Australia

I just wet my Huggie. It's still good for a couple of more wettings without any leaks before I have to change.

Hey everyone! Well, the news I got this week wasn’t great. Definitely not the worst and I’m holding onto that as much as I can, but the rest of this year might even prove to be suckier than the first part of it… something I didn’t even think was possible at this point. But regardless, what that means for this story is nothing so far. With the news not being as bad as I imagined it would be, it tells me there’s hope that I might not be pulled away like I once thought I might be. I’m still concerned about that and the interaction here or if people even like this story… but I can save those concerns for another day. Now… last but not least and as usual, I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter of my story! Chapter 8: Seeing Something Is No Longer Proof I ran and ran. I ran until my lungs wanted to burst. I ran until my heart wanted to explode. I kept running… always forward… always fast… never looking back once. I just heard the screams and shouts of my friends and the gnawing and the growling behind them. Snapped branches and dragging and all terror and pain and stalking and running. I didn’t stop until I saw one of the far-off lanterns of our camp. I stopped and tried to bend down to keep from puking and then stretched myself up to allow myself to breathe and not pass out. A moment later, the rest of my friends caught up with me… all equally pained and panicked and out of breath. “What the hell was that?” Leo asked, panting heavily, his hands bracing against the tops of his knees. “Some stupid moose or mountain lion,” Dwayne tried to counter as he caught up, less out of breath and more annoyed looking than anything. “Oh, that’s bull and you know it!” Sammy shouted, spitting on the ground and wincing for a moment as he sucked in a huge deluge of air. “Shh!” The last thing I wanted was to get caught on top of everything that had just happened. “Do you want them to catch us? We already wasted one night… you don’t want to get in trouble now, do you?” “Wasted?” Dwanye questioned, a sneer curling up his lips. “What do you mean… wasted? We’re going back, right? We just need some tools or maybe a knife or…? I’m not sure, but we can leave in an hour and…” “Are you crazy?” Brian had practically been shuddering in fear the whole time. I almost thought he was going catatonic after seeing exactly what I did. “Whatever it was… it’s still out there! You’re an idiot if you think you can take it on and stay in one piece?” Dwayne glared back at Brian and then got up from his crouch and charged over to him, his fists clenched tightly. “What did you call me? Say it again! Say it again!” Leo got up from his seated position next to a rock and put himself between Dwayne and Brian. “No! We are not doing this tonight. Damn it, Dwayne. I don’t know what was out there, but we could have been hurt! We were in serious trouble… don’t you realize that?” “Oh… I think you are all in trouble tonight,” a familiar voice rattled through the trees, causing each of us to turn around and see the one and only, Mr. Nancy, standing right there. On his left, Mrs. Claw. On his right, Mr. King… primed with a shotgun already. “Isn’t that right, Mrs. Claw?” She nodded and stepped up. “You all are in big trouble. But… for now, follow me.” She turned around, cold and calculating and just naturally expected us to follow her. I was first. I could only swallow dryly as I realized the scope of what happened. On the way though, I at least had the good sense to hide Ron’s map. The whole way back to the administration building, none of us spoke a word. Still a little winded from earlier, I dropped back. When I looked around at my fellow campers, only Brian seemed to be upset and nervous. Everyone else just looked pissed. “I can’t believe you all would be so foolish to go out into the woods alone!” Mrs. Claw scolded us as the five of us sat in her office, the dark outside still covering everything in a sheet of black. “We have our rules for a reason. There’s a reason we don’t allow red or yellow cabins to wander around at night. It isn’t safe!” “Yes, ma’am,” Leo said sullenly. “We understand…” “Then why?” she pressed. “Why go out at all? Don’t you care about your safety?” There was a long pause. Sammy glared back at her and finally popped. “It’s because of how we look!” he shot back, drawing matching confused looks from both Mr. Nancy and Mrs. Claw. “I’m the youngest, sure, but these guys were in their 30s or 40 when they came here. Now look at them!” I saw both ‘adults’ look at us and I knew what they were seeing. Once proud men of business with our own company and stock options