Regressing Lots

Chapter 2
Regressing Lots: Chapter Two

Chapter Description: Linda's arrival in Heather's office results in the dice being rolled, and Heather regressing...

Heather was still trying to work out what the whispered voice had meant when Linda walked in. Linda was, as always, stunning. Her red hair was done up in a simply pony tail, dressed up in casual clothes for a weekend away. Over her shoulder was a decent sized knapsack - the look of it made Heather wonder if this was Linda’s old student knapsack from her college days. Linda was still in her formal dress and blouse, except now out of her high heels. Even with her heels off, she was still at least four inches taller than Linda, if not anywhere nearly as shapely (or beautiful). Linda, it appeared, thought otherwise. She grinned and tossed her knapsack aside, coming over to embrace Heather. Public displays of affection, in the office, we strictly taboo, but it was after hours, and Heather had invited her.

“Who are you talking to, sexy?” Linda asked, throwing her arms around Heather’s shoulders. She looked up, smiling at her, and brought one hand to rest on Heather’s chest. “And why do you look so breathless?”

Heather, unlike usual, returned the hug, and held onto Linda tightly. Her mind raced. Fourty and five years you have walked free of your mothers womb. Now, this total is but thirty and nine. Each cast of the die will release more of my stolen power, and restore your lost youth. What had that meant? She had a good head for listening and retaining knowledge, so the words she was confident in. Well, it clearly was talking about her age - she was 45, after all. The dice had come up to total six, and 45 less 6 was indeed 39. Did that mean she had… grown younger? She gently pushed Linda back from the hug and looked down at her. Linda’s eyes were shining, happy that Heather had actually returned some of the affection.

“Do I..” she began, but thought better of it. ‘Do I look slightly younger to you?’ What kind of madwoman would ask such a thing. What would Linda even say? And here was Linda, waiting for her to make sense, to point out what they were going to do. She’d said they were going away to her cabin, and now she had other plans. Plans that, now, she wasn’t quite clear she should follow up on. Shaking her head, she rushed over to gather the butterfly pendant from the floor, and began to repack the contents of the parcel.

“I had something slightly different in mind. I hope you don’t mind a bit of spontaneity, Linda,” Heather said over her shoulder, trying to get the book retied and stored. How was she going to explain this? Did she even believe it?

Linda walked over to the desk, leaning against it, watching Heather work with a confused look. “I don’t mind anything, as long as we do it together. You’re a hard woman to pin down, Heather Banks.”

Heather had to admit, she liked the way Linda said her name. A sort of throaty purr. But, hell, what was she going to do with Linda? She hadn’t ever experimented with women, and aside from pleasing herself, she had no real clue how to start pleasing another woman - or being pleased by one. She tied the black cord around the book, and placed it back into the box, and put the other corded books in as well. Then, turning to the desk, she walked over and grabbed the envelope and quickly put the papers back in. The softly glowing dice were not, however on the desk. She stopped dead in her tracks.

They were in Linda’s hand. She was looking at them, curiously.

“These are beautiful,” she said softly. The light from within the dice was reflected in the ice blue eyes, but Heather was frozen. What should she do? Had she hallucinated the whole thing? That made more sense than ghosts of light in pendants, and dice that made people younger. Maybe there were drugs in the books. Maybe, she thought, I’m dreaming, and I’ll wake up any moment now. Linda shook the dice in her hand, as if she would roll them. The dice came up 1 and 2. Again, Heather felt a strange sensation run through her body, this time starting at her toes, and moving like a wave up to the top of her head. Sparks of light drifted up and away from her, but Linda did not notice them. Her eyes were fixed, instead on the dice, and the glow within that seemed to shimmer with the movement of the dice.

“Thirty and nine years you have walked free of your mothers womb. Now, this total is but thirty and six. Each cast of the die will release more of my stolen power, and restore your lost youth.”

The voice filled the room, or so it seemed - Linda appeared to have heard nothing. Heather heard it plain and clear, and her eyes widened. It had to be a dream. Linda turned and smiled at Heather.

“You have to tell me where you got these, beautiful.” Linda shook the dice in her hands.

