Benjamin Button on Steroids

Holly turned off her computer and left her office.  It was a long day for her.

As she left with her purse and carrying case, she entered the elevator.  One of her coworkers was in there.

Holly didn’t want to say, but something about herself felt different.  As she looked at herself in the elevator, she smiled.  It’s nothing, she quietly said to herself.

Her coworker Caitlyn, on the other hand, smiled.

“Using that new creme?” she said, smiling.  “It makes you look a few years younger!  Bye Holly….”

As they left the elevator, Holly looked at Caitlyn in confusion.  What was she talking about?

Holly took a pocket mirror out of her purse and looked at her face.  She looked like she did a few years ago.  Just out of college.  Shrugging her shoulders, she put the mirror back in her purse.

She stood by the bus stop and waited.  Moments later, the bus arrived.  Holly paid the fare and got on the bus.  She sat down near a man, an older woman and a teenage girl.

As Holly sat down, the woman examined her.  “After school activities?” she asked.  “You should probably get started on your homework.  I know that my daughter here has a lot.”

Holly looked at the woman like she was crazy.  “What are you talking about?”

The woman smiled.  “Do you not have any homework?  Let me guess.  Are you a senior?  My daughter’s only a junior.”

Holly shrugged her shoulders and got out her mirror again.  To her horror, she looked just like she did when she graduated high school.  At this, she gasped.  “What’s going on with me?”

The woman smiled again.  “It’s the hormones.  It’s all about being a teenager, dear.”

Holly ignored the woman and just stared at herself in total shock.  She didn’t know why this was happening to her, but she didn’t like it at all.

Several minutes passed.  When the woman looked at her again, she gasped.  “Why dear, you’re getting younger!”

Holly got out her mirror again.  She now looked like she was in middle school, in the eighth grade.  She shook her head and started crying.  “Why is this happening?”

Seconds later, her stop came, and she got off.  As she approached her apartment, she suddenly felt different again.  Taking out her mirror again, Molly saw that her breasts were gone.  “Ten years old again?” she gasped.  This has to be a dream….”

Holly, thinking in this matter, felt a little better.  Any minute, she would wake up from this dream.  Any minute now….

Holly entered her apartment and took the elevator to the 32nd floor.  As the elevator ascended, she felt her purse and carrying case getting heavier.  Looking in the mirror, she looked like a third grader.  At this, she smiled.  Just a dream, she said to herself.

The elevator finally reached the 32nd floor.  Dragging her purse and her carrying case was a challenge to her now.  As she approached the room, she stood on her tiptoes and grabbed the doorknob.  She almost couldn’t reach it.  Now five years old, she unlocked the door and entered.

Closing the door, Holly sighed and smiled.  “Just a dream,” she repeated to herself.

Suddenly, Holly was overcome with an urge to suck her thumb.  As she sucked her thumb, she looked in the mirror.  She was two years old!

At this point Holly felt tired.  “Just a dweam…” she said as she walked toward her bed.

At her size, Holly almost couldn’t reach her bed.  She jumped in, crawled underneath the covers, and laid her head on the pillow.

A couple minutes later, Holly started to cry.  She was now 10 months old.  Her crying grew and grew and the minutes passed.  7 months, 5 months, 3 months…..

Finally, Holly was a newborn again.  With that, she cried and breathed her last breath.

And Holly was no more.

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©2012  K. L. Walker