The Dark Influence

Chapter 4
4: You Guys Would Not BELIEVE What Happened at the Park!

After his second change of the day, Chloe put John in her car and drove to the park. He noticed she had somehow snuck a carseat in past him before regressing him. That’s probably what that huge Amazon package was a few days ago, he thought to himself.

“Okay sweetie, are you excited for the park?” Chloe said, looking at him in the rearview mirror. John said nothing. It was Saturday, but two days from now he was supposed to be at work. What would his boss say? What if they ran into someone they knew? His train of thought was broken by Chloe’s voice and the ping of her camera app switching on.

“Okay Bakerfamfans, now we’re gonna take little John to the park! I got my diaper bag with all the stuff we need, and John has been such a pill this morning, hoping he can burn off his energy before his nap later.” Chloe held her phone in her hand while bracing it against the steering wheel, with the other placed on the other side of the wheel as she drove. She clearly was hoping for John to say or do something in response, probably for B-roll or something. John kept still and said nothing until they got to the park.

The door opened and John expected to see Chloe’s face. Instead he saw her phone. Again. “Okay Bakerfamfans, don’t forget to leave a like and share. But here we are at the park! Little man doesn’t seem to excited to be here, but he was really hyper at home so I know this is a good thing.”

She unbuckled John from his seat and put him on the ground next to her. John thought about making a run for it, but he knew he wouldn’t get far with his little legs. So he waited as Chloe got the diaper bag from the back, squawking about nothing for her stupid mommy blog.

Looking over at the park, it looked a lot cooler than it would have a couple days ago. When he was an adult, parks seemed mundane. Now all the cool play structures, swings, slides, and monkey bars seemed to call to him. Once Chloe started walking, he took off toward the play structure. Chloe filmed him all the way, “Ope, looks like someone’s getting excited!” She hyped up.

John toddled up the stairs and across the bridge, hunching over to crawl through the tube across the top of the sand. A warm red glow enveloped him as he entered. Something playful came over him. Inside the tube he pretended he was an army commando, making fake explosion sounds and humming the Mission Impossible theme to himself, before coming to a plastic bubble, meant for kids to look outside and probably say hi to their mommies. Here he was able to stand up, his hair brushing the ceiling.

John crouched down to get a better view of the outside, with Chloe filming him with her phone again. She was probably going on and on about how cute he looked. He didn’t care. It was quiet. He watched people playing with their dogs, kids running around the playground and on the swings, couples walking together. The world felt safe where he was, inside his little bubble where the cyclops-in-a-wig couldn’t get him. His concentration was broken when another couple of kids crawled by.

“Hey, watch it!” One of them yelled rudely as they continued on. As they rounded the corner John could hear the end of their conversation.

“That kid really stinks, why’s he even in here? He’s stinky!”

John, annoyed at their comment, crawled onward, emerging from the other side with Chloe towering over him, phone in hand.

“Uh-oh, looks like my stinky boy needs a change!” She chirped. “Those other kids told me you were going poo-poo in your pants, is that what happened John?” She moved the phone into his face like the paparazzi.

 “No!” he protested, putting his hands up to cover his face instinctually.

“I don’t know, I could see you concentrating pretty hard inside that bubble, little boy! Let’s check your pants.” For a brief moment, finally, the phone went away from her face, revealing Chloe’s beauty. John couldn’t admire it though as she spun him around, looking inside the back of his diaper. The phone went up again once she confirmed her suspicion.

“Yep, we have a poopy boy to change.”

“Nuh-uh, I was, I was just sitting! I wasn’t goin’ poopy!” John protested. He didn’t intend to speak like that. He remembered being more eloquent as an adult. How could he not feel himself pooping in his pants?

“Oh John, when are you going to be potty trained?” Chloe lamented to her phone. John scoffed. He was potty trained! He tried to take off toward the bathroom across the park. It didn’t matter. Chloe heaved him up on her hip as she carried him toward the grass. John could feel his mess now, the warmth spreading across his bottom.