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The Other World - Part 2
🕑 Added 2022-07-03 10:31:00 +0000 UTCLauren was stunned at the events of the last hour. This was obviously not a dream. This was something more.
Was she dead?
Lauren shook her head and rolled over on her side to face the wall where the bunnies on the wall paper glanced back at her, silently giggling at her predicament. As the light filtered through the curtains and bounced off the pastels in the room, Lauren’s intellectual mind was moving extremely fast. There was no way she was dead. Death would have brought her peace, some sort of harmony. This was more like purgatory.
Lauren pawed at the diaper cover locked over the plastic prison where she lay. Her mother had been right, the diaper cover was not coming off without some sort of key. Lauren groaned to herself and pounded her head into the pillow wondering what she could do about… her situation. She closed her eyes as she usually tended to do when she was thinking deeply of a problem and rewound the morning’s events in her head.
First, there was the issue of her mother in the kitchen cooking a meal. She never did that, in fact, her mother was usually a DoorDash kind of person who knew her way around a menu more than she did in a kitchen. And then there was her father, who acted as if her wetting all over the floor was a common occurrence, which led Lauren to her third and final thought.
How had she peed on the floor without realizing it? Lauren was potty trained, she’d been potty trained for decades at this point. Lauren hadn’t even laughed too hard and peed her pants like some people did when they ended up embarrassing themselves in the pursuit of jocularity.
Lauren’s thoughts were interrupted, however, by the front door of the house opening. She strained her ear when she heard a few voices going back and forth downstairs. Her mother sounded excited and Lauren could hear her father laughing. Her stomach did a flip: That sounded like Charlie.
Lauren’s sense of joy instantly plunged into embarrassment. If Charlie came upstairs and saw her in a crib, wearing a thick diaper and a diaper cover, there’d be no way she’d live it down. Lauren usually had the air of someone with confidence, someone who had their shit together. But right now, in a crib, with a possy of stuffed animals around her… she wasn’t confident. This was best described as “full baby.”
Lauren tried her best to get out of the crib, but her mother had locked her down tight. The bars that before seemed innocent and protective were now looking more like the bars of an infantile prison. Lauren realized with a groan- she would simply have to wait for Charlie to discover her as she was.
Lauren scowled for a second and resolved that she was going to control exactly what she could control and grabbed a blanket that was in the crib… her crib… and placed it over her shoulders in an effort to hide her baby clothing. She lay down on her back a moment, trying to calm herself down, taking deep breaths and focusing on one spot on the ceiling. But she couldn’t help but feel anxiety when she heard Charlie’s gait bounding up the stairs.
The door swung open and Charlie stood there looking shocked at what he saw in front of him. But he regained his composure quickly. Stepping carefully towards the crib, Charlie pulled a card from his pocket and held it up against the crib, releasing the bars. He then proceeded to slip the card back in his pocket and embrace Lauren.
Charlie held her close. She wanted to cry at that moment. This was all overwhelming. But in this second, when the entire world looked different, she felt and smelled something familiar. Charlie’s hair smelled like him. Lauren remembered the sound of his heartbeat, the way his hands felt when they were on her lower back. This felt like home. This felt familiar.
Even if it were not the same.
***
“The women here are different,” Charlie said once he and Lauren finished their embrace. Lauren was feeling much better now that Charlie was with her. He felt like the only real thing in the world. Charlie had explained just moments earlier that there was something significantly off about this… place. “For some reason, all of the women here are…” he paused then shook his head. “It’s something you’re going to have to see for yourself to fully understand.”
Lauren, to her credit, just shook her head. There was no way this was still real. But Charlie was here. Her husband was speaking to her. This moment had to be real, because he smelled like him. No one smelled like themselves in their dreams. That was impossible.
“Is there at least something else I can wear?” Lauren asked, pawing at the diaper cover that concealed her diaper.
Charlie glanced around the room. “I didn’t realize you had a different wardrobe.” He approached the closet and laughed to himself. “I mean, this kinda makes sense, right?”
Lauren was puzzled at his remarks but resolved to just deal with it another time. “Come on Charlie, there’s got to be something else I can wear. Can you at least remove the diaper cover?”
