Losing Weight

Chapter 3
Losing Weight(Chapter 3)

Chapter Description: As the AR-drug runs its course, the effects become harder to overlook, though the testers are pretty preoccupied.

Losing Weight(Chapter 3)

As the AR-drug runs its course, the effects become harder to overlook, though the testers are pretty preoccupied.

 ***

 It was 6 am, when Dr. Barrow and Dr. Wilson sat down in the lab to check the surveillance cameras of the rooms and the sensors build in into the testers clothing, to see if anything noteworthy had happened during the night. They then entered the data into the charts and were about to discuss the day’s schedule, when an unexpected E-Mail from the central reached them.

„They can’t mean it!” Dr. Barrow said unbelieving. „Sam, this makes no sense.”

„They want to wind up the operation here so they can concentrate on releasing the drug officially as soon as possible,” Dr. Wilson interpreted it. „They don’t want to lose more money in research which has no value for them.”

„The building is rented for another year and the equipment, too. Another month won’t cost them more than our pay-checks,” Dr. Barrow pointed out.

Sam shrugged. „Maybe they view the risk of someone finding out about our experiments as too big now. Andrea you knew that this might be coming.”

Dr. Barrow suddenly felt very cold.

„What about the three new testers?” She asked.

„You saw the video. The changes have gone too far already,” Sam told her. „The memory loss has set in.”

„If we progressed them to their original age again the memories might still stabilize,” Andrea said. „You know Andrew’s results.”

„There is no way all their memories of the last four years are still complete. Even if. Let us forget the regenerating teeth and the weight loss for a moment. What about Mrs. Gomez’s leg and hip?” Her colleague reminded her of what she knew all too well. „You saw the video. She noticed the healing of her injuries and you can bet her doctor will do so, too, after one look at her. Once we release the drug officially, someone will put two and two together and once they do, we will all wander into jail.”

„Terminate the test immediately and proceed with the test subjects as usual,” Andrea cited the e-mail. „Do they remember for one second what this means?”

„They would have ended in the adoption system no matter what,” Sam argued. „Mrs. Gomez will grow up again with a healthy leg, Mrs. Carter without the emotional trauma and Mr. Lubowsky might end up playing football again, maybe even with a career. We have done this to people who gained less from it. Remember these base-jumpers?”

„We ultimately learned how to control the process due to them. These three’s sacrifice is just wasted.”

For a moment both were silent.

„We might interpret the order a bit,” Sam said reluctantly. „We will have quite a work with the other subjects and preparing stuff. Let us go down to twenty today. The age of Mrs. Gomez accident. We concentrate on her and Mrs. Carter from now on and make the tests we had planned later. For Mr. Lubowsky it is only the medical data. He has already shown a loss and dilution of memories. We have enough of it to not really need him. Tomorrow it is then all the way down. I can’t see another way for it to work.”

„I neither,” Andrea admitted, looking at Sally, the rat just trying the running wheel again. „But it still seems like a waste.”

„Hey, remember all the good our research will bring. We opened the door. Progress will be slower than we hoped, but it will ultimately be made,” Sam replied with a smile and rose. „I will inform the rest of the staff.”

Andrea nodded and watched her colleague go, before clicking on her laptop and opening the stream of the cameras in the room of the testers, where they all still slept peacefully.

 ***

 Anton looked at the clock over the entrance of the cafeteria showing 8:12 am. Dr. Robinson had told him during his daily measuring that training would begin later today, still he felt already weary of waiting. He wanted to see this day’s progress, he wanted to see how much weight he would drop today and just right now he wanted the shot to stop the feeling of hunger. All in all, though, he realized he didn’t feel as hungry as he normally did in the morning.

„Good morning,” Christine greeted him, as she arrived.

„Good morning, too,” Anton greeted her, noticing that she used her cane again, but didn’t prop as heavily on it as yesterday morning. „How is your leg?”

„I think I overburdened it yesterday,” she admitted, sitting down. „Today I will gear down a bit.”

„We still have more than a week ahead of us,” Anton agreed. „Have you asked the doctors?”

Christine looked at him surprised.

„About what sort of test it is,” he clarified.

Christine shook her head. „They had too many questions.”

„They had non for me today,” Anton noticed surprised.

„Maybe they forgot or had no time left. They seemed somewhat stressed.”

