Little Tales

Chapter 11
Atonement

Chapter Description: Atonement can be young

Atonement can call at any time
Revenge as well
Ill acts can result in justified consequences

Many humans hate their jobs, they'll complain about them, they'll joke about their distaste for it. Humans have created a system of general unhappiness for themselves so that the few can have more and the many suffer for that greed.

What if that hatred for your work resulted in an unintended shift of perceptive though? A little downsizing shall we say.

~~

First and foremost this should be known, Mia Timison hates children. Not outright abusive hate but more of an 'Ugh, children' kind of hate and the irony of it is that she is a nursery worker with training in caring for children from the ages of infancy to five years old.

She has never liked to be around children, she believes that they should be seen but not heard and were it not for needing this job then she would have never taken the training, in protest, nor taken this job.

Now you may ask why has she gone to this bother if she hates children? Simple, because her parole officer has given her a final warning. Either do as you're told or it's back to prison for excessive destruction of public property and manslaughter.

So why as she being allowed around children, you ask, because she needs a job and no one will hire her but a local nursery is short staffed and as long as she's being supervised and prevented from harming anyone then she can do the work.

Now to her credit so far she has buckled down and done what's been demanded of her, she's changed nappies, fed the children, bathed them, read to them, educated them as best as she can and generally done all that's expected of her but it isn't hard for those working with her to see, and hear, her distaste for the whole thing and for the children.

Now the final warning is because she tried to skip out on doing the work, she tried to do a runner and was tackled to the ground by two police officers who have been assigned to keep an eye on her.

So what's the crime, you ask, what exactly did she do? She was involved in vehicular theft and assault, she stole a truck and tried to run her former boss over after he had fired her for misconduct in the work place. She ended up running over five people, two of them died from the injuries they had sustained.

She had fled in the truck and led the police on quite the merry chase where she caused a considerable sum of damage to buildings and vehicles before the damage the truck had sustained in all of this brought it to a halt, she had then attempted to run on foot and took a hostage, a young woman who had been out for a walk with a friend. She had threatened to kill the woman if anyone got near to her, she didn't see the tree branch that the friend had before it smacked into the back of her head.

She was sent to prison for thirty years, she has been given the chance of parole for good behaviour after ten years served but she is seriously pushing her luck. Complaints about her working at the nursery have been considerable but what can be done? The parole board want to give her a chance but she isn't making it easy and as far as many people are concerned she should be locked up for the rest of her life for her crimes.

So this is her final chance, if she can't sort herself out then the only time she'll be outside again is when she's dead.

Thing is Karma has other plans for her.

~

“Just go to sleep, little one, please. You need a nap” Mia pleads as the child she is tending to tries to return to their playing. All day she's been trying to keep her temper in check as the children have played, made a lot of noise, needed tending to and generally been as stubborn as young children are known for being.

She is trying her best to not lash out but being around these noisy, messy creatures is wearing thin on her nerves.

“Please, have a nap, I promise you can return to playing afterwards” Prison was less stressful than trying to take care of a bunch of stubborn, wilful children. Finally the child, a four year old, finally succumbs to their fatigue and dozes off on their sleeping mat.

“Finally” Mia thinks to herself as she stands up and looks around the room, so many sleeping children all having their mid day nap. It was peaceful at last, at least for the time being. Soon they would all be awake again and the chaos would resume likely with a lot of nappy changes.

Taking a breath, the scent of clean, for now, young children and finger paint strong in the air, Mia pushes back the impulse to head for the door and try to do another runner. There were four police officers keeping tabs on her, two standing guard outside with all but one exit locked, the others only unlocked for emergencies. Another two officers in the building keeping tabs on her through CCTV.

Her parole officer was due to drop round in two hours and evaluate her work and her behaviour, nursery staff were also keeping tabs on her when not tending to the children. There were also likely some press outside eager to get a scoop on her and to stir up farther anger from the public.

After her shift for today she'll be taken back to prison for another night so the gauntlet will have to be run.

Feeling a strong yawn kick in, Mia yawns heavily and wearingly looks over to a sleeping mat that isn't occupied. Maybe she could catch a little sleep before the children wake up, may as well since leaving the room will only result in her sitting alone in the lunch room on her own as no one wants to be around her.

The children don't know of her past, they only see a woman they regard as teacher and carer, they don't know that she killed three people a little over a decade ago. That was before they were born after all.

A little nap couldn't hurt, they can't begrudge her that. Going over to the mat she drops down to the floor and curls up on it.

“Just a little sleep” Her eyes close and she's soon fast asleep, the mat is a little small for her but she's so tired that she doesn't care.

