The Long Night (Complete) (Patreon)

Something I've never tried before: A Halloween-themed story. Planning to release it on DA just before the big day, but you fine people get a sneak peak. Diapers and mind control still mainly in the pipeline. Part AB/DL, part Horror, part homage to what makes Halloween great. Be sure to leave suggestions in the comments!

The Long Night

One

Gwendolyn Jenson (Gwen to her friends) woke up at noon. Her room was well-lit, in spite of the curtain over the window. Her phone's alarm app played “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, a song carefully chosen as far too annoying to sleep through.

She had class in an hour, despite the fact that it was Sunday. Like most most college students, her class schedule and work schedule did not follow the classical pattern that her years in elementary and high school had drilled into her. She had class Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, as well as work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Despite having graduated from high school three years previous, she still felt some tinge of satisfaction from having her Mondays to herself, as well as a tinge of annoyance at having class on Sunday evening. Wednesdays were her least favorite days, when she had to get up early to make doughnuts at WinCo, then somehow find the energy to study for her Architecture degree in the evening. Still, that was a problem for another day.

Gwen slowly coaxed herself out of bed and crossed the room to turn off her alarm. She had to step over a few loose clothes, electronics, and blankets that covered her floor to do so. There was a wall socket closer to her bed that would have made a more convenient spot to charge her phone during the night, but that would have allowed her to turn off her alarm without getting out of bed, which would have defeated the whole purpose. Self-discipline is curious psychological phenomenon. We contain multitudes, and our most of our multitudes are lazy. Her phone displayed the current date and time: 12:01pm, October 31st, 2021. Halloween.

Dressed in the sweatpants and wrinkled  tank top that she used as pajamas, she headed into the small living area/kitchen that she shared with her roommate Amy. The two shared a bathroom as well, which was rarely an issue. Amy had classes in the mornings and work in the evenings, so the two almost never woke up at the same time. The sound of the shower running signaled that today was one of those unfortunate exceptions.

Knowing the futility of demanding her rights to the bathroom while it was in use, Gwen decided to eat breakfast now and get ready when Amy was done. Sadly, Amy had apparently guarded against this as well by failing to wash the dishes the previous evening. Gwen fumed quietly to herself as she searched in vain for a clean bowl. Finally she was forced to wash one from the sink before she could pour herself a bowl of Captain Crunch. Unfortunately, she then discovered that she was out of milk as well, forcing her to sit on the couch and eat her cereal dry like a toddler. She sat watching the news on her phone and munching cereal until Amy finally emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a bathrobe. Amy was shorter and had darker hair than Gwen.

Amy must have caught the annoyed look on her roommate's face, because she immediately launched into her apology/excuse.

“Look, I'm really, really sorry! I was up real late last night chatting with Matt.”

“Who's Matt?” asked Gwen.

“You remember! I met him at the gym the other day.”

“Oh, right.” said Gwen, feigning recollection. Amy probably had mentioned him, but if so it hadn't seemed very noteworthy to Gwen at the time. Amy was a lot more active in the dating scene than Gwen, a fact that frequently interfered with her studies and general responsibilities.

Thinking the conversation at a close, Gwen headed toward the bathroom.

“I invited him to Christine's party tonight. You're gonna be there, right?” she asked. Christine was a friend of Amy's, whom Gwen had met a couple of times.

“Yeah.” said Gwen, who had already assured Amy more than once that she would.

“And Jennifer?” she pressed. Jennifer was Gwen's best friend and fellow Architecture major. “I told Christine I could get two other girls. There's already a lot of guys coming and I don't want her to be surrounded.”

“I mentioned it to her, so probably.” said Gwen, mentally calculating how much of a shower she could afford with her ever-diminishing time before her first class.

“And you have costumes, right? It is a costume party.” said Amy.

“Yeah. I'm going as the Mad Hatter. I think she's going as Dorothy.”

“From The Wizard of Oz?” asked Amy.

“No, the other one.” said Gwen dryly.

“Did you buy your costume, or make it?” pressed Amy.

“Amy...” said Gwen, allowing her annoyance to surface.

“C'mon, Gwen!” whined Amy. “I totally vouched for you. Please don't embarrass me!”

Gwen groaned. “It's fine. I had an old top hat that I spray-painted green. Nobody's gonna care anyway.”

“Why did you have a top hat?” she asked.

“Oh no, the door is closing!” said Gwen, forcing an end to the discussion by rudely closing the bathroom door in her friend's inquisitive face. “Talk at the party, Byyyeeee!”

Gwen jumped in the shower, combed her shoulder-length chestnut hair, got dressed, put on her glasses, and rode her bike to her first class, Calculus III. The school's bell struck a solitary chime just as she reached the spacious lecture hall where Jennifer was already seated and waiting. The instructor was a kindly woman with frizzy gray hair and thick glasses names Prof. Pinkerton. As Pinkerton passed out the graded quizzes from the previous class, the two women conferred in hushed tones.

“Is Amy still on your ass about the party?”

“Yeah. I just wish she'd do her half of the dishes. You remember the address?”

“Uh, could you text it to me? I'll probably just walk.”

Gwen fished out her phone and forwarded one of the many messages that Amy had sent her on the subject. “You have your costume ready, right?”

“Sorta. I picked it up that outlet place last night. I know, I know! I just haven't had time with getting ready for finals, y'know?”

Gwen snorted derisively.

“What? I don't have to make a costume every year.” Jennifer whispered, looking defensive.

“I just think it's funny. Amy was giving me crap for making my own costume, and you act like buying one is this shameful thing.”

These are, in fact, the two major schools of thought in Halloween costumes, both camps considering the other to be merely a pale imitation of their own.

“Ah heh hem!” said Prof. Pinkerton, who had attempted to start the day's lesson during the preceding discussion. Blushing, the two women began fumbling with their notebooks and thick textbooks.

The day proceeded smoothly, with the usual lectures, quizzes, and group project meetings. Most of the professors were keenly aware that their pupils were eager to finish up and get on to Halloween fun. Only Mrs. Doris, Gwen's severe and humorless Biology teacher (Gwen found the necessity of taking classes not directly related to her major extremely tedious) had had the temerity to issue an online assignment, but it was nothing she couldn't take care of on Tuesday. Gwen stayed in the library for a while after her last class, getting some work done on one of her research essays.

Soon, however,  it was time to head home and get her costume ready for the party. She really was proud of it. The Mad Hatter always leant a pleasantly surreal atmosphere to proceedings, and a female hatter only enhanced the effect. Her costume consisted of a set of dark green overalls and roughly matching jacket she had picked up at the Youth Ranch the week before, along with a white sweater and a yellow pinstripe scarf. The most time-consuming part of her preparation was tying the scarf into a comically oversized bowtie. She didn't own a pocketwatch, but a length of copper chain she found in a junkyard served just as well. With her 10/6 card tucked into the hatband of her spray-painted top hat (a remnant of a stage magician's costume from two years earlier) she was ready to party.

She stepped out of her dorm and took a deep breath. There was something about the crisp air, with a hint of smoke, paired with the orange glow of jack-o-lanterns as the sun faded over the horizon, that transported her. She caught just a taste of the excitement she had felt when she had been a child, setting out to trick-or-treat the night away in any one of a dozen costumes. She had no real wish to relive those days, but she still relished the sights and sounds, and especially the smell. Halloween has its own particular magic, its own unique space to fill in the human soul.

“Hey, you ready?” asked Amy, interrupting Gwen's reverie. Gwen turned to see Amy, dressed as an angel with flowing white robes, plastic wings, and a halo suspended on a wire over her head.

“Yeah, just enjoying the evening.” said Gwen. She like Amy, but knew that she couldn't share anything resembling her real thoughts with her.

Amy insisted on driving the two of them to the party, despite it taking place only four blocks away. This annoyed Gwen, since she would probably end up walking home anyway and preferred to take her bike, but she decided not to complain. Amy, in exchange, held her tongue about the fact that Gwen's white tennis shoes didn't at all match her costume.

The part was held in an upscale suburban street, near the university but far enough from the main drag to be considered cozy. The two-story house had a neatly manicured lawn that was unlikely to be the work of busy college students, at least not the ones who actually lived in it.

“Nice place.” said Gwen. She hadn't wanted her lower-middle class jealousy to seep into her tone, but Amy caught it.

“Be nice, Gwen. People are allowed to live in nice houses.” she muttered as she search down the street for an available space to park.

“Some are.” noted Gwen bitterly.

“Gwen!” warned Amy.

“Fine.”

Amy had bought the two six-packs of high-end beer they were bringing, but Gwen carried one of them for the look of the thing. Christine, dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein (or his monster, as some uncharitable folk might point out) welcomed them as they stepped into the moodily-lit main room of the house. They were on time, which of course meant that most of the guests hadn't arrived yet.

Gwen knew almost no one at the party, and had little chance of recognizing anyone in their costumes. As was her usual modus operandi on these occasions, she alternated between hanging out near Amy (who always provided at least half of any conversation she was involved in, even if she were talking to eight other people) and hugging the wall with a Keystone in her hand. Introductions were made whenever somebody new arrived at the party, but since everyone was in costume, this was largely futile. Gwen smiled and shook hands as names blew past her, most of which would never to be heard or recalled again. Matt arrived, dressed in a Dracula costume which was seriously undermined by his scraggly beard, wiry build, and mop of unkempt hair.

Gradually, the alcohol trickled through her system (even Keystone can get you drunk with enough patience), and Gwen began to relax. Someone turned the TV on began hunting through Netflix for good horror movie, and Amy coaxed Gwen into sitting next to her on the couch. A bowl was filled and passed around,  then another, and Gwen settled into the sofa to let the ambiance wash over her. They watched “Dawn of the Dead”. They watched “Young Frankenstein”. Gwen was practically in a stupor when Jennifer, dressed in a blue gingham dress and mary-jane shoes, with braided pigtails resting against her shoulders, appeared suddenly nearby.

“There you are! What are you watching?” she asked. Gwen realized that the movie had ended, and a window was now asking if she were still watching Netflix.

“Oh, damn! Must have drifted off.” she said.

“I guess!” chuckled Jennifer. “Is this the party? Where is everyone?”

Gwen looked around. She was sitting at one end of a long L-shaped couch that she could have sworn was crowded with people a second ago, but now was occupied only by a guy dressed as a scarecrow. His bloodshot eyes and slouched posture identified him as the primary beneficiary and likely source of the earlier joint. Gwen was certain that his name had been said at some point, and she may even have repeated it back, but it was nowhere to be found in the recesses of her addled mind.

“Hey!” said Gwen, tossing etiquette aside once more. “Where'd everybody go?”

He shook himself and straightened up. “Eh? Oh, I think they said they were going upstairs. Thought they were just gonna make out, but then everybody started going up there.”

Jennifer sat down. “Well, I'm not gonna let this couch go to waste. Any more of that weed?”

The scarecrow began reloading the bowl while Jennifer grabbed a controller and began searching for another movie.

“I'm gonna go see where Amy ended up.” muttered Gwen, heaving herself off the couch.

“Probably just threw up and had to change her outfit.” said Jennifer as she turned on “The Temple”.

Gwen went upstairs. The house was quiet, but she could hear loud music playing in one of the upstairs rooms. She found that the strobe light that had once been in the living room was flashing under the door of the master bedroom. She couldn't hear any voices over the sound of the Ghostbuster's theme.

“Hello? Anyone in here?” The door creaked softly open at her touch. Inside, illuminated by the pulsing blue of the strobe light and utterly incongruous with the upbeat music, she saw a pile of dozens of bodies covering the bed. More were slouched around the room or sprawled on the floor. They were completely quiet and still, and their faces looked pale in the flashing light. Each one had a pair of long slashing marks on their neck, from which a dark stain of blood spread downward. Gwen shrieked at the sight of them.

She caught herself, and began laughing. “Damn, that was good! Hold on, let me get some of that makeup and we can get...Jennifer...too.”

Her voice trailed off. None of the bodies jumped up to mock her being falling for their prank.

Feeling a chill, she stepped forward and gave the nearest one a hard poke. The girl, dressed as Batgirl, only slumped over a little. Gwen spotted Amy among the pile of bodies. There was no sign of breath. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes stared unblinking upward.

Gwen screamed. Not a quick squeak of surprise, but a full-bodied shriek of terror. She turned to flee from the awful scene, but found Matt standing behind her. His eyes were red, and not from not from any drug. His goofy-looking plastic fangs were gone, and in their place he displayed a pair of long, yellowish genuine ones. His chin and cheeks were bloodstained, and Gwen could smell the coppery stench in the air. She screamed again and shrank away, but he leapt forward and grabbed her in slender but powerful hands. As she struggled and yelled for help, she felt his fangs punch into her throat with a wet crunch and drag across her neck, ripping and tearing and licking. Her vision blurred as her blood streamed from her.

Two

She was in bed. Her room was well-lit, in spite of the curtain over the window. “Eye of the Tiger” was playing. She lay back, feeling utterly exhausted. She had never had such a vivid dream in her life. She felt something cold and damp. Pulling back her blanket, she realized that she had wet the bed. Only a small dark patch had made it through to her blankets and sheets, but her panties and sweat pants were utterly soaked.

