When I awoke, I was in my bed and for once I slept really well, better than I have in a long time. I stretched and let out a big yawn. I felt good. I felt like myself. I looked around and saw that no one was here in the room with me, not unless you count the stuffed animals on the dresser. I got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower. After that 30 minute relax time was up, I grabbed a towel and dried off. I kept it wrapped around me as I came back into the room. I went over to my bed and straightened it up. I thought it would suit my mood, so I tucked the bear my dad got me into bed. I went over to the dresser to look for clothes for the day.
I did not find what I was looking for. What I did find was a shirt with little cartoon animals all over it. I found a pair of overalls that had snaps going from one ankle up to the crotch and down to the other ankle. And to top it all off, no underwear, just diapers also with animals all over them. I have to admit, if I was feeling even just a little bit Little right now, I would not hesitate to put them on. I thought they looked cute, however; I was not feeling Little. I didn't bother getting mad about this stuff being here. I knew everyone was just trying to make me feel better and they thought that I would feel better in relaxing clothes. So, it's the thought that counts in this case.
I left the clothes behind as I decided to hunt some people down. First stop, the living room where I found no one. I searched the rest of our little apartment and found no one at all. I checked the time to see that it was 7:30 in the morning. There was a chance that they all were at breakfast in the cafeteria, so I went back to the bedroom to talk to some animals. Maybe one of them would come back with some of my clothes or at least some food.
Now being on my own wasn't a problem, but not having clothes or food was. Sooo, I grabbed the stuffed animals and put them on my bed. I laid on my stomach as I started to talk to them, just like I would if they were real people. I started to explain that I wasn't feeling Little, and that I was hungry, and that I wouldn't mind some company. And would at least one of them come by and maybe bring some food at least? I knew that they had to be watching me. And I know they could hear me, but after 30 minutes of me talking to them I started to get frustrated.
"Fine, if none of you are going to be nice about this then neither am I." And I went to find some stuff. I found art supplies and that was all I needed: string, some sticks, and a hook. After about 20 minutes of making my contraption, it was ready. I brought that into the bedroom and started to put the stuffed animals into in. I made a wind chime out of the stuffed animals. I put the hook in the ceiling and then said, "I guess it's torture time. No food, nothing to drink, no clothes. Let's see if you guys like to spin." And that is exactly what I did. I started to twirl them around one by one, then all at once. Still after about 15 minutes of that I got tired of it, not knowing if it was having any affect. I was picturing them all getting dizzy from me spinning them around.
The problem was, I was getting dizzy from spinning them around. And more hungry. I had hooked my contraption to the ceiling above my bed. It was the only way I could reach that high. I ended up falling on my back, on my bed sprawled out like a starfish. And I lay there trying to get the dizziness to go away. I have no clue how long I was laying there just staring at the animals twirling overhead. I reached up my hands just thinking about pushing them or petting them as they went by. I was remembering how the last couple of days were a mix of stress them calm, being scared, and being comforted. About actually living out most people's dreams. I'm on the moon, no rocket ships, but still on the moon.
"You know what" I started to say out loud. "This would be just about perfect if I didn't have to lose it all to go back in time. I could stay here and have friends for once. I wouldn't have to be alone anymore. I would have dad and my sister. I would even have 5 friends that I could hang out with. And look 5 of my friends are hanging out right now." I started to giggle at that. "They're hanging out with me." I went from a giggle to a laugh. I laughed hard enough to make tears wet my cheeks.
And that's when I rolled over on my side and started to really cry. "I'm going to lose them all. I just got them in my life, and I'm going to lose them again. I can't win, can I? Every time something starts going right, it all turns bad somehow." I lay there crying and thinking about everything. The good times, that I won't have anymore. The bad times, that just seemed like there was a lot of. All alone in my room as 5 animals dangle above me.
"You know," I was startled by a voice coming from behind me. I was facing away from the door as I was laying there. "If you were in a crib, that would look better. Also, couldn't you find a different way to hang them up there? It just seems wrong to hang them by their necks."
That got a little chuckle out of me. "It's called torture for a reason." I said as I rolled over to see that it was Husky. "No one would answer me. And I was here all alone and I was hungry and, and I had no clothes either, just those baby clothes."
"Well, I brought you some clothes if you still want them. And everyone else is waiting for you in the cafeteria."
