Don't Baby Me (Age-Regression)

Three

Mae swipes a keycard and the doors fly open, showing me a brightly colored hallway. The hallways are lined with childish art and painted a bright yellow. I want my soft pink bedroom. Not this daycare looking hallway.

"Why don't you take her to the calming room? I think Ayla needs some calm down time." Mae turns to the first door on the right, unlocking a room that's filled with soft stuffed animals.

The walls and floors have soft, squishy looking play mats. There's bean bags on the floor and even sensory lights strung up on the walls.

Strong man sets me down on the floor. I try to run around his body, only to be stopped by him once again. He captures me around the waist, pulling me deeper into the room. Plopping me down on a purple beanbag chair, he warns me to stay.

"Ayla, the door is locked. Only I can open it up. I'll open it when you are finally calm." Mae says softly.

Turning away from her, I curl up into a little ball and cry into my arms. This sucks.

The lights dim and the sensory lights kick on. I have no interest in looking at them, so I fold my arms over my head.

An unknown amount of time passes until I hear the door open and shut. Strong, familiar arms lift me.

Pulling my eyes open is hard with how swollen they are from my tears. I finally manage to open them after a few seconds.

Dad sits down with me in his lap, Mom leaning against his side. He comforts me silently, just rocking me back and forth.

When my tears have stopped and my body feels drained, he says, "We can't stay for long. They're not letting us. Just know that we love you, okay? You'll be home soon. We're going out to get the little proofing stuff as soon as we leave here. Be brave for me, darling girl."

Sniffling, I wrap my body around Dad to try and prevent them from leaving again. My efforts fail. Bulky dude comes over and pulls me away from Dad. Thrashing against his hold. I try to free myself.

"Love you, baby girl." Mom gives my tear stained face a kiss, straightens her back, and leaves the room with Mae.

There's a window that shows out into the hall, allowing me to see the conversation Mae is holding with them. Dad wraps his arm around Mom and nods along to whatever Mae's saying.

They leave with one last look at me. Mae comes back in, followed by another woman. She has brown hair and looks to be at most forty.

Hanging limply in bulky dudes arms, I start sobbing again. He sets me back down on the beanbag and I return to my curled up position.

"Ayla? This is Junie. She's a therapist. She's going to help get you adjusted to your new classification." Mae tries to get me to come out of my little ball.

I'm not having any of it. They can leave me here for all I care.

Eventually, lunch rolls around without any word from me. The two women discuss me like I'm not even in the room, discussing strategies to help me. I ignore them in favor of wallowing in my own misery.

"Your lunch has been delivered, Ayla. Do you want to take a look?" Mae crouches down in front of me, holding a tray.

My stomach grumbles loudly, hunger cramps taking over my stomach. I didn't get to eat breakfast because of the rush. I don't want to eat whatever Mae is offering, though. I would rather starve.

"Ayla, you have to eat something. At least check it out." My arm is gently tugged off of my head so my eyes aren't covered anymore.

The tray holds peas, mashed potatoes, and some sort of meat covered in brown sauce, Where's the typical lunch food? I know it was supposed to be burger day. It's my favorite lunch food.

"Yuck. It's supposed to be burger day. Where's my burger?" I wrinkle my nose at my options.

"The menu changed with today's new classifications. This is the meal for the Little class." Mae explains.

"Well, I don't want that." Pushing the tray away, I turn over onto my side on the huge beanbag.

"Your parents told me you struggle with eating. They explained that you were underweight. You need to eat something, Ayla. Should I heat you up a bottle?"

"If you bring a bottle anywhere close to me I will scream." I say with the upmost seriousness.

"You either eat some of your lunch, or I'll have to heat up a bottle. I've already had to put in your file about your obstinance. It's going to be hard to find a caregiver when you're so hardheaded."

Rolling my heavy, swollen eyes, I curl back up. Everybody just needs to leave me alone.

"Do you mind going to heat her up a bottle? There's several of them in the mini fridge in the nursery. Just pop one in the bottle warmer for thirty seconds." I hear Mae ask Junie.

"No problem." The door opens and closes, leaving me dreading what's coming next.

"I don't care about caregivers. I'm not a Little. You got this all wrong. Nobody's listening to me." Balling my hands into fists, I try to contain my anger.

Mae doesn't respond to me. She just pats my back and stands. Peeking under my arm, I see her set my tray down on a small table in the corner.

Junie returns with a bottle in her hands several minutes later. She shakes the white fluid, handing the bottle off to Mae.

"Why don't you come sit on my lap, Ayla? I'll help you with your bottle."

"No. I'm not drinking out of that thing." I hiss.

It's not like they can make me eat or drink anything. I'll gladly go hungry until I'm back home with Mom and Dad. It'll be a long week.

"Can you at least try it?" Mae shakes the bottle again.

"Leave me alone!" I bellow, fed up with everything.

"Okay, okay. I'll let you relax over there. I'll have to put in your chart that you refused all food."

"Go ahead. I don't really care."

Mae sighs like she's disappointed in me. She comes over, carrying the blanket I recognize as the one that came off my bed. With tender care, she covers me with it.

Pulling the soft material over my head, I snuggle down and decide to try and take a nap. Hopefully, I'll wake up and this will all be a bad dream. It's wishful thinking, but that's all I have left.