All My Mother's Rules

Chapter 6: Bad Dreams

I dreamed a distorted conglomeration of the previous days' events. In history class, Mr. Higgins again denied a student her God-given right to go to the bathroom. But instead of Lisa, this time it was me. Both hall passes were gone as I begged him continuously to leave. I wiggled constantly in my seat as I tried to calm my bladder, but he wouldn't budge.

"Just pee yourself," he said.

"Just pee yourself, pee yourself, pee yourself," the class chanted back at me.

Tears in my eyes, I hobbled toward the door with my knees clenched together.

"Oh, come on, just pee yourself," Lisa shouted after me.

Samantha and Desi laughed as I fumbled to get the door open.

My dreamed turned me back to my bedroom. Then the urge to pee struck harder, just like it had yesterday evening. I turned to leave my bedroom and get to the toilet, but Emilia was already in the bathroom. I knocked and knocked and she wouldn't open the door.

"Just pee yourself," Emilia shouted at me through the door. You can just go in your pull-ups.

"I'm fourteen. I don't wear pull-ups."

But I looked down and my pajama shorts had been replaced with my sister's pull-ups. They somehow fit. Minnie Mouse was grinning up at me. I swear she winked.

I went back out to the hallway, but instead of my home I was again back at school in my cheerleading outfit. I was running through the school hallways, but I kept finding that each bathroom door was locked shut.

The echoes of my classmates' chants just wouldn't stop.

"Just pee yourself, pee yourself, pee yourself."

At last, I made it to the locker room, which, surprisingly enough, was unlocked. I raced to the toilets. Relief was in sight. Then the tiles beneath my feet turned into the hands of the girls on my cheerleading squad. Those hands gave way, and I was falling, falling, falling, falling. No end in sight.

"Just pee yourself, pee yourself, pee yourself."

I continued falling. The urge to pee was no longer present. I landed awake in my bed.

The nightmare over, I looked up groggily at my alarm clock – 6:37 a.m. – couldn't I have gotten another seven minutes of sleep. I rubbed my eyes open. That was such a strange dream. I felt something heavy against my back. Oh great, Emilia was in bed with me. Mom isn't going to be pleased. As I tried to move into a more comfortable position in which to spend my last few minutes asleep, I felt a wet and slightly warm sensation. Emilia's diaper must have leaked all over me. Yuck. Now I had to do laundry as well before getting ready for school. May as well just get on with it.

I pulled the cover and sheets back to reveal a much larger wet spot than I had expected to find. I examined the bed. There was no question as to what had just happened. The wet spot was directly beneath me and covered way more of the bed than a diaper leak could possibly have done. I gave Emilia's bottom a quick pat. Yep, her diaper was still on. That meant only one thing. I had just wet the bed. I had actually wet the bed. What in the world?

The urge to pee hadn't just been a dream. Those dreams about needing to pee were the ones I had always had when I was younger. Back when I had been a bedwetter. How did this happen? I remembered last night. I had chosen not to go to the bathroom before getting into bed. I guess going over five years without any nighttime accidents had made me a bit careless. Well, I wouldn't be making that mistake again.

I gave Emilia a slight nudge. Still asleep, she didn't stir at all. That gave me some time to figure out how to extricate myself from this predicament. What to do? What to do? I couldn't dare let Mom find out. If she discovered that I'd wet the bed that would be the perfect excuse for her to forbid me from ever going on a sleepover ever again. Why hadn't I just gone to the toilet last night like I normally did? I could have avoided all this trouble if I'd just done that. Whatever I did, I wanted to do it quickly. The sensation of the wet clothing sticking against my skin was becoming uncomfortable as it cooled.