Six Short AR Stories

Chapter 2
Special Days

Chapter Description: Enjoy the special days, they go by so fast.

Special days can mean a lot

When you're a child

Another Halloween was approaching and once again it was going to be a bust for the tenth year running, once again she would be spending the night inside out of embarrassment.

Ten years worth of celebratory days for children and she spent them either with those she trusted to not laugh at her or in self isolation with her older sister as best as she could manage.

All because of her youthful arrogance ten years ago.

“It wouldn't be hard to find a cute outfit, I've told you that for years” Her older sister of about two years has been suggesting that she make the most of what happens to her on these special days that meant a lot to children and every time she just pouts and refuses to entertain the idea.

“Make the most of these days, Lauren, they go by fast and you can't keep avoiding them by refusing to experience why they mean so much to children” Oh she knew why, these special days were magical to children, something of memory to cherish and enjoy. Usually.
But to her they were just a reminder of what happened to her every time they came around. Birthday's, Christmas, Halloween, three special days that tended to mean a lot to a lot of children. Provided that those children had good lives and weren't suffering, then those days meant nothing to them but another day of survival in a life that robbed them of their innocence and joy of life.

To her though these days were just a reminder of punishment for her actions.

“Think about it? Anyway everything's ready for tomorrow so you best get yourself ready” Like she had a choice.

~~

Ten years ago, Halloween:

When she had been younger she had loved Halloween, dressing up and getting sweets had always been enjoyable and she had loved the attention she had gotten for her cute costumes. Her mum and dad had always been so good at making those costumes, pity they weren't around to do those any more.
Although no longer being a child would also make that hard going, she wasn't exactly the cute little girl that she used to be. She was seventeen and she had other priorities as far as her peers were concerned.

“Is that kid trying to be the next Chunk from the Goonies?” One of her friends jokes as they watch this years bunch of trick or treaters doing the rounds, there were a lot of outfits with most ranging from recent movies to pretty standard fare of ghosts, zombies and other monster types.
Lauren and her friends felt that they were too old themselves to do this so they would make fun of the children who were taking part, in their own way they saw their behaviour as funny. Close by Lauren's older sister, Caroline, was just watching and admiring the outfits, she found them all very adorable. She was going to dress up herself but work and college had met that she didn't have enough time to make something. She loved Halloween.

“Maybe he's trying to outmatch that other kid” Part of her said that she was being cruel and needed to stop, this new part of her was growing in strength by the day and she always tried to suppress it. She wanted to be popular and such thoughts were unpopular with her friends.

“Little less hate there please, you had some weight on you when you were a kid so don't judge” Always the voice of reason from her sister, it was hard to believe that they were related due to how serious and mature Caroline tended to be compared to Lauren. Little Miss Perfect.

“Oh come on, it's funny! Let's get up close in their face and really hurt the brats” Another of her friend's suggests and of course since she was so desperate to be popular, she agreed and went with them.

Caroline sighs and follows them, determined to try and negate as much of the coming damage as possible. Her sister has been increasingly hateful ever since their parents were killed a few years ago in an accident involving a drunk driver.

While an aunt and uncle helped them out as much as possible, Caroline felt that it was her responsibility to help her sister to find a more meaningful way to process her grief and not lose herself to her anger and hatred. Their aunt and uncle were both great people, seriously wonderful, but this was something that Caroline felt she had to do and what she felt her parent's would insist on her to do.

Breathing in the coming winter's night as she heads after her sister and her sister's friend's, Caroline savours the smell of the cold air and the scent of various sweets, pumpkins and excitement in the air.
She wished she could have had the chance to dress up and have some fun but she was so busy these days that finding the time for some fun was pretty rare, maybe next year if possible.

“Lauren! Don't you dare hurt any of them! Lauren!” Lauren just looks over to her, rolls her eyes, and heads for a couple of kids who are about to head up to a house. Miss Biran lived her, a nice woman if a little reclusive. She was always kind to children though and always had a great selection of sweets at Halloween to give away, she seemed to enjoy this time of year as much as the kids did.
Just as the kids near her door, it opens and Miss Tanya Biran steps out dressed as a Ghostbuster with the name 'Biran' as a name tag on her right breast side.

