PamperedPrince

Chapter 65 Charlotte’s vision blurred and all she could perceive is a dizzying kaleidoscope of colors. She took labored gasps of air as she felt as if she had the wind knocked right out of her. Everything was spinning with Charlotte too dizzy to even sit up, let alone stand. It was then that she heard a voice that sent chills down her spine: “You’re mine, Charlotte Spacedasher. Why even try? It is futile…” That’s when Charlotte realized that she was still in the middle of a fierce battle with what could only have been her sworn enemy: Dark Sader. The menacing helmeted figure loomed over her, brandishing some kind of metal rod, which projected a bright narrow beam of red light. Charlotte could feel the intense heat projecting from the red beam as it was brought closer and closer to her face. Judging at just how hot everything was beginning to feel around Charlotte, she knew that this beam would be hot enough to burn her face should the beam come in contact with her skin. ‘No. Not now. Is this how it’s going to end? Me? Being beat by my worst enemy?’ Charlotte attempted to move, but she could barely move her two feet. Dark Sader stared at her with a menacing mask which made it difficult for Charlotte to tell what his facial expression was. He was either glaring at her in anger or smiling at her victoriously. “Charlotte Spacedasher, it’s over. You can’t even stand! I will finish you off, and then I will take the artifact for myself. I will then enslave the entire galaxy.” Charlotte’s voice trembled, creating what sounded like a forced squeak. “No,” Charlotte weakly replied. “You…………………..…will not………………….win………” Dark Sader lowered his weapon towards Charlotte’s face and heard what sounded like shrieks and sobbing coming from the poor frightened girl. Charlotte couldn’t take it anymore. Charlotte couldn’t move at all, so… Charlotte gave up. ‘Yeah. I can’t do this. I’m pathetic.’ No…. Charlotte was surprised hearing the voice as she felt her life flashing before her eyes. Use The Source, Charlotte…. ‘The Source?’ Charlotte had no idea what the voice was talking about. Use The Source….The voice repeated. I know you can do it. Beat Dark Sader! And just like that, Charlotte felt a powerful strength in her that felt so familiar. The surge of energy started in her feet and then flowed up her legs until it reached her heart. It didn’t matter. Charlotte effortlessly lunged up in a backflip, dodging Dark Sader’s strike to her face just in time. None of it did. Charlotte remembered possessing a similar weapon to Dark Sader and used her mind powers to bring the weapon that was lying on the floor to her hands. She swung it wildly against Dark Sader, who blocked her with each swing. The two colored beams crossed each other. Charlotte’s was blue and Dark Sader’s was red. Nothing else mattered. The fierce swordfight continued, a performance done in what could only be described as a fencing duel. Over and over, the blades kept crossing up and down with neither side managing to land a successful strike. But then, Charlotte saw it. She guessed that it could be attributed to The Source, but it was very clear to her within that split second. There was a clear opening that Dark Sader did not take into account. So Charlotte went for it. She swung her blue-beamed blade….and…. Dark Sader was struck square in the chest. The impact sent him falling to the floor. Charlotte quickly approached him, bringing her blue-beamed blade to his face. “Move, and I’ll chop your head off.” Charlotte threatened. Dark Sader held his hand up. “Stop.” Then, he disarmed himself, throwing his weapon on the floor. Holding both hands out, he looked at Charlotte. “I surrender. You fight well, Charlotte Spacedasher. Put your weapon down and we can talk as equals.” Charlotte gasped. “Equals? There is no way that you and I could ever be equals. I am a Commander Super Sluth Astronaut and you are a Dark Space lord intending on enslaving the galaxy.” But to Charlotte’s surprise, Dark Sader was shaking his head. “No Charlotte. It was his vision to enslave the galaxy. When you struck me down, it made me see just what a fool I was. I was being manipulated from the very beginning…” Charlotte sighed, feeling as if her patience was reaching its breaking point. “So? You are galactic scum. We have absolutely nothing in common, Dark Sader.” “No.” Dark Sader insisted, standing up. “We have more in common than you will ever know. Just remove my mask and you will see. Charlotte…Charlotte, I am your sister.” Charlotte’s hands were poised around the helmet, and she shook her head in disbelief. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! It can’t be! Your voice is too deep!” Dark Sader nodded, and press a button on the special suit. “That should be it,” he said, the voice sounding a lot more feminine. Now take off the mask, Charlotte. You know who I am!” Charlotte could already tell who it was as she was removing the mask. It was… Lauren. Lauren Ashcroft. Charlotte still couldn’t believe it. “You? An evil space lord? Why?” Lauren laughed. “Why not? It was the game you wanted to play, remember? Space Fights? So, here we are! You wanted to be a Super Sleuth Astronaut Commander and I agreed to be Dark Sader. Now, It’s time to head home to your home planet, Charlotte. You have passed the final trial. You have beat the champion. Open up the artifact. You earned it, Charlotte. Now the mothership and fathership are on their way to pick you up. So why don’t you see what the artifact is, Charlotte? This is what you have been fighting for, and I’m so proud of you.” Lauren gave Charlotte a big hug as Charlotte began to hold the artifact in her hands. The bright glow from the artifact shined and shimmered as the seal began to disappear on its own. With the seal gone, it was now a flashing metal box with a latch holding it shut. Charlotte lifted the lid on the hinged box and inside the box was…another box with a thick cardboard lid. The light grew brighter as Charlotte lifted up the lid. The ancient treasure of space. The artifact that the Bylantians were protecting. The artifact that Charlotte worked so hard to find was…. The Running Shoes. And as Charlotte held the shoes in her hand, Lauren and everything that was in the room of trials that she was in began to fade out of view… *** Charlotte awoke, sitting up in her crib, her hands still held out like she was holding the shoes in her dream. ‘The whole time. It was…It always was, the shoes. How could I not know?’ Charlotte could only guess that her mind was being hindered at figuring everything out from the get go. All the pointless postulating about what was the source of her regression. The shoes did all of it. Her matchless speed. Her boundless endurance. All the carelessness that she felt…It had always been the shoes. But the shoes also took something from Charlotte every time that she used them. And just now, she realized this. The shoes kept taking years of Charlotte’s life away from her, reverting her back to her childhood. But Charlotte felt strange. She didn’t feel mad that the shoes had done this to her. ‘Weird. I should be very mad about this but I’m actually very happy. Why am I so happy? Where has all the dread, misery and rage gone?” Charlotte once again remembered the words of wisdom that her mother told her: “Charlotte honey, you are growing up. And as you grow up, you are going to experience difficult changes in your life. Changes that you can’t control and changes that you can’t explain. You are going to get very frustrated at these changes. But don’t dear. You are a runner, Charlotte. And as a runner, I tell you to do this as your mother. While these changes that you can’t control or explain are obstacles, you may try to run through them. You may try to run around them. You may try to run past them. But don’t. Let the obstacles catch up with you. And when they do, accept it. Accept all of it. Because when you do, you will find yourself to be a lot better. You will be happier. You will be braver. You will be wiser. You will be stronger. And in that place, you will find true peace and happiness. You will find true happiness and joy when you let your obstacles catch up with you and you accept all of them into your life.” ‘I let the obstacles catch up with me and now I’m not bothered by it anymore,” Charlotte decided. ‘Yeah. That’s it. The shoes helped me accept the years that it took from me and it helped me to let those obstacles catch up with me. Wow. Just like that? And…Wait a second. Is it me or does this crib feel just a little bigger?’ Charlotte could only guess that it was her imagination, as she could not even remember what happened the day before. All she knew was the wonderful freedom that she had now. ‘I can finally live! No more dreading about the future!’ Charlotte secretly knew that the regression would continue until she disappeared, but not even this bothered her. ‘So? I have made up my mind. I’m just going to be happy and live each of my days one day at a time. And if I disappear, I’m going to disappear with a smile on my face.’ Such freedom. Charlotte stood up to find the railing of her crib still towering over her. As much as she tried to escape, the railing was too high for her to climb. Frustrated, she stumbled back onto the mattress, making a cushioned landing on her diapered butt. She was wrapped in a soft and silky white onesie with cute zoo animals on it. She could vaguely remember her mother dressing her into it before falling asleep. ‘Did she? Or was it another set of pajamas?’ Charlotte’s eyes darted around to notice her stuffed bear Bobo staring at her like he was welcoming her back. She could barely make him out in her faintly lit room, which featured a cute glowing bunny rabbit. Charlotte was then overcome with a strong urge to suck on something. She whimpered until she realized a ribbon that was attached to her onesie. She yanked the ribbon to find a pink pacifier at the end of it. ‘Phew! I needed my pacie! Wow! Did I just say that? Well, the important thing is that I’m happy and this is going to make me happy.’ “Mah-paw-see!” Charlotte said in slurred and broken words. “Ah haw-pee!” Charlotte gave no attention to her sloppier utterance of words and was all smiles as she giddily popped the pacifier into her mouth. Her rapid sucking calmed her anxieties, resulting in her pace slowing down, until the pacifier finally fell out of her mouth as she fell asleep. Charlotte woke up to feel herself being lifted out of her crib. A gentle whisper caressed her ears, arousing her curiosity to the one that she knew and loved. ‘Mommy. What is she doing? It’s morning, but it doesn’t look like the sun is up yet.’ She made a soft fuss as she was gently lifted over the railing and into her mother’s arms. “Shhhhhhhh!!!! Shhhhhhhh!! Shhh….It’s okay, Charlie baby. Mommy’s here. Are you hungry this morning? Here. Sit in mommy’s lap. There you go. Good girl…” Charlotte could feel a steady and rhythmic rocking motion as she calmly rested in her mother’s lap. ‘Am I…In a rocking chair? I guess that would explain the back and forth that I’m feeling. Wow, does this feel nice…’ Charlotte enjoyed the tranquility and comfort and glanced at her mother’s lap. ‘Is it me, or did mommy grow overnight? It can’t be. She was the same size last night…’ Charlotte then saw her mother untying something. Charlotte was still tired so she squinted her eyes closed, only for them to be jolted open seconds later when she found herself to be lifted up again. Charlotte marveled at the wall of skin that was in front of her. It was then that she noticed two bulbous round cones of skin sticking out in front of her face. And above this, her mother patiently staring at her. “C’mon dearie. Are you hungry? You usually take to them right away.” Charlotte glanced at the large fleshly bulbous cone structures to make one awkward realization. These structures were her mother’s breasts, and they were right next to her face. ‘Wait a second. Mom wants me to…WHAT? Nurse them?’ A look of embarrassment came over Charlotte’s face as she blushed. ‘Sure. I have done a lot of things. I have repeated high school. Hell. I have even repeated middle school and elementary school. And even preschool and pre-preschool now! I have worn Goodnights, Pull-Ups, and even diapers. I have even sat in a car seat again which I now think is the comfiest seat in the world. I have now even taken to riding in a stroller again and sitting in a highchair. And a crib? Sure I hated it at first, but now I absolutely love the damn thing! But being nursed by your breasts? Sorry mom. I just don’t know if I can do this. I can’t.’ But before Charlotte could even object, there it was. A breast hanging out right in front of Charlotte’s face. ‘Is it even going to taste any good? I just don’t know if I should do it…’ But none of that even mattered. ‘Why am I doing this?’ Charlotte silently wondered as she found herself operating on autopilot. Charlotte closed her eyes as her mouth carefully traced the whereabouts of her mother’s breast. Her mouth was just short of it, finding a few droplets of milk running down her chin and onto her neck. She brushed her fingers over her chin and tasted the milk. It was creamy and sweet. Much better than any milk that she had ever tasted. ‘Whoa. This is so good. I must have more!’ And that is just what Charlotte did. After a couple more attempts, Charlotte’s mouth was securely locked around one of her mother’s breasts and she began to suckle. The warm sweet and delicious milk flowed into Charlotte’s mouth and down her throat. This prompted a laugh from Darcy. “Careful Char. Not too hard, hun. Don’t bite them. You’re a hungry girl this morning. Take as much as you need.” Darcy smiled as she rocked her hungry daughter back and forth in her lap, fondly staring at her as she took in the nourishment that she needed. It was the loving and nurturing stare of a mother that cared about her daughter’s needs. Charlotte meanwhile was in the process of sucking her mother’s breast dry. When she realized that the flow of milk was beginning to slow to mere droplets, she began to whimper. “Mah mommy! Mah! Mah!” Charlotte found her mother lovingly releasing her from her one breast and offering Charlotte the other one. Charlotte eagerly began sucking on the other breast, filled with a strong sense of desire. The sweet and creamy milk. There was no other way to get it. ‘It’s so good! Why did I ever object before? I hope this other one has plenty of milk…’ Charlotte kept sucking until she found herself beginning to burp. At this, Charlotte felt very full and released her mouth from her mother’s breast. A few droplets of milk tickled her chin and ran down her neck. Charlotte rubbed her fingers over her chin and neck, trying to savor every last drop. Darcy gave Charlotte a few soft pats on the back of Charlotte’s neck. “Are you done, honey? You usually get full around the second one. Now if you have any room, how about some solid food for breakfast. Cheerios and yogurt? Here, Charlie Darlie. There’s still a little milk on your chin.” Darcy grabbed a cloth that she usually had handy for when she was rocking and nursing Charlotte. She wiped Charlotte’s chin until the milk residue was wiped clean. Charlotte almost resented her mother’s removal of the milk. ‘Oh, come on mom! That milk was good! Why did you have to wipe the rest of it off? And now that you mention it, can I have some more?’ Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was thinking. Before it all, she was hesitant. But since she tasted the milk, she became a full-on addict. The anxiety ate away at her as she now had to wait until her next feeding. “Mah!” Charlotte sullenly shouted. Darcy laughed. “We need to wait for them to refill, honey. Plus, you look quite full. I’ll give you another one tonight before bed, okay?” ‘She’s usually out like a light after her nighttime feeding…’ Charlotte nodded, as her face now morphed into a curious burst of energy. She yanked the ribbon to find her pacifier and popped it in her mouth before leaping off her mother’s lap and began making fast strides towards her door, only to be stopped by a tall gate. She let out a frustrated grunt as she stared at the hallway through the gate that stood wedged over the threshold to the door to her room. She was then scooped up by her mother. “Not yet, Charliecakes.” Darcy said as she laid Charlotte on the changing table. “Mommy’s gotta get your diaper changed.” Charlotte didn’t know where her boundless energy and curiosity was coming from, but she didn’t mind it at all. ‘I truly enjoy living now, even if it’s like this.’ Charlotte was surprised at just how soaked her diaper was, and she began reaching to touch the yellowed soaked core on the inside only to be stopped by her mother. “No Char,” Darcy politely scolded. “That’s icky pee. You don’t want to touch it. Here. In a few seconds, you’ll be in a new one, okay? Within the next minute, Darcy rolled up the soggy diaper, wiped down Charlotte, powdered a new diaper and laid Charlotte on it and then sealed the diaper securely around her waist with the two tapes around the landing zone. In reality, it actually took two minutes since a whole minute was spent trying to keep Charlotte pinned down since she wouldn’t lay still while she tried to change her. Darcy then snapped the three crotch buttons back on Charlotte’s onesie and scooped her up. “We’re having breakfast and then mommy’s going to get you dressed. And guess what? I have your iPad in the kitchen so that you can watch Cocomelon while you eat!” For some reason, Charlotte was very excited at the word Cocomelon when Darcy said it. “Cah-cah-ma-won!” Charlotte said with a giddy smile. As Darcy was carrying Charlotte down the stairs, she could feel her cell phone buzzing inside her pants pocket. After letting Charlotte loose at the bottom of the stairs, she checked the caller ID. “Darlene. It’s sis.” Darcy quickly swiped the answer button and grinned. “Hello? What am I doing? I just finished nursing Charlotte and changing her diaper. She did it again, sis. Charlie bean wouldn’t lay still during her diaper change and I had to spend forever trying to pin her down. Now she’s running all over the place. Hold on.” Darcy gave Charlotte a frown. “Charlotte, could you please stop running around? Terrible twos indeed. Oh, you’re still there? So Heather did that too when she was that age? I guess it RUNS in the family! But yeah. Charlotte has become very curious and hyper since her second birthday. I would even say that she started this when she was eighteen months. And now, Charlotte is almost 25 months! Look at where the time has gone! Oh. Heather has a question for Charlotte? What she thought about watching her win the Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race yesterday? Yeah. Charlotte looked very happy when she saw Heather win. When Charlotte turns three, I will definitely enroll her in the Dashing Ducklings ASAP. Can I let you go? Oh. Not until Charlotte answers Heather’s question? Okay.” Darcy found Charlotte about to collide with a coffee table. As she approached Charlotte, it was too late. Charlotte hit the coffee table and landed with a thud. Charlotte began to wail, rubbing her bruised forehead in pain. Darcy sighed. “Charlotte Marie, we do not run in this house. Besides, your big cousin Heather has a question!” Charlotte smiled and approached the cell phone. “Heh-dah!” “Okay,” Darcy said, quickly switching it to speaker phone. “Heather, can you tell me the question that you have for Charlotte?” “Yeah! Charlotte, what did you think about me winning the Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race yesterday?” Charlotte could vaguely remember the details, only instead of her winning, she could now remember Heather winning instead. “Ih gud!” she happily chirped into the cellphone. “Oh. You thought it was good, Charlotte? Well, it was fun to see you there. I’m having Cinnamon Toast Crunch! Bye!” “Sah-min taas cahn.” Charlotte repeated in her cute two-year-old speech. Darcy scooped up Charlotte while she continued her call with Darlene. “Yeah. I have to give Charlotte her breakfast now. I think I’m going to try what Mikey suggested and get Charlotte into modeling. And you’re not going to believe this, Darlene. Michael was able to contact a friend of his and Charlotte’s going to be in a Pampers commercial! We signed all the paperwork before Thanksgiving weekend and the filming is going to be on Monday. This is going to work since I usually always buy Pampers for Charlotte. The hardest part will be getting her to sit still. What will she wear for the shoot? I got these very cute designer shoes that she looks totally adorable in! Besides that, she will just be in just a shirt and diaper since they need to be able to feature the diaper during the filming. Well, I need to let you go. I’m going to get Charlotte her breakfast now. Yeah. She’s going to model a little later so that will be fun. Bye sis!” Charlotte was very happy as she ate her Cherrio’s mixed with her strawberry yogurt in her highchair. Although just a trace of her adult consciousness was still there, she was just happy to let every one of her baby instincts take over. In doing this, Charlotte felt free and liberated. Gone was her desire to return to her adulthood. All she was interested in now was savoring each and every day that she had left. ‘Because God knows that I’ve tried,’ Charlotte thought. ‘I have tried everything. Maybe I was supposed to accept everything as it is?’ Not only did Charlotte feel happy, but for some reason, being two years old now felt very normal to Charlotte. Sure, she was this age once again, but it was now a fun new adventure. Her one-track toddler mind began running faster than what her adult mind could process. While Charlotte managed to get most of the strawberry yogurt in her mouth, various globs of it was all over her cheeks. Darcy laughed, as she brushed a moist paper towel against Charlotte’s face, getting every trace of yogurt in just a couple strokes. “You’re quite the messy girl!” she teased before playfully bonking her daughter on the nose. Charlotte noticed an IPad that was out of reach on the kitchen table and made vain attempts trying to grab it. “Whoosh Cah-cah-ma-won!” Charlotte whined as her cheeks began to redden. Darcy lifted Charlotte out of her highchair and carried her to the living room, trying to calm her fussy daughter down. “Charlotte relax. We’re going to watch Cocomelon on a much bigger screen, okay?” Charlotte’s whining fit was short-lived as she saw the TV screen turn on with the streaming service menu displaying the next episode of Cocomelon. “Cah-cah-ma-won!” She joyfully squealed. “See?” Darcy said, her tone adjusted to speak to a toddler. “There’s Cocomelon! Yay!” Charlotte spent the next hour watching Cocomelon, and making a cute attempt to dance to the nursery rhymes that she heard. She clapped her hands as she tried to mimic the lyrics that she heard to the songs. ‘So cute,’ Darcy thought. ‘Charlotte is such a cutie…’ But a sense of duty overcame Darcy’s mind, as she thought of the housework that she had to do. ‘It will have to wait until she’s taking a nap. I need to watch Charlotte like a hawk now!’ Right after Cocomelon was over, Darcy transferred Charlotte from the couch to her playpen that was nearby, only to be greeted by a pungent scent that entered her nostrils. “Pee yew, Charlotte!” Darcy said, almost laughing. “Did you just make a stinky, honey? Come here, stinky girl so mommy can get you out of that stinky butt.” But Charlotte ran to the other side of the playpen, giggling as she tried to evade her mother’s grasp. While she was successful for a little while, Darcy finally surrounded Charlotte with both hands and lifted her up, the poopy stench now very strong at this point. But Charlotte, being the escape artist, squirmed loose from Darcy’s grasp and began running towards the kitchen. “Come back here, you silly and stinky girl!” Darcy teased. ‘Really Charliecakes. Do you have to do this? This is the terrible twos? It’s even more terrible than what I thought! Patience, Darcy. Charlotte’s only two…” And Darcy knew that even if Charlotte made it to the kitchen, every cabinet and drawer within Charlotte’s reach was latched shut with childproof safety locks. The cabinets and drawers were rubberbanded shut so that Charlotte wouldn’t get into anything. Charlotte popped her pacifier back into her mouth and sucked on it as she saw the spoiler of her fun approaching her. With Charlotte now standing by the fridge, she was cornered, and was beginning to tire. “Tinky!” Charlotte sloppily whispered in her cute voice. She then proceeded to whisper various words that all sounded like gibberish. Darcy scooped Charlotte up again and promptly took her to a changing mat in the living room to change her stinky diaper. After a few more frustrating minutes of trying to pin Charlotte down while she cleaned her, she resorted to distract Charlotte with a toy. Charlotte peacefully sucked on her pacifier while she swaddled a stuffed unicorn like a baby. Her fixation on the toy was enough for Darcy to finish changing Charlotte. The rest of the morning consisted of Charlotte playing with her toys in her playpen. A quick lunch followed, which included Darcy feeding Charlotte a grilled cheese sandwich cut up into squares. This also included some goldfish crackers with a couple of baby carrots and some cinnamon teddy grahams for dessert. Darcy was just finishing wiping off Charlotte’s messy face when she heard the doorbell rang. Not wanting to leave Charlotte out of her sight, she carried Charlotte while supporting her butt and approached the door. “It’s open!” She shouted. The door opened to reveal a very happy Lauren with her father Michael. “Just in time!” Darcy said with a smile. “I was just about to get Charlotte ready for her afternoon nap. Is everything finally cleaned up from Thanksgiving?” Michael nodded. “We let the maids finish the cleanup. Now, are you ready to talk about that modeling agency I told you about? This is going to get you a lot more exposure Darling…” Lauren gave her father a frown and sighed when she glanced at Charlotte. “Haven’t you forgot, daddy? We need to get Charlotte ready for her nap first. You go on ahead. I got this, Miss Warren…I mean, mommy.” And before Darcy could even object, Lauren scooped Charlotte out of Darcy’s arms and carried her towards the stairs. Lauren smiled as she carried her little sister up the stairs. “Baby sister, you are going to have the best nap ever.” Lauren did a couple of pats and did a quick diaper check on Charlotte. ‘She doesn’t need a new diaper yet, but she will need one after her nap.’ She continued past the gate at the top of the stairs and proceeded down the hallway to Charlotte’s room, which had another gate before the doorway. Fortunately, it was opened as Darcy left it, so she proceeded into Charlotte’s room. ‘I’m glad that new gate is getting put to good use. From what my new mommy told me, Charlotte is quite the escape artist!’ Once inside, Lauren laid Charlotte in her crib, admiring the pink cotton dress with white bunnies that her mother picked out for her. Noticing that the ribbon of Charlotte’s pacifier was hanging down, Lauren grabbed the pink pacifier that it was attached to and handed it to Charlotte, who instinctually popped it in her mouth. Lauren then made sure that Charlotte was properly tucked in, since she slept in a crib with bedsheets instead of a toddler bed for safety reasons (due to Charlotte’s petite size). Finally, she grabbed Bobo and laid the stuffed bear right next to her. “Have a nice nap, sweetie!” she cooed before kissing Charlotte on the forehead. Charlotte groggily woke up from her nap to find herself on the changing table, with Lauren changing her diaper. “Such a sleepyhead!” Lauren teased. “Hi Charlotte! Did you have a nice nap? I’m going to finish changing your diapy and then your mommy is going to take you to a modeling studio!” “Mah sah dah….” Charlotte murmured, coming nowhere close to repeating what Lauren told her. Still groggy, Charlotte sucked on her pacifier as she faded in and out. Before she knew it, she was in a car seat and she heard the sound of the ignition. She noticed Cocomelon playing on an iPad that was sat on a tray right next to her and watched groggily as she clapped her hands to the mesmerizing songs. Upon entering the modeling studio, a girl came up to Charlotte and smiled. “Chaw-lit!” The girl shouted. “Ka-eee!” Charlotte shouted. Darcy smiled as she glanced at Kendra. “So this is the modeling studio that you told me so much about! I figured this would be perfect with Charlotte and Karlee being such good friends at daycare.” Kendra smiled. “Yes. I know! It’s so cute watching Charlotte, Karlee, and Diana all play together!” Darcy nodded, as she kept a careful eye on Charlotte. “How did it go with potty training Karlee this weekend?” Kendra laughed. “I think that we’re going to take a break from that. She leaked about every Pull-Up. I just put her back in diapers this morning. We’re going to try again in a few months. Now, is Charlotte ready for some fun modeling?” Darcy glanced at Charlotte. “How about we ask her? Charlie dear, are you ready to model some clothing? We’re going to play some dress up!” Karlee flashed a proud smile. “Ya weady tah maw-del wif mommy?” Charlotte’s adult mind perked up at the word modeling. ‘Maybe I should give it another chance. After all, today has been fun so far. So I’m wearing more baby clothes? Count me in! I’m really starting to get used to this…’ That afternoon, Charlotte modeled five different sets of baby clothing for Carter’s. Although she was two years old, she could comfortably fit into 9-to-12-month clothing. Although Kendra did have her mother dress Charlotte in an 12–18-month outfit, they found this outfit to be too big on Charlotte, while the 9–12-month outfits were perfect. That night, Charlotte enjoyed a dinner of some chicken nuggets with some crinkle cut fries and a chocolate chip cookie. And then, Charlotte was carried into the rocking chair by her mother. She almost forgot why she was being rocked. But it all came back to her when she saw her mother untying the straps of her bra. ‘Oh, that’s right! That milk. That delicious milk! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I must have more!’ A wanting look began to fill Charlotte’s eyes as she began to whine, glancing up at the silky cover as it was being removed. Both straps fell off and landed on Darcy’s lap, while Charlotte stared up with a feverish look on her face. She was lifted higher until she was level with one of the two breasts. And like the first time, she locked on and began enjoying more of the rich creamy and sweet milk that she craved. ‘Why did I ever complain? Why did I ever fight? The shoes did this to me, so I’m fine with everything now. And if I get to have milk like this every morning and night, then I don’t care if I ever grow up! How does it taste so good? How does…Ugh…getting sleepy…’ By the time that Charlotte began to latch onto Darcy’s other breast, her eyes were blinking. And after a few more seconds of suckling, she fell asleep. For that Sunday, Charlotte found herself enjoying that day even more than Saturday. She didn’t know if that was just her toddler mind at work, but she loved waking up and exploring in the fun world that was around her. Her Sunday consisted of her being breastfed in the morning, going to church with her mother, Lauren, and Michael, and spending much of the rest of the day at the Ashcroft Estate. After that, Charlotte was taken home by Darcy and changed into a nighttime diaper. Once she was all ready for bed, Darcy rocked her and breastfed her daughter again (Charlotte’s favorite part because of the sweet milk). Darcy smiled as she watched Charlotte fall asleep before she could suckle anymore. ‘Always happens on the second one. She’s out like a light.’ “Good night, Charlie baby…” She whispered in a coo as she carried Charlotte into her crib. She raised the railing and latched it shut with the safety latch. She then padlocked the latch and placed Bobo next to her. She kissed Charlotte on the forehead before leaving her room. Charlotte could barely remember anything as she squinted her eyes open before they shut completely.

