Wrong side of town

“Here it is!” Edward said, pulling into a driveway of a small, ranch style house. “Home sweet home!”

“Oh, Ed!” Carolyn said, “It’s perfect! I want to see it again before we move all the stuff in.”

“Okay, okay.” Edward said with a laugh. “Let me just open the back first.”

Carolyn pressed a little button on the steering wheel as the two got out of the cab. The back of the truck opened slowly as the two made it towards the front door.

--

Lauren slowly began to stir as a bright light crossed her face. Blinking awake, Lauren noticed four things.

First, Lauren saw her thumb in her mouth. Lauren removed it, a light blush on her face. This was something that she thought that she had stopped doing since she was eleven, but some days she found herself waking up with her thumb in her mouth. She made a mental note to talk to someone about that.

The second thing she noticed was that there was a dark, wet spot on her diaper. Lauren blushed a deep scarlet; she had wet herself in her sleep!

The third thing she noticed was an annoyingly itchy feeling on her butt and inner thighs. Her face going pale, she looked over her shoulder and pulled on the back of her diaper; the sunlight allowing her to see what the source was. When she saw it, she turned red again as she snapped the diaper back into place. Oh yeah. Lauren thought in a mixture of shame and humiliation. That is DEFINITELY a diaper rash.

To be honest, Lauren wasn’t too surprised by this. After all, not only had she just wet the thing, but she already had sweat pooling in it from her lower half being roasted on her four hour, two mile hike to the truck stop.

Speaking of which, the final thing she noticed as she looked out the open door, was that the truck was no longer at the truck stop. She noticed a lot of suburban homes and a smile came to her face. Was she finally home?

Getting up from the bed, Lauren made her way to the front of the truck and climbed out. As she stood in the sunlight, her smile faded. She didn’t see her apartment building anywhere. Looking up at the street signs she saw that she was on Apollo Avenue.

Lauren was feeling a mixture of relief and horror. Her town had an Apollo Avenue…but she lived on Winston Street. She was on the opposite side of town! Now instead of walking ten miles to her apartment, she had to walk fourteen! And she’d have to go through the city. Wearing only a wet diaper!

“What on Earth?” a voice said from behind her. Freezing in place, Lauren looked over her shoulder to see Carolyn standing there, her hand to her mouth.

Without thinking, Lauren bolted away as fast as her diaper would allow; not slowing down an inch.

“Little girl, wait!” Carolyn called out, unaware that she had just caused Lauren to turn bright red.

Lauren had turned the corner to the next block, disappearing from sight. Carolyn donned a look of concern as Edward came out the door.

“What’s the matter, Carol?” Edward asked.

“There was this cute little girl right outside our truck,” Carolyn explained, “but when I went to see if she was okay, she ran off.”

“Probably just one of the neighborhood kids running home.” Edward shrugged.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Carolyn said. “Now lets get this stuff into the house.”

--

Lauren didn’t stop running until she reached a rather large building. She stood there in front of the gate, panting heavily. She had never been more humiliated in her life. It was bad enough that that woman had seen her wearing only a diaper – a wet diaper, no less – but she had actually mistaken Lauren for a child! She promised herself that both Vanessa and Maria would “mysteriously vanish from the face of the planet” when she got back to her apartment.

Suddenly, Lauren felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump. She turned around and saw a young woman, about maybe five years older than Lauren, giving her a stern look.

“Young lady!” the woman yelled, sternly. “What are you doing out here?! And where are your clothes?!”

“I…um…you see…” Lauren stammered, trying to come up with an explanation for this.

“Never mind.” The woman sighed, grabbing Lauren’s hand as she turned Lauren around and led her through the gate and towards the building. “Let’s just get you back inside. I swear, I have no idea how you managed to get out.”

Lauren looked up at the building for the first time. And when she saw what it was, her eyes went wide. Her mouth went dry. Her face went pale. Her heart plummeted into her stomach.

_No… _Lauren thought. Please, I’m begging you! Not there! NOT THERE!