The 3rd Roommate: (10) The Wee Hours of the Morning (End of Part 1)

[Night Rain]

Are we going to fully see what happened at Haley's party?

[D503]

Spoiled with 2 chapters!

Poor Kerri, she does it to herself.

[ItsYourBoi]

Its rare that i actually sympathize with the character in (or soon in) diapers

[direking]

On 1/13/2023 at 9:52 PM, Night Rain said:

Are we going to fully see what happened at Haley's party?

We will see it in dream-like snippets as  those events run parallel to Kerri’s experience in college. Just like in this chapter.

On 1/13/2023 at 11:53 PM, D503 said:

Spoiled with 2 chapters!

Poor Kerri, she does it to herself.

Kerri definitely believes she does it to herself; so does Ana and Candice. Kerri wants to fight what happens to her, at the same time she expects it. She handles relationships like a inexperienced driver, tons of tunnel vision and easily overwhelmed.

Kerri knows she’s Kerri. It’s her M.O. to fall into trouble and become dependent. What’s not her fault is the ‘unluckiness’ of falling into the hands of those who would take advantage of her.

On 1/14/2023 at 5:30 AM, ItsYourBoi said:

Its rare that i actually sympathize with the character in (or soon in) diapers

It's been a challenge to try to write this way, and it's certainly slowed down the story, but it's what I was 'swinging' for when I started working on this story. I'm glad you noticed. Writing a character like Kerri is 100% out of my comfort zone, and it's been a struggle at times. But it's also been a rewarding challenge.

I didn't get a chance to spellcheck or grammar check this chapter, but I'm pretty sure it's in good shape. It's actually the second chapter that I wrote for this story back in March of 2022. That being said, I plan on taking a decent break after posting this chapter.

Thanks for reading.

.........................

10 Wee Hours of the Morning

Haley Hutchinson lived in a two-story house that was much larger than Kerri’s small place. The McMansion had a lot of strange niches, multiple nooks and crannies, with enough twists and turns to spin her around, and Kerri sometimes found herself walking into the wrong room.

Kerri had gotten lost a couple of times before, but this time she was in the nursery, a pink room that belonged to Haley’s cute baby sister.

There were so many things to see in such a smol spot in a big place.

Young Kerri stared wide-eyed all around at the cheerful rainbows and unicorns and dream castles. It smelled like air freshener and fresh powder, a box of diapers lay open beside a toddler bed filled with stuffed animals. A large teddy bear with black button eyes. A dreary well worn doll with curly red hair. She spotted Color-Blaze, a Princess Pony, just like Princess Clarabelle. Not Kerri’s favorite but still pretty cool.

“Kerri! Kerri!” Haley called from her room, the other room, the one filled with her classmates. “Where are you going you little maniac? Do you want to play baby or something?”

There were giggles that followed — ones that followed for almost six years now.

What was she doing here? Why did she linger in these spots — In the places where she wasn’t supposed to go? Kerri had made yet another mistake, one of many that further separated her from the other girls.

Even back then, the girls all knew that Kerri was “different”.

“Maybe she sees something she likes,” offered Haley to more giggles. “She always was the baby of our bunch.”

Kerri felt the heat rise in her cheeks. She had to leave, there was a party to return to, so she waved goodbye to Color-Blaze to join Haley and the gang.

The slumber party went on the way they usually did, with Kerri on the periphery. The other girls formed a group on one end of the room, while Kerri settled in her sleeping bag in the far corner. They had stayed up way too late; softly whispering and giggling, long after ‘lights out’. Kerri had tried staying up like the rest, she even tried to listen in on their gossip with her tickling ears, but sleep had other plans.

The rest of the night went fine, it was in the morning when her troubles started.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Haley stood over Kerri in the corner.

The room was lit by the morning sun peaking through the blinds. Did she know then that the day would become ‘The Day’? That this was a terrible beginning to a terrible day that would never end? That the pain would last for years and years and follow her around as extra baggage and long, drawn-out shadows.

No. She felt nothing besides the ‘wrong’.

Things felt wrong.
Immediate wrongness.

Her clothes were clammy and cold, and stuck to her legs like she dipped her lower half into a swimming pool. Kerri tried to hide the fact she sometimes wet the bed; but it was no use, the deepening color of the stain was apparent to anyone that looked: Kerri had an accident.