Anton nodded, though he hadn’t noticed such. Of course, there was another explanation. Maybe they skipped it, because he hadn’t taken it seriously when Dr. Anderson had asked him the last time. This bothered him a bit. He had not meant to be annoying or anything and the results of this drug had been fabulous already. People skills. He should really train them.

A few minutes later the doctors arrived together with Michelle. Anton wanted to excuse to Dr. Anderson for his words yesterday, but then he noticed the tension behind the smiles of the doctors as Christine had described and stayed silent when he got his shot. He could feel the drug’s effect almost at once. His hunger died off and he felt his energy surging as if he had just drunk coffee mixed with an energy drink, or some sort of illegal drug he had always stayed away from.

The training felt good and not just for Anton, but his fellow testers had obviously fun, too. Michelle laughed once in a while throwing the medicine ball to him, while Christine let her cane rest on the wall of the training room they did their first exercises in. She even joined them climbing the ladders on the wall, though she made a sour face when touching ground again. They continued pumping iron, which Anton felt he could have continued until nightfall. The height of this training session was when he actually reached his toes with his fingertips during this exercise, while Michelle and Christine still missed it by a bit.

One day more and they make it, too, Anton thought, until seeing Christine missing it by centimetres. Or an hour.

The end of the training session came too soon for Anton, who wanted to test the new limits of his body, so he was even more disappointed, when Dr. Robinson addressed them.

„Today we will not have a second session but a larger check-up,” she explained. „We begin with Mrs Gomez, then Miss Carter.”

„Can I run a few rounds after giving the blood samples?” Anton asked. „I don’t want to disturb the test results, but I really feel like it would do me good.”

„No problem,” Dr. Robinson assured him. „Just don’t stress yourself too much.”

„Sure!”

The three testers walked to the elevator and it was only when they waited on it to arrive, that Anton realized that Christine had left her cane behind. For a moment he considered reminding her, but then decided against it. She had not limped and showed no sign of pain, a fact she may not even have noticed, so why not allow her to find it out herself? Reminding her might even cause both to reappear as muscle- and pain-memory sometimes did.

„Something to look at?” Christine asked, having noticed him looking at her.

„No,” Anton stammered. „I mean yes... I mean...”

Christine laughed and Michelle joined in. Anton felt his cheeks getting hot.

„Your training suit is loose,” he tried to save his dignity with, while they entered.

Christine pulled on her sweater, revealing much empty space. She didn’t look obese any more, overweighed sure, but not more than many people. This, along with the tighter skin, the lack of cane and the shine in her eyes made her so different from the woman Anton had first met three days ago, that he didn’t think he would have recognised her hadn’t they stayed together. Michelle, too, had changed aside from her body. Her face showed an optimism she had been far off from when they first met. It made her look younger.

***

 Anton took a long, refreshing shower, enjoying his newfound flexibility by going over parts of his back he hadn’t been able to reach in many years. After rubbing himself dry, he stepped on the scale, smiling when the result showed little over two hundred pounds. If it continued this way there wouldn’t be any weight left for him to lose at the end of the week!

He threw a look in the mirror, noticing his second chin had vanished and the one left seemed didn’t look too far from optimal. Before he could examine his body closer, someone knocked on the door. Guessing it had to be Dr. Anderson, Anton just put a towel around his hip as he went to open it.

Anton opened the door, finding Dr. Robinson instead of her male colleague standing in front of him. Self-consciously he grabbed his towel tighter.

“No reason to be embarrassed,” she told him reassuringly. “I see as much during your checkups.”

“Uh, sure,” Anton replied, trying to sound relaxed and failing. “Still, would you give me a minute?”

Dr. Robinson nodded and Anton closed the door in front of her, cursing under his breath while searching the closet for clothes. He settled for underwear, shirt and sweatpants which nearly fit. Briefly he thought about combing his hair, but only went through them with his fingers, before opening the door again.

“Come in please,” he led Dr. Robinson in.

The woman smiled and they sat down at the table, where she began unpacking the syringe.

“Feeling well?” She asked.

“Sure,” Anton replied, wincing a bit as the needle punctuated his skin. “I’m not sure, but I feel I have more energy than yesterday.”

“You lost more weight, so your body needs less energy to move,” Dr. Robinson replied, as the syringe filled with blood. “What are your plans now?”

Anton stumbled. She had asked this question before, but unlike yesterday he wouldn’t react defiantly.

“Running some rounds,” he said, thinking she referred to his plans for the day. “I would love to throw some balls … footballs, but I don’t think there is a field nearby.”

