—1—        
        There are certain things that sound like a good idea when you schedule them, but when you actually do them they seem to be much less appealing. This, Will decided as he took another sip of coffee, was one of them.
        “Listen Sam, I appreciate that you’re giving me a tour of the whole place,” Will said, “but I don’t, um, I don’t want to waste your time. Surely you can just show me where the access points that need replacing are, and then I can let you get back to work?”
        “Nonsense!” Samantha said with a wave of her hand. “I love showing the place off! And, truth be told, there’s not a lot of work here for me in the mornings, especially this early. Diapers and baths are all Judy’s specialty, I’m mainly here just in case something goes awry, or to pitch in if things get busy.” She paused to wave hello to another parent coming to drop their children off. “And believe me, they do get busy. We’re here early enough that it’s not an issue.”
        Will glanced down at his watch. “Honestly, the place seems pretty busy already for it being six in the morning. I guess I see why you wanted me to come in this early.”
        Samantha nodded as they walked along. “It’s a week before Thanksgiving, a lot of families are heading off for trips and taking time off. You’d think that would lower our demand, but honestly it triples. Place gets packed pretty quickly.”
        Reasonable or not, it was still much too early for Will to pretend to be happy touring a daycare facility. He’d had enough encounters with manure just through the people he knew, and having to withstand the scent while working made things even worse. The only reason he asked his company to take on the daycare project at all was because Samantha personally asked for his help. The holstein was close friends with Phoebus, his lover, so turning her down would make things really uncomfortable at home, certainly uncomfortable enough to make working the Sunday after Thanksgiving worth it. 
        The tour passed blessedly quickly, and before he knew it, they came to the last room.
        “Saved the best for last!” Samantha said with a grin. “The changing room! And it’s got something special inside, come take a look!”
        Will blanched at the thought of stepping inside. “No, I’m, it’s quite alright, I’ve seen plenty of changing rooms before.”
        The holstein opened the door with one hand and tugged him in with the other, her grip as strong as any bull’s. Will stumbled inside reluctantly: immediately, the foul stench of old pig diapers slammed him in the face. Samantha was unphased.
        “Alright, here she is! The changing room - pride and joy of the daycare. It might not seem like much, but you’d be surprised how much work went into making this place as efficient as possible. It really makes a difference for the budget - and our noses.”
        It really was a sight to behold. Will was very familiar with changing rooms, unfortunately, and he could see this was a great one. Rows and rows of changing tables set at the perfect height. Oversized diapers stuffed the shelves below the table, as well as various creams, powders and ointments.
        The human approached a table and shook it a bit. It did not budge. “Pretty well made,” he said.
        Samantha nodded. “Has to be. We specialize in large species, and they can weigh a few hundred pounds.” She couldn’t help but grin pointedly at Will. “I’m sure you’re familiar?”
        Memories of three rowdy bull calves flashed in Will’s mind, and he nodded with a grimace. “Don’t remind me.”
        The cow chuckled and shook her head. “Well, it’s what we have to deal with all day, every day here. You get used to it. It’s why we keep this around.”
        She nodded towards a pail attached to a table in the far back corner. It was only double sized, wide enough to fit a human but too short to fit more than two or three fully loaded pamps.
        “We keep that one around because it’s haunted,” Samantha explained. Will sniggered, and Samantha shot him a withering glare. “Do you think I’m kidding, whelp? Last time we tried to remove it, poor Boris was stuck in bed for a week. Too bloated to come to work.”
        Before Will could answer, the door burst open with a frantic looking nurse and a very large t-rex gal in tow. Her diaper was full to bursting, every inch of plastic a dark brown, and bits were dribbling here and there as she was pulled onto a table. The nurse hoisted the dino onto a table, and as she did so, the most horrid scent washed over Will. 
        The poor man gagged, and Samantha grabbed him by the arm to rush him out. He couldn’t help but stare as if at a car wreck as he passed though, as each tape came undone. Surely that wouldn’t all stay in the diaper, would it? 
        He’d never know. Samantha pulled him over the threshold and slammed the door shut behind her just as the last tape was about to come undone. The last thing he saw was the poor nurse dipping her finger in a tub of Vicks and rubbing it under her nose. Smart gal.
        Samantha gasped for air and leaned back on the door, sliding down to the ground. “Lord, I thought I wouldn’t make it out in time. That’s what I get for not keeping some rub on me! You okay, boy?”
        Will nodded, though the scent still lingered in his burnt nose hairs.
        “Alright, great. It looks like we’re all set. You got all the AP points, right?”
        He nodded again, holding up his list of notes.
        The cow smiled. “Good. Now I got to get to work and scrub the scent of shit off me. Got a fundraiser to attend and all. Just remember, when you come in, don’t go into the changing room after hours. That pail will get ya.”
        Will barely avoided rolling his eyes, instead smiling and nodding. “AP points. Don’t go into the changing room after hours because of a haunted pail. Got it.” With a nod, he strode to the door. 
        Samantha stared after him, trying to interpret his tone of voice. He was taking her seriously on that… wasn’t he?


