A Wish Too Far

Chapter 6
Run and Hide

Chapter Description: He's a little boy on the lam, and he'll do whatever it takes to get to the primary school.

As he stood there recovering he noticed that one part of his body hurt less than expected. His feet were a bit sore from sprinting on hot tarmac but they hurt much less than they had just walking on the footpath earlier. Lifting his foot back up he saw that his sole was now as black as the asphalt but more than that it felt thicker, leathery and tough. The pavement no longer burned him as before. His feet had returned to the state they’d been when he was in primary school, going weeks without wearing shoes. It brought back memories of his mother using all sorts of remedies, scrubbing his feet in the bathtub to try to get the black filth off his soles at the end of the summer.

He was back where he started, a mouth full of baby teeth, body hairless and smooth as a baby’s, feet tough and black-soled. It was shameful. Anyone who saw him would see his oversized clothing and think he was a silly little boy playing dress up in his big brother’s clothes. No one would take him seriously now, no one would believe he was really an adult, a responsible and mature man who could take care of himself. They’d see only a dependent needy little creature who couldn’t even dress himself properly.

Liam finally forced aside his self-pity so he could focus on the task at hand, getting to Lucy. He had a fair number of blocks to walk but he had to focus on the positive. He was free of Mrs. Derbyshire, he no longer looked old enough to be a truant and his tough feet meant he would be able to walk the distance without discomfort. Now he just needed to make it before these clothes got any looser.

He made it a block before he admitted that the loose clothing was becoming a serious hindrance to his progress. He had to stop and pull the shorts back up every few steps. He needed to find a way to cinch them tight around his waist. But then they already were getting close to ankle-length on him, looking more like high-water pants than shorts. What he really needed was some new smaller shorts. He began looking down driveways to find a clothes line with kids shorts on it. At the second drive, though, he found something better.

A small black and orange decorated bike was sitting leant against the wall of a house. It looked just the right size for Liam’s juvenile body. It wasn’t chained to anything, simply left to sit where it was. After all, who stole a kid’s bike?

Liam slunk down the drive and grabbed the bike by the handle-bars, swinging his leg over it and sitting on it. This way his shorts wouldn’t fall off, it was perfect!

“Hey, what the hell are you doing kid!” a man’s voice rang out.

Liam turned to see a middle-aged man appear from around the back of the house. He didn’t look happy to see Liam on what was probably his son’s bicycle. He didn’t intend to stick around and find out who’s bike it was at any rate. Liam put his feet on the plastic pedals, wrapping his toes around them and pushing off with all his strength.

“Hey!” the man bellowed, dropping a wrench and running up the driveway after Liam.

“Sorry mister!” Liam called back as he rounded the driveway corner and took off down the footpath.

“Get back here, that’s not yours!” the man called after him, still giving chase.

Liam peddled with everything he had, keeping just ahead of the man, who’s bare feet weren’t as tough as a kid’s anymore and seemed to slow him down. After a block and a half the man stepped on something sharp and hobbled to stop, screaming after Liam. He felt bad for stealing some kid’s bike, but promised himself he’d return it when he was grown-up again.

He was making good progress towards the school when he began to feel funny again. The pedals seemed to be getting further away. Instead of his bare toes wrapping around them he now had to extend his feet out so that his toes could just touch the pedals. The handle-bars getting further away too and he felt less control over the bike. There was more tingling in his mouth, he spat blood and then spat out a couple more teeth, including one of his front teeth. The t-shirt he wore began to drape over his arms, slipping off one shoulder and baring it to the sun. He went past a few more houses then started to have trouble balancing, the bike seeming to teeter back and forth. Scared he would crash he was forced to slow the bike to a stop, barely able to keep his foot on the pedal to apply the brakes.

Liam hopped clear of the bike as it dropped to the ground. His shorts dropped to his ankles and he hastily grabbed them back up. He was so close to the school now, so close and yet so far. He couldn’t show up dressed this way. His shirt was barely staying on and his shorts were impossible to wear now. He needed a new set of clothes, fast.

