Pool's Urine-Detection Substance

“Are you sure it’s ok?” Said Dylan. He was not part of the department, hell, he wasn’t even a student in this university, but his friend Ian was, and he invited him along for a swim.

The entrance was a long hallway painted with the whitest white, the color was almost sterile. The walls were clean and bright, no picture was hung, and not a speck of dust could be found.  This building belonged to the biochemical engineering department of the university, so Dylan thought it made sense that they built their leisure areas like a lab.

“They really don’t care, they let anyone in. If you can enter the uni, you can enter the pool - as long as you know there’s a pool” Ian smirked, he knew most students knew about this place, but they were just too busy to come there, among other reasons.

When the long walk down the hallway got to its end, they finally heard the sound of water splashing and moving, but Dylan heard another curious noise…was it, children?

“Dude, they let kids play in this pool?” That’s the last place Dylan suspected to find annoying kids ruining their time.

“Umm …those, yeah, no, they have a kiddie pool for them, and they also mostly play at their little playground over there - they won’t bother you”

“No, I just don't want some kid pissing in my pool, you know?” Dylan said sharply as if he hadn't peed in every pool he ever visited.

“Haha don’t worry, those kids won’t pee in a pool anytime soon, plus, this place has a urine-detection liquid in the water, it colors the water around you and - ” 

“It’s, pffft“ Dylan was surprised. Ian was the smartest guy he ever knew, how come he believed this nonsense? “It's a common myth, what don't you know that?” Dylan started to laugh, as finally, HE knew something that Ian didn't. “Do you also believe the boogeyman will terrorize your closet if you won’t eat your vegetables?” He mocked

“Do you realize what biochemical engineering *is*, right?” Ian tried to deflect the mocking tone of his friend “That’s their specialty!”

“X to doubt!” He exclaimed, marking an “X” shape with his fingers, like a dork. He peed in a dozen of pools that said exactly that, and no colour or anything of the sort was around him, no one even noticed, probably. 

“Whatever, dude” Ian sighed, he wondered if it was worth it to warn Dylan, yet those wonders dissipated quickly when Dylan flexed and asked Ian what he thought about Santa and the tooth fairy. “Let’s just get in the freaking pool already”

The light blue shaded waves dancing in the waters invited both of them to get in and relax, Dylan couldn’t help but look to the backside of the pool, where the kids hung out. There were about 5 kids there, they didn’t look like siblings or even related. There was one adult, a young adult woman with a ponytail, wearing a lab coat and glasses. If there was any other context, Dylan would have thought she was running a lab, not a daycare.

“Wanna race?” Ian asked, tearing Dylan from his thoughts about the weird lady-nanny. “Oh checking on Susan, huh? She’s not your type, she’s smart” Ian laughed

“Oh fuck off, at least I don’t believe whatever mommy tells me like a goodi good boi” 

“Shut up, are we racing or what?” Ian pressured. 

“Yeah, just a second” Well, that wasn’t the only pressure Dylan felt. ‘Urine-detection liquid my ass’ he thought to himself, as he released easily in the pool and started swimming immediately towards Ian, to not leave a trace.

Ian smirked. He knew Dylan wouldn’t be able to resist after all the sarcastic song and dance he pulled earlier. Indeed, the water behind Dylan darkened, a black trail of shame followed and settled around him. In a moment, a whistle from the lifeguard and an evacuation of the water by the rest of the people notified Dylan of what happened. He couldn’t believe it, literally, he froze in place in awe of the black liquid forming around him, wishing he had listened to his friend, and immediately after, wishing he could teleport to Mars on will.

“Stop standing there like a dumbass and leave the pool” The lifeguard was pissed. He was so over this, this was the sixth incident this week, “GET OUT!” 

Dylan lifted himself into the edges of the pool, standing there with his entire lower half covered in black goo. He saw another pool guy running towards the water and pouring some weird red substance into the pool, while the lifeguard approached him. Dylan tried to look for Ian, but he couldn’t find him anywhere, all he found was the angry faces of swimmers whom he’d been disrupted.

“You really couldn’t hold it, huh?” He said to Dylan. “Here’s what’s going to happen, this liquid we use is strong, some people may get chemical burns or allergic reactions, so you’re going to go to the backside, to wait it out for a couple of hours, am I clear?”

“Wait, what? Why you put dangerous chemicals in the water??” He was so ashamed, and now scared, that he barely managed to form a coherent thought.

“Well, BUDDY!” The lifeguard's tone turned sour “This is a UNIVERSITY pool, so we ASSUME, people that come to swim here can READ!” He pointed up towards a big sign, hanging above the waters that read “BEWARE! This pool uses a urine-detection substance! Please use the restrooms or other means!“

Dylan could read quite fine, he just saw this stupid sign everywhere, and they all lied…

“Go to the backside, Susan’s assistant will check on you,” said the lifeguard, now a bit more calm. “Everyone else, listen up, the pool will be decontaminated in 15 minutes, sorry for the inconvenience!”