“Sadly no,” the doctor admitted, putting the syringe away and pressing a piece of mull over the punctuation. “But you might still do really good in the college football team.”

“Sure,” Anton replied smiling, thinking she made a joke. “I will train hard to get admitted.”

Dr. Robinson returned the smile and stood up.

“Have fun.”

 ***

 Anton did have fun during the first ten minutes running around in circles without really tiring. After a few more minutes though it began to grow boring and he thought about what he could do else. Lifting weights sounded like a good way to burn energy, this meant if he could make one of the staff to unlock the training room. It was then when he noticed a man standing near the entrance watching him.

„Hello I’m James Allwood,” he greeted Anton. „Mr. Lubowsky?”

„Yes?”

Allwood showed him a football. „The doctor said there were no more tests for you, but she also mentioned you wanted to throw some balls.”

„Always!” Anton replied enthusiastically.

They started slowly, but quickly increased the speed. Then they continued with one trying to run past the other, while holding the ball. Anton had the greatest time. Even when he felt the drug finally wearing off, he felt he had enough energy to continue this the whole day. Once he even nearly lost his sweatpants when James tried to hold him. It only ended when it became a bit darker and James looked at his watch.

„Sorry, but I have to finish it for today,” the other man said.

„Sure. I guess I am done for today, too,” Anton replied, breathing heavily but smiling. „Care to repeat it tomorrow the same time?”

„Uh... clear.”

They walked into the building.

„Which doctor gave you the tip?” Anton asked.

„Uh... the woman?”

„Dr. Robinson?”

„Yeah!” James confirmed. „I’m bad with names and haven’t really been around for long.”

„No problem,” Anton assured him, not wanting to embarrass him. „Do you think we can get a a drink in the cafeteria?”

„Sure,” James replied relieved, seemingly being thirsty, too.

„James!”

They looked around to see it was the receptionist calling them.

„George searched you to help him move the cribs,” the other man said.

„Cribs?” Anton asked surprised.

„Yeah, we have a lot of old stuff in the cellar,” James explained quickly. „From before ... Sorry man, I have to go.”

„No problem. I didn’t want to bring you into trouble,” Anton assured him. „Until tomorrow.”

James nodded, went into the direction of the stairs and stopped a few meters away to turn and throw the football to Anton who caught it easily.

„For you man,” James said with a weak smile. „Think you will be a great footballer someday.”

This left Anton a bit perplexed, but since the other man already entered the stairway, he shrugged it off and walked to the cafeteria, throwing the ball as he did so.

***

 Later that day Anton said on his bed, watching X-Men 2. In a way he could relate to them. Right now, he felt special, too. After he had showered again, he had had enough time to throw a good look in the large bathroom mirror. To his complete amazement he now looked more than thinner, he looked well trained, with visible biceps and a lean stomach. This made him look younger, too, more like a well-trained college version of himself than anything else.

Could this be the effect of not just his fat removed, but the cells of his body getting repaired, like it did with Christine’s leg? Anton didn’t know, but he guessed he would have much trouble convincing his colleagues at work that it was really him. Even he had problems of recognizing himself in the mirror.

Someone knocked.

Being wary of repeating his earlier experience, Anton pulled his trouser and sweatshirt straight before opening. It turned out to be Christine, who too looked like a different person, standing in front of him in a bathrobe which hid the curves of her body.

„Anton,” she said after a moment of hesitation. „Can I come in.”

„Christine hello,” Anton greeted her, letting her pass and closing the door behind her. „I was wondering where you two where during dinner.”

„Oh, they made us go through so many tests,” Christine revealed, obviously bored. „Alone sitting still in this tube and answering questions, then these math tests.”

„Math tests?”

„Let’s not talk about it!” She insisted, looking at him with deep brown eyes. „I have a question for you.”

She looks younger than 25!, Anton thought.

„Sure,” he said. „Shoot it.”

„Am I beautiful?”

With this Christine dropped her bathrobe and revealed her naked body – her lean, well-formed naked body – beneath it. A flat stomach under firm breasts, slender hips without any sign of a scar going over into perfect long legs. Between them soft short hair hid something which made Anton nearly forget to breath.

„I ...”

„Just fill it,” Christine replied and pressed her lips against his.

Slowly but firmly she led him to the bed. Anton let it happen, all thoughts quickly being evaporated by hot lust and satisfaction.

