DiapOut: Chapter 37
“Help! Keelee! We have a problem!” shouted Cade, wearing Rupert’s arm around his shoulder alongside Zeke to keep his ailing friend upright. The trio quickly rushed up to their production liaison in desperate need of aid.
It was mere minutes before the cast was supposed to be called up for the start of Round 3. Sadly, it appeared the entire studio was in on some big conspiracy to keep Keelee from running the show on time. “Oh, for Goddess's sake! What's wrong now?!” she said, already stuck dealing with the shoehorning in Cassi’s latest and greatest idea to ramp up excitement: experimental hypnotics. Now, she had to deal with a sick and incapacitated player, the result of which was likely to decimate their shooting schedule.
“W-We don’t know. He was clutching his stomach and groaning. That’s all we know,” stuttered Zeke, helping to sit Rupert down in an empty chair. Threading his fingers behind his head, he backed away anxiously as Keelee and a small medical staff rushed to examine his friend.
“...No, it’s no issue. What’s the title of the new punishment? Betsy Wetsy Wants to Play? Alright, we’ll get it swapped in.”
Suddenly, Zeke’s head whipped to the right as his ear caught wind of something that instantly turned his blood to ice. He wagged his head vehemently, feeling as though he must’ve been hearing things. Making sure no one was watching him, he slowly tiptoed toward the nearby curtain and peeked through to see DiapOut’s director, Jackson, standing over the shoulder of his chyron operator.
“...I swear to Goddess, if Cassi calls in with one more last-minute change, I’m gonna lose it,” said the frazzled director, speaking a tad too loudly for his own good. “Ughghgh–Okay! I’m good. Let’s get this over with. Add Betsy Wetsy Wants to Play to the punishment slate for Round 3. We can work it into the second rotation…”
“...Zeke?…Zeke!...ZEKE!”
Before Zeke could eavesdrop further, his arm was yanked backward by Cade. “Dude! The med staff is moving Rupert. C’mon!” he shouted, in disbelief that Zeke could zone out amid such a harrowing situation.
Following Cade like a zombie on auto-pilot, it was as if the world around Zeke had stopped existing the second he heard Jackson utter that cursed doll’s name. How on Earth could they possibly have known about that? The only ones who knew about the incident at the Pretty Pretty Princess Doll Factory were his sister and her friends, his therapist, and…Kyoko. ‘No…she wouldn’t…’ he thought, unable to fathom the idea of his closest friend telling his deepest, darkest secret to a TV production crew for clout. She knew how traumatic that day was for him.
And yet, as Zeke looked back at Betsy Wetsy Wants to Play being added to a long list of titles, the fact that Kyoko had been missing for half an hour began to eat away at the trust he felt for his dearest companion.
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“AHAHAHAHA!!!”
The audience’s laughter had never sounded louder to Zeke as he watched the conclusion of Lelaya’s challenge from his spot on the board. Despite this, it was his pulse that pressurized his ears, thumping wildly in correlation with the wretched organ hiding within his chest. It didn’t matter how many times he told himself this was all paranoia. He wouldn’t be able to relax until his second turn had come and gone.
Speaking of second turns, Lelaya’s had gotten completely off the rails ever since selecting Mia and Misa to participate. “W-Will you two hold still?!” shouted Keelee, her face red with frustration as she struggled to tape the two-person diaper around Mia and Misa’s collective waists with the aid of two utterly useless production assistants. To her dismay, the 10 gallons of water in Mia’s diaper refused to cooperate. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Misa kept trying to wander off, too hypnotized to stay on task. Tacking on that they were already an hour behind schedule, it was no wonder why DiapOut’s beleaguered production manager was about to have a complete meltdown.
*RIIIIIIIIIIIP!”
“OH, FUCK OFF!” yelled Keelee at the top of her lungs as the overly-complicated, two-person diaper was tragically transformed into two tattered, one-person diapers. In a moment of pure vexation, she shoved her forearm into her mouth and bit down hard before letting out a muffled scream.
Tapping her foot impatiently, Cassi wanted to lambast the production team for their incompetence. However, given Keelee’s exasperated demeanor, she figured it was better to hold her comments until after the show. “Soooo, should we take a five?” she asked, digging a finger in between her foot and the sole of her high heel to alleviate her sore tootsie.
“If we take a five, am I allowed to sit?” asked Mia, her legs shaking harder than the beads inside a baby’s rattle.
A small line of slobber escaped Keelee’s mouth as she promptly unclenched her teeth from her arm. “No and no!” she said, ready for the gears of this show to stop grinding. Glancing at her PAs with a cold hand of death in her eyes, she snapped her fingers and pointed off stage. “What are you waiting for?! Go get another diaper!” With the two production aids taking off sprinting like a pair of skittish deer, it was time for her to get this show running again like a well-oiled machine. “Okay, okay! We are…going to move on. Mia, Misa, you two will stand behind Lelaya and Ayaya for wide shots and we’ll double back after Zeke’s turn.”
