"Okay, kids, that's enough. Nap time!" said Jenny loudly.
Cassie and Jared ignored her and continued to pull on Alex until Jenny came up to them.
"I said it's nap time! Now put up your toys and go lay down on your mat. Right now!" said Jenny angrily.
"But I haven't got to play with the new toy yet!" whined Cassie.
"And she won't share!" whined Jared.
Jenny sighed. "You can play with the toy after your nap. Both of you. Now pick up your toys and go to sleep or you both will go to timeout and no one will get to play with it."
Cassie pouted and glared at Jenny, but Jenny gave her a stern unyielding look. With a loud harrumph Cassie began walking towards the large dollhouse in the corner of the room. Jared walked in front of her, dragging his toy by the leg across the room with him. Again, the doll did not move or complain. She just had that same stony blank faced stare as her chest slowly moved in and out.
Cassie knew what her brother was looking at. She held him up to her face, bringing his head close to her mouth. "That's right. The others can be pretty rough. So if you know what's good for you, you'll come running to me after naptime. Understand?"
Alex nodded slowly.
"Good, dolly," said Cassie with a smile as she hugged her brother tightly. "We'll have lots of fun, you'll see. I am very good to my dolls. And I meant what I said. If you are a good doll, I might just return you back to normal."
Alex brightened up. He doubted that Cassie would change him back, but it did give him a little hope. Cassie had inadvertently revealed that the process was reversible. Now if only he could get back to that machine....
As he neared the dollhouse he saw it was strangely surrounded by a large fence. It was only a few feet high, but at his size it seemed impregnable. Jared nonchalantly tossed his doll over the fence where she landed with a thump in a crumpled pile. Cassie gently placed Alex on the other side of the fence.
"Now you be a good doll and take a nice nap. You're going to need all your energy for the games I have in mind. And be polite and introduce yourself to your new friends. Toodle-oo," said Cassie, as she waved goodbye to her brother.
Alex turned around and saw two other girls sitting around the fake lawn in front of the dollhouse. They both looked like they were in their early twenties. Or would have been of they weren't dolls. One was dressed in some kind of fancy ball gown while the other was in a ridiculous fairy costume. Alex was suddenly acutely aware that he was naked.
The doll in the fairy costume walked up to him. "Don't worry, kid. We'll get you some clothes. Haven't had a male around for quite a while but I think we still have some Ken clothes around her somewhere."
"Who are you people? What's going on here? " asked Alex nervously.
A young woman in the ball gown slowly walked up to him. "I'm Anna. The girl in the fairy costume is Jessie. Don't worry. Everything will be okay. We work here. We are the daycare workers who take care of the children."
"YOU take care of THEM?" asked Alex.
"Well, I should say we used to. You see, this daycare is special. The Founder invented a special device to shrink people. She intended to use it to make the children more comfortable by making the caretakers the same size as their wards. You know, so we wouldn't be so intimidating? Then one adventurous worker decided it would be fun to be even smaller - doll size - and let the children play with her. And it was so much fun that others decided to join her."
"Doesn't look like much for her?" said Alex, looking over at Jared's toy.
Anna gulped. "Yes, poor Sarah. Well, as you can see things got a little out of control. We were supposed to be changed back each night after the children left. But a couple of girls wanted to stay like that overnight. It became sort of a thing and the Founder was so happy she just kept them like that. After a while the girls wanted to change back, but the Founder refused, even changing some girls against their will. She said that they were better off this way - all their needs would be taken care of and that after some time they would learn to enjoy it and accept their new life."
"What the hell? Where is this Founder? I certainly didn't ask for this and don't want to be like this!"
Anna blushed. "Well, you see, um ...."
"She's dead," said Jessie bluntly, as she tossed some clothes at Alex. "The nutter shrank herself. She truly believed life as a doll was better. She set up some odd rules for her future employees and joined the shrunken ones. She learned a little too late that kids might look sweet but they can be pretty cruel to their toys."
Anna blushed brighter. "The children aren't that bad. You just have to know how to play with them. And to just let them do what they want."
Alex turned to look at Sarah, still sitting like a statue in a pile. Jessie walked over to her and comforted her, helping her get dressed and cleaned up.
"It's really not that bad. Most of the time," mumbled Anna, staring at the ground to avoid looking at Sarah as Jessie led her into the dollhouse.
"But what about the other employees? Why don't you just ask them to change you back?" asked Alex as he got dressed in a ridiculous Hawaiian shirt and khaki cargo shorts.
Anna sighed. "They can't. It's written in their contract. Supposedly we all volunteered to be like this permanently. I don't think they really believe it, but the punishment for breaking the contract is to be shrunken and join the other dolls."
"Well, if they won't help, I guess I will have to do it myself, " said Alex as he walked back towards the fence.
"Oh no, don't do that," said Anna. "If they catch you trying to escape, they will punish you."
"Punish me? What could be worse than this?" asked Alex angrily.
Anna looked back to the large dollhouse just as Jessie came back out the front door, having left Sarah inside to rest and recuperate. "There are much worse things. Things you don't want to know. One girl was shrunk even smaller. And another ... "
Anna just shook her head. "Well, like I said, you really want to know. It's not that bad being a doll. It can be quite fun playing with the kids. And you have free food and shelter for the rest of your life. And we are almost impervious to all physical harm. If you hook up with the right child, life here is a breeze. Your sister is pretty nice. She even promised to find me a boyfriend .... if I was a good dolly, " she said with a giggle.
The giggle bothered Alex. It seemed like a nervous laugh. The laugh of a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Sure, she was attractive. So was Jessie, in a kind of tough girl tomboy kind of way. But did he really want to spend the rest of his life here? Did he want to end up submissive and loony like Anna? Or worse, like poor Sarah? Then again, he didn't want to imagine what punishment would await him if he defied the rules of the crazy Founder and tried to escape.
But whatever he was going to do he needed to do soon. He doubted the kids would stay napping for long. And when they woke up, he would have even fewer choices.