The Dark Influence

Chapter 11
11: TFW You Have Trouble :(

John was not on his way. That first day weighed heavy on him. The pull-ups he was giving following his first accident had what the daycare workers called learning something something. Simba’s pawprint was on the front of the underwear.

“We want to keep Simba’s paw around, don’t we?” The daycare worker asked him.

“Yeah!” He shouted, throwing his arms up in the air.

“Okay, so when you have an accident, Simba’s paw disappears, and we don’t want that, do we John?”

“No.” He replied, shaking his head.

"Good. Now I'm gonna leave you without your pants so it's easier to tell if you need to go potty, okay?" John nodded in response. Somehow this didn’t get through to him, however. The daycare workers were able to tell when John had wet (even though he didn’t) from a distance, always calling him over to tell him he went pee pee and that they should try going potty. John would always deny that he did until they told him to look down. Simba’s paw was gone. He was always a little sad to see it go until the daycare workers supplied him with a new one.

One thing John didn’t understand, however, was why they would have him sit on the potty after he had an accident. What else was he supposed to do? He’d already gone.

Chloe looked over the report from the day when she picked him up. “John Baker. Advantages: happy, a pleasure to have in class, good at sharing. Challenges: Has trouble making it to the potty on time. Three total changes today. Aw sweetie, don’t be so down, you’ll get it.” She tussled his hair before starting the car.

John looked out the window as they drove. He noticed that his sense of direction was deteriorating. He had drove by New Horizons hundreds of times on his way to work, now how he got from there to home felt like magic. “Mommy, why do I haf to go potty? Can’t I go back to diapews?”

Chloe smiled at John calling her mommy, “Sweetheart, don’t you like your big boy pants?”

“Yeah.” He giggled. “I like Simba.”

“Well Simba doesn’t like it when you go pee pee on him, that’s why his paw disappears.” She kept the same tone the daycare workers had taught her. Maybe potty training wasn’t as far off as she thought.

“Otay mommy,” he said as they drove.

“How was school today sweetie?” She asked. John said nothing.

“John?” She adjusted the mirror to see him in his car seat. John was looking out the window at something. “You okay back there sweetie?”

John grunted, “Yeth mommy,” as his focus returned. That couldn’t be good.

“Oh sweetheart,” she gave a compassionate sigh, “Are you going potty in your pants right now?”

“…No.” John said awkwardly. It was too late; the smell had already started to fill the car. Chloe didn’t have her diaper bag with her, and they were fifteen minutes from home. She pulled into the Target parking lot, hurrying around the back to where John was sitting. He was running his fingers along the window sill, pretending to be jumping over traffic when she opened the door.

“John sweetie,” Chloe said as she picked him up, “You’re supposed to hold it until you get to a potty! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know I had to.” John stated matter-of-factly.

“Well, mommy doesn’t have any diapers, so we’ll have to go shopping okay?”

“I tought these wewe big boy pants,” he protested, pointing to his crotch.

“Right, big boy pants. We don’t want Simba to get too scared!” She joked, and hurried with him through the parking lot, depositing him in the toddler seat of a shopping cart. John felt his mess displaced again as the smell followed him. Why was he so bad at this?

Chloe hurried through the store, getting a package of pull-ups and wipes before running to the bathroom. She did the same thing the daycare worker did: wipe him standing up before flushing his mess down the toilet, then throwing the pull-up out and sliding the new one on.

“Hee-hee, Simba’s back!” John squealed with glee as Chloe sighed and pulled his pants back up.