Michelle Rosen kicked off her heels as she entered her apartment.  She was exhausted; she was a writer for a large advertising firm in Chicago but she also knew that she wouldn’t get any rest either. Her sister was already heading her way from the kitchen.
“Hey Michelle; How was your day?” Rachel asked with a great amount of enthusiasm.
“It was fine…just long” Michelle replied with a weary smile “How was yours?”
“Um…okay I guess” Rachel paused and looked down “Can you help me with my homework?”
“Ugh…is it math? You know I suck at math; even 4th grade math” Michelle said as she walked past her little sister and into the kitchen “But yes, you know I’ll help.”
“Thanks” Rachel said back and ran to get her backpack by the front door.
As Michelle pulled a Diet Coke from the fridge she thought “How did I get here? I knew I didn’t want kids and then Mom had to go a get herself killed and now I have custody of my almost 10 year old half-sister. I don’t want to do homework every night. I don’t want this responsibility” she thought selfishly. “I’m turning 30 tomorrow…I should have a life; not sitting at home all the time watching her.”
“So…it’s like pre-algebra and stuff…” Rachel said as Michelle barely paid attention. She found that as long as she sat there and asked questions back, Rachel usually figured out the answers herself, so she sat at their table and went through her routine.
After homework and dinner Rachel got up and went to the cupboard. “Since we share a birthday tomorrow and we are exactly twenty years apart…I thought I’d surprise you with a cake”
Michelle saw the small chocolate cake in her sister’s arms “Aw…that’s so sweet Rach! You didn’t have to do that”
“No. You’ve sacrificed a lot to take me in and I thank you for it every day. I wish I could do more to help you…but instead, I got us cake” she smiled a wide smile.
Michelle rubbed Rachel’s thin blond hair as she walked to a different cupboard. She crouched down “I think I even have a few candles around here” She rooted through the cupboard and then a drawer. She flipped her long brown hair back thinking how mature her sister was before finding the candles.  “Hey there’s four in here…perfect.”
She put three in front of her and one in front of Rachel: she lit them and said “Make a wish”
Rachel closed her eyes and thought “I wish I could do something for Michelle…whatever she wishes for: I wish it would come true”
Michelle closed her eyes and thought “I wish I didn’t have all this responsibility” and they blew out their candles.
Michelle opened her eyes and smiled at Rachel. Rachel looked up and said “So what did you wish for?”
“I can’t say or it won’t come true” she replied and looked down “Huh” she said.
“What?”
“Well” Michelle said looking at the cake “I thought I put the one candle in front of you”
Rachel looked down and saw that there were three candles in front of her and only one in front of her big sister. “That’s weird; I thought you did too”
“Well I guess it’s nothing to worry about. Let’s…” Michelle started to say but stopped: Something was wrong, but she couldn’t place it other than a general weird feeling that passed over her.
Rachel looked up when her sister stopped talking suddenly “What is it?” she asked. She saw her sisters’ brow furrow down and saw that she was frowning deeply.
Michelle looked over at her sister; their eyes met and Michelle said “I’m so sorry I’m so selfish” and then she began to shrink.
Rachel looked confused at her sister and said “What are you…whoa!” as she began to grow taller. She rose up steadily and easily, her clothes quickly growing tight on her rapidly expanding frame. She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She looked down and saw the table getting farther away from her, she heard and felt her shirt rip across her shoulders and down her back. She took a step back and saw her pants rising up her calves from the tops of her feet until they became tight just below her knees. Her button on her jeans popped and her zipper ran down to allow for her expanding hips and waist; but the seat of her jeans tore out. Her shirt flapped around her front, which at least covered her growing breasts. Her hair came down longer and fell over her shoulders. She felt tingling in her face. She brought her hands up to her face and caught sight of her now manicured nails. “Michelle” she yelled in a husky voice “What’s going…” the words stopped dead in her mouth when she saw her sister.