Was Grace upstairs when Maddie's parents were talking to Hannah's parents? I believe that there was some discussion about Maddy staying in the same cabin as Hannah. If Grace heard this, she might put two and two together and suspect that Maddie still wears Pull Ups. Nice to finally see a chapter. Very good so far. Keep it up!

Everyone, it has been a very busy season for me. But i'm ready to continue on this story and you'll be able to see the rest of what happens to Charlotte. Stay tuned. I will be working on the next chapter and I'll let you know when I have it finished. 😀

Chapter 64 Charlotte squinted as her eyes were met with the golden glow of the sunlight that peered through the window of her bedroom. This was the sun’s greeting, and Charlotte’s response was a simple groggy yawn as she rubbed her eyes and squinted again. A sense of happiness and excitement filled Charlotte as she sat up and hugged Bobo, who was carefully nestled underneath her covers. A sense of innocence and curiosity filled Charlotte as she browsed the room to realize that the room wasn’t her own. Another thing that confused Charlotte were some rather peculiar thoughts that began to invade her mind like a defenseless nation. Thoughts that strongly suggested that she was a lot older than what her current age was. Charlotte immediately abandoned these thoughts to her childlike sense of giddiness and wonder. That, and her attention span was not long enough to linger on these strange and foreign thoughts of Charlotte’s supposedly forgotten adulthood. It just didn’t make sense, as her attention was focused on all the stuffed animals that were underneath the covers. And like a mental bee sting, the thoughts immediately jolted back into Charlotte’s mind, forcing Charlotte to give heed to them with her limited three-year-old understanding. It sounded like an adult was yelling at her and she just didn’t like it. All she wanted was for the loud voice to leave her alone. But unbeknownst to Charlotte, the loud voice was her very own. Charlotte gasped, as her mind immediately sobered to the reality that was upon her. ‘How did I almost forget that I used to be an adult? Wow, that was scary. I almost lost myself entirely…’ Charlotte’s fear dissolved into her eyes as hot tears began to run down her cheeks. ‘I was so close to losing everything that I am! I would’ve been stuck with the mind of a helpless three-year-old!’ Charlotte’s attention shifted over to another problem. She felt a wetness around her crotch, but it was cold, like it had happened hours ago. Her nighttime diaper had leaked. The door creaked open with a loud screech, followed by the light flicking on, which made Charlotte squint again. “Charlotte! It’s time to get you up for the Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race!” Before Charlotte could even think anymore about her inner conflict brewing inside her, she was scooped up by her mother, who felt the fresh tears on her cheeks. Darcy felt the large wet spot around the crotch of Charlotte’s pajamas and gave her a look of concern. “Oh sweetie! You leaked! Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Shhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! It’s okay, dear. We’ll get you cleaned up and changed into a fresh diaper. We need to get you cleaned up for the race anyway.” Darcy informed the maid on that floor about the wet bedding before she carried Charlotte to the bathroom, where she gave her a quick shower. Charlotte watched as her mother rubbed a generous glob of shampoo into her hair before rinsing it out and repeating it one more time. After that, she was scrubbed from top to bottom with a soapy loofah. Charlotte was in a way grateful that she still had some semblance of adulthood still inside her mind. But at the same time, she felt humiliated that she couldn’t do this herself. While this had been the norm for a while, it started to bother her for some reason. It bothered her until… It didn’t bother Charlotte anymore. It almost scared Charlotte just how easily she found herself letting go of the shame, embarrassment and humiliation of her mother bathing her, diapering her, and clothing her. The autopilot was becoming more and more pervasive as she spent more time in her toddler body. While Charlotte was being changed into a new diaper, she found herself staggering in and out of her three-year-old headspace. Charlotte compared it to running in and out of a room, with an adult chasing her. But this was taking place in her mind and it added to the frustration and confusion with what identity she should hold onto and what one she should ignore. Her childish headspace, which had already been more recently winning more often, got the best of Charlotte and her eyes began to curiously dart around the clothes that her mother was putting on her. It appeared to be some kind of running clothes. A plain white t-shirt with a pair of pink elastic jogging pants that sat a little below the waist, causing her diaper to peek out around her entire waistline. Darcy wasn’t bothered at Charlotte’s slightly exposed diaper. After all, everyone at the Dashing Ducklings knew that Charlotte wore them anyway. ‘And her friend still wears them too! I think it looks cute.’ Charlotte was now near the entrance of the Ashcroft Estate, where she was sitting on a bench while her mother slipped two shoes on her feet. The running shoes. Charlotte enjoyed the comfort that the shoes provided her with and especially loved the warm feeling that ran from her feet all the way up to her chest and into her heart. If Charlotte was using her adult mind, she would’ve described the feeling like the effect of a drug. But to Charlotte’s innocent toddler mind, it just felt good. Darcy got Charlotte to her feet, her eyes immediately trained on the door ahead of them. “We need to go, Charlotte. Heather has already left with your Aunt Darlene. We still have time. Let’s go, Charliecakes.” Once in her car seat, Charlotte wandered back into her adult self again but was then interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. It was Lauren. Her friend. No. Her sister. Her older sister. Soon to be. Lauren’s face glowed with a bright and radiant smile that she was saving just for Charlotte. Her hands brushed over the smooth and silky follicles of Charlotte’s black hair. “Hi Charlotte! I couldn’t miss you running your big race of yours! My baby sister is going to run her first big race!” “Not baby sister yet!” Darcy teased as she shifted the gear into drive, setting the 4Runner on course for its destination on the road that led out of the Ashcroft Estate. Lauren made a playful swipe towards her soon to be mother. “The wedding is a done deal so we’re basically family now!” Her eyes shifted over to her father, who was sitting in the passenger seat. “Isn’t that right, daddy?” Michael nodded and smiled at Lauren. “I guess it’s okay to call Charlotte your baby sister if it’s okay with Darcy.” Michael teased. He then gazed over at Darcy and simply let himself get lost in her beauty. The drive over to the running trail didn’t take very long, and Darcy parked the 4Runner in the driveway of her house. Like yesterday, the Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race was held at the same running trail. And as Charlotte walked out towards the starting line with her mother, she could see the small group of people lining the outside of the trail, with various cars parked along the streets nearby. When Charlotte glanced out at the trail, she could see large plush turkeys lining what she guessed were different markers for the race. Darcy, Charlotte, Michael, and Lauren all found Darlene and her family sitting on chairs on a grassy area near the boundary of the running trail. Darlene was holding Allison and Heather was sitting in Daniel’s lap. When Heather saw Charlotte, she sprang up and ran towards her. “Hi Charlotte!” Heather greeted. “Are you ready to beat me today? I know that you and Diana are the fastest!” Charlotte smiled at the moment that Heather mentioned Diana. ‘That’s right! Diana will be running in the race too!’ Just then, Charlotte was almost knocked down by someone a little shorter than her. “Shaw-wit! Ah yoo weh-dee tah wace wif me?” It was Diana, who had her hair tied into a neat thickly braided ponytail. Diana eagerly cupped her two hands over Charlotte’s shoulders and pointed in a different direction, as if she wanted to talk to her someplace else. She made a sweeping glance at the footwear that she had on that was similar to Charlotte’s and then whispered into Charlotte’s ear. “Wat meh-rah-fawn do ya fink wee will bee wunning dis tiem?” Charlotte once again felt chills running down her spine when Diana mentioned running a marathon. It was very clear to Charlotte that Diana knew how these shoes worked, as Diana could also remember running the last marathon with her. They were both in Paris, both locked in a friendly competition for first place. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “Aye dah noh Dye-on-nah. Wee fye awt!” Diana smiled. “Wee boff fye awt! Wait wif mee nee-ah staw-ting line!” Charlotte nodded and kept pace with Diana, who was tugging her towards the starting line, where a few other kids were standing. A few girls and boys had their parents standing next to them for support. Three mothers and one father. Charlotte became lost in her thoughts again while Diana just ran in a small circle nearby her. Charlotte didn’t know what to make now of nearly losing her original identity. A sudden whisper in her mind got Charlotte’s attention immediately. Let the obstacles catch up with you. Charlotte could tell that the voice was from her mother. And when Charlotte thought of her obstacles this time, she just didn’t feel bothered by them anymore. ‘Let the obstacles catch up with me.’ Charlotte repeated in her mind. And for some reason, Charlotte just didn’t feel all that bothered from that advice this time. It felt so…good. And it just felt right. Like it was the choice that she should’ve made the whole time. And as Charlotte thought of her decision to just let everything go, a sense of peace came over her. ‘All this regression from adulthood to childhood. Maybe it was supposed to happen. Everything. I get another chance. I get to start over and be a kid again!’ This would’ve been a perfect train of thought for Charlotte, only she realized that there was one problem. The regression was not stopping. Sooner or later, Charlotte just knew that she was going to regress again. ‘And to what? An infant? A newborn? Will I just cease to exist?’ “Dashing Ducklings, are you ready?” The announcement was enough to snap Charlotte out of her reverie. Miss Davis, noticing that Charlotte wasn’t paying attention to her, repeated her question to get the attention of the entire class. “I SAID, Dashing Ducklings, are you ready?” All of the kids shouted in one big collective “YEAH!!!!” Miss Davis glanced around at the small group of adults that were watching from nearby. “Parents, volunteers, and especially our Dashing Ducklings, I would like to welcome you all to our 20th annual Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race. It has always been the tradition to hold the race a day after the Turkey Trot to give our little runners plenty of space to use the whole track and take their time in completing the race. I am already aware that we have a couple of runners that are not going to give this race a single minute. Why, they will probably both finish the race in under ten minutes!” Miss Davis glanced at Charlotte and Diana, who both gave her giddy smiles. “Now for the rules of the race,” Miss Davis continued. “With this being a program for 3- to 5-year-olds, there is no expectation for them to run even close to five kilometers. Instead, they only have to run a half mile. To help our Dashing Ducklings, there will be turkeys serving as markers throughout the race. So, my Ducklings, what are you going to look for to help you finish the race?” “A TURKEY!” The small group of young runners shouted. “Very good!” Miss Davis said with a smile. “Now pay attention to this next part! You will keep running past turkeys until you see a bigger one with a sign that says TURN AROUND! It will be sitting on the middle of the track instead of on the right. Now, my Dashing Ducklings, what do we do when we see the big turkey?” “TURN AROUND!” the kids all shouted. “Very good!” Miss Davis said, praising them. “Now, after you turn around, you will see more turkeys coming back. You will also see a gigantic turkey just before you reach the finish line, so keep running towards that giant turkey and you’ll be done with the race! Now, my Dashing Ducklings, what do we do when we see the giant turkey?” “KEEP RUNNING TOWARDS HIM!” The kids all shouted, with the younger kids repeating the same instructions after the older ones. “Very good,” Miss Davis said with a smile. “Now, if my Dashing Ducklings lose their way and don’t know where to run, we have a few helpers that will guide them back to the marked path. So worry not, my Dashing Ducklings. You have help if you get lost. Now, who’s ready for a fun Turkey Race?” “ME!” All the kids shouted. Miss Davis laughed at this cute and touching sight. “Well, I think that you’re all ready then. Dashing Ducklings, gather around the starting line where Miss Monica is standing.” She watched as all the kids lined up in a straight line behind the starting line with Monica’s help. “One more thing,” Miss Davis told the kids. “I am going to count to three. After three, I am going to shout ‘Dashing Ducklings Dash!’. That’s when I want you all to run as fast as your legs can take you! Are you all ready? Okay. One……..Two…….Three…….Dashing Ducklings DASH!!!!!” At the very moment that the word DASH left Miss Davis’s mouth, Charlotte and Diana immediately broke into a full sprint, while the remaining runners began running a little later. Charlotte could very quickly tell that the running trail was beginning to vanish around her. Diana, who was right next to her, had a very excited look on her face. “Shaw-wit!” Diana shouted. “Ih haw-pin ah-ghin! Wee wun ah-nah-thah meh-rah-fawn!” Charlotte could no longer see the running trail as she sprinted along a marked road surrounded by skyscrapers. While Charlotte could make out a tall and skinny tower, one thing was very clear. Amidst the crowd of exciting onlookers, a lot of the shouts were in Japanese. Then it all came back to Charlotte. The tower that she just passed was Tokyo Tower, and she was about to enter Hibiya Park. And like all the other races, Charlotte could see the evidence of her adulthood. Her taller stature. Her rounded curves that were her breasts. Her pink compression tights that were smoothly hugging her skinny thighs. “Hey mi amiga!” Charlotte noticed Diana, who was running right beside her through Hibiya Park, towards Tokyo Station that marked the finish line. Diana wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead and smiled as she glanced at her legs, which were pumping rapidly at a pace that no other marathon runner could even match, except for Charlotte. She stole a quick glance at her shoes and looked beside Charlotte. “Can you believe it, Charlotte? We’re in Tokyo again! Just a moment ago, we were both three. And now look at us! We’re both gorgeous adults. When do you think it happens, Charlotte? I think it happens when we reach a certain speed with the shoes…” Charlotte now realized that she had an opportunity to ask Diana an important question. How was it that Diana had a very similar pair of shoes? Besides the color on Diana’s shoes being purple instead of pink, the shoes looked exactly the same. Charlotte pointed at Diana’s shoes as Tokyo Station began to appear in the distance. Charlotte began her attempt to ask Diana, which turned out to be feeble. “Diana? Your shoes….” This was all that Charlotte could manage. Diana nodded. “Yes Charlotte! My shoes look similar to yours. Why do you think we’re both running this marathon right now? Also. I just wanted to let you know. The loser has to buy all the sushi and saké!” Charlotte was frustrated at her failed attempt to ask Diana so she tried again. “No Diana! Your shoes…” But Charlotte was quickly cut off again by Diana. “Yes Charlotte,” Diana interrupted, trying to sound patient this time. “I already explained to you. Now you’re being tonta, mi amiga!” For a moment, Charlotte felt like everything froze when in reality both her and Diana were still running. Both of them were side by side as they closed in on the finish line. Charlotte began to notice her compression tights moisten around her crotch, as the pee began to spread and drip down her legs. Charlotte began to swallow the very question that she wanted to ask Diana as they both crossed the finish line. “Hikiwake!” Charlotte frowned. “What does that even mean?” Diana smiled. “I think it means it’s a tie! For some reason, I can remember studying Japanese words on the flight here.” As Diana began to catch her breath, her purple compression tights began to darken as a large wet spot began to spread around her crotch, before the wet spot began to run down both her legs. At this, Diana shrugged her shoulders. “Whoops!” Just then, a very thin young Japanese man that was slightly taller than Charlotte and Diana pulled them both aside. “Congratulations!” Charlotte was surprised at how fluent that exclamation sounded. There was only a slight hint of accent in his voice. The man maintained his big infectious smile. “You both won the race so can I please have a picture with you two? I’m Tatsuya Sato!” Another man holding a microphone spoke to Tatsuya in Japanese. From the exchange, Tatsuya politely nodded and stepped aside. The man holding the microphone looked middle age and spoke with a much heavier accent than Tatsuya. “You both win Tokyo Marathon! It was a tie! I interview Charlotte Warren first! Charlotte? Charlotte? Charlotte? Charlotte? Charlotte?” And in an instant, Charlotte could see the finish line and Tokyo Station vanish before her very eyes. In its place was all the scenery that resembled the running trail in Langford, Sonoma County, California. Charlotte was about to collide with the giant turkey, as she had already crossed the finish line, next to Diana, who was standing next to her. “Charlotte?” Miss Davis said, in another attempt to rouse Charlotte from whatever daydream she was having. “There you are! Both you and Diana are finished. And wow. I’m impressed with you two girls. You both ran a half mile in 3:51.49! You both can sit down and watch the rest of them finish.” Charlotte shared a spot with Diana, noticing the soggy squish of her diaper as she sat down. Diana cupped her hands around her running shoes and gave Charlotte a giddy smile. “Wee wun mah-rah-fawn in Toh-key-oh.” Charlotte nodded and once again tried to ask Diana about the shoes. When did she first start wearing them? Charlotte began to speak again, but felt tongue tied when she felt it. Rumble. Rumble rumble rumble rumble. Charlotte’s abdomen churned as she suddenly began to feel an uncomfortable sensation. Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble. Finally, Charlotte couldn’t take it anymore, so she pushed as hard as she could. After the first push, a large goopy and soft mush of poop gushed out and spread around the inside of her diaper around her butt. But Charlotte wasn’t done. With each additional push, mushy poop continued to spread around her diaper, piling up towards her lower back towards her waistline. And then, the last two pushes are what did it. A noticeable stain began to form on her jogging pants around her inner thighs near her crotch. It took Charlotte a moment to look down and realize what had just happened. When she saw the mushy stain, and feeling it smear all around the inside of her legs, her eyes became flush with tears. The hot tears ran down her already red cheeks. “MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!” It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Darcy to have sprinted over to where her crying daughter was. She glanced down and gasped. “Oh Charlotte baby! That looks like a horrible mess. Let’s go home and get it all cleaned up, okay?” Darcy did everything that she could to console Charlotte. From her initial glance, she already knew what she was going to be dealing with. From the stain alone, it looked like a blowout. And not just any blowout. It was a total blowout. Whatever happened, Darcy knew that Charlotte’s diaper couldn’t hold that massive of an accident. Charlotte was carried the whole way home and was immediately placed in the shower, where her mother proceeded to strip all her running clothes off her, leaving her in a heavily soiled diaper, with mushy poop escaping from both sides around her legs. At this point, Charlotte had cried so much that she was beginning to hiccup. Charlotte watched as her mother peeled off both tabs, revealing the extent of the accident. Charlotte was covered in smeared poop from below her waist to around her upper thighs. Darcy rolled up the soiled diaper and tossed it in a plastic bag since it was too messy to throw away conventionally. She then quickly turned on the shower, spraying every trace of the brown stains she found on Charlotte down the drain. After Charlotte was sprayed clean, Darcy used shampoo and soap to finish cleaning her. Now clean from the yucky accident, Charlotte was wrapped in a towel and taken to her bedroom. Darcy quickly changed Charlotte into a new diaper, using a little more baby powder than usual due to her recent accident. After that, Darcy zipped Charlotte into her pink footed sleeper and carried her into her master bedroom, where she sat and rocked Charlotte. Charlotte didn’t know why Darcy was rocking her, but she knew that she felt better as a result. ‘Maybe my mommy does this when I’m not happy? ‘Cause I wasn’t happy earlier…’ As Charlotte began to calm down, those strange thoughts returned to her mind again. Thoughts that Charlotte with her toddler mind would not be able to understand. Again, it sounded like a woman younger than her mother yelling at her. This made her cry again, further confusing Darcy. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Darcy said with a sigh. “You’re all cleaned up and in your jammies and a fresh diaper. What more could you need? I know! I’ll feed you your sippy cup. Moments later, Charlotte was sitting in her mother’s lap again drinking microwaved milk from a sippy cup, which her mother fed to her. Darcy held the cup while Charlotte sucked down every last drop of milk. Charlotte didn’t know what the mean woman in her mind wanted, but she decided that she didn’t like her. As Charlotte drank her milk, she could hear the soothing sound of her mother singing to her. The song made her smile and her eyelids very heavy. ‘Mommy is singing a very happy song! I’m happy…’ Charlotte was confused as to what had happened earlier that day. ‘Did I run a race? Did I win?’ Charlotte was unsure but she felt like the race was like a dream to her. Her eyelids flickered as she began to fade in and out of sleep. Charlotte could hear the sound of her mother. It was like she was talking to someone on the phone. The words blurred in and out as she slept through some of the conversation. “……..Darlene.........Charlotte……..cleaned…………sitting…....lap……….…” “…………….sorry…………………….early……..Diana……..wanted………talking….her………..have it……………trophy…………….pick…….later….” Darcy smiled as she saw that Charlotte was now sleeping, comfortably cradled in her arms. “Darlene? Yes. I’m still here. Charlotte is sleeping now. She was crying so much earlier because of the blow out. Poor girl…So you have Charlotte’s trophy? Yes. You told me. I get it. That Diana girl really wanted to talk to Charlotte. You know, it was very cute to see both of them running together. I will have to talk with Miss Martinez and see if we can arrange a playdate. It would be so fun to have Diana over! Well, I’m going to let Charlotte sleep just a little bit longer. Otherwise, she won’t be able to sleep through the night! Really, it’s very cute. I’ll take a quick picture and send it to you. My lil Charliecakes is fast asleep. She just ran her first big race and it took so much out of her…” Darcy took the picture and then sent it, smiling at the adorable sight of her sleeping daughter. --- Charlotte woke up in a lavish and luxurious looking bed. She glanced at her figure and sighed. “Again? Come on. Me? An adult? I know that I’m dreaming.” Charlotte lunged out of bed and walked over to her mirror with a scowl. “You know what? Just end the dream already. Put me back in diapers and give me back the warm embrace of my mommy…” “You got it.” Just then, Charlotte saw a familiar woman sitting on her bed which sat in her gigantic master bedroom of her Beverly Hills mansion. “Lex, you’re absolutely right.” Lexi stood up and smiled. “Aren’t I, Charlotte? Hey Maya! Come here! Get this. Charlotte is finally agreeing with me!” Maya appeared out of nowhere and was sitting on the large king-size poster bed. She gave Lexi an incredulous look and smirked when she saw Charlotte. “You agree with her, huh? Well, say it again. Say to me what you just said to Lexi. Come on, Char.” Charlotte sighed, growing with impatience when she realized that she was still dreaming. “Well, this is a dream,” Charlotte declared. “So I’ll say it again gladly. I want the dream to end already. Just end it. Put me back in diapers and give me back the warm embrace of my mommy. Need me to say it one more time?” Maya shook her head. “No. But I am very proud of you, Charlotte. Neither of us would ever think that you would get it.” Lexi nodded. “Yes Char. Sit down on the bed. Let’s have a friendly chat. You’re among friends.” Charlotte cast a skeptical nod at both of her friends. “I’ll do that but just know that I am well aware of this being a dream. Besides, I’m not an adult anymore.” Maya nodded along with Lexi. “We know, Charlotte. But can you be a good little girl and tell us how old you are? Here. Sit between us.” Charlotte sat between her friends and nodded. “Yeah, I can tell you. I am only three, okay? This may sound weird, but deep down, I know that this is the age that I’m supposed to be. Who I am right now is a lie.” Lexi nodded. “Bingo. You said it. Now Char. Let’s talk fashion. Isn’t modeling fun?” Charlotte was taken aback at the question. Was modeling really all that fun? From Charlotte’s most recent experience with it at four, she wasn’t really sure if she really liked modeling anymore. “Are you crazy, Lex? Modeling is stupid! Do you know what I would rather do, Lex? I would rather run. Run for miles and miles.” “There’s my little girl.” Lexi said with a teasing smirk. Charlotte ignored Lexi’s sarcasm and glanced around, as if she was trying to find an exit to her dream. “Hey Lex. Is there any way that I can get out of this dream? Who knows where I am right now? I could be in my mother’s lap, or I could be sleeping in my crib.” Lexi and Maya both shook their heads. “Nope.” Lexi told Charlotte. “We’re not done. I just wanted to say that I’m proud of you, Char. And trust me when I’m saying this. You are making the right choice.” Charlotte nodded with impatience. “Uh huh. Yeah. I know. I’m just tired. Tired of running away from what I should’ve never ran from in the first place. It’s inevitable, okay?” Lexi and Maya exchanged glances and nodded. “Hey Char?” Lexi said. “Both Maya and I are going to change into a different outfit. “No peeking!” “And what if I wanna peek?” Charlotte said, her voice brimming with sarcasm. “It’s MY dream! But to be fair, I won’t peek.” Charlotte closed her eyes for a few seconds. “You can open them!” Charlotte opened her eyes to realize that she was younger. “Am I seventeen? I’m not. This is still a dream!” “Of course it is, Char.” Charlotte realized that the voice was not coming from Maya this time, but from Monica. “Monica?” she glanced over to see that Lauren was sitting next to her instead of Lexi. Both Lauren and Monica gave Charlotte a group hug. “You did it, Charlotte!” Lauren exclaimed. “I didn’t think you would do it, but you’re such a big girl!” Charlotte scowled. “Um Lauren? No I’m not. I’m three, remember?” Lauren nodded. “We know, Charlotte. And that’s why we are so happy. No more trying to get back to your normal age! No more mystery notebooks, right?” Charlotte nodded, secretly hoping that the dream would suddenly end. “Yeah! I know that three is my real age! My adulthood doesn’t exist anymore so I’m three!” Lauren nodded and glanced around. “How about another friend?” And in the next blink, Lauren transformed into Jess and Monica transformed into Kelly. Charlotte gasped. “Ha ha. I’m thirteen again. But I’m not really thirteen. I’m three. Can I just wake up now?” Jess hugged Charlotte. “Not yet. I’m just very proud of you. Who knew that such a cute little girl could make it so far?” Kelly nodded and giggled. “Yeah. Who KNEW!” And with that, Kelly tackled Jess to the ground Jess sighed. “Kelly! Enough with the silliness! We can save it for later! Now, we need to celebrate a birthday…” Charlotte watched Jess morph into Gabrielle. At this point, having also noticed herself get younger, she nodded. “Yeah yeah. I’m seven again. Can we just get to waking up?” Gabrielle gushed with excitement. “You got it! I’m so happy and proud! How about another friend that can make you happy?” In a mere flash, Gabrielle transformed into…Charlotte’s best friend. Diana. Diana Martinez. “Isn’t this great?” Diana beamed. “You’re having this fun dream and you’re accepting yourself as you really are!” As much as Charlotte wanted to be impatient, she knew that she couldn’t for Diana. She noticed herself a little older than she was before she fell asleep. “It looks like I’m four! Now, let me guess. Are you all just figments of my imagination? Because let’s face it. You couldn’t tell me about that race.” Diana shook her head. “Why don’t you ask me at Daycare next time?” Charlotte nodded. “Yup. The real Diana wouldn’t say that!” Diana nodded. “But real or not, we have all served our purpose to help you. Now who wants their mama?” Charlotte began to cry. The adult that she was at the beginning of her dream just wasn’t there anymore. She just wanted her mommy. “MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!!!!” Diana transformed into Darcy and she began to rock Charlotte on the large four poster bed in Charlotte’s dream mansion in dream Beverly Hills. “Charlie Darlie, it will be okay. Mommy’s here. It will be okay Charlotte, okay? It will be okay….” Charlotte woke up to find her mother wiping the tears out of her eyes. ‘Finally! The dream is over!’ For much of the day, Darcy spent the first bit of time unpacking from the Thanksgiving stay at the Ashcroft Estate while she had Charlotte sit and play in her play pen. Both lunch and dinner consisted of Thanksgiving leftovers, of which there were plenty for Charlotte and Darcy. Lauren was busy with Monica that weekend. Michael was also busy that day, but he had time to spend with Darcy on Saturday and Sunday for the rest of the weekend. Charlotte still felt tired as her mother changed her into her nighttime diaper and zipped her into a yellow footed sleeper. She was then lifted into her crib with the drop side railing lifted up before Darcy secured it with a pin. She then turned the padlock and locked it around the ring to ensure that Charlotte could not free the pin and escape her crib. Charlotte looked around the four walls that made up her crib. While Charlotte was supposed to feel imprisonment….while she was supposed to feel trapped….while Charlotte was supposed to feel locked in despair….. Charlotte felt free. Charlotte felt liberated and happy. She felt secure and safety in her crib. Especially with that pad lock around the pin! ‘Yup. I am truly protected.’ A sudden peace began to fill Charlotte, and a sudden warmth as she began to fill her diaper. The core of the thirsty diaper lapped up the pee with ease and gelled up, becoming squishy. The obstacles have caught up with Charlotte. And Charlotte felt true peace and happiness. She hugged Bobo tight and she fell asleep.

