Possessive

[RogueDratini]

Possessive

By RogueDratini

Ophelia found herself in a hazy, bramble filled woods in the dead of night, only a scant few moonbeams lighting her way through the dead branches above her, the crunch of twigs underfoot echoing through the woods. How she got to this dark forest, Ophelia could only guess, as the realization of the dream state she was walking through only slowly dawning on her. It was an odd feeling, suddenly knowing you're dreaming, Ophelia rarely found herself lucid during her walks through her subconscious mind, but tonight she felt an air of control over herself, instead of going on auto-pilot through the woods, she hesitated and took a second to look around. The trees, menacing at first, were almost like card board cut outs in a play, the light in front of her had an ethereal, otherworldly weight to it, and as she looked down at herself, she found that she was wearing a pink nighty that she hadn't seen in ages, looking much like one she wore when she was 4. She felt like an actress, performing on screen for an invisible audience, and decided to continue her aimless trek through the scene.

 

 

 

Soon, the sounds of brush snapping beneath her feet wasn't the only sound Ophelia could hear the sounds of whispering ahead of her, but in front of her lay a wall of thorny bushes, seemingly impassable except for a small hole at the bottom. As she drew closer, Ophelia could make out owner of one voice: her mother. The other voice, still far away, she could only barely hear, sounding feminine, and while she couldn't make out the words, there was something about it that unsettled Ophelia, a worry in Ophelia's chest told her that she needed to get her mother away from the owner of that voice. With her heart thumping in her bosom, Ophelia fell to the ground, the dry twigs under her palms and knees feeling much too real than any dream had a right to be and crawled through the hole under the thorns, scratching her, tiny scrapes and dirt covering her as she made her way through the bramble.

 

 

 

On the other side, Ophelia saw her Mom sitting on a rock in a clearing in the woods, much more lively, the trees looked alive under the warm glow of sunlight, green was everywhere, from the leaves in the trees to the grass under Ophelia, birds were chirping, rodents in the woods chittering to each other, it felt like this could be real life instead of a dream, except, looking over her Mom's shoulder, a juxtaposed sight compared to the life around it, a shadow stood, no, was connected to her Mom, a void of darkness with a vaguely human shape, it would take one of its black claws and point to something in Ophelia's Mom's lap, what looked to be a book of some kind.

 

 

 

"And that was Ophie's first bath in a tub, she loved splashing me, really fought me tooth and nail squealing the whole time..." The specter would point at something else, "Oh! Awww, that was her first baby tooth. She was so excited to see the tooth fairy, tried to stay awake the whole night, ended up asleep by my side trying to wait her out..." The shadow stopped, and looked in Ophelia's direction, a whisper that still sounded far off came from it, and it pointed its claw in a threating manner at her as Ophelia's blood ran cold, as Mom looked up and cried out. "There's my baby!" Jumping up from the stone and running towards her, the blob of darkness riding on her back, as she drew closer, Ophelia felt dwarfed by her Mom as she towered above her with each passing step, lowering her arms to pick her up, only for the shadow to stretch its claw out and envelope Ophelia's world in a shroud of inky darkness...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beeep! Beeep! Beeep! Beeep!

 

 

 

Ophelia's front rocketed straight up, sweaty clumps of hair stuck together covering her face that she had to peel off her skin. Her hand rushed to grab her phone to shut off the alarm, before falling back into bed, grabbing her trusty teddy bear, Sir Bearington, who's been her companion since before she could remember, and brought his patchwork fluffy up to her chest in a hug, putting her face on his head and breathing in the reassuring scent of clean linen. Head on her damp pillow, she thought of the events of her nightmare, traveling through a facade of woods, her mother looking like a giant, the shadow...

 

 

 

Bringing her knees to her chest, Ophelia hugged them in the fetal position while she tried to shake off the lingering feelings the dream left in her. Minutes drifted by in silence, before sticky wetness her night sweats left Ophelia too grossed out to stay in any longer, and got out of bed, putting Sir Bearington on her nightstand and giving him a kiss, thanking him for helping her feel better, before she stretched out, letting the kinks in her bones pop out with a crack. Yawning, feeling thoroughly unrefreshed from last night's sleep, she pulled open the curtains letting the morning into her room before finding something to wear.

 

 

 

It had been several months since the last time Ophelia had spent time in her old room, not since she had visited her family for the holidays, and though she had only spent 10 months away from this room since entering college, it felt strangely nostalgic and open after the close quarters treatment she had in the student dorms. Stripping off the green satin pajamas, Ophelia went through the drawers, looking for something to wear, but nothing seemed quite right. While it was true, most of her more 'mature' clothes Ophelia had brought with her were packed away and brought to her dorm, she couldn't remember ever owning something like this back in High School, she thought as she held up a powder blue crop top with poofy shoulders with the Cookie Monster on it. Shrugging, she put it on, figuring she bought it ironically from Hot Topic or something, and still appreciated how it accentuated her midriff, and the short shorts she pulled up her legs she enjoyed how it showed off her long, toned legs. She modeled in front of the mirror, smacking her ass, checking out how sexy she looks, though she wasn't quite sure about the hearts all over her shorts or the rainbows on the back pockets, she looked good, except... The matted hair and dark bags under her eyes.

 

 

 

Sighing, she told herself she wasn't planning on going anywhere today anyway, and left her make up alone, heading downstairs towards the rattling in the kitchen and smell of pancakes and fresh coffee. Walking into the kitchen led by the scent reminiscent of a cartoon character floating towards a freshly baked pie cooling on a window sill, Ophelia came in, mouth watering, "Mmmm... It smells so good!" Mom, standing by the stove, flipping some pancakes on to a nearby plate, looked back and grinned at her. Looking at Josie and Ophelia, a stranger could easily confuse them as sisters most of the time, Josie had her daughter before she was in her 20's, Josie kept her youthful look in spite of a stressful life as a young, single mom, and her daughter shared a similar face to her, they both had short, slightly upturned noses, thin eyebrows and long lashes, chubby cheeks, freckly, fair skin, they shared, as well, dark hair that they kept long, to the small of their backs, they only differed in two major regards to their appearances, Josie enjoyed a few extra inches in height, the top of her daughter's head reaching just the bottom of her nose, perfect for giving forehead kisses to Ophelia's shame, and Ophelia had had dashing emerald eyes, the only thing her wayward father left her as her Mother liked to say, while Josie had hazel eyes, while much more mundane than her daughter's striking gaze still left her with no shortage of compliments.

 

 

 

"Good morning, honey!" Josie pranced over to Ophelia with a gait almost skipping. Planting a peck on her forehead, Josie patted at a chair with a plate and cup of orange juice in front of it. At least someone woke up on the right side of the bed, today, Ophelia kept the thought to herself, irritated at her Mom's jolly mood this morning, but a little uplifted by it. Looking at the plate, Ophelia had to note how 'cutesy' it was, two pancakes stacked on top of each other, already cut up evenly into bite sized chunks with a generous amount of syrup on top, bacon strips ripped apart and arranged in the shape of a smile, and two dabs of butter forming 'eyes'. She had to hand it to her Mom, the presentation was nice.

