Dante's Infanzia

Chapter 6
Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here

Chapter Description: Lysa says Dante should just give up on an escape plan. But why? What's the worst that could happen?

Chapter 6: Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.

Lysa called out to the Judy, who came walking over to the side of the playpen. “What is it sweetie?” the angel asked, tilting her head in question.

“Take me to see Caroline.”, Lysa demanded.

“What was that?”, the Judy asked, “You wanna go see Caroline?” The Judy put her hand to her chin. “Welll, I don’t knooooow.”

Lysa puffed her bottom lip out, and made puppy dog eyes at the angel in the nursery scrubs. “Pweeeeeaase.” Lysa begged and threw in some baby gibberish for good measure. Dante felt a little sick. This was almost too cutesie to stand.

Well, alright,” the Judy relented. “You’ve been a very good girl today, so I don’t see the harm in visiting your little sister.” Little sister? That would mean that Lysa and her little sister had died on the same day. Still, how was meeting a younger kid stuck in this place supposed to dissuade Dante from planning an escape.

The Judy walked away and disappeared from sight as she rounded a cubicle wall. Dante, looked over at Lysa. What was she trying to prove, anyway?

“So why do you want me to see your sister?”, Dante asked. No argument against escape was going to convince him otherwise at this point. Now that he was already figuring out how Limbo worked, it was only a matter of time before he hatched a brilliant escape plan and got out. It might take him a year or two, maybe even longer….but he was effectively immortal. So as long as he didn’t break like Midori had, he had all the time in the world.

“Just shut up until we get there, okay? Then I’ll show you. Deal?, she said.

“Why don’t you want to escape?”, Dante asked, ignoring the question.

“Why do you want to escape already?” Lysa shot back, “Even the weakest wills take months to fully regress in this place. You’re in no immediate danger. Besides,” she added, “where would you go? Hell, yeah, that’s a good option. And it’s not like Heaven will take you.”

“I could always go back to Earth.”, Dante answered, “that’s an option, right? Where else do ghosts come from? Better to walk the land of the living forever than to crawl the land of the dead.”

“Dumbass,” Lysa scolded, “You have to have unfinished business to go back to Earth.”

“I had my whole life ahead of me, so I have LOTS of unfinished business.”, Dante retorted.

“People like us don’t go back to Earth.,” she countered, “You ever heard of the diapered ghost? I didn‘t think so.” Her nostrils flared and she was starting to huff and puff. It looked like it was about her turn to have a temper tantrum. Time for a little diplomacy.

“Look,” Dante said, holding up his hands, “I’m seriously not trying to make you mad, and I’m a little confused as to why you’re so pissed off about this. I mean, worse case scenario: my escape fails, I get spanked, go limp, and get put in time out or fed a bottle. I’d just have to improve my plan and try again. Right?”

The Judy walked back in, pushing a giant two person stroller and wearing a rather large baby carrier backpack. The stroller was colored pink on one side and baby blue on the other. It was pushed up to the edge. “Time for a trip, guys!”, the Judy announced.

Lysa seemed to gain control of her temper. “Look,” she said through gritted teeth “just get in the stroller, and let me do the talking, alright? If you’re still not convinced to give up on an escape plan, I’ll even help you plan it, okay? This seemed reasonable enough, so Dante agreed.

Lysa reached out to the Judy as if to say “UP!”, and the nursery worker obliged, easily lifting the baby-teen into the air and placing her gently into the pink side of the stroller before strapping her in with a three point harness.

Dante copied her and sailed through the air before he was gently plopped beside her, a three point harness quickly strapping him down. He really couldn’t move his upper body much, though he could still move his head freely. His feet rested comfortably on a bar. The harness pressed against his diaper slightly, making him all the more aware of it, but all and all, it felt a little bit like a roller coaster harness.

Heh. Neat. They were going somewhere. That meant Dante could get a better idea of the layout of this place. All the better to coordinate his exodus. A few minutes of cajoling later, Midori was riding on the Judy’s back in the baby carrier. The Judy for her part, didn’t grunt, groan or complain. The three of them might as well have been rag dolls as far as she was concerned. “Off we go,” she announced, and Dante and Lysa went gliding along the bluish grey indoor/outdoor carpet and out the of the giant cubicle that marked off their area.

As soon as they walked out of the play pen area, the whole of Limbo Nursery 1017AB came alive with noise. There hadn’t been a door closing off the play pen area that they had been in, not to mention a roof, but almost no noise had made it through the cubicle-walled off area that they had left.

Now, Dante was once again aware of just how enormous this place was as the giggles and cries of children echoed off the walls. It was like all of the sound was being filtered out of the play areas and into the areas in between, making each play area seem peaceful and quiet, but the outside seem abuzz with activity.

