No Worries

Chapter 5
Twists and Turns

Chapter Description: Everything is not as it seems

This chapter is a lot different than previous chapters, it gets largely into a whole different genre or AR which may not appeal to some as much as the prior chapters. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Melanie lead the quaking boy into her lab. "Don’t be such a scaredy cat Chris, this isn’t a torture chamber and nothings going to bite you." Chris felt a bit better in the light now, out of the darkened hallway. "Yeah I’m okay Melanie, I’m not scared." Melanie smiled at Chris, "Do you remember who I am sweetie?" Chris looked at her quizzically for a moment. "You’re my friend, I live with you and Paul." "Yes sweetie, but don’t you remember that when you were bigger I was your girlfriend."

It was light in the darkness, like someone threw Chris’ floundering mind a life-line and pulled him in. Suddenly, with the confirmation that it wasn’t just pretend that he was once bigger and ha a girlfriend, Chris felt memories flooding back to him. He was also suddenly aware that he had on a T-shirt with the giant face of Spongebob Squarepants emblazoned on it. He looked down at his baggy jean-shorts and suddenly was aware of the cold floor, aware that he was barefoot like a little brat. That realization hit him like a ton of bricks and he recalled all the stupid childish things he had been doing. Sleeping with a night light, eating speghetti o’s, watching cartoons and eating lots of lollies. The worst memory was that of Melanie, his hot girlfriend, telling him to stop picking his nose at the dinner table while he sat there in nothing but his undies swinging his legs back and forth like a moron!

Chris looked up at Mel and just about cried. She knew by the look in his eyes that he was back and that he felt terribly embarassed. "Its okay honey I understand what happened, its only natural that you adjusted to your situation. The important thing is you only regressed psychologically, so it was only temporary. Eventually you were bound to remember what happened and come back to yourself. You have nothing to be embarassed about."

"You had to be like my mother, I was such a dumb kid."

"No, I really enjoyed that, really I did. Its okay, the important thing is we can fix it now."

With Chris consoled and mentally right again it was time to administer the drug. Melanie got a needle out and filled it with a clear solution. "I hope you get this right I don’t wanna go too far back, what if you give me too much and I end up 40 or something?"

"No worries Chris, the solution can’t age you pat your original age I’m certain of that."

Without further ado she jabbed him in the upper arm and pushed the plunger. She put a little gauze on it until it stopped bleeding. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Chris’ hopes sank, he was doomed to spend eternity as an 8-year-old. But then he felt tingling in his hands and feet. They were growing, and quickly at that. He was soon expanding all over in proportion. He felt like he had a lump in his throat and then he realised his voice had changed. He felt other changes of puberty come over him as his hair turned brown then dark brown, and he suddenly had a thick beard! After ten minutes of not really pain, but intense tingling, he was 21 again. He covered himself with a blanket while Mel got his clothes for him. He was indescribeably happy. Mel was grinning and laughing. "Well looks like everything is back to normal," she declared, peeking under his blanket. "Screw the clothes," he declared and grabbed Mel for some intense making out. He would have gone all the way right there on the floor but the beard was so full it was actually getting in the way. "Look Chris, we have all night, I promise, just go home and get washed up and for god’s sake shave, then we’ll have some real fun." Melanie was back to her seductive voice and Chris was overjoyed.

Chris headed back to his flat in the spare clothes Mel had provided. It was funny not to feel the different textures of the ground as he walked, but he was glad to have his trainers back on, all the same. His flatmates had apparently left for their beach week-end so no one gawked at his beard or asked how the week had been when he got home. The flat was a typical student’s residence, dirty clothes here and there, towels needing washing, a rubbish bin overflowing. No one did the dishes the night before apparently and the kitchen smelled odd. But was it ever good to be back. Chris never thought he’d be so happy to see his stinking flat again.