with an eye always toward the future, we looked more like we belonged at the senior or even junior prom in high school. Brian seemed to take that description of a notion okay… clearly, stewing to the side, Dwayne did not. “So, this is vanity? Why you tried to leave here so recklessly in the middle of the night?” Mr. Nancy asked, his expression reading like he wished for just about anything else to be our reasoning. Sammy shook his head. “No… but what would you have us do? Every day, we hear more reports back home of parties and drinking and everyone having a grand old time as they regress downwards. Why can’t that be our lives? Why are we stuck here?” “You signed a contract,” Mrs. Claw tried to explain. “It gave us legal permission to keep you here until you bounced for safety reasons. If you were to leave now, we would be liable for you. We could be in trouble if you were so much as hit by an apple coming off the back of a truck as you made you way back to the city.” “We feel like prisoners,” Dwayne stated curtly. “Don’t you get that?” It was clear his patience was running thin… especially after our failed escape attempt from this place. I saw how Mr. Nancy and Mrs. Claw looked. They either wanted to throttle him or at least punish him again. He had backtalked to them in a way that was not acceptable around here. Frustration was to be expected. Rudeness was not. Worried that he might doom us all, I acted quickly. “It’s just we wanted to live our lives before they were totally gone.” Mellow dramatic perhaps, but to the point. Sammy smiled, nodded, and pointed at me. “Yes. That.” It was almost like he couldn’t quite find the exact words he wanted to say and instead had maneuvered as best he could around them. Mrs. Claw sighed. “Understandable then, but I don’t think we can make an exception here. I might suggest some more… exciting activities in the next few days for purple cabin though.” Mr. Nancy nodded. “I’ll brainstorm a few ideas. “Excellent.” Both seemed happy about that while the five of us looked a little more hesitant about what that could mean. “But… you all did break the rules, and we can’t just let that go…” Both Mrs. Claw and Mr. Nancy scratched their heads and stroked their chins in contemplation. “But that’s not fair!” Leo protested. “Yeah!” Dwayne agreed, though adopting a sicklier and more whining tone. “What kind of screw up people are you all? Stupid people on top always trying to bring us down… fuckin’ unbelievable.” I saw a flicker of rage in Mrs. Claw’s eyes. She was clearly not used to having her authority tested so publicly like this. Sure, Dwayne’s aggression might have been accurate by not wanting to be dismissed so easily based on something as basic and simple as just wanting to enjoy what little time we had. But there were feelings… and then there was how much you moaned and were a real prick about it. And so frankly, when I saw them start whispering and heard ‘lower cabin,’ I panicked. Two administrators being tested like that didn’t seem to bode well for us. “But it was the monster!” I yelled, desperate not to be sent back down to yet another cabin already. Once under 18 and in the purple cabin, while general ages were adhered to with each of the remaining four cabins, it was more based on abilities and mental abilities. Apparently, once under 18, some exhibited mental or physical traits not associated with the age they normally would be at. For example, there were some eight-year-olds in the yellow cabin because they couldn’t find the potty to save their lives. “Monster?” Mrs. Claw asked me, raising one of her eyebrows in extreme suspicion. “Like from the ghost stories we tell you all at the bonfires?” I saw her look of skepticism, and I saw the daggers from Sammy, Leo, and above all, Dwayne. It was right then that I knew I had messed up. Uriah had warned me to never bring it up first, and in my panic… I had done just that. ‘Shit…’ “I… I…” My scrambled to try and come up with an excuse of what I meant. “We saw the yellow eyes,” Brian joined in. It was the truth and Brian was supporting me, but when I saw him smile at me, I saw he didn’t get it. He was a good person, but in situations like these, he just wasn’t aware of what it could mean for us. For him, it was black and white with what happened. He saw a monster and that was the truth. All other considerations were secondary… even if that meant alienating everyone else. For me, in these situations I just spoke without really thinking. Mrs. Claw leaned over to Mr. King. She whispered, but I could still hear her. “I was just debating if they should be moved to blue for safety reasons, but now… if they think it’s a monster…” “Yeah…” Mr. Nancy agreed horrifically. “If they believe