Haley’s hands shot over her mouth, as she quickly found out Kerri's secret, and she to at least pretend to hide her cruel laughter.

Kerri pleaded in her dream.
Don’t say it.
Don’t say anything.

This all lived in the past, where actual events evolved into a recurring nightmare, and Kerri begged her memories to change.

“Oh my gosh!” Haley squealed. “Kerri, did you pee your pants?”

In an instant, everything went sideways. The other girls weren’t just girls anymore, they transformed like everyone else would. Real-life shadow creatures called out from their spots in the room. This time they took the form of friends. Megan. Cammie. Brittany. Noelle. Sierra.

“Ewww.”
“Gross..”

“Wait… she actually wets the bed?”

Haley turned towards her friends. “I’ve got to tell my mom.”

The rest of the room watched and waited.

Kerri had to do something. This was only a dream, but she felt like she could change things. She stood up to make some kind of defense, but the wet stain on her pajama pants was indefensible.

The girls giggled and smirked as Kerri remained frozen, each taking part in making it feel so much worse without saying much at all.

Less than a minute later, Haley marched back into the room with a smile on her face. A bad, bad smile. A smile that said ‘watch this’.

“Kerri, baby.”

Mrs. Hutchinson’s words shot through the awkward silence. Haley’s mom called out from the other place… the baby’s room… the pink nursery with the diapers. All the girls knew why she was in there, all of the girls knew what was going to happen next. Even Kerri.

“Kerri… baby… could you come here for a moment?”

….

Kerri lifted herself from her pillow. Her heart was pounding. Thud. Thud. Her open mouth drinking the night air in rapid, ragged gasps.

Something was terribly wrong.

It was the middle of the night, and the dorm sat still in the darkness.

Why was she awake? And why did she feel so awful?

She pressed her hands against her blankets and found the answer to both questions. It felt wet. Like clingy and wet.

No… This can’t be… This hadn’t happened in years. Not since junior high.

“No. No. No.” Kerri hoped it was still a nightmare. “Not here. Not here.”

Kerri blindly tapped at the wet sheets making a map of the damage, its epicenter between her thighs and radiating down her legs and up her back. Her pajamas were toast. The boy shorts and plain t-shirt stuck to her clammy skin, and there was no saving face from what she had done.

As quietly as she could, Kerri dipped a toe to the floor.

What the heck was she going to do now?

Last night’s shenanigans were fresh on her mind, and the overpowering smell of urine tickled her nose. She didn’t have to think about what she’d do next, it just kinda came to her in a flash.

Get rid of the evidence, and fast: To the laundry room.

Kerri rolled the soiled blankets from the bed, then stripped her wet pajamas, peeling away the sticky boy shorts and sopping undies. Yuck.

There was a familiarity to this nasty ritual, but hiding it was a new twist in the old game. When she was younger, Kerri would just call out for help from mom. Now, mom was a long drive and hours away. Kerri was on her own. She’d solve this problem, and the roomies would never know the difference.

Her wandering mind became hyper focused. Endorphins corralled her fickle synapses, and Kerri was uncharacteristically alert.

Kerri shot through a mental checklist before heading out: Put on new, less ‘peed on’ clothes. Check. Phone for entertainment. Check.

Sleeping roomies still asleep? Judging by the fact that Ana was sawing logs without a single complaint from Candice, she was good to go. Now it became equally important not to wake them. Kerri made sure to brace the door as it closed behind her.

The hallway was as bright as the daytime, but completely empty. She halfway expected to catch Lauren ‘RA’ Spikes on patrol even at this time — she took her job that seriously. There had already been a couple of girls who had to call home in the name of too many demerits, and Kerri did not want to have another run-in with the woman 'with yellow eyes'.

But the hallway was empty. So Kerri made her move.

And she moved slow.

The blankets were extra heavy, and she had to constantly pick up tendrils of sheets that slunk to the floor. She almost tripped on one that tucked its way under foot. Kerri had to be more careful, one stumble and fall then the whole world would wake up and see what she’d done.

What had she done?

It couldn’t be as simple as an accident.