“I see a ghost, I'm not afraid of no ghost! So instead of a proton stream, have some chocolate!” She says cheerfully as she hands out a large plastic bowl filled to the brim with sweets of all kinds, Caroline could see a few she liked herself.

Lauren takes this chance to be outright mean though to a little girl who was dressed as Wonder Woman, Caroline hoped for a movie of that character at some point in the future since she liked to read the comic books whenever she could get her hands on one, she quite admired the character.

“I didn't know that Wonder Woman would wet herself in excitement, is that your special power?” The little girl in question looks embarrassed, excitement must have gotten the better of her, it happens. Lauren had done that more than a few times when she had around the girl's age due to how excited she would get.

“Maybe you should be Wonder Tot and wear a nappy like the baby you are!” Her friend's laugh and the girl starts to cry, Tanya glares at her angrily. The girl runs off crying, her mum throwing an angry glare at Lauren and her friends.

“Lauren! Apologise right now!” Caroline cries out. “I'm so sorry about my sister, I'll deal with her. You look very adorable, love Wonder Woman” The little girl smiles through her tears and takes her mum's hand, she is pretty upset.

She walks off with her mum while Caroline turns back to her sister.

“That was nasty, Lauren!” Tanya sets the bowl aside after the second child has left and she walks up to Lauren, her anger quite clear.

“I guess your parent's never told you about having manners” Tanya says with anger in her voice. “Perhaps I should have a talk with them and get them to drum manners into you”

“Go ahead, they're dead so you'll have a hard time of it” Lauren replies with a scoff in her tone.

“I'm so sorry about her” Caroline stammers, she felt horrible for her sister's actions. Their parent's had taught them how to be respectful and to have good manners, sadly Lauren's desperation to be popular in some attempt to hide her grief was clearly negating all that their parent's had taught them.

“Do you even remember how you were when you a child? How excited you would get? Do you remember wetting yourself one Halloween when you were six years old, how embarrassed you were?” How did Tanya know about that? She hadn't moved to this area until at least eight years ago.

“Do you remember being mocked for it and your sister here holding your hand in an attempt to help you not feel so small from the mocking? You cried that night, tears streaming down your face because the excitement resulted in an accident. How dare you mock another child for having the same excitement and the same accident” Tanya's eyes seem to glow a little as she speaks, the world seems to also fall away.

“And what are you going to do about it?” Lauren challenges her, she was looking nervous all of a sudden.

“Plenty. From this Halloween and for every special day that means a lot to a child, you will be a child again. You will wear nappies and you will need them, the age will be random just to make this little curse interesting. Sometimes you'll be a child as young as the child you just hurt, other times you'll be a helpless little baby, maybe you'll be a toddler but you will be nappy dependent and you will need to be cared for. You will feel that embarrassment all over again, all of you will. Except for your sister, she'll be charged with caring for you when you're too young to take care of yourself. You best be kind to her because you need her help, without her you'll just be a little baby forever. Helpless, unable to take care of yourself. Just as you are now” Tanya points at Lauren and Caroline watches in shock as Lauren shrinks into her clothing, her friend's doing the same thing and seconds later three baby girls are sitting in a pile of clothing that changes into baby clothing – nappies and outdoor clothing – seconds later.

“You'll want to get those two to their parents. There's an added effect to this curse just for you, when Lauren's a child and younger you'll be able to understand her as if she's speaking as an adult, to everyone else she'll just be a young child. Her friend's will experience this curse at the same time as her so every Christmas, Halloween and Birthday they'll be children or younger again for around four days and adults again on the fifth day at sun rise. This once they'll be adults again tomorrow morning only because it's already Halloween” Lauren's screams from what's happened to her soften into whimpers as she looks up at her sister, her friend's still kicking and screaming.

“Happy Halloween, Caroline, make sure your sister learns her lesson well” Tanya smiles down to the former teenagers then returns to her house while Caroline calls the parents of her sister's friend's, the shock was pretty strong as she explains what's happened.

