Regression Fruit

Chapter 1
Regression Fruit

Charlie was a thirty-something reporter for a local news affiliate who had been working for many years. Over time he had seen and reported on a lot of stories that shook his faith in humanity, which had caused him to take up bad habits like smoking and over eating. As a result, he had put on a bit of weight and often had bouts of depression. His co-workers had taken notice and offered advice, but he mostly shrugged it off. He looked in the mirror and combed his messy brown hair and looked into his blue eyes. They were a little blood-shot from lack of sleep and stress. Still, he was the best at getting the scoops on the hottest news and everyone knew it. Pulling on his jeans and an old green pocket tee, he left his apartment and went to work. It was a warm summer day, but the pleasant brightness was only the cover for the ugly underside of humanity Charlie knew all too well.

“Charlie!” his boss called as soon as he walked in the door. The air was heavy with the smell of coffee and a hint of cigarette smoke. Smoking wasn't allowed inside, but it often wafted in from outside. “Come here! I have a possible huge story for you.”

Charlie shrugged and walked over to his boss. “Yeah? What is it this time?” he asked. “Some corrupt politician lining their pockets with blood money? Murder? Kidnapping?”

“No, nothing like that.” said his boss. He was an older, rounder man with gray hair and glasses. Had a face most people felt they could trust with news. “This is something legendary. Ever heard of the Ouroboros Society?”

“You mean the supposed society of immortals who have somehow discovered the fountain of youth and manipulate humanity from the shadows?” asked Charlie somewhat condecendingly.

“Yes, them.” said his boss. “Everyone just thinks they are a myth but an anonymous source supplied us with these pictures.” He showed Charlie photos of a group of elderly-looking people who looked younger and younger in each photo until they were young adults again.

“Photoshop is easy.” said a skeptical Charlie.

“We ran them through our fake photo filter and they're all clean.” said his boss.

“Seriously?” asked Charlie, looking at them again. “Staged then. They could have brought in different people for each shot.”

“Not with such meticulous attention to detail.” said the boss. “Look, the source is willing to meet with you and only you, because of your accomplishments. He says he'll give you the full story and access to their secret meeting place.” He handed Charlie a small card with an address and time written on it. “Meet him at this address this afternoon.”

Charlie took the card and looked at it. “If this is some kind of setup or bogus claim to slander my good name, I'll make sure they pay.” said Charlie.

“Just don't trash our news organization's name by doing so.” said his boss.

“Heh, sure.” said Charlie. He went through his day until it was time to meet the informant. He made his way to the park where he met someone wearing shades and a gray shirt with green shorts along with white socks and running shoes. He had pale skin and curly hazelnut hair, and looked to be in his early thirties.

“Charlie?” asked the shady-looking character.

“Yeah. You the contact?” asked Charlie.

“That's me. Call me Deven.” said the contact. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” said Charlie. “Now, mind explaining whats up?”

Deven tilted his shades down and looked at Charlie with his gray eyes. “Follow me.” he said, and led Charlie over to a more secluded area. “Don't want anyone listening in.”

“Yeah, I gathered.” said Charlie. “This better be real and not some prank. I've got a lot of enemies.”

“Oh its real alright.” said Deven. He pulled out his phone and showed him a video. It was the same group of people from the photos, only now it was in full motion and showed them actually becoming younger. “See?”

“That's...impossible.” said Charlie, not believing his eyes.

“I would have said the same thing had I not seen it with my own eyes.” said Deven. “They gather every so often to partake in this little ceremony.”

“How did you find this out?” asked Charlie.

“I have a friend on the inside.” said Deven. “She says she's tired of how they've been running things and wants them exposed.”

“This will change the world.” said Charlie upon thinking about it.

“And you'll be the one to break the story.” said Deven. “I'll show you where to go. We'll meet my friend there and she'll sneak us in.”

“Alright, sounds good.” said Charlie. “I hope they can be trusted. People like this won't like having their cover blown.”

“She can be trusted.” said Deven. “Don't you worry.” The two went and got into Charlie's beat-up old car. He could afford much better, but this one was his old reliable. Also it wasn't a car that would stick out like a sore thumb while doing some spying.

Charlie pulled up to a heavily wooded area. There was only an old dirt road blocked off by a simple gate leading in. To anyone else it would just look like an old service road. “You sure this is the place?” he asked.

“Yeah, very sure.” said Deven. “Best place to hide is in plain sight yeah?”

“Fair enough.” said Charlie. He soon saw a lady in a white dress walking out from the woods.

