Lizzie - Chapter 17 - The Unraveling

“So how was school?” Jennifer asked as Lizzie hopped onto the car.

“Pretty boring. Madison’s been busy with debate club so we didn’t get a chance to hang out.

Lizzie pulled the harness over herself, expertly maneuvering into it despite the cramped back seat. 

“Seems like you two are quite close now.” 

“Yeah, is that a problem?” Lizzie asked, eyeing her mom.

“No, I’m just happy that you’re making new friends. Anyways, do you have any homework today?” 

“No, just the history project. The first milestone is coming up and we are a little behind since we’ve both been pretty busy, but we finished all the research, just need to put everything together.”

“Well, better get on it then.”

“I know, mom.” Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Madison even said she’d call and we’d work on it together later today.” 

“Are you all seated?” 

Lizzie pushed up against the seat — a habit she’d built over the last week and a half — confirming the tug of all four tethers as the harness pulled tight around her. 

“Yup.”

Despite her confirmation, Lizzie caught her mom staring at her through the rear-view mirror. She sighed, quiet enough so her mom wouldn’t hear.

“Did dad get on his flight yet?” Lizzie asked, changing the conversation.

“Your father messaged saying he arrived at the airport. He’s probably going through customs now.”

Lizzie smiled, happy that her father would be back tomorrow. The dinner table always felt just a tad awkward when it was just her and her mom.

On that note, her father’s business trips had been growing more frequent. Sure, these trips weren’t foreign to her, but back in the day they were limited to just once or twice a year, and this time he’d practically gone back to back.

“To foster new partnerships and grow the company,” Philip had said when she’d questioned him about it. 

But the work was clearly taking a toll on her father, who now frequently took calls late into the evening only to head to the office early the following morning.

According to her mom, this was a pretty big opportunity, and Lizzie knew that. It was also clear that Philip was passionate about the project.

And last night when they’d chatted, he’d even promised to her a big surprise for her birthday. But still… 

The car pulled into the driveway, and Lizzie waited patiently for her mom to turn off the ignition before asking for permission to take the harness off.

Only after receiving acknowledgement did she undo the four clips with practiced ease, quickly slipping out of the vest and darting into the house.

She took a trip to the bathroom — another habit she’d built up over the week — before going to her bedroom to change.

A small sigh escaped her as she pulled on her goodnites. She grabbed her jammies, which her mom had left conveniently on top of her bed. Slipping into them, she sighed once more. 

At least it was almost over, just three more days and everything would be back to normal.

Outside, her mom was already waiting for her. Without a word, she turned around and let herself get zipped up.

She stepped back to her room, shutting the door. As she headed to bed, her eyes stole a glance from the mirror.

She jerked her head away, but it was too late. The image of the baby in the mirror was all too evident. But despite cursing under her breath, she couldn’t resist turning to look at her reflection in its entirety.

It was only half past three, and here she was, a fourteen year old girl dressed like a toddler getting ready for bed.

Her hands absentmindedly floated downward, poking gently at the padding that surrounded her bottom, feeling it squish underneath her fingers.

The rationale behind her punishment made sense, yet, wearing her protection before dark just felt… wrong. It really hadn’t helped that she’d already had two close calls because her mom had been on the phone with a client. 

And the tiny drip she’d had while playing chess still haunted her. While her nighttime wetting hadn’t shown any signs of reducing, the thought of losing control over her bladder while wide awake…

On top of it all, it was Friday, which meant that, unless they went out over the weekend, she was practically stuck in her sleeper until Monday.

Lizzie blinked, realizing her hands were tugging at her sleeper. Despite being alone, she felt herself blush as she pulled her hands away.

Just a few more days.

With that she tore her gaze from the mirror and settled into bed. Since she’d already done everything she could do alone for the history project, she had time to burn until her call with Madison.

Normally, she’d spend it practicing chess, especially with the tournament being just over a week out. But just the day before, she’d spent over six hours playing. Well, less-so playing and more-so tearing her hair out as she piled on loss after loss.

