Published: September 18th 2022, 12:00:06 pm
Alicia looked down at herself, nibbling her bottom lip. She really didn't want to go back out into the world like this... But reversing just one thing wasn't going to fix that. Too much had happened to her in here... And what she really needed to do, she realized, was to help Julianne, who had never even had a chance.
"Let Julianne go," she told the woman quietly.
"What was that?" the woman smirked down at her. "Was that your request, little one?"
Alicia hesitated for a moment, having one last chance to back out, to get something for herself instead, then nodded. None of this was Julianne's fault... Julianne hadn't brought them here, and they'd decided together that Julianne should be the one to go in first. If Alicia and Serena had managed to find the way to get her out of the high chair, maybe things wouldn't have gone so badly for the two of them... "Yeah," she answered, managing to gain a bit more volume, and confidence, in her voice. "Yeah, do that."
"All right," the woman snapped her fingers, and Julianne was standing right beside her, looking dazed in her bib, bonnet, booties, and extremely swollen diaper beneath its frilly diaper cover, one that was obvious from the smell had not been filled with quicksand, like Alicia's. She was also, to Alicia's surprise, still toddler-sized.
"W-Wait!" Alicia's eyes widened. "B-But she... D-Doesn't she get a wish to undo something, too?" That would be an easy one, at least... She hadn't had the chance to incur any other curses, beyond being shrunken down when they first arrived.
The woman chuckled. "Of course not," she shook her head. "She didn't escape, so she's lucky she's leaving here at all."
Julianne blinked, looking around herself in confusion. "Wh-Where...? Wh-What...?"
Alicia blushed, becoming more cognizant of the fact that her own outfit had been whittled down to only a diaper, reaching up to cover her breasts, such as they were now. "Do we at least get our old clothes back?" she whined.
"Don't be silly," the woman patted her on the head. "You wouldn't fit into them anyway. Now, run along, or I might assume you're sticking around because you want to go another round with the escape room."
It was almost tempting... Alicia did have a general sense of what to do now, and Julianne was the expert on these things. Would everything still be the same the second time around, however? And, if not, how many more traps would they activate, trying to get the correct combinations and such? How much worse would they make it? How many more things would happen that they'd need to reverse, while only being able to choose one?
"B-But..." Alicia looked down at her mostly naked form. "I-I can't..."
"Oh, that's right," the woman said, stepping behind her counter. "Here you go! Compliments of the escape room." She held something pink over Alicia's head, and, seeing no other choice, the cheerleader lifted her arms, letting the woman pull a pink crop top over her, like the one she'd worn during the escape room, before she'd lost it, except this one had the escape room's logo on it.
"And I wouldn't want your little feet to get hurt," the woman continued, handing Alicia a pair of frilly ankle socks, the girl sitting down on the floor, wrinkling her nose as her diaper squelched beneath her, to put them on, following them up with a pair of pink sneakers.
Unlike the ones she'd been in inside the room, however, these had laces. It shouldn't have been a big deal... Before now, she'd worn those every day, could tie them instinctively, without a second thought. Now, though... She slipped her foot into one, hoping her fingers would take over and start working, but all she could do was wriggle and stare at them, mystified.
"Uh-oh!" the woman teased. "Did you forget how to do that, sweetie? That's too bad... Just think about how much else you've forgotten, too, if you can't even remember that..."
She snapped her fingers and the laces turned into Velcro, which Alicia fastened up, anxiously thinking about what the woman had said. Her grades hadn't been stellar to begin with... How was she going to be able to make it in college after this?!
"There we go," the woman said. "And this belongs to you, I believe." She shoved Julianne's purse into her arms, the bag looking nearly as big as the girl. "Now, I suggest the two of you get out of here, before I take you back in for round two."
Alicia pushed herself to her feet, grabbing Julianne by the hand. "Come on!" she urged, pulling her friend along with her across the lobby, to the front door, pausing when they arrived to stare up at the handle, so far above her head. She had to get up on her tip-toes, stretching as far as she could, to grab it, pull it down...
But, thankfully, when she did, the door started to swing open, and she and Julianne were able to stumble outside, free from the escape room at last... Though, still looking, for the most part, like they were inside, like they belonged inside. The two looked at one another, barely able to believe what had happened. After a few moments, Julianne asked, "Where is Serena?"
Alicia's cheeks burned, the memory of the last time she'd seen the other girl playing in her head. "I-I'll explain later," she promised. "Can we just go home for now?"