Struggling to her feet, she crossed the room to turn off her alarm. The floor was cleaner than she remembered. Sure enough, her phone once again showed that it was noon on Halloween.

She sat on her bed, not even caring if she added another wet patch. She would have to clean them anyway, and it would have to be a real stealth operation to avoid embarrassment at the laundromat. Her heart was still pounding. She thought back to all the details she could recall from the night that hadn't happened. It had been the most detailed and coherent dream she could remember. Right up until the end. Even that part had been more like something out of a horror movie than a dream. And the pain! She had felt the fangs rip her jugular open. That didn't happen in dreams either.

She remembered a dream from her childhood. Her mother had taken both her legs off with a chainsaw, all while smiling and playing a slideshow of her wedding pictures. That had been more annoying than scary. This had been different. She needed time to recover from that dream.

She jumped as her door opened. Amy strolled in, smiling widely. As much as she wanted to be annoyed that her roommate had just barged in without knocking, especially with her pants soaked in piss, part of her was glad to see Amy alive.

“Uh, hello?” she said, trying to muster a normal demeanor without turning her darkened crotch toward the door. “There's this new thing called knocking!”

To her surprise, Amy just chuckled and gestured dismissively. “Oh don't be silly, honey! I just came to make sure you got up for school!” She stopped suddenly as she spotted the dark patch on the bed. “Sweety? Is there something you need to tell me?”

Gwen felt her face fill with blood, although whether from rage or humiliation she didn't know. “Honey? Sweety? What the in the fucking shit are you talking about? Get the hell out of my room!” she screamed.

Amy put her hands on hips and glowered down at Gwen. “Gwendolyn Jenson! I know you're embarrassed, but that's excuse for using that kind of language, especially to me. You apologize this instant, young lady!”

Gwen bared her teeth and got up to physically shove Amy out the door. “What! Get out now, you fucking bitch!”

She grabbed Amy's wrist. She felt something strange pass through her as soon as skin touched skin. A tingling feeling, almost like electricity, only gentler. It washed through her, making her whole body feel weak and numb. As she tried to push Amy, she felt all her strength dissipate, as though her funny bone had just been struck.

“This behavior is absolutely unacceptable.” snarled  Amy. Gwen felt Amy's hand close over her arm. The tingling feeling intensified. Despite her larger size, Gwen suddenly felt suddenly helpless in her roommates grip.

“Assume the position!” said Amy sternly.

Gwen hadn't the faintest idea what her friend was talking about, but the strange feeling seemed to focus around her joints. Amy sat down on the bed, and Gwen felt herself collapse across her friend's lap, her butt facing straight upward. Gwen struggled, but it was as though her limbs would not obey her. To he growing horror, Gwen felt Amy pinch the waistband of her sweatpants and easily pull them aside, along with her sodden panties.

“No! No! Don't!” she shouted, but Amy ignored her. She felt her friend's hand swat against her exposed cheeks, again and again. First across the tops, then the bottoms, then the middles, then the thigh, then back to the top, over and over.

'

“Lemme go! Stoppit! Ow!” Gwen continued to struggle, trying to force her traitorous limbs to muster some resistance, but all she managed to do was kick her feet up and down and wave her arms uselessly as Amy's hand continued to batter her rear.

“Count them, Gwendolyn! If you don't count, they don't count!” admonished Amy sternly.

Gwen felt the strange tingles flow into her tongue. As the blows continued to fall, she felt her mouth form words without her willing them to.

“One! Two! Three! Four!...” she began. The pain was bad, although only if you didn't compare it to being murdered by a vampire. Worse was the feeling of deep shame that coursed through her, and the knowledge that her body was now obeying Amy's will instead of her own. As she continued to count, the feelings of humiliation and burning pain seemed to meld together, intensify, and take on a strange but familiar quality of building pleasure.

“...Twenty-nine! Thirty!” Amy's hand finally stopped. It rested on Gwen's butt-cheek, then began lightly stroking, back and forth, the searing heat gradually subsiding into gentle warmth. Breathing heavily, Gwen moaned softly as she orgasmed on Amy's lap. Her friend, roommate, and now her tormentor patted her back, and showed no sign of noticing her reaction.

“There. All done. Now, have you learned your lesson, honey?”

Gwen struggled to keep her breathing under control. She felt utterly cowed.

“...yes.” she whispered.

“Are you done acting out?” asked Amy.

“...yes.”

“Are you ready to be good girl today?”

There was a pause. The shame was so intense. The cheeks on Gwen's face were even redder than the others. Amy drew a breath to repeat her question, but Gwen beat her to it.

“...yes.”

“Good girl.” Amy gently sat Gwen down on the bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Gwen only sat passively, wondered what on earth would be next.

“I don't enjoy doing that at all sweety, but you have to learn to respect me and do as I say. Okay?” said Amy in a gentle, maternal tone.

Gwen nodded, staring at Amy in fear and bewilderment.

“Don't worry about your bed, I'll take care of it. We'll just have to get you some special bedtime pants for a little while. I'll pick some up today. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll grow out of it in no time. Now, You have school to get to. Go take a quick shower and get dressed.”

Half expecting her legs to collapse under her, Gwen pulled up her wet sweats and underwear. She had just time to notice that her panties were now decorated with images of Minnie Mouse. She stumbled from her room and ran to the bathroom, closing the door behind her and resting her back against it. She closed her eyes and tried to breath normally.

She had no way to process what was happening.. She pulled off her sweats and examined her childish panties. Somehow, Amy now believed that she was Gwen's mother, or at least a caretaker of some sort, and that Gwen was a child. Worse, Gwen knew that some force was preventing her from fighting back against this treatment. “Special bedtime pants”? Gwen looked at herself in the mirror. Apart from her underwear, she looked just like she had before. Gwen ripped off the cloying underwear and turned on the shower. It felt like someone was having a big laugh at her expense. What was clear was that if that encounter with a real, live vampire had been a nightmare, the nightmare wasn't over. Gwen decided that she had to figure out what was happening, and put a stop to it.

As angry, frightened, and confused as she now was, the world began to take on a veneer of normalcy. When she had finished her shower, Gwen found that Amy had laid a set of clothing outside the door in a neatly-folded pile. The outfit was predictably childish, especially the butterfly-studded cotton panties, but Gwen was too frightened of incurring Amy's wrath to argue. Jeans and a pink t-shirt with a picture of a frog on the front was an embarrassing outfit, but she could live with it. Amy had toast and a bowl of cereal waiting for her on the counter when she emerged from the bathroom in her new duds. As Amy filled her bowl with milk, she reflected on the irony that her breakfast was more mature today than it had been yesterday.

No, that was wrong, she reflected. That hadn't been yesterday. That had been a different today.

Gwen's backpack was now pink instead of the usual green, and a peek inside revealed her notebooks but none of her textbooks. She wondered briefly if she were in elementary school now as Amy took her hand and led her to sit in the back of her car.

But no, Amy drove her to the University and dropped her off, telling her cheerfully to have a terrific day. She walked nervously to her first class, expecting someone to comment on her juvenile outfit, or at least stare at her. She felt like a sign saying “I Have Butterflies On My Panties” was hovering over her head, visible to everyone but her. Still, she reached Calculus III without incident and sat down in her usual seat next to Jennifer.

“Hey Gwen! How are you today?” whispered Jennifer cheerfully.

“Gonna be honest. Not makin' my top ten list.” muttered Gwen.

“Oh, I'm sorry!” said Jennifer, patting Gwen's shoulder. “Did something bad happen? Did you hurt yourself, or lose something?”

Gwen arched an eyebrow at Jennifer. “Quick question, Jen. How old am I?”

Jennifer smiled. “You're twenty-three, Gwen! That two tens, plus three!”

Gwen rolled her eyes. She hadn't had that much hope that Jennifer would be any less affected by whatever madness she was experiencing, but it would have been nice to have someone she could talk to. It was interesting that Jennifer did actually know her real age, even if she still seemed intent on treating her like a kid. She sighed as Prof. Prinkerton handed back the quizzes again. Gwen's eyes widened as her quiz landed in front of her. The systems of simultaneous functions and three-dimensional coordinate systems were gone. She found herself looking at a series of simple arithmetic questions, more suitable for a 1stgrader than an Architecture major. The answers and even her name were written in orange crayon, but the handwriting was definitely hers. Worse, she noticed that some of the answers were wrong. She had gotten a B, accompanied by a smiley face and a handwritten 'Good Job!'.  She glanced at Jennifer's paper, but it was full of trigonometric expressions and conic sections, just as hers had been yester...er, the other day.

“No wonder no one commented on my clothes.” thought Gwen ruefully. “I wonder what they think when they look at me. Do they wonder at all why I'm here and not in elementary school?”

Despite the odd way everyone was treating her, the day passed much as it had before. She sat restlessly as she listened to the same lectures she had heard last time, but everything her teachers handed to her looked like the homework of a small child. Mrs. Doris just handed her a blank sheet of paper and some crayons and asked her to draw a dinosaur. She decided to amuse herself by drawing a stegosaurus with a full and lifelike set of bones and organs visible. The teacher didn't comment on it, but she got a gold star.

When classes ended, she didn't feel like going to the library. There wasn't much point to working on projects if her work could just vanish from existence, as all her work the previous day had. She also didn't want to go back to Christine's party. Would the vampire attack again? Amy hadn't mentioned anything about Matt this morning, so that could have been a one-time thing. As she sat near the quad area lost in thought, Jennifer sat down beside her.

“Hey! Classes are done!” she announced. “That means it's time to go put on your costume so we can go trick-or-treating!”

Gwen sighed. It made sense that if she was a little kid, she would be expected to trick-or treat.

“Sure, I guess.” she said, really just wanting whatever this was to be over.

Amy picked the two of them up. Instead of her Mad Hatter costume, Amy gave her a Batgirl costume. It reminded her of a costume she had worn when she was seven. Apart from being sized to fit her adult self, it was identical. Amy took pictures of her and fussed with her costume a great deal before sending her off Jennifer. Gwen was surprised to see that neither Amy nor Jennifer were wearing costumes, but upon reflection, it made sense. She had no idea what Amy's plans for the evening were, and Jennifer wasn't trick-or treating, but chaperoning.

So, escorted by a woman barely an inch taller than herself, Gwen set out in her Batgirl outfit, a pillowcase dangling at her side. Her face glowed with embarrassment as she approached the first house.  Surrounded  knee-deep by a troop of excited children in colorful costumes, she held out her pillowcase and said, in a trembling voice.

“T-trick or treat.”

“Oh, you're all so cute!” said a smiling middle-aged woman with a bowl of mini Snickers. She didn't seem at all bothered that one of the trick-or-treaters was a young woman of twenty-three. When  Gwen's turn came, she asked: “And what are you dressed as?”

Gwen stared at her. For a moment, the clouds of fear, confusion, and embarrassment parted, and her mouth opened to deliver a long-delayed justice.

“Okay, seriously...what? Where were you raised? What was your childhood like? Were you in a iron lung? Have you never had a television? Did your parents keep you in the attic and feed you fish-heads through a vent?”

The woman goggled at her. “Huh?”

“Is it a vision problem? Can you see me? Can you not see my pointy bat ears and my big yellow utility belt and the big bat across by boobs? I would ask you if you were from this country, but seriously, there are people living the Amazon River Basin who have never seen a car or walked on a paved road who could still tell you, in rough terms, who Batgirl is! Gawd!

The woman's smile vanished, replaced by a cold stare. “Young lady, I don't think...”

“I don't doubt that! Look, I'm sorry, its fine. Not mad. Can't expect every person in the world to recognize every character in existence. Just...if you don't know what someone's costume is, just friggin move on with your life, okay? Getting asked what my costume is is like, my least favorite part about this holiday! I mean, it even happened when I went as Batgirl. Batgirl! Forget really obscure characters! No, can't go as Celes or Sheik,  unless you want to spend the whole night explaining it to some jackass every ten fuckin' feet!”

“I'm not giving you a Snickers.” said the woman irritably. She distributed candy to all the eager children as Gwen berated her.

“That's cool! Happy Halloween, dumbass!” said Gwen, skipping off back to Jennifer.

“What did you get?” asked her friend in that same cloying tone.

“Satisfaction like you wouldn't believe! Come on, the night is still young!”

Once she got over her initial embarrassment, Gwen had expected trick-or-treating to be boring. She had planned to hit a couple neighborhoods, then tell Jennifer she was tired and call it a night, hoping that whatever weird curse or spell had befallen her wouldn't extend to November 1st. Instead, she caught herself again and again having fun. She remembered that she had stopped trick-or-treating more due to social stigma than to any lack of enjoyment. The candy was never really the point, although her seven-year-old self would have been shocked and disgusted to hear her say so. It was the atmosphere. Like Christmas, all the little things people did for the holiday seemed to gather into a pervasive miasma that permeated everything and instilled it with joy and excitement. Gwen found herself wondering if the Pagan festivals that preceded the modern holiday had had the same kind of feeling in the air.

