Scaredy-cat

Chapter 1
A night in the forest

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Chapter Description: Joe tries to win back his ex-girlfriend on a camping trip on Halloween but mysterious forces stand in the way.

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“You’re too clingy and argumentative,” Seona McCarthy had said and Joe had even argued against that, proving her point.  It was a painful break-up for Joe, made worse by the humiliation he felt when he couldn’t stop crying in front Seona. Even 12 months on Joe still felt ashamed at his lack of emotional control and would kick himself every time the memory of that day surfaced.

Seona felt guilty of course. Joe was, for the most part, a sweet and considerate guy and she hated hurting him but it was for the best. He had become far too possessive and needy. To her it felt like he was expecting constant messages from her and wanting her around every second of the day. It wasn’t an equal relationship between two individuals but a lop-sided relationship where he acted like he was dependant on her. It was too much to deal with while she completed her degree and it wasn’t the kind of relationship she envisioned after graduation so it was best to put a stop to it before then.

A year after the break-up Seona and Joe still kept in touch and were spending quite a bit of time together with mutual friends, at parties and clubs. Seona McCarthy had graduated and moved on to a great new job and a new place. Joe had dropped out of university shortly after they had split but was looking at getting back into education, though he was still unsure of what he’d end up doing, he felt like things were looking up again.

To Seona, Joe was no longer the paranoid mess he’d been around the time of the break-up and was back to the fun and handsome guy he’d been when they first got together. She seemed glad he was moving on.

Camping in the forest on Halloween had been Joe’s idea. It was the perfect chance to prove to her, and himself, what a man he really was. He was sure Seona would be at least a little scared while alone in the forest and he’d be there, unafraid, ready to comfort her. Besides, if she wasn’t afraid of the dark and secluded forest there was always the clown mask he’d brought along. They’d shared their biggest fears when they were first going out and he knew she’d been afraid of clowns since childhood, a clowns face in the dark forest just outside of the camp should easily be enough to creep her out.

They departed in Seona’s car on the evening before Halloween. It was a short drive out to the camping spot. Joe had told Seona that their mutual friends Dave, Carly and Anna would be meeting them there later in the evening but in actuality he’d asked Dave to make an excuse and drive the trio up the next morning so Joe could spend a night alone with Seona. The drive was pleasant enough. Joe joked that he’d heard urban legends that the forest was haunted by a malevolent witch and Seona told him about how it used to be a hunting ground for ancient Celts and was watched over by their deities the Tuatha Dé Danann.

It was growing dark by the time they arrived and Seona sent Joe to take the first tent and the meat of their gear to the camping spot while she unpacked the rest. She might be an ardent feminist but she still likes me to carry everything for her Joe sighed. In truth, she just liked bossing him around and she was pleased at how obedient he was being. He even packed the car with no fuss. I could probably get him to cook me dinner and give me a massage, if I wanted. she thought to herself.

When he arrived at the camp site Joe heard a sharp snap of wood coming from behind him and quickly spun around. Standing there was a frail old woman leading a cow by a leather leash. She gave him a welcoming smile.

“Hello young man,” she said, pleasantly.

“… Hi. What are you doing in the middle of the forest?” Joe asked, tentatively.

“Oh, I’ve lived around here for a long time,” she smiled a crooked smile. Something about her grin seemed menacing to Joe and it took some effort to hold back a shudder. “My farm is just on the other side of these woods.”

Joe knew there were farms nearby but he didn’t think they were that close. He remembered the “urban legend” he’d recited on the car journey. What if it was true? He put it aside. It wouldn’t do to have his imagination runaway with him.

“One of my heifers escaped the fence and I had to come all the way out here to find her,” she explained. “Would you mind escorting me and Bessie back? I’m getting a little too old to be chasing after her. It’s not far.”

“Sure,” Joe agreed, deciding there was absolutely nothing to fear so why shouldn’t he help? She seemed harmless enough.

It wasn’t a long walk at all and Joe felt stupid for thinking the opposite. They’d spoke a little. He’d explained he was here with a girl he’d liked for a long time and she smiled, apparently glad to hear a story of young love.

