A Matter of Punishment

[Elizabeth]

They barely waited until we were out of the principal's office before they started in on their own lecture, as if I hadn't been talked at enough already. Phrases like "so disappointed in you" and "why can't you act your age?" were bandied about, but - let's face it - I'd heard it all before, and hadn't paid any attention to it then. Why start now?

By the time we got to the car, they were out of words, making the ride blessedly quiet, if a bit chilly. I'd have rather they waited until then to go on their little rants, rather than do it while still at school, but perhaps it was better to just get it out of the way. It made it easier to hear my MP3 player.

"Go to your room," my mom ordered, as soon as we set foot in the house. I was already headed that way, so I was happy to oblige. My parents were arguing before I'd thrown my backpack onto my desk chair, but a couple clicks of the volume button took care of that.

I wandered over to my dresser, briefly considering changing out of my school uniform. In all honesty, however, I found it kind of comfortable, even if I wasn't crazy about the idea of -having- to wear it. I wouldn't be going anywhere that night, so it wasn't as if there was any big need to wear anything else. Instead, I walked over to my window and opened the curtains, stared out at my front lawn, and the little flower garden right out front. Once upon a time, I'd help mom take care of it, and we'd have a blast kneeling out there, pulling weeds or digging out a spot for some new seed. I could hardly wait to see what kind of flower would come from those. Mom even stopped showing me the seed packets before planting time, so that I'd be even more surprised when blooming time came.

What happened?

I grew up, I guess. That has the tendency to screw things up quite royally.

I saw mom walk out of the house, get back into the car, drive off. I found it difficult to consider that a good sign.

It didn't take her long to get home, though by then I'd made my way to my computer, which I'd probably been forbidden to use at some point during the walk out of school, and was idly clicking through a few pages and glancing down at the clock, wondering if mom had gotten some take-out.

After a few minutes, there was a knock at my door, followed by the squeak of the handle turning. I easily had enough time to at least switch off the monitor, grab one of my textbooks, but I didn't see any reason to bother.

"We need to talk," my father told me, his voice accompanied by the sound of him and mom sitting down on my bed, and a crinkling, like the kind that a plastic bag makes.

"All right," I shrugged, not turning away from the allure of the Internet.

Mom wasn't standing for that, nor was she particularly amused with my antics, as I realized when she spun the chair around so that I was staring her straight in the face.

"Pay attention, young lady," she ordered. "We're fed up with your behavior, you understand? We're not putting up with this!"

"Calm down, dear," dad got up as well, leaving the plastic bag sitting alone on my bed. He put his hand on mom's shoulder, and they stood there in silence for a moment or two.

"Are you finished?"

I don't know what possessed me to say it. It's possible that the slap that immediately followed knocked the memory of the reason from my mind.

"I have had enough of this!" mom yelled. "We have tried everything with you! Why is it so impossible for you to just act your age?!"

"I am," I snap, getting angrier when I feel the tears starting to roll down my cheeks. "I'm a teenager, what do you expect?!"

"Well, you're acting like a two year old," mom informed me, grabbing my arm. She pulled me to my feet, spun me around, pushed me onto my bed, right next to the plastic bag, from which a container of baby wipes rolled.

"That's why we're doing this," dad chimed in, as my mother yanked down my skirt before I could even consider stopping her. I had time to raise one of my hands, start to sit up, by the time she pulled off my panties. She stopped her progress long enough to push me flat onto my back again.

"What are you doing?" I could feel my voice quivering. Something was very wrong here... I turned my head, trying to get a better view of what was in the bag.

Then I heard mom pulling on the tapes of my slightly damp diaper. "We gave this a try," she said, cleaning me with one of the new baby wipes. "You said you wanted this, so we went along with it."

"If nothing else, you've gotten worse," dad added. "You've been acting like a spoiled brat, and we've had enough."

"If letting you have your diapers makes you act like a two year old, maybe taking them away will get you to act your age again." And with that, mom pulled the pair of panties out of the bag, slid them over my feet. I felt like I should do something, but I was too in shock. I found myself getting stood up, having my bottom wiped.

It felt as if everything were moving in slow motion as the panties were pulled up my legs. I'd worn them since I'd told my parents about my interest in diapers, of course - I wore them over my diapers every day to school - but it had been so long since I'd worn -only- that. The thin fabric pressing around me felt so strange, so foreign, almost as if I weren't wearing anything at all.

"You can't do this!" I screamed, stomping my foot. "This isn't fair!"

"This is for your own good." Mom was already over at my dresser, pulling diapers out of my underwear drawer. "You'll understand one day."

"But I want to wear diapers!" I whined. "I need them!"

And, to illustrate my point, I took that opportunity to let my bladder go. It was barely impeded by the cloth around my waist before it began to pour down my legs.

Mom barely blinked. "You'd better go take a shower, sweetie," she told me, tossing me one of pairs of panties from the drawer. "You only have a few of these, you know... Unless you want to be doing laundry every day, I think you'd better be more careful... Don't you?" She pulled a couple more pairs of panties out of the bag, and began to put them into my underwear drawer.

I glared at her, arms folded. She glared back, obviously not about to budge on this. I could feel my face turning red, and I let myself squint a little, but not enough to break eye contact, as the back of my panties began to sag. It wasn't something I did often in my diapers, but perhaps if she knew I was willing to do it in my panties, she'd give in. Surely she wouldn't make me walk around with messy pants...

But, as if she could read my mind, all she said was, "If you want to ruin your clothes, it's no business of mine. But don't expect me to be buying you any new ones anytime soon."

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to think of some argument, something else I could say, or do, my eyes and hers still locked.

Finally, it was me who looked away, who admitted defeat. I trudged off to the bathroom, resigned to my fate. For the time being, anyway. Who can tell what the future will bring? Maybe one day I'll find a way to get my diapers back...

Or maybe, just maybe, I'll learn to like panties again. Stranger things have happened, somewhere, I'm sure.

But then again, maybe not.

[Pojo]

Nice story...I really wasn't expecting that

[Error404]

As usual, your writing talents, fail to disappoint me.

You're really good with those twists you know? Short little stories like this are really cute and coming from your brain, are excellently written.

Keep them up, angel! I'm looking forward to more!

[r0bino]

Meh, I love your writing, and this story is no exception
Turning this over-used diaper story setup around was pretty original, and if you think about it it makes it even more likely to happen for real.

[Eddy]

I remerber reading this story awhile back, it a nice story with a good twist to it.

[genbaby]

I like the irony of what happens you think they are going to treat her like a baby but they had already given her drapers for some reasons and are now taking them away.

[shadow prince of hearts]

I really enjoyed this story and you have great talent. I look forward to reading more.

[Todd]

As always it was well written. I can't get over the plot though. It was so unlike anything you had done in the past and yet it did contain one of the completely unexpected twists I have come to expect in one of your stories. Fantastic work Elizabeth.

[IWANTHOTDOG]

Nice, that was a tricky one!

[silent deadly alchemist]

im still blinkng trying to get round that blindingly fast plot... ll be honest it moved fast, too fast it seemed