He sighed and made his way to the garage. The ladder was up on the wall “I don’t wanna” he complained.
Immediately, he found the flaw with his plan. The ladder felt like it weighed like three times what he currently did. Pulling the ladder down, it crashed to the ground nearly tossing him backwards as it clattered to the ground.
Ben pulled on it, dragging it across the floor and into the kitchen. He was panting, his tiny arms ached. He had to take a break.
Ben sat down hard on the floor, sweat dripping off his forehead “I’ll make it to my bedroom in like 2 hours if I’m lucky…if Angie sees me like this…” his stomach dropped again in fear. “She teased me when I was this age the first time around…I can only imagine what she’d think at 32”
Ben dragged and tugged and pulled until he got to his bedroom. He banged the walls at least a dozen times before he got through the doorway.
It took another few minutes of work to get it set up before he began to climb. The floor looked a long way away. He saw the phone and slip of paper and still had to strain and lean, afraid he was going to fall, before his little fingers snagged them and pulled them closer.
“Man…that was soooooooooo hard!” Ben said as he jumped off the ladder a few steps up just to do it.
He unlocked his phone happy to see that he still had an hour before he was due and Angie and Mark’s house and that his phone was still at 20%.
So instead of immediately switching back, he plugged in his phone and went to the shower.
Ben giggled and laughed his way through his shower.
He wrapped a towel around his waist and sighed heavily as he picked up the piece of paper and began to speak. The words were very hard for him to pronounce; he could barely read them let alone speak them out loud. His high-pitched child’s voice finally managed to get through them.
The warmth, dizziness and nausea all hit him once again.
Ben felt his toes press down and dig against the carpet as his feet began to grow, kneading their way larger.
His legs began to lengthen and eventually regain more muscle and form.
Ben’s vision blurred as he went through a rapid growth spurt re-entering his early teens. He shook out his arms as it felt like the doubled in length on him. His skinny and scrawny chest told him he was still working his way through those teen years.
Acne made a brief, itchy appearance before smoothing right back out as his face tingled and numbed as it matured.
New itches broke out all over his body as body and facial hair returned, blossoming out into full bloom just as his chest, back, shoulders and arms finally caught back up and developed.
His hips and rear expanded and the towel fell to the ground just as the feelings began to subside.
Ben worked his jaw, it almost felt like he took a punch from how sore it was “What is up with that?” he thought, his internal voice deepening as the thought wore on.
Ben began to get dressed; slowly. There was a feeling of disappointment filling him. “Sooner I can get this shelf up, the sooner I can come back home” he thought, not voicing the real reason he wanted to get back home.
His sister and brother in law only lived about a mile away; just down the street from the school he taught at.
Ben let himself in the side door since it was already open. “Hey…anybody home?” he called out.
“In the living room” he heard his sister’s voice call out.
Ben’s stomach dropped when he came around the corner. Instead of seeing Angie as the 32-year-old lawyer that she was, he saw her as his 12-year-old tormentor. Frizzy hair, braces, skinny arms and legs and big feet; holding him down with his arms pinned behind his back, he could feel her hot breath on the back of his neck as she called him ‘stupid little baby’ and ‘Mommy’s favorite’.
Ben shivered as he relived a very different part of his childhood in a momentary flash that brought red to his cheeks. He saw the shelf; 6 feet long and made of pure oak “Jeez Ang…you don’t mess around with your décor do you?”

No I don’t and that’s why I need my big, strong brother to help…cause I’m not lifting that shit” she laughed. “Can I get you a beer?”
“Um, no…just a water” Ben replied.
“Suit yourself dude” she said.
Marking and measuring, lifting and drilling and anchoring in the shelf wasn’t hard but it was a two-man job.
His struggles with an aluminum ladder just an hour earlier loomed in his mind.
Ben could still feel the stinging in his arms and back as he struggled with it, so big and so heavy even as he easily held the 100-pound shelf up with no problem.
Angie and Mark had a three-year-old little girl named Taylor who watched and talked the whole time.
Ben was a doting uncle on most days but today, he couldn’t talk to and interact with Taylor enough.
After the shelf went up, Ben played with his niece, doing whatever she asked. They played dolls and Princesses and tag and hide and go seek.
“Well you’ve barely talked with us haha” Angie joked as Ben got ready to leave.