It all started when she got dirty flagged by a clearly inferior player, followed by a game where she’d miscalculated a simple line and threw a completely winning position, and eventually culminated with her hurling her phone into the mattress after her finger slipped, causing her to hang back-rank mate while up a queen.

So no, chess was off the table for today.

Pulling out her phone, she instead began swiping through her feed. Everyone else always seemed to be having fun, going to concerts, partying, or trying new restaurants. 

Eventually she swapped over to TikTok, but before long, a popup appeared, warning her that the battery was low.

She sighed, this was becoming a common occurrence. If only she could get a new phone like some of her friends instead of hand-me-downs from her parents. It was something she’d brought up with them a couple of times, but of course, she was always shot down.

“You should be glad to have a phone. When your father and I were children…”

Then again, her birthday was coming up, and her dad had mentioned a big surprise… Maybe she could casually throw a few comments about it over dinner tomorrow.

Setting her phone aside to charge, she swapped over to her Switch, remembering she never actually finished Breath of the Wild.

With her earbuds in, she soon found herself re-immersed in the world, and it was over an hour later when she finally got up to get a drink of water.

“Ah, Lizzie, perfect timing, could you bring this upstairs?”

Lizzie nodded, picking up the load of fresh laundry.

“Oh, and I forgot my laptop charger in my room, could you grab that for me while you’re there?” 

“Okay mom,” Lizzie rolled her eyes. She skipped back down the stairs, dropping the charger off on the table and running off before her mom could make her to do anything else.

The doorbell rung as she got back to her room. Assuming her mom would handle it, she settled back under her covers.

“Lizzie! Come down for a sec.” 

“Coming!” Lizzie sighed, pausing her game and hopping out of bed.

“What is—“ The sight at the bottom of the stairs caused her to freeze.

“Madison said she’s here to work on your history project.”

Lizzie hardly registered the words as she looked down at herself, dressed in her PJs with her goodnite underneath. Looking up, she noticed Madison’s eyes widen momentarily.

“Um… Hey,” Madison blinked, eyes reverting back to their usual smile. “I brought my laptop over so we could work. Is this a good time?” 

“I… I thought you said you’d call,” Lizzie said, a cold sweat emanated throughout her body.

“I did, but when you didn’t pick up I thought I’d just swing by.”

Lizzie felt for her phone, only to remember it was still charging upstairs. “I was… busy. I must’ve missed it.”

“Ah, I see, well, are you free to work together right now? If not, I can come over tomorrow or something instead.”

“Uhh.” Lizzie paused, contemplating her situation. On one hand, if her friend stayed her goodnite might be exposed. But on the other hand, if she pushed her friend away now it would only seem more suspicious. 

Besides, the sleeper did a good job of hiding her protection, she just needed an excuse for why she was wearing it this early. “No it’s fine. Come in, we can work in my room.” 

She racked her brain. But just what explanation did she have?

Before she could answer, she was hit with another problem as they entered her room. Dirty clothes were scattered all over her bed and chairs, and her desk was cluttered with random junk.

“Sorry my room’s such a mess.” She tossed an armful of clothes into the hamper before sweeping everything off her desk into a drawer. “You can set up here, I’ll be right back.”

Grabbing some empty cups, she zipped out of the room. Dropping them off in the kitchen sink, she confronted her mom.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was Madison at the door? She saw me in my pajamas what am I going to do?”

“Hm? Weren’t you already expecting her to come work on the project?” Jennifer said, clearly not seeing the problem.

“I thought she was going to FaceTime me to work on it, not come over.”

“I see the confusion now. That explains why you didn’t put anything over your sleeper before coming down. But are you trying to say it’s my fault this happened?”

“I… No…” Lizzie sighed. “But can I at least change out of my PJs just for today though?”

Jennifer stroked her chin momentarily before responding, “I’m sorry Lizzie, but no. I’m not about to change the rules we set just because something unexpected happened. You already got your exception for the sleepover. Otherwise, what’s the point of a punishment if you can just postpone it whenever you feel like it?

