Newborn Princess Natalia

Chapter 1
Newborn Princess Natalia

The Interview

“Do you have any idea why you are here today?” asked Dr. Cartwright. “It has something to do with medical testing right?” replied Jamie, a 22-year-old biochemistry grad student from Princeton University. “Oh much more than medical tests my dear. If you accept the terms of this agreement you will be the first to undertake a process that could revolutionize our medical understanding of what it means to be young, to mature and possibly to live forever. But before we get ahead of ourselves, you need to be sworn to secrecy. If you should as much as mention any of this to the outside world the consequences will be dire. Are you sure you want to proceed?”

Jamie struggled to maintain composure in front of the imposing physician who stood in front of her. She knew this project promised a considerable sum of grant money to any student who was willing to complete its rigors. She also knew that finding a job in the downturned economy would prove challenging to say the least. “I’ll do it,” she said in a hesitant, uneasy tone. “You’ll do it? I haven’t even told you what you will be doing or, should I say, what you will become.” “Become? Am I going to be some sort of lab rat?” “You will not be able to return to university for at least the duration of the summer term or perhaps longer if you wish.” “Are you going to use some type of drugs to enhance me or something?” “The therapies we will institute will not only change your body but will rejuvenate your mind as well. Think of it as being born again.” “How long does the process take?” “If all goes to plan, your age regression should be completed within a month’s time.” “How young will you make me?” she said with bewilderment. “You will be completely changed into a one month old infant.” “What!” she stammered, “But I have a boyfriend and that would be sick. Would I be able to change back?” “Only after the process is complete will you be able to return to your previous self. You clearly are not in a proper state to make up your mind now. If you are willing to undergo the procedure, return to this location within 72 hours. If you fail to return, consider our deal expired. Remember you are not to mention any details of this debriefing to a single soul.”

Jamie sat on her bed contemplating over the events of the day. “Could this really be happening?” she thought to herself. “He wants to turn me, a strong accomplished young woman, into a helpless little one month old infant. Is he crazy? I wouldn’t even be able to walk or talk or eat solid foods and what about Michael? What would he think? Where else would I be able to make $10 million over the summer? All the lab positions are taken in this area and even if I got one I would only make $15 an hour. Oh this makes me so mad! But it’s only temporary right? I could tell Michael that I’m going on a study abroad program. Oh what the hell! What do I have to lose – my age? All the other girls are worried about getting old. What’s so bad about being young anyway? I might have to grow up again. Jamie thought she wouldn’t be able to get any rest that night; but eventually she drifted into a deep sleep.

“There’s no turning back for you now,” said a disturbingly soothing voice, “Before I lead you to your room, I’ll give you a nice sponge bath and put you to bed so that your changes can begin.” Baseball-sized bubbles and thick steam filled the room. “Can’t I just give myself a bath?” Jamie said. “Don’t be silly dear. You know babies can’t bathe themselves. You’re still too independent. Soon, you’ll become less coordinated and lose your abilities to walk and stand. Don’t worry your little baby head though. I’ll teach you how to crawl and breastfeed and grasp objects with your clumsy little hands,” the haunting voice echoed.

Jamie looked up and saw a smiling nurse. “It feels like someone has a loose tooth! I see your new baby teeth are coming in on schedule.” A hand reached inside Jamie’s mouth and pulled out some of her adult teeth. She could feel smaller teeth coming in underneath them with her tongue. The kitchen light streamed into Jamie’s unfocused eyes. She looked down and saw that her body was so small now. “Today’s lunch is … my breast milk … and that’s all,” stated an unpleasantly singsong voice. Jamie burst into tears. “Make it stop. I want to be big again. Don’t make me a baby!”

