Zelinda's Garden (Ch.12 - 4/19/2024)

[PamperedPrince]

16-year-old Zelinda Seacrest is a vegetable, stuck in a coma for 11 years and counting.  Her mother Zentroz is worried about the health of her daughter, hoping every day that she would awaken from her endless sleep.  

But unbeknownst to her mother, Zelinda's dreams have served as a wondrous, attractive, and nearly permanent destination since they began 11 years ago.  A magical kingdom paradise born from her imagination, with Zelinda princess over it all.  And with an imagination that has grown beyond her wildest dreams, Zelinda ventures to the surface of her subconscious, bringing her overactive imagination with her.

Meanwhile, Zentroz grows restless with her husband Jonathan as they receive news of the moment that they were waiting for.  A care-free Zelinda finally awakens,  ready to experience the strange new world that awaits her.  And with the kingdom in her mind, she slowly introduces it to her parents, before gradually growing homesick of her dream world again.

The thought of the mysterious dream world that her daughter describes begins to worry Zentroz.  And her daughter's growing attachment to it worries her even more.  And as the days and weeks go by with Zelinda's numerous revisits to the land of her imagination, her daughter begins to change more and more.  What was this mysterious land that she spent so much time in?  Why does Zelinda keep becoming more and more different?   Before any of Zentroz's questions could even be answered, Zelinda becomes as mysterious as the dream world that she first experienced in her coma and her parents begin to find themselves right in the middle of their daughter's fantasy world.

Welcome to the kingdom born from imagination.  Welcome to Zelinda's Garden.

I. The Planting

Chapter 1: Nowhere

Zelinda Seacrest’s eyes looked so empty that you would believe that there’s nothing inside her.  Her eyes never changed or moved. If you were to try to talk to her, you would clearly get no answer.   All you would get is a glance of her dazed stupor.  A robotic glance devoid of any real intelligence.

Her hazel hair flowed down to her shoulders.  Her face was lightly freckled with a couple areas of acne starting to form.  Her left bra strap sagged over the v-neck of her sky-blue dress.  Lacking any awareness, Zelinda continued to stare into nothing.  While her own heartbeat proved that she was alive, Zelinda was nowhere to be found.

She was sitting on a soft tan couch, with her neck hunched over.  Her parents sat beside her, impatiently looking at their phones for the time.

“When is he coming?” Jonathan said, staring up from his phone screen.  “It’s three minutes after four!  The doctor is three minutes late!”

“Calm down, dear.” Zentroz said, patting her hand on his right shoulder.  “Maybe she’s with another patient.”  Zentroz gazed over at her teenage daughter and tucked the bra strap back into her dress.  “There honey.  I fixed it.”

But Zelinda didn’t respond.  She maintained her same blank stare as usual.

“Why do you talk to her?” Jonathan said, sighing.  “She is not even there!”

“How do you know?” Zentroz asked him.  “There might be something going on inside her.  You don’t know!”

“Do you still think that?  She’s been like this for 11 years!”

Zentroz took the defensive.  “Maybe so, but she’s still my daughter and I want to talk to her.  Isn’t that right, Zelinda dear?”  She waved her hands up and down over Zelinda’s eyes, which remained still.

Zentroz could remember the last time that her daughter was normal.  It was just a few days after Zelinda’s fifth birthday, in the year 2043.

Zentroz was putting her daughter to bed.

“No mommy!” she cried.  “Tell me more of the story!”

Zentroz held the book shut and smiled.  “Don’t want to ruin the surprise, dear.  You’ll hear some more tomorrow night, okay?” She leaned over her daughter’s bed and nuzzled her nose over her daughter’s face.  “I love you, dear.”

Zelinda gave her mother a look of curiosity.  “Mommy?”

“Yes dear?” she asked, staring into her eyes.

“Am I a princess, like the story you told me?”

Zentroz waved her hand on her daughter’s face like a magic wand.  “You are, dear.  You’re a beautiful princess.”

Zelinda’s face lit up and she began to smile.  “Look at me, mommy!  I’m a princess!”

Zentroz nodded, giving her daughter a very excited face.  “You are!  Good night, dear!”

She kissed her daughter goodnight and left the room.

During that night, something strange started to happen.  Zelinda quickly fell asleep and was filled with the dreams from all the stories that her mother told her.  Stories about beautiful princesses and heroic princes to rescue them.  Fond memories of all the playtime that she had during that day.

Then it happened.  In the morning, Zelinda stopped.  Her face gave a blank stare, which has remained unchanged to this day.  Wherever Zelinda went that one night, she never wanted to come back.

The doctor finally came in and shook both Zentroz’s and Jonathan’s hand.  Dr. Julia Prost greeted her patient with a warm smile.  “How’s Zelinda today?”

Zelinda gave her usual response, giving her a blank and emotionless stare.

Dr. Prost nodded.  “Fine as usual, I would guess?”  She adjusted her glasses and gave Zentroz a serious stare.  “I know that you want to see your daughter back in the right mind.  Do you mind if we run some more tests on her again?”

Jonathan sighed.  “What difference would that make?  You have done this every month for years!”

Dr. Prost gave Jonathan a sharp stare.  “Yes, I know.  But what else can we do?  There might be something else that we can find out about her.  Something that might get you your daughter back.”

Zentroz elbowed Jonathan and smiled at the doctor.  “Oh, we would love that!  Wouldn’t you want that, honey?”

Jonathan nodded.  “Yes, I would, but we’ve been down this road for about 11 years now.  Do you really think that this would make any difference?”

“Yes!” she sharply responded.  “I think that it would make a lot of difference!  Let’s just do what the doctor says.  Okay?”  She looked back at the doctor and nodded.  “Go ahead and take her. If you have any questions regarding her, they’re all going to be the same as last time.  Just to save you the time.”

Dr. Prost nodded.  “That’s fine.  And that’s also why we would like to run some more tests on her.  Just asking the same questions and trying all the same things as before isn’t going to change anything.  All we can do is run some more tests.  Maybe we can reach her this time.”

“I hope!” Zentroz said with a smile.

Dr. Prost held Zelinda by the hand and led her outside the room to the lobby with Zentroz and Jonathan following.  Some other specialists were standing there, ready to take Zelinda.

Zentroz’s smile faded when she saw the specialists guiding Zelinda down the hallway.

“Leave her to us.” Dr. Prost said, giving her a reassuring smile.  I’ve trained the new staff so they’ll know what to do with her.  I’ll keep a good eye on her, okay?”

Zentroz nodded.  “Okay.  Let’s go home, honey!”

Zentroz and Jonathan left, leaving Zelinda to the doctors.

The doctors ran all the usual tests on Zelinda, but the results were the same as last time.  By that time, it was evening, so they placed her in one of the hospital beds.

Zelinda’s blank stare retired for the day.  Her eyelids drooped shut and she fell asleep.

***

Zelinda watched as her mother tucked her in.  That was a wonderful story.   She wanted to hear more and how it turned out.  Where did the princess go?  What land did she travel to next?  Maybe she’ll tell me more if I ask her…

 But the mother closed the book.

Zelinda, now crushed, started to cry.  “No mommy!” she whined.  “Tell me more of the story!”

But the mother just stood there, holding the book in her hands.  Zelinda glanced at the book and frowned.  If only I could get that book!  Maybe mommy tell me just a little more…”

“Don’t want to ruin the surprise, dear,” she told her.

Zelinda’s tears were erased when she heard the word “surprise”.  What?  Surprise?  Where?  Zelinda glanced around, trying to find where the surprise was.

“You’ll hear some more tomorrow night, okay?”

Zelinda glanced at the book that was out of her grasp.  Tomorrow?  I can’t wait until tomorrow!  Please let it be soon!  Pleeeease?  She felt the nuzzling of her mother’s nose against hers.  Oh, I love it when mommy does that!  I hope that she kisses me too!

“I love you, dear,” the mother warmly told her.

Zelinda then thought of the story that she just heard again.  That princess in that story…Is that me?  Maybe mommy knows!  Mommy knows everything…  “Mommy?” she said with great eagerness.

The mother stared deeply into Zelinda’s eyes.  “Yes dear?”

Zelinda began to smile even more.  “Am I a princess, like the story you told me?”   She watched her mother wave her hand on her face.  It’s a magic wand!  She’s turning me into a princess!

“You are, dear.” The mother told Zelinda.  “You’re a beautiful princess.”

Zelinda smiled very brightly.  She closed her eyes, imagining her beauty.  She then opened her eyes.  “Look at me, mommy!  I’m a princess!”

The mother nodded and smiled widely at Zelinda.  “You are! Good night, dear!”

Zelinda glanced at her mother, who gave her a very nice kiss on the cheek.  There we go!  She didn’t forget!  Yay!

After the mother left the room, Zelinda’s eyes became heavy.  When she opened her eyes, she was in a magical land.  She got out of her royal bed and glanced out of the window.  She was in a beautiful castle on top of a very high hill.  When she saw the view, her royal chamber, and her royal princess gown, she sighed with ecstasy.

“Wow!” she squealed.  “I really am a beautiful princess!  “I never want to leave this kingdom!   Ever!”

And that is just what happened.  Since the night she dreamt that dream, she has remained princess of her very own kingdom.  All while her body continued to age day by day from the outside.  While her mother was worrying about her vegetative state, she was having the time of her life, living every one of her days as a beautiful princess in a land of her very own.

***

Eleven years has passed since Zelinda began the wonderful journey to her very own kingdom.  Every day played out exactly as the day before.  Her mother the queen would tell her that one day, the land would be hers.  Everything that she could see outside the window of her castle would belong to her.

Zelinda, still five years old, squealed as she played with her royal blocks.  She stacked the blocks to make a royal castle of her own.  Looking out of the castle, she frowned.  “Mommy, can we make the castle bigger?”

Right after she said that, the castle grew to exactly the size that she wanted.

“Yay!”  She got to her feet and ran around all the new rooms that she made in her now bigger castle.

When she entered the throne room, she went and sat on the throne.  “Mommy?” she asked.

The queen immediately appeared.  “Yes dear?”

“Can I be ruler now?” she asked her.

Right after she asked her, a crown appeared on her head.

“You are, dear!” she told Zelinda.  “You rule everything!”

Zelinda smiled.  “I do!”

All of a sudden, Zelinda suddenly remembered the story that her mother promised that she would tell her.  She glanced at the queen.  “Can you tell me the story now?”

The queen looked at her in confusion.  “What story do you want me to tell you?”

Zelinda smiled.  “You know!  The princess story!”

The queen nodded and smiled.  “You’re already a princess.  What story do you want to hear?”

Zelinda frowned and began to pout.  “You don’t know the story.  I wanna hear the story!”

A portal appeared and Zelinda saw it.  Wow!  A flashing thing!  If I go through it, will mommy tell me the story?

Zelinda ran eagerly through the portal and went through it, her very own kingdom vanishing behind her…

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 2: The Miracle

Zelinda stirred in her bed.  She woke up, realizing that she was wearing a hospital gown.  She felt her longer hair and looked around.  “Where’s mommy?”

The 16-year-old teen got up and ran out of the room.  “Where is my mommy?” A night aide, which saw her run out, gasped.  He immediately alerted a few other staff to stop her from leaving the building.

Zelinda ran to the end of the hallway where three men dressed in scrubs were blocking the way.

“You’re not going anywhere, miss.”

Zelinda’s eyes began to water.  “I want my mommy!” she shouted.  “I want my mommy!”

One of the three men got a tranquilizer needle and sedated her.  Her whining continued until she fell asleep.

While she fell asleep, one of the men called Dr. Prost and told her everything.

In less than an hour, Dr. Prost was back at the hospital.  She ordered all of the tests be ran again on Zelinda.

In the morning, Zentroz got a call from Dr. Prost and was asked to come back into the hospital to see her daughter.  After sharing the news with her, they were both there very quickly.

Zentroz opened the door of the lobby to see Dr. Prost sitting on the couch with Zelinda.

When Zelinda saw her mother, she waved her hands in excitement.  “Hi mommy!”

Zentroz smiled but was taken aback by her daughter’s behavior.  “Hi honey…” Then she turned to Dr. Prost.  “She’s not acting age appropriate.”

Dr. Prost smiled and nodded. “It’s okay.  We already tested her.  She has the mental capacity of a five-year old.”

Zentroz glanced at her daughter’s energetic mannerisms.  “I see…”

Jonathan nodded.  “Well, it would make sense since she wasn’t able to develop for 11 years, right?”

Zentroz nodded. She looked at Dr. Prost again, her mind bursting at the seams with questions.  “Is she able to use the bathroom?”

Dr. Prost nodded.  “You don’t have to help her with that anymore.  She still knows how to use it.  In fact, that was one of the first things that she did when I got to the hospital early this morning.”

“So, 11 years of being a vegetable and now she’s finally self-aware again?” Jonathan said, shrugging his shoulders.

“I know!” Zentroz said, hugging her husband.  “Isn’t it a miracle?”

“It is!”  Jonathan said with a smile.  “I’m so glad to have our daughter back.”

Zelinda eagerly hugged both of her parents.  “Mommy!  Daddy!”

Over the next three hours, Dr. Prost answered all of Zentroz’s questions while Jonathan watched and Zelinda played with some toy blocks.  She stacked them to form the same castle that she made in her dream world.

After all of the questions were answered, Zentroz and Jonathan left with Zelinda, satisfied.

That night, Zentroz went through the usual routine in getting Zelinda ready for bed.  When Zentroz forgot to tuck in her daughter, she frowned.

“Mommy…” she called her.  “You forgot to tuck me in!”

“Remember”, Zentroz told herself.  “She may look like she’s sixteen but she’s still five-years old on the inside!”  She glanced at Zelinda and nodded.  “Oh!  I did forget to tuck you in!  Here.  Let mommy take care of that…”  Zentroz tucked her daughter in and walked towards the door.  She pivoted when she heard her daughter’s voice again.

“Mommy, tell me more of that story, like you promised!”

A chill ran down Zentroz’s spine.  Eleven years ago, she told her daughter that she would read more of the story to her! Fortunately, she remembered which story it was, and she got the book back out.  It was even bookmarked at the spot where she previously left off.  So, without skipping a beat, Zentroz continued reading more of the book, filling her daughter with more of the plot of the princess that was whisked away to a faraway land.  Just as she got to that part, she closed the book again.

“No mommy!” she shouted high pitched in her sixteen-year-old voice.  “Tell me more of the story!”

At that, Zentroz just smiled.  “Can’t do that, dear.” She told her.  “Don’t want to ruin the surprise.”  She held the book and glanced at her daughter.  “You’ll hear more tomorrow, okay?” she nuzzled her nose against her daughter’s face, just as she did when she was little.  “I love you, dear.”

Zelinda’s face lit up with curiosity.  “Am I a princess, mommy, like the story you told me??”

Zentroz waved her hand over her teen daughter.  “Yes, you are, honey.”

Zelinda beamed and gave her mother the brightest smile.  “Look at me, mommy! I’m a princess!”

Her mother smiled back, giving her daughter a look of excitement.  “You are!  Good night dear!”  She kissed her daughter goodnight and left the room.

That night, Zelinda woke up as a five-year old, returning to her kingdom once again.  Eager to hear the next part of the story, it wasn’t going to be a very long stay.

***

Zelinda ended up spending the next four days in her kingdom, ruling as a beautiful princess.  Every time she asked a question about a change in her kingdom, the change immediately happened.  The queen revered her and everyone paid her respect.

On one of the four days, the queen told Zelinda that it was time for bed.  Zelinda, having too much fun on her brand-new royal playground, told her that it wasn’t time for bed.

And it was so.  She playfully giggled, swinging the night away on her royal swingset.

On the fourth day, she suddenly remembered that she wanted to hear another story from her mother.  She did what she previously did before.  She pouted and said “I wanna hear my mommy’s story!”

The portal opened and she walked right through it.

Meanwhile, Zentroz was slumped near Zelinda’s bed, hoping that her daughter would come back.

Zelinda woke up again and yawned.  Glancing at her mother, she smiled.  “Mommy!  Tell me another story, like you promised!”

Her mother looked at her and gasped.  “You’re back again, honey?  What happened?  For four days, you were unresponsive.”

 The smiling teenage girl stared at her and grinned.  “Did you know that I’m a princess, mommy!   I am!”

Zentroz nodded.  “I know honey, but you left us for four days…”

Zelinda gasped and held her two hands opposite her face.  “Uh-oh!  I came back late!  I didn’t mean to…Sorry mommy…”

Zentroz was bewildered.  She had no idea what her daughter was talking about.  “You said that you came back late, honey!”  She looked at her daughter in fright.  “Where did you go?”

“To my very own kingdom, mommy!  I never wanted to leave, but I did!  I missed your story and I wanted to hear more of it…”

Zentroz gasped.  “Wait! When you were gone for four days, you were in your own kingdom, being a pretty princess!”

The daughter nodded.  “With my very own swingset, mommy!  I wish I could take you there to see it!”

She shot a double take at her daughter.  “You were gone for four days but before that…” she gasped.  “You were gone for 11 years!  Are you telling me that you stayed at your kingdom for 11 years?”

She nodded and grinned.  “I told you, mommy!  I said that I never wanted to leave!  But I wanted to hear your story and my queen mommy wouldn’t tell me it!”

 “So, you’re telling me that you have been in your own kingdom for 11 years?  During that time, honey, you were unresponsive to everything!”

“No, I wasn’t!” Zelinda argued.  “I’m a pretty princess in my own kingdom!”

“Yes honey, but you were not here for 11 years.  I just don’t understand how you were dreaming so long…”

Zelinda pouted shaking her head.  “It’s not a dream mommy!  It’s real!”

Zentroz gasped at what her daughter just said.  She can remember making dreams a reality in her youth.  With her daughter saying in her dream that she never wanted to leave, it was so.  She remained in her dream world for 11 long years.  “So, you never wanted to leave?”

Zelinda nodded.  “I never wanted to leave.” Hugging her mother, she said “And then I remembered the story that you told me!  You promised me that you would tell me more!”  Zelinda gasped, pressing her hands below her stomach.  “I gotta go potty!”  She rushed out of the room and entered the bathroom.  About two minutes later, she came back with a smile on her face.  “You PROMISED me that you would tell me a story, mommy!  What happens next?”

Zentroz eyed her daughter skeptically.  “I will tell you more of the story…” she grabbed the book.  “…only if you promise me that you will come back from your little world that you live in.  When you see it daytime in your world, come back.  Or mommy will never tell you another story again.”

Zelinda gasped.  “I promise, mommy!  I promise I will come back!”

Zentroz told her another story, continuing where she last left off.  The princess was whisked far away, and the prince had to figure out where she was.  As the prince was making preparations, she closed the book.  “Tomorrow night, you get to hear what happens next.  Remember our deal, honey!”

Zelinda nodded.  Her mother kissed her on the cheek.  “Good night, honey!”

Zelinda quickly fell asleep, returning to her magical kingdom that she ruled.

Zentroz woke Jonathan up and shared the good news with him.  Tomorrow, they would both tell Dr. Prost that their daughter is well again.

Jonathan rubbed his eyes.  “So how did she come back?”

“She was in her own kingdom, Jonathan.” Zentroz said with a sigh.  “The dreams that she has are a portal to her own world, and she never wants to leave it.”

“So, is that why she was a vegetable for 11 years?”

Zentroz nodded.  “I’m afraid so.  I feel like she loves that world more than our own. I had to bribe her with another story to keep her from staying too long.”

Jonathan kissed Zentroz on the cheek.  “Don’t worry about it.  She’s back, right?”

“She is.”

Both Zentroz and Jonathan fell asleep, happy to have their oldest daughter back.

***

“Where are we going, mommy?”

Zelinda sat in the backseat of the Rolls-Royce as it careened down Long Island, toward New York City.

Zentroz turned her face back from the passenger seat and stared at her daughter.  “We are going to Manhattan to visit your Uncle Mikey and your other sisters.  It is actually your grandpa’s house, but grandpa is going to give Mikey his house when he dies.”

Zelinda frowned.  “Why are we going to Uncle Mikey’s?”

Zentroz gave her a nervous smile.  “We were actually going to celebrate you coming back after 11 years.  But then your mind left us for another four days…”  She wiped a tear off of her eye.  “Anyway, we’re celebrating you coming back today.  Thank you for keeping your promise!”

Zelinda looked at her mother and smiled.  I remember!  If I forget, there will be no more stories!  “If I forget, no stories!” she shouted.

Zentroz frowned.  “You say ‘you’re welcome’ when I say, ‘thank you’, honey.  Now, what do you say?”

“You’re welcome, mommy!” Zelinda shouted.

The Rolls-Royce continued, entering Queens.  Zentroz continued talking to her daughter.  She felt strange talking to her.  To her, it felt like talking to someone who came back from the dead.  For 11 years, she thought her daughter was a vegetable when all along she was in her own little world.

 About an hour later, the car was finally in Manhattan.  It drove down fifth avenue between 42nd and 43rd street.  The Walker Estate sat there in all its glory.  A two-tower complex occupying the block of 42nd, 43rd, Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue.

 Jonathan gave his Rolls-Royce to the valet, and he parked it in the parking deck of the Walker Estate.

The three of them entered the golden turnstiles.  After going through them, Zelinda joyfully jumped up and down, squealing for joy.

Both of Zelinda’s sisters were standing there, casting curious glances on the sister that they never knew.  Danielle, who was ten years old, nervously smiled at her and approached her sixteen-year-old sister.  Two-year old Marcy, still holding a book ran up and curiously examined Zelinda.

“Interesting…” Marcy quietly whispered.  Then she quickly ran up to her mother.  “Hi mommy!  Is our weird sister done being weird?  Can we move back home now to Long Island?”

Zentroz frowned.  “Your sister is not weird.  She is just different.”

Marcy carefully made eye contact with Zelinda.  “She’s less weird.  She’s now making eye contact with me.  Before then, she didn’t look like she was making eye contact with anyone.”

Danielle gave her older sister a faded smile.  “Hey…” she said, sheepishly.  “I’m so glad you came back…” Then she stared at her mother and hugged her.  “Mom,” she whispered.  “I don’t know what to say to her!  Before then, she was a vegetable!”

Zelinda looked at both of her sisters and smiled.  “Hi!  I’m a beautiful princess!”

“Hmm…”  Marcy glanced at her again and then nodded.  “From what I’m gathering, you are not acting age appropriate.”

Zentroz quietly nodded.  “She has the mental capacity of a five-year old.  We’ll talk about it later, honey.”

The Seacrest family all took the elevator up to the 40th floor, where there was a dance floor.  Everyone up there was excited to see Zelinda.  Zelinda just ran around and jumped when she heard the catchy music playing.  For most of the people that tried to talk to her, she shared her alternate identity.  She was a princess that ruled her very own kingdom.  After a couple of hours of dancing and conversation, she rubbed her eyelids.

Zelinda walked up to her mother and jumped.  “I’m tired, mommy!”

Zentroz looking at her teenage daughter, smiled.  She looked at her family and friends and smiled, as she looked at her daughter.  “Zelinda is very tired.  I need to put her to bed.”

Everyone who heard nodded and said their goodnights to Zelinda.

When Mike, Zentroz’s twin sister heard, he walked up and looked at Zelinda.  “Are you tired, my dear niece?” he asked her.  “Have a wonderful night.  I hope you sleep well!”  Then she looked at Zentroz.  “Your old room is still there on the 24th floor, so you and her  can stay there if you want. “

Zentroz smiled.  “Thanks Mike!” She patted her brother on the shoulder and smiled.

Zentroz took Zelinda down to the 24th floor and entered her old room to get Zelinda ready for bed.  She went through the routine and placed Zelinda in her own bed.

Zelinda looked around, trying to find her bed.  “Where’s my bed, mommy?”

Her mother looked down at her and smiled.  “We are staying at Uncle Mikey’s house tonight.  Did you know that this is the bed that I used to sleep in when I was your age?  Well, sixteen, I mean…”

Zelinda nodded and looked around.  “I like this room!” Then she looked at her mother again and smiled.  “Can you tuck me in, mommy?”

Zentroz tucked her in and pulled out her book that she used to read bedtime stories to her.  “And you want a bedtime story too, right?”

Zelinda nodded.  “Yeah!  Continue with the story that you told me, like you promised!”

Her mother continued with the prince making preparations to rescue the princess that was in a faraway land.  The preparations were ready, and he was finished with his first day of sailing off.  She closed the book.  “And you will find out what happens tomorrow night,” she told Zelinda.

But Zelinda was already fast asleep.

She leaned down and kissed her daughter goodnight, praying that she wouldn’t enter her vegetative state again.  Overstaying her welcome in her world of fantasy.  Being a beautiful princess in a kingdom of her very own…

***

Zelinda woke up as a five-year old in her princess bed again.  She looked at her room and frowned.

“Mommy!” she shouted.  “Can my room be made bigger?”

Just as she said that, her room grew ten times its size, just as she wanted.

Overjoyed, Zelinda jumped up and ran around her new room.  “It is so big, and I can run in this room for hours!”

And that is just what she did. Hours later, she stopped running.

After she got up, still in her royal pajamas gown, she got on her royal swing set and swung to her heart’s content.

A few days passed, with her rising once again.  As she got up, she looked out of the window.  Everything that she saw was hers.

Then she looked at the mirror in her room.  She saw her five-year old smile and grinned. “I never wanna grow up!” she shouted.  “I wanna be five forever!”

And it was so.  Not a day went by in the kingdom that she was any older.

A couple more weeks passed, and then she gasped.  “Mommy!” she shouted. “She’s never going to tell me another story again…”

Wailing, she faced near her room and another portal opened.  She walked through it, and all of her world vanished…

***

Zentroz gasped when she saw her daughter finally waking up.  She was back home in her room, at her Long Island house.  It has been a whole month since she last came back from her world of fantasy.

In total disbelief, she looked at her daughter.  She was a teenager no more, but a five-year old girl.

When Zelinda woke up and saw her mother sitting there, she bawled.  “Mommy!” she cried.  “I was late! You’re never gonna read me another story again…” She sat there, crying into her mother’s arms.

But Zentroz smiled at her and hugged her.  “Honey,” she told her.  “Mommy will tell you another story.  Mommy is just glad that you’re back again.”  She held her daughter in her arms and softly patted her face.

Suddenly, Zelinda got up, pressing her two hands below her stomach.  “Mommy!  I gotta go potty!”  She ran out of the room and did her business.  A couple of minutes later, she walked back in and sat down.  “Okay!  Go ahead and read the story, mommy!”

Zentroz sighed but produced a smile for her daughter’s sake.  She got her book back out and recounted the story from where she left off.  On the prince’s journey to find the princess in the far-off land, the prince got shipwrecked and were ran adrift on an island.  She closed the book.

The mother kissed her daughter goodnight and closed her eyes as she left the room, hoping that her daughter wouldn’t remain in the fantasies of her world for too long…

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 3: The Next Dreams

Zelinda spent the next two weeks in her fantasy world.  In the kingdom of her dreams.  Because of all the fun that she was having, she lost track of time.

She got out of her bed one morning and walked out to the balcony in her pink princess pajama gown.  She looked outside and saw a bird flying around in the sky.

She jumped, trying to break away from the law of gravity.  Unsuccessful, she pouted.  “Mommy!” she cried.

The queen appeared again at her command.  “What is it, honey?”

“Is there any way that I can fly?”

Right after she asked that, she leapt, and her body became weightless.  She flew freely through the sky, all around her beautiful kingdom.  Over forests, valleys, and wide-open plains.

There was so much to see that she did not return to her castle for two weeks.

Two weeks later, she rubbed her eyes and sighed.  “I’m tired…” Zelinda said, yawning.  Then she remembered her mother again, and the wonderful story that she had to tell her.  What happens next?  Zelinda made a portal appear in a middle of her vast royal bedroom and flew right through it.

Zelinda woke up to a very concerned Zentroz.

When she saw her awaken, she began to sob.  “Honey,” she cried.  “You have got to stop staying in that world of yours.  You have been gone for two weeks!”

But Zelinda just smiled.  She flew out of her bed flying around the ceiling of her house.  “Look at me, mommy!  I’m flying!”

This made Zentroz sob all the more.  “No!” she pleaded.  “Stop!  Stop flying honey!”

Zelinda hovered right in front of her mother with her hands spread outward.  “Why mommy?  Beautiful and pretty princesses are a’posed to fly.”

Zentroz grabbed Zelinda’s shoulders with both hands and pushed her back down to the floor until her feet were firmly planted on the floor.  After she let go, Zelinda flew back up.  “Stop it, honey!”

Zeliinda giggled, flying to and fro.  Then she gasped, pressing her hands to her pelvic region.  “I gotta go potty!”  She flew out of her bedroom and did her business.  About two minutes later, she came back into the room.  “Read more of the story, like you promised!”

Zentroz glanced at her daughter, and then at the ray of sun piercing through the window into her room.  “It’s morning, honey.  I’ll tell you it tonight.”

Zelinda nodded and flew around her mother.  “Okay mommy!” She then flew outside her room.

Zentroz gasped and ran out to follow her flying daughter. “Honey, where are you going?”

Zelinda smiled.  “Outside!”

Zentroz chased her daughter all the way to the door.  She was just tall enough to turn the knob and run outside the house.  She ran through the driveway and flew upward through the trees.  “No honey!” she cried.  “Come back!”

Zentroz ran into her bedroom and woke up Jonathan.  Jonathan yawned, rubbing his eyes.

“What’s new?” he asked his wife.

Zentroz sobbed. “Zelinda is back again in her head, but she can fly now!”

Jonathan gasped.  “So first she becomes five years old and now she can fly?  What’s next?”

“I do not want to know,” Zentroz said, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

Zentroz and Jonathan wasted no time and calling every emergency unit from Long Island to Manhattan.  Their precious Zelinda was flying who knows where, and they’re going to get her back at any cost.

***

Zelinda soared upward, glancing down as she watched her family house, the four-story Seacrest Estate get smaller and smaller as she increased in altitude.  The four-story estate, which was built into a rolling hill, was now just a tiny dot that she could cover over with her hand.

“Whee!” Zelinda squealed.  The wind brushed through her hair, tickled her face, and blew her pink night gown around.   She didn’t have a destination and she didn’t even know where she was going.  All she knew was that was high in the air, flying wherever she wanted.

She flew higher, seeing a jet airliner in the distance.  When she saw the enormous plane go by, she waved at it.

“Hi plane!” she shouted.  “I’m Zelinda!  I’m a pretty princess!” 

She waved her hands at the plane as she effortlessly glided through the air like she was gliding through water.  Her gown, all filled with air, puffed up as she flew.  As she descended, her gown deflated.

She flew over a landscape filled with trees and rolling plains.  A complex network of interstate could be seen below, full of traffic.

She looked ahead and saw a cluster of skyscrapers in the distance.  “Big buildings!” she shouted. She zoomed through the air, giggling with each new gust of air that flowed through her night gown.

In a couple of minutes, she was over Queens and Brooklyn. Manhattan sat a little north.  So many pretty buildings.  Where can I land?  Zelinda continued flying until she saw a rooftop filled with grass.  It was rather spacious, so she landed on it.  From her vantage point, she was surrounded by skyscrapers.  “So many pretty buildings!” Zelinda shouted.

 It was a beautiful view, which reminded her of her kingdom.  Thinking more and more about her land of fantasy, she started to cry.  With the Seacrest Estate in Long Island a good distance away, she was far from home, with her parents worried sick about her.

***

Zentroz hung up her cell phone.  After calling over 100 different emergency units, she sighed.  While none of them could find Zelinda, they said that they would keep a good watch out for her.  She slammed the phone on the table and sulked.  Over the past few months, her daughter has surprised her in so many ways.  From being in a vegetative state for the longest time, she finally woke up from it, claiming that she was in her own kingdom.  A kingdom that she never wanted to leave.

And furthermore, the surprises continued.  With another departure of her daughter’s mind, she aged in reverse.  From a developmentally delayed teenager to a happy and energetic five-year old.  And after another absence, she decided to fly out of her parent’s house and go on a joyride in the air.  She shook her head in disbelief.  “Why is she doing this!” she pounded her fist on the table in frustration.  “Before that night, 11 years ago, she was fine!  Jonathan!  She was fine!  And now, she is flying all over Long Island, and nobody has been able to find her!”

Jonathan patted his hand on Zentroz’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry.” He said, consoling her.  “They will find her.  I too find it strange that my daughter has those strange magical abilities and that she’s obsessed with her own fantasy world.  Calm down.  We will find her.  One way or another.”

Zentroz wiped her eyes with a tissue and embraced her husband.  “I hope you’re right, Jonny.  I hope you’re right.”

For the next couple hours, they kept vigil by their cell phones, waiting for any good news that they could find regarding their lost daughter.

***

Zelinda wiped her tear-stained eyes.  She wanted to go home, but she didn’t know the way.  Within the next hour, her eyelids grew heavy.  Her body was tired from all that flying, giggling, and crying.  No sooner that she fell asleep, she woke up, in her princess bed.

Instead of spending time in her kingdom, she still wanted to hear another story.  She made another portal appear and she shouted loudly.  “I WANNA GO HOME!”  She ran through the portal as fast as she could.

She immediately woke up again, her body comfortably tucked in the covers of her own bed.  She leapt out of bed and sprinted outside her room.  “Mommy!”

Zelinda continued racing all the way to the dining room.  She opened the door to find her parents standing there.  They were dumbfounded.