“You’d best be off soon, before it gets dark.” She said and smiled, “but would you like some warm milk before bed as thanks? I guarantee you’ll be sleeping like a babe tonight!”

“Uh, no thanks…” Joe said, feeling queasy at the thought of drinking milk that had just come straight from the source. She bid him farewell and he jogged back to the campsite to find Seona already setting the two tents up and stropping at him for not helping. He told her to take a break and finished setting the tents up. Seeing that Seona was still pouting he offered to barbeque them some food on the campfire as an apology. She gladly accepted. He’s so easily manipulated, she laughed to herself.  

Joe crept into the forest telling himself he was being quiet as not to disturb the wildlife. Joe would have snuck off to relieve himself whilst it was still late but it was late October and had gotten dark quickly and his attention had been focused on Seona exclusively. He was still thinking about her and what he next move could be when he walked into the forest and so didn’t notice how far he’d actually walked and when he did realize he couldn’t hear the campfire but as he listened intently for it he heard something else like a soft growl and looked up toward it.

Silhouetted by the light of the full-moon, a wolf stood watching Joe. Its eyes glowed an eerie red and rows of sharp, wet teeth glistened. It’s mouth-watering at the thought of sinking its fangs into Joe’s soft flesh.

A deer in the headlights Joe was not. Fear stricken, Joe felt his heart race as dread washed over him. He stood there for a moment, his instincts torn over fight or flight. Flight arose as the clear winner and he bolted. Only after he’d started running did he realize it was not the best course of action and that the wolf would surely give chase. With that thought his eyes began welling with tears. He could hear the beast growling and gnashing behind him and the drum of its paws on the ground with each leap toward him. Joe responded with an intelligible cry like a small child calling for its mother. For a second he thought he heard the taunting cackle of a witch. The smiling old maid sprung to mind, though now she was grinning wickedly. There was a light up ahead. The old lady’s visage was replaced with a vision of Seona, her soft, encouraging smile a welcome change. Hopeful, he sprinted faster and in a moment he was back in the camp.

“Seona!” he yelped, “there’s a wolf!”

In the safety of the light provided by the camps fire, Joe plucked up the courage to turn around but saw and heard nothing.  

“Honestly, Joe. There aren’t any wolves left in the country let alone this forest,” she sighed, “you’ll have to do better than that to scare…”

Seona paused, her eyes narrowing and looking over Joe before shooting wide open in delight.

“You’ve peed yourself!” she beamed, excitedly.

Joe would have compared Seona’s smile to that of an angel if she hadn’t currently been laughing at him. Instead, he looked down at his jeans and, sure enough, they were sopping wet.

“There was a wolf,” he argued, half-heartedly as his face flushed red. He didn’t really believe it himself anymore.

“You’re such a baby,” she laughed again, crawling back into her tent and then re-emerging with a small package in her hand. She threw it to Joe, saying, “Here. These should be perfect.”

“Baby wipes?” Joe looked in incredulously at the small packet.  “Don’t you have anything else? This is humiliating enough already,” he grumbled.

“Sorry, those will have to do. I wasn’t expecting the big strong man to have a little boy accident,” She mocked, “You’re lucky I brought those to remove my make-up, anyway.”

Reluctantly, Joe slipped out of his soaked clothes, emptying a plastic bag to put them in, and cleaned himself as best he could with the small baby wipes. He’d emptied half the packet by the time he was done and as he threw the last into the plastic bag he noticed what he’d emptied out of it. Beside him lay the clown mask he’d planned to scare Seona with. A wicked idea came into his head. She’s had her fun laughing at me and belittling me. It’s time she had a taste of it, it is nearly Halloween, after all. With that decided, Joe put on some fresh jeans and grabbed the mask.

Peeking out of his tent, Joe could see that Seona had her torch on in her own tent. She was probably reading one of her old folklore books. She’d always been obsessed with irish mythology, paganism and druids. They’d talked about it a lot but he’d kind of zoned out through the mother-earth stuff and was only really interested in the darker, scarier ‘fantasy’ stuff she’d talked about like Balor, the Morrigan and werewolves.