“Well, Taylor and I were having fun” Ben replied smiling.
“She does love you…I think she thinks of you as her big brother instead of her Uncle” Angie said.
Ben’s hands went numb; the tingle that ran through his body was that intense.
Ben was shaking by the time he got behind the wheel “8-year-old Ben could be Taylor’s big brother” the deep, adult voice said quickly followed by a high pitched “You mean should be”
Ben pulled out and went to McDonald’s for lunch ordering a happy meal through the drive-thru.
He got home, his eyes darted and he closed up his house… “just a few hours” he told himself.
 
Monday morning.
Ben stretched out, his arms not quite touching the headboard. His legs and feet scissor kicked back and forth as he pulled the covers away.
He had to scoot to the edge of his Queen sized bed, his feet dangled a foot to foot and a half above the ground.
Ben dropped his little body to the floor, his tiny feet hit the carpet and he ran to the bathroom. He lifted himself up by jumping up and pushing down on the sink to see his face in the mirror as he kicked his feet as they left the ground.
Ben showered and brushed his teeth, checking his gums, one of his adult teeth was starting to pop through and he ran his tongue over it.
He sighed and picked up the paper…
Ben parked in his usual spot, he felt odd, out of place but he knew what he had to do “Focus up Ben” he told himself as he walked in.
A hundred different feelings and emotions ran through him, most confusing and conflicting, and he had to concentrate to weed them out and focus down.
The hardest part was when he could picture himself as one of the kids; rushing through the halls in a building that was made at kids’ size. He could even feel his reaction to the adults if he was that size and in that position.
That part scared him.
Picturing and contemplating that fact that his colleagues would now be his superiors, seeing him as nothing more than just another snort nosed brat, really put his plan in its place.
Ben walked past Emily Nelson. Emily was one of the 3rd grade teachers, she barely stood 5’ tall. She would be a half a foot taller than him in his reduced state. She would also be his teacher the next year if he were somehow to get trapped as an 8-year-old.
Ben now paused. He had planned on going directly to the office to put in for his day off but instead, he went straight to his classroom.
Students were beginning to come in, mostly the kids on the number 4 bus, the first one to drop off every morning.
“You really need to think about what you’re doing” he thought “It was fun and games this past weekend but what if you lost your phone and that piece of paper? There are some really serious consequences pal. You are playing with fire and you’re lucky you didn’t get burned this past weekend. What if your sister had stopped by? Or a neighbor? You could have been spotted running into your house when you had your little excursion to the park. How would you have explained that without having the cops and child protection called?”
The pit of Ben’s stomach burned and sank.
“And now you’re going to try this shit at SCHOOL?! You’re not a registered student here…how do you think you’re going to get away with this?”
More kids came in and Ben had to shake it off. He smiled and asked how their weekends had gone but his mind now ran at top speed.
“Hi Mr. Martin”
Ben turned and saw Alyssa Raymond “Hey Alyssa…new pants?”
Alyssa smiled and swayed “Yeah…we found like 4 new pairs that I liked plus my Mom made my sister go through her stuff and give me her smaller stuff”
Ben had taught Alyssa’s sister Jenna 2 years earlier. “Well I’m glad to hear your shopping trip was successful”
“Did you get everything you needed at Target?” Alyssa asked as her friend Brie came up next to her, waiting impatiently for her to stop talking to the teacher.
“Yes I did” Ben replied smiling and turning slightly red.
“Do you think we’re going to go outside for recess today Mr. Martin?” a boy named Christopher asked.
“Yeah, my Mom said it was going to rain, but it doesn’t look like it” another boy named Hunter followed up.
“We will see when the time comes, don’t worry about it right now” Ben answered.
The two boys went to their desks as Robert approached. Robert was the mean kid; Ben saw it, knew it, tried to prevent as much as he could but he couldn’t be everywhere at once.
“Thank you Robert” Ben said as he finally turned in an assignment that had been due a week earlier.
“Robert would scare the shit out of you at your little size…he would beat the shit out of you too. You’re really thinking about making that a real thing…you must be out of your God Damn mind” Ben scolded himself. “You are a grown ass man. You did this once already. If you get caught or stuck one of these times, you do realize that you would have to grow up all over again. Puberty, teen years, high school drivers ed, college, first dates. Every single thing you already went through, going through it again and getting beat up by an 9-year-old on top of that”
Ben tried to focus on his duties. They started with Social Studies and talked about the American Revolution and George Washington “Do you really want this to all be new to you?” he thought.