After a very big meal of Pizza and spaghetti to make up for the gain of body weight, Chris spent about twenty minutes shaving. Finally he drew a bath and hopped in the tub. It was so great to be normal again. He washed off the accumulated dirt of days of playing like a rough-housing kid, but the black and brown dirt on his feet seemed to be permanent. They hadn’t been like that since he was thirteen. Finally he grabbed the bottle of shampoo and washed his oily hair. He scrubbed with his fingertips pushing the white frothy solution into his roots and pours. It tingled nicely. The warm tingling seemed to seep down through his hair roots, into is scalp and then burrowed deeper, into his brain. As his head tingled, Chris was suddenly aware of how calm and relaxed he felt right now. He felt again like all was right in the world and he could be totally worry free. He continued massaging his scalp feeling more and more peaceful and content. Then he washed the shampoo out.

But the tingling, pleasant tingling, continued. In fact, it made him giggle a bit. It was a nice feeling and he did feel so nice here in his bath, he might just stay here till he turned into a prune. He giggled at that thought, turning into an actual prune, his mummy used to say that to him when he was little and took a bath. He liked to take baths then, he still did. He hears the outside door, perhaps a flatmate was home. He didn’t care he was staying right here where all was right, feeling the nice tingle in his head. There were more noises outside and loud noises at that. He wasn’t bothered by them, he was lost in the pleasant sensation filling his head.

There was a knock on the door. "Chris, it me, Mel, how’s it coming, have you shaved yet?" Chris was feeling so nice and now Mel was here, but what had she said, Chris didn’t catch all of it, something about a shave. But what was that again. Chris couldn’t quite recall.

Melanie opened the bathroom door when Chris didn’t respond. She found him sitting in the tub staring at the wall with a slight smile on his face. "Hello there Chris I’d offer o join you but you seem to be enjoying yourself without me. Are you ready for a surprise?"

Chris looked over at Mel, she had come in and he hadn’t even noticed, how silly of him. She was holding some very strange object, it looked like a spongey seat of some kind with a basin at the bottom. "Hi Mel, my head is all tingly right now. What’s that there?"

Melanie smiled broadly, "This is a little bath seat, just for you, I thought it would be fun to try it out. Won’t that be nice, especially since you feel so nice rght now with your head all tingly."

Chris wasn’t sure exactly what she meant, try it out, but she smiled and said it like a good thing so it must be good and she was right his head was nice an tingly and he did feel good. So Chris lifted up his arms and Melanie helpd him out of he warm bath water and into the soft sponge seat. He was really seated reclined at a 45 degree angle, the basin at his feet. Mel had a sponge in her hand. Maybe she could finally get his feet clean. But instead she poured water on his head and lathered up more shampoo which she began to massage in large amounts into his scalp. Chris noticed she had on gloves of some kind, he wondered why.

"I bet you feel nice in your baby bath. Oh, that’s what it is sweetie-pie, its a baby bath. It probably makes you feel like a little baby just to sit in it, eh? Like you’re just a little baby being washed by his mummy." she crooned to him.

Chris was confused now, wasn’t he supposed to be big now. He looked down, he was big, he hadn’t shrunk again, the seat was very big not for a baby, so why was she saying it was for babies. But then as she massages his scalp he found himself losing hs train of thought. She kept saying he was in a baby bath, so why did he think that was wrong? He didn’t know anymore. He was having a hard time maintaining a chain of thought at all. He kept forgetting where he was and who Mel was, things were going in and out of focus, but all that was constant was the pleasant tingling in his head.

"That’s right sweetie, don’t think, don’t even try, just relax and let all those cares and worries float away on a cloud. You know it was very hard for mummy to arrange all this for you baby. You see mummy had a conundrum, oh I know you don’t know what that means, but no matter. Mummy had a big problem, my parents had indeed come up with a way to trigger physical regression, but it was only temporary. Don’t you think if we invented that technology we’d be mega-millionaires? Yes without the antidote I administered today you still would have reverted in a day or two. But here’s the real irony honey, its actually safer and easier to physically regress someone than to mentally regress them."

