College or Cribs

Chapter 4
Library

Chapter Description: Oh the joys of pestering your (now) older sisters. Maybe pestering your siblings isn't as easy as it looks.

Chapter 4: Library.

Chris sulked in his step-mother’s arms. Despite being in a clean diaper, the recent memory of soiling himself and being changed in the parking lot had yet to fade away. The first diaper change this morning had been near heavenly, yet the second one - though near identical- had been amazingly awkward and embarrassing. Maybe because the first one had been expected as part of his fantasy, yet the second one hadn’t.

Granted, he expected to be changed after pooping his pampers, but the pooping itself had been unanticipated till it was too late to turn back. In front of his sisters, no less. Not for the first time, Chris wondered if this was a dream concocted by his imagination. He certainly didn’t beat off to his sisters, that’s for sure. Yet they were here, babying him right beside his step-mother.

The little hairs on the back of Chris’s neck stood on end as Roxanne carried him into the Library and the automatic doors whooshed open. Someone had turned the air all the way up, and the arid chill inside the building contrasted harshly with the humid heat outside. He shivered a little bit, and Roxanne gently rubbed his back.

Soon, Chris could see row after row after row of books. Hardly surprising, all things considered, but Chris half-way expected the books to be bigger too, so many other things were. Chris looked around as Roxanne carried him, looking for her daughters. She was moving too fast for Chris to pick out any of the individual books, but the posters of Babar and Curious George to his left and the cardboard cutouts of Edward Cullen and Boba Fett to his right told Chris that they were likely in the children to tween section of the library.

"Roxanne?" a voice called out. Roxanne stopped, and looked around. A woman in a pink Minnie-Mouse shirt, maybe a little younger than Roxanne, holding a little girl by the hand was walking towards them. The little girl wore a matching T-shirt. Oh God...she was one of THOSE moms.

"Oh my gosh, Barbara?" Roxanne replied in recognition.

" Hiiiiiiii!" both greeted in unison as they met.

"It’s been ages!" the other woman, Barbara exclaimed. Then Chris heard an audible gasp. "Roxanne? Is that Christopher?" Chris could feel his heart stop. Did whatever was making his family see him as a baby not afford him the same protection from strangers?

"Yes it is," Roxanne nodded, oblivious to her friend’s gasp. "Getting big isn’t he?"

"Getting big?" Barbara’s voice echoed through Chris’s head. "He’s a grown ass man! Why are you holding him like a....is that a diaper he’s wearing? Oh my God Roxanne, you are sick. Sick!" That’s what Chris expected to hear.

What he heard instead come out of Barbara’s mouth was, "I know, right?! I almost didn’t recognize him!" Chris’s heart started back up.

"And Angela has gotten so big too!" Roxanne said, indicating the little girl beside Barbara. The little girl, waved shyly and then hid behind her mother.

"I know! Time just flies, doesn’t it?" Barbara remarked, "She starts Kindergarten next year. It seems like just yesterday she was just a baby." The little girl peeked out from behind her mother, staring at Chris.

"Time does fly," Roxanne confirmed. "Do you happen to know where my girls got off to?" she asked, changing the subject. "They bolted in here while I was changing Chris’s diaper."

"ROXANNE!" Chris shrieked. "PRIVATE!" Why did people do that regarding young children? No one else needed to know that Chris had just recently used his pants as the ultimate porta-potty.

"Babies wear diapers," the little girl, Angela, said solemnly. "They don’t how ta use the potty." Chris couldn’t help but blush a little bit.

"That’s right, honey." The girl’s mother praised. Then she leaned in close to Roxanne and whispered so that only Roxanne and Chris could hear. "She’s been a little obsessed with babies lately. I think she’s hinting that she wants a little brother or sister." Both women laughed. Chris only rolled his eyes at how he was now practically invisible in conversation.

"Well, if you’re gonna have another," Roxanne replied, "you might as well do it sooner than later. You don’t want to get out of practice."

