And when it came to her personal choices for entertainment, Vanessa found herself drifting far from the high-schooler tastes she once had. The procedurals and reality shows she once loved did nothing for her, too full of big words and complicated plotlines for her to follow, so she turned to the children's channels, where soft music and bright colors offered her simple comfort - even if the stories were still a bit hard to keep up with.
To keep herself company, Vanessa found herself turning more and more to her stuffed toy, Bertram, an oversized bear she had had since childhood. She appreciated, more and more, that he was soft and cuddly, that he would never judge the girl for her potty troubles or academic inabilities, and that he would always, faithfully, keep her secrets.
Together with her stuffies in her new crib, Vanessa would watch hours upon hours of Blue's Clues and Octonauts, cheering for the cute animals on screen. Unfortunately, she would stubbornly tune out when the content turned educational, taking it as a personal offense to be learning from such things, all the while not realizing that those lessons on letters, numbers, and shapes were badly needed.
And as she slept, Vanessa found herself time and again on the same, familiar river, though it had become a far more tranquil experience. There was no eerie voice, no storm, no sign of wreckage. Only the girl in her basket, sitting peacefully by a waterfall as a stream rushed by. She would wake up wet, of course - and often messy as well - but the dreams could hardly be blamed for that now.
Eventually, those weeks turned into months. Winter came and went, its highlights a stuffed toy given for Christmas and a few angels made in the yard snow. Vanessa had fallen completely into her new rhythm, which made it all the more jarring when it was finally broken one morning in May.
“Honey,” her mother called from down the stairs, “your friends are here!”
Friends? The girl quickly apologized to Bertram - who was waiting for his tea - and scampered toward her bedroom door, struggling to stand from her legs’ disuse. But eventually she did get up, tossing her pacifier aside and fixing her skirt haphazardly over her diaper just as the handle turned.
Cassie was the first to walk in, her eyes wandering curiously around the room. Next was Amber, whose attention focused more on her old friend.
And then, a third figure came through the doorway, wearing a black dress and matching heels. Her hair was down, and she looked more polished than she did in the fall, but Vanessa recognized her immediately.
“What are you doing here?” Vanessa barked, crossing her arms as she shuddered instinctively.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the girl in black said, a tinge of sweet-talk in her voice, “I don’t think we’ve actually met. I’m Fiona.” She reached out a hand, but Vanessa turned her head away and harrumphed.
“It’s okay, V,” Amber said softly, “she’s our friend now.”
“It’s true,” Cassie attested frankly, continuing to look around the room as she spoke. “she kinda joined the gang when you left.”
“That’s right!” Fiona smiled, “Turned out we had a lot in common, and my new besties here even helped me become prom queen!”
Vanessa snarled. “Is that why you’re here? To brag?”
“No, no, of course not!” the girl in black responded, “We came here to help you!”
“We heard you were kinda stuck here,” Amber added.
“And we found some stuff that might help you,” Cassie chimed in.
This was enough to make their old friend ease her arms. “You… you did?”
“We did,” said Amber, “musta been tough here, huh?”
“Uh huh!” Vanessa exclaimed, warmed and thrilled by the sudden sympathy, “I missed you guys, and it was so dumb what happened!
“It was like, my mom made me drop out just ‘cause I forgotted some stuff,” she continued, her childish mistakes crashing against her entitled tone, “and then after that she kept me here an’ she’s treated me like a baby but I’m not a baby an-”
“We know,” Cassie stopped her, “We think we know how you can get back to school.”
“No fun if you’re just here at home now, is it?” Fiona added with a smile.
“Nuh uh!” Vanessa agreed, completely oblivious to whose fun the girl in black was concerned with.
“Well,” Cassie continued, “there are some interviews next month for school placement - er, to see who gets to go where. And since you’re kind of a special case, we thought you could probably try and see if you could get back in somewhere.”
“Yeah!” Vanessa pumped her fists, “So I’m gonna get to go back to high school?”
“Ohhh, high school?” Fiona asked, glancing up and down at the girl in the obvious, drooping diaper, “Actually, we were thinking you might wanna aim a little lower…”
