Enchantment

Chapter 2
Chapter 2

Chapter Description: Jaime has gone home for winter break and has learned some secrets about Professor Thorne, while Amanda deals with some bullies and makes some much-needed changes to L.B.U.

Home is where the heart is; at least, that's what Jaime's mom had always told her, and it couldn't be further from the truth now that she was home for the holidays. The airport's flight to Idaho from Pennsylvania was almost a distant memory, which she tried her hardest to push further back into the recesses of her mind as she unlocked the front door and stepped through the threshold announcing her arrival.

"Mom I'm home from college for winter break." Walking through the living room, she couldn't help but feel uneasy, the mother and son duo still creeping her out to the point that she forgot her mother was at work now. She wouldn't get home until later, so she just turned around and closed the door before heading upstairs to her old bedroom to unpack and settle in.

Winter break was in full swing; the University and grounds were quiet except for a few students, professors, and groundskeepers. The landscape and eerie calm amidst the white landscape of freshly fallen snow. Professor Thorne wandered through the halls, having moved into the student dorms to keep an eye on the students; she marveled at just how big L.B.U. was when she stumbled upon a classroom that looked like no one had used it in years, the dust bunnies taking up most of the spaces from floor to ceiling and all the spaces in between. She wondered how a classroom could be empty and misused in a prestigious place like L.B.U. with all the students and professors there. I'm sure this room can be of use again, she thought as the dust bunnies began to disappear and bright colors replaced the dull shades on the walls, the desks morphing into bean bag chairs, a changing table starting to take shape at the back of the room stocked with all the supplies this room will need shortly. A smile crept upon Amanda's face. " There all better; I hate to see things go to waste." She said to herself as she shut the door and continued the rest of her day.

After she got settled in, Jaime laid down on her bed, grabbing her phone to go through her messages, when a familiar voice rang out, "Honey I'm home." Jaime raced out of her room and down the stairs to see her mother standing by the front door. "Hi honey, it's so good to see you, so tell me how high school is going," Jaime whined. "Moooommmm, I'm in college, not high school!"

"Oh, that's right, you're, my big college girl now silly me for forgetting."

"That's okay, Mom. I won't berate you for it, but if you must know, it's going well. I met a new English Professor who seems to be really nice."

"Oh, That's nice, sweetie. I'm really glad you made it home safe and sound; now why don't you rest up, and then tomorrow we can catch up some more, and you can help me finish decorating the house for Christmas."

"Sure thing, Mom. I'll see you in the morning then." Jaime's mother hugged her daughter the good night before Jaime went upstairs and back to her bedroom.

Night fell upon the campus of L.B.U. as Amanda lay in her bed, satisfied at the several changes she had made to the school with several charms and incantations. Still, she was annoyed that her anti-bullying spell wasn't working. She thought she had done it correctly during the staff meeting when the lights flickered and then grew bright, but she wasn't sure; perhaps she should recast it to make sure it was active and influential like in the past when a knock came to her door. "I wonder who that could be at this hour.' She pondered as she got up and opened her door to see who it might be. In her doorway stood one of the students who opted to stay at L.B.U. Instead of going home for the holidays, his light brown hair was messy from sleep, his eyes red-rimmed with tears from crying, and his pajama bottoms appeared soaked from a nighttime accident. The boy struggled to find his voice when Amanda beckoned him to enter her room. "What seems to be the trouble, young man." The boy looked down at his soaked pajamas and mumbled out an introduction. 

"My name is Daniel Professor, and I had an accident in my sleep he said as more tears streamed down his face. I woke up to my roommate Timmy laughing at me, saying I was a big baby who wasn't fully potty trained yet." Amanda put a finger to Daniel's lips to silence him.

"It's alright, sweetie. Even big boys have nighttime accidents now and then. That's why they wear a little nighttime protection. Why don't you lie on my bed so I can help you get out of those wet pants? Then I'll have you stand up to help you put on your goodnite's." Daniel nodded as he walked over to Amanda's bed. "Such a good little student you are, Daniel; now lie still and let me pull those pants off for you, then I'll wipe you down and get you all nice and clean. Daniel's cheeks grew a bright red as Amanda pulled his pants down and then off and tossed them aside.

She then grabbed a wet wipe and began wiping down his privates, getting them all nice and clean before finally instructing him to stand up. "There we go, all nice and clean now. I'll hold this pair of goodnites open and you can step into them so we can get you back to bed."

"Professor do you think i could get a clean pair of pant's I don't want Timmy making fun of me again."