“There she is.” said Deven. “Let's go say hi.” He got out of the car along with Charlie and they approached the woman.

“Hello Deven. I see you brought Charlie.” she said. She had long black hair and brown eyes, appearing to be in her late twenties.

“Hello Gale.” said Deven. “Yep, just like you asked. Once he breaks the story, it'll be all over.”

“Nice to meet you Gale.” said Charlie. “Though, you have to tell me, why give up immortality and youth?”

“How long have you been alive Charlie?” asked Gale. “I know the things you've seen and covered. Now imagine if you lived hundreds of years. Imagine all the pain and suffering you'd witness. Imagine living through great plagues, wars, genocides, and seeing your friends and loved ones die over and over.”

“Point taken.” said Charlie. “But why now?”

“We live in an age where people are living too long as it is.” said Gale. “Over population is causing the world to run out of resources.”

“Won't this discovery just lead to people living even longer?” asked Charlie.

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” said Gale. “I plan to burn it all down and make sure the secret is lost forever.”

“So long as you save that for last.” said Charlie.

“I will.” said Gale. “Now, follow me.” She led them around the gate and through the woods. The ground wasn't marked and there was no obvious trail, so no one would likely follow them. Eventually they came upon a clearing with bushes growing strange purple berries on them, and a central area of concrete columns with chairs around a table.

“This is the same area from the video and photos.” said Charlie.

“This is where they hold the ceremony.” said Gale. “You two hide behind the bushes here and wait for the right moment. I'll signal you by holding my hands up. Make sure you take lots of video.”

“Will do.” said Charlie, and he squatted behind a berry bush.

“So now we just wait?” asked Deven. “I'm going to get in a better position and take more video.”

“Just don't steal my thunder.” said Charlie. He sat and waited for quite a while, and started to get bored, and a bit hungry. He had skipped lunch to meet with Deven in the park. The berries on the bush looked good, but unfamiliar. He saw that they appeared to be grown with the purpose of gathering and eating, so he tasted one. The little purple berry was very juicy and flavorful. It was the most delicious fruit he had ever eaten, not that he had much healthy food lately. He ate another and smiled, then grabbed a few more to hold in his hand while he watched and ate. He began feeling better than he had in a very long time.

There was something else. After eating a few, he began to feel tingly and really good all over. It was as if his pleasure senses were being stimulated. Each one increased the feeling until he felt almost drunk off of them. His clothes kept getting in the way though, so he kicked off his shoes and socks and ate more. He was unaware that his height was lowering with each passing moment and he now appeared to be a young teenage boy. His facial hair began to disappear and his features grew softer and more innocent.

The fruit was just too good though, and he kept on eating the little berries, not even noticing that they seemed bigger than before in his shrinking hands. He wiped his purple stained hands on his shirt then removed it, feeling too warm underneath it. Little Charlie stood up, not even noticing the bush had grown, and stood next to it as he picked berries off and ate them. His height lowered even more as he entered single digits and his features grew even softer and rounder. He was gaining some baby fat now and his tummy stuck out. His annoying jeans kept tripping him up, so he ditched them too, now standing and holding his tidy whities up with one little hand as he ate with the other. Soon enough, he forgot about them and let them go, using both hands to pick and eat berries.

Deven had gotten bored as well, and wondered back over to where Charlie was. He was shocked to see a naked little boy with messy light brown hair standing there eating berries. Then he saw the clothes and the underwear at his feet. He recognized them as Charlie's clothes. “Charlie?” he asked.

The little boy stopped eating and looked up at his tall friend. “Heeeeyyy!” he said in a high pitched drunk-sounding voice. “Thewe you awe. Hehe, how'd ya get so big?” Charlie had a wide grin and face covered in purple berry juice. “Have you twied da bewwies?” The little bare bottomed boy offered one to his tall friend.

“Charlie!” Deven exclaimed. “What happened to you? You're just a tot!” He spied the fruit. “Could it be?” He sniffed at the berry and then tasted it. It tasted like pure heaven. “Oh man, these ARE good!”

“Hehehe, I towd you.” Charlie giggled, having another. That's when Deven noticed him shrink.

“Th-the berries!” said Deven, knocking them from Charlie's little hands. “Stop eating them or you'll become a baby!”

“Y-you can't teww me wha ta dooo!” said Charlie, wobbling on his weak little legs all tipsy. He began sucking on his little fingers, getting all the juice off them.

They were good though... Deven tried to resist but part of him thought “Maybe just one.” then “Maybe just one more.” He began eating the berries as his pleasure senses tingled all over. They were just too addictive and good! His concern for becoming younger wasn't enough to stop him from eating his fill, and he began to shrink into his clothing as well. Soon he was a young teen, then pre-teen, then child.