in monsters to the point of screaming and running away, maybe they don’t belong with the rest of the cabin…” “That’s bull!” Dwayne shot out. “Don’t be idiots!” The whole room froze. “I think they might have only thought they saw something,” Leo noted after giving Dwayne a dirty look. Leo wasn’t always on Brian and I’s side, but he was logical and he knew that Dwayne could be too abrasive for his own good. “And we didn’t see it,” Sammy pointed out. Others might have interpreted that as a betrayal, but for me, I knew it was the truth. Only Brian and I had seen the monster. Everyone else had only heard it. “Something was out there… but maybe a bear or a mongoose. I don’t know… but something. Just… not a monster.” There was a moment of silence before Mr. Nancy and Mrs. Claw whispered some more. “They’re just a bunch of pants-wetting, scaredy-cat babies! Send them down!” Dwayne called out from a place of fear and vileness. Anything to save himself… it was just his way. But unlike Sammy who was simply telling the truth, Dwayne’s words hit me like a knife in my back. Though not true, watching the yellow cabin campers and even some red walk around with some prominent padded protection… it might have been a forecast of our futures. And with everything that happened tonight, I didn’t need to be reminded of that fact. “Dwayne… you are new to purple cabin, but we do not name-call our cabinmates,” Mr. Nancy shot at him with a stern look. “Do we understand each other?” Dwayne looked about six seconds away from slugging someone but a head shake from Leo and his eyes bulging out once for emphasis, stopped his friend cold. “Yes… Mr. Nancy.” Leo cleared his throat. Dwayne winced and his cheek twitched. “I understand…” Mr. Nancy nodded with a subtle smile. “Thank you, Dwayne.” He turned to the rest of us. “I think I can speak freely for Mrs. Claw as well that we will consider your punishment for trying to escape tonight. Maybe some trail renovation… or helping Mr. King out with some tasks… we’ll talk more tomorrow. But for now…” He turned briefly back to Mrs. Claw who gave him an approving nod. “You all can stay in purple cabin.” I was relieved and my heart began to slow down. We were dismissed and guided back to our cabin by a wear Mr. Nancy… Mr. King following close behind. It thought because my mention of the monster didn’t cause us to be demoted down a cabin, I was in the clear. I was not. “Damn it, Miles!” Leo questioned me abruptly as soon as Mr. Nancy left us to ensure Sammy got to his cabin next door as well. “Do you realize what you’ve done?” I saw everyone was already woken up in the cabin. From a side mutter, when we entered, Mr. Nancy had apparently done a bed check when someone saw us running into the forest. But now, Leo’s comment perked them all up. I groaned and turned to him as I slung my pack over my bed to empty it. “You mean besides say the truth? Is that what you mean, Leo?” “We all saw it,” Brian noted meekly before getting shot down by a stern glance from Leo. “No, we didn’t,” Dwayne hissed. “It was just a big coyote… maybe a bear, but we only heard something out there. It’s law of the land or whatever… nothing more. You two saw it…” He scoffed. “If we even believe that. You two are just a bunch of sniveling cowards in the woods. Could have been a moth for all we know!” “Hey… easy there…” Eric tried to calm down the situation, hopping out of his bunk. “No need for any name calling around here.” Several others seemed to nod to that idea as well. Dwayne’s whole face contorted like he had smelled something rotten. Turning to me, he pointed right at my chest accusatorily. “But that weasel sold us out and spread lies that were going to get us all locked up here as a menace to ourselves and society! Did you know they can do that to us here?” “What?” Leo asked in shock. “It’s part of the rules…” Eric noted somberly. “Demoted cabin, right?” We all nodded and he sighed. “Yeah… if it actually happens, you all get put on a true hold and can’t be released from camp until a doctor then signs off on it. Right now, we all signed a contract to keep us here… but it can be broken or modified a ton of ways… none of which require a doctor.” “So, I was right!” Dwayne exclaimed before pointing at me again, spit nearly flying out of his curled mouth. “If Leo and Sammy hadn’t intervened, we would have been toast!” Dwayne raised a good point admittedly… one that I had already been worried about myself. I hoped because nothing had happened, I would be fine, but looking around, it was easy to see that the rest of the cabin seemed to agree with him. It wasn’t good. But I saw what I saw. Ego or logic aside, my eyes didn’t lie. I wasn’t regressed to the point I couldn’t recognize a