Left. Right. Left. Left. Left. Right. Circle around a cubicle wall, doing a U-Turn. Right. Right Again. Straight for about 50 feet. Left. Dante could barely keep track. The pathways twisted and turned so many ways, it was like a labyrinth. Dante only barely managed to keep his sense of direction by looking for the giant murals that adorned two of the opposite walls. No way the uninitiated could make it through this place.

Dante could catch brief glances into each area through the open space where a door would be as they passed by it. A group of twelve year olds were playing with big hollow blocks. Stacking them and throwing them. That looked kind of fun. A group of elementary school aged children were making things with play-doh. One or two of them looked to be making some decently complicated creation, like people. One of the play-doh men even looked a little like Mr. Bill. Neat.

A group of babies about Dante’s age were finger painting (all food based paint, Lysa insisted). One girl was even making a beautiful and very realistic self portrait. Clearly she had been an artist in life. A shame it had gone to waste. Yet another group were being read to, all huddled around in a circle as an African American Judy with red rimmed glasses smiled and read to them; though he couldn’t hear what story it was.

Another cubicle held actual babies crawling around and playing with kittens. Kittens? All dogs go to heaven, but cats go to Limbo? Wait. Animals didn’t really have souls, eh who cared? Stranger things had happened to Dante today.

Lysa pointed all of these details out and more, making sure Dante wouldn‘t miss them. Was this her plan, then. He shouldn’t leave Limbo because even though he’d be treated as less than a one-year-old, he had a variety of entertainment options? What next? A dental plan? Oh wait, unlikely. Most babies didn’t have enough teeth. The point was Dante remained unconvinced.

That’s when their stroller came up to a pair of doors. They were the kind you might expect to see in a hospital, except they had babyish stencils on them. Rainbows. Baby Animals. Baby versions of certain famous copyrighted cartoon characters that shall not be mentioned here. (So there was some place where Disney and Warner Bros. couldn’t reach out and sue.) Above the doors in baby blue stenciling was a wooden sign that said “Newborn Room”. Below that was a more plain sign that said “Quiet Please”. (Thank whoever that this place hadn’t taken away his ability to read!)

It was funny that he hadn’t noticed these doors when he first came into Nursery 1017AB. They must be along the fourth wall, relatively under and behind the stairs that Dante had descended when he first arrived.

Their Judy stopped pushing the stroller briefly so that she could press a bright red button. The doors whirred open automatically, and they were pushed quickly through. Dante heard them whir back to closed as he looked around the new room.

If the outside area had been like a daycare or nursery school, then this place eerily resembled a newborn‘s ward at a hospital. It was just as big as out there, but more orderly with rows and rows of newborn cots in straight lines. A light tinkling, like a music box, permeated the air and played a lullaby as they walked around. Judy’s, all dressed in flowing robes- looking vaguely like young Mother Theresa‘s- walked down the aisles, their faces stoic but their eyes serene.

Dante could see at least a dozen sitting in rocking chairs with a newborn baby, an actual newborn baby, in their arms. They were clearly breast feeding the babies. They were wet nurses! Another piece of conversation floated into Dante’s cerebral cortex.

I THINK THE STUFF THEY GIVE TO US IN THE BOTTLES IS CUT WITH SOMETHING.

If the cut milk made someone think like a baby for a little while, and these babies were drinking straight from the tap, then these kids were in no danger of ever growing up.

“Get a better look around, you’ll want to see this.” Lysa instructed

Dante started to squirm in the stroller. Not violently so, just enough to get his Judy’s attention. When she looked over at him, he held his arms out and in his most babyish tone, said “UP! UP!”

“Ok, hold on, little guy,” the Judy said as she circled around and unstrapped Dante from the stroller. With a little cajoling, she managed to carry Dante on her hip and still keep Midori on her back. Midori had apparently been tuckered out by the trip and was snoozing in the baby-carrier. Even with two babified teenagers on her person, she didn’t look any more awkward than a mother of twins might.

From up on the Judy’s hip, Dante noticed two more things. The ratio of Judy to infant here was much lower. They were crawling all over the place. It reminded him of a very quiet and peaceful ant colony. Within seconds of a newborn crying, a Judy would be attending to their every need, such as it were. Newborns didn’t need that much in terms of variety.

The Judy’s were constantly, breastfeeding, burping, changing, and rocking the newborns to sleep. Never complaining, never tiring, never running out of milk.

The other thing Dante realized was that there were far actual babies here than outside. Dante had estimated that for every one actual baby out in the nurseries play areas, there had been ten people who were old enough to at least be potty trained and in school. Here it was the reverse: For every twenty newborns, there might be one non-newborn wrapped in swaddling clothing.