“Wait, so…we have to walk back and forth again?” whined Mia, her vision zooming in and out as she gazed back at the teammates, who were halfway across the studio.
Annoyed and vindictive, Keelee wanted to make sure that the next time she diapered Mia and Misa together, there wouldn’t be a 15-pound diaper in the way. “Oh, it’s MUCH worse than that. You see, you’ll have to go back and forth, and then immediately back and forth again since it’ll be your turn after Zeke’s. I’ll bet your thighs are just BURNING with anticipation,” she taunted, hammering the final nails in Mia’s watery grave.
THWUMP!
Obnoxious sloshing noises filled the studio space as Mia collapsed backward on her spongy padding. It all happened so fast that she had barely taken the time to register in her brain that her legs were giving out. “W-Wuh?” she muttered in a half-dazed state whilst helplessly pawing at her distended diaper.
“Hehehe! Mia go SQUISH!” cheered Misa, dropping to her knees and crawling toward her prone friend. Giggles exploded out of her as she slapped at the base of the sodden nappy, causing it to jiggle like a lump of jello. A barrage of cooing “awws” erupted throughout the once-cackling crowd.
Immediately joining her besties on the stage floor, Lelaya squealed as she threw her arms around Mia and Misa. “Eeeeeeee! You two are being so cute! I knew I made the right choice,” she said, feeling vindicated as she nuzzled both her friends back and forth.
Meanwhile, Cassi eyed up which camera had the best shot of Mia’s fall before jumping in with her color commentary. “Oh no! Our Baby New Year has taken quite the tumble! Good thing her pals, Misa and Lelaya, are here to give plenty of comfort cuddles. That means the Wetters just lost 10 points, and at such a crucial time! Can they hold onto their lead or will the Messers take advantage of their folly? Stay tuned! You’re watching DiapOut!” she said before smugly looking off-camera at Keelee. “And, there’s your bumper. You’re welcome.”
Despite how much Keelee hated Cassi’s snide attitude, having a place to cut to commercial amid the chaos was a big boon for the production as a whole. Clapping her hands together to get Round 3 back on its feet, she wasn’t about to say thank you, no matter how thankful she was. “Well, let’s not start humping each other’s diapers just yet. We’ve still got a show to do. Let’s get Mia into a new diaper while we set up for Zeke’s roll,” she announced, bending the studio to her will as dozens of moving parts shifted around simultaneously. Unfortunately, the only piece of the puzzle that wasn’t moving was perhaps the most central of all. “Zeke?”
“Yo, you good dude?” asked Cade, laughing nervously while waving a hand in front of Zeke’s eyes.
Snapping to attention, Zeke could sense that everyone’s focus was squarely on him. The moment he’d been dreading was finally here. “Yeah…yeah, I’m good,” he lied, his eyes locked on Kyoko and her porcelain prison as he spoke. She stared back at him with a pensive smile, though it was hard to tell if she was pensive from the score or a guilty conscience. For his sake, he prayed for the former.
Cameras danced around Zeke as he waddled way over to the raised platform where CassiRole and the fateful dice block were waiting for him. He hadn’t gotten to be up close and personal with her since bolting from her dressing room. Part of him wanted to apologize for what happened but the other, larger part was far too intimidated to bring up such an embarrassing interaction.
Cassi, on the other hand, was more than happy to rehash Zeke’s unceremonious exit. “Try not to scurry off too hastily this time,” she said, winking at the timid boy moments before Keelee counted her back in. It was time to elevate this show to new heights. “Hiya kiddos! Welcome back to DiapOut! Round 3 is neck-and-neck, and it’s anyone’s game! Before the break, we saw the Wetters hoist yet another punishment upon themselves as Mia finally succumbed to the weight of her waterlogged diapee. Now, we’re back again with Zeke. Can he make up for his past failures and take back the lead for his team? Let’s find out…right now!”
Hugging the oversized dice block to his chest, Zeke knew the score. All he needed to do was avoid rolling a 2 and all his panicking would be for nothing. Sweat clung to his fingertips as he pushed the six-sided cube away from his torso, sending it clattering across the floor. He didn’t dare blink as the block skittered to a stop; the two black dots on its top side glaring into Zeke’s soul like a demon’s eyes
As Cassi has so eloquently put it earlier in the round, it was punishment time. “My goodness! These Messers sure are gluttons for punishment! Let’s go to the board to see what titillating punishment awaits our little troublemaker, Zeke!” she said, eccentrically posing as she gestured to the spinning wheel on the overhead monitor.
All eyes lingered on the big screen as the digital wheel went round and round; all except for Zeke, who didn’t need to look. Standing on stage with his eyes closed and his head lowered, he knew there was no fighting it. This game had been rigged from the start.
Betsy Wetsy Wants to Play.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Wetters: 161.1 points
Messers: 146.7 (+/-10) points