I huffed as I started to get up. My towel was barely hanging on, so I hauled it back in place. At this point I didn't know what I wanted. I started out the day in a great mood. No stress, no being worried about what tomorrow would bring, none of it. But now... I wasn't really sure anymore.
"Well thanks for the clothes, umm, Husky. God I'm so bad with names. What do I call you? I mean I can't keep calling you Husky all the time." I rubbed the back of my neck trying to remember his real name.
"Actually..." He started to say a little bit nervously. "We would prefer that you did call us by our nicknames. Nobody up here knows our real names, except your dad of course. But if Husky is too much of a mouthful, you could just call me Dog or pup, or even puppy. I am the youngest in our group."
"So, you guys really want me to use your codenames instead of your given names? To keep you under cover?" Max asked.
"It's not really a cover or anything like that. But yeah, it just makes it easier for us and for you it seems."
"Yeah, well, I am really bad with names." Max admitted.
I took the clothes from Husky no; Dog, that sounded better in my head and was about to get dressed. Then a question came to mind. Two questions actually. I looked at Dog and said "Um, Dog." I sheepishly smiled when I said that. "Two questions" He looked at me curious. "What's with the clothes in the dresser? And... do you ever take off that outfit? I would think it would make you stick out like a sore thumb up here or anywhere for that matter."
He busted out in laughter. "Yes, yes, we do take them off. They're for the party today. Work is all done and today we're all relaxing for the most part. It also makes it easier for others to spot us."
"What do you mean by that?" I was confused even more now.
"Well, here's the deal, Pup."
I actually smiled a little when he said that. It made me feel like I was one of the guys.
"Everyone up here knows what's going on in the next couple of days. Sooo, people thought it would be a good idea to write a short letter to you, or to themselves in the past so that you could convince them easier to join up. Your dad did it before, but now it's your turn and everyone knows what we are wearing so they can hand the letters to us. And we thought, well Bear and Panther mainly, but we thought that if you wore that outfit with a small backpack, then they wouldn't be too intimidated to hand them to you directly. Bear even went and got you a bear backpack that looks like a teddy bear. And then if you were to have one of our stuffed animal lookalikes with you for protection..."
"Then I would be safe no matter where I was just in case, right?" I finished for him.
"Um, yes. And depending on what animal you had on you at the time..."
"Would let me know who was in charge, or was my babysitter, at the time." I concluded as I caught onto their reasoning.
"Well, yes." He said.
"And because I'm so bad with names or I might slip all I had to do is see what animal was in my hands and..."
"And talk to the animal." He finished helpfully.
"But what if I have to go to the bathroom? I can't just go in a diaper. That would just feel wrong." I asked as I turned a nice shade or red.
"Well technically you could, however, when you need to go then go, but please tell the animal where you're going and that person will meet you there just in case you need any help with anything."
"Ok, I get all that, but why the costumes?" I asked.
"Well, that's simple. It's a costume party and at the last costume party, your dad was dressed up as a wizard or something with a big, tall, pointy hat and all. This party however, I have no clue what anyone is wearing and that's the point. This is a going away party of sorts and everyone knows you're the only one that's going to remember what they dressed up as. So, they can go all out."
"And everyone knows what you guys are wearing?"
He nodded his head and said "Yep"
"And let me guess. They all know I was supposed to wear those, right?" As I pointed to the clothes in the dresser.
"Well, yes, but if you don't want to none of us are going to force you. You can wear whatever you want. Somebody thought that with you being the youngest up here and all that it would be kinda, suiting is all."
"Fine. You convinced me. Now, would you give me some privacy so I can get changed please?"
"Sure, not a problem." He started to walk to the door.
"Wait, could you take my wind chime with you?" I pointed at the ceiling where the animals were still dangling.
He looked up and said "Oh, we thought that that was a mobile that hung over a crib." I hadn't even thought about that. And now I was turning red. Again. He grabbed it down without even having to use the bed like I did. Then he walked out the door saying, "If you need any help with anything, I'll be in the living room." With his parting words he walked out the room shutting the door behind him.
About 15 minutes later I come walking out the bedroom door to see Dog sitting on the couch. He had untied all my stuffed animals and had them lined up on the table. They were all staring at me as I came through the door. Knowing that all the guys could see me, I started to blush, but I kept walking until I sat down on the couch next to Dog. I was looking at him and the animals when I said. "I need some socks and shoes to wear. I can't go around barefoot all day."