"Okay," Julianne nodded, setting her purse down on the ground, digging through it to find her keys. It was obvious from the moment she picked them up that this wasn't going to work, since she had trouble even lifting them all up and pressing the button to unlock her car's doors, but it wasn't until they got to the car itself and stared up at the door handles that it really sank in. Maybe they could reach them, if they stretched enough... Would they be strong enough to pull the doors open? Would they be able to climb up onto the seats? Even if they managed all of that, there was no way they were going to be able to drive all the way back to campus...
"What are we gonna do?" Julianne asked, after a few moments of silence between the pair.
"I was really hoping you had an idea," Alicia replied. She was the expert in escaping, after all...
But that only applied to puzzles that had a solution, and this one, it seemed, didn't. Finally, Julianne gave up, taking out her phone. "We're going to have to call somebody," she said.
Alicia squirmed, thinking about how the other cheerleaders had reacted to seeing her this way on her trip into the TV. "M-Maybe we should try one of your friends," she suggested. "Someone who might take us to the store first, so we don't show up back to school like... this."
Julianne nodded, sighed. "Yeah," she admitted. "I could use a change..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Serena gave a big yawn and a stretch, blinking up to see Mrs. Ariadne smiling down at her. There was a part of her that knew she ought to be afraid of her, that the half spider, half woman was a thing that shouldn't exist... But, after all the fun she'd had in her diapers, it was hard to care too much about that. Mrs. Ariadne wanted her to stay with her forever, after all... And she wanted to keep her in diapers the whole time, which was exactly what Serena wanted, too.
"Morning, sleepyhead," Mrs. Ariadne cooed. "Are you ready for a clean diaper?"
Serena pouted. "Do I have to?" she whined.
The spider chuckled. "Yes, sweetie, I think so... You don't want a rash, do you?"
"No," Serena sighed, "I guess not..." She raised her arms for Mrs. Ariadne to pick her up, cuddling against her chest as she was carried over to the changing table, where she was given a bottle to drink as her diaper was changed. It was milk, but it had an odd taste to it.
She didn't mind... She liked it, in fact. Chances were, she assumed, that it was something Mrs. Ariadne had put in there to help her use her diapers, and that was fine with her. That was what Mrs. Ariadne wanted... And it was what she wanted, too, so it all worked out.
She was a little sad to lose that nice, buzzing feeling between her legs, and Mrs. Ariadne only put her in one diaper, so she didn't get quite as much of the nice, crinkly bulk there to replace it, either, but she had no doubt that, once she'd filled it up, and found a nice stuffed animal to play with, it would feel just as good. That was all she was really concerned about anymore... Compared to all the worries she'd had outside, it was a nice change of pace.
"Are you ready to go meet your new friends?" Mrs. Ariadne asked.
"Friends?" Serena burbled behind her bottle. "Julianne?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Mrs. Ariadne shook her head. "She got away... But don't be sad, sweetie. There are plenty of other children who didn't, who would love to play with you."
She took Serena by the hand, leading her out of the playroom, the little girl all too happy to toddle along behind her, smiling as she felt her diaper already growing warm between her thighs again... Just the way it should be.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Julianne!" Elsie sighed, shaking her head. "Again?"
"I tried!" Julianne whined. "You were fast asleep, and the stepstool was on the other side of the room, and...!"
"Well, I guess you should have tried a little harder," Elsie rolled her eyes, looking at the wet spot in the middle of their floor. "Hold on... I'll go get the cleaning stuff..."
"I'm sorry," Julianne sniffed, watching her trudge out of the room, feeling guilty... It wasn't like it was her fault, though, she reminded herself. The school simply wasn't designed for students her size, which meant that it was quite the struggle, being here like this. She couldn't even reach the doorknob of her dorm room on her own, not without dragging a stepstool over to it, or relying on her roommate to help her... And when she did, she still had to scramble all the way down the hall to the bathroom.
Thankfully, that door she could push open, even if it did take some effort. She had another stepstool she kept in the bathroom to help her get up onto one of the toilets, but she had to position that - and hope nobody else on the floor had moved it, or hidden it, as they seemed to like to do, whether they assumed it was communal property and used it for something else without thinking, or knew she needed it and did it on purpose to mess with her.
Getting into and out of building for class usually wasn't too bad, so long as she was sure to get there before classes had begun, since there was usually somebody around to help her. If there wasn't, however, if she was too slow and the door to her class was already shut, there wasn't much she could do about it, except knock as loudly as she could with her tiny fists and hope the professor heard her.
Elsie returned with the mop, Julianne reaching for it immediately. "I can do it!" she insisted.
Elsie snorted. "Sure, you can," she said. "It'll take you ten times as long, though."