—2—
        The building was very different at night. There were no frantic nurses hurriedly changing diapers, no kids running around yelling and throwing things, and most importantly, no vague but permanent scent of loaded diapers hanging in the air. Most of the lights were off, giving the place a somewhat abandoned vibe, but that didn’t bother Will as he kept to his work. A portable speaker and a podcast kept his mind from wandering, and the actual work itself was easy enough: everything on the network was set up, as well as the devices, he just actually had to install them. All in all, not as much headache as he was expecting. 
        As he was on his way out, however, something caught his eye. A flash through a door’s window. A sharp crack echoed through the halls. Something in there? Or someone? 
        Probably not. And if there was, he really couldn’t be bothered about it. He was being paid to install network access points, not to play security guard. If someone really was in there, it was probably in his best interest to just hightail it out of there. No reason to stick around and find out if his intruder was dangerous.
        It was a good plan. It made sense, was exactly what Will would normally do, and he almost followed through… almost. Just before he went to turn towards the exit, he glanced at the sign above the door and realized what room it was: the changing room. Could it be..?
        No. It could not be. Haunted pails did not exist, and if they did, they didn’t exist in a brand new daycare. How would a pail even become haunted anyways? A particularly bad diaper? The ghost of an angry nurse? It made no sense.
        Still, his curiosity was piqued. Half to satisfy it, and half to defy the chill running down his spine, Will slowly walked up to the door and peeked through the window. There was nothing out of place. Everything looked just as he imagined it would after the day’s cleanup: diapers fully stocked, everything wiped down, mopped, fresh Vicks tubs at every station… except the one by the ‘haunted’ diaper pail in the back corner. That tub had been knocked to the ground at some point and broken open, likely by a hurried late-shift nurse who couldn’t be bothered to clean it up. 
        “There,” he murmured to himself. “Nothing there, it’s empty. No intruders, no animals, and no haunted diaper pails.” 
        But there was the tub of Vicks broken on the ground. Will opened the door and slipped in, slowly walking down the rows of changing tables. It would be the right thing to put the tub back up on the table, right? Maybe clean up the mess and he’d be on his way. 
        Each step he took, he felt a sense of dread rising up in his throat. Every inch closer made his arms and legs feel heavier, slower, as if they themselves were resisting his will. His hair stood on end… yet he kept approaching. For some reason, it just felt right to make sure the tub was cleaned up. It was right. It was good. He needed to do it. Or else.
        Or else?
        Before he could ponder what he’d meant by that, he noticed with a slight jump that he was already there. It felt like it had taken forever, but at the same time it felt like he almost teleported there. The tub lay at his feet, the vapor rub’s scent fresh and strong. Funnily enough, it looked fresh. Maybe it had somehow fallen, and that was the noise he’d heard?
        Regardless, Will bent down and picked up the tub, scooping as much off the ground as he could before screwing on the lid and plopping it back on the changing table. There, simple enough, and now he could leave.
        And now he could leave. 
        And now he should leave.
        But the feeling of dread had only increased. His gaze slowly turned towards the diaper pail to his right. He could feel sweat drip down the back of his neck, the salty scent joining the minty freshness of the Vicks on the ground. He wanted to look away, but he felt like he couldn’t, as if there was a rope pulling his gaze towards it.
        It wasn’t anything special. Aside from it being shorter, it looked just like any other pail. It was just a normal diaper pail. So he should just leave, right? Samantha was probably making up stories to unnerve him. Heck, she was probably joking around and didn’t think he’d take it seriously at all. 
        So why did he feel so anxious? 
        “Jesus,” Will shook his head. “I feel like a scared kid.” His mother had always told him that the best way to get over fear was to just do whatever you were scared of, and you’d realize that it was never so bad at all.
        Will took a step towards the pail, then another. His feet fought him, but he couldn’t help but push on anyways. All he had to do was flip open the pail and see what was inside. 
        He towered over it, dripping sweat as he stared. His hands shook as he reached out and touched the cold, hard plastic rim. Slowly he lifted it, and after a few deep breaths, he leaned over, looked in, and found…
        Nothing. The pail was clean and empty.
        All tension instantly flooded out from him. It was nothing! Will grinned and laughed shakily. It was nothing this whole time, and he’d just gotten himself worked up over nothing. Thank god no one was here to see that. Samantha would never let him forget it if she knew just how badly her joke had unnerved him. So stupid.
        Will turned around and shook his head. It was too late for this bullshit, he was just going to head home and pass out. 
        He took two steps. The pail’s lid slammed open with a crack, and Will spun around just in time to see two thick, plasticky looking blue-and-brown tentacles burst from the pail and shoot towards him. Poor Will screamed as he turned tail and tried to run, but he didn’t even make it a foot before they wrapped around his feet and yanked him to the ground.
        Instincts kicked in, and he began scrabbling, grabbing for anything at all to hold on to. He found purchase by grabbing one of the changing table drawers, but the tentacles kept tugging harder and harder. It felt like they were going to rip the arms from his socket! As struggled, the thicker and longer the tentacles got. Very quickly they wrapped his legs and his waist, and he could feel them pulsating. They had a plasticky texture, but the inside was warm, lumpy, and squishy. It felt like there was a thin blue skin, but the inside was almost exclusively brown, yellow and white. What the fuck was this?