 

 

 

"Morning, Mom. We certainly seem chipper today." Sitting down at the table, with a fork in hand, Ophelia stabbing the first bite of breakfast, eyeing something else on the table, a familiar looking book, of course it would be familiar, she had seen the book countless times in her childhood, it was 'Baby's First..." book, filled with photos her Mother had saved throughout the years and little mementos of her early years. It wouldn't have been strange, just signs her Mom looking through old boxes and finding a book of nostalgia, perfectly natural for a woman with an empty nest to look for, especially when her daughter was coming home for an extended stay, except, the dream from last night and seeing the same book from it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of Ophelia's stomach. It had to be a bad coincidence, Ophelia thought as she brought the pancake and bacon to her mouth, falling in love with how breakfast was prepared, the pancakes precut let all the syrup drift down into the cracks and get absorbed into the doughy chunks, paired with the satisfying salty crunch of the bacon was perfect. Ophelia forgot the book and the bad dream and inhaled her meal.

 

 

 

Josie hummed as she sat down to Ophelia's right, as she began to dig into her own breakfast in a more reserved fashion. "I aaaammm," She practically purred. "I had such a nice dream last night. Having you back home is so nice, I was beginning to feel like an old lady, being home all alone, and having my baby back just, oh, I don't know, makes me feel young..." With a dreamy, far off look on her face, Mom opened up the book next to her and perused it.

 

 

 

"Oh, I don't even want to think about dreams... I had an awful one last night... I feel out of it, right now. This is great, though, Mom." She said in between ravenous bites, punctuating each pause with a swallow, occasionally grabbing her juice.

 

 

 

Looking up from the pages, Josie gave Ophelia a sad look of concern. "Is that so? I'm sorry sweetie. You don't have any plans today, right? You should take a nap, you'll feel much better." Her gaze wandered back to the book, giving it a small smile, "Look!" She pointed out a photo, showing Ophelia. "It's you, playing in your bubble bath, you wouldn't remember, but I was always hard pressed to get you out of those, you always made such a mess with your 'splashies'. And here's one in your bouncer! Oh! Look! You're eating the exact same breakfast here! You would always get so messy, absolutely adorable!" The image showed a happy dark haired toddler in her high chair, fistfuls of pancakes in both syrup, grubby hands grinning ear to ear at the photographer, presumably Josie.

 

 

 

The picture put Ophelia off her appetite. As she pushed away her plate, she gave the drink a swirl in her hand, watching the pulp dance around and sticking to the side. Josie looked up from her daze, her expression going to one of worry. "You full, hun?" Then changed to a silly smile. "Awww! No matter how much you grow up, you'll still be Mommy's messy girl, huh?" Ophelia was confused, and was about to question her, when Josie reached over with a napkin in hand and wiped away some sticky pancake crumbs on to the table cloth. Before she get out a 'what the Hell' Josie was already pointing at the picture again. "Look sweetie, you're almost wearing the same clothes in the picture too!" Looking closer, Ophelia could see that she was indeed wearing almost, maybe exactly the same thing. The little girl in the high chair was wearing a blue shirt with poofy shoulders with a happy Cookie Monster shirt with a baby belly sticking out, and though it was hard to tell with the strap between the legs, it did look like there was a pair of short-shorts those chubby legs were coming out of.

 

 

 

"Huh... That's something," Ophelia said, looking down at her outfit, now with the frame that she wore something almost exactly like it when she was small she didn't feel quite right with it on. She started looking around the kitchen for something to change the subject. "Is there any more coffee?" A craving for something more mature hit Ophelia like a car, needing a few more degrees of separation from that sticky kid in the photo and herself.

 

 

 

Pointing at the Keurig in the corner of the counter, Josie said, "Single serve, it just makes more sense when I'm the only one home and only need one cup to get through the day." Going over to the machine, she picked out a mug from the cupboard above and started brewing a cup. "Hmm... Just a strange thought, you know, a lot of the time when a young mother has a daughter, the daughter has baby young, too."

 

 

 

"Mom!" Ophelia cut that thought off. "You are NOT asking me for a grandkid right now! I'm not even halfway through college! Damn, give a girl some time!"

 

 

 

Laughing, Josie retracted her statement, "You're right! I shouldn't be pushing you, not yet anyway..." Looking at her Mom, Ophelia was noticing more than just her actions being a little odd this morning, looking down at her sitting down, there was something off that she just couldn't put her finger on. "Still, I miss the pitter patter of little feet on the floor." Below Josie, Ophelia spotted her Mom's shadow drifting towards her, slowly at her, Ophelia watched in with a befuzzled expression while grabbing her coffee, until it lunged at her. Ophelia let out a squeal, dropping the mug on the floor and jumping back. Josie leapt to her feet, "Baby! What happened?"

 

 

 

Staring down at her Mom's feet and seeing nothing wrong, Ophelia let out a half hearted excuse, "Sorry, I uh, I thought I saw a mouse."

 

 

 

Josie folded her arms, swaying a hip to the side and putting all her weight on one leg, giving her a bemused expression. "A mouse? And you scream? Jeez," Laughing, she knelt down and started to pick up the dripping shards of ceramic off the kitchen tiles. "What are you, a house wife from the 50's? You wanna jump on a chair while I shoo it outside?"

 

 

 

"Wait, Mom, I can clean up after myself." Ophelia knelt down and started to grab at the broken handle, only to get her hand swatted away.

 

 

 

Still giggling, "I don't think so, I'll clean it up. Why don't you go sit down and I'll make you a fresh cup of coffee? You're being awfully silly today. I know kids coming home from college start acting young, but this is just ridiculous."

 

 

 

Sighing, Ophelia obeyed and went to sit down on the couch in the living room, putting her legs under her, she lounged while flipping through channels on the tv. Boring hospital soap opera, "Pass," some stupid super hero movie, "Pass," documentary on irrigation, "Pass," Sesame Street... Ophelia wanted to switch off the station, but watching the pink Muppet Zoey play with Big Bird and a little girl with dark hair and green eyes.

 

 

 

"Why are you sad today, Ophie?" Zoey asked the downtrodden girl, who looked frustrated to the point of tears. Ophelia sat straight up at the uncanny resemblance between herself and the girl who shared her name.

 

 

 

The girl, Ophie, let a big harumph! Folding her arms, and cocking a hip to the side, maybe she learned it from her Mommy, Ophelia thought to herself, "My Mommy always treats me like a baby! She cuts my food, doesn't let me clean, makes me wear training pants, and use sippy cups! Why doesn't she know I'm a big girl?!"

 

 

 

Big bird leaned down and looked straight into the camera, it felt like the big yellow costume was boring a hole through Ophelia's eyes into her soul. "Well Ophie, it sounds like your Mommy is just taking care of you, she just wants the best for you. And it's not bad to be a baby, that means your Mommy will love you and make sure you're always alright. If your Mommy treats you like a baby, that's because you are a baby, her baby. It'll make you and your Mommy much happier. Don't you want your Mommy to be happy?"

 

 

 

Zoey and Ophie were now staring straight at the camera too, right into Ophelia. "Yeah, Ophie, don't you want your Mommy to be happy?" Zoey said to Ophie. All three characters on the screen were covered in a pitch black outline.

 

 

 

Ophie took center stage, "Yeah, I do want Mommy to be happy..."

 

 

 

"Even if it means she cuts up all your food, and doesn't let you clean, and puts you in training pants, and makes you use sippy cups?" Ophelia couldn't tell who was saying that now, the voice didn't belong to Big Bird or Zoey.

