Erica Jenkins staggered into the living room and flopped down hard on the couch with a dramatic sigh.
Her Mom Rose, looked up from her book and smirked. Rose was enjoying a peaceful day off, reading her book in the nice, cool, air conditioned house. She was kicked back in her recliner, her bare feet up, crossed at the ankles. She looked over the top of her reading glasses at her gangly daughter as she squirmed dramatically on the couch.
“So…what’s up?” Rose asked.
“Nuthin…” Erica replied using a puff of air to flip an errant strand of long brown hair out of her face “There’s nothing to do…I’m bored”
“Well you could always do some schoolwork, you know, brush up on those skills during your summer break to stay sharp in math” Rose said.
“HA!” Erica laughed “I don’t think so…and yes you know I’ve been reading. I’ve already finished all the Hunger Games and Lord of the Rings books this summer so don’t give me that”
“You could go outside” Rose said as she flipped her crossed ankles.
“Nope…don’t want to sweat today” Erica replied.
“Is Anna home?” Rose asked referencing her daughter’s best friend.
“Nope…at her Grandma’s today” Erica replied.
Rose sighed “Well then I don’t know what to tell you”
Erica kicked her feet impatiently and stared at the ceiling; then she brought out her cell phone. She sent a few texts but got shot down at every turn. Rose could tell because a sigh accompanied every single reply bing of her phone.
Erica got up, never looking up from her phone as she went to the kitchen. The 12 year old was already taller than her Mom by several inches which was a point of pride for the soon to be teen. She flipped her long brown hair out of her face and shuffled to the kitchen, returning with a Pepsi in her hand.
Rose continued reading, she was in the middle of a really good book and hoped her daughter would find something to occupy her time. She heard Erica tapping away and even heard a few clicks like she was taking pictures but she didn’t look up until she felt Erica coming up closer to her.
“What are you doing honey?” she asked as suddenly Erica was kneeling down next to her chair and leaning up close to her face holding her phone out “I really don’t want my picture taken right now”
“I’m playing with an App Mom…just sit still and look at the camera for a sec okay” Erica said as she mugged slightly for the camera.
Rose politely smiled and cocked her head mimicking her daughter.
“Perfect Mom!” Erica squealed and laughed. Erica clicked a button and reversed the image so they could see themselves in the camera a foot away.
“Hold still Mom” Erica said “Now…swap!” she pushed a button and on the screen their faces swapped.
Rose smiled and laughed “Cool!” she said seeing her face framed by her daughter’s long hair and above her daughter’s tank top. “Look at you!” she added in.
Erica’s face was now on her Mom’s body, framed by her short darker hair and wearing her more conservative top.
Rose reached up and took off her reading glasses “Even better Mom!” Erica said. She stuck out her tongue and gave a bored face a typical teenager would give but on her Mom’s body they both thought it was hilarious.
“That gives me an idea…there’s a lot of other cool stuff this app can do” Erica announced. “Keep your glasses off. I need to take a picture of you” she said. “Smile for the camera…”
Rose held her glasses in her lap as she smiled. Erica took several “Perfect” She handed the phone to her Mom “Now take some of me like that”
Rose did as she was told and Erica approved of the shots “I think this one will work the best” she said picking out her favorite.
Erica hopped up on the arm of the chair “Check this out” she said putting the phone in front of both of them “This is the age app…you can change your picture to make it a different age” She pulled up the picture of Rose “What would you think about being the 12 year old Mom?” she exaggerated the last word.
Rose’s jaw dropped “You want me to be your age?!”
“Yeah…that’ll be awesome!” Erica said hitting the button that said ‘Younger’
“So…you can put in any age?” Rose asked curiously.
“Yep…you can go anywhere from a baby to 100 years old” Erica said.
Once the younger button was pressed, the photo blurred a bit and a box appeared with text stating ‘desired age’
Erica smirked as she typed in 12. “Ha! You’re as young as me now Mom!”
Rose faked a bit of shock, dropping her jaw and going “Tsk…as if?!”
Erica giggled as the picture came back into focus but Rose was shocked. “What do you think…Rosie?”