Michelle had felt a compulsion to apologize and she had said the first thing that came to her mind but the next thing that came to mind was “Holy shit I’m getting smaller!” It felt like she was on an elevator that was going down. She felt her shoulders pull in and her back tighten up. She felt her breasts retreat into her body and she felt her body lose mass everywhere. Her hips came in, her butt flattened out, her thighs shrank and her arms whittled down to twigs. Her blue blouse was flapping against her; her tiny hands barely poking out. She flapped her arms, but when she did, her black skirt gave up its’ precarious hold and dropped to the floor, exposing her skinny legs. She worked her right hand out and flipped her thin brown hair out of her eyes before it ran down her numb cheek. She looked across the table and let out a scream “AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
Rachel was looking down at her big sister in awe when the scream jolted her to life. “No! Don’t scream!” she yelled and dove across the table clamping her hand over Michelle’s mouth. Michelle continued to scream but the hand muffled it enough to not alert the neighbors.
Michelle’s eyes darted up and down, scanning her sister’s body, now towering over her and easily holding her still.
Rachel’s hand was locked over Michelle’s mouth and her other hand grasped her now skinny upper arm so she couldn’t get away. Rachel’s mind raced trying to make sense of the situation now. Somehow, her 30 year old sister looked like a kid her age and she had just busted out of her clothes “I wonder what the hell just happened” she thought quickly “Am I the adult and Michelle’s now the kid? Did we somehow switch ages? What do I look like?”
“Quiet” Rachel said. “You have to be quiet” she tried to be as calm as possible. Michelle was just shaking her head back and forth violently. Rachel finally let go of her mouth and arm.
“NO” Michelle yelled in a child’s voice. “No! You can’t be bigger than me!” she took a step back but her feet caught the downed skirt and she stumbled backwards out of it.
Rachel took a step towards Michelle.
“No” Michelle yelled “Stay away from me! What did you do to me?!”
Rachel put her hand out “Calm, calm down Michelle. I didn’t do anything to you. I don’t even know what just happened…”
“How did you get so big?!” Michelle yelled at her sister.
“I…” Rachel stammered.
“And why am I so small!? What happened to me? Why do I sound like a little kid?!” Michelle patted at herself flipping her arms wildly to get her hands clear. She hit her flat chest “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”
Rachel lunged at Michelle when she started to scream again. Her hand clamped over her open mouth once more and they both fell to the floor. Rachel pulled her sister tight against her side. And she not only wrapped her arm around her, but she also swung her leg up over her to pin her down. Rachel was somewhat surprised at how heavy her leg felt and how easily it pinned Michelle down. She looked at her leg, her thigh strained against the denim fabric and as she flexed her leg against the struggling girl, the seam gave way, revealing the skin beneath.
Once the rip started, it ran the whole length of her thigh down to her knee, leaving a gaping hole down the side. As Michelle struggled, Rachel held her tight and a shock ran through her as she realized that she had breasts that were being pressed against and smushed down as Michelle struggled to get free.
“Look” Rachel said through gritted teeth. “You cannot scream again. Some body will call the cops and then what are we going to do?”
Michelle went limp and stopped screaming. She turned her face up to Rachel’s, but at the sight, she started to cry.
“But I don’t…don’t understand” Michelle managed as tears rolled down her round cheeks.
Rachel let her go and sat up. She shrugged her shoulders and clutched at her torn shirt.
Michelle bounced up with the speed only a kid can achieve and darted down the hall into her bedroom. When Rachel heard another scream starting to bubble up from down there as Michelle started to hitch in her crying; she rolled to her knees and got up as fast as she could, struggling against her body and ran down the hall.
Rachel skidded to a stop at the doorway though. Michelle was just a few steps away, staring into the mirror on her closet door. She was shaking and trembling. All Rachel saw in the mirror was a scared little girl. Rachel took a cautious step into the room. When she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror along with her sister; she gasped.
Rachel’s hands went to her mouth at the sight in the mirror. Standing there were a young girl and a woman, but it was her big sister who was the girl and she was the woman. She looked at herself in shock. Her strawberry blond hair had darkened to a dark blond and looked much thicker. Her facial features were those of a mature woman; wide expressive green eyes, full lips and nose, defined cheek bones. Her red shirt was barely hanging on; her sleeves were ripped and only the waistband and collar had held in the back but her breasts still pushed against the front of the shirt. Her jeans were open in the front and torn in the back with a side gap on the right; while they were pulled taut just below her knees. Her eyes went to her feet, where her pedicured toes looked much bigger than before. She had no idea how tall she was now, but she did know that her sister barely came up to her shoulder now. “Mi…Michelle?” she said shakily.