Lauren just looks at her own hands and feels her nappy become warm.

~~

Now:

Tomorrow the curse would kick in again and she wasn't sure what age she would be once it did, she always prepared for it though by getting a thick nappy on since she needed those and it always shrunk to fit due to the curse.

Ten years of this, ten years worth of Christmases, Halloween's and birthday's where she spent the day and the three days before it as a child or a toddler or a baby. Ten bloody years of having to rely on her sister to take care of her while avoiding being seen by others as much as possible in case they recognised her.

Caroline didn't mind looking after her sister, she wasn't married and wasn't even in a relationship with anyone. She didn't feel ready for any of that so she focused on her career and managed to always come up with arrangements to take Lauren with her to work on those days which Lauren hated due to babied she tended to be by so many.

It was embarrassing and awkward, especially whenever she needed her nappy changed.

“You can't keep hiding yourself away from having some fun, there are a lot of adults out there who would love the chance that you and your former friend's have!” Her former friend's was an apt description, they had turned out to be as false as Caroline had said they were. A year after the curse and they had stopped hanging out with her, they had thought that chasing after sex would rid of them of the curse but it hadn't. Instead they were stuck as babies because they didn't learn their lesson.
Lauren learned her lesson but that didn't end the curse, so she took to isolating herself as best as possible during these special days while Caroline tried to get her to take delight in this chance to have some fun.

Lauren didn't find much fun in being a nappy dependent child and needing to be cared for.

“Come on, Lauren, you're just making yourself bitter with this behaviour” She didn't care, this curse was unfair.

Getting up from the recliner she's been sulking in for the past few hours, Lauren walks past her sister through to her bedroom where she had to get ready for the next day. Four days of nappy changes, what joy.

Caroline sighs unhappily for her sister, she knew that Lauren hated this curse but she should learn to take advantage of the chance to have some fun, lighten her mood. She knew she could do with some fun herself.

After a few minutes Lauren comes out of her bedroom, her thick nappy peeping out from the top of her pyjama bottoms and the bulk pretty visible, the sound of it can be heard as she walks.

“Think about it? We could both do with some fun” Lauren just looks over to her after she's poured herself a mug of water, downs the liquid then heads through to the bathroom to relive herself for the last time for the next four and a bit days.
Once done she stalks angrily back to her bedroom and slams the door closed.

Lauren's anger about her curse was definitely getting worse.

~~

The next morning brings a baby's cries and Caroline enters her sister's bedroom to find a baby girl of about eighteen months old or so kicking and screaming, her nappy needing changed.

“Good morning to you too, let's get you cleaned up and changed” Lauren continues to cry and kick, she hated this curse so much. Only once she's been changed and is being comforted in her sister's arms does she calm down.

“Not fair” Lauren says as Caroline wipes tears away from her sister's eyes.

“I know, let's get you some breakfast” Although she would never say it to her sister's face, Caroline liked caring for her sister when the curse did it's thing. She had never told her sister about why she wasn't looking to have children because it was hard to tell her sister that she was infertile, oh there were possible treatments she could take but the chances were slim due to a birth defect that made it hard for her body to produce a child.
Lauren had enough to worry about for herself though and didn't need to know that her sister saw this curse as her chance to at least experience being a mother of sorts. She wondered what their parents would make of seeing Lauren as a baby right now as she's sat down in her high chair in just a nappy, t-shirt and bib.
Would they dote over Lauren and baby her, which Lauren hates, or would they respect her feelings on the matter? Pity there wasn't any way to know.

Setting Lauren's breakfast in front of her, Caroline feeds her since Lauren's coordination has decreased to match the age she currently is. Lauren, of course, tries to feed herself with messy results.

“Let me help, Lauren, you can't do this yourself” Lauren answers her with a scowl which is more adorable than anything else and she reluctantly allows her sister to feed her, her arms folded as she accepts the food grudgingly.
After some formula after her breakfast and a burping, Caroline cradles her sister gently in her arms once she's taken her out of her high chair. Lauren fusses from this, squirming until she finally relaxes in her sister's arms.