Two other feelings began to seep into the atmosphere as Gwen and Jennifer marched from house to house. One was paranoia. It had been about this time in the evening in the last...iteration of this night that Amy's new beau had turned out to be a no-kidding blood-sucking monster. As the night wore on and the porch-lights began to wink off one by one, Gwen wondered if Matt the Vampire would decide to put in another appearance.

“Should've grabbed some garlic when I had the chance.” she thought.

Suddenly, the plastic displays of slavering monsters and dismembered bodies began to seem a lot less innocent. She began looking behind herself constantly, checking for shadows that seemed out of place, or looking in trees for something other than birds and squirrels.

The other feeling in the air was the feeling of impending rain. Once it began to fall, it fell hard. The plastic Batgirl cap actually served as a mediocre raincoat, but Jennifer was soon getting soaked.

“I'm so sorry, Gwen! I think we'll have to call it a night.” she said.

Gwen reassured her. “That's okay. I had fun!” she said honestly.

The rain became more intense. Jennifer lead her toward a nearby park. “There's a nice big tree over here. We can get out of the rain there. I'll call Amy to pick us up.” she said.

As they stood under the large tree with spreading branches to shield them from the rain, Jennifer and Amy chatted away. Gwen watched as the rain continued to pelt the nearby road, forming puddles all over the grass. She watched as the piddles grew and merged with each other, until the grass seemed to disappear under them.

“Oh, yeah, she had a blast! Everyone loved her costume!” gushed Jennifer.

“Uh, I'm not sure this is the best place to hang out...” said Gwen, but Jennifer ignored her as adults are wont to do with kids. There was light from a nearby streetlight, and some from house across the street, but the park was getting darker all the time. Even the moonlight was just a light gray smudge in the sky. The air had changed. Gwen could smell a powerful stench of rotting vegetation. Gwen thought she saw a dark shape moving in the water.

She turned and grabbed Jennifer. “Jen, we have to leave, right now. Not kidding!” Her heart was pounding out of control.

Jennifer was unmoved. “Gwenny! It's pouring out there. Let's just wait for Amy to....Aaaahhh!!!”

Jennifer was unable to finish her casual dismissal of Gwen's concerns because a long, slimy, suction-cup lined tentacle had emerged from the water and wrapped itself around her. Gwen shrieked in terror as her friend was ripped off her feet and dragged into a nearby puddle. The water could not have been more than an inch deep, but Jennifer vanished under its dark surface none-the-less. Gwen ran.

More forms began to appear in the water around her. Everywhere she looked there were more of them. Long, anaconda-like serpents thicker than her legs. Crocodiles the size of horses. They heaved themselves out of the impossibly deep water and onto the diminishing ground. The park was no longer a park, but a swamp. The road was a river. Gwen ran in circles, trying desperately to find an escape route. Huge dorsal fins began to appear in the flooded road. Croaks, hisses, and growls filled the night air, interrupted only by Gwen's screams. The massive crocodiles closed in around her, huge jaws snapping. With a cry of terror, Gwen leaped over them, running across their scaly backs. Beyond them, what had seemed like solid ground a moment ago gave way under her feet, and she plunged into the cold, dark water. She felt things wriggle past her in the blackness. She fought her way to the surface, only to see a enormous shark come for her out of the dark water. The jaws closed over her, the dagger-like teeth perforating her skin.

Three

Once again, the searing pain vanished, and Gwen found herself lying in bed once again. She lay quietly for a time, trying to center herself; to contextualize what she had just been through. To let her heart rate subside down to something resembling a rest state.

She knew it was not over. She knew that she had to break out of this cycle somehow. The room around her was proof enough that November 1st was still eluding her. Her cellphone was not at its accustomed spot, there were no clocks on the walls. Her bedsheets were decorated with little pink tiara decals. Her blanket showed a scene from Sleeping Beauty. Her walls, shelves and floor were a mass of smiling faces: Dozens of dolls, stuffed animals, toys, and posters grinned at her. On the wall was a child's potty-training chart, listing all her alleged successes and failures of the last month.

Her room had barely changed at all in the previous iteration, which suggested that the alterations were becoming both more extreme and more widespread.

She thought of the bizarre, nightmarish parody of a swamp she had been in a moment ago. That had also been a scaling up. A more extreme, more widespread threat. That was what was waiting for her. She buried her face in her soft pillow and wondered how many iterations it might take to drive her completely insane. What was waiting to take a bite out of her at the end of this Halloween night, and how could she escape from it?

The door opened, and Amy strolled in with a smile on her face, as Gwen knew she would. If she had had virtually no privacy in the last iteration, she would  certainly have even less in this one.

“Good morning, Sleepyhead!” sang Amy. “How are we this morning?”

Gwen sighed. “Great. Everything's great.”

Amy pulled  back the blankets and sheets, revealing Gwen's pink tie-die pajamas. Gwen wanted to kick Amy in the face or wrestle her to the ground, but she knew there was no point. The last time she had tried physically forcing Amy away, the only result had been a spanking. She simply covered her face with her hands as her pajama bottoms were gently but unceremoniously pulled off, leaving her diaper fully visible. It was nothing like any medical diaper, intended for someone Gwen's age. It was clearly a baby diaper, complete with little happy teddy bears dancing across the front, blown up to adult proportions. Worse still, it was clearly swollen and faintly yellow.

“What's the matter, sweety? Are you upset because of your soggy night-night diaper?” asked Amy. Gwen looked at her with tear-blurred eyes. Going by words alone, Gwen felt like she was being mercilessly mocked, but there was nothing but genuine concern on Amy's face.

Gwen wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. “No. Just...bad dreams is all.”

To her surprise, Amy sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug. “Ooooh! I'm so sorry, sweetheart. Bad dreams aren't any fun, are they?”

As her friend embraced her, the tingling sensation she had experienced last time returned. Only now, it seemed to encompass her whole being. The lingering fear and worry numbed, along with the rest of her. For a moment, she felt perfectly calm and safe.

Gwen returned the hug.  For nearly a minute, she stayed in Amy's arms. Finally, they pulled apart, the feelings leaving as quickly as they had come.

“Feel better?” asked Amy with a half-smile.

“...yeah.” admitted Gwen.

“Hmmm.” Amy said, looking suddenly pensive.

“What?” asked Gwen.

“I think I see the problem.” Amy said, her face full of insincere seriousness. “You have worries all over your tummy.”

Before Gwen could begin to parse what this could be code for, Amy was on top of her, tickling her. Her fingers brushed across Gwen's belly just above her diaper. The contact with Amy produced more of the strange sensation, on top of what tickling normally provides. The result was that Gwen collapsed into convulsions, unable to fend off Amy's dancing fingers. She shook and kicked wildly, but like her spanking, there was nothing she could do to fight Amy off as the feeling built and built. She shrieked and howled with involuntary laughter, until her bladder let go, and she felt the diaper around her waist grow steaming hot.

“There! All gone now! Come on, let's get you ready for daycare.” said Amy. “Let's see...do you feel like wearing your big girl pants today?”

Gwen, still trying to recover from the emotional roller-coaster she had just been sent on, needed a moment to re-orient her mind.

“Or maybe just a diaper today? No one will mind if you don't quite feel like a big girl.”

Gwen felt herself blush intensely. “Uh, just...the panties will be fine, thanks.”

Amy nodded and spread a mat on the floor. Gwen considered objecting and asserting her independence, but she knew that the result would probably be disappointing. She decided to relax and try to get the humiliating scenario over with. Taking a deep breath, she plopped down on the mat with a squish.

Amy untaped Gwen's bulging diaper, and began wiping her down thoroughly with baby-wipes. The wiping was enough to bring Gwen to the brink of orgasm. Every time Amy touched her, even lightly, waves of paralyzing pleasure ran through her. She lay writhing and gasping on the mat for a moment, her hips bucking. She wasn't sure whether to feel relief or disappointment when Amy finally pulled a pair of pull-ups up her legs. Part of her wanted to ask for more, just enough to send her over the edge.

She looked at her crotch. Cinderella smiled up at her from the thick, plastic-backed underwear.

“Now, remember to come get me or Jennifer if you need to use the big-girl potty, okay sweety?” said Amy.

“Yeeeaah, sure.” said Gwen, feeling disgusted. “Wouldn't want to pee on Cinderella.”

Gwen's breakfast that day was french toast, cut into bite-sized pieces so that she wouldn't need to handle anything as complex or dangerous as a fork. Her milk was served in a sippy cup, with Dory from 'Finding Nemo' on it. She ate it in nothing but a t-shirt, a bib, and a pull-up. It was all unbelievably embarrassing, but she also found it comforting to have someone taking care of her like this. When she was finished, Amy pulled out another baby-wipe to clean her fingers and mouth, sending more shivers of toe-curling pleasure through her. Amy then got her dressed for the day, which she also enjoyed, even if she did end up in a pair of pink corduroy overalls, a sweatshirt with a cartoon bunny on it, and a pair of sneakers with velcro straps.

Despite the word “daycare” being bandied around, Amy drove her to the same old university. Jennifer met the two of them in the parking lot.

“Hiya Gwenny!” greeted Jennifer, taking her hand. “Ready to have fun today?”

As Jennifer's hand grabbed her, Gwen felt the tingling sensation paralyze her arm. She tried, experimentally, to pull away, but it was useless. She sighed.

“Gwenny? Come on, Jen, you're better than this.” she said, expecting to be ignored. She was.

“Now, Gwen is being a big girl today, so here's her Just-In-Case bag.” said Amy in a mock whisper, passing Jennifer what was clearly a diaper bag. Gwen glanced around, wondering if anyone was staring, but of course no one was. This was all totally normal to everyone but her.

Class that day was simple and boring, which suited Gwen just fine. She was directed to sit down on the floor next to Jennifer's desk, with some crayons, paper, and few babyish toys to play with. She was simply passed over when assignments were handed back. Gwen could have practically delivered Pinkerton's lecture word-for-word at this point, so she felt no need to pay attention. She had a much more difficult puzzle to deal with, with higher stakes.

She took a green crayon, pressed a sheet of paper against the tiled floor, and got to work organizing her thoughts. She noted down everything that had changed between iterations, as well as the things that had remained constant, and tried to find some kind of useful pattern.

1. I always die.

That was a hard one, but it also suggested a way of escape. She hadn't checked the time before either of her two deaths, but she knew they both occurred at night, and well before sunrise. Were they before midnight?

Note: This time, check time before scary shit starts. Midnight?

If midnight was the cutoff, that meant she just had to survive a little longer. She also knew the threat might be bigger this time as well.

2. Scary Shit gets worse in each iteration.

She only had two data points to work with to draw that conclusion, but there was a clear escalation there, and she might be in quite a worse position before more data came in. That suggested that she needed to figure this out in a hurry. Especially considering...

3. I am treated younger in each subsequent iteration, and communication is getting worse.

The phrase “subsequent iteration” looked hilarious in green crayon. Unfortunately, this would become a bigger problem as time went on. Right now, she was essentially treated as a toddler. There was nowhere to go except full-on baby in the next one, which would be a major impediment to preparing herself for the next attack, as well as communicating with her friends. Speaking of which:

4.  A weird force keeps me from fighting with or disobeying Amy and Jennifer.

Wait, was that right? Maybe the effect compelled her to obey anyone who spoke to her, and it was mere chance that only her two friends had given her direct orders so far.

Note: Check to see if anyone else can order me around.

Now, what else did the iterations have in common? Vampires and swamp-monsters (what the hell kind of swamp has sharks and octopuses, anyway?) didn't seem to have much in common, apart from sharp teeth. One had happened indoors, the other in a park. One had been a Halloween party, the other right after trick-or-treating...

5. Halloween wants me dead.

Note: Get away from Halloween.

Gwen felt like she had a clear outline of the problem. She flipped the paper over and wrote on the opposite side.

To Do List

1. Figure out exact limits of tingly-paralyzy-controlly-orgasm thing.
2. Get hands on a friggin weapon.
3. Amy and Jen are useless. Ditch them.

She always felt better about her problems when she had some plan of attack, although this was more of a plan of defense. She saw no reason not to start straight away. She handed her completed list to Jennifer, who glanced up from her lecture notes to take it.

“Oh! What a pretty picture! Thankyou!” she whispered. If she could have actually read it, she would have questions about her charge's intention to run away and arm herself, but then of course, if she could read it then there would be no need to do those things.

Gwen decided, through pure rational thought and not a bit out of a desire to take advantage of her toddler status to have fun, to stand up, walk over to one of her classmates, and pull her ponytail.

“Ow!” said the woman angrily. Gwen didn't know the woman, and she probably didn't deserve this, but Gwen reflected that the odds that anything that happened today would stay happened were pretty low. The worst she would get would be a spanking, and she could deal with that. The woman went back to her notes, so Gwen, in the spirit of scientific inquiry, yanked on her ponytail again.

“Ah! Stop it!” she said loudly. Professor Pinkerton stopped lecturing and turned to her.