"I'm afraid not, sweetie. It'll take some time for these to dry; besides, I wouldn't worry about Timmy making fun of you. After all, people only make fun of others when they feel insecure about themselves. Let's get you back to your room so we can get you back to bed.

"But what about my sheet's Professor?" Daniel asked in earnest.

"Never mind, Daniel, I feel your bed is nice and dry now and waiting for you.

With reluctance, Daniel followed Professor Thorne out of her room and down the hall toward his room, passing by some of the changes Amanda had made to the school, not noticing the new unisex bathroom or the changing station stocked full of diapers and training pants, that to everyone else has always been there thanks to the magic charms she put in place, but only Amanda knew the truth.

"Here we are Daniel, now be quiet I believe Timmy is sleeping." Daniel opens the door to his dorm room, not believing what his eyes see. Across from his bed was a race car bed. His roommate Timmy was asleep atop it in a t-shirt and a wet nighttime diaper, the changing table taking the place of his dresser, with a training potty next to it.

Amanda gave Daniel a swat on his behind, which made him jump. "Daniel, it isn't polite to stare at someone even when they are asleep!"

"But Professor Timmy's wet!".

"I see that, sweetie, and now you know why he laughed at you for wetting the bed because he's not fully potty trained yet, and big boys like you are and you're not supposed to have nighttime accidents, but like I said back in my room it's perfectly okay and now that you have your nighttime protection on it should happen less just as long as you remember to put them on before bed. Now, be a good boy and go to bed. I'll see you boys in the morning." Daniel climbed back into bed as Professor Thorne shut the door, leaving only the soft glow from Timmy's nightlight. Daniel grabbed his dinosaur plushie, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

In a cozy, sunlit bedroom, Jaime stirred from her slumber. She opened her eyes and let them adjust gradually to the light filtering through the curtains as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet meeting the soft warmth of a plush rug. Jaime yawned as she stood up and walked to the bathroom. The cool tiles met the soles of her bare feet, awakening her senses as she turned on the faucet and began to splash her face, reviving her from slumber and looked at the mirror to make sure her appearance was presentable before heading down the stairs to the aroma of scrambled eggs and french toast that wafted through the air, the sound of the television broadcasting the morning news coming from the living room. 

"Good Morning, and welcome to our morning news broadcast. I'm Blake Schooner, and this is my fellow news anchor Melissa Fonsworth. Here are some of the top stories we are following this morning. We begin this morning's broadcast with a bizarre case of misplacement. Let's go now to our correspondent Lisa Tudrow whose standing outside of Barwood Elementary in Barwood, Idaho, where an investigation into a group of second graders who reported to school at the start of the year and have found themselves back in preschool, according to school records."

"Thanks, Blake; I'm standing here outside of Barwood Elementary with Principal Hargrave where, if you notice behind me, the preschool class is out on the playground for some morning play time, except this is no ordinary preschool class. As you can see, amongst some of the three and four-year-olds are a group of seven-year-olds who started the school year thinking they were entering the second grade, only to learn upon arrival that they would be starting preschool. Now, Mr. Hargrave, can you tell us how this mix-up happened and how the kids involved are handling it?

"Well, Mrs. Tudrow, it's hard to explain. The children's files have only begun this year with preschool; we have no records of them attending before this year. As far as the children are concerned, they are doing just fine even though a few of them seemed to have regressed mentally, going so far as to forget their potty training as you can undoubtedly see for yourself little Billy there running around playing tag in just his pull-ups while Samantha has forgotten her potty training altogether and is back in diapers." Lisa stared at the playground in shock as a girl ran around the little kids in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper while a boy in a droopy pull-up frolicked nearby. No doubt those two kids were the aforementioned Billy and Samantha.

"This is quite the story, Principal Hargrave. Those kids seem to be entirely happy even if they are a little older than their classmates."

"That is true, Mrs. Tudrow the only other thing that puzzle's me is their 1st-grade teacher seems to have vanished into thin air; we were expecting her to report for the staff assembly we hold each year before the school year begins, but she was a no show so I tried reaching out to her, and all I got was an error message stating her phone number was no longer in service."

"That is odd, Mr Hargrave. Is there a reason why she disappeared, and if possible, do you have a photo of her so that we may show our audience at home her picture it might help in finding her?"

"Sure, Mrs. Tudrow, I have a copy of the yearbook from last year in my office; let me go and grab it for you. I'll only be a few minutes." Principal Hargrave vanished into the school as Lisa watched the preschool class return inside, except for Billy, who was getting disciplined for soaking his pull-up and not telling the teacher he needed to go potty. Lisa was dumbfounded by what she saw when Principal Hargrave returned with the yearbook and opened it to the 1st-grade class's photo. "This is the teacher who went missing, Mrs Tudrow." Principal Hargrave said as he pointed to a middle-aged woman with brown hair and a bright smile. "Her name is Alyssa Thomkins, and she was such a joy with the children. I sure hope she turns up unharmed."