They switched to Science and the talked about gases and liquids and solids. He was keeping it together pretty well he thought. The kids were going to Art today and as they left, Alyssa stayed back “Are you feeling okay Mr. Martin?” she asked.
Ben was a bit taken aback “I’ve got some things on my mind but I’m just fine” he answered “Nothing that you need to worry about”
“If you say so” Alyssa replied.
Ben should have been replying to his emails, but instead, he thought.
That night, he didn’t use the spell, he worked on his computer instead.
On Tuesday, he went to the office and looked at the PTO calendar “I’m going to need to take off Thursday” he said and filled out his paperwork “I see I’m the only one off that day so I guess that means Rhodes will be covering for me again huh”
Julie, the school secretary looked over the schedule “Yes it does…I know how much you like her; she’s your favorite!” she mocked excitement.
 “Haha” Ben mock laughed.
The next two days of school passed by very quickly. At the end of Wednesday, he made an announcement. “Okay gang, I need to let you know that I will not be here tomorrow. I’m sorry but something came up that I just couldn’t avoid”
Groans from the class along with “I hope Mrs. Rhodes isn’t our sub” “I don’t like her; she’s mean”
Ben quieted them down “I’m working on that situation”
The kids began to get ready to go home. Alyssa stayed behind a bit “I hope nothing is wrong Mr. Martin. You were just off a few weeks ago”
“I’m fine Alyssa but thank you for caring…don’t worry. After I’m off tomorrow, I think we will solve several problems” he added with a smile.
Alyssa nodded and smiled “If you say so” she shrugged and skipped off.
Ben sighed and looked around his classroom once it emptied out, he hoped all his prep work would pay off. Tomorrow, his room would look very different to him.
Ben had spent hours the last few nights creating every kind of file imaginable for James Hostettler, age 8. He had a birth certificate, shot records, school records, a social security number, which happened to be Ben’s own, but now modified to his new name and age.
His parents were listed as Mark and Angela Hostettler, along with their address. His name had been added to Ben’s class roster retroactive to the beginning of the year with all paperwork signed and filed. He had tried to think of everything, now, the real gambling began.
Ben was nervous; this would be taking all the risks he had calculated, times 1000. So many unpredictable factors, rogue elements and chances for disasters both large and small, but he also couldn’t stop.
He had come this far; the change drew from that fear, made it even more intoxicating “What will you do if you manage to pull this off?” he thought to himself as he drove home “What do you prove?”
Ben just stared ahead as he drove home to make his final preparations.
Thursday morning…
Up earlier than usual, Ben drove to his sister’s house and parked his car. Ben knew that Angie was working a 12 hour shift and Mark had a business trip out of town; his flight would get him home at 7 so Taylor was with her Grandma. This would be his base of operations; much closer to the school than his own house.
He had a backpack with his phone and a set of his adult clothes he was going to stash in the school. He knew a hiding place in the Men’s faculty bathroom. Since only 5 people used it, he knew it would be safe. It was just in case he had to do an emergency progression back. He would also carry his piece of paper with the reverse spell on it as well.
It was the second spell; the spell he was about to cast that scared him.
The spell was supposed to alter reality to make his changes normal to everyone else. He hadn’t tried it out but if it worked, it was extremely dangerous as it truly closed any and all doors behind him. No one would remember Ben Martin at all during the reality spell, people only knew an 8-year-old little boy named James.
“et haec omnia vera, hoc accipere mutare mundi goreatum…veriyoriatas…secgunda…accipere…auferetur…20…annorum”
The dizziness and nausea hit faster and harder this time. The whole room shimmered and throbbed around him, a corona of light burst forward in a wave that quickly pulsated outward like a shockwave.
Ben started to shiver and sweat simultaneously. His hands shook as his muscles began to contact. He grimaced as his muscles tightened to the point he thought they might just pop; they quivered with strain.
His beard began to recede, it felt like individual hairs were getting plucked from his cheeks and chin. Ben’s temples throbbed as his skull began shrinking. His eyes watered s his nose shrank. It felt like a punch in the mouth as his teeth and lips changed.