Chris could barely follow what she was saying, the light on the ceiling was so distracting and she talked so fast. He felt he should be angry at her for some reason, but he didn’t quite grasp why.

Melanie continued, "You see destroying someones mind almost always has unpredictable results, people go blind, deaf, become comatose or vegetative, they end up having senses mixed up, like smelling the colour purple or tasting blue. Temporary regression is safer, but again only temporary. But I have come up with the solution. A powerful drug specifically tailored to the patient. But for that I needed some of your blood and then time to make and perfect the drug." She went on in a sing-song voice, smiling at Chris thoughout. He didn’t seem displeased, no it was clear he was losing the ability to understand language and could no longer comprehend what was happening to him.

"Now to get your blood and keep you under thumb I realized the best root was to physically regress you a bit. I know you love sugar in your tea it was too easy. I gave my brother a pet mouse, what he didn’t know of course was tat it had been used in my parents experiments and I was able to use it to create a small amount of the formula my parents invented. Isn’t that smart, you have a very smart mummy."

Chris wondered who the pretty lady was, she looked very big, he liked how she smiled at him. She washed the shampoo/drug out of his hair and he was enchanted by the pretty light coming in the window, the way it illuminated the dust. He realized he had no words anymore for what he was seeing. He looked at the woman and realized he didn’t know the name for the colour of her shirt. A moment later he thought, "What’s a colour?"

"Yes my little baby I’m afraid I lead you to suspect my parents, but they don’t know anything about this, this s just between you and me and since you are no longer capable or complex thought I don’t think that will be a problem. You know I really do envy you as the drug is completing its work, you must feel great, not a care in the world totally safe and secure, not a sad thought in that empty little noggin."

Chris lay there looking up at her with wide serenely innocent eyes. In the last moments his pupils dilated, his eyes glazed over and his jaw went totally slack allowing copious amounts of saliva to run over his lips, coating his chin and cheeks and hanging in a big dribble chain to his wet chest and tummy. His legs jerked awkwardly and his big adult feet kicked and twitched like an infant’s. His hands tried to catch a sunbeam. Chris didn’t know where he was, he didn’t remember ho he really was, but his mama was there and he was warm and clean and so he was happy. He saw his feet as his mama washed them. he liked the way the thngs at the end of them wiggled, they were pretty, he wanted to feel them. Chris grabbed his right foot and look at it close while mama scrubbed his leg. He decided to see how the wigglies felt. He stuck them in his mouth, they were yummy, he sucked on them and felt so safe and secure. Mama was smiling at him, he liked that, he liked the way the wigglies felt in his mouth.

Melanie smiled in maternal delight at the giant infant laying below her. The man who had read her lines from Milton and Voltaire now lay nuck naked in a baby bath sucking on his own toes and drooling all over himself. And he was happy. He cooed softly and prattled happy nonsense up at Mel. "Babagaaadoooo. Eeeeeeeh, Aaaaaaah! Nanananabaaa"

"Okay little guy lets get you dressed for your trip to your new hope!" Melanie carefully taped her new baby into his first nappy of many then pulled a baby blue t-shirt that read "Drool Factory at Work" onto his chest, it didn’t cover his tummy. Then she got him into a pair of blue-jean short-alls. "Don’t worry honey you don’t have to wear shoes ever again, I know you hated tham when you were eight. Nope those feet will stay unhindered so you can pop your toes in your mouth whenever you like, I know you enjoy that." Chris gurgled happilly not understanding a word. "And from now on little guy when you done all you wees and poos we’ll take your nappy off and let you toddle around naked as a jaybird, because mummy loves to see her little baby’s cute little pee-pee and bum-bum and I know you’ll just love getting to go nakie now that your brain’s gone bye-bye." Chris chewed on his knuckles, oblivious.

