The Regression Clinic

It was late in the evening at the Regression Clinic for Unruly Adults, a privately-owned business on the outskirts of town. This place was offered as an alternative to prison for those with a history of repeating crimes, where their violent and criminal tendencies would be wiped away. The drugs would reduce their minds and bodies down to an infant’s, then after a full year of them living a carefree life, the caretakers would lower the dosage of the regression drugs until they were able to regain their bladder and bowel control and function as a normal adult.

As a perk of submitting to this program, they would get their criminal records expunged, allowing them to start a fresh life, giving them the opportunities and privileges they lost long ago. Many had chosen to submit to the program when faced with years and years of prison time, too. The government paid these programs rather handsomely for their services, and had plans to fund more regression clinics across the country.

Sarah had been working in the clinic for a couple of days. She’d been hired for the evening shift, where she’d have to work from eight in the evening to eight at night. For someone who had just graduated from medical school, she was incredibly grateful for how much they paid her. She knew that she’d be able to pay off her student loans in just a few years if she played her cards right. 

She walked inside, scanning her badge to be let through security. They buzzed the door open for her, and with a friendly wave at the security guard, she stepped into the hallway and made her way to the elevator, riding it to the top floor where the regression clinic was. After she fished her white lab coat from her bag, she stowed her stuff in her locker in the break room, grabbed a cup of coffee, then walked down the hall to where the fresh batch of those were going to start their regression therapy.

Sarah’s pace quickened. “Don’t wanna miss this!” she said softly. She found it rather interesting how some of the inmates struggled against their inevitable regression. Turning the corner, she opened the door into the viewing room and found her coworker, Adam, inputting commands into the computer. The entire process was automated, as each inmate had an autonomous robot following them around. Each of the robots were a soft pink, talking to each of their littles in a warm, motherly tone of voice. They took care of most of the work, like changing diapers, feeding them, and tucking them into bed.

“Hey, you!” she said as she walked up. She took a sip from her cup of coffee, then set it down on the desk. “Did I miss it?”

“What, the first dosage? Nah, you got here just in time. It’s about to start any second now.”

“Got it.” She stepped up to the window and watched as panels in the ceiling opened up, revealing four cylindrical objects that lowered down. The inmates, securely tied down to their beds, started struggling as a nursery song began to play over the room’s speakers. Seconds later, the room was filled with a mist, coating everything in the room in the sweet liquid. This happened throughout the night  “So how many doses does it take for them to completely lose control?” she asked. “And why do we only have three inmates tonight? Where’s the fourth?” Sarah eyed the empty bed and the robot that sat dormant next to it.

“There’s no fourth; we only have three to process tonight.” A faint beeping sound came from his watch. “Welp, looks like my shift is done!” Adam removed the watch and placed it on the table, then said, “Don’t forget to put that watch on if you have to go in there, okay? I went in there once and one of the Mommy bots tried to put me in diapers!”

“Hehe, for real? That’s pretty nuts.”

“Yeah,” Adam said with a short laugh. “Anyways, hope you have a good night! I bet it sucks that you’re the only one on staff tonight.”

As she watched Adam start to collect his things, she said, “Actually it’s not that bad. I don’t have any managers breathing down my neck and trying to micromanage me.”

“Not a bad point.” With a short yawn, Adam left her alone in the room. “See you on Monday!” 

“See ya!” She sat down in the chair and swung herself in front of the keyboard, making sure that everything was as it should be on the screen. Grabbing her coffee, she leaned back in the chair and relaxed for a couple of hours, listening to the inmates slowly quiet down as the drugs took effect.

One of the green lights on the screen suddenly turned red, making her sit up in her chair. “Hm… why’s that bot offline?” she muttered as she sat up, tapping the screen with the tip of her finger in the hopes that the little red light would turn green. She leaned to the left and saw the inmates struggles slowly die down until they had dazed smiles on their faces, then glanced up at one of the Mommy bots. She sent the command to reboot it, but it failed to do anything. 

“Great…” she said, rolling her eyes as she stood up. She threw off her lab coat, typed in the code to open the door where the inmates were, then yanked the door open. It shut behind her, but she’d be able to get back through the same way she got in. She brushed some stray hairs behind her ear as she walked up to the dormant bot, then flipped open the panel on its back. “Oh, there’s the issue; it ran out of juice,” she said to herself. Sarah pulled the battery bank out of the bot, grabbed a new one, then stuck it into place. The bot sprung to life and spun around to face her.

“Ah, ah, ah!” it said in a sing-song tone of voice. “What is a little one like you doing out of bed?” It cocked its head to the side as it placed its arms on its hips. “Hm?”

“Oh, I’m not an inmate, I work here!” Sarah said in her usual gleeful tone. “See?” she asked, holding up her wrist. All of the bots in the facility knew to ignore anyone wearing the company watch, as it had some tech in it that made the bots ignore the wearer. 

“Well, let’s get you into bed, little one. Mommy doesn’t know how you escaped, but I’ll be sure to make you all nice and comfy for your wittle sweepy time!” The bot grabbed her by the hand and gently tugged her towards the last empty bed.

“W-What? No!” Sarah ripped her hand out of the bot’s hand and darted towards the door, frantically trying to enter her pin code. She punched the numbers in so fast that she entered the wrong code, so after it beeped at her, she started entering her code again when she heard the bot stop behind her.

“Little one, that’s a restricted area; you are simply not allowed to go through there!” the bot said as it grabbed her wrist again.

“Get off me!” Sarah pushed the bot away and darted to the other side of the room, but as she neared the opposite wall, she heard a familiar sound that made her heart drop into her stomach. Fearing the worst, she looked up at the ceiling and saw the panels retract, lowering the misters back into the room. Her eyes went wide as they locked on the misters, hearing them whir to life a few seconds before a thick mist filled the room. She coughed a few times, then pulled her shirt up over her nose as she rushed back towards the door.

However, the Mommy bot had other plans, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her down onto the empty bed. It held her down tight as it strapped her onto the bed, completely immobilizing her. “There we go! Now just relax and breathe it all in, little one. Everything is going to be okay.” 

“Override, admin access lev-” Her words were muffled by the bot sticking a pacifier gag in her mouth, only taking a few seconds for it to secure and tighten its straps. She pushed as hard as she could against the restraints binding her to the bed, but there was simply no escape.

“Oh my, you aren’t wearing any protection!” the bot said, placing its hands on its head. “Let me get you a big, comfy diaper for little ‘ol you; I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

Tears streamed down Sarah’s cheeks as the bot did what it was programmed to do, but she slowly stopped crying as her breathing slowed down. The scent of the mist was as sweet as she’d thought, and she found herself suckling on the pacifier from some unlocked instinct, soothing her worries and fears. As the bot slipped her pants off of her, she didn’t bat a single eyelash as a thick diaper was taped around her waist, and as her diaper grew warm, a dazed smile slid onto her face as she finally felt at peace.