“Here we are,” announced their Judy in a chipper tone as they came to a stop. “Dante, we’re here to see Lysa’s baby sister, so I’m going to have to put you back in the stroller, okay?” Dante nodded, as if he had a choice. He wasn’t bothered, he figured he had seen what Lysa had wanted him to see anyways. The Judy lowered Dante back down into the stroller, and strapped him again.

Lysa was studying Dante, seeing if he had picked up on what she had wanted him to. He nodded that he had. This place had a completely different feel to it. Very serene. Very quiet. Kind of boring.

They were positioned right in front of a regular sized newborn cot. A clipboard on it said: “Caroline Strata. Arrived October 17, 1954 2:36 AM EST” In it sat a baby girl, so young and tiny you could only guess she was a girl by the pink swaddling clothes she was wrapped in. (What? Newborns all look the same at that age?) Her hair, if she had any wisps, was covered by a pink wool cap.

“Excuse me,” the Judy in the nursery scrubs asked a passing wet nurse, “Lysa is here for a little visit with Caroline. Would you mind if we used a rocking chair for a little while?” The wet nurse smiled politely, and led them over to an empty one. Apparently the wet nurse versions of Judy weren’t very talkative.

Their Judy handed off Midori and the baby carrier to a wet nurse. The wet nurse smiled, but looked clearly uncomfortable, (not physically mind you), holding the older baby. Then she unbuckled Lysa, and picked her up before sitting in the rocking chair and taking Lysa into her lap.

“Now remember, Lysa,” the Judy instructed, “Caroline is just a little baby. You’re a big girl compared to her, so we have to be gentle. You just sit here, and they’ll bring Caroline to you. Just let her sit in your lap and hold her head while I rock us back and forth a little bit, okie dokie?” Lysa nodded and rolled her eyes, having likely heard this for the millionth time.

Another wet nurse came over and gently put the newborn girl, Caroline, into Lysa’s lap. The nursery worker, guided Lysa’s hand- unnecessarily- under the baby’s head to help support it. The Judy’s hand never left, as if she were afraid Lysa might drop her head. Lysa allowed herself and the real baby to rocked for a few quiet moments before looking up at Dante.

“Shame, isn’t it?”, Lysa said, her voice dripping with quiet regret. “Little Caroline here never really had a chance, did she? Me? I’ve got regrets, I guess. But at least I got to experience something outside of being a baby. I got to grow up, make friends, eat solid food, go to school. I even had a boyfriend for a little while.“ She smiled a little; the sadness still in her eyes. “It wasn’t serious, mind you, but at least I got to experience puppy love. This is all Caroline will ever know. She’ll sleep, eat, wet and poop, but not much else. ” She gave a small shrug. “Still, I can’t help but love the little blob, you know? She’s family.”

The newborn looked up and grunted a little as she reached for up for Lysa’s breast. Poor thing didn’t understand that Lysa was a baby in here too. She was probably too young mentally to even understand the concept of “mommy”, yet alone “sister”. She just knew from over 50 years of conditioning that breasts meant food.

Was this why Lysa didn‘t want to leave Limbo. She didn’t want to abandon her baby sister? She felt some kind of responsibility towards her, even now? Dante was an only child, so he had never known what it was like to have someone to take care of and look after. Dante guessed he could understand her motives, now, but what did that have to do with him?

“Maybe one of these days…” Lysa stopped mid sentence. “Damn” she swore under her breath. “Not now.” Huh? The Judy’s eyes widened slightly in recognition of something. She reached over and checked little Caroline’s diaper. She bobbed Lysa up and down on her knee a little bit.

“Uh-oh” she said, “I think we have two soggy sisters, on our hands.” Lysa had wet herself while sitting on the nursery worker’s lap. Lysa’s face didn’t really register any emotion, but her eyes showed that she wasn’t particularly happy.

A wet nurse came and took the newborn off of Lysa’s lap and started to take Caroline back to her cot. “Hey Judy,” the nursery worker called, “how about a race?” The wet nurse smiled and nodded her head. The nursery worker picked Lysa up and got a very large diaper from the back of the stroller and a blanket sized changing mat for Lysa. She unrolled the mat, with one hand and laid Lysa down on it.

The nursery worker got down on her knees and hiked up Lysa’s dress past her stomach, completely uncovering her diaper but still covering her breasts. Dante noted that Lysa was very careful not to let either of her arms touch the mat.

The wet nurse grabbed a newborn sized diaper from under a cot, as well as two tubs of baby wipes and joined her co-worker on the mat. She laid Caroline down and unwrapped the pink blankets so she could get at the newborn’s diaper.