Jaime turned off the T.V., stunned by what she had just seen and heard, a missing teacher who looked almost identical to her Professor, not to mention a weird situation that involved some form of regression. Jaime had a lot on her mind, but her mom bustled into the living room, breakfast tray in hand.

It was a crisp and sunny morning outside as Professor Thorne left her room to go and check in on Daniel and Timmy. She slowly opened the door as she reached the dorm room and peered in. Seeing both boys sound asleep in their beds, she decided to go and visit Dean Adams since he had just arrived back on campus from his winter break ahead of schedule. Amanda needed to see if her magic was still holding, satisfied that her anti-bullying spell was working very well. But to make sure everything else was in order, she needed to show Dean Adams the unisex bathrooms, the various changing stations, and the classroom that will now be a daycare; she also wanted to run by him some suggestions for hiring a daycare worker by that time when she's finished both Daniel and Timmy should be awake, Timmy undoubtedly will need to be changed out of his night time diaper and into a pair of pull-ups while Daniel will probably want to get dressed and get out of his goodnite. Amanda smiled as she finally reached Dean Adam's office, her plans for an antibully environment taking shape. 

Professor Thorne Knocked on the door to Dean Adam's office before entering. "Good morning, Dean Adam's. How was your winter break?"

Adam's looked up from his paperwork. "Oh, good morning Amanda to what do I owe this pleasure."

"Well, Tom, I thought I'd pop in to discuss the upcoming semester with you, then take you on a tour of the school and show you the unisex bathrooms, the changing stations, and the daycare I had installed while you were away to see if it meets your approval."

"That sounds lovely, Amanda I need to stretch my legs anyway, and I appreciate you staying behind to get those projects done even if you did have to move your room to the student dorms to care for the students who chose to stay behind during the winter break."

"It was my pleasure, Tom; after all, I'm the newbie here, and I have to earn my keep as they say. Anyway, let's get this tour over with so I can go and check on the students." Tom nodded as he got up and followed Amanda out of his office and down the hall, noticing the first changing station.

"Ah!" Tom exclaimed. "This must be one of the many changing stations," Tom said as he looked the table over before opening the cabinets and inspecting the various diapers, pull-ups, and wipes stacked neatly on the multiple shelves. "Excellent, Amanda, this changing station meets my desired specifications and the state's requirement; I trust the other stations are all the same?" Amanda nodded. "Very well then, let's continue." Tom walked away from the changing station and headed towards the daycare, opening the door and stepping inside. "you outdid yourself with this daycare; Amanda, look at all the toys and bright colors. It should help the teacher and aide keep the little ones occupied, and I see you had a changing table installed that will be helpful for our potty training tykes who might have the occasional accident; perhaps we should add some potty chairs in here as well for good measure, Little ones can never tell when mother nature calls." Tom walked back into the hallway, nodding his approval. "I think I've seen enough. If what you've shown me thus far is any indication I'm sure everything else is fantastic."

"Thank you, Tom; your words of appreciation are very welcomed. Now all that's left is to finish the rest of this winter break; I trust the students will be back soon and will be delighted to start the next semester."

"Indeed, Amanda, now I know you had a suggestion or two about workers for our new daycare, but I'm sure I have plenty of email applications to go through, so if you'll excuse me." Thomas walked down the hall back towards his office as Amanda sighed in relief, happy that her magic was still in effect and influential so people would see the world as she wanted them to; all that was left was to make it strong enough to where it'll work outside of the spell's range, and she has about a week left before the students return from winter break. Now, it was time to go and take care of Daniel and Timmy.

Jaime tried to eat breakfast with her mother, but her mind was too preoccupied with the news broadcast she saw on the TV, even more with that missing teacher looking so much like Professor Thorne, only a little older. She was stunned as to why someone would do this to someone else; perhaps a trip to the Library was in order after she helped decorate the house to see what she may uncover about that school and those kids before this incident occurred.

Amanda was strolling down the hall toward Daniel and Timmy's room when she heard peals of laughter coming from their room; she hastened her steps and opened their door immediately. To her surprise, both boys were playing with their toy cars, the two boys stopping to see who had barged into their room unexpectedly.

"Professor Thorne!" both boys exclaimed happily, getting up from their toys. 

"How are you guys this morning?" Daniel blushed, looking down at his feet as Timmy spoke up.