Julianne watched guiltily as Elsie cleaned up her mess. "I'm really sorry," she told her, for what felt like the hundredth time, since that day.
"If you were really sorry," Elsie told her, "you'd wear your Pull-Ups all the time."
Julianne whimpered, the suggestion hitting her like a punch in the gut, the same as it did every time she heard it. They'd bought them for her at night, just in case, so she wouldn't have to wake Elsie up if she wasn't able to get out the door on her own for some reason... But Elsie kept saying she ought to stay in them during the day, too, to avoid incidents like this, or times when she really had to use the bathroom when she was on the other side of campus, away from her footstools... The trek across felt so much longer now, when she was so tiny...
"B-But... I-I'm not a baby..." Julianne protested. "I-I don't need them..."
"Tell that to this puddle," Elsie shot back.
It wasn't that long before graduation, Julianne reminded herself. She didn't have that much longer to go before she was out of here... Maybe Elsie was right, and it would be for the best, no matter how much Julianne didn't want to go back to padding any more than she had to, thanks to the nightmares she still had about being trapped in that high chair, helplessly filling her diapers, sure she was going to be stuck there forever... She could wear them for another couple months, to keep from making things more difficult for Elsie...
But then... What was she going to do once she graduated? Who was going to hire her, when she was no taller than a toddler? She might still look like an adult - which was more than could be said for Alicia - however, that didn't do her much good at this size. She kept thinking she would find a solution, that this was just another puzzle to be solved... Unfortunately, she was starting to think that might not be the case.
"Okay," she sighed, giving in. "I guess I can try it for a few days to see if that helps..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It didn't take long at all for Alicia to give up. There was a part of her that wanted to stick it out, like she had back at the escape room, but it quickly became obvious how pointless that was.
She roomed, of course, with one of the other cheerleaders, who found this whole thing very amusing. Even though Julianne's friend did take them to buy new clothes, and big girl panties - though, since they were sized for toddlers, they were still covered in cartoon characters, and didn't feel particularly mature - as soon as her roommate saw her, it was right back into diapers, and, at her current size, there was nothing she could do to defend herself against it.
She had no intention of going back to cheerleading, but her roommate didn't give her a choice in that matter, either, dragging her along in her baby's version of their cheerleading uniform, which was basically just a onesie with a pleated skirt, and taking her along so the other cheerleaders could tease her. "You'd better keep up," they warned, "or we're taking you to daycare!"
She didn't know if they'd follow through on that or not, but she didn't want to find out, either, so she struggled to keep up, something that was made more difficult by how hard it was to remember the more complicated routines now, how tiny her legs were, and how thick her diapers were between them.
Things weren't much better in class, either, where, sure enough, she was struggling with every subject. It felt like everyone was speaking a whole different language, one she couldn't even try to keep up with, sitting there at her desk, legs swinging nervously. There was always at least one other cheerleader in class with her to ensure she didn't chicken out, didn't try not to show up... And all of them now kept a changing kit in their bags, eager to be the one to get to change her between classes when she inevitably used her diapers, since none of them were interested in helping take her to the bathroom instead.
So, when her parents had come to check on her, after being informed of her cratering grades, she'd caved in as soon as they insisted she was coming home with them. It couldn't be any worse than staying here, could it?
She would have assumed not, until she overheard her parents talking as they packed up her things. "We can't just go back to normal with her like this," her mother whispered. "Look at her! And she's back in diapers!"
Alicia blushed, wishing her diaper hadn't been soggy when they'd arrived, to make her insistence that she didn't need them seem more credible. "Rebecca has been wanting a little sister lately anyway, hasn't she? Well, now Alicia is smaller than her, so she should be happy with that, right? And Alicia can go to preschool with her during the day."
Alicia shivered at the thought, though she knew that, mentally, that was certainly closer to what her brain was prepared for than college... She just hoped that wouldn't be too advanced for her, that she wouldn't get held back, or, worse still, send back to daycare... And that all the time her fellow cheerleaders had kept her in diapers after the escape room hadn't damaged her potty training too much, so she could quickly prove she didn't belong in them... If Rebecca didn't decide that she preferred her new baby sister to stay in them, in which case, she might not have any choice in the matter either way.
She couldn't help but wonder if she'd made the right choice or not, but it was too late to back out now. The only thing she was confident about, as she let her father pick her up to carry her out to the car, was the flyer she'd printed out from online and left for her roommate to find, and hopefully share with the rest of the cheerleading squad.
'Can you escape the daycare of doom?' it asked. 'The perfect team-building exercise, now accommodating large groups! See if you can make it out... If you dare!'
The End