Liam set off down the closest driveway, hoping against hope that there would be some little boy clothes on a line out back. The first house was a little 70s style bungalow with a sliding glass door opening onto the driveway. As he passed it Liam saw his reflection. He stopped and gaped at what he saw. He’d lost at least another seven or eight inches since Mrs. Derbyshire’s place. He was probably a little under four feet tall now, perhaps even less. His cheeks had taken on the rosy glow of childhood again, a smattering of freckles adding to the look of innocence. The gap between his front teeth just screamed adorable boyhood. His unkempt hair had turned almost blonde. That messy hair, his ridiculous clothes and bare feet made him look like a little street urchin.

Liam padded down the drive to the back yard. There he found exactly what he was looking for. Hanging on lines across the car port were several shorts and t-shirts suitable for a little boy. It didn’t matter that they had cartoon motifs, they were better than what he was wearing. The only trouble was reaching them. Liam carefully climbed up onto the only car parked in the car port, standing up on the bonnet and reaching out for the clothes while holding up his current shorts with his other hand. His little fingers stretched and could almost touch the cotton fabric of one of the t-shirts when the loud barking jolted him back onto the bonnet.

There was a sizable dog, perhaps a German Shepherd, jumping up and down around the car barking and eyeing Liam up. The shock of the dog’s appearance had scared the hell out of the shrunken man. He never liked dogs. As a boy they had absolutely terrified him to no end. Even as an adult he was wary around big dogs. Now though he could see why he was so scared of them as a kid. The dog seemed massive now, like a tiger or a bear even. He was absolutely petrified. For a moment he was afraid he’d actually wet himself.

Forgetting about the clothes Liam looked for a way out of the yard. The fence was right behind him but he needed both hands to pull himself over the top. It was a battle between his fear of the dog and his modesty. The dog jumped dangerously close to actually getting on the bonnet of the car with him and his fear won out. Liam released his shorts and underwear and leapt onto the fence with both hands. As he pulled himself up and over it the baggy t-shirt caught on one of the sharp fence posts. As he dropped over the side the shirt ripped and he fell out of it, landing heavily on his back at the bottom of the fence.

Liam was grateful to be out of the other yard. He could hear the dog barking up a storm running back and forth along the fence trying to get at the boy on the other side. He was also lucky to have landed on grass rather than pavement or rose bushes or something. Nonetheless he was now in a very bad situation. Liam was completely naked, lying in someone’s backyard and nowhere near home. Standing back up Liam tried to reach the torn shirt dangling from the fence post, but he was now too short to even touch the shirt.

Liam could feel his cheeks burning red as he looked down at his diminished body, now fully exposed to the world. He’d avoided looking under his baggy clothing because he was afraid of what he’d see, but now it was impossible not to look. His body was impossibly skinny and pale with the exception of a little baby fat still visible around his tummy. His arms and legs were no longer gangly and out of proportion with his body. They seemed perfectly suited to him now, though that was little comfort. The part he most feared though was the effects of all this on his former manhood. Indeed his penis was now nothing more than a little stub dangling innocently between his legs. While he was humiliated by his exposure he admitted with a whimper that no one else would find his little pee-pee offensive anymore.

Sniffling, Liam felt tears drip down his cheeks. He forced himself to stop crying, this was no time to lose it. He wiped the tears away and considered his options. He was small enough to hide somewhere in this yard till nightfall then he could quietly slip back to his house and regroup. Of course that would accomplish nothing. He’d been through way too much to just give in now, all that struggle couldn’t be for nothing! Liam resolved to slip back up to the street and then make his way through the bushes to another house, checking each one for a clothesline with something he could wear.

The naked six-year old peaked around the corner of the fence at the end of the driveway. There was no one around, no joggers or mum’s pushing strollers. Now was the time to slip down the footpath to the next house. Liam stepped out of the shadows and sprinted along the footpath feeling his dangling pee-pee swish and jiggle back and forth impotently between his legs with every stride. The breeze across his body and the sun on his back and bum made him all too aware of his exposure. At least no one was around to see him.

He was almost to the next driveway when a shadow passed over him, the shadow of a passing car. With a few steps to go the car unexpectedly pulled into the driveway before him, blocking his path. Liam ground to a halt, horrified as he saw that this was not any ordinary passerby, this was a police car. Liam froze where he was on the footpath. A policeman emerged from the driver-side door. He was huge, an absolute giant to Liam. He looked very impressive in his blue uniform and yellow reflective vest, placing a hat on his head as he got out.