“Is there a problem, Miss Brady?” asked the professor.

“This stupid brat is pulling my hair!” she complained.

“Gwenny! Did you pull this nice lady's hair?” demanded Jennifer.

Gwen remained silent, but did not attempt to feign innocence.

“Gwen, sit down and play with your toys!” ordered Jennifer.

The feeling returned immediately. Gwen felt herself being dragged to the floor by invisible weights. She noted, however, that nothing had happened when 'Miss Brady' had told her to stop. The effect was connected to Jennifer and Amy specifically. That meant they had to be important in some way.

Gwen found herself compelled against her will play with the plush toys as she had been offered. The stuffed dinosaur chased the stuffed sheep around and around in a circle while Gwen thought about what special significance her two friends might have to whatever forces she was dealing with. After a moment, the feeling dissipated, and Gwen set down her toys and stopped playing. She found herself wishing she had checked the time when she sat down, so she would know how long the effect lasted. At least she knew now that it wasn't permanent.

The school day continued. When it came time to move on to the next class, Jennifer took her hand and escorted her. She thought it odd that Jennifer took her, not to one of her classes, but to her own Computer Graphics course.

“Hey Jen, why are we going to my class? I don't even have actual work here at this point. Why don't we just go to one of your courses?” she asked. Genuinely curious as to how much of this question would penetrate whatever filter was on her.

“Gwenny, I can't just leave you alone. I have to stay with you all day, so I can keep an eye on you.”

“...that is in no way a satisfactory explanation.” remarked Gwen.

Jennifer didn't respond. Gwen guessed that for whatever reason, her day seemed to follow the same pattern as her original day, with only minor variations. She wondered what would happen if she forced that pattern to change. She decided to skip class and see what happened.

Jennifer, not being a student in this class, simply sat in the back of the room while the professor guided the class through the exercises that Gwen had already sat through once. Gwen was settled on the floor to play with her toys.

Again, in the spirit of investigation, Gwen curled up near Jennifer's seat and pretended to take a nap. After a few minutes, she heard Jennifer get up and pace the room, bored and listless. She waited until Jen was facing away from her, then she rose and left the room as quietly as she could. As she left the door and rounded the corner, she jammed her fingers into her ears hard enough to hurt. She wasn't certain afterward whether this was an effective countermeasure or if Jennifer just hadn't called for her in time, but either way, she was out and away. The hallways and walkways of the university campus were almost deserted during class periods, so it was a simple matter to avoid being seen as she ran away from the campus.

She knew she couldn't go home. If they were thinking of her as a small child, her disappearance was sure to cause an uproar, followed closely by an extensive search. What she needed was to go somewhere very different from anywhere a child would be expected to go. She would likely need some kind of weapon, so that was on the list. A defensible location of some sort would also be a good idea.

The more she thought about, the more clear the answer became. She made her way toward Home Depot.

Avoiding attention was easier than she expected, as long as she kept in mind that everyone saw her as a small child. The key, she decided, was physically creating ambiguity as to which adult present she was with. In a crowd, as long as she walked in a slow, plodding manner that matched the general speed of the crowd, everyone present just assumed that she was someone else's kid. Once she was through the sliding doors and among the long aisles towering with boxes of merchandise, she could wander around as much as she wanted. She wanted to keep as far away from the display of Halloween decorations at the front as possible. As long as no one saw her crossing the aisles with any great speed, they would just assume that Mommy or Daddy were just around the corner carefully considering some extremely mundane purchase or another. In this manner, slowly and carefully, she made her way over to Hardware.

She was tempted by the heavy-duty sledgehammers and two-handed axes, but she knew she needed something that wouldn't impede her mobility. Retreat was her most likely means of avoiding whatever was coming. She just needed something she could get a good swing with if she were cornered. She selected a small but heavy geological hammer with a pointed tip. A little more discreet shoplifting yielded her a flashlight and the batteries to operate it.

Obviously, moving around discreetly is more of a challenge with a hammer and a flashlight in your hands. Her pockets were too small to accommodate them, and stuffing them under her clothing would only be more conspicuous. She consoled herself with the thought that if anyone caught her, they would simply return her to her legal guardian, which in this twisted world was probably Amy. Compared to whatever was coming for her, the risk from human authorities seemed minor and distant. With that in mind, she headed toward the employee breakroom. It was close enough to the public bathrooms that she could just claim to be headed to the lady's room if she were questioned. No one questioned her. She thanked her lucky stars for lousy customer service. There were few employees around, and most of them were chatting or listening on headphones while eating their lunch. With careful timing, she strolled past them unnoticed.

Beyond the office, she found the roof access. It required a trip up a ladder, past the stored accounting records, then another ladder. She began wishing that she had brought some food and water, but that was all over by the front of the store, where it was far to risky to attempt theft. Up on the roof, with the fire exit available if she needed to escape, she could wait out the night.

The sun began to set. Gwen sat shivering under the orange sky. She hid herself behind one of the large air conditioning units. She thought it fairly unlikely that any of the store's employees would be up on the roof this late, but they were no longer her primary concern. She thought about her situation as the sky darkened. Her preparations for this night's attacker were pretty feeble, and she didn't like her chances of fighting off or hiding from whatever was coming next. If the pattern held as it had so far, the next iteration would cost her even more of her diminishing independence. How could she escape from this cycle, and how long would it last?

Soon, the sky was dark, and Gwen felt safe enough to peek over the edge of the roof. She grew more hungry and more thirsty as the cars in the parking lot slowly began to disappear as the business day drew to a close.

She peed in one corner of the roof. As long as there were still people in the building, she didn't want to go downstairs into the store, and a bathroom was out of the question. Only one exit. When a hideous monster might materialize at any second, multiple paths to escape were the only way to go.

She considered dozens of possible scenarios as she sat shivering atop her fortress, but without any real clue as to what the enemy might be, how many there might be, and where they might appear, she soon realized the futility of this. She grew more and more paranoid as the night wore on.

Soon, she peeked over the short wall that surrounded the roof. The parking lot was empty, and the lights that had been coming from the glass frontage were gone. For better or worse, she had the building to herself.

A loud cracking sound made Gwen jump. Down below, in the well-lit parking lot, a circular section of the asphalt collapsed downward. Something was burrowing its way to the surface. Something very large.

Despite having anticipated the attack this time, Gwen still had to bite down on her sleeve to keep from screaming. What had emerged from the earth was an ant. Its carapace was black and shiny, and dotted with tiny hairs. It was about eight feet long from the tips of its probing antennae to its bulging posterior. It crawled from the hole and began sweeping its antennae across the asphalt. Behind it emerged another ant, just as large. And another. Gwen stood staring at their huge mandibles, which opened and closed with audible clicks. She realized that if she failed to escape, that would most likely be the last thing she saw before the end.

Gwen heard more cracking sounds, announcing that yet more holes were opening up around the store. She considered shimmying down the fire escape and making a run for it. It was possible that she could beat the huge monsters in a dead run. Unfortunately, one of the holes was quite close to the escape ladder, and a crowd of giant insects was already forming there. Then, with a series of loud scraping noises, the ants began scaling the sides of the building.

Gwen ran down through the roof access before they could reach her. She didn't bother to close the door behind her. The access was too small for the ants to use. She activate her flashlight to find her way through the small storage area. She considered just staying there, until she heard the ants beginning to tear apart the concrete wall above her.

Gwen disliked giant insects, and not merely because they were trying to eat her. She disliked the mockery of the basic rules of structural engineering that they represented. Ants in the real world could do many remarkable things, such as carry objects many times their own weight. However, these abilities very much hinged on the ant being tiny. Realistically, an ant as big as a human should not be able to walk, let alone climb walls or tear through solid concrete blocks. As she hastily retreated down the ladder and onto the sales floor, she reflected on the irony of an architect being killed by something that so blatantly violated the Square Cube Law.

The dark interior of the store was intensely creepy, especially in the light of a small flashlight. If she had been down here a moment ago, she might have been afraid to make any sound, for fear that some monster was lying in wait for her. Instead, she ran with everything she was worth toward the construction section. She hid herself behind a pallet of dry cement. She turned off her flashlight and listened.

The ants came marching. Their spindly physics-defying legs made little clacks on the tile floor. The sounds grew louder as they drew closer. It almost sounded like rain. Gwen clutched her hammer in both hands, making it shake. She hoped that the ants wouldn't follow her scent, but she still expected them to. She hoped the beef jerky and soda displays at the front would distract them, but she knew that was unlikely too. These were horror movie monsters, an they would pursue her to the ends of the earth, whatever logic had to say. Her mind flipped through the various things she might have been able to do to prepare had she known what was coming, but that too was pointless. They were coming, and she had to work with what she had.

A silhouette of one of the creatures rounded the corner. There were others nearby, but this was a lone wanderer. Gwen couldn't guess how many there might be in total. It could easily be thousands. Maybe even now they were spreading through town, and dragging home hundreds of screaming people back to their hive to feed their hideous queen and all her squirming larvae. The ant swept the floor with its antennae, no doubt following her scent trail. She wasn't sure what ant night vision was like, but she guessed that if she moved, she would be spotted. Instead, as the ant approached, she tapped the pointed end of her hammer against the bags of dry cement, making small holes in the delicate paper sacks. When the ant drew near, she picked up the heavy bag and lobbed it at the ant's head.  It broke immediately, instantly coating the ant in soft, gray dust. Not having eyelids, this rendered the creature completely blind. Gwen took the opportunity to bash her hammer into its head with a dry crunch. Without waiting to see the results, she took off at top speed.

It was difficult to see, but as long as the walls were dimly visible she could navigate. One advantage of being in a Home Depot is that the layout is simple. More ants were pouring into the store all the time, but without a scent trail to follow, they seemed unable to spot her in the darkness. Her heart raced as she dashed forward through the dark interior of the store with the maddening clicks of the giant insects in her ears constantly. But her mind raced too. She didn't feel like a hapless victim of forces beyond her knowledge anymore. For the first time, she felt that this was a game she could win.

Two ants rounded the corner in front of her. Seeing that her flashlight was all but useless, she switched it on and threw it as hard as she could. It banged against the ceiling and clattered across the floor several aisles over. The ants began milling about excitedly, and ran to investigate the strange, rapidly moving lights. That provided Gwen the opening she needed to slip past them. She hid in the paint section, behind a display of paint buckets. Eventually, the ant army forget  their earlier confusion and picked up her trail once again. By this time, however, she had left that trail running across the entire store, so that the ants had to do a lot of backtracking to find her. As the front line approached, she began breaking open as many buckets of paint as she could. She dumped them out behind her, creating a large white puddle in the middle of the aisle. The strong scent of acetone filled the air, and Gwen ran on, hoping that the paint would blind the monster's sense of smell.

For all her cleverness, however, the enemy definitely had the advantage in both strength and numbers. They were approaching on the left, on the right, and behind her as well, and she was running out of store. She retreated toward Gardening. When she approached the sliding glass doors that closed the store off from the enclosed area, they did not open for her. With the click-clack of spindly legs and snapping mandibles behind her,  she began frantically attacking the glass gate with her hammer. She wanted the glass to give way immediately, but instead all her efforts yielded was a spreading network of white cracks and a small hole. By the time there was enough of an opening to squeeze through, Gwen felt crushing pincers close around her throat.

Four

“Dammit! God fucking damn it!” shouted Gwen. Just as before, the moment the ant had crushed her windpipe in its horizontal jaws, she had found herself back in her room. Only now, any resemblance between this room and the one she had slept in on October 30th was largely incidental. It was clearly a giant nursery. The bed she was lying in had plenty of stuffed animals to keep her company at night, and thick white bars to keep her from falling out of bed. The walls were decorated with clouds and smiling cartoon animals. The air smelt of baby powder and other, less pleasant scents. Across from her crib was a oversized changing table, well-stocked with dozens of thick, white diapers. A baby monitor sat where her cell-phone would normally be. There was no sign of her training chart anywhere. Why should there be? Judging by the warm squishy feeling under her butt, Gwen clearly had no use for the big-girl potty.

She pounded the springy mattress with her fists. She had been so close! For just a moment, she had experienced the possibility of victory. Of escape! Of freedom from this endless nightmare. Now she was lying in bed, wearing a lime green onesie, and once again, Amy was walking in her door like she owned the place. She was wearing a little white country apron and beaming with maternal affection.

“Good Morning! How's my precious little girl today? Woooh, somebody sure needs a fresh diaper, doesn't she?” said Amy, fanning her face with her hand.

Gwen rolled her eyes and lay back in her new crib. “Hi Amy. Good to see you.” she groaned.

Amy dropped the wall of the crib and reached in to pick up Gwen. She felt the familiar pleasant tingles as Amy's arms reached under her and hefted her out of the crib and into her arms. Gwen was surprised that Amy could lift her. She felt her entire face go numb when Amy planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. “Yesh, somebody made me a big present today, didn't she?”

