Bending Reality

Chapter 1
Just a Simple Spray

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Chapter Description: Jim goes looking for a gift at the mall and finds something much more powerful.

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This story was also originally on the continuous story thread. I’ve moved it here because it is really a stand-alone story. Much of it is about a young man being forced to behave as a toddler while retaining his mind. The second chapter has much more mental AR.

Jim was in hot water again. It wasn’t his fault that hot girls liked to walk around in next to nothing all summer. He was a guy, and guys had needs. He had tried to tell Sharon that, tried to tell her that it was simply impossible for him not to look and that it was really just a harmless glance anyway. But she wouldn’t listen of course. She just stormed off again. And for a time Jim had though good riddance to her. But soon enough he’d come to his senses and realised he needed her.

That was why he was in the mall on a Saturday, the day he usually dedicated to his own fitness routine. He needed a gift for Sharon and he needed it quick! There was nothing like make-up sex with that girl. Sometimes Jim wondered if he didn’t subconciously try to have fights just for the make-up sex.

In any case there wasn’t going to be any sex until he got her a suitable present to make amends. Luckily Jim’s friend Pete had been able to suggest a little shop in the mall that seemed to have every type of gift a girl could want. The way Pete described the shop sounded too good to be true. It made Jim think of the evil shop in that Steven King book, "Needful Things". Pete assured him this shop wasn’t run by the devil himself. And when Jim finally located the little shop in the mall he had to agree. The devil wouldn’t have worked in such a dinky little place.

The shop was not at all what Jim had expected for something in a mall either though. It was a dark, cramped little shop filled with odd trinkets. Nothing had price tags either so he had no idea what he could afford in here.

"Can I help you son?" a voice called from out of nowhere.

Jim just about jumped out of his skin. He spun around to find a middle aged man standing just a foot behind him. Jim hadn’t seen anyone in the shop. It was almost as if he had appeared out of thin air.

"I was just looking for a gift for my girlfriend," Jim managed after regaining his calm.

The man smiled wickedly, "Ah yes, a girlfriend. Well did you have anything in particular in mind?"

"Not really. To be honest I’ve never shopped for her before and I’ve got no idea what she likes."

The strange man’s smile widened still further, yet if anything made him even creepier. "I think I have the perfect thing for you," he declared rushing around Jim and behind the counter.

After disappearing beneath the counter for a moment the man popped back up holding a perfume bottle. "Here we are. The perfect gift for someone who has no idea what to get."

"Perfume?" Jim asked, sounding doubtful.

"Not just perfume. This is a very special fragrance, you might say. This is reality shifting perfume."

Jim groaned, either the old man was nuts or he thought Jim was a moron. "Yeah and if you really believe that, then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you," he scoffed.

The man shook his head. "You laugh boy, but this stuff is the real deal. Observe."

The man sprayed a couple spurts in the air and whispered something. In an instant the shop was well-lit and uncluttered, looking like a proper woman’s store in the mall. Jim gasped, to shocked for words.

The man sprayed twice more, whispered again and as quickly as before the shop shifted back to how it had been, cluttered and dank. "Keeps the kind of customers I don’t need out," the old man explained.

"It’s some kind of hallucinogen isn’t it?" Jim demanded.

The man chuckled, "No, no, it’s as real as can be I assure you. You’ve just seen it with your own eyes. Now I don’t blame you for not trusting them, but this time you should. This stuff is quite real."

"Yeah, if that’s real why would you give it to me? I mean couldn’t I just spray it on you and take all your money or something?"

"There are limitations on this device. You cannot use it on me, you can’t use it to make yourself rich. You can use it to change people’s perceptions of you, or of others. You can’t make your girlfriend love you, but you can make yourself look beautiful in her eyes."

"So how much is it?" Jim asked hesitantly, knowing it was bound to be out of his price range.

"A hundred and fifty dollars for the day. It must be returned by closing time or you will be charged a two-hundred dollar late fee."

"I only get it for the day?"

"That should be more than enough time to alter reality as you need to."

It wasn’t cheap alright, but with the powers it seemed to have it was defnitely worth it. Jim would need to seriously dip into his savings, this was a lot of money for a student to spend. But he bit the bullet and ran to the ATM returning with the cash. The old man handed him the bottle and began to explain its use.

"Remember this will only change people’s perception of reality. You can’t turn your rival into a monkey but you can make the world see them as a monkey. They would still be fully human but animal control would turn up and tranq them and ship them off to a zoo."

Jim snickered at this idea.