        Will tried to scream for help, but as if anticipating this a third tentacle burst out from the pail and wrapped around his face. Everything was dark, warm and squishy. All he could hear were glorps and squelches as the tentacle pulsed against his face… and all he could smell was diaper cream and plastic.
        Oh god. Oh god oh god, were those tentacles made out of… diaper bags? Just the idea made him retch, and as if to confirm his fears, the tentacles loosened around his face just enough so he could see. Diapers of all sizes and states of use filled the tendril, varying from barely used piss diapers to leaking, oozing brown blowouts, logs and sludge oozing out and mixing with the general filth inside the bag. 
        No. No, this wasn’t the way he was going to go out. Will could feel his grip slipping on the wooden changing table. He didn’t have long. He let go of it with one hand and used it to feel around for something, anything to fight back with… but he found nothing but the slick spot where the vapor rub had fallen. 
        One finger slipped. Then another. Another. He held on by the tips of his pointer and middle finger, and they screamed in pain as they struggled to keep their grip. 
        There was nothing nearby to fight with. No way to cut the tentacles, no way to wrench himself free. His only hope was to burst them open, then crawl away while they (presumably) reformed.
        Will closed his eyes, gathered up his guts, and let go. Immediately the tentacles pulled him across the floor, and he began to thrash, rip and tear. At first he felt some measure of success: his fingers tore the bags open, and they loosened their grip a little bit. They even slowed down and stopped! Encouraged, he continued to tear and slash at the tentacles wrapped around his lower body and face.
        The first hint that he’d fucked up was the smell. Gone was the pleasant scent of diaper cream and plastic. In its place was the acrid stench of pooled ammonia, stale piss, of a hundred toddler diapers tossed together to rot. Humid, putrid air wafted out of the broken bags and directly into Will’s poor nose. It was strong enough to make Will gag, but he kept up his efforts. It would have to get worse before it got better, right? 
        Next was something earthier, deeper. The heavy scent of exposed shit slammed him like a brick, and Will heaved as the cloying order filled his nose, his mouth, his lungs, burned his eyes and his nose hairs. He couldn’t help but let go of the tentacles restricting his legs and start tearing mainly at the one around his face, trying desperately to tear it away. And tear he did, ripping huge holes in the thin blue plastic of the diaper bags… entirely exposing the insides of the tentacle.
        As if fed up with his struggles, the tentacles tightened around his face and pulled it inside, burying his head in several warm, leaking diapers. The sludge ran down his face and burned at his skin, and Will screamed. He tried to turn his head so he wouldn’t be face first in leaking filth, but as he did so several of the diapers around his head burst. Will’s attacks ceased entirely as he screamed, and everything became burning, disgusting and dark. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think, and all he could feel was the chunky, soft slop of shit surrounding his head. 
        The tentacles began pulling him towards the pail yet again. They hoisted him high in the air and lowered him down towards the opening. Perhaps seeing no need to control his head anymore, the tattered tentacle around his face unwrapped, releasing his face from its warm, disgusting prison. Will gasped and spluttered for air and wiped the shit from his eyes… only to look down and see the yawning hole of the diaper pail right in front of him, and slowly coming closer.
        He began to resist again, this time grabbing the rim of the pail and pushing back against the tentacles. He had no idea what would happen to him if the pail swallowed him whole, and he had no inclination to find out. 
        It was too dark to see how deep it went. It could go on forever, or it could just be a few feet deep. The only thing he could see was a single pullup half shrouded in shadow. It had an adorable My Little Pony design on the front, but the rest of it was a different story. The fabric was a stretched out brown color with hints of yellow, and the cuffs were poorly taped up. As the tentacles forced him closer, the pullup split open and exposed their contents. 
        Greasy, chunky brown logs of shit oozed out of the pullup’s cuffs. Bits of corn and nuts speckled the fresh muck, and waves of warmth buffeted Will’s face. Whoever had filled this diaper had done it recently: perhaps it was the last diaper of the night? Will really didn’t care: the humid warmth radiating off of it only made him double his resistance. 
        “Get away from me!” he screamed, pulling back harder on the rim of the pail. The stench was overwhelming, even for Will’s relatively adjusted nose. His struggles briefly became a tug of war, with Will holding onto the pail and the tentacles gripping his waist and legs. Slowly, inexorably, the pail was winning. He wasn’t going to make it. He was going to end up sitting in a diaper pail filled with someone else’s shit.
        His eyes welled up with tears from the acrid air, then blurred. Will blinked them away and stared down the slowly approaching pullup. His arms ached, his chest burned, and everything in him screamed to just give in. It took the last dredges of his strength to keep himself from plunging face-first into the disgusting shit below him, but for a moment it looked as if he’d finally matched the pail in their game of tug of war. Sweat and tears dripped onto the logs and made them even wetter. It released some of the nascent scent, but it was a good trade-off if it meant he wouldn’t wear that filth on his face.
        For the moment, he was safe. He held, had just enough time to really realize how ridiculous his situation was. If he could hold out just a while longer, one of his coworkers was supposed to call to check in on him. 