Commencement

“That dream scared the crap out of me!” Jamie thought to herself while lying on her bed. “What could this mean? Come on Jamie; pull yourself together it’s $10 million remember!” She glanced at the bedside portrait of her and her boyfriend standing together on the beach. She admired her long athletic legs and her flowing dark brown hair. She couldn’t even imagine Michael standing next to her as a baby or even holding her as a baby. Her phone rang and she heard Michael’s voice on the speakerphone, “Hey Jamie, I, uh, just wanted to let you know that something came up and I, uh, won’t be able to meet you at the bar this afternoon. Hey, uh, maybe we should take some time off and start, um, seeing other people…” BEEP! Jamie pressed the end call button as soon as possible. She was furious. She couldn’t hear any more of this. “That selfish son of a bitch…! How could he break up with me? I thought I meant something to him! Her eyes teared up and she made the bed rock back and forth in a fit of rage. “It must be that girl I saw him with! He’s jumping ship. It’s okay; I’m too smart for him anyway. What am I thinking? He’s going to be a rich doctor someday. Where am I going to be? Running in circles in some low paying job kissing up to supervisors? There’s only one way to solve this.”

“I see you made it back in one piece.” Dr. Cartwright eyed Jamie enthusiastically. “So you are ready to commence the treatment I presume?” Jamie, still in an emotionally charged state replied, “Yes I am willing to undergo the treatment.” “Good - then we can begin the preliminary sequence of injections today.” Jamie sat in the chair nervously as she could feel Dr. Cartwright’s cold hands drawing up her sleeve, tying a band around her arm and drawing a titer of blood. “We will use this to measure your progress through gene therapy. The next injection will begin the puberty reversal process. You may also experience some of the symptoms of infancy as time goes on; but we will try to keep those light as to not startle you too much at first. This process will also regenerate your shortened telomeres and restore your cells to a completely new status.” Jamie felt a prick of a needle and knew in her mind that her body would soon begin to change. The feeling was almost exhilarating and Jamie felt a rush of endorphins cloud her judgment within a few seconds of the shot being administered.”

“What happens now?” Jamie inquired excitedly. “You will be spending the next several weeks in a private suite under the supervision of Nurse Joyce Nightingale. She will guide you through your transformation. I will see you at regular intervals to conduct checkups and assess your physical, mental and emotional statuses as you make progress.” A tall, blond haired woman in her 30s entered the room. “I’m Nurse Joyce and you must be Jamie. I’m so excited for you. You will enjoy this journey and be handsomely compensated for it once it is finished. Come with me. I’ll show you your room. ”

Jamie walked with Nurse Joyce down several long hallways and up four flights of stairs before they arrived at Jamie’s suite. It was more than just a room. It looked like a fully furnished condominium with a kitchen and a bathroom and what looked to be a nursery. “This will be your bedroom until you are ready for your transition to more suitable quarters.” The nurse showed Jamie a room which looked almost like a child’s bedroom except for the queen sized mattress and no window to the outside world. Virtually all the furnishings in the apartment had safety features for children that would prevent them from hurting themselves on sharp corners or hot surfaces. “What do you think about this?” Jamie asked. Nurse Joyce enunciated, “The scientific community will greatly appreciate your contribution to its understanding of aging and possible therapies that could be developed from this research.” Jamie thought that sounded almost too rehearsed. It made her feel uneasy as if something sinister was happening behind the scenes.

“I’ll get you cleaned up so you can have some time to yourself to think, or read or simply watch television. No one besides the staff will be able to see you during your transition so you must never leave the facility,” explained the nurse in a serious manner. “What if I need to exercise?” The nurse glared at Jamie before responding with a smile “Would you put an infant on a treadmill or even teach a toddler to do sit-ups? Weight bearing exercises are hardly appropriate for an aspiring newborn. Come on. Let’s begin your first bath.” The nurse applied a pair of gloves and instructed Jamie to remove her clothes in the bathroom. Jamie felt so awkward being bathed by another woman. After the nurse finished thoroughly cleansing Jamie’s arms, legs, chest and face; the nurse produced a strange looking bottle of purple liquid. “This will take care of your hair,” Joyce said before squirting the gel on Jamie’s long beautiful hair and vigorously massaging it into the roots. “Ah, it itches. What are you doing?!” Jamie screamed as she looked down and saw strands of her long hair falling into the bathtub around her. “I am restoring your hair to the way it was when you were just born. It will feel more natural as time goes on.” Jamie started crying when she saw herself in the mirror. Only a few small clusters of long hair remained on her head and they were about to fall out as well.

