socks, yanking them over her bare feet. “Now,” the girl proclaimed, “dress off.”

Jordan still couldn’t bring herself to do that. “Why?” she whined. “You didn’t bring me a new one!”

“That one is fine,” the elf informed her. “It’s what’s underneath that needs to be changed.”

“Underneath?” Jordan squeaked. “Nobody is going to see what’s underneath!”

“They will if you’re not careful! And considering how many times you’ve flashed me already, you’re not careful!” Jordan’s cheeks flushed a bright red. “But that just adds to the illusion… As long as we make a few adjustments.”

“I didn’t bring any spare panties,” Jordan said, looking at the supplies the girl had brought and not seeing any there, either. “Did you?”

“No, I didn’t,” the girl admitted. “But are you sure you don’t have any?” Jordan looked at her in confusion until she glanced over at Jordan’s clothes, and Jordan remembered the last thing she’d stolen.

“Well, those aren’t really for…” she started to say. Really, it was only the Cookie Monster pair that she needed. The Elmo one had been an impulse snatch, so why not take advantage of that? She didn’t exactly want to wear them, but they would certainly look less suspicious under the dress than her normal, grown-up underwear. “Okay,” she gave in, walking over and searching through her pockets to pull them out, taking the tag off. She looked over at the girl, wondering if it would be worth it to ask her not to watch. It hadn’t worked last time, and she didn’t want to risk making her mad, since she could get Jordan caught pretty easily.

Instead, she just kept her back to the girl as she wriggled out of her panties and into the new ones. They were a fuller cut than she was used to, and a thicker, coarser fabric, but otherwise they didn’t feel too awful, even if the sight of them made her feel ridiculous. The “Tickle Me” was at the top, meaning anyone who happened to catch just a glimpse of them likely wouldn’t see them, and assume they really were meant for someone much younger than her, probably right out of potty training.

“Now will you take that dress off?” the girl asked impatiently.

“What? But I changed my underwear!” Jordan complained, turning around.

“That’s not the only thing that’s under there,” the girl pointed out. Jordan looked down and saw a training bra among the things the girl had brought for her.

Jordan crossed her arms over her chest. “No, I can’t wear that!” she shook her head.

“Please,” the girl chuckled. “Do you really think anyone believes those are real?” She peeled back Jordan’s arms, then started to undo her dress. “You aren’t fooling anybody.”

“B-But…” Jordan stammered, too shocked to move for a moment, giving the girl, who seemed to have a lot of experience at this, time to get the dress off of her, leaving her shivering there, more than half naked. As silly as she’d felt, putting on those panties, she looked even more so now, and she found herself gawking at her reflection. From the chest up she looked like a normal young woman, in her black bra, her face all made up, but below that, she was in Elmo panties and ankle socks. She watched her knees turn in slightly at the sight, of their own accord.

“There!” the elf declared, having unfastened the bra while Jordan was distracted, pulling it off. Suddenly, the percentage of her body that looked childish, instead of grown-up, jumped dramatically, as the bra took with it all its quite useful padding, leaving her all but flat-chested.

“Oh!” she cried out, covering her chest with her arms again, only to have them once more yanked away.

“See?” the girl pointed out. “Heck, you don’t even need this trainer. It’s a good thing I picked up these vests, too, just in case.” She picked the package up, showing them to the horrified Jordan. They were white, scallop-trimmed, with a little white bow at the front, very much intended for little kids. She made no move to take them, couldn’t make herself do so. “Are you going to put it on, or do I have to do it for you?”

That spurred Jordan into action. As little as she wanted to wear them, it would be all the worse to be dressed in it. Hands shaking, she took the package and ripped it open, taking out one of them. The others she put with the rest of her clothes, noting that her backpack was going to be quite full by the time she was done. Like the dress, the vest was a little tight, but, unfortunately, did go on, its snugness only working further to compress her already miniscule breasts, and leave just a little sliver of her white tummy peeking out between it and the “Tickle Me” of her panties’ waistband.

“Almost done!” the girl declared, opening the shoe box she’d brought in, revealing a pair of shiny white Mary-Janes, a white daisy decorating the strap. Jordan would never have worn them, but at this point, she barely had a choice. She couldn’t stop now, could she? That would make the rest of this a waste. Besides, after her change of underwear, the stupid shoes barely registered, though once she had them on, it was very easy to feel the difference between them, with their flat soles, and her nice, tall high heels.

The girl grabbed Jordan, turning her away from her as she pulled the dress back over her head and fastened it, then spun her back around to slip a white Alice band with a white bow onto her head, pushing her hair away from her face. Finally, she took out a travel package of baby wipes and rubbed them on Jordan’s face. Jordan squealed, squirming to try to escape the cool wetness, and the infantile smell, but by the time she escaped, she had been wiped clean of the make-up she’d so meticulously applied that morning.

Jordan gasped as the elf grabbed her shoulders and turned her to the mirror for a final inspection. There was now no trace of her former maturity left, no doubt that the person in the reflection was a child, a little kid whose mommy had gotten her all dressed up to go visit Santa. She could feel, and see, herself going pigeon-toed again as she stood there, heart thumping loudly in her chest.

“I think that will do,” the elf nodded. “Now, I really need to go. You clean up here, okay? Then, remember, come find me with Santa and we’ll get this all taken care of!” The girl patted Jordan’s head, just making her feel all the more small, and stepped out of the fitting room, leaving the door wide open.

Frantically, Jordan scurried over to it and shut it again, flashing her panties again in the process, though luckily there was nobody there to see them. She was really going to have to be careful, she thought to herself. She walked back across the room more slowly, to the bench where she’d tossed the backpack. She removed the tags from it, then unzipped it and put them inside, along with the packages and tags from the other things she was wearing. She ripped the shoe box so she could fold it up and fit it inside, then reluctantly put in her shoes and her old clothes on top of it all, hiding the evidence of her latest rash of shoplifting. It was only when she was double-checking the room to make sure she hadn’t left anything that she noticed the little package of baby wipes, so it wound up on top.

The backpack was quite full, but with a little pushing she managed to get it zipped closed and onto her shoulders. The girl in the mirror looked on the verge of tears, which only helped with her illusion and the story of having lost her mother. It was almost impossible to reconcile this picture with what she’d seen in the mirror not fifteen minutes ago, a young woman fresh off a job interview, a little shaken by what was going on, but still confident. She supposed she should feel all the more confident now, since her disguise was so good, but that was very little comfort here, in private. Instead, it was disturbing just how quickly and thoroughly she’d been transformed, shot back in time.

When she finally got the courage to leave the fitting room, the store felt like it had grown around her, dwarfing her even more. She gulped as she looked around herself, staring at all the kid’s clothes that, like this dress, she might be able to fit into. Most of them seemed like better options, but when she went to pick up a pair of glittery jeans, decorated with embroidered butterflies, her hands began to shake. It seemed like all the customers in the store had come to this section, that they were all looking at her. She wasn’t sure if they saw through her disguise and knew what she was planning to do with the pants, or if they really thought she was a kid, nor did she know which would be worse. Either way, going into the fitting room in one outfit and coming out in another might not be a good idea, unless she waited a good, long time before coming out to give the people time to move to another department, and she really wanted to get out of this mess as quickly as possible.

She put the jeans back and walked to the main aisle, having to force herself to stay slow and her hands on the hem to keep her skirt from showing off what was beneath. The hard, flat soles of her Mary Janes clunked loudly and clumsily on the linoleum, so much different from the confident click of her heels, the sound of each step echoing in her mind, reminding her that she wasn’t an adult anymore. Her heart beat faster and faster, and all she could think about was getting to Santa, meeting with the elf, getting out of here.

She didn’t even notice the woman she bumped into until it was too late. She let out a surprised, “Oof!” and fell backwards onto her ass, skirt falling haphazardly to reveal her Elmo-covered underwear until she frantically pulled it back into place.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie!” the woman cooed, bending down to help her up. “I didn’t see you there!” Jordan’s heart stopped as she reached up to take the woman’s hand and recognized her. It was Mrs. Patterson, the woman who had just interviewed her that morning! She recalled the woman mentioning she had to do Christmas shopping, too, when Jordan said that was what she was doing after the interview, but she hadn’t expected her to be here! Though this was the only mall in the area, so she supposed she really should have considered the possibility.

“It’s… umm… It’s okay,” Jordan mumbled, staring down at her feet, at the stupid daisy on the top of her shoes as they scuffed nervously at the floor. She wanted to run off, but something stopped her, told her that would make her look more suspicious. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes despite herself. She’d already been sure she wouldn’t get hired, but being seen like this would only clinch that, wouldn’t it?

“Aww, are you okay?” Mrs. Patterson asked, looking around. “Where’s your mommy, sweetheart?”

Jordan blinked, glancing back up at the woman. Did she really not recognize her? She supposed the woman must get a lot of interviews, especially this time of the year, but had her transformation really been that thorough that she didn’t see the person she’d met just that morning? If nothing else, that just confirmed that she wouldn’t be getting the job, if she wasn’t even that memorable. “She’s… uh… over by Santa. I’m s’posed to get my picture with him,” she said finally, making her voice higher and squeakier, trying to disguise it as much as she could.

“Then what are you doing way over here? She doesn’t let you wander off on your own, does she? You’re not big enough for that!”

Jordan bristled – how dare she say that?! She hadn’t even asked how old Jordan was, just assumed, and went right to insulting her mother’s parenting skills! “No, I was just…” she started before drawing a blank. What would a little kid like her be doing on her own?

“You didn’t run off, did you? That’s very naughty! Santa won’t like that!”

Jordan blushed, but nodded her head in agreement. “I know…”

“I hope you didn’t get mad because your mommy wouldn’t buy you something. I’ve seen little girls like you do that all the time, throw tantrums right in the middle of the store. And then their mommies give in, when what they should do is take the little brats over their knees!” Mrs. Patterson stopped herself, having seemingly realized she was ranting. “But I’m sure you didn’t do that, did you?”

“No…” Jordan said, but it didn’t even sound convincing to her, and she could tell the woman wasn’t buying it either, and she was sure that, in the woman’s mind, she was being given a thorough paddling.

“Well, let’s go find her,” the woman took Jordan’s hand and started to lead her through the store. At first, Jordan tried to dig her heels in, but it made little difference, and the woman gave her a look that got her feet moving again. She doubted the woman would spank someone else’s kid in the middle of the store… But she didn’t want to find out for sure. “What was she wearing?”

Jordan froze up, unsure of what to say. This woman really seemed dedicated to this… She could only hope that the elf managed to convince Mrs. Patterson to let Jordan go with her to the office instead of taking it upon herself to personally find Jordan’s mother. “She… uh…”

“You look familiar,” the woman mused, startling Jordan even further. “Maybe I know your mommy. What’s her name?”

“I, uh… I… Mommy?” she squeaked.

“Oh, sorry,” the woman smiled softly. “What’s your last name, then?”

