The Potty Draining Chart

Day 6

Vanessa stared at the chart, trying to decipher what the latest stickers referred to. She wanted to be there for Nicole, to at least be able to warn her what was coming with no more surprise humiliations.

At least Nicole had the day off, she wouldn't be risking humiliation at work. That would be better than nothing, not that it really solved any of the issues.

The storm clouds for day and night seemed unfortunately clear, if the pattern could be trusted. Nicole's potty training was all but gone–maybe she'd get a little warning, but based on the stickers, she'd regularly be making thunder boom-booms inside her diaper going forward. But the doodle on the bottom was more opaque, resisting Vanessa's attempts to decipher it.

The cartoon depiction showed Nicole, with a little speech bubble over her head. The word didn't give Vanessa anything–it just said 'Hello'–but instead of being written in simple letters, it'd been spelled out with alphabet blocks.

(Huh...) Vanessa wondered.

The door opened, and Nicole stood in front of her, arms crossed sheepishly over her chest. The smell wafting from Nicole's bedroom was unmistakable, and even if it hadn't been obvious from that alone, Nicole's blush told all. She'd had another poopy accident overnight.

"I gotta..." Nicole mumbled sleepily, nodding towards the bathroom. "Um. Gotta shower."

"Okay," Vanessa said. "I've got someone coming in a couple hours to help figure this out. Okay?"

Nicole nodded wordlessly, waddling to the bathroom to get freshened up.

Vanessa frowned at the chart one last time, then waved it off and walked to the kitchen, making pancakes from premade mix and frying them up on the stove. By the time Nicole was cleaned up and waddled into the kitchen, freshly diapered and dressed for the day, she had a stack of fluffy pancakes ready to go, butter melting on the top of the pile, and a mug of coffee in Nicole's lucky mug.

"Tanks," Nicole said, pulling up a seat in the kitchen. She smiled when she saw the cartoon pea pod decorating the mug, holding up the brown elixir that was strong, straight coffee. "'Pweciate it."

Vanessa blinked. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"I 'pweciate the pancakes,'' Nicole repeated. Now that Vanessa was listening for it, she easily picked up on the distinctly juvenile cadence–letters falling over one another in a verbal jumble. Nicole didn't seem to notice, though, and just cut into the pancakes with her fork.

"Nicole..." Vanessa said. "You're lisping."

Nicole looked up at her, eyes widening. "Nuh-uh."

"Yes, you are," Vanessa repeated. "Or, not just lisping, but it's like...your words aren't fully formed. Like you're learning to talk."

Brow furrowing, Nicole focused for a moment before she said, "I sound o-tay to me."

"You just said, 'Oh tay'," Vanessa pointed out.

Nicole's eyes widened. "Nuh... I din' hear that at all. I said o-tay, not 'Oh tay'."

Vanessa stared at her, and Nicole blushed.

"I said it again, din' I?" she asked. Vanessa nodded. "Well...fudge."

"Well... Don't worry. With any luck, maybe the feng shui guy who's coming over won't be..."

...

"...a complete waste of time," Vanessa groaned, sinking into the sofa. "I'm so sorry, I thought he'd at least have any idea."

"You could'n'a known," Nicole replied, pulling up her legs to her chest at the other edge of the couch. "Is... is otay."

"It's not okay." Vanessa shook her head. "It's–I need to be doing more, and I'm not. Even my ideas aren't helping–the guy, the camera, it's just proven that we don't know what's happening. This isn't normally my thing, but like–that's not an excuse. You need help, it's on me to step up."

Nicole hesitated. She wanted to be the supportive friend, the one who solved all the problems, but Vanessa was right–Nicole was struggling to try and be proactive while her body betrayed her left and right.

"I still appweciate the help," Nicole said.

"I feel stupid about the box, though," Vanessa said. "I hadn't even thought to check the attic, it didn't occur to me that the box I found the chart in would just be totally empty. It's like it just vanished!"

That had been a troubling realization, even if all it really confirmed was that something strange and paranormal was happening beyond their understanding.

A long moment passed. Nicole felt very small, with her knees tucked against her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Thoughts blurred in her mind, fears and anxieties about the future. "Vanessa...promise me somethin'?"

"Anything," Vanessa said.

"Dere's...there's...more dan a week left on da chart," Nicole said. "And I dunno what's gonna happen. I'm scared. I tout... I thought it was just gonna be potty stuff...but now I can' tawk right, an I dunno if it's gonna keep getting worse too. So...promise, if I keep getting worse, you won't weave me?"

Vanessa's eyes widened, and she scooched across the couch, wrapping her arm around Nicole's shoulder. "Oh, Nicole–I'm not going anywhere. Not for anything. You're my best friend, and I don't care how long it takes to figure this out, I'm here. We're in this together. Okay?"

Nicole sniffed, but didn't start to cry. "Oh... okay. Tanks you, V."

Pulling her into a tight hug, Vanessa nodded. "Of course."