Jamie sat in shock as the nurse dried her off, wiping the remaining hairs from her head and leaving Jamie almost completely bald with only short, wispy baby hairs remaining. Jamie also felt tingling sensations in her tender breasts. They were similar to the ones she felt when they first started developing during her teenage years. “They must be shrinking due to that puberty reversal drug,” she thought to herself. “Great - I’m already starting to change and it’s only been a few hours. This is just too weird.”

Progress Report

A mysterious pair of hands placed Jamie in a large playpen with two babies. “These are your new friends. You three will have so much fun playing together.” “Hi, what game are you playing?” asked Jamie. “Now Jamie, if you talk like a big girl, your new friends won’t be able to understand. You’ll have to use small, simple words from now on. This medication will help too.” Someone placed an inhaler in front of Jamie’s mouth. “Now breathe deep.” Jamie’s started to feel dizzy. “Ouch, my head hurt. Me want to pway wit big kids. Me big gurll. Not Ba – Ba – Ga … Waaaa!!!

“Oh shit!” Jamie cried as she felt the warm wetness of her bed sheets. She knew what she had done. “I must be losing my bladder control already. These drugs are so strong and this is so humiliating.” She cupped her hands over her breasts and noticed that they felt sore and maybe even a bit smaller than she remembered. She stood up and examined herself in the mirror. At first her eyes had trouble focusing but eventually she saw that she was about the same height but apparently she was losing weight. With less-pronounced feminine curves, she still looked almost like a 15 year old girl with a shaved head. “What’s happening to me? I feel so strange.” Jamie walked to the bathroom. On the counter, she saw a white package marked “training briefs”. “I’m not wearing those. That would be way too embarrassing,” she thought. She took off her wet shirt and panties and went to look for dry clothes after she took a shower. Instead of seeing clothes for a teenager in the dresser; all she saw were oversized garments made for children and babies. She finally settled on a one-piece pink dress and some white socks but she couldn’t find any bras or underwear. “I guess it can’t be too bad,” she said out loud before she opened the package of diapers and fastened one around her hips. It felt better than wearing nothing.

Tap, tap – came a knock at the door. “It must be the nurse,” Jamie said as she ran to answer the door, “I’ll just explain that I want to wear adult clothes. She’ll understand that I look so silly in these things.” Jamie opened the door slowly. “It’s good to see you this morning. How do you feel?” Before Jamie could reply Nurse Joyce smiled and exclaimed in her enthusiastic voice “We have a great deal of items to accomplish today. I’m so excited for you.”

“It looks like you’ve lost a little weight. You must be starving,” noticed the nurse. Jamie interjected, “Whose idea was this? Dressing me up in diapers and little baby dresses and not giving me any bras!” “Now calm down,” assured the nurse, “Don’t be hostile. We just wanted to ease you into your new role.” “Can’t I at least wear some proper clothes?” “I know you’re in denial now but you’ll soon see that what we’re doing is for your own good.” “This diaper just feels wrong and I need shoes and my … chest is … showing.” “Within the next week, you won’t have to worry much about your chest anymore and the training briefs are to keep you comfortable while you achieve incontinence.” “Achieve incontinence?” snapped Jamie, perplexed at the statement, “You talk about this like it’s a good thing.” “Well, I’m not supposed to do this but I suppose I could accompany you to the supply closet and fetch you some of your former attire.” “Thanks, I guess,” said Jamie as she followed the nurse down the hallway.