His neck muscles strained and his shoulders popped. He let out an audible “Oh!” and “Oof” as his torso constricted. His spine popped as he shrank down; a foot and a half of height and over 100 pounds coming off his diminishing frame second by second, inch by inch, pound by pound.
“Was it so more intense this time?” he thought, the voice inside his head rising in pitch and headed towards a whiny cry as his maturity sapped away.
Ben’s stomach rolled as his lower half telescoped, almost folding in up on himself as his legs, hips and rear end diminished. His feet and hands shrank down to child sized and as he felt his hair flop over his forehead, suddenly, the straining feeling lifted.
Ben exhaled and nearly collapsed. He grabbed onto the couch to keep off the ground taking dep breaths, his little chest heaving. “I did it” he thought “YAY!” his childish mind screamed out in joy even as the adult portion of his brain still wondered on the intensity of the change, the dangers of the secondary spell, and all the possibilities of the upcoming day.
As Ben dressed in his boy clothes, he failed to notice small things changing around him. The pictures on the wall now included the progression of a young boy; the family portrait changed from one girl to an older boy and young girl.
New toys appeared. A Nintendo Switch appeared besides the TV. Ben grabbed his backpack with the Philadelphia Eagles logo on it and slung it on his back as he left the house.
His little legs propelled him towards the school and as they did, behind him, his truck vanished from the driveway.
“Hey James!” he heard as he came up. His heart was pounding away in nervousness but Christopher and Hunter were waiting for him by the corner of the building and by the conversation that immediately started up, Ben realized that these were his best friends.
Ben fell right into it. Games that they had been playing, YouTube videos they had watched, the fact that Grodey Rhodey had already been spotted in the parking lot. “Can’t believe we’ve got her as a sub again” Hunter moaned.
“Hey James!” Ben heard a female voice say behind him.
“Hey Alyssa” he replied spinning and turning and finding himself face to face with Alyssa. She was about 4 inches taller than him; Ben had always considered her tall for her age but now, her height was on full display to him at his new shrimpy size.
“Wow…she’s huge!” his mind shot out.
But not as big as Robert who had already been held back a grade and was the school fat kid.
Robert lumbered by, squinting and glaring at all of them “You’d better leave your paper where I can see it if she gives us a test today if you know what’s good for you shorty”
Ben felt the fear, the knowledge that in his current state, this 9-year-old in front of him and the prospect of him beating him up was very real and very scary. He was terrified. “What have I done? I’ve turned myself into a form that could realistically get beat up by a kid”
“Yeah Robert, you know I always do” James replied. The Ben portion of his mind was still reeling.
He made his way to his cubby at the back of the room. He had one, along with a desk and everyone knew him as a member of the class “The reality spell worked” he realized.
He took his seat as Jean Rhodes sat behind his desk “I hate covering this classroom, it’s always so messy” she complained loud enough to be heard.
As the bell rang, the kids all felt her withering stare come over them. She folded her arms “We’re not going to have any problems today are we?” she said looking over the tops of her glasses.
Ben shrank down in his chair.
“We had better not. You know how I run my classroom. I want silence. If I want to hear from you I will call on you, you do Not call on me do you remember this rule?”
No one spoke.
“Good, I see that you do remember” Jean said beginning to walk slowly up and down the aisles. The air was palpable, fear and intimidation fell over the room.
Ben looked to his left and caught Alyssa’s eye. She conveyed fear and hatred all at once.
“Take out your social studies handout and read, silently, about the Declaration of Independence”
 
Ben slipped his hand into his pocket and ran his fingers over the slip of paper in his pocket. The reversal spell gave him some comfort, just knowing it was there.
As his hand came back out, the backpack of his clothes along with his phone blinked out of existence from its hiding spot. All possessions of Benjamin James Martin had disappeared. His home was occupied by a nice retired couple. No real trace of him existed outside of his own memory for the time being. He was simply James now.
Time crept forward. Science was just as boring and dull and silent. Mrs. Rhodes had them read more handouts on plants and then answer questions at the end to turn in. No talking, no questions.
As it was time for art, the kids walked silently down the hall with the teacher by their sides, finally able to release and talk once inside the art room.
