Tom's New Watch

Chapter 1
The Whole Story

Chapter Description: This is the whole story... It is about 7 pages long in its entierty. Enjoy!

Tom’s New Watch

by Ferver

Thomas snoozed lazily in the crib in the corner of his new room until a final reverberating snore drew him back to the world of consciousness. His vision was blurred though he shook his head to clear his eyes once again. Looking through the crib’s prison-like bars he could see the device that had brought about his most present predicament laying on a small table at the other side of the room, which to his infantile frame might as well have been across the country. Thomas yawned and stretched as he sat on his padded bottom and began to think back to how all this had begun...

Thomas wasn’t always a baby, just a couple of days ago he was a man, not a famous man, not a rich man, just a man with a unique fetish. His personal quirk was a strong desire for the carefree and innocent days of childhood, which over time had brought him in contact with a unique internet community known only in some secret and select circles as “The Age Regression Story Archive” or as its acronym ARSA. Unknown to Thomas, or to many people who are members of the ARSA, not even its founder and proprietor Heidegger, a small group of dedicated ARSA member scientists had been developing and selling a product they called the “Physical Unified Regression Engine” or PURE for short.

The PURE (though it was originally called the “Fast Acting Regression Thingy” the people in sales thought that THAT acronym wouldn’t get people to buy the product) was sold only to those who showed interest in legal recreational personal age regression via a series of secured, anonymous e-mails. The group sold them that way to avoid having to worry about being tracked down by law enforcement when someone’s college professor was turned into a toddler simply because she disagreed with one of her student’s opinions on the literary value of one of Shakespeare’s plays. Thomas was one of those chosen to receive the product.

So after waiting six to eight weeks, and making four easy payments of two hundred, ninety nine dollars, and ninety nine cents, not to mention tax and spending twenty seven dollars in shipping and handling the device made its way to Thomas’s home wrapped up in a plain unmarked brown wrapped bag. He giddily unwrapped the device with the utmost care, that is to say he tore the paper away so savagely it appeared as though there was some kind of unfortunate accident with a weed eater. Finally after what felt like an eternity to him he glimpsed the legendary PURE, and he was a little disappointed by what he saw, he was expecting a complicated looking remote control with about a million buttons and blinking lights, he at least expected the blinking lights, seriously what kind of secret hyper technological age altering device didn’t have blinking lights? Instead he saw what resembled a bulky grey wrist watch with a digital display, and 6 buttons, two on the face right beneath the display, and four at the corners like most digital watches do.

He dug the device out and saw a small, thick booklet lying beneath it labeled “Your New Physical Unified Regression Engine Instruction Manuel.” Quickly Thomas lifted the book out and began thumbing through it, the book had about one hundred fifty pages, the first two were the forward and the special thanks to pages, the third was an index, the fourth through one hundred forty sixth pages were all instructions on setting the time and how to use the alarm clock feature, while the forty seventh was the regression instructions and the final three pages consisted of an index and a technical support number. Turning to the forty seventh page revealed the vaunted instructions:

In Order to Use the PURE Regression and Progression features, follow the following steps:

Step 1: Place the PURE on the desired wrist.

Step 2: When you have decided the age that you would like to become press both face keys, located beneath the digital display, to allow the device to acquire your current age.

Step 3: Press the leftmost of the face keys, the one labeled “-“ and hold it until the digital display reads the age that you desire.

Step 4: After the age is confirmed the PURE will bombard your body with chronal radiation reducing you to the age chosen.

Step 5: When you wish to return to your normal age, simply follow steps 2 through 4 only utilizing the key to the right labeled “+”

It didn’t take any more prompting than that, Thomas slapped the watch onto his wrist and quickly tapped both face buttons, watching the display, and watching, and still watching, nothing happened. “What?” He asked aloud, his voice dejected, “What kind of a rip off is this?” he frowned and shook the watch before he picked up the manual again, he smirked and muttered “Figures.” As he read the label, which read “Batteries not included.”

So with a quick hop into his vehicle, and a short trip down the road he reached his place of salvation, Radio Shack. He went in, found a pack of eight watch batteries, paid for them at the register and exited the store in a record two and a half minutes. “Alright you nine hundred dollar piece of junk,” he threatened the PURE as he installed the batteries, “You had better work this time.”