 

 

 

"Yes," Ophie agreed, "Even if it means Mommy feeds me baby food, and makes me stay in a playpen, and changes my diapers, and makes me use bottles." Then the little Ophelia on the screen slowly drew her hand up to her mouth, a thumb out, and put it in her mouth. Ophelia mimicked the girl and had her thumb in her mouth, when...

 

 

 

"Alright, Ophelia, here's your coffee!" The hand was back to Ophelia's side and the tv switched channels.

 

 

 

"The Greeks used these Archimedes' Screws to lift up the water..."

 

 

 

Ophelia glanced over to her Mom and held out a hand for the coffee, the thumb still slick with saliva. "Thanks Mom!" She said a bit too quickly, Josie gave her a grin not sensing anything wrong, and plopped down next to her on the couch, pulling her legs underneath her mirroring her daughter and leaned on her, Ophelia's Baby book in her hand, she gave the tv a look getting bored of it quickly and settling down to look at the Baby book, flipping through page after page, occasionally pointing something she thought was cute to Ophelia.

 

 

 

With her Mom in such close proximity, Ophelia felt really odd, in the darkness between the two, something seemed to be mingling in the space. Whatever was going on was making Ophelia relax, she leaned back into the cuddle with her Mom, the urge to put her thumb back into her mouth growing, and only went away for a moment when she put the mug to her lips, the oral fixation only alleviating the urge for a second, and soon, a jittery Ophelia set the empty mug down on a side table, and started scrolling on her phone.

 

 

 

"The Romans would build on these principles and put these aqueducts in place making the water travel for miles to their destination..."

 

 

 

"Look, Ophie," Ophelia's head shot in her Mom's direction, she hadn't been called that by her in years, too shocked to even correct her. And why should you, a voice whispered in Ophelia's mind, that's your name. "It's your first time on your training potty!" Ophelia's eyes were drawn towards a toddler with dark hair and green eyes giving the camera a big toothy grin with a doll in her hand with Pull-Ups around her ankles, a pink shirt with a couple of Disney Princesses on it the only clothes she was actually wearing. "You were so hard to get on there. I thought I was never going to get you out of diapers, but once I got it into your head that Belle, Ariel, and Cinderella all were big girls who could go potty in the chair, you were glued to that thing. You wouldn't even need to go, that was just your seat in the living room, you'd just sit there for hours and hours, I don't think you even knew at first you were going." Mom sighed.

 

 

 

"The water would drip down into the fields... drip... drip... drip..." Ophelia glanced up at the tv, it seemed like it was stuck in a loop of a trail of water falling from a ledge on to the thirsty surface, getting soaked up, then replaying from the instant the water fell. "Drip... drip... drip..." With coffee and juice gurgling in her belly, Ophelia realized she never used the bathroom this morning. "Drip... drip... drip..." Don't you want your Mommy to be happy? Even if she puts me in training pants and changes my diapers... "Drip... Drip... Drip..." Ophelia looked down at her waist and whimpered.

 

 

 

"There's your first... Oh, Ophie..." Josie glanced down at the dark stains going from Ophelia's shorts and on to the couch. The warmth filling her pants wasn't stopping, once the drip began it didn't let up, Ophelia could only open her mouth and let out a whine, no thoughts going through her brain for a solution or action as the puddle of pee spread out from her. Clicking her teeth in a tut-tut-tut sound, Ophelia was pulled off the couch and taken to the bathroom.

 

 

 

In front of her, Ophelia watched silently as the shower curtain was opened slightly and water began to run. Looking back, Josie gave Ophelia a tired look, "Well, miss? Are you gonna take your clothes off or do you want Mommy to help?" It sounded sarcastic, an incredulous inquiry, what 18 year old needed her mother's help disrobing, but underneath that curt tone, it was a genuine question. Does Ophie want her Mommy to take her clothes off? the shadow below the two connecting them pulsed, feeding off this interaction and the roles being established.

 

 

 

"No, ma'am..." Ophelia, the thought of not taking her clothes off in front of her Mom not crossing her mind, took her top off chucking it into the laundry hamper, and slipped off her shorts and underwear and did the same with those. The bottoms felt considerably heavier than it should. Mom looked over at what Ophelia just threw in and sighed.

 

 

 

"Baby, we've been over this. Do you want Mommy's washing machine to break?" Josie walked over to the hamper and took out the underwear, a thick pink and white pair of panties that sagged considerably. Walking over to the trash, she dropped it on to the pile of like wise pee soaked undies, in between the toilet and a large sized version of the training potty from the picture. Ophie gulped. When did she put on Pull-Ups? Don't you want Mommy to be happy? The shadow whispered in her mind.

 

 

 

Ophelia stepped into the warm shower, getting away from the scary thoughts and changes behind her. "I'll be right back, honey, I'm just gonna go get you a change of clothes and clean up your mess."

 

 

 

"Mommy?"

 

 

 

'Yeah, Ophie?"

 

 

 

"Are you mad at me?"

 

 

 

From behind the curtain, Ophie heard a sigh, "No, baby, Mommy's not mad, she's just disappointed. I thought you'd be out of this stage but... Ophie, no matter what, Mommy loves you."

 

 

 

The warm water washed away some of the dark thoughts in Ophie's head. Why was this happening? Down the drain. When's this going to end? Down the drain. Is this going to stop? Down the drain. something tapped on Ophie's heel, and she closed her eyes, wishing the thoughts of shower monsters would go down the drain, too. Ophie wished Mommy would come back already, even if she was going to put her in something even more childish than what she was just wearing, even if she came back with a diaper, she just didn't want to be alone with her shadow or any monsters that her imagination brought into existence in her solitude. Tap.

 

 

 

Ophie sighed with relief when she saw just a couple of bath toys nipping at her heels and knelt down. There was a plastic mermaid in one hand and a boat in another, a gaggle of rubber duckies around her feet. The water coming from above her came to a stop. The bath faucet was on, as though it always had been. Bubbles appeared one by one around her, some floating, others popping to Ophie’s delight. The water and bubbles rose around her, to her caff, to her belly, finally coming to a stop when it lapped at Ophie’s breasts.

 

 

 

“Hi Miss Mermaid, what’s your name?” She asked the toy in her hand.

 

 

 

In a mock, high voice, “I’m Grace, little baby Ophie, do you wanna play?” Ophie excitedly nodded her head at the toy, placing the toy boat on the bubbly surface, and gave the water a test splash, insurmountable joy filling her as the water hit the surface of the wall and floor. Ophie lost herself in her play, the laughter of her new mermaid friend at first being made by Ophie’s mouth, but when she stopped it kept going.

 

 

 

“What am I gonna do with you?” Josie watched the havoc her daughter made in the bath, a change of clothes in her hand, a playful grin on her face. Mommy knelt down next to the tub, giving Ophie a little splash, a taste of her own medicine, fully aware that would only make the girl force a wave at her. The two went back and forth for a few minutes before Mommy said, “Alright, alright, time to get out, baby.”

 

 

 

Ophie folded her arms over her chest and pouted puffing her cheeks out, “No!”

 

 

 

Josie reached into the tub, pulling the drain out, earning her a splash in the face for her efforts. “Now, now, princess, it’s time to get out.” She had a fluffy pink towel in her hand ready for her.