“Wow…it…um…” Rose was at a loss for words as the picture that appeared actually looked like she had when she was 12. The lines and wrinkles were all gone but more than that, her features looked less defined and mature. Her nose was smaller, her eyes looked narrower and her lips were smaller, yet fuller. Even her chin and jaw looked softer “That’s amazing” Rose said truly impressed.
“That’s not all it does Mom...we can add on lots of stuff!” Erica pulled said as she pulled up a toolbar at the bottom.
“Like what…” Rose said.
“Well first off, that hairstyle will never do for a kid…so old lady!” Erica said as Rose playfully slapped her arm. The pulled up a template of hairstyles and went right to long hair. They tried a few on and decided the straight long brown hair with bangs looked the best with Rose’s face. A pop up ‘final choice for hair?’
Erica hit yes and the hair blended in much more realistically as Rose mumbled “Oh my God”
“Cool isn’t it?” Erica beamed.
“Definitely cool” Rose agreed.
“Now let’s change your clothes!” Erica said quickly picking out a pink tank top and cut off jean shorts instead of what her Mom was actually wearing which was a cream colored top and olive green Mom shorts.
Rose took in the fact that her body looked very skinny once the clothes were changed. Her large swell of her breasts was gone “Why am I flat?!” she asked upset.
“Duh…what 12 year has boobs as big as yours Mom?” Erica said matter of factly “I sure as heck don’t”
Rose bopped her head back and forth “guess you’re right…you can’t see past my hips but they look downright slim so I’m guessing my legs would be skinny too. I wouldn’t mind losing a bit of the thunder to these thighs” she joked.
“Yeah…sure Mom” Erica said already scanning the toolbar “That’s what I was looking for…just the ticket!” she said hitting a button.
“Oh No…you did NOT just give me braces!” Rose said. She leaned forward and where her teeth were visible, she could now see metal “Are those rubber bands…you gave me the full orthodontic treatment!”
Erica laughed and giggled as she next put two zits on her Mom’s cheeks “Get ready to get rejected by all the boys Rosie!”
“Shut up!” Rose playfully said “You just wait…we’re going to do you next right?”
“Yeah Mom sure” Erica said. “I’m good with this…how bout you?”
“Sure…why not? You’re only 12 twice I guess” Rose said shrugging and throwing her hands up.
“Good thing I couldn’t see your hands or else I would have given you some really ugly color nail polish” Erica added in as she hit a button and ‘save’ came up.
Erica hit ‘yes…save my changes’ and the picture of 12 year old Rose flashed.
‘Begin new project?’ came up and Erica hit ‘yes’ and pulled up a picture of herself.
The first question that came up was ‘younger/older’ Rose’s hand came over and she tapped older.
“Ugh!” Erica said in mock shock “Just how old are you going to make me…21 I hope!”
“Not a chance” Rose said “You make me your age…” she smiled as she typed in a number “I make you my age!” she hit enter “Haha…let’s see 44 year old Erica…see how you like being my age!”
The picture blurred out momentarily before coming back into focus “Whoa!” Erica said smirking “I actually look kind of like you Mom”
“You should…you are my child. People have always told you that you look like me…only stands to reason that you’d look like me when you got older…I see enough of your own unique features though. Your nose is totally different from mine…lips too. Our eyes are similar and the overall structure of our faces”
Erica looked at the picture for a long minute taking in the maturity of her features and how it changed her face. Her cheeks were sleeker and her eyes wider and larger but crow’s feet marked the corners of them. Her nose was larger and her lips thinner but wider and lines ran out from there as well.
“Your just rolled out of bed hairstyle will never do for a lady your age” Rose told her “Bring up the hair templates”
Erica pulled them up and they tried several different styles before settling on a bob that framed her face nicely coming down just past her ears. The picture blended in the new hair for a more realistic look “Wow…it’s different when you see yourself like this” Erica admitted.
They updated her earrings from the four leaf clovers she had in the picture to a nice pair of gold hoops. They next panned out a bit to redo her clothes “Skimpy little tank top will never cover up your larger bust line…tsk, tsk tsk…” Rose mocked as she made Erica change the clothes in the picture to a top with a higher neckline and a light cardigan sweater over her arms. She made sure she made the shorts olive green “Since you like mine so much” Rose added sarcastically.