“You know, there are people in the world who would love what you have right now. They would love the break from life and just be cradled in someone's arms while having their nappy patted, they would envy you if they saw you right now” Caroline knew about those who wished they could be young again, those who sought the dream of returning to infancy or another age so that they could have a break from their lives. Especially those who lived stressful lives and were yearning for a strongly desired break.

“They shouldn't, it's humiliating” Of course her sister would say that, she was planning to sulk about it for the next few days instead of enjoying this chance for some fun.

“Wetting yourself, messing yourself, needing to be bathed, to be fed, to nap, to be cared for constantly, to have no independence of any kind, no freedom. Just a routine of nappy changes, feeding, nap times, bath times. Not able to do much of anything, why would anyone want this?” Fighting the impulse to suck on her thumb, Lauren cuddles against her sister, she felt safe like this but embarrassed at the same time.

“Because for them it would be a freedom from responsibility, a freedom from expectations and deadlines, a freedom from adulthood even for a short time. Life stresses many people and many need something to hold onto, a little sliver of hope in a world where hope is fleeting and only for those who frankly don't need it” Lauren scoffs, which with a baby's vocal limit sounds like a light coo with a hint of a gurgle.

“Then they should find someone to curse them so that they can find out for themselves how wrong they are to hope for helplessness” Caroline decides to say nothing else about this and soon sets Lauren down in her playpen after hearing the intercom, they live in a two bedroom flat a couple of miles from their childhood home.

“Aye?” Caroline asks over the intercom.

“It's Tanya Biran, may I come in?” Tanya? Why was she here? The last time they had seen her was when Caroline had moved to this flat, Lauren had moved in with her the same time against her feelings on the matter. She had to rely on her sister to take care of her so going it alone wasn't a wise move, especially after what had happened to her former friends who were probably right now at a daycare or with their carers.

“Sure, buzzing you in” Lauren looks over to her as Caroline opens the flat door to welcome Tanya as she heads in from the outside entrance.

“What if she's here to make me a baby forever? What if she's here to punish me for something else? Don't let her in! She might turn you into a baby as well and then we'll both be screwed!” Caroline ignores her sister's protests and greets Tanya once she arrives at the door.

“I wasn't expecting to see you again, what brings you here?” Caroline asks as she lets Tanya in.

“Just to see how you two are, I checked in on the others and I was disappointed to see that they hadn't learned their lesson. I've lifted the curse on them but they'll have to grow up again, hopefully learning how to be nicer to others as they do” Tanya walks over to Lauren and drops down to have a look at her, Lauren backs away and falls on her thickly padded bottom, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment from the fall.

“Well aren't you just adorable? Nappies suit you, little one, you could win a baby contest with those chubby cheeks” Caroline scoops her sister up and holds her close, Lauren looking close to tears at being babied like that.

“Have you come here to mock her? If so then you should probably leave, I think you've done enough” Tanya gets back up while Caroline tries to comfort her sister.

“No, I didn't come here to mock her. I am sorry but I just couldn't resist remarking on how cute she is, it's good to see you taking such good care of her. I know that she's learned her lesson but there's something she hasn't learned and that's in being a child. Part of the curse requires her person to find the joy and delight in being a child again in all of it's good and bad aspects, your sister has not been doing that, she's been too focused on the negative aspects and hasn't embraced the positives” Lauren's whimpers quiet down and she shifts position so that Caroline is now cradling in her in her arms.

“Told you so, you should really learn to enjoy this instead of sulking all the time” Her sister remarks.

“Learning to embrace those joys in conjunction with the negatives does eventually lift the curse after a while, but only if you really make the effort to embrace your return to those young ages. If you don't then the curse will keep happening or it will leave you stuck at a particular age like it did to the others and as cute as you are as a baby, I don't think you want to risk being stuck like this. Do you?” Lauren shakes her head, tears still in her eyes.

“Then make the most of this return to a young age, embrace it. After a while the curse will end when you've learned exactly why many children enjoy the special days that they get so excited for, despite any embarrassing accidents in the process. I'll see myself out, have a fun Halloween and if you can drop by, I'm sure you'll both look great in your outfits” With a light nod and a kind smile to Lauren, Tanya leaves the flat and closes the door behind her.

