[Baby Jake]

Part 2/3 in the Aden trilogy I wrote in 2005. Very much recommended you read Aden's Revelation first! Enjoy.

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“Chapter Eleven, a Reason for Suspicion”


“I can do this” I thought.

“I can do this…” I thought, once more…

I glared at them… my heart was pounding. My blood was boiling. My mind was racing. My hands were shaking. I was on edge.

“Don’t act suspicious” I thought to myself.

“Just do it, and leave. No one will care. No one will think anything of it” I thought.

But I was standing still.

“…not again…” I thought, accepting my own defeat.

I kind of sighed, and walked away… away from that baby’s aisle, standing in front of the packs of diapers.

I hastily walked through the store, and picked up some random object, which ended up being a candy bar… and purchased, to make it look like I wasn’t stealing something.

Then, I walked out the doors of that department store, and into the blazing heat that awaited me outside.

---

And that wasn’t an overstatement. As I walked outside, it was pretty much the equivalent of being punched in the face. The change in temperature was incredible, from the air-conditioned store, to the exhausting heat of outside.

I kind of slouched as I struggled to get behind the store, to get my bike, and ride it home… which was a horrible task. The few small inclines I had to go up on my way home, which weren’t usually anything bad… were like mountains with this heat.

But surely, of course, I made it home. I wasn’t in the best of moods however. I remorsefully stomped into my room…

“Damn it…” I typed.

“What? You didn’t get them?” he typed back to me.

This was, of course, the friend whom I met a month or so ago.

“No… I freaked out again” I sadly typed.

“Man… you have to chill. Oh well… most people back down once or twice before they finally buy their own diapers…” he typed back to me.

“Yeah, yeah… I know” I said.

“Why can’t you just get them off of Brian again?” he asked me.

“He doesn’t have anymore. We used them all.” I reminded him.

“Oh yeah… he wasn’t a DL you said, so he only bought a bag for the dares…” he remembered out loud.

“Yeah…” I said.

“Man… I still don’t think he’s what he said he was… just a normal kid” he replied.

“Eh… I still have my doubts but, you know… I can’t really do anything to make sure he isn’t. And besides… I’ve been keeping an eye on him. He seems like a normal kid, anyways…” I said.

“Yeah, true…” he replied.

“I don’t know man… I’m feeling a bit depressed now. I can’t bring myself to buy diapers, and I want them bad” I whined.

“Awww… you’ll be fine. Just build courage. Its not easy… It took me two tries to get my first pack of diapers last week” he said to me.

“Yeah… I know…” I said.

“Man its weird though, you ran through the streets of a town in nothing but a diaper with Brian, eventually not getting phased at all, but now you are scared to buy your own” he said.

“I know, I know… I guess its because I just moved here at the time, I knew no one, no one knew me… but that’s changed… people know me more now…” I said.

“Yeah, I can see that” he acknowledged.

“So what are you going to do now?” he asked me.

I shrugged, even though he wasn’t in front of me in person.

“I don’t know…” I said.

I thought for a moment…

“Maybe I’ll go and call Seth or Brian or something” I typed.

“Okay” he replied.

“Yeah… I guess I’ll do that” I said.

“Alright” he replied.

There was of course a phone next to me… it was cordless, and it was usually in my room at all times.

I picked it up, turned it on, and dialed in Brian’s number.

“Hello?” I heard over the phone. It was his mom.

“Hi this is Aden… is Brian home?” I asked.

“Oh. Sorry, no he isn’t. He and Dan went out for a bit… but I can have him call you, when he gets back, okay?” his mom said.

“Okay, thanks” I said.

We hung up.

“Hmmm… things just aren’t going my way…” I thought.

I then picked the phone up, turned it on, and dialed in Seth’s number this time.

“Hello?” I heard… wasn’t sure who it was.

“Hi this is Aden… is Seth home?” I asked.

“Yes he is Aden, hold on… I’ll go get him.” I heard.

“Thanks” I said…

It was a minute or so, before I finally heard Seth’s voice.

“Hello?” I heard.

“Hey” I said ambitiously.

