When Laura wakes up, she’s in an unfamiliar place. Wherever she is, it’s pitch-black. She reaches out and feels bars. Then, she smells something terrible. Confused and overwhelmed, she follows her instinct and cries loudly. After a few moments, the light turns on.
Laura is in a crib, in what looks like a spare room of some sort. Someone walks over to her.
“What’s wrong, Laura?” Kaitlin asks, lifting her from the crib. Kaitlin is visibly disheveled; Laura’s crying must have woken her up. “Oh, I know exactly what’s wrong.” Laura is carried over to a changing table, where the footed onesie she must have put into while asleep is removed. The smell gets stronger.
“No like!” Laura whines, moving around.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t like having a poopy diaper, either,” Kaitlin mumbles. Laura’s jaw drops. That’s what she smelled? She messed herself? Kaitlin removes her diaper. Like she said, it’s full of poop. Laura looks away from the diaper change. As she does, she spots a baby monitor on a nearby end table. That must have been how Kaitlin heard her crying.
“All done,” Kaitlin says, taping on a fresh diaper. She puts Laura’s onesie back on. “You must’ve been pretty disoriented when you woke up, huh? Sorry about that. You were still asleep when we got here, and I didn’t want to wake you up, since it seemed like you needed the sleep.”
“It okay.” Laura’s stomach rumbles. “Hungwy.”
“Yep.” Kaitlin yawns. “I’ll be right back.” She places Laura back in the crib and leaves the room. After a few minutes, she returns with a bottle of milk. “Here. I don’t want to feed you feed you, since it’s three in the morning. I’ll give you real food for breakfast, but for now, this should be enough.”
“But-” Laura starts. Kaitlin pops the bottle into her mouth. Instinct takes over and she sucks down the milk hungrily.
“All right, you just finish that. I’m going back to bed. I’ll get you in the morning.” Kaitlin leaves, turning off the light on her way out. Laura finishes the bottle of milk, burps, and then curls up in the crib, falling asleep quickly.
Laura wakes up the next morning in the middle of yet another diaper change. Judging by the appearance of the diaper, she wet herself while she slept. At least it wasn’t poop again.
“I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” Kaitlin says, wiping Laura down. She puts on a new diaper, then picks up a dress resting on the changing table. “Arms up.” Laura does as she’s told. The toddler dress is slid over her. To her disappointment, it is frilly, sparkly, and bright pink, clearly designed to look like a princess dress.
“No like cwoves.”
“Well, too bad,” Kaitlin says. She picks Laura up and exits the guest room. “Time for breakfast.”
Breakfast is yet another humiliating affair. Laura is put in a highchair and spoonfed baby food. Once she finishes the jar of mushed carrots, Kaitlin wipes her face clean and gives her a bottle of milk, which she drinks in record time. Kaitlin takes the bottle from her and puts it in the dishwasher. Laura looks over at Kaitlin expectantly.
“Yes?” Kaitlin asks.
“What now?”