That's when I noticed that he was blushing a little. "Well, the guys thought about that. And we came up with two ideas about that. Some of the guys thought it would be a good idea to just carry you around all day. You know, big Bear carrying around his cub or Panther and his kitten, but the rest of us didn't think you would go for that. So, we got you these." He pulled out a pair of socks with, once again, little cartoon animals on them, also a pair of shoes. He handed me the socks and they were the softest, fluffiest socks I have ever seen. They even had toes in them. I had never seen socks for boys with toes. I thought they were just for girls, but these were definitely meant for boys.
I started to put them on, and they felt so soft and thick. I kept giggling as I slid the soft sock on, then I got to the part where I had to separate my toes and I had to stop. I just couldn't take it anymore. Every time I tried, I would laugh and kick out my foot, then I would have to start all over again.
That's when Dog took pity on me and asked if I wanted help. I said yes because I knew there was no way that I was going to be able to get them on by myself. "Ok Pup, lay down and put your legs on my lap."
I did as I was told, and he undid some of the snaps going up the inside of my legs. He held down my legs as he pulled up the socks one at a time, then he really had to hold me down as I was squirming when he did the toes. I was a giggling, laughing mess by the time he was done. He snapped my pants back up and then started to put my shoes on. That made me laugh even more. Every time the shoes made contact with the socks I would jerk around. I had no clue how I was going to walk around constantly getting tickled. "I might have to be carried around. This is tickle torture." I laughed out.
After my shoes where on I was still trying to get my giggling under control. Unfortunately, every time I would wiggle my toes I would start laughing again. I couldn't help it; they were just so soft. I wanted to feel them. Finally, after a couple minutes more torture, I was able to stop myself.
He finally took his arm off my legs, and I moved my feet to the ground. I could see the shoes that he put on me. They were Velcro, not lace-up and every time I put pressure on them, they lit up. I got up and walked around the floor just to see how they felt. It was great. I wasn't being tickled anymore, but every step I took there were bright lights coming off my shoes. I would be able to be seen from across the entire cafeteria. "Really, little kid light up shoes too? I'm surprised that they don't make noises as well."
Dog looked a little embarrassed, or sad when he said. "Well, we did turn off the sound effects. There's a switch on the side of them to turn that on or off."
I rubbed my face with my hand and asked. "And did you guys want them on or off?"
He looked at me and said with a sheepish smile. "Well actually, everyone thought it would be a good way to always find you in a crowd, but we figured that you wouldn't want to have it going off all the time."
"That's true. It would get really annoying really quick."
"So that's a no on the sound effects then?" He asked.
"Yes. That's a no on the sound effects at least for now. I might try them out later, but not now. So, are we ready to go? I'm hungry."
He handed me the black bear and said "Your first guardian for the day. When he needs a break, or its time to swap out guardians, we will find you. And if you need him for any reason, just talk to the bear."
I nodded and we started to walk to the cafeteria. Every step was like a light show. It was making nervous just walking there, not to mention all the people that were going to be there. As we got closer I was starting to hug the bear tighter and tighter. I didn't know I was doing it until the bear said "I like bear hugs, but I'm having a hard time breathing." I threw the bear out of my hands. It landed across the hall against the wall.
"What was that?" I almost screamed. I was backed up against the opposite wall in a flash. I hit the wall so hard I slid down it. That was the first time it had ever talked. And it scared the pee right out of me.
"Damn it, Bear, I told you not to do that until we told him about it. Max, are you ok? Max, MAX." Dog asked sounding concerned.
I finally looked up at him. I pointed at the bear and said "The bear talks."
"Yes, Max, The bear talks. They all do now. We were going to tell you when we got to the table, but Bear had to go and ruin the surprise."
"But it talks." I interrupted.
"Max, are you with me here?"
I nodded but kept looking at the bear.
"Think of them as a 2-way radio now. You can talk to us and we can talk to you."
"But then why didn't any of you talk to me earlier? You know, when I was hanging them all up in my room?" I interrupted again still staring at the bear.
"For the same reason as now. We didn't want to scare you, but Bear I guess had different plans."
Dog helped me back up to my feet then grabbed the bear. He looked the bear right in the eyes and said "Now you listen to me Bear. No more trying to scare Max. He's having a hard enough time as it is. And you don't need to go making it worse. Do you understand me?"