“While I know you’re stressed, the fact is that Madison already saw you in the jammies, and she can’t see your goodnite underneath, so don’t you think it would only seem suspicious if you suddenly changed out of them as soon as she arrived?”

“But…” Lizzie opened her mouth to argue.

“But, to prevent the situation from getting worse, you can text me when you need to go to the bathroom so I can unzip you discreetly. If you need me to distract her I can do that as well. Did you think of an explanation for wearing pajamas?”

“No…”

“How about you tell her you just woke up from a nap?”

Lizzie thought for a second. “That’s actually a good idea.”

“Besides, when she wore the sleeper a few nights ago, she didn’t seem to think there was anything weird with it. I don’t think she’ll question it too much, okay?”

“Okay…” Lizzie said. For once, her mom’s words actually provided her with some comfort.

She headed back up to her room, pausing by the door, she repeated all of her excuses and explanations in her head. Only after she felt confident did she swing the door open.

“Hey, so I have my notes here and I brought my mic so we can record the voiceovers. Did you manage to grab the clips from the documentaries?” Madison had already spread out her notebooks and was typing away at her laptop.

“Uhh, yeah. I have it on my USB,” Lizzie said after a short pause. Her friend didn’t seem at all curious about her peculiar outfit, but she wasn’t about to complain.

And so, the two got to work, piecing together their project: a commentary on the lead-up to the French Revolution.

The first part of the project was to present what society was like at the time in a multimedia format.

While most of their classmates were just making slideshows, it was Madison who suggested they make a video by joining short clips from a variety of sources while narrating over it.

They’d watched a bunch of documentaries and movies. The two spent the first little while condensing the notes they’d both taken on the subject and creating a script.

“Here let’s record the first line.” 

Lizzie recorded her parts, and Madison loaded it up on her laptop. With practiced ease she sliced together the clips and narration.

“Wow, you’re good at this.” 

“I made some promo videos for some clubs back in the day, but it’s not too hard. It’s really just putting together clips and lining it up with the audio tracks.”

“But how come there’s multiple audio things here?”

“Ah, the multiple tracks are so you can layer things together, in case things overlap. For example, we want to layer the intro music with your intro narration here.”

Madison went on to show her how to add new clips and transitions, before letting Lizzie try on her own as she walked her through it.

The two were halfway through when there was a knock on the door and Jennifer poked her head in. 

“One of my clients is missing some important documents in their filings. Normally, I wouldn’t want to leave you two home alone, but it’s urgent and I couldn’t find a babysitter on such short notice. Would you two be okay being alone if I leave for a couple hours?”

Lizzie glared at her mom at the mention of a babysitter, but Madison didn’t seem to notice. “Of course Ms. Cooper, don’t worry about us.” 

“And did you need anything before I leave?”

“No, we’re fine mom.”

“Are you sure?”

Lizzie rolled her eyes, about to reply sarcastically when she noticed her mom’s intent glare.

Realization dawned on her, but after thinking about it for a bit, her bladder felt pretty empty. Not wanting to make an awkward scene, she decided she could wait.

“Yup, I’m sure. But what are we going to do about dinner?”

“Good point, it might be a bit late when I get back. Madison, would you like to join us for dinner?”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother, I can just bus back after Lizzie and I finish working.”

“Nonsense, please join us. I’ll grab some takeout on the way back. Are you okay with Indian food?”

“I’ll good with anything!”

“Alright then, if you girls need anything please call me immediately.” With that, she shut the door and left, letting the girls resume their project.

The girls hopped right back in, adding the remainder of the clips. They even added some background music, which started slow and suspenseful, building up gradually throughout the video.

“… With the growing resentment in both aristocratic and peasant communities, and the French economy in dire straits, something needed to change. But few were prepared for the horrors that laid just around the corner.”

“Oh my god it’s perfect, your voice is so epic here,” Madison said with glee, and the two girls high-fived each other at a job well done. “Let me start the rendering, and we can see the full quality version.” 

“How long will that take?”

“Umm, oh dang seems like it’ll take a couple hours. I could just bus back first and we can view the results tomorrow.”

