Sudden

Chapter 2
First Days

Chapter Description: When regressed, what starts is your appearance. You no longer resemble a man, but a boy once again. Sometimes, that’s all it takes for everything to change.

One morning, I woke up in my bed just like any other morning. I remembered being an adult the previous night, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. I worked as an insurance advisor for a major carrier, and that job was as lame as it sounded. Long hours of having to put up with angry customers shouting at me over increasing rates and denied claims, a boss who was nothing short of a jerk, and a pay rate that was maybe one notch above minimum wage. Sometimes, I would even be forced to stay past the end of my shift for “BuSiNeSs NeEdS”. My vacation could not come soon enough, and I was exhausted when it finally came.

I had just come home from work after yet another night of forced overtime, and the only thing on my mind was getting to sleep. I had just enough energy to have my shower and get ready for bed. I glanced at myself in the mirror while brushing my teeth, not yet knowing that this would be the last night that I would resemble a man for a long time.

When I came to my senses after waking up, my feet were touching the leg sleeves of the bottoms I wore to bed. My legs scrambled their way out of the bottoms as I tried to get out of the bed. Confusion set in as soon as my feet touched the ground. Normally, my privates would be exposed when only wearing the plain white shirts that I wore to bed. They were instead covering my privates and touching my knees. I opened the covers to obtain the bottoms that had been removed, but there was no way they would fit. They looked too big for me. I did not understand, so I went straight to the bathroom. The second my eyes hit that mirror, a high-pitched scream came out of my mouth as I saw the boy in the mirror staring at me.

My square jawline rounded out. The beard that was present on my face the previous night had vanished completely. My hair was a shade lighter than before, and the stubborn curls on my hair that my mom tried to comb away had made their return.  I proceeded to take my shirt off, thinking it was some sort of dream. What resulted was the first sight of my prepubescent body. The body hair that had been present on most of my body had completely vanished, giving me the smooth skin that transitioned well with my smooth face. My limbs were once again scrawny, and the gut that I had from my office job had melted off and replaced with the thin build I had throughout childhood.

I tried pinching myself in random places throughout my body, and even hit a few other areas, hoping that it was just a dream. Unfortunately, it was for real. I was in disbelief that I was even seeing myself as a kid. As soon as the shock subsided, I was worried about my job. I had just started my vacation at the time, so I was hopeful that this situation would only be temporary.

I walked back in my bedroom naked, where I searched for any clothes that would fit a kid. Most of my underwear felt a little loose on my waist, but still held up on its own. I didn't need to worry about shirts as most of them would cover my underwear anyway. Finally, I dug up one of the few shorts that had strings at the waist. I adjusted the shorts as much as I could, but if you could see me in what I wore that day, then you would have noticed how ridiculous I looked. I would have been confused for a kid trying on his older brother's clothes.

There was one other problem, which was my glasses. I figured that my glasses would not fit my head any longer, and there was no way I could go outside as a child unsupervised. I thought about ordering contact lenses that day, but figured that this would only be temporary, so I opted to spend the day with nothing to help my vision. Even if I could go outside, none of my shoes could fit me, and I did not want to end up tripping while shopping.

My plan was to wait out the regression for a few days, hoping that I would eventually wake up as my adult self. Stuck inside, all my younger self could do was eat, sleep, watch Netflix, and play video games. As early as the first night, I was getting tired earlier than usual, and found myself getting ready for bed at only 9 o'clock at night. I was still tall enough to reach around the sink without a stool and brush my teeth.

Once I spat out the toothpaste and rinsed, I stared at the grin on my face with my teeth clenched. The smile contained the prominent front teeth standing in front of the baby teeth I still had. I even felt a slight wiggle from one of them. I touched that tooth a few times, feeling odd about the fact that I had baby teeth again. I climbed into bed that night wearing only the shirt I wore all throughout that day. It was still large enough to cover my privates, and I thought I would turn back the following morning. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and I was the same kid that I was the previous day.

Three days passed, and I was growing bored of being stuck inside all day. What made it worse was the beautiful weather that was outside. I wanted to go outside, but I was not ready to show the world that I had turned into a kid. The day I ended up younger was the same day I was supposed to go grocery shopping. Being a terrible cook as an adult, my pantry was dominated by frozen meals, pre-packaged food, and canned food. However, it would be a matter of time before I run out of those as well. I would have simply ordered more groceries online, but my vacation would not last forever and I was worried about getting fired for not showing up to work. I could not afford to quit as I did not want to be evicted, especially because I was in the body of a child. The more I thought about the situation, the more scared I had become.

As I was about to microwave a pizza pocket for lunch one day, I had realized that my phone had received at least three missed texts. All three of them were from Reed, my best friend since high school. The two of us were inseparable, but even though life got in the way, we kept in contact. When I looked at my phone, I remembered that I promised to go drinking with Reed that night. Given my childish state, there was no way any bar would let me in. I would have lied to Reed and told him I wasn't going to make it, but that might have ruined our friendship. That was why I answered the phone when he tried calling me for the fourth time.

“Is Kevin there?” Reed asked.

“This is Kevin.”

“No, really kid. I need to talk to Kevin. Did I get the wrong number?”

“No, really Reed!  It's me, Kevin!”

“This isn't some stupid joke that Kevin set up, isn't it?”

“Come on Reed! I'm really Kevin! Listen, I can't come drinking tonight and I can explain, but you need to come over soon!”

“Easy, kid! I'll play along. I'll come over.”

Twenty minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. I knew that it was Reed by the door just by looking through the peephole. With my hand shaking, I turned the knob and opened the door. As soon as Reed saw me, he just stood there frozen for a few minutes, seeing a boy whose head only went up to his chest. "Is that really you, Kevin?" Reed asked, to which I heavily nodded. "But how? It's impossible," Reed replied. "I know it is, but we need to talk about this," I said.

What followed was a long conversation between us about what I had went through for the last three days. He had already accepted that I won't be able to go out drinking, but he did promise to help me out for as long as he can. I did, however, force him to promise that he will not tell anyone as I was not comfortable telling anyone that I'm a kid again. Reed left the apartment as he realized that he had to work overtime that night anyway but told me he would take me out shopping tomorrow for more appropriate clothes. He had already measured my feet so he could buy me proper shoes. As he walked out of the apartment, he joked about never expecting to have to babysit me, which made me snicker a little.