Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
It was ten o’clock when the Littles finished constructing their fort inside Mindy’s spacious playroom.
The Daddies had hung out together for about three hours, but now they were all home, leaving only Joe to keep an eye on the women.
He’d retired to his bedroom to watch TV and the Littles were about to watch something, too.
A scary movie.
“This will be super terrifying!” Mindy announced.
They were all sitting under the canopy of the blankets they’d draped about the room, making it feel as if they were in a tent.
“Ladies, I present to you, The Horrifier !” Mindy announced, holding up the Blu-ray case.
“That’s supposed to be the most disgusting movie ever made!” Janie Worden said.
Janie was one of Big Cedar’s Littles and Amber had taken an instant liking to her upon meeting her that evening. She had ample curves, raven-black hair, and big dark eyes. Her Daddy was the town doctor and from what Amber could piece together, they’d lived in Big Cedar for quite a while.
“It’s worse than disgusting,” Mindy said. “It’s repulsive. Some of the theaters had to have EMTs waiting outside because people were barfing and stuff when they watched it. One old lady went into a coma! She’s okay now, though. Or so I’ve read.”
The other Littles gasped.
Belinda, Clyde’s wife and Little, took the pacifier from her mouth and said, “Does your Daddy know you have this?”
She was absolutely adorable, Amber thought. She was the “Littlest” Little there, sporting a onesie and thick diaper beneath it.
It was nearly cuteness overload to Amber.
“Of course not,” Mindy said. “If he comes in, I’ll switch it to the Disney Channel or something. With all these covers up, he won’t be able to see the TV anyway.”
“I’m not so sure we should watch this,” Grace chimed in. “What if it scares us too much to even sleep?”
The six Littles all looked at each other as they contemplated what to do.
“I didn’t come to chicken out!” Alyssa finally said.
“Me neither,” Janie said. “But I’ll probably hide my eyes a lot.”
“I’m in,” Grace decided. “I mean, we have each other. We’ll get through the night. And it’s all make believe. It’s just a dumb movie. I bet it won’t even scare us!”
Belinda popped out her binky again and nodded. “I’ll watch it. I’m already in a diaper. So what if I get so scared I pee my pants?”
Everyone laughed.
All eyes were now on Amber.
She grinned. “Bring it on!”
They all cheered.
As Mindy put the Blu-ray in the player, though, Amber couldn’t help but wish they were watching something else. She was still on edge over the Donnie stuff. The guy that had come into the diner earlier, reminding her of that idiot T-Rex, hadn’t helped matters any.
Grace was right, though. This was just a movie. What harm was there in watching it?
The movie started and it didn’t take long at all before the killer clown hacked someone into little tiny pieces and did even worse.
“Is he… playing with their guts?” Janie asked.
“Gross!” Alyssa said. “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen!”
The movie was terrifying, and with each passing moment, Amber grew more and more on edge. Images of Donnie flickered across the canvas of her brain, and they were far worse than even the repulsive scenes on the TV. It wasn’t that she’d seen him be as violent. It was just that she’d lived it.
Donnie was real. The demonic clown in the movie was totally fake. Terrifying, yes. But still fake.
No matter how many times she reminded herself of that fact, as the movie progressed, she became even more nervous. The other Littles seemed to be, too, and they didn’t even have the Donnie issue on their minds.
“Uh, ladies,” Mindy said, twenty minutes into the thing, “maybe we should watch something on Disney after all. Or what about a Bridgerton marathon?”
“Ooh that sounds nice,” Grace replied. “I don’t think anyone’s going to get fingerbanged in a carriage in this movie and I’d much rather see that.”
Belinda let her pacifier fall out before admitting, “I’ve already peed. Twice. We can turn it whenever!”
“I thought we weren’t going to chicken out,” Alyssa said. But the slight tremble in her voice revealed that she was most likely just trying to put on a brave front.
“I guess I can watch for a few more minutes,” Janie said. But it didn’t sound like she really wanted to.
Everyone else, including Amber, nodded. But inside, she was a bundle of nerves. The clown in the movie was terrifying. The memories of Donnie, and the fear she’d felt earlier when she’d thought that was T-Rex, were even scarier. By the time ten more minutes passed, she was wound up tighter than a spring.
That’s why, when a male voice called out, “What are y’all doing?” she jumped straight up.
Commotion broke out as the other Littles followed and soon the tent they’d built was collapsing all around the room. They scrambled to get free of the blankets that were now draped over them, but their vision was obscured and it ended up just looking like a covered mosh pit as they bumped into each other and knocked various things around the room over.
“Someone’s in here!” Janie yelled.
“Fucking cocksucker! Shit!” Amber screamed.
Everyone gasped as they stood still.
Now that they’d stopped moving, the women were able to pull the blankets from them and regain their composure, though they were all still breathing heavily, their faces white as a sheet.
“I’m sorry,” Amber said. “I say bad words when I get scared.”
Standing in the doorway, looking thoroughly perplexed, was Joe. “What in the world is going on in here?”
Now that the fort had collapsed, he had a view of the TV.
“Good Lord! What are you watching?”
It was his wife who answered. “Well, Daddy, you see… we were just… trying to be brave and watch a scary movie.”
“A scary movie?” he said, rearing his head back as a look of disgusted shaded his handsome face. “That crazy clown is eating someone’s leg! What the hell?” He shook his head and barreled into the room. “We’re turning that off right now.”
Amber watched as he shut the TV down. He then turned around to face the Littles. “I think it’s bedtime.”
Amber, Alyssa, Mindy, Belinda, Grace, and Janie just stood as still as statues. Noticing all their faces were still stark white, Amber assumed hers was, too.
“Y’all aren’t going to be able to sleep tonight, are you?” Joe asked.
One by one, they all shook their heads.
He sighed. “Okay. Start calling your Daddies.”
And with that, the slumber party was over.
Amber wasn’t upset by that fact, either. As scared as she was, there was only one person she wanted to be with.
Daddy.