Leaning back in his chair, Kyle spent a few minutes contemplating his next moves. To think he started this morning as a puny pre-teen wanting to stay at home to play video games, now here he was as a brawny 32 year old man with access to other-worldly temporal powers. He had no desire to turn himself back into a child, why would he when he looked like a lumberjack? Yet he knew he couldn't stay looking like this forever. Nobody would even know who he was. And he knew he didn't have the skills to start a new life from scratch. Although now that Kyle had had some time to let his thoughts settle post-transformation, he noticed something unusual, or as unusual as everything else that had happened today. Here he was in a completely different body to his own. He was tall, he was hairy, he was strong, he was a man. And yet, he didn't feel any different at all. No feeling of dissociation or discomfort. He didn't recoil at the sight of his bearish torso, or flinch from the feeling of his beard covered, angular jaw. In fact, he could barely remember how it felt to be a child, as though it really had been years since he was as young as he'd been just minutes ago. The thought of being 12 years old again was off-putting not just because of that wonderment of having suddenly aged 20 years, but also because it didn't feel like he'd suddenly aged 20 years. Maybe there was more to this magic watch than he realised.
A sudden vibration from the table shook Kyle from his thoughts. Someone called Phil was calling him. Kyle answered the incoming call without thinking. A familiar voice spoke out. "Hey! Where are you? I didn't even notice you leave!"
Kyle froze, and looked at his phone screen. It was his dad! The only Phil he knew, but he should have been listed as Dad in his phone. He couldn't speak to his dad like this, not when he sounded like an old time radio host. But he couldn't just hang up on him... Kyle pitched his voice up as high as he could without going into falsetto, hopefully he'd sound more youthful than he was. "Hey! You were taking so long, I wanted to get back out in the sun and fresh air. I'm telling you, that place smells like dad's study in the summer". Kyle gulped upon noticing what he'd said. He meant to say his grampa's study. Why did he say dad?
Even odder was Phillip's reply. "Yeah, it's pretty musty in here. What's up with that stupid voice?"
"What?". Kyle reverted back to his natural baritone speaking voice and made up something on the spot. "Oh, uhm, you know. Just, err, a new character voice I was thinking up. The kids love that sort of thing, you know?" Kids!? What was he talking about?
Phillip snorted, trying not to laugh, and said "I don't think now is the time to practise story time. Though while you're at it, you should work on your accents, your English one is pretty weak. Speaking of which, I just came across a goldmine of records. They have a mint copy of Magical Mystery Tour straight from the UK! Sorry bro but I'm gonna be here a while. Think you can wait?"
Story time? Accents? Bro!? This wasn't right at all. Still, Kyle automatically responded "No worries, I'll just head down to the beach for a bit. Call me when you're done!". He ended the call and rested his elbow on the table, holding his forehead in his cupped hand. It appears that his dad now thought of him as his brother. Like time, no, reality had actually changed. And it felt like he himself knew more than his conscious mind let on, answering before he had time to think things through. But just how far did this go?
Kyle dug through his phone contacts, not finding the names of any of his friends. Yet at the same time, he recognised the new names as old room mates, college friends, work colleagues? Their faces sprang to mind as strangers yet distinctly recognisable. Meanwhile, he was struggling to recall any of the kids he went to school with, or scouts, or church. In fact, the only kids he could think of were much younger than he used to be, kindergarten age students learning their alphabet and numbers. And he was there, the adult him, guiding them through arts and craft, reading them stories with ridiculous voices, and teaching in front of the whiteboard. Where were these memories coming from?
Getting anxious, Kyle dug even further into his phone's data. There were productivity and task apps he never would have downloaded as a child. And what happened to all his games? All he had left were the sort of freemium games that Phil liked to play. He used to hate them, they were for simpletons who couldn't handle real games. But now, he found he'd developed a fondness for them. A quick way to de-stress during those long hours grading work and planning lessons... Kyle shook his head clear and opened up his photo gallery. Among hundreds of new yet familiar pictures, there were dozens and dozens of photos of him, the adult him, in clubs and shopping malls, at home and in foreign countries, alone and with others. The pictures went back years. he felt strangely nostalgic seeing these old photos of the new him. There he was with long hair tied up into a man-bun, that embarrassing time he took part in Movember, there was even a time when he actually went clean shaven for a while. Kyle rubbed his strong, square jaw hidden underneath his large, bushy beard. He kind of missed seeing his face without all the hair covering it. he hadn't had a proper shave since he graduated from college almost a decade ago...