        Will felt his pocket vibrate, followed by a loud ring. The calm voice of his assistant reported: “Call from: Office. Would you like to answer?” He opened his mouth to say ‘yes’, and the pullup leapt up towards him. Will howled in fear as the pullup took on a life of its own and wrapped itself around his head. 
        The sensation was overwhelming as he drowned in shit. His lungs screamed for air and he felt as if he were going to drown. He opened his mouth to breathe, but it was filled with chunky, acrid shit: the corn kernels were half chewed, and little bursts of normal taste among a sea of disgusting. He kicked and squirmed, but the tentacles refused to let go and the pull up continued to tighten around him.
        His muscles could hold on no longer: his grip loosened slowly, finger by finger, until finally the rest gave out all at once. The diaper pail dragged him in. With one last desperate burst of strength, Will tried to hook his feet on the pail's rim, but it was too late. His stomach dropped as he fell through the pail and down into its murky depths. 
        The experience of being swallowed alive was surreal. Every inch of Will's body was now covered in vile shit: it oozed into every nook and cranny, coating him in its vile embrace. He could feel himself sinking deeper and deeper into the putrid embrace, heavy and warm diapers squeezing in around him. His lungs burned, his body grew numb, and Will's last thoughts grasped for something, anything to help him out. There were no ideas there for him: even if there were, he could no longer move to put them into action. The tentacles wrapping around his body were no longer necessary, because the sheer pressure of the muck and diapers ensured he could do nothing more than squirm.
        His thoughts grew slower and slower, and suddenly he felt warm. He was tired, so tired... The warmth was almost comforting. He should keep struggling of course, and he would. He would. Just... he just had to close his eyes for a moment. Just for a moment.


—3—
        Will’s eyes fluttered open what felt like moments later, but to his surprise, he did not awaken in the same filthy diaper pail as before, pampers clinging to his face and tentacles wrapped around his body. Instead he seemed to be suspended in a clean bag, hanging in the air. He could feel the walls of what was presumably the pail brushing against his arms, restricting but not entirely preventing his movement. The scent of rank shit and old piss was gone, replaced with diaper cream and baby powder.
        “Jesus,” Will muttered, and then gagged. His messy surroundings might have been gone, but the taste of that pull up was not. He swapped his tongue around his mouth a little to clean up the last bits of corn stuck in his teeth and swallowed, then sighed. He’d been through a lot of interesting predicaments through the years, but this had everything else beat. Who had ever heard of a haunted diaper pail?
        “So uh… haunted diaper pail, right?” Will said to no one in particular. “If this is a haunting, then there’s like, a ghost possessing this hunk of plastic, right? Can you give me a sign if you’re listening?”
        Will waited for a few moments. Nothing changed.
        He tried again. “Look, ghost - or, I dunno, pail, whatever - I’m sorry that I walked too close last night. I was warned about you and I should have listened. Whatever you are, do you think you can let me go? I’m sorry!”
        Muffled words murmured far away. Was the ghost trying to talk to him? Will strained to understand them as they grew louder.
        “...IT guy? No one’s heard back from him.”
        “Oh yeah, I heard that. Found all his tools here, left his car but the guy’s just gone.”
        It wasn’t the pail, it was just the workers outside talking. Will’s heart sank, then soared again a moment later. The workers would eventually open the pail and he’d be let out! He was saved!
        “I didn’t need you anyways, diaper-pail ghost. Fuck you for swallowing me, I’m gonna be gone in no time,” Will sneered. He really hoped there was some sort of entity listening, or he was gonna feel really silly talking to nothing. “They’re going to pull me out and I’ll never have to think of you again. What kind of ghost possesses a fucking diaper pail of all things? What are you, some kind of pervert?”
        The voices grew closer. “Glad he got the WiFi fixed though,” the first voice said. The second voice agreed. “Bad luck hearing about the guy though. Do you think the diaper pail ate him?”
        The second person giggled a little. “I mean, no way to know but check. Samantha did say that the dude didn’t believe her about the pail. Dumbass probably went in the room to put the Vicks jar back. Classic trick, it got Tommy a few months ago with the same thing. Poor dude was locked up for a day before we saw him and got him out.”
        Will’s heart raced as he heard them approach. This was it. They were going to let him out! The lid to the diaper pail jiggled and opened. Harsh fluorescent lights blinded poor Will for a moment, but he didn’t let that stop him.
        “H-Hey. Hey! I’m in here! Help me!” he yelled out. Two shadows peered down into the pail, but he couldn’t get a good look at them. The light was too harsh for his eyes to focus. “Hey, dumbfucks. I’m down here, let me out!”
        There were a few moments of silence, then one of the figures shook their head. “Nope, not in here.”
        Will felt his blood run cold. “No. No no no, I’m here. I’m here! Can’t you hear me?” He began to kick and punch at the sides of the pail to get their attention, but the cool, thin plastic of the bag wrapped around his limbs and constricted them again. It was surprisingly strong given the weak material it was made out of. “I’m in here. Please! God, please let me out!”