Caroline waits a few minutes before remarking with:

“So about going out for Halloween this year? I have two particular outfits in mind”

~~

Halloween soon arrives and after getting back from work with Lauren, who has done her best to enjoy being a baby the entire day, she makes them both a quick supper and gets ready for heading out with her sister.
The costumes had been easy enough to get thanks to the popularity of a particular movie from earlier in the year that she loved, Lauren had of course been unsure about this.

After supper Caroline places her sister in her playpen and gets ready, once dressed she gets her sister and dresses her for going out. It was going to be a cold night but the baby leggings she had found for Lauren's current age should help keep her warm as should the skin coloured t-shirt she had found to go with the rest of the outfit.

Lauren fusses of course, both as part of her trying to take delight in being so young and from the reluctance of going out. Soon, however, she's dressed and ready to head out.

“I've been wanting to do this for so long, let's go out there, Wonder Tot, and make the Amazons proud!” Lauren just sighs, in her baby way, and watches as her sister preps baby supplies before picking her up and taking her out to the car where she is strapped securely into a baby seat.
She hoped that no one would recognise her.

~~

Parking in the driveway of their childhood home, their aunt and uncle in law took care of it but didn't live in it since it had been given to them in the will to hold onto until Caroline was ready to accept the house soon, Caroline helps Lauren out of her baby seat and takes her inside. The house was empty, as expected, but warm since Caroline had dropped by earlier to warm it up. She was set on moving in before the end of the year as soon as the inheritance that their parents had left for them as ready to be transferred over to her account, the will had stated that once Caroline or Lauren felt ready to accept the house then the inheritance was to be given to them.

Caroline had informed her parent's lawyer that she was now ready to claim the house a month ago since the flat just wasn't working out as much as she had hoped, grieving took it's time and only in the past year had Caroline felt that it was time to finally say goodbye.

“You really shouldn't be worried about anyone recognising you, as far as everyone else is concerned you're just a baby, they don't know about the curse” Caroline remarks while she straps Lauren into her stroller.

“So what they'll see is a grown woman dressed as Wonder Woman with her younger self, Wonder Tot, having some fun for Halloween. You don't need to worry about anyone knowing who you are” Lauren doesn't say anything, then looks down and pats her nappy. Caroline stops and unstraps her sister from the stroller.

“Even superheroes need the bathroom, let's get you cleaned up and changed again” So far so embarrassing.

~

After a nappy change and cuddle to calm her anxious sister down, they head out once Lauren's strapped into her stroller. They can see other parents with their children already out and about, there were quite a few outfits and a fair few other Wonder Women around.

First they head for the house next door and Caroline rings the doorbell, the front door opens to reveal an elderly woman.

“Happy Halloween!” She says. “Oh she's so cute!” Lauren smiles as best she can, feeling very much out in the open. She reaches out her hands and to the woman she sounds like she's babbling when what she's really saying is: “Trick or treat!” Followed by hopping about in her stroller as best as the straps will allow.

Caroline hands out a bag, her plan being to share the sweets with her sister tomorrow since she already had more than enough back at the flat, and sweets are dropped in.

“Thank you, let's go, Wonder Tot, more houses await!” Waving goodbye, they head to the next house. After going to several houses in the neighbourhood, they soon arrive at the house next to Tanya's. When the door is answered a seventeen year old young woman answers, she looks familiar.

“Great outfits! I've seen so many Wonder Women and Wonder Tots but these are really good, I love the detail. Did you make it yourself?” In fact she had, she had been making the outfits in secret since seeing the movie in the cinema earlier in the year and had wanted to make them even if she never got the chance to use them.

“Aye, loved the movie so I just had to make them. Always been a fan of the character” Lauren babbles her greeting, at least that's it sounds like to the young woman.

“I saw it as well, I went back for a second viewing. Got the DVD and the Blu Ray as soon as they came out, you?” The young woman really was very familiar, and then it dawns on her.

“Just the DVD version, don't have a Blu Ray player but I might eventually. Thinking of watching the movie again once Wonder Tot here is asleep later” The young woman smiles at this, she's clearly a fan of the character as well.