Zentroz ran up to her and wrapped her arms around her waist.  “Zelinda Garnet Seacrest!  You are in big trouble!”

Zelinda, looking frightened, began to whimper.  “What did I do, mommy?”

Zentroz pointed outside.  “You literally flew out of here and had us all worried.  More than 100 authorities are looking for you right now!  How did you get back here?”

“I went back to my kingdom!” Zelinda told her.  “I didn’t wanna stay since I wanna go home!”

“Well,” Zentroz said, with a scheming smile.  “I am going to call every single authority, and you’re going to tell them sorry!  Am I clear?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “What about the story, mommy?”

“No story until you apologize to every single one!” she told her.

Zelinda’s face filled with determination.  “Let’s call them mommy!”

Over the next hour and a half, Zentroz called every single authority, and had Zelinda apologize.  After all this was over, the sun was beginning to set.

After the family had a filling dinner, Zentroz did the nighttime ritual with Zelinda.  She cleaned her up and let her put some new pajamas on.  She tucked her in and told her more of the story, leaving off with the prince trying to find materials to build a new ship to get off the island.  She kissed her daughter goodnight and left the room.

The dreams continued.  Within five more encounters, Zelinda was in her world for another year.  During the first encounter, Zelinda was gone for five days.  During the second one, she was gone for another 25.  For the third encounter, she was gone for another month.  The fourth encounter was two months, and the last encounter was eight months.  The last encounter was so long that Zentroz was convinced that she lost her daughter again.  But like all the other times before, Zelinda was back, eager to hear another part of the story.  With each time that Zelinda stayed in her dreams, she desired her kingdom even more.  She started to get anxious when she was in the real world, since it wasn’t hers.  It wasn’t the familiar world that she knows and loves.  She became more attached to her kingdom and almost didn’t leave.  But the story always had its way of working itself back into Zelinda’s mind.  And when Zelinda remembered the story, she came back.

And with each return that Zelinda made, she became more and more like the kingdom that she loved.  She could make toys appear in her room at will.  If there was a toy that she wanted, it became so.  It appeared in her hands.  Some other gifts that she brought from her world was the ability to change her clothes in an instant, to make herself invisible and visible, to make any food or drink appear that she wanted, and to make herself intangible at will, allowing her to walk through anything solid whenever she wanted.

Her mother hated the last gift the most, since she could escape her room whenever she wanted.

After those major disappearances, she was very timely in coming back.  For a whole month, she returned right when her kingdom was sunup.

To celebrate her staying for a month, the family celebrated by throwing a party at the Seacrest Estate.  For a whole month, both her sisters moved back in.  And for some reason, they just didn’t get along.

When Zelinda was tired, her mother put her to bed, using the same routine as usual.  After tucking her in and telling her the next part of the story, Zelinda frowned.

“What’s wrong honey?” Zentroz asked her daughter.

“I don’t like my sisters.” Zelinda told her.  “They don’t ever treat me nice, and they’re mean to me!”

Zentroz smiled.  “They’re not mean, honey.  They just don’t understand how to act around you.”

Zelinda pouted.  “Well, I don’t like them!”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”  Zentroz kissed her daughter goodnight and left the room.

Zelinda woke up, returning to her magical land that she ruled.  After spending the day there, she got back into her princess bed.

“I hate my sisters!” she shouted.  “Can they both just be gone and never exist?”

Right as she asked that, both Danielle and Marcy both vanished in their bedrooms.  She then made a portal appear beneath her and she fell right through it.

In the morning, Zentroz was heartbroken.  She feverishly checked the bedsheets in both of her other daughter’s rooms.  There was not a trace of them to be found.

Upset, she entered Zelinda’s room.  Glancing at her, she sobbed.  “What did you do, honey? Where are Danielle and Marcy?”

“I don’t like my sisters, so I made them disappear.” She said in a sullen voice.

“Can you make them reappear, honey?” Zentroz pleaded.

Zelinda shook her head.  “No!  I don’t like them!”

That did it.  Zentroz ran out of the room and began sobbing her eyes out, mourning the loss of her two dear daughters.

Over the next month, Zentroz pleaded with Zelinda to bring her daughters back.  Zelinda refused to do this.  Zentroz herself could bring back her daughters if she could, but she gave up magic a long time ago when she was in college.

By the end of the month, Zentroz gave up.  Zelinda had her mind made up and she was never going to bring Danielle and Marcy back again.

Zelinda then continued her next series of dreams.  Over the course of four encounters, Zelinda was gone for another month.  The first encounter lasted two days.  The second encounter lasted three days.  The third encounter lasted five days.  The final encounter lasted 21 days.

On the twenty-first day, Zentroz checked in on her daughter to see if she would return.  She woke up, with an eager look on her face.  “Mommy, can you tell me another story?  Pleeeese?”

Zentroz agreed and granted her request.  “Okay honey!  This is the last part of the book, and the story is done!”   She read through the final chapter.  In the middle of reading it, she closed it, looking at Zelinda weird.  “Zelinda honey, are you forgetting something?”

Zelinda glanced at her with a curious face and shrugged her shoulders.  “What mommy?”

“Honey,” she said, glancing at her daughter.  “Before each story time, you have to go potty.  You always run into the bathroom and use the potty.  Then you come back and I tell the story.  We forgot to use the potty this time.  Do you have to go potty, honey?”

Zelinda shook her head and smiled.  “No mommy, I don’t!”

“Why is that, honey?”

Zelinda smiled again.  “I already went!”

Zentroz shook her head.  “No you didn’t, honey.  Mommy didn’t see you go.”

Zelinda giggled.  “Of course, you couldn’t see me go, mommy!  I went potty in my diaper!”

Zentroz gasped.  “A diaper?   Honey, no!”  Zentroz pulled back the covers and removed her pajamas.  Sure enough, she was wearing a diaper.  She sighed.  “Honey, get that diaper off.  Five-year-olds don’t wear diapers.”

Zelinda shook her head.  “Nah-ah.  I can’t mommy!  I’ll have an accident! And beautiful princesses wear diapers mommy!”

Zentroz looked her daughter in the eye.  “No, they don’t.  Get it off.  I want you to put your underwear back on.”

Zelinda shrugged her shoulders and sighed.  “Okay mommy…”

Zelinda removed her diaper and did what she was told.  She put her underwear back on and then put her pajamas back on.

Zentroz wadded up the soaked diaper into a ball and left the room with it to throw it away.

While Zentroz was out of the room, Zelinda used another one of her gifts that she gathered when she was in her kingdom.  She could make a diaper appear at will.  And just like that, the underwear that she was wearing became a diaper instead.

Just as the mother entered the room, Zelinda had her hand over her face, concealing a giggle.

Zentroz frowned.  “What is it, honey?”

Zelinda couldn’t hold it in.  She tittered.  “Nothing mommy!”

Zentroz frowned.  “Nothing, huh?  Take off the pajamas.”

Zelinda removed her pajamas.  She was wearing another diaper.

Zentroz removed her diaper and put a fresh pair of underwear on her daughter.  “Don’t do it again.  Now do you want to hear how the story ends?”

Zelinda nodded.  “Yeah mommy!  Read to the end!”

Zentroz continued the story.  The prince found the princess in the faraway land, but she looked totally different.  When the prince tried to get the princess to leave, she didn’t want to.  Instead, she wanted the prince to stay with her.  And with the princess’s magic, she made the faraway land fill the whole earth.  And they both lived happily ever after.  Zentroz closed the book.

“The end.”  She said, sitting the book down.

“Why did the prince try to make her leave?” Zelinda asked her mother.

Zentroz smiled.  “The prince didn’t want that princess in that strange land.  The prince wanted the princess to come home.”

Zelinda frowned.  “What’s wrong with the strange land?  The princess loves it!  Why would she want to leave it, mommy?” A few tears rolled down her eyes.  “I don’t like it here.”

Zentroz gasped.  “What do you mean, honey?  You don’t like what?”

“This place,” she sobbed.  “It’s not like my kingdom.  My kingdom is beautiful, and I get to be a pretty princess in it!  I can’t do that here.” She paused and looked at the storybook.  “Do you think that I live in a strange land, mommy?”

Zentroz nodded.  “You do, honey.  Only you get to see that land.  I don’t get to see it and daddy doesn’t get to see it.”

Then Zelinda got an idea and her face lit up.  “Can I live there, mommy?  Can I live there in my kingdom?”

Zentroz sighed.  “You can’t, honey.  If you lived there, your body here would remain in a vegetative state for the rest of your life.  Mommy would miss you too much.  Don’t go, honey!”

Zelinda nodded.   I won’t, mommy.

“Thanks honey.  Mommy loves you.”  She tucked her daughter back in and kissed her goodnight. 

After that, she left the room.

Zelinda smiled, once again turning the underwear that she was wearing into a diaper.  “Mommy doesn’t know that I can do this.  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Zelinda’s eyelids became heavy, and she closed her eyes.  She opened them in the familiar world that she knew and loved.  Getting out of bed, she smiled.

“I want time to stop for a long time!” she shouted.  “I only want time to go in my kingdom!”

 And it was so.   With that, time came to a stand-still in the real world.  Everyone and everything stopped moving, while Zelinda’s kingdom continued.   A new era began in Zelinda’s kingdom.  A kingdom that would last for a very long time.

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 4: The Frozen Century

Princess Zelinda woke up in her princess bed once again.  To the very day, it has been 11 years since she froze time.  11 years that she’s been in her beautiful kingdom.  And despite all this, Zelinda didn’t look a day past five-years old.

Zelinda pulled back the covers and expectantly waited on the queen to come to her bedside.  She carried Zelinda over to a high-sitting table and laid her down on it.  She removed her royal princess pajama gown and took off her disposable diaper.  She quickly wiped her area, powdered her area, and put a new diaper on her.  Before she could even put her pajamas back on her, she looked at her pajamas.  They immediately appeared on her.

The young princess closed her eyes.  She can remember the first time she wore a diaper in her own kingdom.  It was back during one of her lengthier stays.  About seven days into her 21 day stay, the princess was sitting in her royal chambers in her underwear.  Her servant, the queen was about to put her royal pajamas on her when she closed her eyes.  She could vividly remember the earlier days of her youth.  She was only two years old, and her mother was putting a new disposable diaper on her.  Glancing at her underwear, she took them off and threw them on the floor.

The queen frowned and looked at the disappointed royal highness, who was not amused.  She faintly sighed and looked at the queen with a grin.  “Mommy?” she said in a needy voice.

“Yes dear?” the queen asked her.

She smiled again. “Do you think that you could put a diaper on me, instead of underwear?”

And it was so.  The underwear that was on the floor changed into a disposable diaper. The queen gladly put it on her pampered princess, and she smiled.

 Princess Zelinda, now wearing her diaper, giggled.  Her early days were back with her and she was able to enjoy them right away.  Glancing down at her diaper, she gave another expectant look at the queen.

“Yes dear?” the queen said, bowing down to her pint-sized princess.

The princess daughter’s smile grew.  “Since I don’t know how to go potty anymore, can I wear nothing but diapers from now on?”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s bladder shrank and all memories of her ever being toilet trained were erased.

The queen nodded.  “Of course I will change you, dear.  Just let me know and I’ll change you!”

Princess Zelinda glanced down at her diaper and her look became even more expectant.  “Um…mommy?  Can you please change it again?”

Tiny droplets were starting to run out and flow down her legs.

The queen frowned.  “There aren’t any diapers left, dear…”

But Zelinda shook her head.  “Yes there are!”

A large pile of sacks filled with disposable diapers appeared in the room.

“Hurry!  It’s going all over mommy!  Hurry…”

Zelinda opened her eyes and smiled.  She got up and flew outside to her favorite place in the whole kingdom: her royal swing set.  She swung to her heart’s content and even swung the swing over the bar, flinging herself into the air.  “Whee!” she squealed with delight.

After swinging, she was very hungry, so she made a little bowl of hot macaroni and cheese appear out of nowhere.  She washed it down with a glass of apple juice that she made appear out of nowhere.

After she finished eating, she glanced up at the castle and frowned.  “It’s not big enough!” she said, pouting.  “It needs to be bigger!”

And it was so.  The castle doubled in size.

Zelinda jumped and squealed.  She couldn’t wait to see what were in all the new rooms that she made with the strength of her will.  The door to Princess Zelinda’s castle shut behind her.

Several months and years passed.  Every day, she was pampered and spoiled by her queen.  There was not a single thing that she didn’t get.  Whatever Princess Zelinda wanted, she got.  The castle kept increasing in size every time she wanted the castle to be bigger.  More and more, Princess Zelinda wanted to be held, and it was so.  The queen was constantly at her side, ready to hold her whenever she wished.  Her whining usually indicated that she wanted to be held again.

Forty more years passed.  It has now been 80 years since Zelinda froze time.  Time was still frozen for the universe.  Meanwhile, Zelinda’s world continued.

The queen saw Princess Zelinda waking up, so she hurried to her royal daughter’s side.

Since she wanted to surprise her today, Zelinda flew over to the diaper changing table and laid down.  Minutes later, she was putting a new diaper on Zelinda.

Zelinda, looking at her room, frowned again.  “It’s not big enough! Grow bigger!”

And it was so.  She giggled as she watched her room grow ten times its size.

The queen stared at her in amazement.  “Princess Zelinda dear, there’s nothing you can’t do!”

With that, Zelinda nodded.  “That’s right!” she giggled.  “There’s nothing I can’t do!”

And it was so. Whatever Zelinda wanted was immediately so.

Zelinda grew in her much bigger room until her head hit the ceiling.  Then she shrank back down to her original size.

While Zelinda was having fun in her kingdom, all of the clocks of the world remained still.  Every person on the planet were still in a frozen state.  In California, a man was suspended in mid-air as he was about to make a perfect dive.  A team of skydivers in Oklahoma were all suspended in the air, still in their ring formation.  A middle school boy in a cafeteria in Iowa had a frozen stare at a coin that was still in the air, halfway between heads and tails.  Torrential rains in Miami remained still, every drop still suspended in the air.  The bullet from a handgun remained frozen in the air while a St. Louis cop defensively stood his ground with his team trying to take down the deadliest gang in the city, who all had their mouths wide open when they saw the guns and how much their odds went down.  Thousands upon thousands of snowflakes all remained suspended at the peak of Mt. Everest, with a flag that was curved back since even the wind was frozen.  Time itself was frozen for eight long decades while Princess Zelinda enjoyed the flow of time in her kingdom.

Meanwhile, at the Seacrest Estate, Zelinda, frozen in time, remained in her bed.  Her mouth was half open from an incomplete snore.  A faint and radiant light emanated from her head, indicating the only source of continuing time in the whole universe.

For a solid month, Zelinda did whatever she pleased.  She played in ways that she never did before.  She exited her castle and grew until she could hold it in the palm of her hand.  She carried it around like a toy and threw it into the folds of her royal princess dress.  At that point, the castle wasn’t big enough for her, so she had it grow to her size.  The queen was just a tiny speck to her, and she still had to wait on her hand and foot.  After that, she shrank down to her normal size with the castle.  During this month, Zelinda did not sleep at all.  She joyfully played with everything.   She made toys rain from the sky.  Dolls, stuffed animals, and enough building blocks to keep herself entertained for days.  She flew around, building a scale model of the entire castle out of building blocks.  For the highest areas, she had to fly.   One day, Zelinda wanted to eat grass, so she said that it was candy.  And it was so.  She gorged herself on grass until she had all that she wanted.  Even then, she never had a stomachache since there was nothing that she couldn’t do, and stomachaches would vanish at her request.   For her month of play, Zelinda did many other things, as she was always full of energy and never ran out of it.  She outgrew her entire kingdom and viewed it like a playset.  She changed every aspect of her kingdom until it was exactly the way that she wanted it.  The kingdom was her garden, and she planted all of her own seeds, altering the landscape to her liking.

After Zelinda’s month of playing and doing whatever she pleased, she suddenly felt a little tired.  And when Princess Zelinda felt that feeling, she didn’t dismiss it like the stomachache.  She graciously welcomed it.  She smiled, wanting to feel extremely tired.

And it was so.  The princess daughter swooned in her throne room.  The queen, who was always by her side, saw her laying on the floor.

Zelinda’s eyes slowly opened.  “Hold me mommy…” she weakly cried.

The queen effortlessly held her princess daughter, rocking her back and forth in all the ways that she liked.

“Change me into princess pajamas…” she said, her words fading fast as she became more and more tired.

The queen fulfilled her request.  She got the tired princess out of her flowing royal dress.  She changed her diaper and placed her into her princess pajamas.

After that, Princess Zelinda fell asleep.  The queen placed her beloved princess daughter into her spacious bed, spanning an area ten times the size of a king-sized bed.  It sat on its own special mattress and all the sheets had to be tailored to size.

Being so tired, Princess Zelinda fell into a deep slumber.  She slept for 20 years, having many dreams during her long period of rest.

In one of the dreams that she had toward the end of her 20 years, she woke up in her bed in the real world.

Zelinda rubbed her eyes and her vision focused.  A young woman glanced at her and smiled.

When she saw the strange woman, she frowned.  “Where is my mommy?”

The woman frowned and glanced at Zelinda.  “You’re Zelinda, right?”

Zelinda nodded.

“Your mother is not alive anymore.” She told her.  “She passed away 40 years ago.  Her dying wish was to know how long you were gone.  And since you’re awake now, you have been gone for 100 years.  I can’t believe that you still look like a five-year old girl!”  She paused, catching her breath.  “Anyway, your family, the Seacrest’s sold this estate and this is now an orphanage.  Your parents left you with enough money for us to take care of you full time for the rest of your life.  Welcome to the Golden Meadows Orphanage.  My name is Tami and I’ll be waiting on you.  How can I help you today, Zelinda dear?”

Zelinda burst into tears.  “I want my mommy!”

Tami hugged her and patted her on the shoulders.  “Your mother is not here anymore. She is buried at the Golden Meadow Bluffs cemetery.  There is a special section where all your family is buried.  We could see the headstones if you would like.

Zelinda cried even more, wildly sobbing and shaking her body to and fro.  “No!” she whined.  “I want my mommy!  I stayed too long.  I wanna hear a story…”

Tami got out an old book and opened it.  “Your mother left this book with us.  She used to read it to you all the time.  Do you want me to read to you, Zelinda dear?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “No!  I want my mommy to read it to me!”

She glanced around the room and continued sobbing.  “Don’t come true!” she wailed, knowing that there was still nothing that she couldn’t do.

The dream faded as she continued shouting those same three words over and over again.

And it was so.  After a long 20-year slumber, Zelinda woke up with tear-stained eyes in her princess bed.

It was still dark, with a full moon resting above the castle.

Then Zelinda thought of the dream that she just had, and the story that she wanted her mother to read.  She than began to smile.  “I want her to read it again!” she said, with a giggle in her voice.  She glanced around her massive room and her massive bed.  “I want time to continue everywhere! Even where mommy is!”

And it was so.  The universe, which was frozen for 100 years, finally resumed the flow of time.

Princess Zelinda stayed at her castle for one more night until the sun came up in her kingdom.  After that, she made a portal appear.

The queen glanced at her and frowned.  “Zelinda dear, don’t you want me to change you?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “No.  But can you hold me for a little longer, mommy?’

The queen nodded and held her princess daughter, rocking her back and forth in the way that she liked.

After that, Zelinda got to her feet.  “Bye bye mommy!” she shouted.

After 100 long years, Zelinda finally passed through the portal, causing the 100-year dream to fade before her very eyes…

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 5: Homesick

Zelinda woke up in her bed at the Seacrest Estate.  Moments after she woke up, her mother came in to check on her.

“Good morning, dear!” Zentroz said with a smile.  “How did my Zelinda sleep last night?”

Zelinda smiled.  “I slept really well, mommy!”

Zelinda got up and began to move. 

Zentroz heard a crinkle sound coming from her daughter.  Zentroz frowned.  “Here.  Let mommy take off your pajamas.”  Zentroz removed her daughter’s pajamas and found that she was wearing a diaper underneath.  “No dear,” Zentroz said as she went to the drawer.  “We’re putting underwear on you.”  She opened the drawer, and there was no underwear in there anymore.  Only diapers.  “Honey!  Why are you doing this?”

Zelinda giggled.  “Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Zentroz glanced at the drawer, and then back at her daughter.  She let out a deep sigh.  “Fine honey.  If you want to wear diapers, wear them.”  In a frustrated tone, she grabbed her daughter and removed her pajamas.  She laid her daughter on the floor and undid her diaper.  She then gave her a curious stare.  “So honey,” she said, as she removed her diaper.  “What made you want to wear diapers again?”

Zelinda looked at her mother, her face looking sullen.  “I miss them, mommy!  I remember wearing them when I was a baby.  Now I don’t wanna wear underwear anymore…”

Her mother wiped and powdered her daughter’s area and placed her in a new diaper.  “Why don’t you, honey?”

Zelinda pouted.  “I forgot how to go potty…”

At this, Zentroz scowled.  “So, you’re telling me that you suddenly unlearned everything that you remembered about using the potty?  Well, you spent 11 years in your fantasy land, gained the ability to fly, made toys appear at will, changed into any outfit at the blink of an eye, made yourself invisible, made any food or drink that you want appear, made yourself intangible, and…” she began to bawl.  “Made my two beloved daughters disappear forever!  Furthermore, you can change your underwear into diapers and make diapers appear.  If you can do all that, making yourself forget how to go potty isn’t too farfetched.”   She fastened her diaper and put her pajamas back on.

“I also made time stop!” Zelinda said, smiling.

Zentroz gasped.  “You made time stop?  When did you do that, honey?  I don’t remember time ever stopping…”

Zelinda scratched her head.  “I made time stop for a long time!  Then I lived in my beautiful kingdom for a long time!”

Zentroz glanced at her daughter again.  “How long did you make time stop, honey?  Was it a year?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “Uh-uh.”

“Was it two years?  Five years?  Eleven years?”

Zelinda shook her head all three times.

“20 years?  50 years?  100 years?”

Zelinda nodded.  “A hundreb.”

Zentroz gasped.  “100 years, honey?  You froze time for 100 years and you spent 100 years in your dream world?”

Zelinda grabbed the book that to her was read a long time ago.  To Zentroz, she just finished it last night.  “I wanted to stay longer, but I wanted to hear more of the story, mommy!  Can you read more, mommy?”

Zentroz frowned.  “There isn’t anymore, honey.  I reached the end.”

Her daughter smiled.  “Read it again!  From the beginning!”

Zentroz nodded.  “I’ll read it honey, but tonight.  Okay?”

Zelinda nodded.  Looking at her body, she smiled.  Just like that, her body began to glow brightly.  “Look mommy!  I’m a night light!”

Zentroz looked at her daughter, terrified.  “Honey?  Why are you flashing?”

Right after she said that, Zelinda moaned.  “Mommy…Can you hold me?”

Zentroz held her daughter in her arms.  “Honey.  Why did you freeze time for 100 years?”

Zelinda looked at her and cried.  “I didn’t want you to die, mommy!  In one of my dreams, I stayed in my beautiful kingdom too long.  When I came back, you were dead.  I didn’t want you to die, mommy!”

“Oh honey,” she said, holding her daughter tight.  “I’m glad you froze time.  I would’ve been grieved to see you a vegetable for the rest of your life.”

Zelinda nodded and glanced at her mother.  She pouted.  “Mommy, you need to rock me!”

Zentroz sighed, rocking her five-year old daughter back and forth while she tightly clung to her.

That day, the Seacrest family went for a drive and spent the quality time as a family.  The whole time, Zelinda started to miss the kingdom that she lived in.  After living in her kingdom for 100 years, it felt so much like home to her.  Frustrated, she phased through the car and flew out of it.

Jonathan stopped the car and exchanged glances with his wife.  “So, we have to go hunt her down again?”

Zentroz sighed.  “Please tell me we don’t!  Jonathan, Zelinda froze time and stayed in her kingdom for 100 years!”

Jonathan sighed.  “And you also told me that she’s wearing diapers now.  Let’s just accept that she’s special and move on, okay?”

Zentroz nodded.  “Well, it is very strange.  Let’s go look for her!”

Zelinda flew, wanting so badly to be in her room.

And it was so.  She appeared in her bedroom.

After that, she glanced at the story book.  She frowned, looking around for her mother.  “I want mommy and daddy to come home!”

And like magic, her mother appeared in the bedroom and her father appeared in the driveway with the car.

Zentroz’s mouth dropped.  “Honey, we were looking for you, and you…”

Zelinda held the book in her hand and gave it to her mother.  “Read it again!”

Zentroz nodded.  “Okay honey.  But first, let’s go potty, okay?”

Her daughter shook her head, pointing both pointer fingers down beneath her stomach.

Zentroz nodded.  “That’s right.  You wear diapers now.  I’ll read the story dear.  Once upon a time…”

Zentroz got halfway through the first chapter when she noticed that her daughter was fast asleep.

Over the next few days, Zelinda became a lot more difficult to manage.  Before Zelinda went to bed one night, she grew until her head reached the ceiling.  After that, she shrank until she could run underneath her bed.  She flew out of the house more often and began flying more and more.  Every night she went back to her own kingdom, she wanted to stay there more and more.  Little by little, her mother gave into her daughter’s demands.  Since there was nothing that she couldn’t do, she always got what she wanted.  Once, she fell asleep in her mother’s arms and stayed there.  During one day, she outgrew the house and picked up the Seacrest estate like it was a dollhouse.   After some constant pleading from her mother, she had the house go back to where it belonged.

That night, Zentroz, gasping for air, sat her daughter on the floor.  Glancing at her, she removed her diaper again.  Since all the strange and impossible things that her daughter started doing, she couldn’t look at her the same way anymore.  Looking at Zelinda was like looking at an unstoppable force.  From a teenager, she made herself a five-year old child that never aged.  Then she flew.  After a few more of her tricks, she decided to erase her two sisters from existence, since she “didn’t like them”.  Then she decided to wear diapers.  After that, she froze time decided to stay in her kingdom for 80 years and sleep for another 20.  At this point, Zentroz stopped arguing with her daughter.  Zelinda was simply beyond arguing, and her charm always won her over every time.

Right after Zentroz fastened her daughter’s diaper, she sadly moaned.  She knew what her daughter wanted so she picked her up and held her in her arms.  She rocked her back and forth and dandled her on both her knees.  At this, she giggled.

After this, Zelinda stretched out her arms and yawned.  “Tell me another story, mommy…”

Zentroz tucked her in and without skipping a beat, opened the book. She got to the part where the princess was whisked to a faraway land again.

When Zelinda heard this part, she smiled and fell asleep.

Zelinda remained in her kingdom for another year.  And just like she was every day, she was spoiled by her queen mother.  She tended and coddled her princess daughter, giving her whatever she needed.

After a year of being spoiled, Zelinda pouted when she thought of the story book that waited back in her foreign reality.

She glanced at the castle and everything that is in it.  “This is my home!” she shouted.  “I don’t want to leave!  I want to live here.” She paused.  “I want my kingdom to be real!”

 And it was so.  A gigantic landmass began to appear one mile over Long Island.  She made a portal appear, and after a year of staying at her kingdom, she walked right through it.

When Zelinda woke up, she was still in her princess bed, wearing her princess pajamas.  She looked around the castle and glanced out the window.  In the far distance, she could see Manhattan.

She joyfully squealed as she let her queen mother tend to her.  Zelinda has finally done it.  Zelinda was home at last.

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 6: Paradise

Zentroz woke up to notice a huge shadow that eclipsed all of the Seacrest Estate.  When she looked outside and up into the sky, she saw an enormous floating landmass with a gigantic castle in the center.

At this, she gasped and immediately ran into Zelinda’s room.  She was nowhere to be found.  She then ran into her room and woke up Jonathan.  “Honey!” she shouted.  “Wake up!  Look outside!”

Jonathan looked up and gasped when he saw the floating landmass in the sky.

“I think that floating land is our daughter’s kingdom!” she said in disbelief.  “After spending another year there, she decided to bring it with her.”

Jonathan laughed.  “How are we going to go up there and see her?”

A couple minutes later, Zelinda phased through the roof and the ceiling.  She was in her princess dress and wearing her crown.

When she saw her mother, she beamed.  “It’s here, mommy!” she shouted.  “My home is here!  My kingdom is here!”

Zentroz nodded.  “I see it, honey!  It’s up in the sky, right?”

 Her daughter nodded.  “Uh-huh!”  Despite her size, she picked up her mother like a toy and made her phase through the ceiling and roof with her, as she flew up, her mother slumped over her tiny body.

Zentroz, dumbfounded, glanced at her daughter.  “How did you just pick me up? I’m bigger than you!  And what about daddy?”

Zelinda glanced down and used her psychokinetic powers to lift her father up while she carried her mother.  He phased through the ceiling and roof and she flew upward.  Carrying them both. Her mother in her arms and her father with her mind.

“Whoa!” Jonathan shouted.  “Easy there, Zelinda!”

Zelinda pouted.  “That’s PRINCESS Zelinda!”

She carried them both until they reached the landmass in the sky.  Then she let them go.

Her parents glanced around at the land that their daughter never wanted to leave.

Zentroz was taken away.  “It’s beautiful honey!  You have a wonderful imagination to create all this!"

Zelinda took them to the castle and showed them her room.  While she was there, her queen mother tended to her.

Zentroz frowned.  “Who’s that, honey?”

Zelinda smiled.  “It’s my mommy!  My queen mommy!  She does whatever I ask her!”

“Kind of like me!” Zentroz retorted.  “Is that why you never want to leave your little kingdom?  To be spoiled by that fake mother?”

“She’s not fake!” Zelinda shouted.  “She’s real!  My kingdom is real!  It’s all real!”  She crossed her shoulders and folded them.  “And I never want to leave it!”

Zentroz smiled.  “Then I guess that I won’t be able to read you another story.  Go down to your room and I’ll read you one.”

Princess Zelinda nodded.  “Can you read me one later, mommy?”

Zentroz pointed down, outside the window.  “Down in your room. I’ll read you one there.”

For the rest of the day, Zelinda played in her castle while her parents watched.  When some overhead planes noticed the floating landmass, they gasped at the floating anomaly.

That night, Zelinda blinked and she was in her room again.  Her parents were back in the house as well.

Her mother got her ready for bed and changed her diaper.  She tucked her in and kept her promise.  She continued the story where she left off.  The prince in his ship ran adrift on an island.  Just as she finished the story, Zelinda was fast asleep.

For the next few days, Zelinda did not come down from the floating landmass.  It was her kingdom.  Her home.  She didn’t need anything else, since there was nothing that she couldn’t do.  Finally, Zelinda missed her mother’s stories, so she returned down the very next night.

Zentroz finished the story and closed the book.  “Zelinda honey.” She told her daughter.  “If you stay in your bed tonight, mommy’s going to take you to some place very special.  I promise, honey.”

“Someplace…special?” Zelinda gasped.

The next morning, Zelinda sat in her bed, eagerly waiting for her mother.

The Rolls-Royce rolled down the interstate.  Sure enough, Zentroz did keep her promise in taking Zelinda to someplace special.  She took her to the Walker Estate, on 42nd, 43rd, 5^th Avenue, and Madison Avenue.

She carried Zelinda into the Walker Estate.  “See honey?” Zentroz smiled.  “I took you to Uncle Mikey’s house! Isn’t that exciting?  It’s got to be better than your kingdom, right?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “Nothing’s better than my kingdom, mommy!”

Zentroz patted her on the head.  “What a kidder!”

Knowing that Zelinda liked being held, she kept holding her.  Feeling even more insecure, Zelinda began to suck her thumb.  After her period of anxiety ended, she removed her thumb from her mouth.

That night, Zentroz took her daughter to the 24th floor and into her old bedroom.  “Here honey!  My old bed!  Do you remember?  From the party?”

Zelinda nodded, and glanced down.  “Mommy…”

Understanding that cue, Zentroz nodded.  But instead of putting another diaper on her, she surprised her daughter.  She removed the diaper and put a pair of underwear on her.

“No more diapers, honey.” She told her daughter.  “They’re getting expensive.”

Zelinda’s eyes began to sag.  “But mommy…”

Zentroz smiled.  “If you keep the underwear on, mommy will read you a very special story…”

Zelinda yawned.  “Special story…”  She could barely stay awake.

Zentroz tucked her daughter in her bed and got out one of her older books from her bookshelf.  “My mommy used to read this story to me when I was little.  It’s a shorter one, so I should be able to get through the whole thing.  She opened the book.  “Once upon a time…”

She read all of Cinderella and closed the book.  “The end.”  She kissed her daughter on the cheek.  “Good night, honey.”

Zelinda smiled.  “Night-night, mommy…”

Zentroz left her old room and closed the door behind her.

Zelinda closed her eyes and then fell asleep.

That night, Zelinda got out of her mother’s old bed, but she was still asleep.  She began sleep walking all over her room.  “Wow!” she shouted.  “I’m in my toy land! My toy land!”

And it was so.  Toys started to appear all over the room.

“All my stuffed animals!” she shouted.

Every one of her stuffed animals appeared on the floor, just as she wished.

Zelinda, still asleep, began to play with her toys.  “I can play here all day.  She glanced at her toy land.  She wanted it to grow bigger, and it was so. “Wow! My toy land is getting bigger!  Uncle Mikey’s house is a beautiful tower palace of toys!”

