Mary wanted to continue to sleep but a loud persistent knocking kept waking her up. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, trying to shake the fuzzy thoughts out of her head.
"What? What do you want?" said Mary groggily.
"Mary? Is that you? You sound funny, " said a voice she immediately recognize as belonging to her friend Kelly. "You were supposed to come over for a movie and game night but you never showed up. I got worried and came over here to check up on you. Are you sure you are okay?"
Mandy slapped her palm on her forehead. She had forgotten about that. Instead she had .... fallen asleep on the floor? She was still groggy and couldn't remember exactly what she had been doing. But she supposed it didn't matter now. Kelly was here, and she should let her in.
She stood up clumsily. Her clothes hung loosely on her body. What was going on? She looked at the mirror on the wall across the room and saw a twelve year old girl staring back at her. She looked down her baggy shirt and saw her flat prepubescent chest. She spied the box of vials on the coffee table and it all came flooding back. The magic was real and she had turned herself into a little girl.
"Mary? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" said Kelly.
"I'm fine. Just go away, " said Mary in the deepest voice she could muster.
"You don't sound okay. Just open the door so I can see for myself. Or else I am going to call the paramedics," said Kelly.
Mary panicked. Kelly was not going away. But what could she say? Would she believe that she had turned herself into a little girl? That magic was real? Or would she send her to the local asylum as another nut? Or to jail for breaking into the apartment?
"Just a second. Just give me a second, " said Mary, as she ran to the box and began to sift through the vials. There seemed to be hundreds of vials, but she could not find the one she needed - the age progression vial.
Kelly's knocking grew more insistent. "Open this door right now. You don't sound like Mary, and if you don't let me in I am going to call the police," said Kelly.
Mary sighed. She really didn't want to involve the police. It would be much more difficult to get them to believe the truth. She decided to open the door and take her medicine. But what would she say?