Crystalline

Chapter 3
10:15 AM

Chapter Description: Intervals.

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Interval. He had set the interval to five minutes, not the time! Every five minutes, he was going to regress back, younger and younger! He had to get that watch back from Miranda!

His mind raced as he tried to figure out the rest of the watch. What did “MO” stand for? Minutes On? Minutes Operating? No, those didn’t make sense. It was getting harder to think, he realized. He felt so stupid. He felt his hormones racing and his emotions felt out of control.

He held back tears as he watched the pitiful patches of chest hair and leg hair recede into his skin, leaving it smooth. His shoulders became less broad and he sunk even lower, barely coming up to Miranda’s shoulders and hardly up to Jennifer’s chest. He caught a glimpse of himself in the Plexiglas reflection off of one of the analyzers nearby. He hadn’t seen himself look like this since he was ten. Down he went, onto his knees.

He shrank lower and lower, feeling around in his mouth with his tongue as his adult teeth receded back into his gums to be replaced by baby teeth. He felt like he should scream, but couldn’t muster the courage. He felt pathetic and his naked legs brushed against the concrete floor, chilling his tiny body.

Baby fat swelled up in his legs and arms, making him pudgier and pudgier, softer and softer. His hair became wispier and lightened as the follicles pulled back into his scalp.

“Hey, Miranda!” Jennifer called, staring at the now 5 year old Ben who stood draped in only a comically oversized men’s t-shirt in the middle of the lab.

“Oh my god!” she said, placing the pocketwatch on the lab bench and bending over, hands on her knees to get a closer look at the pudgy pre-schooler that squatted half-nude in front of her.

Ben felt so exposed, so completely naked in front of his colleague. Could he even call her that anymore? She could have been his baby sitter. Someone who once had been the same age as him now was nearly 23 years his senior.

Then it hit him like a strike of lightning that ran chills down his spine.

Months. It stood for months. There was no doubt in his mind. He had set it to ten months, not ten hours, as he had thought. He felt the pit of his stomach drop and he felt weightless next to the gravity of the situation.

He was going to become ten months old.