“Now wait right here young lady and don’t move while I’m gone. I’m doing you a favor, remember.” As soon as the nurse left, Jamie looked around and quietly entered an empty computer room with the light on a few doors down. She saw rows of folders with names labeled on them. “These must be the patient files,” determined Jamie. She looked through the Ds and found her name, “De Angelo, Jamie - this must be it.” Jamie knew she only had a few seconds before the nurse would come down the hallway and see her. Since she just entered the facility, there were only a few pages in her folder. A few lines stood out to her such as “…genetic replacement commenced…” and “…genetic donor: Natalia Sophia of Astonia.” “They’re replacing my DNA with genes from the Princess of Astonia? She was just born. Why would they do this?” Jamie desperately wanted to keep reading when she heard a faint noise coming from the door that Nurse Joyce had entered. Without thinking twice, Jamie dashed back to her seat and pretended to be waiting patiently. “I couldn’t find your things; but these will have to do.” The nurse produced some plain white T-shirts, a few black sports bras, black panties, some jeans and a pair of tennis shoes. Without thanking the nurse, Jamie took the bland choice of clothes and headed back to her room, locking the door behind her. “Ouch! Damn it,” Jamie screamed as she noticed that she had bumped her shrinking chest against the door. Nurse Joyce turned, observed the entrance to the computer room and saw Jamie’s file on the desk. “This could be a problem,” she whispered solemnly.

“I can’t believe her. It’s as if she was thinking ‘Oh she won’t be wearing these for too long anyway but at least they’ll make her shut up.’” A lady dressed in a maid’s outfit came to the door and announced that Jamie’s lunch was ready while she was still pulling the tight T-shirt over her undersized black bra. “I’m coming!” Jamie shouted. Expecting to see something unsettling when she opened the dish cover, Jamie was relieved when she saw a juicy steak, French fries and a salad. “Thank God! I thought they would try to make me eat baby food or drink infant formula or something worse.”

After eating, Jamie headed back to her bedroom, turned on the laptop computer and ran an internet search for Princess Natalia Sophia. “…the heir to the throne was reported missing on April 15th… How didn’t I know about this? Wait – are they trying to replace her with me? Was that the 10 million dollar reward? Becoming a princess? Now it makes sense. Why would they pay me 10 million dollars just to be a lab rat when they could pay someone else less? Oh, I was so stupid and now it’s too late – or is it? Maybe I can escape before the changes intensify and start affecting my mind; but then I would just be a freakish, incontinent baby woman with small boobs. I have to find the antidote before Nurse Joyce gets suspicious. If I wait too long, I might not be able to do much of anything besides sleep, roll around, babble and drink milk from another woman’s breasts. That would be gross.”

Crystal Clarity

Each morning Nurse Joyce came in and administered another injection in one of Jamie’s arms. Before one of the injections, Jamie caught herself staring at the nurse’s round breasts and felt a pleasant sensation of arousal coupled with hunger. “Snap out of it Jamie! You’re not a lesbian,” she told herself. However, deep inside she could feel an awkward primal urge to snuggle up with the nurse and suck on her perky nipples. During the past three days, Jamie’s weight loss continued at a steady pace and she noticed that her bones and joints were starting to feel more flexible. When she asked about this, the nurse said that the injections were reversing the ossification of Jamie’s bones in order to prepare for the size reduction process. Jamie’s height remained steady at 5’ 6”; but her hips were narrowing and she noticed that she was starting to resemble a pretty teenager with soft skin. Her breasts had dwindled down to grape sized buds behind her nipples which were also shrinking but still sensitive. The drugs had affected her eyesight as well. Jamie once had perfect 20/20 vision; but now she had trouble focusing on far away objects and could only see clearly a few feet ahead of her. “I’ll never get out of this,” Jamie cried “At least I’m not peeing on myself anymore.” Jamie tried hard to train her bladder and force herself to get up so she wouldn’t wet the bed or her pants; but she knew that this futile attempt wouldn’t last much longer if the shots continued.

What scared Jamie the most was the way she could feel the medications affecting her mind. Usually introspective and philosophical, Jamie noticed that her thoughts weren’t as complex as they had been only a few days prior. “I still need to get the antidote; but I don’t know where it is? This is so hard. I’m tired of thinking. I just want to watch TV.” Jamie flipped through the cable channels and landed on a news station. “This is so boring, I want to watch something fun,” she thought. Jamie usually enjoyed watching news broadcasts and analyzing the commentary. Now she could only appreciate children’s cartoons and comedy shows.