"Professor Thorne. Daniel Laughed at me for having a wet nighttime diaper, knowing I'm not fully potty trained yet."

"Well, sweetie, it seems that Daniel forgot he's still potty training too, aren't you, Daniel? Daniel's blush grew redder as he ignored Professor Thorne. "It seems like the cat has gotten a hold of Daniels's tongue, but Timmy, don't you see he's wearing a nighttime diaper like you and needs to be changed? Timmy looks at Professor Thorne, confused. How about you guys stop bullying each other before you both wind up back in diapers permanently? The boys grew silent, their faces growing a deeper shade of red. "That's much better. Now, let's get you boys all cleaned up and into some dry pull-ups. But before we do that, do you guys need to go potty? Both boys shook their heads no as a muffled fart escaped from Timmy's backside. "Well, I can see someone's not only wet, but now he's a little stinker too, but fret not, it's hard to tell sometimes when your body signals for you to go. That's why you have to learn, and in time, you'll both be back in big-boy pants." Daniel started to giggle before Professor Thorne shot him a stern look. "Remember what I said about teasing Daniel? Why don't you be a good boy and wait on your bed while I get Timmy here all cleaned up and changed? Then it will be your turn, okay? Daniel nodded and shuffled over to his bed, the nighttime diaper swaying back and forth between his legs like a pendulum as he climbed onto his bed and waited his turn. "Amanda nodded her approval before looking over at Timmy. "Be a good boy, Timmy, and lie on your bed for me so I can clean you up. Then I'll go and take care of Daniel and expect you to be in your pull-ups once Daniel is all clean. Do I make myself clear? Feeling like he'd done this countless times before, Timmy just climbed up on his bed and laid down, letting the mess squish against his backside, the soaked padding hugging his genitals. He could've sworn that he started this semester in big boy pants, but his memories were a little fuzzy, and since when did his roommate Daniel begin potty training? Timmy struggled with his memories as Professor Thorne cleaned his bottom and tossed out his nighttime diaper, instructing him to get up as she held out a pair of pull-ups for him. He should've never made fun of Daniel for wetting his bed like a potty-training toddler.

Decorating the house and tree for Christmas was long and tedious, but watching the joy on her mother's face made Jaime feel bad for wanting to finish this up so she could go to the Library and do some sleuthing as to what happened the year before at Barwood Elementary and why Professor Thorne uprooted herself, not only changing her name but her appearance. There has to be a logical explanation; the only way to find it out is to go and search. So Jaime hung up the last of the tinsel and excused herself, telling her mother that she wanted to study at the Library for the upcoming semester.

"That's my girl always putting her studies first; just make sure your home for dinner, honey."

"Sure thing Mom I'll see you later." Jaime closed the front door behind her and headed out. Thankfully, they lived close to the Library, and she would be there in no time.

The Library was how Jaime remembered it. A small brownstone building that sat back a few yards from the road with a circular drive. It was still early, and there were only a few cars in the parking lot, probably belonging to the librarian and a few staff members. Jaime smiled to herself, hoping she could get the answers she sought as she walked up the stairs and went inside. The interior was oddly quiet except for the sound of shuffling papers and a lone cart wheeling around, undoubtedly a clerk returning books to their respective shelves. Jaime made her way to the service desk, where a middle-aged woman with brown hair tied in a bun and horned-rimmed glass stood behind the counter, waiting patiently for customers.

'Good morning, Ma'am." Jaime said as she walked up to the counter. 

The librarian looked up. "Yes, how may I help you?"

"Well, I sure hope you can; I'm here looking for any information the Library might have on a peculiar story I heard this morning on the news about a 1st-grade teacher who went missing and her former students going back to preschool both physically and mentally."

"Yes, I've heard about that one very tragic, but there isn't much to tell except the teacher hated bullies so much so that people heard her pray during lunch that the bullies who picked on students would get the same treatment and an incident at the end of the year that involved a student in her class that got bullied throughout the year for not being very bright and daydreaming most of the time took his life because his classmates where merciless in calling him dumb and that he belonged back in preschool so he could become smarter. You could only imagine how death might change someone mentally, even at such a young age. I don't blame the teacher for leaving without such a word goodbye. Now for how those students wound up back in preschool, I guess one could sum it up as divine intervention having them go back to relearn all over again just like that student. If you'll excuse me, miss, I have papers that need filing. I sure hope you find whatever it is you're looking for."

"Thanks Ma'am I'm sure I will in time." Jaime left the Library with more questions than answers, and the only way she would find out the truth from Professor Thorne was when she returned to the University, but that would have to wait until after Christmas!