Charlie shook his head. “I don’t know how. Why don’t we try and get you some new clothes to go over that… locking thing.” He pulled out a uniquely disgusting pink dress with frills on the shoulders that looked a bit too short to go out in public. “And I’d put this on if I were you.”
Lauren shook her head.
“Come on LarBar,” Charlie said, using his voice of affection. “You’ve got to trust me on this one. If we can get to my apartment uptown, we’ll be able to find you something else to wear. I think this is our best bet for now.”
Lauren started at the pink, frilly dress and whimpered to herself.
Fine.
She grabbed the dress, thankful that at least she’d have something slightly adult to wear and pulled it over her head. Sure enough, the dress hardly came over her diaper. Lauren felt a tinge of humiliation well up inside of her as she checked herself out in the mirror. She looked like an overgrown toddler and not at all like the professional woman who just 24 hours before was about to travel the nation in full “girlboss” status.
Charlie ushered Lauren out of the room and down the stairs to the main level where her parents were sitting in the living room speaking to one another.
“Oh good,” her mother gushed looking at Lauren and then Charlie in turn. “Don’t you two look adorable.” She approached Charlie and handed him a card. “This is for the diaper cover.” Lauren’s mother patted Lauren on the head, “We know someone has a hard time holding their pee this morning.”
“I know how to use the bathroom mom,” Lauren grumbled.
“Don’t talk back to your mother Lauren.” Her dad’s voice from behind a newspaper on the couch drifted through the conversation.
“Are you headed out?” Lauren’s mom ignored him.
“Yes,” Charlie said. “We’re going to head to my place for a bit. We’ve got a few things to take care of.”
“Good, please be safe. Our little super soaker has been slightly cranky this morning.”
Lauren did her best to avoid eye contact when her mother made those remarks. Her face burned. Besides, why was her mother speaking about her like a child? This probably had to do with her accident this morning. Maybe she was just stressed out which is why she was having this fever dream. Lauren considered all the facts here. Bedwetting was a sign of stress, a sign of mental regression. Lauren reasoned that because she was preparing to buy a house, it was likely she was just stressed out, which is why she was having this extremely regressed, lucid dream.
But that didn’t explain why Charlie smelled like Charlie.
Nevermind that now, Lauren reasoned. She’d figure things out as she went along. In the meantime, the goal was to get out of here as fast as possible.
Charlie led her to the door and after kissing her parents goodbye, they stepped out onto the busy streets of downtown New York.
**
Lauren expected to feel a rush of relief stepping onto the streets of the city she grew up in, but as she and Charlie walked down the street, she instantly realized something was off. She related the feeling to that time several years ago, when she walked into a haunted house and was walking room to room. There was this one room, where the floor was laced with fog and she found that she couldn’t quite stand up straight, it was like the room was off slightly.
Later on, when she and Charlie had met up with some of the house's designers, they explained to her how they had actually made the floor crooked to throw off the perception of the room. They’d even made the walls slightly slanted, while moving the focal points of the room, forcing your brain to compensate for the altered reality, and throwing just about everyone off balance.
This is how Lauren felt right now as she walked down the street, clutching Charlie’s hand in a bright pink dress that left her diaper cover fully exposed for the world to see. Lauren was finding it hard to be embarrassed, because just about every other woman was wearing an outfit similar to hers. Granted, their dresses were not all pink, but blues, greens and yellows. Each of them were walking with a male counterpart who was either dressed up, dressed down or at least looking every bit of the adult that they were.
What Lauren found strange was what appeared to be the younger women, the women who looked to be in their twenties and thirties who were all wearing the infantile outfits. As they passed a popular coffee shop on the corner, Lauren glanced inside and saw a woman, who looked no more than twenty-five sitting in a high chair with a sippy cup in her hand, sucking down the liquid that was inside. The male partner she was with was actively checking her diaper in the coffee shop, without a care in the world. What made things even more shocking was that Lauren noticed that the woman didn’t even seem to be embarrassed, she just rolled with it.
Lauren tore her eyes away and continued forward, tightly clutching Charlie’s hand. As they walked past a large fountain, it was clear that while much of New York was the same (people skateboarding, peddlers asking for change), there were obvious differences. There was a man spoon-feeding a woman on a park bench. She was wearing a bib and the spoon was missing her mouth from time to time. Her partner smiled, wiped the side of her mouth and continued with this process. Lauren couldn’t help but stare as they passed by a group of adult women who were all clutching a rope while an older woman led them through the streets of New York. It was one of those ropes she generally saw preschoolers holding to make sure they didn’t get lost.
