Time Orb, by Libra

Chapter 1
Time Orb, Part 1

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Chapter Description: By Libra

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By Libra

“Lets just do it.” Shawn Stein said to his best friend Norman Pits.

“We can’t, It’s too risky now.” Norman said to his life long friend, now a teenager like himself.

“You have no sense of fun what so ever, man. ” Shawn said with frustrated tone.

“Sure it worked last time and you got to see Amy Lawson in the nude, but it’s still a unstable invention. My dad is still working out the bugs in it. Didn’t you hate being a baby? ” Norman said looking questioning at his friend for some sense of reason.

“Yeah, but how many times do you get a chance to shower with Amy Lawson if you’re a teen?” Shawn said looking very happy to go down memory lane.

“None, unless your Brad Johnson. Amy’s one and only boyfriend.” Norman said with a bit of anger. Norman knew well that Brad was the jealous type and would punch a guy in the stomach just for looking at his girlfriend.

“Perhaps we could cut Brad down to a more manageable size ?” Shawn said trying to seize the moment.

“We could.” Norman said vaguely, dreaming up a good revenge scene in his head.

“No.” Norman said catching his thoughts again from day dreaming.

“Can’t tell me you haven’t thought of it before.” Shawn said in a matter of fact voice.

“You just want to hop in the shower with Amy again as a baby so she doesn’t know it was you. ” Norman said in a accusing tone.

“I won’t deny it. There is nothing like being under two feet tall and being held at her side as she washes her breasts with her free hand.”

“How many times did it take you?” Norman asked with a raised eyebrow at his friend.

“Well,...a few times.” Shawn answered slightly more sheepish then normal.

“Oh course she thought you really were a baby.” Norman said with a little remorse in his own voice.

“She thought I was a really scared baby that had a fear of being in the water alone. Don’t be jealous of me. You flat out refused last time.” Shawn said with a tone of success.

“Remember last Halloween when the effects of the time orb wore off? We barely got home in time to get some clothes that fit. Those children’s costumes we dug out of attic nearly ripped to shreds.” Norman said with a red face. Memory of running home in just his shirt and underwear with the rest of his costume under his arm still haunted him.

“I admit I would have some explaining to do if I suddenly aged back to normal while I was still under Amy’s care, but I think she would freak out and wouldn’t believe what would happen.” Shawn said as truthfully as he could.

“You’re not going to stop are you?” Norman asked with a pleading look.

“Would you if you could live out a fantasy or two.” Shawn said in a tempting tone.

“Fine. What do you have in mind?” Norman asked reaching into the back of his desk drawer.

A small plastic and metal ball with digital display on top could be seen in his hands. Shawn always thought it looked like the sort of high tech web cam people would have on top of their computers.

“Amy’s little brother is having a sleep-over thing tomorrow night and most of the neighbor’s children were invited. I figured we could slip in and stay half the night. We could leave early before anyone notices two extra heads in the group.” Shawn said in a practiced voice.

“How are we going to see Amy at all if we’re stuck in the basement full of kids?” Norman said knowing some facts about the Lawson’s sleep-overs. The Lawson’s were wealthy and their children always had the best parties and sleep-overs any one could remember.

“Who do you think is in charge of the kids?” Shawn said in a voice that had a sarcastic tone to it.

“Why would their parents leave Amy in charge?” Norman said in a accusing tone.

“Her parents are going to have a dinner party upstairs with most of the parents while the kids are downstairs. So they left her in charge and all the parents chipped in with babysitting money. She’s getting paid big bucks just to host a party for little kids while her parents host the main party upstairs.” Shawn said proudly.

Norman took a second to admire Shawn skills of getting information before he decided to say yes.

“Ok, I’m in. Tell me your plan.” Norman said quietly as Shawn leaned in closer over the desk.

Mrs Lawson had just seen a group of children downstairs as their parents joined the other adults in the large living room when the doorbell rang out again. Mrs Lawson was still beautiful even if she was a middle woman now. Opening the door she saw two more little boys looking ready for the sleep-over. Mrs Lawson’s smile hardly dropped a little as she looked over the kid’s heads for their parents. She then figured these boys were more of her son’s classmates.

“Hello boys, Sleep-over party is downstairs to your right. You two look like you’re old enough to find your own way.” Mrs Lawson said, looking eager to return to the living room where the adults were discussing hot gossip topics of the week.

The boys only grinned at each other and thanked her before going down the steps.

“See, we’re already in and we didn’t have to answer a single question.” a 7-year-old Shawn said to a 6-year-old Norman in a whisper as they went down the steps.

The noise level in the house was at a heightened tone of excitement.

“Still can’t figure out why I am smaller than you though. I set the device to make us the same age. We should only be a inch a difference in height like we were when we really were this young.” Norman whispered back as they reached the bottom step.

“Don’t sweat it, man. Talk like a little kid from here on out.” Shawn whispered back in a eager tone.

