Experiment Zero

Chapter 4
Fourth Grade Troubles

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Chapter Description: Eric looks forward to playing spies with his best friend, Ralph, during recess.

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Eric stretched as he awoke. Again, his crotch was soggy and his butt felt as though it were covered in goop. It was just another day, this was actually fairly normal to him by now since it was the condition in which he woke up over the last few days. He blushed as he remembered how Andrea kept changing him during school, along with various nurses. He’d heard other students were going through the same thing, and it was just to be expected during the day.

“Hey, nurse,” he called, “I need to be changed again!” The nurse who answered his call was named Veronica. She was short with very short hair, but she usually got him ready very fast. Eric noticed his new diaper looked a lot smaller than the one he had worn to bed last night.

“Veronica, why is this diaper smaller than my last one?” he inquired. A chill came over him. It was as if he realized a lot of somethings were out of place.

Suppressing a disgusted look, Veronica replied, “Oh no, you got it all wrong. You just thought you had a bigger diaper last night. This is the size you’ve been wearing all al-” she had to excuse herself before finishing her statement. She was replaced by Susan, who looked as bright and cheerful as ever.

“Sorry about that, champ. Veronica isn’t feeling too well this morning. Now lie down so I can get you changed!” Eric’s diaper fell off as he complied. It seemed to have grown bigger during the night... or maybe...

“Susan?”

“Yes?”

“Am I getting smaller?”

“Oh no, don’t be silly. You just had a bigger mess last night than usual is all. Nothing we can’t fix right here.” Eric noticed that this diaper only had two tapes on each side, while the other one had three. When he tried to point this out, Susan simply replied, “Huh, that is odd. I don’t know what’s up with that, but I’ll ask around for you.” With that, Eric’s mind was put at ease.

She smacked him lightly as he got up. “Alrighty, you ready for your first day of fourth grade?”

Fourth grade? Wasn’t he in high school? Something wasn’t adding up here...

“Susan... aren’t I in...” he had to think for a few minutes before the term came to him, “... high school?”

“Oh, goodness, no. That’s not for another few years! Aren’t we ahead of ourselves this morning!”

“Susan... how old am I?”

“You’re ten, don’t you remember? You celebrated your birthday last week, sweetie.”

Eric slapped his hand to his forehead. That’s right, of course he was ten! Memories of last week’s supposed birthday came flooding back into him.

“Come on, Eric. We have to get you ready for school. You’re principal, Miss Amelia, wants to meet with you today.”

Eric complied. With help from Nurse Susan he got ready and walked down to the classroom. As Susan escorted him he took note of the fact that he was roughly half her size, but had the vague recollection of being slightly taller. He dismissed it. Of course he was imagining things. They stopped in front of Miss Amelia, whom Eric could have sworn he’d met before in a different setting, but again, he dismissed it as his childish fantasies.

“Well, good morning Eric! How are you doing today?”

“Ready to start fourth grade!” Eric beamed. Now that he was all done with third grade, it was time to get fourth grade done and out of the way.

“Yes, I bet you are. I bet you must be starving. If you come right this way, I’ll lead you to the cafeteria for breakfast.” Nurse Susan pulled her aside for a few minutes. Eric knew he heard Veronica’s name come up, along with something about pills, but he didn’t let it bother him. He was about to go eat breakfast, which he was all but ready for.

When Miss Amelia guided him to his table, Eric noticed Ralph had his head in his hands as though he were thinking long and hard about something. “Hi Ralph!” he greeted his best friend. “What are we playing at recess today? The new playground looks awesome!”

Ralph just stared at Eric in disbelief. His jaw dropped a little. After the adults left them to their food, he continued to just stare at Eric. Finally, he whispered, “Dude, don’t you remember anything?”

Eric had to think about that. He remembered his birthday party last week which he had invited Ralph to come to. Third grade last year had been fun... what was there to remember? “Remember what?” he whispered back, really confused as to what he was supposed to remember.