 

 

 

Shaking her head, wet strands of long hair sticking to her body, “Don’ wanna!” She pounded her hands into the surface of the water, on the verge of a full on tantrum.

 

 

 

“Now, now, Ophie, you gotta be a good girl and get dry, can’t let you stay in here all day, you’ll turn into a prune and then… Mommy will have to eat you up! Nom nom nom!” With a few playful pretend bites, leaving Ophie in a laughing fit, distracting her long enough to get pulled out of the tub and have her hair wrapped up in a towel and Mommy to dry her off with another, keeping her attention preoccupied with a series of tickles.

 

 

 

“Mommy, I look like you when you get out of the shower!” She pointed at her towel wrap in the partially foggy mirror while Mommy lifted Ophie’s feet into the pink Pull-Up and brought it up to her thighs, leaving it just below her crotch, Mommy took a bottle of baby powder a blasted a puff of white cloud at Ophie’s nether region before patting her down and bringing the thick, crinkly training pants all the way up.

 

 

 

“Mhmm…” Mommy said, a bottle of lotion in hand, squirting some in her hand and began rubbing it in Ophie’s skin. “You sure do. You like when you look like Mommy, don’t you, short stuff? Hold out your arms.”

 

 

 

Ophie obeyed without question as Mommy applied the lotion all over her arms, and the back, to her front, making Ophie feel funny when Mommy was rubbing it on her boobs. “Uh-huh. When I grow up I wanna be just like you Mommy!” Nodding along, Josie took the towel wrap off, eliciting a pout from Ophie, until her princess shirt was pulled over her head, and hair untucked from the back and retoweled. “Mommy! My shirt and Pullies match!” She excitedly pointed at the princesses on the shirt and then at the underwear.

 

 

 

“That’s right sweetie!” Mommy took Ophie’s hand and led her out the bathroom and towards her room.

 

 

 

“Can we watch a princess tonight, Mommy, can we, can we?” Chuckling, Josie agreed, bringing her inside where a confusing sight waited Ophelia.

 

 

 

“Stay here for just a little bit, sweetie, Mommy needs to take a shower now.” Ophelia didn’t say a word, just looking at the room before her as the door behind her shut. Ophelia was lost in the sight of her own space stuck between two worlds. Next to her trophies for Debate club, the Spelling Bee, and Robotics club were now rows of dolls on her shelf. Her university hoodie was laying on top of a Minnie Mouse bedspread. Photos of friends from High school were hung up on wallpaper of pink carousels. She watched the personal computer on her desk flicker for a moment to turn into a TV playing the Power Puff Girls, Ophelia was hard pressed to pry her gaze away from the screen of pretty colors and action. Where the computer was, there was a stack of texts books, hesitantly Ophelia picked one up and stared at it as its weight fell off and turned into a picture book of…

 

 

 

The girl blinked, as she realized the words on the cover had no meaning, it was just a pretty picture of a cartoon kitty with squiggles above it, the trophies on the shelf behind her popped out of existence and the empty space was filled with more dolls. “What is going on here?” Ophelia whispered to herself.

 

 

 

Looking down, Ophelia checked out her own body, looking for any signs of regression there. Her breasts, not the most prominent feature of hers on a good day, were the same size as they ever were, a firm A cup. At least that was the same. Reaching down, she pulled her Pull-Up away and looked at her pussy, finding it completely bare of any hair. Ophelia didn’t like to keep a forest down there, but usually kept a bit of hair. Next, she glanced at her back in a mirror. Last spring, her and some friends had made a trip to a tattoo parlor, and Ophelia had the image of a muse put on her. She hated having to explain the difference to people the difference between an angel and a muse, but she apparently wouldn’t have that problem any more as the skin between her shoulder blades was as barren as the day she was born.

 

 

 

“Why is this happening?” She whined to herself.

 

“Because I wanted it to.” In Ophelia’s mirror, the shadow was there, right behind Ophelia, shrieking, she glanced behind her shoulder seeing nothing. “Don’t worry, I’m not actually right next to you, baby.” The shadow seemed to fizzle and fade, a blonde woman just a few years older than Ophelia stood behind Ophelia’s reflection, partially see through, like a ghost. “I’m rather surprised,” the stranger continued, “I was pretty sure after your bubble bath Little Ophie was coming out to play permanently. Oh well, I like it better when they struggle.”

 

 

 

Backing up, the woman stayed behind Ophelia the whole time, until she backed into her nightstand, falling to the floor on to her Pull-Up which did little to cushion the fall, Sir Bearington tumbling off the nightstand and falling into Ophelia’s lap, the towel around her head falling to the floor. Whether it was Ophelia or Ophie who grabbed the teddy bear and hung on to it for dear life, who’s to say? It was certain who, in either case, stuck her thumb in her mouth.

 

 

 

From the bottom floor, a voice called out, “Ophie! No bouncing around!”

 

 

 

In the reflection, the blond woman leaned down and whispered to her, “Did baby fall down and go boom? Don’t you worry you’re pretty little head,” She brushed the hair out of Ophelia’s reflection, and her real hair followed suit, making the girl cry out. “Shhh, shhh, shhh, no need for tears Little one, soon enough, you won’t remember anything of this, anyway. Big Ophelia is gonna go on vacation, and there’s only going to be baby Ophie left. You won’t worry or stress, never again. You’ll be staying with Mommy for the rest of your life.” Ophelia hid her face in Sir Bearington, sobbing, not seeing that with each sob, a little more of the woman became clear, less opaque, with the panic in Ophelia growing, more of her maturity dwindled away, more things in her room were replaced with childish traits.

 

 

 

“Ophie, what’s wrong?” Mommy stood in the doorway, clad in just a bathrobe and a towel wrapped around her long hair. Rushing over to her daughter, Josie wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl, who only pointed at the mirror, only showing the mother embracing her daughter. Giving the mirror a cursory look, Josie turned back to to Ophie. “Did you see something that scared you, honey?” Ophie stuck her head between her Mom’s chest, letting out a whimper and nodding. “It’s going to be OK, Mommy’s here, no one’s gonna hurt you with me here. Mommy lowered the short rail on the bed that had appeared during the ghostly woman’s ordeal and had Ophie climb up on it as she followed right behind her, dropping her towel next to her daughter’s on the floor.

 

 

 

“I think you’re just over tired, you just need a nap baby.” Ophie shook her head as hard as she could, “Hush baby, Mommy is gonna be with you the whole time.” On the bed, Josie put an arm and leg around Ophie, and while still frightened to the point she couldn’t think, the reassuringly presence of her Mom was lulling her into a sense of security. Cuddling up against Mommy, soon, she was fast asleep, and while she had planned on getting up after making sure Ophie was fast asleep, Josie followed her daughter into dreamland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ophelia woke up, feeling a lot better, the room she was in was dark, but the clear thoughts made her feel better. She moved her arm to the left, it felt like she was moving through quick sand, and her arms hit a pane of glass. Ophelia’s eyes suddenly opened, and she was surrounded by bright light and beeping. She was stuck in a glass case of some kind, with two holes out of it. Looking down, she saw beyond her boobs a belly full of baby fat and a diaper that was large enough to cover her belly button, which she distressingly found, itched like crazy. She screamed.