In the background Professor Xavier threatened Wolverine to make him believe he was a six-year-old girl if he didn’t stop smoking in Cerebro.

 ***

 „Okay here we stop,” Dr. Barrow insisted, switching of the window of the desktop which showed how Anton and Christine just landed on the bed. „We are scientists not peeping Toms, Sam.”

„Andrea you are a saint. Though some might argue we already looked much deeper than that,” Dr. Wilson replied, looking mildly disappointed while writing something on his notepad. „Speaking of: Your final edict on Mrs. Gomez’s state of mind?”

„Mental and physical status is that of a woman around 20. This is the age she believes herself to be,” Dr. Barrow concluded. „She clearly remembers her accident and many of the physical rehabilitation in the following years, but only when pressed. This should make her realize that she is at last 21, but she hasn’t come to this conclusion when questioned. She just seems to disconnect the knowledge from her self-image. Also, she believes this to be sort of rehab not a facility to lose weight. She doesn't even remember being overweighed. As with others she remembers the current year, but makes no connection with her current age. She shows awareness of some of the current world affairs and topic in the news, maybe because she heard of it during the last week, though outdated knowledge sometimes creeps in. Like who is president. She connects all this to form a fluid picture of herself and the world around her, easily readjusted to fit the situation and unaware of contradictions. If we enrolled her in a college and signed her up in a dorm, she would have no problem fitting in, as long as no one presses her too much about her past. Her knowledge or the present would simply stabilize without her noticing something strange. As seen in former test subjects, she will soon even loose every memory of herself past her current age as they get overridden.”

Dr. Wilson nodded while making notes. „Conclusion?”

„The pain of the accident is a barrier of her past which makes it uncomfortable for her to remember it,” his colleague noticed, throwing a look at Susanne’s cane resting at the wall near the door. „But at the same time, it helped these memories to stay, so strong emotional connections can help the individual to remember. In future therapy having persons remember emotionally strong episodes of the past might help them a lot retaining larger parts of their memory.”

„Agreed,” Dr. Wilson concluded. „Mrs. Carter?”

„Her emotional trauma makes her show the opposite effect,” Dr. Barrow concluded. „While physically 20, her mind rather shows the maturity of a 15-year-old if not younger. It could be that she sub-consciously pushes every traumatic memory away, which makes them getting erased faster, but it could also be they are somehow biological marked as some sort of wounds in her brain and the serum heals them as he did Mrs. Gomez’s leg and hip. Our scans seem to proof this. She only remembers working as a cashier when pressed and even the memories of herself younger than 16 are heavily inaccurate. Not just she thinks she owned a smart phone years before it was even invented, she also remembers liking songs which came out last year.”

Dr. Barrow threw a look at Michelle sitting in her room watching MTV and singing along with it.

„Most striking is that not just anything after 20, but before this seems to have become form-able to a much greater degree than in Mrs. Gomez. You saw it when we made the test with the pictures of their homes. While Mrs. Gomez still remembers where she lives despite having moved in at 27, Mrs. Carter not only forgot the apartment where she moved in with 25, she also had problems remembering where she lived with 17 before moving.”

„She actually pointed to the better-looking houses,” Dr. Wilson agreed. „It is as if her mind actively repressed things which are associated with pain and she subconsciously builds herself her own – better – life-story.”

„Yes!” Dr. Barrow exclaimed. „At the slightest hint she begins remembering being on parties with other teenagers and having fun, something which according to our data never happened. Her brain puts these things together. Maybe from images she saw in TV or of things she imagined to have happened. I believe at this stage we could build her a complete new past and she would believe it, forgetting everything else except maybe for her name and even this we could try out.”

„Which is interesting from a psychological point of view,” her colleague admitted. „But which doesn’t help us in actually retaining memories.”

Dr. Barrow winced. He was right of course. A meter away Sally the rat made eager use of her running wheel.

„Let us end this for today,” Dr. Wilson suggested. „Tomorrow will be a long day.”

„You are still with me in regressing them to ten first?”

Dr. Wilson nodded, stretching himself.

„As long as we complete the process at the end of the day. I’m curious to see, how much Gomez retains of her memory, too,” he admitted. „Maybe we can get some sort of mechanism for memory preservation out of it, after all. If we get the markers which identify the important memories in the brain and use them on all of them there might be some positive results.”

Except there won’t be any tests without test-subjects, Dr. Barrow thought.