As much as Gwen wanted to be disgusted and infuriated by her newly-reduced circumstances, the feeling of being carried by Amy was amazing. After hours of starving and freezing, then  facing those hideous giant insects, then being actually eaten alive, the warm comfort of being in her friend's arms was simply wonderful. She hugged Amy again, enjoying the sensation.

“Oh, you're such an affectionate little stinker, aren't you? Aren't youuu?” Amy nuzzled Gwen happily as she carried her over to the changing table. Gwen felt herself being gently lowered onto the padded surface.

Gwen's onesie had snaps at the crotch for easy access. The diaper she was wearing now was even thicker than the one she had woken up in in the last iteration. Gwen guessed that it was her night-time diaper, judging by the little blue moons all over it. Amy pulled it open with a loud crack of tearing tape.

“Oooohooohoo, what a messy diapee we have!” announced Amy, pinching her nose. “No more strained prunes for you, little munchkin!”

“Oh, just suck it up.” muttered Gwen as Amy retrieved the box of wipes. “This isn't exactly a picnic for meeeeeee....”

But it was. As Amy began gently wiping her clean, Gwen could only lie back and shake in sheer ecstasy. She knew that the disgust and humiliation would crash over her once the lovely feeling in her vagina faded, but until then she could only writhe in pleasure.

“What a good girl! Hold still, sweety. We don't want that icky poopy going everywhere. No, we don't!”

Amy tickled Gwen's belly playfully, which only made it harder for to lie still. Soon, Amy wadded up the mess inside the diaper and dropped it into the nearby genie with a heavy plop.

“huh...huh...I guess some...pull-ups would be out of the question, huh?” asked Gwen. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek.

“That's right! Gwenny needs a nice, fresh diaper. Yesh she does!” said Amy, retrieving one from the shelf below Gwen. Gwen rolled her eyes. It was pretty clear that nothing she said was getting through to Amy. She probably just heard a lot of gurgling and squealing.

Amy squirted a generous dollop of baby oil onto her hand and began rubbing it into Gwen's skin. Gwen nearly screamed with delight. She was panting heavily by the time her new diaper was snugly taped into place. This one had a smiling Elmo on the front.

“There! So nice and fresh! I could just eat you up! Num num num num!”

Gwen felt a fresh squirt release into the virgin white diaper as Amy blew a raspberry on her stomach.

Soon, Gwen was sitting in an oversized high-chair in the kitchen, wearing nothing but her diaper and a plastic bib. Amy seemed intent on feeding her a bowl of lukewarm oatmeal in the most inefficient manner conceivable.

“Brrrrrr, oh no! Emergency landing! Brrrrr!” said Amy. She was obviously enjoying herself far too much.

Gwen chose to simply play along, opening her mouth and allowing the spoon in as Amy offered it. She had to plan out a strategy for the day. She was grateful that her physical abilities didn't seem to be affected by whatever bizarre force was trapping her here. Her arms and legs felt just as strong and coordinated as ever, which is to say, marginally. The Home Depot idea had ended in disaster, it was true, but she had at least given a better account of herself than she had during the last two iterations. She might even have killed one of the attackers. Unfortunately, she still wasn't sure when exactly the ants had shown up, or how long she had to survive in order to escape, or if escape was actually possible at all. The idea of avoiding any Halloween activities hadn't seemed to help at all. She wondered if, perhaps, her mistake had been going off on her own and trying to deal with the threat alone. Clearly, Amy and Jennifer were connected to this in some way. Perhaps, she thought, the key was to keep more people nearby when night fell and the monsters showed up.

“All done! Good girl, you ate all that up!” said Amy, beaming with delight. “Does Gwenny want her ba-ba?”

“Noo...wait, hang on...” thought Gwen. The idea was demeaning to say the least, but she actually hadn't had anything to drink in a while. She hadn't felt thirsty when she had first woken, certainly not compared to how she had felt while battling the ants. Still, a nice long drink sounded lovely after that ordeal.

“Does she?” inquired Amy, waving the article in question in one hand. It was definitely a baby bottle, and a hefty one at that. “Does Gwenny wan ba-ba?”

“Screw it.” thought Gwen. “Yes, go ahead.” she said aloud.

Amy continued to wag the huge bottle in front of Gwen. “Come on, Gwenny! Can you say 'wan baba' for me?”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Fine! Geez! I 'wan baba'.Good enough?”

“Veeerrrry good! Can you say “Wan Baba, Mama?”

Gwen winced “Screw you! I don't want it that bad!”

“What a good girl!” said Amy, popping the rubber nipple into Gwen's mouth. Gwen felt foolish for thinking that there had ever been an actual choice involved. She grabbed the large bottle and and began sucking the creamy liquid out of it. She wasn't sure what was in it, but it was definitely too thick and sweet to be milk.

As her stomach filled, Gwen felt an odd sensation in her limbs. It reminded her of the feeling of physical contact with Amy or Jessica, but instead of feeling helpless, she felt suddenly energetic. Her legs began kicking the air involuntarily as she drank. Whatever was in the bottle, it made her feel like she had just had several large cups of espresso. Despite the size of the bottle, Gwen found herself wanting more when Amy finally pulled the bottle away and wiped her mouth with a baby wipe.

Then began the process of getting dressed for the day. Gwen stuck to her strategy of simply allowing Amy to take of her without making a fuss, although she was sorely tempted to switch strategies when she saw what Amy had in mind. She doubted that a spanking was still in the cards now that she was officially in diapers, but all the same, making trouble for Amy could only result in a lot of pointless delay. She thought it better to act passive and well-behaved, and wait for an opportunity to slip away.

Thus, Gwen found herself being dragged by the arm out her apartment wearing nothing but a light pink onesie, a pair of bib overalls decorated with a smiling sun, and sneakers with the face of Dora the Explorer on them. Her hair was tied into pigtails with small pink ribbons, and a pacifier was dangling against her breasts. She checked her butt to see if her diaper bulge was obvious. She confirmed that it was.

Strangely, Gwen found that she was less embarrassed to be seen in public than she had been in the previous two iterations. Her outfit was now so immature and ridiculous that it might have passed for a decent Halloween costume. Instead of feeling humiliated, Gwen began to enjoy the surrealness of the situation. Amy hadn't mentioned where they were going, although Gwen guessed that whatever title she applied, the actual destination would be the same. Amy strapped Gwen into a large and totally unnecessary carseat, and they drove to the university with a tape of nursery music playing.

Jennifer met them in the parking lot for the ceremonial “passing of the diaper bag”. Inexplicably, she was dressed in her Dorothy costume.

“Thanks. Anything I need to know?” asked Jennifer.

“Just the usual. She's just been changed and she had a big bottle of my milk for breakfast, so she should be good for a little while.” said Amy

Gwen felt suddenly queasy. “Did you just say...”

“That isn't really all that reassuring.” grumbled Jennifer. She took Gwen by the hand. Gwen felt sick, especially considering that she had just been thinking about how good the milk had made her feel.

“Have fun, sweety!” said Amy as she left. Gwen watched her leave, wondering what she actually did all day in this reality. She tried asking Jennifer, but she only nodded and smiled. It was clear that no one understood her any more, even on a superficial level.

When she reached class, she was surprised to find that most of the class were in costume like Jennifer. Apparently in this iteration, the university had a more pro-Halloween set of policies. Gwen wondered what that might mean for her, assuming it wasn't just random. The teacher did not address the issue.

Instead of playing on the floor, a playpen had been set up in place of Gwen's desk, and Jennifer lost no time in dumping Gwen in to play.

Gwen sat despondently among the stuffed animals as the lecture began. Her limbs were still singing with the energy boost her morning ba-ba had given her (she didn't want to even think about where it had come from), so being confined like this was maddening. Still, she knew that Jen would just grab her if she made a run for it now, so she tried to force herself to relax. She kicked her feet in her playpen impatiently. She took the opportunity to examine her costumed classmates. Most of them were very up-to-date and clearly store-bought. There were a few Avengers costumes, a Captain Marvel, Three Jokers (two Joaquins and a Ledger), a Rick Sanchez, a Pennywise, plus a mix of classic costumes like fairies, witches, zombies, and clowns.

Actually, now that Gwen was paying attention, there were a lot of clowns. More than chance alone would account for. She counted five generic clown outfits, nine if you counted all the Jokers and the Pennywise. She tried to remember if any clown-themed movies or games had come out recently, but she drew a blank. There was nothing odd about how any of them were acting. They asked questions, took notes, and sat looking bored just like everyone else.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a sharp hissing noise and felt an intense warmth in her crotch. She groaned and cast her eyes to the heavens in disbelief. That hadn't been the result of a long, drawn-out battle between her bladder and the inevitable. No, that had been a proper, no-bullshit, accident. Could it be the result of stress? Given the stress she had been under, Gwen had to admit that that was possible. She had, essentially, and also literally, been eaten several times in the last...how long had it actually been? At least...between seventy-two...and infinity hours. To be honest, it felt closer to the second one. She wondered if she had actually slept in all that time. She wondered if her mind was beginning to break down. She reassured herself that if she could still question her own sanity, she must still have some sanity left.

Some sanity. Left. She hung her head at the thought.

She shook her head and tried once again to make sense of her situation. Now that she had three days worth of data, she might have enough data points to draw some meaningful conclusions about her situation. She tried to place everything that had happened to her into categories, to see what kind of pattern she could establish.

With each iteration, she was being rapidly passed between two extremes. At night she experienced  situations that were incredibly dangerous, unpleasant, disgusting, and painful. During the day, her experiences were excessively and bizarrely pleasant, pleasurable, attractive, and...

Oh. Ooooooh.

Gwen found herself reexamining her own thoughts, and the dawning realization was inescapable. She actually enjoyed being treated like an infant. If not for the stress of dealing with all the horrible monsters and wondering if she could ever escape, this would actually be a fun ride. The fact that Jennifer had just dropped her into the playpen to play while the grown-ups did their important, grown up work...the fact that she now had a warm-but-cooling wet diaper wrapped snugly around her butt...

“Shit.” she whispered. She had been so focused on trying to figure out her situation, she had shoved aside her feelings. Upon reflection, not all those feelings were negative, and the positive ones bothered her even more.

As she sat deep in thought, she kicked at the wall of the playpen absentmindedly. It broke off and slammed against the seat in front of her, which was occupied by none other than The Mighty Thor, who jumped up and began frantically examining his spray-painted cardboard Mjolnir.

“Godammit! I swear, if she broke this thing...”

“Hey! Shame on for cussing in front of the baby!” said Jennifer.

“She just...” began the student, but Jennifer cut him off.

“I don't care! She's just a baby. You didn't mean any harm, did ya Gwenny?” asked Amy, her voice switching from harsh rebuke to cloying sweetness as she turned toward Gwen.

“Really sorry, dude.” said Gwen. “I think there might be a manufacturing defect with this wall.” She knew that what he was actually hearing was most likely gibberish, but in reality she did feel that she owed him an apology.

“That's right! Now, apologize!” demanded Amy. The man muttered an understandably insincere apology and sat back down. Jennifer attempted to reassemble the play-pen, but gave up after a few attempts and simply left the wall on the floor.

Gwen examined it. She found that the spot where her foot had struck it was cracked, and the latches that normally held the pen together had all snapped off. Something seemed off about it. She hadn't been kicking very hard, and the pen didn't look very delicate.

Soon, the class ended, and Jennifer took her hand and dragged her to the next one. Another playpen was waiting for her in Computer Graphics. Experimentally, she tested the strength of this playpen as well. She found that the thick plastic bars broke easily between her fingers, with only light pressure. She wasn't sure what, if anything, this indicated, but it was worth remembering.

As the day progressed, Gwen realized that she was getting no closer to getting a grip on her situation, and she was losing valuable time. She might be able to slip away again, but then where could she go? Whatever horror was on the way this time would find her wherever she hid, the ants had proven that. Some proper equipment might help, but that had only been marginally effective last time, and this threat might be even worse. She wondered again where Amy was. It wasn't as though she missed her or anything, she told herself. It was just the fact that those two seemed to have some special role to play in all this, and yet so far no more than one of them had been present during each of the monster attacks. In fact, the monsters had gone after them before attacking her. The vampire had killed Amy, and the horribly misplaced octopus had grabbed Jennifer.

Gwen realized, much too late, that she was pooping herself. To her surprise, it didn't really bother her too much. It wasn't as though anyone thought she was potty trained any more, and she was clearly under some kind of weird spell or something. It wasn't her fault, but it wasn't exactly comfortable. She stood up and tapped Jennifer on the shoulder.

“Hi!” said Jennifer. “What do ya need, Gwenny?”

Gwen blushed, but she wasn't going to lose her nerve now. “I, uh, need a change.”

Jeniffer nodded in cheerful incomprehension. “uh huh!”

Gwen exhaled slowly. It occurred to her that the only time today when she had said something that seemed to get through was when Amy was asking her if she wanted a bottle. Amy's response had indicated some comprehension of her words, even if it had only been something that a baby might say anyway.

She decided to go for broke. “Ah wen poopy.” she stated in a babyish lisp.

“Is there a problem?” asked the instructor irritably.