That was even worse. Should she lie, and hope she didn’t pick the name of someone Mrs. Patterson knew? Should she tell the truth and risk the woman recognizing her? There was no way she could feign ignorance of that without making herself look very young or very stupid. Instead, she exclaimed, “Look, there’s Santa!”

As it turned out, that was the wrong choice. From there, they could only see the back of Santa’s chair and the elf, but even that far away, it was obvious there was nobody else standing there, waiting for their daughter. “You know what? I bet your mommy put all that information in your backpack somewhere. Do you know where?”

“No!” Jordan’s vocal disguise slipped as she thought of this woman looking through the bag, knowing what was hidden there. Unfortunately, Mrs. Patterson took it a different way, and used it as a cue to push Jordan forward and start to unzip her backpack. “No!” Jordan repeated, twisting, trying to pull away.

She managed to get the woman off her backpack, but the action pulled the bag open partway, spilling some of its contents on the floor. Jordan wasn’t sure what to do first, as she heard some things clattering to the floor, but finally decided to fumble behind her with the zipper to keep any more from escaping.

“What do you have these for?” Mrs. Patterson asked, and Jordan turned around slowly, paling as she saw the baby wipes. “Do you..?”

“No!” Jordan squeaked. “No, they’re just for cleaning my hands!”

“Then why do you have a change of clothes, too?” Mrs. Patterson bent down to pick up the skirt, and Jordan’s heart stopped as the woman looked from it to her, and a flash of recognition came over her.

“Th-This isn’t what you think,” Jordan mumbled.

“Yes, Ms. Hendrickson? Then what is it?” Jordan couldn’t bring herself to answer that, either, and now that the gig was up, it made her feel even more stupid. “You let me get worried sick about some poor child lost in a store on her own, when all along it was just you… what? What is this? Some sort of fetish?”

“No!” Jordan shook her head frantically, but she wasn’t about to admit to this woman that she’d been shoplifting, and she could think of no other reason to be here, dressed like this.

That wasn’t good enough for Mrs. Patterson this time, however. “I’m waiting,” she said sternly, crossing her arms, still holding the baby wipes and Jordan’s skirt. Jordan stared at the latter with a quiet groan, knowing this woman would never treat her this way if she was just wearing that, instead of this ridiculous dress. After a minute, the woman shook her head. “All right, fine. If you want to act like a child, I’m more than happy to treat you like one.”

She grabbed Jordan roughly, shoving the skirt back into her backpack and zipping it back up before turning her around and marching her through the store, away from Santa and his elf, the baby wipes still clenched in her other hand. Jordan’s cheeks burned as she realized that, to anyone passing by, she’d look like a child, too old for this, who was being taken to get her diaper changed by her mother, frustrated at her little girl’s potty training troubles.

“What are you doing?” Jordan whined. “Let me go!” But no matter how many times she said it, it didn’t work, and the looks she got from the other customers just seemed to confirm that they saw the pair only as an unruly, obnoxious child and her mother, not one adult being taken against her will by the other.

They wound up in the bathroom, where Mrs. Patterson finally let go of Jordan’s arm, pushing her further into the room while she locked the door, leaving the girl pouting and rubbing her arm. Mrs. Patterson set the baby wipes on top of the changing table folded into the wall, then reached into her purse, coming out with something that made Jordan’s eyes go wide.

“Wh-What is that for?” she squeaked.

“What do you think? Turn around. Hands on the wall.”

“No! No, no, no!” Jordan stomped her foot, tears stinging her eyes. This was so unfair! She was an adult, this woman had no right to spank her! But Mrs. Patterson had planted herself in front of the locked door, arms crossed, wooden hairbrush clenched tightly in one hand, letting Jordan know in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t getting out of there.

“I think I made it pretty clear how I feel about little girls who throw tantrums,” Mrs. Patterson said calmly. “Now turn around right now, young lady, or this will only get worse for you.”

“You can’t do this!” Jordan declared defiantly. “You can’t!”

That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Mrs. Patterson sprang into motion at that, walking over to the smaller girl and spinning her around, pinning her up against the wall with one arm. Jordan whined and squirmed futiley, at least until the hairbrush smacked against her backside.

“Ouch!” she cried, a patch of heat and pain blossoming where she’d just been hit, her hand rubbing it in shock. “How dare you?!”

“Get your hands up and against that wall,” the woman ordered, stepping away from her slightly. “Now!”

Jordan knew doing so would be to subject herself to more of the same, but not doing it would likely end the same way, if not more-so. “I’m sorry,” she sniffled. “Please, I’ve learned my lesson.”

The hairbrush thwapped against her bottom again, and then Mrs. Patterson stopped again, waiting. Whimpering, Jordan raised her hands up over her head, pressing them against the wall. When the woman started the spanking again, she started it for real. Each hit wasn’t quite as hard as the first two had been, but they came faster, barely giving her time to yelp between each one. In no time at all, her ass was blazing, and she was crying like a baby. She’d never been spanked as a child, and to have her first spanking being done here, by someone who just this morning had seen her, she’d hoped, as an adult, a potential former colleague, was humiliating.

But not nearly as humiliating as what came next. As the spanking wore on for what seemed like ages, Jordan was sure she could hear her voice growing hoarse from the crying, her bottom swelling from the abuse, her legs turning to jelly beneath her. She just wanted it to stop, but she couldn’t even form words anymore. This childish punishment had robbed her of even that, making the pain of it her whole world, making her forget about everything else. And, eventually, her body seemed to forget about everything else, too, including how to control its bladder.

There was no warning, no chance to stop it. She just felt something warm and wet running down the inside of her thighs all of the sudden. It took her a moment to realize what had happened, and when she did, she just started crying all the harder. At about the same time, Mrs. Patterson noticed it as well.

“You dirty little girl!” she scolded. But at least she stopped the spanking as she stared down at Jordan in disgust as the girl stood there in a puddle of her own urine, knees shaking as she fought not to fall down right there. “Well, it’s a good thing you did this here.”

Jordan found it hard to look at the woman now, after what she’d done, but she still glanced up at her after that, confused about the statement until she followed her eyes to the machine next to the changing table – the one that sold diapering kits.

“Is that what you want? Is that what this whole game was about?” Mrs. Patterson asked, seeing that Jordan had spotted it as well.

“No!” Jordan sniffled. “No, please…”

The woman ignored her, flipping the changing table down from the wall, putting one of the paper covers over its surface. Grabbing Jordan, she pulled her away from her puddle, then yanked her backpack off, setting it to the side before doing the same with her dress. Jordan whimpered a half-hearted protest, not wanting to be seen in her wet panties and vest, but unable to muster much resistance so soon after that spanking. Mrs. Patterson grabbed a handful of paper towels and shoved them at her. “Clean that up,” she demanded, waiting for the girl to get down on her hands and knees, red bottom sticking up in the air, then walked over to the diaper dispenser and started feeding in coins from her purse.

“No, pl-please d-don’t,” Jordan whimpered, not daring to stop in her task, but still watching in horror as the woman popped the final coin into the money tray, then hit the button. A plastic-wrapped bundle popped out of the machine, urging some fresh tears from Jordan. “Please don’t diaper me!”

Mrs. Patterson pulled open the package, letting out the faint scent of baby powder. “Throw those away,” she said, “and come over here.”

Reluctantly, Jordan did as she was told, unhappy to see when she turned back around from the trash can that the diaper was out of the package and sitting on the edge of the changing table. Slowly and meekly, she trudged over to it. As soon as she got there, Mrs. Patterson set to work, pulling the wet panties down Jordan’s quivering legs and over her shoes. She stared at them for a moment, sneering as she read, “‘Tickle Me’? Disgusting,” giving Jordan a look like the girl had designed the suggestive underwear herself, then put them into a plastic bag she’d gotten from the kit. There were some baby wipes in the kit as well, but Mrs. Patterson used those up quickly as she cleaned the now squirming and crying Jordan’s wet legs, and moved on to the package the elf had given Jordan.

When she was satisfied that Jordan was clean, she lifted the girl onto the changing table, sitting her on the edge while she removed the girl’s shoes and socks. She set the shoes down on the floor, and put the socks in with Jordan’s panties, then sealed the bag. Jordan, fidgeting uncomfortably, her throbbing bottom finding no comfort in the hard plastic table, could only watch, knowing what was coming next, and helpless to stop it.

Mrs. Patterson pushed the girl onto her back, sliding her further back on the table. The diaper crinkled loudly as she picked it up and unfolded it. “Nooo…” Jordan whimpered softly, which did nothing to stop the woman from lifting her up and sliding the thick, puffy diaper beneath her. Jordan had to admit the changing table was more comfortable with that bit of padding between her and it, though she didn’t really think it was worth it.

The woman took a small can of baby powder from the package, then proceeded to empty apparently the whole thing onto Jordan’s crotch, until the faint scent of ammonia in Jordan’s nose was replaced with that sweet smell, and she knew she was sure to be smelling like that for the rest of the day. Mrs. Patterson pulled the diaper up between Jordan’s legs, forcing her thighs apart as the girl sniffled and whined ineffectively. Then there was a slight ripping sound, and a pressure on her tummy as Mrs. Patterson pushed the tapes onto the landing strip – decorated with little rubber duckies and bubbles – rubbing them a time or two to ensure a good, tight hold, and it was over. Jordan was diapered.

Mrs. Patterson lifted Jordan back down to the floor as the girl stared, wide-eyed, at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. She’d thought the Elmo panties had been bad, but now her skimpy black panties were only a distant dream, and beneath her waist puffed a monstrous white behemoth that seemed to be absorbing every last bit of adulthood she’d had left – not that there had been much. It was thick, though she doubted, with as cheap as it had been, that it was terribly absorbant. She had no intentions of using it, of course, but if she had, she had a feeling that, despite its bulk, it would leak nonetheless, making it all but useless, except as a tool for her humiliation. When she turned just slightly, she could see a patch of red peeking out from beneath the white plastic of the diaper – her diaper, she thought with a sinking feeling in her stomach – from her spanking, and when Mrs. Patterson gave the back of the snug diaper a pat, she saw a small mist of powder puff out of the back.

To make matters worse, Mrs. Patterson began digging through her backpack, putting her old clothes on top of the changing table, leaving them strewn there for Jordan to see, to remember just how good they’d felt compared to this infantile outfit she now found herself in. “Do you have any socks in here?” she asked, though she had already pulled out the pantyhose, and, before Jordan could stop her, found what else was hidden in the bag.

“What are these, young lady?” she demanded, pulling out the handful of tags and the shoebox. Jordan stared down at her feet, unable to answer, but she didn’t need to. Mrs. Patterson only had to read them to realize they matched the girl’s wardrobe. “You were trying to steal?!”

“You don’t understand, I..” Jordan started her explanation, before realizing she didn’t have one. It certainly looked bad, she knew that. Not only had she been found parading around dressed like a four year old, she didn’t even own the clothes she’d been wearing.