“Oh hey Aden” I heard him say.

“What are you up to?” I asked.

“Not much man… why, what’s up?” he asked.

“Was wondering if we could do something or not” I said.

“Hmmm… I’m sure we can. What’d you have in mind?” he asked.

“I dunno… nothing specific” I said.

“Well if you want to come over, come on over” he said to me.

“Alright” I said.

---

I was back on my bike, once again, as I cruised through the streets. I had gone to Seth’s house many times by now, so I knew exactly where to go. When I made it to my house, I dropped my bike in Seth’s front yard, went on top of his porch, and knocked on his door.

“Hey” Seth said as he opened the door… he was obviously waiting for me.

“You want to ride bikes?” I invited.

He contemplated…

“Sure, alright” he said.

Seth smiled a bit.

“Come inside for a minute though… I need to ask my mom for my allowance.” He explained.

“Oh, okay” I said understandingly.

“Yeah man… we can go to like a Dairy Queen or something. It’s hot out there” Seth said.

“Yeah…” I agreed.

I sat down on the couch, as Seth walked somewhere else into the house. I heard footsteps upstairs, some heavily muffled voices and a high pitched crying sound, and then footsteps coming back.

Seth sighed…

“She’s busy with my little brother at the moment” he said.

“Alright” I said understandingly.

“So… we’re going to have to chill here for a few minutes. Put on TV or something while she’s done taking care of Ethan” he said.

Ethan was of course, Seth’s young brother who hasn’t yet exceeded the age of an early toddler.

“Alright” I said understandingly, again.

Personally, I didn’t care too much. I was honestly enjoying lounging around in the nice air-conditioned house, considering the heat outdoors.

It was though, only a few minutes before we eventually saw Seth’s mom walking through with Ethan in her arms, asleep.

“Seth, hold on a minute, okay?” she whispered.

She went upstairs and eventually returned not with Ethan, but with some cold hard cash.

“Here’s your allowance for this week” she said, giving Seth some money.

“Thanks” he said.

And after that, there was no hesitation for us to get out, and get on our bikes.

---

We whizzed through intersections, small streets, back alleys, and obscure roads to try to let the wind cool us off. I followed him to the ice cream shop, since he knew where it was. I had a pretty good idea where it was, after all… I wasn’t really new to the town anymore. I knew where most things were, but not as well as I did with my old town. He was taking a strange route… it was longer, but I think he was just enjoying his bike ride.

We stopped in a parking lot… I knew exactly where we were… because there was the store I was at an hour or so ago.

“Here, follow me just a bit further” he said.

We cruised through it, until we came to another stop in front of a small ice cream shop. It had picnic benches, and there were a few people at it… but there was a bench we could sit at.

We dropped our bikes, walked up to the cashier, and ordered some ice cream and some hot dogs… Once we got them, we sat down at our bench, and chilled out.

“You hang out with Brian lately?” Seth asked me as we sat down.

“Not recently… doing what beats me” I said.

“Yeah, same” Seth said.

“What are you doing for the 4th?” I asked him, pertaining to the upcoming 4th of July holiday.

“No clue man… I was hoping we could sleep over Brian’s house or something” Seth said.

I nodded in agreement.

“…but I don’t know how that’ll be with those two being busy” he finished.

I nodded in agreement, again.

“This always happens though.” He said.

“What?” I asked.

“I guess they are in some summer program or something” he said.

“Oh” I said, never really thinking of it like that.

“Yeah… I don’t really care though. That’s why I never bothered asking” I said.

I nodded some more.

“What are YOU doing for the 4th?” he asked me.

“Me? I dunno… nothing planned.” I said.

“Yeah… well I dunno, if you can’t think of anything, you’re always welcome to sleep over my house” he invited.

“Thanks… I’ll definitely keep that in mind” I said.

“Yeah… that’s if Brian and Daniel are too busy. Then you should sleep over their house, whenever there is one, it’s always a good time. I’m sure you know that now” Seth said.

It was a refreshing sit… very nice and fun. He and I talked about stuff, just what’s been going on in our lives. Whenever we were done, though… we began back to Seth’s house.