The man shook his head seriously. "It wouldn’t be so funny for him my boy. No matter how hard he tried to explain his predicament the zoo keepers would only hear a monkey chittering. The compassionate thing to do would be to alter him as well. If you spray the perfume in the air it changes the world’s perception but not the subject’s. If you spray it on the subject it changes their view as well. It has something of a hypnotic effect on them, whatever you tell them will become the truth for them. In other words, though he would still in fact have a human body and you would see him as he really was, your rival would have the mind of monkey as well and would have no memory of his human life."

"I understand. I’ll be careful with it," Jim assured him.

The man nodded. "Alright then. I’ll see you at five o’clock."

Jim was glad to be out of the creepy shop. He had a powerful bottle in his possession now and he was running thru the uses endlessly. Maybe he could make Sharon into a sex-craving nympho or a sexy big-boobed bimbo. He could make the whole world see a stone-cold fox when they looked at him. The girls would be falling all over him. Maybe he could convince the world that it was normal for hot women to walk around topless everywhere, or maybe just make Sharon a nudist. The possibilities were limitless.

"Hey Jim, where you going?" a girl called as Jim entered the food- court.

Jim looked around and was disappointed to see his little sister Miriam waving at him from a table. Reluctantly Jim made his way over to her. "I was just getting Sharon a gift," he explained, standing beside her table. "What are you doing here all alone, where are Millie and Janie?"

"It’s Maggie and Jenny, and they’re getting a tan right now. I don’t think it’s healthy, so I’m waiting for them here. Now, what did you get Sharon, you have to show me!" she insisted, reaching for the bag.

Jim pulled the bag away. "Watch it there sis, this is a very important item."

She gave him a doubtful look. "Yeah, I bet it’s priceless, huh. What you get her, a snow globe?" she sneered.

"No. I got her something better than she’ll ever have had before."

"Oh yeah, what?"

Jim pulled the perfume bottle tentatively from the bag. Miriam laughed out loud. "You got her a bottle of fucking perfume and you think that is the best present she’ll ever have had!"

"This isn’t any perfume Miriam! This stuff can actually alter people’s perception of reality."

"What so it has some ecstacy in it?"

"No, not like that. I mean like magic, seriously."

Miriam looked at him like he was nuts. "I know it sounds crazy, but just watch."

Jim sprayed a couple puffs in the air and said, "In this mall everyone eats with their fingers, nobody uses utensils."

To Miriams surprise the food-court filled with the sounds of people dropping forks and knives. Looking around she saw that at every table people were scooping food in their mouths like little children. She looked at Jim, flabergasted. "Holy shit!" she finally managed.

Jim blew on the nozzle like a smoking gun, "Yep, that’s right baby, it’s real."

Jim set the bottle down on the table and gave Miriam a satisfied look. He loved being right. Jim looked around at all the people shoveling food into their mouths, feeling satisfied. Then he noticed a disturbing sight. "Ugh, will you look at that. Disgusting."

"What?" Miriam asked, looking around.

Jim pointed at a bench just on the edge of the food-court. A young woman was seated on it, an empty stroller beside the bench. She was breast- feeding a small toddler boy.

"What’s wrong with that?" Miriam demanded.

"Are you serious? Get a room, seriously! Nobody wants to see that. Next she’ll change the kids diaper right there in full public view. I mean, look at the size of that kid, he must be two years old and still sucking on her boob."

Miriam was often upset by her brother’s attitude towards women and motherhood. She thought the little red-headed boy cuddled in his mommy’s lap looked adorable in his jean short-alls and striped t-shirt, little bare feet dangling off the bench. The woman was only doing what was natural, not to mention healthy for the baby. Yet here was Jim sneering at them. How did he not get it? It was then that Miriam’s eyes fell upon the bottle on the table. Maybe it would be best if Jim had the chance to understand better.

As Jim turned back to the table he registered shock immediately upon realising the perfume bottle wasn’t where he left it. As his blood pounded in his ears, he realised that Miriam was now holding the bottle, examining it. "What the hell are you doing! Give that back!" he demanded.

But Miriam just smiled and without warning sprayed it in the air. Jim froze in panic, what was she going to do? "Jim is two year old boy. He is wearing two year old boy clothes that his mommy dressed him in. That woman on the bench is his mommy."

Jim gasped as he felt cool linoleum under his feet. He looked down at the pale yellow corduroy overalls he was now wearing. Winnie the Pooh with his hand in a honey jar was appliqued on the bib. The ankles were made of stretchy material like sweat pants, probably to keep them from getting dirty dragging on the ground as the toddler wearing them ran around barefoot. He wore a striped t-shirt under the overalls and a pacifier was clipped to the buckle of his bib. He brushed his bare soles across the floor experimentally, his shoes were nowhere to be seen. All his adult clothes had vanished.