And it was so.  Every room in the Walker Estate was filled with toys.

Zelinda, missing her kingdom, felt around on her hand.  There was no crown to be found.  “I’m a beautiful princess!” she shouted.

Her crown and princess dress appeared back on her, just as she wore them when she ruled in her kingdom.  She was about to do something else.  “And…”

Hearing her daughter from the other room, Zentroz ran in and shook her awake.

“Honey!” Zentroz shouted.  “Wake up!  You were sleep walking!”

Zelinda looked around.  “What mommie?” She glanced at her crown and her royal dress.  “I AM a princess, mommie!  I really am!”

And it was so.  Zelinda was princess of whatever land she claimed.

Zentroz sat her daughter down on the floor and tried to calm her down.  “Honey, five-year old princesses don’t wear diapers.  Especially when your original age is sixteen!”

But Zelinda just smiled and stood up.  Since she wanted to grow, it was so.  She began to grow and started giggling.

Zentroz was getting impatient.  “Zelinda, please stop this.”

Zelinda continued giggling.  “I'm a big princess! Hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hah!”   She kept growing.  Her head now started to graze the ceiling.

"Honey, you're going to wreck Uncle Mikey's house if you keep growing!” Zentroz shouted.  She chased her growing daughter into the bathroom.  To her horror, the toilet was gone!

Zentroz gasped.  “Hey! You made the toilet disappear in the bathroom!"

Zelinda’s head broke through the ceiling.  “Going to my toyland!” She phased through the building and flew onto the street level of Manhattan.  “My play land really is here!”

Zentroz hurried outside and ran after her out of control daughter.  “No it isn’t, honey!  Please don’t!”

As Zentroz walked down the streets of Manhattan, she noticed something eerie starting to happen.  Any man or woman that was within Zelinda’s field of vision was turned into a five-year old.  A growing crowd of children started to run around and laugh.

Zentroz sent a quick text to Mike, Kyle, Zoria, and Jonathan: GET OUT QUICK!  Mike responded to the text saying that he’ll be right out (he was in the bathroom).

About a minute after she sent the text, the three of them (except Mike) were all running out of the Walker Estate. 

Zelinda continued walking down the street.  Every building that she looked at turned into a toy.

Zentroz began to sob.  “Why is she doing this?”

Kyle looked at her with a serious look.  “Would you rather become a child?”

Zentroz regained her composure.  “We must evacuate this planet before Zelinda changes us into five-year olds!”

Kyle grinned, opening up a smart app on his phone.  The app piloted the Zrindoz 3000000 Battle Cruiser out of the Walker Estate and onto the street level.  They all got in and blasted off.  Zentroz sobbed as she witnessed her growing daughter one last time…

Meanwhile, Zelinda stood there in complete joy.  It was at this moment that she realized just how small her little kingdom really was.  Bigger.  Her kingdom needed to be much bigger.  And this toy city would make a wonderful edition.  An edition even more fun than her royal swing set in her old kingdom.  This was her new kingdom.  Everything that she saw was hers.  Zelinda, now fifty feet tall, sat down around the towering skyscrapers. She stopped growing and began to moan.  “Unnnn!” She moaned.  “Mommy?”

Her queen mother appeared, proportionally bigger than her.

“What is it, dear?” she asked her princess daughter.

“Hold me, mommy!” she pleaded.

The queen held her and rocked her back and forth.

Zelinda, seeing no bed big enough for her pouted.  “I want a bed big enough for me to sleep in!”

And it was so.  A large royal princess bed appeared.  The queen changed her diaper and placed her in the bed.

Zelinda’s eyes grew heavy, and she smiled.  “The whole world is my kingdom!”

And it was so.  She giggled as she fell asleep, with crowds of children running around everywhere, squealing with delight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I I. The Growth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 7: The New Kingdom

The Zrindoz 3000000 Battle Cruiser zoomed through space.  It was just outside the Milky Way Galaxy.  The ship looked very much like an ocean liner, only it looked slimmer and it could fly.

In one of the bedrooms of the massive ship, Zentroz sulked on one of the beds.  Despite it being a month since the incident with her daughter, she was still grieving over losing her.

Zentroz grabbed another tissue and wiped off streams of tears that ran out of her eyes.  Since leaving earth, she could say that she lost her daughter in every way.  Her little floating kingdom was not enough for her.  By now, Zentroz decided, her daughter has wiped out the last humans on earth, transforming them all into overly hyper five-year olds.  She herself was convinced that she would turn into a five-year old if her own daughter would even look at her.  Although it was painful, she had to leave.

Jonathan entered her bedroom and sat on the bed with her.  “Hey.” He said, patting his hand on his sobbing wife’s face.  “You still upset about leaving her there?”

Zentroz nodded.  “We didn’t just leave her there, Jonny.  We lost her for good!  I remembered her look on her face.  That wasn’t Mike’s house anymore.  It was hers!  She was convinced that it was!”

Jonathan nodded and sighed.  “But what else can we do?  We can’t stop her!  Whatever she wants, she just claims for herself.”

Zentroz nodded.  “She’s treating everything like it’s part of her fantasy world.  Do you know what, Jonny?  I don’t think that she can tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not.  To her, even her fantasy world is real!” She paused, continuing to quietly weep.  “And now, we’re drifting around to who knows where?  Our ship will probably run out of fuel, and we’ll probably die in space.”

Jonathan shook his head.  “Don’t say that.  We didn’t just escape earth to die.  We escaped earth to survive.  I’m sure that everyone who could escape did.  Now all we do is wait…” He pulled Zentroz up to her feet and guided her to the door.  “Do you want to see your parents? You’ve been holed up in that room, crying for a week straight!  Let’s go say hi.”  He jerked her arm forward and she followed him.

Zentroz sighed.  “I’ll go say hi.  I just wish that there was a way to help my daughter.  Because right now, she is beyond help.”

Jonathan and Zentroz walked out to the spacious cockpit, where Kyle and Zoria were standing.

Zoria glanced at her daughter’s tear-stained eyes.  She put her hand on her daughter’s back and smiled.  “Don’t worry about your daughter, dear.”

Zentroz glanced at her mother, almost going ballistic.  “Don’t worry about her?  How can you say that?  She’s beyond listening, and she has full control of earth!”

Zoria smiled.  “I’ve seen a lot worse happen when I lived on Zorpoz, honey.  We’ll find a way to get her back.”

Kyle nodded.  “You’re looking at someone who has gone on a few adventures.  Listen, my daughter and believe me when I tell you this.  This is not my first rodeo.  Not by a long shot.”

Zentroz nodded as she looked at her wise father.  She glanced at his face.  It was the face of a man that has experienced many hardships.  A face that has overcome obstacles and many boundaries.  The face of a man that was unwilling to give up, no matter what the circumstance was.

“You just need to keep going!” Kyle shouted.  “Put your troubles behind you and try to think of a way out of it.”

Jonathan poked his wife in the arm.  “Listen to him.  Listen to the wisdom of your father.”

Zentroz poked Jonathan back.  “I hear him, okay?”

“No you don’t, honey.” Zoria said, shaking her head.  “Listen, my dear Glimpta.  I know how painful it is for your daughter to be like this.  Do you think that you’re the only one experiencing this pain?  Look around you, honey.  We’re all sharing that same pain, but we’re moving forward.  Don’t you think that she would want that?”

Zentroz smirked.  “The only thing that she would want is her precious kingdom…Or another one of my stories…”

A loud blast broke the conversation, causing everyone to look around and gasp.

Jonathan was puzzled.  “What was that?”

Kyle pointed to the window of the ship.  “Look outside!”

They all ran to the window of the ship and noticed an enormous ship in the distance.  The ship was so enormous that it had an entire city on top of it.  It was more of a freighter than a ship.

Kyle gasped when he saw the city skyline, with the tall structure in the center, with orbitals lining the top of the skyscraper.  “It’s Quisthar merged with a spaceship!”

Everyone marveled at the massive city-ship.  It spanned for miles, making it so long that they couldn’t see the back of it.

A powerful tractor beam pulled the Zrindoz 3000000 Battle Cruiser in, so that it wouldn’t get burned up by the exhaust blasting out of the city-ship’s enormous thrusters.  Compared to the city-ship, their ship was just a tiny speck of dust.

A large hanger door opened as the tractor beam sucked their ship in like a vacuum cleaner.

Inside the landing bay, a large team of technicians all stood there, making sure that the ship was docked safely.  One of the technicians gave the Zrindoz 3000000 the signal to kill the power.  Kyle turned all of the switches off and they all exited the ship.

An elegantly dressed man walked down the stairs leading into the landing bay and the mysterious crowd of four new visitors.

The man offered his hand to Kyle, and he shook it.  “So, what brings you here?” the man asked all of them.  “Vacation?  Business?”

“Neither,” Kyle said.  “We are all refugees from the planet earth and would like to seek asylum in this city-ship.”

“Earth?” the man gasped.  “I’ve been getting shiploads of people from earth all day!  Fortunately, our city has plenty of room to accommodate all of you.  Allow me to introduce myself.  I am Arthur Heights.  Welcome to QuisXthar.  The best city-ship in the galaxy.”

***

Princess Zelinda joyfully flew around her planetary kingdom.  Light pastel colors filled the whole earth.  Vast grassy plains all filled in areas where oceans used to sit.  Her enormous castle sat in the center of the earth and towered so high that it went into outer space.  With that being her main center of rule, she also had various other places where she liked to stay.  One of her favorites was the toy palace tower, which used to be the Walker Estate in her toy city, which used to be Manhattan.

Flying around her kingdom, Zelinda was happier than ever.  She could never imagine having a kingdom larger than her old one from long ago.  This one was much bigger, with plenty of space for her to laugh and play.

Zelinda flashed brightly as she touched down at her favorite tower of toys.  She entered the toy palace tower and contentedly sighed, as she phased through all the way up to the 45th floor, her royal playroom and throne room.

She smiled as she moved her hand up and down on her princess crown, which felt soft, like a fabric.  It was velvety smooth because she wanted a soft crown one day. She flashed and her smile glowed even brighter.  “I am now…eleventy thousand feet tall!”

Since “eleventy-thousand” wasn’t a number, she grew until her head grazed the ceiling of the tower.

As she sat there, her diaper began to bulge, with moisture almost reaching her legs.  “It’s so warm…” she said with a smile.

And at a blink of an eye, her bulging diaper was replaced with a brand new one.   She smiled, and then began to run.  She ran outside, phasing through the building and flying down to the street level.

“I’m gonna play outside!” Zelinda said, squealing.  When she saw all the buildings around her, she smiled.  “Why did mommy call these buildings?  These are not buildings! These are lego towers!”

And it was so.  Every building except for the Toy Palace Tower was made out of legos.

After that, a group of children came running around and picking up her toys.

“Zelinda?” A girl from the group asked her.  “Can we play with your toys? Pleease?”

Zelinda looked at the group, smiling.  She raised her two hands up.  “Toys for everybody!”

The sky began to rain toys and all the children in the city ran around, giggling and playing with the toys that fell from the sky.

Suddenly, Zelinda stood there and closed her eyes.  Once again, she could remember her earlier days.  She could specifically remember being two years old and her mother was putting a new disposable diaper on her.  Oh, how she wanted to go back to those days!  “I wanna be a baby again!” she shouted.  “I wanna be two years old!”

And it was so.  Zelinda opened her eyes and she was reliving the memory that she imagined.  She was laying down and her mother was putting a new disposable diaper on her.

“There you go, Zelinda honey,” her mother said, fastening her diaper.”

“Thank you, mommy!” she squealed.  “I go back to my kingdom now!”

The two-year old Zelinda appeared back in the present.  She smiled as she ran around her kingdom, giggling with all the fun toys and buildings that she could see.  “I wanna be two-years old forever!” she shouted.

And it was so.  From this day on, Zelinda will not age past the age of two.

Zelinda then looked around and started to cry.  “I want my baa-baa!”

A bottle appeared in her hand.  She began drinking it, looking at all the children.  Every child within her view became two years old.

 “Yummy!” Zelinda shouted.  She then let out a tiny burp.  “Bottle all gone.  I go fill milk at yummy milk river!”

The Hudson River turned white, containing nothing but milk.  Zelinda scooped her bottle in the river and began drinking some more milk.

“Mmm!” Zelinda shouted.  “Milk very warm!”

Zelinda sat her bottle down and looked at her princess dress.  “I don’t wanna be in my princess dress!  I wanna be in princess pajamas!”

 And it was so.  A royal pair of princess pajamas appeared on Zelinda.

After that, Zelinda grew until the whole lego city could fit in the palm of her hands.  She grabbed various buildings and smashed them against each other. After that, she shrunk back down to 12 feet tall and entered the Toy Palace Tower.  She sat down on the floor and her head grazed the ceiling.

“Wow!” she said, smiling.  “My head touches the ceiling sitting down!”  She then flew back up to her playroom and throne room on the 45th floor, phasing through all the floors.   She made a crib appear, with a diaper closet so that her queen mother would have plenty of diapers to change her.

Zelinda then started to cry.  “Mommy!”

The queen appeared, proportionately bigger than her.  “Yes dear?”

“I need changie!” she shouted.

The queen nodded at her princess daughter, who was now a 24-month-old toddler.  She laid her down, removed her diaper, and put a fresh one on her.  “There.  All changed, honey!”

Zelinda then rubbed her eyes and started to cry.  “I’m tired, mommy!  Can you hold me?”

The queen nodded, and she held her princess daughter.  She rocked her back and forth and placed her in her princess crib.  After she was tucked in.  Zelinda looked up at the ceiling.  “Why are they all crying?” Since there was nothing that Zelinda couldn’t do, she could hear the cries of every single toddler in the world.  All of the five-year olds were now two-year olds.  “All of them get cribs to sleep in!”

And it was so.  Every child in the world got their own crib to sleep in.

Zelinda’s imagination continued.  In her mind, she imagined another part of the world turn into a vast diaper field and it appeared, just as she imagined it.  She even made a kingdom full of strollers appear in another part of the world.

The queen brought Princess Zelinda her bottle of milk.  She placed it in her crib and Zelinda grabbed it.

Zelinda’s eyelids grew heavy, and she smiled.  She was very happy with everything that she made today.  As an energetic toddler again, she could not wait to see the newest parts of her kingdom.  The world was her kingdom and everything on that pastel planet full of vast plains belonged to her.   Zelinda peacefully sighed and she fell asleep.

***

Zentroz woke up besides Jonathan in a king-sized bed.

The bed sat in a spacious bedroom on the penthouse level of the Ritz tower.  Thanks to cloud storage, they had plenty of money on hand to rent a 20-room penthouse in one of the most elegant apartments in QuisXthar.  On top of all that, the city paid for their first two months, since they were refugees from earth, and all of these refugees were shown special mercy.

Zentroz got out of her bed, stretched, and then yawned.  It has now been six months since the four moved into QuisXthar, the premier city-ship in the galaxy.  She swiped through her phone and found a picture of her twin brother, Michael.  “Mike…” she sighed.  “He couldn’t make it…”

From the incident that QuisXthar now dubbed the Fountain of Youth Incident seven months ago, her brother wasn’t able to escape earth in time.  While Zelinda’s influence was limited to just the people that she saw in her field of vision, that influence took on a life of its own.  It began to fill the air.  It swept through every country on the planet.  And within that very hour, anyone who did not escape earth was turned into a five-year old.  Unbeknownst to Zentroz, things have gotten a lot worse. Since Zelinda regressed into a two-year old, the effect of her influence was updated.  All of the five-year olds on her planet were turned into two-year olds within the hour of her regression.

Every day, Zentroz wept for him, and every day, she prayed for him.  She also wept for her daughter, who she knew did not know any better.  In having time to think of her behavior, she came to that conclusion.

Jonathan woke up and let out a yawn.  He wiped the sleep out of his eyes and glanced at his beautiful wife standing by the bedpost.  “Another day in paradise, huh?”

Zentroz nodded, looking at their elegantly decorated bedroom filled with various clutter from their new life.  “Absolutely.  I am still grateful that the city would take us all in like that.”

Jonathan nodded.  “It’s the least that they could do.  I think that I have heard that they have received more than 5,000 refugees from earth.  Think about it.  We are the last remaining 5,000 survivors.”

Zentroz gasped when she heard the numbers.  With all of these people left, it was all the more important to find a way to help her out of control daughter.  To Zelinda, the earth was just a more expanded version of her old kingdom.  And since she brought her kingdom into reality, it made no difference what earth was to her.  “It’s very dire, Jonny.  At the point where we are, we absolutely can’t fail.  If we do, the future of earth is doomed.”

She grabbed a thick folder full of papers and opened them.  She then looked up at Jonathan.  “I’m glad that Dr. Prost was able to escape.  Did you that she actually got a DNA sample of Zelinda?  When she said that Zelinda peed in the bathroom that one day, she didn’t tell me that she was conducting a urine test.  Since that test, she sent the lab work to QuisXthar.  They have her DNA and have been mapping her genome for a few years now.”

The door opened. Both Kyle and Zoria entered.

“Is this a good time?” Kyle asked.

Both Jonathan and Zentroz nodded.

“We’re just talking about Zelinda.” Zentroz told them.

“Oh.” Kyle said, nodding.  “Some of the refugees are very upset about her.  They want to wipe her off the face of the earth!”

“No!” Zentroz shouted.  “They’ve been mad at her for months.  What can I do about it?  She did all this herself!  How was I to stop her?”

Zoria nodded.  “Having spoken with the leading doctors here, I think that I was able to figure out what’s going on with Zelinda.”

Zentroz gasped.  “What can it be?  Anything to help my poor daughter!”

“When I lived on Zorpoz,” Zoria began, “I can remember reading about various accounts of special Zorpozians that exhibited behaviors pretty similar to Zelinda’s.  These special Zorpozians were called Dreamers and they were very dangerous to our planet.”

“From what I remember, Dreamers have very active imaginations and were able to remain in their dreams for days, weeks, months, or even years at a time.”

Zentroz gasped.  “That’s her!  The first time Zelinda did this, she was in her dreams for 11 years!”

Zoria nodded and continued.  “Dreamers have never been found in any adult Zorpozians, but only in Zorpozian children.  The most common age range for Dreamers are between the ages of two and seven.  The symptoms of Dreamers are very easy to remedy early on.  Parents typically suspecting their children to have these symptoms have dreams of their children without the symptoms.  Since Zorpozians can make dreams real, these parents had no trouble in addressing their Dreamer child.”

Zentroz frowned.  “Mother, we were the last two Zorpozians that could make dreams real, but we gave magic up a long time ago.  I know that Zelinda would’ve been easier to deal with if I still had my Zorpozian abilities that I inherited from you.  Since I know that they don’t work anymore, I don’t know what else I can do.”

Zoria nodded.  “I know, honey.  If I could still make dreams real, I would undo this whole mess.  But after giving up my magic, I have tried and tried but I can’t do it anymore.” She continued.  “As I have told you, all known cases of Dreamers that I have ever read were children.  Older children can also be Dreamers if they have a childlike mindset.  Symptoms usually consist of overactive imagination, the inability to distinguish reality from fantasy, a distortion of identity, lack of empathy, and singlemindedness.  Dreamers can develop a growing attachment to their dreamlike surroundings, and this attachment can intensify the longer they remain in their dreams.”

Zentroz gasped.  “Zelinda has been in her dreams for more than 100 years!  It’s no surprise that she has a warped sense of reality.”

Zoria nodded.  “Yes dear.  And because she spent so much time in her dreamlike surroundings, her fascination to her world grew to a point where she viewed that as her only reality.  Her world made her feel safe and secure, making her feel uneasy whenever she was separated from it.  Getting back to the symptoms…”  She briefly paused.  “For a Dreamer that does not have any of their symptoms treated, their symptoms can escalate and become increasingly severe.  These kinds of dreamers can develop the most dangerous symptom: the ability to dream while awake.  Rather than making dreams real, they are in a perpetual dream-state and are capable of making anything real while awake.  Basically, they become their own genies, possessing unlimited wishes.  For your Zelinda, she acquired the ability to dream while awake during her 100-year slumber, when she froze time.  Because we have no other Zorpozians to help us, Zelinda is very dangerous, and we are to stay as far away from her as possible.”

Zentroz nodded.  “But the doctors also mentioned a special project that they were working on.”

Zoria nodded.  “Yes.  They told me.  It’s called the dream ray, and it’s capable of neutralizing dreams.  We won’t be able to bring the planet back to normal, but we will be able to restore her to her original state.”

Kyle frowned.  “What about time travel?  For a city-ship this advanced, I would think that it would be very easy.”

Zentroz nodded.  “Yeah!  Can this ship time travel?”

Zoria nodded.  “It does, but we do want to treat Zelinda’s symptoms first.  If she can dream while awake, her Dreamer abilities are able to transcend time.  Even into the past!  We take care of the symptoms first, and then travel back to the past.”

Jonathan nudged Zentroz in the shoulder.  “How are your magic lessons coming?”

“They’re moving right along.” She said with a sigh.  “As much as I don’t want to relearn my magic, the experts have already briefed me on this.  Should Zelinda somehow summon me back to earth, I will need to be able to know how to make myself grow bigger than her.  If not, she’ll walk all over me.  She could turn me into a five-year old, or worse — Make me disappear.”

Jonathan nodded.  “They encouraged me to learn some magic too.  Should anything happen to you, they want me to be ready.”

Zentroz smiled.  “I hope that this all works.  They need to get that dream ray project done.  I want my daughter back!”

Zoria nodded.  “As do all of us, dear.”

Zoria, Kyle, and Jonathan all hugged Zentroz.  As dire as the situation was, QuisXthar had a plan.  A plan to get Zelinda and undo all the damage that she caused as a result of her blissful ignorance and the incapability to develop accountability.  All Zentroz hoped was that the plan would work.  She hoped and prayed with all her might.

***

Princess Zelinda woke up in her gigantic princess crib in her sprawling royal chambers.  Considering that Zelinda owned so many different royal buildings at this point, she was in the grand castle.  Her original castle from her old kingdom, which now towered so high that her royal chambers, which sat on the top, reached into outer space.

 From any of the windows in her vast royal chambers, she could see the planet that was her kingdom.  The earth was mostly green, since she replaced the oceans with sprawling plains.

Princess Zelinda let out a contented yawn.  She then sat up and began to suck her thumb.  It wasn’t enough.  She glanced around her crib.  Her bottle, which was full of milk, was already empty.  She let out a needy moan.  “I wanna paci!” she shouted.

And it was so.  A pacifier appeared in her hands, and she began to suck on it.  It soothed her and relieved her of all of her anxieties.

 When the queen saw that her princess daughter was up, she hurried over to the large royal crib, which was so large that there was plenty of room for her to run around in it.

When Zelinda saw the queen, she removed the pacifier from her mouth.  She pointed below her stomach.   “Changie mommie!” she shouted.  “Changie!”

The queen nodded and lifted her princess daughter out of the crib.  She laid her on her royal diaper changing table.  She removed her princess pajamas and unsnapped her onesie.  She then removed her diaper, cleaned and powdered her, and put a new diaper on her.  Right after she snapped the onesie back on and zipped up the princess pajamas, Zelinda shook her head.

“I wear princess clothes!” she shouted.

Her princess pajamas transformed into a flowing princess dress at the blink of an eye.

“Is that all, my dear?” The queen asked her.

Zelinda nodded.  “Yes mommy!  I call you if I need something else!”

The queen left, leaving Zelinda to her endless playtime.

Zelinda smiled and began running around her room.  For Zelinda, it was a very special day today.  Today marked exactly one year since the Fountain of Youth Incident.  To Zelinda, it didn’t feel like an incident to her.  For Zelinda, it marked the day where she discovered that her little kingdom was simply not big enough.  With the kingdom filling the whole earth, there was plenty of room for her now.

When Zelinda got tired of running around, she flew outside her window into outer space.  With there being no gravity, Zelinda started to float around.  When she saw this, she pouted.

“No float!” she shouted.  “I don’t like floating!  Walk in space!”

And it was so.  Zelinda stopped floating and began walking around space.  Each step that she made sounded like a glass tile.

She looked at her body and then at the earth.  “I wanna gwow big again!”  She then began to giggle.  “So funny!  I biggerer than the whole world!”  She giggled as she grew and grew, outgrowing her entire kingdom planet, which looked so small to her below.  She grew so big that the earth could fit comfortably in the palm of her hand.

Princess Zelinda grabbed the earth, reached underneath her dress, and placed it in her diaper.  She giggled, running around space with the kingdom that she ruled in her diaper.  She then took it back out like a toy and placed it back in its spot.

Zelinda then glanced around and saw all the beautiful stars.  They were so bright.  She also saw Saturn, with all of its beautiful rings.  She giggled when she glanced around at the other planets.  “Other worlds are toy worlds and pwayground worlds!” she shouted.  “Tee hee hee hee hee ha hee hee hee hee ha!”

And it was so.  Some planets were filled with toys and others were filled with playground equipment.

Zelinda then ran over to the sun and felt its warmth.

“Ow!” she shouted.  “Sun hot enough for me to touch!”

And it was so.  The sun cooled down and she could easily touch it without burning her hands, which instantly healed, since Zelinda didn’t like pain.

“Sun is a big warm blankie!” she shouted with a smile on her face.

And it was so.  The sun turned into a warm yellow blanket, which she draped around herself.

 She glanced at her sun blanket and pouted.  “Change mind!  Sun blankie is Princess robe!”

And it was so.  She wore the robe over her dress and ran around the solar system with it.

Zelinda was tired of playing in outer space, so she ran back to her kingdom planet of earth and shrank down to her normal size.  She stood by her castle; a mere 28 inches tall.  She closed her eyes and could see other far away planets with her eyes closed.  She opened her eyes, looking at her body.  She looked at her arms, legs, feet, hands, and stomach.  “I am so cute!” she said with a smile.  “I am a cute baby princess and the cutest in the whole world!”

And it was so.  No one else in all the kingdom was as cute as Princess Zelinda.

She flew back into her castle and looked into a mirror.  She could see just how cute she was.  “I am so much cuter than I can ‘memember.”

Suddenly, Zelinda heard a series of crying around her kingdom.  She could especially hear it in the toy city.  She flew to the toy city and touched down.  Toddlers everywhere were wailing.

“We wanna pway with some toys!” A few boys shouted.

“I need my diaper changed!” Another girl shouted.

“Yeah!” A girl shouted next to her.  “I need a changie!”

The crowd filled with cries and shouts.  The toddlers were either hungry, wanted to play, wanted more toys, wanted their diaper changed, or were just tired and needed a nap.

All of this was too much for Princess Zelinda.  “No!” she shouted.  “My toys!  No one pway with them anymore!  No more babies ‘cept for me!  I only baby in my kingdom!”

And it was so.  The crowds of toddlers all vanished, one by one, all over the world until Princess Zelinda was the only one left.

When all the babies were gone, Zelinda’s smile grew.  She had this whole kingdom all to herself.  It didn’t matter to her that no one else was in it.  The kingdom was hers and no one else’s.

Zelinda began running around and played with her toys.  At one point, she was extremely tired.  “No tired!” she shouted.  “I never sleep!  Stay awake and play with toys forever!”

And it was so.  Princess Zelinda for days and weeks, played with her toys.  Her energy level was always high, and she never ran out of it.

After another year of playing, she ran out to the Pacific Plain and grew until she was bigger than the United States.  She then glanced around the Pacific Plain, smiling.  “Enormous bath tub my size appear!”

And it was so.  A large tub appeared on the Pacific Plain outside of America and it filled up with warm water and frothy bubbles.  Instead of removing her clothes she jumped ride inside the tub with them on.   “Diaper already wet before I jumped in!” She said with a bright smile on her face.  “Already clean! Bath over now!”

Princess Zelinda got out of the tub, her soaked dress dripping with bathwater.  She looked at her clothes and they were completely dry in the blink of an eye.

She flew back up to the top of her Toy Palace Tower in Toy City and began playing with her toys.  In the middle of her playtime, her diaper began to bulge, and moisture began rushing down her legs.

She took out her pacifier.  “Mommie!””

The queen immediately appeared and glanced at her daughter’s leaking legs.  She scooped her up as she screamed “I need changie mommy!”

The queen quickly removed her dress, cleaned her, and changed her diaper. After putting on a clean dress, she resumed her play.

In the middle of her playtime, Zelinda missed being tired, and it was so.  Zelinda was tired again.

When the queen noticed this, she picked up her princess daughter and placed her in the crib.  She gave her a fresh bottle of milk and made sure her pacifier and her favorite stuffed bear was nearby.

The queen kissed Zelinda on the cheek.  “Good night, Zelinda dear.”

After one whole year of playtime, Zelinda’s eyes became extremely heavy.  She smiled and her eyes closed.  She then fell asleep, in the kingdom planet that was all hers.

***

Three more years passed.

The city-ship of QuisXthar continued hovering through space.  Since the Fountain of Youth incident that Zelinda caused on earth five years ago, the city-ship has covered a considerable distance.  Now out of the Milky Way, it was finally entering a new galaxy.  One with a large, bright star system in the center.  With any hope, there will be new planets here to harvest more food for the growing needs of the city.  While the city is currently self-sustaining, it only had enough rations to last the residents about two years.

Since the Dream Ray project began, it has grown exponentially.  With numerous people eager to restore earth, the project received a considerable amount of support in the more recent years.  One of the research scientists suggested that the project be renamed Project Zelinda, since the project focused on a dream ray that could work on her.

Since Zelinda awoke from her 11 year “coma”, the scientists have been carefully studying her DNA.   And since the project started five years ago, scientists have been able to get a lot more of her DNA.  They went off in teams, traveling through time in a time machine.  They went back to the period when Zelinda just woke up in the hospital, which alerted the staff and Dr. Prost.  They acquired so many DNA samples of her that they had enough to clone her.  They traveled back to the beginning of Project Zelinda’s inception and created a clone of her.  To ensure that the clone would be born by the project start date, they traveled nine additional months back in time and paid surrogate mothers to give birth to the clones.

While it would seem to make perfect sense for them to time travel back 11 years before Zelinda’s “coma” began, they feared that the power would still be within her, since they learned from Zoria that her dreaming while awake ability could transcend time.  With that, they followed their original plan, getting enough DNA to make a good clone of Zelinda.

By the date of the project, six of the seven mothers miscarried the clones.  Only the seventh one survived.

After the Zelinda clone was weaned, she was handed over to the scientists, and they began to study her.  The clone displayed all of the similar mannerisms that her original self displayed, which was just what they wanted.

For the next three years, they studied her, running DNA tests and testing their Dream Ray on her every night.  From what they could gather from the clone, they were able to witness every dream that she had.  The clone woke up every morning.  So far, so good.

Zentroz frequented the laboratory so that the Zelinda clone would develop memories associated with her.  She weaned her clone daughter and read her all the same stories that she told her original daughter.  Every night, she tucked her in and told her another story.  Then she went back to the Ritz Tower to go to bed.

With Project Zelinda just reaching the five-year mark, the Zelinda clone was also five.  This was an important year, since she knew that her original daughter would leave them for 11 years, favoring her kingdom over reality.

A few nights later, Zentroz tucked her clone daughter in and told her another story.  It was the same prince and princess story that she told her daughter that same night.  She then closed the book.

“No mommy!” she cried.  “Tell me more of the story!”

Zentroz held the book shut and smiled.  “Don’t want to ruin the surprise, dear.  You’ll hear some more tomorrow night, okay?” She leaned over her clone daughter’s bed and nuzzled her nose over her clone daughter’s face.  “I love you, dear.”

The Zelinda clone gave her mother a look of curiosity.  “Mommy?”

“Yes dear?” she asked, staring into her eyes.

“Am I a princess, like the story you told me?”

Zentroz waved her hand on her clone daughter’s face like a magic wand.  “You are, dear.  You’re a beautiful princess.”

Clone Zelinda’s face lit up and she began to smile.  “Look at me, mommy!  I’m a princess!”

Zentroz nodded, giving her clone daughter a very excited face.  “You are!  Good night, dear!”

She kissed her clone daughter goodnight and left the room.

 That night, that clone dreamt the very same dream.  She was a princess in her very own kingdom. 

The dream clone experienced everything that the original Zelinda experienced.  “Wow!” she squealed in her dream world.  “I really am a beautiful princess!  “I never want to leave this kingdom!   Ever!”

That night, the Dream Ray blasted Zelinda at its regularly scheduled time.  2:00 a.m. every night.  And just like that, the clone’s kingdom vanished.  The dream was captured inside the machine.

At this, the Zelinda clone woke up and smiled.  “Mommy!” she shouted.

Zentroz, who slept in a bed nearby, got up to check on her clone daughter.

“Yes dear?” Zentroz said, rubbing her eyes.

“I had a wonderful dream!” she exclaimed.  “I was a beautiful princess in my own kingdom, and I never wanted to leave!”

Zentroz smiled.  “It looks like you did leave, dear!  It’s not morning yet.  Go back to sleep, dear.”

The clone nodded.  “Okay mommy!”

The clone fell back asleep.  The other research scientists, who were monitoring her, all howled with delight.

“It worked!” the lead scientist shouted.  “The dream ray extracted her dream, causing her to wake up.”

Despite this, one of the other scientists frowned.

“What’s wrong?” the lead scientist asked the frowning one.

The frowning scientist sighed.  “I do agree that this experiment was a success.  However, it may not be powerful enough for Zelinda herself.”

