Page 18 of Soothing Little Sylmen

It would be a waiting game. But I had a feeling—no, I knew—my boy was worth it.

Chapter Nine

Sylmen

I never ever wanted to leave the Butterfly Room. I mean, it was an exaggeration of course. I meant that I didn’t want to be anywhere that wasn’t as relaxing. What I really wanted was to go to the smaller room, the one where people got to be babies, because that seemed like paradise. That was freedom. But for the moment, I could make do with the way that I was spending my time.

The nice lady had given me a piece of paper and a pencil when I first sat down beside her. I quickly scribbled out all of the things I wanted that I thought would apply to the room. I made note that I had no allergies and was otherwise in good health. I did put that I was nonverbal, but I think they already had an idea.

Word had seemed to travel fast on the Ranch. The people were all connected. They were family. It made me miss my own a bit. I didn’t dwell on it too much, because the second I handed the list back over, the two women working went into overdrive getting me settled. They gave me clothes and a pull-up and helped me get changed. Then they told me I could either have a snack or go play.

I decided to curl up off to one side of the room on the padded floor. It was as close to being a baby-baby as I could get. Plus, I liked to watch people. It felt good seeing others happy and regressing. I’d never experienced it really before coming to the Ranch.

I’d watched videos, sure. Even attended a Zoom or two through a website of other Littles. But being in the room and feeling the energy of the others was different.

It was amazing.

As I laid there, I could feel myself sinking deeper and deeper. Before I knew it, my hand had made its way to my mouth, and I was sucking on my thumb. Miss Sam came by at one point and laid a blanket over me. I smiled around my thumb, and she smoothed some of my hair back gently.

“You just relax, sweet boy. Everything’s okay.”

She let me be from then on out, going and changing out who was at the tables coloring versus who was playing on the floor. She made sure some had snacks and helped people build things when they wanted assistance. I felt more myself than I ever had.

When Daddy came by to check on me, I didn’t realize an hour had already passed. I gently shook my head because I didn’t want to go. I probably would have started crying, begging for him to let me stay somehow. But I didn’t need to. He announced he would be back and left just like that.

After he was gone and I knew he wasn’t mad or anything, it was even better. Because he had given me the confidence. He wasn’t embarrassed by anything. Wasn’t angry that I wasn’t ready to go spend time alone with him. He seemed proud of me for saying what I wanted. His eyes had shone even from across the room, and his voice held no note of anger.

When his second arrival came, I was napping—I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. It was just so cozy and warm, and my thumb was perfect in my mouth. When I blinked awake, it was to another Little leaning down in front of me, their face just an inch away.

I kept really still, mostly because I didn’t want to startle them, but also because I didn’t know who else was around me. I had let my guard down, which I hadn’t expected to do so soon into this week. When he sat back a bit so I could see him more clearly, I recognized him as the Little I’d met this morning.

“Your Daddy came,” Blake told me.

My eyes went wide as I pushed myself up and looked around.

“He said he’d be back,” Blake told me as he rose to match my height. “You want to play?”

I rubbed my eyes, blinking away the last of my exhaustion. I didn’t realize how good a short nap would feel. Well, I said short, but who knew how long it had been. There weren’t any clocks on the walls that I could see, and I didn’t know what time Daddy had come by the second time anyway.

I pulled my thumb from my mouth and nodded to my friend. He had seemed so much bigger than Lori earlier, but he was definitely a Little if the way he bounced on the mat was any indication. He reached his hand out for mine.

“Come with me,” Blake said.

We crawled over to a stack of giant-sized bricks—the kind you could stack up in different colors and configurations, kind of like Legos but oversized and easy to grab.

“We make castle.”

I looked at the blocks surrounding us and wondered how we would be able to do so. But then Blake lifted a box behind him and in it I saw even more. My jaw dropped and Blake giggled. We had plenty to play with.

With my marching orders, I started pulling out the longer pieces to make a foundation. We made the shape and then started building it higher and higher. I was so focused on the pattern and enjoying the carefree air of it all that I didn’t realize we had an audience. When we reached the top, I turned to see most of the room staring at our creation. My gaze skittered over them, but I froze when I saw Daddy at the doorway. He was leaning with his hand on his chin and his elbow against the frame. His smile was so big I had to match it.

“Ready to go, sweet boy?” he called out.

I nodded quickly, then turned to find my friend. Blake looked at me and smiled.

“Go with your Daddy. I may see you again.” He came around the castle and held his arms out. “Hug.”

I didn’t hesitate to move forward and wrap my arms around him. We leaned side to side a few times. Then he pulled back and pushed me toward the door.