Thomas tapped the front two keys and waited, almost immediately the digital display read “28” proving that the device could in fact read his age. He crowed, as he began to drive, thinking about what age he should make himself as he drove past the college. He glanced at the perfect youthful forms of the girls who moved by, walking in the warm summer sun, clad in the least amount of clothing legally required. “Come for the education, stay for the view.” He joked as he pulled himself into a parking space marked “Guest” along the college strip.

He pressed in the “-“ key and held it until the watch showed him the number nineteen, he depressed the button and waited. A tingling sensation began to crawl up his arm, it was as if he had grabbed a live wire as a buzzing vibration ran through him, at first the alterations were subtle, a few lines vanished in his face, then more apparent changes began taking place, his muscles receded slightly as he became thinner, he glanced down in slight alarm as his slightly plump belly deflated a bit leaving his jeans a little bit loose.

Thomas glanced in the rear view trying to get a good look, he looked like a teenager, a teenager in slightly baggy wrinkled clothing, in short he was pretty sure that he would have no problem moving undetected around the campus with all the other young men and women. He spied one of the blonde girls that he had seen as he was driving by and decided that he should try his acting skills out as he approached her.

“Excuse me!” he called to her waving, smiling when she turned to walk toward him, “Yes?” she asked raising an eyebrow as she looked him over, “Do I know you?” he blanched, this was not at all how he envisioned this happening, “No, I was just wondering if you could give me a hand,” he lied, “You see I am new here and I am trying to find,” he pretended to think as he rapidly tried to recall the name of one of the campus’s many buildings, “Uh Peterson hall.” He said hoping that she wouldn’t see through his deception. “That’s ok,” she replied as she seemed much more at ease after his response, secretly he cheered on the inside, “I used to get lost all the time when I first came. All you do to reach Peterson is go straight that way,” she pointed in the distance at a series of buildings, “And it’s the one in the middle of that circle, you can’t miss it.” Thomas, nodded although he had no intention of going to Peterson Hall anyway, nor did he even know what was there.

“So my name’s Tom.” He said trying to strike up a conversation with the girl, “Oh, hi Tom,” she replied, “I’m Stacy, say since you are heading to Peterson and I have to go there too how about I just walk you there?” Stacy was defiantly a nice person, she was kind, she was helpful, and as Thomas was thinking right now she had a really nice rack in addition to her blue eyes, blond hair, and long legs. The fact that he had no reason to go there didn’t matter any more, his emotions were in full control of him, probably a side effect of the age regression he figured, well he would have figured if he was thinking about anything other than how gorgeous Stacy was at that particular minute. “Sure!” he replied as he was all too happy to follow her.

The walk was magical, well it was to him anyway as he watched her hips sway back and forth from a few respectable feet behind her, listening to her talk without paying much attention to what she was saying. He casually answered most of her inquiries with responses such as “Yeah” “Uh huh” “Sure” and “I guess” which out of sheer luck worked to adequately answer them all without raising any suspicion at all. The monolith that was Peterson hall loomed before him when he glanced upward, as they approached.

Stark white with columns in front the building appeared a magnificent, ok no so much magnificent as the words scrawled right below the building’s name: PETERSON HALL: Women’s Gymnasium. It was a sight that could bring tears to the eyes of the most stoic person. Everything was going so well that Thomas knew something had to be ready to go wrong. “So,” Stacy asked him as she turned, “Why did you need to go to the Girl’s gym anyway?” He blinked as he prayed for inspiration on what to say to pass this off with his only thought being his own inner monologue saying “You know, I hate it when I am right.”

It was right then that he was gifted with inspiration as he saw a young lady walk into the vaunted halls with a mesh swimming bag containing a swimsuit in it, “Oh I’m in the college work study program and I’m the new pool cleaner.” He said hoping that his delay wasn’t noticed, when he saw her nod he knew that he had passed her test. “That’s great!” she said enthusiastically, we need a new one, the old guy kept forgetting to change out the filters and stuff.” She turned and started walking up the stairs to the Mecca that every hormonally driven teenager is invariably drawn to but has been denied access to since the beginning of time its self. “Are you coming?” she asked as she turned, he defiantly did not have to be asked twice.

