Rapid Infection

Chapter 2
Rapid Infection - How It Feels

Chapter Description: Could you be next? How do you think it will feel?

Could you be next?

How do you think it will feel

To lose yourself to yourself?

Focus, please focus, please!

I sit here in quarantine as people hustle and bustle(please, please don't let me fade away, I am an adult!) around me going from patient to patient as more are brought in, just as they did for me. (I am an adult, I am not a child, I am not a child! Please let me focus, I don't want to fade away to my younger self!)

I've to wait here for the time(FOCUS! PLEASE FOCUS! I AM NOT A CHILD!) being as it's all quite busy.

I'm scared, so scared. I can feel myself slipping away as my mind regresses faster than I can adapt to. This morning I was a grown woman in my forties and now I am(don't fight it) in my early twenties and becoming so young so fast, I'm scared. It doesn't hurt at all but I can feel myself disappearing the younger I get, all my memories, all my knowledge, all my experiences just draining away down a sink that this virus has made in my mind.

I am not a child, I am a grown woman! There is another woman across from me, I heard someone say that she was a trans woman and I expected to see her regress to pre-transition as she was old as I was from what I heard, I heard them say that she started her transition less than a decade ago and they were expecting her to de-transition as she got younger but she didn't, if anything this virus fully changed her body to match her gender.

I look at her and she smiles at me, she is scared but she is also so happy to be herself in full physically. I envy her that joy as I can feel nothing but fear for my fading mind that is being replaced with a much younger mind. (Don't let me fade away, please don't let me fade away!)

“Hey” She says to me so gently as I slip to around nineteen years old, the fear increases. “Hey, it's okay, I know you're scared but try to not let it consume you as the fear only makes it stronger, it feeds on fear. I've seen this happen before so many times, I'm not letting fear rule me. I did before, never again. Calm yourself and the regression will slow somewhat, I watched this happen to my parents and my partner. Their fear regressed them quickly, so calm as best you can. Calm” Her words are gentle and I try to calm myself, I try to not let my fear of my fading mind consume me. The regression starts to slow as I drop down to eighteen years old.

“Thank you” I say quietly, my clothes feel loose as I am clearly starting to shrink into them.

“You're welcome. You'll still get younger but you'll have more time before the adult mind sleeps. That's what happens to the infected, the adult mind goes to sleep and the younger mind takes over. You'll grow up again I'm sure, it may take a while but you'll return I think when you're old enough” I can feel it now, two minds within me, both of them me. My adult self and my younger self, she is waving to me within and I feel so connected to her while my adult mind seems tired and weak. I am losing myself to myself, how unusual.

“How do you feel?” I ask her as I do my best to keep myself calm, I am still getting younger but it's slower now, still fast but slower than it was. I don't think I have long before I'm gone.

“Not bad really, I was scared that I would de-transition, I kept checking my knickers in case the defect grew back but it hasn't. I have to admit that despite how quickly I'm regressing I'm still me at least and I'm going to able to be the girl I was in full at last. I hope to do so much playing and living with joy in my heart at finally being me in full. I can face this because I know that I'll always be me. You will always be you, always, I know it's scary and uncertain as no one who's been infected has grown up again as best we know at this time, for all they know those infected could grow up again the slow way or never grow up, it's hard to say. Either way don't let the fear regress you too fast so that you can hold on to yourself a little longer” I can hear crying, babies, some have become so young. Others are protesting what's happening to them, they claim it's all a hoax as their muscle control slips and they wet themselves.

I try to focus as best I can as my body shrinks some more, my clothes feeling loose and my mind beginning to feel like a haze is gathering within it. I try to keep myself calm as my, I guess, friend shrinks some more as well but she smiles with delight as she does and I can't help but giggle at her joy as she slips back farther into the girlhood she had originally been denied.

“When we become children or younger, do you mind if we play together?” I ask her and she reaches a hand over to me as best she can as her own clothing has become too big for her.

“I would like that” She gets up and sits next to me, wrapping a gradually shrinking arm around me. I feel comfort in the hug, I feel safe with her as she feels safe with me I think.

“I can go back to my seat if you prefer, I just felt you could do with a hug. I'm weathering this because I've always dreamed of being the girl I was in full but for you this is just backtracking and it scares you. It's okay to be scared” There are soft toys near us, one of them is a plush pony from a cartoon series I recall being popular, a pink one. Part of me wants to play with it but I resist as best I can. (I'm you, you're me, you're so tired. Rest. NO! I AM AN ADULT! No, you're not)

“I don't mind the hug” I reply, my voice is so young now, so small. My clothes are pooling around my shrinking body, my adulthood is melting away. My new friend is also looking so young but she takes it in her stride and seeing her eyes sparkle with joy keeps me to not feel so scared. A young boy I heard was a trans man is nearby laughing with delight at being himself in full, others around him don't share the same joy. My friend beckons him over and we sit together, three regressing children slipping backwards towards a renewed innocence.

I sit embraced by new friendship, I...I...want to play. My adult mind falls sleep and my younger self takes over, my still shrinking hands reach for the pink plush pony.

Hello pony, want to play with me?

A nurse sees three toddlers playing together with some plush toys, their clothes pooled around them. They giggle and babble with delight, neither of them adults any longer. They don't even remember being adults, they are simply having fun in their youthful friendship and shared regression.

Could you be next?