“No no, my mom’s already bringing back dinner for us, why don’t we just hang out until then?”

“You sure? I feel bad because I intruded on you today.”

“What? What makes you say that? You know I love hanging out with you.”

“Well I know, it just seems like you were already set for a quiet night, being in your PJs and all.”

Lizzie felt herself blush. Focused on the project, she’d completely forgotten about the sleeper and goodnite until now.

Forcing a chuckle, she said, “Nah, it’s just that I was taking a nap before you came.” 

“I see. And here I thought it was because I looked so cute in them last time you just wanted to copy the look.” Her friend gave her a smirk.

While she knew her friend meant to be comforting, it only served to make Lizzie more aware of the sleeper’s embrace around her. 

“I’m just teasing,” Madison said, somehow sensing her discomfort. “Anywho, wanna watch something until your mom gets back?”

“Sure. You said you never watched Breaking Bad, right?”

The two watched an episode. Then another. They’d even grabbed some snacks and juice boxes as they sat together in bed, resting against each other as they enjoyed the show.

It was only she felt a light pressure in her bladder did Lizzie realize that it had been almost two hours and her mom still wasn’t back yet.

“Hey Lizzie, I’m so sorry, I left early but I’m still stuck in traffic, there was an accident on the bridge. I might be another thirty minutes or so. Do you need me to be back soon?”

Lizzie eyed her friend, who simply shrugged. “That’s okay, we’re fine.” She could hold it in until then.

But when another thirty minutes rolled by and Jennifer still wasn’t home, Lizzie began to worry. The pressure was now bordering on pain, and she began fidgeting on the bed, unable to focus on the show.

She tried shifting around to find a more comfortable position, only for a sharp pain to shoot through her body. 

“You alright?” Madison asked, pausing the show.

“I’m fine.” 

But hardly a few minutes went by when her another jolt shot through her, her bladder crying for relief.

She was not fine.

Only now, pushed to her limit, did her situation begin to dawn on her. 

She obviously couldn’t ask her friend to unzip her, or the entire house of cards would come crumbling down.

That left going in her goodnite, while still wide awake.

Memories of her car ride home from Thanksgiving flooded to her mind. Lizzie shuddered. And if she wet, her goodnite would become more visible. If Madison found out…

Shutting her eyes, she begged her bladder to hold on until her mom returned. 

But despite her pleas, one final sharp pain almost sent her through the edge. 

She needed to go. Now.

“Sorry, can we pause for a sec, I need to use the bathroom.” Trying to hide her urgency, it came out as hardly a whisper. 

She dragged herself out of bed, legs quivering as she staggered toward the door. She hardly managed to close it behind her when her legs gave out.

“No no no,” Lizzie sobbed as she fell to the floor with a bang. All of her muscles relaxed as her goodnite began filling at a rapid pace.

“Lizzie? What was that?... Oh my god are you alright?” Madison rushed to her side, kneeling down, her eyes wide with concern. “What happened?”

Lizzie couldn’t respond, burying her head in her hands, she tried futilely to stop herself. But her body refused to obey, and the steady stream continued to flow out of her, allowing the all-too-familiar warmth to begin spreading around her bottom.

“Lizzie, are you…” Madison’s voice trailed off.

Lizzie turned away, curling herself into a tight ball. Unable to hold back, tears began streaming down her face as entire her body shook. Her friend looked at her, hand hanging awkwardly in the air.

Eventually, the hand came to rest on her back, and the two sat in near-silence, save for her quiet weeping.

An eternity later, her bladder finally finished emptying itself.

“I…” Her voice quivered even at that single syllable.

“Shh… It’s okay,” Madison said, sitting down beside her. One arm wrapping around her in a light hug.

The two sat there for a little while longer, until Madison got up and left, only to quickly return with a box of tissues and sit back down. She stayed there by her side until her sniffles stopped and her breathing returned to normal.

“Are you alright?” She asked as Lizzie wiped her tears on her sleeve. 

“No,” Lizzie whispered, feeling a wet patch against her inner thigh.

“How can I help?”