 The lead scientist nodded.  “This is just a prototype.  We will make it more powerful for the actual test.  Don’t you worry.”

Satisfied with the answer, the frowning scientist smiled and returned to his work.

With the success of the first trial, the scientist reported this to all of the Project Zelinda research team.  After they reported this, they met briefly with Zentroz, asking her to continue in their future trials.  She agreed and left the laboratory to return to the Ritz Tower.

She walked over to a large park area near the luxury towers and continued practicing her magic.  As much as she hated this, she knew that it would come in handy if she was ever summoned by her daughter.  After all, it has been more than five years since she asked for a story to be read to her.  She stood near some open trees and used her growth spell.  She grew until the tops of the tall trees went up to her knees.  Then she shrank again.

Zentroz went inside the Ritz Tower, taking the elevator up to the penthouse level.  She got off and entered her 20-room apartment that she shared with her refugee family.

She entered and saw a few others warmly greeting her.  Over the past couple years, a family of four moved in with them.  With the apartment having 8 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and 6 additional rooms, there was still plenty of room in their luxury apartment.

“How’d it go!?” An excited daughter asked, her arms poised in the air.

The mother bent her daughter’s spread-out arms back to her side.  “Natalie dear, Zentroz looks very tired.  I don’t think that it’s the best time to talk to her.”

Zentroz smiled at the mother and gave Natalie a look of approval.  “It’s okay.  The trial went beyond what they expected.”

Natalie gasped.  “What happened, Zentroz?  Did they shoot her with the big ray again?”

Zentroz nodded and knelt down to Natalie’s level.  “Yes they did, and it went BOOM!”

Natalie jumped when she heard the word “BOOM”.  “BOOM!” she repeated with a giggle. She then turned to face her mother.  “So mommy, what was Earth like?  I can’t remember, since we left when I was little…”

“You were only two when we left,” she told Natalie.  “You surely wouldn’t remember anything.  Honey, earth was a good planet, until…until…” she burst into tears.  She grabbed a tissue and wiped her eyes.  “I’m sorry, dear…”

“I remember!” A boy shouted; his eyes fixated on a tablet screen.

The mother nodded.  “Of course you would remember, Edward.  You were ten when we left earth.  Natalie was only two…”

Edward adjusted his glasses and looked at his younger sister, nodding.  “Mom’s right.  Earth was a good planet.  I went to school and I had a lot of friends.  We lived in a nice house.  And then the Fountain of Youth incident happened.”

“Oh yeah!” Natalie gasped.  “The teacher was talking about that at school.  She says that this incident was caused by a little girl named Zelinda.” She turned to face Zentroz.  “She’s your daughter, right?”

Zentroz nodded.  “She is, and I’m hoping that this dream ray can get her back to normal.”

Edward waved his hand at his sister, trying to get her attention.  “Hey Nat! You wanted to know about earth? Pay attention, okay?”  Edward continued talking to his sister about the planet that he missed.

Natalie responded with a series of questions pertaining to earth, and what earth school was like.  Then she looked at her mother.  “Can we go back to earth?  Please?”

The mother sighed.  “We can’t go back there, honey.  It’s too dangerous.”

“You don’t want to go there, Nat.” Edward added.  “The whole planet is crawling with five-year-olds.  If we were to go back to Earth, we would all become five-year olds.”

Natalie smiled.  “Why not!  That sounds like fun!  I would only be two years younger.  Plus, I would get to play with Zelinda…”

Zentroz smiled.  “Your mother and Edward are right.  You don’t want to go back there.”

Natalie pouted.  “Fine.  When I grow up, I wanna build a spaceship that will go back to Earth so I can visit Zelinda!”

Zentroz looked at Natalie and tried to change the subject.  “Do you want to watch me grow tomorrow morning?  We can play giant monster and I can pick you up with my giant hands!”

“Oh!” Natalie squealed.  “I love that game!  Can you wave me around in the air?  I love zooming around in the air!”

Edward grinned.  “It’s like those carnival rides I told you about.  You’re too young to remember them, but they were fun…”  He then glanced at his screen again and saw a pop-up notification.  “6 a.m.  Mom.  Two more hours until dad gets off of work.”

The mother nodded.  “Thanks honey.”

Zentroz looked at the mother and yawned.  “Charlotte, I’m very tired.  I’m going to lie down in my room, okay?”

Charlotte nodded.  “Do what you need to, Zentroz.  Have a nice nap!”

Zentroz left the room, while Natalie happily paced around the floor and Edward contentedly read his news feed on his tablet.  Charlotte watched them both, while occasionally checking her cell phone.

Zentroz entered her bedroom and lied down.  All of her other family were doing things elsewhere.  Zoria was supporting the research for Project Zelinda with the lead scientists.  Jonathan worked as a chief financial officer for one of QuisXthar’s leading energy companies.  Kyle was on an expedition with some other scientists traveling around to different planets in the new star system to determine if they yielded to the ideal conditions to grow new vegetation.

With a nearly sleepless night, Zentroz was running on fumes.  She plopped herself on her bed and smiled.  The first experiment of Project Zelinda was a success.  Very excited about this, Zentroz yawned.  Minutes later, she was fast asleep.

 The trials continued for Project Zelinda.  For the next month, Zentroz came to the laboratory every night and read the Zelinda clone her bedtime story.  Every night, she had the same dream.  Every night, the Dream Ray removed the dream from her, waking her up from it. 

During the 31st trial, Zelinda didn’t wake up.  The team checked for a pulse, but they couldn’t find any.  The Zelinda clone was dead.

Despite that being the case, the scientists were happy at the 30 successful trials they were able to get out of their test subject.  And with that much data, they had more than enough information to create a simulated clone of Zelinda, using computer programming and her DNA to accomplish this.  They cremated the Zelinda clone and continued their research with the simulation.

Since the clone’s passing, Zentroz was relieved of her duty.  Every day after Natalie got out of school, she played with her.  It was like having another daughter.  And every time she played giant monster with her, she was able to practice her magic at the same time.

She finished her session one day and entered the Ritz Tower with Natalie.

Zentroz was tired, but Natalie still had plenty of energy.  On the way up to the penthouse level, she gave her a curious glance.  “Will we ever be able to go back to Earth?”

Zentroz sighed, but managed a smile for Natalie.  “Someday, honey.  It’s not safe to go there now with Zelinda there.”

“But I wish we could go there now!” Natalie sighed.

 “So do I,” Zentroz told her.  “So do I…”

They reached the Penthouse level and entered their spacious apartment.  Charlotte was waiting for her.  The father was home, just getting up from sleeping all day.  He was all showered and in his work clothes.

The father hugged Natalie and then Edward.  “I have to go to work.  I’ll be back in the morning!”

Charlotte looked at him and smiled.  “Bye honey!” They kissed and the father left the apartment.

Zentroz needed some alone time, so she excused herself from her other family.

On the other side of the apartment, Kyle was reclining in a chair.  With it being a few days since he got back from his expedition, he was exhausted.  Zoria was sitting right next to him, smiling.  The only one that wasn’t home was Jonathan, who usually worked late hours.  Having eaten a lot during lunch, she wasn’t too hungry.  She got herself ready for bed and laid down in her bed, waiting for Jonathan to come home.

Hours later, she was awoken to Jonathan opening the door.  He removed his backpack and sat down in a chair.  He removed his shoes and looked at Zentroz, who was already laying there, wiping sleep out of her eyes.

Jonathan yawned and stripped down to his underwear.  He put on a robe and laid next to Zentroz.

“How was today, honey?” Zentroz asked him.

Jonathan sighed.  “A little rough.  All of the expense reports are overdue.  I’m still waiting to hear from all the leaders.”  He smiled.  “How was your playtime with Natalie?”

Zentroz smiled.  “We had a fun time, as usual.  I grew above the tree and I swung her around in my giant hand.”  She gave Jonathan a curious glance.  “Have you been practicing your magic?”

Jonathan nodded.  “When I can.  During lunch, I found a park where I could practice…” His smile faded.  “Do you really think that this Dream Ray is going to work on Zelinda?”

Zentroz nodded.  “Zoria believes that it will.  I have had a good conversation with her about it today.  She mentioned Project Zelinda and just how much money has been invested into it.”

Jonathan gave her a curious glance.  “How much money?”

“You won’t believe this, Jonny.  Over $800 billion have been invested into the project.  That’s 160 billion in Quisthar credits.  A lot of this money has come from Quisthar government grants.  They have invested this much money to research a way to get my daughter back.”

Jonathan nodded.  “Not just that.  A way to bring earth back to the way that it was.  How it was before the Fountain of Youth incident.  I just hope that all this money is not for naught.”

Zentroz kissed Jonathan on the lips.  “It won’t be, Jonny.  I know it.”

Jonathan looked at her and sighed, trying to find the hope that he say in her wife’s eyes.  “I hope you’re right, Zennie.  I hope you’re right.”

Seeing that Zentroz was already asleep, he glanced up at the ceiling as he felt the frustrations and anxieties of work vanish before his very eyes.

Jonathan was fast asleep.

***

Five more years passed.

Princess Zelinda, having slept for a total of eight years, finally opened her eyes.

Zelinda awoke in her vast princess crib in her grand castle with her princess chambers extending into outer space.  She let out a deep yawn and smacked her lips.  “Nap time weally weally long…” This was the same castle that she has always woke up to since her kingdom began.  Although it has undergone many renovations at Zelinda’s command, it was the same castle as before.

Smiling, Zelinda hovered up and got to her feet.  She then began running around the inside perimeter of her princess crib, feeling her hands along all the bars.  After that, she flew out of her crib and out of her window, phasing through it into outer space.  She flew down the entire height of her castle and then flew to Toy City, where the Toy Palace Tower stood.

When she saw the Toy Palace Tower, she joyfully squealed.  She flew up into the top story in the left tower, where her throne room and another crib sat.  This wasn’t her main throne room, as that was in her grand castle.  She felt the softness of her princess crown and produced the brightest smile on her face.

The happy princess then crawled over to her crib and saw her pacifier laying inside it.  The bottle that sat next to it was empty.

Zelinda stared at the pacifier in the crib and let out a frustrated whine.  “I want my pacie!” she shouted.  Using the power of her mind, the pacifier psychokinetically left the crib and landed in her hands.  “There!” She put it in her mouth and began sucking on it.

She then felt moisture in her diaper.  Her eyes welled up with tears.  “Diaper all wet!  Mommy!”

The queen appeared right on cue.  “You need a changie?  Here.  Let mommy change you.”

Zelinda closed her eyes.  Ten years ago, she could remember another mother in her life.  This mother always read her stories and did exactly what she told her.  This mother also had a father with her, too.  Oh, how she missed them!

Just as the queen was about to grab Zelinda, she backed away.  “No mommy!  I don’t want you!”

The queen looked at her, confused.  “But you called me, honey!”

Zelinda frowned.  “I don’t want you, mommy!  I want my other mommy!”

And it was so.  A whirlwind of light appeared, whisking Zelinda away to the mother that she missed.  The whirlwind of light disappeared with Zelinda the same way it appeared.

***

Zentroz tossed and turned on her side of the bed.  Since the announcement that she heard from the research team that day, she was very excited.  The Dream Ray was ready to use and it was at its optimal strength.  They announced this news just in time for Project Zelinda’s 10-year anniversary.

Having heard this news, Zentroz was overjoyed.  From what she has heard from the research team, she is convinced that they could remove the dream from Zelinda and restore her to normal.  They would then travel back in time to the original date.  All the way back to when their daughter was sixteen.  Or even better.  Back to when she was only five.  They could undo the damage early on and she could finally live a normal life.  This was all Zentroz could think about.

Just as she was about to fall asleep, she saw a bright glowing light in the room.  The room flashed into a whirlwind of light.  Zelinda appeared out of the whirlwind, with her glowing smile.

“There you are, mommy!” she shouted.

And just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared into a bright whirlwind.

Zentroz just laid there, gasping.

The gasp was loud enough to awaken Jonathan.

“What’s wrong?” Jonathan said, staring at Zentroz, who now had a pale face.

“Z-z-zelinda!” she stammered.  “I saw her!  Jonathan!  I saw Zelinda!  She…she didn’t look like a five-year old anymore.  She looked two!”

Jonathan sighed as he looked at Zentroz.  “You were just having a bad dream.  Go back to sleep!”

“But Jonathan!” She said, gasping.

“No buts.  Just go back to sleep.”

Zentroz nodded and closed her eyes.

Just as they started to close their eyes, the bright light flashed again.  A whirlwind of light appeared only this time, Zelinda was not in it.

“Jonathan!” she screamed.  “The lights!”

Just as the words left her mouth, the whirlwind of light grabbed Zentroz, and another one grabbed Jonathan.   They both vanished in the whirlwind of light.

As fast as they could blink, they were suddenly sitting in a room that smelled like baby powder.

Zelinda was sitting right behind her mother, smiling.

This was it.  Both Jonathan and Zentroz were prisoners in Zelinda’s kingdom.  Prisoners with no way out.

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 8: Prisoners of Earth

Zentroz gasped in horror as she saw her daughter sitting right next to her.  Jonathan was equally shocked.  Both of them were back on earth, but it didn’t look like the earth that they remembered.  Everything was different.  The top floor of what used to be the Walker Estate was now another one of Princess Zelinda’s royal chambers.  Her throne also sat in the same room, allowing the room to cater to her royal duties of ruling her kingdom.  For Zelinda, there was one simple rule: Whatever she wanted, she would get, and usually rather quickly.

“Z-zelinda!” Zentroz gasped.  “How old are you, dear?”  She wanted to be sure.

Zelinda smiled, showing two fingers.  “Two years old, mommy!”

Zentroz gasped.  “So you are two now?  What happened to being five?”

Zelinda giggled.  “I wanna be two years old forever!”  She then began to pout and looked at her mother expectedly.  “Mommy…Change my diaper!”

Zentroz nervously grinned.  She knew best not to test Zelinda’s patience, so she laid Zelinda down.

Looking around, she frowned.   “Honey, where are the new diapers?  I can’t change you unless I have them.”

“Wight here, mommy!” she shouted.

The diaper appeared in Zentroz’s hands.  She undid her diaper, cleaned her, and changed her, putting the new diaper on her.

After she put the new diaper on Zelinda, she changed her princess pajamas into a princess dress and began playing with her blocks.  She played with them for a while, until she got bored.

She then stood up and left the toy palace tower.  Both Zentroz and Jonathan appeared outside with her.

Zentroz looked at her daughter in fear, as her daughter began to grow again.  She grew exponentially.  Her body rose beyond the toy city.  In seconds her foot was the height of the toy palace tower.

Zelinda looked down at everything as she continued to grow.  “Look at me, mommy!” she squealed.  “I’m bigger than the world!” She giggled, her feet beginning to float as she outgrew the entire planet.

Jonathan gasped, shaking his head.  “Please tell me this is a dream!”

Zentroz sighed.  “I don’t think it is, honey.”

“Look at that!” he gasped.  “Our daughter just outgrew earth!  What is she going to do now?”

“Play with earth, I guess…” Zentroz said with a forlorn sigh.

Zelinda stopped growing and grasped the planet.  Earth could easily fit in the palm of her hand.   She cradled the planet in her hands, holding it like a toy.

“Look mommy!” she shouted.  “The whole world fits in my hands!”  She moved the planet downward and lifted up her dress.  “Place world in diaper!”

“No honey!” Zentroz pleaded.  “Please don’t do that!”

“Don’t do it, peanut!” Jonathan shouted.

But Zelinda took the earth that she was holding and lifted back her diaper, she shoved it in, and it could comfortably fit inside.

For Zentroz and Jonathan the entire sky darkened.

“No!” Zentroz screamed.

Jonathan sighed.  “Honey.  She just put the entire planet inside her diaper, and we are still on the planet!”

Zentroz sighed.  “She’s two, honey.  She doesn’t know any better…”

Jonathan nodded. “But let’s think what happens next.  The planet is at the very bottom of her diaper, and her vee-vee all the way up there.  We are going to get flooded to death!”

Tears streamed out of Zentroz’s eyes.  “This was not the way I wanted to go!”

A yellow monsoon fell out of the sky, which began to saturate the planet.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Jonathan and Zentroz screamed.

“Ahh…” Zelinda sighed with relief.  “The world is all wet!”  She giggled and finished relieving herself.

She reached into her diaper and picked up the soaked planet.  Drops of urine dribbled off as she held it in her hands.  “All dwy!” She shouted.

And it was so.  The soaked planet became completely dry.  She placed her kingdom planet of earth back where it belonged and shrank back down to her original size.  She flew down to the street level.  Both Jonathan and Zentroz were lying on top of each other, both dead.

Princess Zelinda walked over to her parents and smiled.  “Mommy and daddy are such sleepy heads!”  She shook them both and sighed.  “Wake up, mommy and daddy!  Wake up!”

And it was so.  Both Jonathan and Zentroz were revived.

Zentroz gasped when she saw her daughter again.  “Honey, don’t do that again! You drowned me and daddy when you went pee pee on us!”

“Zelinda dear, don’t put things where they don’t belong,” Jonathan said, trying to be helpful.  “Especially planets!”

But Zelinda smiled and flashed brightly.  It didn’t matter what happened, or what she did.  It was all a game to her.  The planet belonged to her.  Her parents belonged to her.  Everything belonged to her.  “Mommy and daddy better listen!” She said with a smile.  “Mommy, if you don’t act like a good girl and do what I say, I will make you two year old.  Daddy, if you don’t act like a good boy and do what I say, I will make you two year old!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!”

Zelinda giggled, flashing brighter and brighter.

Zentroz let out a sigh of despair.  “We have to do as she says, honey.”

Jonathan nodded, expressing a nervous smile.  “Everything.  Nothing but the best for our little buttercup.”  He leaned down and whispered into Zentroz’s ear.  “We are prisoners on our own planet!”

Zentroz whispered back into his ear.  “Our own planet?  No honey.  We are prisoners on her planet!”

At that, Jonathan started to cry.

They both stared at their smiling daughter in horror as she flashed and began growing again.

There was no escape.  Both Jonathan and Zentroz were Zelinda’s slaves, and Zentroz prayed that it wouldn’t be forever.

***

Both Kyle and Zoria glanced inside the bedroom where Jonathan and Zentroz used to sleep in.  Having surveyed the entire room, they couldn’t find anything.  There was not a trace to be found.

“Okay…” Kyle said, looking back at Zoria.  “It’s been six months since they vanished.  So, you really think that Zelinda took them?”

Zoria nodded.  “Where else could they be?  I know that she took them.  There’s no record of them leaving QuisXthar anywhere, and everyone’s departure from this city-ship is well documented.” She glanced at a computer screen, showing a map of where QuisXthar traveled so far.  “From the day that they vanished, I notified them immediately.  From that very day, it would take five years to get back to earth.  Looking at today we have…” she looked at the screen again.  “Four and a half years left.”

Kyle gasped.  “Do you think that they will last that long?”

Zoria shrugged her shoulders.  “I surely hope so.  Dreamers can be very dangerous.  You remember Zuna, right?”

Kyle groaned.  “Zuna was terrible.  She ruled Zorpoz.  She even got her revenge by stealing the throne from King Engon…”

“Plus she took the Kliz Necklace and seized control of the universe!” Zoria added.  “I thought that we were never going to get it back from her.  Who would’ve thought that she was only posing as my younger sister?  She only wanted to be born near the castle so she could gain control.”

Kyle nodded.  “Then she altered the entire timeline and I had to restore it!  I know that you don’t remember anything about it, but I’m the only one that can remember the other timeline.  I had to beat her far in the future to restore the timeline…”

Zoria sighed.  “Yeah.  Zuna was terrible.  I’m glad that she’s gone…”

Kyle looked at the screen.  “Is there any way that this ship can go faster?  Five years is a long time.”

Zoria placed her arm around Kyle.  “It’s a long time for us, but it’s nothing for Zelinda.  I bet that she’s still five years old.  Aging doesn’t even dare touch her.”

“Well, it’s like you told me with the DWA,” Kyle told her.  “Whatever she wants, she gets.  She probably told aging to leave her alone.”

Natalie entered the room and looked at Zoria.  “They’re still gone, right?” she asked them.  “I know that they’re with Zelinda!”

Zoria nodded.  “I miss them too, dear.” She then frowned.  “Don’t you have any homework?”

Natalie nodded.  “I already finished it.  Very easy.” She got out a piece of paper that looked like a blueprint of a spaceship.

Kyle looked at it and gasped.  “Wow!  Another design?”

Natalie grinned.  “You like it?  I actually talked to one of the lead ship engineers today.  He said that he wanted me to design some good ship blueprints for him.  Cool, huh?”

“They keep getting better.” Edward walked into the room, holding a tablet.  “Even better than before.  Keep up the good work, Nat.”

Natalie nodded and pointed at her blueprint.  “Do you want to know what’s even cooler?  They will actually pay me to do this!  I already talked to mom about it, and she’s cool with it.  I’ll talk to dad about it when he gets home.”

Edward gave her a high five.  “Good job, Nat.”

Natalie still very excited, left the bedroom with her blueprint.

Kyle grinned.  “It looks like we have a future ship designer on our hand.”

Zoria shook her head.  “Future?  The future is now, dear.”

 Over the next few days, Kyle and Zoria kept busy.  They helped out in the continued research on Project Zelinda, which now had more than $1 trillion (200 million Quisthar Credits) invested into it.  From the research team, they were able to simulate Zelinda in a powerful state similar to the one that was on earth.  When they used a program that simulated the Dream Ray, it was successful.  The Zelinda in the simulation was back to her original age of 28.

Kyle and Zoria left the laboratory for the day, overjoyed after seeing a successful experiment.  Kyle hailed a taxi and one pulled up.  Before he got in, he looked at Zoria with a smile.  “The Golden Fin?” he asked her.

Zoria sighed.  “That place is very expensive.  Do we really want to eat there tonight?”

But Kyle insisted.  “That was a very good experiment, and I feel like the future is going to be very promising.”

Zoria sighed but nodded.  “For our daughter’s future.  Okay.”

She got in with Kyle and the taxi began its way toward Golden Fin Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar.

As they rode in the taxi, they grinned.  They laughed.  Then they gasped.

A red car rounded the corner out of nowhere and hit the taxi head on.  A police car stopped right behind the red car, with its sirens blaring.

The police called backup and they investigated both vehicles.  They pulled out the driver of the red car.  His body was stained in blood and his body hang limp as they dragged the man out of the vehicle.  The cab driver looked like raw meat.  Blood ran down his face and onto his blood-stained body.  Both the man and the cab driver were dead.

Both Zoria and Kyle were still moving, but in a lot of pain.  They were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Kyle had five lacerations and twelve broken bones.  Zoria had eight lacerations and five broken bones.

So much for that sushi.

Within the very next day, the other family of refugees came to the hospital, with cards and flowers.

Charlotte kneeled down and looked at Zoria, who was covered in bandages.  “I’m very sorry that you had to go through that!”

Zoria nodded and let out a deep sigh.  “I’m very sorry that I got into that cab.  I tried to talk Kyle out of going to Golden Fin!”

Kyle sighed in the bed beside her.  “It never happened on any of our other trips there.  That was a freak accident.”

Natalie nodded, and offered her card and flowers to Zoria, then to Kyle.  “How much does it hurt?” she asked them.  “I wish that I could do something about the pain…”

Zoria smiled.  “Well, you being here is helping.”

Natalie smiled.  “Thank you.  I decided not to meet with the engineers today.  I wanted to see how you were doing…”

“We’re doing fine.” Kyle told her.  “It’s going to take more than broken bones to affect us.”

Zoria looked at the flower that Natalie gave her.  It was a rose, with the thorns removed.  She sniffed it and smiled.  Natalie then grabbed it and placed the rose in the tiny vase of water that she brought with it.  She then placed the vase on a table near the bed so that Zoria could have a good view of it.

The refugee family then waved their goodbyes and left, wishing them both a speedy recovery.

Kyle and Zoria exchanged glances and sighed.  They both talked amongst each other, and both agreed to one thing.  They would not have any sushi when they recovered.

Zoria then closed her eyes, thinking about her daughter.  She knew that Zentroz was on earth with Jonathan.  She had to be.  All she hoped was that her daughter was okay.

***

Princess Zelinda continued playing in her beautiful kingdom planet.  Since she found Jonathan and Zentroz and sent them to her kingdom, it has been one full year.  And during that whole time, remained awake.  She was never tired and was always full of energy.

This shocked both Jonathan and Zentroz, who have been waiting on her hand and foot for the past year.  Zentroz’s eyes sagged as she watched her husband peacefully sleep behind her.  For the past year, they survived on short naps, taking turns to wait on Zelinda whenever she called on them.  Whenever she needed a diaper change, Zentroz did those.  If she needed to be held, Zentroz was there, swaying her in the way that she preferred.  Every once in a while, Zelinda wanted to play with her daddy, so Jonathan immediately submitted to her requests whenever Zelinda decided when her playtime started.

All in all, the two were very exhausted.  Whenever they were awake, they always had droopy eyelids.

Zentroz then stared at her princess daughter.  Since her period of slavery began, she has practiced her custom in calling her “Princess Zelinda”.  Just Zelinda wouldn’t do anymore. If she didn’t listen, she would be turned into a toddler in an instant.  Every act of obedience was carefully rehearsed and by now, carrying out Princess Zelinda’s orders was simply muscle memory.  She squinted, trying with all her might to keep her eyes open. Then she produced a tired and nervous smile.  “P-princess Zelinda dear?”

Zelinda was sitting down at her normal height of 28 inches, playing with her royal building blocks.  She looked up and saw her mother.  “What mommy?  I’m pwaying with my bwoks!”

Zentroz sighed.  “Aren’t you just a little bit tired, honey?  Don’t you want a nap?”

Zelinda sat down her blocks.  She looked at her mother and pouted.  “No nap!  I not tiored, mommy!”

This was her usual response whenever Zentroz asked her daughter, and it was so every time.  Princess Zelinda never yawned or expressed any sign of fatigue.  She was wide awake and exploding with energy.  She got up and began running around, giggling to and fro.

The giggling woke Jonathan up.

Jonathan looked at her with squinted eyes, sighing.  “Still awake?”

Zentroz sighed.  “Still awake.  She has been awake non-stop for an entire year!”

Zelinda got up and began running towards the windows.  “Go outside!” She flew out of the tower, phasing through the window and onto the ground.  She blinked and her parents were standing right next to her.

 “Look at me, mommy!” She exclaimed with a grin.  “I gwow as big as Toy Palwace Towwa!”

And it was so.  She giggled as her size grew exponentially.  When she reached the height of the Toy Palace Tower, she stopped growing.

“Toy Palwace Towwa is my new nomal size!” Zelinda shouted with a huge smile.

Jonathan gasped.  “Did you hear what she just said?  Her normal size is not 28 inches anymore.  That tower is 1005 feet tall.  Her new normal size is just over 1000 feet!”

Zentroz groaned in despair at her giant princess daughter.

“Mommy…” she said, as she started to cry.  “My diaper all wet…”

Zentroz shook her head.  “No honey!”

“I need a changie!” She said, wailing.  “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”  She scooped both Jonathan and Zentroz up.  They zoomed hundreds of feet into the air, staring at their princess daughter that was now the height of a tower.  Her hand then stopped in front of her gigantic face.

“I need a changie!!!” Zelinda cried.  “Change me, mommy!!!  WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

Zentroz nodded.  “R-r-right away honey!  Lay down, dear.”

Zelinda lied down, causing numerous buildings to collapse as she laid down.

Zentroz then used her magic to grow proportionally bigger than Zelinda.  She removed her princess daughter’s diaper and wadded it up.  She frowned when she couldn’t find the baby wipes or the baby powder.

“All cween!” Zelinda shouted.

And it was so.  Zelinda was completely clean.  She then made a new diaper appear underneath her.   Zentroz put the new diaper on her and put her dress back on.

Zelinda then touched her mother, instantly making her shrink down to her original size.

At that point, Zelinda began to rub her eyes.  After one year of playing, she missed being tired, so she eagerly welcomed it back.  She made a big crib appear in the space that she cleared when she laid down for her diaper change.  She laid in the big crib and made a blanket cover her.

She then looked down at her tiny mother.  “Nite nite mommy!”  She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Seconds later, she woke up.  She reached around for her bottle of milk, but she couldn’t find it.  “Want baa baa!” She shouted.

And it was so.  A bottle full of milk appeared in Princess Zelinda’s hand.  She sucked the bottle down quickly.  Immediately after the bottle was sucked down, it refilled.  She drank the bottle.  It refilled.  She drank the bottle.  It refilled.

Zentroz gasped, looking at her gigantic princess daughter.  “Aren’t you full, honey?”

Zelinda shook her head and pouted.  “No! Not full!  Still thirsty!”

Zelinda began drinking bottle after bottle after bottle.  Despite all the bottles she drank, she was not even close to full. She was still thirsty.   Bottle after bottle of milk, she kept drinking them for the next four days.

Jonathan sighed.  “There is only one explanation how she can drink that much.”

Zentroz shrugged her shoulders.  “What?”

“There’s a black hole inside of her.  That’s where all the milk is going.”

Within the last hour, Zelinda finally drank her last bottle of milk.  Altogether, she drank 100,000 bottles of milk, using the same bottle she refilled over and over again.

Zelinda contentedly laid there, sleeping and sighing with relief.   Having drank all that milk, Zelinda’s bladder filled up quickly.  Right away, her diaper bulged as she began to soak it.  Urine seeped down her legs and began to soak her dress.  From the bottom to the top, her dress became completely soaked.  It then began to seep into her crib, filling it with a growing patch of urine.

“Princess Zelinda!” Zentroz shouted.  “Honey!  You are beginning to soak all over!”

Zelinda rubbed her eyes and felt the moisture.  She smiled when she saw herself all soaked.  “I’m all wet, mommy!  Yay!  Hug me, mommy!”

Zentroz sighed.  “But you’re sopping wet, honey!”

Zelinda tried to embrace Zentroz but her arms ended up going around Zentroz, since she was so big.  A stream of urine drenched Zentroz as she tried to hug her.

Right after that, Zelinda was tired of being wet.  “All dwy!” she shouted.

And it was so.  Her crib, her dress, the floor, and her diaper were all completely dry.

The gigantic Zelinda approached the Toy Palace Tower, which was exactly the same size as her.  She then produced her pouty face once again.  “This toy palwace towwa is too small!  I want it my size!”

And it was so.  The Toy Palace Tower grew and grew until it was 432,867 feet tall.  The perfect size for Zelinda’s giant stature.  Along with the tower, everything else grew inside it as well.

Jonathan groaned.  “It will take days to navigate this tower!”

 Zelinda smiled and flew up to the top floor, which was in outer space, like most of the tower was.  She flew to her royal chambers, which doubled as her throne room.  Zelinda blinked and both Jonathan and Zentroz were standing next to her.  She rubbed her eyes again, feeling extremely tired.  Her princess dress flashed and transformed into her princess pajamas.  “I’m tired, mommy!”

The queen appeared proportionally taller than her.  “You called, dear? Are you tired?”

Zelinda nodded.  “Hold me, mommy!”

The queen picked up Zelinda and rocked her back and forth. She then sat her in her crib.

Seconds later, Zelinda’s eyes sank.  She was fast asleep.

Glancing at their sleeping princess daughter, who was now a giantess, they rubbed their weary eyes and let out a sigh of relief.  Moments later, they too fell asleep.

***

Kyle and Zoria laughed as she sat at a table for two at Mario’s, a rather elegant Italian restaurant in QuisXthar.  It’s more than a year since their release from the hospital, so they were overdue to celebrate the success of Project Zelinda.

Kyle paid for the bill and left a generous tip.  He hailed a taxicab and then glanced at Zoria, smiling.  “So how long has it been since the Fountain of Youth incident now?”

Zoria thought for a moment.  “It’s been twelve years now!  And at the rate this city-ship is going, it will reach earth in three more years.”

 Kyle nodded and scratched his head.  “Three, huh?  From what Natalie said the other day, it would only take a year for her ship to reach earth, and that’s if she were to leave right now!”

Zoria gasped.  “Yes, I heard her say that.  She mentioned how they’re putting the finishing touches on that ship.  It could be any day now.  When that day comes, Natalie will want to travel to earth.”  Zoria’s cell phone began to ring.  From the peppy ring tone, she knew who it was.  “Natalie.” She answered the phone and put it on speaker.  “Hello?”

“Hey Zoria!  I am very happy to tell you that the ship is ready to go.  I am calling to say goodbye.”

Kyle gasped.  “Goodbye?  Can’t we go and say goodbye?”

A brief pause.  “You have 20 minutes.  We are going through the final checklist.  After that, we’re taking off.”

Zoria’s mouth opened.  “Did you say goodbye to your family?”

“Already did.  All that’s left is to make sure that we have everything we need for our journey.”

Kyle got in the taxi. “Take us to the main elevators!  Hurry!”  He glanced at Zoria’s cell phone.  “Are you sure that you have enough flight experience?”

“Definitely.  I’ve been training in simulations every day.  I have over 3,000 hours of practice logged in…huh?  What’s wrong?”

Zoria was crying.  “It’s dangerous!  You really shouldn’t be going!”

“Oh, I’ll be fine.  If Zelinda doesn’t see me, I don’t have to worry about becoming a five-year old.” Another pause.  “They’re calling me.  We’re going through our final check.  Bye!”