Miriam smiled vindictively at her brother. "What have you done?" he cried, shaking with rage.

Miriam leaned forward and sprayed the perfume in his face. It smelled fruity to Jim. The world seemed to go into slow-motion and his sister’s voice echoed thru his head as she spoke. "Jim you are calm and relaxed. You will behave for your mommy, you will do what she tells you without any fuss. You will be a good boy for her and you wil be friendly to your twin brother. You’ll play with him if he wants you to and you will wear the clothes your mommy gives you. If it gets too hard for you all you need to do is have a nice suckle on mommy’s boobie and as your tummy fills up your mind will empty out. You’ll lose all your intelligence and memory and just be happy baby Jimmy. Until then you will find you must behave just like your brother, doing everything he does, with the exception of breast-feeding."

Jim was beyond words now. He should have been outraged, but he felt so calm, so completely relaxed. Miriam smiled broadly at him, pocketing the perfume. "Don’t worry Jim, I’ll come pick you up tomorrow."

Jim wanted to tell her that as too late, that the perfume was meant to be back tonight, but his sister was already spraying it again. Jim looked to his right, where she was spraying and saw that it was the woman from the bench. She had frozen where she was, a dreamy look on her face once the perfume hit her nose. "You will come back here tomorrow, to that same bench at the same time," Miriam directed.

The woman nodded wordlessly the blinked and turned to Jim. "What are you doing over here sweetie-pie?" she asked Jim, clearly not expecting any response from him. Then she faced Miriam and added, "I’m sorry, he just wanders off sometimes, I hope he didn’t bother you."

Miriam waved her hand, "Oh no, not at all. He’s a real cutie."

"I know, thank you, he’ll be a real lady killer when he grows up won’t he."

With that the woman who Jim could only think of as "mommy" took his hand and began to lead him away from Miriam. Jim wanted desperately to call out to his sister but couldn’t get the words out. As his bare feet slapped along the cool floor and more and more distance separated him from his sis, he felt the urge to cry welling up in him.

Jim realised now that the shop-keep hadn’t been entirely honest with him. The perfume did more than alter reality, it could alter behaviour and free-will to match that distorted reality. He was bound by his sister’s commands now, at the whim of his new mommy.

He felt so silly being led by the hand thru the mall, barefoot and dressed in shockingly embarassing toddler clothes. A group of teen-agers walked past but didn’t give him a second glance. They didn’t see a young man a little older than themselves being led by his mommy thru the mall. They only saw a cute little toddler. "Here we are, now don’t you wander off like that again Jimmy," the woman directed firmly, looking jim in the eye. "That maked mommy very scared sweetie, mommy loves you very much and she needs to know where you are. Do you understand sweetie?"

Jim nodded, he needed to be a good boy for mommy. "Okay snuggle- bug,let’s get you two home for your nap."

Jim stood still as mommy lifted his twin brother Davy into what was now a double stroller. Then she turned to face him and Jim wasn’t sure what she planned to do. He was way to large for that stroller seat and there was no way she was going to be able to lift him, so...

Suddenly Jim was being lifted off his feet, swinging thru the air towards the stroller. His mom had lifted him without any difficulty. What was more amazing, as she set him down, he fit perfectly in the stroller. He hadn’t shrunk and yet it worked perfectly. Apparently the laws of reality were being bent to accomodate this shift.

His mommy strapped him in and then began to push them thru the mall. Davy swung his legs back and forth, sucking quietly on his thumb, a little milk still dribbling down his chin and onto his t-shirt. Jim felt a strange and sudden urge, a restlessness in his legs. He tried to fight the odd feeling but after a moment the need grew too great and he began to swing his long legs out in the air and back. The anxiousness abated immediately and it felt so nice to swing his legs around. Jim realised he was being forced to immitate Davy’s behaviour but there was nothing he could do about it. A moment later Jim felt panic rising up inside him. He didn’t know why but he felt his heart-rate increasing and his emotions losing control like he was going to have a panic attack. There was a strange tingling through his mouth. He didn’t know what to do. He bit his fingernails, then felt his thumb slip into his mouth. The relief was instant, the tingling subsided and the fear and panic was gone. The thumb felt so nice in hs mouth, made him feel so safe and secure. He looked over at Davy and understood why his brother sucked his thumb, this was bliss.