“Supplement? Diapers? Study?” Ralph listed off a few words, so as not to be heard.

“Oh, I’m wearing a diaper.” Ralph was relieved that he remembered at least a little bit of the list, “Susan told me I probably shouldn’t mention it very much in public, but I woke up with a bad stinky this morning. I didn’t study much during summer break though...” Eric looked a little bit guilty after admitting that last part.

Ralph just slapped his hand to his face. “Forget it,” he said, “Obviously I was stupid to assume you’d remember anything.”

Eric was very confused. Why was Ralph talking like that. That wasn’t how they usually talked together. Eric grabbed Ralph’s hands, earning him a very disgusted look from Ralph, which, if he weren’t being serious at the moment, Eric would have found quite comical. “Please tell me,” he pleaded, looking deep into Ralph’s eyes.

Ralph broke eye contact. “Fine. But keep your head low.” Eric obeyed. In a voice barely audible, Ralph whispered, “Yesterday, we were high school seniors. Today we’re in fourth grade. We’re a lot smaller than we were yesterday... They’re doing something to us. We have to figure out a way to escape.”

Eric attentively nodded. “So... recess?”

The expression in Ralph’s face changed. It seemed as though he thought more highly of Eric now. “Yes, recess would be a good time.”

Eric did cartwheels in his mind. They were going to play spies during recess! He couldn’t be more excited for the playtime he would have with his buddy.

Eric was far too excited to finish his food. Ralph, on the other hand, steadily worked on his own plate. Ralph jumped a little when Miss Amelia approached them.

“Hey, boys.” she said, catching their attention, “Your nurses informed me that you haven’t yet had your medicine this morning, so we’re going to go ahead and get that taken care of.” she eagerly grinned. “Here, one for you, and one for you.” she handed the both of them a small, white pill, along with two small glasses of orange juice.

Ralph nudged Eric and shook his head.

“Is there something wrong, Ralph?”

“No ma’am,” he replied almost instantly.

“You boys both need to take your medicine, so we can get started with class.

Eric didn’t heed Ralph’s warning, or even know what to make of it. He needed his medicine so he would stay healthy. Both boys placed the pills in their mouths and drank their juice.

“Now open up.” Miss Amelia commanded, then demonstrated. Eric readily complied. Miss Amelia patted him on the head for his obedience, which made him feel warm inside. Ralph hesitated, then opened his mouth for inspection.

“Here, have some more juice,” Miss Amelia offered after checking him out. Before he had time to refuse, she poured it into his mouth and made him swallow it. Ralph turned pale. He’d swallowed the pill.

“Good boy.” Miss Amelia doted. “Now, Ralph, the councilor said she wants to see you during recess today.” Eric made a betrayed expression on his face. “Don’t worry,” she added, “It won’t be long, she just wants to say hi and see how you’re doing.”

With that, Miss Amelia led them both back to the classroom. Ralph didn’t get another chance to talk to Eric, as Miss Amelia introduced them to their teacher, Miss Andrea.

“Hi boys! Are you both ready to start fourth grade?” Miss Andrea greeted them both. Eric beamed while Ralph scowled. “Ralphie, that’s not very nice.” Miss Andrea chided him.

“I’m sorry,” Ralph replied after biting his tongue. He tried to force a smile, but found it was a lot harder to do at a younger age. Miss Andrea seemed satisfied with this attempt though, and dismissed them to their seats.

Eric found it hard to focus on the first day of class over the prospect of playing spies during recess. Ralph was, hands down, the best playmate he had ever had, so recess today would be a blast. As he was thinking about how much fun he’d have, he felt a very unwelcome feeling in the back of his diaper.

Eric raised his hand and was acknowledged by Miss Andrea. “Miss Andrea... I need to use the bathroom.” Eric insisted, while clutching his rear end.

Miss Andrea sighed, “Eric, did you have an accident?” Eric nodded. “Go to the nurses office. I’ll let her know you’re on your way.”