Caroline squirmed slightly and reached out for her big sister. Apparently, the changing mats only worked on people who didn’t think of themselves as babies yet. Lysa reached out with her hand towards her little sister, and Caroline clasped on Lysa’s pointer finger with a sure grip. Lysa took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose.

“Ready…set…go!”, the nursery worker shouted as she and her double in the robes raced to see who could change their ward’s diaper the fastest. Both angel women were giggling slightly and were definitely having more fun than the girls. Dante thought that this must be humiliating. It had to be another form of brain washing, to show how they were no different than the actual babies.

The nursery worker won the contest by a good three solid three seconds. “Good game,” the nursery worker said, as the wet nurse re-swaddled the newborn and picked her up, leaving the soiled diaper on the changing mat, and ripping Lysa‘s finger from her grasp.

“Yeah yeah,” the nursery worker said good naturedly, “I know, loser throws away the wet ones.” The nursery worker picked up the soiled diapers and threw them into a lidded trashcan, never to be seen again. She bent over and lifted Caroline off the mat. “Don’t worry, Lysa,” she said, “we’ll get ’em next time, right little girl?” She placed Lysa back in the stroller and buckled her in before going back to roll up the changing mat.

“But before you know it,” the angel added, “we won’t be able to play that game, cuz you’ll be a big girl, and out of diapers and using the potty and everything. You’re gonna be such a great big sister when you get older! Maybe you can even help us change Caroline, then. Won‘t that be fun? Won‘t it?”

Lysa turned her head towards Dante, “Don’t you believe it.” she said. “They say that every time I come to visit.” Dante didn’t need to be told not to believe it. He already didn’t.

“Yeah, I didn’t figure they were big on Pull-Ups here. Just another form of psychological warfare, right? Give you hope you’re gonna get to grow up in here, and then dash your hopes when you’re still in diapers fifty years later.”

“Right,” Lysa confirmed, “What’s a Pull-Up?” Dante had already forgotten how long Lysa had been in Limbo.

“Disposable training pants, halfway between diapers and big boy pants.” Dante informed her. (Crap watch the word choice.) “They’re like diapers, but not as thick. They’re easy to pull on and off like underwear, but can be thrown away if the kid doesn’t make it to the potty in time. They usually have designs for bigger kids, like racecars for boys, or princesses for girls. Sometimes they have little hearts or stars that disappear when the kid is wet so that they learn the difference between wet and dry and don’t sit in a wet diaper all day.”

“Yeah,” Lysa harrumphed, “never seen anything close to that around these parts.”

The wet nurse exposed her breast, and lifted Caroline up to start breast feeding her. Lysa’s eyes were immediately on the wet nurse, and they were staring daggers. If looks could kill angels….damn, there was some genuine hate there. Meanwhile, their Judy had rolled up and stowed away the mat, and taken Midori off the hands of a very grateful wet nurse counterpart. Their stroller began to move again.

So this is why you brought us here? So I could watch you get to feel like a big baby instead of a little one?

“No,” she answered, “this is.” She pointed to an approaching, baby blue cot. “I brought you here to see him. Dori!” She called out from the stroller. “Dori! Wake up, baby girl! Time for Boo-Hoo’s!” Dante could hear Midori stirring sleepily, and then begin to wail.

The stroller came to a stop as nursery worker Judy stopped to see what was wrong with Midori. “Watch and learn,” Lysa said to Dante just as she banged on the blue plastic of the giant cot. A second cry joined Midori’s, coming from the cot.

A wet nurse rushed over to the cot, bent over and effortlessly picked up a Latino boy wrapped up in swaddling clothes. He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen from the size of him, though that was the only thing about him that looked like a teenager. He screamed with his mouth wide open and his eyes still shut.

Dante could see that the boy was completely toothless. If he had any hair, it was all tucked under and concealed by the blue cap on his head. Despite the crying noise, no tears came from his eyes. He had forgotten how to use his tear ducts. The wet nurse unsheathed her robe and stroked her nipple across the boy’s cheek. He instinctively latched on and began nursing.

“Dante,” Lysa introduced, “meet Jorge Rivera: The one who showed me the ropes when I first got here. Jorge had been here for about seventy years when I came here. He showed me how to keep my sanity. When he finally started breaking about thirty years later, he decided it was time to try and escape.

“He managed to get all the way out into the hallway before they caught him. Management decided that he was too risky to be left out in the main nursery, so they sent him here and made him drink the pure stuff.

“As long as we’re here, we’ll be treated like babies,” she went on. “We will wear and use diapers. We will be fed milk and burped. We will sleep in cribs. But is that the only thing you want to be able to do, Dante? Do you want the rest of your existence to revolve around breast feeding, diaper changes, and sleeping? Don’t hope for escape, Dante, because this is where escapees end up.”

To Be Continued…