Baby Briana

Chapter 22 - Messy Meltdown

Casey was calling for her. Briana's name echoed off the trees again, and again, and again. Briana lay behind and under the bush, wallowing in misery and mess. The smell had stopped bothering her a while ago. The mess felt caked on at this point. Finals were over but she couldn't bring herself to care. Life didn't seem worth it.

The bush shuddered and shed leaves all over her. Casey grunted as she pushed her way past it. She looked down at Briana, tears in her eyes. Seeing Casey cry gave Briana a guilty twist in her gut.

"Briana!" Casey kneeled and grabbed Briana's shoulders. "I'm so glad you're okay! What happened?"

"Everybody saw." Briana looked at Casey hopelessly. "Everyone saw my diapers, and... and I had a big accident. A big, gross one!"

Casey gently lifted Briana's skirt, nodded at the dark stain on the diaper. "Oh hon, I'm really sorry. Let's get you out of here." Briana shrugged in response. Moments later she was being lifted up as easily as a child.

"Casey don't, I'm gross, I smell." Briana whimpered.

"Do you think I care if you smell?" Casey pushed through the bushes with brute force, making sure she was stable with each step before taking the next.

"I'm a freak show!" Briana wailed.

"You are not!" Casey frowned. "Don't say that."

"That's what they said. That's what she said about me." Briana sobbed and hiccupped.

"Who said that?"

"Lisa, in molecular bonds." Briana found the motivation to wrap her arms around Casey's neck.

"We'll deal with Lisa later." Casey said.

"It's not just her, there were a bunch of people that saw."

"We'll deal with all of that later." Casey said. "Right now we are going to get you home."

Home meant a shower, and Veronica, and friends. It also meant everyone seeing her in a thoroughly messed diaper. It meant showing them all that she'd completely failed, the diapers had won. She lay against Casey, limp and staring off into nowhere.

She was as despondent when Casey carried her into the house, when Veronica stripped her down and washed her. She said nothing when she was diapered again, or put into a onesie with a pacifier in her mouth. She sat on the floor in the middle of another house meeting with her knees up against her chest, her lion Alanna held in her crossed arms.

"Briana isn't talking right now but I think we need to go over a few things." Veronica said to the rest of the roommates. She was looking extra authoritative in a black pantsuit. "We don't need to go into details but she had a really rough incident at school today."

"Oh, that's what you're going to call it." Briana thought darkly. "What you mean is that I can't control myself at all anymore."

"When I found her she was really upset and kind of non-responsive." Casey said. "I'm really worried about depression or worse."

"What can we do to help?" Jane asked.

"We will need to watch her really closely. She can't be left alone for a while. Even when she's asleep. I know that some of us still have finals but between all of us we can make it work. We can also use Gary as a babysitter when needed." Veronica said.

"Babysitter. Baby baby baby. I'm sick of being a baby!" Briana's thoughts roiled angrily.

"I'm done with finals." Casey said. "I can watch her as much as needed."

"I'm done with them too." Suzie said. "I still have evening commitments but I can watch her during the day."

"I'm not sure how everyone else feels about it." Jane said. "But I don't have a problem if she has an accident like she did today. If that's too much for you when you're changing her, I can take over."