Leave

This simply has gotten too weird. You've had fun, and Ashley is much more interesting than the dull girlfriend you've left at home. But you're in no mood to take care of an adult child.

"Sorry, Ashley. It was nice to meet you," you tell her as you open the door. You walk back to the car.

As you start to open up the driver's side door, you hear an older woman's voice ask, "Were you just in Ashley's apartment?"

You look around and see a woman getting out of a Cadillac in the parking spot next to yours. She looks to be probably in her late 60's. "Yeah," you tell her. "She's quite eccentric to say the least."

"I can hear her crying from all the way out here," she says. "Did you hurt her? I'm calling the police."

"No, of course not, I would never hurt her," you respond.

"Then why is she crying?" the lady asks as she approaches you.

Before you can reply, Ashley has stepped to the front door of her apartment, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes watery and red. "Because he agreed to be my Daddy and then he left!"

"Is this true?" the lady asks, edging closer to you.

At this point, you've had enough. "Yes," you say. "And now I'm leaving." You turn around to get in the driver's seat before you feel a heavy object hit you in the back of the head. The front of your head hits the top of the car, and you fall to the pavement.

When you come to, you are in a luxurious bedroom. It's blue and white, decorated like it was 18th century England. The whole bedroom is twice the size of the studio apartment you were in last night. You sit up and realize you are in a four poster bed. Your clothes are gone, and you are wearing silk pajamas in their place. You get up and look in the mirror to see if you have any head wound. You notice a lump on your forehead. The back of your head hurts, too, from where you were hit. As you walk towards the door, it opens. The woman who confronted you last night walks in with a large man in a suit. The man is practically twice your size.

"Oh good, you're awake," the lady tells you. "I'm sorry for what happened last night."

"That's okay, I guess. I probably just need my clothes and to be getting home," you tell her.

"Home to Monica?" she asks.

"How do you know Monica?" you wonder.

"I don't," she quickly replies. "I just happened to answer your phone when she called last night wondering where you were. I let her know exactly where you were, at my granddaughter's apartment, playing Daddy to little Ashley. Well, she didn't care much for that answer."

"Oh, crap," you whisper.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about her, John," the lady continues. "She yelled something about being glad she cheated on you and you can pick up your stuff off the front porch if the raccoons don't get to it first." She turns to you. "As you can guess, I'm Ashley's grandmother, Eliza Huffin." You recognize the name. Her deceased husband was one of the richest men in town before his passing. "Since Ashley's mother passed when she was younger and her father abandoned her shortly thereafter, well, Ashley's always wanted to remain a little girl. I guess she thinks as long as she stays young, her parents will come back. I've tried to make her grow up. Got her an apartment, a job just when she turned eighteen years old last year, but she still insists on dressing and acting like that. She put ads on craigslist looking for a Daddy or Mommy, but had the most dreadful men respond to those ads. Asking for nude pictures and such. I told Ashley she had to try and meet someone in person, not on the internet, if she was going to find her a Daddy. I'm always a little protective. That's why I ask her to text Bruce, my servant here," she points to the big bodied man who came in with her, "to let me know she thinks she found someone. I have a camera hidden in her apartment so I can watch everything, you know."

"No, no I didn't know that," you say just to add something to the conversation.

"Well, anyway, you were doing such a good job being her Daddy, but then you just LEFT!" she says, looking distraught. "Ashley just can't have another parent leave her. She really took a liking to you last night."

"So what are you saying?" you ask.

"Well, since you really do have no place to go anymore, I was going to offer you the opportunity to stay on as Ashley's Daddy full time. Bathe her, clothe her,"

"Diaper her?" you interrupt.

"Yes, diaper her." Eliza leaves a long awkward pause. "In return, you can live here at the estate or, if you desire, back at Ashley's cramped apartment. But, if you accept, you are at Ashley's beck and call. Whatever she wants, she gets. If she wants to read the same story ten times, you'll do it. If she wants a bottle, you'll let her crawl in your lap and then you'll give her a bottle. And if she wants to stay a toddler forever, you'll be her Daddy..."

"Forever." you finish her sentence. You debate in your head whether to accept the offer. On one hand, you'll never have to pay another bill as long as you're here. Ashley is pretty cute, and maybe she'll grow out it. Plus, the old bat could die soon and you could just leave. On the other hand, a lifetime of changing a diapers does not exactly sound like a great experience.

"Well..." Eliza says, awaiting your response.