---

We walked in, and took our shoes off and pretty much got comfortable as we walked into his living room. We sat down on his couch, with nothing in mind to do exactly.

Before either one of us even turned the TV on, though… Seth asked me a question.

“Want to play playstation, in my room?” he asked me.

I contemplated…

“Sure… alright” I said.

We got off the couch and went upstairs, into his room. It was very cool inside; his air conditioner was on… Even cooler inside his room than the rest of the house.

“Aww man… can I move in?” I jokingly asked, acknowledging the cold air.

“This is nice” I said.

He laughed, and bent down to start up his PS2 and his TV.

“Sit down anywhere you find a spot to” he said…

He said that, because his room though was very cool, was much unorganized. Clothes, books, and random stuff were on the floor all over. I looked around, and eventually just sat down on the floor, since I didn’t want to sit on his bed to be polite.

---

It had been about an hour… he and I were playing for the whole time, and just having idle chat about whatever.

“Hang on man… I’ve got to go use the bathroom” he said, pausing the game.

I of course was not going to keep him from doing his business, especially in his own house, so I just nodded in acknowledgment as he left the room.

It was of course only I during that time. At that time, in Seth’s room… I stretched a bit, drowning in my own thoughts as I always did when I had time to myself. I cracked some joints, and as I was stretching… I guess I must’ve lost my balance but I kind of fell back onto my back real fast.

The clothes and stuff on the floor of course made for a soft landing. All was very soft on me… except for something. Something was digging into my back, somewhat painfully… but not agonizingly. I just sat up quickly, and of course, examined what it was.

I looked, but there was nothing.

“That’s funny…” I thought.

I knew for a fact something was digging into my back when I was on it… But there was nothing but clothes. So I felt around, and eventually felt that there was something under it. So I moved the clothes away.

And it was to my absolute surprise… it made my heart skip a beat when I realized what it was. My eyes widened, my mouth dropped, my heart stopped, and my blood began pumping. I double glanced, three times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating… because to my absolute shock… I was starring at what was apparently… a baby blue pacifier, with a clear silicon nipple.

Like I said… I wasn’t too sure if I were dreaming, hallucinating, or witnessing some phenomenal effect from the immense heat and sun outside. But I became very aware very quickly, that this was no illusion. There really was a blue pacifier on Seth’s floor.

And after that fact sunk in, I began to react… react with mostly questions and thoughts. But out of all of them, I quickly came to my rather hasty conclusion as to why there was a pacifier on his floor.

“Seth… is a teen baby” I thought.

No other reason to me sounded logical, only that one.

Suddenly my mindless gaze was stopped as I heard a door shut, in the hall beyond this room. I knew it was Seth, coming back. It was in those five seconds I had to make a decision.

“What should I do!?” I thought.

“I could tell him I found it… let him know I know he is what he is…” I said.

But right when I heard that door beginning to open, I tossed it back under the clothes, and acted like nothing was wrong.

He didn’t notice anything…

“Got to go when you have to go” he said as he walked in.

“Y-Yeah” I stuttered.

He smirked, and walked over to his controller. I looked over at him… and I must have been glaring at him quite noticeably, because…

“What?” he said to me, knocking me out of my mindless gaze.

“Huh? Oh… nothing” I said, lying completely.

“Okay… well… lets get to playing” he said.

I knocked the whole thing out of my head for now. I needed to act cool… act calm. Act like I didn’t find a pacifier on his floor. Act like I was only ten minutes ago… act like we were real close friends. Which we were, but… I was feeling very strange.

It was an incredibly strange feeling… it was completely surprising in all ways. I mean… not to compare a good thing with a bad thing… but it was like finding your best friend on drugs. I mean, you always are cautious of such a thing, but when it actually happens, you don’t know what to do, even though you always thought over and over about what if it happened. Should you tell someone? Should you come out with it? What should you do? It was a very strange situation.

But I acted cool. I acted like all of the things I listed previously. Until, finally… I had to go home. It was getting late, and dinner was getting made at my house… so I went home.