I really love this story so far! Being a twin myself, I can definitely relate to the things that Lillian and Eleanor have to deal with as twins. As for the hourglass, I wonder if it will affect Lillian only or if it will affect Eleanor as well? Maybe it will affect them both if Eleanor uses it? I can also see that Lillian has had a few close calls in making it to the bathroom. I can only guess that her bladder was normal prior to buying the hourglass. I wonder what change we'll begin to see in Lillian? Will she drop from a junior to the sophomore? With a Montessori school, the drop is not going to make much of a difference. Anyway, I am really enjoying this story so far and I can't wait until the next chapter!

You are correct in saying that Sonya did not create the shoes. But Diana's shoes are a slightly different color than the shoes that Sonya got for Darcy at the beginning. I mentioned how they were "similar" so these shoes were different. Again, this will all be explained soon so stay tuned. 😀

Yes. It looks like Charlotte is running out of time. As for how all this plays out, you will just have to wait and see. 😀 Both Charlotte and Diana are wearing different pairs of shoes. I like to think that both shoes have the same effect on them. And what makes you think that Sonya created both pairs of shoes? She could've very well have only made one of the two pairs. A little more on Diana in the chapters to come... 😀

Chapter 63 Charlotte removed her running shoes in a large shoe closet adjacent to the entrance hall of the Ashcroft Estate. Darcy, who was watching Charlotte, also removed her shoes, arranging hers neatly next to Charlotte’s so that they could find them later when they would get up early for the Turkey Trot tomorrow. Charlotte found herself anxiously clinging to Darcy’s hand, as they proceeded through the entrance hall, which opened into the foyer, which featured the grand staircase. Nearby, Charlotte could hear the sound of playful laughter, followed by two little girls which each had orange pacifiers hanging out of their mouths. Darcy glanced at the two girls, which both bore striking similarities to each other. It didn’t take her long to realize who they were. ‘It’s the twins,’ Darcy thought, her face conveying a look of disgust. ‘Michael told me about them already. They’re Neil and Daisy’s youngest daughters and they, like all the other kids, were homeschooled.’ Darcy noticed that both twins were in matching orange floral dresses, with snap crotch openings covering both girls around the pelvis and groin. Charlotte ran up to one of the twin girls that was now sitting on the floor and giggling, her orange pacifier dangling just barely out of her mouth. “Hi!” Charlotte shouted, trying to get the girl’s attention. “Ah Shaw-wit! Wha yul name?” The girl removed her pacifier and smiled, recovering from her fit of giggles. She glanced at her twin, as if she were making a signal for her to come over. The twin followed suit and sat next to her, pacifier still in her mouth. But when she saw her sister with her pacifier out, she followed suit and took hers out as well. “My name is Raina!” The girl said with much happiness and enthusiasm. “My name is Rosa!” The twin girl said almost immediately after her twin said it. Charlotte noticed that the twins were just a little taller than her sitting down. “Hah uld ow yoo?” Charlotte held out three fingers. “Ah fu-wee!” Both girls held out their four fingers with their right hands at exactly the same time. “Four-and-a-half,” they said, finishing their sentences at almost exactly the same time. Darcy was appalled. She had heard that the twins were in a preschool curriculum with their homeschooling through Michael, but why were they still sucking on pacifiers at four? And why were they both wearing snap crotch dresses intended for babies? Just then, Raina smiled as a loud and longly sustained fart began to sound, which made Rosa laugh. “You pooped!” Rosa shouted. “No I didn’t!” Raina said in protest. “Then what was that farting noise?” Rosa said with a frown. “I’m gonna tell mommy!” Raina playfully tackled Rosa to the floor. “Don’t tell mommy!” Rosa shook her head. “Well, you told mommy on me last time I pooped! I’m telling mommy this time!” Just then, a loud fart came from Rosa, and another woman was entering the room, holding what looked like a large diaper bag around her shoulder. The woman came in to see both twin girls pointing fingers at each other. Both girls shouted their accusations at the same time. “Mommy! Raina pooped!” “Mommy! Rosa pooped!” Charlotte glanced at both girls and let out a sigh of relief. ‘At least I’m not poopy. But I definitely know that I’m wet.’ Darcy let out a nervous chuckle as she saw the woman with long strands of auburn hair approach the twin girls. “I take it you’re Daisy?” Daisy nodded. “I take it that you’re Darcy, the soon to be wife of my brother-in-law Michael? Please excuse me. I have to change my babies.” Daisy found an area out of the way from the foyer by a wall and got a changing mat out of her diaper bag. She then wagged her fingers at her girls. “Raina? Rosa? Come over here so mommy can change your diapers.” Both girls grabbed their orange pacifiers off the floor and ran over to the changing mat, with Raina managing to lay down on it first before Rosa. Raina smiled as she began to suck on her pacifier. Darcy frowned at Daisy and pointed to Raina. “Excuse me? Your girls are four and a half and they’re still in diapers? I take it that you tried potty training them before? My sister has a daughter their same age and she is finally starting to use the potty again.” Daisy shook her head. “Neither Raina nor Rosa have even been potty trained yet. All my children have learned to use the potty at their own pace. Now girls. Do any of you want to learn to use the potty?” “NO!” they both shouted, fiercely shaking their heads. “I rest my case,” Daisy told her. “They will let me know when they’re ready.” Darcy sighed. “They do look small for their age. They look more like two-year-olds than four-and-a-half-year-olds.” Daisy nodded. “Yes. They were both born very premature, so they have some catching up to do. Now if you would excuse me. I need to finish changing Raina. And then Rosa.” Darcy sighed again when she saw both of the twin girls sucking on their pacifiers. ‘Poor girls. Is their mother ever going to let them grow up?’ Just then, an older girl ran into the room. “Mom!” the girl shouted. “Can you please come…oh. You’re changing the twin’s diapers? Okay. Just when are you going to get them potty trained?” Daisy gave the girl a smirk. “Jade, don’t give me that when you’re not fully potty trained yourself. You still need your youth diapers for bedtime!” Jade blushed when she saw Darcy standing there. “Mom! Don’t tell her!” Daisy finished wiping Raina clean and began to rub some Aquaphor on her. “Sweetie, you’re ten years old. I already told you that there’s no hurry in mastering the potty, okay? Now you’re almost there! Pretty soon, you will have nighttime mastered like Tyler and Zachary.” Jade let out a frustrated sigh and left the room. “I’ll tell her later!” When Daisy finished changing Raina, she ran over to where Charlotte was, pacifier still in her mouth. Charlotte was sucking on her thumb. She couldn’t help but do this when she saw the twins sucking on their pacifiers. She removed her thumb and glanced at Raina. “Yoo nul use dah pah-tee? Yoo nul use dah pah-tee Way-nah?” Raina shook her head and removed her pacifier. “Mommy never showed us how to use the potty before. We don’t want to, ‘cause we can just go in our diapers!” Raina then approached Charlotte’s pink onesie dress and gave Charlotte’s butt a quick poke. “You wear diapers too?” Charlotte nodded. “Mah-mee seh ah not wea-dee!” Rosa walked over to where Charlotte and Raina were, pacifier in her mouth, until she noticed that her sister had it out, so she copied her. “What were you talking about?” “Diapers!” Raina told her twin sister. “Charlotte, mommy said that we don’t have to learn how to use the potty until we’re ready!” “I don’t ever wanna be ready!” Rosa shouted. “Me neither!” Raina said with a giggle. Both girls stuck their pacifiers back in their mouths and began to run around and giggle again. Darcy, Daisy, Charlotte, and the twin girls all walked over to the large living room that Charlotte could remember from last weekend with Lauren and Monica. In the living room, Jade was sitting on one of the couches, playing what looked like Minecraft on a tablet. Daisy tapped Jade on the shoulder and gave her a respectful glance. “Now what was it that you wanted to tell me?” Jade pointed to the iPad screen. “Mom, I beat the boss! I wanted to tell you that but you were changing the twins again!” “Are you talking about the Ender Dragon?” an older boy asked. “That is so easy!” “Yeah Zachary.” The older teen boy nodded. “I remember doing that. I have since moved on to the Nintendo Switch. I’m going to see what Lauren and Bridget are doing. We’re all seniors and we’re going to graduate next year! Except I’m homeschooled so it won’t be the same…” Daisy nodded. “Tyler, you don’t need a public school. Those will poison your mind, dear.” Tyler sighed. “But what about private schools? Lauren tells me about Langford, and I wish that I could’ve gone there! Bridget has even attended a private school so couldn’t you have done that?” Daisy shook her head. “There wasn’t a private school that me and your father could decide on. So I settled for teaching you all at home. Besides, all the hired private tutors that have taught all you kids are top notch!” Tyler sighed. “Whatever mom. I’m going to talk to Lauren now.” Meanwhile, Charlotte, Raina, and Rosa all found Heather sitting on the floor, with her dolls all sprawled out while Allison ran around pushing a toy corn popper with colored plastic balls inside a plastic dome. Heather smiled as she pointed underneath her dress. “I just used the potty again! Mommy has me in Pull-Ups now!” Heather now towered over Charlotte and was also taller than the Ashcroft Twins. Rosa stuck her tongue out at Heather and made a raspberry sound. Raina also made raspberry sounds which made Rosa laugh. Rosa then tugged underneath the crotch enclosure to feel her diaper. “So? Me and Raina and Charlotte can go potty anywhere we want! You have to go into a room to do it!” Heather made a raspberry sound. “But diapers are for babies and I’m not a baby! Plus, mommy’s gonna buy me big girl underwears if I keep using the potty like a big girl!” Charlotte glanced at the twins and pointed at Heather. “Dat Heh-thah.” She told them. “She big gul ‘cause she use pah-tee. She mah cah-sin!” Heather glanced at both girls and gave them a puzzled look. “You’re both sisters but why does your mommy dress you alike? What are your names?” Raina smiled as she pointed to herself. “I’m Raina!” Rosa smiled the same and pointed to herself. “I’m Rosa!” “We’re twins!” Raina told her. “Mommy says that twins are alike!” Raina then glanced around the living room and frowned. “My living room at home is bigger than this.” Starting to get bored, Raina stuck her pacifier in her mouth. Rosa too, followed suit and both twins were sucking on their pacifiers. Heather frowned. “Why do you both still have your pacies? I don’t have mine anymore ‘cause the pacie monster took it away when I was three…You better be careful ‘cause the pacie monster might take YOURS away!” Both twins had worried looks in their eyes until Raina began to smile. “The pacie monster hasn’t come yet!” Raina told her. “And if he comes…” Rosa began. “WE’LL PROTECT OUR PACIES FROM HIM!” both twins shouted at the same time. Charlotte, like her mother, was greatly surprised at the immaturity that she saw from the Ashcroft twins. ‘The poor girls. Why is their mom babying them so much? They have their entire lives ahead of them! But not me and Diana. We have the perfect excuse to not care about our maturity anymore. That, and we have to deal with our stupid toddler brains. So how is this supposed to be fun?’ Meanwhile, most of the adults were playing poker in another room (with Lauren, Bridget, and Tyler all supervising the kids in the living room.) Gathered around the game table were both Darcy and Michael, who both smiled since it seemed like they had a good hand. William and Nancy, Michael’s parents, were also playing poker with them, each displaying frowns since their hands were not any good. Peter Roberts sat next to Lacy, Michael’s younger sister. Neil, Michael’s older brother, was also playing with Daisy. The remaining adults only watched the poker game, each lounging on sofas nearby. Mark and Linda Evans (Daisy’s parents), Anthony and Donna Miller (Darcy and Darlene’s Parents), Darlene and Daniel Baker, Alfred and Judy Roberts (Peter’s parents), and James and Mary Baker (Daniel’s parents). The adults all conversed among themselves about recent life updates including the upcoming wedding with Michael and Darcy. The poker table, on the other hand, was completely silent until Neil broke the silence. “So how’s business?” Neil asked, directing his question to Michael. “I just launched an AI startup that will double my fortune within the next five years.” Michael gave Neil a casual nod. “That’s fine, Neil. Business is booming as usual, and all my assets are performing well. I see no need in doubling my fortune, since I already have a net worth of $86.5 billion. What did you say yours was again?” “$53 billion,” Neil said with a smile. “And with that AI startup, It is guaranteed to be more than $100 billion by 2030.” Daisy smiled. “We’ll be able to buy that resort in Waikiki and build another mansion!” Michael sighed. “Another one? Isn’t that 61,000 square foot mansion that you have in Florida enough?” Neil shook his head. “It’s another investment, Michael. It can be rented out for guests, with the private family quarters off limits. Besides, the estate we have now in Windermere is so close to Disney World. The twins just love it! Isn’t this estate only 41,000 square feet?” “41,273 square feet,” Michael corrected. “On 112 acres with a private vineyard and private quarter mile running track that my daughter uses for practicing her running. And let’s not forget the four-story parking deck! Bigger is not always better, brother.” “Enough with your jabbering!” William shouted. “I’m pleased to hear that both of my boys are doing really well but can we show our hands already?! If you’re going to talk, join the others on the couch!” Both Neil and Michael nodded, looking embarrassed, and everyone showed their hands around the poker table, one at a time. Both Michael and Darcy ended up having the best hands, with Michael having a full house and Darcy having four of a kind. The rest of the day continued, with Charlotte finding herself having a lot of fun with Heather, Raina, and Rosa. Although Charlotte still had the worry and dread of her eventually disappearing, this was forgotten for a short time as she enjoyed playing with her new cousins. Meanwhile, the older cousins played among themselves, which included Lauren, Bridget, Maxwell (who was Bridget’s younger brother and was 14), Tyler, Zachary (who was 13), and Jade. At one point, Lauren thought it would be nice to play some games with the younger cousins, so they all did that before dinner. The meal for that evening was uneventful, since the chefs were all preparing for Thanksgiving. Lobster bisque was served, with open-faced sandwiches and plenty of caviar for the adults. The menu was slightly different for the younger cousins, who had chicken nuggets, fries, carrots, and apple sauce. After dinner was wrapping up, both Raina and Rosa approached their mother with a wanting look, as they both stared at her breasts. “Can we have milk, please?” Raina asked her mother. Daisy got out of her seat and waved the girls over to her. “Not here, girls. We will do this in another room. Okay?” Michael glanced at the girls and nodded. “Use one of the private sitting rooms. No one is in there.” Both Darcy and Darlene exchanged looks of disbelief. Darcy sighed. “Four and a half and you still breastfeed them?” Daisy was almost out of the dining room with the girls, but she turned her face and nodded. “Yes. What’s wrong with that? It’s very healthy and it helps to stimulate their brains. Come now, girls…” Daisy left the dining room with Raina and Rosa to find one of the sitting rooms. That night, Charlotte was put in her same room that she had during her weekend stay with Lauren and Monica. She was tucked in the same King-sized bed with Bobo and Snoopy lying next to her. Lauren even got Bonnie for Charlotte (although she was secretly disappointed in letting Charlotte borrow Bonnie again). Charlotte smiled as she thought of the fun that she had with Raina and Rosa, her new cousins. ‘I wonder where they’re sleeping?’ she thought as she began to let out a deep yawn. --- Charlotte shivered in her winter coat as she was carried out of the Ashcroft Estate by her mother. She squinted her eyes and was still a little drowsy. She was barely awake when her mother changed her out of her soggy diaper. And now, her soon to be big sister was opening the door for Charlotte. As she stared up and watched Lauren buckle her into her car seat, she glanced down at her running shoes that her mother slipped on her feet over her footies. “Way-or ow we goin’ mommy? Way-or ow we goin’?” Lauren, who was sitting in the seat beside Charlotte smiled. “We’re going to the Turkey Trot! I’m running in the race and so is Monica and Roxy!” Charlotte glanced at Lauren again and noticed that she was wearing a pink sweatband around her forehead. A white running jacket over a light weight long-sleeved white top, and black leggings, with her white gloves resting in her lap. ‘Lauren’s going to run? This is going to be fun!’ Charlotte almost wanted to ask if she could run with Lauren, but she remembered. ‘That’s right! I run the Turkey Race with the Dashing Ducklings tomorrow! That will be so much fun!’ Charlotte also realized that her best friend Bobo was in her lap so she began to cuddle him. Darcy exited the gate to the Ashcroft Estate with the 4Runner. She knew that it may not have been the best idea to get Charlotte out of bed, change her, and then bundle her up for the Turkey Trot before heading out the door. But Darcy was definitely prepared. She had a sippy cup filled with Carnation Breakfast Essentials plus one more sippy cup filled with water in case Charlotte was thirsty. And of course, four diapers and two changes of clothes in case Charlotte has a very bad accident. The 4Runner parked at Darcy’s house, since her house was close enough to the trail and they could walk to the starting/finish line of the race. Michael and Darcy got out of the 4Runner, with Lauren helping Charlotte out of her car seat before carrying her out. Darcy also got the Graco stroller out of the trunk of the 4Runner. As much as she didn’t want to use it, there was going to be a large number of people at this race, and having Charlotte in the stroller would ensure that she wouldn’t get lost in the crowd. Charlotte found herself being laid into the stroller and buckled in, before being covered up to her neck in two blankets. As Charlotte began to suck her thumb, her mother unzipped her diaper bag and handed Charlotte her pink pacifier. Charlotte swapped her thumb for the pacifier and began sucking on it instead. The onlookers gawked at Charlotte as they saw Darcy pushing her in the stroller. One mother who had a ten-year-old girl dressed up in running clothes pointed to the stroller and smiled at Darcy. “That is such a cute little girl!” the woman beamed. “How old is she? 12 months?” Darcy shook her head. “No. Charlotte is three..” The woman was in shock. “Oh. Really? That is pretty small for a three-year-old.” “It saves me money!” Darcy joked. “Most of the clothes that Charlotte fits in are 12-18 months. My soon to be other daughter is running in this race, and I thought that Charlotte would want to see this!” The woman glanced at Lauren, who waved at her. “Hi!” Lauren told her. “Yes. I’m running in the race. I’m going to line up with the others!” Once Darcy found the spot where Darlene was standing with Heather and Allison (they arrived earlier and drived separately), she stopped the stroller and grabbed one of the two fold-out chairs that Michael was holding. Charlotte watched as the large crowd of runners began to swell around the starting line of the running trail. While adult Charlotte would normally not mind the large crowds of people, Charlotte suddenly felt very uncomfortable as she glanced at the large group of people around her. And Charlotte just couldn’t take it. Her toddler instincts kicked in and her eyes began to pool with tears. “MOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY!!!!!” Darcy immediately unbuckled Charlotte and hoisted her out of her stroller. She cradled Charlotte and sat her on her lap and began slowly rocking Charlotte back and forth. “Sweetie? It’s okay. It’s okay, Charliecakes. Mommy is here. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Shhhhhh!!! There. See? It’s going to be okay, dear.” Charlotte’s rapid sucks on her pacifier were beginning to slow down as she felt the warmth of her mother’s embrace. Charlotte was wrapped around in a warm flesh that was her mother’s lap. Her mother’s arms….Her mother’s hands….Every one of them made Charlotte feel safe. They made her feel comfortable. Her mother gave her the sippy cup filled with Carnation Breakfast Essentials and Charlotte guzzled the whole cup like she had never eaten anything in her life. Heather walked over to Charlotte and offered her very best smile. “Don’t cry, Charlotte!” Heather pleaded. She then glanced at Darcy. “Aunt Darcy, why is Charlotte crying?” Darcy calmly rocked Charlotte back and forth and smiled. “Heather, Charlotte is crying because she’s not used to all these people. It’s too much for her.” Heather nodded. “Oh.” Heather leaned her face down near Charlotte and grinned. “Don’t cry, Charlotte! I know it’s a lot of people but I’m here to make you happy.” Charlotte continued to calm down and nodded, suddenly having a semblance of her adulthood again. ‘Thanks cuz. It’s not easy to control my emotions in this toddler body. It’s almost like I’m a different person!’ She then looked at Heather and smiled. “Fank-ooh Heh-thah!” Heather smiled. “You’re welcome, little cousin!” While Charlotte was well aware of the reality that she had to deal with, being called “little” by Heather kind of bothered her. ‘This was the girl that I used to babysit! And now I have just cried in my mother’s arms and my little cousin is now towering over me! I am the little one now, and….it just…it just….hurts….’ Charlotte knew that Heather couldn’t read her mind, but with all the shame and embarrassment that Charlotte had just felt, it could’ve just happened the same anyway. ‘I’m an adult. Yeah. I am thirty years old. Really I am. I’m….a big girl…’ But Charlotte had to abandon this belief entirely when her butt began to feel very warm. The warm pee beginning to pool and spread, before being lapped up by the thirsty diaper. Charlotte’s diaper swelled and expanded as she sat in her mother’s lap. Darcy felt the warmness and gasped. And then, turning to Darlene, she said “It looks like I’ll have to change Charlotte after this race is over. She just warmed up my legs!” The race began and all the runners took off from the starting line. Charlotte actually felt strange watching a race instead of running in it. She wanted to be a part of the action, instead of watching from the sidelines. About 18 minutes later, Charlotte was back in her stroller and could see Lauren in the distance. Lauren was about to cross the finish line, so Charlotte kicked her feet in excitement. But as she kicked…. Charlotte’s left shoe flew off and landed on the edge of the running trail. Then her right shoe followed, launching off her foot like a catapault. It landed a few feet to the right of the other shoe, almost on the edge of the running trail. Lauren, who had just crossed the finish line, saw the shoes flying and began to recover them, one at a time. Lauren found the first shoe and picked it up. A pink and white Bottega Venata running shoe. The tiny shoe, Lauren noticed, was a size 5 toddler. She then found the second shoe, which was handed to her by a mother nearby. Having seen these shoes plenty of times, Lauren knew that they belonged to Charlotte. Monica walked up to Lauren and laughed when she noticed the shoes that she was holding. “Did someone lose their shoes? Those look like Charlotte’s!” Lauren grinned, as she wiped some sweat off her chin and the beads of sweat that were beginning to form around her face. “They are. I’m going to return them. Over there. I see the stroller!” Charlotte noticed both Lauren and Monica approaching her, with Lauren carrying her running shoes. “Looking for these?” Lauren said with a teasing smile as she slid both shoes back onto Charlotte’s footie pajamaed feet. Darcy laughed at the sight of this. “Lauren, I saw the whole thing. When Charlotte saw you approaching the finish line, she began kicking her feet and her shoes went flying.” Monica laughed. “At least they didn’t end up on the trail. The runners would’ve tripped over them!” Lauren pointed at Charlotte’s feet. “You didn’t get Charlotte dressed yet?” Darcy shook her head. “No,” She replied with a yawn. “I just got Charlotte out of bed, changed her diaper, and came right here.” Lauren glanced at her sweat stained clothes. “Well, I need to go home and get a shower.” She glanced at her father, who was standing next to Darcy and Darlene (Daniel didn’t come since he wanted to sleep in). “Daddy, is the limo coming? I scheduled one to pick me up after the race.” Michael laughed. “Well, if you scheduled one, it should be coming dear.” The award ceremony followed, and Lauren ended up getting third place, with both Monica and Roxy not even placing (Monica and Roxy were a minute behind Lauren). A half hour later, everyone was finally home. Darcy changed Charlotte out of her diaper that was about to leak and into a new diaper. After Charlotte was all dressed, her mother took her to the living room, where both Raina and Rosa were sitting on the couch in their orange onesies, drinking apple juice from baby bottles. Darcy was about to lose her mind. “Bottles? Really? Four and a half years old and they still drink from baby bottles?” Daisy, who was sitting in a nearby recliner, looked annoyed. “Yes Darcy.” Daisy said, looking impatient. “They both still drink from bottles. Normal cups are out of the question as they will spill their drinks. And I have lost count of how many times they have popped off their sippy cups. Because of this, I really can’t trust them with sippy cups yet. Plus, I don’t see anything wrong with this. They like their bottles! Don’t you, Rainy and Rosie?” Both twin girls nodded, removing the bottles from their mouths. “YES MOMMY!” For the rest of the late morning, Charlotte played with Heather, Raina, Rosa, and Allison while the older kids played, periodically checking in on their younger cousins. After lunch, all the younger kids were put down for naps. This included Allison, Charlotte, Heather, Raina, and Rosa. Thanksgiving dinner was served around 4:00 in the afternoon, buffet style. It was held in a banquet hall that was larger than the normal dining room, with a table that could seat 30 people. Highchairs were set up for Allison, Charlotte, Raina, and Rosa with a booster seat set up for Heather. Michael stood up and addressed his family before leading them in a heartfelt prayer. After the prayer, all the members of the family could get up with their empty plates and help themselves to the Thanksgiving buffet. Various buffet tables had all the fixings: Turkey, wet and dry stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry orange relish, candied yams, ten types of olives, fruit salad, a Jello mold, various family recipes, garlic butter dinner rolls, and many other dishes. Once everyone got their food, everyone had to share what they were thankful for. Michael was thankful for Darcy and his soon to be new family and Darcy likewise was thankful for Michael and having such a nice family to spend Thanksgiving with. When Charlotte was asked what she was thankful for, she pointed to Raina and Rosa, saying, “Ah fank-fah fo dem!’ This made the adults laughed and they remarked how cute that was. After that, everyone ate, and the room got very quiet. When mostly everyone was finishing, Anthony Miller pointed to Charlotte, who was still sitting in her highchair, finishing her food. He glanced at Darcy, giving her a quizzical smile. “Do you still have the crib?” He asked her. Darcy nodded. “Yes dad. Charlotte still needs that crib. We have tried big girl beds before, and Charlotte is a roller. Just about every morning with the bed, I find Charlotte lying on the floor. The crib solved that problem.” Anthony nodded. “Of course it did, Dar. Did you know that I built that entire crib for you from scratch? You slept in it and Darlene did when you were both babies.” Darlene glanced at her father with a red face. “Yes dad. We have heard the story many times. How you as a master carpenter and furniture store owner decided to build a crib when you and mom were not happy with any of them before Darcy was born.” Anthony nodded. “I know. But I think that it bears repeating. Especially with all this hubbub about banning drop side cribs. The one that I built was ahead of its time. I built it extra tall so that Darcy couldn’t climb out. And I made the slats very narrow so that Darcy wouldn’t get her head stuck in the railing. And with that latch and padlock, that drop side railing is going nowhere. Just why would they want to recall this one? It’s custom-built and totally safe. I even refurbished it for you Darcy, before Charlotte was born so that she could have it. I had to re-sand and repaint all the chew marks in the crib, because you chewed on that crib a lot.” Darcy’s face turned red. “Dad! Stop!” This resulted in a jab in the side from Donna, Anthony’s wife. “Shush!” Donna shouted. “Look what you’re doing! You’re embarrassing your girls!” This resulted in Peter, Lacy’s husband, speaking up. “What’s Thanksgiving without an embarrassing family story? I like it. Bring it on!” The discussion continued, with more adults pitching in their embarrassing stories of raising their kids. Charlotte herself was surprised to hear the truth about her crib. ‘My mom slept in the same crib when she was a baby?” Charlotte began to suck her thumb as she continued to hear the adults speak. A little later, everyone returned to the buffet tables, which now all had dessert dishes, including ice cream. Darcy gave Charlotte one small brownie and a tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream. After dinner, Charlotte played with all the younger cousins. Time seemed to fly by, and it seemed like it was bedtime before she knew it. Darcy then ruffled Charlotte’s hair in her fingers. “Say goodbye to Raina and Rosa because you are going to bed, and you will be running in the Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race tomorrow. We will not be coming back home, but to our house. Okay?” Charlotte approached the twins, who were playing a game to see who could run to their pacifier and grab it first. Charlotte got Raina’s attention and sighed. “Ah goh tah bed ‘cause mommy wants meh too. Ah run too-mah-roh an ah nah comin’ bak hee-or.” Raina nodded and gave Charlotte a hug. “Me and Rosa are going back to Florida with mommy and daddy tomorrow. The pool was fun here but we gots two pools at home with one outside and one inside. Both of them are bigger than the one here.” “And the water slide at our pool is BIGGER!” Rosa added. She too, like her sister, hugged Charlotte and smiled. “We had lots of fun. Mommy is probably gonna get us ready for bed too after we drink some of her milk.” “Bye Charlotte!” Both twins shouted at the same time before they each picked up their pacifiers before looking for their mother. Charlotte was deep in thought during the whole bedtime routine. Her quick shower (since there wasn’t any time for a bath), her teeth being brushed, her being changed into a nighttime diaper, her being zipped into a mint green footed sleeper, and being tucked into her king-sized bed before Bobo, Snoopy, and Bonnie joining her., all surrounding Charlotte like they were standing guard. Charlotte was deep in thought about the race tomorrow. It was yet another race and should she enter her special trance, she would likely be running another marathon with Diana again. And most likely, she would be running in another world city. ‘What’s going to happen with this race?’ Charlotte wondered. ‘And who’s going to win? Me? Diana? Or is it just going to be a tie?’ Charlotte had none of the answers, but she knew that the race was going to be a lot of fun. While Lauren and Monica ran their race today, It would be Charlotte’s turn tomorrow. Charlotte, Diana, Heather, and the rest of the Dashing Ducklings would be running the Turkey Race and Charlotte just couldn’t wait.