beast when I saw one. ‘I just don’t know if I could prove it to anyone at this point, and with no proof, I’m apparently a traitor or a scaredy-cat here…’ Eric winced and looked back at me, a dash of hope filling his eyes but mix of revulsion and sadness as well. “Miles… is all that true?” I knew that all I had was the truth now. It was powerful stuff, but my words were hollow in this cabin and so they likely didn’t mean much. And by now, even if I lied and said that I only overreacted from lack of sleep or whatever, by now, I was confident that Dwayne would no doubt make it his personal mission to discredit me wherever, and however, he could. So, with two equally bad paths ahead of me, I knew I just had to stick to the truth… even if that meant I would become the pariah and outcast of purple cabin not even into my third day here. “Yes…” Most of the cabin gasped. I flinched and knew this would be my one chance to defend myself. I was dubious of the results by now… but I felt I had to try. “But I didn’t mean it to be that way!” I protested. “I just meant to set the record straight. I heard her… she was already on the fence, and I thought that saying what I saw… monster or whatever, would be enough to push her off. I didn’t think it would make her think we should be in a lower cabin. Honest!” “Bull!” Dwayne shouted, his fists cracking in their clenched rage. “You couldn’t cut it out in the real world and now here you actually mean something to these people. Admit it! I’ve seen you have fun here. You want to stay trapped here! Don’t you?” He was almost screaming at me now. If there weren’t so many witnesses, I could have sworn he would be throttling me by now. “But you’re just a low and stupid bast…” “What is the meaning of this?” Mr. Nancy stormed in and questioned us. “Who is shouting? At this hour? Are you kidding me?” He turned to the person who was more or less in charge of the cabin. “Griff? What happened?” Griff started to speak but Mr. Nancy glared down at him in a way that made the usually confident teen shrink back for a second. “And the truth please…” He looked at me and at Dwayne. “Sorry guys…” He then turned back to Mr. Nancy. “Those two, sir. Nothing much. Just some harmless name calling around here because of what they apparently did tonight. We were about to resolve it when you came in…” Mr. Nancy looked at us both and sighed before pinching the bridge of his nose. “You two… and I just got finished arguing on your behalf that you belonged here. Was I wrong?” Dwayne almost scoffed before being kicked by Leo. For me, I shook my head. “No, sir. I just…” I shook my head again, but this time to clear my thoughts. “We were just loudly debating tonight. Not bad… just late and loud.” I paused and hung my head low. “I… I’m sorry…” “That better be all it is.” He stepped closer into the cabin… to a point I had never seen him step before. He looked disapproving of the art but only turned back to us when he stopped. “In light of your coming punishment already for tonight and escaping, I’m going to let you both off with a warning… this time.” Everyone was all smiles… for about five seconds. “But for all of you… if I see more of these late-night excursions and arguments and breaking of the rules though… I will start doing cabin inspections.” He stepped again, most in the cabin looking shocked. “And I will reinforce the rules in a way none of you thought possible or have seemed to take for granted.” He then stepped back closer to us before looking down to meet our frightened and guilty gazes. I was just trying to defend myself tonight… but he didn’t know that. “Understood?” “Yes, sir!” we both snapped to readily answer his query without delay and not wanting to cause any more problems for the cabin than we already had. Seemingly satisfied, he nodded to everyone else. “Now tuck in! It’s a few more hours until wake up and breakfast. And remember… laundry day tomorrow. Don’t forget!” With that, he stormed out the door. No one wanted to push their luck. And with all the grumbling and mumbling around, I saw several dirty looks cast my way. Being responsible for the demotion to a younger cabin was apparently a serious offense around here. And as I got into bed, with an ache in my heart and an uneasy feeling in my gut, I felt convinced that of the whole cabin now, only Brian didn’t abhor me. I turned over in bed and shut my eyes. ‘Stupid monster…’ *              *              * In the morning, laundry came and went and we all soon found ourselves back in the dining hall for some breakfast. The mood around the table was anything but cheery. Dwayne and Leo still whispered and muttered to the others, and from their looks after, I could only guess that it was about what Brian