They soon exited the mall into the warm daylight. The woman who Jim only knew as mommy pushed the stroller thru the car park until they reached a white minivan. She pulled open the sliding door to reveal two baby-seats in the back. She unstrapped and lifted Davy into the car, settling him in the seat. A moment later Jim found himself being swung through the air and into the car. The seat was awfully tight at first, but then seemed to adjust to fit him comfortably. His mommy strapped his seat- belt on him and went to the front. Fighting the power of the perfume Jim managed to finally get some words out as mommy sat in the driver seat. "Look, mommy, Jim isn’t a baby! Jim is an adult!" he screached, taking all his strength to get the words out.

"Shh sweetie, don’t be fussy. Mommy will get you some juice when we get home before your nap-nap."

Jim’s hopes were dashed, the woman hadn’t understood a word he’s said. Jim remained silent on the ride to his new home, contemplating what was to become of him now. He noticed that Davy had a serene smile on his face and was patting at his crotch. Jim could here the squishing of the boy’s diaper, there was no doubt he had just wet himself. Jim rolled his eyes, that was just what he needed, a diaper wetting brother. It was only then that Jim noticed a feeling of relaxation coming over him. He suddenly felt more at ease, and warmer. Warmer in a specific area actually. Jim gulped, he had just wet himself without even realising he was doing it. "Shit," he mumbled to himself, ashamed. His body was being forced to do whatever Davy did, which meant as soon as Davy wet himself, Jim had to do the same.

By the time they pulled into the driveway Jim’s diaper was cold and uncomfortable. The same was true for Davy. The tot was pouting and slapping at his crotch. "Davy pee-pee momma!" he yelled.

"Yes honey, mommy will change you when we get inside."

The door slid open and mommy leaned in, undoing the buckles on his seat- belt. Then without warning she plunged a hand into his pants, feeling inside his diaper. Jim just about flew out of his seat in surprise. He wasn’t used to strangers suddenly plunging their hands down his pants. "Looks like Jimmy needs a change too," she announced, withdrawing her hand.

She scooped him up by the armpits and lifted him out of the car. Jim didn’t like being lifted this way, it hurt his armpits. Soon he felt the warm asphalt of the driveway under his feet and mommy was getting Davy out too. She put Davy down on the ground too and Jim watched as the boy toddled ahead towards the house. Jim began to walk after him, but stopped as the world suddenly went topsy turvy. Jim’s legs felt weak and rubbery and he needed to stretch his hands out to keep from falling. Jim continued forward taking wider steps. The dizziness was gone, but Jim found himself unable to stop toddling like Davy.

The house was spacious and clean. It seemed like a nice place to live. Toddler toys littered the living room though and Davy had made a bee-line to a toy fire-truck. Mommy directed Jim into the room as well and he found himelf overwhelmed by a need to play with the toy ambulance by Davy’s feet. Jim was feeling very uncomfortable in his sopping wet diaper. It dangled low between his legs brushing uncomfortably against his thighs. He was actually looking forward to getting the thing off even if it was to be replaced by another diaper.

Davy noticed Jim pushing the ambulance near him and dropped his fire- truck, crawling towards Jim and seizing the ambulance with both hands. Jim hadn’t expected this sudden aggression and gripped the ambulance tighter. Davy hissed, "Mine!" and pulled harder. But the more Davy showed he wanted the toy, the more Jim needed to keep it. He had to mimic Davy’s possessive behaviour.

Mommy walked in just then and scolded them. "Davy, Jimmywhat are you two doing. Play nice," she commanded.

"Mine!" Davy screached again, banging his hands on the toy.

"Davy! You stop that this instant!"

Davy released the ambulance but began to wail at the top of his little lungs, banging his fists and pouding his feet on the carpeted floor. Jim could feel his emotions racing out of control as well. Tears dripped down his cheeks and he sniffled, Davy’s tantrum infecting him. Mommy picked the squalling youngster up and rocked him back and forth, shushing him. After a couple minutes of quiet sobbing Davy’s tears dried up and mommy took him over to a mat she had laid down on the floor beside a box of diapers and some wipes. She set the now calm boy down on the mat and undid the buckles on his short-alls, taking them off him. She slipped his shirt off over his head and finally undid the tapes on his wet diaper.

Jim watched the diaper change with facination. He couldn’t look away as mommy pecked Davy with kisses, playfully running her fingers over his tummy and chest, tickling him under his arms before finally slipping a new dry diaper under him and doing it up. The new diaper in place, she picked him up into a big long snuggle and finally set him back down to play, now dressed only in the diaper. Davy had a brilliant smile on his face, the previous tantrum long forgotten.