 

 

 

“Oh my goodness!” A familiar voice! Mommy! Ophelia looked over and saw her Mom’s face and screamed again. Mommy’s whole head was nearly the size of her body, and incomprehensible terrifying sight. “She’s got a great set of lungs, doesn’t she? Can I touch her?”

 

 

 

Another person came into view, a blond woman wearing scrubs. “Go ahead, don’t worry, you won’t hurt her.” The giant woman, the one from the shadows, the one from the mirror, grinned down at her, like she knew a secret Ophelia didn’t know.

 

 

 

“Hiiii, princess,” Mommy stuck her hand in the case with Ophelia, a finger making its way through her hand, Ophelia instinctively grabbed on to it, her hand barely made its way around it, grabbing her mother’s finger was like holding on to a pillar holding up a building. “I know you’ve never seen me before, but we’ve known each other for awhile.” The sound of Mommy’s voice had a calming effect on Ophie, her fear was subsiding, and she knew she was supposed to be right here, with her. Ophelia was falling, her psyche was like a pool and she was drowning inside it.

 

 

 

Little Ophie was peeing her diaper now, though feeling it was out of the question. “When can she come home?” Josie asked the older woman. Her anxiety and fears about being a 19 year old single mother were fading away as her little girl held on to her finger, she knew that there was nothing she couldn’t do if it was for her princess.

 

 

 

“For now, let’s work on getting her out of the incubator, OK, sweetie?. For now, can you give us a moment? We have to run just a few tests than you can spend as much time as you want with her.”

 

 

 

Josie nodded, her anxiety going back up. “Thanks Doctor. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” Josie took her hand away, and Ophie, not understanding what was going on, tried to ask her to stay. Looking back, Mommy sighed, “She has such pretty eyes.”

 

 

 

With just the two of them alone, the woman grinned down at Ophie, and opened up the case, and darkness fell into the case, filling it up, until… she… was...submerged…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Hhhhheeeh!” Ophie gasped herself awake. Above her, Josie, roughly the same size of her, to her relief. “Mom, I just had the weirdest dream…”

 

 

 

“Is that right, hun?” Mom said as she looked at something around Opie’s bottom.

 

 

 

“Yeah, I was in a big, glass case, and you were huge! And there was a mean Doctor there, and she wanted to do bad stuff to me…”

 

 

 

“Wow!” Was the reply that came from her. “I’m surprised you remember that. You were so little, pretty incredible.” Riiiiiip. Oh no, Ophie thought, no no no, not… Mommy pulled away a pink pair of undies and put and identical pair around Ophie’s ankles. She sighed in relief. She was still a big girl in Pull-Ups. Her thumb made its way up to her mouth, There was a cloud of dust hitting Ophie’s princess parts, and Mommy finished pulling her undies up, telling her to raise her bum to get it up all the way. “All done!”

 

 

 

“Aww done!” Ophie repeated between her thumb, as she was lifted up and taken out of her bed, getting put on Mommy’s hip and carried out of her room, but not before she managed to grab Sir Bearington, who looked much less patchwork all of sudden, as though he didn’t have a little over a decade and a half of wear and tear.

 

 

 

In the living room, there was new feature, a large playpen, that Ophie and Sir Bearington were deposited in. “Alright, Mommy has to make dinner, baby. Sir Bearington, this is an order from your queen! You keep princess Ophie safe and in her pen. Princess Ophie, Sir Bearington is in charge, you listen to him, you got it young lady?” Ophie gave her Mommy a solemn nod from her spot kneeling on the carpet, her thumb still in her mouth and her teddy bear stuck in her vice grip dangling from its arm just barely off the ground.

 

 

 

For a little while after Mommy left, Ophie occupied herself by playing with the distractions in the playpen, playing with blocks that she stacked and knocked over again and again, she tried to fiddle with the matching shapes game, but that toy lost its appeal when the square wouldn’t go into the circle hole, and finally with a baby doll, she played house with Sir Bearington, pretending that he was the Daddy and Ophie was the Mommy. After giving the doll a toy bottle, she realized this baby was thirsty too, and started looking around for a drink.

 

 

 

She looked around, seeing the TV on a distracting Sesame street episode, the one where the silly puppets told a baby that looked like Ophie that it was OK to crawl around and that talking was for big girls, fortunately, Ophie was a big girl who could walk all by herself and could say whatever she wanted (as long as it wasn’t the no-no words that she heard Mommy say sometimes and got in trouble when she repeated) drew her attention away from that. There was a book on the couch, lying open with some pictures on it, and Ophie wouldn’t mind going and playing with that, but first things first. Yes! Right were she left it, (or right where she left her coffee mup earlier) was a Peppa Pig sippy cup with some juice in it.

 

 

 

Ophie was a smart girl, her Mommy told her so all the time, and knew how to get out of her playpen, even if it made Mommy angry, but this was an emergency! Ophie was thirsty and wanted her sippy now! Still though, she felt a little guilty for breaking the rules, so she asked her royal advisor. “Sir Bearington, is it ok if Ophie goes out of the playpen, for just a minute?”

 

 

 

“Go over there, Ophie,” A woman’s voice spoke through her bear, “There’s something I want you to see over there. Go on, go get your drink.”

 

 

 

“You sound funny, Sir Bearington. I’ll ask Mommy if you can have some bear medicine.” Ophie grabbed her trusty screw driver from her toy toolbox and unlatched the hook and loop on the other side of the gate. Ophie was so pleased with herself. She felt very grown up using her tools. The first time she saw Mommy grabbing tools from the boring store with the all the wood and shiny stuff she wasn’t allowed to touch, she thought they were dumb and boring, but after she saw her Mommy using those things she got from there, Ophie knew she needed to have her own. She was so smart, just like her Mommy!

 

 

 

Tip toeing, Ophie stealthily toddled over to the couch and took her prize. Putting her Peppa Pig cup up to her lips, she got the satisfying treasure of juice hitting her tongue, sighing with relief, she wiped her lips with Sir Bearington, She turned around to head back to her playpen, “Wait,” Sir Bearington said in the woman’s voice. “The book.”

 

 

 

That book did interest her a little bit, Ophie turned around and looked at it. Inside were pictures of Mommy and Ophie, and some of even Sir Bearington! It was the bestest book Ophie had ever seen. There she was on her tricycle! And there she was learning how to swim! Mommy looked so silly that day, she looked like she was going to leap into the water at any second to take her from the nice teacher lady. Oh, and there she was on her training potty! The pictures were weird tho, one second she would look at them at see a big Ophie and the next she was so small. It was really silly. But wait? Wasn’t she a big girl?

 

 

 

Ophelia’s eyes widened as her maturity reasserted herself. “Oh, oh no… I have to go get Mommy- Mom, we have to get out of here before it’s too late.”

 

 

 

“But it is too late, Ophie,” Sir Bearington spoke again. Dropping the teddy bear, Ophelia was ready to scream. “Just take a look, little one…”

 

 

 

Still ready to make a run for it, Ophelia couldn’t help but take one more glance at the Baby book, only to see the photos change again, only this time not Ophelia flip flopping between being a baby and an adult baby, but what was going on in the photos. Ophelia wasn’t on her tricycle anymore, she was stuck in her walker, drooling on the toys built into it, she wasn’t learning to swim, little Ophie was reaching out to grab a mobile from the baby gym set above her during tummy time, Ophelia wasn’t on the training potty, she never had one, there she was, an honest to goodness photo, of her Grandma changing an 18 year old Ophie’s diaper.