I started go giggle at what I was seeing and hearing.
"But he was squeezing me so hard. I had to say something, or my stuffing would have gone all over the place." Bear defended himself.
I was trying to muffle my laughter.
"No it wouldn't and you know that Bear." Dog corrected.
And that was it. I was laughing, hard. Dog looked at me. And as he did he turned the bear to me as well. I was laughing so hard I actually fell on my butt again. I started rolling on the floor I was laughing so hard.
"What are you laughing at, Max? Max? Are you ok?" Dog asked.
"What's wrong with him?" Bear asked.
"I don't know. He just won't quit laughing." And as they were talking Dog turned the bear to him, then back at me.
"Yous" I Laugh. "Yous is arguing wiff me teddy bear." I'm still laughing.
Dog looked at the bear and the bear looked back. Both Dog and the bear say "Oh" at the same time, then I hear Bull, Wolf, and Panther all start laughing out of their animal's mouths.
"Come on, you giggling mess." Dog picks me up and puts me over his shoulder. As he puts me on his shoulder it puts pressure on my stomach and something happened that neither of us was expecting.
I quite literally, farted in his face and I started laughing even harder if that was possible.
"Oh, now that's just great. I got it in my mouth. That's nasty." Dog complained.
All the way to the table I'm laughing but thrown over Dog's shoulder I look like a 2-year-old throwing a temper tantrum. My eyes are watering. There's snot coming out of my nose. My legs are moving up and down. And I keep patting Dog's back for some reason, but you could hear my laughter all the way across the room.
Dog tossed the stuffed animals on the table. Then he took me off his shoulder and held me out in front of him. "Max? Can you calm down for a moment?" He had me gripped under my armpits like you would do to a little kid. I just shook my head no. I was still laughing, and I couldn't control it, but the longer he held me there, the more under control I became until I was just giggling a little. I started to look around as I was dangling and there were a lot of people there. And it looked like they were all looking at me.
My eyes went wide, and tears started to fall. I was going into full panic mode fast. There was no more laughing, no more giggling just silence from me. My hands started to try and grab something. My lips started to quiver. The tears were already falling, but still not a sound came out of my mouth.
Dog knew something was wrong, just not what. Then he said "Bear, Panther, Help." He said it calmly as to not frighten me, but when 2 people just magically pop up in front of you, that could scare anyone.
I yipped like a stepped-on puppy. Then I closed my eyes and started to whimper. I couldn't handle what was going on around me. I couldn't handle what was going on in my own head. There were too many emotions running around for me to handle. I kept my mouth shut, but I really really wanted to start bawling out loud.
I think I felt wind for a second, but then it stopped. When I opened my eyes, I was in a different room. It was just me, Bear and Panther. The cafeteria had disappeared along with all the people. Both Bear and Panther had their costumes heads off, but they still had their paws on. Bear was holding me, and Panther was trying to calm me down. I grabbed ahold of Panther's paw and just held it tight. I needed something in my hands, and it was soft. Throughout this whole time, I was shaking, but the paw and these two giant stuffed animals were helping.
My shaking slowed and the waterworks stopped all together. My back was to Bear. One of his arms was under me and the other was holding my chest. Panther was the only person I could see. He kept eye contact with me the whole time. My heart started to slow and the shaking had stopped. Nobody had said a word the whole time until Panther broke the silence. "Are you ok now?"
I shook my head no.
"Can you tell me what's wrong?"
I shook my head again.
"Can you tell me how old you are?"
I nodded and said "15"
Bear moved his arm that was under me and said "I think I can tell you what's wrong. Max, would you like some privacy or do you want some help?"
Panther said, "I'll be right back." Then he left us alone.
"Max" Bear said. "Would you like me to help you?"
I nodded knowing that I was too out of it to do it myself. I was so tired I just closed my eyes. I didn't fall asleep, but I tried to relax. I knew I was safe with Bear. And so, I just relaxed as Panther re-entered the room. There was a short conversation, then I was put on something soft on the floor. I was cleaned up and reclothed before Bear picked me up. Panther helped by cleaning my face of that mess.
"Max, are you ready to try this again?" Bear asked as my stomach growled loudly.
I opened my eyes and said "Yes, I'm starving." And for the second time that morning I was carried into the cafeteria for breakfast.