(Finished) Cry Babies-Short Story -- (Author) Okkiey

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Author: Okkiey
Timestamp: May 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Content: Jack and Russel, two boys hardened by neglect, often sought refuge and a twisted kind of entertainment in the skeletal remains of the town's forgotten buildings. Tonight, their target was Dreamland Daycare, a nursery and preschool that had shuttered its doors two decades prior. Whispers clung to the place, tales of no one ever returning once they crossed its threshold. Every five years, another child vanished from the town's periphery, their memory fading like old photographs. Jack had scoffed when he overheard a younger kid recounting the local legend. "If no one remembers," he'd sneered, turning back with a grin, "then who knew they went missing in the first place?"

A thrill, sharp and illicit, coursed through Russel as they reached the overgrown rear of the facility. He tried the back door handle on a whim, and to his surprise, it yielded. "Hey, Jack," he breathed, his voice hushed with excitement, "the door's open."

They slipped inside, the rusty hinges groaning in protest before the door slammed shut with a heavy thud. Panic flared as they both wrestled with the handle, but it remained stubbornly locked. "Hey, Jack, grab your torch and check the door, will you?" Russel's voice held a tremor of unease.

The beam of Jack's flashlight danced across the frame, and his words caught in his throat. "Hey, Russel," he stammered, his voice laced with disbelief, "I... I don't think you'll be getting out that way. You might want to step back and take a look."

Russel ceased his struggle, a knot of apprehension tightening in his stomach. He took a hesitant step back, his eyes following the light. No way. The door was seamlessly welded shut, a thick bead of metal binding it to the frame. But they had just walked through it.

He turned to Jack, whose face was pale in the torchlight. "Hey, don't go all little girl on me now," Russel said, trying to mask his own growing unease with bravado. "Let's just find another way out."

They both scanned their surroundings. The air hung thick with the scent of dust and decay. Peeling white paint clung to the walls of a long hallway that stretched before them, a faded sign at the far end proclaiming "Nursery." Rooms lined both sides of the corridor, each marked with a sign above the door: "Grade School," "Kindergarten," "Preschool," "Daycare." To their left, the signs indicated "Girls," and to their right, "Boys."

A faint glint of light caught Jack's eye from within the girls' grade school room. "Come on, Russel, let's check it out."

The door to the room resisted their combined effort, groaning as they pushed. When it finally gave way, they stumbled forward, landing awkwardly on the dusty floor.

A wave of dizziness washed over Russel. "Hey, Jack, you okay?" he mumbled, his voice sounding strangely distant and… younger. A peculiar lightness filled his limbs, and the rough fabric of his clothes felt unfamiliar against his skin. He looked down in confusion. A pleated navy skirt? No, it was an old-fashioned girls' school uniform. The room around him seemed to shimmer with an unnatural freshness, the walls a soft pink despite the darkness outside the grimy window. Then he saw another figure on the floor beside him, clad in a similar uniform. "Hey, Jack, you ok—"

"Hey, little girl, what are you doing he—" Jack's voice cracked, unfamiliar and higher pitched. A wave of disorientation hit him. "Jack? It's me, Russel," the girl beside him said, her voice equally changed. "I woke up like this after we fell."

"Sorry, girls, to keep you waiting. Let's get started with the entrance test, shall we?" A voice, saccharine sweet and yet somehow clinical, came from a young woman in a crisp nurse's uniform who had appeared in the doorway. "Now, please tell me, what is 2 + 2?" she asked, a fixed smile plastered on her face. Jack, feeling awkward and decidedly un-girlish sitting on the floor in a skirt, scowled. "Listen, lady, we're not answering your questions."

The nurse's smile didn't waver. "So, you don't know the answer? Okay, please come with me." She grasped both of their hands, her grip surprisingly strong, and led them to a door labeled "Girls Kindergarten." As they stepped through the doorway, both boys felt a strange sensation, like a warm current washing over them. They looked at each other, their eyes wide with dawning horror. Their clothes had shifted again, and they were smaller, younger girls now. "Hey, Jack," Russel whispered, his voice now a child's soft murmur, "I don't know about you, but I really need to pee."

"So, girls, can you count to five?" the nurse asked, her tone still unnervingly cheerful. "Sure," Russel mumbled, his bladder protesting loudly. "One… three… five. There, okay?" He knew how to count properly, but the urgent need was overwhelming his thoughts.

"So, you don't know your numbers yet? Oh dear." The nurse's smile tightened almost imperceptibly.

She took their hands again and led them to another door, this one marked "Daycare." The moment they crossed the threshold, the same strange wave washed over them. They were even smaller now, toddlers in pastel-colored rompers, and a dampness bloomed between Russel's legs. He whimpered, tears welling in his eyes as the warmth spread. He had wet his diaper.

"Oh, dear me," the nurse clucked, her eyes gleaming with a disturbing light. "You two aren't potty trained yet. Well, let's take you into the nursery and start over. Just like all the others."

She scooped them up, one under each arm, her strength surprising for her size. Jack, overwhelmed by a primal fear he couldn't articulate, felt a similar wetness against his own skin. As they entered the nursery, a wave even more potent than the others enveloped them. They couldn't speak, their small bodies trembling as she laid them in adjacent cribs. Tears streamed down their faces, mingling with the wetness in their diapers, their fear. The nurse smiled down at them, a truly malevolent expression finally breaking through her forced cheerfulness. "Well, girls, you won't be getting into trouble anymore. We'll find you lovely new families after you forget everything. Now, go potty and push all those bad memories out for Nurse, okay?"

A strange compulsion washed over them. Their small bodies strained, and as a sense of relief washed over them as they filled their diapers. Their memories began to fray at the edges, like old fabric pulled apart thread by thread. Dreamland Daycare had two new, blank-slate arrivals, and soon, they would be ready for their new lives as baby girls, their past transgressions and identities dissolving into the forgotten corridors of the old building.

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Author: Okkiey
Timestamp: May 16, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Content:

nappybaby said:

Awesome Story! Would love to read more of it!

[End of quote]

Well, this one ends here. I know it's a bit of a cliffhanger. I have a new, shorter story I will post soon. That one is even more of a cliff hanger on purpose. I was working on another story, but it is getting a bit longer than most.

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Author: Okkiey
Timestamp: May 16, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Content:

Zorbit said:

Really enjoyed this. Magical, physical regression to babyhood stories, are my favourite.

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I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was second-guessing posting it. I am not a professional writer at all, I have an AI program that helps with spelling and grammar, but it doesn't change my story plot or characters.