The scenery as he moved through the building was very appealing to Thomas’s senses as he moved through the hallowed halls of the sacred girl’s gym, he even got a fleeting glimpse of the girl’s locker room, ok well, he got a fleeting glimpse at the door to the girl’s locker room anyway. She led him through the angular corridors of the building’s while colored hallways until a very unremarkable pale green door lay in his path. He looked at his destination and read the words “Coach McDonald” on a small black rectangle mounted to the wood of the portal. “Why are we here?” he asked her slightly confused he had almost forgotten that he was pretending to be the new Pool boy. “Well you are a guy and this is the girl’s gym,” she responded, “you can’t just go wandering around now can you?” she smiled and laughed, “Just go on inside and I’ll go find Dr. McDonald.” Stacy said as she opened the unlocked office and beckoned him entry as she turned to leave.

The office that he found himself in was just that, an office, and it looked very well, office-like. It was square, had a desk, a couple of chairs, a stocked bookshelf, and a computer. Thomas knew that he was in a tight spot, as soon as the Coach got here she would know that he wasn’t who he said he was, and he had no idea what kind of trouble that could mean. He imagined all kinds of hideous tortures would be used against him, maybe the girls would tie him up in chains and throw him in the pool to drown for desecrating this sacred and holy place, or worse, maybe they would subject him to hours of soap operas, or even the unspeakable, tie him to a chair and make him listen to CD after CD of boy bands.

He had to escape, he was starting to sweat and he was forced to wipe his brow. At first he thought that he was sweating because of his nerves, he realized then that it was simply because he was hot. Thomas looked around for a thermostat and turned it on its cool setting; if he was to face his destiny then he may as well be comfortable in the meantime. He stood in front of the rectangular vent as the air from it blew his hair back, and it was then that he was struck by a brilliant and daring plan.

Tom looked at the vent, it was small but he could pry it loose, the opening it would make was much too small for a nineteen year old, but if he adjusted himself down he might just be able to crawl into it. He tapped the front two buttons on the PURE Watch on his wrist, the display blinked from the time to show the number nineteen, he sized up the entryway again and nodded, he pressed the “-“ key and waited until the number lowered to six, then he released it. Another shock hit him, this one even more intense than the last, his body shuddered with the current, he felt his body shift beneath his skin and clothes, he knew that he was becoming less and less defined, his clothes began to pool around him, enveloping him like a net as he passed into the years of puberty, if he had been able to see his reflection he would have been able to literally place himself in different grades as he spiraled backward into elementary school, even his mouth changed as he could feel a gap in his front teeth, baby teeth once again, as he now appeared to be an ordinary first grader or maybe a kindergartener.

Quickly Tommy moved to the office door and locked it, in case they came back that would give him a few more seconds to make good his escape. He tripped on his huge jeans as he made his way to the vent, his only chance at freedom. “Okay,” he lisped, “That won’t do, and I can’t leave them here because I’ll need clothes when I change back.” He said aloud to himself. He pulled the much too large pants off and tied the legs into a knot, tossing it over his shoulder like a sling, he set the underwear that now resembled, to him at least, a parachute on his head like a hat, his shoes were much too large, and though his socks were extremely loose, they would do until he could make his way out. Thomas set his shoes near the vent and pulled them after him as he crawled inside, turning to move the vent cover into place just as the office door’s lock clicked open.

From his hiding place the child that until just moments ago was a man listened to the conversation that the two giant women were now having. “I left him right here Dr. McDonald,” he heard Stacy’s voice say, “He must have left then,” a second woman’s voice replied, it was deeper than Stacy’s and from his vantage point Tommy couldn’t really make out what she looked like, although he envisioned a huge troll of an Amazon with bulging biceps and a five o clock shadow to boot. Deciding that discretion was indeed the better part of valor he continued his journey through the ventilation shaft and hopefully to a way to escape from this feminine prison.

