Teenage Baby

Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

"Baby, nothing to be scared about. It won't hurt. It's just—"

  "Can you, um, maybe n-not do this? Please," Aaron said helplessly, swallowing past that lingering acidic taste in his mouth. It was going to be very disturbing, even more so than the bath itself. "I don't need it."

  "No, baby. I have to," Mommy insisted as she put a hand on the front of his shoulder and gently tried pushing him to lie back, but Aaron kept his spine rigid, refusing to move along with her guidance. He accidentally fell for eye contact with Daddy, who was standing across the room, and it was that familiar glare that quickly made him lie on his back against the flat surface of the changing table, shoulders shuddering with fear at the remembrance of the injection. Not the best time to mess with Daddy. "You're such a good boy, love. Don't worry, it's just going to keep your skin soft and beautiful."

  Mommy poured a little bit of the lotion onto her hand and rubbed it between her palms, smiling at her baby as she did.

Closing his eyes, Aaron inhaled as he prepared himself for the process, but he could feel his nerves twitching. He wasn't exactly afraid of the lotion itself; the only thing worrying him was that Mommy's hand was going to stroll all over his bare skin, and unlike the bath, there wasn't going to be a washcloth—which meant absolutely no barrier. Too much touching, he couldn't tolerate it.

  Aaron jerked away slightly the moment Mommy's smooth hand touched his abdomen, the cold lotion odd and ticklish against his delicate skin. He breathed out shakily and tried to compose himself, quickly returning to her touch as he thought of how inconvenient it was to disobey at that moment. Mommy smiled, proud that her baby was at least trying to behave.

  She lathered the lotion across the expanse of his chest and abdomen, reveling in the softness of his skin against her hand, minding the bruises. Her hands moved to his legs and began spreading the lotion there, but then she frowned when she spotted that grim, upset look on his face. Didn't he like it?

  Aaron remained resolutely still, refusing to surrender to his instinct to thrash against her hand, to hit her and jump off the changing table. He knew he couldn't do that, at least not when he'd been threatened with a horrid injection—and regardless of whether it was real or not, he didn't have the guts to challenge the captors, especially not when they had the upper hand in the situation.

  "Look at this cute little knee," Mommy said as she rubbed the lotion into it, as if to lighten up his mood, but she managed to do all but that. Aaron's muscles stiffened and clenched with tension beneath her touch, but Mommy didn't budge.

Ironically, Aaron found it disturbing, yet all he could do was squeeze his eyes shut and desperately wish for it to end, for her hand to stop tainting his skin, for the humiliation to stop nipping at what was left of his dignity. He didn't know if Mommy just chose to ignore all of that or if she actually couldn't see it. If her eyes were blinded with the depth of the fantasies she created.

  She let him turn onto his stomach, spreading the lotion on his back. And by the time she finished it, she hadn't let any tense spots—which she realized were too many—remain; she'd taken the opportunity to rub all the knots out of the muscles that were tense and sore beneath his skin; her fingers had moved along the slope of his back and up to his shoulders, the heel of her palm pressing gently into the skin as she'd spread the lotion.

   Then Mommy was finally left with nothing but Aaron's feet, and she let him turn onto his back again. She gently rubbed the lotion into them, paying extra attention to the small scrapes and cuts on their bottom, her fingers adding slight pressure around his arches. His feet almost looked like he'd walked over broken glass. Her heart clenched at the thought. Her poor baby.