Eric headed down to the nurses office, where he saw Nurse Susan waiting for him. “Hi sweetie! Do you need to be changed?” she asked in her usual, friendly tone. Eric nodded and she led him into the restroom, but Nurse Susan was stopped by Nurse Veronica as she did so.

“We need to talk.” she insisted.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” Susan replied, “I’ve already reported you. Amelia says that if you slip up again you will be removed from this project with possible consequences.”

“This is all wrong, Susan!!! These people are taking part in an experiment that they didn’t sign up for! We need to call the police!”

“Veronica, listen. In a few weeks we’ll be successful with this project, and it will bring in a LOT of money. You can either stay on board or quit, but I’ll be damned if you ruin this for me.”

“I just wanted to give you a way out, but it looks like you’re in deeper than I thought you were,” Veronica replied, “That’s too bad, really. I’m going to call the cops now.”

Amelia pushed a button before Veronica could even pull out her cell phone. A couple of big, burly men escorted Veronica out of the nurse’s office, with Veronica kicking and screaming as she left.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Nurse Susan told Eric. “She and I are still in school together and had a little misunderstanding. Now, let’s get you cleaned up!”

“You’re still in school?” Eric asked as he performed the ritual to which he’d become accustomed and found normal.

“Yes, I want to be a doctor someday. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“But you’re a nurse...” Eric protested, completely missing the concept of career change.

“Yes, I’m a nurse,” she said as she secured the tapes of the fresh diaper around his waist. “There! That should do it! Now head back to class and I’ll let Miss Andrea know that you’re on your way.”

Eric thought he could hear Nurse Veronica still screaming as he headed back to class, but it wasn’t right for him to pry, so he just ignored it and continued back to class.

“Are you feeling better, Eric?” Miss Andrea asked as he reentered the empty classroom.

“Yes, a lot better!” Eric said, noticing the two of them were alone.

“Well, that’s good. Everyone else left for recess, so you should run outside to join them!” she paused, then added, “Miss Amelia told me that Ralph had to see the councilor, so he’ll be there to join you in a little while.”

Eric rushed outside. He waited about ten minutes, and recess was almost over, but Ralph eventually came back out to meet him.

“Oh, god, they tried to hypnotize me again... well, no one’s looking right now, so we should make a break for it while we still can!”

Yes! This is what Eric had been waiting for! “Where are the bad guys coming from?” he shouted.

Ralph gave him that same dumbfounded look he’d greeted him with that morning. “Dude, I can’t believe you’re just ignoring everything like that. They are holding Veronica hostage and plan on doing who knows what with her! We have to get out of here!” Ralph tried to yell at Eric in a hushed tone.

“You’re not playing the game right!” Eric pouted. Ralph just shook his head in disbelief.

“Fine, I’m leaving without you!” he bolted off toward the fence.

Eric knew he had to tell a teacher that Ralph was running away. He ran straight for Miss Andrea, who had just come outside to round them up.

“Miss Andrea! Quick, Ralph’s running away!!!”

“Where is he,” Miss Andrea asked, her voice full of concern.

Eric pointed to where Ralph was running. With what seemed like super-human speed to Eric, Miss Andrea dashed after Ralph and came back carrying the sobbing boy minutes later.

“It’s all your fault!” Ralph kept yelling. Miss Amelia was called so she could escort Ralph to her office. Miss Andrea put her hand on Eric’s shoulder to comfort him. Everyone else was sent to another class.

“Eric, has Ralph been acting strange?” Miss Andrea probed.

“No... I saw him at breakfast and we talked about how we wanted to play spies at recess.” Eric answered quietly.

“Well, Eric, Ralph hasn’t been feeling well for the last few days so he’s going to stay at home for a while. You come see me if you need anything, okay?”

Eric nodded. He’d miss playing with his friend.

The rest of the day was sad for him, but by the time he got back to his room at night the air felt so heavy that it knocked him right out

 

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