“I don’t see any money in here, either,” Mrs. Patterson pointed out. “So don’t try to tell me you were going to pay for them.” Jordan clammed up, staring down past her thickly diapered crotch to her feet. “I thought I felt something in here, too…” Mrs. Patterson picked Jordan’s jacket back up, fishing through the pockets and finding the jewelry. “You’re lucky I just spanked you,” the woman shook her head. “I’m not about to let you get away with this, though. I’ll buy these for you, but don’t think they’re a gift. You’re hired, young lady.”

Jordan looked up in surprise. “Hired?”

“Not for the position you applied for – no, that’s far too much responsibility for you. You’re going to be my assistant, so I can keep a close eye on you. You’ll be there at least until you can pay me back for these clothes, which I’m sure will take at least a few weeks. I’d love to have you wear them every day, but I know that wouldn’t be very sanitary, but you will wear them at least once a week. And you’ll be in diapers every day. I’ll buy those for you, too, so that will be another thing you’ll need to pay me back for.”

“D-Diapers?” Jordan whimpered. The whole thing sounded horrible, running around the office as some mere secretary, but it was the diapers that stuck out the most.

“Diapers,” Mrs. Patterson repeated harshly. “And you’ll be using them, too.” She picked up the Santa dress, feeling it for any wet spots, then pulled it back over Jordan’s head. It was just long enough to cover the diaper, but it would take even less movement than with the panties for Jordan to flash them, she knew, and the dress would do nothing to hide the waddle the bulk between her legs would give her.

“I-I can’t use diapers!” Jordan sputtered. “I’m not a baby!”

Mrs. Patterson seemed to ignore her as she picked up the shoes and cleaned them off, but as she put them on the girl’s feet, she calmly stated, “If you ever tell me no again, especially at work, I won’t hesitate to spank you again, you understand? No matter what I tell you to do, even if it’s to use your diaper. Understand?”

Jordan had no choice but to mumble, “Y-Yes, ma’am.”

She was given the backpack, her old clothes again stuffed inside, and finally they left the bathroom, Mrs. Patterson holding her hand tightly as she toddled beside her. Instead of going straight to a cash register, they stopped back by the kid’s section, where Mrs. Patterson found a pair of white tights, complete with two rows of lacy ruffles across the backside. Jordan was taken to the fitting room again and dressed in them. They compressed her diaper, pushing the padding more firmly against her sore bottom, which was growing ever hotter now that it was trapped inside the plastic diaper, and now the cotton tights.

Once her shoes were back on, they made their way to the cash register at last. “I’m sorry about this,” Mrs. Patterson said as she set the pile of tags beside the pile of jewelry. “This little lady had a bit of an accident and needed some new clothes.”

“Oh, it’s all right,” the cashier smiled down at Jordan condescendingly. Even if Jordan had found the courage to speak up, she couldn’t have denied it anyway.

Jordan expected it to be over after that, at least until work the next day, but once Mrs. Patterson had tucked the shockingly expensive receipt – the dress and shoes had both been quite pricy – she took Jordan’s hand again and guided her back through the store. Jordan wasn’t sure where they were going at first, until she noticed Santa’s chair.

“No, don’t,” she shook her head. She didn’t want her partner in crime to see her like this, fallen even further than their plan had required.

“You told me you were getting your picture taken with him. I hope that wasn’t a lie, too. You know how I feel about those.” Jordan could see the challenge in the woman’s eyes, and shut up. She could see the elf standing beside Santa, tried not to think about what the girl would say when she saw her, hoping she wouldn’t laugh too hard. Their plan, so simple, had turned into quite a mess.

As they got closer to the chair, Jordan noticed that there were actually two elves. From the back, she wasn’t sure which one was her’s, and the confusion only grew as Mrs. Patterson guided her around to the front, and she saw both of them. They looked exactly alike. The effect was a little disconcerting, and it took Jordan a moment to realize that they were twins. Was that how they had seemed to be everywhere at the same time?

“Hi, there!” one of them cooed at her. “Is this your mommy?”

“Not exactly,” Mrs. Patterson said coolly. “Go see Santa.” She let go of Jordan, who stumbled uncertainly towards the fat man in the chair. She could see the elves’ eyes light up as they saw her, and one scurried over to the other and whispered something in her ear. The two giggled as they watched her toddle.

She stared up at Santa uncertainly, biting her bottom lip as she stared at his lap. How could she climb up there in this dress without letting what was underneath show.

“Merry Christmas, little girl!” Santa said, jolly as ever. “Come on up here!”

Jordan looked back at Mrs. Patterson, who pointed up at Santa insistently. Jordan did her best to be careful, but the renewed giggling from the elves only confirmed that she didn’t do such a good job after all. She looked down at herself, horrified to see that her trek had left her skirt hiked up, diaper quite clearly visible beneath her tights, and before she could fix it, there was a flurry of flashes as the elves and Mrs. Patterson took her picture with their phones.

She pulled down her skirt, cheeks blazing, watching with a growing sense of dread as the elves struck up a hushed conversation with Mrs. Patterson, whose expression grew darker and darker as they spun some tale. She wasn’t sure what relation it had with reality, but when one of them ran off, she had a bad feeling that she would be returning with her purse.

“What do you want for Christmas, little girl?” Santa asked.

“I-I don’t know,” Jordan said, squirming on her warm, red backside. A job would be nice, a real one, one where she didn’t have to fear getting spanked. But that would probably just confuse Santa, since she was sure he saw her as nothing more than a little kid, especially considering the diaper he was sure to be able to feel on his leg, very clearly not a pair of big girl panties, and there was no doubt he could smell the cloud of baby powder that had likely erupted from her diaper when she’d sat on his knee. “To get out of diapers,” she said wistfully.

“I’m sure you’ll get potty trained soon enough,” Santa chuckled, “but I don’t think I can help with that.”

“I am potty trained,” she whined, but Santa was clearly not convinced.

“How about a nice dolly?” he asked.

Jordan sighed as she saw her suspicions fulfilled, and the elf returned with her purse, which Mrs. Patterson immediately opened, giving Jordan an angry look as she discovered the other shoplifted items hidden there. “Yeah,” she sighed, “That sounds about right.”

Mrs. Patterson grabbed her arm as soon as she was off Santa’s lap, pulling her away from him angrily. “As soon as I pay for the rest of this,” she said, pointing at Jordan’s packed purse, “you are getting in your car, and I’m following you straight hom, where I’m going to explain all this to your mother, and make sure she knows that you’re to report to work tomorrow, and how you’re to be dressed. I’m sure she won’t be amused by your antics, either.”

“Don’t forget,” one of the twin elves piped up, “if she’s too much trouble at work, you can always take her to get special training at that place we told you about.”

Jordan’s eyes widened at that, unsure what that could mean. Mrs. Patterson knew, however, and nodded seriously. “I’ll be sure to mention that to her mother as well,” she told them. “Thank you girls for your help.”

“No problem!” one of them chirped, giving Jordan a hug and patting the seat of her diaper.

The other hugged her as well, pulling her closer to whisper in her ear, “Just so you know, security was never onto you.” She giggled as Jordan pulled away and gave her a look of shock, then the pair of them continued their laughter as they watched her get pulled back to the cash register by Mrs. Patterson, off to finish paying for the girl’s “shopping”. It was turning out to be the most expensive Christmas shopping Jordan had ever done.

The End

Scavengers – A Halloween Story

So, that “little bit” I wanted to finish up wound up being the rest of the story, so I figured I’d just post it all at once. Happy Halloween!

Scavengers – A Halloween Story

Nina looked at Katherine for barely a second before giving her a definite, “No.”

“Oh, come on!” Katherine sighed, looking down at herself. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nobody’s going to think you’re in costume,” Nina said, standing up from her bed and walking over to her roommate. “They’re going to see you, assume you really are a little schoolgirl out past her bedtime, and take you back to that Catholic school on the edge of town. You’ll probably get a spanking or something for sneaking out before they realize you don’t actually go there.”

Katherine pouted, crossing her arms over her white button-up shirt and the tie hanging down the center of it, giving her pleated plaid skirt one more glance. “This is what I’ve got,” she said. “I don’t wanna have to go buy a costume. There isn’t going to be anything good left by now, anyway.” She shrugged. “I don’t think it’s that bad.”

Nina reached over, tugging one of the pigtails Katherine had put her hair into, making the other girl break her pose by reaching up to free her hair. “You’ll never get into the party. They’ll laugh you out of the line at the club before you can even reach for your ID. The only place you’re going looking like that is trick or treating, and that is not what Halloween is all about.”

Katherine shifted a little in place, not wanting to admit that trick or treating did sound like fun. She didn’t have to. Nina, as always, could read her like a book. “Oh, grow up, Kat. I thought you wanted to hook up with Dylan tonight, not run around with a bunch of grade-schoolers and collect candy. Besides, like I said, nobody will think it’s a costume.”

“They’ll still give me some candy,” Katherine mumbled.

“You’re a big girl. If you want candy, go buy some. Now get serious! Surely you have something slutty you can say is a costume!”

“I’ve shown you pretty much everything I own that looks even a little costume-y, and you said no to all of it. I’m tired of this!” Katherine crossed her arms again, annoyed.

“Don’t throw a tantrum!” Nina teased. “Be a good little girl and do what you’re told, or you’ll get a spanking.” To Katherine’s surprise, when she didn’t move, Nina grabbed her and dragged her to her bed, sitting down on it and pulling Katherine over her lap.

Katherine refused to play along, staying limp as she waited for the other girl to finish with her little joke, though she was surprised to feel a sudden breeze on her thighs as Nina flipped her skirt up. “Oh, Hello Kitty panties,” Nina teased. “Interesting choice. You really committed to this costume, huh?”

Katherine started to squirm at that, pushing her way back off Nina’s lap as the girl giggled, glaring at her once she was back on her feet. “You know what? I don’t want to go to this party after all if this is how you’re gonna act!”

“Oh, please. You just want to go trick or treating, don’t you? I put the idea in your head, and now that’s all you want to do, huh? You’re so boring. Honestly, I don’t know why I let you move in here sometimes.”

“Because I actually pay my rent,” Katherine sulked.

Nina ignored her, even though she was right. “I guess I’ll go to the party by myself. Whatever. Have fun running around with the other kiddies.”

Katherine knew Nina wanted her to feel bad, to cave in, but, for once, she wasn’t going to. She wasn’t sure if she was really going to go trick or treating – the idea of it was fun, but also made her feel a little nervous – but if Nina didn’t like any of her costume ideas, she wasn’t going to bend over backwards trying to come up with something else. “If you’re going to be a bitch about it, I’m not going to share my candy.”

“You just don’t want Dylan to see you next to a whole club full of girls in slutty costumes,” Nina shrugged. “I guess I can’t blame you. It’d be awfully hard for your little Hello Kitty panties to compete with whatever they’d be wearing – or not wearing.”