Jennifer stage whispered: “Oh, Gwenny just made a little present for me. I'll just go get her changed, okay?”

The instructor dismissed them without comment, as though a student pooping her diaper was a common occurrence. Jennifer led Gwen down the hall toward the restroom.

As they went, Gwen realized that she could technically just change herself. In spite of her newfound lack of continence, her intelligence and manual dexterity seemed fine. Still, she realized that she was actually looking forward to being changed. She remembered how good her two previous instances of diapering had made her feel. Was that all it took to make her look forward to having her good friend wipe her butt for her?

A student dressed as a clown walked by. Why were clown costumes so popular this year? There had been several in Computer Graphics as well...

A chill shot up Gwen's spine as Jennifer led her into the bathroom. What if that was the threat this time? If so, it was the earliest it had appeared so far. It was still daylight outside.

“Clowns.” said Gwen aloud as Jennifer pulled out the changing table from the wall and helped her onto it. Gwen wouldn't have described herself as coulrophobic, but the idea of impending clown-based death would upset anyone. It was almost enough to ruin the wonderful pleasure of being wiped clean and powdered by Jennifer.

“There we go! All clean! Come on, back to class!” Gwen was really getting fed up with Jennifer's upbeat tone, especially considering that she might now be about to killed by clowns and had no way of communicating the danger to her friend.

When they returned to the classroom, Gwen saw that the situation had not improved.

“Hiya, kiddos! Better find your seat! Hah huh huh huh!!!” said the instructor. He was now wearing a red clown nose and a garish multicolored clown outfit. Jennifer was oblivious to the change. She simply led Gwen back into the classroom without comment. Gwen tried to drag Jennifer back out the door, but the paralyzing pleasure made it impossible. Jennifer could simply take her anywhere she wished, and she was taking her back to the playpen.

Gwen looked around frantically. She wasn't quite sure how many clowns there had been when she left, but there were definitely more now. The non-clown students could be counted on one hand. Gwen was desperate to get out of there, but she couldn't leave Jennifer behind. If only there were some way...

Then it hit her. She had been looking at her infantile status as being a pure strategic disadvantage. Maybe that was a mistake. Gwen thought to herself: “What would a baby do to escape from a scary room?”

Making up her mind, Gwen started to cry.

She made sure to make plenty of noise. She wailed at the top of her lungs as Jennifer helped her into the playpen.

“Shhh, Gwenny. Quiet. Here, suck on that for me.” said Jennifer, sticking Gwen's pacifier in her mouth. The tingling feeling filled her mouth, and she found herself unable to spit out the binky, and her mouth began sucking on it of its own accord. No matter what she did, Gwen's voice was utterly gone. She couldn't make so much as a low whine.

“Ahh, hooza fussy widdle baby?” asked the instructor in a high-pitched falsetto. He tickled Gwen's chin, which she found somehow more invasive than the diaper change. Jennifer just muttered an insincere apology, still not seeming to notice the changes happening around her.

But Gwen saw. She saw one of the clowns place a red-and-white striped straw to the head of one of her classmates. She struggled with herself to make some kind of noise, but Jennifer's command would not allow it. Even kicking apart her playpen was not allowed until the order wore off. She sucked her pacifier as the clown sucked on the straw. She heard a tell-tale sputtering sound as whatever was being drained from the man's head ran dry. She watched in horror as her classmate's clothes slowly became larger and more colorful. Gwen knew that time was short. She had to either find a way to make Jennifer leave, or else leave without her and hope she followed.

Inspiration struck. As soon as the alien feeling faded from her mouth, she pulled out the pacifier. She adopted a babyish lisp. “Jen! Jen-jen! Wook! Cwowns! Cwown bad! Baaaad!”

Gwen felt incredibly stupid. The sound of her own voice talking in baby-talk was painful to listen to. Then Jennifer turned to her with wide, frightened eyes. Suddenly, she felt brilliant.

“What did you...ohmygawd!” Jennifer covered her mouth and stared around the room, as though seeing it for the first time.

“Whatttsamatter, little lady! Hoohahaha!” chuckled the instructor. Jen just stared at him, wide-eyed.

“N-nothing!” she said, quivering and still covering her mouth. “I should be going! Gwenny is really...uh, fussy! Isn't she?”

Gwen wasn't about to let her friend down now that she had finally joined Team Don't-Get-Killed-By-Clowns. She began wailing and shaking her fists in a passable imitation of a tantrum.

“Ooooh, don't be silly! We're gonna have soooo much fun!” said the instructor-turned-clown. He raised a bicycle horn and gave it a squeeze. In addition to an obnoxious honking sound, it belched out a dozen colorful ribbons, which rapidly tied themselves around Jennifer and Gwen.

Gwen struggled desperately with her bonds. To her surprise, they broke with loud snapping sounds and fell around her. Jennifer was struggling too, but for some reason she was having a much harder time. Seeing no reason to delay, Gwen simply grabbed Jen and dragged her out the door. The clowns began ambling unhurriedly after them.

Gwen tore the ribbons off Jennifer. “Ohmygawd! Holy shit!” she gasped, clearly confused.

“Come on! We need to get out of here!” said Gwen, still dragging Jennifer behind her. Now that Jennifer wasn't resisting, Gwen found that she could move her, although she really needed her friend to start using her own legs.

“I...I don't...” muttered Jennifer.

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Jen-jen! Wun! Wun weal fast!”

Jennifer's feet immediately kicked into action. The two of them charged down the hallway toward the front entrance.

A trio of burly-looking clowns waddled into their path. Their smiles were not at all cheerful or humorous. They meant business. More were coming up the hallway behind. With enough evidence to reach another conclusion, Gwen chose to simply charge the group. She had never thrown a serious punch in her life, but she had to start somewhere.

The clowns fell apart as Gwen tore into them. Instead of flesh, their bodies seemed to be made of a soft, rubbery substance. Jelly beans littered the ground as Gwen attacked. Her fists ran straight through them like bullets. She tore arms, legs, and head from their bodies, but everything within resembled a balloon or a pinata more than a human. Jennifer only stared at her as she dismembered the colorful monsters, but she managed to run across their jelly-bean blood and out the door once she was finished.

Gwen was stronger than normal, of course. It was hard to get a grip on that with so many weird events, but she reached the unpleasant conclusion that it must be the result of drinking Amy's milk. She knew that she hadn't been this strong when she had lobbed that bag of cement at that ant. That had taken everything she had, but now she suspected that she could do it with one finger.

“What's happening? What the hell is this?” screamed Jennifer.

“No talky! Mo wunny!” said Gwen, trying to lisp and shout at the same time, which is difficult.

The campus had changed. Clowns were everywhere, and several brightly-colored circus tents had been erected on the grounds. More were rising even as they ran, inflating slowly like bouncy castles. Gwen spotted more students with straws in their heads, being drained without seeming to react. The pair made their way off the campus. Several clowns attempted to grab them, but Gwen was able to knock them aside with relative ease. The clowns seemed to take only the most vague interest in capturing them. None of them ran, or carried any real weapons. As they left the campus, Gwen began to see non-transformed people going about their lives as though nothing were happening. The circus was growing and spreading, and no one was doing anything about it, or even noticing it.

Gwen reflected that a crowd would be no help at all in this scenario. The best thing she could think of was simply to get Amy and skip town before the clowns spread over everything.

Once they were out of sight of any clowns, the pair stopped to rest. Gwen barely felt tired, but Jennifer was almost ready to collapse.

“What...huff...the fuck?” she gasped.

“Shame on you! My poor, innocent ears!” mocked Gwen.

“What?”

“I mean...uh...da cwowns aw geddin cwosa! We needa wun an ged Amy!”

Jennifer switched to a light jog. “Amy! Right! Uh...wait, how are you even talking to me?”

Gwen considered carefully how to phrase her answer. “Me nadda baby! Me big giwl. Stoopid magic bullcwap mak yoo tink wong stuff!”

Jennifer looked puzzled for a moment. She looked over at Gwen. She glanced down at Gwen's padded rear. Then she looked puzzled again.

Finally she spoke. “You know what? Screw it. Clowns are bad. Run from clowns.”

“Dam stwaight.” agreed Gwen.

They soon arrived back at Gwen and Amy's apartment. Inside, Amy was at work in the kitchen. Three pumpkins sat empty on the kitchen table . Their guts were piled in the trash. Amy was just about to put a tray of seeds in the oven when Gwen and Jennifer burst in the door.

“Jen! Hi!” she greeted the breathless woman with a warm smile. “What are you two doing back so soon? I thought I had another few hours.”

“Forget all that!” said Jennifer. “We need to get the hell out of here!”

Amy chuckled. “What? What are you talking about?” she slid the tray into the oven and began setting the timer.

“Something really fucked is happening! Everybody's getting turned into clowns!” said Jennifer. Amy started laughing openly. “I know, I know! But I saw it happen!”

Amy was still laughing. “That is awesome! Wait, you didn't skip class just to come home and prank me, did you?”

“No, we didn't!” said Gwen. “We need to get out of here! Move!”

Jennifer crossed her arms. “I wouldn't do something like that! Come on Gwen, quit babbling and help me out here!”

Amy ignored both of them and swept Gwen into a hug. “Aww, did you miss me, sweety? How's that diaper doing?”

As frightened as Gwen was, the hug was absolutely heavenly. She had to struggle with herself to speak, especially in a way that might be understood.

“Amy, Jen-jen is wight! You wisten Jen-jen! Cwowns coming. Cwowns bad!”

Amy's smile disappeared. She released Gwen and took a large step back. “Oh. Oh...wow!”

“Yeah, seriously.” said Jennifer.

“That is...that is something.” said Amy.

Gwen rolled her eyes. If Amy didn't have the only car between the three of them, she might have been tempted to make a run for it right then. “Cummon ahreddy! Ehwil kiwwah cwowns! Cwocks tickin, peepoh!”

In fact, it took a while to convince Amy to actually leave the house, even after she had accepted the existence of evil clown monsters. It seemed that Gwen's baby-talk could allow her two friends to break free of whatever mental blocks were affecting them, but unfortunately, it didn't override their personalities. Jennifer was of a much more practical mindset, and was willing to forego other activities until the danger of imminent death and clownification had been dealt with. Amy, on the other hand, required a great deal of convincing that swiftness was preferred over preparation. Jennifer took point on the task of persuading Amy that packing an overnight bag was unnecessary, and that Halloween festivities should be indefinitely postponed, but was only partially successful. Gwen took the opportunity to try and scavenge for some decent weapons. Since they didn't have a garage, a collection of hefty kitchen knives were the best she could manage, and even that required quite a bit of explaining when Amy saw her carrying them.

“Gotta say,” said Jennifer when they finally started the car and pulled away from the apartment. “It's a good thing you don't live in a tornado zone.”

Jennifer was riding shotgun. Gwen had felt like objecting to being strapped into her carseat, but didn't think that arguing was worth the trouble.

Amy was visibly trying to keep her temper under control. She had just spent the better part of an hour getting yelled at. “Keeping a cool head in emergencies is important. What would we have done if we left with no food or spare diapers?”

“Stop at a gas station.” responded Jennifer immediately.

“Like they would have Gwen's size!” said Amy.

Gwen glanced down at her diaper. “Where do you buy these things, anyway?”

They got on the freeway and headed out of town. Traffic was light, so they made good time. Amy often complained that she didn't know where they were going, but Jennifer assured her that it didn't matter. Gwen did her best to explain her situation as they went, but it was difficult to find the right words in baby-talk. Soon, the sun began to set. Gwen was beginning to wonder if she had finally managed to escape, or if the clowns were just biding their time.

A police siren sounded behind the car. “Great.” grumbled Amy. “Was I speeding?”

Gwen looked behind them. A police cruiser was approaching on their tail with lights flashing. Gwen was instantly certain that this was the enemy making their move.

“No stawpy! Kip goen!”

“It's okay, Gwenny.” said Jennifer, turning around to calm Gwen. “The clowns are well behind us. We'll just get a ticket and be on our way.”

“Bullcwap!” shouted Gwen. “Don stawp! Id a twap!”

“Gwen...no using that kind of language.” said Amy, who was already in the process of pulling over.

Gwen groaned. Even after all that explaining, her friends still weren't taking her seriously. She was reminded of every kid's horror movie she had ever seen. As the adults blithely ignore every sign of impending death, the children look on helpless. “Sowwy, I mendasay...this is fucking stupid and you're both idiots!”

“Good girl!” said Amy, who had only heard the first part. Gwen undid the straps on her carseat and tensed herself in preparation.

The police cruiser pulled up in front of them. To the surprise of two of the women present, clowns began to pour out of it. They were wearing police caps and badges, but hadn't bothered disguising themselves any further. They didn't even look human any more. Claw-tipped fingers gripped  police batons. Their smiling mouths were full of razor-sharp teeth. Soon a crowd had assembled around the car, far more than the cruiser should have been able to hold. Amy and Jennifer screamed as the monsters surrounded the car, managing just in time to lock the doors.

