Story #12: Two Pails

Story #12: Two Pails: "You really must think you're something clever. You think that this teenage rebellion is something that allows you to strike out at an unjust world." She slid a thin wooden wand across her palm, every word just barely tempered even, while a violent malice bubbled right beneath. Her hazel eyes were like shards of glass being plunged into him. "Eggs on the walls, toilet paper on the trees...It's juvenile, but still fair game. I won't begrudge you lobbing a grocery list into my yard. It is Halloween." Those daggers drifted down and softened with maternal bliss as they found their target: a young boy, still sniffling and sobbing quietly. "...But you crossed a very dangerous line by bullying my son. Does it make you feel big? To terrorize a helpless little boy who just wants to trick-or-treat? You must really be something pathetic. You stole his candy, and where did it go?" The teen gulped at the question and looked down toward the concrete. He had dumped the contents of the pumpkin pail down into the storm drain, and that was after he had given the owner a nasty wedgie. How could he have known though? This little brat was the son of an honest-to-god witch! He'd just wanted to have a little fun, but now... "Well? I won't wait all night." "...The sewer, I guess. I dumped it down there." There was a long, painful pause and for a moment, he had to wonder if she was about to turn him into a frog to go retrieve it all. "That's a pity. This will be harder for you to make up. You will be getting back every piece, though, and you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way." The witch plainly stated, drawing her wand to the ready. "..I'm a little old to trick-or-treat, but I have enough allowance saved up, so I can just buy the candy.." He tried to explain, before the woman clicked her tongue in disapproval. "You're going to spend tonight learning a lesson, you filthy little ruffian. Whether or not there are longstanding consequences...Well, that'll just depend on how quickly you can get things done." She extended the gnarled rod toward him and narrowed her eyes: "Make this wicked brat a babe once more, down the clock until he's on all four! Two pails tonight on Halloween, one makes him a baby and the other makes him a teen!" There was a flash of light and suddenly, the teen's clothing began to change. From jeans and a hoodie to a generic superhero costume. One other major detail was the feeling of his boxers morphing into a large, cumbersome diaper. "Here's the game, little one. That diaper isn't just a reminder of how immature you are, instead think of it more as the symbol of all your bad choices. You'll be filling it up, a lot in fact." His hand caressed the back of his costume, feeling the noted size of the diaper that she had transmuted his boxers into. "Whenever you fill it all the way up, it'll magically change itself. However, every diaper used is going to have you losing bits and pieces of yourself. Your intelligence, your age...All pushed out into the back of those plus-sized Pampers!" She snapped her finger and suddenly some impish little demon boy appeared, swaddled in a diaper of his own, and holding onto a glowing, floating diaper pail. "All those diapers will be put in here, and if this pail fills up before you finish filling up your pumpkin pail, then everything you lost will belong to me." The teen's reaction should have been verbal, but instead, he helplessly replied by ripping a thunderous fart and flooding his diaper with muck. His mouth hung open in surprise, the witch's son began to giggle, and the little imp cried out: "Payload! Diaper half-full!" The teen groaned and rubbed his head, feeling an odd mental fuzz as he deposited his maturity into his pants. The witch cackled and reached over to pat his mushy tush. "Well, I think you get the point. I expect to see you back here, before the end of the night, and we'll see which pail is full...Hmm?" An hour and two diapers later, the teen wasn't feeling as good about his odds. He was maybe fourteen now, but most houses haven't been very accommodating to a teenager trying to trick-or-treat, and it didn't help that he was clearly hauling around some big smelly diaper under his costume. At most, there was only two solid hours of trick-or-treating left, before people began to close down shop. He needed a radical new strategy to make himself more presentable. He hid behind a tree and got down on his haunches. He needed to take advantage of this crazy curse that had him soiling himself an unnatural amount, and also the part that would make him younger... He pushed, and almost immediately, it was like he couldn't stop. The filth flowed like a mudslide and in no time at all, he could hear the imp chirp: "Massive payload! Changing time!" Like before, the diaper was magically changed in an instant, and the gritty result was balled up and tossed into the pail. The boy could already tell that as he got smaller, his diapers would get smaller, and it would take longer to get completely full. But as it was, now with a heavy plop, the pail was almost halfway full. He reassured himself that this plan was solid, and then with swift determination, he proceeded to fill up another few diapers. It took grit and grunts, but soon he had soiled himself all the way back to elementary school. His costume had changed too, now becoming a pirate. He picked his pail back up and started to return to the same houses that had so quickly shunned him. Now that he was rosy-cheeked and pint-sized, they seemed far more willing to look past the bulky Pampers he was so obviously in need of a change from; house by house, they filled his pumpkin plenty! But there was a new problem. He was messing himself even more frequently than before, and he was losing years at an alarming rate. Going down to twelve had been fine, but now he was already seven, and he still needed at least five more good houses! He could feel his mind going too, with every snicker from the imp, he was becoming a dumb little kid. He started to become more desperate and acted more 'cute' to score more candy, his dignity be damned, it was fleeting already, fast into his diaper. He was a Kindergartner now, in a Pikachu costume, and the two pails were neck-and-neck for reaching full capacity. He just needed one really good score, and unfortunately, he knew exactly where to find it. His little brother had been put in charge of handing out candy this year, as a punishment for poor grades. The former teen knew that if he prostrated himself badly enough for the tiny sadist, that he'd offer a generous bounty in return. It felt odd to ring his own doorbell, but that was pretty low ranking for what tonight had entailed. The door swung open and the tyke got to peer up at his now giant brother. "Twick or tweat!" He lisped, holding out his pumpkin. "Uh-huh. Let me guess... Pikachu?" The middle schooler asked with a roll of his eyes. He started to grab just a couple of small pieces of candy from the bowl. "..Y-yeah, but I, uhh.. I'ma special Pikachu! I should get lottsa candy!" His brother rose an eyebrow, "Oh yeah? What makes you so special? Maybe some special move? Show me and maybe I'll give you more candy." It was time to debase himself and play to his brother's immature sense of humor. He turned around and stuck out his padded rump, "I can use mud bomb!" With a grunt, he clenched his fists and began to fill his Pampers like his life depended on it. The diaper swelled and rounded out the back of his costume, while his brother just looked on in shocked amusement. After the gassy explosion had subsided, he looked up to his brother with an awkward smile. "Well, uh...I'm not, uh...not really sure that special. Special ed, maybe, but.." He was struggling to speak between chortles, but ultimately he still deposited only two pieces of candy into the pumpkin pail. The door shut, but the tot's mouth was wide open in betrayed awe. A gurgling fart blew into his diaper and with it went the last vestiges of his maturity. "Diaper full! Pail full! Time for payout!" As the little imp cackled, the former teen was now becoming a toddler. He was dressed like a Pumpkin, or at least his diaper was, and as he started to drool, he heard the witch approach. "Game is over, and I guess that you didn't fill the right pail. You'll have plenty of time to get better at trick-or-treating as you grow up again, though I suspect you won't be so easily pottytrained this time around.." The toddler stomped his foot, "N-no! Me keep smarts! Me be big kid! Pwease!" The witch looked to her son, "I think it's only fair that I let him decide that. How about it sweetie, does he deserve a second chance?" The boy looked down at the toddler, just as the tot was already starting to anxiously toot in his diaper. A crooked smile began to form, and from it, the toddler began to fearfully poop in his diaper. "I had some thoughts on that..."