Dylan was escorted to the back by the other pool guy, a young guy, just out of high school. “I see what they’re doing”, Dylan thought to himself “I pissed in the pool and they bring me to where to kids are to shame me, I bet this all allergy shit is just a ploy to embarrass me”

He passed through the kids who were playing with toys. He then noticed they were mostly toddlers, only one girl there looked like she was 7. All the kids smirked and giggled when he passed, Susan was too busy watching over them, she just glanced at him “Now I really don’t have a chance with her”

The back side had a playing ground, some grass to play on, and a small room labeled “Nursery & Examinations”

This room was unlike the pool, or any other room Dylan saw earlier in this building. It was covered in stickers and paintings of Disney characters, Simba, Elsa, and Timon graced the walls with their smiley faces, greeting every child that got into this room.

“So, another one. “ The assistant was much older than Susan. She looked around fifty, with black hair laced with some sporadic white, and a very tired face. “Answer me, honey,” She said firmly, with 0 emotion, “Why did you wet in the pool?”

“Uhh..” Dylan felt ashamed and couldn’t think of an answer

“You are not too young or too old to not control yourself, how old are you currently?” She asked, her tone was almost robotic

“I’m 25. And, hm well, you know how when you are in the shower and the water running, and you just let go? So, I have that, in the pool, or the bath. Also, other bodies of water” He couldn’t think of any better answer, he just wanted this shameful facade to be over.

The assistant raised her eyebrow, “That's what swim diapers are for”, she went back to writing something on her computer. “Until further tests we might not have enough time, so I’ll ask you quick and crucial questions first,” She said, Dylan just shrugged

“Name, last name, phone number, address, and emergency content, common, quickly while you still can”

He started to feel suspicious about the whole thing. Maybe the substance COULD be dangerous after all, he pondered. He gave her details quickly.

“Great. Now some personal questions” She said, “Winnie the Pooh or Sesame Street? What do you prefer?”

Dylan was taken aback. “Excuse me?” 

“You heard me. Winnie or Sesame Street? I don’t want you to cry about it later, so please answer now” She was starting to lose patience with Dylan.

“Sesame Street, I guess. I don’t know. Is this some test to catch cognitive umm... Cognitive…huh” He said, thinking about the correct term was slightly hard for him with everything that happened

“No, it’s…for later. Now, let's take your blood” She went to the cabinet and fetched some needles and a weird electronic device, it looked like Iron Man’s pregnancy test, with many knobs and an electronic display.  

She drew a small sample of Dylan’s blood and entered it into the overly mechanical device. After a few seconds, the device beeped a bit, the assistant examined it silently

“Am I good? I feel kinda okay” Dylan asked, he was mostly telling the truth, his pulse was running a bit faster and he had a slight nausea. 

“You’re not going anywhere until the substance effect ends, “ she asserted “According to the test you’re severely affected, either you stayed too long in the UDL or you’re sensitive to it”

“What do you mean severely affected?? Am I gonna be ok?” Dylan started to worry.

“All the effects are temporary and end in a couple of days, the severity can affect the intensity…”

“Intensity of what?” Dylan started to feel nauseated, his legs started to jumble, and he found it hard to stay standing

“Shh there, sit, please” She gave him a small chair to sit in. “Just relax, it’s rather you stay calm. Anxiety attacks or high pulse can make it worse”

That didn’t help Dylan at all, he sat on the chair, trying to calm himself by breathing deeply, yet his dizziness got worse. The room was spinning around him, everything seemed to get disproportionally big. “What’s happening to me?” He said, but his voice sounded different.

“When I tell people they get nervous and make it worse on themselves, just relax, you’re doing fine,” She said calmly.

“No, please tell me” He looked at himself, his hands were smaller, his arms and body were now hairless, he had definitely gotten smaller, and his bathing suit was now huge “Am I shrinking?” His voice was extremely different, high-pitched, and… young.

“As long as you’ll stay calm, you’ll be done in no time. “ She wasn’t even phased, she had seen this happen a dozen or more times before.

“Am I getting younger? -” He gasped, hearing his own voice answer his question, he sounded like a pre-schooler. A quick glance at his body revealed he was right, his body was much smaller, hairless, and even a bit chubby “No! No no no no!” he was in full panic mode.

“Please, breathe deeply and try to stay calm” She tried her best, she put a hand on his hair, petting him mechanically, not out of love, but out of necessity “The process should end in 4, but if you won’t relax you’ll be much younger”

“I’m not wanna be a 4!” He said, barely managing to pronounce the words. His heart rate was so high, it felt like it was about to burst through his chest. The dizziness got worse, exactly as the assistant warned, he felt himself getting shorter, even the chair he was sitting in started to feel overwhelmingly big. 

“If you won’t breathe properly soon, you’ll be a newborn, is that worse than 4 for you?”