Chapter 62 THWAK! THWAK! Charlotte woke up, suddenly realizing that her arm and leg just hit some kind of barrier. She reached forward and felt something narrow and long. Her vision focused to notice the dark silhouette of a series of wooden slats that ran from left to right. They looked like bars to Charlotte. The bars towered over Charlotte, and when she realized what she was lying in, her heart sank. ‘No. This can’t be. Is this a crib?’ Charlotte stood up in frustration, the bulk of her soggy diaper weighing against her footed sleeper. But even with Charlotte standing up, the railing still towered over her. ‘Oh, I hope that I did not get any younger!’ Charlotte didn’t feel any younger. But in the crib, she saw Bobo and her new friend, Snoopy. When Charlotte saw Snoopy, she smiled. ‘Okay. Maybe I didn’t get any younger. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have Snoopy.’ But Charlotte’s smile was short lived when she came to the realization that she now had to sleep in a crib. That collision woke her up good, as she found herself leaning against the railing of the crib. Charlotte felt the railing with her fingers, running them back and forth through the narrowly spaced slats like she was playing an instrument. For a moment, this amused Charlotte, but she quickly lost attention and pouted when she realized that there was no way to get out of the crib unless her mother let her out. Her resentment continued towards the crib, and it made Charlotte wonder just how many differences there were in her room, considering that she hadn’t been in it since she was four. And with her being three now, it begged the question. ‘Why did I need a crib at three? Was mom afraid of me falling out of bed?’ Charlotte let out a frustrated sigh as she laid back down underneath the covers, staring up at the towering bars that seemed to mock her. ‘Trapped. That’s what I am. Trapped in this body and trapped in this crib.’ She could barely keep her eyes open, so she closed them. TING! Charlotte woke up to the sound of her mother pulling out the pin that held the drop side of the railing in the raised position. After the pin was pulled out, the railing fell to the floor along the sliding track. ‘It really is like a prison.’ Charlotte sarcastically retorted in her mind. ‘Time to let the prisoner out for her day of school!’ Darcy scooped up Charlotte and then placed her on the floor near the crib. She then raised the railing back up and put the pin back in. As an additional security precaution, she overlapped the metal loop where the pin was with the padlock and locked it before returning to Charlotte. “Good morning, honey! Are you ready for some more pre preschool? You have a short week this week because of Thanksgiving. I am betting that you need a fresh diaper. Here. Let mommy get you ready.” Darcy was careful with her choice of words, and did not call Charlotte’s school a “Daycare” since she knew that Charlotte despised that word and said that Daycares were for babies. Darcy knew that it had to be Heather, since she was already in preschool and she saw how Charlotte wanted to be like her. Charlotte found herself hoisted into the air by her mother and was carried over to the changing table. Her footed sleeper was unzipped, and her mother gently freed her arms and legs from the sleeper before discarding it in the dirty clothes hamper. Charlotte found herself high enough to see her dresser and she watched as her mother opened the top drawer. There were no more Pull-Ups in the drawer. Instead, it was all diapers. Most of them were daytime ones, with the nighttime diapers tucked in their own section in the far right side of the drawer. ‘Well, this is no surprise. I’m three now so I’m probably not even potty trained anymore. I mean, mom didn’t even take me to the bathroom!’ Charlotte knew that it was futile, but she tried anyway as she saw her mother returning, holding a Pampers Babydry diaper in her hand. “Ah go pah-tee mommy? Ah way-or pahlup? Ah way-or pahlup? Ah way-or pahlup?” Darcy laughed as she fluffed the diaper in her hand. “Charlotte sweetie, we already tried potty training six months ago. While you did use the potty a couple of times, you leaked through all your Pull-Ups and there were so many poopy accidents that mommy had to clean up. We tried it for a week, dear. You’re not even close to being ready for potty training. But don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll try it again next summer when you’re three and a half. Now, legs up dear.” Charlotte put her legs up and sighed as her mother removed a heavily saturated diaper from between her legs and slid a new one underneath her. ‘It was worth a try. I probably wouldn’t make any progress anyway since I probably have an infant’s bladder as a toddler…’ Charlotte could see her mother gasp as she saw a slow stream of pee begin to flow out. ‘How did I just do that? Right now, I’m not even aware that I just peed!’ Darcy quickly powdered Charlotte and folded the diaper between her legs to catch the flow before fastening the two tabs. “Wait until the diaper is on before you tinkle, dear. We don’t want to make a mess, okay?” Charlotte gave her mother a frustrated scowl. ‘Yeah mom. Like I can consciously hold it! I’m a helpless baby, remember?’ Darcy grabbed a stack of six diapers and shoved them in Charlotte’s backpack. She then got out a mint green floral romper dress, with white flowers sprinkled throughout the whole pattern. She inspected the tag and grinned. “12 months, Charliecakes. You are such a little peanut. We need to get some more food in you to make you bigger.” Darcy pulled the dress over Charlotte’s head and pushed both her arms through both of the ruffled sleeves. Finally, she snapped the three crotch buttons to cover her daughter’s diaper. Charlotte couldn’t help it now, but she had a giddy smile on her face. For some reason, she loved it when her mother dressed her in the morning, but she couldn’t explain why. Before she knew it, it was over, and she was hoisted into her mother’s arms, with her mother giving her soft pats on her diapered butt, which made her giggle. Darcy checked her cellphone. “We need to get you a quick breakfast, dear. And then it’s time for pre preschool!” Charlotte gasped when she heard the word pre preschool. ‘That’s right! I wonder how different school is going to be now that I’m a year younger? And what about Diana? Is she going to be older than me? Younger than me? I don’t know.’ As she was carried down the stairs, Charlotte suddenly felt warm again as another small stream of pee began to fill her thirsty diaper. And just as fast as the stream came out, it was immediately absorbed into the core and began to gel up. Charlotte only felt the warmth, but not any wet sensation at all. Darcy mixed up a cup of Carnation Breakfast Essentials in a clear see-through sippy cup with measurement lines. She placed Charlotte in her highchair and gave the cup to Charlotte. Darcy quickly took the cup away from her when she drank half of the cup. She then placed it in the fridge before lifting Charlotte out of her highchair. Charlotte smacked her lips, still tasting the chocolate from that breakfast shake. ‘Wow. I can’t believe it but that almost made me full.’ Charlotte was sat on the floor by her mother, who slid Charlotte’s already tied running shoes on her feet. Darcy then smiled at Charlotte. “Guess what, hun? You have ANOTHER Dashing Ducklings meeting tonight! You seem to really like the new class! I just wanted to give you a heads up.” Charlotte nodded. ‘Yeah. Of course it’s new now since I dropped a year. Just put me in my car seat and take me to school already.’ It didn’t take Darcy very long before she did just that. She buckled Charlotte into her car seat and the 4Runner was off to Little Lilacs Daycare and Preschool. Darcy used the same check-in to sign Charlotte into the school and Charlotte was put in the same familiar area where she played with all the toys. Charlotte felt the warm embrace of her mother, followed by a kiss on her forehead. “Bye sweetie!” Darcy said with a smile. “Have a good day at pre preschool!” It didn’t take very long before Charlotte saw a Hispanic girl running at her at full speed and tackling her to the floor with a hug. Charlotte didn’t even have to guess to know who executed that friendly tackle. It was Diana and as she found herself locked in Diana’s embrace, she noticed the stylish outfit she had on. A white onesie with tiny green, purple, and pink hot air balloons lightly speckled throughout the bodysuit. But what made the outfit stand out was the cute little lavender cardigan she had on over the onesie. The long-sleeved cardigan went from the collar with the length stopping around the belly, allowing Charlotte to see most of the onesie. “Shaw-wit!” Diana shouted, now standing up and helping Charlotte to her feet. “Shaw-wit! Yu goed dawn! Yu goed dawn!” Charlotte, now standing next to Diana, noticed that she was just a little taller than her. ‘Goed down? Is she trying to say growed down?’ Diana giggled as she pointed down to the similar running shoes that she was also wearing. “Paw-wis wuh fun! We won vewy fast!” Charlotte gasped, and was so much in shock that she felt her diaper getting warm again. ‘Oh my God. How does Diana even know about me running in Paris? Was she also running with her shoes at the same time as me?’ “We won taw-geh-dah!” Diana told her with a giddy smile. “We boh goed dawn!” Charlotte knew that she dropped a year. But how much younger was Diana now? Was she two? She had to find out. “Dye-on-na. Haw uld ow yoo?” Diana held out three fingers. “I fu-wee!” Wow. Charlotte couldn’t believe that she was still taller than Diana at three. ‘Maybe she’s on a different growth curve? We were both the same height at four!’ Diana pointed at her three fingers that she still had held out and gave Charlotte a wanting look. ‘Haw uld ow yoo, Shaw-wit?” Charlotte smiled and held out three fingers. “I fu-wee too!” In addition to that, Charlotte also knew that she just had a birthday about two weeks ago. But when was Diana’s? “Wah moth yoo birday?” Charlotte asked her best friend. Diana scratched her head and then grinned. “My birday foo-wah moths aw-go. It Ju-why. I ul-dah den yoo!” Her expression then changed to a more serious one as she took Charlotte next to the building blocks. “We go dawn till we dih-saw-pee-yah. Pay wif me and let’s hav fun!” Charlotte sighed. “Ih ho-puss. I twapped in taw-dah’s bahdee an we-yah dy-paws all da time now.” But Diana gave Charlotte a compassionate pat on the back. “I twapped too, Shaw-wit. Ah used tah bee sahd but I haw-pee. Yoo nul bee sahd an bee haw-pee wif me!” Charlotte glanced around the classroom and sighed. “Wah we do tah-day now dat we fu-wee?” Diana shrugged her shoulders. “I-dah-no! We have fun ah-nee way!” Diana then looked both ways before whispering in Charlotte’s ear. “Mah-mah not we-mem-bah me bee-in fu-wah. She tol me dat I was sillwee…” Heather then approached both Charlotte and Diana. “Hi cousin!” Heather said, waving at Charlotte. “Are you playing with Diana? Let’s play a fun game.” Heather then began to notice a very foul smell that was nearby her. “Ew! Diana? Did you poop again? You should’ve done that in the potty!” Diana shook her head. “Ih nah me. It Shaw-wit! I poo-pee lay-tah!” Charlotte didn’t even realize how bad the odor was until Heather pointed it out. ‘Did this just happen? It’s like it came out without me pushing.’ One of the daycare staff named Miss Chloe was walking around the play area to supervise the group that she was responsible for. When she saw Charlotte and Diana standing next to each other, she approached them. “Which of you girls need a diaper change?” Miss Chloe said with a smile. She sniffed the air and gave the girls a teasing smile. “Oh, it looks like we have a stink bomb. Which of you girls did it?” She sniffed around Diana to find nothing. But when she sniffed around Charlotte, the smell was even worse. “Charlie-daisy, come with me and we’ll change that stinker.” She glanced at Diana and waved her hand. “You come too. You probably need a change as well.” Diana nodded. “I oh-wee wet!” Miss Chloe took Charlotte over to a changing table that was near the building blocks. She waved over another daycare staff member and pointed to Diana. “Miss Stacy? I’m changing Charlotte. Can you please change Diana for me? She’s probably only wet.” Miss Stacy nodded and picked up Diana while Miss Chloe was picking up Charlotte, and both girls were laid on changing tables that were nearby each other, with four other ones still vacant. Charlotte glanced up to see the warm smile coming from Miss Chloe. She had golden curls of hair and wore a beautiful sky-blue cardigan over a white top with faded blue jeans. She proceeded to unsnap the crotch buttons on the mint green ruffle onesie dress to reveal her soiled diaper. Miss Chloe smiled. To her relief, it was not a blowout. But whatever Charlotte did in there, it smelled really bad. She tore open the sides of Charlotte’s diaper to reveal a large pile of poop beginning to smear towards the front of the diaper. “Pee-yew, Charlie-poo! Let’s get you cleaned up good!” Miss Chloe wasted no time in skillfully wiping all over the disaster area where “ground zero” happened. When her front was all wiped, she propped Charlotte up with one hand while wiping underneath her butt with the other. When Charlotte was clean enough, she powdered a new diaper that she took from Charlotte’s backpack and had Charlotte sit on it while she finished piling the soiled wipes into the soiled diaper before rolling it up like a bean burrito and sealing it with both tabs. Miss Chloe then quickly checked for rashes and nodded. “No rashes,” she told Charlotte, but we’re doing this to prevent them anyway.” Miss Chloe took a thick glob of Aquaphor and rubbed it all over Charlotte. She then powdered Charlotte before she folded the diaper between her legs and sealed her in with both tabs snugly around her waist. ‘There we go! Now doesn’t that feel much better?” She glanced at Miss Stacy, who was already holding Diana’s wadded up soggy diaper. She handed Charlotte’s wadded soiled diaper to Miss Stacy. “Here. Throw them both away.” Miss Chloe returned her attention to Charlotte, where she simply stretched the crotch enclosure over the diaper and re-snapped the three crotch buttons. She finally lowered Charlotte off the changing table, where Diana was waiting for her. “There. You girls can go play.” Charlotte ran off with Diana back to the building blocks where they found Heather standing there, smiling. “I just used the potty!” Heather said with a smile. “And my diaper was still dry!” She glanced at both Charlotte and Diana, who had noticeably poofy bottoms like hers. “You two are not ready on the potty training chart and I just made it to first steps! Don’t worry. You two will get there some day.” Diana stuck her tongue out at Heather and gave her a raspberry. “Nu! Ah use my dye-pah fo-evah!” She turned and tapped Charlotte on the shoulder. “Haw bot yoo?” Charlotte nodded with a glum look on her face. If Charlotte was going to regress to infancy until she disappeared, she really would be wearing diapers forever until she vanished. Heather smiled as she pressed her hand on her dress, feeling the soft padding of the diaper through it. “My mommy wants to try Pull-Ups again after Thanksgiving. I’m going to get to Looming Lilac and wear my big girl underwears again! Paige is already there so I want to wear Frozen underwears like her! Now let’s play!” But no sooner than the words left Heather’s mouth when she heard Miss Julia shout “CIRCLE TIME!” Both Charlotte and Diana began to follow Heather, but she shook her head. “Nah-ah.” Heather told them. “You two are three so you go with Miss Chloe to the three-year-old room!” Diana tugged Charlotte’s shoulder and they both began running in the other direction, when Miss Chloe saw the two girls and laughed. “Whoa!” Miss Chloe shouted. “Slow down, you two! We’re not going to start without you so there’s no need to hurry! This way. We’re going to the Thriving Threes room.” Charlotte smiled as she followed Miss Chloe with Diana. “Thiving fu-wees!” She repeated as they walked past the changing tables and over to a small hallway that was toward three rooms. Both Charlotte and Diana entered the Thriving Threes room with Miss Chloe to find that nine other kids were already sitting on the floor, playing with toys. Miss Chloe then turned around and smiled at the two toddler girls. “Guess what? Circle time is not until 9:30 so you both get to play for another half hour! Why don’t you both play with Kendra? She’s stacking plates over there in the kitchen, and I think that she wants to make something! Why don’t you girls make a delicious meal, and I’ll try it. Okay?” Just then, two other girls and a boy approached Miss Chloe. “Miss Chloe!” The girl with brown hair and freckles shouted. “Landon pooped!” “Yeah!” The other girl with red hair and pigtails shouted. “It smells bad!” “He needs his diaper changed.” The boy with a red and white striped t-shirt said, giving her a look of disgust. Miss Chloe nodded. “Emma, Olivia, thank you very much for letting me know. Liam, I know. Why don’t you all go back and play? I will take care of it. Okay?” Miss Chloe approached a boy who was sitting on the floor, moving toy cars back and forth, making engine revving sounds. “VRRRRROOOM!” The boy shouted. “VROOOOM! VRRRRROOOOOM!!!” Miss Chloe laughed and sighed, as she did not want to interfere with his playtime. “Landon? Can you please come with me for a moment?” Landon shook his head and kept playing with his cars, making engine revving sounds. “No, Miss Koe-wee! Da cars need ta win race!” Miss Chloe nodded. “The cars are going to wait for you while we take care of this, okay? Now I smell something that’s very stinky and your other classmates already told me. Come with me and we’ll get that diaper changed, okay?” Landon let out a reluctant sigh. “Okay Miss Koe-wee…” Kendra looked up as Charlotte and Diana joined her. Diana pointed at Landon and smiled. “Lawn-done way-ors dye-pahs?” Kendra nodded. “He does. But so do you and Charlotte. I don’t wear diapers. I wear Pull-Ups ‘cause I’m a big girl!” She pointed to two other girls in the room. “So do Emma and Oliva. We’re all big girls! Miss Chloe told us last time…” Kendra then glanced at the stack of plates. “No one will play kitchen with me. Do you and Charlotte want to make food with me?” Charlotte knew that it was only pretend food, so she sighed. “Ih nah weal fudd!” Diana nodded. “Ih nah weal but it fun! We pah-tend it weal an hav nice meal tah-geh-thah!” Diana walked over to Kendra and smiled. “Ow yoo settin tay-bah? I cawk on stove wike mommy! Shaw-wit, yoo cut fudd!” Diana handed Charlotte a plastic cutter. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders. ‘I might as well play along.’ Charlotte grabbed the cutter and pretended to dice various vegetables and meats. While the girls continued playing, Miss Chloe returned with Landon, who ran right back to his cars and continued playing with them. The three girls all played for 15 more minutes before Miss Chloe got the attention of the room. “Circle Time!” Miss Chloe shouted. “Everyone, we are going to sing some fun songs! Don’t worry about playing. You will have plenty of time to play later!” Circle time began with the kids singing “The Wheels on the Bus”, “Five Little Monkeys”, “The Ants go Marching”, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”, and a couple others. Following circle time was a morning snack, where Miss Chloe and the other helpers served the three-year-olds trail mix and juice boxes filled with apple juice. Following the snack, the kids were all taken outside to play in the playground, with Miss Chloe supervising them. Charlotte ran with Diana in a small circle that followed the outside of the playground. As Charlotte was running, she realized how much easier pre preschool was compared to preschool. She glanced at Diana and frowned. “Pee-pee skawl too easy!” Diana smiled. “What pee-pee skawl? It day ceh-are!” Charlotte sighed. ‘Daycare?’ she thought. ‘Daycare is for babies! Is this my life from now on?’ “Hah yoo still haw-pee Dye-on-na? We gah-nah dis-ah-pe-yah!” Diana hugged Charlotte, which made her stop running. “Ah don cawr if ah dis-ah-pe-yah! Ah liv fo tah-day. An too-ma-roh if too-ma-roh cahm. Ih nah fay-ah but we can’t do any-fin. So let’s be hah-pee!” Charlotte couldn’t help but shed a few tears. She was surprised at just how well Diana was accepting her fate. ‘How can she? She is aware that like me, she’s going to be an infant soon. Then she will cease to exist. How can she be so calm and accepting of this?’ “Ih too shawt.” Diana told her. “I ah-dawlt once but ah go dawn an dawn an dawn fo weeks. Now I fu-wee. We keep wunning. We wun on-til we dis-ah-pe-yah. Ah okay wif dat ‘cause ah hah-pee.” Part of Charlotte just wanted to accept what Diana was telling her. Charlotte was well aware that they were both adults trapped in pint-sized fleshly cages with no way out. And Charlotte could only imagine the kind of struggle that Diana went through before she accepted her gradual end. Maybe what Diana was deciding was something that she should decide? To merely accept the journey to nothingness? From adulthood to infancy and then non-existence? It was a tough pill to swallow, and Charlotte wasn’t sure if she wanted to swallow hers yet. The ”pre preschool” day continued with both Charlotte and Diana getting their diapers changed after going back inside. Landon too was changed, but he was only wet this time. Kendra and the other kids in Pull-Ups were encouraged to use the potty before lunch time began. After lunch, Miss Chloe did an art project with the class where she traced their hands to make turkeys for a Thanksgiving picture that each kid would give their loved ones. During story time, Charlotte heard Miss Chloe sing a story song called “Little Bunny Foo Foo”. Charlotte was shocked at the ending. ‘I don’t want to be a goon!’ she thought, frowning. She was then jabbed by Diana. “Wut wong?” Diana whispered to Charlotte. “Ah don wanna be ah goon!” Charlotte whispered back. But Diana smiled. “Sill-wee Shaw-wit! We nah hav field mice tah bop! We nah bee goons!” But during naptime, Charlotte dreamt that she was Little Bunny Foo Foo, and she was abusing all the field mice that she could. And while the Good Fairy gave her three chances, she wasted all of them. Charlotte trembled as the Good Fairy turned her into a goon. Charlotte woke up, full of terror, but only found that her diaper was fully saturated. The rest of the day continued, with an afternoon snack of animal crackers followed by a fun puzzle that she had to solve with Diana and a few other kids in her group. Miss Chloe ended the day with a closing circle, and gave the kids permission to play until their mothers or other guardians picked them up. As Charlotte exited Little Lilacs Daycare and Preschool with her mother, she saw her glancing down with a curious look. “So how did it go?” Darcy asked her. “Did you have fun at pre preschool Charlotte?” Charlotte nodded. “Yah mommy! Ah paid wif Dye-on-na an Ken-dwa an Miss Coh-wee sung a ska-wee song cod lil bah-nee foo foo!” Darcy laughed. “How is Little Bunny Foo Foo scary? Is it because of the Good Fairy turning Little Bunny Foo Foo into a goon? Charlotte, you are a good girl, so you don’t have to worry about being turned into a goon. There’s nothing to be afraid of, sweetie. Now, are you ready for Dashing Ducklings? You are going to have so much fun!” At the Dashing Ducklings meeting, Charlotte saw Diana and Heather there. Like before, both Charlotte and Diana outran Heather and were the fastest in the whole class. And like before, Charlotte and Diana were running at what appeared to be an equal rate of speed. At the end of the class, Monica and Miss Davis had a special announcement for the class. “Don’t forget!” Miss Davis shouted. “This Friday is a special Dashing Ducklings Turkey Race. We will have the whole running trail to ourselves, but the goal is to run a half mile. Can you ducklings complete a half mile and finish the race?” Both Charlotte and Diana smirked, as they felt that they were capable of running at least four times the distance. Monica then looked at Charlotte. “And you don’t want to miss me and Lauren running either. Thanksgiving is Thursday, and both of us will be running the Turkey Trot in the morning. It’s quite a bit further than the Turkey Race but you’ll be able to run it someday.” That night when Charlotte was being tucked in, her mind was on the running that she did earlier. She couldn’t help but admit that the running did help take her mind off the despair that seized her earlier in the day. It just felt so easy and so natural. The thrill of running always excited Charlotte and took her mind to an entirely different place. A place where Charlotte could be happy. Charlotte felt the kiss from her mother on the forehead as the light flicked off and she left the room. She was in her crib again, with Bobo to her left and Snoopy to her right. Charlotte’s mind focused on just one thing. The race. ‘I can’t wait to run the race!’ Charlotte thought. The next two days at “pre preschool” seemed to fly by, as Charlotte enjoyed spending more time with Diana and Heather on occasion. And for Heather, she seemed to use every opportunity to share her potty training success with Charlotte and Diana. For Tuesday, it was “I only had one accident all day!” Then Wednesday: “I had no accidents all day and all my diapers were dry!” Heather even mentioned that her mother would put her right into Pull-Ups during Thanksgiving. Heather proudly pointed to the potty-training chart, glancing at both Charlotte and Diana. “Mommy said that I’ll be moved from ‘first steps’ to ‘moving forward’ next week!” Of course, none of the encouragement even phased Diana or even Charlotte, as they both knew the truth about their situation. And Charlotte began to think about Diana’s indifference to potty training. ‘Perhaps she knows that it’s pointless to try if she’s just going to be an infant the next day, or week, or whenever. Yeah. I can see that. Besides, I’m petite for my age so I have a 12-month old’s bladder. Anything that I drink will almost guarantee me pissing myself within a half hour.’ But during Tuesday and Wednesday, Charlotte couldn’t help but feel jealous about Diana’s unwavering acceptance of the fate that they shared. She was care-free, and she wasn’t afraid to let every one of her toddler instincts take full control of herself. It was like she didn’t even fight it. She just let everything happen. Charlotte understood these nagging instincts that vied for control, and Charlotte knew that she was fighting a losing battle. Her mental fatigue becoming greater and it becoming much easier to just let her instincts take over. Diana was almost acting ignorant of her adulthood, but Charlotte saw the lucidity of her glances and knew that she was still aware of her circumstances that both girls understood so well. While the adults and everything else in their environment are oblivious to their gradual regression, both Charlotte and Diana were well aware of it, and were equally thankful to be friends, as they both understood what was going to happen to them. Charlotte was buckled in her car seat after experiencing the last day of pre preschool before Thanksgiving. Charlotte watched as the 4Runner went past their house and onto the road that led to “Millionaires Row” ‘Um, mom? This is not the way home. Home is that way!’ Charlotte pouted and looked at her mother. “Hahm not dat way!” Charlotte protested. Darcy arched her face at Charlotte and grinned, trying to lighten her daughter’s mood. “Sweetie, we are going to the Ashcroft Estate for Thanksgiving. I have already packed all of your things and you’ll get to see all the relatives! Like Aunt Daisy and Uncle Neil! They’ll be your aunt and uncle soon when I marry your daddy. Guess what? They have five kids! Two of them are twin girls that are just a little older than Heather. Won’t that be fun to play with them?” Charlotte felt like objecting, but she succumbed to her toddler instincts instead. “Too-in guls? I pay wif bof of em!” Darcy smiled as she saw Charlotte beaming at the thought of playing with her new relatives. “That’s good, dear. We’re almost there, Charliecakes!” The 4Runner was granted access into the Ashcroft Estate by a gatekeeper, that opened the gate for them. After that, the 4Runner drove down the private road where the Ashcroft Estate was coming into view. Charlotte glanced at the large mansion, knowing how fun it was going to be once she got inside. It was now time to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family and the new relatives that she hadn’t met yet. And after half a week of pre preschool, Charlotte couldn’t wait for the fun to begin.