They went back up to her face and Rose made her blend in some gray hairs for realism before she made Erica scroll along the toolbar “That’s what I was looking for” Rose said as she tapped a picture at the bottom. Reading glasses appeared on Erica’s face. “Haha!”
Erica took it in stride after she had given her Mom braces, but she did stick out her tongue at her.
She took back the phone and now made it a split screen so both of their pictures were up.
“So this is what it would look like if our roles were reversed” Erica said “If I was your age and you were mine”
“Yep…I doubt I would get your height gene if you were my Mother so you’d still be taller than me” Rose said looking over their new family portrait.
“You know it little Rosie” Erica teased. “I kind of like this”
“It certainly is interesting to think about…what if you know” Rose said. “I’m really just amazed at the detail this app has in it. The way the hair blends in looks totally natural, usually this kind of thing looks so fake and cheesy”
“Your acne looks like you could reach right in and pop it” Erica said.
“Gross Mom!” Rose laughed “Don’t touch my zits!”
“Haha” Erica laughed. She left the picture up as she took a long drink of her Pepsi. Rose picked up the phone to look closer. As she did a pop up appeared ‘Save changes?’
“It’s asking if I should save” Rose said.
“Hit yes…I want to show Anna later” Erica answered.
Rose hit the box marked ‘save’
“Hmmm…um…” Rose said.
Erica took her phone from her Mom’s hand. The swirling arrow was spinning in the middle of the screen while ‘saving…’ faded in and out.
Then the word changed to ‘applying…’ as the arrow continued to swirl.
‘Done’ appeared on screen for a second then vanished leaving just their pictures up “What’s it doing?” Rose asked as the picture came into sharp focus and the split screen line faded leaving them standing next to each other. A flash from the screen blinded them both.
“Ugh!” Erica said.
“Ah!” Rose exclaimed “What was that all about?!”
Rose took a step back rubbing her eyes, bright colored stars pocked her field of vision as she blinked.
Erica too saw stars and flashes of light. As her world started to come back into focus, she thought it was still very off because it looked like her Mom’s cream colored shirt was bright pink and her shorts were dark blue “Color must still be way off” she thought.
Rose rubbed her eyes seeing whites and dark greens when she looked at her daughter a few feet away. She began to focus up. The wall color was right, so was the carpet and the furniture; she looked at Erica though and her heart jumped. “What the…?! What are you wearing?!” Rose said. She knew she wasn’t seeing things; Erica was wearing a white top and dark green shorts. She also had on a light cardigan sweater for some reason.
“What are you talking about…?” Erica said turning to her Mom. Everything was coming into focus and was right except that her Mom was actually wearing a bright pink tank top and a pair of denim cut off shorts “Mom?! What are you wearing?!”
“I…what?!” Rose looked down. “AH!” She began to dance and wave her hands up and down “What am I wearing?!”
Erica looked down at herself now clad in a conservative top, cardigan sweater and long, olive green shorts. Her jaw dropped and simply went up and down a few times wordlessly moving about.
“Oh...OH!” Erica felt her body begin to spread outward. Her chest and stomach shifted making her realize that she had on a large underwire bra in addition to her new tops. Her hips began to slide out and her ass began to grow. Her thighs began to fill out and grow large and round and even her claves thickened.
Everything on Erica was growing. Her upper arms puffed out, her sides and back softened and her breasts began to fill out. “What’s happening to me Mom?!” she cried out.
“I…I don’t know honey, I…oh God…OH GOD!” Rose exclaimed as she felt everything on her begin to tighten down. She felt compressing constrictions of her body and muscles all over as she began to shrink and thin down dramatically.
Her large breasts quickly began to deflate and shrink taking her chest, back, sides and stomach down with them like air being let out of a balloon. Her hips slid inward and her ass collapsed inward, reducing in size as her tight, short shorts began to fit her decreasing body better and better.