        The other figure shrugged. “Guess he just fucked off somewhere else. Oh well… he’s lucky he isn’t stuck in there though. Monday after Thanksgiving is always the worst, those tykes’ diapers are always nasty with Thanksgiving leftovers.”
        The lid slammed shut, and Will listened in quiet despair as his would be rescuers walked off. “Yeah, wouldn’t wanna be him,” one of them said. “Nasty, sloppy, chunky…” He continued to talk, but Will could no longer make out what he was saying.
        So he was stuck in here then. Whatever power controlled the pail also made it so the workers couldn’t see him. Perhaps it learned from last time? 
        “Hey, uh…” Will whimpered. “Whatever’s controlling this, I’m sorry for calling you names. Could you… could you please let me out?”
        Nothing. The plastic binding his arms and legs did loosen though, and Will breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever happened, at least he’d be able to move a little bit. 
        “Yeah, I’m sorry to call you in on such short notice, but we’ve never been busier. Do you think you can come in? …great. Yeah. Great, yeah. A bonus? Hell Mary, I’ll double your pay if you come in, we’re packed! …alright, great. See you in twenty.”
        Hope twinged in Will’s chest. That was Samantha on the phone… sure she’d realize what happened, right? Maybe then she’d take him out? 
        “Man, what a busy morning,” Samantha said to… herself? The pail shuddered, and Will figured she was sitting on the lid. “You’re gonna be well fed today, my friend. The hog triplets just toddled in and man, are their bellies distended. I’d bet most these kids haven’t even made a mess all weekend. It’s amazing what those gel plugs they make can do… too bad my body ain’t set up to do that.”
        There was a pause, as if Samantha was waiting for an answer. Then she chuckled. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it. Morning rush is coming up soon, buncha bad parents who didn’t change their kids’ overnights. God, having an infinite diaper pail is the best!” With that, the pail creaked as Samantha got off it, and soon her footsteps faded away. 
        Well… there goes that hope. Will should have known better than to rely on Samantha. The only one who could get him out of this mess was him or the haunted pail itself, and hope that either route would work was quickly fading. Surely he couldn’t be stuck in here forever, could he? 
        His train of thought was interrupted with the sound of approaching feet and a labored grunt. “Can’t… believe those diapers can hold this much piss!” The approaching worker grunted from his labor. “God, and overnight, too. Their bedroom must stink bad if their parents let them rot in these pamps all morning and night. Lazy fucks, making me do it.”
        With that, the lid opened. Will saw the shadow of a worker, but before he could open his mouth to call for help, the worker tossed in the diaper and shut the lid. It slammed right into Will’s face with surprising heft, causing the poor human to swear. His neck even hurt a little from the impact. The diaper slid off and tumbled down to his feet, settling there. It was hard not to press into the warm, squishy thing. 
        It seemed that there’d be no hope of the workers hearing him: whatever force controlled the pail also made it so the workers could neither see nor hear Will. He truly was at the pail’s whim. Will let out a sigh as he felt his heart sink. This wasn’t like all the other times: he truly was fucked. Unless… unless he could reason with the thing. 
        Another heavy diaper thudding against his head interrupted that train of thought, then two more. Some warm piss splashed out over his face as they rolled down, and Will hissed as the acrid liquid burned at his eyes. “Gnff… f-fuck, that’s… I don’t deserve this,” he grumbled.
        Whether or not he did, the lid opened again, and yet another wet diaper smacked him right in the face.  
        
        They kept coming and coming. Will found himself wondering just how many negligent parents this daycare serviced. Surely it couldn't be that many? Yet the warm piss diapers around his ankles piled up and up, soon reaching his knees. It was all he could do to avoid each diaper as it came down the chute, and there was nothing to be done about the pool of piss gathering at his feet. A misstep plunged his feet directly into one of them, spilling warm, sticky sap out onto his skin. 
        Eventually the steady stream reduced to a trickle, and then stopped entirely. Will sighed in relief: he was getting nervous he'd be submerged in pissy padding entirely! It gave him a little time to really think about his situation.
        "I, uh... please, talk to me! At least let me know if you're sentient! Can't we just work something out? Please, be reasonable!" 
        There was silence. What if this thing was haunted, but like, working on complete instinct? No thoughts or intention behind it, just doing what felt right. If that were true, he might be well and truly fucked. What had Samantha said about the pail before? She'd mentioned it was haunted, and some other stuff... but he really wasn't paying attention at the time. Fuck, that was kinda an asshole move...
        Maybe that was the reason behind everything? 
        "I'm, uh... pail, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have came near you, Samantha warned me about it. I was being an asshole and I'm sorry!" 
        More silence. Will gathered his hopes and tried again.
        "Maybe... maybe you know Samantha? Big cow, she owns this place and keeps you fed with diapers. Me and her, we're uh, we're friends!" A bit of a stretch. "I've learned my lesson, I'm sorry! Maybe you could let me out because of her?"
        Will waited a few moments for a response, and at first there was nothing. He sighed and sagged in his baggy prison as he tried to push away the sting of defeat. Was he really going to be stuck here forever? 
        Suddenly the lid opened again, blinding him with light. There was a figure blocking part of it, but even shielding his eyes, Will couldn't make out any details. Was it another daycare worker? Was the pail going to send him help, lift him out? 