“Tomorrow is your checkup with Dr. Cartwright. He will be impressed with the progress you are making!” exclaimed Nurse Joyce. The nurse knew about Jamie’s awareness with her predicament but figured that she had the situation under control since Jamie wouldn’t be able to understand it for much longer as her mind continued to simplify. Three times a day, the maid brought up meals for Jamie. As she was eating fried chicken for lunch, Jamie noticed her stomach make an unfamiliar noise. Before she could run to the toilet, Jamie could feel that she had voided in her pants. “So much for trying to train myself,” she thought as she washed herself off and applied a clean diaper. “I guess it’s inevitable. I’m changing right on schedule no matter how hard I try. Come on Jamie, you’re better than this. Don’t believe their bullshit. You can fight this. I have to sneak out when the nurse is asleep.”

Later that night, Jamie slowly left her room and tip toed down the hall without shoes. She made sure that no one was in the patient record room before she entered. Although she quickly found the folder with her name, she had some difficulty understanding its contents due to her adjusting eyesight and mental murkiness. “Come on. You’re still a smart girl,” she tried to tell herself. Under the medications sections she read, “XM-18 for puberty reversal, XAL Q9 to promote incontinence, J9-Q4 for bone ossification reversal, IQ-69 for mental age regression…” “I knew they were messing with my mind on purpose! They must think I know something.” “I found it.” “…If client becomes unstable, administer IQ-141 to restore client’s mental function to original capacity.” “Where do I find this IQ-141? If I find it, I can just act like I’m getting dumber when I talk to them so they won’t suspect that I found the antidote.”

After carefully making sure to leave the record room how she found it, Jamie made her way down the hallway and entered the stairwell. She was surprised that she couldn’t see anyone patrolling the grounds at night. Since she couldn’t see details in the distance; she had to watch carefully for any signs of movement. “They must have some type of pharmacy at this place.” As she was looking through the glass windows in each of the doors, she saw a janitor heading in her direction. She quickly entered a room with the door cracked open and waited for him to walk by. She turned around and saw a pantry with glass cases containing pills and vials of liquid. “One of these could be the stuff that makes me smarter again,” she thought as she read the labels, “Ambien, Claritin, Glucophage, Ibuprofen, IQ-141 was missing. Shit!” Jamie grabbed a bottle full of tablets labeled “IQxr-148” and headed quickly back to her bedroom. “Close enough. What do I have to lose?” She popped one of the pills in her mouth, swallowed and made sure to hide the bottle inside one of the shoes underneath her bed before she went to sleep.

An Act of Defiance

“I can tell you’re progressing quite nicely. How do you feel?” asked Dr. Cartwright as he assessed Jamie’s physical changes and attempted to estimate her mental capacity. “I feel okay I guess; but my head feels cloudy and I have some trouble thinking.” “That’s to be expected. It’s completely normal with age regression. You should start focusing more on basic things such as eating, sleeping and having your needs met. Don’t trouble yourself with issues that are beyond your comprehension.” As the doctor instructed, Jamie removed her shirt which revealed her immature-looking torso. You have lost at least 15 pounds since we last met. Jamie’s once prominent breasts had now diminished to only a slight puffiness in her nipples. The buds behind them were only the size of peas. She could easily pass as a young boy if she wanted to since her hips, thighs and rear end had almost completely lost their feminine contours. “Your puberty reversal is nearly complete. Today we will initiate the next phase of your treatment. You will notice that your bowel movements increase as your body attempts to rid itself of excess mass. Not only will you grow shorter and smaller; but you will notice that your head feels heavier compared to the rest of your body which will diminish in size more rapidly. Until now, we have not begun to adjust your height or body proportions to their final specifications because we felt that you needed to be as independent as possible for the first week so that you could be cleansed of your womanhood without too many additional changes. Today I have instructed Nurse Nightingale to initiate your first physical therapy session. Accordingly, I will administer a drug that will help to modify your coordination and physical abilities until you can no longer walk or stand by yourself. I still need you to be able to verbally express your developments for as long as possible; so I will postpone your speech therapy until the final week.”