Before them was one big play room for anyone who liked video games and movies.

“This is the coolest rec room I ever seen.” Shawn said in awe.

“No kidding.” Norman said now gawking at the video games stack by the TV. A small group of boys were racing each other on the game system.

Norman thought after a while that it was worth it. Not only was Amy there, but half her friends were there helping out. All of them dressed in night shirts and shorts while all the little kids of the party were dressed in pajamas.

Both boys could only dream of seeing the teenage girls in their night outfits.

Shawn wormed his way into most of the girl’s hearts by acting cute and shy. Norman grinned at his friend as the girls were cooing over him while he sat in one of the girl’s lap. Norman kept himself entertained by playing the video games and looking at the girls every once in a while.

Both boys quickly noticed the much older girls hadn’t bothered with bras or very long shorts.

It was Norman who noticed something was wrong with his clothes before Shawn did.

At first Norman thought he was growing back to normal age. The funny feeling his clothes gave him made him jump to this thought. The horrible truth sank in as he realized that his sleeves and pants were slightly loose.

“Damn it’s still unstable.” Norman said in a whisper as he caught his reflection in the glass doors to the back yard.

Looking over where Shawn was he saw his friend looked a little different than before. Little smaller and more childlike.

In a panic walk Norman reached Shawn through the crowd of kids.

“Shawn, it’s time to go.” Norman said, turning his head toward the stairs.

“Not yet, man. ’Night is still young. No one has even noticed two extra kids.” Shawn said as he took another drink of fruit punch from a fancy plastic glass.

“’Night may be young, but we’re getting younger by the minute.” Norman said in even more urgent whispers.

“Are you sure? You like the same size as before. Still only a little shorter then me.” Shawn said looking Norman up and down.

“Yes I’m sure. If you don’t believe me stay here and turn into a baby. I’m getting out of here before it’s too late for me.” Norman said and then bent only a little to sneak past the girls now by the sofa.

Shawn only took a second thinking over what Norman said and followed him out.

With luck both reached the top of the stairs with no trouble.

“Oh no.” Norman said as they reached the hallway.

Shawn also realized their next problem.

Between them and the front door was the doorway to the living room. Sounds of adults talking and glasses being set down on tables could be heard only feet away.

“Have to run for it.” Norman said in a panic and taking in deeper breaths.

“No, Side door.” Shawn said in a surprised tone.

“What side door?” Norman said, looking confused. “There is a side door that leads outside through the garage. I just remembered it.” Shawn said, turning his head around back to the dark hallway that lead to the laundry room.

“How do you know about the side door?” Norman asked as they quietly made their way in the hallway toward the laundry room.

“I spent last summer pulling up weeds and working in the garden with old man Fletcher. I must have made hundreds of trips to the garage for supplies.” Norman explained as they crossed the room with a overwhelming smell of bleach and fabric soften.

“There it is.” Norman said as they entered the cold garage. Just visible over the two parked expensive cars was their exit door that was leading out into the now dark outside world.

Norman being more eager to leave tried the door first. To his terror it was locked.

“It’s locked. Where is the key?” Norman said trying again to open the bolted door.

“Didn’t have a lock last time I was here. They must have installed one to add more security to the house.” Shawn said now trying to help Norman force the door open.

“Hey Norman, Do I look younger than before?” Shawn asked as his eyes adjusted a little better to the semi darkness of the garage. Only moonlight and streetlights outside gave them light to see.

“A little bit. Do you feel smaller or something?” Norman now noticing his friend’s clothes were loose on him.

“I feel the same, but it’s that you look kinda like a toddler now. ” Shawn said in a frightened whisper as he looked at his friend.

Norman felt his face and looked in the rear view mirror of Mr Lawson’s car to see he was now at best a 4 year old boy.

Shawn with nothing better to do moved around the garage for another exit.

“Hey Norman, Over here I found another way out.” Shawn voice came from the back of one of the cars.

Norman hurried to the source of Shawn’s voice only to trip over his pants legs and slipping shoes.

“Come on.” Shawn said now more urgent than ever.

“Your little brother’s clothes are falling off of me. Give me a second.” Norman shouted in a whisper tone.

Norman, with a deep cold feeling in the pit of his stomach threw the pajamas pants over his shoulder and carried the shoes in his left hand to where Shawn was waiting.

“Where?” Norman asked as Shawn stood in front of him grinning.

“There numb nuts.” Shawn said, pointing to the dog door in the garage door.

“Brilliant.” Norman said and started to make his way through the door. A crisp cool breeze from outside meet his face as he pushed through the flap.

Shawn came right after and was stuck for a minute.

“Pull me out.” Shawn said as Norman was about to break into a run.

With a great effort Norman managed to free his friend at the expense of Shawn’s pants as he slid through the flap. Shawn got up quickly and reached back through the flap and retrieved his pants before he joined Norman in the dash for his home.

