Shifting Reality

Chapter 2
Turning Ten

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Chapter Description: Alex wakes up to find it was indeed not a dream.

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When I awoke, I knew something wasn’t right.

"Hey Alex!" said Jimmy. "It’s our Birthday today!" he jumped out of the top bunk and ran down the hall.

When I walked into the kitchen, Jimmy was already halfway done with his pancakes, with syrup running down his chin onto his PJs.

"What’s going on?" I said stupidly.

"It’s your birthday!" said Mom. "the big 1-0!"

What? That couldn’t be right. "Im not ten!" I said. "I’m..... I’m......" how old was I?

An image of a license flashed into my head. "Sixteen." I concluded.

"Honey," said mom. "I know your excited, but your turning Ten, not Sixteen."

"Aww, c’mon honey." said dad. "It’s their birthday. If they want to be sixteen, let em be sixteen."

"Their?" I said. "It’s both our birthdays?"

"Yeah silly!" said Jimmy. "We’re twins, remember?"

I almost fainted at that. I was most certainly not ten. Maybe if I could find my parents, they could shed some light on this.

"I’m going to take a walk." I said, grabbing my puffy winter coat.

"Not without an adult, your not." said Mom. "Your still not old enough for doing things like going out alone."

"I’ll go with him." said Jimmy. "Please, Mom? I promise we will be ok."

She sighed. "I suppose. Don’t be out too long."

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"Where we going?" said Jimmy.

"Nowhere." I said.

"Where’s that?" said Jimmy.

"You’ll see."

"When? Soon?" said Jimmy.

"Yes, soon."

"Why?" said Jimmy.

"Because." I said.

"Why?" said Jimmy.

"BECAUSE!" I yelled. His brown eyes began to water and he began to sob. He sat on the ground and blubbered. "Why are you *sniff* so mean!" he yelled. It pained me to realize this was still my friend, James.

"I’m sorry." I said. "Let’s keep moving. It’s just up the block."

We arrived at my home in a matter of minutes. I barely reached the doorbell.

"Hello?" my thirteen-year-old little brother looked down at us. "Can I help you?"

"Pat." I said. "Remember me? It’s your brother Alex."

"I don’t have a brother." said Alex. "Scram."

I didn’t know if he was in on whatever this was or not, but he was about to close the door. "Can you give me the High school yearbook then?" I said. I knew that my parents got a Highschool yearbook every year just to donate more to the school, even when I wasn’t in high school.

"Sure, kid." said Pat. "Here." he pulled the skinny book from the shelf. As I looked in it, I almost fainted for a second time when I was not in there. Pat took the book and closed the door. I made a mental note to hit him when I was taller than him again.

"What are you trying to prove?" said Jimmy. "That your not a fourth grader? Look, this is the drawing you made in art class." he handed me a picture of a flower with my name written poorly on it. The worst part was that I remembered making it.

I was about to give up when I saw Jimmy staring at something, a football lay in the middle of my old yard.

"Wait..." he said. "Something’s wrong... High school..." he shook his head. He looked back and fourth, realizing what had happened to him.

My eyes lit up. Finally.

"Do you remember now?" I said.

"They did this to us..." is all James could say. "We need to get out of here."

We only walked about five feet when we were stopped by Mom.

"We were worried sick!" said Mom. "I knew it was a bad idea to send you two out alone. Your not big kids."

"Play dumb." whispered James.

"Why don’t we just run?" I whispered back.

"Because we won’t . She might be able to fix us if we force her."

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We both had to take baths. We had to both pretend to be ten, which is hard to do when your not mentally ten. However, as the day went on, it became easier. I tried to watch CSI, but I couldn’t understand any of the concepts. Instead, I changed the channel to nickelodeon, which obviously was very easy to figure out.

Our ’Parents’ had a big surprise party for us in the afternoon. There were balloons, Legos, race cars, and a guy dressed as spiderman. There was a huge cake in the middle, which both of us thought was delicious.

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Finally, Jimmy confronted his mother when she came back in the room.

"We know what you did to us." he said.

"What are you talking about sweetie?" she replied.

"Cut the crap." said Jimmy. "How did you do it? Why?"

Mom frowned. "You were out of hand" she replied. "Smoking, drinking, partying. We decided to raise you right. So we bought this"

She held up a spice can. The can said ’tell me your wish, and reality will grant it’.

"All we had to do was put in a piece of paper with the words ’You are ten years old’ in the can, and then put the spice on your food. Worked like a charm." she said.

"Your sick." I replied.

"I’m sorry, Alex dear, that we had to include you." said Mom. "When you found out what we had done, we had to fix you too. We just put a piece of paper in that said ’You are Jimmy’s Twin.’. Easy. Now, both of you go upstairs, and play with your toys. "

"Make us!" said Jimmy.

"I will." she replied calmly. "Because you could play along and stay ten, and play with your game boy and other toys, and grow up soon, or be turned into a mindless baby. Your choice."

I looked at Jimmy who just shook his head. We were defeated.

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We sadly went up the stairs, eating the remains of our cake. I put my plate aside and started to fiddle with the Legos I got for my birthday. I realized this was my life now. No more of my own family. No more girls or coffee. No more dirty jokes or any of my friends. I would just be stuck as a little kid for years. I would even have to go through puberty again. I felt my arms. Completely smooth, hairless.

"Hey Alex?" said Jimmy. "Help me with this word?" he was reading one of the harry potter books.

"it says... Ca...cau.........carden? Cauldron. That’s it." I said, surprised it took so long to figure that out.

The Legos in my hands suddenly seemed complicated. They wouldn’t fit together very well. Must be defective, I thought.

"Help me with this word too?" said Jimmy.

I looked again. "D....Da....." I couldn’t read any of these words! They all looked like gibberish all of a sudden.

Jimmy looked at me. His eyes widened. "No.... she didn’t..."

Our Spiderman pajamas disappeared. All that was on us was underwear, which turned into tighty whities. The playstation turned into a plastic potty and our gameboys turned into toy cars. The posters of superheroes on our walls turned into Spongebob and Sesame street. The remote control tractor we had just gotten for our birthday turned into a nightlight. All of the toys and games we got turned into stuffed animals.

" This is bad" I said, my voice lisping. "We gotta get- outta here immediately."

"What’s... ’Mediately?" said Jimmy.

"Jimmy, how old are you?" I said. He held up five fingers. "This many!"

"Dammit" I said. My book bag turned into a single ’I learn to read’ book. My art diagram turned into a scribble. I ran downstairs.

I found the spice can on the counter and read it. Inside there was a piece of paper that read: ’Alex and Jimmy are only five years of age’

Finally, the physical changes began. My height plunged to less than four feet, and my hair turned blond. My arms lost the lank they gained when I was ten, and became chubby and short. My stomach bulged out from my underwear and my cheeks grew fat and rosy. My front teeth receded into my mouth, and the rest of my teeth left and were replaced with mostly smaller teeth. sat down on the ground in my undies.

"Mommy?" I said, confused. "Why’d that happ’n?"

"I’m sorry honey..." she said, walking in the room. "But you needed to be subdued. This should keep you a lovely little kinder gardener instead of a mean old teenager."

"But-." suddenly, my mind started to drain. I stopped trying to remember my old life, because I knew I couldn’t fight it. I looked at the can.

EXPIRATION DATE: 10/29/2012

I hoped to god that that would mean something, and mommy tucked me into bed. I love mommy.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

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