Joe snuck out of the tent and quietly made his way towards the tree line. He would look for a place to hang the mask directly opposite to where the entrance to Seona’s tent was. He could then just throw a few stones at her tent until she peeked out and saw the mask.

It wasn’t long before he found the perfect spot, a small branch stuck out from the tree opposite. He quickly snapped it and hung the mask but it was still very dark so he thought he’d get rid of some of the other branches around it so it would be in the direct light of the moon. As his hand touched the next branch he was interrupted by a loud “Caw!” in his ear.

Joe jumped back, startled, and saw a black crow in the tree beside him. He saw the way the moonlight reflected in its eyes and was sure it was staring at him. Before he could decide what to do next the crow hopped off the tree and flew past him causing him to jump back again then finished by perching on the branch he needed to move.

The crow turned around to stare at him again, releasing another loud “Caw!” Joe watched the crow, shaking slightly but he put it down to adrenalin. The bird was totally focused on him and he knew it wouldn’t let him get to that branch. It must have its eggs there or something, I’ll have to leave it like this and see how it goes. As Joe crept back towards his tent he heard another “Caw!” behind him and turned to see. The mask was no longer hanging on the tree but in the crow’s beak. He gritted his teeth, annoyed. I can’t even fucking do that now! All because of some, stupid crow.

Joe sighed and counted himself lucky that Seona hadn’t come out when the crow cawed. Crows were another thing she liked and they had their own folk stories. The Morrigan could turn into a crow. What was that other thing she told me? When a crow caws three times… Joes blood ran cold. A crow cawing three times was meant to be an omen of death. He nervously hurried the rest of the way to his tent and crawled inside.

A few hours later and the wind was picking up outside, brushing loudly past the leaves of the trees and slapping against the tent. Inside Joe’s thoughts had turned from the superstitious fear of the crow back to anger and embarrassment at his accident earlier and finally to utter shame and sadness. The trip so far had not gone anything like he wanted and he was sure that being close to Seona again was even further away now. He saw through the tents thin material that her torch light had been turned off a while ago and without it he now felt melancholy and alone.

Joe closed his eyes and tried to sleep but the wind wouldn’t let him. Between the whistling of the wind and the flapping of the polyester tents, Joe thought he heard another familiar noise, the feint clanging of a bell. Is that a cow bell? He wasn’t sure but the more he listened the louder it seemed to get. It’s just that old ladies cow. She does live close. Joe reassured himself but the bell still sounded as if it were getting closer. The mental image of her wicked smile slipped into his head and he unconsciously slid a little further from the walls of the tent. The bell really was loud now and the wind seemed stronger too. Of course if there is louder, stronger wind then the bell will be louder too he reasoned. There was no reason to be afraid.

“Caw, caw, caw!” Joe’s eyes opened wide and he slowly turned over to see the whole tent. His blood was like ice now as thoughts raced through his head. Crows cawing. Omens of death. For whom the bell tolls. Morrigan, the Goddess of death.

The wind crashed against his tent with greater force, the bell rang louder and the crow cawed once more. He sat up and looked around the tent at the dark shadows that seemed to be circling his tent. He shrank away from the tents ceiling and walls trying to become as small as possible. Three spectre-like shadows danced around the tent in unison. The wind shrieked louder and lashed at the tent. Joe squeezed himself tightly, hunching forwards to become smaller. As he did so, the shadows seemed to grow and tower above him. They’d taken on an almost human appearance in his mind. Like three women dancing. The crow cawed again and Joe was certain he heard the tent wall tear behind him so he shrunk smaller, away from the huge tent walls and the giant shadows beyond them. Directly above and in front of him the zip to the tents entrance slowly slid open and he shrank back from the growing opening. He was quickly feeling more surrounded, small and helpless.  He heard the crow and the bell but now they were joined by another sound. A wolf’s growl came from behind and the sound of more tearing fabric. Terror shot through Joe’s body in an instant and drained him of all courage and he felt smaller for it. The wind howled, tearing the tent walls and pulling it up into the air. The world around Joe suddenly grew much larger without the tent. Expecting to see the wolf, Joe closed his eyes and screamed in terror.