As fast as their legs could carry them they ran through streets and around the block to Norman’s house. Through the unlocked side gate and back door they stopped and walked up the stairs trying their best to catch their breath.

Shawn, being the tallest of the two toddlers, reached into the desk drawer and pulled out the T.O. as he called it.

“Any younger and we would have spent a few hours as babies before my dad would have found us and restored us to normal.” Norman pipped in a very high pitch voice. To Norman’s personal dislike it sounded almost girlish and almost whiney. Shawn was too busy hitting the arrows on the orb device to take much notice of his friend’s new voice.

“There.” Shawn said in a voice much like Norman’s own toddler tone. Oddly pitched, but still more boyish than Norman’s.

Two button clicks and a few minutes later both boys were restored to their normal teenage selves.

Shawn spent most of the time talking and laughing with Norman over their adventure.

“Ok, I admit it was fun, but we almost never got out of there.” Norman said toward the end of their conversation.

“All part of the rush.” Shawn said grinning while he packed his little brother’s clothes in a bag.

“We’re going to laugh this up for a long time.” Norman said, looking out of the window toward Amy Lawson’s house. Only the Lawson’s roof could be seen from Norman’s bedroom window.

“Hell of a way to start off the month. Catch you later. My mom’s going to kill me if I don’t get back soon. Nearly past my curfew.” Shawn said, glancing at the bedroom clock.

“Later.” Norman said with a sadden tone that Shawn didn’t catch.

Norman waited til Shawn was lost in the darkness of the street before he went downstairs. There in the basement was two rooms. A night light shone from one open doorway to Norman’s right. The other door, shut and locked, was Norman’s dad lab where his dad was working on the problem that currently affected the entire family, or sleeping on a cot in the corner when tiredness overtook him.

Norman quietly made his way into the lighted room and switched off a baby monitor that stood on the desk by a playpen on the floor.

“Hey mom.” Norman said quietly, bending down to the eye level of a 6-month-old girl playing quietly with some plastic rings and a pole.

The baby girl in the playpen gurgled happily and freshly formed drool left her mouth to drop on her faded sleeper outfit.

Her wide eyes of innocent and curious wonder meet Norman’s eyes as he took a soft rag from the floor of the playpen and cleaned her outfit of drool.

“It’s been hard not having you around. Dad says he almost got it figured out. Soon you will be a adult again and things can go back to normal around here.” Norman said as the baby girl returned her attention to the plastic rings.

“I was nearly around your age tonight.” Norman said and he tickled her neck to gain her attention again.

Her soft giggles had somehow lifted his sprits.

“I just wish I knew for certain you’re still an adult inside and this innocent baby act will go away once you return to normal. If you can hear me mom don’t really become a baby. Fight it and hold onto your adult memories.” Norman said with tears leaking out of his eyes.

“I want you back so bad I don’t care how much punishment I have to go through after all the stupid stuff I done with Dad’s old prototype. Somehow I think if I admit it all to you, you will come back just to ground me. ” Norman confessed as he helped his mom to her feet.

She stood unsteadily, looking at him, and for a second Norman thought he saw something in her face that told him she understood, then was sure it was his imagination running away with him.

“I better go, before dad catches me past my bedtime.” Norman said setting her back down on her diapered butt.

Norman only glanced back once as he turned on the baby monitor and went upstairs. He knew he was cutting their private meeting close to her feeding time, but didn’t care. Before school had started he spent countless hours with her trying his best to take care of her and make her remember who she was. Norman could only imagine what it was like for his father to see his wife slipping away as she regressed over a matter of weeks into a blissful second babyhood losing her adult self along the way.

Norman thought over and over how he fixed his dad’s prototype device he had found in the trash and worked out the more serious bugs. Norman had added more safety programs to the device with the help of his computer before he started to use it. His first goal was to fix his mother and return her body and mind back to normal. This only resulted aging her to a little girl with the mind of a baby who still needed diapers before her first regression treatment would return her back to a baby a few hours later.

If it wasn’t for his friendship with Shawn and ability to keep his mind off his personal troubles, Norman would have destroyed the device long ago and fallen into the routine of taking care of his mother and school. Even Norman’s dad said his mother would want her son to go out and have some fun and not spend all the time at home. Norman had never told Shawn what happened to his mother and would only say she was on a business trip.

If it wasn’t for Maggie the nanny. Norman thought for sure the house would be a mess and the laundry would never get done. His dad only hired her a few days after his mother’s regression had taken full effect. Norman would see her come and go at times whenever he got home. His own family wasn’t wealthy and could only afford her when Norman was at school and his dad was at work. Often his dad would stay with her trying his best.

Somehow telling his mom the trouble he got into relieved his guilt in a way. Norman wondered if he would ever get to see his mom back again, or have her as baby sister if her adult mind was gone forever.

 

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