“Wait!” Heather said, putting up her hand. But it was too late. Linda’s hand released the dice, not sure why she should possibly not roll a pair of pretty dice, and they clattered on the desk, landing in the middle of the papers Heather was sorting back into the envelope. The dice were came up 6 and 5. Heather looked at them with eyes widened, but the sensation hit her before she could even do the math in her head.

Linda stared, shocked, as the dice flared with light again, and then Heather seemed to go stiff. Sparks, shimmering motes of light seemed to drift out of her body and into the air, as if a victorian faerie had sprinkled glittering dust all over her. But the changes to Heather were what next captured her amazement. Heather was, to Linda, a mature and beautiful woman. Before her eyes, the subtle crow’s feet around her eyes smoothed, and softened, retreating to the first hints of approaching age, then vanishing into the glow of youth. Her face softened, eyes seeming to regain much of their glow and vigour. Her hair, even, looked fuller, richer. Very subtly, some of the ravages of time melted away from her body - her knees and elbows softened, her knuckles less prominent. 10 pounds of weight no amount of running and exercise could have ever excised simply vanished from Heather’s body. Her breasts, modestly sized, tightened and firmed.

“Thirty and six years you have walked free of your mothers womb. Now, this total is but twenty and five. Each cast of the die will release more of my stolen power, and restore your lost youth.”

The voice of power made Heather’s heart jump as her own arithmetic caught up with the results of the dice. Twenty five? She was barely out of college at twenty five! Gasping, she ran over to her mirror, on a wall in the corner of the room. Heather would normally use this check her hair and clothes before meeting with a client - she could not believe she was now running to see if the madness of this situation was real. But stepping in front of the mirror, legs awkwardly apart as if stunned, she saw it. Herself - but young, wonderfully, beautifully young. She was the twenty something she had been, once upon a time - twenty years ago, in fact.

Linda, still leaning against the desk, looked back and forth between the dice, and Heather. She had rolled the dice, then Heather had exploded into beautiful sparks of glowing dust, and just suddenly looked younger. There was no mistaking it - Heather had grown younger right in front of her, like some kind of impossible, real life CGI effect. She picked up the dice, looking them over. The light inside looked smaller, somehow, but even more beautiful.

At the mirror, Heather took several steps back, shaking her head. This was impossible. Just impossible! People couldn’t just grow younger like this. The world seemed to be swimming around her, and she found her hands shaking as nerves began to unroot her sense of self and sanity. If the dice kept rolling, what would happen? Another barely average roll and she might be in her teens! One more roll like that and she would be, what… fourteen years old? She had to get those dice, and lock them up! Not only that, but there was now the consideration of what to do with the package - and if any of the Bradley family saw her, would they now know she had opened it? Were they aware of what was inside? Heather stared again at her face. She was still herself, and the other Heather Banks, and her office staff, had no clue what she looked like.

“Younger!” exclaimed Linda. “These dice, babe, made you younger! How is that possible? Where did you get these?”

Linda had not figured out that the results of the roll had anything to do with the outcome of the youthfulness, but she wasn’t dense. The visual difference between a 45 and 25 year old was plainly obvious, especially in the face, and Linda had studied Heather’s face an awful lot. Heather smiled, somewhat bashful, and turned to face Linda.

“Kind of incredible isn’t it? I mean… I barely believe this myself, but here it is. And what a story - wait, Linda, you picked up the dice again?”

Linda looked at the dice in her hand, held gently there. Of course she had. Then it dawned on her - rolling the dice made Heather younger, about two decades younger by the looks of it. What if the dice were used again? What would happen to Heather?

“Linda, I have no clue how those work, exactly, but every roll of those dice makes me younger - I loose years equal to the results on the dice! They’re dangerous! What if they started working on you? Give them to me, please, and for the love of god, don’t drop them!”

Linda nodded, somewhat stunned, but unable to argue with the results she had witnessed, carefully walked over to Heather, dice held firmly in her hand. Heather watched Linda’s every movement, her heart starting beat loudly in her ears. What if Linda dropped them? Where was she going to put them? And would handing them over set them off - Linda playing with them in her hand before had been enough to set the dice off, after all. Before she had a solution, Linda handed the dice over, as carefully as possible. Heather took hold of them with both hands, then gently took one in each hand. She hoped if they were apart maybe a little movement wouldn’t set them off, but in truth - she was guessing.