Kyle looked at the cab driver.  “Step on it!”

The cab driver hurried as fast as he could.  Just minutes later, he stopped at the main elevators.

Both Kyle and Zoria quickly got out and took the main elevators from the city level down to the ship level.

The elevator doors opened. They reached the landing bay, just as the ship was beginning to take off.

As the approached the ship, it launched itself out into space.  They were a minute too late.

Meanwhile, Natalie’s ship “The Scarlet Princess” was cruising ahead, beginning to outdistance QuisXthar.  Based on all the aerodynamics, the ship ripped through space with incredible ease.

Accompanying Natalie was a very experienced crew.  Most, if not, all them have traveled extensively through space.  The 14 of them all looked at Natalie and smiled.  “It runs well!” An older man said.  “The simulations all ran well and the field testing was fantastic.  The princess is perfect.”

Natalie nodded.  “I loved doing those field tests.  In one of them, we circled QuisXthar FIVE times!” She looked at a middle-aged man.  “So what’s the plan, Tony?”

Tony nodded.  “We’re on a rescue mission.  Our objective is to get Jonathan and Zentroz out of earth.  We then wait for QuisXthar to arrive to use the Dream Ray on Zelinda.”

A younger woman raised her hand.  “I’ve studied the Fountain of Youth Incident extensively and I have my doubts in this mission.  It’s true that Zelinda turned everyone into a five-year old by looking at them, but let’s not ignore this other crucial detail.  She didn’t look at every person on earth, and from my own first-hand account, I know that whole thing spread like a virus.  From the last refugees that have arrived on QuisXthar, we know that the whole planet was affected in about an hour.  Who’s to say that the Fountain of Youth bug isn’t still floating around in the atmosphere?”

Tony nodded.  “I appreciate your risk, Cindy, but that’s a risk that we’ll just have to take.”

Cindy shook her head.  “I don’t think you understand.  You’re all familiar with Zoria’s research, right?  People like me are.  We studied it in QuisXthar’s schools.  That Zelinda is not a force to be reckoned with.  She is a Dreamer and is capable of DWA abilities.  After all, she used them to abduct both Jonathan and Zentroz, her parents!  If we are wise, we will keep our distance from earth until QuisXthar arrives with the Dream Ray.  Everybody.  Over 200 million of our tax credits have been poured into Project Zelinda.  It has undergone numerous tests and is guaranteed to succeed.  I advise we wait.”

Tony hesitated and sighed.  “We will wait.  As much as I want to move forward, we should keep safety as our number one concern.”

Natalie shook her head.  “This ship has a detachable mini cruiser that can hold three people.  I’ll go down.  Everyone else can wait.”

Cindy sighed.  “What you seek is a reckless errand.”

Natalie gave her a stern look.  “It’s my ship.  I designed it.  I’m going down.”

Cindy reluctantly nodded.  “Very well,” she sighed.  “Hope you don’t mind repeating kindergarten…”

Natalie grinned.  “Oh.  She won’t make me five!  I’ll be sure of it!”

Back on QuisXthar, both Kyle and Zoria looked into space.  The Scarlet Princess was a great distance away from them by then.

Kyle pointed to a radar screen that was on the wall of the landing bay.  “You see that? Their ship is about to leave the radar.”

Another person stepped forward that looked familiar.  “Hey.”

Kyle and Zoria glanced at the familiar man.  “Arthur!” Kyle shouted.  “You were the one that welcomed us to QuisXthar!”

Arthur nodded.  “You’re looking for Natalie?  Don’t worry about her.  We have a whole team assigned to communicating with the Scarlet Princess.

Zoria’s eyes lit up.  “A whole team, huh?”  She eyed Arthur eagerly.  “Take us to the team!”

Arthur nodded.  “They’re in Sector K. It’s right this way.  Follow me.”

Both Kyle and Zoria followed Arthur to a metal platform with plush leather seats.  The platform sat on a closed track.  This track connected to other tracks around the ship level of QuisXthar.  They all sat down and Arthur called up a holographic display.  He set Sector K as the destination and the platform took off.

A few minutes later, they were in Sector K.  They all got out.  Kyle and Zoria continued to follow Arthur to the command room,

Arthur knocked on the door and entered.  The team inside gasped when they saw Arthur.

“Arthur Heights!” the captain gasped.  “Sir!  What can we do for you, sir?”

Arthur pointed at Kyle and Zoria.  “These two want to sit in on your communications with the Crimson Princess.”

The captain nodded and saluted Arthur.  “They most certainly can, sir!” He turned to face Kyle and Zoria.  “We have two seats for you two.  Feel free to sit down.”

Both Kyle and Zoria sat down in the seats next to them.

Arthur smiled and glanced at the team.  “Let’s have a successful rescue mission, okay?”

“Okay!” The captain nodded and saluted Arthur as he left the door.  He looked at Kyle and Zoria.  “Pardon my formalities, but that man deserves respect.  He is the man responsible for building QuisXthar!  His father built the city, but he built the spaceship underground that could transport all of Quisthar! Anyway, we’re about to communicate with the Crimson Princess.  Is there anything that you want to say to them?”

“Wait until we get them on.” Zoria said, looking a little annoyed.

The team pressed buttons and began establishing contact with the Crimson Princess.  Zoria had something to say all right.  She stared at the team, impatiently waiting for the connection to get through.

Back on the Crimson Princess, Natalie was tired.  She laid down in one of the rooms in the sleeping quarters.  “Natalie!” Cindy shouted.  “There are some people back on QuisXthar that want to talk to you.”

Natalie sprang out of bed and ran back up to the control room.  She heard the communicator loud and clear screaming one thing: “Natalie!  Where are you?”

“I’m right here!” she answered.

“Whatever happened to saying goodbye?”  It was Zoria.

Natalie sighed.  “I’m very sorry.  But this mission was very urgent.”  Secretly, Natalie just wanted to achieve her goal of visiting earth.

“Urgent, huh?” Kyle said from the other end.  “So urgent that you didn’t have the manners to say goodbye to us?”

Natalie sighed.  “I did say goodbye.  Didn’t you hear me?”

“We did,” Zoria sighed.  “But we would’ve wanted to be there to see you off.  I mean, you got to see your parents off!  And Edward too!”

Natalie sighed again.  “This is an important mission.  I want to get your daughter and son-in-law back!”

“So do I, but a little manners wouldn’t hurt, honey.”

“We just wanted to say bye to you, and that we’ll be listening in for communications from your ship.” Kyle added.

Natalie smiled.  “Okay!  This ship is pretty cool.  Since childhood, I have been totally obsessed with ships.  And now I’m happy to finally ride in my own.  I look forward to hearing from you guys and giving you more updates!”

“Bye Natalie!” Both Kyle and Zoria shouted.

“Bye!”

The communication ended.  Natalie stared out into space.  From the window, she saw that the ship was traveling really fast.  At least triple the speed of QuisXthar easily.  She then thought of Jonathan and Zentroz back on earth.  Whatever they were doing, she hoped with all of her heart that they were okay.

***

One year passed.

Zentroz stood in amazement as she heard the breathing of her princess daughter who was still sleeping.  “Two years,” she said, gasping.  “It has been two years now since she fell asleep.”

“And what?” Jonathan counted.  “13 years since the Fountain of Youth Incident?”

Zentroz nodded.  “To this day, it amazes me that everybody calls it that.”

Jonathan frowned.  “What else would you call it?  Our daughter pretty much caused a cataclysmic event resulting in every unfortunate person turning into a five-year-old.”

“Two-year-old.” Zentroz corrected. “Zelinda is two.”

“Where are the children?” he asked her.

“She made them disappear.” Zentroz told him.  “I don’t even have to ask her.  I know that she did this…” she began to sob.  “She made…Danielle and Marcy…disappear!”

Days continued to pass as Princess Zelinda continued to rest.  While Jonathan was taking a nap, Zentroz woke him up.

“Jonathan!” she shouted.  “I think I discovered a new room!”

“Another one?” Jonathan yawned.  “This room is big enough as it is.  You’re trying to venture outside of it?”

Zentroz nodded.  “What else can I do while she’s sleeping?  At least she’s not bothering us.  Here.  Take my hand.”

“Where are we going?” Jonathan said with a frown.  “We don’t want to leave this room.  She could wake up at any time!”

“You said that two years ago.” She argued.  “She’s still sleeping!  Who knows? She could sleep for another two years!  Take my hand!”

Jonathan sighed and grabbed her hand.

Zentroz gave him a puzzled look.  “Now I know that this sounds weird, but I’ve noticed that my magic is more limited while Zelinda’s sleeping.  But we can still move to different rooms.  Watch!”

They teleported and appeared in another room, which to them was enormous.

Jonathan smiled.  “Don’t you dislike magic?”

Zentroz scowled.  “Of course I do.  But how else am I going to navigate a gigantic version of the tower that I used to live in when I was growing up?”

Jonathan gave her a funny look.  “Zelinda hasn’t given us any sanitary way to dispose of our waste.  I noticed that there were no doors leading to any bathrooms.”

Zentroz nodded.  “In Zelinda’s kingdom, there are no bathrooms.”

Jonathan nodded.  “And no sanitation, either.  Now if you would excuse me…”

Jonathan found a private place and did his business.  He came back and looked at Zentroz.  “Now what did you want to show me?”

“Look!” Zentroz shouted.

Jonathan saw a gigantic sack of diapers with giant diapers strewn out around the floor.  One of them was folded out, ready to lay Zelinda on.  “Wow!” he gasped.  “Our daughter’s diapers are that big now?  If you would’ve told me about that, I would’ve gone to the bathroom there!  It’s her diaper room, but our bathroom.  Heh heh…”

Zentroz nodded.  “You see that diaper folded out like that?  It took me a half hour to fold it out like that.  I couldn’t use my growth spell since Zelinda was sleeping.  That diaper is bigger than a parachute.”

Jonathan nodded.  “I would say bigger than two football fields!”

Zentroz began to tear up.  “Jonathan, with diapers that big, how am I going to change her diaper?  I don’t even know if I can grow bigger than her!  She’s going to turn me into a child…”

Jonathan consoled her.  “No she’s not.  Just get a hold of yourself…”

Suddenly, the diaper, and everything in the room began to grow.

“Back to the room!” Jonathan shouted.  “She’s waking up!”

“Our daughter…” Zentroz gasped.  “Our little princess…”

 “Big princess, dear.” Jonathan nervously laughed.  “There’s nothing little about her.  Now what did I tell you?  We left the room and now she’s waking up.  Teleport us back!”

Zentroz held Jonathan’s hand, and they teleported back, hurrying to their giant princess daughter.

***

The Crimson Princess continued its voyage through open space.  The ship cruised past Mars.  From their vantage point, Earth looked like a tiny star.  A tiny star that was quickly growing.

Natalie glanced out in the distance and smiled.  “We’re almost there!  Go ahead and update them!  I’m getting my mini-cruiser ready.”

Tony nodded and followed with Cindy and the others.

Natalie, now fifteen, was ready and raring to complete her mission.  Since the age of five, Natalie always wanted her parents to go back to Earth.  Now with the Scarlet Princess approaching Earth, she finally had her chance to achieve her lifelong dream. Within a couple hours, the Crimson Princess passed the Earth’s moon.  Now in her mini cruiser, she waited for the perfect moment.

She put on her headset and sent a message to her crew. “Natalie to Crimson Princess.” She announced.  “Requesting clearance for takeoff.” She stared ahead, with the open space and Earth just ahead of her.  This was it.  Goosebumps began to fill her as she saw the Earth get closer and closer.

At this point, the Crimson Princess reduced their speed and killed the engine.  The team sent a communication back to Natalie.  “Crimson Princess to Natalie, you are clear for takeoff. Over.”

Natalie communicated back to her team, her face looking very nervous. “Natalie to Crimson Princess.  Takeoff will commence in 3…2…1…”  Natalie fired up the engine.  The engine roared and the mini cruiser blasted forward towards Zelinda’s earth.

The mini cruiser continued its descent toward Earth.  Natalie noticed two enormous structures jutting into outer space from the green planet below.  One looked like a castle and the other looked like a tower.  As she neared the planet’s atmosphere, she noticed something strange about it.  Both of the towers were growing.  The planet was slowly growing.

The cruiser then entered the earth’s atmosphere.  She adjusted her speed and descended down toward the growing tower on the growing planet.  Natalie moved around in her seat.  For some reason, the seat felt a little bit bigger.  Then she looked at herself and gasped.  Her body was shrinking.  In just seconds, she was ten years old again.  “The fountain of youth!” She shouted.

She tried to change the course of the ship, but it was too late.  The gravity was so strong that it was just pulling her ship toward the growing tower.  Natalie looked at herself and gasped again.  She was seven years old, the same age she was when Zentroz ran those tests on the Zelinda clone.  Her mind began to regress.  Her memories faded.

Then Natalie became five.  She looked around the seat that she was in.  She didn’t know what the buttons did anymore.  All she knew was that she was scared.  She was in a ship, plummeting towards a tower.

Her shrinking continued, and Natalie began to suck her thumb.  Her regression then stopped.  Natalie was two years old.  The same age that she was when her family left earth.  As she continued to plummet in the falling mini cruiser, she started to cry.  She was so small that the seat belts didn’t fit around her waist anymore.  She just bawled looking at the tower below.  All of her memories of being a teenager were gone.  Her memories of designing the Crimson Princess were gone.  Natalie was now just a frightened toddler about to die in a crashing spaceship.

The spaceship mysteriously phased through the top story of the growing tower.  It landed on an enormous field of blanket in a gated area.  Natalie’s ship landed in Princess Zelinda’s growing crib.

The radio then sounded.  “Crimson Princess to Natalie.  Natalie are you there?  Did you make it to earth?  Natalie?”

***

While Jonathan and Zentroz were checking out the diaper room, Zelinda peacefully laid in her princess crib.  Her bladder was full, and it began to steadily empty.  “Ahhhhh…” she pleasantly sighed.

Zelinda’s diaper became completely soaked.  Her pajamas started to become soaked.  Her soaked pajamas became darker and darker and urine started to flow into the covers.  Her crib became soaked, and urine started to flow onto the floor of the crib.

Both Jonathan and Zentroz appeared.  They watched in horror as the floor started to become soaked.

Zentroz gasped.  “Honey! You’re completely soaked!  And you’re growing!”

But Zelinda was still sleeping.  “Bigger…bigger…bigger…” she said in her sleep.

Zelinda, the crib, and the whole palace tower around Jonathan and Zentroz grew even bigger.  They kept growing and growing and growing.  And as long as Zelinda was peeing, everything was growing.

Finally after about a minute, they stopped growing.

Zelinda let out a yawn.  After two long years of sleeping, she was finally waking up.  “I all wet!” she smiled.  “Like being wet!  Look at me, mommy!  Yay!”

Zelinda teleported out of her crib and appeared standing in front of Jonathan and Zentroz.

Zentroz glanced at her.  Her princess daughter was now bigger than ever.  So big that the tallest mountain in the world would only go up to her toe.

Princess Zelinda then began to pout again.  “Change my diaper, mommy!  I’m all wet!”

Zentroz became nervous and nodded at her gigantic princess daughter.  “Right away, honey!”

Zelinda teleported herself, Jonathan, and Zentroz to the diaper room.

Jonathan frowned.  “How are you going to change her? She’s almost planet-sized!”

Zentroz sighed.  “I have to try!”

Zelinda then smiled, with her damp princess pajamas still dripping with urine.  “New nomal size!”

Both Jonathan and Zentroz groaned.  “No Zelinda!  No!”

Zelinda looked at her tiny mother and frowned.  “I’m all wet!  I wanna changie!”

“Lie down dear, and I’ll do it…” Zentroz sighed.

Zelinda lied down, and Zentroz used her growth spell with all her might.  The only height she could manage was to grow as tall as her legs.  She removed her still giant princess daughter’s diaper.  Zelinda cleaned herself by blinking.  She then dragged a diaper over to her daughter, which felt like a parachute.  She put it on her daughter.  Zelinda then stood up.

“Ahhhhh…” Zelinda sighed with relief.  No sooner did Zentroz change her princess daughter’s diaper that she started to wet it again.  Her diaper became soaked once again.  “Bigger…bigger…bigger!  Hee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Zentroz glanced in horror as everything continued to grow except her and Jonathan.  Zelinda, the crib, and everything else in the palace tower kept getting bigger and bigger.

Zelinda glanced at her toy palace tower and felt her soft crown on the top of her head.  Everything was hers.  She continued to enjoy her kingdom and began playing with her toys.

Meanwhile, Natalie was back at the mini cruiser.  She crawled out of the ship and glanced at the growing field of blankets that were before her.  “Big banket!” Natalie shouted.  She walked onto the blanketed terrain.

Back at the mini cruiser, the Crimson Princess was still trying to reach her.  “Crimson Princess to Natalie?  Natalie?  Are you there?  Did you make it to Earth?  Are you alive?  Natalie?”

A brief pause.

“I think we lost her.”

The ship’s signal crackled and then finally faded out.

***

A full year passed.  Both Kyle and Zoria looked at the calendar on the holographic display.  It has been exactly one year since Natalie turned up missing.  She began her rescue mission towards earth with only one goal in mind: to get Jonathan and Zentroz out of that dreadful place.  It was a terrible prison for them, but a wonderful paradise for Zelinda.

Since Natalie’s disappearance, both Kyle and Zoria have been frequenting the command room in Sector K.  The crew on the Crimson Princess was still alive and well, but their ship has been constantly on the move.  Since the day that Natalie has disappeared, the Earth has not stopped growing.  The Crimson Princess maintained a constant speed, keeping a safe distance away from the growing planet.

Now in the command center again, both Kyle and Zoria sat in with the team to listen in on the next transmission.

“QuisXthar to Crimson Princess.” The Sector K leader said.  “Do you copy?”

“Crimson Princess to QuisXthar, reading you loud and clear.” The radio responded.  “This is Tony, with Cindy beside me.”

The Sector K leader nodded.  “We are about a year away from reaching Earth.  Having heard the report about Earth growing out of control, we have been incrementally reducing speed daily.”

“Smart of you to do that.” Cindy began speaking.  “Cindy here now.  Our rations are still holding out so we’re still good on food.  How’s Project Zelinda going?”

“Excellent, as usual,” The Sector K leader said with a smile.  “The tests keep coming back positive in the simulation.  We are more than convinced that this Dream Ray will work on Zelinda.  We have the Dream Ray mounted on our flagship.  It will take lead and we will close in on the planet.  Any sign of Natalie?”

There was silence, followed by a crackle of static. “We still do not have any sign of Natalie.  My theory is that the Fountain of Youth got to her and her mini cruiser crashed.  Are you sure that you want to take your flagship into there?  The Fountain of Youth will affect the entire fleet!”

“Not so.  From the Dream Ray, we have developed an anti-dream forcefield around the entire flagship.  From the successful simulations, we should be fine.”

“Okay.  Just be careful when you approach Earth.  By now, I’m pretty sure that it’s larger than the solar system.”

“Copy that.  We are ready to see Project Zelinda come into fruition.  We’ll talk to you tomorrow. This is Sector K of QuisXthar to Crimson Princess.  Over and out.”

Kyle glanced at the Sector K leader as he turned the radio off.  “Still no sign, huh?  I just hope that Natalie is still alive.”

Zoria sighed.  “If she is, she’ll be only five-years old…”

Kyle nodded.  “Five or not, I just hope that she’s alive.” He then thought of his daughter and his son-in law.  “I hope that Jonathan and Zentroz are alive, too.”

Zoria looked at him and smiled. “Oh, I know that they’re alive.  I can feel it.  It’s kind of weird and hard to explain, but for some reason, I can feel it.”

Kyle left the command room with Zoria and gave her a concerned look.  “I hope that you’re right.”  He then thought of them again, trying to remember the last time that they were on the ship.  Just four years ago, Zelinda found them on QuisXthar.  And just like that, she made them both vanish with her.

He continued to think about Zelinda as he walked with Zoria and as they made their way back from Sector K.  Why did she have to become so powerful?  A child that young should not have that much power in the palm of their hands.  They just can’t control it.  They’re not responsible enough and they don’t know any better.  They don’t even know how powerful they are.  To them, it’s just a fun little game.  And for Zelinda, it’s a fun little game that she gets to play forever.  Since she stopped aging, her mind followed suit, trapping herself in a childish mentality that will never escape her.  He sighed and looked at Zoria.  “Why did she have to become so powerful?”

Zoria eyed Kyle’s look of frustration and shrugged her shoulders.  “Why?  As to why it happened, that is still a mystery.  All I know is that someone like her can dream while she’s awake.  And as a dreamer, that is very dangerous.”

Kyle sighed.  “Even if we get to Earth, will everything work out?  Will we be able to get her back to normal?”

“I don’t know.  All we can do is hope.”

The platform reached the landing bay.  Kyle and Zoria both took the elevator back up to the city level and hailed a taxi for the Ritz Tower.  Just a year remained before QuisXthar reached the growing planet of Earth.  All they could do now was hope.  Hope with all their might that the nearly 15 years of research that was put into Project Zelinda would pay off.

***

Another full year passed.

Zelinda smiled as she peed her diaper.  As she kept peeing, she continued to grow. As long as she was peeing, she kept growing bigger and bigger.  As she and everything in the house continued to grow, she watched as her parents continued to shrink.

Zentroz gasped in horror as she continued to watch her giantess princess daughter grow.  She has been growing nonstop for two years.

Zelinda looked at her parents, laughing and giggling.  “Bigger…bigger…bigger! Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Both Jonathan and Zentroz tried to stay out of the way as a waterfall of urine gushed out of their daughter’s princess pajamas.

“She’ll never stop!” Jonathan cried in despair.  “Our daughter will keep growing forever!”

Zentroz covered her eyes, sobbing.  “I’m not going to be able to change her again!  Just one of the tapes alone is the size of a vast field!”

Jonathan nodded.  “Yup.  You could probably fit all of America in there easily.

Zelinda stomped around, giggling and laughing.  She then looked down at her clothes.  “I take off all my cwothes all by myself!”

Zentroz gasped.  “No honey!  Don’t do that!”

While Princess Zelinda was still soaking her princess pajamas, she took them off.  She then unfastened her soggy diaper and dropped it.

As the gigantic growing diaper was falling, both Jonathan and Zentroz got out of the way just in time.

Zentroz was shocked.  Her giantess princess daughter was now naked and still growing, making a mess all over the floor.  “Princess Zelinda honey, put your clothes back on right now!  You’re making a big mess all over the floor!”

Zelinda nodded.  “Okay mommy!”

Zelinda, still growing, grabbed her soaked diaper and put it back on.  She did the same with her soaked princess dress.  She then giggled, reaching for both Jonathan and Zentroz.

Jonathan shook his head.  “Oh no! Don’t do it honey!  Please Zelinda!  Don’t!”

Zelinda continued to reach for Jonathan and Zentroz.  As much as they tried to run, they couldn’t outrun her.  She scooped them up like they were grains of sand.  “Put mommy and daddy in my diaper!  Hee hee hee hee ha!”

“No Zelinda!” Jonathan shouted.  “NOOOOOO!!!!”

Zelinda lifted up her skirt from her princess pajamas and dropped them both into her diaper.

They fell downward into Zelinda’s soaked diaper.  To Zelinda, it was just a puddle of urine.  But to Jonathan and Zentroz, it was a massive lake of urine.

Zelinda then pouted again.  “Change my diaper mommy!  I wanna changie now!”

Zentroz burst into tears as she tried to tread urine.  “I can’t, honey!  You are way too big!  Your diaper is way too big for me now!  Even if I were to grow, it wouldn’t be enough!”

“I don’t care, mommy!  I wanna changie now!”

“Yuck!” Zentroz groaned in disgust, trying to keep her head above the filth.  “Disgusting!”

“Tell me about it.” Jonathan said.  “This is about as gross as it gets…”

Their daughter gleefully grinned.  “Baby Pincess Zawinda is da most powerful pincess in da wold!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

And it was so.  Their daughter peed even more and grew at an alarming rate.

“Good bye, honey!” Jonathan gasped.  “It’s been nice knowing you…”

The urine lake, growing into a sea, surged above his head.

They both surged up, trying to keep their heads up above the filth.

Suddenly a large ship flew into the Toy Palace Tower.

“There she is!” the captain shouted.

“Wow!” another shouted.  “This room is huge!  I would say that just this room is bigger than Earth…”

“Focus!” the captain shouted.  “We need to zero in on Zelinda!”

Their ship flew forward, closing in on the still growing princess of her growing kingdom.

“Aw…” one of the taller ones said.  “So cute with that crown.” He turned to the captain.  “Target is locked on.  Awaiting orders, captain!”

“Is the Dream Ray charged?” the captain asked his team.

 Tall and Excited nodded.  “It’s all charged and ready to go!  The Dream Ray gun is, too!”

“Then fire!” The captain shouted.

Zelinda saw the ship with the big ray gun mounted on it.  “No!” she shouted.  “Go awayyyyy…Make them go away, mommy…”

 Tall and Excited grinned.  “Here we go!  400 billion credits worth of research into Project Zelinda!  And I get to press the button that will change history.  Princess Zelinda, say night-night to your kingdom!”

The flagship shot the Dream Ray at Zelinda.  She flashed as a series of dreams began flooding back into her head.  She was completely dry and the whole Earth returned back to its normal size.  She was reduced to her normal size of 28 inches and in her normal clothes.  A mint green corduroy dress.

The flagship team looked out the window and saw that the toy city was still there.  While the Dream Ray wasn’t perfect, it did remove a good portion of the dreams and placed them back where they belonged.

Zelinda began to suck her thumb.  She smiled, looking around at the men that were standing next to her.

The men frowned, looking around for Jonathan and Zentroz.  They were nowhere to be found.

The captain then looked down at Zelinda.  “Zelinda honey?” he asked as he knelt down to her level.  “Do you know where your mommy and daddy are?”

But Zelinda smiled.  “My diaper’s all wet!”

Right after that, they heard screaming and shouting.

“Help!” A voice shouted from inside Zelinda’s diaper.  It was Jonathan.  “You shrunk us with Zelinda!”

“Get us out of this wet diaper!” Zentroz shouted.

The men nodded.  The captain grabbed Zelinda and laid her down.  He undid the straps of her diaper and took it off.  He grabbed Jonathan and Zentroz, who were half the size of ants.  He then used the Dream Ray gun on them.  They were back to their normal size.

Zentroz hugged the captain and smiled.  “Oh thank you very much!  Thank you!”

“See?” Jonathan said, smiling.  “Project Zelinda worked!”

Zentroz nodded and looked at her two-year old daughter.  “That reminds me.  We need to get Zelinda back to normal.”

The captain used the Dream Ray on Zelinda and she became a five-year old.  He used it again and she became a teenager.  He used it a third time and she became her normal age of 32.

Despite being 32, Zelinda laughed like a two-year old.

They looked around and gasped.  “Everything’s not back to normal.”

The captain nodded.  “That’s what we discovered.  This Dream Ray is not perfect.  Here.  We’re going to leave Zelinda here and go back to the past.  Everything should be back to normal then since she can’t dream while awake anymore. We’re going to take you back to QuisXthar and we’re going to travel back in time. Okay!”

Zentroz nodded.  She then looked down at Zelinda.  “Zelinda honey.  We’re going to go for a trip, but don’t worry.  We’ll be back.  Okay?”

Zelinda smiled.  “Okay mommy!”

They kissed her goodbye and they boarded the flagship.  The flagship flew them up to QuisXthar.  From there. The city-ship traveled 27 years into the past.

Jonathan and Zentroz then thanked the crew for their help.

Arthur smiled.  “It has been an honor to help you all.  We will stay in this era to see if anything happens to Zelinda, as we don’t want history to repeat itself.  As for Kyle and Zoria, we will be dropping them off at their place.  Farewell!”

Jonathan and Zentroz entered the Seacrest Estate and found Zelinda in her room, laying on top of her bed.

She was waking up from her nap.

Zelinda opened her eyes and smiled at her mother.  “How was your trip, mommy?”

Zentroz frowned.  “What trip, honey?  Jonathan and I never went on a trip.”

Zelinda shook her head.  “Uh-uh.  You both went on a trip and were gone for a long time!  Why did you take so long, mommy?”

Zentroz gasped.  “We didn’t take a long time, dear.  Now how did you know that mommy said that?”

Zelinda answered with a stare that could pierce right through your soul.  “You took it, mommy.  You took it away from me…”

Zentroz was starting to worry.  “Took what away, honey?  You’re five years old, honey.  What did I take away from you?”

Zelinda started to cry.  “You took my kingdom, mommy!  It was mine and you took it away!  You and daddy then told me that you were going on a trip and you would be back.  You took too long to come back!!!”

Zentroz started to freak out.  “Honey!  How is it that you know all this?  I traveled 27 years into the past…before…”

Zelinda continued bawling and began to flash.  “You took my kingdom away from me, mommy…” Her tears then vanished and she stared into Zentroz’s soul again.  “You took it away from me mommy, but I’m going to get it back.  Don’t take it away again.  Now mommy.  Can you read me a story, please?”

Full of fear, Zentroz granted her daughter’s request.  She read the story from the very beginning and closed the book.  She tucked her daughter in, kissed her goodnight, and left the room.

“Good night, mommy!” Zelinda shouted in a way that totally creeped her mother out.

Zentroz closed the door behind her in a cold sweat.  For some reason, Zelinda still remembered everything.  This was trouble waiting to happen.  In a matter of time, Zelinda’s world would swiftly return, and not in a way that she or Jonathan will want it to.

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 9: Timeless

Zentroz fitfully rested that night, eventually falling into a deep sleep.  She had a dream about her daughter Zelinda, but it was in the past.

In the dream, Zelinda was only two, and Zentroz was reading her another story.  She held out the book cover, showing her daughter the colorful picture.

“See Zelinda?” she said, happily displaying the front cover.  “This story is called the Princess’s Garden.  Do you want to hear this story tonight?”

Zelinda was very happy when she saw the pictures.  It showed a princess standing next to a beautiful garden full of flowers of many kinds.  “Wead it to me, mommy!”

Zentroz nodded, opening the book up for her daughter to see.  “Here it goes, honey.  The Princess’s Garden.” She turned the page and showed her daughter the next illustration.  “Once upon a time, there was a princess who left her castle because she wanted to see what was outside it.  What did she see?  What did she see?”

She turned the page and Zelinda marveled at the picture on the next page.

“It was a beautiful garden!  A garden that this princess never seen before!  She was so happy when she saw this garden that she went back to the castle to tell her mother, the queen.”

She turned the page.  “Mother! Mother!  I left the castle to see what was outside it and I saw a beautiful garden!  Can I have a beautiful garden?  Can I? Can I?  Can I have a beautiful garden full of flowers and blossoms of every kind?”

She turned the page again and showed Zelinda the picture.  “Can I? Can I? Mother please?  When the queen saw how happy the princess was, she was greatly delighted and knew what to get for her daughter, the princess.”

 She turned the page.  “The queen ordered:  Buy it! Buy it!  Seeds of every kind!  Buy it! Buy it!  Every bulb you can find!  Get it all like we have planned.  For my daughter, the princess she shall have the most beautiful garden in all the land.”

On the next page, it showed the servants fulfilling the queen’s request.  “So the servants bought and bought.  They bought seeds of every kind and they found every bulb they could find.  They started digging a huge plot around the castle and began planting every seed that they had.”

“The next day, the princess was dismayed.  She saw the seeds in the blackened land, but not a single flower would stand.  She cried to her mother. Oh mother! Oh mother! Where is my garden?  Oh mother! Oh mother! It is nowhere to be found.”

“Her mother responded: My dear.  My dear.  Your garden is sleeping.  The flowers are resting in the seeds.  All the plants in the bulbs. The rain will awaken it.  Wait for the rain.  My dear.  My dear.  Wait for the rain, my dear.”

“So the princess waited every day for the rain to fall on her beautiful garden.  She waited and waited.  She really did.  And then she waited some more.”

“Finally, a great rain hit the kingdom.  The rain fell and it woke up all the flowers.  Every flower budded.  All the bulbs came out.  The sun came out and the garden filled with color.”

“Day after day, the garden grew.  It grew and it grew and it grew.  Day after day, the princess was even happier.  Her smile grew and it grew and it grew.

“When the princess’s garden was full, she spent her days looking at it.  All day, until it was time to go inside, she admired it.”

“And then the queen smiled.  Oh, it was just like we planned.  Now we have the most beautiful garden in all the land.”

Zentroz closed the book.  “The end.”

Zelinda smiled when she thought of the garden.  “I wanna garden mommy!”

Zentroz grinned.  “You can have one too, honey.  Just imagine one inside your head.”  She kissed her daughter good night.  “Good night, dear.”

Right after she kissed her daughter goodnight, she woke up.

During that same night that Zentroz read that story to her daughter, Zelinda fell asleep.  In the dream, she was standing around in a barren land.  Then the garden from the Princess’s Garden appeared.  It was beautiful and every flower appeared as it did in the story.

About three years later, Zelinda was told a new story.  A story about a beautiful princess living in a kingdom.  How that beautiful princess was taken to a faraway land.  That garden that Zelinda dreamt of was built over by a castle.  The garden was the foundation for the castle.