“Hit the gas! Run 'em over!” shouted Gwen, trying to be heard over the screaming. Realizing her mistake, she repeated herself: “Hidda gas! Wun 'em ova!”

Jennifer's window shattered under a police baton. Clawed hands reached in to grab her. Gwen jumped forward and slashed at them, releasing an avalanche of jelly beans onto the screaming Jennifer. Gwen fell backward when the car suddenly jerked into life.  The clowns grabbed the vehicle and made a reasonable effort to hold it in place, but the engine roared and dragged them forward. Gwen used the car's rear doors to knock the few surviving stowaways off. Many colorful, rubbery husks  and plenty of jellybeans were left behind as the trio sped on. The police cruiser was soon behind them once again, but no one suggested pulling over.

“Gud wuhk Amy!” said Gwen. “Yoo did gud!”

“Th...thanks.” said Amy, struggling to maintain composure.

“Naw, wut aw ya gunna do nek tyme ah say 'no stawpy'?” she asked pointedly.

“No stoppy!” said Amy.

Gwen patted her shoulder. “Gud guwl.”

The night wore on. The police car behind them continued to pursue them, but kept its distance. Fewer and fewer vehicles were on the road with them.

“We're running low on gas.” said Amy. She sounded exhausted.

“Gas station. Told ya so.” said Jennifer. She was shivering. The whole car was cold, but she was next to the broken window.

“Don't start that again. How far do we have to go to get away from these things?” asked Amy.

“Juz keep dwivin till da sun come up.” said Gwen.

“There's something up ahead.” said Amy.

A fire truck was sitting across all the lanes, forming a blockade. Around it were a dozen other vehicles, seemingly involved in some kind of accident. A crowd was milling about among the tangle of vehicles.

“Kee' gowin.” said Gwen as they approached.

“How? There's nowhere to go!” said Amy.

As they drew closer, the fact that the crowd consisted of several dozen clowns, some wearing rather silly-looking fireman's outfits, became obvious. Gwen searched the mass for any weakness.

She pointed. “Dere! Weft side! Wamming speed!”

“What?” shouted Amy.

“You heard the baby! Ramming speed!” yelled Jennifer.

Amy turned the car and headed toward the gap where Gwen had indicated. The clowns rushed to intercept, forming a tight crowd to block their way.

“Fastuh!” shouted Gwen. Amy obeyed. The car sped up and plowed into the crowd of clowns in an orgy of vehicular clownicide. Jellybeans rained against the windshield as dozens of rubbery bodies were drawn under the tires and crushed. Jennifer and Amy screamed as the car pressed through the mass of hideous creatures.

But there were too many. The car ground to a halt, and the windows caved in as the crowd surrounding the car pressed inward. Jennifer was ripped from her seat and pulled into the clowns. Amy didn't last much longer. Gwen kicked and stabbed at the monsters as they invaded the car, but her strength did not make her invincible. Claws raked across her skin over and over, until she fell lifeless from the loss of blood.

Five

Gwen didn't scream, or kick her arms, or rage. She lay still. The struggle, the violence, the pain...it was getting to her, she knew. She no longer felt afraid, or angry, or anything else. What she felt was empty. Like she was made of nothing.

It took a lot of effort to open her eyes. What she saw did not overly surprise her, although it did disgust her.

The nursery was still a nursery, only more so. It was a Nursery. The walls and ceiling genuinely looked like a blue sky dotted with puffy little white clouds. Stuffed animals in every color, shape, and size sat grinning on dozens of shelves, and each and every one of them was wearing a diaper. The changing table was even larger, and it seemed to watch her with its big googly eyes and plastic smile decorations. Next to it were two entire bookshelves devoted to storing diapers. She now had a diaper library. Above her crib, a mobile of plushy stars, moons, and planets spun. Even the heavenly bodies were wearing diapers. The scent of baby powder was overwhelming. The place was more of a nightmare than any monster she had seen so far.

She pulled aside the fleece blankets and surveyed the damage. Her diaper was enormous, at least four inches thick. If her mattress weren't so soft and yielding, she would likely develop back problems from sleeping with her ass raised into the air by thick padding. It was like her crotch was hidden inside a glossy white beachball. Across the waistband, the diaper was marked in large, block-print lettering: “Super Pooper XXL”. Her chest was bare except for the large blue pacifier around her neck.

She lay back and buried her face in her hands. It had all been going so well that time, but the clowns had cornered her and defeated her anyway. She wondered how how much more she would have to endure. She wondered what gruesome death awaited her now. More than anything, she wondered how much worse it could be.

On schedule, the nursery door slid open, and Amy strolled in, humming happily to herself. This time, she was wearing her angel costume, which Gwen hadn't seen since the first iteration.

“Gooooood Morning!” said Amy in her most insufferably saccharine tone. “How's da Big Baby? Huh? How's da Big Baby?”

Amy tickled Gwen, but even the mysterious power of Amy's touch was not enough to lighten Gwen's mood.

“Oh, gawd. Could you just not?” growled Gwen.

“Oooh, is Big Baby bein a Gwumpy-pants today?” asked Amy.

“Just...fucking...leave it.” snarled Gwen under her breath.

“Does da Big Baby need a big diapee change? Is that it?”

Gwen seethed. Why did Amy seem to imagine that she had no emotional life beyond her diapers?

Amy pulled Gwen into an upright position. She pulled open the back of the diaper, sniffed noisily, then closed it with a light snap.

“Hmm...all clean. That's not like my Big Baby. Are you feeling okay?”

Gwen wanted to actually talk to Amy, or failing that, grab her by the collar and throttle some sense into her. But she wasn't feeling it. The idea of talking in baby talk felt like giving in to whatever sadistic force was putting her through all this.

“Whatever.” she spat bitterly.

“Now Gwenny, we need to get this right! Here you're about to be in the parade, and you're still waking up in clean diapers!”

Gwen did a double take. “Wait, parade?”

Amy, naturally, heard nothing. “Now, I'm going to turn around. When I look back, I expect to see a Big Diaper Baby who needs me to change her widdle bum-bum. Is that understood?”

Gwen sighed and lay back in her crib. She was really getting fed up with Amy's schtick.

Amy spun around. “One, Two, Three, Poop your Pampers!”

Gwen gritted her teeth as the feeling of tingling pleasure swept through her once again. That had been a direct command, and she knew that she had no choice but to obey. Her guts rumbled to life. She felt all the strength vanish from her butt-hole. She gasped as her bowels pushed an enormous load into her diapers. The pleasure was so strong it was almost painful. All thoughts of fear, anger, or dignity vanished from her mind as she pooped in her pampers.

Amy turned around and clapped appreciatively. “There's my Big Stinky Baby! Feeling better honey?”

“I...hate...you.” snarled Gwen.

“Good girl! Really mash that mess around for me.”

“Nooo!” yelled Gwen, as her hips rushed to do Amy's nefarious bidding.

Jennifer strolled in the door, still wearing her Dorothy costume. She flapped her hand in front of her nose. “Wow! Somebody sure wants her costume to be authentic.”

“Jennifer? What are you...” Gwen was about to ask why Jennifer was here now when she had met her before class in every other iteration, but she dismissed it. There were differences between the days, and they seemed to be getting worse. This latest change was no different. She was more curious as to whether what she was now wearing was considered a “costume”.

Amy brightened, as though she had just had a brilliant idea. “Hey, you're right! I was gonna change her before the parade, but I think it'll be better to change her during it instead.”

Gwen was liking the sound of this less and less. She decided that in spite of her injured pride, she needed to get her two friends up to speed. She started talking to them in baby talk.

She talked to them as they fed her a large jar of strained peaches in a high chair. She talked to them as they tied a bonnet around her head. She talked to them as they loaded her into a stroller and pushed her through town to the university. She told them about the vampire, about the swamp monsters, about the giant ants, and about the killer clowns. She told them about the times she had tried to save them, and the times she had turned to them for help.

They smiled. They nodded. They made the occasional comment or lame joke. But they didn't once take her seriously. As far as they were concerned, she was just making up a story. Gwen eventually grew frustrated trying to get through to them. She knew that once again, they wouldn't believe her until the danger was right in front of them, when it would be too late to prepare a real defense. Even when she had had Jennifer on her side, it had taken being nearly torn apart by rabid clowns to make her take the situation seriously. Gwen was really getting frustrated with both of them. She kept wanting them to be by her side helping, and they kept disappointing her.

Her spirits did not lift when she saw what was waiting for them at the university. A parade was indeed mustering there. Dozens of Halloween-themed floats were being set up when she and her friends arrived. There was a graveyard float staffed by zombies. There was a cauldron full of bubbling liquid with witches to cackle around it. There was mobile haunted house with ghosts peeking out and spring-loaded bats to flutter. In other circumstances, Gwen might have thought that a Halloween parade would be a fun way to spend the holiday.

But then she saw her own float.

“What the fuck does this have to do with Halloween?” she shouted from her playpen. The float was essentially a mobile version of her nursery, and it was almost as over-the-top. She now knew why Amy hadn't driven her here. Her car was buried under a mountain of colorful diapered teddy bears. Atop the platform was giant inflatable playpen, as well as fully-stocked changing table. Above her, fluttering in the breeze, was a giant pink-on-pink banner announcing to the world that “Big Baby Gwenny” could be found underneath. Gwen sulked as the parade began. She didn't know who was down below driving, but she knew that Gwen's car wouldn't go faster than five miles an hour with all this weight sitting on it, which meant it was useless as a mode of escape.

“Of course it is.” she muttered aloud as she sulked in her playpen. “Everything is useless. Everything I do ends in death. I might as well just give up and wait for my mind to break. Shouldn't be long now.”

Amy reached into the playpen and patted her back. “Oh, are you nervous? Its okay, sweety! You look adorable! I'm sure everyone will love you!”

“I mean, we could work a little more on the smell...” remarked Jennifer.

“Oh, did you hear that, Gwenny? Jen-jen just volunteered to change you! Isn't that great?” chuckled Amy.

“Woo hoo.” said Gwen despondently.

The parade slowly crept down the street. Gwen watched the police form barriers to clear the way. The parade had a decent turnout. More and more people, nearly all in costume, lined the streets to watch Gwen go by in her ludicrously incongruous float. Jennifer handed her a baby rattle that was large enough to double as a mace. She shook it without enthusiasm. She was barely even looking out for whatever hideous monster was waiting for her. Why bother? Knowing about the clowns ahead of time hadn't been any real help.

Gradually, they arrived at 8th Ave, the town's main thoroughfare. She passed the Albertsons where she had once worked on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. She missed the days of the week. It felt like it had been Sunday for a solid month. The costumed audience were growing more numerous and more excited as they approached the town square. “Spooky” but family-friendly music was being played on loudspeakers.

“Why are we even doing this in the daytime? Shouldn't this parade happen at night?” she asked nobody. She wasn't in the mood for her two friends to nod along and give asinine answers, and she certainly didn't feel like talking like a baby when she was already being literally paraded through the streets in her dirty diaper. After spending so much time in this bizarre world, it no longer felt surreal. She was beginning to think of it as her actual life. And if this was the fifth day, what would the sixth day be like, or the seventh? How about the fiftieth? Gwen felt as though the walls were closing in around her.

Amy tickled her. “Smile, sweetie!” she whispered.

Gwen felt her face twist into a beaming grin. “Great.” she muttered through her teeth.

Sure enough, once a large enough crowd had formed, Jennifer lifted Gwen out of her playpen and loaded her onto the changing table for a change. The crowd cheered for her as she shook in ecstacy. She knew that in any sensible version of reality they would all be arrested for public indecency, but here, in the depths of madness, her stinky bottom was a public attraction. Gwen felt as though she would explode from the potent combination of terror, despair, humiliation, and eye-watering pleasure. She was practically gasping for air when she finally landed back in her playpen with yet another enormous diaper wrapped securely around her ass. She wished that the ground would open up and swallow her.

Instead, the sun went out.

It didn't happen instantly. Gwen noticed a sudden chill in the air (not that she had been especially warm to begin with). A shadow fell across the street. Gwen assumed it was a cloud. Then, the screaming started.

Amy and Jennifer stopped smiling, which came as something of a relief. More and more people began pointing upward, and some began hastily moving toward their vehicles. Shielding her eyes, Gwen tried to spot what had gotten their attention. She could just make out the shadows moving across the sun.

“What's happening? Is that an eclipse?” asked Amy.

“Nobody mentioned it to me, and eclipses don't make a shape like that.”

As they stood watching, the parade ground to a hault. More and more people abandoned the street. Gwen watched as the sky slowly grew darker. Soon, the sun could be seen easily with the naked eye. A ring of darkness was surrounding the light, as though the sun were a massive pupil and the darkness was contracting it closed. The streetlights switched on as the light continued to fade.

“What is this?” asked Amy.

“Monstuh bulkwap...wike ah toldja.” explained Gwen.

There was a long pause. “What can we do about it?” asked Jennifer.

Gwen shrugged. “Nawd much.”

“What? You just said that last time you rammed a car into the clowns and killed a bunch of them! You're just gonna give up?” asked Amy.

Gwen looked at her. “Yoo agjully bewieve me?”