Kyle put his phone back in his pants pocket and laid his head on the table. It appears that the watch hadn't just altered his physical appearance. It'd affected his mind, even his life! That's why he didn't feel out of place at all. Kyle let out a small chuckle. Then another, before breaking out into hefty, floor shaking laughter. It was crazy! Unreal! And such a relief! That little nagging thought that nobody would recognise him was gone. He had a new life, a better one, and he didn't have to lose it! Slowly, Kyle regained his composure and glanced over to the pocket watch, the thing that had made all this happen. Now was the time to figure out the rest of the watch's secrets.
Kyle picked up the watch and ran a finger around its perimeter, feeling the symbols that encircled the face. They all meant something, but what? "Eenie, meenie, miney, this one" he mumbled under his breath before twisting the dial next to the arrow symbols. The small light highlighting the down arrow vanished as the up arrow became active. Nothing seemed to happen at first, and Kyle was going to press the button to initiate a change before he noticed the big watch hand spun around until it stopped between 65 and 70. He raised an eyebrow at the sudden movement. The hand, as far as he was aware, showed how old he was currently. Yet he hadn't changed at all, had he? He grabbed his phone and pulled up the camera app. Nope, it was still his youngish, bearded mug. He smiled at his image, then frowned. What was that all about? He looked at the watch again to see the hand had moved again, now pointing between 5 and 10. Then it jumped back up to between 30 and 35, where it had originally been. 20, 55, 15, it kept moving with no rhyme or reason. Kyle was about to twist the dial back to normal when he had an idea of what might be happening. He slapped a hand against his forehead, of course!
Kyle grabbed his shirt, only to find it had been replaced with a tank top. A flimsy piece of fabric designed to cling to his broad chest and thick waist, a deep V neck to show off the plentiful chest hair that spread across his pecs and gathered in-between his cleavage. Looking down, he noticed his shorts had somehow also changed into a pair of shorter swimming trunks, with a flattering zig-zag pattern. He had come to the beach to top up his tan, after all. Kyle merely shrugged at yet another change in reality, he was more than willing to show off his toned, hairy bod to the masses, maybe turn a head or two in the process.
He left his secluded hideaway, tank top tucked into the side of his trunks, heading towards the beachfront. He leaned against a lamppost and pointed the watch towards a young girl running along the boardwalk with an inflatable toy under her arm. The hand on the watch spun around and stopped at the number 10. Kyle shifted his position and next pointed it toward a lanky, scraggly looking man skateboarding past. The hand quickly moved up to 25. Finally, he span around and pointed the watch towards an elderly couple sunbathing on the beach and the hand shot up to 65. Kyle let out a hearty laugh, he could use the watch on other people if he wanted! Which was a very tempting proposition. This opened a whole new world of possibilities to him. He could make Phillip younger and flip the roles so he was the new dad. He could use it on the kids he went to school with, turn them into adults like he was. He could use it on his childhood bully and turn him into a baby. Or an old man! However, there was a problem. Using the watch's powers on himself, a consenting man who kind of knew how the powers worked, was one thing. Using it on another person without their permission? That would be pretty unethical and wrong of him to force such an unusual situation onto a stranger.
However, it couldn't hurt to try it out on just one person... And if the watch could change his entire life, maybe it'd do the same to them. Surely there was someone on the beach he could test it on. Maybe a kid pining for freedom and independence like he once was. Or a senior citizen wishing for a second chance at life. Kyle scanned the beach, his eyes narrowed and he stroked his beard in concentration. "Aha!" he spoke aloud, clicking his fingers in time. He spotted just the right person.