There had to be something more to it, like a conspiracy to bring her down. Down even lower, if that were possible. Her wandering mind drifted to her roommates, with their stifled giggles and vibrating phones. Then to thoughts of Candice and her words 'Pop a diaper on her' and ‘What if she wets the bed?’. Sheesh.

Being a smol joke was hardly fun, neither was the paranoia that came along with it.

Could they make her wet the bed? Impossible. Maybe possible. It shouldn’t even be considered. Possibly maybe.

Kerri wanted to believe that her ‘friendly’ roomies wouldn’t play a mean prank on her while she was defenseless, but then again…

The laundry room was pitch black, a tomb dedicated to silent machines. Kerri balanced the wet bundle on her knee as she fumbled for a light switch. Eventually she found it, and the room hummed and buzzed as they flickered to life.

Kerri took a deep breath as the basement lit up one overhead light at a time. The walls and floor were concrete, the ceiling something else. Lots of empty washers in here, and lots of empty driers, too. She hastily threw the evidence into the closest machine, and that was that, now the waiting would begin.

And while she waited, Kerri speculated.

What if the roomies DID do something to her?

Like the good old ‘hand in the water bowl trick’ from slumber party mythology. But there was no evidence of any foul play. No bowl. No water. No wet fingers, only wet pants.

Maybe they slid headphones on her that conveyed subliminal messages to make her wet her pants. Then they slid them off after the damage was done. No. That didn’t pass the ‘reality’ test. Also, Kerri wasn’t that deep of a sleeper.

What if they poured water on her while she just slept through the splashing? Water that smelled like pee. Yeah. That wasn’t right, either.

Kerri Baby. Kerri Baby. Kerri Baby. This was just like the ‘Kerri Baby’ sleepover, the accident, the stress — the aftermath, but that was back home, a long time ago in a Louisiana town far, far away.

The truth was that Kerri could not blame herself. It couldn’t be her fault because of… reasons. Even if she had a history of these kind of things, Kerri could still trust Kerri, at least more than her shady roommates.

Paranoia is quite the finger trap.

Kerri wanted to trust Candice and Ana, but the more she dwelled on the way they treated her like a ‘project’, the deeper into the trap she sunk — until there was no pulling free no matter how hard she tugged.

There was a multi-tiered hierarchy being built; one less resembling a tower or pyramid, more like four encircling walls, or a prison with a skybox, or a dank, dark laundry room sinking into the earth. There were many depressing ways to describe feelings she associated with her living situation.

She needed to keep an eye on her so-called ‘friends’.

Was that deep thinking, or a just a part of the finger trap? Kerri didn’t know. It was a feeling, however. A feeling that stuck around like being an ‘experiment’.

After watching an episode of Princess Ponies on her phone, she cycled the sheets to the drier. After a second episode, the cycle was done, now it would be all about collecting everything and heading back to her room. The wash was all soft and warm from the machine. Kerri sniffed the dried bundle of jammies and sheets, searching for a hint of pee smell like a dedicated sommelier.

Mmm-mmm.

It smelled clean and fresh, and it smelled like she was in the clear.

Crisis averted. A giant pony problem solved in thirty minutes, just like in the episodes that she had just watched, maybe this was a step in the right direction.
 
Kerri decided to tip-toe back to her room, delightfully thinking that maybe she would get away with it. Which was a good feeling, a mistake hastily covered up was almost as good as not making the mistake at all.
 
"What in the world are you doing?"
 
A voice that came from behind her stopped Kerri in her tracks. It was the honorable Lauren Spikes. No one else could fit so much condescension in so little words.

Kerri slowly turned to see Miss Spikes in the flesh, wearing a baggy shirt and pajama pants, a wary face without makeup, and definitely without a smile.
 
"Seriously, Miss Summers. Why are you up this late?"
 
"I'm um... ummm… getting an early start on laundry?" Kerri trailed off in a way that was hardly convincing. "You know, to get ahead of the rush."
 
Miss Spikes circled Kerri with tight yellow-eyes and a frosty expression; she believed the lie almost as much as Kerri did, which was not at all.
 
"At four AM?" questioned the RA. "And without a laundry basket?"
 
Kerri had to admit that Spikes was good, like Sherlock Holmes good. Still, she tried a second time to convince the dorm detective.

"Maybe… I… uh… needed to get a very early start on laundry, and I forgot my basket in the room. Silly me. If you don't mind, I'll just scoot on by and get some nice shut eye..."
 