"Oh, I know." Barbara agreed.

"Sammy wasn’t even all the way out of diapers when Bri came along, so the routine didn’t stop. Buuuut-" Roxanne playfully looked at her step-son on her hip. "-when Chris was born, I had gotten used to big kids, and I had to get used to all the baby stuff again."

"Hey," Chris said defensively, "it’s not like I wished for....never mind." All Chris got was a quick round of cooing in reply.

"Mommy," Angela said tugging on her mother’s hand, "I could pretend to be a baby to help you practice." Barbara bent over to look her daughter in the eye.

"That’s sweet, Angie, but I’m happy with you being a big girl."

"I know!" Roxanne chimed in, "Why don’t we set up a playdate? Angela can get an idea of what it’s like to be a big sister, and you and me can catch up on old times!"

"That’s a great idea," Barbara agreed. "Plus, I can get a little refresher on babies."

Roxanne chuckled, "Very few things are ’fresh’ around this little guy." Chris could only grumble as Barbara laughed in agreement.

"Okay, we’ll call you later," Barbara said by way of exiting. Chris hoped she forgot.

"Okay, see you later!" Roxanne called back. She turned to Chris. "Now where did your sisters get to?" Clearly this was rhetorical. Chris was getting used to rhetorical questions. At least in most of the stories he read online, the main character wasn’t alone in their babified state.

They were either babified in some kind of prison (nope), being mentally regressed (um....not sure but for the most part nope), being physically regressed (unless his mind was just picturing himself as an adult to cope, nope), being purposefully babied by cruel parents as an overblown punishment (nope), or reality had altered (check) where everyone his age and younger was treated like a baby (nope). Though there was that one story where the girl’s wish kept getting misinterpreted and twisted so she was being treated younger and younger and nobody seemed to notice. (Bingo) Damn. Chris read a lot of infantilist porn.

Samantha wasn’t all that hard to find. Chris instantly spotted her sitting on the floor by the shelves, her nose buried in a book with a "Warrior Cat" or some such tween nonsense on the cover.

"There you are," Roxanne said, "Found what you were looking for?" Samantha just nodded as she continued to stare and turn the pages. "Where’s Brianna?" Roxanne asked. Samantha just shrugged her shoulders, engrossed in her book.

Roxanne sat Chris down besides his sister. "Look after your little brother, while I go look for Bri." Roxanne said before heading off.

"Kay kay," Samantha said absentmindedly, still hypnotized by the words on the pages. Chris heard his pants crinkle as he shifted his weight. Samantha got like this sometimes, and there was no polite way to get her out of her trances. No polite way.

"Damn," Chris leaned over, "how the hell did you get to the middle already?" Samantha ignored what must have been incoherent babble. "You’re gonna need another book before we leave at this rate? Are these even on your reading level?"

"Love you too, Chris," was the bored reply he got. Chris gritted his teeth. What was the point of being rude when no one could understand your snark? Then Chris was struck by inspiration.

FWAP!

Samantha’s book fell to the floor, as Chris smacked it out of Sammy’s hands. He smiled smugly as it tumbled out of her grasp. Samantha just sighed and picked up her book again and began reading it again.

FWAP!

Samantha turned and looked Chris in the eye. "What?" she asked incredulously.

"Your mom told you to look after me." Chris said, "So LOOK after me." He crossed his arms over his chest indignantly. Sammy rolled her eyes, and smiled despite herself. It was hard to stay mad at a baby.

"You want me to read to you, baby bro?" she asked. Chris nodded. "Then hold on, I’ll go get you a book you’ll like." Without a further word, Samantha sprung to her feet and trotted off towards the posters of Dr. Seuss.

Wow...talk about irresponsible. Leaving her baby brother all alone. Hmm, how much of a baby was he? Time to experiment. Chris shifted his weight again. He could sit up on his own. Good. Chris rolled over onto all fours and took a few tentative crawl-steps. Easy enough. He was at least a crawler. Good. Chris leaned over and grabbed the nearest book shelf. Time for the big test.