“Wow she is so mean! Why does she stare at everyone all the time? Did you see the look when she slammed down her hands when Riley sneezed? I thought she was gonna rip her head off!”
They were able to relax and talk some as they worked on their art projects. Cutting and gluing were surprisingly challenging to Ben. His lines weren’t straight and his glue was on too heavy so it wouldn’t quite dry but he didn’t care, he was trying his best.
Ben really didn’t think about his actual situation; he got wrapped up in conversations and made his way back for Language Arts. Hoping for another silent class, he was proven wrong as Mrs. Rhodes had each of them take turns reading out loud to the class.
Ben was nervous, he hated talking in front of people “I can’t do this!” his mind screamed “I’m gonna pass out!”
It came his turn. He read way too fast and ran his sentences together while stumbling over basic words. He legitimately could not pronounce several words on a second grade level.
“Well that was awful Mr. Hostettler. I’ll be sure to leave a note for your regular teacher that you belong in remedial reading” Mrs. Rhodes scoffed as Ben turned bright red.
Robert laughed from a row over. Mrs. Rhodes did not correct him.
Lunch was next. “I hate that Mrs. Rhodes!” Ben fumed “She is so mean!”
He felt like he was about to cry but he knew he couldn’t. Christopher and Hunter walked with him to the cafeteria and tried to cheer him up over lunch. The one slice of pizza filled him up along with his fruit cup and milk.
Recess helped him clear his mind. He ran and played football even though he was the smallest one out there. He thought he was fast; his Mom always said he was.
Ben stopped. He pictured his Mom. Blonde hair usually pulled back, 32 years old, her real name was Angela. She called him Pumpkin and his little sister was Peanut.
He was lined up against the wall to go back inside. A faint voice in the back of his head yelled out “Maybe you should change back now…you have more than enough evidence against her. Don’t take the extra risks”
Ben concentrated and really thought. He brought himself back to adulthood for a moment “But it’s so crowded here…I just can’t. I need to get back home before I can do it. It’s over halfway over”
“You need to…” the voice drifted as the real voices around him rose up louder as more and more kids lined up to go back inside.
“You need to get to class” Mrs. Rhodes said suddenly next to him.
Writing was up next; spelling and punctuation and capitalization seemed to take even longer than the reading part. They switched to math, the day was getting shorter and Ben squirmed in his seat. As he did, a piece of paper fluttered out of his pocket and landed on the ground.
Ben never saw it. Alyssa did. She picked it up and slipped it underneath her paper with the full intention of giving it back to James after class. She glanced at it confused by the words.
“et haec omnia vera, hoc accipere mutare mundi goreatum…veriyoriatas…secgunda…accipere… rursus …20…annorum”
“Those aren’t even words…what do boys like him make up in their free time?” Alyssa questioned. “And why write it down?!”
“Walkers; line up please”
Only Ben and Alyssa got up. They went to their cubbies and grabbed their stuff and both were relieved when Mrs. Rhodes said “You two may go to the end of the hall; the Principal will walk you out to the end of the drive”
Ben and Alyssa walked out the door “Man I thought today would never end!” Ben said.
“I know right” Alyssa said. They stopped by the faculty bathrooms while she bent down to retie her shoes. Ben waited for a moment before he wandered ahead of her.
Alyssa pulled the scrap of paper out of her pocket and began to read the words. They came easier than she expected to her mouth, forming up and almost pronouncing themselves.
Ben didn’t hear the first few words, he had gone too far off. He turned and saw Alyssa with her head down reading off a piece of paper.
He stopped. He blinked as his hand slowly went down into his own pocket; his own empty pocket “THE SPELL!” his mind screamed.
Ben’s tiny feet slipped as he tried to run towards her “Stop!” he yelled out, his hand extended towards Alyssa “Don’t read that out…” he paused as he heard her say “Annorum”
Ben skidded to a stop. Alyssa’s eyes seemed to glaze over as she dropped the scrap of paper and it fluttered to the ground.
Ben put his hands on Alyssa’s shoulders to shake her; everything seemed to be going in super slow motion. Ben felt Alyssa’s upper arms pulsate and bubble up. He could hear a faint creaking sound coming from deep inside of her.
She turned her head and their eyes met, Ben could read pain, fear and confusion in her cloudy brown eyes. Her lips parted, Ben stared so closely he could see her lips stick briefly before they opened. Alyssa let out a low moan as her arms dropped and wrapped around her mid-section. She grimaced and her eyes closed tight as she bent forward.