Michelle thought she was going to pass out. What she saw in the mirror before her horrified her. It was her 4th grade picture, but it was her and it was real. She couldn’t stop crying. Her long brown hair was now pin straight and thin again. Her brown eyes were huge on her face conveying pure fear. Her nose was tiny, her lips thin and her cheeks were round. Her blouse fit her like a large dress that went down past her thighs. She was swimming in the garment. Her bra had slipped but was still on her right shoulder but the cups were empty as her patting had confirmed. She looked down at her tiny feet at the bottom of her stick like legs. She had jumped when Rachel joined her at the mirror; shocked at how her little sister looked now. She looked so big to her now, so grown up. Somehow her little sister had the body of an adult and she had the body of a kid. She was simply so confused that when she heard her sister’s deep voice saying her name; it didn’t even register for a moment. Then she turned and looked up into Rachel’s eyes.
“Yeah…” was all she managed through her hiccups
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked cautiously.
“Do I look okay to you?” Michelle said crossing her arms.
“Um…I just meant…” Rachel fumbled for words “What just happened to us?”
Michelle looked down and sighed “It can’t be. It just can’t be”
“What?”
“Well” Michelle looked up nervously “When we…I mean, when I made my wish…”
“What did you wish for?” Rachel asked slowly.
“Um…don’t get mad at me; it was just a stupid birthday wish and I never had one come true so…I…I wished that I didn’t have all this responsibility in my life.”
Rachel just looked around.
“What did you wish for?” Michelle asked her.
Rachel looked down at her sister “I wished that whatever you wished for would come true.”
“So…to get rid of the responsibility…I got turned into a kid…” Michelle asked in an odd questioning tone.
“And since someone needed to be responsible for a kid: I got turned into an adult.” Rachel finished for her.
“I can’t be an adult” Rachel said “I don’t know how to be an adult!”
“Well I can’t be 10 again. I can’t go back to the 4th grade either!” Michelle said in reply. “I don’t want to go through school all over again. I already went through school!”
“Oh! And you think I want to be 30 now?” Rachel replied “I don’t get to grow up and learn how to be a grown up. No:  I just skip 20 years of my life.” In frustration, Rachel reached down and grabbed the two sides of the rip going down her thigh and pulled as hard as she could. The fabric easily gave way and her whole right leg was now out with her old frayed jeans in tatters against her. “I look like the freakin Incredible Hulk”
Michelle just stared at the other closet door, which was open. She saw her clothes hanging; clothes that wouldn’t fit her any more. Without a word, she turned and walked out of the room, flipping her shirt off over her head and heading into Rachel’s old room.
Rachel heard dresser drawers opening and realized that Michelle was putting on clothes that would fit her, so she decided to do the same.  Wiggling and writhing her way out of the jeans and torn t shirt, she grabbed a pair of baggy black basketball shorts and a white tank top out of the closest drawer. Michelle emerged from her room in plaid lounge pants and a plain orange t shirt.
Rachel went right back into the kitchen and grabbed the lighter. She lit the candles on the cake again and Michelle joined her. “Make a wish” Rachel said. They closed their eyes, made a wish and blew out the candles: Nothing.
They tried this several times; nothing worked and they both simply got more and more frustrated. Finally Michelle said “We’re fucked”
One year later…
Rachel Brown kicked off her heels as she entered into her apartment. It had been one year since she and her sister Michelle had traded ages with each other. Somehow they had managed to pull through the past year. Michelle had put in for a personal leave of absence from her job and applied for a transfer to another branch of her corporation In Dallas. They had pulled Rachel out of school since there was only a week left in the year anyway; explaining that there was a family emergency. After weeks of coaching and knowing that in Dallas she could work from home most of the time, Rachel had assumed Michelle’s identity and job and Michelle had gone to school as Rachel that year in Texas. No one knew them there.