        The shadow grew closer and closer. Will's heart raced, and he couldn't help but grin. It was a hand, reaching out for him! He reached towards it, straining to grasp it - but it kept getting bigger and bigger, too big to be a hand. Too late, he saw the vague details of an ABC diaper print before it thumped him in the face with a squelch.
        Immediately his eyes burned and his nose hairs curled: the stench of a bull calf's heavy, greasy shit was impossible to mistake. As if to confirm him, Will overheard the worker above say "It's those bull calves again, the brothers always end up destroying their diapers. Thank god I got it in there in time, it looked like it was about to fall apart!"
        Horror washed over him as thick, chunky slime oozed out of the diaper cuffs and over his face, followed quickly by one or two heavy, steaming logs of shit. "Fuck!" Will yelled, grabbing the diaper and throwing it onto the pile around his waist. It exploded there, splattering his crotch and making his skin there burn with the concentrated filth.
        This messy diaper was not the last: every few seconds one or two tumbled down, and it was all Will could do to avoid them the best that he could. The air the pail was filled with the acrid stench of shit that burned his eyes constantly. Each new diaper compacted the rest down more and more, squishing more shit and piss out to gather at his feet and making it even harder to push against the weight to dodge the new ones coming down. 
        “Man, all these kids must be loaded up from Thanksgiving!” one of the workers commented near the pail. “Whaddya think this one had?” 
        His coworker chuckled. “I dunno, but whatever it is, we got it off just in time. Whole thing was about to explode!” 
        Will’s stomach sank. 
        “Bigass dinosaurs always have the worst fuckin’ diapers, too. There’s a reason they specify lifting over a hundred pounds on the job ad.”
        “Dude, language!” 
        The lid opened and Will did his best to squirm out of the way, but it was no use. He looked up just in time to see a brown-stained ABC pattern hurtling towards him. The warm diaper slammed into his face, but unlike the other ones, Will felt the plastic stretch and balloon out with the force of impact. The tapes stretched, strained - and then tore away.
        The diaper burst open. Will screamed as the almost scalding-hot shit splattered all over his face and his chest, burning at his sensitive skin. Piss trickled into his eyes, stinging them even if it were only a few drops. He breathed in the noxious fumes from the shit which had slid down his chin and across his chest. His lungs burned from the lack of air, but breathing in the fumes deeply hurt even more. The shit soaked into his clothes, trapping it against his bare flesh no matter how much he clawed at it. Some of the sludge dribbled into his mouth, causing him to double over and retch in disgust.
        "Please!" he begged again. "Please, god, it's too much! It's too much, just make it stop! If there's anything intelligent controlling all this, make it stop!"
        And then, the diaper pail obliged.
        All of the accumulated diapers pressing against Will's body disappeared. Soon after, the piss, shit, sap and sludge disappeared too. Even the taste left Will's mouth, as if he'd never been forced to swallow it at all. For a moment, everything was still.
        "I... what?" Will let out a laugh of disbelief as he looked down at himself. Had it really been that easy this whole time? Even the memory of his pain and torture was gone, as if he'd never went through it at all. Sure, he may have been still stuck in the diaper pail, but he could figure things out a lot easier without constantly having to dodge a torrent of piss and shit filled diapers.
        Will shifted around cautiously to get a sense of how much space he had in the diaper pail. The garbage bag between his body and the sides of the container was unpleasant, but it didn't stop him from stretching out his legs, arms, or even crouching down a bit. He wasn't bound by plastic tentacles or pinned down by diapers: he could move freely!
        But was he free? That remained to be seen…
        He tentatively reached out and pressed against the bag.  The plastic resisted, but gave enough so that he could press against the cool, smooth walls of the diaper pail. It seemed to hold his weight well enough, and though it gave a little, there was enough resistance that Will could brace his arms and legs against them. It was just, JUST close enough together that, little by little, Will edged his way up towards that lid that felt so far away.
        After several minutes of hard, sweaty work, Will was inches from freedom. Once he could touch the lid, he could slide his fingers around to the rim, pull himself up and finally escape this hellhole. He reached towards the lid. So close, so close, so-
        “Fuck!”
        Will screamed as the pail’s walls suddenly moved an inch further apart, instantly sending Will plummeting to the bottom of the bag. He landed at the bottom with a bit of a jolt. It was surprising, but after a quick once-over, nothing really was hurt from it. Nothing but his pride.
        He yelled as he scrambled to his feet, digging his fingers through the plastic bag on the way up. “Fuck! Fuck you, you fucking ghost or whatever. What did I do to deserve this? Nothing! Let me out, now!” 
        As he raged he punched the air and gesticulated, stretching the bag out again and again. His fingers started poking through more and more with each swipe. The holes grew, stretched out and grew again as Will continued on his foul mouthed rant. Tendrils of plastic reached towards each other in an attempt to patch all the holes, but it was a losing battle. The bag was just trying to keep together, giving Will time to scream it out, treat the human with a gentle hand, but the holes kept growing, growing, and growing.