Unfortunately, Miss Spikes didn't let her pass. The RA's unkind face tightened into a stern one, giving her wrinkles a bit more definition. Under forty years old with well-defined crow’s feet, that was the kind of woman that stood between Kerri and her dorm room.
 
"Show me what you have in your hands, and I'm going to check pockets for drugs. No arguing."
 
With a certain amount of reluctance, Kerri opened up her arms and showed her the clean sheets, shorts, and shirt. The panties were in a bundle as well.

Kerri let her do her job, it was all she could do. She grimaced as Miss Spikes tapped at her fresh laundry with a discerning index finger. When the older woman poked her way to satisfaction, make-up-less Lauren Spikes proceeded to take a step back and cross her arms.
 
"This is awfully suspicious,” Miss Spikes started into a diatribe. “I don't smell alcohol on the breath, but I can't rule out boys either. Tell me the truth, did you sneak a boy out just now? I can tell if you're lying. I've been a Residential Advisor long enough to save you from embarrassing yourself. Boys, drugs, and alcohol are banned for reasons, they can get a nice young girl into a lot of trouble. You know what also gets you into trouble, wandering around late at night when you’re supposed to be in bed. Are you even listening to me? You look high. Spaced out.”

Kerri took a moment to try to keep up; silently staring at the floor or ceiling, avoiding eye contact at all costs.
 
“Miss Summers, are you doing okay?”

The smol girl fell apart in front of her, the rush from the laundry cover-up long gone.

“I… I… just need to get some sleep, that’s all.”

“Oh, bless your heart,” Miss Spikes softly delivered the deep south pity-punch. “You know that I’m expected to contact psych services if one of my charges isn’t up to snuff. So I’ll ask again, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah,” Kerri croaked, “I’m doing okay.”

“That’s good, Miss Summers. It’ll help with what we have to do next.” Miss Spikes put a firm hand on Kerri’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Kerri, but I have to give you a ‘pat-down’. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“Come on! I’m just doing laundry,” replied Kerri. “There’s no need…”

“There’s no need to do laundry at four in the morning,” snarked Spikes, her hand tightened its grip until it started to hurt. “Now turn and face the wall, let’s get this over with so we can both go back to bed.”

Kerri turned away and leaned against the wall, pressing her cheek against the cold brick. This couldn’t be happening. Not again.

Miss Spikes was fast. In no time, she had her hands at Kerri’s hips, yanking her from the wall, and making the girl stick her smol bottom out. Then with her icy tendril-fingers, she ran her hands up and around Kerri’s back, slowly raking at her pockets before pooling between her legs.

“You know,” Miss Spikes said softly, “it’s important to be thorough..”

Kerri died inside as she felt a hand hover at the backside waistline of her pajama pants, completely helpless as Miss Spikes slid two fingers into the crevice between clothes and skin before pulling the pants back. What the heck! Miss Southern Hospitality was taking a peek at Kerri’s butt! The RA had skipped checking the underwear, heading straight to the nudity. No passing ‘Go’. No $200.

“What are you looking for?” gasped Kerri as she fought the urge to squirm.

“Contraband,” replied Miss Spikes. “Also checking to see if you’ve been a good girl.”

Kerri felt the cold air on her halfway-exposed buttocks. Miss Spikes was certainly taking her sweet time back there. Why in the world was she taking her sweet time back there?

“Are you going to finish?” asked Kerri.

“I’d be done already if you’d stop squirming,” grumbled Spikes. “I swear that you’re just like a toddler getting her diaper checked. I can tell you’re trying to hide something, but I don’t know what.”

Kerri froze.

“Are you hiding something, young lady?” Miss Spikes asked as if she already thought she knew the answer. “It’s so important to tell the truth, Miss Summers. Lying is what bad little girls do - same with sneaking around when they should be in bed. Do you know what happens to little girls who misbehave?”

Kerri shook her head. “They get demerits?”

“No — they get punished.” Miss Spikes spun the small girl around to face her. Yep. She still had yellow eyes.

“I don’t want to punish you, Kerri. I’d only do it if it was in your best interest… I’m not some sort of villain or something… think of me as your dorm mom, a dorm mom that gives ‘tough love’.”