Rose put her bare arms up watching as her upper arms trimmed down to skinny reeds. Her thighs popped inward, coming apart at the top and they grew slender while she even managed to lose 2 inches in height down to just 5’2” She felt her shorts loosen up as her hips, ass, waist and thighs all got smaller.
Rose pressed her hands down on her stomach as it pulled inward going so flat it almost went concave. The pink tank top was now loose on her. Her hands ranged up to her breasts. Now clad in just a sports bra, her very small boobs sat high and tight on her slender chest.
Erica grew 2 inches up to 5’8”. She set her feet as even they began to change shape. Her long toes shifted slightly inward and her nails thickened as the skin on her heels roughened up.
Erica felt her hair begin to lift up. It pulled free of her back and shoulders, eventually coming up into a nice tight bob “Just like the one we picked out on the app” she realized. Her clothes, her body and now her face were changing into what she had seen on the app, the changes were becoming real and coming true, their roles and ages were reversing. Erica was turning 44 while Rose was turning 12. “No way” Erica said as she watched her Mom get smaller and smaller, her body changing from that of a mature woman into the body of a tween.
Rose’s hair took off growing longer and longer, going perfectly straight and coming down over her forehead in bangs. Rose brought her hands up dumbfounded. She picked at her long hair, a look of total confusion on her face “How…?” was all she said.
Their eyes met, Mother and Daughter were becoming Daughter and Mother. Erica saw her Mom’s face smoothing out, her features were changing, softening down. Her chin and jaw were rounding, her lips were filling out but getting smaller on her face, swallowing down into her rounder cheeks.
Rose’s nose shrank down, her eyes narrowed as her lashes and brows thinned down to a more youthful look. Smooth wrinkle free skin broke out in a few pimples exactly where Erica had placed them.
Rose’s lips parted as she received a full set of braces, complete with bands. Her eyes popped wide at the sensation weighing down her mouth so suddenly.
“Mmmph!” she exclaimed slapping her small and soft hands over her mouth. She noticed that her tiny fingernails were now painted bright orange and she caught a glimpse of the same orange color on her tiny toes out of the corner of her eye.
Rose’s legs were thin and short, the legs of a child, her hips were narrow and her ass was small. Her waist was trim, her stomach flat and her breasts barely existent. She could see and feel her long hair brushing over her bare shoulders and the top of her back. She looked up and saw a very different woman before her.
Erica was a woman now. Mature and older than a girl in front of her by 32 years. Her legs were thick and round, her hips full and her ass was large. She felt soft, soft all over. The backs of her thighs jiggled and the tops of them were stuck together as they exited her shorts. Her stomach puffed forward in a muffin top, her full breasts sat wholly in the large cups of her bra. Her puffy upper arms concealed by the sleeves of her light sweater.
Erica’s hands went to her inner thighs were they pinched the soft flesh; they went behind her where they grabbed full handfuls of her ample ass through the fabric of her Mom style shorts. Up her soft sides, over the slight bulges of flesh of her stomach to her prominent chest.
Her hands ran up her soft neck to her more prominent chin. She ran her hands over her thinner lips and sleek cheeks and larger nose. She knew what she looked like down the type of earrings that hung in her lobes. She looked like the picture on her phone. Rose was the exact image that they had created so that meant that she must be too.
Rose looked up, her jaw hung open barely able to catch her breath. She began to shake slightly before tears began to form in her eyes. She shook her head back and forth “No…” she finally managed to say in a voice that sounded foreign to her. The weight of her braces, the immaturity in her throat. When Erica took a step forward; Rose screamed.
Rose’s scream made Erica jump and let out her own scream. Their eyes met and Erica put her hands on Rose’s shoulders to steady her.
“What happened!? What happened to us?!” Rose yelled bouncing all around with youthful energy, her light body jumped up on the couch and back off again,
“I don’t know but the app…the app made it all real!” Erica said. “We were just playing around…it wasn’t real!”
“Hell-OOOOO! This is real! Rose yelled “I got turned into a little kid! And you! Just look at you…you’re old!”
“Shut it…I need my…where’s my phone?!” Erica searched the ground before she saw it sitting under the coffee table.