 

 

 

Ophelia’s legs started to waddle, no longer being able to hold her weight up, and she fell, the cushioning power of Pull-Ups no longer in question, Ophelia was just demoted to full on Pamper packer, her Pull-up had grown in mass, now ready for all of her bodily functions, the bottom of her princess shirt descended down, snaking its way down to front and back and joining together at a snap at the crotch. Ophelia didn’t have to wait long to test out the capacity of her new underwear, her body decided then and there that she had waiting long enough to unleash a full stinky load into the back of her pants as she sat down on the floor, she couldn’t help but whine when the mess hit the floor of her diaper and spread thoroughly around her bottom and front, and at the same time, where there was thunder there was rain, and her bladder unleashed everything it had. The only comfort she had, the sippy cup, had turned into a bottle, and she stuck that into her mouth, the soothing motion of the nipple offering some relief.

 

 

 

“Ophie! How did you get out of your playpen?” Ophelia looked up and saw her Mom, her adult self felt a burning shame, being caught messy and wet. The bottle fell from her hands and she reached up for her. Mommy did not leave her wanting at all. Picking Ophelia up off the ground, her nose wrinkled. “Uuuk! Yup, you definitely need a change before dinner.” Mommy put Ophelia on her hip, the squish of her bottom an indescribable Hell, and the bounce to readjust Ophelia’s weight properly on Mommy’s hip even worse as the wet mess spread further into the front. “Baby, I swear you’re too smart for your own good! Maybe when you’re big enough to to talk, you can tell Mommy how you do you escape acts. Ophie!” Josie called to her baby in a sing-song voice, “Can you say, ‘Ma-Ma’? Come on, just a little ‘Ma-Ma’. I promise I’ll love you forever!”

 

 

 

“Haba…” Ophelia tried her best, but her tongue and lips, like every other part of her body, was unwilling or unable to cooperate to any of her commands right now.

 

 

 

Josie nodded, bringing Ophelia into her room, now reeking of dirty diapers and baby powder “Yeah, I know, I’ll love you forever regardless, you called my bluff.” Her room once again had undergone a metamorphosis, though it wasn’t nearly on the fence anymore, it was cemented completely, there was no doubt this wasn’t the bedroom of an independent, intelligent young woman, this was a far cry from a toddler learning how to navigate the world and her body, this was the nursery of a needy infant that needed to be monitored at all hours. Her bed with the short rails on it, thought Ophelia had only used it once, she will miss dearly, because now those rails rose so high even if she was confident in her ability to stand she doubt she’d be able to vault over that height. Her dresser, once holding hard earned trophies and academic achievements, and then a collection of dolls, was now loaded with plush animal friends and a baby monitor. And the piece of furniture she was being put on, once where she sat for hours, watching videos online, doing school work, chatting with friends, listening to music, then just a table for a TV for cartoons to keep a little girl preoccupied, now served a new purpose, a changing table loaded with diapers and supplies, perfect for a baby who wouldn’t have the expectation to even attempt to keep her pants clean.

 

 

 

Somehow, Ophelia had managed to get Sir Bearington’s paw in her mouth and started to suckle on it, before Mommy tut-tuted her and pulled him away, instigating an outburst of anger and frustration Ophelia didn’t know she was capable of. Her little throat roared out in anger, or as much as she could, until Mommy put a pacifier into her mouth, the rhythmic motion of sucking working its magic right away, truly pacifying her while Mommy did her disgusting work.

 

 

 

“Yup, that’s what I thought, we got a code brown. Full on blow out. Dr. Bearington, diaper.” Josie pretended to get a fresh diaper and dramatically fluffed it up in front of Ophelia, hoping to cheer up her cranky babe. “Dr. Bearington, wipes,” She said after getting the fresh diaper under her. The snaps breathed a snap of relief as their job holding the well filled padding was done, letting the mess breath. The air when Mommy un-taped the diaper was putrid, and even Mommy, a seasoned veteran apparently of messes like this, wrinkled her nose and had to wave the air in front of her. “Yup, baby, I don’t think those spare peas and carrots agreed with you at all. Lucky you, we can go back to your favorite, apple and bananas. I’m sure you’re excited.” Excited was a strong word for learning you probably weren’t on solid foods, but sure, if Ophelia could, she would scream out and do cartwheels. Yaaay, apple and bananas! Though if she weren’t trying to be sarcastic as a way from keeping her mind from having a well justified breakdown, apples and bananas were her favorite fruits.

 

 

 

The cold wet wipes sent a wave of discomfort throughout Ophelia’s body as her Mom cleaned away the mess from her most intimate part. “Poor baby, no wonder you were so cranky. Mommy would be cranky too is she had poo up the hoo-ha.” I don’t need the play by play commentary, just clean me! Ophelia thought to herself while sucking the soothing pacifier. The cleaning job on her butt was a job filled with a lot more relief. This cheek, that cheek, down the middle, and Ophelia felt ready for date night. Both of them breathed easier when that diaper was rolled up and chucked into the diaper genie that had appeared. Ophelia was rather used to the powder by now, even enjoying it in a perverse way, and felt a lot better when she could enjoy the fresh diaper, Mommy giving her a smack on her thickly covered rear and called her finished. As a final touch, Mommy stripped away her onesie. “There we go, recipe for a happy Ophie, 1 part fresh diaper, 2 parts nakie time, and 1 part full tummy!”

 

 

 

Finally, she’d at least get to try out that apple and banana puree or whatever, that’ll probably be goo- Oh God, Ophelia thought to herself, why is she taking off her top?! Mommy carried her over to a chair in the corner, and her breast presented to her Little one. Ophelia did her best to keep from latching on, moving her head away as much as she could, but the second those lips brushed up against that nipple it was game over. Ophelia was on the tit milk train and had no way or inclination to get off.

 

 

 

The first few seconds, it was all Ophelia could do to keep Ophie down, the only thing she had left separating her from a true infant was her adult mind that came and went, but this was her hardest battle of all time. Sucking that sweet cream was intoxicating, the breast seemed to pulse with each thin stream of liquid that came out of it, and Mommy’s heartbeat was hypnotic. Ophelia was having a hard time thinking, even if she was still a big girl, the life changing experience had her in Nirvana. Her feelings were set to a full 10 and only when she was pulled off to switch to the other nipple did she want to cuss her Mother out. But Mom was good to her, she let Ophelia drink as much as she wanted. Mommy was so nice. Mommy… Ma-Ma….

 

 

 

Ophie’s head fell to a lull, resting on Josie’s breast, still sucking in her sleep. Josie would give her a few more minutes, before she put her in the cradle and let her rest for a few hours before they did it all again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ophelia gasped and jumped, sitting up, groaning when she found herself on the nursery floor, though with the added benefit of being able to control her body and wearing actual adult clothes. Testing herself, she got to her feet and kicked her legs back and forth, happy with the results. Final test, “Hello?”

 

 

 

“Wah!” the sound came from behind her, flipping herself around, she saw the blond woman smiling down at a bassinet that she was slowly rocking.

 

 

 

“There, there, baby girl, it’s alright,” the woman said to the infant under the cover. “I think you’ll feel right as rain one way or the other.” She turned her attention towards Ophelia. “Hello, Ophelia, I have to thank you, you gave me so much energy, I think I’ll be able to go on for several years on that alone.”