~

“A little of this, a little of that, time to bring that murderous bitch down a peg”

~

She can hear voices as she sleeps, they're a mix of children and adults.

“How did that happen?”

“She's so cute!”

“You can see her nappy!”

“Guess she'll need changing soon”

“Never thought I would see someone so vile look so adorable”

“She's sucking her thumb!”

“Is that Mia? She's such an adorable baby!”

“What are they on about? What's happened?” Her eyes open and she feel a thickness between her legs, as well as the sound of a nappy crinkling very close to her. There are children and staff looking at her, two of the police officers are looking at her as well.

“TEACHER'S A BABY!” One of the kids yells in delight and the other kids turn it into a song as Mia realises that she's sucking her thumb and that the room seems a lot bigger than it did earlier, sitting up she feels her thick nappy cushion her backside. Her thumb pops out of her mouth and she looks at her hands, then her legs, what she sees are the hands and legs of a young child of maybe no more than three years old, maybe younger.

She pushes her up onto her feet and is met with some children being face to face in height with her while a few are taller than her, and the adults towering over her.

“I'm not a baby!” She cries out and instantly regrets it as her body picks that time to go to deal with waste management, her nappy filling quickly. She blushes bright red in sheer embarrassment, she couldn't have, seriously. How did this even happen?

“From cell filler to nappy filler” One of the staff remarks as Mia tries to cover her rather visible and soiled nappy as best as a toddler can do. One of the staff members lifts her up until she's face to face, her nappy drooping.

“I could leave you like this but that would be cruel, let's get you changed” To her even farther embarrassment Mia finds herself taken over to a changing table where she is laid down and her soiled nappy removed, she squirms in mixed horror and humiliation as she is cleaned up with wet wipes before baby powder and lotion is applied and a fresh new nappy, extra thick of course, slid under her backside and fastened around her waist with a little pat for extra measure.

“This can't be happening, this can not seriously be happening!” She is then lifted up again, her old nappy disposed off in the nappy bin, and she is set down again amongst the children. She finds herself feeling very exposed and small amid the larger children, she had been taking care of them just before her nap, how could she now be one of them?

“I'll keep an eye on her” The staff member who changed her nappy remarks. “Not like she can do much now” How did she become a child? She was a grown up for what must have barely been an hour or two ago!

The other staff and the officers leave the room as if seeing a grown woman reduced to little more than a baby is an every day occurrence, the remaining staff member watching her with a little smirk.

“You're so little!” One of the older children remarks, they near tower over her completely and she starts to feel scared.

“How did you become little?” Another of the older children asks.

“I don't know” Mia squeaks, she hated feeling this vulnerable and helpless especially amid those who just earlier had been much smaller than her.

One of the older kids, a boy, pushes her to the ground and laughs as she lands with an 'oof' and her thick nappy cushioning the impact. She could feel tears well up in her eyes, not from pain but from humiliation.

“Teacher's a baby!” The song starts again and the children dance around her, Mia starts crying and before long is kicking her legs like, well, a baby. The song soon stops, the children disperse back to their playing and Mia lies on the floor crying and feeling very small and helpless, how had this happened to her? She had been a grown woman, how had she been reduced to a young child?

“Over here, little one” The remaining staff member beckons to her and she pulls her up and waddles over, her thick nappy making it hard for her to walk too well and her legs felt a little wobbly.

“Got to admit that I never thought someone like you could be so cute”

“I'm not cute!” She pouts, not realising just how much she adds to her cuteness factor as she does this.

“Yes, you are and you will be for a long time. Me and a few staff members got together to bring you down a peg, it was easy enough really. You did kill Annie's dad and grandmother after all and she wanted to get even but she didn't want to stoop to your level so she looked into a way to take away something dear to you, she took your adulthood from you with a near forgotten spell that her great, great, great grandmother knew.

It was passed down in her family but forgotten about until recently, when she told us about it we helped her get everything she needed after you were sent here by the parole board. Then when you had that nap she got to work, within minutes you were a toddler again with some clothing changes. And here's the best part, you'll be like this for a very long time and any bad behaviour will see you get younger until you're just a newborn.

According to Annie it's a punishment curse designed to render someone who has committed grievous acts helpless and any farther bad behaviour will see them continue to get younger, good behaviour will slow their regression but they won't get any older until they have truly atoned for their actions.

Considering your attitude and your crimes then you'll be filling nappies and needing to be tended to for a very long time so you better get used to the padding and relying on others, you won't be getting parole.

Got to admit that you are a very cute baby” This couldn't be happening, she had done everything that was asked of her, this wasn't fair! Tears return and she falls to the ground kicking and screaming exactly like the young child she is.

Justice, in her case, is young.

Atonement is a bitch.