CYOA: Escape Room - Chapter 5 (Story) (Patreon)

Serena wiggled her bottom, tears welling up in her eyes as she felt the mushy mass in her diaper shift, her stomach churning in response. She had to get out of this thing! There was no way she could keep going while she was trapped like this!

But... She also didn't want to let the rest of the group down. They only had two hints, and, as little progress as it felt like they were making, they might wind up needing all of them if they wanted to get out. She was just going to have to learn to live with it... And, if they didn't get out, she had a bad feeling this wouldn't be the last time it happened.

She shivered at the thought, cheeks warming at the fresh memory of how mortifying it had been... She supposed she didn't really know what would happen if they didn't solve the escape room; it was, theoretically, only a game... And yet, after being shrunken down to the size of a toddler, having her power of adult speech taken away, and filling her pants, it was hard not to believe that there would be some serious consequences to staying here after their time was up...

She had to keep moving, to keep her mind off of that. She swallowed a whimper as she took a step, the mess squelching between her legs, reminding her anew of what she'd done, her hands curling into fists as she wrapped them around the hem of her dress, yanking it down as hard as she could, not wanting anyone else to see her. 

The gate was the way out, that much was obvious. Neither of them, as far as she knew, had given it any close examination, so it was well past time to correct that, to see if there was any indication on it that would help them find out how to get it open. 

Like everything else, at first glance, it did look like a baby gate, and nothing more, nothing that shouldn't have been simple for them to pull open, or step over, normally... Now, it might as well have been the Great Wall of China. Even with the stool - which made Serena tired just thinking of dragging all the way here - she wouldn't be anywhere close to being able to climb over. 

Besides that, there was nothing, no lock, unless it was on the top, out of her sight, no visible method of release... Was all of this a waste of time?! She pouted, wanting to sit and sulk and feel sorry for herself, not thinking about what that first would actually mean until she'd plopped down, letting out a shocked, disgusted gasp as her backside sank into the muck in her pants. 

She hopped up, burbling to herself and tugging at the seat of her diaper, feeling tinier and more helpless than ever. She had to get out of this place... She had to get them all out!

She gave the gate one more look, since she was over there. No visible lock, no hinges on that side that they could try to dismantle, no anything except for a bunch of cheerful, colorful bars, too close together for any of them to slip through, mocking her...

Or, actually... She frowned, leaning forward. They were very colorful, with splotches of pastel colors all over them. The colors used were very familiar, too... Looking closer, she saw that they weren't random, either. It was hard to tell in some places, because they overlapped in ways that disguised it, but those spots of color were, in fact, in the same shapes as what she'd seen all over the floor as she toddled around the nursery...

Her eyes widened. That was the key, somehow! The shapes were connected to the gate! They were the way out! She tried to let out an exclamation of excitement, only to have it emerge as more baby babble, but that didn't do much to quell her excitement. Finally, maybe they were getting somewhere!

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With no real idea of where to go now, Alecia looked around the room, bouncing in place anxiously, that announcement of the time that had passed weighing heavily on her mind. She snickered when her gaze came across Serena, whimpering and pulling on the hem of her dress, trying her best - and utterly failing - to hide the evidence of the accident the woman who had brought them in here had just so gleefully announced... There was definitely a part of her that wanted to go make fun of the smug little brat, really rub it in, since Serena had seemed to think Alecia was too stupid to join her and Julianne in this room...

By now, though, Alecia wished that Serena had gotten her way, and she'd have stayed back at school. And her bladder was starting to feel awfully full already, thanks to that bottle she'd been given. It was probably better not to waste any time arguing, especially when she could wind up in a situation that wasn't much better.

Finally, for the sake of keeping things moving, she shuffled over to the closest pile of picture books, sitting down to give them a closer look. There were quite a few of them tossed around the room, enough that she felt like they had to be important... That, or they were simply set dressing, designed to waste her time. That could be anything here, honestly, so all she could do was get searching and hope for the best.

She didn't know what drew her to the first book, but, from all of them spread out in front of her, and throughout the room, this was the one that her hand immediately moved towards, pulling it towards herself and flipping it open. Right away, her head began to swim a little, and her eyes were drawn towards the pretty pictures, wanting to just sit there and stare at them for the rest of the hour... 

Alecia shook her head, made herself keep paging through the book, resisting the feeling as best she could, scanning every illustration for something, anything, that would help them out. And then, almost at the end, she found it. There, in one of the pictures, was a pink star, one that looked exactly like one of the shapes on the floor, right down to the shade of pink.

"Oh!" she gasped. She'd nearly convinced herself to go back and read the text - what little there was - to see if the hint was in that, but here it was... There was no way it was a coincidence! She hopped to her feet, thinking back to her memory of the layout of the shapes on the floor, carrying the book over to the corresponding star and stepping on it.