Things do seem quite hopeless for Charlotte right now. But is there a way back? Stay tuned. 😀

Chapter 61 “Wake up, Charlotte! Look!” Charlotte’s vision focused, as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Standing in front of her was a bronze statue of Snoopy standing right next to Charlie Brown. Her face perked up and she clapped her hands, now very excited about the statue that she was looking at. “ih doggy!” She shouted. “Ahn boh-ee!” Lauren nodded, as she tightly gripped both handles of the Graco stroller. “Yes Charlotte! That doggy is Snoopy, and that boy is Charlie Brown!” But Charlotte was well aware of who Snoopy and Charlie Brown were, having watched numerous cartoons in her original childhood. If anything, she felt like Rerun Van Pelt right now, Lucy and Linus’s younger brother. Just the baby being pushed around in a stroller by her older sister (although Charlotte could remember an episode with Rerun sitting in a shopping cart conversing with a little girl sitting in another shopping cart). ‘Yeah. It’s Snoopy and Charlie Brown. I know.’ But for some reason, Charlotte felt paralyzed when she tried to speak, and could only produce words from her three-year-old mind. “Ih Soopy and Chaw-wee Bown?” Charlotte attempted, feeling self-conscious for butchering the words with her toddler voice. Charlotte reached down next to her blanket and found her pacifier. She stuck it in her mouth and sucked on it, soothing her from her sudden shyness and anxiety. ‘Good grief! This pacifier is just like Linus’s blanket! Whatever. I’ll take it over dying from embarrassment.’ Lauren was completely unaware of the conversation that Charlotte was having with herself. A conversation within her mind. She pushed the stroller out of Depot Park before she glanced down at Charlotte again. “How would you like a friend for Bobo? We saw Snoopy in one of the stores. Would you like a Snoopy?” Charlotte nodded while she still sucked her pacifier. She then watched as the teen girls continued to talk, which once again made her bored. She grabbed her sippy cup that was still mostly filled with water and continued to drink it. The girls stopped at two more stores before heading back to Depot Park. The first one was a bookstore, where they bought “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown”, along with a stuffed Snoopy. The next store was called Honey Muffin, and it sold children’s clothing. Lauren bought Charlotte a Chambray Faded Denim Ladybug Dress, which made both Monica and Roxy Smile. “Oh, she’s going to look so cute in that dress!” Monica said with a grin. “How about we change her into that before we go?” Roxy gave Lauren a nod of approval. “Charlotte probably needs another diaper change anyway. It’s been about two hours.” After buying the dress, Lauren used the family restroom inside Honey Muffin and laid Charlotte on the changing table. Sure enough, Charlotte’s diaper was soaked, so Lauren cleaned Charlotte and changed her into a fresh diaper. She took off her pink corduroy overalls and put on the denim ladybug dress, which fit Charlotte perfectly. Lauren used the small pair of scissors to carefully cut off the tags and took a picture of Charlotte in the dress and texted the picture to her father. ‘Oh, daddy’s going to love seeing Charlotte in this!’ Charlotte happily sucked her pacifier, tightly embracing both Bobo and Snoopy with both arms as she comfortably reclined her legs on the footrest of the stroller. She could still hear the giggles and laughter coming from the teen girls above and could hear at least one compliment which she believed was directed at her. ‘Awww! Charlotte is such a little cutie!” “She is, Roxy! Charlotte will soon be my baby sister!” “Correction Lauren. Charlotte is three years old now. She’s a big girl. Wouldn’t she just be your little sister?” Lauren shook her head, looking a little offended. “No. Charlotte is more than a decade younger than me, so she’s my baby sister. Besides, she’s very petite for three years old so she looks so small. Like a cute little baby!” “Coot wittle bay-bee!” Charlotte repeated as she happily lisped through her pacifier. Charlotte stared wearily up at the trio of girls who were in a heated conversation that she was not a part of. From their laughs, she could only guess that some of the conversation had to do with her. But still, her boredom continued as Bobo and Snoopy, her new friend, rested on her lap, sitting atop the warm blanket that covered most of her body. Charlotte’s disposition as a petite toddler made her feel uncomfortable and out of place. It also made her realize just how much of her adult mind that she still had intact. ‘This is my life, I guess,” Charlotte quietly sulked, desperately fighting the despair that ebbed away at her soul. ‘Three or four months ago, you could never tell me that I would just be a helpless toddler being wheeled around by what used to be my peers. Hell, I’m supposed to be older than all of them!’ Charlotte defaulted to her item of comfort. She reached down for the pacifier and stuck it in her mouth and began to suck it out of frustration and resentment. But then her mind began to slip into what she could only guess was her toddler instincts. And all of a sudden, she felt comfort and tranquility as she sucked on her pacifier. A sense of curiosity and wonder began to fill her mind as she was uncertain of where the girls were going to take her next. Just minutes later, Lauren stopped the Graco Stroller at Depot Park and confidently hoisted her “little sister” out of her stroller. To put her in her car seat. Monica had already opened the back door for Lauren, so she was ready to take her little princess home. Charlotte could feel her diaper warming up for just a moment. She felt as if something was missing. Like she was trying to remember something. Was it something she thought of? A dream? A dream. It was one of several dreams that Charlotte had while she was being pushed around in the stroller. But this particular dream stood out and somehow remained fresh in Charlotte’s mind. In the dream, Charlotte could still remember seeing herself hold something. A notebook. One that was all so familiar to Charlotte. A notebook that read: SUPER SLEUTH CHARLOTTE’S MYSTERY NOTEBOOK For solving The Mystery! Charlotte could distinctly remember that this was the original notebook, before Lauren ripped out the pages and changed the title to “CHARLOTTE’S DOODLE’S”. Sure enough, Charlotte had the notebook in her dream, and every page was accounted for. And this included all the pages that Lauren ripped out. CLICK! CLICK! A hopeful smile came over Charlotte as Lauren buckled her into her car seat. ‘Could Lauren still have the pages that she ripped out? But this was before I turned four, and now I just turned three. Could she still have the pages? Maybe they could help me find Mythra again? She says that she’s working on my wish, and I want to know when she’s finished!’ Charlotte never considered how ironic her whole mission was, considering that she now possessed the brain of a three-year-old, so it would be impossible to read any of the pages, even if she were to find every single one. Perhaps it may have been Charlotte’s carelessness as a toddler, but she totally ignored this lack of foresight and her fixation on finding the missing pages only grew by the minute. Growing to the point where she began to mumble her mission out loud. “Ah faand noh-bawk paw-jis! Ah faaand noh-bawk paw-jis!” Charlotte’s declaration, which sounded like silly mumbling to Lauren and Monica only made them laugh. This even made Roxy, who was about to head back to her Rolls Royce look back to see what the laughter was about. “Hey.” She said, glancing at Lauren who was sitting in the driver’s seat. “What’s so funny? I don’t want any FOMO!” Lauren pointed to Charlotte, who seemed to be in a daze, while repeating “Ah faand noh-bawk paw-jis!” “It’s Charlotte. She’s going on about finding some pages in a notebook.” Roxy shrugged her shoulders. “That’s weird. Could she be talking about one of those stores that had all the notebook paper? Kids are very observant, Lauren.” Lauren nodded and grinned. “You’re right. Charlotte is just pretending and probably a little tired. Thanks for coming today!” Roxy nodded. “Anytime, Lauren! Do you think the boys are really camping?” “I bet that they are,” Monica chimed in. “They’re probably sitting in their tents playing their Nintendo Switches.” Lauren sighed. “Really. Aren’t they supposed to leave that at home? Well, they’re still outdoors.” The girls all laughed before Lauren waved goodbye and rolled up the window to the Maybach. Charlotte’s fascination with the notebook and the missing pages continued for the rest of the trip back to the Ashcroft Estate. Charlotte tried to think where Lauren would be keeping the pages. ‘Could it be in her room? And if it was, where would it be?’ “Tickle tickle tickle tickle!” Charlotte woke up, squirming and giggling uncontrollably in her car seat as she was tickled by Lauren. From her brief frenzy of laughter, she noticed that she peed her diaper a little bit. This didn’t bother Charlotte, as she had more important things to focus on. And that was the torn-out pages from her Mystery Notebook. Lauren unbuckled Charlotte from her car seat and gave her a playful boop on her nose. “You are such a sleepy girl!” Monica leaned forward and peered into the Maybach, where she booped Charlotte with her index finger right below her chin. “Boop! Did you have a nice nap, Char?” Charlotte had her right arm wrapped around Lauren’s left arm as she was being carried by her big sister. Lauren’s left arm cradled Charlotte’s butt and her right arm rested on Charlotte’s back. She sucked on her pacifier and nodded. “Yesh. Ah have gud nop Monka!” Once in Charlotte’s weekend bedroom, she was lying on the changing table as she saw both Lauren and Monica softly speaking to each other, resulting in them both nodding. Charlotte couldn’t make out what they were saying but was hoping that it wasn’t anything bad. After their private exchange, Lauren undressed Charlotte, removing her ladybug denim dress and wet diaper and changed Charlotte into a swim diaper. She was then dressed in a pink Bluey one-piece swimsuit, with Bluey, Bingo, and prints of strawberries, pineapples, lemons, and watermelons all over the suit. Charlotte smiled and glanced up at Lauren. “Ah gah simming?” Lauren nodded. “Yes Charlotte! We’re going to go for a swim!” Once in the pool room, Charlotte could not even recognize the swimming pool, even though she had swam at the same swimming pool 8 weeks ago. The pool seemed so much bigger to Charlotte. Even the shallow end went over Charlotte’s head. But the safety of her purple water wings splash jammer kept her afloat. And rather than swim around the pool, Charlotte found herself deathly afraid of swimming anywhere, so she sought the safety of Lauren and wrapped her arms around her torso. “Ah dohn wanna sim….” Charlotte whimpered. Monica waded over to where Lauren was with Charlotte and tried to cheer up the frightened little girl. “You just need to get used to the water!” She told Charlotte, trying to reassure her. She cast her gaze at Lauren, giving her a quizzical look. “That reminds me. Has Miss Warren given Charlotte swimming lessons?” Lauren sighed. “It doesn’t seem like it. But she packed a swimsuit for Charlotte, so I can only guess that she at least wanted to introduce Charlotte to the pool. Charlotte seems to be very afraid of it….Ooh! Do you smell it?” Monica grinned. “You mean the smell of you farting?” Lauren splashed water on Monica’s face. “That was not me and you know it!” Monica laughed. “I was joking! What I meant to say was the smell of a three-year-old girl who just loaded her swim diaper.” Lauren sighed. “I knew what you were talking about. I’ll be right back. This way, you silly stinky girl…” Lauren changed Charlotte’s swim diaper near the poolside, since she had the wipes to easily clean Charlotte off. Fortunately, the poopy accident wasn’t as bad as the one she had earlier at Americana. With that, she quickly changed Charlotte into a new swim diaper. After that, Charlotte didn’t want to do that much more swimming once she was placed back in the pool. And when Lauren began to swim with Charlotte out to the deep end, Charlotte began to lose it. Charlotte eyes were swimming in tears as she began to wail. “Nuh sim in puhl! NUH SIM IN PUHL!” Lauren quickly removed Charlotte from the swimming pool and sat her on one of the poolside lounge chairs. Monica got out and joined Lauren in trying to calm down Charlotte. “Charlotte, it’s going to be okay.” Lauren said in a soft and soothing voice. Monica gave Charlotte a big smile and gave her a soft pat on the back. “Hey Char. We’re out of that scary pool so let’s take a deep breath and relax, okay? Look at me, because we’re both going to relax together, okay? Yeah. That’s it. There we go…” Charlotte felt very bad about being such a liability to her friends. At this point, Charlotte could no longer resist any of her pent-up impulses that her toddler brain was telling her to do. Already, she was feeling a sensory overload of everything being much bigger than what she was used to. The chlorine in the pool didn’t taste very good and Charlotte was starting to have a headache. Charlotte just wanted to lie down. To relax. To not be in this wet swimsuit anymore. Charlotte cupped both her hands over her forehead and continued to cry. “Mah head haughts…” Charlotte cried. Monica nodded and pensively glanced at Lauren. “I’ll go get the Children’s Motrin.” Lauren sighed, as she let the girl sit in her lap. She rubbed the smooth black hair on the top of Charlotte’s head. “Oh, it hurts? Where does it hurt, Charlotte?” Charlotte pointed to the center of her forehead. “Ih haughts wite hee-yah.” After that, Charlotte spent the next few minutes quietly sobbing in Lauren’s lap, while Lauren gave soft and gentle rubs all over Charlotte’s face. Monica came back with the Children’s Motrin and handed Lauren one 100 mg tablet. “I looked up the dosage,” Monica explained. Charlotte’s 2 to 3 years and she weighs between 21 and 35 pounds. Based on this information, she gets one chewable tablet.” Lauren smiled and handed Charlotte the tablet. “Here Charlotte. Eat this. It will make the owie in your head go away. Just give it a little while and there will be no more owie, okay?” Charlotte snatched the tablet out of Lauren’s hand and began to chew it until it dissolved into her mouth. ‘Mmm. It tastes like grape.’ After Lauren took Charlotte upstairs to give her a quick shower and change her into a new diaper, Charlotte began to smile a little more. Her face began darting around, as if she was looking for something. “You silly girl,” Lauren teased. “What are you looking for, Charlotte?” Charlotte kept looking around in her room. “Ah luck fo noh-bawk paw-jis. Noh-bawk paw-jis! Noh-bawk paw-jis!” Lauren shrugged her shoulders. “Charlotte, there isn’t any pages anywhere in this room. Let’s go watch some more Bluey, okay?” Charlotte spent the next couple of hours watching Bluey before it was time for dinner. She was already put in her footed sleeper early, which made it easy for Lauren since she only had to change her into a nighttime diaper. For dinner, Charlotte was given a few mini corn dogs, along with some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and a tub of strawberry apple sauce. As Charlotte ate, she began to think about the Mystery Notebook. While she guessed that she still had the original book now titled “CHARLOTTE’S DOODLES”, the torn pages had to be somewhere in Lauren’s room. But where? She finished the last spoonful of apple sauce and drank the sippy cup filled with milk. After dinner, Lauren and Monica let Charlotte watch three more episodes of Bluey before it was her bedtime. Before Lauren changed Charlotte into a nighttime diaper, she found that Charlotte messed her diaper again, but it was very mild compared to any of the other ones she had to deal with today. Lauren was surprised, as she found herself not even gagging or groaning in disgust. Maybe it was muscle memory, but all Lauren did was almost ignore the grossness of the mess and carefully did the deed with gentleness and plenty of care. She used less wipes and only used one more to clean off her hands before she added the Aquaphor to only one rashy area and the rest was used to coat Charlotte. And after the powder, she folded the HealthyBaby diaper between Charlotte’s legs and fastened both Velcro tabs snugly around the landing zone. After the diaper was changed, she threw the wadded up messy diaper into the Diaper Genie and zipped Charlotte back up in her pink Minnie footed sleeper. She tucked her in and placed Bobo around her arms. After that, she gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Good night, Charlotte.” Lauren said with a smile. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Lauren was just about to leave the room, when she began to hear Charlotte shout. “Mah pawsee? Mah pawsee? Maw pawsee? Maw pawsee? Maw pawsee?” Out of frustration, Charlotte began to suck her thumb. Fortunately, Lauren knew exactly where Charlotte’s pacifier was. It was on the couch since she watched Bluey with Lauren and Monica before dinner. Lauren scooped up the pacifier and ran back up the two flights of stairs to return to the guest bedroom. Lauren presented the pacifier to Charlotte, who smiled and popped it in her mouth. “Goodnight, pacie girl.” Lauren playfully teased. Charlotte didn’t even pay attention to Lauren’s comment. She sucked away and calmed herself down. Charlotte felt weird but still keenly aware that she was an adult trapped in a three-year-old’s body. Her tiny prison weighed on her, with her toddler brain weighing on her the most. Once that brain started, Charlotte swore that it ran on autopilot. No impulse was controllable for her anymore, so she gave up on trying to fight them. To fight was to try to push back a locomotive, which Charlotte knew that she lacked the strength to do. For a moment or two, Charlotte could feel a multitude of thoughts and feelings that began to overwhelm her toddler mind. ‘Is there a monster under the bed? It’s kind of dark. I’m scared of the dark! Will my sister put me in that scary water again? What is my sister doing right now? I know it’s not daytime anymore but can I still play? Does Bonnie hate Bobo? I don’t see Bonnie in here. Only Bobo. Will my sister give me another fun stroller ride? Will I be able to run on the track again? That was fun! I could run on it forever…’ The rate of speed that the thoughts were flowing through Charlotte’s mind made her all the more anxious, which made her suck her pacifier even faster. Charlotte finally managed to quiet the toddler brain with one simple command. ‘Breathe. Just breathe. Focus on your breaths. Each suck. There we go…’ Charlotte found herself calming down as she slowly managed to regain some semblance of control in her pint-sized prison. ‘I need to sneak into Lauren’s room somehow. They’re probably both watching television downstairs or talking to mom and dad so now’s my chance…” Charlotte lifted back the covers and got out of bed to hear a soft rustling of the HealthyBaby diaper against her footed sleeper. Like the MillieMoon and Coterie diapers, Charlotte found these special diapers at Lauren’s to be a lot more soft and comfortable than the ones that her mother buys for her. ‘I mean, they’re nice.’ Charlotte reasoned in her mind. ‘But these ones are definitely more comfy. Man. I can’t believe that I’m comparing my comfort level with different diapers. This has got to be an all-time low.’ Noticing that the door was closed, Charlotte once again had to step on her tiptoes to reach the doorknob before she reached up and hung onto it, turning the knob and swinging herself backward, which resulted in her tumbling onto the floor. Charlotte got to her feet and left her room, searching the third floor for Lauren’s room. --- Meanwhile, both Lauren and Monica were about to watch Deadpool & Wolverine. Lauren was reluctant to watch the movie but did so for Monica’s sake. “C’mon!” Monica urged. “Deadpool is hilarious! It’s definitely not a movie that would be appropriate for Charlotte because of all the gore, sexual jokes, and explicit language.” Lauren sighed. “Monica! Do we really have to watch it? The movie sounds too raunchy for my tastes.” But Monica hit the play button and the narration from Deadpool began. The song “Bye Bye Bye” by the Backstreet Boys was about to play when Lauren hit the pause button. “We’ll watch the movie, but I want to call Miss Warren…I mean, mommy first and daddy.” Monica nodded. “Okay. We’ll continue afterward.” Lauren dialed the number to Darcy, who picked up after a few seconds. “Hello Miss Warren? You and daddy are eating? Where? Le Bernardin? I love that place! It has the best French seafood I ever had! It’s just as good as what me and my daddy had in Paris! So, what is daddy having? He’s not telling? He’ll send a picture? I think I know what it is since he gets it all the time.” A brief pause. “How’s Charlotte? We just put Charlotte to bed and I’m about to watch Deadpool and Wolverine with Monica. Not really my choice of movie to be honest.” “Tell them about that messy blowout that you changed!” Monica said, chiming in with a smirk. Lauren nodded. “Here. I’ll put it on speaker phone so you can hear us better. Now Monica, can you repeat that?” “I just wanted Lauren to tell you about the massive blowout that she changed,” Monica said, almost laughing. “A blowout? Oh dear. Where did this happen? If it was during your outing, please tell me that you had a change of clothes.” “Nope!” Lauren said with a teasing smile. “Both Monica and I had to cancel our outing and take Charlotte back home! I’m just kidding! Of course we had a change of clothes! Poor Charlotte. Her floral dress had poop stains smeared all over the inside. Monica had to show me a special technique to get the stain out before putting it in the washer. I was about to have the maid do it but Monica insisted that I learn how to do this. So yeah. I’m very comfortable with carrying Charlotte and I changed just about every one of her diapers today.” “Almost every one? Lauren, I am so proud of you. Already you feel like my older daughter even though the wedding is not too far away. I think you’ll make a wonderful sister and babysitter should Michael and I want to have another date like this. Didn’t you say something about exploring the Railroad Square Historic District in Santa Rosa? That is a fun place to go, and it even has a nice park. And we all know that Charles Schultz spent much of his life here. The airport is named after him and there’s a nice statue of Snoopy and Charlie Brown right in Depot Park.” “That’s where we went!” Lauren told her. “It was just a fun afternoon with me pushing Charlotte in the stroller while I had fun with Monica and Roxy. Now Charlotte was quite fussy about being put in the stroller at first, but she seemed to have gotten used to it.” “That’s weird. Charlotte usually likes to ride in the stroller. It might just be one of her phases. Did you keep her entertained?” Both Lauren and Monica exchanged glances and laughed. “Miss Warren,” Lauren continued. “Charlotte spent much of her time in the stroller sleeping. It was kind of cold, so we had to keep her covered up in a warm blanket. When she was awake, she just looked curious as I pushed her around.” “So Lauren. You have to tell me. Where did the blowout happen?” Lauren laughed. “Oh. That. You’re not going to believe it, Miss Warren, but it actually happened while I was waiting in line with Monica and Roxy at Americana. I kept stalling and I so badly did not want to change her but I’m so glad that I did.” “Why did you wait so long? She usually starts to cry after being in that mess for just a few seconds.” “Miss Warren!” Lauren said as she began to burst into laughter. It took her about a minute to recover from her fit of laughter. “Oh…I’m sorry. It smelled so bad, and Charlotte was sleeping through the whole thing! I didn’t want to wake her…” “I am betting that you got some ugly looks from others who couldn’t stand the smell. Lauren, the next time that happens, just go and get her changed. There have been numerous times that I have changed Charlotte while she was asleep.” Lauren nodded. “It’s no problem now, Miss Warren. For any other messy one now, I don’t even give it a second thought! I am starting to really get used to the gross smell and I just try to change it as quickly as possible.” “That’s my buttercup. Your mother would be proud.” Lauren wiped a couple of tears out of her eyes. “Yes, she would. The outing was fun, daddy and I’m sure that Charlotte enjoyed it too. Now, where’s that picture?” “Lulu, the waiter just took our drink orders so it will be a while before I send you that picture. Now, I am very happy to hear that Charlotte is having such a wonderful weekend with you and that she has a capable babysitter breaking you in. Now, Darcy said it but I’ll say it too. I am proud of you, Lauren. I am sure that up there in heaven, Cindy is applauding you.” Lauren’s eyes gushed with tears again. “Well daddy, Monica’s giving me that face. She probably wants to see that raunchy movie!” “A raunchy movie? Well, it’s good that Charlotte’s in bed. What movie did you say it was again?” “Miss Warren, it’s Deadpool and Wolverine.” Lauren told her. “Monica’s so convinced that it’s going to be funny.” “Oh. That one! Daniel, my sister Darlene’s husband, and your soon to be uncle is a big fan of all things Marvel. He has all the comic books, and he tries to see every movie. And my sister and your soon to be aunt couldn’t shut him up about the Deadpool and Wolverine movie. From what my sister told me, I think you will enjoy it.” Lauren sighed. “Yeah. What’s to enjoy about an R-rated movie? I’m thinking that Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ is the only exception. But whatever. Monica wants me to see Deadpool and Wolverine! So, I’ll do it. Have a nice dinner at Le Bernardin!” “We will, Lauren! Enjoy the movie with Monica!” “We will, Miss Warren!” Monica chimed in again. “Bye!” Both girls said in unison. “Now are you ready?” Monica said, grabbing the remote from Lauren. “Get ready to laugh.” Monica pressed play and the movie continued, with the humorous opening montage blaring out of the Dolby Atmos surround sound speakers. --- While Lauren and Monica were talking to Darcy and Michael, Charlotte was wandering around the third floor, looking for Lauren’s room. Most of the doors that Charlotte found were closed, and she didn’t want to try them until she searched every door. But towards the end of the hallway, Charlotte found another door that was open just a crack. Charlotte pushed the door open to see what looked like a massive bedroom. A king-size bed sat on one corner of the room, near two windows, covered in silk white comforters and pillow shams. Two other king-size beds sat further down, each with their own nightstands and were decorated similar to the first bed. A mini kitchenette area sat in another corner with an island with four different raised seats that were all circular in design like bar seats. A large bookshelf sat next to a couch, which was also near an enormous walk-in closet, which felt like walking into a normal-sized master bedroom. Near the bookshelves were a few modeling mannequins and near the door to the walk-in closet was the door that led to the master bathroom. Charlotte was taken away by the sheer size of the room that looked more like an apartment. ‘Is this Lauren’s room?’ Charlotte did not have to guess for long, as she saw Bonnie lying on the neatly made king-size bed between the two pillow shams. ‘Is this where Bonnie ran off to?’ Charlotte continued to glance around the room, knowing that her mission in this room was much more important than a stuffed rabbit. An eerie silence could be felt in Lauren’s room, which was unsettling to Charlotte as she was used to hearing more of the common sounds around her house. She decided to try the mahogany desk that was near the large bookshelf and the couch. The desk had a large center drawer, with four smaller drawers on both sides. Charlotte opened the middle drawer to find only various notebooks with a few old paperbacks stacked on top. After searching through all the notebooks, she could not find any loose papers anywhere. ‘Not this one.’ The first top left drawer had various different hair ties and old hair scrunchies. The second drawer beneath that had hair ribbons of various different colors. The third drawer was packed with various hardcovers of books that Lauren used to read. Although Charlotte couldn’t read anymore, she could see the illustrated pictures that went to The Ringmaster Chronicles and The Raidemirillion. The fourth drawer had more books in it, with a number of them being thick hardcovers. Since Charlotte had no luck with the left drawers, she decided to try the right drawers. The first one had nothing but lipstick and dip powder. The second drawer was filled with creams, makeup, makeup remover, and wipes. And then Charlotte opened the third drawer. What she found was a total mess. The drawer was stuffed with old papers. School papers, stories, and various other miscellaneous pages that were mostly on lined paper. But to Charlotte’s disappointment, none of them looked like torn pages. That wasn’t until… Charlotte reached the very bottom of the drawer. Buried underneath all the old papers was a wad of paper that all had the same torn ends where the metal spiral used to bind the pages together. This had to be it. These were the missing pages from her Mystery Notebook that she was looking for. ‘Perhaps Lauren forgot about it?’ Charlotte thought. ‘I went backwards in age from four to three so even if Lauren managed to read it, there would be no way that she would remember anything that she read. Either that, or she just shoved the paper into the drawer and just forgot about it. I mean, all these other papers in her drawer are forgotten…’ Charlotte victoriously held the torn pages in her hands and began to walk over to the bed that had Bonnie laying on it. Charlotte climbed onto the bed, looked at the pages and…. Realized that there was one big problem. Charlotte couldn’t read. Charlotte never considered the possibility of her lack of literacy. All she wanted to do was find the missing pages. And for what it’s worth, Charlotte didn’t think that she would make it that far. Charlotte groaned in frustration as she leafed through every page, trying to make sense of what each jumbled combination of letters actually meant. It was indeed English and Charlotte did indeed write every one of those words, but it now felt like she was reading an entirely different language. While Charlotte recognized some of the letters, none of the words made any sense to Charlotte at all. ‘Urghhh!!! This stupid brain is useless! I can’t read anything! Not even the first word! What does this all say?’ Charlotte got more frantic and more desperate the more times she leafed through the torn pages. Each time she flipped through the pages faster and faster until… Charlotte let out a deep sigh and sulked on Lauren’s bed. She piled up all the pages and then crawled over to where Bonnie was. Charlotte pressed her face into the pillow sham next to Bonnie and cried into it, her one hand reaching over to Bonnie and resting on it. She sucked her thumb until her strength was spent. --- “Charlotte! What are you doing in my room?” Charlotte could feel a gentle tap on the head and saw that it was Lauren. She shyly glanced away, hoping that Lauren wouldn’t notice the dried tears in her eyes. Lauren sighed as she picked up the stack of papers that she found on her bed. “Charlotte, what were you looking for? Every one of the drawers in my desk were open! If you are wondering, Charlotte, there are no toys in here.” Lauren took the torn pages without looking at them and stuffed them back in the drawer with the other assorted pages. “A lot of those pages were special assignments that I wanted to keep from school. Some of them were from elementary school. Some were from middle school. It’s all mixed together.” After that, Lauren closed all the drawers and returned to her bed with a yawn. “Now Charlotte. Were you hoping to find a toy in here? I’m a big girl, Charlotte. So I’m not going to have the same toys as you.” But Charlotte gave Lauren a doubtful stare as she fixed her eyes on Bonnie. Lauren’s face turned red when she realized what she had done. ‘Wasn’t I supposed to leave Bonnie in Charlotte’s room? That’s right! I forgot!’ Lauren picked up Bonnie and smiled. “Was this what you were looking for, Charlotte? Were you looking for Bonnie? Well Charlotte, just to let you know, I would never put Bonnie in a desk drawer.” Monica entered the room, not noticing Charlotte at first. “Hey! Wasn’t Deadpool and Wolverine awe…” Monica noticed Charlotte and stopped midsentence. “What is Charlotte doing in here? Could she not sleep?” Lauren smiled. “I think that she was trying to find Bonnie. Well, if you want to take Charlotte back, I will escort Bonnie.” Monica gave Lauren a smirk. “Admit it, Lauren. You just want an excuse to hold that stuffed bunny as long as possible.” Lauren’s face reddened and she shook her head. “No! It’s not that!” Monica laughed. “Sure, it isn’t! Why are you blushing then? You seriously have never parted ways with that bunny. You are as bad as Linus with his blanket.” Lauren ignored Monica as she picked up Charlotte while Lauren hugged Bonnie in her arms. It was very clear to Lauren that Monica didn’t understand the significance of this rabbit. When Lauren was two, she could remember her mother giving her that rabbit. And since the days of her mother’s passing, Lauren slept with Bonnie every night. Because it was not just Bonnie that she saw when she held the stuffed rabbit. It was her mother. And even though Monica was Lauren’s closest friend, this was one thing about the rabbit that she never shared with her. It was just something that was too close to her heart. Too personal to share. Charlotte glanced at Lauren, who was giddily smiling as she hugged her Bonnie. ‘You really like Bonnie, don’t you? Well, it’s okay Lauren. I like Bobo just the same.’ Monica tucked Charlotte back into her king-size bed with Bobo. Lauren then tucked Bonnie next to Charlotte as she felt a fresh tear flow out of her eye. ‘Don’t worry, Charlotte. My mommy will keep you safe. And I will try to as well…’ “Good night, Char.” Monica told her charge. Lauren leaned down and kissed Charlotte on the forehead. “Goodnight, my baby sister.” Monica smiled. “That’s cute. But doesn’t Charlie Brown also call Sally his ‘baby sister’?” Lauren nodded. “Exactly! Charlotte is more than a decade younger than me, so she is pretty much a baby.” Charlotte could feel the weight of Lauren’s words, as she understood the significance of them more than she did. ‘Pretty much? Oh, it will happen any day. One day, I will be a helpless infant.’ Charlotte watched as Lauren and Monica faded into silhouettes before leaving the room and closing the door, which clicked as it closed. Charlotte could feel the full weight and bulk of her diaper as she shifted back and forth underneath the covers. ‘What now? I can’t even read the pages so getting them again would be totally useless. It’s over. My perfect life is over. I have officially lost my adulthood forever….’ Charlotte clutched both Bobo and Bonnie while she sucked on her pacifier, trying to quench the anxiety and despair that began to crush her. All throughout Sunday, Charlotte went through the motions until her toddler autopilot did the rest of the work for Charlotte. Sunday was more relaxed and chill, with Charlotte taking a nap after lunch and watching Sesame Street and Bluey while she was awake. While Charlotte did have a few messy diapers, none of them were blowouts and Lauren changed every one. For dinner, Charlotte ate a happy meal that a butler catered from McDonald’s. Lauren preferred this approach over any delivery app since the butler could just pick it up instead of a stranger. After Charlotte finished her chicken McNuggets and fries, Lauren gave Charlotte a bath before getting her ready for bed. Charlotte was surprised to be going to bed at Lauren’s. ‘What about preschool? Am I going to preschool tomorrow?’ Charlotte’s wondering continued as she was kissed goodnight by Lauren. --- Darcy carefully approached the door with Michael and held out her index finger, making a “shhh!” sound. It was already past 10:00 at night, and they drove to the Ashcroft Estate right from the airport. As they opened the door, it made a gentle creak. Darcy pointed to both of Charlotte’s bags, motioning Michael to carry them for her. Michael nodded and picked up Charlotte’s overnight bag and diaper bag. He slung both on his shoulders and watched Darcy approach Charlotte. Darcy scooped up Charlotte and carried her out of the room, with Michael opening the door wider for her to pass through with the sleeping child in her arms. “It was a fun weekend.” Lauren whispered to Darcy as she watched her almost little sister sleep peacefully in Darcy’s arms. Monica nodded. “Yeah.” She whispered. “It was a blast. At this point, I totally trust Lauren to babysit her alone.” Darcy nodded. “We need to go home. We’ll talk more tomorrow.” Michael loaded both of Charlotte’s bags in the back trunk of the 4Runner, while Darcy buckled Charlotte into her car seat. Darcy waved goodbye to Michael and drove home with Charlotte. The 4Runner entered the garage and Darcy smiled as she got the sleeping Charlotte out of her car seat and carried her inside. They were finally home after a fun and adventurous weekend.

I live near Midland.