Zentroz rushed into her daughter’s room, since it was the morning.  Her daughter would not awaken.  Thinking of the story she read her daughter, she contacted QuisXthar.  They picked her up and she traveled three more years back in time.

She arrived at the Seacrest Estate, three years earlier with Jonathan.

She then entered her daughter’s room.  She was in her crib, waking up from her nap.

When she saw her mother, she smiled.  “Why you travel again, mommy?”

Zentroz gasped.  “How did you know?”

Zelinda smiled.  “Wemember mommy!  I’m gonna get my kingdom back!” She flashed brightly and giggled.  “Wead me a stowy!”

Zentroz sighed and read her “The Princess’s Garden.”  She then kissed her daughter goodnight and left the room.

“Good night, mommy!” she shouted in the same creepy way that she did when she was five.

After her mother closed the door, Zelinda flashed and floated in the air.  “Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!”  Zelinda then drank her bottle and fell asleep.

***

The next morning, Zentroz went into Zelinda’s room to check in on her.  She was still fast asleep in her crib.  Every day, she checked in on her, but she was still sleeping.

After three years of Zelinda sleeping non-stop, she woke up with a smile.  At this time, Zelinda was five years old, and Zentroz had her in a bed.

Zelinda yawned and smiled at her concerned mother that was looking at her.  “I sleep well, mommy!”  She reached for the storybook and let out a frustrated groan.  “Tell me another story, mommy!”

Zentroz sighed.  “Honey.  You’ve been sleeping for three years, and you want another story?”

Zelinda nodded.  Despite sleeping for three years, she still felt very tired.  She let out a deep yawn and squinted her eyes.  “Tell me…huawnnn…a story…”

Zentroz nodded and got her book back out.  She read the story from the beginning and closed it after reading to a certain point.  She tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.  She then left her room.

Zelinda, despite sleeping for three years was still very tired.  She quickly fell asleep and her dreams eagerly welcomed her.

***

Zelinda woke up in her princess chamber, in her beautiful kingdom.  She was two years old and was laying in her princess crib.  Unlike her old kingdom from before, her kingdom covered the entire planet.  Everything belonged to her and everything that she saw was hers.

On the far side of the room sat another crib.  A two-year old girl laid in that crib, still sleeping, contentedly sucking on her thumb.

Just moments after Princess Zelinda awakened, the queen appeared next to her, viewing Zelinda from her massive crib.  It was so big that it looked more like a gated sleep area than a crib.  She climbed over the bars and walked to the innermost part of the crib.  Her princess daughter was sitting in the center, smacking her lips.

The queen mother, knowing what she needed, was already holding a new diaper to change her princess daughter.

Zelinda looked at her queen mother and smiled.  “Mommy…” she said, pointing at her diaper.

The queen nodded and began to remove her daughter’s footie princess pajamas.  She then undid her diaper.  Zelinda did the rest.  She made her entire body clean by just looking at it.  The queen sat Zelinda on the new diaper and fastened her in it.  She wadded up the old diaper and disposed of it.  Knowing that Princess Zelinda wanted to be held, she picked her up and rocked her back and forth.

After that, Zelinda made a fresh new princess dress appear on her and she began running around the inside perimeter of her crib, laughing and squealing with joy.  After that, she flew across her vast room to where the other crib was sitting.  She grew until the crib could fit in the palm of her hand.  Then she picked up the girl that slept out of it.

The girl’s eyes opened.  The girl smiled, staring at Zelinda’s giant face and the hand that she was laying in.  “Good moning, Pincess Zawinda! Are you pwaying dollies again?”

Zelinda nodded and held the girl like a doll.  “I am!  Natalie small like a cute doll!”

After that, Zelinda sat Natalie down and flew back over to the queen.  “Mommy?” she called.

“Yes dear?” the queen asked her.

“I was born in this kingdom, wasn’t I?” Zelinda asked her.

And it was so.  Zelinda was born in her own kingdom, making her a true princess.  She flashed and her mother flashed.

“Of course, dear!” The queen answered.  “You were born in this beautiful land.”

Zelinda then frowned.  “I keep havin dweams where I have another mommy and daddy.  It’s in a stwange wold that’s not my kingdom!”

The queen grinned.  “That world is not yours, but you can make it yours, dear.  Everything you see belongs to you.”

Zelinda nodded.  “Yeah!  I make my kingdom everywheor!”

After that, Zelinda went outside to play.  With the whole planet as her kingdom, she roamed the Atlantic and Pacific plains and played with the planet like a toy when she got bored.  She rolled around Pluto like a marble and played hula-hoop with one of the rings of Saturn.  And since she didn’t want the sun to burn her, it didn’t.  She danced around the hot and fiery sun, without burning or losing her eyesight from the intense brightness.

On several occasions, she played with Natalie, her new friend.  While Natalie didn’t possess the powers of Princess Zelinda, she was perfectly fine with serving her and playing with her.  Whenever Natalie needed to be held or have her diaper changed, the queen also catered to her needs.

One thing that Zelinda noticed about Natalie was that she liked opening and closing doors.  Because of this, she gave Natalie her own personal door to open and close as much as she liked.  Natalie joyfully opened and closed the door, never tiring or getting bored from that activity.  “I open it! I cwose it!  I open it! I close it!” She kept repeating this, every time she opened and closed her door.

Zelinda was having so much fun with Natalie and the toys in her kingdom that she lost track of time.  A whole year passed since she fell asleep on Earth.

Meanwhile, Zentroz was checking the status on a pregnancy she was expecting.  Having already bore her, she knew that this was going to be Danielle.

But after she got to the hospital, she received the news from the doctors.  Zentroz’s baby did not make it.  She had a miscarriage.  She sobbed, wondering why she miscarried her.  Did it have anything to do with Zelinda?

She recalled the event when Zelinda made her two daughters disappear.

She entered Zelinda’s room.  Glancing at her, she sobbed.  “What did you do, honey? Where are Danielle and Marcy?”

“I don’t like my sisters, so I made them disappear.” She said in a sullen voice.

“Can you make them reappear, honey?” Zentroz pleaded.

Zelinda shook her head.  “No!  I don’t like them!”

 The words repeated in Zentroz’s head.  “I don’t like my sisters, so I made them disappear.”

Since Zelinda made them both disappear, the miscarriage had to be her doing.  Zentroz sobbed even more, mourning the loss of her miscarried daughter.  In eight more years, she would have Marcy and she could be next.  Will she too be a miscarriage?  She continued to cry the more she thought about it.

While Zentroz was very sad, Zelinda on the other hand, was very happy.  Her body continued to sleep in her bedroom.  Back in her kingdom, she was having the time of her life with Natalie, playing with toys and playing new games that they made up.

The years continued to pass on by.  Zentroz, who checked her daughter every day, found that she was still sleeping.  There was no vegetative state this time.  Just a perpetual state of slumber.  Despite how long she rested, she never needed food or drink.  Whatever nourished her in her kingdom nourished her in reality.  Having experienced this before with Zelinda, she knew that her daughter would awaken when she turned 16.  She watched as her daughter grew from an older child to a tween.  Years later, she saw her daughter’s breasts develop.   With her daughter at 14 and still sleeping, Zentroz felt her large and round stomach.  She was pregnant again.  Hopefully with Marcy.

But much to her dismay, the doctors gave her the devastating news again.  Her baby didn’t make it.  It was another miscarriage.  For this one in particular, she gasped as she watched her miscarried child vanish before her very eyes.

Full of fear, she now knew that Zelinda made them both miscarry, since Marcy not only miscarried, but vanished afterward.

She ran into Zelinda’s room and stared at her sleeping daughter, crying out loud.  “You!” she shouted.  “Why do you hate them so?  They never meant any harm.  They just didn’t understand you.  I don’t understand you, and I’m your own mother…” She glanced at her sleeping daughter.  For some reason, she felt like she didn’t know her.  Almost like she was from another land.  This was not by mistake since unbeknownst to her, Zelinda really was from another land.  Her own land.  Born in a land of her own making.  A living contradiction.

With Zelinda being a teen, Zentroz had her in her third and final bed.  An adult-sized bed that she might be sleeping in for the rest of her life.  But Zentroz knew that she had to wake up by her sixteenth birthday.  She just had to.

Zelinda’s sixteenth birthday came and went, and she continued to sleep on.  This was her eleventh year in a row of sleeping, and her eyes showed no signs of opening.

Jonathan entered the room and grinned.  “How’s Sleeping Beauty?  Maybe she’ll wake up if she gets a kiss from Prince Charming.”

Zentroz sighed.  “Ha ha.” She retorted.  “Sleeping Beauty’s not waking up.  It’s been a week since she turned 16 and she’s still not stirring.”  She then gave her husband a clever grin.  “I don’t think that Prince Charming would even be able to wake her up.”

Jonathan glanced at her and grinned.  “Almost done with your next best seller?  You will need another book to read to her when she wakes up.”

She nodded.  “Almost done with it.  Our daughter here has given me a lot of material to work with.”  She glanced at her daughter, who was still inhaling and exhaling peacefully.

The years continued.  As Zelinda continued to rest in her bed, Zentroz watched her daughter grow from teenager all the way into young adulthood.  Despite how old she was, Zelinda maintained her innocent smile as she rested.

Zelinda awoke again in her princess crib, still two years old.  Natalie, who Zelinda made very tiny, was slouched up, laying between Zelinda’s legs.  Her head laid on her soft, silky pajamas, Zelinda’s diaper feeling like a pillow to her.

Natalie woke up and tightly embraced her.  “Pincess Zawinda, can I be yul sistur?”

“No!” Zelinda snapped.  “You my very bestest fwend!”

Despite Zelinda’s harsh response, Natalie was satisfied with that answer and she continued to hug her.  “We verwy bestest of fwends!”

Zelinda yawned and glanced around the room.  Since falling asleep, she has been in her kingdom for 20 years without leaving it.  She smiled and picked up Natalie like a Barbie doll.  She was going to stick her in her diaper, when the queen saw her doing this.

“Princess Zelinda honey,” the queen scolded.  “Please don’t put Natalie there.”

Zelinda pouted.  “Why not?  Natalie likes it!  Don’t you, Natalie?”

“Yeah!” Natalie shouted.

Hearing her approval, Zelinda made Natalie smaller and placed her in her diaper.  “I get you out later!”

The queen decided that it was now time to change Princess Zelinda’s diaper.  She removed her footie princess pajamas and took off her diaper.  Natalie lept out and began running around Zelinda, jumping up and down.  The queen then put a new diaper on Zelinda.  Zelinda made a new dress appear on her.  It was now time to play.

Another seven years passed.  Having spent 27 years in her kingdom now, Zelinda missed hearing stories read to her.  She knew that the queen couldn’t do this, so it was time to leave.

Zelinda stood up and looked at Natalie, who was being held by the queen, who was rocking her back and forth.  While she did this, Natalie happily sucked on her pacifier.  Zelinda made a portal appear and she glanced at Natalie.  “I’m going to da otha wold.”

Natalie removed her pacifier and gasped.  “Can I come?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “No!”  She then smiled.  “But I’ll come back.  I pwomise!”

Natalie, satisfied at her answer, smiled.  She stuck her pacifier back in her mouth and continued to wrap her arms around the queen.

Zelinda, having missed her mother’s stories so much, was ready to hear them again.  But first, she wanted to be held one more time.

The queen, knowing that she wanted this, made another copy of herself appear to cater to Zelinda’s needs.  The copy held her princess daughter and rocked her back and forth.

Satisfied with being held, Zelinda crawled on her legs into the portal.  Her very own kingdom that belonged to her faded away.  The 27-year dream dissolved before her very eyes…

***

Zentroz gasped as she saw Zelinda, now a 32-year-old woman waking up in an energetic lunge.

“Mommy!” her daughter shouted.  “I wanna hear a story!”

Zentroz shook her head.  “It’s morning, honey.  I will tell you one tonight, okay.” She then burst into tears.  “Plus, you have been sleeping for 27 years!  Can’t I spend some time with you before I leave you again?”

Zelinda nodded.  “Okay!”

Zelinda glanced around her room and smiled.  All of the toys that she had when she was two years old was still there.  She then glanced at her pajamas and gave them a look of disgust.  “Yucky pajamas!” And almost instantaneously, they flashed, turning into skirt pajamas.

After Zentroz stopped crying, she took Zelinda into her and her husband’s master bedroom.  Jonathan gasped when he saw her.  He was speechless.

“So you’re finally awake, honey!” Jonathan shouted.  “Where have you been for almost 30 years?”

“In my kingdom, daddy!” she shouted with a big smile on her face.

Zentroz frowned.  “What kind of question was that?  You know where she was!  Where else would she be?”

“It’s where I was BORN!” she shouted.

Zentroz grinned and smiled at her.  “Alright honey.  Whatever you say.”  She then gave her daughter a serious look.  “Zelinda, you have caused a lot of trouble for both me and daddy.  You turned the planet that we all live on into your own little world and nearly wiped out the human race, turning nearly everyone into a child.  This is the real world, honey.  This is not your world.  This is our world.”

But Zelinda shook her head in defiance.  “No!” she shouted.  “My wold!  I am a beautiful pincess and it’s all mine!”  She continued to pout.  “You took my kingdom away from me, mommy.  Those mean people.  I’m going to get my kingdom back!”

Jonathan shook his head, starting to look afraid.  “No!  You are not going to bring it back!  Daddy is not going to go through that again.  Okay?”

Zelinda looked at her mother with an expectant look.  “Can I play with my toys, mommy?”

Zentroz sighed.  “I don’t know, honey.  You caused mommy a lot of trouble lately.”

Zelinda then regressed her age from a young adult to a teenager.  “Can I play with my toys, mommy?”

Zentroz, starting to get scared when she saw her younger daughter, gasped.  “Go on, honey.  Go play with your toys…”

“Yay!” Zelinda shouted, as she childishly skipped outside the room.

Zelinda, still sixteen years old, spent all day in her room, playing with her toys.  Meanwhile, Zentroz expressed her concerns to Jonathan.

Zentroz stared at her husband.  It was the kind of stare that reflected frustration and confusion.  What do they do with their daughter?  How can they control her?  Can they even control her?  She scratched her head.  “Is Zelinda even our daughter in the first place?” she asked her husband out loud.

Jonathan sighed, and then let out a weak laugh.  “It’s kind of weird, but I don’t feel like she belongs to us.”

Zentroz frowned.  “How can this be?  I can remember giving birth to her!”  She closed her eyes.  She could still remember the day she was born, clear in her mind.  She contracted, she pushed, and out came Zelinda.  The doctors then presented Zentroz’s brand new daughter to her…then something unexpected happened.

Zelinda vanished.

Zentroz gasped.  “Now I’m even more confused!  When I replayed the memory of Zelinda being born, she vanished!  It was like I never gave birth to her!”

Jonathan smiled.  “Maybe she altered reality with her powers!”

Zentroz nodded with a troubled look on her face.  “I’m afraid you might be right.  Zelinda has gotten so powerful that anything she says comes true.  It doesn’t matter whether she’s dreaming or not.  To her, both dreams and reality are blurred together.  And if this reality is a dream to her, then all dreams become her reality.”  She shook her head.  Even though Zelinda made herself born of her own imagination, Zelinda was still her daughter.  Prior to her daughter meddling with reality, Zelinda was hers, and she always will be, no matter what new reality Zelinda decides to create.

She looked at Jonathan.  “You know what?  I kind of wished that I lived on my mom’s home planet of Zorpoz.  Back on that planet, Zelinda’s condition could have been prevented early on.” Zentroz sobbed.  “She…she could’ve lived a normal life!”

Jonathan nodded, but then stood up.  Sure, his daughter was different but neither of them could change that.  “She could’ve, but we were dealt with this hand for a reason.  Let’s try to work around the differences and move on, okay?” Zentroz wiped the tears off her eyes and nodded.  “Okay.  I mean, how do we manage our daughter if she decides to sleep for 27 years?”

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.  “We do what we can.  What’s strange is that she doesn’t even look like she’s starving.  She looks healthy.”

Zentroz nodded.  “And I checked her underwear while she was sleeping.  No pee or poop anywhere.  Maybe she went in her dreams?  For some reason, it doesn’t affect this reality.”

Jonathan laughed.  “No pee or poop?  There was plenty of pee when we were both subject to her, but no poop.”

Zentroz grinned.  “Maybe she doesn’t like poop.  So even what she eats makes her pee.” She glanced in the direction facing Zelinda’s bedroom.  “I wonder how she’s doing?”

“She hasn’t exited that bedroom once.” Jonathan told her.  “Still playing with her toys, I guess.”

Zentroz felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.  “I hope that she doesn’t make this whole earth her kingdom again.  I’m not ready to deal with that!  I mean, I have been practicing my magic some more, but I would rather that she behaves this time.”

“You and me both, Zennie.  As far as I’m concerned, she’s not our child, but since she is at the same time, I still love her and feel connected to her.  It’s a weird connection, but she made it weird.”

Zentroz stood up and began walking toward Zelinda’s room.  “I’m going to check on her.”

Jonathan nodded.  “Let me know if all is well!”

Zentroz nodded.  “I will!”  She walked down the hallway and opened the door at the very end.

Inside was Zelinda’s bedroom.  It was very spacious, with toys scattered everywhere.  Her bed sat in the corner, with her dresser adjacent to it.

And although Zelinda was 16 years old, she acted very much like she was two.  She had a few rows of blocks, haphazardly stacked.  After that, she swept her hand through, knocking them all down.  “Playtime is so fun!” Zelinda shouted.

Zentroz glanced at her daughter.  She was still in her pink skirt pajamas, smiling and playing with her toys without a care in the world.  She placed her hands on her daughter to get her attention.  “Zelinda honey!” she said with her voice raised.  “I know that you’re having the time of your life right now, but it’s time to go to bed.  Can you put your blocks down and go to bed for mommy?  Let’s do that, Zelinda dear.”

Zelinda put down the blocks and nodded.  “Okay mommy!”

Zentroz then began to glance down beneath her daughter’s waist.  “Are you still wearing underwear, honey?”

Zelinda sighed.  “Yes mommy…”

Zentroz glanced underneath her daughter’s skirt pajamas and checked just to make sure.  Sure enough, she was still wearing underwear.  And even though it was a cartoon princess, it was still underwear.

Zentroz turned Zelinda towards the door to her bedroom and pointed to it.  “Do you have to go potty?  Mommy will take you there if you have to go.”

Zelinda shook her head.  “No.  I don’t have to go!”

“If you do have to go during the night, get up and go.” She told her.  “You know where it is, right?”

Zelinda nodded.

“Are you sure that you don’t have to go, honey?”

Zelinda nodded.

Zentroz guided Zelinda to her bed and she climbed into it.  She pulled back the covers and Zelinda got in, resting her head on the pillow.  Zentroz then pulled the covers back on her daughter and tucked her in.  “Good night, sweetie…”  She hugged Zelinda and kissed her goodnight.  As she was halfway between Zelinda’s bed and the door, she looked back at Zelinda.  “No tricks, honey.” She said.  “Mommy has already gone through trouble.  You caused more than five years’ worth, honey.  Mommy doesn’t need anymore.”

Zelinda nodded, maintaining her innocent smile.  “Okay mommy.”  She then yawned.  “Good night, mommy…”

Zentroz shut off the light to Zelinda’s room.  Then she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Zelinda glanced around her large room full of toys.  She glanced at her pile of toys with a tired smile.  “Good night, toys!” the teen said yawning.  “See you in the morning!”

Zelinda pressed her head on the pillow and smiled.  Playtime was so much fun.  What was even more fun was the dreams that awaited her.  She let out another yawn.  Her eyelids grew heavy.  “So sleepy…”

Finally, Zelinda closed her eyes.  Zelinda was fast asleep.

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 10: Rebuilding the Kingdom

That night, Zelinda had a series of dreams.  The first one was regarding Zelinda’s past.

In the royal chambers, the Queen was laying in her bed.  She was in labor, and twelve midwives were standing in the room, attending to her.

Two of them were standing right next to where the baby would come out.  “It’s almost out.” One of them said.  “Keep pushing!”

The queen pushed three times.  And then three more times.  The baby was not quite out yet. After three more series of pushes, she strained really hard and…the baby came out.  The baby was flashing and a crown appeared on her head.

When the queen saw her new daughter and the power that she possessed, she gasped.  “It’s a girl!” She shouted.  “And I will name you Zelinda.”  She glanced at her daughter again.  For some odd reason, she didn’t look like a newborn at all.  Zelinda was already a toddler.

“Thanks mommy!” Zelinda shouted.  “I am now born! Can I pway now?”

The queen gasped and looked at her daughter.  “You just came out and you’re not even clean!  Neither are you clothed!”

But Zelinda looked at her body and it flashed.  She was immediately clean.  She flashed again and was wearing a beautiful princess dress.  “All cwean!  All dwessed!”

The queen looked at her flashing princess daughter and smiled.  “Zelinda, there’s nothing you can’t do!”

Zelinda nodded with a smile.  “That’s wight, mommy!  There’s nothing I can’t do!”

And it was so.  Whatever Princess Zelinda wanted immediately came true.

The queen looked at her princess daughter with delight.  “You are going to be a powerful princess someday!”

But Princess Zelinda, already knowing the future, smiled.  “I alweady am, mommy!”

The queen gasped, still amazed that her princess daughter was older than a newborn.  “How old are you, honey?”

Princess Zelinda held out two fingers.  “Two, mommy!” she said with a smile.  “Pincess Zawinda two forever!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

The dream faded away, as the teenage Zelinda continued to rest in her bed.  Her dreaming continued.

Zelinda woke up.  She was in her kingdom again, but she was a teenager.  She checked underneath her skirt pajamas.  She was wearing underwear.

“No underwear!” she shouted.  “No underwear…Diaper…”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s underwear became a diaper. She then looked out her castle and noticed that it was her older kingdom, and not her newer one.  As she glanced at her old kingdom, her new one began to materialize around her.

“Toy world!” Zelinda shouted.  “No skirt jammies.  Footsie jammies!

And it was so.  Zelinda’s skirt pajamas became footie pajamas.

Zelinda looked at her teenage body and frowned.  “I am five years old again!” She said with a smile.

Zelinda shrank, regressing from a teenager to a five-year old.

Zelinda felt her head for a crown.  Her soft crown wasn’t there.  “I’m a pretty princess!” she shouted.

And it was so.  Zelinda’s footie pajamas became princess pajamas.  Her soft plush crown appeared on her head.

She looked at her pajamas and was still not satisfied.  “Footie princess pajamas!” she shouted.  “I’m two again!  Two years old!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

And it was so.  Princess Zelinda shrank again, regressing further from a five-year old to a 24-month-old toddler.

And before the Queen could even approach Princess Zelinda, she woke up.

Zelinda glanced at herself and gasped.  Once again, she was two years old, wearing her footie princess pajamas.  “Wow!  I am two years old!  No bed!  Cwib!”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s princess bed became a princess crib.

The door opened. Zentroz entered the dark room to check in on her daughter to see if she was sleeping.

“Let me check on my…” Zentroz said, turning on the light.  She saw her daughter, laying in a crib and sucking on a pacifier.  “Oh my goodness!  Zelinda!  You’re a toddler again!  Change back this instant!”

But Princess Zelinda smiled as she looked at her princess crib.  Her smiles turned to giggles until she began giggling uncontrollably.  “Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!!” Zelinda giggled.  “Bigger cwib!”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s crib grew until it was the size of a king-sized bed.

Zelinda felt her diaper and it began to sag.  “Change my diaper, mommy!” she ordered.  “I need a changie!  Change me now!”

Zentroz was speechless.  Paralyzed with fear, she submissively nodded at her daughter.  “I’ll be right back with the diaper, honey.”

Zentroz left her daughter’s room to get her a fresh diaper.

After leaving the room, Zentroz burst into tears.  “Why?  Why is she doing this?”  She then remembered what Zelinda said after the Fountain of Youth incident. If she didn’t listen to her, she would become a toddler like her.  She looked around the house, trying to find a diaper for her daughter.

Meanwhile, Princess Zelinda was bringing her kingdom back, one thing at a time.  “This house toy palwace towwa!” she shouted.  “City awound me!”

And it was so.  The Seacrest Estate transformed into the Toy Palace Tower (formerly the Walker Estate).  Toy City (formerly Manhattan) appeared around the Toy Palace Tower.

 Meanwhile, Zentroz was confused.  A room that she was in transformed into a room that resembled the Walker Estate, only it was her daughter’s version of it.  Knowing this, she found the diaper room.   Plenty of unopened sacks of diapers laid in there, ready for Zentroz to grab.  Zentroz grabbed a sack at the very top of a large mound and tore open the plastic.  She grabbed a diaper and ran back towards Zelinda’s room, which was now her throne room since she transformed the house.

Back in Princess Zelinda’s throne room, her remaking continued.  She peed her diaper and smiled.  “Bigger…bigger…bigger…tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

And it was so.  As Zelinda peed, both she and the tower grew and grew.

Zelinda came back with the diaper, gasping as she saw the floor and everything else beginning to grow.

She frowned as she entered the room.  “The bathrooms are gone again!  Okay honey, I’ll change your…Oh no, honey!  You’re growing!”

Zelinda saw the tiny diaper that Zentroz was holding.  She pouted when she saw it.  “Diaper too small, mommy!  Diaper too small!”

And it was so.  Zentroz gasped as the diaper begin to grow and grow in her hand.  It rapidly grew and became too big for her to hold.  She let go of the growing diaper and it covered her.

Zelinda’s diaper, on the other hand was really bulging.

Zelinda smiled, as she looked at her shrinking mother.  “Bigger…bigger…bigger!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s size rapidly increased with the tower.  The already large bulge in Zelinda’s diaper kept growing and growing.  Holes started to form in her diaper and urine started to squirt out of those holes.    Finally, the pressure was too much.  Zelinda’s diaper burst apart, splashing pee on the frills of her princess pajamas and down her legs and feet.  A growing puddle of urine began to form where she was standing.

Zelinda now began to sob, as the puddle continued to grow.  “New diaper, mommy!” she wailed.  “New diaper!”

Zentroz was kicking her legs up, trying to tread urine in the enormous growing puddle that was by her still-growing daughter’s feet.  “I can’t, honey!  Your diaper is too big for me to change!  Plus, this fresh one is all soaked!”  She gasped for air, her face beginning to sink into the puddle-lake of urine.

“All dwy!” Zelinda shouted.

And it was so.  All the urine disappeared and the new diaper was completely dry.  The only thing that was still wet was Zelinda’s diaper.

Zentroz gasped in horror as her daughter was still growing with everything in the Toy Palace Tower.  “You’re still growing, honey!”

But Zelinda still stood there, pouting.  “Change my diaper, mommy!” she said in a very expectant voice.

Zentroz sighed, as she watched the floor and everything around her continue to grow.  “Okay honey…”

Zentroz used her magic to produce a growing projection of herself.  She made the projection bigger than Zelinda and had it grow at the same pace with her.  The growing Zentroz projection laid the growing Zelinda down.  She unzipped her daughter’s footie princess pajamas and removed them.  She removed her daughter’s diaper and was squirt right in the face with pee.  Zelinda giggled.  The Zentroz projection scowled.  “Stop peeing, or I will not change your diaper.”

Zelinda, still smiling, nodded.  “Okay mommy!”

Zelinda stopped growing and so did the Zentroz projection.  Zelinda magically cleaned herself with her own commands and the Zentroz projections put a new diaper on her.  Right after she did this, Zelinda started to grow again.  Despite her peeing again, her diaper remained dry.  The Zentroz projection grew with her and put her footie princess pajamas back on her.

The Zentroz projection re-entered Zentroz and gasped.  She quickly got to the floor, feeling very week.  “Man,” she gasped.  “It took so much magic to do that!”

Zelinda smiled and looked all around her.  “It’s my toy wold!”

And it was so.  The entire world was replaced by her kingdom once again.  Zelinda, the tower, and the entire world kept growing and growing.

 Princess Zelinda looked all around her and smiled.  Her tower was back.  Her castle was back.  Her kingdom planet was back.  It was all Zelinda’s.  Everything belonged to her.  The earth started to outgrow the solar system.  But that didn’t matter to Zelinda.  From her laws, there was somehow still a source of light in the sky.  Her kingdom continued to grow and grow.

Her kingdom was back and it was about to only get better.

***

QuisXthar continued zooming forward, maintaining a comfortable distance ahead of the growing planet.  Having seen Zelinda’s growth beginning to happen, the city-ship decided to get a 30-year head start.  It time-traveled back to the year that Zelinda was two.  Since Zelinda would be sleeping for thirty years, it gave the urban vessel plenty of time to get as far away from earth as possible.

The city-ship entered another new galaxy.  It was many light years away from earth.  Since leaving earth, it has now been 30 years.

Back at the Ritz Tower, Charlotte was despondent.  Having lost Natalie, she still had no idea where her missing daughter was.  Since she decided to make the brave voyage back to earth to rescue Jonathan and Zentroz, there was no sign of her anywhere.

 Then it hit her.  With her coming from an alternate timeline, both her and Natalie would still be on Earth.  In that timeline, the Fountain of Youth Incident never happened.  Would there be another Charlotte and Natalie on earth?  Who knows?

Edward glanced at her and shrugged his shoulders.  “We’re in a different timeline.  The Fountain of Youth Incident never happened.”

Charlotte nodded.  “That’s true, but Natalie should’ve been born…”  She glanced at herself and her family.  With them jumping all over time, none of them have really aged too much.  In fact, since they time traveled from the point that they left earth, 30 years didn’t seem too long at all.

Having jumped 30 years, Charlotte felt something strange.  She couldn’t quite explain it, but she felt it for some reason.  She closed her eyes, deep in thought.

***

Charlotte was on earth, at the hospital.  Zelinda was in her 13th year of her 30-year slumber.  At that moment, her stomach was bulging.  She was going into labor.  She moaned in pain as the contractions began.  After all the contractions, she pushed hard and the miracle of birth happened.  A baby came out.

She sighed with relief as the doctors presented the baby to her.  “it’s a girl…” they told her.

Full of relief, she smiled at the new girl that was beginning to cry.  “I’ll call her Natalie.” She told the doctors.

And just like that, Natalie flashed and did something that made Charlotte gasp.

Natalie vanished.  Charlotte burst into tears.

And right after she vanished, Charlotte felt a strange feeling in her heart.  It was almost like there was a clone out there, someplace far away…

***

Charlotte opened her eyes and shook her head.  Did she just sense her counterpart?  She shrugged her shoulders and laughed it off.  “It couldn’t be…”

Edward pensively stared at his mother and scratched his head.  “So, we time traveled 30 years into the future.  We know from time travel that Zelinda is going to wake up any moment.  So, does that mean that she causes a second Fountain of Youth?”

Charlotte gasped.  “You’re right!  That means…Kyle, Zoria, Jonathan, Zentroz…We need to go back in time!”

Within the next hour, Charlotte contacted the Project Zelinda scientists and the ship’s pilots.  From her news, they acted quickly and set a course back in time.  Back before Zelinda was born.  If they were going to plan for this event, they would plan for it the right way.

The city-ship zoomed through the space-time continuum, hurrying through history.

***

QuisXthar re-entered its point of origin.  There in the distance was the surface of an enormous planet.  A planet that held numerous different city-ships that were comparable to QuisXthar’s size.  A planet made a very strong alloy.  An artificial planet capable of intergalactic flight.

“This is QuisXthar Alpha,” the pilot announced.  “QuisXthar Alpha to Corinson.  Do you copy?”

The pilot of Corinson nodded.  “Corinson mission control to QuisXthar Alpha.  I read you loud and clear.  Are you requesting clearance to land?”

“Affirmative.” The pilot responded.  “Clearance is needed for a vacant zone.”

“Clearance is granted.  There are 247 vacant zones based on your city-ship’s class.  Based on your proximity, you are the closest to Zone 347628.  You are now being guided to Zone 347628.”

The computers on QuisXthar automatically guided the city-ship into the numbered zone and made a smooth landing, attaching itself into the detachable zone.

***

Kyle and Zoria sighed with relief as QuisXthar made its landing on Corinson.

Kyle then reflected on everything that happened.  Having heard the stories from the Zelinda Central Task Force, he heard it enough times to be able to recite it by heart.  Having traveled far enough in time, QuisXthar was actually able to make enough city-ships to preserve the entire human race.  Corinson was the project that they developed in space to create a plantary supership that could transport the highly populated city-ships of the world.  The evacuation project was done in stages so that every last person on earth could transition to a new life there before Zelinda turned two.  In their evacuation attempts, they have managed to get everyone evacuated except for Jonathan and Zentroz.  Because of Zelinda’s influence, they were unable to do this.  Even if they did evacuate them, they would always teleport back to earth on Zelinda’s command.  Having retried this scenario numerous times, they have resolved to secretly work on the evacuation project and secretly evacuate everyone with the deadline being when Zelinda fell asleep after turning two.  This would begin her 30-year nap, with a very short break three years in, followed by another 27-year nap.  That was the story, and Kyle knew every word of it.

Zoria looked at Kyle and placed her hand on his shoulder.  “I know that I can’t read minds anymore, but I know that you’re thinking of our daughter, right?”

Kyle nodded.  “Yes.  Our son is safe, but our daughter is still on earth…” He paused, trying to put his emotions into words.  “We tried several times.  Zelinda just won’t let them go.”