“There’s no way I’m taking that shot. You’ve gone too far this time!” stated Jamie sternly as she backed towards the door. With an unprecedented amount of brute strength, Nurse Nightingale constrained the pre-teen girl in a headlock while Dr. Cartwright prepared the syringe. Jamie grimaced as the doctor administered a painful shot directly into the muscle of her buttocks. “You will soon feel sensations in your muscles as they begin to alter.” The doctor and nurse noticed Jamie grabbing her biceps and starting to convulse. “You fucking bastard!” Jamie shouted as she fell to the ground. While Jamie lay on the floor, now unable to control her muscles, she felt a prick on her neck as the doctor administered a tranquilizer.

“So our plan isn’t going so well. If our client continues to resist her treatments, we could have a serious problem on our hands,” remarked the physician. Nurse Joyce responded, “I have been monitoring the patient’s internet activity and have determined that she is at least partially aware of our plan to sell her to the Astonian Secret Service once her transformation is complete. I suggest we use physical and chemical restraints and keep her under close surveillance until the SVX-45 dulls her senses, relinquishes her of fine motor skills and renders her immobile.” “That would be far too drastic for her fragile transitioning mind. Restraints would make her feel like a caged animal and might send her into shock or render her suicidal. That would certainly impede our progress. I have a much better idea,” said the physician coldly.

According to Plan

Soothing trance-like music played softly in the background. “You know you want this. Let go of what you fear to lose – your old self. Fame, fortune, power - they could all be yours. Picture a glorious kingdom filled with countless people - these could be your royal subjects. They need you to rule them. Let go of this weight, this load that stands between you and your royal destiny as a princess. You feel your body becoming lighter as you let go of your former worries and cares. You feel so relieved to be free of them, free to live as you choose. It’s all up to you. You see an hourglass in front of you. The sand that flows from the top to the bottom of the hourglass is your life. On top is your old life, the life of a pauper - desperate, alone, overburdened. The sands drain as your old life ends and your new life begins - a life of privilege, respect and dignity. You will be free to live as you choose. You see the bottom filling with sand as you fall deeper and deeper into a trance; listening only to my words as they drift into your subconscious mind. You feel anything that would distract you or cause hesitation simply going away…”

Desperately attempting to move her limbs, Jamie lay helpless in a reclining chair with Dr. Cartwright’s voice still echoing in her ears. “This bastard’s trying to hypnotize me into accepting his twisted plan.” “Should I wake up and jump out of this chair or just pretend to go along with it? What choice do I have? I can’t move anyway.” Through much concentration and effort, her fingers just barely started to move. Jamie heard footsteps heading towards the door and fading into the distance. “I think he’s leaving. I need to get another one of those pills. I don’t know how long it’s been.”

As soon as Jamie could lift her head, she found herself in the nursery room of her apartment. Using all of her strength, Jamie struggled to lift herself off of the bed and feebly stand up. She felt heavier; but as she examined herself in the mirror she could tell that her body now looked similar to that of a slightly effeminate 10-year-old boy. Her breasts were now completely gone. Once lean and shapely, her arms and legs appeared soft and devoid of muscle tone. “My skin feels so squishy and delicate. Am I growing a layer of baby fat?” As the doctor had previously warned, her head now looked peculiarly large on her narrow shoulders. She had lost almost two feet of height and the room now seemed much bigger than it had when she first arrived.

“I must’ve been out for a few days. My head hurts and I need those pills.” Thud, crash! Jamie fell face forward and just managed to catch herself with her arms before her face could hit the ground. “If my body is getting smaller then why do I feel so much heavier? Jamie struggled with her diminished arms to get up off of the floor; but after a few seconds she decided that finding the pills was more important. She crawled on her hands and knees and looked under her bed for the pills. “They’re gone. That stupid maid must’ve moved them! Oh come on I know how to walk. Why am I crawling like a baby?” Jamie strained as she finally managed to get up with her legs still shaking. “Where could they be?” She looked in the closet and saw a box marked “transitional attire.” She opened it and pulled out a few black bras and white shirts before she found her pair of shoes at the bottom. Still not entirely aware of what the pills were actually doing, she quickly took another one since the first had apparently restored some of her mental clarity.