An hour later on the other side of Auckland a green Toyota pulled up in front of a small house at the end of a cul de sac. Melanie opened the back seat door and helped Chris out of his car-seat. He was busy chewing on the rattle she had given him. She took the stroller out of the boot and loaded him in, tickling his feet to make him giggle. She went to the back door, which was concealed from the street by a hill. Baby toys littered the spacious garden, a swingset with oversized baby-seats sat at the side of the garden, there was a kiddie pool unfilled near the door and next to it a big sandit littered with plastic digging tools.

Melanie knocked on the back door. An eye appeared from behind a pulled back curtain, a nod, then the door was unlocked and opened. The strong scent of babies wafted out the doorway into the night, a mixture of baby powder, nappies and other unknown fragrances. The woman facing them was about 40 years old, she wore sweatpants, a soft pink sweater and had a spitup towel draped over her shoulder. She looked down at Chris in his stroller. He was gazing up at her with wide uncomprehending eyes, eyes that showed the oversized baby had a fundamental lack of understanding of the world around him. The ring of his shirt was soaked with drool and his lips remained slack.

Chris gazed up at the big new lady. She had big eyes, he liked that. He felt more warm wet stuff running down his front, it didn’t bother him. He grabbed his foot and pulled at it, that was fun, his mummy looked pretty, he liked kicking his legs that was fun. Thoughts floated in an out of his head as he sat there about to enter his new life.

"You’re late, bring him in." said the older woman.

"Sorry it is hard getting a 70 kilo baby in a car you know."

Inside was a playroom, a giant playroom and several new people looked up as Mel and her new baby entered. A man of about 25 or so was seated in a high chair, his face was smeared with oatmeal which dribbled onto a bib, he wore no shirt. He drummed his heels on the plastic foot rest and babbled loudy at them, pointing. "Yes sweetums, a new paymate for you, Mikie loves having new playmates doesn’t hims?" Crooned a black-haired woman of about 30 who was spoon-feeding him his meal. In the middle of the room was a boy of about 18 possibly older or maybe younger, it was hard to tell with his head shaved bald. He was standing naked holding the hand of an overweight woman of at least 40 who wore altogether too much jewelry. The boy was toddling unsteadily, a smile of success on his face, completely unaware of his state of undress, not a hint of modesty left in his muddled infantile mind. Finally an overweight man of at least 30 came crawling into the room on hands and knees wearing a yellow onesie with a pacifier clipped to it. He too had no hair and a string of spittle hanging from his open mouth. Then he sat back on his but and dummed his feet on the carpeted floor and squealed, "EeeeehDaaaa!" awkwardly clapping his hands.

If anything was left of Chris’ mind surely thi sight would have shocked and appalled him, but at the moment he was squealing with glea as one of the mums jingled a plastic key-set infront of his face. Soon he was chewing experimentally on the plastic toys.

Two weeks later Melanie had finished her work, Chris’ parents believed he had left to teach in Africa, his flatmates thought he moved in with her, which was in a way true, and her parents, back from Europe, thought he had broken up with her. Paul just figured she cured him and the fright of what happened scared him off. Mel finally left home and moved into the special house with its big nursery.

It was a warm March day when Mary arrived at the back garden with a new woman. Mel took a break from watching the babies to talk with the new woman. "Hello so are you thinking of joining our select group." The woman seemed hesitant and nervous. "Well yes, but I just don’t know, I want a little baby so badly and my fiancee Fred is sterile and I want a baby more than a hubby." Mel assured her, "We know just how you feel, I found out I was unable to have any children last year, but now I have a baby all my own." She gestured to Chris who was now sitting i the sand pit naked wildly throwing sand about and giggling. The woman looked shocked. "So is that really possible, my Fred is a very smart man you know." Mary smiled knowingly, and Melanie nodded, "That boy there was once a university honours student, now he doesn’t know his own reflection when he sees it. And it really is the best thing for them they all have such happy carefree lives now." The woman looked back at Chris, who had again become enchanted by his own wiggling toes, jamming them in his mouth.

"Okay, I am interested, but can you really do it just like that?"

Melanie smiled wickedly, "No worries."