Mike entered the room.  “Talking about my sister again?  You know, I really wish that we could get her back…”

Zoria embraced her son and nodded.  “All of us do, dear.  Of anyone who wishes that she could be here with us, no one has thought about her more than me.”

Mike glanced at Corinson and smiled.  “But we saved the human race, right?  The Fountain of Youth incident won’t work here.  We got them all out.  Almost every one.”

Kyle scratched his head.  “We did, but now comes the issue.  What planet can they all settle on?  This planet was meant to be a vessel to carry them all to another habitable planet to live.  It’s not intended to be permanent.”

Zoria nodded.  “I know.  I can imagine the complaints that they have had in staying on that vessel for 30 years.”

Mike glanced out into space.  “And we don’t want to settle at a planet too soon.  For all we know, Zelinda could grow again.  Who knows how much she’ll grow?  Mere planets could be specks of dust to her.  And if that is how big she is, imagine how much bigger her earth is.  We cannot settle until we deal with Zelinda and make sure that she’s dealt with for good.”

Zoria sat down in a comfortable chair.  Kyle and Mike sat in chairs nearby her.  “The strangest thing about Zelinda now is that her birth can’t be prevented.  Since she altered reality, she is now born in her own world.  So whenever she is born here, she is born a second time.  Her original birth in her world can’t be erased.”

“It can’t,” Kyle said.  “And what’s strange about that is she doesn’t look like a newborn at birth, but a two-year old.”

“And there’s a reason for that, Kyle.” Zoria added.  “Since reality has become a dream to Zelinda, all of her dreams become reality.  Her reality is a permanent dream, and we are all part of her dream.  Whatever she wills to happen will indeed happen.  And since her dream is a reality, no amount of waking up will remove her from it.”

Charlotte burst into the room.  Her face was sweating, and she was gasping for air.  “Corinson is in trouble.”

Kyle gasped.  “What’s going on?”

“They’re rioting,” Charlotte said, still gasping for air.  “Having been on this artificial planet for so long, they’re tired of it.  Some want a real planet to settle on.  Some want to go back to earth.  Something better be done, or they’re going to cause serious trouble.”

Mike looked down at Corinson and noticed little lights starting to form around the neighboring city-ships.  A few lights started to appear in QuisXthar.  “It’s too late for that.  Do you see all of those lights down there?  Those look like fires.”

Charlotte nodded, as a tear rolled down her face.  “It’s begun.  I’ve seen a couple fires down there below.  They’ve had it.  And now they’re going to tear this place apart.”

Kyle sighed.  “Where are they going to escape to?  Are they just going to die in the fire?”

The three watched as the fires began to multiply.  Humanity, fed up with their overcrowded living arrangements was attacking the vessel that carried them.  They were losing their stability fast, and something needed to be done quickly, or their extinction would be certain.  Humanity was collapsing, with just a few rational faces left amid a sea of angry and disgruntled faces.   They were the last hope left in restoring sanity to the artificial planet that held not just the population of earth, but its future.

***

Princess Zelinda glanced around her throne room in the Toy Palace tower.  From her perspective, Zentroz continued to shrink, when in reality, she was growing with everything else.  She looked around for her father, but he was nowhere to be found.

“Where ow you, daddy?” She asked.

And just like that, her question was answered.  Jonathan appeared right next to Zentroz.

Jonathan looked at Zentroz, with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.  “What did I miss?”

Zentroz sighed and pointed up.  “Zelinda and her world growing out of control.  Why should we even bother to move on?”

“As long as we’re breathing, we need to keep trying!” Jonathan told her.

Zelinda continued to stand there, smiling as she peed her diaper.  “Bigger, bigger, bigger! Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s rate of growth exploded.  She grew faster than ever with the tower and her kingdom planet.

 Zentroz began to wail when she saw how fast the floor was growing around her.  The fuzz on the floor quickly dwarfed both her and Jonathan and it towered over them.  They now stood in a growing forest of strands and other fiber that made up the carpeting.

Zelinda then played for a few hours.  When she got bored, she stopped playing.  She just sat there, contendedly sighing as she filled her diaper with new moisture.  She sat there, giggling.  “I love wet diaper!”

Still sitting, Zelinda could somehow still see Zentroz, who looked like a tiny atom to her.  The growing princess then flashed a bright blue.  A blue beam flowed from Zentroz to Zelinda.  “Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!  That tickles mommie!”

Just after that, Zelinda grew even faster.  She grew at an alarming rate.

 Jonathan and Zentroz continued to look up.  They could not see their daughter anymore, since she was getting too big.

Zelinda than began to cry again.  She wanted her diaper changed.  Unfortunately, Zentroz couldn’t do it, since Zelinda drained all of her magic.  Despite this, Zelinda kept insisting.  Full of sorrow, Zentroz cried.  She could not change her daughter this time.  Frustrated, Zelinda teleported them to a diaper field.  The field was vast, full of various diapers that grew in the wild.

Zentroz glanced at the enormous diapers.  The one they were next to was many miles long.

“I can’t, honey!” she waited.  “You drained my magic!”

Zelinda’s tears continued to fall.  “Mommy doesn’t love me!”

Zentroz shook her head.  “Mommy does love you very much!”

Zelinda shook her head.  “Mommy doesn’t love me because mommy doesn’t change my diapers…”

Zentroz sighed.  “Mommy can’t do that because you’re too big!”

Zelinda pouted and looked at her mother.  “Fine!  I do it myself, ‘cause mommy doesn’t love me!”

Zelinda, still growing with everything else lied down on one of the diapers in the diaper field.  Her sagging diaper flashed and disappeared.  The diaper she was lying on flashed and appeared on her, fully fastened.  “All dwy!”

And it was so.  Her body was completely dry.

After that, Zelinda teleported them back to the Toy Palace tower and played some more.  She sighed again as she filled up another diaper.  “So wom…” she said, smiling.

Her princess footie pajamas started to darken, and a puddle began to form where she sat.  She sucked her thumb as the puddle expanded.  She made a blanket appear, which she hugged while she continued to suck her thumb.  She then made a bottle full of milk appear and she began sucking that bottle down.  The puddle continued to expand outward.

Jonathan and Zentroz gasped as a giant yellow wave began to approach them.  As fast as they could run, they could not overtake it.  It washed over them, and they began to tread the growing urine lake.

Jonathan sighed as he looked all around him. “Everything is so big!  We are so small that just this tower could be the size of the universe to us!”

Zentroz nodded, her face full of dried-up tears.  “We’ll never escape!”

Jonathan shook his head.  “We need to try!”

But before they could even do anything, Zelinda stood up.

Zelinda smiled as she looked around the room.  “I find mommy and daddy!”

Jonathan shook his head and sighed.  “Our daughter is looking for us!”

“I know!” Zentroz shouted.  “But she’ll never find us!  Just this strand of carpet is the height of a tower!”

Zelinda continued looking around the room.  “Where ow you, mommy and daddy?”

Her question was immediately answered, as she saw exactly where they were, despite being very small to her.

“Yay!” Zelinda shouted.  “I found mommy and daddy!”  She bended down and reached for them.

“No!” Jonathan shouted.  “No Zelinda!  Don’t!”

The enormous landmass of skin that was her hand scooped them both up.  They zoomed up for many miles, like an out-of-control express elevator.  They both noticed a giant black screen.

Zentroz gasped.  “Is that her eye?  It’s HUGE!”

Jonathan let out a nervous laugh.  “Call it a hunch, but I think she’s smiling at us.”

Zelinda gave her tiny parents a surprised look.  “Mommy and daddy all wet!  Why you all wet?”

Jonathan pointed at Zelinda.  “You made us wet!”

Zelinda then smiled at them and began moving her hand downward.  “Put mommy and daddy in diaper!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

“NOOOOO!!!!!”  Jonathan and Zentroz both screamed.

Princess Zelinda dropped her parents and they began falling toward her diaper.  But just before they fell in, she pressed her hands against the landing zone of her diaper.

Instead of falling into her diaper, they landed on the soft cottony surface of her diaper, just near the velcroey landing zone.   To them, falling onto her diaper was like falling into the atmosphere of another planet.

Jonathan and Zentroz walked around on the wet fields of white fluff.

Finally, Zelinda stopped peeing.  Zelinda, the tower, and everything else stopped growing.  “New nomal size!” she shouted.

Both Jonathan and Zentroz continued to trudge around on the moist field of fluff, which extended for thousands of miles.

Jonathan groaned in disgust as he trudged along the soft surface.  “I can’t believe it, but we’re actually on our daughter’s diaper.”

Zentroz nodded.  “Believe it!  It’s all wet too!”

But it wasn’t all wet for too long.  Seconds later, Zelinda felt her wet diaper.  “All dwy! New diaper!”

And it was so.  Her nether region became dry and a new diaper appeared on her.

Jonathan and Zentroz felt their bodies.  They were all dry.  So was the soft, fluffy surface.

Zelinda then rubbed her eyes.  Despite sleeping for 30 years, she was still tired.  Flooded with fatigue, she glanced at her crib.  “Nite-nite!”

She teleported inside her crib and got underneath the covers.  She placed her head on the pillow as the room automatically dimmed until it was dark.  She then fell asleep.

“Milky-milk…” Zelinda said while she slept.

A bottle filled with milk appeared in her embracing hands.

Jonathan and Zentroz exchanged glances and sighed.  “This whole diaper might be the size of earth.  Maybe bigger.  I think we’re stuck here!”

Zentroz heard the loud breathing from her princess daughter sleeping.  “Yup.  We’re stuck.”

Both Jonathan and Zentroz wandered aimlessly through the endless fields of fluff.  Around every turn, it felt like it all led in the same direction.  Some way, somehow, they were going to get off of their daughter and escape.  It was their only chance at survival, and they both held onto that with all their might.

***        

Princess Zelinda flashed and appeared in her main castle.  She continued to sleep in her gigantic crib.  Years turned into decades.  Decades turned into centuries.

Finally, after sleeping for 2,478 years, Zelinda woke up.  Despite all the years that passed by, she was still two years old.  She called for her parents but they didn’t respond.  They laid dead on her diaper, their bodies all rotted away and decayed by now.

But this didn’t bother Zelinda.  She smiled, flashing very brightly.  A portal opened and she effortlessly leapt through the time-space continuum, 2,478 years back into the past, like it was a hop scotch board.

Back in that era, her parents were alive again.  They were still on her diaper, wandering around what seemed like an endless field to them.  Princess Zelinda’s eyelids were heavy again.  Craving more dreams, she smiled and fell back asleep.

She awoke in her dream kingdom, which looked exactly like her kingdom in reality.  Did she just wake up, or was she still sleeping?  At this point, Zelinda was unable to tell.  She decided that she actually woke up in her kingdom.

And it was so.  Zelinda vanished from the real world and was in her dream kingdom.

Back home, Princess Zelinda smiled.  This was the kingdom where she was born.  The kingdom she made with her own imagination.  A living contradiction but was true because of her will.

In her kingdom, Zelinda spent months playing all over the kingdom planet, having fun with Natalie.  When she was tired, she went back to sleep.

In her gigantic crib, Zelinda began to dream.  She dreamt about her second birth.  Her birth to Zentroz.

After that dream, she had all the others in sequential order.  She became more powerful.  She established her kingdom, and eventually caused the Fountain of Youth Incident.  She was stopped and all the other events played out.  She slept for 30 years and rebuilt her kingdom again.  All of her dreams played out in this way.

And her dreams continued.  Some of them pertained to the future and the 2,478 years she just slept, and jumping back to the past like it was some kind of game.  And it was.  Everything was a game.  Everything was hers.  The world was her playground and she could do whatever she wanted.  She could play whenever she wanted with no one to oppose her.

Princess Zelinda smiled when she woke up.  It didn’t matter whether she was in her dream world or the real world.  Everything in her kingdom was hers, real or imaginary.  She smiled as the sun shined on her face and the queen approached her to change her diaper.  Today was going to be another good day.  Another good day in her kingdom.

***          

The scientists at the QuisXthar laboratory were in awe when they witnessed Zelinda sleeping.  It was now the 2,000^th year of her slumber and she still showed no signs of stirring.  Besides the occasional yawn, this is all that they heard from her.

The city-ship carefully circled around Zelinda, who was peacefully sleeping in her crib.  Just circling around Zelinda was like circling around a large planet.  Just her head alone was the size of earth, and the entire solar system could fit inside her room.

A couple of scientists studiously took notes.  “Amazing…” one of them gasped.  “She is so enormous.

The other one nodded.  “Enormous yes, but very dangerous.  If she were to wake up right now, we would all be in a lot of trouble.”

QuisXthar flew down, towards her face.  The first scientist was astounded.  “Just her face has her own atmosphere.”

The other one nodded in agreement.  “So does her diaper.  I would imagine that her diaper would have the characteristics of a gas planet, but without gas.  All I’m smelling is uric acid.  All the basic components of urine.”

The first glanced around impatiently.  “Haven’t we gathered enough data?”

The second nodded.  “We need to determine when she wakes up.  Even if we get the time wrong, we have a shield.”

The city-ship flew over the north pole of Zelinda’s face, which was nothing but golden blonde hair.

QuisXthar zoomed downward, descending into Zelinda’s gigantic crib.  They passed a full bottle of milk that was as tall as half the circumference of earth.

The scientists all nodded.  “I think that we have enough data.  As it is, we have acquired numerous samples of her DNA.  This will make Project Zelinda even more successful!”

The scientists all cheered, and time traveled with the city-ship. It jumped 300 years into the future.  Zelinda was still fast asleep.  Another 100.  She was still asleep.  Yet another 100.  She was awake, so they jumped 100 years back.  They then kept jumping forward in 10-year increments.  After 10, she was still asleep.  Another 10.  She was still sleeping.  30, 40, 50, 60…She was still asleep.  They tried 70.  She was still asleep.  Then 80.  She was awake, so they traveled 10 years back.  They then tried one-year increments.  One year…two years…three years…four years…she was still asleep.  Five years…six years…seven years…She was fast asleep.  After they tried the eighth year, she finally woke up.

“2,478 years!” They gasped.

“Now that’s quite a nap!” One of them joked.

They jumped back 2,478 years into the past when her nap first begun.

The planet-sized toddler slept on.

***

Jonathan and Zentroz continued walking aimlessly.  The fields of fluff continued in every direction.  For days on end, they continued walking around, trying to get off their daughter’s planet-sized diaper.

 After spending five years walking, they found a rough fuzzy texture, with a tape that extended for many miles.

Jonathan shrugged.  “Where are we?”

Zentroz nervously smiled.  “I think that we’re on the landing zone.”

Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.  “Okay.  So we’re on her landing zone.  Why does she have to be so big?  Why does this room have to be so big?  Why does this earth have to be so big?”

Zentroz sighed.  “I guess it’s because she wanted it this way.  And when is she going to wake up? She’s been sleeping for years…”

Jonathan nodded.  “And interestingly, we are not starving.  It must be because of her…”

As they continued to walk, they both heard their daughter, peacefully breathing in and out while she rested.

Suddenly, a vortex sucked them both in.  Seconds later, the same vortex spit them out.  They were on the same landing zone, only in a different time period.

“What just happened?” Jonathan said, gasping.

 “I think she sent us into the future.” Zentroz told him.

“She did this while sleeping?  How far did she send us?”

Zentroz shrugged her shoulders.  “I don’t know, but she’s still sleeping.”

They continued walking down the wide expanse of the landing zone.  The sound of their daughter’s breathing changed to the sound of sucking.

 “What is she doing?” Jonathan said, as she exchanged glances with Zentroz.

 “It’s sounds like she’s sucking her bottle in her sleep.” Zentroz told him.

 And that’s what they continued to hear as they walked the endless landing zone.  It extended so far that they could see nothing but colorful patterns for miles.  A field of white fluff  was just to the left of them, with the endless landing zone to the right of them.  They heard the sound of sucking and then pause.  More sucking and then another pause.  After a total of five periods of sucking, they finally heard a contented sigh, along with more breathing.

 Exhausted, both Jonathan and Zentroz fell asleep.

 About an hour later, Zentroz woke up to a huge bulge.  The area that they were sleeping on sloped downward.  The terrain started to become more hilly.

This also woke Jonathan up.  He rolled downward and glanced at the terrain.  “Is she…?” he gasped.

Zentroz nodded.  “She’s peeing her diaper.  Fortunately, the surface is still dry. Let’s find a level area and go back to sleep…” She slouched over and rubbed her eyes.  And walking with Jonathan, they found a nice and level area at the top and fell back asleep.

 About an hour later, Zentroz woke up to hot moisture.  She stood up.  The back of her shirt was completely soaked.  In looking down, she saw puddles starting to form around the hilly terrain of the landing zone.

Another puddle formed underneath where Jonathan was sleeping.  He woke up, standing to his feet.  “This has got to stop.” He scowled.  “This is getting way out of control.  She’s our daughter, isn’t she?”

Zentroz’s eyes teared up and she nodded.  “I thought she was!  I don’t know what is happening to her.  We can’t control her anymore.  She just does whatever she wants!  The world is her playground!”

“Try galaxy,” Jonathan smirked.  What we’re walking on is the size of a planet!  I mean, look at this!  Just our daughter alone is larger than earth!”

The puddles on the landing zone converged and expanded quickly.  A lake was starting to form before their very eyes.

“Ahhh …” Princess Zelinda sighed in relief.  “So dwy… I feel so dwy…”

 Jonathan and Zentroz ran for their lives, trying to find dry ground.  The dry ground was vanishing quickly before their very eyes as more lakes began to form around them.

Zelinda continued sleeping.  Moisture began to run down her legs and against the legs of her footie princess pajamas.  From the legs, the moisture flowed into the feet.

“Ahhh …” Zelinda sighed in relief.  “So wet…!  I like to feel wet!”

The moisture ran upward from her diaper onto her stomach.  Then it ran onto her chest.  The moisture started to darken her pajamas and started to flow through her covers and the bottom of her crib.

 At this point, Jonathan and Zentroz were treading urine, since all the dry ground was gone.  A strong current pulled them in every direction.

Zentroz went under, and then pulled her face back up, gasping for air.  “Jonathan!” she shouted.  “We’re going to drown!”

Zelinda opened her eyes and yawned.  She smacked her lips and smiled when she felt the moisture on her pajamas.  “I awake now!  Pincess Zawinda happy at nomal size.  I tiyod of gwowing …I want to bee dwy again!  All dwy!”

 And it was so.  All of Zelinda was completely dry, along with her covers and the bottom of her crib.

Zelinda then sat up, glancing around.  She then frowned.  “Mommy!  Daddy!  Where ow you…?

Jonathan sighed.  “Oh great.  Our daughter is looking for us.”

Zentroz nodded and gave Jonathan a confused look.  “I know.  Why can’t she find us?  Can’t she call us?”

“I would rather that she didn’t.” Jonathan told her.  “Do we really want her to grab us again?  Remember, she’s bigger than a planet now!”

Zelinda looked outside and sighed.  “Still very dak …I go back to bed.  Nite-nite beddie bye!”

 Princess Zelinda laid back down in her gigantic princess crib and fell back asleep.

Jonathan laughed.  “So now what?  Is she going to sleep for another few years?”

Zelinda continued talking in her sleep.  “Ahhh…so warm and comfy!”

The terrain around the landing zone became hilly again.

 “I wanna be cuter!” Zelinda said, as she talked in her sleep.

 And it was so.  Zelinda was even cuter than she was before.

Zelinda then giggled.  “Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Zelinda grew for a short time but then stopped.

 Jonathan and Zentroz, fully rested, continued their trek through the vast landing zone plain.  The plain was hilly, due to Zelinda emptying her bladder to alter the landscape.

 Jonathan scowled.  “I’m tired of being on Zelinda’s diaper.  Can’t we just get off it?”

Zentroz sighed.  “We’ve been on it for years!  Do you think that you’re the only one that’s tired of being on it?”

 Jonathan and Zentroz continued through the hilly landing zone until morning.  They staggered onto the uneven terrain, and they could barely move.

Zelinda woke up and let out a deep yawn.  “Huaahhhn …Time for wakie!  I so happy!”

 Princess Zelinda disappeared from her royal crib and appeared standing outside of it.  “Mommy and daddy!” She called.  “Where ow yoo?”

 And it was so.  Both Jonathan and Zentroz vanished from the landing zone plain of Zelinda’s diaper and appeared on the tip of her middle finger.  To Jonathan and Zentroz, it looked like a mound of an enormous mountain.  An enormous mountain of skin.

 “Found you!” Zelinda shouted.  She then giggled.  “Put mommy and daddy in diaper!”

 Jonathan shook his head in fear.  “No Zelinda honey!  Don’t!”

Zentroz grabbed Jonathan by the arm.  “Jonny…Get a grip.  We’re on her fingers, right?  Let’s try to escape!”

Jonathan looked at how vast everything was.  The entire room looked like outer space, with the background of everything all a blur.  “Alright.  It’s worth a shot.”

 Both Jonathan and Zentroz lept off the tip of her finger and fell downwards.  Unfortunately, they were in the perfect trajectory to land directly into Zelinda’s footie princess pajamas.   They continued to fall directly into her diaper.  But since she was so big, they kept falling through one of her leg openings and under her giant dress that was part of her pajamas.  They finally landed on top of her footies.  To them, it looked like a giant pink peninsula.

 At this, Princess Zelinda looked at her mother and frowned.  “Mommy!” she scolded.  “Yoo not fowowing my wules !  Change my diaper mommy!  I need a changie now!”

Zentroz panicked.  “I can’t honey!  Your diaper is way too big for me to change!  You are way too big!  You are bigger than a planet, honey…”

Zelinda giggled.  “Mommy is two yeers old!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Zentroz looked at herself in disbelief and was seized with fear.  “N-no I’m not!”

“Yes you are mommy!”

 And just like that, Zentroz found herself panicking as her age rapidly regressed, year by year.  Jonathan’s mouth was open in disbelief.

Zentroz’s scream continued, but faded as her memories began to vanish.  By the time she got to five years old, her screaming stopped.  Her regression continued.  Four…three…and finally two.  Zentroz was now a two-year old again.

“I pway with Pincess Zawinda!”  Zentroz said, squealing with delight.  “I Pincess Zawinda’s size!”

Zentroz grew to the same size as Zelinda.

When Jonathan saw this, he knew that he was in trouble.  He began to run for his life when a loud sound stopped him.

“Daddy STOP!”

Jonathan immediately froze in his tracks.

Zelinda frowned when she looked at her father. “Daddy naughty so daddy can’t pway with us.  Plus, I tiored of being two.  I five again!”

Zelinda grew a tiny bit taller and was five again.

Zentroz smiled and looked at Zelinda.  “I five too!”

Zelinda shook her head.  “No!  Mommy stay two so I can play baby doll!”  She looked back at Jonathan.  “You can’t play with us, daddy because you were naughty!”

Zelinda flashed brightly with the entire room.

“I want daddy to be banished from my kingdom and I want my kingdom to be hidden!”

 And it was so.  Zelinda’s kingdom was well hidden.  Jonathan found himself standing outside the outer gates of a mansion.  An enormous garden surrounded the mansion grounds.

As Jonathan got to his feet, he saw a little girl carelessly humming notes in descending fashion.

 “Hmm hmm hmm…” The girl hummed.  When she saw Jonathan, she gasped.  “Oh! You’re not supposed to be here.”

Jonathan frowned.  “Who are you and where is your mother?”

The girl’s hand flashed, and a key appeared in her hand.  “I am Natalie.” She told him, swinging the key to and fro.  “I hold the key to the garden.  And you can’t come in!  So GET OUT!”

Right after she said, “GET OUT”, Jonathan was hit with a blinding flash and he found himself at the entrance to the garden, right outside a gated door with a lock on it.  Natalie appeared, fading slowly back in until she was perfectly visible.

“GET OUT!” she repeated to Jonathan.  Then she giggled.  “Hee hee!  I love it when I get to do that!”

When she saw that Jonathan was still standing there, she frowned.

“You can’t get in!” she told Jonathan.  “I hold the key to the garden, and I’m never letting you in!”

Jonathan stared at her, looking annoyed.  “Why not?”

Natalie continued playfully swinging the key in her hand.  “Because!”  And with that, she vanished.

 Jonathan sighed.  “It probably has to do with Zelinda…”

He turned around and gasped.  Outside the garden was a strange void.  It filled the whole sky so he couldn’t see anything beyond it.

Suddenly, he saw something enormous descending into the void.

 It was QuisXthar, slowly making it’s landing next to him.

 Jonathan entered the city-ship and was immediately surrounded by familiar faces.  Kyle, Zoria, Mike…

Jonathan gasped, and his strength failed him.

And then darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III . The Addition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PamperedPrince]

 

Chapter 11: Zelinda’s Garden

Jonathan Seacrest’s vision focused.  As all the blurry images came into focus, he looked around.  He was laying in a bed, surrounded by Kyle, Zoria, and Mike.  It was probably in the Ritz Tower, he guessed, and when he saw them, he gasped.  He tried to speak to them, but no words came out.  All he could think of was the trauma that he experienced after spending years subjected to Zelinda’s complete control.  It started to happen initially when both he and his wife Zentroz were teleported to Earth by Zelinda.  And the stupidest thing that he could say to her when this happened was that she was only having a nightmare.  But this was not a nightmare.  This was real.  Having experienced life as a prisoner on Zelinda’s earth, his life became a life of torture, regret, and complete humiliation.  Getting drowned to death by his daughter peeing on the whole earth.  Struggling to tread urine inside his daughter’s gigantic diaper.  Having to be pulled out of his daughter’s diaper with his wife after the team of QuisXthar coming to the rescue.  Wondering aimlessly for many miles with his wife on his daughter’s planet-sized diaper.  And now, the complete loss of his wife.  When Zelinda regressed her to the age of a toddler, he knew that she was gone.  As much as he would like to think that she is still there on the inside, all of those memories of her adulthood, he knew, were completely gone.  All of this trauma was more than what Jonathan could even take, and enough trauma to make him black out once again.  Sitting up, he let out a deep gasp before fainting on the bed.

 

The next thing that he could remember was his vision coming into focus once again.  Just Zoria was in the room this time, looking very concerned.

Zoria knelt down and gave Jonathan a hug.  “You don’t have to say anything.  We’re just glad that you’re okay. So, take your time.”

Jonathan nodded and sat up.  “Tomorrow.” Jonathan told her.  “I will share my story tomorrow.  I’m still in a lot of shock right now.  Please…give me more time…”

Zoria gave Jonathan another hug and nodded.  “You’re worried about Zentroz, your wife, right?”

Jonathan’s face filled with tears and he nodded.  “Yes!”

“You’re not alone.” Zoria told him.  “Remember.  Zentroz is also my daughter, and she’s…”  She burst into tears.  “With Zelinda now!  Oh, excuse me!  We will talk in the morning!”

Zoria ran out of the room, weeping as she went.

Still thinking about his wife, Jonathan cried himself to sleep.  He just hoped that she was okay…

 ***

 The next morning, Jonathan took a long shower, got dressed, and met everyone in the dining room for breakfast. 

He began explaining to them everything that happened.  He started with the abduction with his wife in the first timeline, when they were working on developing Project Zelinda.  He froze in terror when he shared everything that he and his wife had to go through being prisoners on the earth that she stole from everyone.  He shared his death by drowning and revival, along with all of the other embarrassing things that his daughter put him and his wife through.  When he got to the part where they escaped Zelinda’s planet-sized diaper, they gasped.

“We just landed on her gigantic pink footies,” he explained to Kyle, Zoria, and Mike.  “Which is like landing on a foot peninsula the size of a country.  That pink footie on her foot went on for miles and miles in every direction.  At least it wasn’t as big as her diaper…

“Anyway, Princess Zelinda, I mean, Zelinda…Parden me for calling her that.  Both me and my wife had to call her that, or else!  Where was I?  Oh yeah!  My daughter Zelinda SCOLDED Zennie for “not following her rules”.  She then, despite being the size of at least four planets wanted Zennie to change her diaper.  But how could she?  Even if she had magic, there was no way she could even get near her size.  She told her that her diaper was way too big for her to change.  As her punishment…” Jonathan burst into tears.  “She turns my Zennie into a two-year-old!”

Both Kyle and Zoria gasped.

“Two?!”  She shouted.  “She turned my glimpta two?!  How could she?!”

“Calm down!” Kyle shouted.  “Our granddaughter doesn’t know any better!”

Zoria’s face began to fill with tears as Jonathan continued his story.  “Anyway, I’m really upset about it too!  After I saw my wife turn into a toddler, I knew I was in DEEP trouble.  I ran for my life, as there wasn’t much else I could do in that situation, right?  My out-of-control daughter told me to stop.  Right after she said that, I was unable to move!  She said that I was naughty so I couldn’t play with them.  Then why could my wife play with her?  She was also “naughty” by Zelinda’s definition.  Sorry.  I need to wrap this up.  She made her age five again and told me again that I couldn’t play with her or Zennie since I was “naughty”.  She banished me from her kingdom and wanted her kingdom to be hidden.  The next thing I know, I was standing in the outer gates of a mansion.  There was an enormous garden that surrounded the mansion grounds.  Then I saw a little girl holding a key and humming to herself.  She told me that she was Natalie…”

Zoria gasped.  “So, Natalie ended up in Zelinda’s kingdom?  But how?”

Jonathan scratched his head.  “I’m guessing that she ended up in Zelinda’s kingdom after she crash landed her ship.  We don’t know where she crashed her ship but wherever it was, we know it had to be still intact…”

Zoria nodded.  “This will be good news for Charlotte…sort of.”

Jonathan nodded.  “Anyway, Natalie was holding a key in her hand, which she said was the key to the garden.  I’m guessing that key is needed to exit the garden and enter the mansion.  After she shouted GET OUT, I was hit with a blinding flash and I was at the entrance to the garden.  I then saw the gated door with the lock on it.  And Natalie had the only key to get through the garden.”

“Wait!” Zoria shouted.  “How old was Natalie when you saw her?”

Jonathan sighed.  “I think that she looked to be about five.  And that was the same age as Zelinda was, since she just made her age five again.  Anyway, she teases me that I can’t have the key and she’s never letting me in.

Mike nodded.  “And that’s when we picked you up.  We know what happens from here.  You collapse on the floor and we take you back inside QuisXthar.  Having checked your vitals upon entering the city, the medics told us you were fine, and did not need to be hospitalized, but to just give you plenty of rest.”

Jonathan rubbed his eyes, giving Mike a soft nod.  “That’s right.  And I think that I got plenty of rest now.  With Zelinda’s world being hidden from us now, how are we going to find her?  All I know is that the key to finding it lies in getting past the garden and entering that mysterious mansion…”

Zoria scratched her head.  “But you told me that Natalie has the key to the garden!  How would we get the key from her?”

A scientist smiled and looked at Jonathan and the group.  “I’m sorry.  I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.  We wouldn’t need to get that key from Natalie!  All we need is the data that is inside that key.  From that data, we could make our own key!”

Kyle frowned.  “But how?”

“How?” The scientist repeated.  “Simple!  To understand the process, all you need to know is that everything that Zelinda conceives from her imagination is made up of dream energy particles.  Surprisingly, these dream particles simulate reality perfectly, so you can’t really tell the difference between the two.  But our scanners can.  We got readings off the chart when we’re in Zelinda’s world.  And from all that data that we gathered from her 2,478-year long nap, we have plenty of data for our next stage of Project Zelinda.  All we need is a more powerful dream ray, and it can neutralize all of the dream particles and dissolve them back into her mind.”

Zoria sighed.  “Haven’t we tried that before?  That only worked temporarily.”

The Project Zelinda scientist nodded.  “Sadly, there’s no way to eliminate the dream particles from her entirely.  This ability she has to make dreams a reality is part of your special gifts from your home planet of Zorpoz, right?”

Zoria nodded.  “And I’m sure that’s why you can’t remove that from her.  To remove that from her would be like removing her DNA from her body.  It’s all tied in there and hardwired.  Who knows what would happen to her if you tried to remove that?  There are so many proteins and genes that it would be nearly impossible to isolate that one gene.”

“That’s right,” the Project Zelinda Scientist said in agreement.  “That’s why we want to be extra careful with how we conduct this experiment.  We only get one shot at it.  We have plenty of Zelinda clones to test it on. We even have some clones of your daughter to simulate the mother that the Zelinda clones need.  So far, our experiments have been going well.  So you need a key then?”

Jonathan nodded.  “We would very much appreciate it if you made a key for us.”

The Project Zelinda Scientist nodded.  “We will certainly work on that, and organize a Project Zelinda Task Force to handle the reconnaissance.  The mission would be to gather the dream data for the key that Natalie is holding and assemble it back at the Project Zelinda laboratories.  We have an entire district on QuisXthar dedicated solely to Project Zelinda research.  If you need to reach me, my name is Logan.  I’m the head of Project Zelinda research and have organized the entire project from its inception.

Zoria grinned.  “Thanks Logan!  We will be in contact with you!”

Logan gave Jonathan and Zoria his number and left the room.

Kyle looked at Zoria and smiled.  “So they’re going to make a key?  That’s one good development.”

Zoria sighed.  “It’s a start, but how are they going to solve the problem permanently?  If I could still make dreams real, then I could travel back to Zorpoz and seek an audience with King Engon.  If anyone could change Zelinda back to normal, it would be him.”

Kyle nodded.  “But we can’t do that, so we need to focus on what’s going to work, okay?”