Katherine started to tell Nina there was nothing wrong with her underwear, but she didn’t want to let the girl know it bothered her too much, or she’d never stop teasing her. “Have fun,” she said instead, heading out of Nina’s room. “Happy Halloween.”

Back in her own room, she walked over to her mirror and looked at herself. “I don’t look that young,” she said out loud, though even she could detect a hint of doubt in her voice as she said it. She stepped out of the heels she had been wearing, pulled off the thigh highs, then went digging through her clothes, finding a pair of lacy ankle socks and black Mary Janes, putting them on instead. She’d left a few buttons at the top of her shirt un-done, and as she walked over to her desk, which served as her make-shift vanity, she fastened them up. She grabbed some eyeliner and returned to the mirror to dot some freckles onto her cheeks before stepping back to admire her handiwork.

Now she certainly did look that young, and there was no denying it. She was a little taken aback as she saw her reflection, looking for all the world like a sweet, innocent little schoolgirl. It was disconcerting how easy that transformation was, and how right Nina’s earlier words now were. There was no way anyone would think it was a costume. Which meant it was a pretty good one, but at the same time, it meant she wasn’t going to look like she was trick or treating.

She stopped herself for a moment – was she really going to do this? She hadn’t even considered it before Nina’s little joke. Why? It sounded fun, sure, but what if she ran into someone she knew? And, really, what was the point? Was it just because she was annoyed at Nina? What was she going to prove by going through with it? But as she stood there, she thought back to years past, to the thrill of waiting for Halloween, picking out her costume, wearing it to school, getting to parade around the neighborhood in it and be told how adorable she looked. And get lots and lots of candy at the same time. No matter what Nina said, Halloween candy just didn’t taste as sweet if you simply bought it at the store. It had to be earned.

She turned to her bed, to the pile of random stuff she’d thrown there in an attempt to come up with a Nina-approved costume. The thing that caught her eye first this time was the thing that she’d grabbed first to begin with – a headband adorned with a pair of black cat ears. She hadn’t had anything to pair it with to make an adult cat costume, but for a kid version, she thought she could whip something up. She grabbed the ears and slipped them on, then took a black boa and slipped it into the back of her skirt, attaching it there for her tail. She drew on some whiskers with a darker shade of eyeliner, then colored the tip of her nose with it as well, and, sure enough, she was done.

Taken on its own, it probably would still look a little lazy to someone handing out candy, like she’d thrown it together at the last minute because she’d thought herself too old for trick or treating, only to change her mind on the day. To someone who knew the truth, that she was really an adult, it might seem a little more impressive, though she doubted Nina would like it. Even though she told herself she didn’t really care what her roommate thought, she was still quiet as she crept out of her room. The girls had used some old jack-o-lantern candy pails as Halloween decorations, and on her way out, Nina grabbed one, completing her outfit, and giving her a place to stash her cell phone.

Just before she reached the front door, she gave a jump as someone knocked on it. “I got it!” she called quickly, further betraying the fact that she was, indeed, embarrassed at the thought of Nina seeing her actually ready to go through with this. Nina didn’t say anything, but Katherine also didn’t hear her heading down the hall, so she assumed the girl wasn’t coming, though she simply might not have been able to hear her, as whoever was at the door hadn’t stopped knocking since they’d started. “I’m coming!” she yelled to them, taking the last couple steps to the door and pulling it open.

Outside stood a trip  of boys. Katherine had never been great at judging kids’ ages, but one looked like he might have been 13, the other two were closer to ten. They looked different enough that she assumed they were friends, rather than brothers. None were in costume, giving Katherine a sense of what Nina had been talking about, how lazy that looked to someone answering the door to see kids asking for candy without putting any effort into it.

However, she was too busy to worry about the chill running down her spine to think about that. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she could feel a sense of something being wrong, her entire body tensing up. It was only when the oldest looked up at her with a wide smile that she noticed his eyes. They were jet black, looking even darker against his pale skin, and pearly white teeth. A look at the other two boys revealed their eyes were the same – no pupils, no irises, just orbs of jet black.

“Oh, that’s… that’s creepy,” she stammered, stepping back slightly, then feeling silly for it. “I bet those contact lenses cost a fortune, huh?”

“Ma’am?” the older boy said, seeming to ignore her words. “We have a problem. We were with a trick or treating group, but we lost track of them. Can you let us in so we can use your phone?”

Katherine was, in general, not used to being called ma’am by anyone, and certainly hadn’t expected it while in this costume. She couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t as good as she’d thought. Or maybe it was just the way they were staring at her, all three, that gave her away, some subtle thing that had given her away that only someone paying that close of attention would notice. It would have bothered her more if she didn’t feel so unsettled with those three faces looking at her, through her.

She started to step away, to let them in, but after a small shuffle, her feet froze in place. “I-I can lend you my cell phone if you want,” she offered. “I’m sure they couldn’t have gotten too far.”

“Just let us in. It’ll only take a minute.” The older boy spoke again, stepping slightly closer to her. He was a little taller than her, and she attributed part of her growing discomfort to that. She was sure part of it was due just to what day it was, and the spooky feeling that came with the autumn season. But she wasn’t sure those two things added up to how intensely freaked out she was starting to feel.

“It’s… it’s nice out,” she countered. “You can use it out here, okay? Actually, we have to. We don’t get very good reception in the house.” The last part was a lie, and one that she instantly got the feeling hadn’t been bought.

“Come on,” the lead boy said. “We’re just kids. What are we going to do?”

Katherine told herself he was right, that she was being silly, and even a little mean. If she could get so easily freaked out by a few kids, imagine how they felt, all alone, in a neighborhood they probably didn’t know anything about – at least, she’d never seen them around before. She found herself starting to step back again, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, and, once again, she stopped.

The two younger boys looked at each other, wearing matching expressions of what might have been horror. Katherine would have felt bad about it if the older boy hadn’t, instead, become angry, his smile turning into a snarl. “Let us in!” he demanded. “We’re not going to hurt you. Just let us in!”

Katherine began to back away again, a shaking hand now reaching for the door to shut it. “I don’t think I can help you,” she told them lamely as she fumbled with the doorknob. Part of her told her it was quite cruel of her to shut the door on kids who needed her help, but another part was yelling at her much louder to do it, so, with one final look at their black eyes and a swallow, she did it, slamming the door closed.

Almost immediately, they began knocking again, louder, more insistently. Katherine kept backing up, starting to chew nervously on her bottom lip. What was she going to do? She wasn’t about to call the police and tell them they had to save her from a bunch of kids that weren’t even in high school that were probably just playing a joke on her, or, even worse, really needed her help.

She let out a strangled cry as she backed into someone, jumping and spinning around, only to see Nina standing there, a little shocked, but also amused. “I thought you were taking care of that,” she said curtly, pushing past her quivering roomate toward the front door.

“Don’t!” Katherine begged. “Don’t open it!”

Nina ignored her, looking out the peephole, then flinging the door open as she grabbed a handful of candy. “Here, now move on!” she said, thrusting the candy at the lead boy and shutting the door in his face. She turned back to Katherine, rolling her eyes. “Seriously? That’s what has you peeing your little Hello Kitty panties? A few kids?”

“No, you don’t understand!” Katherine said. “There’s something wrong with them, they aren’t…”

“Jeez, look at you,” Nina stepped closer to her, taking in the new additions to her costume. “Just because you’re dressed like a six year old doesn’t mean you have to act like one. They were just kids, Mad. They wanted candy. That’s what the whole night is about, isn’t it?” Her voice softened as she got closer to Katherine, reaching out to touch her shaking arm. “Hey, chill out. Maybe you should just stay home tonight. If those stupid costumes scared you this much, you probably would wet your pants if you ran into someone with a half-decent one.”

“You didn’t feel it?” Katherine asked quietly. “There was something wrong with them…”

“I didn’t feel anything, Katherine. You’re getting worked up over nothing. I bet you’ll run into them pulling the same trick at different houses when you’re out there trick or treating.”

“I don’t think I want to go now,” Katherine shook her head.

“Sure, you do. You wait a couple minutes and you’ll calm down and realize how silly you’re acting. Besides, I need you out there.” Katherine cocked her head. “Ashley texted me and told me there’s some scavenger hunt thing at the party. So, since you’re going to be out there anyway, I figured you could be my partner.”

“A scavenger hunt? Trick or treating is stupid and childish, and that isn’t?”

“No, it is. That’s why I thought of you,” Nina replied. “But the first prize is $500.”

“That’s pretty good,” Katherine agreed. “Why don’t you just do it yourself so you don’t have to split it with me?”

“Because I’d rather enjoy myself. And if you’re going to be out and about anyway… I’m just going to give them your name and cell phone number, then they’ll text you what you need to find, and you send a picture of whatever it is along with a note with your name on it.”

“Then, I’ll be doing all the work? Why should I split it with you?”

“I’ll have signed you up for it!” Nina exclaimed, sounding almost insulted. “Come on, we’ll both get to do what we want – I get to party, and you can run around and act like a kid. Only it’ll be even better, because you’ll be looking for something specific! That’s way funner than just begging for candy, right?” Katherine pursed her lips, trying to convince herself she wanted to do this, or even go outside at all after her encounter. “Good!” Nina answered for her. “I grabbed your driver’s license from your room so I can claim the prize if you win.” She took it out of her purse, examining it. “I’ll just tell them I dyed my hair and that’s what makes me look so much older.”

“Hey, what if I need that?!” Katherine grabbed for it, unhappy at the thought of Nina going in her room and taking her things without asking, especially something as important as that.

“For what?” Nina smirked. “If you drive yourself to go trick-or-treating, everyone will know you’re just some weird adult acting like a kid, and then you’re not going to get anything. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna lose it!” Before Katherine could say anything else, Nina looked over at the clock. “Whoa, I’d better get going! Just remember to check your phone for the instructions! You’re the best!”

With that, she was gone. Katherine stomped out onto the porch after her, starting to call after her that she wasn’t going to do it, and that Nina had better get back here and give her license back, but she stopped short as another group of trick or treaters approached. There were only two this time, girls. Katherine had thought the oldest boy seemed a bit old to trick or treat, but these girls looked even older than him, maybe even as old as sixteen, though they were both in costume, one as an angel, in a white dress and knee high boots, both trimmed in fur, with a white garland around her head and white wings, and the other as a demon, in a red and black bodice and tutu with black leggings underneath, red horns and red wings. Each carried a bag, one white, the other red.

Automatically, Katherine looked up at their eyes, but, while those seemed normal, the pair of them was still slightly unsettling – at least for a moment, with Katherine still jumpy from her last encounter – as their faces looked almost exactly alike. Both wore a look of pity at the moment as they watched Nina drive off.

“Trick or treat?” the angel said, as if she felt bad for asking Katherine for anything at the moment.

