Midlife Crisis

Chapter 5
She Who Sits

Chapter Description: Susan, now sure that she is still regressing tries to talk to the company that gave her the drug.

When I was a kid, my parents would always be working late. My mom would take me to work with her when I was really young, but starting when I was five, my parents decided to hire a baby sitter to come over to our house and watch over me until my parents were done working. Her name was Alison and she was a very pretty fourteen-year-old girl. The first time I met her, I was slightly afraid to be alone with her, but over time I warmed up to her. Alison was a kind-hearted person, and we would often play with dolls or draw with crayons and markers. When I entered school, she would help me with my homework, making sure that I did everything right. I enjoyed coming home from school everyday knowing that she would be there.

Alison decided to go to a local college so she stayed my babysitter up until the age of twelve. As time went on though, she and I drifted apart. Often times when she baby-sat me she was too busy studying to play with me. I too was growing up, as my parents would so often tell me every time I did something responsible. One day I had a big argument with my parents about me being mature enough to not need a babysitter. It wasn’t anything against Alison, just some day all kids need to grow up. I never did learn about what happened to Alison after I met her. She told me she was studying some form of science, but I couldn’t remember exactly what. Something far too complicated for a twelve year old to comprehend any way.

I got dressed in the clothes that I wore to school again. They of course didn’t fit right and dangled across my tiny frame but I figured it would be even weirder to walk home in a gym uniform that was meant for a high school kid, which I clearly was not anymore. I figured that becoming a twelve year old was a good enough of a reason to skip out on the rest of my classes. Carrie decided that she would walk me home after I explained my situation to her. She actually kind of thought the whole regressing thing was kind of cool. I told her that she didn’t need to do it but she insisted upon it.

It was a long walk home from school, not so much the distance but the fact that I would keep tripping over my pant legs every few steps. Carrie helped me from falling to the ground a few times, and once I accidentally brought both of us to the ground. We laughed a little bit and then continued back to my house.

“So this is your place huh?” Carrie asked me. My house wasn’t anything to brag about really. Two beds, two bath, single story house. The paint on the house had faded long ago and could do with a few touch-ups that we never got around to.

“Yeah, this is it. The rewards of working forty hours a week at a soul crushing job,” I laughed a little bit.

“I kind of can imagine why you wanted a way out.”

“Yeah, well it might have backfired horribly on me.” We walked into the house and sat down on the couch. I then proceeded to grab the phone and try my husband again but the call went right to his voicemail. I guess he’ll just have to wait till he gets home to find out that I regressed myself out of high school. A more pressing issue was that I needed a way to stop this regression from worsening. The last thing I wanted was to become a baby again, or even worse might happen! I called the number of the company that I got the pills from.

“Thank you for calling Franklin Pharmaceuticals. This is Mary. How may I help you today?”

“Uh, yes I recently participated in the trial stage of one of your drug products, the Rejuvenation Jubilation and I’m having an adverse side effect to it.”

“Alright, what kind of symptoms are you experiencing?”

“Well, on two separate occasions I gotten even younger then what I originally wanted.”

“Alright, now what is your name?”

“Susan Weathers.”

“Weathers....Weathers...No, I’m sorry but I don’t see any proof that you took our product.”

“What? But I signed all of the paper work and legal documents you gave me.”

“Well, I’m looking at my computer and I don’t see any evidence you took part in anything that occurred here. We are very precise on this.”

“Listen! I took the drug, I have the bottle on my dresser!” I got up and started for my room to grab the bottle. Of all the unprofessional things I have ever heard of, to lose all of my personal information!

“Alright, well can you tell me what the serial number is on the bottle?”

“Yes I can, It’s right....” I paused. The bottle was not there. It was there when I left for school but it wasn’t there anymore. Did someone throw it away maybe? Richard and I agreed it was probably best for us to keep the empty bottle, just in case there was ever something wrong. I checked the garbage cans but I couldn’t find it in any of them. I check around the dresser tearing the whole room apart but I couldn’t find it. Did Megan or Samantha take it somewhere? No, Megan would have no need to and neither would Samantha.

“Miss, do you have the bottle?”

“No, I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Well without that bottle I can’t prove that you got anything from us, not to mention there is no data to be found anywhere about you. I’m sorry but I really can’t help you.”

“But you have to help me! I don’t want to be a little girl!”

“Thank you for calling Franklin Pharmaceuticals and have a nice day.” Click. She hung up on me! I couldn’t help but cry as I put the phone back up on the charger. And as a tear rolled down my check I could feel my shirt descending down my shoulders just a little more as that familiar tingling sensation spread across my body once more. I quickly calmed down to try to minimize its effects, but I probably lost another two or three inches of height. The swollen bumps on my chest receded, back to being flat once more. I figured I maybe only lost a year, putting me at eleven. I may as well get out of these clothes now that were far too big for me. I put on a new outfit and went back out to Carrie.

“You shrink again?” She asked, noticing that the top of my head was about even with her breasts.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “From the looks of it, any time I get emotional I get younger.”

“Well, the best way to do help with that is to have some fun.” She smiled. We went into my room and selected a few board games to play. She ironically wanted to play the game of Life. Fortunately there isn’t any moving backwards in that game. We laughed and we had fun as the hours just seemed to pass us by until Richard would come home. “Hey, this kind of makes me your baby sitter doesn’t it?” she asked me casually. A babysitter? Well, I suppose there is no telling how young I might get. After all, I’m not twelve anymore.