Conflicted she threw a last look at her monitor and discovered Michelle gone from her bed. Briefly she thought about looking for her, but probably the girl was only using the bathroom. Dr. Barrow decided to leave the tester her privacy and shut down the computer. After all this time tomorrow Michelle would already sit safely in her crib, probably playing with some plush toys and not caring for the toilet at all.

„As for scientific curiosity,” Dr. Wilson noticed as they walked out. „Do you think Mr. Lubowsky notices Mrs. Gomez has become a virgin again?”

His colleague hit him on the arm.

 ***

 Lying on his bed besides Christine, Anton felt happy for his newfound constitution or else he wouldn’t have lasted half through the ride. He still couldn’t believe his luck. Would it last? He didn’t know and didn’t want to ruin the moment with such questions. Instead he looked at this beautiful woman who sat beside him, naked as he was and watched MTV.

Playfully he caressed the perfect brown skin of her leg. She smiled, despite not looking at him. Maybe they could have another round later. Anton would welcome it, but not force it. Everything was perfect the way it was right now.

It knocked on the door.

„It is me, Michelle,” it came from outside.

„Come in,” Christine called her, before Anton could formulate a reply.

For half a heartbeat Anton looked unbelieving at Christine who grinned at him. Then he wildly looked around for his underpants, finding none while he heard the door opening. He heard steps and then the door closing again and still saw no signs of it, until he discovered Christine holding it in her hand with a wicked smiled. Desperately he grabbed for them, only to have his lover pull them out of his reach, now giggling.

„Hey!” Anton complained.

Christine laughed and threw the underpants besides the bed. Anton jumped after them, fully aware that Michelle by now stood in the room. As quick as he could he put them on and turned around, only to see both women laughing.

„Very funny,” he commented, searching for his sweatpants.

„I didn’t want to disturb you,” Michelle assured them after she had stopped giggling. „I just wanted to show you something I’ve found.”

With this she rose her sweatshirt, revealing a bottle of vodka and in the process also a lean body.

„Wow,” Anton said, happy for the distraction. „Where did you get it from?”

„A storage room,” Michelle revealed, sitting down on the bed and handing the bottle to Christine, while pulling an electronic ID-card out of her pants. „I found this during the tests and just wanted to try it out. They have a lot of stuff behind these doors. Looks sci-fi.”

„Do you have jars?” Christine asked Anton.

„You know this isn’t quite legal,” Anton replied, insecure how the doctor would react to the theft and to them having alcohol in their blood tomorrow.

Michelle shrugged her shoulders and Christine rolled her eyes.

„Oh, I’m so worried about drinking before 21!” The latter joked.

Anton gave in to this obviously ironic joke and took three glasses out of the cupboard, hand two to the women while Christine filled them.

„Party!” Michelle cheered, rising the glass and taking the first slug.

 ***

When the clock rang at 6:30 am, Anton woke to the revelation, that one bottle of vodka had been too much, even for the three of them. Groggy he stumbled into the bathroom and threw water in his face.

I’m not as young as I was, he though, before looking at himself in the mirror. Though I might look like it.

After shaving, Anton dressed up and opened the window a gap, as wide as the security lock allowed to let fresh air in. He didn’t have to wait too long, until Dr. Anderson knocked and fetched him for the way to the examination room Anton already knew too well. Briefly he wondered how Michelle was, whom he and Christine had nearly to carry back to her room, when their party had ended. Before that she had danced with both him and Christine to the sound of MTV, sounding happy and carefree while talking about how much she loved this singer or that band. It was downright creepy how different she was from the woman he first met in the park.

After placing Michelle on her bed, Christine had left for her own room, too, saying she had to cool off. Should he have knocked at her door this morning? Giving his own slightly spinning head, it had probably been more merciful to let her sleep a bit longer.

„You look like you had a long night.” Dr. Anderson commented as they both entered the elevator.

„I and the other talked until morning.” Anton replied, hoping the other man couldn’t smell the alcohol. „I hope I broke no curfew or anything.”

„Nope,” Dr. Anderson said smiling as the doors opened again and he led him along the floor. „Glad you had fun.”

Anton looked after him as he walked to the door with the electronic lock. He could have sworn the man meant more than just the alcohol, though he had no idea how. Shaking his head, Anton entered the room Dr. Robinson was already waiting.

„Mr. Lubowsky,” she greeted him. „Please sit down. How are you, today?”

„Fine,” he lied, seeing no reason to tell her of his slight hangover. „Ready to start with the questions.”