There was even a homeless woman screaming something in the middle of the park as usual. Her hair, platinum blond and messy, was flying all over the place while people looked on sympathetically. Charlie and Lauren took a wide-angle around her, in their best effort to avoid her and her disheveled appearance. At least the homeless were the same in this dream.
As they continued along this path towards the subway, Lauren’s mind started spinning as she tried to take in everything she was seeing. She was able to make a few conclusions about the scenario she was in. For starters, not all the women were in infantile outfits. It was as if the older you got, the less infantile the outfits were. Most of the women who weren’t wearing those horrible outfits, generally had streaks of gray in their hair and were at least forty. Lauren also noticed that in the advertisements on the side of the buses and the billboards, if there was a woman in the ad, she was also older. There weren’t any of the young women who she was used to seeing in the fashion and jewelry billboards. In fact, there were all men and older women.
Odd.
As she and Charlie continued walking, Lauren noticed something else strange. Her diaper had begun to get heavier and heavier. Lauren reached down and squeezed the outside of the diaper cover and confirmed what she had suspected. Her diaper was wet again. In fact, judging by the waddle she was now sporting, Lauren had been wetting it for a while. Lauren made a mental note to pay better attention in the future. The last thing she needed was to lose bladder control. It was already bad enough to be dressed as an infant.
Lauren and Charlie finally came to a stop in front of an apartment building where her fiance led them upstairs and into a familiar apartment that she had grown to know and love over the years. Sighing with relief, Lauren sat down on Charlie’s couch with a squish and shook her head.
“What the fuck Charlie?” Lauren gestured to the window. “What is happening out there?”
Charlie sat down next to her. “I don’t have a clue. We’re not dreaming right?”
Lauren looked down at her diaper cover and shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like it.” Then she looked up. “Charlie, I need out of this diaper please.”
Charlie looked alarmed. “Why didn’t you tell me you had to use the restroom?”
Lauren’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “I didn’t realize…”
Charlie, taken aback for a moment, patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “It’s probably just the stress of all of this.” Charlie then began patting himself down and pulled out the magnetic card from his pocket. “This should do the trick.” He pressed it against the diaper cover which caused it to loosen. “Just take off the diaper and you should be good to go.”
Lauren nodded and bolted from the room. She needed to take a shower. Lauren felt gross. She felt like a helpless baby, wetting her diapers without even realizing it. Lauren simply resolved from now on to pay closer attention. Clearly the stress was getting to her.
After her shower, Lauren raided Charlie’s closet, grabbed a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt and put her hair up into a messy bun and flopped on the couch. Charlie was standing by the door with his keys in his hand.
“Lauren,” he said pensively. “I’m going to go out and see if I can figure out what’s going on.”
Lauren stood up and grabbed her cell phone. “I’m coming with you.”
Charlie held up a hand. “I don’t really think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
Charlie was fidgeting now. “Did you see what it was like out there?”
“Yes…”
“I don’t think it’s safe for you out there,” Charlie leaned against the wall. “Didn’t you see how they were treating the young women?”
“But not all the women were being treated like that.”
“I know, but all the ones your age were.” Charlie held up his hand as Lauren protested slightly. “Just give me an hour, I’m going to go out and see what I can discover, okay? Please? Just wait here for one hour, I’ll be right back.”
Lauren crossed her arms and reluctantly nodded.
“But um… Lauren…” Charlie pointed to her sweatpants. Lauren gasped and looked down, they were wet. “We should probably put you in another diaper, just to be safe.”
It was hard for Lauren to argue with Charlie’s logic at that moment. She was, after all, standing there in wet sweatpants. So Charlie handed her a diaper, she put it on. Charlie smiled at her and added the locking diaper cover on top of the thick, plastic diaper. “This should protect the furniture.”
Lauren frowned, but Charlie simply bopped her on the nose and gave her a kiss. “I’ll be back in an hour okay?”
Lauren nodded, reasoning she could probably do some research on her own while she was in the apartment, besides, who wanted to go outside in this world anyway?