and I had said last night. It was unfair and cruel of them, but Brian and I didn’t want to cause more waves, so we sat in silence. But there was one difference beyond that. “Attention! Attention!” Mrs. Claw squawked from the front, tapping her plastic mug against the table she ate at. “Quiet now! Quiet!” She smiled when everyone stopped and looked up at her. Something told me she liked to be in charge more than usual. “Thank you…” She took a breath. “Now, as you may or may not have been told, last night and the night before, we had an incident in the woods. I just want to remind you all that solo exploration of the surrounding woods and breaking curfew is strictly forbidden.” I swear those words were directed right at us. “But, to ensure you all have a firm understanding of these woods and how to protect yourself in them, myself and the other cabin leaders and counselors here have decided instead of your previous activities today, you all will be focusing on this instead,” she announced, much to the loud chagrin of everyone in front of her. She only smiled and let us resume our eating after. As we exited the dining hall, I noticed more dark faces turned toward Brian and I other than our own cabin. Purple, blue, black… and even red. All of them seemed disgusted with us. Betrayal or being afraid of a story. Whispers of ‘their minds are already going if they believe that’ abounded everywhere. Of course, a few didn’t seem to judge us too harshly. “You really think that Ms. Peachy?” Eric asked as we gathered around to listen to her in her nature class. “There can’t really be monsters… can there?” Ms. Peachy shot a quick smile to both Brian and I. “Well… I’m not sure. But let’s do a little exercise here. I describe something and you tell me what it is…” We all nodded and she smiled. “I have a bill for a mouth, a flat tail, and webbed feet. I also have thick brown fur and no teeth, but the males in my species have venomous ankle spurs while the females lie our eggs.” She eyed us with her unnatural peculiarity that suited her job well. “What am I?” “Gross!” someone shouted from the back. She smirked playfully and shook her head. “Maybe, but no good! Any other guesses?” No one answered. She strutted over and picked up a book before opening it. Finding the page she wanted, she walked back over and showed us the image of the creature. “I’m a platypus!” Several of our cabinmates laughed. She did too but setting the book down, she turned back toward us. “Now, I don’t know what’s out in those woods. With so many stories, something has to be out there. Remind me to bring int eh casting we made of some tracks we found… or the photographs of the scratch marks we’ve found on trees…” Several of my fellow cabinmates squirmed at that, probably remembering our campsite yesterday where the trees were littered with them. And while Ms. Peachy seemed to be a believer in something, other counselors seemed less so. Mr. Yoder had us calculate the bite force, strength, or other varying statistics of the more aggressive species of the area. His experiment was to show the biting or grip power of various animal he had encountered himself… including just what an alligator could do to a piece of chicken. And Mr. King, who announced our punishment would be helping him restock his kits and clean his guns three times a week, had set up various animal targets out on the range. Instead of shot guns, we used rifles and were taught various ways to evade or escape the large local predators. Of course, Dwayne and the others took those lessons to heart and declared them as the answer to what we all heard last night and that Brian had seen. They even cited a book from Mr. Yoder’s collection about large-eyed creatures that could have reflected our light off its eyes and seemed more yellow than usual. But for Brian and I, we remained resolved in what we had seen. “Penny for your thoughts?” Emma asked, holding out a glass of cool and refreshing lemonade while a few of us took a break from pulling weeds in the south fields. Brian was filling our water bottles and most everyone else had been avoiding the two of us for the better part of the day if we could. So, I sighed. “Probably heard we tried to leave last night… and we saw something.” “Oh…” It wasn’t sarcasm… just an oddly understanding tone when I told her that. “Let me guess… you told the truth of what you saw, and the staff freaked out and now your cabinmates didn’t appreciate that and are shunning you and… Brian, right?” I look back at her, perplexed with how she knew so much. ‘Does she have an in at camp?’ She chuckled. “Relax, Miles. I’ve just seen this happen before. Before all this, the camp was for business get-togethers in the Fall and Spring and youth summer camps in the summer. Lots of lectures… some sightings and the fall-out after.” “What happened?” Maybe there was hope and that those things stopped. “The campers left and what they saw left as well,” she revealed, much to my dismay. “Oh…” I liked Emma and she could be too bubbly some days, but she was a spark of life with an otherwise boring afternoon some days. Hearing her say that though, something that wasn’t probably coming soon for most of us wasn’t the best news I could have heard right then. Buit Emma reached out and patted my shoulder. “But you want to know a bit of a secret?” I looked back at her with curiosity and nodded my head. She smiled and turned around before pointing at a series of towers closest to the tree line to the east and west of us. “See those? Those are for our night watchmen.” “To protect the food stores?” I asked, though a part of me already feeling my guess was wrong. “No, Miles. They protect us from the wildlife. And there are towers for just about every animal type out there. I’ve seen ‘em work!” But she then stopped and leaned in after looking around us… almost like she had a secret to tell. “Those towers… weren’t made for bear or mongoose or coyote or whatever else in mind…” I wanted to ask her more. She seemed to know something more. But she pressed her fingers to her lips. “Shh… it’s a secret, Miles. Don’t tell the others and this is all I can tell you… but isn’t it interesting?” It was and despite my promise to her right after, I told Brian about the towers. It was technically a breaking of the trust and while I felt bad about that, because of the truth I had told, I had spent the whole day alone. Knowing that I was still regressing, I needed at least one person in my corner. “So… what do you think?” I asked, passing around the campgrounds once we got back, having a little time to kill today between now and dinner. “I don’t know about the towers, Miles,” Brian admitted. “But… I know what we saw last night. I can’t imagine this place wouldn’t do something about it. The guns Mr. King and Mr. Nancy brought on the camping trip would normally be enough to convince people that there’s something going on.” “True.” I sighed. “Just wish they would be more understanding…” Brian smirked and wrapped his arm around the back of my neck. Yeah… but they’re them and we’re us. And I don’t know about you, but this morning at breakfast, there was more than one person that looked genuinely terrified about what was happening. Who knows? Maybe there’s mor…” In a flash, bags went over our heads. Stuffy and almost completely concealing saggy things that threatened to slouch haphazardly into my mouth or show just enough light from the outside world to know it existed and now far away from you. Not wanting to go with them, I struggled before being manhandled away without much effort on their part. “Shh! No talking. No struggling,” a voice grumbled from behind me as others pushed me forward. “And rules other than that. Only one… you follow what we say when we say it. If someone says go… you go. They say right and you…?” “I go right,” I responded, my stomach gurgling from my nerves and my mind telling me to cooperate with these people as much as possible. “Good…” I could almost hear the pleasure they got from being right. “You just keep going and we won’t have a problem.” Pushing and shoving and stumbling over rocks and tree roots. Brian and I never fell… but we were close multiple times. “Miles… I’m scared,” Brian said meekly to me. I sighed. “Me too, buddy… me too…” “Keep going,” a voice growled at me before I could say more. ‘Damn… one night of failure and all this…’ I couldn’t believe my luck in the past 24 hours. A failed rescue, almost demoted to blue cabin, shunned by almost everyone despite only telling the truth, and now taken away with Brian with bags over our faces. I just hoped things would get better… and fast.

I always loved the story .

I just wear Huggies. They are stretchy enough to fit my 150 lb 32 inch waist and hold up well without any modifications or leaks. I prefer the size 7 vs the size 8 because I personally don't see much difference in size between the two. Besides I get more and the overnights, (which in my opinion do make a difference for bed.), only go up to a size 7. I usually go through about 5 a day. I may have to change more but at about 50 cents each,($2.50 - $3.00 a day),  it's still a lot cheaper than ABDL which averages about $5 and up,($10+ a day) which can add up quickly. Over the course of a year I save a lot with Huggies vs ABDL and they're just as cute, especially the new snug and dry which have Disney 101 dalmatians  instead of Mickey mouse on them.

Great chapters.  Thanks for update your story