„Good,” Dr. Robinson replied, starting the recorder. „First: Thoughts on your stay here?”

“Best football-training-camp in the world.” Anton joked.

“Good to help you with that,” Dr. Robinson said smiling. “How would you describe your personal life.”

Anton hesitated. What did the doctors know? Did they approve.

“I have something, but I don't know if it lasts,” he tried carefully. “I just hope it doesn't collide with this.”

“Sure not,” Dr. Robinson replied, making some notes. “Partying a lot?”

“More than before,” Anton replied thoughtfully. “Look, is alcohol a problem?”

“We are there rather liberal here. In Europe it isn't a problem, so why here.”

“Good,” Anton noticed, confused of this reference. “I mean uh...”

Dr. Robinson smiled at him, seemingly not surprised of his confusion.

“Well I think it is time for measurement, the blood samples and then we are nearly ready for the training. Sounds good?”

“Yes!”

***

Anton felt this session was the best so far. Not just he wasn't called out for the alcohol, neither giving the blood sample, nor getting the drug had hurt much. Then there was that Dr. Robinson had asked him to bring the football to the session when he had asked her about it. She didn't seem to want to get it back, or give it to James – at last for now – but let the training start outside with him, Christine and Michelle throwing the football between themselves.

This already seemed great, but then Christine whispered something to Dr. Robinson who nodded with a smile and briefly spoke with Dr. Anderson. Anton was left wondering what was going on and fastened his waistband, for a moment surprised that there had even been fat left on him to lose.

“Since you already have trained a bit for yourself why don't you show the others some skills of a high-school professional?” Dr. Anderson asked, taking up the ball and

Anton smiled in response as he fastened his shoelaces which had somehow become loose. Quickly he and the doctor threw some balls for a start, then Anton made his first run and passed Dr. Anderson by a wide margin. The other was slower, but being larger he also had a wider range, which Anton barely managed to pass.

Wasn't he the same height as me?, Anton wondered, going back to his starting position.

He had no time to ponder on this, though, since on the side-line Christine and Michelle made their own exercises, watched by Dr. Robinson. Just now Christine was showing Michelle how to do the split with an ease she never would have dreamed of just two days ago. The other woman followed the instructions, her legs having trouble to do the spread, but managing it in the end.

Concentrating on his own exercise, Anton threw and caught the ball a few more times, before running past Dr. Anderson and repeating the process. It was while he held it, feeling his sweatpants being loose again, that he heard the chanting.

“Go Anton go! One for the team!”

He turned back to women only to discover Christine and Michelle cheering him in unison, waving yellow pom-poms Dr. Robinson had to have provided them. The same looked at them with a smile, giving Anton an encouraging nod.

He didn't need more. Putting more speed into it than ever before, he raced on, straight to Dr. Anderson, who seemed loom in front of him like a giant compared to before. On arm’s length Anton turned a quick corner, jumping past him as he believed to feel the other man's hands a hair's breadth away. Landing he staggered, fell and stumbled in the grass, lying breathlessly on his back, before rising a moment later, holding the football up he had never let loose.

Grinning he saw how Michelle and Christine cheered for him, jumping in the air and losing their shoes in the process, before making the split on the grass. They giggled on this great show of cheerleading, but Anton's smile froze, as he looked at his feet. He, too, had lost his shoes and one sock, also his sweatpants had slipped down half of his legs. Legs which had nearly no hair on them. He touched his face and didn't feel even a hint of a stubble, when by now he should feel something. Looking back at Christine and Michelle he noticed their training sweatshirts were baggy and the bulge where their breast should have been was nearly non-existent. They were oblivious of this though, laughing as they went after their shoes.

They looked like girls having fun. Like children having fun.

“Everything all right?” Dr. Anderson asked, now towering over him.

“No,” Anton said, having a hard time of trying not to flip out. “We are getting younger.”

The man looked surprised at him.

“Sure, the clothes are a bit loose, but...”

“No!” Anton shouted angrily, standing up while desperately trying to hold his sweatpants. “We came here to lose weight, but you made us younger. I am 41 and Christine and Michelle nearly as old and now look at us!”

Desperately he looked around, his eyes falling on Dr. Robinson who looked at him thoughtfully.

“There might have been a problem with the drug,” she confessed.

Anton looked back at the other testers who now looked at him. The confusion in their faces made them seem even younger.

13 at best, he thought, feeling himself suddenly close to crying.

To be continued…