Thud, tap, tap “Housekeeping,” announced the maid before she entered Jamie’s quarter’s. Until now the maid had not taken too much notice of Jamie’s now obvious physical changes. “Eres una niña pequeña,” blurted out the housekeeper without thinking. “Oh, I’m sorry. You’ve changed so much since I first saw you. You used to be so big. I can’t believe you are the same person. What did they do to you? The housekeeper stared at the frustrated little girl straining with all her might just to stand up. “Oh, I’m so glad you speak some English,” Jamie announced. “Please help me. You can’t let any of them know about this,” Jamie explained, “…or else they might lock me up or chain me to a bed. Those people are nuts.” Jamie crawled over and embraced the housekeeper. “Poor baby, you just need a hug,” she said sympathetically. “Oh please don’t call me that. I’m a grown woman you know. That doctor lied to me. He is trying to sell me to another country and I don’t know how to stop these changes.” Jamie cleared her throat and noticed that her voice sounded squeakier and more childish than it did before.

“I’ll try to help you,” replied the maid. “…but that doctor and nurse are so smart and make the rules around here.” “If my voice keeps changing like this; I might not be able to even speak with you soon. Wait,” Jamie had an idea, “Why didn’t I think of this before? I spent three whole semesters of undergrad learning sign language,” sighed Jamie with a rekindled sense of hope. Her mental clarity had not only recovered; but had noticeably increased as a result of the IQxr-148 tablets allowing her to recall all of her previous coursework. “Now I just have to get back to that medication room,” Jamie told the maid. “I could synthesize a time-released formula based on the treatments that the doctor has been giving me. It will be simply perfect.” “What are you talking about doing?” asked the astonished maid. “You’ll see soon,” said little Jamie with a mischievous grin.

Over the next few days, Jamie mostly slept during the day and spent every hour she possibly could at night poring over the files that she discovered in the laboratory. Each night, the maid transported Jamie in her cleaning cart so the diminishing little girl could spend time in the laboratory. Since Jamie had spent years studying biochemical mechanisms; she could easily understand most of the lab data and began to work on her chemical synthesis. Even though she had trouble walking; her fine motor skills were mostly unaffected by the debilitating drugs.

Whenever the nurse came to assess Jamie, change her diapers or administer injections; the little girl pretended to act confused, hungry, or tired. She even began to cry aloud when her stomach began rejecting solid foods. Nurse Nightingale just thought it was normal and assumed that Jamie’s mind was regressing on schedule. Due to the effects of her medications, Jamie’s adult teeth started to loosen and fall out but she couldn’t feel any new teeth growing underneath them as she could in her previous nightmare. The next several days flowed together and seemed to shorten in duration as her body began requiring more sleep, copious amounts of bottled breast milk and far less exercise than before.

Speech Therapy

“Height: 2’ 8” and weight: 27 pounds - our subject is responding to the size reduction process quite well,” noticed Dr. Cartwright. “Based on my time with the patient, I would approximate her mental age to be that of a five year old child. I suggest that we implement the speech therapy session before her mind regresses any further and she becomes unreceptive,” chimed in Nurse Joyce. “That nurse sounds disturbingly excited about this ‘speech therapy’ nonsense,” thought Jamie to herself, now unable to express herself openly in front of the healthcare workers. “Little Jamie must think she’s still a big kid, wearing that unsuitable yellow blouse.” Tears streamed down Jamie’s cheeks as the nurse used a pair of scissors to cut away Jamie’s shirt, exposing her bare child-sized body. “We don’t want a repeat of last time,” the nurse commented as she strapped little Jamie into a small wheelchair using a restraining vest. As soon as the lights dimmed, Dr. Cartwright stepped to the front of the room and pointed to the projector screen with a cane in his hand.