Chris pulled with all the might in his arms and pushed with all the might in his legs. Slowly. Very slowly, he stood. Chris grunted and strained as he lifted himself to his feet. He felt like he was about to break into a sweat. He feared briefly that he might poop his pants again. Finally, still clutching the shelf as a support brace, chris could feel the floor touching his bare feet. HE WAS STANDING.

Chris imagined he was He-Man, he felt so strong. (I HAVE THE POOOOOOWER!). He threw his hands up into the air in celebration. Suddenly, he felt very wobbly. Images of Bambi on the ice flashed through his brain as his legs gave out and he tumbled back onto the Library floor.

In his fantasies, this would normally be the part where he started tearing up, humiliated by his lack of coordination and just how far he’d slipped into infancy. Yeah...nope

"Heheheheheheeeheeeheeehohohohohoho!" Chris giggled in glee. Damn, fantasy or not, this was awesome! Chris calmed down. From what he remembered of the girls’ infancy, he figured he was somewhere between 6 and 9 months old. Old enough to crawl around with ease and stand with support, but walkinng was still a no go.

Samantha came back with a book, and sat down beside Chris. Chris recognized the cover instantly. Her sister definitely had a thing for cats lately. She opened the book and pulled Chris closer, not quite in her lap.

"The sun did not shine," she said, "it was too wet to play, so we sat in the house all that cold cold wet day." Classic. Classic. Chris leaned over to get a look at the book. He pretty much knew it by heart, but he wanted to get a look at the pictures.

Chris’s eyes bugged out of his head. The words. The words didn’t make any sense. They looked like some weird cross between Chinese, Sanscrit, Hebrew, written Braile, and High Elvish. In other words, ito Chris’s eyes it was complete chicken scratch.

Chris stopped looking at the pictures and listening to the story and started focusing on the written words. Samantha "helpfully" traced along the scribbles with her finger. The way she read didn’t make sense. Sometimes she was going left to right, other times she went right to left. Sometimes it was top to bottom, others it was bottom to top. On one page, the one with Things One and Two, her finger traced a counter clockwise spiral. He could feel his breath getting shorter and shorter. He was on the verge of hyperventilating.

This must be some trick his brain was playing on him. It had to be. Chris vaguely remembered from his basic psychology classes that the side of the brain responsible for dreams was different from the side of the brain responsible for reading. Or maybe that was an episode of "Batman". Logically, this was evidence that Chris was still dreaming. His breathing started to slow as he reasoned the situation out. Then again, logic had little to do with this situation.

That’s when Brianna walked up and wordlessly took a seat on the floor next to her siblings. Based on the cover filled with sketches, Chris guessed it was a "How To Draw" book, though he couldn’t be sure based on the writing. Strange markings surrounded the covers perimeter like Nordic Runes. Hyper Dislexia.

"Hi Bri," both Chris and Samantha said in unison, though only one of them could be understood.

"Hi," Brianna said, more to Sammy than to Chris. She plopped down next to Chris so that he was sandwhiched between the two of them. Chris smiled to himself. In another world, he’d be guarding them.

"You know Mom is looking for you, right?" Samantha asked her sister. Brianna just grunted in reply and shrugged. Samantha shrugged in reply and slid the kiddie book into Chris’s lap. "She’ll find us eventually," she concluded before going back to her own book.

Within moments, his youngest sister was busy flipping through the pages of the art book and paying him no mind.

"Second verse, same as the first," Chris laughed.

FWAP!

Bri’s book tumbled to the floor. She picked it up.

FWAP!

Again, Bri paid no mind and picked the book up again. She always was the more stubborn of the two.

FWAP!

Brianna picked up her hardcover drawing book and looked Chris dead in the eye.