Joe’s ears were filled with the wail of an infant and tears streamed down his face.

“There, there, honey,” said a sweet and comforting voice. Something smooth and rubbery being forced into his mouth caused him to stifle his wailing and open his eyes. He sniffled and blinked away tears to find Seona beaming down on him. He immediately knew something was off. The short, frumpy girl now dwarfed him completely. She was squatting in front of him at half her full height and yet his head wasn’t even above her waist!

“No need to be scared anymore, sweetie. Now lift your arms up,” dumbfounded, Joe did as he was told while Seona tugged his t-shirt up over his head. It seemed closer to the size of a beach towel.

“Oh dear! It looks like Joey had another little accident,” Seona sang. Joe looked down at himself and it was clear his legs did not fill the jeans he now partially sat inside. It was also clear they were very damp. He’d drained of more than just courage.

Seona watched Joey awkwardly explore his rejuvenated body. He’d been blessed, in her eyes, with a tall, slim body with little in the way of body fat. She on the other hand had ample hips and thighs and was generally a little soft all over. She smiled. Now Joe was soft all over. The chest hair that ran a line down over his lean stomach was gone and his abs were now a fat little tummy. Before, he had thin, yet strong arms. She remembered how they’d wrestle in bed and he’d always win, even though he was quite scrawny. Well, he won’t be winning anymore! His chubby little baby arms wouldn’t have the strength to hold back her pinky! She doubted he could even stand on his once athletic and strong but now pudgy and weak legs. He wasn’t a man anymore. Not even a boy. He was now her little chubby-cheeked cherub.

Joe stared up from his soft tummy to look at Seona and tried to speak with little success. She giggled and popped the pacifier from his mouth.

“You did dis? You twicked me?” it was more of a statement than a question.

“Who’s a clever boy? Cute and smart!” she teased in a voice reserved for the youngest of infants.

“ ’ow?” Joey asked, awkwardly unable to pronounce the word properly.

Seona closed her eyes and flicked her hair over her shoulder and explained with her nose held up in the air, “How? Well, I called on the powers of the Morrigan. If you’d ever listened to me you’d know she’s the Goddess of death and fertility. She can take the form of crows, wolves, old ladies…” she waved her hands as she explained and then looked down on Joey with a wry smile, “… and, as it happens, she can turn big, strong men into itty bitty babies!”

Joe sat there with his drool soaked mouth drooping open trying to process what he’d just been told when he began to shiver and became acutely aware of the now cold puddle he was sat in. Seona noticed his attention changing immediately and quickly reached her hands beneath his shoulders and lifted him up, squeezing him to her warm breast with one arm and lifting his bottom with her other hand.

“You poor little thing! You must be freezing sitting there in the nudie. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Joe was a little afraid when he’d been lifted into the air but the warmth from being held against Seona’s big, soft body was much appreciated. He did his best to snuggle closer to her warmth, nuzzling his face into her breast and squeezing his arms against her. She seemed much too big to put his arms around and he was worried he wouldn’t be able to hold onto her if he fell. As she carried him into her tent Joe noticed she was supporting his back with one arm and using less than one hand to hold his bottom.

“I so small I fit in da palm o’ your hand!” Joe blurted out at the realization,

Seona smiled.

“That is exactly where you are.” she spoke in a mischievous tone and patted Joes soft behind.

Seona knelt down in her tent, placing Joe on his back in front of her before turning on a camping light. Feeling more exposed with the light on, Joe quickly tried to sit up and cover himself but his head felt far too heavy and his balance was off. He couldn’t quite manage to get up off his back unassisted and would have to relearn how.

“Silly baby. I can’t wash you if you keep fidgeting,” Seona pulled out a fresh baby wipe and lifted both of Joe’s legs with a single hand.

“Leggo! I do it myself!” He protested trying to kick his legs free of her powerful grip.

