Ben felt so scared he was shaking as he felt the sheets with his hands to assess the damage, they weren’t completely soaked, but there was a large damp patch. Ben picked up his phone to look at the time, 4:27am. He couldn’t have been asleep more than two hours, but of course he had drunk a lot of beer at the pub, and he always wet a lot when he’d been drinking.
Ben used the light of his phone as a torch so that he could find his rucksack, he took out a clean nappy and, still slightly drunk, made his way out of the room to the bathroom.
Ben remembered Laura and Amanda’s conversation at the breakfast table, and decided he couldn’t risk putting his nappy in a bathroom on their floor again. He would use one on the next floor up, the stairs were just at the end of the corridor.
Ben stepped onto the first step, and froze as it loudly creaked beneath him. He held his breath as he slowly lifted his other foot, the old stairs groaning beneath him again. Ben continued to climb the stairs slowly, and he had only gotten to the fourth step when a door at the end of the corridor opened.
“Ben Hughes, what are you doing at this time in the morning?”
Ben spun around to face Mr Allen, looking tired and dishevelled in a pair of flannel pyjamas. He quickly hid the hand with the nappy in it behind his back.
“Well?” Mr Allen asked, “Is there a reason you’re creeping around trying to get upstairs, when you know perfectly well that you’re not allowed up there. And what are you hiding behind your back? Come here”
“N-nothing.” Ben stammered, making his way down the stairs to Mr Allen.
“Pass it here this instance,” Mr Allen demanded, “I would have expected better from you.”
Ben’s bottom lip started to quiver, and he bit down on it hard to stop himself from bursting into tears. “It’s nothing.”
“Well then you won’t mind if I take it from you.” Mr Allen said, “I have no time for your silly little games. It’s the middle of the night, there is no reason for you not to be in bed. Hand it over, now.”