“Aww,” said the devil, “Did your big sister run off without taking you trick or treating?”

“What a bitch!” the angel shook her head. “And look at how cute you are!”

“No, I…” Katherine started to explain.

“You don’t have to defend her,” the devil stopped her. “That’s a pretty rotten thing to do!”

“I bet your mommy’s not home, either, huh?” the angel asked. “Or she wouldn’t have let her do it. So she’s sticking you with staying here and handing out the candy.”

“Well, no, she isn’t,” Katherine had to admit, “but… You see…”

“We’d never do that to our little sister,” the devil said. “Not that we have one.”

“Well, we did,” the angel interrupted. “For a couple months.”

“Yeah, that was fun,” the devil grinned. “But then she had to go home.”

“It was!” the angel agreed. “And you look like a lot of fun, too, sweetie. Do you want us to take you trick or treating?”

“Oh, no,” Katherine squirmed, starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the two. “You don’t have to…”

“No, we want to!” the angel jumped in. “I’m sure you don’t understand this yet, but we were actually a little embarrassed to go trick or treating ourselves. So you’ll give us a good excuse to be doing it. Besides, we like you. Don’t we?”

“Of course! We’d love to have you along!” The devil reach out, mussing up Katherine’s hair. She knocked the cat ear headband askew, but fixed it immediately.

“No, you don’t understand, I’m…” Katherine looked up at them, blushing. It would look ridiculous now, admitting her real age after letting them treat her like a kid for this long – though it was really her first chance to get a word in edgewise. Even more ridiculous was the fact that the idea of going with them made her feel much calmer about the whole thing. Even if those black eyed kids were still out there, and even if she wasn’t over-reacting about them, at least this way she’d be with someone else if she were to encounter them again. She’d feel like the biggest wimp of all time if she let these teenagers defend her from them, but maybe in a group, she wouldn’t even have to worry about them approaching her.

“You’re what, sweetie?” the devil asked.

“I’m… not supposed to go anywhere with strangers.” Inwardly, she rolled her eyes, hardly able to believe she was going through with this.

“Of course not!” the angel smiled. “How silly of us! Well, what’s your name, honey?”

“Katherine.” She lowered her head a little, shuffling her feet, finding herself almost unconsciously slipping into the role.

“I think we’ll call you Kat. Wait, no, Kitty!” the angel said after a moment of consideration. “That fits you better.”

“It’s perfect! Much cuter,” the devil agreed.

“Anyway,” the angel continued, “my name is Abby, and this is my twin, Addison. We’re going to take very good care of you.”

“First, we’d better set something up out here so your house doesn’t get egged or something,” Abby said, pushing past Katherine into the house. She found the candy bowl easily enough, as Katherine scurried in after her, not liking the idea of her rummaging around the house on her own, but didn’t seem satisfied with it. “We’ll put this out on the porch,” she said, passing it to Addison, who set it on the chair, “but why don’t you make a nice sign that tells kids to only take one piece?”

“I don’t know,” Katherine shrugged. “I doubt they’ll really pay attention to that.”

“Nonsense,” Abby shushed her. “Now, go get some crayons and bring them out here and we’ll help you. Or do you want to show us your room?”

Katherine blushed, very much not wanting the latter option. If they saw her room, they’d surely notice it didn’t seem to belong to someone whatever age they thought she was, and that would be quite awkward, considering how she’d started to play into that. She was starting to realize this might not be a great idea after all. “I’ll get them,” she said. “Just… wait here.”

She set down her candy bucket and hurried to her room. It was a bit embarrassing that she happened to have a box of crayons and some construction paper, things she’d just transferred from her desk at her parents’ house to this one out of habit more than thinking she’d need them, but it was convenient now. She quickly made her way back to the front door, where she was praised as a good girl by Addison.

“I bet you’re a good artist,” Abby told her. “Why don’t you draw a nice picture, then write out ‘Please take only one piece,’ and we’ll tape it to the chair, okay?”

“Umm… Why don’t I just write?” Katherine asked, cheeks flushing again. “It would be quicker, and…”

“It’ll make the sign look better,” Addison explained. “Besides, we want you to draw us a picture.”

“Yeah,” Abby agreed. “Come on, honey, for us.”

“I’m really not that good an artist,” Katherine said lamely, but she could tell the girls wouldn’t be dissuaded. She opened the book of construction paper and flipped through it until she found an orange page, then tried to balance the crayon box on top.

“What are you doing, silly?” Addison asked. “Don’t you have a table or something you can draw on?”

“Oh, um… Yeah.” Katherine started to head for the living room, then turned and said, with slight reluctance, “Why don’t you guys come in?”

“Okay!” Addison stepped inside, shutting the door, and the pair followed Katherine to the living room. She paused for a moment to consider the seating arrangement – the coffee table she had planned to use was right in front of their couch, which could hold all three of them, but she’d have to sit in the middle if she wanted to be able to reach it. Before she could decide if that was what she wanted to do, the twins went to the couch on their own, sitting down, leaving her no room, and little choice but to ask them to move, or just sit on the floor on the other side of the table.

She went with the latter. Standing, the girls were a fair bit taller than her, but now, they seemed even more so, as they stared down at her while she sat on the floor and looked through her box of crayons. “Your mommy keeps your living room nice and neat,” Abby observed. “I don’t see any of your toys anywhere.”

“Yeah… Well…” Katherine unconsciously began to bite her bottom lip, trying to pretend she was just having a hard time choosing a color.

“I’m sure she picks up after herself. She looks like a good girl, aren’t you, Kitty?” Addison smiled down at her. Katherine nodded, finally grabbing a plain, black crayon and starting to make an outline of a pumpkin on the piece of paper. In all honesty, she was a pretty good artist, but she didn’t want to make anything that looked too good, because that might seem suspicious. “So, how old are you, Kitty?”

Katherine froze. She’d hoped they wouldn’t ask her that, that they’d just assume she really was whatever age they thought she was. She wasn’t good at guessing children’s ages, but she really had no idea just how juvenile she looked. Nina seemed to think it was quite a bit, but at least some of that was just teasing. How far back should she go? If they’d just not asked, she could have acted how she wanted, and they could have just assumed she was a little older, or younger, than they’d thought. It would have been so much easier.

“I’m… uh…” She looked down at herself, unsure. “Thirteen?”

She winced as Addison chuckled. “You don’t have to lie to us, sweetie.”

“Oh… Okay…” Katherine fidgeted even more at that, not knowing if she should adjust up or down. Surely she couldn’t go much further up without hitting their ages, and they didn’t seem to be treating her like a peer. So, younger? She hated to do that, but she supposed it was necessary. “Eleven?”

“That seems closer,” Abby nodded, “but we promise, honey, we’re not going to make fun of you. Just tell us how old you really are.”

Katherine stomach lurched inside her. They couldn’t really think she was even younger than that! If she went down much further, she’d “be” less than half her real age! There was no way they could think she was that little, could they? Her costume couldn’t be that good! “But I am!” she tried to bluff.

Addison shook her head, looking disappointed. “Well, okay… But cool kids don’t have to lie about their age. And you’re cool, aren’t you?”

“She seems cool,” Abby agreed. “Or she did.”

Katherine knew she shouldn’t fall for it, that they were just trying to get her to feel bad for “lying”… But they were doing a good job. “Fine,” she sighed, “I’m nine. Almost ten!”

“That sounds better,” Abby grinned at her. “You’re still a big girl!”

“Yeah! You’re almost into the double-digits!” Katherine stared down intently at her paper, unable to look up at Addison, or her sister. She felt ridiculous, sitting there, claiming to be such a little kid, and it felt just as ridiculous that they were buying into it. She frowned at her pumpkin, as she saw that the conversation had distracted her, making her drawing look more like someone half her claimed age would be able to scribble out.

“Oh, that’s good, sweetie!” Addison said encouragingly, with a tone of voice that suggested she thought it was as bad as Katherine did. “Are you going to draw a spooky face on it?”

Katherine would rather have started all over, but she didn’t want to stretch this conversation out any longer than it needed to be. “Uh-huh.” She focused in harder on her drawing, hoping that would keep the girls from asking anything else. She drew a pair of triangles for the eyes, then began to color them in, but as she filled in more and more of the shapes, she couldn’t help thinking of another pair of black eyes she’d stared into not that long ago. Even the memory of it made her start shaking, sending her crayon outside the lines several times.

She was interrupted by the sound of a cell phone alert. She started to get up, but Abby did so more quickly, saying, “I left my phone on the table by the front door. I’ll go grab it!”

Katherine debated whether to say she thought it was hers, instead, unsure whether they’d believe a nine year old would have a cell phone. Maybe Abby had the same text tone as her, and it really was hers. If not, she hoped the girl wouldn’t find her phone. She began to worry more and more about that as Abby stayed away for longer and longer, though a second text tone made her feel a little better, as the girl might have just been writing a reply, and waiting for one back.

She had moved on to the mouth of the jack-o-lantern by the time Abby returned, holding Katherine’s plastic one in her hand. “Is this yours?” she asked, picking up Katherine’s cell phone from inside.

Katherine paused, trying to judge from the girl’s manner whether she’d figured out her secret from whatever she’d seen in that text. Should she just say it was her “big sister’s”? Or was it better to kill this whole thing now, before it got out of control? She was already sitting on the floor, coloring, pretending to be nine – she couldn’t imagine it getting much worse, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. “Yeah,” she said finally.

“Cool!” Abby responded before practically bouncing over to Addison. “Look at this! She’s doing a scavenger hunt!” Addison looked at Abby strangely for a moment, but her expression changed quickly as she looked at the message.

“Why didn’t you tell us? We can help! What is this for, school?” Katherine wasn’t about to tell the truth, and she couldn’t think of anything else that made sense, so she nodded. “Why don’t we get cool homework like this?” Addison wondered wistfully.

“What grade are you in, anyway?” Abby asked. “Fifth, isn’t it?”

That seemed sort of low to Katherine, who began frantically trying to think of what grade she had been in at that age, but Addison answered for her. “If she’s turning ten soon, she’d be in fourth. Right? Or did you mean ‘soon’ as in six months?”

Katherine quickly said, “No, my birthday’s in just a couple weeks!” She wanted to seem as old as possible, not to mention that she didn’t want to seem like one of those little kids who started claiming they were practically a year older the day after their birthday.

Unfortunately, that meant that she had to agree with Abby’s, “Oh, must be fourth, then.” They seemed more likely to know which ages were in which grade than her, and she didn’t want to betray her real age by messing up something as simple as that. Even so, fourth grade seemed awfully immature. That was just one year away from third, the year she’d wet her pants on the bus. She was sure she’d seen several of her classmates have accidents at school that year, too, though of course her own was the most vivid memory for her. There had likely been a few in fourth grade, too.

“Well, you aren’t going to believe our luck,” Abby said, “but the first thing to find is two jack-o-lanterns.”