Erica felt her knees and back protest as she went to the ground too fast “Ow!” she exclaimed as she grabbed her phone. She tapped the app with her thicker fingers bringing it back up. She went into the setting box marked ‘saved projects’
“Yes!” she said bringing up their pictures. She tapped on it only to have a pop up box appear ‘Subjects that have been saved cannot be modified. Please start a new project’ “No!” she said.
Erica swallowed hard as Rose bounced around trying to see what was going on. She found her heart pounding as she hit ‘Begin new project’ and the camera turned on. She aimed the camera at her face and clicked the button to take a picture only to see a red X fill the screen.
“What the…?” she tried several times but it wouldn’t take a new picture. She sat down heavily and started looking for an answer. A box appeared ‘Thank You for your purchase. Your saved faces have been entered into our database. Once a face has been changed and saved, it cannot be changed again. Please check Terms and Conditions. To continue hit OK’
Erica’s heart sank as low as it possibly could go “Terms and Conditions…can’t be changed again…”
Rose’s young face went white “What? What are you saying? You’re saying that we’re stuck like this?”
“It’s not letting me even take our picture again. It’s saying that since we used it and saved the changes, we’re ineligible to do it again.
“But that would mean…that would mean that instead of being your Mom…you would be mine” Rose said.
Erica looked Rose in the eyes.
Erica’s finger shook as she brought it down and hit ‘OK’
A bright flash flew out from the phone again.
They both blinked and rubbed the stars from their eyes again “Mom?”
“Yes Rosie”
“I feel different…I can’t quite put my finger on it but something…”
“I know Rosie, I feel it too. It’s like…calmer”
“Yeah” Rosie Jenkins nodded up at her Mom.
Subtle changes had occurred all around them. The school picture on the ledge was now Rose, not Erica. The backpack sitting next to the door was embroidered with the initials REJ not ECJ. The ID bade hanging from the purse that sat on the kitchen table said Erica Jenkins and had Erica’s face on it. She had what had been her Mom’s job. She was the Mom now, the life and responsibilities had passed to her while Rosie was just a kid going into the 7th grade in the fall.
Erica had the knowledge though. She remembered college, she remembered High School…she remembered childbirth.
The phone on the table went off ‘Anna’ was on display and Erica picked it up “Hello”
“Hey Mrs. Jenkins, can I talk to Rosie?” came the young voice on the other end.
Erica had a blank expression as she handed over the phone to her daughter who eagerly took it. “Hey Anna!” Rosie said, a slight lisp to her youthful voice due to the braces she wore.
“Hey, I’m back home, did you still want me to come over?” Anna asked.
“Sure…my Mom said it was okay earlier” Rose answered.
Both of them exchanged a look but continued with what felt natural to both of them.
Erica began to walk around. Her thicker bare feet padding across carpet and tile before Rose ran up to her “Anna will be over in a few minutes”
“Ok” Erica replied with a gentle smile.
“Hey, um….” Rosie shifted nervously back and forth, her tiny smooth feet never stopping their movements “…I don’t entirely get what just happened to us but, um…” she ran her hand through her hair tucking it behind her ears showing off simple heart earrings.
Erica looked at Rosie’s young round face, the picture of pre-teen innocence “It is what it is” Erica said with a shrug “We can’t change it now”
“I know but” Rosie said dipping down.
“You have an orthodontist’s appointment coming up” Erica said changing the subject “Doc said you’d get your bands off”
“That’s right! He did! Yes!” Rosie pumped her arm. They heard a car in the driveway “Anna’s here!”
Rosie ran to the door flinging it open and the two girls were already talking a mile a minute before Anna even made it into the house.
Erica went to the door and waved to Anna’s Mom.
“I’ll be back to picker up at 6 if that’s ok” Cheryl Wilkins called out from the car.
“That’s fine” Erica replied with a wave “Do you need me to pick her up on Saturday and take her to the softball game?” Erica knew that Anna and Rosie were teammates.
“No…I’m off, I can take her myself” Cheryl replied.
“Ok…see you at 6”
Erica went back in to the sound of girls laughing upstairs. “Probably showing Anna some stupid app on her phone” she thought as she got into her recliner, kicked her feet up and resumed reading her book.