Zoria nodded, and faced the door in the Ritz Tower apartment.  She then faced Jonathan.  “So glad to have you back!  I’m going to lie down for a moment, okay?”

Kyle glanced at Zoria and nodded.  “I think I’m going to get back to my job.  Those resources don’t mine themselves!  Someone’s gotta tell the miners where to go!”

Zoria nodded, and looked at Mike.  “What are you going to do?”

Mike walked toward Kyle.  “I’m going to help my dad.  We both work at the same company, remember?  He’s my boss.”

Jonathan looked at the group and nodded.  “I’m going to lie down just a little longer.  We’ll be in touch if the scientists need us for anything, okay?”

Zoria nodded.  “Okay!”  She left the kitchen area and walked back to her room.  Since Kyle, her husband was going to work, she would have the bedroom to herself.

Zoria entered the master bedroom and reached for something underneath the king-sized bed.  She pulled out a large book.  “The Zumprunt…” she whispered.  “As much as I don’t like magic, I really have no choice.  With everything that my granddaughter has done, I really need a way to get things back to normal…”  She flipped to the section of the book that showed her long list of relatives that had that book before her.  Each one of their names were written in runes that emitted a bright flash.  When she glanced at her name in the book, she saw that those runes were not flashing.  I turned them off.  There is a way to turn them back on.  My grandfather told me that they used to do this to fool their enemies as all magical things could be detected…She looked for the section to turn all the runes in her name back on.  This would require quite a bit of time, but once this was done, she could make dreams a reality again.  This would open up all her other spells that she forgotten as well.

She then thought of Charlotte, and the news she wanted to tell her regarding her daughter.  “I’ll tell her after I get this taken care of.  If I can stop Zelinda from ever being read those stories, this will undo everything…”

Zoria continued flipping the pages in the Zumprunt and found the section to undo the magic lock and enable the runes to her name again.  This was a long section, and from what she saw, this was going to take a while.  She skipped to the end, and saw that the whole process was 30 pages long.

Make that a long while…

 ***

Natalie skipped merrily around the garden, holding the key in her hand.  She swung the key to and fro, humming the nonsensical melody over and over.  She found the gated door on the far side of the garden.  From what Zelinda told her, her instructions were very clear:  No one is allowed inside this garden!  NO ONE! Natalie made a couple of sweeping glances and saw no one around her.  With that, she walked up to the gated door and performed her usual ritual.  She opened and closed the gate at least 100 times.  While she could do this all day, she stopped after 100 opens and 100 closes.  Guarding the garden was a fun job for her to have, due to her unwavering fascination with doors, and that no one has invaded the garden ever.  The only exception was when Jonathan was banished from Zelinda’s kingdom.  As a result, he ended up right inside of Zelinda’s Garden.  The same garden that has existed since she turned two for the very first time.  After hearing that story about the Princess’s Garden, she dreamt up one of her very own.  This was a garden that served as a hiding place for Zelinda’s kingdom.  A mansion sat at the end of the garden, but was fenced everywhere.  The only way to get to the mansion was to walk through the garden.  And Natalie held the key to the entrance and exit.  No one could enter the garden, and even if they did, no one could leave it. And Zelinda gave Natalie the ability to banish people from her garden using just her voice.

At this point, Natalie was starting to get bored.  It was so much fun to banish Zelinda’s daddy!  She could almost imagine herself doing it again.  “GET OUT!” she said in a quiet snicker.  She then switched to another one of her favorite habits: sucking her thumb.  She sat down on the flowered ground and sucked her thumb, thinking of other ways to have fun.

After a few minutes, a light bulb went off in her head.  “I’ll go see what Zelinda is doing!” She then frowned.  “But Zelinda told me to not leave this garden…”  With that, she made a copy of herself appear right next to her.  This copy, like Natalie, was also sucking her thumb.

Natalie got the clone’s attention.  “Hey!” she shouted.  “Get your thumb out of your mouth!  I need ya to do something for me!  You can do that after I tell you, okay?”

The Natalie clone removed her thumb from her mouth and happily nodded.  “Okay!  What do ya want me to do?”

Natalie showed the clone the garden that she was guarding.  “You see this garden?  All of this is Zelinda’s.  She doesn’t want nobody to enter it!  Nobody!  I’m supposed ta do that but I’m bored.  I’m going to see what Zelinda is doing, and then I’ll be back.  I want you to guard this whole garden while I’m gone.  Okay?”

The Natalie clone nodded.  “Okay!  Can I open and close that gate over there while you’re gone?”

Natalie nodded.  She was half tempted to start doing that herself but focused her curiosity on Zelinda instead.  “You can do that as much as ya want!  In fact, I’ll join ya when I come back!  I LOVE opening and closing doors!”

“Yay!” The Natalie clone shouted.  She then proceeded to open and close the gated door on the far end of the garden, leading to the mansion.  “I open it!  I close it!  I open it! I close it!  I open it!  I close it!”

When the Natalie clone opened the gated door, Natlie hurried through and waved at her.  “Bye!  I’ll be back!”

“Okay!” The clone nodded and returned to her fun ritual.

Natalie continued past the edge of the garden, which had a beautiful lawn with various flowers growing on it, leading all the way to the mansion.  The mansion was a large Châteauesque style resembling the famous Biltmore Estate, but had a few more floors and had far more beauty and majesty emanating from it.  The seven-story mansion towered over the flowered lawn and garden below.  Everywhere around the mansion was gated, so there was no other way in except through Zelinda’s Garden.

Natalie squealed with delight as she approached the stately mansion.  Another idea.  She and Zelinda could play hide and seek in that mansion!  There were easily a few hundred rooms, so the game could easily last hours.  Except if Natalie was it.  Zelinda could easily find Natalie in an instant since there was nothing that she couldn’t do.  While that was the case, it would take her several hours to find Zelinda if Zelinda had to hide.

She opened the door and walked through the hallway, leading to the grand staircase.  A series of stairs ascended upward in both directions.  Natalie walked up the stairs all the way to the fifth floor.  When she got to this floor, she started to recognize a faint flash.  She walked down another long hallway, leading to an enclosed bridge with a series of windows lining either side.  This connected the east wing from the west wing.  She crossed the enclosed bridge to the other side.  From there, she entered another room, leading into another staircase.  This one wrapped around upward to the remaining two floors.  The faint flash grew brighter as she walked up the four flights of stairs leading to the seventh floor.

Once Natalie got to the seventh floor, she noticed the entire hallway lit up with a glowing flash of light.  She realized that the light was coming from a door at the end of the somewhat long hallway.  Just as she approached the door, she heard a loud voice that startled her.

Natalie, what are you doing here?  I’m playing babydoll with mommy! What did I tell you about leaving my garden?  I want you to stay there!

Natalie trembled, as Zelinda’s voice was very loud and startled her.  “But…” she managed.  “I made another me to watch the garden!  She’s playing the open and close door game right now!”

A few seconds passed and the light flashed.  Natalie then heard the loud voice again.

I see the entire garden, and you standing there, open and closing the door.  Now what do you want?  I’m playing with mommy!

Natalie sighed, as she suddenly realized something that made her feel uncomfortable.  “Um Zelinda?  Can you get another mommy to change me?  My diaper is wet!  Really really wet!”

The light flashed and Natalie grinned.  It then continued talking to Natalie.

Your diaper is now dry again and you are clean.  Now will you leave me alone and let me play with mommy?

Natalie still felt a little frightened, but challenged the light belonging to her best friend.  “Can I please see you, just for a moment?”

The flashing door knob made an unlocking sound and the door automatically swung open.  Natalie was pulled into the room like a magnet and the door immediately shut and locked.  The bright flash went back over the door knob.

When Natalie looked around the room, she gasped.  This room was enormous, with a staircase leading up to a very fancy bed.  The flashing light was now blinding at this point and it was emanating from the bed.  Natalie glanced around the room and noticed everything in it.  Various toys were sitting out with numerous different play areas.  Right next to the staircase leading up to the fancy bed was an elevated chestnut oak table overlaid with gold with an open bag of diapers next to it, with all of the essentials.  Baby wipes, barrier cream, and a container of baby powder.

Natalie walked up the staircase up to the fancy bed.  She saw Zelinda resting peacefully in the bed.  She was five years old, and flashing very brightly.  Her glow filled every corner of the room with light.

Okay!  You saw me!  Will you let me play with mommy now?

Natalie gasped.  While Zelinda was fast asleep, she still heard her speaking to her.  “Um…Zelinda?  Where is your mommy?”  She approached Zelinda closer and began to touch her, as she wanted to wake her up.

Just as Natalie touched her, she vanished from the room and was now floating through outer space.  Due to the powers that Zelinda granted her, she could breathe.

Natalie looked around space and saw the vastness that was Zelinda’s kingdom.  A large earth was in the distance, with the familiar tower that extended into outer space.  All of this kingdom was hidden inside of Zelinda, so no one could ever find it.  But since Natalie was Zelinda’s close friend, she was able to see it firsthand.

Natalie floated down to the enormous earth and zoomed really fast to the toy palace tower that extended into space: Zelinda’s true home.  The Zelinda sleeping in her bed, permanently in endless slumber was only a façade to hide the whereabouts of her kingdom.  Natalie floated into the top window of the toy palace tower to the throne room, which she knew Zelinda would be in.  As she approached the gigantic tower, she realized just how small she really was.  While Zelinda was gigantic, Natalie was still at her normal size.

The tiny Natalie entered the vast window leading into the throne room, where Zelinda was joyfully holding Zentroz like a baby doll.  She pretended to burp the two-year-old Zentroz, and pretended to give her baby food.  From Natalie’s perspective, Zelinda appeared to look like she was at her normal size.  But that was only because Natalie was so far away from Zelinda, even though she was in the same room as her.

As Natalie descended further down into the room, she realized just how gigantic Zelinda was.  She approached Zelinda like she was approaching a planet.  The atmosphere of Zelinda came clearly into Natalie’s view.  Zelinda was wearing a pink dress.  Natalie flew underneath it, seeing Zelinda’s diaper in full view.  Just her diaper alone was like a planet about the size of earth.  Natalie flew towards the atmosphere of Zelinda’s diaper, landing on the vast fields of cotton that extended in every direction.

When Zelinda realized that Natalie was on her diaper, she stopped playing with Zentroz.  “Natalie, are you done?”

Natalie sighed.  “Aren’t we best friends, Zelinda?  When are we gonna play again?”

Zelinda looked back at her new toy and smiled.  “I’ll play with you later!  We are still the bestest of friends!  Can you go back to the garden?  I want no one to ever find this kingdom!  Ever!”

Zelinda glanced at Natalie.  She flashed, as Zelinda sent her back to the garden that she was responsible for guarding.

Princess Zelinda went back to her fun, playing with Zentroz, which to her was just a toy.  A toy doll that was proportionately small enough to fit in her arms.  The two-year-old Zentroz giggled as Zelinda played with her.

The months flew by.  Zelinda played with Zentroz nonstop for two years, which to her felt like a very short time.  She never fell asleep once.  Because Zelinda didn’t want to feel tired, she never was.  She was always full of energy, as was Zentroz, since she was granted powers similar to Zelinda’s.  Zelinda rubbed her eyes and yawned again.  Despite how long she slept, she was tired once again.  After two years of playing with Zentroz, it was once again time for bed.

 ***

In the two years that Zelinda was playing with Zentroz, the scientists were at their breaking point.  While they got all the data they needed to build a key to enter the garden, none of the prototypes actually worked.  Month after month, they couldn’t create a key that would open the door.  While they were getting closer to having a working code, something always happened that took them back to square one.  It was mainly that the door wouldn’t stay open long enough for them to go through it.

And Zoria’s situation wasn’t any better.  Since she reactivated the runes in her name, she couldn’t make any of her dreams real.  Something was missing, and she researched the Zumprunt every day that Kyle was at work to try to figure it out.

And then, a couple years later, everything started to come together.  After spending two years trying to figure out a working code for the key, a breakthrough was made.  A working prototype was made.  The dream particles just needed to be in the right order. When they figured this out, it was very easy for them to produce a working key.

That same night, Zoria fell asleep while trying to study the Zumprunt once again.  She was about to give up on getting her magic to work again.  That night, she had a very vivid dream.  It reminded her of a dream that she had as a child.

In the dream, Zoria was flying out of the boundaries of QuisXthar.  She then flew back inside the ship.  Before Zoria could go anywhere else, she woke up.

Zoria stood up and leapt, trying to defeat the laws of physics.  To her surprise, her body lifted effortlessly into the air.  She glided around the room, like she was some kind of Peter Pan.  Then she looked at the Zumprunt again.  A new rune lit up in the book that made her gasp.

“While the rune in your name can be reactivated, it will take two full years for your magic to be restored.” She read the glowing runes.”  With that, it was now official. It was now morning, but she knew exactly what she was going to do once it was evening again.  It was time to set things right.  Time to visit Zorpoz and get the king’s help.  Time to turn her granddaughter Zelinda back to normal.  It was only a matter of time.

Day turned into evening.  The Project Zelinda Scientists were ready to send out the Zelinda Task Force to enter the garden and scout the area.  They were ready to try out the key that they spent the last two years developing and figuring out.  Zelinda couldn’t hide her kingdom forever.  It was about to be found.

Zoria smiled as she laid on her bedside.  She already kissed her husband Kyle goodnight.  At the same time, she kissed him goodbye without him knowing it.  She was about to travel through time and space to set things right.  To Zorpoz, her home planet.  It would have to be on a day before Zelinda was born, if she was going to stop the incident from happening.  Her granddaughter has meddled with reality for the very last time, and it was time to have things back to normal.  Her eyes slowly closed and she entered her dreams…

 ***

Princess Zelinda laid on a diaper that was opened up on her changing table, contentedly sucking on her pacifier as her queen mother began to change her.  Like always, her diaper was soaked, meaning that she and the whole world grew a little more in the two years that she played with Zentroz (her mother).  From her perspective, nothing has changed.  But if Natalie were to stand next to her now, it would be clear that she grew just a little bit more, as Princess Zelinda grew every time she peed her diaper.

The queen mother wadded up the soaked diaper and laid Princess Zelinda on a brand-new diaper.  It was freshly powdered and had a gentle and soft cloth backing.  The queen delicately wiped Zelinda’s diaper area and carefully applied the barrier cream.  She shook the powder onto her princess daughter, which made her giggle.

“Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Princess Zelinda giggled.

The queen mother fastened the two tabs securely into the landing zone and dressed her darling princess daughter into her princess footed sleeper.  She lifted Zelinda into her bed and tucked her in.

Zelinda smiled as she looked at her queen mother as she cuddled with her Zentroz baby doll.  Zentroz, still two years old, giggled and was enjoying being Princess Zelinda’s new favorite toy.  “Tell me a story, mommy!”

Princess Zelinda finally figured it out.  Having discovered how to make the queen mother read stories just like her mother from the other world of earth (that she no longer feels connected to) used to read, she didn’t need “mommy” anymore.  For all Zelinda could care, her “mommy” would be her toy doll forever.  Her “daddy” could never enter her kingdom ever, since he was naughty and didn’t follow her rules.  During those two years, Natalie, from her daily reports, never reported any invasions of any kind to her precious garden.  Zelinda’s Garden was safe and impenetrable.

Her queen mother read Zelinda a classic story that Zentroz used to read to her when she was her mommy.  The queen read it in the same manner and pace that Zentroz used, and was learning to be more like the mommy that Zelinda used to have.  But as Zelinda thought about it more and more, that mommy was the thing of dreams.  Zentroz was a dream to her.  Zelinda knew that she was born in her kingdom, and that Zentroz who read her stories was just a figment of her imagination.

Just before Zelinda fell asleep, a glowing smile came across her face.  Princess Zelinda flashed brightly and glanced around the kingdom that was entirely hers.  “I want time to stop for a very very long time!”  Princess Zelinda shouted.  “I only want time to go in my kingdom!”

And it was so.  With that, time once again came to a complete stop.  Everything came to a stand-still in the universe that existed outside of Zelinda’s kingdom.  Everyone and everything stopped moving, while Zelinda’s kingdom continued.   Another new era began in Zelinda’s kingdom.  An era that would last even longer than the one before it.

Having successfully frozen time, Zelinda contentedly smiled and continued listening to her queen mother read her the princess story.  Her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep.

[PamperedPrince]

Chapter 12: The Frozen Millennium

Princess Zelinda woke up in her princess crib once again.  She peed her diaper a little, which made her grow even more.  Since the very day that she froze time, it has now been 437 years.  437 fun years of playing in her kingdom while all the time in the universe was frozen except her kingdom.  The toddler princess smiled, as she continued to feel the warm moisture flowing inside her.  “Pincess Zawinda wike gwowing!  Tee hee hee hee ha ha ha ha ha ha!”  Her growth surged, as she, the toy palace tower, and her kingdom planet continued growing.

Meanwhile, Natalie was sleeping in a cozy little two-story house, comfortably situated on the vast surface of Zelinda’s diaper.   Since the day that Zelinda froze time, Zelinda gave Natalie the ability to build her own house wherever she wanted.  She did this so Natalie could sleep wherever she wanted while she slept on her very best friend.  To Natalie, Zelinda was so big that she was almost like a mini solar system.

Natalie woke up in her crib and began crying when she realized that she was wet.  “I WET MOMMY!” Natalie wailed.

Immediately, a queen mother appeared in Natalie’s room of her tiny two-story house.  Since the time froze, Zelinda granted Natalie access to her queen mother 24/7.  This was good for Natalie, as she was a lot more needy than Zelinda, and would cry now even if her diaper was a little wet.  She would also cry if she was hungry or tired.

“Oh, my little baby!” The queen mother cooed, holding Natalie and rocking her back and forth.  “Does my little Natalie need another diaper change?”

Natalie was now sucking on her pacifier.  She nodded, as the queen mother sat Natalie on her changing table.

Meanwhile, Zelinda was waking up in her crib.  About 11 years after she froze time, she grew tired of being a five-year-old.  She decided at that point, she would stay two forever.  Because of the Fountain of Youth in her kingdom, Natalie also became two along with her.  The only exception was Zentroz, Zelinda’s mother, who was now Zelinda’s toy.  Zelinda made Zentroz’s age five months, so her babydoll could be an infant.  Zelinda fondly recalled the moment of her regression 426 years ago…

Zelinda put a new diaper on Zentroz.

“Time to change my babydoll!” Zelinda shouted.

Zentroz squealed with delight as Zelinda began to change her diaper.  Zelinda neatly fastened the diaper, just as her queen mother did.

Right after Zelinda finished changing the diaper on her babydoll, Natalie came in, looking bored.

“Zelinda, I’m bored!” Natalie whined.  “You told me to guard the garden, but there hasn’t been anyone for years and years!  The last one that I had to stop was your daddy!”

Zelinda then suddenly remembered that she froze time and nodded.  “You don’t have to guard now!” she told her.  “While time is frozen, you don’t have to guard anything!”

Natalie smiled, glancing at her giantess princess best friend.  “Thank you, Zelinda!  Since I don’t have to guard now, can I play with your mommy too?”

Zentroz smiled, as she glanced at Natalie.  “Yeah!  Pway wif Nattie!”

But before Zelinda could even say anything, she glanced at the babydoll Zentroz she was holding, who was a happy little 24-month-old toddler.  Oh, how she missed being this age!

Zelinda sat Zentroz down and whined. “I wanna be two years old again!  This time, I wanna be two forever!”

And it was so.  Zelinda flashed brightly and her age regressed back to a happy two-year-old.  Because of Zelinda’s environmental influence, Natalie regressed back to two with her.

“Yay!” Princess Zelinda shouted.

Zentroz then smiled at the two girls that just became toddlers again.  “Can we pway games?”

Zelinda shook her head.  “No!  Me and Natawie pway games!  Yoo still babydoll!  Yoo five month old!”

And it was so.  Zentroz regressed back to the age of five months.  At this age, Zentroz couldn’t walk anymore.  She couldn’t even crawl.  At this, Zentroz began to wail.

Natalie was going to grab Zentroz, but she was way too big for her.  With Zentroz being small enough to fit in Zelinda’s arms, Natalie couldn’t grab Zentroz.  So she sadly glanced at the crying infant, which was gigantic to her.  “Zawinda! She cwying!”  Natalie shouted.

Zelinda picked up the crying Zentroz and began cooing to her baby mother.  “Dere dere…” she told her.  “I give you nappie!” Zelinda made a cute crib appear for Zentroz and placed her inside it.  In seconds, Zentroz fell asleep.

Natalie then looked at her giantess princess best friend.  “Pway hide and seek wif me!  Pwease????”

Zelinda smiled as she glanced at her tiny best friend, which she could somehow see even though she seemed like an atom to her.  “Akay!  We pway hide and seek!  Wheor we pway?”

Natalie smiled.  “Pway in big house near garden!”

Zelinda thought about the risk of her garden’s hiding place being exposed.  But with time being frozen, this would not be an issue at all.  “We pway hide and seek big house!”

The giantess toddler Princess Zelinda flashed brightly and teleported both herself and Natalie to her big room on the seventh floor of the mansion that overlooked the garden.  Zelinda appeared at her smaller size of 28 inches tall.  If she was her normal size, she would be too big to hide anywhere.  Natalie too, stood at the same size as she was in Zelinda’s kingdom: 28 inches tall.  They stood next to the clone of the flashing Zelinda, who was five years old and still sleeping in her fancy bed.

“Natawie it!” Zelinda announced.  “I go hide!”

But Natalie pouted.  “I can’t count!”

Zelinda smiled.  “I no count either!  Mommy?”

The queen mother appeared next to both of them.

“Yes dear?” the queen mother asked Zelinda.

“Can you count for us?”

The queen mother nodded.  “Sure dear.  I will give you five minutes to hide. Natalie can then open her eyes.  I will start counting from 300 to 0.  Natalie, can you count down from 10?”

Natalie frowned.  “Only if yoo do wif me!”

“Okay.  When we get to zero…”

“I say weady or not, here I come!” Natalie shouted.

The queen mother nodded.  “Okay.  Zelinda dear, start hiding.  We’re going to count, okay?”

“Otay!” Zelinda shouted.

Zelinda left her room and began finding a place to hide, while the queen mother helped Natalie count down from 300 to 0.

The girls played a few games of hide and seek in the mansion, taking turns of who hid and who was looking for the one hiding.  After those games, both of the girls looked very tired.

The queen mother smiled.  “It’s time for your naps…”

Zelinda smiled and they all teleported back to Princess Zelinda’s kingdom.  Zelinda was once again gigantic and Natalie was still 28 inches, so she was extremely small compared to Princess Zelinda.

As the queen mother was putting Zelinda in her crib for her nap, another queen mother was putting Natalie in her crib for her nap in the two-story house that sat on top of the surface of Zelinda’s planet-sized diaper.  Both girls happily fell asleep in their cribs, looking forward to the fun that they would have later on.

Zelinda opened her eyes, now 426 years back into the present.  Even after centuries of playtime, Zelinda still didn’t look a day past two, as did Natalie.  They both loved playtime every day, and never grew tired of it.

While Zelinda was having fun in her kingdom, everything else in the universe remained as still as the day that time was frozen.  It was still nighttime at QuisXthar, and everything was in a frozen state.  The late night traffic on the city ship was frozen in place, a red car still frozen at a busy intersection even though the light just turned green.  A nearby night club had everyone frozen in place.  The colored lights that were supposed to alternate in color and position, were still frozen, and showed no signs of even changing once.  Inside a wealthy QuisXthar residence, a husband and wife were kissing.  They were frozen in that pose for more than four centuries now.  At the Project Zelinda laboratories, a Project Zelinda task force were all yielding the garden key that they finally created after two years of trial and error.  In unison, they all began to clip the key to their utility belt, but were frozen in that pose.  At the Ritz Tower, Zoria was sleeping, frozen in the inhaling position.  In Zoria’s dream, she was standing there, as if somebody paused her dream like a home movie.  No matter where it was in the universe, time itself was frozen for more than four long centuries while Princess Zelinda enjoyed the flow of time in her kingdom.  Whenever she played hide and seek, she restored the flow of time only in her mansion and garden.  But time everywhere else was frozen.

And when they weren’t playing hide and seek, the flashing Zelinda in the seven-story mansion, which served as the entrance to Zelinda’s kingdom in her head, was frozen in time, remaining in her fancy bed.  Her mouth was half open from an incomplete snore.  An even brighter light flashed from her head, indicating the only place where time continued in the universe.

For the next 167 years, Zelinda did whatever she pleased, playing nonstop without sleeping once.  Both she and Natalie had the time of their lives, and Zelinda played in even newer ways that she never did before.  She outgrew both her kingdom planet and outer space and picked up outer space like it was a piece of paper.  She crumpled up outer space, along with her planetary kingdom and placed it in her diaper.  Once her diaper was soaked, outer space was all soggy.  She touched the outer space and transformed into it, filling her presence in every star and her kingdom planet.  Natalie squealed in Zelinda’s voice, as Zelinda was everywhere at this point.  Zelinda then exited outer space and transformed it into a beautiful dress.  She wore all the stars and her kingdom and began playing with other planes of existence.  After that, she turned outer space back to normal and played a special game of hide and seek with Natalie.  Instead of using the mansion like they usually do, they would be hiding in outer space.  Zelinda hid herself behind a massive planet, which was only ten times her size, since she was so gigantic.  After playing hide and seek, she took the meteoroids and smaller planets and used them as building blocks to build a toy city.  Zelinda wanted to eat the stars, so she said that they were candy.  And it was so.  She ate all the stars that she pleased and she never had a stomach ache, as there was nothing that she couldn’t do so stomachaches never happened.

After Zelinda feasted on the candy stars, it was now 70 years into her playtime at this point.  Natalie looked pouty at this point.

“Zawinda, I tired!” Natalie shouted, almost on the verge of tears.

At this, Zelinda gave her usual response to Natalie.  “I not tired!  I keep pwaying!”

And it was so.  Zelinda’s energy exploded and she was more energetic than ever.

“Neither am I!” Natalie shouted.

The same energy filled Natalie and she kept playing with Zelinda.  This kept happening every time Natalie was tired.  The same conversation would then repeat, resulting in Natalie not being tired like Zelinda.

During Zelinda’s 167 years of play, she did many other things, as she was always full of energy and never ran out of it.  She once again outgrew her kingdom and viewed it like she would a playset.  From her last experience with freezing time for 100 years, she could remember that playset, so she made that old playset appear and she viewed them both together.  That playset looked tiny in comparison to the newer one.  With now two kingdoms, she returned to the newer one and kept playing with it.  The giantess toddler princess Zelinda changed every aspect of her newer kingdom until it was exactly perfect.  It was a beautiful garden to her, and she planted all the right seeds, and made the landscape altered to her liking.

After Princess Zelinda reached the end of her 167 years of playing, Natalie was in her house on Zelinda’s diaper, sitting in her queen mother’s arms in her bedroom.  Even though she had endless energy with her giantess best friend, she really missed sleep.  She cried into her queen mother’s arms and began wailing loudly.

At this, the queen mother laid Natalie in her crib.  “What’s wrong, my baby?”

Natalie pouted.  “Pincess Zawinda never sweep no more!  I wanna sweep!”

The queen mother nodded.  “Princess Zelinda will sleep whenever she wants to, dear.”

Natalie cried.  “But…”

“No buts, dear.  You are in Princess Zelinda’s kingdom, and as princess, she can do whatever she wants. When she becomes tired again, she will go to sleep.”

“But she never sweep!” she pouted.

Meanwhile, Zelinda was still enjoying her playtime, even after 167 years of it.  But something was missing.  As much as she loved to play, she missed laying down.  She missed naps.  Most of all, she missed her crib.  At this point, Zelinda started to feel a little bit tired.  Unlike stomach aches, she allowed that feeling to come over her.  As a result, she yawned.  And since Zelinda wanted to feel extremely tired, it was so.  Natalie then appeared right in front of her giantess best friend.

“Zawinda sweep now!” Natalie pouted.  “I wanna sweep!”

At this, Zelinda smiled.  “I vewy tired Natawie!”

When Natalie heard this, her pout immediately became a smile.  “Zawinda! I vewy tired too!”

And without hesitation, Natalie teleported back to her two story house that sat on a vast cloth-backed field, which was Zelinda’s diaper.

Zelinda’s eyes became heavy, and she swooned onto the floor.  “Mommy!  I tired!”

The queen mother immediately appeared and held her princess daughter in her arms.  “Oh Zelinda baby…” she cooed.  “Mommy is very happy that you’re tired.  Natalie wanted to sleep dear…”

Zelinda nodded, as she made her pacifier appear in her hands.  “I wanna sweep too mommy…” She stuck the pacifier in her mouth and suckled it, as her mother cuddled her giantess toddler princess daughter, which didn’t look like a giantess at all to the queen mother.

The queen mother removed Princess Zelinda’s royal dress, changed Zelinda’s diaper and dressed her in a fresh princess footed sleeper.  She laid her darling toddler princess daughter in her crib and after 167 years of nonstop play, Zelinda immediately fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Natalie was in her house, only it was on Zelinda’s new diaper.  When Zelinda was being changed, she moved the house right away.  Natalie knew that her giantess best friend was even bigger than she was before.  Since the very day that Zelinda froze time, she has tripled in size over the past 600 years.  While Princess Zelinda’s diaper was about the size of a planet before, that same diaper planet is now three times bigger, making the cloth-backed fields bigger for Natalie to play on.  And since this was just Zelinda’s diaper, Zelinda herself was at least about the size of the solar system now.

Natalie let out her usual cry, since her diaper was wet.  She also cried since she was very tired.  In the 589 years that Natalie has been a toddler since Zelinda froze time, she has become very needy and infantile.  She behaved even more like a two-year-old than she was before Zelinda banished her “daddy” for being naughty.  She even cries now when things scare her, like the dark.  And because Natalie was so attached to her pacifier now, the queen mother had the pacifier tied to a clip and clipped the pacifier to whatever Natalie wore.   Since the queen mother was changing Natalie into her footed sleeper, she clipped the pacifier clip onto her sleeper, so Natalie woudn’t lose it.

Natalie whimpered as her queen mother sat her in her crib.  “I TIRED MOMMY!” she shouted.

The queen mother nodded, and told Natalie a bedtime story.  She told her the same story that she always told Zelinda.  Within a couple minutes of the story, Natalie was fast asleep.

From playing for 167 years, Zelinda was tired enough to fall into a very deep slumber.  She slept for 400 years, having many different dreams during this very long period of rest.

In one of her many dreams toward the end of her 400 years, she woke up in her bed in the mansion that both her and Natalie liked to play in.  When she saw that she was five, she pouted and immediately became two.  Everything in the room transformed to look like a baby’s room.  She then glanced outside and saw nothing but white.  There was no garden and nothing anywhere else.  “Mommy?” Zelinda cried.

The queen mother appeared and looked at her daughter with a smile.  “Oh Zelinda baby!” she smiled.  “Mommy is so happy that you’re finally awake!”

Zelinda looked at her and gasped.  “How wong I asweep?”

The queen mother gave her a distressed look.  “Honey, you unfroze time in your sleep and now have been sleeping for 100,000,000,000 years.  Since you have done nothing with your kingdom, it is now all gone.  Everything has ceased to exist, since you did not bring order to it.  Even your mansion is about to go…”

Zelinda teleported outside the mansion, and watched as it faded into white.  She glanced around and saw nothing but white around her.  Just an endless field of white nothingness in every direction.  “Where my kingdom?” she cried.  “MOMMY!  MY KINGDOM!  IT GONE!”

The mother was about to hold her in her arms, but she too faded into white.

Zelinda glanced at the white nothingness and sobbed her eyes out.  “Don’t come twho!” she wailed, knowing that there was still nothing that she couldn’t do.

And just like that, everything vanished around her and the dream faded, as she shouted those three words over and over again.

And it was so.  After a long 400-year slumber, Zelinda woke up to find her eyes still stained with tears in her crib.  It was still dark, with a full moon resting above the Toy Palace Tower.

Having thought of the dream, she was very glad that it didn’t come true.  She peed a little more in her diaper, causing her to grow just a little more.  When she thought of the world that sat outside her kingdom, she wanted that too.  While her kingdom was hidden from the world, she wanted to continue to expand that same kingdom, using the outside world.  But since time was still frozen, she couldn’t do anything there.  “I want my kingdom to be everywhere!” she said, with a giggle in her voice.  She glanced around her massive room and massive crib.  “I want time to continue everywhere!  Even outside the mansion where me and Natawie pway hide and seek!”

And it was so.  The universe, having been frozen for 1,000 years now, finally resumed the flow of time.  Princess Zelinda then stayed at her toy palace tower one more night before she left her kingdom to continue her expansion.  When the sun came up in her kingdom, she made a portal appear.

When the queen saw Zelinda approaching the portal, she frowned.

“Zelinda baby, where are you going?” she asked her darling toddler princess daughter.  “Do you need your diaper changed?”

Zelinda then got to her feet.  “Bye bye mommy!” she shouted.

The queen mother nodded and held her princess daughter, rocking her in exactly the way that she liked.

Zelinda then got to her feet.  “Bye bye mommy!” she shouted.

After it being 1,000 long years (1,002 if you count the time since she hid her kingdom), Zelinda used the portal to leave her kingdom. She passed through it, causing her 1,002 year absence from the real world to end…