“Where are we going to..?” Katherine started to ask, before looking up and seeing her candy pail, then back down at her mostly-done drawing. “I don’t know… What if they want two real jack-o-lanterns?” The picture was the worst thing she’d drawn in a very long time, and she didn’t really want anyone to see it, especially with her name attached.

“No, your teacher will love it!” Addison assured her. “Now, the instructions said you have to have your name in the picture somewhere.”

“Yeah, I know,” Katherine sighed. “I bet it wouldn’t be hard to find…”

“Trust us, Kitty,” Abby reached over the table and patted her head. “We’ve been in school a lot longer than you, and we know what teachers like.”

Katherine had a sudden bright idea, and flipped to another page of construction paper. She’d just put her name on that, then she could say someone else had drawn the picture. No big deal. But as she began to write, Addison reached over and snatched away the crayon.

“No, no,” she scolded. “You have to sign your drawing!”

“That’s right!” Abby agreed. “All artists sign their work. That way everyone knows who did it!”

“But I’ll need something with my name on it for the other pictures!” Katherine exclaimed, happy she’d happened to think of that.

“You will, but for this one, you’re going to sign your drawing.” Katherine looked up at Abby, but she was clearly finished arguing the point. Katherine sighed and wrote out her name at the bottom of the picture, letting Addison snap a photo of it sitting on the coffee table next to her candy bucket before writing “Please take only one piece” at the top. Abby tore the page out of the construction paper book and left, leaving Addison to observe as Katherine wrote her name across another piece of paper, sticking it into the bucket, just in time for her phone to chime with the receipt of another text.

“Great job!” said the message, from a number she assumed belonged to whoever was running the contest. “Now, show me ten different kinds of candy.”

“Well, that’s easy!” Abby exclaimed, once she was back in the room and Katherine had read her and her sister the message. “That’s what trick or treating is all about!” She and Addison looked through the candy they’d already gotten, but they’d just started when they ran into Katherine. “I guess we’d better get started then, huh?”

Katherine nodded, though she was starting to feel anxious about leaving the house now, flanked by a pair of girls who thought she was a fourth grader. That feeling only grew worse as Addison declared, “We’d ask you if you needed to go potty before we left, but you’re a big enough girl you’d have gone on your own, right? Especially in your own house.”

Katherine blushed, nodding again, though she agreed more with the first part than the second. She was certainly too embarrassed after that to decide to excuse herself, as if she hadn’t thought to go without them reminding her about it. “Let’s go!”

She couldn’t help wincing a little as they left, and she saw her picture on display, taped to the chair, her name scrawled across it, but she told herself it didn’t really matter. So some kids would see it and think she was a lousy artist. It might hurt her pride a little, but she’d live. It wasn’t as if her pride was having a good day anyway, as, walking in between the twins down the sidewalk, it was difficult not to realize that anyone passing them would think that she was the youngest of the group.

She began to feel more nervous as they walked up to their first house. She hadn’t moved in all that long ago, and hadn’t really met many of the neighbors yet, so she hadn’t worried too much about them seeing her as the plan began to form in her mind. But now she was realizing that, while she didn’t know them now, she might meet them again later, and what if they recognized her? Would they assume she really was a little kid?

“I-I don’t know about this…” she mumbled, but, almost as one, the twins grabbed an arm each before she could try to make her escape.

“You don’t have to be scared, sweetie,” Addison told her.

“They’ll just love you!” Abby seconded, pulling the squirming girl to her neighbor’s front door and ringing the doorbell. Katherine quickly ducked her head as the door opened and the twins chanted, “Trick or treat!”

“Don’t you girls look good!” the woman at the door cooed, handing candy to each of the girls, and dropping some in Katherine’s bucket. “A shy one?”

“Don’t be bashful, Kitty!” Abby told her. “Come on, thank the nice lady!”

When Katherine didn’t do as she’d been told, one of the girls gave her a sharp smack across the bottom. She gave a loud squeal and looked up in surprise, catching the eye of the woman at the door, where she was sure she saw a spark of recognition. She might not have formally met the woman, but she was bound to have noticed her going in and out. “Thank you,” she squeaked before looking back down at the sidewalk.

“Isn’t she just the cutest little thing?” Addison gushed. “She’s a little schoolgirl Kitty. I bet she thought of that all on her own, didn’t you? Why don’t you show the nice lady your make-up?”

Another smack on the backside brought her face back up, for longer this time, giving the woman enough time to study her while she stood there, shivering. She wanted to explain what was going on, why she was letting herself be bossed around by a couple teenagers, but, in all honesty, she wasn’t sure she understood it herself.

“She’s almost in fourth grade!” Abby bragged. “Isn’t that right? Just another year!”

“No, I’m already in it!” Katherine quickly corrected them, wanting to hang on to every scrap of maturity she could, though she quickly regretted doing so in front of her neighbor. “I mean, I…”

“Oh, silly me!” Abby giggled. “See? Such a big girl she is! Can you believe her big sister wouldn’t take her trick or treating? She was in tears when we found her, begging us to take her with us! Isn’t that sad?”

“I wasn’t crying!” Katherine protested, but she had the feeling nobody was listening.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Addison said. “We don’t want to keep her up past her bedtime! Say thank you again, Kitty!”

“Thank you!” Katherine blurted out quickly, before they could smack her again. Her neighbor gave her a strange look, then said goodbye, and the twins were pulling her away, further down the street. “Y-You know what?” Katherine said. “That was fun enough, I think I’ll just go home now, okay?”

“No, no, no!” Abby shook her head. “We’re no done until your bucket is full of candy! We’re going to make sure you have the best Halloween ever!”

***

“This is so much fun!” Abby exclaimed happily as Katherine snapped a picture of the fake cobwebs stretched out over the branches of a tree, the piece of paper with her name on it tucked into the center.

“This is just like what we did with our other little sister!” Addison added. “You two are so alike!”

Katherine nodded obediently as she sent the picture off, hoping that was the end of the scavenger hunt. So far, it had all been very simple stuff, hardly challenging enough to warrant a $500. She’d taken pictures of her candy, of a ghost decoration set up in someone’s yard, a kid dressed as a witch, and now cobwebs. It really felt more like something she’d have had to do in the fourth grade, rather than as a young adult, which really wasn’t helping her self-esteem much, as the twins’ constant reiteration of her supposed age to everyone they met was making her feel very childish already.

As did her fear of every group of kids that passed them by. Much as she hated to admit it, she was sure that if she didn’t have the girls holding her in place, she’d have run back to her house long before, because every time they saw other kids, she would freeze up, sure they were another set of black eyed kids. Sometimes, she would feel a chill run down her spine and turn her head, sure she’d seen someone duck into the shadows.

They started to move on, only for Addison to say, “We almost forgot your name!” and rush away, back to the tree.

Abby kept going, pulling Katherine along. For her part, Katherine tried to tell them, “You know what, I don’t think we need it! I think the hunt is over!” She wished she’d had the presence of mind to turn the volume off while she’d been taking the last picture, something she regretted as, a moment later, she got another text.

“Looks like you’re wrong,” Abby said, snatching the phone from the top of the now almost half full bucket. “Let’s see what you have to find next…” She looked over it, giggling slightly, but she waited until Addison returned to read it out loud, leaving Katherine squirming in anticipation. “‘Next you need a collar with bell,'” she recited, “‘to put on scary monsters so they can’t sneak up on you.'”

“I don’t think we’ll find that,” Katherine shrugged with fake exasperation. “Too bad! But I’ve already done enough to get an A, so thanks you guys! I can just go home now, and…”

“We’re not giving up now!” Addison stopped her. “If you already have an A, we’ll make sure you get all the extra credit you can.”

“And don’t you worry, I’m sure we’ll find a collar somewhere.” And, sure enough, when they got to the next house, Abby asked, “By the way, you don’t happen to have an extra dog or cat collar laying around? I know it sounds weird, but she needs it for her costume? One with a bell would be perfect.”

Katherine was too mortified to tell the person at the door she didn’t really need that, but they didn’t have one anyway. As soon as they were away from the house, she hissed at the twins, “I don’t want to do this anymore! I’m tired of this scavenger hunt, and my feet are tired, and I just want to go home!” The girls ignored her, giving each other a smirk over her head instead, though when she tried to pull away from them, one of them gave her yet another firm whack on the butt. “Stop that!” Katherine demanded. “That isn’t funny!”

“It’s not supposed to be,” Abby lectured her. “It’s supposed to remind you to behave, or we’ll give you a real spanking.”

“No, you won’t,” Katherine responded, aghast. “I’m way too old for that!”

“Naughty girls are never too old to get their bottoms warmed,” Addison said. “Though I thought you were a good girl.”

“Look, this has gone far enough. I…” Katherine’s words froze in her mouth as she saw a trio of figures approaching them from down the street, three people that didn’t seem to be wearing costumes. She began to shake slightly, trying to shrink away from them.

As they got closer, however, she could see that they weren’t the boys from earlier. It was a different set of boys, older, and clearly not in costume because they saw Halloween as a night to cause mayhem, as they were carrying bags bulging with supplies and swiped beer. They were less scary, but only by a little.

They ignored her completely, eyes locked instead on Abby and Addison. “Hey, there,” one of them smiled at Addison. “You look like you wanna have some fun tonight. You gonna sit on my shoulder and tell me to do bad things?”

“I think you can do that all on your own,” Addison answered.

“We’re gonna hit Principal Blevins’s place,” another of the boys said. “We have rotten eggs, TP, all the classics. You know you want in on that.”

“That does sound fun,” Abby told them, “but we have our own fun tonight.”

“Besides, we’re babysitting.” Katherine let out a small yelp as she was pulled forward, put on display. Her cheeks flushed as she felt the teenage boys look at her, then immediately dismiss her.

“What about after you get her all tucked in?” one of them asked. “The night will still be young.” Katherine’s cheeks grew darker at the implication that she was bound to have an early bedtime, but she couldn’t find the courage to say anything about it.

The twins didn’t contradict it, either. “We’ll see,” Addison said instead.

The boys shrugged, obviously not have expected much. “We’ll be around,” they promised, heading back into the darkness.

“Why don’t you go with them?” Katherine suggested. “I’m not that far from home, I can get back on my own!”

“On Halloween?” Abby’s eyes opened wide in faux-shock. “A cute little thing like you? The ghosts and ghouls would gobble you right up!” She reached down tickling Katherine’s stomach suddenly, making the girl giggle and squirm.