The child crawled and climbed, becoming hopelessly lost in the dark labyrinth, he pictured himself as a mighty adventurer slinking his way through an ancient dungeon attempting to gain his freedom. Stopping Tommy strained to hear something, anything, that would give him a direction to go, and he heard the sound of running water echoing from ahead. “Perfect!” he thought to himself, “Water means that there has to be pipes, and pipes mean a way out!” he smiled with glee as he pushed himself onward.

A shaft of light came from beneath the tunnel, as a grate facing downward came into view. Tommy crawled toward it, and the scene below was a thing of beauty, it is every young child’s fear, and every teenage male’s dream, he was right above the ladies shower room, and apparently the entire woman’s swim team was in attendance. Even in his child body he still had his adult mind, and he couldn’t help himself but to watch the scene unfold below, he lost track of time as he did so, for even though he was mentally still twenty eight, his body was six and not only had he been very active but it was almost seven o clock at night by the time they had left, Tommy never saw them leave, sleep had taken him, for like all six year olds he too needed a nap.

He had only slept for maybe a half hour before he was awakened by the sound of tearing aluminum, frantically he came awake and looked around, he felt the shaft shudder as he saw the metal beneath him give way. Tommy scrambled to grab hold of something, anything to stop his fall, but it was too late, lucky for him however that his Jeans sling had gotten caught on the edge and prevented him from hitting the ground, he wasn’t hurt but he was very stunned.

He twisted around trying to get free from the sling that was holding him suspended only a few feet off of the floor, as he wriggled he saw his wallet fall from the pocket of the pants and fall into the open water drain vent below him. “Blast it!” he cursed himself, that had his credit cards and his ID not to mention his money in it, in fact he was so concerned with the wallet that he didn’t even notice that during the commotion both of the buttons on the front of his watch had been pressed and the minus key had gotten jammed in place.

Another tearing sound was made by the ventilation shaft above him, and this time the section broke free, luckily Tommy wasn’t caught under it when it came crashing down, so loud that it almost sounded like an explosion. As Tommy hit the ground the “-“ had become unstuck and almost immediately he felt another tingle begin even as he struggled to his feet. He began to get smaller, younger he realized, his balance failed as he flailed around, the watch slipping from his wrist to fly all the way across the room, impacting on the damp hard floor. The room appeared to be getting larger, more encompassing as his shirt, which was much like a dress already, slipped down over his shoulders and arms pinning them. He tried to call out for help but all that would come out were an infant’s wailings.

A woman Tommy could see barged then into the room, drawn by either the crash or by his screams he did not know which, she was an attractive woman, brunette, with brown eyes, she was dressed simply with a basic white shirt and a pair of brown shorts, and she was very tall, though from his new stature that was very hard to tell. She leaned over him and picked him up, cooing gently to him, “Hey there little guy, how did you get in here huh?” she asked. He realized that it had to be Dr. McDonald from the voice he had heard in the office. He tried to respond to her but could only produce babbling gibberish, she looked around the room at the crashed shaft and the clothes, “What could have happened here?” she asked, not to him really, thinking him just another infant but more to herself. She noticed the bulky grey watch on the floor and went to pick it up, “I wonder what this is?” she asked again mostly to herself. Tommy reached for it but it was pulled away from him by the woman who now held him, “No,” she scolded him, “Don’t touch, it might be important.”

Thomas saw his hope of regaining the watch dashed within the short time that followed, Dr. McDonald had called the police and reported a break in as well as an abandoned baby, the police and child services arrived rapidly on scene and within a few hours it was decided that the baby would be taken home with Dr. McDonald until they could find out who his parents were. Dr. McDonald took the watch with her after police assured her that it probably wasn’t important, and must have belonged to a student. They found a wallet they had said and would let her know if they had found its owner, though Tommy knew that they never would.

For her deep voice Dr. McDonald made an excellent mother, she made sure that little “John’s” as she did not know his real name diapers were always changed quickly enough and that he always drank all of his formulae. That was how Thomas found himself in the predicament that he finds himself in today, will he ever be able to get the watch back and return to normal? Would it even work still after the impact it had suffered? Perhaps, although that is a story for another time...