Then mommy turned to Jim and he found himself on his back on the changing mat. Mommy took off his overalls and he felt so stupid and embarassed. He was sure he was blushing red over his whole body right now, he just wanted to get up and run away, run away where nobody could see that he was wearing a wet diaper. Mommy noticed his bad mood and decided to improve it. Suddenly Jim felt his shirt being pulled up and mommy directing his hands into the air, slipping it off over his head. Once it was gone, she descended on his bare tummy, tickling with all her might. Jim couldn’t help but laugh despite his situation. He squirmed but couldn’t escape the fingers that snuck under his arms and down his sides. He prayed nobody was secretly watching this, a fully-grown young man squirming around nearly naked on a changing pad getting tickled. Then as quickly as it had begun the tickles stopped and mommy was removing his diaper. If Jim had been embarassed before, it was nothing next to this. Now he was being fully exposed to this woman. She put a plastic toy into his hands. Jim supposed it would entertain a toddler’s simple mind, but it did nothing to distract him from this situation. He felt his penis and bum being wiped down and a crinkly dry diaper slipped under his bottom. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the diaper was taped shut and the cool breeze on his private parts ceased. Then Jim was being picked up again and enveloped in his mommy’s warm embrace. She rubbed his bare back up and down, brushing his cheek against hers, letting her long blonde hair fall across his face, tickling his skin. "Momma’s little boy is all nice and dry and snug now, isn’t he," she whispered to him.

As she placed Jim back on the carpet to play he realized that what had just happened was at once one of the most embarassing and one of the most loving experiences of his life. He also became aware that she was gathering his clothing up and taking it away with her, leaving him in nothing but a diaper.

"Okay, it’s nap time you two," she directed, bringing them two small, well-used baby blankets.

Davy accepted his blanket with a yawn and quickly rolled up in it and went to sleep. As soon as Jim accepted the blanket from her he felt a wave of intense drowsiness wash over him. Jim yawned uncontrollably and lay down on the carpet. Both the carpet and the blanket were wonderfully soft on his bare skin and in no time at all he was drifting off to sleep.

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Miriam felt a bit guilty about what she had done to her brother, but not too guilty. She had no doubt he’d been planning to use the perfume for some very selfish needs involving Sharon. Besides she’d be able to set everything right tomorrow and Jim would have learned an important lesson. Miriam considered herself something of a feminist and she couldn’t stand her brother’s chauvanist ways. Now he’d learn to appreciate a mother’s love, something he seemed to have forgotten from his first babyhood.

Sitting in her room, or what apparently what was now her room but had previously been Jim’s room, Miriam considered the possibilities for the perfume. She was, for the moment, an only child, a development she had to admit was an unexpected bonus. She contemplated how to use this perfume for the benefit of women everywhere. There were so many possibilites. She could turn all men into infants, or just make them act like them as with Jim. Of course that was pointless, as far as Miriam was concerned men already acted like infants.

"Staring at the bottle isn’t going to get you any closer to making a decision."

Miriam screamed and fell out of chair. An old man was standing in her bedroom, right behind where she was sitting, addressing her. Miriam tried to run to the door but found it was somehow locked shut. She couldn’t escape the room. The man smiled malevolently and addressed her again. "I’m sorry Miriam, I haven’t indroduced myself. I own a very special little shop that your brother visited earlier today. I’m afraid that he is now overdue on returning a certain item. An item which I believe has fallen into your possession."

The man looked at the bottle, but Miriam never took her eyes off the strange intruder. "What the fuck are you doing here?" she screamed at him, loud enough she hoped that her parents would hear and come running.

No one came running, Miriam was alone. The man tutted softly. "I’ll just be taking my goods back then, plus the late fee."

Miriam blinked, "Late fee?" she asked, incredulous.

"Yes, it is after 5PM and as the item is in your possession the fee is yours to pay."

"Nobody told..."

"That matters not. The fee is still owed."

"How much," she asked, gulping.

"Two-Hundred dollars in cash, now."

"Shit dude, I’m a teen-ager, I don’t have that kind of cash on me. I don’t even have a job yet."

The man smiled once again, in that twisted, hiddeous way. "I see," he smirked, reaching out his hand.

The perfume bottle flew off her desk and thru the air into the man’s gloved hand. Miriam froze in terror. The man looked down at her, cowering in the corner by the door, tears beginning to well up in her eyes and roll down her cheeks. The man put his finger to his lips, to quiet her sobs, then he aimed the bottle in the air and sprayed twice.

 

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