Linda, meanwhile, looked her up and down. She couldn’t hide her smile. The object of her affection had gone from a mature, beautiful woman tinged with sadness to a fresh-faced, college-aged beauty. Even the sadness of her recent tragedy seemed to have been wiped away like the dust of yesteryear, vanished into the ether along with the rest of Heather’s maturity. Normally Linda liked pursuing older women than herself, but this turn of events thrilled her in a way that she couldn’t quite understand at the moment.

“Okay, Heather, you have to tell me what the hell has happened here!” Linda exclaimed.

A few minutes later, they were sitting at her desk. Heather had gently put the dice down, one in each hand, on her blotter pad (to avoid them rolling if the desk was jostled). To her relief, they did not move at all. She had then told the whole story to Linda, who listened with interest and attention, her eyes widening as Heather described the strange coincidence, the being she had released, the voice and the results of the dice being cast. She shook her head, barely able to believe it.

“This is crazy, babe,” she said, softly.

Heather had to agree. “It is crazy. But madness or not, this is what happened. And here is where I am. I promised to return the parcel, but now don’t know if I should. And if these dice are rolled, by accident or not, who knows how much younger I’ll get this time?”

Linda did some quick math in her head. “Twenty three to thirteen,” she said softly.

Heather nodded, having done that tally a dozen times in her own head. The bottom end of that tally terrified her. She knew, by the basic probabilities, that the most common result on the dice would be between five and nine, but even that was a dizzying prospect consider. An average result of those two dice might make her into a teenager. A high result would make her… very, very young. And then what about beyond that? What if, by some calamity, she ended up beneath the age of 12 - what would happen if the total on the dice was greater than the age she possessed to loose?

“I have to make sure these never, ever get used, Linda,” Heather said, gesturing to the dice. She darned not even touch them. “I have to lock them up in my safe for now. In the wrong hands, these could destroy my entire life.”

Linda nodded, silently. She desperately wanted to know more about the dice, and to see if there was a way she could get the benefit of a single throw. At the most unlikely result, she would end up in her late teens - she could live with that result. But Heather was right, she thought, and the dice had to be hidden from anyone and everyone. Heather could be a slave to whomever held those dice in their hands, threatening to “roll” her down to childhood if she didn’t co-operate. Not to mention the chance of a sheer accident knocking these dice enough to count as a “roll” was far too high.

“Well, before they’re locked away, don’t we need to consider what to do about the Bradleys, and other Heather Banks? They’re waiting for the delivery. Not to mention they might know something about that thing you let loose, and maybe how to undo the magic of the dice. We might want to hold onto them until we’ve had a chance to talk to them,” Linda countered.

Heather smiled, softly, and looked at Linda with fondness. She was far more caring than Heather really deserved - even faced with a bizarre supernatural event like this, Linda was saying “we”. She wanted to come along and help.

“You still intend on coming with me even after all this madness? For all I know, the dice might decide to start affecting you as well as me, Linda. This could be dangerous for you,” Heather replied, but she was hoping to herself that Linda would insist on coming. She needed the help, and wanted the company.

“Hell yes! There’s no way I’m leaving you now, Little Miss Banks!” Linda replied with earnest. She came around the desk - the opposite side to where the dice were laying, and sat down on the edge of it, looking down at the sitting Heather. “Hell or high water now, babe. Something like this doesn’t happen every day, or even once in a lifetime to most people. I’m not walking away, no matter what the risks are. But I’m serious - we should keep the dice with us, for now.”

Heather looked thoughtfully at the dice, then sighed aloud. Linda was right. They should get this parcel delivered, and see what they could find out about the Bradleys and the contents of the parcel overall. There might be a way, perhaps, in the other books. She certainly didn’t want to keep messing around with the other books at this point. And if this was, in the end, something the Bradleys knew nothing about, then Heather could lock up the dice, and go on living. And living long, she realized. In another decade or so, she could just roll the dice again, and reverse the time on her own body. The dice might loose their power over time, maybe, but if they didn’t, Heather could go on living in the body of a twenty-something for… decades? Centuries? It was dizzying to think about. She shook the thoughts from her head, for the moment. Time to focus.