It didn't feel any different from when she'd stood on any of the other shapes... But there wouldn't be just one shape, would there? Excitedly, she looked back at all of the books. She'd gotten very lucky, she suspected, finding this one straight away... The others she needed probably wouldn't be in the same pile, right? 

She waddled over to the one closest to the star, and, trusting her instincts, grabbed the first one that felt right. She opened it up, flipping through the pages as quickly as she could, while still keeping an eye out for the shapes. She stopped only a few pages in, brow furrowed as she looked closer. Was that one of them? She could remember all of the shapes, so she should have known instantly, and yet... There was something about that image that made it so hard to look away, that made her feel a little dizzy...

"Whoa!" she pulled away, giggling slightly as the room continued to spin a bit. She frowned at the feeling of something at the corner of her mouth, reaching up to wipe away what turned out to be a line of drool. "Eww!" she pouted, wiping her hand off on her tiny crop top. "Gross!"

She was so distracted by that, it took a moment for her to recall what she was doing and get back to it, but, as far as she could tell, there were no shapes in the book... Of course, after what had just happened, she was scared to look too closely. She set the book aside and picked up another, being far more careful this time.... Still no shape.

"Oh, come on!" she whined. If she had to go through each of these books one by one, it was going to take all day! Sighing, she chose another and opened it up, and immediately, she was lost in the first picture. It was so pretty... She had to wonder what was going on in it, had to keep staring... It took a little too long for her to think to read the words to see what they said about it, and by the time she did, she couldn't quite remember how to do that...

It was a relief when Serena came stampeding over, though Alecia couldn't resist the chance to mock her. "Eww, don't stand so close!" she giggled. "You're stinky!"

Serena sniffed, her Mary Janes shuffling awkwardly as she stared down at them, but, after a second, she shook her head and pointed down at the nearest shape on the floor. "Huh?" Alecia tilted her head.

Serena stomped her foot, jabbing her finger downwards again. "I mean, yeah, I know they're important," Alecia shrugged smugly. "What else?" Serena pointed at the gate next. "We have to get out?" Alecia furrowed her brow. "Isn't that, like, the whole point?"

Serena groaned, rolling her eyes. "Well, just say it!" Alecia grumbled. Serena blushed bright red, shaking her head vehemently, pointing with one hand at the shape, and the other at the gate. Finally, Alecia put it together. "Oh! Do those unlock the gate?" Serena nodded. "I bet that's what these are for!"

She picked up the book where she'd found the pink star, holding it up to show Serena, not thinking to warn her about the funny way the pictures made her feel... Not until she'd already seen the other girl's eyes glaze over, a silly smile crossing her face. "Sorry!" she squeaked, pulling the book away, wondering how she could have possibly been so stupid. "Serena?"

Serena shook her head, blinking a couple times before Alecia felt confident enough to explain. "There's a star here," she said. "And I bet there's other shapes in some of these other books!"

Serena nodded, kneeling down, being careful not to sit completely, glancing at the last book Alecia had tried. "No, I don't think it's there," Alecia told her. "But there are so many others here! There's, like..." She turned towards the pile of books, unable to think of a proper estimate, and then making a quickly aborted attempt to count them when she couldn't recall what came after the number three. "Like a zillion!"

Serena hadn't stopped looking at the book, however, and, by the time Alecia had finished talking, she was pointing at a gray circle hidden in one of the pictures. "There is one of those on the floor!" Alecia exclaimed, glad she could at least remember that, no matter how much her brain had been betraying her lately, ever since she'd started looking at the picture books. "Just like the star! We did it! We found two!"

She felt very proud of herself, even if she had missed the second one on her own. "Do you think there might be more?" she wondered out loud. Serena shrugged, but glanced over at the still-trapped Julianne. Could there be a shape for all three of them? "W-We could look together," she suggested. "I've already checked..." She turned back towards the pile of books, realizing only then that she hadn't thought to put the ones she'd looked at anywhere in particular... "S-Some of them," she blushed. "O-Or we could try the shapes we did find... Or..."

There were still so many other things in the room for them to try! She knew that working together would be faster, but the idea of tempting fate with the books yet again was kind of scary... What if she got lost in one of the pictures again, and couldn't snap out of it? The more she'd looked at, the more real that possibility felt like... But it did seem like this was an important clue... Would it be better to leave it to Serena to finish up on her own, though, while she did something else?

What should they do?

Should Serena... 

Ask for a change?

Keep looking for shapes in the books?

Try standing on the shapes they have found?

Check under the sink?

Check the sink?

Try to open the fridge?

Look at the pots and pans?

Or ask for a hint?

And should Alecia...

Keep looking for shapes in the books?

Try standing on the shapes they have found?

Check under the sink?

Check the sink itself?

Try to open the fridge?

Look at the pots and pans?

Or ask for a hint?