Amy nodded. “I mean, that was awfully hard to swallow, but look!” she pointed to the sun, which now had a pinhole of light in the midst of blackness.

“We're sorry for not taking you seriously.” said Jennifer sincerely. “Although, to be fair, you do look extremely un-serious.”

Gwen smiled weakly. “Thanks guys. I'm lucky to have friends like you.”

Amy and Jannifer looked at each other. “You catch any of that?” asked Jennifer.

“I usually just smile and nod when she starts babbling like that.” said Amy.

Gwen blew a raspberry.

The sky was pitch black. The sun would have been lost among the stars if any had been out. The wind grew colder.

“Look! On the horizon!” said Amy, pointing. Gwen looked. The sky was so dark that the horizon was barely visible. Then she saw something move.

“Should we run?” asked Jennifer. Most of the crowd had. Even the guy who had been driving the float had left.

Gwen shrugged. “Wad da poin?”

“There must be something we can do.” said Amy.

Gwen shrugged again.

“You can't just...give up!” said Jennifer angrily.

“Wodge me.”

The darkness thickened. Things were moving on the horizon, and coming closer. The lights of the houses were beginning to wink out. Gwen watched the massive shapes approach, and she continued to sit in her playpen.

Jennifer grabbed Gwen and hauled her out of the playpen. Gwen had no choice but to stand. “Listen! I know it isn't easy, but you're the one who's been through this before. Do something, dammit!”

“Yeah! You were telling me about how mad you were when I didn't help, and now you're doing the same thing!” said Amy.

Gwen knew her friends were right. She took a deep breath. She felt so tired, so beaten down. It was just getting worse and worse.

Her eyes hardened.

“Awight. Ah give id ma best twy. Bud ah need yoo doo da do egzagtly what ah tell oo.”

Amy and Jennifer matched her determined expression. Jennifer extended a fist. Amy pressed her fist against it. Gwen did the same.

“We're gonna get through this, whatever it is.” said Jennifer. Amy and Gwen nodded agreement.

“What are we doing first?” asked Amy.

Gwen sighed. She had been dreading this, but if she meant to escape, she had to pull out all the stops and do whatever needed to be done.

“Bweastfeed me.”

It took remarkably little explanation to convince Amy to open her angel costume to give Gwen access to her breasts. Soon Gwen's lips were around her nipple, draining her forcefully. She let out an occasional squeal of discomfort, but Amy seemed to enjoy the experience. As for Gwen, she felt incredible. Straight from the source, the milk was even sweeter and warmer than it had been the last time. Gwen felt her stomach fill, and as it did, her limbs also flooded with power and energy. She switched breasts, and soon the feeling redoubled, until it felt like a tiny fireworks were going off in every cell of her body. She didn't let go until Amy had nothing left to give.

The darkness was continuing to advance. Checking the horizon, Gwen saw that the shapes were becoming closer and clearer. She got the impression of long slender jointed legs, or maybe they were tentacles. Screeches and grinding noises began to rise out of the advancing gloom.

“Did it help?” asked Amy, trying to close her costume.

“Definly.” confirmed Gwen. She demonstrated by launching herself ten feet into the air and landing back down without any visible effort. Her two companions stared at her wide-eyed.

Jennifer began unbuttoning her gingham dress. “What about me? Does my milk do anything?”

Gwen cocked an eye at her.

“In for a penny.”

Soon, Jennifer was also sucked dry. If Gwen had felt powerful before, now she ready to take over the world. “Cummon. Ah needa geddup hi!”

With a mighty leap, Gwen reached the roof of the Albertson's and surveyed the situation. Her two friends watched nervously from ground level. The sunlight was only a weak, narrow sliver beaming down on the town. From her vantage point, Gwen could see the lights of the streets and houses winking out as the encroaching darkness swallowed them up. She was inside a shrinking circle of dim light, and all across the horizon, the darkness was moving. Things that might have been spiders or octopuses or some mad combination thereof were just visible in the shadows, and they were as big as skyscrapers. For a moment, Gwen considered simply charging the massive things, but even if her new strength were somehow equal to the task, she would be fighting in the dark. She considered. Simply ramming herself into the enemy had not gone well last time. She scanned the horizon, hoping something would occur to her.

Then she noticed that the circle was not centered on her, as she had first assumed that it would be. The university was closer to the center, but it wasn't right on it.

Finally, she saw it. It was centered around the upscale neighborhood where her Halloween night had first begun, at the place where she had died for the first time: Christine' house.

An hour later, Gwen and her two friends were standing in front of the house. The town around them was deserted. The streetlights were fading and the houses were darkening. There were no trick-or-treaters out tonight. Gwen could only guess what might have happened to everyone else, but she knew now that whatever she was dealing with, she would have to deal with it. With a little help from her friends, of course.

The house had changed quite a bit since the last time she had seen it. Instead of looking neat, clean, and well-maintained, it looked like no one had lived in it for decades. The lawn was essentially wild brush, so choked with weeds it no longer qualified as a lawn. The path to the door was nearly hidden by the tall dandelions. The windows of the house were boarded up, and the outer walls were rotten. Almost nothing remained of the paint. However, despite every other indication that the place was abandoned, a dim light could be seen behind the boarded windows.

“We're supposed to go in there?” asked Amy. “This place looks more creepy than the actual haunted house across town.”

“Yeah.” agreed Jennifer warily. “Are you sure we're supposed to go in there? It could be a trap, like that thing with the police car.”

In truth, Gwen was working from guesses. Running away from the enemy hadn't worked last time, and neither had hiding. It seemed that this house was center of whatever was happening to her, and she needed to get to the heart of it.

“Dis da pwase. Ah dunno whuds in dere, bud imma findout. Wog behin me.”

Amy and Jennifer raised their weapons and took up position behind Gwen. Seeing that the area was abandoned, Gwen had taken the time to grab some equipment from Albertson's. Luckily, the store had several large freezers, each of which was equipped with a large fireman's axe in case the locking mechanism failed and someone became trapped inside. She had taken the liberty of looting three such weapons, one of which she waved in front of her as she advanced toward the front door.

The door slowly creaked open. Gwen knew that it was perfectly normal for rusty hinges to creak, but it still felt dreadfully cliché. The interior of the house was dimly lit. the furniture was rotten and moldy. Amy shone a flashlight (thoughtfully retrieved from her glove compartment) around the main room. They crept deeper into the house. The dim light continued to fade as they searched the ground floor.

“I heard something.” whispered Jennifer.

“Shh.” whispered Amy.

Gwen felt ready to pounce at any moment. She knew that something was waiting in the darkness for them. But room after room turned up nothing but decaying furniture and garbage.

They crept down the stairs. In the original reality, these stairs had led to a finished basement. Now, they opened into a long, dilapidated hallway with doors on either side.

Gwen heard something very heavy move outside the house, as though a very stealthy giant were walking nearby. She guessed that the creeping darkness had finally closed over them. She looked at her companions. They nodded their agreement. There was nowhere to go but forward.

They walked slowly down the hallway. The doors on either side they opted not to search. There were dozens of them. The house seemed to stretch far beyond the proportions of the house they had seen from outside. Gwen wondered whether she was in some secret underground compound, or simply a place where the fabric of reality itself was being stretched outward to the breaking point. The hallway turned sharply to the left up ahead.

They nearly jumped when two of the doors behind them popped open like jack-in-the-boxes. Colorful lights spilled out, and an unseen calliope began to play. Gwen ran to protect her friends as a dozen clawed and fanged clowns marched out to the tune of “Entry of the Gladiators”.

They charged, but the hallway was narrow enough that they could not attack en masse. Gwen swept the axe back and forth with brutal force, and jellybeans scattered across the floor. With seconds, Gwen had killed all the attackers, and received only a light slash to the arm in return. It hurt, but she couldn't have cared less.

More doors opened and more clowns attacked as they made their way down the corridor. Sometimes the clowns attacked from both sides at once, but Gwen could dispatch them too quickly, and Jennifer and Amy could fend them off with an occasional swing when they got close enough. Terrified and breathing hard, they reached the turn. The corridor shot off to the left, ending in another left turn.

More doors popped open. Huge ants crept out into the hallway. Amy screamed when she saw them, but Jennifer buried her axe into the forehead of the first one to approach. Gwen was flying. She leapt on the monstrous insects and crushed them again and again. When she had fought them last, the only advantages they had had were biologically nonsensical strength and numbers. Now, Gwen had both of those advantages, and she relished the chance to even the score. Some she hacked, some she punched, some she simply lifted up and crushed between her hands, their hard carapaces cracking loudly and releasing a drizzle of formic acid. It stung her eyes and ate at her clothing. Gwen noticed distantly that she had used her diaper again, but she no longer cared. Even filthy and stinking, she was determined to see this through.

By the time they reached the next turn, all three of them were splattered with ant bodily fluids. Gwen wasn't the least bit surprised when a door popped open and Matt strolled out dressed in his silly Dracula costume.

“Why, hello again.” he greeted.

The three women raised their axes and formed a defensive line. He smiled, showing his long fangs.

“Stay back, creep!” shouted Amy, shining her flashlight in the vampire's eyes.

“There is no need for concern. I only wish to talk.” he said cheerfully.

Gwen felt herself relax.

“You must listen to me very carefully. You are all in great danger.” he said.

The axes were lowered. Gwen eyed the vampire suspiciously.

“This place is very dangerous. You will not escape without my help.” he explained.

“You'll...help us?” asked Amy, sounding confused.

“Of course I'll help. Only I can keep you safe here. Only I can show you the way out.”

“Yeah...” said Gwen, distantly. “...show us the way out.”

“I will. Here, let me help you.” said Matt. He took the axe from Gwen's hands. “I'll tell you the secret.” He leaned in. Gwen bent forward to hear the secret.

Jennifer chopped his arm off. He screamed in pain, which seemed to wake up Gwen. She punched him as hard as she could, and he flew against the wall of the corridor. He was on his feet in an instant, and he still had Gwen's axe. He waved it back and forth, trying to force the women onto the back foot. Gwen was having none of it. The first time he swung the axe, Jennifer jumped back, and he buried it in the floor. Gwen was on him in in an instant. She ripped the axe from his grip and began dismembering him with it.

“Is there anything to make a stake out of of?” suggested Amy. She averted her eyes as Gwen rained axe-blows on the vampire.

“I think this approach might actually be valid.” said Jennifer.

By the time Gwen paused to catch her breath, there was no part of the vampire's body large enough to pose a threat. The mass of dismembered viscera twitched, but Matt was not coming back anytime soon. They continued on.

The next stretch of the journey was merely a hallway. Instead of doors, the walls were lined with evenly spaced paintings. The hallway ended in another left turn. Gwen strongly suspected that this particular arrangement of hallways should be impossible without returning to one's starting point, but what was one more impossibility? Any thoughts of three-dimensional geometry were forgotten when she saw the paintings.

“Wow.” said Amy.

“Shiiit.” said Jennifer.

All the paintings were images of Gwen. Amy and Jennifer were in some of them, but Gwen was clearly the main attraction. Gwen on the changing table. Gwen lying in her crib. Gwen being fed oatmeal. Gwen whispering to Jennifer in class.

As they continued, the images became more explicit. Gwen pooping in her diaper. Gwen over Amy's knee, being spanked.

“Oh! Oh, Gwen...” said Jennifer.

The final two paintings were of Gwen being breastfed, once by Amy, once by Jennifer.

Amy seemed to struggle to come up with something to say. Gwen didn't turn to look at her.

Around the next corner, the hallway abruptly came to a halt. For an instant, Gwen had been certain that someone was coming at her around the corner, but then she realized that she was just looking at a mirror.

She brandished her axe anyway. No reason to imagine the mirror was safe. She watched mirror Amy and mirror Jennifer do likewise. They stared at the sheet of glass for an instant.

She looked at herself. Dressed in her ludicrous baby outfit, loaded diaper behind her and breasts waving loose. She saw her eyes. They looked tired. They looked frightened and confused. But there was something else there. The mirror Gwen had a look in her eyes that made the real Gwen shiver. Then, she noticed that the Gwen in the mirror was rubbing the front of her diaper.

Instantly, Gwen wanted to smash the glass. To destroy all trace of that image and whatever it represented. She felt her face blush hard. But the Gwen in the mirror wasn't blushing. She was turning to Amy and kissing her cheek.

Gwen turned back to the real Amy, who was staring wide-eyed at her. When she turned back, mirror Gwen was thrusting herself against Jennifer. Jennifer was moaning as the diaper humped against her.

Gwen couldn't stand it anymore. She reached down to the front of her diaper, and began to rub herself through the thick padding. Her two companions stared at her with wide eyes. Then, they vanished into the darkness.

Gwen awoke with a start. She was lying on a long sofa. She was dressed as the Mad Hatter. The sun was streaming in through the window. Several other students in various costumes were stretched out nearby. Sitting next ti her on either side were Amy and Jennifer, fast asleep.

She fished out here phone. She smiled widely. The beautiful words “Nov. 1st” stared back at her.