“Well, if we’re taking them, we need to find a carrying case. I can’t just throw these in my purse. You moving them in your hand set them off, even without casting them properly. I threw out the box they came in, unfortunately.”

Linda looked around the office, and then shrugged. “Stay here, babe - I’ll be right back!”

And Linda ran out of the room, a bounce in her step. Heather turned her chair, looking out at the city and the gleaming lights. It was hard to believe that barely an hour ago, she had been overwhelmed with the mediation case, Linda’s feelings, and her memories of Kyle. Now, here she was in the middle of an incredible mystery, the potential for eternal youth, and the danger of far worse than eternal youth. She couldn’t work out in her mind whether the dice were meant as a blessing, or a curse. She turned around and looked carefully at the dice. To her eyes, some of the light have left the dice, and this made her think that some of the power was being released every time Heather’s age was diminished. This meant there was, likely, a finite amount of power in the dice. But how much? Enough for one more through, or ten?

She also wondered if, somehow, she might be able to pass on this blessing/curse to another. Linda was now older than her, in truth, and might appreciate even a median result on the cast of the dice. But she’d handled the dice for a few minutes, yet the regression had struck Heather, not Linda. If there was a way to pass on the blessing, it was beyond Heather’s guess as to how to do it.

Linda returned, breaking Heather’s thoughts. She had a small shipping box, and plenty of packing foam and paper. There was always old packing materials and new stuff in the mail room down the hall. Carefully, they measure the dice, and cut grooves in the packing foam to hold the dice snuggly. Then Heather gently inserted each die, and they wrapped the foam in paper, then put them in a shipping box. Linda, thoughtfully, had printed up a shipping label for Heather’s office and attached it to the box.

“In case it gets lost,” she explained.

With this all settled, Heather and Linda made their way down to the garage with the parcel and the box with the dice, with Linda carrying both her own bag and Heather’s bag of clothes on a mail room cart (along with the heavy parcel). Heather kept hold of the dice, clutching the box for dear life. But there was little chance of calamity in the law office, and they had the parcel and bags packed in the trunk of Heather’s Jeep within five minutes. Heather handed the dice box to Linda, gently.

“Hold on to this, and whatever you do…”

“Don’t drop it,” grinned Linda. She got on her toes and kissed Heather, quite suddenly. Heather blinked, surprised, and blushed.

“I’m sorry, it’s been the weirdest day of my life today,” Heather admitted. She could taste Linda on her lips still, and while it wasn’t like kissing Kyle, it hadn’t been unpleasant either. She got in the Jeep, and told herself that Linda would be a safe guardian of those dice - and perhaps a more appealing companion for this road trip than she had originally thought.

Pulling the Jeep onto the streets, they made their way to the I90. Linda had suggested they fly instead of drive, but Heather reminded her of the packages, and that Heather wouldn’t be able to certify what exactly the books were (other than, obviously, books). It would be a nightmare if some customs official opened the dice box and gave them an experimental roll. No, their best hope was to drive, and drive safe and in the speed limit. Heather likewise did not want a cop complicating things should he pull them over. So she engaged cruise control, and watched the miles begin to roll by.

She and Linda began to discusses cases at first, talking shop as best they could. Confidentiality prevented them from saying too much about their respective work, but they were in the same firm, and were allowed to discuss things to a point. But their talk gradually turned to memories of law school, and some of the professors and hijinks each one of them had got up to in those years. Of course, Heather looked like she was barely old enough to take the bar exam now (and could, in fact, pass her own daughter if she ever had one), which Linda commented on.

“Is it really that noticeable?” asked Heather, nervously. How would she explain this at work if everyone was thinking she looked like a child? But Linda shook her head.

“I notice, because I pay attention. You put on your usual make-up, walk the walk and talk the talk, people are going to notice how gorgeous you are for your age, but no one is going to think you grew younger.”

But suddenly, Linda let out a yell, and dropped the box to the floor of the Jeep. Heather, panicked, jerked the wheel. There was a honk of a horn as she swerved into another lane of traffic, and the squealing of tires…