Chapter 60 Lauren picked up the wadded-up diaper and threw it away in the Diaper Genie nearby. Fortunately, it was only a wet one and not a messy diaper like earlier. Charlotte glanced at the new soft diaper that hugged around her waist. It was definitely a Pampers, but Charlotte knew that it felt softer than that. She then laid her palm over her diapered butt, feeling the cushiony soft cloth backing of her diaper. “Ih soff.” Charlotte blurted, her carefree smile gleaming brightly in the room. Lauren nodded and smiled. “Of course it’s soft, Charlotte! It’s a Pampers Pure! Now that you’re in a fresh diaper, let’s get you into some fun clothes for our outing. What did your mommy pack?” Lauren found a pink floral dress with white daisies and dressed Charlotte in it. She snapped the three crotch buttons and tied the matching bow on Charlotte’s hair. Lauren then got out her camera on her cellphone and took a picture. “Oh, you look so cute!” Charlotte produced a tired and shy stare and began to suck her thumb, which made Lauren gasp. “Oh, that’s right!” Lauren gasped. “I need to get your pacifier. Your pacie…” Charlotte continued sucking and grinned as a small amount of saliva began to flow out of her mouth. “Mah pawsee…” Monica entered the room, holding Charlotte’s pink pacifier. “It was downstairs on the couch.” Monica said with a laugh. She walked over to Charlotte, who removed her thumb and stuck the pacifier in her mouth. “There you go!” Charlotte happily sucked her pacifier as she was carried by Lauren out of the room. She was taken down to the second floor and through the long corridor that led to the parking deck. She saw what looked like a black SUV, watching the door open to see the interior. An LED pink light curved around the entire black interior of the luxury SUV. She was sat in what felt like a very comfortable car seat. She saw Monica, who handed her Bobo and Bonnie, which made her smile. Charlotte was on autopilot. Wherever her true self was, Charlotte seemed to have given up. She was merely an observer now, watching all her three-year-old instincts run wild in her body. Every mood and every impulse were not her own anymore but made up the shell of what Charlotte used to be. Her toddler mind filled with curiosity as she glanced around the spacious interior of the Maybach. Her limited attention span immediately shifted back to Bobo, which she held tightly like some prized possession. She happily sucked on her pacifier and began to feel a little drowsy. Charlotte opened her eyes as the Maybach was beginning to turn out of the private road that led into the sprawling acreage that was the Ashcroft Estate. Her diaper felt a little warm, yet she had no memory or awareness of having just wet it. Her pacifier had fallen out of her mouth and was now on the plush car seat she was sitting in. Charlotte felt surrounded with comfort, but especially felt it in her feet, wearing the comfortable running shoes that Lauren put on her before they took off. The warm comfort surged up Charlotte’s feet and through her legs. Up her pelvis, through her stomach, and all the way into her heart. Where they were going didn’t matter to Charlotte. What they were doing didn’t matter to Charlotte at all. Nothing else mattered. But Charlotte’s little ears could hear the conversation that Lauren and Monica were having in the front of the cabin. Most of the conversation didn’t make much sense to Charlotte, but she listened anyway. “Did I get everything?” “Lauren, you are overreacting. We’re only watching a three-year-old, okay? There’s plenty of diapers packed already. I already checked.” “What about a change of clothes? If Charlotte’s diaper leaks or she has a blowout, we will have to go home if there’s no change of clothes.” “Didn’t you see? If you would’ve looked in the diaper bag, there’s a set of pink overalls inside. Also, two shirts and even a pair of elastic jeans. And three extra pairs of socks. Miss Warren is super prepared.” “That’s good. You do remember that this is my first time really watching a kid.” “You’re doing fine, Lauren. She’s going to be your little sister soon, so you really need to be comfortable in taking care of her. Something tells me that you’ll be doing a lot of babysitting for Miss Warren.” “Does she need a change yet?” “Lauren, you just changed her into a new diaper before we left! What one did you put her in?” “A Pampers Pure.” “Then Char should be fine. Now, when did Roxy say she was going to meet us?” “She should’ve sent a group text, Monica. She said that she would meet us at Depot Park.” “Depot Park? It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been there. I went on a date a month ago with Quentin there. We ate at Chevys. It was amazing.” “We probably won’t eat there since I’m not in the mood for Mexican food. Now do you think that three sippy cups are enough?” “Lauren, it’s more than enough. We’re not going to be out all day. There’s one with apple juice and two with water. They’re in the mini fridge in the back.” “I know. I put them there. Now how would you like to do a girl’s night out? Just you, me, and Roxy.” “I getcha, girl. We can plan something like that soon. Of course we still have a few more years before we can really have fun with the drinks. But hey! There’s plenty of mocktails we can have in the meantime.” The Maybach was now making its way towards the city limits of Santa Rosa, and Charlotte’s eyes were now glued to the window, her mind full of curiosity, excitement, and wonder. The Maybach continued deeper into Santa Rosa, heading towards the heart of the city. Charlotte continued to zone in and out as the car neared Railroad Square Historic District. First, she woke up when the car began to slow. She woke up again when she heard the various sounds of doors opening and closing, with the sound of the trunk closing. Her eyes traced the pink ambient light that curved around the entire interior of the Maybach in a thin line. Finally, she heard the clicking sound of the buckle to her car seat releasing before she felt herself being hoisted up by Lauren. “Up you go, my baby sister.” Lauren cooed as she carried Charlotte from the cabin of the SUV towards the Graco Stroller that stood nearby. As tuned out as Charlotte was, her eyes became alert when she saw the stroller and she began to kick with her legs, trying to squirm free from Lauren’s grasp. Charlotte’s face became one of disapproval and disgust as Lauren began to bring her nearer to the stroller. ‘No. Again? Why am I being put in that stroller? It’s bad enough that I can’t ever be an adult again. I can walk! Really I can! That’s for babies, and I AM NOT A BABY! Charlotte crossed her arms defiantly and began to pout. “Nul Law-in! Nul stow-lah! I naw ah bah-bee!” Lauren was completely shocked and surprised at Charlotte’s behavior. “Charlotte, what’s wrong? I thought you liked the stroller! We used it yesterday when your mommy went to the airport and you never complained.” Monica nodded. “And I wheeled you all the way back to the limo and you rode like a champ.” Charlotte knew that last part wasn’t true. ‘Seriously. What is wrong with you? Yesterday, you let me walk all the way back to the car. Walk! I never rode back in the stroller. Never! C’mon Monica! You said it yesterday! Dashing Ducklings don’t ride in strollers. They dash!’ She grimaced at Lauren and whined when she glanced at the stroller. “Nooooo….Nulwideinstowlah….Nul Law-in…” Lauren sighed. “Charlotte, I’m sorry. You’re going to have to sit in the stroller. With all the walking that we’re doing, it’s too much and you’re going to get tired.” Monica nodded and pointed at Charlotte. “Can I say something to her, Lauren?” Monica stooped down to Charlotte’s level and smiled. “Hey. I know how much we like to run, but you’re going to get tired if you walk everywhere we’re walking. How about this? Would you like a passenger to ride with you?” Lauren nodded and exchanged glances with Monica, knowing exactly where she was going with this. “Bobo is still in Charlotte’s car seat.” Lauren’s smile increased as she tried to console the unhappy toddler. “Charlotte, I think that Bobo wants to ride with you. Would you like him to?” Charlotte wanted to scream “NO!” at Lauren, but like any out-of-control itch, she acted on her toddler instincts almost instinctually. “YEAH!!!” Charlotte squealed. “Bul-bul sih wif ME!” Lauren smiled. “That’s my little sis. But first, let’s get you buckled, okay?” Lauren delicately sat Charlotte in the seat of the stroller and buckled her in. Charlotte was also wearing a warm pink coat to keep her warm with the weather being cooler. After Lauren adjusted the buckle to the right tightness. She fetched Bobo and tucked him in with Charlotte. Monica draped a soft blanket over Charlotte, allowing her to ride in warmth and comfort. Finally, she handed Charlotte a sippy cup filled with apple juice, so that the girl would have plenty to drink. Charlotte stretched her legs out, pressing both her feet out against the leg rest that sat below her seat. At this point, Charlotte really felt like a prisoner in her own body. Not only was she trapped in the body of a petite three-year-old, but she was also now restrained in a travel stroller intended more for babies than a girl like her. She was still older than two but only guessed that the age that she was would not be guaranteed the next day. For all she knew, she could very well skip two and become an infant the next day. This really was a nightmare, as no one around her had the slightest memory of what happened yesterday. The Pull-Ups. Her walking out of the airport instead of riding in the stroller. All those memories did not exist to Lauren or Monica anymore, as the clock turned back for Charlotte, which mysteriously altered every single event around her. ‘Fine. I’m already trapped as it is. I’ll just ride around in the stroller and be treated like a baby. What’s next? A baby bottle? Baby food? I don’t want to know.’ A familiar car pulled up next to the Maybach in the Depot Park parking lot. Charlotte could distinctly remember what car it was, as she used to own a car like this herself. It was a Rolls Royce Phantom, which brought a look of shock to Charlotte. She watched Roxy step out of it, which made her sigh. ‘Her family’s probably loaded. I never had any car like that when I went to Langford…’ Roxy was dressed in a lightweight off-white top with loose fit high elastic wide leg suit pants. She wore a black light trench coat to give herself an extra layer of warmth. Both Lauren and Monica were dressed similarly to Roxy, only Lauren’s light trench coat was fastened and was pink, and she wore white wide leg suit pants. Monica’s light trench coat was opened like Roxy’s, revealing her lightweight black top and black wide leg suit pants. Roxy waved at both girls and warmly smiled when she saw the Graco stroller. “I’m here!” Roxy announced. “Oh! What a cute little stroller you have! That’s Charlotte in there, right?” Charlotte quietly scowled. ‘Of course I’m in here. Where else would I be?’ She could see Roxy leaning down and giving Charlotte a cutesy smile. “Oh, you’re so adorable!” Roxy chirped as she lightly touched Charlotte’s nose with her index finger, which elicited a giggle from the little girl. She shot a double take at Charlotte and glanced back up at Lauren, and then Monica. “And you said that she just turned three?” Lauren nodded. “Yup! Charlotte is a big girl now! She just had a big birthday party a couple of weeks ago.” Roxy gave Charlotte another careful look and was surprised. “So, she’s three? That’s very petite for a three-year-old.” Charlotte glanced up at the giddy teens, looking bored and guzzling her apple juice from her sippy cup as the conversation continued. “Seriously.” Roxy continued. “From the size of that stroller, I thought that you were watching a baby. More recently Monica, I just finished watching a girl named Megan a month ago and I swear that she looked the same size as Charlotte, only she was 12 months old. What does the little cutie wear?” Monica gave Roxy an insightful nod. “For diapers, Charlotte wears size 3’s. And she can still easily fit in 12-18 month clothing. Really, it’s very cute since we can dress her in all kinds of baby outfits. She’s actually going to be Lauren’s little sister soon since her father is getting married.” Roxy smiled. “That’s right, Lauren! You told me about that! Now as for Charlotte still wearing diapers, I am kind of taken aback by that. Sure, she would need them at night. But during the daytime? Shouldn’t Charlotte be in Pull-Ups?” ‘Thank you,’ Charlotte thought as she glanced up at Roxy. Monica nodded. “From what Miss Warren told us, she tried to potty train Charlotte at two-and-a-half but failed miserably. For now, Charlotte just wears diapers full-time, which kind of makes it easier on an outing like today. Charlotte is also fairly new to the Dashing Ducklings, since they only allow kids from ages 3-5. This past Monday was her second week there!” “Monica, is Charlotte that girl who likes to run? Just this last weekend, I babysat a girl named Diana. I found out about her from buying shoes from her mother’s shoe shop in San Francisco. That mother seemed desperate for a babysitter so I volunteered. That girl would not stop talking about a girl who likes to run in Dashing Ducklings. I believe she was talking about Charlotte!” “She was, Roxy. I know Diana. She has been attending Dashing Ducklings for quite a while now. Such a cute little girl…” Charlotte glanced up at the teen girls that loomed over her. At this point, Charlotte longed to be part of the conversation. But instead, she felt uncomfortable and out of place. It was almost awkward, since Charlotte knew her true age and yet she was sitting in a stroller and watching a trio of teens ramble on about babysitting, school, boyfriends, modeling, and running. Charlotte wanted to say something so badly. Just one thing so that she would feel like she was a part of the group. But when Charlotte opened her mouth to speak, a loud “Hi!” was the only thing she could manage. The three teen girls all looked down and laughed, before they responded with a loud “Awwwwwww!” Lauren glanced down at Charlotte and waved. “Hi Charlotte!” Roxy too waved as well. “Hello, you little cutie!” But when Charlotte glanced at Roxy, a sudden anxiety and shyness filled her body. She reached around and began to fuss. “Paw-see! Mah paw-see!” Charlotte whined. The girls were halfway out of the parking lot and moving towards Depot Park when Lauren sighed. “Excuse me,” Lauren told Roxy. “Charlotte’s pacifier is in the Maybach, and I need to go back and get it before she has a meltdown.” Roxy laughed. “I get it. One of the kids that I babysat was a four-year-old girl that still needed her pacifier. We’re not too far. We’ll wait for you.” Out of desperation, Charlotte placed her thumb in her mouth and began to anxiously suck on it. She sucked it even faster when she saw Roxy standing there. Something about Roxy just rubbed Charlotte the wrong way and she just couldn’t put her finger on it. But moments later, Lauren returned with Charlotte’s pink pacifier. She reached down and handed the pacifier to Charlotte. Charlotte quickly swiped the pacifier from Lauren and stuck it right in her mouth and began to suck on it like there was no tomorrow. Over the next few minutes, her pace relaxed as she continued to hear the teen girls laugh and converse with each other. Charlotte could only continue to see the awkwardness continue, as she now was soothing herself in front of three girls that she knew was older than. Despite the fact that they didn’t know this, she still felt the awkwardness lingering as the conversation continued. “Oh. That’s such a cute pacifier!” “Thanks! Miss Warren actually got that for her. I have no idea how many pacifiers she owns.” “Yeah. And Roxy, did I tell you that I was training Lauren on how to be an excellent babysitter?” “I don’t think you have. Do continue. We’re both pros at this, but it’s always fun to hear from a beginner.” Charlotte looked bored now as the words began to fade in and out as she fought to stay awake as she slowly sucked her pacifier. “……never believe….....Lauren……….out.…………….change………………diaper…” “……….chickened……………Poopy………………easy………..” “….pros………cut……………….promise……………….next one….” The three girls all walked around Historic Railroad Square, with Lauren pushing Charlotte in the stroller while she peacefully slept. For two hours, they walked around Depot Park and walked through the visitor center and various different shops while Charlotte took a nap. While they walked through Depot Park, Lauren noticed the Snoopy and Charlie Brown Sculpture which she wanted to point out to Charlotte, but she was fast asleep, much to her disappointment. “Aw.” Lauren said in a hushed tone. “We’ll have to show Charlotte the sculpture later when she’s awake!” Monica nodded. “Yeah! What kid doesn’t love Charlie Brown?” “A blockhead!” Roxy quipped, which resulted in quiet giggles from the other two teen girls. Lauren, Monica, and Roxy were now all waiting with Charlotte to get a table at Americana for lunch, since they never bothered to get reservations. As the three waited, Lauren began to smell a foul odor, which made her glance at Monica. “Monica?” Lauren said with a smile. “Did you just fart?” Both Monica and Roxy exchanged glances and nodded. Monica shook her head. “Nope! But I do know of a little girl that’s still sleeping that’s going to need a change very soon…” Lauren sighed and spoke in a soft tone. “Oh Charlotte! Did you have to do it while asleep? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid do that.” Monica shook her head. “It’s because you don’t watch kids. Babies do it all the time.” A young couple that looked to be in their thirties gave a sour glance at the three girls, with the man pointing his finger at them. “I don’t mean to be rude,” the man addressed them. “But could you please change that little girl? It’s beginning to smell really bad!” “Yeah!” the woman added. “Go change the baby.” She softly murmured to the man. “I’m so glad that we’re never having kids…” Both Monica and Roxy just rolled their eyes at the rude couple. “Yeah.” Monica said in a stern tone. “That’s the idea. Do you think that we’re stinking up the line for the hell of it? Why don’t you grow some balls and have a kid!” This quieted the man, who now stared at Monica with his mouth wide open. A woman who was standing there with three older girls nodded. “Those two don’t get it. I have raised Kylie, Kayla, and Kendra and can tell you as an experienced mom that this is perfectly normal. You don’t want to wake her early as she’ll probably get cranky. How old is your little one? She looks like such a cute little thing!” Lauren smiled. “That is Charlotte and she’s my soon to be little sister since my daddy is getting married. She’s actually three years old.” The mom’s jaw dropped as she glanced at Charlotte again. “I’m sorry. I thought that she was 12 months old. She’s quite petite for just three. She’s kind of similar to Kylie, who’s only seven. A lot of people think that she’s a preschooler but she’s in the second grade! Kayla is 10 and Kendra is 13. Don’t worry about Charlotte. Each kid comes in their own unique shape and size!” Kayla sighed. “Mom, when are we going to eat?” The mom smiled. “When they call us, honey. Hopefully, that will be soon.” She looked back at the trio of teenagers. “Nice talking to you three! When she wakes up, get that changed!” Lauren was half-tempted to go and take care of it while Charlotte was sleeping, but she decided to keep waiting. Mainly because she didn’t really want to change Charlotte. Almost 20 additional minutes passed, with the smell getting worse and worse by the minute. It was bad enough that everyone getting into line and in front of the stroller could smell the foul stench while Charlotte slept. A woman just little bit ahead of the girls pointed to another stroller that had her little boy in it and then pointed to her diaper bag. “Just get it done. I just took care of mine. We need to get rid of the smell. Please?” Lauren sighed as she glanced at the stroller. ‘I guess I have no choice. Charlotte is still sleeping. Here we go…’ But just as Lauren was about to take Charlotte to the bathroom, a woman approached the three girls. “Lauren, party of four?” The woman said, counting the girls and noticing that Charlotte was the fourth one. “Your table is ready. This way, please.” Lauren decided to follow Monica and Roxy to the table with Charlotte so that she would know which table she would return to after the diaper change. Lauren pushed the stroller and could hear some quiet groans from nearby tables remarking on the lingering odor that permeated the restaurant from the stroller. Charlotte squinted her eyes open and could see what looked like the inside of a restaurant. She now felt well rested, but at the same time felt very wet and messy. Charlotte frowned, her face looking uncomfortable as the stroller approached the table. “Law-in? Ah wen poopy! Ah wen poopy Law-in!” Both Monica and Roxy exchanged glances. “Go and change Charlotte. We’ll get her a highchair, okay?” Monica then smirked. “That is unless you’re going to chicken out and let me do it!” Lauren looked a little irritated and fiercely shook her head. ‘Why, of all the nerve! Does Monica really think that I can’t do it? Well, just for that…’ She glanced down at Charlotte and gave her a polite smile. “C’mon baby sis. Let’s go and get your diaper changed.” She swiftly pushed the stroller away with her charge and quickly looked back to cast a spiteful smile at Monica. ‘I can’t change a poopy diaper? I’ll show you…’ Lauren found a woman’s bathroom and entered it, finding the handicap stall in the back. She folded out the changing table that was attached to the wall and took Charlotte out of the stroller. She laid Charlotte on the changing table and buckled her in so that she wouldn’t squirm too much. But it was after she took Charlotte out of the stroller that she let out a loud gasp. Sitting in the seat of the stroller was a large wet spot, with a brown stain smeared towards the bottom. And when Lauren pulled back the blanket, it revealed more. Underneath the fold of Charlotte’s floral dress, there was a large wet spot all over the crotch enclosure of the dress, with soft and mushy poop oozing out of both sides of the enclosure. Charlotte’s diaper had not only leaked, but it was a complete blowout. Charlotte glanced up to see the distressed look on her best friend’s face. No. Her older sister’s face. This face belonged to the sister who was supposed to take care of Charlotte. The big sister that was supposed to assume full responsibility over her baby sister. She watched intently, partially hoping that she would get to work on her leaky and soiled diaper quickly. She needed the face of someone who was capable. Someone who was responsible. But from what Charlotte saw, Lauren wasn’t giving her that face. ‘C’mon Lauren! It’s really sad for me to say this, but I just can’t take care of myself anymore. I need someone else to do it for me. So can you…will you…please…change me? Yeah, it’s gross but you need to push through it!’ Lauren thought of giving up, but all she could think of was the taunting and teasing that she would get from Monica and Roxy if she decided to let them do it instead. Her feeling of doubt, stress, and anxiety, turned into anger. This fueled her determination and resolve to begin the unpleasant and nauseating task. “Monica,” Lauren hissed. “You are not going to change this one! It’s mine! Got it?!” Lauren’s determined face became more crazed and maniacal as she got out the supplies. She just knew that Charlotte needed a change of clothes. Her floral dress had to go. So in within a minute, Charlotte was laying bare on a very messy diaper. Lauren continued, placing the soiled onesie dress into a plastic bag to wash later. Lauren opened the wipes and began to dig in. It didn’t matter to her how dirty she got. All she could think of was getting Charlotte as clean as possible while washing her hands for two whole minutes afterwards. Charlotte glanced at a more determined Lauren and could feel the cold wipes on her that made her shiver. Charlotte couldn’t believe it, but she felt a little better than she did before her nap. At this point, she knew that someone had to take care of her no matter what. And of all the people that had to take care of her, she was glad that it was Lauren. Charlotte now looked happy and glad that her big sister was up to the task. ‘Thank you. This really is something that I could never do myself. I mean, I’m so sick of trying. Maybe I just need to let go of it all. And oh yeah, big sis. You missed a spot.’ Lauren did her final round of wiping on Charlotte, managing to get the spot on Charlotte’s butt. But unbeknownst to Lauren, Charlotte was fully aware of what was going on, and she gave a smile of approval once she wiped the spot that she missed. At this point, Charlotte didn’t know why, but she was very excited to get into another diaper. But she understood that she had to wait longer as she watched Lauren use a few wipes to clean off her own hands. She watched as Lauren took a large glob of Aquaphor and rubbed it all over the reddish areas where the rashes were beginning to form. And then everywhere else to form a protective barrier to prevent other rashes from forming. Charlotte’s nose was greeted by the pleasant scent of Johnson’s Cornstarch baby powder with Aloe & Vitamin E, which Lauren shook liberally all over the inside of Charlotte’s new diaper. She shook some on her hand and then rubbed it on Charlotte’s butt before laying her on top of the diaper. She liberally shook more powder on Charlotte before folding the front of the Pampers Baby Dry diaper between Charlotte’s legs. She then saw the two tabs being snugly fastened around her waist. Charlotte smiled, enjoying the diaper’s warm embrace around her pelvis, waist, and butt. Lauren smiled in victory, as the soiled diaper was now thrown away in the small waste bin inside the stall. Over the next couple of minutes, she got Charlotte into a new change of clothes, which ended up being her pink corduroy overalls and a white T-shirt with blue speckled dots underneath. She was relieved to find three snap buttons around the crotch, which would make it easy to change Charlotte for later. Charlotte was relieved to finally be in a new diaper and new clothes. Her pink corduroy overalls felt comfortable. Charlotte couldn’t believe that it was happening, but she was finding herself slowly beginning to accept some of the simpler things in her life. Things like the warm embrace of her sister as she hoisted her back into her stroller. And Charlotte realized that she was really happy now since she just didn’t care anymore. And somehow, the happiness from her toddler brain began to permeate her adult mind. While Charlotte felt mostly content, she couldn’t help but feel a slight tinge of unease within her. ‘Yeah. It’s still annoying to be trapped in a toddler’s body like this but what else can I do? Nobody’s going to believe me so why bother? So yeah. I’m totally done caring. I’m starving now! And thirsty!’ When Charlotte was brought back to the table, she was sat in her highchair next to Lauren, Monica, and Roxy. Both Monica and Roxy teased Lauren as they both smirked at her. “How was it? Did you get someone from the restaurant to change her?” Monica joked. “No.” Lauren replied firmly. “It was a complete blowout. Quite possibly one of the worst diapers that I have ever changed but I did it.” Monica noticed Charlotte in her pink overalls instead of her pink floral dress. “I’ll say! Was it that messy that you needed a new outfit? There’s some bonus points. What do you think, Roxy?” Roxy studied Charlotte and gave Monica and Lauren a thumbs up. “Yeah. A change of clothes from a diaper change is definitely going above and beyond here. Guess what, Lauren? For doing that, Lunch is on me.” Monica grinned. “And I’m paying for Charlotte’s lunch too! Get her whatever you want!” Charlotte glanced at the menus that were sitting on the table, out of reach from the highchair she was sitting at. She so badly wanted to order her own meal but knew that she couldn’t read anymore. So, she began frantically waving her hands at the menu. “Law-in ah voowee hunghee! Ohdah sumfin off mehwu peese! Ohdah sumfin off mehwu peese!” Lauren smiled and chuckled at Charlotte’s innocent request. “Why certainly, Charlotte! Let’s see what they have! Oh. Did you know that they serve breakfast all day here? They have pancakes, Charlotte and you can get them with chocolate chips!” Charlotte nodded. “Yah! Ahget chaka chip pahncakes! Ahget chaka chip pahncakes!” Charlotte chirped with a proud smile. Monica glanced at Charlotte’s selection and whispered something to Lauren. “Maybe just give her one. She’s not going to be able to eat all of that.” The waitress finally returned to the trio’s table, and they all ordered lunch. Lauren let Charlotte order her own meal, so she pointed at Charlotte. “Okay Charlotte.” Lauren said. “Tell the waitress what you want!” “Ah wan chaka chip pahncakes!” Charlotte told her proudly. The waitress laughed as she wrote down Charlotte’s order. “What a sweetheart! It’s a pretty good-sized order so you’ll have a lot of leftovers!” Monica shook her head. “No. I’ll eat what she can’t finish. I’m a pancake junkie! Gimmie those griddle cakes!” Both Lauren and Roxy erupted into a frenzy of laughter. The other girls ordered their lunches. Lauren ordered a Blue Cheese/Mushroom/Bacon Burger, which she planned to share a tiny sliver with Charlotte since she knows that Charlotte likes burgers. Monica ordered a Breakfast Burrito and Roxy ordered Huevos Rancheros. When the food came, Lauren shook her head when she saw one of the girls beginning to eat. “Can we all say grace, please?” Lauren pleaded. “It’s kind of my custom to thank God before I eat my food.” Roxy nodded. “Sure. It’s good that you have that custom. Let’s say it.” Lauren said a quick prayer, thanking God for their food and being able to successfully change Charlotte, which made both Monica and Roxy chuckle. After that, the girls all went to work on their lunch. After that, Lauren cut one of Charlotte’s pancakes into small pieces, knowing that Charlotte would not be able to eat more than one. Monica, seeing the rest of the pancakes, took them. But to be fair, she agreed to only eat them if Charlotte was full. Charlotte proved Lauren wrong by devouring all the little pieces of chocolate chip pancake that was fed to her, since the restaurant didn’t have child sized silverware. She only wanted a little more pancakes, so Lauren cut a tiny slab off another pancake. Lauren also offered a piece of her burger, which Charlotte managed to eat every bite. But after the burger, Charlotte was full. She also gave Charlotte her second sippy cup filled with water, which Charlotte gulped down in seconds. Monica smiled at all of Charlotte’s leftover pancakes. “We’ll see if these are better than IHOP,” Monica joked, as she proceeded to shovel in a mouthful of pancakes before devouring it. Four pancakes later, Monica nodded. “Yup. Definitely better than IHOP.” The girls all paid the bill and Lauren pushed Charlotte in the stroller. Lauren had to wipe out the wet spot in the seat of the stroller and use an extra unused blanket to line the seat so that Charlotte wouldn’t sit on any of the dried stains. Charlotte could now feel how stretched out her stomach was. She was indeed full and was now beginning to experience a food coma of sorts, from all the starches in the pancakes, along with the syrup, fruit sauce, and chocolate chips. And from the combination of her full belly, mixed with the smooth and ambient voices from the three girls, Charlotte’s eyes began to flicker as she let out a deep yawn. She could feel like a hand was giving her another sippy cup of water. “Lauren, no! Charlotte looks like she’s about to fall asleep…” But Charlotte, looking very lethargic, took a few sips of water and began to reach for her pacifier. It didn’t take her more than a few sucks before it dropped out of her mouth, and she began snoring. The three teen girls all exchanged smiles as they continued their fun adventure with a sleeping Charlotte through Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square Historic District. It was a fun adventure so far, and they all looked forward to all the fun that they would experience next.