To Ben, it did look a bit like the Incredible Hulk but played out slower. Alyssa’s shirt tore across the back at her shoulders; a thin line that opened into a gaping hole that exposed most of her back.
Ben heard canvas pulling, a thicker fabric coming apart and he looked down in time to see Alyssa’s feet bulge out of the top of her sneakers as they split open; the laces coming undone as her heels pushed back and her toes pressed forward.
As Ben’s eyes trained downward, he watched her tight pant legs rise up her claves, straining as muscles and curves developed before the seam of the black leggings burst.
The inside seam popped along her inner thighs as fat and curve developed as Alyssa’s body rapidly matured.
Her hips and ass grew out tearing apart the tattered remnants of her pants.
Her stomach, waist and torso grew before she developed her chest, ripping apart her top.
Alyssa put her hand out against the wall, bracing herself against wave after wave of dizziness and nausea. As she did, her hand pulsated out, growing larger. Her fingers lengthened, nails widened and grew rounder and thicker.
Her arms grew longer, pushing her back away from the wall as they lengthened.
Alyssa rocked back and threw her left arm over her chest, trying to cover herself as her breasts began growing. “Ah!” she let out an exclamation as they pressed against her arms, growing into perfectly round globes.
Ben looked up, way up. Alyssa had been taller than him but now she was positively a giant.
Alyssa’s blonde curly hair began to darken and straighten. Ben watched in awe as her face matured from the face of a little girl into that of a fully grown woman.
Her brown eyes cleared and widened, her nose grew larger, her mouth widened as her teeth and lips grew larger. Her cheeks spread out. Her chin and jaw defined as her forehead and ears shifted to fit as well.
Alyssa shook her head and straightened up, rising her up even higher as Ben’s jaw dropped. They both heard a popping noise and Alyssa looked down to see a bra had appeared on her body. Another pop replaced her panties. A third placed a long, loose black skirt on her super long and trim legs that swished against the back of her calves. A fourth pop put a maroon top over her exposed chest and a fifth pop placed a pair of black flats on her feet.
More popping noises followed as a purse appeared on her shoulder, a faculty ID appeared around her neck, and jewelry came on completing her look.
Both of them heard the popping, then both shielded their eyes as blazing light formed around them.
“Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!” Alyssa said in full and deep adult woman’s voice.
“Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!” echoed Ben in his childish little boys’ voice.
Lights whirled around them before suddenly stopping. The popping noises died out like the last kernels in a bag of microwave popcorn.
They looked at each other in total realization and understanding of their situation.
Ben’s mind screamed out in loss. It was gone, all of it. The last twenty years of his life; his entire education, everything. The reality spell had shifted to truly turn him into James Hostettler.
Alyssa too understood. She was no longer a kid and never would be again. She was 28. She was the 2nd grade teacher. She had all of Ben’s education. She had his house. The woman that had been her mother was now her older sister and her sister, was now her niece.
“That spell…” Alyssa began to say “Oh My God James…are we…are we the only people who know what happened to us?”
James nodded “I was supposed to read it. I was supposed to go back to being big and, and a teacher but…”
“I am so sorry James…I had no idea…I just, well, I just read it” Alyssa said. She bent down and knelt on one knee to get down to James’ size. Alyssa was always the tall girl in her class. So much so that she had hit 6’1” by 8th grade. While she was picked on a bit, her volleyball skills killed all of that and allowed her to go to college on scholarship.
James scanned the floor for the scrap of paper, but it was gone. Most likely blinked out of existence by one of the pops. He never owned a phone and without that had no access to the internet and no way to find the spell so once Alyssa read it, the circle closed upon itself. “She wouldn’t think about bringing something like that or doing something like that” James thought.
Alyssa stood up, she slipped her foot out of her flat absent-mindedly as kids began to filter out of their classes. More walkers came their way, then the bus riders came out.
“You’re walking home and your Grandma will be there waiting for you right?” Alyssa asked her student.
“Yes” James nodded “I’m going straight home to see my little sister Taylor and my Grandma said she’d make cookies while I was at school”
“Well that sounds awesome” Alyssa replied “You’d better run along…you don’t want to be late”