“I once dressed up as Wonder Woman, the 1970s version since the movie hadn't been created when I was a child, but someone the same age as I am now made fun of me for having an accident and I haven't since. She really hurt me” Lauren shifts awkwardly in her stroller, she knew exactly who the young woman was talking about.

“I haven't seen her in years though, she's your sister isn't she? I remember you” Caroline looks down to Lauren who is looking very ashamed for what she had done in the past and the consequences of her actions.

“Aye, she's still around. And hopefully learned her lesson” Some sweets go into the bag and Lauren babbles again, this time saying sorry even though the young woman can't understand her.

“I hope so, my mum was so angry at her. Well have a fun night, it's good to see you again. Great outfits” Waving goodbye, they head to the last house for the night.

“Maybe I deserve to be stuck as a baby, I was so horrible to her. I wanted so much to be popular that I didn't stop to think about how my actions and my attitude can affect others, maybe I should just accept being like this and leave it at that, it's fitting punishment for my behaviour” Lauren looks down at her chubby hands, the urge to suck on her thumb was really strong.

“But then you won't learn, will you? You have to learn how to accept your mistakes if you hope to avoid making them again, you've got a chance to do that if you embrace why these days can mean so much to children” They stop at Tanya's house and the door opens, this time she's dressed as Supergirl.

“Ah, Wonder Woman and Wonder Tot, have you come to fight the cravings of the sweet tooth?” She looks down to Lauren who is feeling very small in Tanya's gaze.

“Trick or treat!” Lauren babbles, just as her nappy becomes a little warm.

“I think a certain Wonder Tot is going to need another change, isn't she?” Slipping a good amount of sweets into the bag, Tanya kneels down to Lauren and checks her nappy.

“Very much so, all of the excitement I imagine. Time to head home, Wonder Tot, a changing and a good sleep awaits” Lauren babbles a thank you while shifting awkwardly in her wet nappy, she had been excited and it had felt nice.

“Thank you, it's been a fun night” Caroline says after Tanya stands back up.

“Good, great outfits by the way, hand made I see. You have an eye for detail, good night and Happy Halloween” After taking Lauren back to the house and changing her, they head back to the flat once the heating has been turned off so to avoid any problems, she would drop by the house tomorrow and start getting it ready for them moving back in soon, the curse tended to change all of Lauren's clothes and other possession to match whatever her age was at the time so she had to know what needed baby proofing just in case.

About half an hour after returning to the flat, Lauren falls asleep in her sister's arms who sets her down in her crib and tucks her in.

“Good night, sis, see you in the morning” Caroline whispers after giving her sleeping sister a kiss on the forehead. Caroline heads to bed a couple of hours later after watching the movie she was set on watching, checking in on Lauren before going to bed.

~~

The next morning Caroline is up before Lauren and making her breakfast, she had to go to work in an hour and usually liked to make sure that Lauren was okay before heading out, she should be an adult by now since she can see the sun rising.
A few minutes later Lauren walks out of her bedroom, still wearing a nappy and it needed to be changed.

“Morning, sleep alright?” Caroline asks, Lauren doesn't answer, instead heading through to the bathroom to clean up. Minutes later she returns minus the nappy, Caroline left a double thick bag in there for the used nappy.

“Probably a good thing I'm not in a relationship, it would be hard to explain this bloody curse. I even miss wearing the things when I'm an adult again” Plopping down at the kitchen counter and pulling some cereal over, Lauren pours herself a bowl without any milk since she isn't too fond on milk in her cereal, and starts eating.

“Well you could always wear them as an adult more often if you like, you clearly enjoy the comfort” Lauren answers her with a glare that says 'Don't even joke about it'.

After a few minutes Lauren stops eating, pushes the bowl away and looks up at her sister, who passes her a mug of water and a glass of orange juice.

“So what do you have in mind for Christmas?” Lauren asks and Caroline smiles, explaining what she has planned before heading out for work, Lauren doing the same not long after.

The plan sounded like fun.

Enjoy the special days if you can

They go by fast.