When Rachel came into the apartment, her little sister Michelle was already coming towards her. “Hey Rachel; how was your day?” she asked her.
With a weary smile; and seeing that Michelle was wearing one of Rachel’s t-shirts and shorts; Rachel responded “It was fine; how was yours?”
“It was good” she said with an eager smile “Do you know what today is?”
Rachel sat down on the couch and rubbed her right foot, “I do indeed” she said and smiled at Michelle.
“So: I’ve been thinking and I know we’ve talked about this and even though you seem to think that we’re stuck like this; I figured what the heck…come here” she said grabbing Rachel’s hand and getting her off the couch.
Michelle led Rachel into the kitchen where a small chocolate cake sat in the middle of the table with three candles on one side and one on the other. “We have to try Rach; we have to” Michelle said.
Rachel’s heart raced at the prospect. Part of her wanted to go back, but deep down she had to admit to herself, part of her wanted to stay. “If it worked once…maybe it will work again” she thought to herself.
“Okay” she said with a nod and a glance across the table into her sister’s brown eyes.
“I’m tired of being a kid” Michelle said “I want to go back to being an adult: Please Rachel…you’ve gotta help me.”
“I will” Rachel said.
Michelle lit the candles…one in front of her and three in front of Rachel.
Michelle closed her eyes and thought “I wish I was an adult again and Rachel was a kid again…and I had the responsibility again”
Rachel closed her eyes and thought “I wish whatever Michelle wishes comes true”
They blew out the candles and opened their eyes.
“Oh No!” Michelle cried “The cake…it didn’t switch!”
Rachel looked down and saw that the three candles were still in front of her; she sighed and went to say something to her sister but Michelle had started to cry “I don’t want to be a kid anymore”
Then it hit Rachel “Wait…light the candles again”
Michelle looked up “Um…okay”
Rachel winked at her sister…”It just hit me what I think I need to say…and I didn’t try this last year!”
The candles glowed before them. Rachel closed her eyes and thought “I wish I didn’t have all this responsibility”
Michelle closed her eyes and thought “I wish I could do something for Rachel: whatever she wishes for; I wish it comes true”
They blew out the candles and opened their eyes. The candles remained in place. “NO!” Michelle yelled “This has to work; it has to…” she trailed off “Rachel?” she asked suddenly puzzled.
Rachel looked at Michelle; she was looking down at the table. Rachel furrowed her brow then a slight smile passed over her lips and she nodded her head. Rachel began to shrink.
Michelle looked at her sister and said “What are you smiling about?” then she looked down at the table. Not only were there now three candles in front of her, but the table was getting farther away from her eyes. Michelle was growing. She grew quickly and steadily taller. The smile spread across Michelle’s changing face; taking her from a childish face back to her adult face. Her eyes narrowed, her nose grew, her cheeks thinned and her lips filled in. Her brown hair grew darker and fuller and settled onto her shoulders.
Michelle’s body quickly regained its’ former curves and stature. She felt her legs growing longer and getting fuller; her shorts riding up to her knees and then actually fitting her again as she recovered her hips and ass. Her arms filled the sleeves of the shirt and she filled out the shirt as her breasts grew out and became full on her widening chest. “Rachel! its working!” she yelled out in her old deep voice. “Rachel?” she added “Are you okay?”
Rachel had dropped in height and size rapidly. Her tan skirt had almost immediately fallen to the ground, swallowing up her shrinking feet in the fabric. Her legs contracted into her previously skinny legs and her hips came inward taking her rear with it. Her chest shrank back to nothing and her arms got skinny again and now it was her wearing a big green blouse like a dress, billowing against her small body with the useless bra beneath it.
Her hair got shorter and stringy and turned several shades lighter as her face became childlike again. She was holding her right hand out, staring at the sleeve covering her hand when she heard her sister’s voice ask her if she was okay. Despite the shock at going back to being a kid again, she looked across the table and up to Michelle “It sure feels good to look up to you again…big sis” she said in her higher voice.