The twins gave each other a look, and suddenly Katherine found herself on her back on the nearest lawn, candy bucket beside her, four hands attacking her mid-section relentlessly as she wriggled beneath their fingers. “Stop!” she demanded almost right away, knowing how ticklish she was, how full her bladder was getting from the long walk, but they didn’t listen. She couldn’t remember ever getting tickled by two people at once before, and they were so in tune with each other, it was almost like they were one person, with four arms. As soon as she squealed and tried to twist away from one, the other would be right there, attacking, giving her nowhere to go. Her laughter quickly escalated to tears, and from there she knew she was just a hair’s breadth from losing control, from…

“Oh, my God, look at that!” Abby exclaimed, and they both suddenly stopped. Katherine, still wiggling a little as she tried to catch her breath and stop the last few, residual, giggles, tried to figure out what had happened, sure that she hadn’t felt her bladder give way, though it had been close. Yet they were both now staring at her crotch.

“Those are just so cute!” Addison grinned. “They go with your costume so well!”

“Just adorable!” Abby nodded. “And they’re saying hi to you, too, Kitty! Isn’t that sweet of them?”

Katherine’s cheeks flushed again as she realized, at last, that in her thrashing, her skirt had blown upward, giving them a view of her panties. She pushed her skirt back down, but the damage was already done.

“Is your tail attached to your skirt?” Abby wondered, then, before Katherine could answer, she’d pulled the girl to her feet, spinning her around to look herself. “Oh, that’s too bad,” she pouted. “We could have taken your skirt off and let everyone see how good you are at coordinating your panties with your costume!”

“It was a coincidence!” Katherine vowed to throw those underwear away as soon as she got home.

“We could always pin her tail to her panties,” Addison suggested.

“No! I am not walking around in my underwear!” Katherine crossed her arms, putting her foot down at last.

“You’re right,” Abby agreed surprisingly quickly. “I mean, they’re cute, but…”

“Yeah,” Addison nodded. “But they could be something cuter.”

Katherine had no idea what they were talking about, but the looks on their faces as they talked about it made her a little scared. Before she could say anything more, however, they had grabbed her, giving her back her bucket, and were trundling her along to the next house. They had no luck with the collar there, but at the next house, the man who answered the door nodded, with a, “Oh, yes, I just got a new one for Gloria.” He vanished into the house for a minute, then returned with an old pink collar, bell attached to the front, leash at the back.

“We don’t need the leash,” Katherine said quickly, earning herself another smack from the grinning Abby.

“Don’t be rude! He’s giving you a present!” Abby scolded, taking the collar from the man and starting to adjust it. “Now thank him.”

“Thank you,” Katherine reluctantly complied, before Abby handed the collar to her.

“Now, put it on,” she ordered.

“What?!” Katherine looked up at her like she was crazy.

“He gave you this for your costume! The least you can do is let him see how you look in it!”

“Put it on right now, you rude little girl!” Addison took over, glaring down at Katherine. “Or we’ll tell your mommy how naughty you’re acting!”

Katherine stared down at the collar in her hands, then up at the twins. She could tell it was going to happen either way, but she had to try a desperate, last ditch, “We don’t even need it, we just have to take a picture, then he can have it back!”

“Don’t be silly! How are you going to wear a picture for the rest of the night?”

Katherine sighed, seeing that she was defeated. She slipped the collar around her neck, fastening it in the back, bell tinkling even before she had it secured. She felt quite silly indeed, even before Addison took the leash from her and started to lead her away by it with a cheerful, “Thanks again!” to the man.

They took her to the end of his driveway before having her take out the paper with her name and hold it up while Abby snapped a picture of her, Addison still holding the leash. “Can I take it off now?” Katherine whined. “It hurts my throat.”

“Nope, it’s part of your costume,” Addison told her, tugging her along toward the next house as Abby trailed behind, sending the picture. It seemed to take a little longer than it should have, though maybe she just wasn’t used to using Katherine’s phone yet.

“You have another message,” she announced when she handed it back. “Read it!”

Katherine switched to her text messages, wondering how much longer this scavenger hunt could go on. “‘It’s almost beddy-bye time,'” she read boredly, “‘so just one more thing. After such a big night, lots of kids have trouble with… bedwetting… so get yourself a… diaper… just in case…'”

“You got kind of quiet there, sweetie,” Addison said to the shocked girl at the other end of the leash. “What are we looking for?”

Katherine really wished she’d read the whole message before she started saying the words out loud, because it was too late to back out now. Especially since she had a good feeling Addison had heard her just fine the first time. “A diaper,” she sighed. “We’re looking for a diaper.”

It was perfect, really – just the capper she needed for this thoroughly childish evening. She had no doubt Nina would laugh herself hoarse if she found out about it. Even the twins seemed to be working hard not to laugh out loud.

“Do you have any at home?” Abby asked, voice full of sweetness and innocence.

“No!” Katherine answered quickly, though she knew that would only make it sound more like she did, and was embarrassed about it.

“Are you sure?” Addison teased. “Maybe we ought to go back to your house and look through your drawers, see if you have a plastic sheet on your bed!”

Again, Katherine couldn’t help responding to that right away, “I’m not a bedwetter!” She then felt like sinking into the sidewalk as, a moment later, a group of trick or treaters passed them by, giving her a strange look.

“You don’t have to be ashamed,” Abby said. “Lots of kids your age still have trouble with that.”

“Well, I don’t!” Katherine stomped her foot, getting red in the face.

“Aww, calm down, silly,” Addison patted her head. “We’re only teasing. It’s just for the scavenger hunt. Calm down, sweetie.”

Yet, when they got to the next house, Addison asked the man who answered, “Do you happen to have a diaper we could use for her?”

“It’s for a game!” Katherine clarified quickly, before realizing that didn’t sound much better.

Before she could think of a better way to phrase it, the man was saying, “Sorry, we don’t have any kids,” and the twins were thanking him and pulling Katherine away.

“Don’t say that!” Katherine demanded. “You know what that makes it sound like!”

“Oh, sorry, Kitty,” Addison apologized. “I guess I didn’t think of that!”

But at the next house, it was even worse. “I’m sorry to ask, but do you have a spare diaper?” Addison asked.

“Even though she’s in the second grade and keeps saying she’s a big girl,” Abby broke in before Katherine could mention the scavenger hunt.

“I’m in fourth grade!” It had become almost second nature, defending her supposed age, something she found herself doing automatically before even trying to make it clear she didn’t need a diaper, even though that only made it sound worse. “And it’s for…”

“No, sorry, guys,” the woman shook her head.

“This isn’t funny!” Katherine grumped at the twins once they were away from the house again, but they obviously disagreed.

At the next house, Abby took the initiative. “Do you happen to have any diapers? We didn’t think to bring any spares because our little Kitty here told us she didn’t need them.”

“And we believed her because we thought six was plenty old to keep her pants dry for one night, but I guess the excitement of trick or treating was too much for her, you know?”

“And it’s past her bedtime,” Abby confided. “We should have known better, but we’re still new at this whole babysitting thing.”

“I am not six!” Katherine fumed, stomping her foot. If they hadn’t been on the front step of one of her neighbors, she would have told them she wasn’t nine, either, fed up with their games. She almost did anyway, but Abby interrupted.

“But just a couple weeks now!” Abby chirped.

The woman at the door looked down at Katherine, who was too flabbergasted to speak for a moment, then announced, “I think I have something that will fit.” She was gone for a minute, then returned with a Pamper. Katherine almost died as she saw it. She was sure there was no way she could fit into it, but the idea that this woman thought she could, that this was appropriate for her, was almost as bad.

“Thank you so much!” Addison smiled as she took it. “Say thank you, Kitty! Now you don’t have to walk around wet for the rest of the night!”

“I am not wet!” Katherine insisted vehemently.

“Poor cranky thing,” Abby sighed.

“My parents are keeping my baby for the night so they could take him trick or treating,” the woman said. “You can change her in his nursery if you want.”

“No!” Katherine squealed. “I don’t need…”

“Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver!” Addison pulled Katherine inside as Abby gave the woman a hug, and soon the three had been escorted to the toddler’s room and then given some privacy.

“We just need a picture!” Katherine begged them. “I’ll just hold it, and…”

“Oh, we’ll get a picture,” Addison promised. “We have to have it just perfect.”

With that, she picked up the squirming Katherine, depositing her on the changing table and pushing her down onto it, holding her down as Abby took the diaper from her. The changing table was a little too small, but it would serve its purpose well enough.

“No!” Katherine wailed. “You can’t!”

But Abby seemed to have some experience at avoiding a squirming young lady’s kicking legs, and had already pushed her skirt out of the way and tugged down her panties, leaving her bare bottom on the cool plastic cover of the changing table for a moment before she slipped the diaper beneath it. Katherine froze for a moment in terror as she felt the thick padding beneath her, giving Abby enough time to grab the baby lotion from the table and squirt some liberally into the seat of the diaper, then sprinkle baby powder over Katherine’s crotch.

At this point, it was clear that they could do anything they wanted, so Katherine changed her tactic to, “Please, don’t!”

“Don’t be sad,” Addison consoled her, kissing her forehead. “Lots of four year olds wet the bed. And it’s already past your bedtime.”

“I’m not four!” Katherine wailed.

“Are you trying to say you’re a big girl?” Abby asked.

“Yes!” Katherine nodded, trying to remember what age they’d agreed on. They’d been calling her different ones all night, and she was starting to get confused. She could remember her grade, but she was less certain about ages. “I’m…. eight?”

“Are you sure it wasn’t nine? Or how about eleven? Or thirteen? Or maybe we should go higher?” Abby grinned as Katherine looked up at her in surprise. “How old are you, Kitty?”

“I-I’m twenty-one,” Katherine admitted quietly. Had they really known all along? Why had they played along for so long?

“I don’t know…” Addison shook her head. “Would a twenty-one year old fit in a baby Pamper?”

With that, Abby pulled the diaper up, squishing the cool lotion against Katherine’s sensitive skin, making her squirm as the girl taped the diaper snugly in place. “Look at that! It fits perfectly!”

Katherine’s struggles had mostly ceased by then, but with that news, she stopped moving altogether, gaping down at the infantile garment on her waist. “But….”

“I don’t know if a nine year old would, either,” Addison mused. “So I think you must be four. At the most.”

“But…” Katherine sniffled. The girls pulled her down from the changing table and undid her skirt, letting it fall to the floor. They removed her panties, too, then helped her into the boy’s bed. He was out of a crib, luckily, but his bed still had side rails, and the sheet crinkled noisily below her as she fidgeted. Abby pulled the side rail up as Addison got Katherine’s name from her bucket, propping it up on the now crying girl’s stomach before snapping a picture of what, for all the world, was bound to look like a toddler girl being put to bed after a hard night of candy gathering.

“We told you we’d get a picture,” Addison smiled.

“Maybe we should leave her in there,” Abby suggested. “She is pretty cranky, and I’m sure she needs to get to bed. And I know we could find better ways to spend our Halloween.”

“I bet that lady misses her baby,” Addison added. “I doubt she’d mind looking after her.”

“No!” The idea had almost sounded good for a moment, getting away from these crazy twins, but then she remembered she had nothing to prove she was anything but what they’d said she was. Nina had her license, and she had no doubt the girls would be sure to take her phone with them to keep her from using it. She could tell the woman where her house was, but without any “adults” there, she doubted the woman would leave her there.