Charlie just giggled as he watched his friend shrink. “You gettin' aww widdle!” he said as he plopped to his bare bottom in the grass.

Deven continued to eat the tasty fruit and looked down at his tiny friend. He saw the giggling baby soon start peeing in the air as he laid on the ground and kicked his little feet. “Silly baby.” he said, and continued to eat.

“Oh my, what do we have here?” came a familiar female voice from behind.

The two little boys looked and saw Gale looking down at them.

“Gawe!” said little Charlie. “Hab some bewwies! Dey weally good!”

Gale just chuckled and picked him up. “No thanks.” she said. “I know what they do, though you two clearly didn't.”

Deven just blushed as he continued to eat, now looking more like a four-year-old and his clothing piled up around him. “Dey good.” he said, getting his face and hands all smeared with purple berries.

“Yes, they sure are.” said Gale. “Too good in fact. Once you have one, you can't resist having another and another. That's why we pick them and turn them into juice or deserts. They have less punch when cooked, but still have the desired effect.”

Deven wobbled on his chunky legs, his curly hair softened and his skin all smooth and soft. Baby fat was creeping up on his body and soon he was unable to stand. He fell and tumbled out of his clothes, giggling babyishly as he did. “Hahaha! Again again!” he cheered.

“I think you've both had enough.” said another voice from the rotunda. It was a tall man with well kept brown hair and brown eyes. He looked to be in his early thirties, but he too had partaken in the regression fruit.

“Who ish you?” asked Charlie from Gale's arms.

“I'm Scott, Gale's husband.” he said, approaching the trio. “I'm sorry we tricked you, but it looks like our little plan worked.”

“Wha pwan?” asked Deven, now less than two-years-old and sitting naked in the grass with a thumb in his mouth.

“The fruit restores youth, but makes one unable to bare children.” said Gale. “Adoption is out since there would be too many questions and things would get awkward when our children become older than we are. So we decided to adopt you two. I left clues for Deven and then told him to contact you.” She tickled his little chubby foot.

“Hehehe...” Charlie giggled, trying to fight off his baby brain. “Why me?”

“You did a story on one of us a while back.” said Scott. “I won't say who, but they wanted you eliminated. The last thing we want is to turn to murder, so I decided to just turn you into a baby and adopt you.”

“Also we did our research, and we know how the past has haunted you.” said Gale, bouncing her little baby boy in her arms. “The fruits will eventually regress your minds, so you will forget all that nasty stuff. All you'll remember is that you used to be big, and that it was horrible. You'll know how good and fun and free it feels to be our little ones and wish to remain that way for all time.”

“Wha about me?” asked Deven.

Scott walked over and picked up little Deven. “We know about you as well, and how you hate your adult life. You've been unhappy since puberty. Plus you also had dirt on one of us, so its a nice two for one deal.

Deven giggled and wiggled in Scott's arms. “Hehe, diwt!” he said. “I wike to pway in diwt!”

“I bet you do little one.” said Scott, tickling one of Deven's little feet.

“Come on, lets get you both cleaned up and in some nice dry diapers.” said Gale. “Your new life begins today.”

“Diapees?” asked Charlie. “We gotta weaw diapees? Buh we big boys!”

“Yah! I wanna be nakie!” said Deven. “Bein nakie is mow fun!”

“Looks like we have our work cut out for us.” said Gale, blowing a raspberry on Charlie's soft round tummy, making him squeal and giggle.

“You can wear big boy pants again when you're potty trained.” said Scott, carrying Deven.

“If you get potty trained.” added Gale.

Charlie just blushed and sucked his thumb. His mind felt more and more fuzzy. It didn't take long before he and Deven felt like brothers. They would take baths together, play together, eat together, and share the same crib at night. Charlie was happier than he ever had been in his whole life. He felt safe, tiny, and loved with his new parents. There was a news article sometime later claiming Charlie had died in a car accident. They found his car smashed and burned in a ravine off the side of a tall cliff.

Deven would be reported missing sometime later, but the search would be called off after a year. He felt much the same as Charlie, now identifying Scott and Gale as his daddy and mommy. He knew they had tricked him somehow into being little, but he liked being little so he didn't mind. The two would grow up together, but get the choice to become babies again once they reached school age. Needless to say, they eagerly returned to infancy each time, and now they were part of a grand, wold-wide secret. A secret that had made them happy little babies forever.

The End