No moon witches. No villains. Only dorm moms and big sisters.

“I think you need a hug,” said Miss Spikes.

It wasn’t worth fighting. Kerri fell right into the woman’s arms, hanging loosely like a sack of potatoes. After another humiliating minute, the self-described dorm mom removed herself from blocking the path to her room.

“I’ll let you pass, Kerri, but I‘m serious about on campus crisis help. You’re acting aloof and out-there. Accepting help doesn’t make you a bad person, and they’re here to be an assistance. Kerri, look at me when I’m talking to you. I said ‘look at me’. Why aren’t you paying attention?”

Kerri slowly pulled her tired gaze from the floor to Miss Spikes.

Miss Spikes let out an exasperated sigh. “We can finish this conversation later.”

That was the best news Kerri had heard all morning, rushing away to the door to room 201 when Lauren Spikes gave her a parting shot.

“I’m worried about you, Miss Summers. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that you wet the bed, and that you’re trying to cover up the evidence.”

Kerri sucked in a deep breath, almost enough to make her choke.

The smol girl slowly turned to find the RA with her arms crossed as she gave Kerri a second ocular pat down. The older woman twisted her lips in consideration of… something.

Was it that obvious?

There were few other reasons for a girl to wash her bedsheets at four in the morning.

Smokescreen. She could fake this. Pretend, Kerri, pretend.

“Oh, that’s hilarious,” Kerri forced a giggle. “I bet that’s the way it looks. I hope there aren’t any demerits for bed wetting.”

“Not demerits,” Spikes said with a sly grin, “for bed wetting there’s something else.”

And, thankfully, that conversation was over.

However, their brief interaction bothered Kerri well into the dark dorm room. She thought about what she could have meant, long after quietly making the bed, long after settling under the blankets.

Upon reflection, the whole late night ordeal dug up bad memories. That real deep down stuff that had thankfully collected enough algae and moss to cover up the actual telling of events. Bad events. The kind of memories that weren’t good to remember.

Kerri Baby. How had it followed her here?

…….

Eventually, Kerri fell asleep.

A short rest that had her sleeping through her morning English class, but who needed to learn about English? She’d been speaking it for her entire life.

Still, playing hooky was something she had to make sure not to make a habit. Just like ‘the something’ that kept her awake in the first place. The mark on the Project Kerri chart for missing class was already there when she joined the land of the living around noon, and it was only a few hours later when all three girls returned to the room for some needed downtime.

Unlike the other two, Kerri had never left. The late night before was beginning to flex its muscle, and the roomies were starting to feel its tiring effects.

Ana laid sprawled out on the couch, she had a book titled ‘Potty Preparedness’ resting on her chest and a highlighter in her hand. This probably had to do with the babysitting job and those diapered twins. Exchange ‘probably’ with ‘hopefully’.

Candice was dressed to run. The change in schedule had caused her to miss her usual early morning running time, and she was tying a tight ponytail at the vanity mirror that hung above the sink.

“I’m telling you, chica.” Ana groaned as she extended her arms into a long stretch. “I’m getting so tired of changing those boy’s messy diapers. It’s almost as if they enjoy pooping their pants.”

“Weren’t the diapers one of your ideas?” Candice said from her spot in front of the mirror. “Like the rest of your crazy ‘research’.”

“Yeah…” sighed Ana. “The baby treatment usually works though...”

Meanwhile, Kerri sat in her corner facing out, coloring in her coloring book while trying to catch her roomies in a lie. Both of her mind-fingers were deep within the finger trap.

The wet sheets had to be all her roommate’s fault; she just had to find proof. So far they hadn’t mentioned anything incriminating, but she wanted to be alert and not ‘a-wandering’ when they did eventually slip up. What kind of evidence did she need? Kerri wasn’t sure, but she would know when she had it in hand.

“I saw the strangest thing last night,” Candice said as she checked both sides of her face in the mirror. “I could swear that I saw Kerri’s bed empty. No Kerri. No bedding. Like she moved out, or something. What‘s up with that, Kerr-bear?”

“Kerr-bear?” giggled Ana. “Really, Candice?”

Candice shrugged. “Yeah, what do you think?”

“I think it’s cute…. Ahhh… Kerr-bear.” Ana kicked her legs in the air. “It’s just like you said last night ‘this could all be good for her’ and could be fun for the two of us.”