“I don’t know, it sounds pretty good to me,” Abby shrugged. “Unless you can do something for us.”

“Like what?” Katherine doubted it would be anything good.

She was right. “Wet your diaper,” Abby demanded. “Lay down in bed, pretend to be asleep, and soak your Pampers.”

“What?!”

“It’ll be adorable,” Addison assured her. “And don’t worry, we’ll both be recording it, so you can watch it later, too.”

“No! I can’t do that!” Katherine’s face was bright red, and tears were stinging her eyes. How dare they do this to her? She was a grown woman, and they knew it!

“Then I guess we’ll see you later,” Abby shrugged, walking over to the nursery window. “We can climb through here. Then she’ll come to check and see what’s taking so long, and she’ll find a nice present waiting for her!”

“We’ll wait outside until she does, though,” Addison told Katherine, “so you don’t think you can try the same thing.”

“But…” Katherine sniffled. What would be worse, spending the night with someone who truly thought she was a bedwetting little kid, or with a couple crazy teens who knew she wasn’t, but wanted to treat her like one? Neither was appealing, but at least one had a chance of her getting back home before Nina and being able to change before her roommate could find out about it. “Fine.”

She settled down into the bed. She started to pull the blanket over herself, but Addison threw it back off, rolling her over onto her back, legs spread wide. “Hold on for just a second,” the girl told her, as she and her sister positioned themselves, one holding Katherine’s phone, the other one of their own. “Now, ready, set…”

“Wait!” Abby suddenly began digging through her bag, rummaging through the candy. “I think it’s time.”

“It would be cute,” Addison nodded.

From the bottom of the bag, Abby pulled out a pacifier. The front of it looked like any normal baby’s pacifier, but the bulb was larger than any Katherine had ever seen. “We got this for our other little sister,” Abby explained. “We were hoping to find someone else that could use it.”

“And we sure did.” Addison took the pacifier and pressed it to Katherine’s lips. Katherine whimpered weakly, then resignedly opened her mouth. Addison shoved the pacifier inside, the rubber filling her mouth, almost making her feel like her cheeks should be bulging out from the size of it. “Now… Action!”

Katherine squeezed her eyes shut, trying to forget where she was, what was happening, how she was dressed. The smell of baby powder surrounding her, the bulk of the diaper between her legs, the pacifier in her mouth and the rustling of plastic made all those things difficult. Actually letting go, however, was far easier than she’d anticipated, her full bladder more than happy to finally find some relief. It took only the slightest coaxing for it to forget all its years of potty training and start.

She gave a muffled whimper from behind her pacifier as it began. Once it had started, she could tell there was no way to stop it, and all she could do was squirm in place and feel her diaper swell up around her waist, fighting to contain it all. Unconsciously, she found herself sucking on the pacifier, which made her feel slightly better until she realized what she was doing. As if peeing in a diaper wasn’t bad enough on its own!

Finally, she finished, but she didn’t dare open her eyes, not wanting to see the soaked, droopy diaper around her waist until she had to. She heard a click and a sliding sound, then, all of the sudden, Abby yelled, “Katherine, how could you?!”

Katherine furrowed her brow, confused, almost as much by one of the girls using her real name as by what was happening. She heard the sound of footsteps and the door open. She began to wriggle a bit, then froze as she felt a wet spot beneath her. Her eyes shot open and she sat up in horror, only to see that, sure enough, she had leaked.

“We are so sorry!” Addison was apologizing as she led the woman into the nursery. “We just got her changed, and she said she was tired and ran to your boy’s bed and sat down, and then she just wet herself, and she leaked all over! We feel so terrible!”

Katherine tried frantically to explain, but only a faint buzz escaped from the pacifier. She tried to take it out, but Abby pushed it back in, giving her a stern look.

“It’s all right,” the woman told them. “These things happen. I’m sure his sheets needed washing anyway.”

“We told her not to touch any of his things, but she just won’t listen!” Abby shook her head.

“She probably just needs to get into her own bed,” the woman suggested. “I’m sure she’d say she wants to trick or treat more, but you have to be firm with them at this age.”

“You’re right,” Addison nodded. “Again, we’re so sorry. But can we..?”

“Of course, change her into a fresh diaper,” the woman invited them. “And take a spare  with you, just in case.”

“You’re so nice,” Abby smiled sweetly at the woman. Katherine was quickly treated to another diaper change, and another liberal dose of baby powder, then put on her feet, Addison taking her leash again and Abby grabbing a hand. “I guess we should get you home,” she said.

“No!” Katherine mumbled behind her pacifier, staring down at her fully exposed diaper with wide eyes, but they were already marching her through the house.

“Thank you again!” Abby told the woman. “And we’re sorry about the sheets! But if it makes you feel any better, we’ll have to do laundry when we get back, too, since her skirt got soaked as well.”

Katherine shook her head, trying to explain that it didn’t.

“Would you like to borrow some pants? She looks a little bigger than my son, but we might be able to find something.”

“We don’t want to be any more bother,” Addison said. “We parked not far from here anyway. She’ll be fine.”

Katherine whimpered, trying her hardest to keep from being yanked through the front door, out onto the street where anyone could see her Pampers, but a sharp tug at the leash while the woman wasn’t looking calmed her down quickly and moments later, she was outside, feeling the cool autumn air on her bare legs. Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked around – the streets were mostly bare now, but even so, anyone could be looking out their windows and see her!

She tried to squeeze a, “Please,” around her pacifier, then tried once again to take it out.

Abby smacked her hand. “No! That stays in until one of us big girls takes it out. If you want something, you’ll just have to show us.”

Miserably, Katherine pointed down at her diaper, trying to make them understand.

“Kitty! Did you wet yourself again already?!” Addison gave a dramatic sigh.

Katherine shook her head, blushing. She pointed down again, then at Abby’s bag, where she’d stashed Katherine’s clothes. “You want some candy? I don’t think you’ve been a good enough girl for that,” Abby said.

Katherine groaned in exasperation and reached for the pacifier. Abby stopped her again, then began looking in her bag. For a moment, Katherine thought it had worked, but then Abby produced a pink strap. She took the pacifier from Katherine’s mouth and attached it while the girl frantically begged for her clothes back, then replaced it mid-sentence, fastening it behind her head with a small click.

“Now try again,” Abby ordered.

Katherine slumped down slightly, frustrated that they were ignoring the fact that she’d already asked for it while her pacifier had been out. She pointed down at her diaper, then over at Abby’s bag.

“Oh, I think she wants her pretty little panties back!” Addison declared. Katherine shook her head, but the girls paid her no mind as Abby pulled the pink panties free, and the two of them pulled them up her legs. The Pamper stuck out of the legholes and the top quite obviously, bulging against the soft fabric, making it clear she was still diapered underneath them.

“You’re right!” Abby nodded, patting Katherine on the shoulder, “That’s much cuter!”

Katherine was terrified, sure they were about to march her up to more of her neighbors and show her off like that, but, luckily, they didn’t make any more stops. Most of the front lights were off by then, anyway, and while she still worried that someone could see her from the windows, or that the remaining kids out and about, mostly the older ones, would recognize her from the neighborhood, she still felt relieved knowing that the girls seemed to be getting bored with her.

She’d never felt more glad to see her house, to get the chance to run to her room, change into some real underwear and clothes, and try to forget about that night, but the girls stopped at the porch. Abby took Katherine’s candy bucket and set it at one side of the porch, taking her skirt and the spare diaper from her own bag and putting it in as well, along with a small key. “This is to your pacifier,” she told Katherine. “You can keep it for now. It suits you. And you’ll need it when we drop by to babysit you.”

Addison grabbed Katherine’s arms and pulled them behind her, weaving the leash around them, tying them in place before tying the end of the leash around one of the posts of the porch, well away from the bucket that held her freedom from the pacifier, and from having her diaper quite so visible. Katherine was so busy trying to stop it that she didn’t notice Abby doing something was the piece of paper that had her name on it she’d been using for the scavenger hunt.

The twins took pictures of the struggling girl, then set her phone in her bucket. “We said trick or treat,” Abby told her with an evil little smile. “You should have given us our candy.”

“We really had no choice but to give you a trick. Now, night-night, Kitty. Try not to leak all over your pretty big girl panties!” Addison waved, and then the twins were off, giggling to each other, leaving Katherine futilely thrashing against the leash.

She fought for a while before giving up, looking around herself at the dark street. A sense of foreboding washed over her as she recalled what had happened earlier that evening, what had scared her so much she’d let herself get talked into going out with the twins in the first place. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Had they just been kids in costume, or had they been something more, like she’d been so sure of? And what if they came back? She was helpless now!

She gave another frantic twist against her bonds, but they refused to loosen. She doubted the twins knew about the black-eyed kids, but even so, they’d trussed her up for them to do what they wanted with her. She couldn’t even call for help. She whimpered as she thought back to those dark eyes, their voices, so confident, so un-childlike.

She gave a loud squeak as she heard what she thought was the sound of footsteps behind her, a trickle of urine squirting into the thirsty padding of her diaper, but when she turned around, nothing was there. She turned back around, then gave a jump as she saw a trio of figures across the street. She groaned a frantic, “No,” into her pacifier as they turned toward her, her diaper growing wetter as she began to lose herself in her fear. They turned back away, apparently not seeing her, kicking viciously at the jack-o-lantern on the front step of the house across the street before running off, laughing.

It was going to be a long night, she realized, especially if she kept jumping at every noise, but she had freaked herself out too much already to do anything but. She almost wished those black eyed kids would come back and take her as it got later, and her diaper began leaking, warm urine running down her bare legs, then quickly cooling down.

Nina, of course, was tickled pink to find her there when she finally made it back home and found the note Abby had left. “‘Kitty has been a bad little girl,'” she read out loud, once she’d untied her roommate and let her inside. “‘Please make sure she gets into a dry diaper, then goes straight to bed. Here’s our phone number if you need a babysitter for her, or we can recommend a nice daycare.'”

Katherine tried to explain, but Nina had paused before unlocking the pacifier. “You know, I asked the person in charge of the scavenger hunt how I’d done when the winner was announced, and they told me I hadn’t even finished the first one. You could have at least made an effort.” With that, she pocketed the key. “Let me guess, did some more big, bad kids do this to you?”

Katherine blushed, giving away the answer even without being able to talk.

“I always thought you acted like a big baby,” Nina shook her head. “Obviously, I was right. Tomorrow, I’m calling your ‘babysitters’, and I’m going to congratulate them on what a good job they did, and see when they can come over to watch you. But for now, I’m going to take their advice and get your diapered butt to bed. Got it?”

Katherine sighed and nodded. What choice did she have? She’d wanted to go trick or treating. Now she had a whole bucket full of treats, but she had a feeling it was the trick that was going to stick with her the longest.