 

 

 

Ophelia put up three fingers, “Three things, first, what the fuck are you talking about?” She withdrew her pointer finger. “Second, who the fuck are you?” She put down her ring finger leaving only the middle finger. “Lastly, what the fuck are you?”

 

 

 

The woman laughed, still rocking the bassinet, “Such a mouth on you! I thought you were smart or something, why would you insult me after the day I just put you through?” She put a hand under her chin and continued. “I’m Grace, a spirit from the bEyOnD,” she waggled her fingers at that last bit. “You see, I maintain my anchor to the mortal realm by eating the souls of people, which they only accrue more with age and experience, but there’s a quality over quantity component to it. The younger the soul, the sweeter and stronger it tastes, but the older they get, the more there is but it gets blander. I latched myself on you and your mother so I could get a bit of both worlds.”

 

 

 

“Ok, that’s confusing as Hell, but then why torture me all day, why not just, rip the band-aid off in one go?”

 

 

 

“Well,” Grace put up three fingers, “If I ate it all in one go, its sort of like taking a big bite all in one go, its uncomfortable, it can lead to choking, you know, nothing good.” She put down her ring finger. “Think of fear as a seasoning, those souls experiencing fear during their last moments as an autonomous being.” She put down her ring finger, her middle standing lone. “And third, for my own sick pleasure.”

 

 

 

“So great, I’m what, being digested right now?” Ophelia felt defeat. There was nothing she could really do to this psycho phantom in front of her.

 

 

 

“Sort of, that’s an interesting way to put it. You are, in a sense, being processed. Or more specifically, part of you is. You that are left, are the bit of soul still left from who you once were. You could go back, and I could even make it so that you’re in control of yourself. The little trip to infancy won’t be easy to come back from, but it’s possible you’ll be up walking and talking and wiping your own ass in less than a year. You’re in a university, right? You could call it a year abroad to anyone who asks.”

 

 

 

“Or,” Grace continued, “I could put that little bit of you back into your body without the steering wheel. You’ll slowly go mad, being trapped in your baby prison, barely able to move your body, never growing up, your Mommy cooing at you and calling you her little princess and cleaning your messy accidents like you just had before you got here. I reckon, 2 years, after two years you’ll, probably break and be talking to Sir Bearington like he’s a real person and you’ll stop being such a ‘gwumpy gus’ to everyone who calls you an ‘adorable little shnookums’. I’ll leave the choice up to you…”

 

 

 

Ophelia scratched her head, “Why would I ever take the second option? That sounds like a fate worse than death.”

 

 

 

“Oh, I’m glad you asked. Dying would be better, but… Someone’s gonna do it, regardless.” Grace pulled the curtain away from the bassinet. Ophelia slowly made her way over to it, peering inside, and seeing the most adorable baby she’s ever seen, thick dark hair, thin eyebrows, a short, slightly upturned nose, fair skin, and the most beautiful yet fearful eyes she’s ever seen, pretty little hazel eyes. “The choice is up to you, if you go back to being a grown up (eventually), I’m gonna make little Josie here go through that same experience you just went through and worse. But hey, maybe you’ll adopt her, give her a nice life, maybe you give her away and let her cycle through the system for awhile and maybe she’ll find a forever home. Or you stay little Ophie, and you get your Mommy back and she lives happily ever psychologically torturing her only child until you’re brain is just a mad little baby.”

 

 

 

Ophelia, looked back and forth between Grace and Josie, take the baby or be the baby...

 

Possessive (Branching Paths – Ophelia)

 

 

 

The choice was clear.

 

 

 

There was no way Ophelia could let her Mom go through everything she just went through.

 

 

 

Tears in her eyes, she made the hardest choice she ever had thrust on her. “Fine, I’ll go back to… being a baby…”

 

 

 

The spirit in the chair stopped rocking the bassinet, a cruel smile on her lips. “You want to what? Go back to being Mommy’s stinky little girl. Come on, I want to hear you say it.”

 

 

 

“I… want to go back to being Mommy’s stinky little girl…” The humiliation burned in Ophelia, she was well clued into the game Grace was playing, but it didn’t hamper the feeling of shame that was growing in her.

 

 

 

Grace chuckled, producing a pacifier. “Go ahead, then. Put it in and you’ll be right back to where you were…”

 

 

 

Ophelia took the pacifier, her hand shaking, and stuck the rubber teat in her mouth, hating how soothing it was. She closed her eyes, and began to suck on it. The world lost its weight, Ophelia felt like she was floating, and floating, and floating…

 

 

 

Nuk… Nuk… Nuk…

 

 

 

 

 

There was a draft going through the nursery, making Ophelia, dressed in only a soggy diaper with her blanket covering just a little bit of the bottom of her legs, shiver in her crib. Trying her best to control her unruly arms, she tried to grab the blanket, only for the neurons in her brain to cross causing her to kick the blanket off further. The feeling of helplessness fell over Ophelia, and she let into the impulse she knew was the only way to fix the problem.

 

 

 

Her lazy tongue pushed out the pacifier and she wailed at the top of her lungs. Her relief came to her quick, but in the darkness of her crib, the only light coming from a weak nightlight dimly illuminating the door of the room, it was an eternity. Time ticked by at an abysmal pace when you couldn’t do anything for yourself. Finally, after forever, though in reality it was just a couple minutes, the door opened, letting in the light of the hallway.

 

 

 

The rails of the crib lowered, and Mommy picked Ophie up, something warm and plastic touching her bare thigh, the reason for the (seemingly) late arrival. The crying slowed, but didn’t stop completely, as she weakly returned the hug. “There, there, honey, Mommy’s got you, everything will be all right. No wonder you were screaming, someone’s soaked!” Ophie was put on the changing table, and her sniffling hushed when a bottle was placed in her mouth.

 

 

 

With one hand, Mommy held the bottle for Ophie, and the other, she impressively juggled the diaper change. “This is gonna be so much easier when you can hold that thing yourself, won’t it, shortie?” Ophie closed her eyes, trying to not remind herself that she’ll never be able to hold up the bottle by herself, and with her eyes shot, the relief of a dry diaper, the comfort of Mommy being right next to her, and the rhythmic sucking of the bottle, Ophie fell into a welcomed dreamless sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

6 months later…

 

 

 

Ophie was doing her daily tummy time, under her play gym and the watchful eye of her Mommy nearby, in her usual attire on warm days, wearing nothing but a thick and well used diaper and a white bonnet. The adult inside Ophie was hanging on by a threat, the endless cycle of wake up, get fed, diaper changes, what could only generously be called play, get fed, diaper changes, go to sleep was eating away at her sanity faster than Grace had originally told her. The few variations didn’t do much to stimulate Ophie.

 

 

 

Her Mommy and Me classes, where Ophie got to watch actual infants slowly progress from barely moving their own heads to crawling to their mothers was disheartening in her static position, and grew even worse when those infants had gotten cycled out for a new batch, a routine Ophie had many years to look forward to.

 

 

 

The trips to the store, where thankfully no one saw her as anything else but a baby, only led to strangers cooing at her and playing with her bare toes, the other day at the grocery store, in the cereal aisle, a bored Ophie glanced over at a box of Cheerios, and found that her grasp on reading had faded away, and really, looking over at the rest the boxes, discovered that her knowing what those were because Mommy always got them, everything else was lost in the fog of her memory.