“I…” Lizzie paused, a faint smell of her piss in the air. She felt her eyes watering again. “Can… Can you unzip me?”

“Sure.” Without question, her friend immediately moved behind her and began working on the tab. 

As soon as the zip was halfway down, Lizzie ran off to the bathroom. Stripping, she threw the sleeper with all her might at the wall. The goodnite soon followed, landing with splat, leaving a mark. 

Wrapping herself in a towel, she sat down on the toilet, burying her head in her hands as the tears resumed.

The crying continued until there was a knock at the door. Lizzie didn’t respond, but the door opened anyways.

“I’m so sorry.” Jennifer stepped in. Her mom’s eyes were wide as she rushed over to Lizzie’s side.

“When you said you were alright, I thought you didn’t need to go so I went to grab the takeout, but there was a delay at the restaurant and…” Jennifer started. “Nevermind. I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK?” The anger burst out of her. 

“I…” Jennifer paused, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Just… go… away…” Lizzie said between sobs. “Please!”

“I’m sorry, Lizzie.” Jennifer shut the door behind her, leaving her in peace.

Eventually, Lizzie picked herself up. Not bothering to shower, she instead wiped herself down with some wet paper towels. Only as she was drying herself did she notice a bag at the door, in it were some normal underwear and clothes.

She changed into them, washed her face, before trudging back to her room, her heart heavy. 

It was over. 

She’d wet herself in front of her one friend. 

She’d probably left by now, undoubtedly disgusted by what she’d seen. 

There was no way someone like Madison could associate herself with someone like her.

Worse yet, sooner or later, gossip about her would likely spread, and she’d become the laughing stock of the school.

Maybe she could change schools, maybe move to another country… Maybe…

She opened the door with a heavy heart, only to find Madison sitting at her desk, typing away on her laptop. The girl looked up as soon as she noticed her enter.

“What…” Lizzie tried to start, but felt her throat clench.

“Why…” She tried again, but to no avail. Feeling the tears beginning to return, she sprinted over to her bed, curling into a tight ball underneath the covers.

She buried her head under the pillows. What was there to say? It was embarrassing enough to be a bedwetter, but to have leaked in front of her friend… Why was she still here? Even after finding out she was a freak?

Her thoughts were interrupted as her mattress shifted and she felt her friend sit down behind her.

Lizzie closed her eyes, bracing herself, not even sure what was to come.

A hand came to rest atop of her shoulder, as if to tell her everything would be okay.

“Why are you still here?”

“What do you mean?”

“I…”

“I… I know what happened,” Madison said, reading her mind.

“I…”

“Shh,” Madison said, “you don’t have to tell me anything. Only if you want to.”

“But… Don’t you have a lot of questions?”

“Yes, but they don’t matter. What matters is you’re hurt, so I want to do whatever it takes to help you feel better. If you want to share, that’s great. If you want me to leave, I’ll leave. And if you want me to just sit here with you in silence, then I’ll do just that. Either way, I’m not going to judge you. You don’t have to be afraid with me. No matter what, I’m your friend. I’ll always be your friend.”

“I…” Her voice wavered. She was about to give up when Madison grabbed her hand, grasping it gently, yet firmly, giving her the strength to continue.

“You… You have to promise not to tell anyone,” Lizzie finally managed through sniffles.

“Of course.”

“You’ve probably guessed by now, but I… I don’t use goodnites because of my periods.”

Madison looked at her with her round eyes, but said nothing.

“I’ve…” Lizzie took a deep breath. “I’ve wet the bed all my life. I don’t know why. The doctor says there’s nothing wrong, but I just can’t control it.

“I… I don’t wet every night! Just sometimes… So after I grew out of diapers, I switched to wearing goodnites.”

“I see…”

“You must be wondering why I was wearing them earlier. And about the pajamas.”

Madison said nothing, but gave a slight nod.

“I…” Lizzie hesitated, knowing that once she told her friend everything, she could never take it back.

But her friend already knew the worst of it. And the last thing Lizzie needed was her friend thinking she needed the sleeper because she was some crazy psycho.