WOMP!

Ow! Ow! Ow! The hell? Bri had taken her book and practically slammed it flat on top of Chris’s head. That had hurt. Alot.

"Must...not...cry..." Chris whispered through gritted teeth. "Won’t...even...leave...a bruise." His vision blurred as he started to whimper and cry against his will. "That fuckin’ hurt..." he murmured. Sammy’s arms were enveloping him in an instant. His head was in her lap as she started shushing him and petting his head.

"It’s okay, Chris, it’s okay." She shushed, "Bri!" she scolded, "What was that about?!"

"He hit my book," Bri said matter-of-factly.

"So you hit HIM?" Samantha asked, her voice raising.

"Yup." answered Brianna, not raising her voice.

"Bri! He’s just a baby!" Samantha started to shriek, "He doesn’t know what he’s doing and he’s not as strong as you."

"Dumb baby." Bri grunted as she started to open her book again.

Still smarting from the bop on the head and pissed at being called "dumb", Chris raised his right hand and gave Brianna the one finger salute. "Fuck you," Chris declared. Brianna’s eyes widened in recognition. Apparently nothing in this dream had changed the meaning of THAT little gesture.

"Ooooooh. I’m telling," Bri announced as she stood up.

"Pffft! He’s just a baby," Samantha rolled her eyes.

"I’m telling on you!", Bri said before sprinting away.

"What?!" Samantha yelled in disbelief before leaping to her own feet. "Stop! Come on Chris, let’s get her."

Chris found himself suddenly under his little sister’s arm and bouncing up and down as she chased after Brianna. "Whoah, oah, oah oah, whoah!" he yelped. Despite being nearly twice her size and easily double her weight, she was carrying him like a football.

Chris strained and squirmed, but it was no use. He craned his ned up to see where they were running too. Uphead was Roxanne with Brianna already pestering.

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mama, Mama, Mama, Ma-" she said.

Roxanne held up her finger, and Brianna stopped. Roxanne looked to Samantha. "Samantha," Roxanne said in a concerned and stern tone, "that’s no way to carry your baby brother."

"Oh, sorry, Mom," Samantha said, before righting Chris and placing him on her hip, supporting his diapered butt with her hand. This was just ridiculous. Even being carried by her, Chris was still easily a head taller than her while sitting.

Roxanne looked back down to Brianna. "Now what did you want to tell me?" she asked Brianna.

"Chris flipped me off." Brianna said curtly. "He stuck up his middle finger at me."

"Samanthaaaaa..." Roxanne narrowed her eyes.

"What?" Samantha asked defensively.

"What have we talked about being a good influence on your little brother?" It was less of a question and more of an accusation.

"He didn’t learn it from me!" Samantha insisted.

"Actually," Chris smirked, "I kinda taught it to her."

"And," Samantha went on, "he only did it after Bri smacked him in the head as hard as she could with a book!"

"No I didn’t!" Bri proclaimed her innocence. Chris wasn’t letting Bri get away with this. He stuck out his lip and made it tremble as he rubbed the top of his head where he was hit.

"Briiiiii...." Roxanne warned.

"Well," Bri took a big breath. "It wasn’t as hard as I could."

Roxanne just sighed and took Chris over from his little sister. She briefly inspected the top of his head.

"Well, he doesn’t seem too hurt. But you gotta be careful around him." Roxanne chided her daughters. "AND," she added, "you need to watch your language and what you do around him. He sees and hears more things than you think he does." (Damn straight). "We’re going to have a serious talk about this later girls, but we’re running late."

Chris could see the look of panic drain from his sisters’ faces. Both girls let out a sigh of relief as they started walking to the checkout. "Later" in Roxanne-eese usually meant "Never". Way to go busy schedule and overhwelmed parents!

"Let’s go girls," Roxanne called out as they exited back into the parking lot. "We’re gonna meet Daddy back at the house for lunch."

Uh-Oh.