        The bottom half of the bag ripped open, detaching entirely from everything else. At the same time, Will screamed as he felt the ‘ground’ give out beneath him. Quicker than a flash, new plastic tendrils blew out of the diaper pail’s walls and wrapped themselves around Will’s arms and legs, catching him. 
        These new tendrils treated Will with force, quickly and firmly wrapping around his legs and arms to bind them together and suspend him. They were notably much tighter than the earlier tendrils, with several more layers of plastic separating Will from the diapers and sludge inside. Another tendril came out after, wrapping itself around the bottom of Will’s jaw and forcing his head up. 
        This all happened in less than a few seconds: by the time Will realized anything was happening, the bag gave out and the tendrils already did all their work binding him up.
        The sudden shock knocked Will out of his monologue. He hung there for a little while, eyes wide and silent. Some part of him realized he’d torn the bag open, but that subconscious was ignored as he wondered, “What did I do to deserve this? All this over some angry words?”
        A few moments passed without anything happening. The tight tendrils were beginning to chafe Will’s limbs, and the head position was uncomfortable. Was this it? He’d just be suspended here as punishment? Nothing else?
        “Is this really all th-  augh!” Will said, or had started to say. He was interrupted the moment he began to speak by a new tendril darting inside his open mouth and down his stomach. Once deep enough, the plastic stretched out against the human’s face, creating a seal that led into a giant funnel. The funnel attached with the top of the diaper pail to create a perfect guide to Will’s now gaping mouth. 
        The pail let Will hang there for what felt like an eternity, anticipation building up all the while. The pail wouldn't have made a funnel into his throat if there wasn't a plan for it... so when was it going to happen? Each moment that passed could be the one. His heart raced. Every second he wasn't being tortured should be a relief, but knowing it was coming, could come at any time, and there was nothing he could do about it... it was almost more torture than anything the pail could do to him.
        Almost.
        After god knows how much time, the lid opened. A shadow blocked the light, and tossed in a diaper which slid slowly down the plastic funnel. He managed to get a good look at it before it plopped on his face: it was used, not terribly big but not clean either. Piss and sap leaked out the leg cuffs and onto the space-themed print, and Will could have sworn he saw a log tumble out before it came to rest against his eyes.
        He definitely smelled a log, anyways: the scent was eye watering, even through the plastic. It was warm and heavy, but this wasn't the worst thing ever. Funnel or not, there was no way he could swallow the thing. Every diaper was just going to plop against his face and build up from there, he'd be fine.
        It was like the diaper pail could read his mind. Will felt his jaw open against his will, and he stuck out a tongue to lick the fabric backing. The taste of piss leaked into his maw, and he couldn't help but gag. That would have been bad enough... but his mouth kept opening, and opening, and opening.
        No human could ever have opened their mouth so wide, but rules were different in the diaper pail's domain. Without much more than strange discomfort, Will's mouth opened wide enough to wrap around the diaper and swallow it into his drooling maw. The fabric texture robbed his tongue and throat of any moisture, but he was forced to try to swallow it like a snake anyways.
        His eyes watered as his throat convulsed to pull the messy diaper down into his stomach, stretching him out on the way there. What felt like ages passed, and he could feel every inch of progress before it plopped into his once-empty belly with a splash. It had held up for the most part, and the only direct taste of shit Will got from the ordeal was a burp after the fact. It sat like a rock in his belly, but at least he wasn't tasting it too much.
        "God, what did the little guy eat?" Conversation from outside the pail made Will's heart ache in dread. His mouth opened wide in anticipation, and try as he might, he could not force it closed again. "What a blowout," the voice continued. "If I didn't see the lil tyke push it all out, I'd have thought that was a two-day diaper!"
        The lid flipped open, and a massive pink diaper came down the chute. The tapes were strained to the max, and the sap was stained brown and yellow. It slammed into his open maw with a thud, and Will tried to scream as his jaw slowly enveloped the massive, disgusting thing.
        About halfway in, the diaper got stuck. It was just too large to fit in, even with the pail's magic. For a while the diaper just pushed uselessly against his mouth, not budging an inch, and he couldn't help but feel a little smug. This one was too much, even for the pail! It would have to give up eventually. As he was thinking that, one of his teeth tore the plastic outer layer, and Will's mouth filled with something warm, gooey and almost plastic. Judging by the lack of immediate shit or piss taste, it could be the sap? He thanked his lucky stars that diaper sap didn't hold the taste of the piss that had stained it.
        Puncturing the plastic let out enough sap for the diaper to slowly slide the rest of the way in, and Will struggled to swallow the river of sap running down his throat. The texture made him want to vomit, but apparently the haunted pail had taken even that away from him.
        The pink diaper filled his mouth to the max, straining his cheeks. Despite emptying of sap, the sheer mass of the shit was making it hard to push down his throat. Unlike the smug victory he felt last time, Will only had fear now: what if it forced it down anyways? What if it choked him? Would the pail allow that?
        There was no way he was going to find out. Despite his better judgment, Will began to assist the pail in swallowing it down. He could feel the roughness of the plastic against his tongue, and it felt like he was trying to swallow a basketball. His throat was so dry from fear that no matter how much he tried to force it down, it wouldn’t budge.
