The Error, by LittleMatt

Chapter 5
Chapter 5

Chapter Description: By LittleMatt

Chapter 5

Tom made his way through another early morning at Kiddie Town and sat though another bewildering day of class. He couldn’t understand how these little kids could know so much more than him, how they could be so much more capable than him in so many ways. Unable to follow the day’s lessons his mind kept wandering back to the day before and how he’d wet his pants just because he wasn’t able to do something everybody else found so simple.

   These thoughts became more intense when he once again began to feel the need to go the restroom. The last thing he wanted to do was to have an accident for the second day in a row so he sat and thought about how he’d finally undo that stupid latch. At last it was time for recess and he bolted for the boy’s room.

   He examined it for a minute. He’d seen it worked several times now and had a pretty good idea of how to do it. He made several attempts making some progress, but the mechanism was ultimately too delicate for him. He sighed deeply and walked out to the playground.

   He found his teacher and looking at his shoes stammered “I think I sort of need some help.”

   “What do you need Tommy?” Mrs. Sanborn asked.

   “I just need some help undoing this fly.” Tommy said barely above a whisper.

   She bent down close so she could hear him “What was that dear?”

   Tommy again whispered into her ear and she briefly gave him a surprised look. “OK, let’s get that taken of.”

   She followed his into the restroom and easily helped him with his predicament. All the while she was careful not to hurt his feeling but Tom could tell from the way she looked at him that she was beginning to think he didn’t even belong in her class. He finished up hoping that nobody had witnessed anything.

   At the end of class that day Tom started to go for the door when he heard Mrs. Sanborn call his name. He turned back around and went up to her desk.

   “Tommy, I have a note here for your mother. Could you get her to sign it and bring it back tomorrow?” Tom took the envelope and nodded. He had some idea of what was in it, but he knew he had little choice but to give it to his mom. Not wanting to deal with it right after school he shoved it deep into his backpack and went out to her car.

   “Hey sweety, did you have a better day today?” She greeted him.

   “Yeah” Tom said shrugging his shoulders.

   “I’m going to head by the mall for a bit, wanna come with me?”

   “Sure” Tom said.

   Tom listened to the radio, watching the scenery go by and began to forget about having to ask his teacher for help going to the bathroom. The car pulled into the mall parking lot and Tom gawked at how huge it was. He was sure there’d be plenty of things for him to do that would let him forget about being an elementary schooler for a while.

   Inside, the mall was incredibly crowded. Tom was surprised that such a small town could produce so many people but was too interested in finding an arcade to care very much.

   “Hey mom can I go look around, I’ll meet you back here in an hour.”

   His mom gave him a skeptical look and for a moment he thought she’d say no. “Alright, but be back in half an hour instead” she said before handing him some money to play around with.

   Tom was thrilled, finally he was getting a taste of teenage freedom. He got a large soda at the food court and began to look around. He spotted an arcade and walked confidently over to it. But when he got inside he paused. He got out a dollar bill and got some tokens from the machine and began to look around for something to play, but as he explored he noticed that the other teenagers were looking at him like he was an invader. He realized that because of his uniform everybody there assumed he was just a little kid who’d probably throw a damper on the fun they were having. It probably didn’t help that he was so much smaller than any of them. He was always a bit shorter than average, but these kids simply towered over him.

   He did his best to ignore them and just enjoy his time away from adult supervision. He found one of his favorite games from back home and popped in a token. For the first few seconds it was the same game he was used to. But this version was harder somehow. He’d always been able to play for what seemed forever on one quarter, but this time he was dead in under a minute. He stared at the death screen in shock. From somewhere off to the side a kid not much older than himself chuckled “Don’t worry kid I wasn’t very good at that when I was your age either, you’ll get better.”

   Tom was about to inform him that he was not some little brat when he heard the voice of the attendant behind him “Excuse me son, is your mom here?”

   Tom turned around to face him bewildered that he’d be asking such a question “No, she’s out shopping. I don’t need her to be with me every second.” He answered.

   “Well you do need her here, we don’t allow anyone under 12 without a parent.”

   “But I...” Tom thought for a second and decided that admitting to being a teenager in elementary school wasn’t what he wanted to do and that nobody would believe him anyway. He sulked out of the arcade and went to wait for his mom. As he waited he began to feel the effects of the large soda. He decided to wait until he got home where he could at least try to work that cursed latch in private, or worse yet ask for help again.

   He was about to give in and go search for a restroom when his mom appeared. “Hi hon, have fun?”

   “Yeah I guess” Tom said before hesitating for a moment “I really need to go to the bathroom and I think...”

   “Still need some help with that?”

   Tom nodded as his face turned red.

   “Well come on.” His mother said before leading him off in the direction of the bathroom.

   The crowd had grown quite thick and Tom struggled to keep up with his mother. He felt more like a little kid than ever before trying so desperately to stay with his mom but he didn’t know what else to do. Eventually the task became so difficult that she reached out her hand for Tom to take. Knowing he had little choice Tom took her hand. He took some small solace in the fact that none of his friends from back home were here to see him being led by the hand so his mom could help him go to the bathroom.

   They turned a corner onto the main concourse of the mall where things were even more crowded. Tom couldn’t even see where he was going, he was now simply being dragged through the throng. He felt a bolt of panic as his mother’s hand slipped out of his. He tried to go around to get back to where he thought she was but he just got pushed back further and further. His need to go to the bathroom was now beyond desperate and there was little he could do to even find his way let alone undo his pants by himself. Unable to hold it any longer Tom felt his bladder release uncontrollably and the warm wetness spread through his crotch and down his leg. Looking down at his soaked pants Tom began to feel like nothing more than a lost little boy.

   Tears flooded into his eyes and finally some people in the crowd took notice. “Hey are you lost ?” a voice from behind him asked. Tom turned around to find a girl who was maybe somewhere toward the end of her high school years leaning down at looking at him sympathetically.

   Tom could only sniffle and nod.

   “Well let’s get you somewhere where your parents might find you and get you into some dry pants” his new caretaker said as she took his hand. Still lightly sobbing Tom didn’t know what else to do but comply. He was led over to a nearby information booth where the girl explained she’d found a lost child.

   After getting his name and description the attendant at the booth made an announcement and within a few minutes Tom’s mother appeared.

   “Oh baby, I’m sorry I let go of your hand. I’ll make sure that never happens again” she exclaimed as she bent down to give him a hug. Forgetting himself for a moment Tom returned the hug and rested his head on her shoulder taking comfort in his mother’s arms. “And don’t worry about those pants. It’s not your fault. Well get you into something dry at home.”

   She thanked Tom’s teenage rescuer for finding her boy and taking his hand in a firm grip led him back out to the car. At home she took him upstairs and helped him out of his wet things. “I want you to know that I’m not angry at you in any way. But you are going to have to figure out how to undo your pants on your own. I just bought you a new bunch of pants and everything they sell here has the same thing.” Tom nodded as he got himself into the dry clothes his mother had laid out. “Now go ahead and watch your cartoons. I’ll get all this in the wash for you.”

   Tom couldn’t believe how understanding his mother was. He couldn’t believe how much he was beginning to fit the role of little boy that had been thrust on him either. But he didn’t want to think about any of that now, he just wanted to watch some cartoons and forget about the day.

   Upstairs his mother couldn’t help but notice an envelope sticking out of his backpack.