Dylan was horrified. He quickly tried to keep his thoughts straight and his breath steady. He closed his eyes and tried to count to 10, to make sure he wasn’t turning into a dumb baby. “It’s just for a couple of days, couple of days, couple of days…” He kept repeating to himself.

“Good boy, there. Here you are, you’re done” she said, with a quarter of a smile, the best she could give. 

Dylan opened his eyes and looked at himself. He didn’t like it at all. He was tiny and fragile, he looked like a toddler, well, he was a toddler, for now. “How old am I?” He was surprised he could talk properly, there was only a small lisp presenting.

“You’re about 2, maybe two and a half. The youngest of the current bunch. You should be thankful, the last guy with a panic attack was 6 months old it took him a week to regrow” She opened a small cabinet drawer and took out some clothes, and of course, the Sesame Street diapers.

“Am not wearing this!!” He exclaimed, pointing at the small diapers.

“We have a 1 accident policy in here. If you can’t get to the potty or use the potty once, you’ll be diapered until the end of your stay here”

“Then why are you bringing them? Give me a chance” He hated the way he sounded. At least he was thinking adultly.

“Look at your chair” 

“Wha-” The realization hit him like a truck, he was sitting in a puddle on the chair, some even drooped to the floor, and formed a small puddle. “That can’t be right…”

“I didn’t wet the floor. The only other person here, sitting on the chair is you” She tried to use reason, it wasn’t clear to her yet how much of his mental faculty was intact. “Since you barely noticed the wet chair, I hypothesize your lower body is less reactive than it should be. Let us test your walking skills”

Dylan was glad to remove himself from the pissy seat, but he knew she was right. The feeling on his lower body was greatly muted.

Standing was impossible, his legs couldn’t balance properly, and he fell on his knees. He wanted to cry, but the last thing he needed was to feel more baby-ish than he already was.

“Interesting. Your lower half regressed a bit more than your upper half in some senses. “ She said as if Dylan cared, he was a small baby for fuck’s sake, he won’t be able to walk and he’ll need diapers. 

He was still on his knees, trying to stand up, he then realized how large the assistant was now. She towered over him like a building, if he could stand he may have gotten up to her knees but now, he felt even tinier. He couldn’t hold it anymore, tears started to flow, and cries and wails followed.

“Let's get you diapered before you wet more of my office,” she said as she lifted baby Dylan. 

Dylan hasn't decided what’s more concerning, the fact a short woman lifting him activated his subtle fear of heights or the face he’s about to be diapered.

At least it was quick, she powdered him and fastened the Sesame Street diaper around him like a pro. The soft pad felt nice to his more young skin.

“You’ll get used to it” 

“I don’t want to…” He cried

“So don’t, it’s not my problem.” She dressed him in a brightly colored blue onesie, “You’ve been through a lot, you need to eat and take a nap”

“You put me in nap time? I’m not a baby, I can think!” 

“Yeah, your mental functions kept their adult form, your body has not. You need to be fed and rest, so you can grow older quickly. Believe me, neither I nor Susan enjoys another brat on our hands” That seemed to put a cork in it for Dylan, obviously, it’s better to spend the time sleeping.

She carried him outside to the playing area, where Susan was already waiting for them, but only one kid still was there, a little girl. 

“OoOoo baby!” She exclaimed, “He turned into a little baby!” She laughed hysterically “Too bad, I thought we would have another player for the fortress…”

“You still can play with him, just be gentle. “ Susan said, gently “Now, Claire let's take you and our new one to nap time, you could play after that, okay?”

They started walking past the pool into the white building, on the way Susan got updated on everything related to Dylan’s case. 

The white hall looked longer than before, when they passed it inside there was a room with a white metal door, when Susan opened it, it was like a portal to another completely different building. The walls were colored, and plenty of cartoons painted the walls, brightly smiling and playing. Inside the new halls was a door with a sleeping bear sticker glued to it, and inside, a dozen cribs with varying sizes. Dylan knew the tinier ones were probably for him, the assistant gently put him inside; he could hear the crinkling of the urine-repellant sheets under him and it bummed him so much, he thought nothing could possibly gets wor-

“Here, I got him his formula,” Susan said quietly to the assistant, handing her a small baby bottle

“NO!”, said Dylan “NO WAY!”

“Shh you’ll wake the others!” Whispered Susan firmly, “It’s the antidote, without it you’ll stay your current age, you need to drink it while you fall asleep for it to work. You want to stay a baby or not?”

Dylan took the freaking bottle and started sucking on it. The antidote was quite sweet, he thought to himself, as he drifted to sleep in his crib.

Susan closed the door of the nursery slowly to not disturb the others. Ian waited for her outside, sitting on the couch with his 

Arms crossed.

“If you knew that would happen, why didn’t you say anything to him?” She asked Ian, she suspected she knew the answer, but wanted to make sure

“I didn’t know that. I just think that what you do here is good for humanity-”

“He pissed in a pool with you, so you took revenge?” She laughed “Just make sure to not make it too personal when you take him home”