        The plastic was straining, his throat was sore, his jaw was burning. Everything felt stuck, nothing was happening. Fuck! Was he just stuck like this?
        And then it happened. With a loud popping sound, the diaper burst in his maw and shit flew out of Will's nose and down his throat. It was like a burning flood of sewage that made him gag and choke, but with no other choice he forced himself to swallow it all. The plastic bulk of the diaper got smaller and smaller until finally, finally he was able to swallow it down.
        The diaper slid down his throat, plopping in his swollen belly and joining the sludge of shit, piss, and sap. The thought occurred to Will that his body couldn't take much more of this, but then, it was a haunted pail. If it could make him swallow diapers whole, it could make his belly take all of said diapers.
        He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
        Hours passed, or perhaps days: Will couldn't tell. Everything blended into itself. While each diaper was a new torture, some bursting on his face, others choking him on the way down, as a whole they blended into one disgusting mass of torture in his mind.
        He felt his stomach slowly expand, the skin taut and growing more and more sensitive with each new diaper. The pressure built to unimaginable levels, and it felt as if it might rip apart with the slightest provocation. Something had to give, and Will feared it would be him. How big was he at this point? He'd imagine he looked at least pregnant with twins. How much more could the pail's magic protect him?
        And then it happened. With a wet braap, a tsunami of shit, piss and sap burst out of Will's ass into his pants. He felt the hot mess flow down his legs and gather in the seat of his underwear,stretching it out.
        The shit and piss was acidic as ever, genuinely painful, but the pleasure of shitting combined with the relief of pressure pulled a deep, satisfied moan out of Will. He immediately blushed, but couldn't stop another from coming out regardless.
        Shit slush ran into his shoes, pooling there and soaking his feet in the warmth of half digested sap and diaper bits. The slush was warm and slimy against his feet, thick and almost pudding-like. It felt strangely pleasant, at least until the acidic piss started burning at his skin again.
        "Uaaaagh!" Will wailed out. The plastic keeping his mouth open prevented him from making any intelligible words, but the meaning of his outcry was obvious: please, stop!
        At this point he wasn't even begging for the torture to stop, for he'd resigned himself to that particular fate ages ago. No, he was begging for the pail to show him even the slightest mercy. If it could do all this supernatural stuff, the least it could do is stop him from shitting someone else's shit, piss and sap.
        The pail was merciful. The pain of the acidic piss and shit was gone, only the memory of it left behind. His pants were dry along with his shoes: it was as if none of it had ever happened.
        Will let out a garbled cry of joy: the pail listened! And honestly, it was more merciful than he had expected. Not only did it stop him from shitting someone else's shit, it had completely vanished the mess from existence.
        Not long after that did Will realize the price he paid for that small mercy. He felt a pang in his lower bowels, a sharp pain that grew more and more urgent. He groaned, and the pain moved lower and lower through his intestines. With a loud crinkle, his hole began to stretch open from the inside, expanding around something warm, squishy, yet plasticky.
        His eyes flew wide. It was a diaper.
        It was well that he couldn't speak, or else he'd be flinging insult after insult at the diaper pail regardless of his current vulnerability, and it would not end well for him.
        His hole kept stretching over the diaper until he felt he would split... until suddenly it stopped. It had reached its limit, and while some tot's diapers were halfway out his hole, at the very least he wasn't plopping it back into his pants.
        That relief was to be short lived. It helped him mentally power through a few diapers, even a particularly disgusting one which popped inside his mouth, but the more he ate, the more he realized something important... with his hole blocked up, everything he ate had nowhere to go.
        His belly became more and more taut, tearing out of his shirt and hanging heavy over his crotch. It wasn't possible to see anything, but he could feel the burning sensation as stretch marks spider-webbed all across his stomach, starting from his belly button and continuing rapidly from there.
        The sound of his own skin stretching to accommodate the ever-growing girth of his belly made him shiver. The groan of muscles and tissue straining against each other in a desperate attempt to keep up, even faint popping noises as his skin split along the ever spreading lines of his stretchmarks, it was nearly made him pass out. Only the fear of what could come next kept him conscious through it all.
        Torture upon torture blended together in a cacophony of agony that grew more intense every moment. As the day went on, more and more diapers came down the chute. One every few minutes became one a minute, then two every thirty seconds, and so on, all of them forced down Will's throat and into his ruined stomach.
        The burning sensation of acidic shit trickling down his throat and bubbling up his nose kept him conscious enough for a long while. When that was not enough, his body took over: his blown out hole started to burn from being stretched so wide for so long, and his stomach muscles, pulled to taffy, cramped as violently as they were capable of. He could have screamed, but all that came out were bubbles in the pool of shit that gathered above his mouth. By all means he should have drowned by now, but the magic of the pail kept him mercilessly going.
        It felt like days before Will finally passed out from exhaustion, but it could have been minutes or days from all he knew. It was a dreamless, empty sleep, but one that served as sweet relief from the torture of reality. Some part of him hidden far, far back in his mind wondered if this was it. If this was all life was going to be. He refused to think about it, and instead embraced his respite.