Dani, Jim's longtime teenaged babysitter, arrived right on time as his parents readied to leave for their date night. She was always on time, always in a good mood, always listening carefully when taking orders from parents, always enthusiastic about spending time with the kids, always ready to answer calls to check in on the kids, and, at the end of the night, always reporting the exceptional behavior of the little angels now quietly in bed.
Secretly, she was always a monster to Jim as well.
From the first time she had sat for Jim and his little sister, Judy, Dani had taken to quietly torturing him in minor ways. Nothing big enough to cause a fuss, just minor things that all added up over time to make him miserable.
For one thing, she favored his sister. Judy had been a brat to him before then, and Dani only encouraged her brattiness towards him. She seemed to relish in turning the tables on him, putting a younger sister ahead of an older brother. Judy always got to choose what to watch on TV. She always picked what snacks they ate or dinner they ordered. They only played the games she wanted to play. If either of them complained about something, even if they both said the same thing, Jim would be sent to his room, and Judy would probably just get whatever it was she wanted after all. Of course, whatever chores needed to be done were solely Jim's responsibility, never his sweet little sister's.
There were other minor things. For example, Dani always called him "Jimmy" in spite of him telling her that no one ever called him that. She liked to poke him randomly, ruffle his hair, or just stand or sit too close to him, looming over him, invading his space whenever he felt a moment's peace from her. She criticized him in little ways, telling him he had funny looking ears or crooked teeth, and Judy was only too eager to join in listing his faults.
There was no escaping her, too, no privacy. Dani forbid locked doors, which meant she was liable to poke her head in the bathroom at any time to berate him for taking too long or wrinkle her nose and tell him that he stinks. She would let Judy into his room to play with his things, ignoring his protests.
Of course, Jim tried to tell on Dani to his parents, but they never believed him. They would just ask Judy if what he said was true. Naturally, his sister would never say anything bad about her favorite baby sitter. And, if they asked Dani, she would just say that Jim had a real imagination and, she would whisper, a bit of a boyhood crush on her.
Maybe that was the worst thing of all, because it was true. As Jim grew older, he had developed a crush on Dani. As much as he tried to hate her, he also kind of wanted to just look at her and be around her. He was 12, she was objectively cute, and it was a natural crush to have. Unfortunately, she quickly caught on to his feelings and gave him no end of teasing for it. She even made a point of wearing tighter clothes to show off her curves just to tantalize him. She would ask him if her butt looked too big in her jeans or if he could see her nipples through her shirt. Jim would blush and leave the room, but she would soon be right back next to him. "What?" she would say. "Don't you like looking at me? Little boys like you just love a cute teen girl like me, don't you?" She would pretend to forget his age, asking him when his 10th birthday was going to be, or she would offer to help him with his 4th grade homework. Anything to emphasize just how much older she was at 17 than he was at 12, cutting him down little by little.
Jim loathed her, and he loathed how he wanted her.
And now, as his parents left for their date and Dani smirked down at him, it was finally time for payback.
*****
"What are you smiling about?" Dani asked Jim as they settled in to watch Judy's favorite show on TV. Apparently, his secret smile was showing again.
"Nothing," he said. "I was just thinking of something fun I want to do later."
"Will you be thinking of me during your 'fun?'" she asked. "I hope you won't make a mess doing it." She smiled knowingly and then focused on the TV again.
Jim blushed, not only for what she was insinuating, but also because it had actually happened before when he was alone. If there had been any remaining hesitation in him about using the balloon on Dani, it was gone now.
All that remained was deciding on just what to do to her, which was a real challenge. The possibilities were endless, and she deserved so many different humiliations as payback for what she had done to him.
A few obvious choices came to mind. He could shrink her and let little Judy play with her as a new living doll. Or, he could toy with her in his own way. He could de-age her, make her younger than him, younger than Judy even, maybe even a baby. He could make her fat, morbidly obese, obliterating her cute clothes in an explosion of chunky curves, leaving her wallowing in tears as an immobile lump of misshapen flesh.
"You're creeping me out," Dani said. "If you're going to keep smiling like that, just go to your room and have your fun."
Jim smiled a bit wider. "Alright," he said as he stood up. "be back in a little while."
"Make sure you wash your hands," Dani said as he reached the stairs.
"Why does he need to wash his hands?" Judy asked.
"You don't want to know," Dani said.
"Yeah, I do."
"Trust me, you don't. Let's just say boys can be really gross sometimes."
"Ew, okay, don't tell me," he heard Judy say just before the girls were out of earshot.
He retrieved the balloon from its hiding place. Looking at it in his hand, he smiled again. It was an ordinary balloon in every way physically, like any other party balloon, but the power it held, the opportunities for payback against Dani, the endless possibilities for fun it contained were almost radiating from it like a campfire. In his mind, it was pulsing with life and pure power.
It was time.