“Don’t you talk back to me, mister!” Seona said, firmly, “Not unless you want a red bottom.”

“Get off!” Joe screamed and was met with a gentle but quick swat across his bottom that surprised him more than it hurt. It made him realize how powerless he was and he was quickly silenced.

“The next one will be real. Now be a good boy.” Seona said whilst looking very stern. Joe quivered and his thumb unconsciously slid into his mouth.

The baby wipe was quickly ran across his hips and cheeks. He recoiled as Seona’s finger slid the wipe down his butt. As Seona went to wash his penis her eyes met Joe’s and she gave him a wicked grin while he was flushed with embarrassment. Seona couldn’t resist rubbing it in as she scrubbed him clean.

“No need to be shy now. This part of you has shrank the least from what I remember!“ She giggled, watching him squirm.

She was soon finished and Joe took a moment to consider that it only took a single wetwipe as opposed to the half packet it had taken him earlier. Seona next produced a thick, disposable diaper, holding it up in front of Joe so he could see exactly what he’d soon be wearing. Joe opened his mouth to protest but the way Seona’s eyes narrowed as he did so made him think twice and she smiled smugly as he cowered. So easy to manipulate she thought, ruefully.  Joe was soon wrapped up tightly in the thick, crinkly plastic.

“Buh why? I don’ wannabe baby.” Joey pouted and finally building up the courage to ask what the hell was going on.

“It’s the best thing for you. You were a clingy and argumentative boyfriend and you obviously couldn’t cope without me. It was embarrassing how you’d latch onto me at parties and your constant need to know what I was up to was frustrating. Now, you’re free to be as clingy as you want! Mommies always have time for their babies, after-all.

You won’t be embarrassing anyone except yourself at parties now. Just imagine what it’ll be like when you make a big stinky mess in your pants in front of a room full of our friends. I imagine Dave and the other guys might be a little ashamed of you but us girls will just think your droopy diaper is endearing. I bet they’ll be plenty of offers to change you especially if I decide to tell them that smelly little poop machine is none other than my handsome ex-boyfriend. Did you know Carly always had a thing for you? Of course you didn’t. You were too busy pining after me like a little lost puppy. I wonder what she’ll say when she sees you reduced to a drooling infant? I doubt she’ll still be interested once she sees your teeny weewee!

As for arguments, I’m sure you won’t dare talk back to me now either, not when I could leave you in your stinky diaper all day or just as easily put you over my knee for a swift spanking. No more arguments from you. Huh, poppet?”

Joey conceded, shaking his head in agreement. Being in diapers was humiliating enough; he didn’t want to have to sit in a cold, sticky one whilst pleading for a change and he most certainly didn’t want to experience one of her comparatively massive hands forcefully slapping across his butt. Even the thought made him shudder. He dreaded to even think about what would happen if she did actually take him to a party…

Seona wrapped Joey in a soft cotton blanket and walked him back to her car. Joey whimpered slightly as he was lowered into a baby seat and securely strapped in. When did she put this here? He thought and noted just how well prepared his new minder was. He felt a pit in his stomach. It seemed she really did intend to keep him this way.

“There snug as a bug!” Seona sang brightly, “I’ll just quickly pack our things and we can get going.”

“Oh and one last thing! You can have your dummy back,” She popped the pacifier back in his mouth, ”Now, don’t go anywhere!” She giggled angelically.

He sat in the car alone, unable to do anything and feeling every bit the baby he’d become. The car looked so different from his new position. He couldn’t see out of the windows and the backs of the car seats totally dwarfed him, he wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to reach both sides of the steering wheel! A part of him wanted to spit the pacifier out in protest at being reduced to this miniscule version of himself but its presence felt right and he thought he’d be more comfortable with it. He held it in his mouth for a while content with its presence but curiosity, or instinct, got the better of him and he began sucking it back and forth loudly. When Seona returned Joey was already fast asleep. She smiled triumphantly at seeing her little ex-boyfriend had kept his dummy in his mouth and not spat it out. He’s going to be such a good little boy..

 

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