Wait. Candice never said that last night. It must have been texted.

Finally, some evidence! And of a conspiracy, no less. Kerri’s skin prickled as her heart beat faster, as the crayon in her hand wildly scratched the page. If she played it cool, she could get to the bottom of this…

Kerri asked, “What could be fun?”

The two other girls side-eyed each other without saying a word.

“Come on, tell me,” Kerri continued to press. “What could be fun with Kerr-bear?”

Kerri had them now. Any truthful answer would be confirmation of the conspiracy; an opportunity to place blame on someone other than herself, scapegoating was the way to go.

“It’s not what you think, Kerri.” Ana slid her book aside to explain. “Last night, I noticed that we were making you upset. So I told Candice we need to do a better job with easing you into phase two of Project Kerri. She said we should also make things more fun for the two of us, especially since we’re the ones sacrificing and doing all of the work.”

“Yeah… we also said we’d hold off on the whole dress up thing until Monday,” added Candice.

The ‘dress-up thing’. Oh no. Kerri had somehow forgotten about that; wetting the bed has a tendency to dramatically shift the priorities.

“I thought I said that I didn’t want to do the dress-up thing,” grumbled Kerri.

Ana pressed her lips together and shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t think you get to pick your punishments, chica. That’s our responsibility as big sisters.”

Candice smiled. “What’s the point of consequences if you get to pick and choose when you get them?”

Too much. Too much. Too much.

“Aggggh!” groaned Kerri. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

Ana shook her head as if the lesson wasn’t sinking in.

“Nothing keeps happening TO you, nina. You’re missing the most important aspect of Project Kerri. You have total control over what happens you, but you keep failing to understand that.”

“That’s not what I meant,” clarified Kerri, she wagged a red crayon at her roommate. “How come there isn’t any Project Ana, or anything like that?”

Ana quickly answered, “Because I’m not anything like you, Kerri.”

“What’s that mean?” asked Kerri.

“You’re different, Kerri.” Candace sat down on the couch to slip on running shoes. “Not a bad different, but it would be stupid to say that you aren’t.”

“Yeah, okay.” Kerri slid further into her chair. Probably in a way that made her ‘different’.

“I’m worried about you, chica.” Ana cleared her throat. “Like seriously worried. You’ve been ‘out of sorts’ a lot more than usual. When’s the last time you called home?”

“I don’t need to call home,” snapped Kerri. “Drop it, Ana. I don’t need anything from my parents.”

The room fell quiet as everyone watched Candice fold in half to tie the laces to her sneakers.

“This still doesn’t ‘fix’ the mystery,” said Candice.

Solve. The stupid blonde was looking for the word solve. You don’t ‘fix’ a mystery, you solve it.

Ana asked, “What mystery?”

“Why would she take off her sheets in the middle of the night? And where would she go?”

Kerri went on the defensive. Her eyes darted from Candice to Ana, thinking of a believable lie. She should have prepared a statement. Maybe have hired a PR representative.

“You probably just saw something,” argued Kerri, “a bad dream… something not real.”

Neither one believed Kerri. Their stupid closeness wouldn’t be pierced by her bad lies. Kerri considered just telling them the truth, but she didn’t want to even think about how they’d respond to her accident. There were diapers in the room, and a looming threat of ‘popping’ one on Kerri.

Also, telling the truth would also give away that she was onto them. Them doing what exactly? Them being them. The finger trap didn’t need any explanation.

“Kerri,” Ana lifted her gaze to the smol girl, “would you care to elaborate?”

“No. I don’t need to say anything. She’s just trying to get me in trouble so she can ‘spank’ me again. Candice is a liar.”

Candice muttered, “Whatever.” Then she went out the door.

That left the two other girls to sit in the silence, both deep in thought, both with fingers in the finger trap.

From across the room, Ana observed Kerri while rolling a highlighter between her teeth. The professional babysitter slowly flipped back a few pages in her potty training book. Her dark eyes seemed to see right through Kerri, making the smol girl squirm. Then with a quick click of a pen, Ana applied the highlighter to a suddenly important line of text.

END OF PART ONE

[Night Rain]

Wonder whats in store in part 2 of this.

[D503]

I still hope for a Part 2 one day!