Chapter 10
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Tom was staring at a framed photograph on the kitchen wall. He had noticed the picture whilst he was sat in his high chair and something about it had caught his attention. Now he was stood on the floor, gazing up at it, but he couldn't make out the details.
"What are you looking at?" Evelyn queried.
He pointed at the photograph, then said "up, up".
She stared at the photo for a moment and frowned, then asked "do you wanna look at it?".
He grinned, pointed at the photograph again, then replied "I want up".
Evelyn reached down and placed her hands underneath his armpits, before scooping him up into her arms. Now he could see the photograph clearly, Evelyn and Levi were standing in a meadow, there was a small boy with blonde hair stood in-between them, he was sucking on a pacifier.
"That's me," Evelyn said, pointing to the photo, "that's Levi," she added, then she pointed at the toddler and said "that's you".
He didn't need reminding, he could remember feeling the warm sun on his face, the smell of wildflowers and the sound of birds chirping. He had been there, he was certain of it. But it still didn't feel right to him, wasn't he the big brother? He pondered the meaning of words like 'big' and 'small'.
Tom understood that Evelyn was taller than he was, so how could he be her big brother? Big and tall are the same thing, are they not? He thought so, so he reasoned that since he was smaller than her, he must be her little brother.
Evelyn was still staring at the photo, "but...how?" she asked.
He turned his head to look at her and their eyes met, she gave him a perplexed look.
"I need to...fix this, there was...something I needed to do," she stammered.
"Fix what?" Camila queried.
Evelyn lowered Tom down onto the floor, shook her head, then mumbled "never mind".
Then it hit him, Evelyn wanted him to grow up. He remembered that she had been attempting to persuade him to use the potty, despite his protests. She had tried to make him use the potty on numerous occasions, too many times for him to count.
Tom recalled earlier that day, he had finally relented and agreed to use the potty for the first time. Evelyn had congratulated him on becoming a big boy, before explaining to him what it meant to be a big boy.
He had learned that big boys had to go to school, where they weren't allowed to see their mommy or daddy. Even worse, he discovered that when he was a really big boy, he would have to live on his own. The idea of having to live by himself made him feel very afraid, he wondered how many times he could use the potty before he was forced to leave home.
Tom followed Camila through into the living room, she asked him if he was tired and he shook his head. Levi was sat on the floor playing with toys, so Tom decided to join him. He picked up a green toy car and started to push it across the floor in a semi-circular motion, then deliberately crashed it into the wall.
When Tom's stomach started to ache, he sat down and placed the toy car on the floor. A familiar pressure was building inside of his body, he stared at the potty and once again contemplated using it, then quickly dismissed the idea. He was sure that if he used the potty too many times then he would have to live on his own.
Evelyn and Camila slumped onto the couch, then started to talk about school. Tom attempted to follow their conversation for a few minutes, but found it boring, they were using too many big words that he didn't understand.
"Last week in science class I was sat next to Mason and he showed me a picture of his dog, it's so cute," Evelyn chattered.
Tom thought that the word 'science' sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall what it meant, he guessed that it had something to do with school.
"Never mind the dog, Mason's cute," replied Camila.
"Yeah...but he definitely lied about kissing Naomi," giggled Evelyn.
Then it occurred to him that he had once attended school, or had he? He wasn't sure anymore, those memories, if they were memories, seemed distant somehow. He watched Levi play with a toy spaceship, meanwhile the girls continued talking to each other.
"Oh that reminds me, do you follow Azaria Lucero on TikTok?" Camila queried.
"Yeah, she does those makeup tutorials?" Evelyn replied.
"Yeah, so Myla Flores told Layla Curtis that she's friends with Azaria," chattered Camila.
"What? Really?" Evelyn asked.
The pressure in Tom's bowel continued to build, but he didn't fight it. He picked up the toy car and rose to his feet, grunted quietly, then pooped his diaper. He welcomed the sudden release of pressure, it felt warm and squishy, he was relieved that he wouldn't have to use the potty.
"Yeah, she even said that Azaria came to her twelfth birthday party," Camila continued.
Evelyn shook her head doubtfully, "No way,".
"She was totally lying, Layla asked Myla's sister about it and she said it didn't happen," Camila explained.
Tom pushed the toy car across the living room floor, paying close attention to it's green shiny surface, he liked the color green. Then he remembered that Levi had a pair of green Hulk pajamas and he decided that he wanted some as well.
"Obviously, I mean Azaria has like twenty million followers," giggled Evelyn, "she wouldn't be seen dead with Myla," she added.
"She's such a liar," Camila chuckled, then asked "how much money do you think Azaria makes?"
"Millions of dollars a year I bet," Evelyn replied.
Tom pricked up his ears. The words were familiar to him, but he didn't understand all of them. What were dollars? What were millions? He couldn't remember exactly, but he knew that they were important to Evelyn. He thought about it carefully and in his mind's eye he could picture a wad of cash, he wondered whether that might be 'dollars'.
"I've heard that her family is rich as well," Camila said, "I read that her parents own a beach house that's worth like eight million dollars," she continued.
"Eight million" gasped Evelyn, "I wish I had that much money", then she covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes grew wide.
"Me too," Camila agreed, then she saw the look of panic in her friend's eyes and asked "what's wrong?".
Tom stared at Evelyn and noticed the look of surprise on her face, he recognized the word 'wish', he had a feeling that it was a bad word, perhaps even a dangerous word. But when he thought about it carefully, the word also made him feel hopeful, as though he had wanted her to say 'wish'. But he wasn't relieved to hear her say the word, instead he felt uneasy and he sensed that something was wrong.
The room fell silent for a few seconds, then Levi wrinkled his nose and said "I think Tom pooped his pants,".
THE END