I'm sure that Charlotte will want to see Diana on Monday. Especially since the regression has taken place. As for the missing pages, this is something that I actually plan to get to very soon, so stay tuned. 😀

I really don't know what a stuffed bear and a stuffed rabbit would produce for a child. Anyway... Chapter 59 Charlotte opened her eyes and let out a contented yawn. To her surprise, she found Bobo laying right next to her. And Bobo wasn’t the only one to greet her. Right next to her was Bonnie. ‘Bonnie’s here again! Bobo really likes Bonnie.’ Charlotte sat up in the large king-size bed, noticing the soft and comfortable diaper that she was wearing now had a soggy squish. And like a very bad itch, Charlotte was now overcome with a strong urge to suck on…something. So, she positioned her right thumb and stuck it in her mouth. She got out of bed as she tightly sucked her thumb. Charlotte removed her thumb and stood on her tiptoes to reach the knob of the door with her small hand. She clumsily grasped it and somehow managed to turn it. She leaned back and fell on her butt as the door swung open. Now getting to her feet, Charlotte made small and energetic strides out of the room and made it to the grand staircase. Charlotte sat down and scooched her butt, planting both feet down on the next step down. After that, she sat down and scooched again until she got to the second floor. She then walked to where the staircase wrapped around and began scooching down the flight of stairs until she was on the first floor. At this point, Charlotte had no idea where she was going, but she was having a lot of fun. Instinctually, Charlotte stuck her thumb back in her mouth and sucked it again. ‘Why am I doing this? I don’t know why, but I do feel a lot better.’ Charlotte couldn’t even explain to herself why she suddenly liked to suck her thumb, but it was now something that she just couldn’t stop doing. Thumb in mouth, she quietly walked forward to hear what sounded like Lauren talking on her cellphone in the living room. Charlotte sucked her thumb, listening intently on what her soon-to-be sister was saying. “So are you enjoying New York so far?” Lauren asked. “Yeah. I’m sitting right here with Monica. I haven’t even gotten Charlotte up yet. She is probably still sleeping.” A brief pause, before laughter coming from Lauren. “Believe it or not, Miss Warren, Charlotte didn’t cry for it once last night. Maybe this weekend would be a good weekend to wean her off of it? Oh. You don’t think that’s a good idea?” “Yeah. Things are going good so far with Charlotte. You’ll never believe it, Miss Warren. Last night, Monica and I took Charlotte out to the racing track and she ran two whole laps by herself! That’s pretty far for such a little girl! I know. I was impressed, too. So you two are hungry and want breakfast? Well, I’m hungry too so I’m going to go and get Charlotte up. No. I didn’t use any of your nighttime diapers since there’s plenty of them here. Yes, they’re plenty absorbent! Mandy never had a problem with them with Louie. Oh. What ones? Millie Moon. Yeah. They’re a lot softer than your Pampers Swaddlers Overnights that you use on her. And yes, daddy. I can hear you. I’m having a good time. Well, I’m going to let you go so we can have breakfast! Okay. Bye!” Charlotte was still rapidly sucking her thumb as she walked into the living room, catching both Lauren and Monica by surprise. Lauren gasped. “Charlotte! How did you get down here? Those stairs are dangerous! You could’ve gotten hurt!” Monica nodded. “Yes Char. Please wait in your room next time.” She then smiled when she saw Charlotte sucking on her thumb. “Lauren, I think we need to get it. Charlotte has found something else to suck on. I’ll be right back.” Lauren sighed. “I thought that we were going to wean her from that. Okay. Fine…” Monica left the room while Charlotte made an energetic dash towards Lauren. Lauren walked over to the couch and patted her palm on the seat. “Do you want to sit on the couch with me, Charlotte!” Charlotte nodded, like she was the happiest girl in the world. “Ya! I sih ahn cawch!” Charlotte didn’t know why she talked so differently. But she didn’t let that bother her. ‘I sit on couch? Well, close enough….” Lauren then grabbed the television remote as she watched Charlotte making silly sounds and strumming her lips with her fingers before she stuck her thumb back in her mouth. In moments, Lauren had a streaming app loaded. “So Charlotte. What do you want to watch?” “Ah wawch Booey!” Charlotte said, with a very big smile. As Lauren was beginning to find an episode, Monica came back carrying a small object in her hand. When Charlotte saw what Monica was holding, she started to go ballistic. “Mah pawsee!” Charlotte shouted. “Ah wahnt mah pawsee!” Monica shook her head just as held the pink pacifier out of reach. “Nah ah, Char. You need to say the magic word first before I give you your pacie. Now, what’s the magic word?” “Wah pawsee!” Charlotte shouted, frantically trying to grab it out of Monica’s hand. Monica shook her head. “No. The magic word is ‘please’. So can you say ‘please’ Charlotte? Say the magic word!” “PEEEEEEEESCE!” Charlotte said, flailing her hands near Monica’s arms. “Say pretty please!” Monica told her. “Pih e peese!” Charlotte repeated. Monica smiled and finally handed Charlotte her pacifier. Charlotte grabbed the pacifier out of Monica’s hand. She then stuck it in her mouth and began to suck it rapidly. Lauren smiled. “Aw, that’s so cute!” Lauren poked Charlotte to get her attention. “Charlotte, do you like your pacifier?” Charlotte gave Lauren an attentive glance. “No!” she shouted, and she continued to suck on it. Lauren frowned. “I don’t get it. Shouldn’t she be saying yes?” Monica laughed. “Kids her age do that a lot. When kids are learning words, they don’t quite understand the meaning of them yet. So, she might say no when she really means yes. Watch.” Monica pointed to the television. “Charlotte, are you ready to watch an episode of Bluey?” Charlotte fixed her eyes on the television screen. “No!” Lauren stood up and glanced at her charge and Monica. “I’m going to cook breakfast. I’ll have you play with Charlotte. Okay?” Monica nodded. “Go ahead! Me and Char are going to have so much fun!” Charlotte focused her eyes on the television and smiled as she saw a blue dog talking. “Ih Booie!” she shouted, pointing to the screen energetically. Monica nodded. “Yeah! And she’s playing with her younger sister Bingo! Here! Let’s keep watching!” Charlotte was beginning to have a tendency to glance away at the screen, causing Monica to keep redirecting her attention back. About a half hour later, the smell of breakfast began to waft into the living room. “It’s ready!” Lauren told Monica. Lauren then leaned down and scooped up Charlotte effortlessly. At this point, Lauren felt more confident in carrying Charlotte than last night. Charlotte was still sucking on her pacifier when she found herself being carried away from the living room. “Wahr we gohwen?” she lisped, because of the pacifier. Lauren gave Charlotte an over enthusiastic smile. “We’re going to the dining room because your big sister has made you some breakfast!” Monica grinned. “Not until December 14th!” Lauren sighed. “Close enough! To me, I see Charlotte as my sister already! Now, you are going to LOVE what I made.” Lauren was halfway through the kitchen and almost to the dining room when Monica pointed to Charlotte’s pelvic area. “Shouldn’t we change her first?” Monica suggested. “That’s the first thing that I do when I get the kids up. Then I feed them breakfast and an hour later, it’s time for another change. Especially if they poop!” Lauren sighed. “Let’s just feed her breakfast first. We’ll change her after breakfast.” Charlotte could hear the whole conversation and smiled. ‘Yeah. I’m hungry. After breakfast, it will be time for a Pull-Up.’ As Charlotte was carried into the dining room, she noticed a delicious breakfast that was on the large table. But there was only one problem. The table only had two plates instead of three. Charlotte also tried to locate where the seat cushion was from last night, but it was nowhere to be found. Instead of a seat cushion, a highchair sat next to the two seats, with a plate containing Charlotte’s breakfast on the tray. A look of resentment began to fill Charlotte’s face as she pointed to the table and began to fuss. “No! Ah sih ahn cahsin!” Lauren frowned. “What did she say?” Monica nodded. “I think that she said that she wanted to sit on a cushion. What gave her this idea?” Lauren smiled. “That’s right! I showed her the cushion during Halloween!” As Charlotte was placed in her highchair, her fussing became more intense, and she started to whine. “Noooooooooooooo! Ah wan cahsin! Cahsin! Nul haw cheyah. Cahsin!” Lauren looked appalled and upset. “Charlotte, I can’t have you sitting on the cushion with us. You’re too short!” She gave Monica a puzzled look. “I don’t know what her problem is. She had no problems eating in the highchair last night. She was a very happy girl.” Charlotte gasped. ‘That can’t be right! I can distinctly remember sitting in a cushion last night! A cushion!’ Monica nodded. “She’s just going through a phase. It’s very common with kids that young. This is what you do.” Monica approached Charlotte’s level and pointed to the highchair. “Charlotte, I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay? We are not going to shout or scream. You are going to eat your yummy breakfast, or we can just take you upstairs for a nap. So, what do you want, Charlotte? Breakfast or a nap?” “Bawkfist!” Charlotte exclaimed, pounding her fist on the tray of her highchair in frustration. Monica smiled. “Breakfast it is. Start eating it! Yum yum!” Charlotte began to grasp her small fork and stab the tiny pieces of bacon before bringing it into her mouth. As she ate the bacon pieces, the fluffy egg pieces, the tiny pieces of sausage, and the bits of buttery toast, she tried really hard to think about what just happened. ‘Did it happen again? Did I just get younger overnight?’ A sudden chill suddenly went down her spine. ‘Oh no. PLEASE no!’ Charlotte noticed that her plastic cup was replaced with a sippy cup. As she was drinking down the juice, Charlotte suddenly felt a very strong bowel movement, so she pushed it out with very little effort. Lauren watched Charlotte finish her juice when she smelled a foul odor nearby. Her look became a look of worry and disgust. She then glanced at Monica. As much as she wanted to be the responsible one, this was just too much for her. So, she chickened out. “Monica? Help?” Monica laughed. “Oh come on! It’s just a poopy diaper! But if you insist, fine. Only if you get the next one. Otherwise, you’re changing them both.” Lauren nodded. “Deal.” Monica pointed upstairs before she picked up Charlotte. “Get the changing mat. I saw that with the changing supplies when we looked at the changing table last night. And get everything else you need! You’re going to watch me do this one!” Minutes later, Charlotte was undressed down to just her diaper and laid on a changing mat in the middle of the living room. Charlotte was now glancing up at the ceiling, looking confused. ‘Why am I laying down? Isn’t Monica just going to change me into a Pull-Up?’ She watched as Monica carried all the supplies near the changing mat. But something was wrong. Monica was not holding a Pull-Up in her hand. Monica was holding another diaper. Charlotte’s smile vanished. “No! Ah wayor anah tha pahlup! Ah wayor anah tha pahlup! Ah wayor anah tha pahlup!” Lauren again looked confused. She leaned down and looked at Charlotte. “Charlotte, I don’t know why you want to wear a Pull-Up so bad. All your mother packed for you were diapers.” She then pointed to the diaper that Monica was holding. “That’s a Coterie. Mandy also uses those from time to time so it’s a pretty good brand.” Monica smirked. “I know what brand it is. I’ve watched a bunch of rich kids.” Charlotte cast a skeptical look at Lauren, thinking about her false statement. ‘No it wasn’t! I’m pretty sure there’s Pull-Ups in there. I just know it! Diapers are for nighttime! Pull-Ups are for daytime!’ Monica smiled. “I think that Charlotte saw a commercial for Pull-Ups and now she wants to wear one! How cute.” Lauren shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll ask Miss Warren about it later. All I remember is that she has not been wearing Pull-Ups since I first met her. And during the dinner at Pierre’s, I did actually change Charlotte’s diaper once, but it was a wet one.” Charlotte was now in disbelief. This didn’t make any sense at all. ‘No.’ Charlotte protested in her mind. ‘You have it wrong! You changed me into a new Pull-Up! What is this madness? Arghhh! I feel like I’m in a bad episode of The Twilight Zone!’ Monica pointed to the diaper that Charlotte still had on. “Pay attention, Lauren, because you’re doing the next one.” Monica opened up the diaper to find it heavily soiled from front to back. Lauren groaned in disgust. “Quick! Change it before I puke.” Monica laughed. “It’s just poop. You’ll live.” Monica skillfully scrubbed all around Charlotte, getting every nook and cranny. About half a dozen wipes later, there were only a few traces left to clean up. Charlotte was now lying bare on the changing mat, and Monica used a couple more wipes to get everything really good. She piled the used wipes into the opened up the soiled diaper. She then pointed to Lauren. “C’mon. Roll it up like a sleeping bag.” Lauren nodded, remembering what she did with Charlotte’s wet diaper. She rolled up the messy diaper and fastened it with both tapes, forming a wadded-up ball. “Gross. I’m throwing it away.” Charlotte grimaced as she was laid on a freshly powdered diaper. Her grimace turned into that of sadness, knowing that her last semblance of maturity was taken away. Gone were the Pull-Up’s and in its place were diapers that she now had to wear 24/7. ‘Is this how it’s going to end?’ Charlotte thought as she pouted. ‘Me turning into a helpless baby and disappearing?’ She watched as the front end was folded between her legs and the two tabs were fastened, trapping her pelvis and butt in a soft and padded prison. Lauren and Monica invited Charlotte to sit back on the couch, but at this point, Charlotte felt more defeated and dejected. Throwing a fit was futile, as Charlotte knew that this wouldn’t change anything. Lauren saw the sadness in Charlotte’s eyes and as a big sister tried to cheer her up. “Charlotte!” she asked in a very playful and friendly voice. “Give me a big smile! Come on! You’re a big girl now so I want to see your big girl smile! Because remember Charlotte. You’re not two anymore. You’re three! You’re a big girl now!” Monica nodded. “Yeah Char!” She then poked Lauren in the side. “That reminds me. How was Charlotte’s third birthday party? I didn’t get to see her transformation into a three-year-old.” Lauren smiled. “It was great. It was just the family. They even did something special at daycare. Or should I say pre-preschool. Charlotte doesn’t like the word daycare.” Charlotte felt the sting when she heard the words “three-year-old” come out of Monica’s mouth. She also felt it every time she heard Lauren say “three”. ‘Just what the hell is their problem? I am not three! I’m four!’ “I foowah!” Charlotte said, pouting. Lauren laughed. “No Charlotte. You turn four in another year! You can say that in another year, okay?” But that was the very thing that creeped Charlotte out. “Just yesterday, she was four and she became a three-year-old overnight. Not a three-year-old going on four, but a freshly new three-year-old with only two weeks of experience. At this point, Charlotte just didn’t know what to do. Charlotte just shut down at this point, leaving only her toddler instincts to take over. She found the pacifier lying on the couch cushion next to Lauren and popped it in her mouth. She sucked on it and began to cry. Lauren frowned. “What’s wrong?” She turned to Lauren. “What do I do?” Monica smiled. “Just give her a short nap. She got up a little early so I would let her rest for an hour. In the meantime, I think that we should get ready for a fun outing. We’re going to be outside, so we’ll definitely want the makeup. Charlotte was still in her pajamas from last night when Lauren carried her upstairs and into the guest room with the King-Size bed. She laid Charlotte in the bed and tucked her in, along with Bobo and Bonnie. Lauren glanced down at Bonnie and winked. “Take care of Charlotte. You’ll be back in my room on Sunday, okay?” She then kissed Charlotte on the forehead. “Have a nice nap, my sweet little sister.” Lauren closed the door to find Monica standing right outside it. Monica then pointed to the grand staircase. “Think about getting some fencing if you’re going to have Charlotte living here. She already escaped and she’ll probably try again.” Lauren nodded. “I’ll talk about it with daddy and Miss Warren…I mean, mommy.” Meanwhile, Charlotte stared up at the ceiling, filled with regret. ‘Sure, I’m three today. But who knows how much younger I’m going to be tomorrow?’ Choked by despair, Charlotte’s eyes welled up with tears and she cried herself to sleep. … Darcy and Michael both walked around Sheep Meadow, a beautiful expanse of grass full of Manhattan natives and tourists all dressed in coats. The expanse extended out into Central Park, where the looming skyline of Manhattan’s Upper West Side could be seen in the distance. Both Darcy and Michael were wearing small backpacks while they enjoyed the light breeze of the cloudy New York day. Michael smiled as he took in the beauty that was Darcy. “Just how much modeling are you doing?” He finally asked her, breaking the silence. “You told me that you were just freelancing, right?” Darcy nodded. “I freelance and then that’s pretty much it. I was thinking about getting Charlotte into modelling eventually.” Michael nodded. “How would you like to do it full time? I have some connections that could certainly launch your career. We could also get Charlotte started with modelling, too.” Darcy nodded and decided to change the subject. As much as she liked modeling, she wanted it to be more about Charlotte. “Since you’re going to be my husband, I would like to tell you something that I haven’t told you yet. Charlotte is my miracle child. I call her that since I had her in my mid-forties. She is also that since I had a miscarriage about 30 years ago right before Richard died. Unfortunately, the man that I had Charlotte with turned out to be a loser and he dumped me. But do you know what? I may have lost him, but I got Charlotte out of it.” Michael gave Darcy a hug. “It was meant to be. You were never meant to stay with that other man. You would’ve never met me if he didn’t dump you.” “You steady my heaaaaart!” The female artist sounded from Darcy’s cellphone. Michael smiled. “Kari Jobe? Lauren and I love Kari Jobe!” Darcy nodded. “That’s what Lauren wanted as her ringtone! Let’s see how she and Monica are doing with Charlotte.” Darcy swiped the green answer button. “Hello? How is your progress going with weaning Charlotte off her pacifier? Oh. That was just a joke. I know very well that both Charlotte and that pacifier are inseparable. Ah. So, she was sucking her thumb? Yeah. Charlotte will do that if she doesn’t have her pacie. So, what’s Charlotte doing? You’re giving her a short nap? Okay. I agree. When she gets moody like that, she usually needs a little nap. Now, what did you want to talk about? Here. Let me put it on speaker so that Michael can hear too.” Darcy pressed the speaker button. “Can you still hear me?” “Yes Miss Warren. I can hear you fine!” “Now, Michael and I are enjoying ourselves in Sheep Meadow in Central Park. What did you want to talk about?” “Well, Miss Warren, I wanted to talk to you about Charlotte’s behavior this morning. To start with breakfast, Charlotte was just freaking out since I wouldn’t sit her in a cushion. I think that she was talking about the cushion that I showed her this Halloween.” Darcy smiled and nodded. “Well, that’s strange. Why would Charlotte want to sit in a seat cushion all of a sudden? She’s not quite tall enough for one of those yet. She usually seems to be quite happy in her highchair.” “I know, Miss Warren. Every time we eat as a family, you have always had her in her highchair. I think that the cushion that I showed her at Halloween got her excited.” Darcy nodded and glanced at Michael. “Her cousin Heather also sits in a seat cushion when she eats. She’s a little more than a year older than Charlotte so maybe Charlotte was thinking about her cushion too? I wish that you and Monica could be here. The scenery is amazing!” “I know, Miss Warren. Daddy has taken me to New York a few times before.” Michael nodded. “Your favorite thing here is ice skating at Wolman Rink, right?” “Yes! I would love to go ice skating with you again!” Michael smiled. “Darling, did you know that when Lauren was a little girl, she wanted to be a figure skater?” “I did! But when I saw my mommy modeling, I wanted to do that more! Now, I think we got a little sidetracked. Miss Warren, Charlotte also began to fuss during her diaper change this morning after breakfast. She wanted a Pull-Up instead of a diaper!” Darcy glanced at Michael and was unable to contain the laughter that was inside her. Her laughter was released, which elicited laughter from Monica on the other end. “I’m sorry, but Charlotte is nowhere near ready to use Pull-Ups.” “But she kept asking for one, Miss Warren! What do you think the reason could be?” Darcy scratched her head. “There could be two reasons. First of all, we get to see my sister a lot, so she gets to see her cousin Heather. Heather is still not potty trained, and she used to wear Pull-Ups very often. Also, I tried the whole potty-training thing when Charlotte was two and a half. I took away her daytime diapers and tried Pull-Ups. Worst mistake ever. She leaked through just about every Pull-Up and messed at least two Pull-Ups a day. I put Charlotte back in diapers within a week. I mean, it wasn’t like I didn’t try. We used the chart at Little Lilacs, a chart a home, videos, rewards. Nothing worked. Maybe Charlotte remembers wearing her Pull-Ups and she wants to wear them again?” “Monica thinks that it’s because of a commercial that she saw for Pull-Ups.” “It could be. Maybe that commercial was all it took for her to remember. Now besides that, is everything okay over there?” “Pretty much, Miss Warren. I think that I am getting better at taking care of Charlotte. Her diaper was poopy, so I had to give it to Monica. I promised that I would change the next messy one.” Darcy sighed. “You need to, Lauren. I am so good at changing poopy diapers now that I can do it without even thinking. And you need to get that good, too if you’re going to be a mother to your children someday. Now, Michael and I are going to enjoy our walk through Central Park.” “One more thing Miss Warren and I’ll let you go. When Monica and I started talking about Charlotte’s third birthday, she freaked out and told us that she was four. I told her that she’ll be four in a year.” All Darcy could do was grin. “Charlotte is just beginning to learn her numbers. Since three and four are right next to each other, I am guessing that she got the two mixed up. Charlotte also has a really good imagination. She’ll make up things randomly and it’s always funny to watch! Do you have any plans when you get Charlotte up from her nap?” “We do. Monica and I just finished getting ready and putting our makeup on. We are going to take Charlotte out for a nice walk around the Railroad Square Historic District. Roxy is going to join us so it’s going to be so much fun. Just us four girls walking around old Santa Rosa.” “Sounds fun! Give us an update later on. Michael and I are going to explore Central Park and have a wonderful lunch. We’ll also provide an update later on. Take care!” Darcy hung up the phone and smiled. “It seems like they have everything under control back at home.” Michael nodded. “They do. Are you ready, Darcy? I will lead, since I have been here a few times. This way, my sweetheart.” The two held hands and began their romantic stroll from Sheep Meadows into Central Park. … Lauren hung up the phone and smiled. “It looks like my daddy is having fun in New York with mommy.” Monica grinned. “Don’t you mean Miss Warren?” she teased. Lauren shook her head. “It’s a done deal! They’re getting married next month. She’s my mommy!” Lauren paused, as she thought of her original mother. “My new mommy…” She glanced at her cellphone. “Shouldn’t we be getting Charlotte up?” Monica shook her head. “It hasn’t even been an hour yet! It’s only been about 40 minutes. I would wait at least another half hour…” Lauren nodded, and quickly glanced at the weather app. It’s going to be sunny, but still chilly. A high of 50 degrees. We’ll need to make sure that Charlotte is bundled up.” Monica nodded. “There we go. Now you’re thinking like a babysitter…” Lauren gave Monica a playful shove. “It’s common sense! We can’t just leave Charlotte in just her normal clothes. She’ll freeze!” Lauren was restless as she glanced at the conversation log from last night. “I think I’m going to talk to Victor.” Monica slapped her hand over Lauren’s wrist. “Don’t bother. All the boys are on a camping trip this weekend. That also includes Quentin. They’re having their boy time, remember?” Lauren sighed. “That’s right! I forgot.” Monica rolled her eyes. “Why else do you think we’re hanging out with Roxy too? James is camping with them, so I would not disturb the boys.” Lauren was now glancing around listlessly, looking bored. “What now?” Monica laughed. “How about getting things ready for the outing with Charlotte? Do you have enough diapers? Maybe a few toys? A snack? Something to drink? Also, what are we taking? You seriously have like eight different cars.” Lauren gave Monica a confident nod. “We are taking the Mercedes-Benz Maybach GLS 600. It has to be this one since I just installed a brand-new car seat for Charlotte.” Monica nodded. “Nice. And with the mini fridge in the back, we can keep some of Charlotte’s drinks cold.” Lauren made a few taps on her cellphone and nodded. “The seat that I installed is a DUO plus forward-facing ISOFIX-equipped child car seat. It will be perfect for her ride to the Railroad Square Historic District. There will be no butler this time, since I’m driving the Maybach myself.” Monica glanced over Lauren’s shoulder and smiled. “Checking the remote start on the app?” Lauren nodded. “I just want to get everything ready.” Now ready and with their makeup on, the teen girls began making preparations for their fun outing with Charlotte. Charlotte awoke to Bobo and Bonnie on either side of her. It was almost like they were giving her a group hug. But despite them being there, Charlotte couldn’t help but feel sad. The despair choked her at her recent discovery of being another year younger. And noticing just a little bit more space in the king-size bed, Charlotte knew that this was so. But she was still beyond belief that she went from a four-year-old to a three-year-old overnight. How can this be so considering that her last regression was almost a month ago? Charlotte thought that the regression came to a complete stop, and that she would have to wait 26 years to get back to her normal age. But Charlotte was wrong. The age reversal continued, with Charlotte now guessing that there would be no end in sight. Charlotte was a mere three years away from vanishing forever, and that regression would only take mere days or weeks at the most. Charlotte glanced at her little hands again and pouted. ‘It’s not fair! Why do I just keep getting younger? Why can’t I just go back to my adulthood? Why can’t I just wake up from this nightmare?’ But then Charlotte thought of Diana. Considering how different she behaved compared to the other kids, she could only guess that Diana too regressed to some degree. But how much younger would she be compared to Charlotte? Or would she be the same? Would Diana also be three and facing Regression Row along with Charlotte? This wasn’t Death Row, as the opposite effect was happening to Charlotte. But Charlotte knew that vanishing from existence would be just as bad as death itself. A Benjamin Button kind of exit from the world that she lived in. Charlotte’s thoughts were interrupted to the swift sound of the light switch flicking on in the room. And then a soothing voice that sounded like her soon-to-be big sister. “Charlotte dear?” The syrupy sweet voice filled the room, which soothed and calmed Charlotte. “It’s time to get up from your nap.” Lauren approached Charlotte and scooped her up from the comfortable bed that she was laying in. “I hope that you slept well. We are going to have a fun outing today.” Lauren’s words fell flat in Charlotte’s mind, as the crushing despair was all that Charlotte could feel on the inside. ‘Fun?’ Charlotte scoffed in her mind. ‘Going on an outing as a three-year-old toddler with my decades older friends to who knows where? Yeah. Some fun.’ The despair was so strong in Charlotte that she didn’t even realize that her thumb was already in her mouth, and she was sucking it hard. To Lauren, Charlotte was only casting a shy stare. “Oh, baby sister. Don’t worry. We’ll take your pacie too, okay?” This prompted a strong and silent retort from Charlotte. ‘Oh. My pacie? I’m thrilled. It’s what I live for!’ Charlotte’s wide eyes faded into a blank stare as Lauren carried her to the changing table. Whatever outing they had in store for Charlotte, she was not looking forward to it at all.