“Jamie, I want you to read the first line aloud.” “No, I don’t wanna.” “Now don’t be difficult,” the doctor stated harshly as he made a gesture to Nurse Joyce who wrapped a cold band of leather around the little girl’s neck. “Do as the good doctor says or else this will make you feel really bad,” said Nightingale as she attached the neckband to an electrical switch. “Okay, okay, I’ll read. Uh hum,” Jamie cleared her throat, “O Romeo, Romeo, where for are that Romeo?”

“She’s already having difficulty deciphering Shakespearean English, typical for a five year old. Shall I administer the first dose?” The doctor nodded his head to Nurse Joyce who promptly injected Jamie in the neck. “Ouch you bitsh! What…” Jamie paused, “…you gave me a lithsp. Whasth hapning to my tongue?”

“We want to make this as painless as possible for you. Now read the next line,” stated the physician. An electric shock jolted Jamie as the nurse flipped a small switch she was holding. “Deny thy fodder an refuth thy name; or if thou will not be but thworn my wuv.” A faint chuckle came from behind Jamie’s chair. “Is that bitch laughing at me?” Jamie wondered as she burst out in tears. “It’s time for the second dose,” announced the doctor, “There’s no time for crying Jamie. Cheer up. Now I need you to be a good girl and read the next line.”

“Tis but die name dat dis my ededy.” Another prick in the neck made Jamie’s heart sink as she knew the nurse had administered a third dose of the speech impairing drug.

“Dou dar diedelf, dough dod a Mondadoo.” Jamie could feel her vocal cords restricting and her tongue swelling with numbness. She knew that soon her speaking abilities would be reduced to the mindless babbling of a newborn. “Oh, I might as well just give in before they make me mute.” “Da da da ba da ma do da da da da ba ba ah he ha,” Jamie squealed, doing her best to imitate a baby’s speech.

“That will be quite enough of the medication Nurse Joyce,” proclaimed the enthusiastic doctor as if to give himself a pat on the back. “Now that the speech therapy session is concluded, Jamie’s medication schedule will resume with the addition of 10 micrograms per day of PQ-25 which will completely strip her of autonomy within a few days. The Astonian government needs the child as soon as possible. You will need to assume a primary nursing role from now until the end of her treatment as we will be increasing her dosage of the size reduction compound and the SVX-45. Jamie will be rendered totally dependent as her mental age approaches that of a newborn so I want you to care for her as if she were your own child; but don’t grow too attached.”

Justice

The next week felt so fast to Jamie who, now unable to talk and barely able to crawl, spent nearly all of her waking hours either crying or staring at the ceiling of her crib. One day nurse Joyce stood Jamie up in front of the mirror by holding onto her waist. “Is that me?” Jamie thought to herself, “I’m just a tiny little kid.” She saw that her head, now almost as wide as her shoulders, was rounded out gently with a layer of baby fat which also spread out all over her short, stubby arms and legs giving them a distinctive infantile puffiness. “I sure hope this all goes to plan,” thought Jamie, who had hidden her IQxr-148 pills inside her favorite rattle. She always insisted on having that rattle or else she would cry uncontrollably until she got it back.

One night Jamie woke up to find herself in the nurse’s arms, sucking on a bottle, with the faint humming of an engine in the background. She saw clouds out the window when she looked to her right and figured that she was on an airplane headed to Astonia. A pink stuffed bear accompanied her with her rattle safely hidden inside.

As soon as Jamie found herself alone with the Astonian secret service agents, she began using sign language to communicate. “You must come see this Karl! It looks like Princess Natalia knows Sign Language!” “What’s she saying?” “It’s in English” [DO NOT PAY THEM] “She told us not to pay them.” [OVERTAKE THEIR HEADQUARTERS] “She wants to tell us how to sabotage the doctor.” [YOU HEARD RIGHT] “How do you know this?” one of the agents inquired. [I KNOW THEIR BUILDING LAYOUT AND THE WEAKNESSES OF THEIR SECURITY SYSTEM] “What will we do once we’ve broken in?” [TWO SPECIAL VIALS ARE PREPARED FOR THEM].

THE END