She took a deep breath. “So it all started on this thanksgiving trip…”

***

“So that’s why I’ve been stuck in these pajamas for the past week and a half.” Lizzie let out a huge sigh as she concluded her story. 

Her friend didn’t immediately respond, her face a blank slate, concealing her thoughts.

Lizzie bit her lip. With her secrets laid bare, Lizzie suddenly realized Madison now had the power to do whatever she wished to with the information.

“Wow…” Madison said, gently shaking her head.

“I… I shouldn’t have said anything.” Lizzie buried her face into the pillow. Despite what her friend had said earlier, somehow she knew her friend would never see her the same way again.

“No. Thank you for sharing. I know that must have been difficult. I just…” For once, she seemed at a loss for words. “I just don’t really know how to react. It’s just a really shitty situation. The pajamas and the punishment. I mean, your parents seem to have the best intentions at heart, but… It just seems like a series of really unfortunate events.

“Do you think I’m weird?”

“No! I mean, the situation is weird, I’ll give you that. I’m not sure I would be okay if my mom made me wear a sleeper I couldn’t take off just because she thought I’d take off my protection at night.”

Lizzie opened her mouth, but paused. Her parents had convinced her the sleeper was a fair punishment, but clearly Madison thought otherwise. Had she been too accepting of her parents’ reasoning? Did the sleeper really make sense?

“But I… I mean I know your parents are pretty strict… Anyways, I don’t know… I can’t really imagine what it’s like to be a bedwetter. I can’t imagine having to act secretive and worried all the time. It must be so anxiety-inducing. It’s… 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry. I’m supposed to be comforting you. Not…” Madison stammered to explain herself, her face turning a bright pink. 

Lizzie couldn’t help but grin as her friend fidgeted. “It’s okay. I’m sorta used to it by now. And yeah, you’re right it sucks. It’s so nerve-racking to hide it. I mean I’m sure you probably had suspicions even before today…”

“Actually, I had no clue. I really thought you used them as pads like me.”

“What about the sleeper? The zipper in the back should’ve been a dead giveaway.”

“Now I feel stupid, I genuinely thought it was for the design! I mean they were so cute and comfy, I didn’t question it much. Wait, so you actually can’t take it off no matter what? I thought you said you could if you stretched and pull at it?”

“If you’re flexible enough it’s possible, but I can’t. Sorry about lying to you.”

“Nah, you had good reason. Oh my god, you must’ve been in such a pickle when I chose those PJs for the sleepover. Now that I think about it, you even offered me other ones but I couldn’t take a hint.

“You were practically begging me to change, but instead I even went out in them! Well, at least I feel better about not being able to get them off myself. You should’ve seen me in your bathroom.” 

Lizzie found herself giggling as her friend reenacted herself clawing behind her at an imaginary zipper.

Her secret was out. The secret she’d kept buried deep within her all these years. She’d imagined this scenario many times, and each time it had ended with her scared, devastated, or praying for the world to end. Yet here she was, laughing at a silly joke like it was nothing.

Her giggle grew to a chuckle, then a laugh, as the emotions poured out of her. Gone was a tension she never knew she had, and somehow, her entire body felt a little… lighter.

It wasn’t until her friend’s expression changed to concern that Lizzie realized tears had begun streaming down her face.

“It’s okay. I’m here for you.” She felt her friend join her underneath the covers, arms wrapping around her. “I’m here for you.”

Lizzie turned around, burying her head into her friend’s chest, enjoying the soothing warmth.

She closed her eyes. 

Some part of her knew that today’s events had forever changed their friendship and that there was no turning back.

And for that, she knew that she should be worried. 

Worried that someone now knew her so intimately — knew her deepest and darkest secret. 

Worried that tomorrow, her friend would wake up and realize just how weird and disgusting she truly was.

Worried that her friend was prone to gossip, and secrets like this spread like wildfire.

Lizzie knew that she should be worried. And perhaps tomorrow, she would be.

But today, she just wanted to embrace the lightness she felt — to enjoy the warmth and softness of her friend’s hug. 

She just wanted to feel loved.