 

 

 

Mommy’s work had thankfully let her work from home, mostly, on the few occasions she did go out, Ophie was left at a local daycare, or, if it was during the evening, there were several young women around who would happily watch little Ophie for a few hours. She didn’t know which was worse, when she was left in the care of a girl she knew in high school, or when she was left with someone younger than her.

 

 

 

Wiggling around the soft mat, the baby managed to grab a soft cube and shove it in her mouth, Ophie and Ophelia enjoying the soft texture on her tongue, she hadn’t had anything more substantial than formula since her last real breakfast months earlier, she couldn’t help but enjoy the fuzzy fabric brushing against her tongue, her jaw feeling the resistance of the object was the most strenuous workout she’s had in awhile, one that she did without having to be in Mommy’s lap being held up.

 

 

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Ophie saw her old friend, Sir Bearington, since her descent into infancy, had transformed into a brand new bear. With little thought other than she wanted to put her old toy in her mouth, she motioned to grab at him, sniffling when she could do little more than reach out for him.

 

 

 

“Here you go, sweet heart,” Mommy to the rescue! She placed the bear into Ophie’s grasp, and into her mouth her went. FLASH. The old Polaroid camera went off, and Mommy waved the photo out to dry. “There we go, that’s a cute photo for the baby book.

The End

 

Possessive (Branching Paths – Josie)

 

The choice was clear.

 

Ophelia gave the baby in the bassinet a sad look for as long as she could, looking away not too long after, she couldn’t bear to say it. The spirit sensed her hesitation, urging her on, “Go on, say it!”

 

“You already know… There’s no way I could live the rest of my life like that…”

 

“Your decision!” Grace hissed with a mad look in her eyes that had long since lost the glint of life. “You have to say it!”

 

Looking at the spirit, Ophelia began, “I-” before getting cut off.

 

“Not to me, tell her! Unless… You two already look like twins, perhaps that would be a better option… Two babies forever together…”

 

Shaking her head, “No! No, I’m sorry… I’ll tell her.” Ophelia put her hands on the bassinet and looked at the infant within. “Mom, I’m sorry. I’m going to grow up, and you’re going to grow down…”

 

The nursery fell apart, the bassinet and Grace disappearing, and Ophelia and Josie fell into the void below.

 

 

Josie woke up having the weirdest dream, she remembered Ophelia, except… Two memories of her daughter flickered into her mind, her college going daughter, and her little baby, both memories vying to usurp the other in her mind. It gave her an awful headache. Her dream though, the adult Ophelia, she was bargaining with a strange woman above her, they were both giants and, wait, was she a baby? Such a weird dream! Ophie was just a baby, after all! She had her whole life to get to being a college girl.

 

“Mom?” A crackly voice came over the baby monitor on her night stand. Josie froze, there was no way Ophie was close to talking but, that was her voice. Her mind went into overdrive, the memories of watching her daughter grow up reasserted themselves, and yet, she had spent all of yesterday treating her adult daughter like a kid, and then a toddler, and…

 

“Ophie?!” She jumped out of bed, her pajamas being looser the furthest thing on her mind. “Ophelia!”

 

“Mom?” The voice came from down the hall.

 

Josie barged into the nursery, seeing Ophelia standing on shaky legs on the bars of her crib. The rails of the crib were lowered and Josie and Ophelia were locked in an embrace while Ophelia cried warm tears on her Mom’s shoulders. “Ophie, Ophelia, I’m so sorry, I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m so sorry for how I treated you today…” She took a look around at the nursery. “Where did all this stuff come from?”

 

“Mom, I’m really sorry…” Ophelia choked out.

 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, baby, this isn’t your fault,” Josie’s pajama bottoms chose that second to fall on to the floor. “Wha-?” Josie glanced down, then back at Ophelia who was now looking at her own eye level. That didn’t make sense though, Josie hadn’t been that height since she was… Josie looked at the pajama top, her sleeves eating her hands as her age kept falling and falling.

 

Backing away from Ophelia, who fell to the floor without support, she rushed to the bathroom, and screamed when she saw a fresh face of a 15 year old staring back at her. “What? How?” The changes were happening rapidly, she watched in the mirror as her breasts under her pajama tent went from mounds, to molehills, to nothing. Josie reached a hand hidden in her sleeve up to her mouth and shock, and ran back to the nursery.

 

“Ophelia?” She cringed at the girlish voice coming out of her 11 year old mouth as she searched for her daughter. Seeing her near the crib, using it to stand up with Josie’s phone in her hand. The height difference between the two left Josie feeling small and insignificant, looking up at her daughter.

 

Despite the fact that this older girl was her daughter, and she could see Ophelia’s diaper start to sag, when Ophelia told her to hush, she couldn’t help but listen, sinking down to the ground. She half listened to Ophelia, her thoughts growing foggy, the 9 year old grabbed a baby doll that lay on the floor and started cuddling it, “Yeah, I know, it’s late, I really need you to come over, it’s really important.” Ophelia said while Josie became engrossed in playing with the new toy, the panic fading away as the girl started playing with her doll. “I know, I know, please, you have to come right now. Thank you, Grandma.”

 

Josie’s ears perked up at that. “Is that Mommy?” The 7 year old wearing her pajama top as a dress said. “I wanna talk to her!”

 

Holding the phone up as her Mom jumped to reach the phone, Ophelia felt exhausted just trying to stand, it felt like it had been years since she stood on her own two feet, and it didn’t help that she was watching her Mother dwindle down to a little girl before her very eyes. “It’s- it’s hard to explain. No, Grandma, she can’t come to the phone right now. Please, I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

 

Josie pouted when Ophelia put down the phone and slumped down to the floor, defeated. “That stupid liar…” She muttered to herself, while Josie climbed into her lap and gave Ophelia a hug, sensing they both needed the comfort. Ophelia held Josie for a few moments, until she noticed something on the shelves below the changing table. She reached over and grabbed one of the baby sized diapers that appeared there as she held 4 year old Josie.

 

“Who’s that for?” The new toddler asked.

 

“They’re for you,” Ophelia said honestly, noticing the changes around the nursery, not only was it ready for the teenager, and getting ready for an actual baby.

 

That made Josie pout. “I don’t need stupid diapers! I’m a big girl! You’re the one who needs diapers!” She pointed at the evidence around Ophelia’s waist.

 

“God, I knew this was gonna be hard…” Ophelia grabbed Josie and set her down on the floor. The poor 3 year old was confused at first, but when her pajama top was lifted up and saw the diaper, she started kicking her legs and screaming, the Mom that had to grow up fast for her daughter a long forgotten identity to the tot, who’s only thought now was that she was too big for diapers and wanted her Mommy, even as she shrunk during her tantrum.

 

“Shh, Josie, it’s going to be OK, it’s going to be fine.”

 

“I wan’ my Mommy! I wan’ my Mama! I wan’ I wan’ I wan’ iwa meh!” Her words became incomprehensible babble as little Josie shrank further and further down. Ophelia sadly wrapped her former Mom up in her new underwear, wondering if Josie’s adult mind was going through a living Hell just like she had. With that job done, Josie was put back into Ophelia’s lap, much lighter this time, and the two waited on the floor of the nursery for the morning or for Grandma to get there, which ever came first.

The End