I begin to wake up. I'm lying on the couch in the living room.
"What the...?"
My voice, it sounds different to me. Lighter, somehow.
"He's awake now."
I look over and see my little girl standing there, smiling. Next to her i see....myself!
"Hey there. Charlie!" says my daughter.
Confused, i sit up into a more sitting position. My body feels light and maneuverable. Not that i wasnt able to move before. But this was somehow....different.
As i sat up, i noticed i was wearing those clothes that i found in a bag in her room! New shoes, long Nime docks, black shorts, and blue T-shirt!
The clothes were a perfect fit, though the shorts were a bit long. Sticking out of those shorts, were a pair of hairless, youthful legs that led into a pair of size ten shoes! Shoes that looked a bit on the large size compared to the short, smooth legs that are apparently attached to me!
I then noticed my shortened, youthened hairless forearms, and my much smaller hands. I next noticed i was much slimmer, and started patting my smaller chest and smooth belly beneath my shirt. Not an ounce of my hard-earned muscle anywhere!
"Hello.....CHARLIE!" A deeper voice, full of mirth and amusement. I look up from my exploration of my new body. At the towering figure of my former self. The voice sounds different than I'm used to, yet i am used to. Sounds exactly like my twin brother!
"Ch- Charlie!?" I choke out, intimidated and confused.
"Yup! That's your name from now on! Charlie Redding! Or, rather, Charles Millhouse Redding!"
"Wha- What are you TALKING about!?"
"I'm talking about how you're now my classmate, and the " REAL" Charlie is now my father!"
"But. I'm not 12!"
"You're right! You are now 11 years old!" Replied the imposter.
"What?"
"Here!" said my daughter, Kaylee.
She was handing me a mirror. I reach out with my reduced arm and grip it with my perfectly formed fingers. My jaw about hit the floor! Looking back was an admittedly nice-looking handsome young boy, no more than about.....11 years old! The boy's expression was comical. His eyes wide, with a dark shade of blue. His mouth open in shock, just like mine. But those were not my eyes, nor my mouth.
His hair was nicely trimmed. Short, brown with the really short bangs sticking outward and slightly to the side. I reach up to touch the hair on my head. Something I haven't felt since my junior year of high school! My brother and I started shaving our heads in our senior year. It suited us perfectly well. But even so, the hair is different.
I sat there, wonderingly feeling my smooth, young face. Searching the mirror for any recognition of familiarity finding none. Nice, bushy eyebrows without being too bushy. Thickish lips. A small nose slightly on the wide side. Best of all, perfect teeth! Well, there's that, at least. At least the teeth are as good, straight, and white as mine were, even if the two front teeth were a lot longer and broader. This kid i apparently am stuck as being too young for much wear.
"That was me. That was my face you now have to wear."
"Huh?" I looked up at a startingly familiar image of myself that looks just like my identical twin brother, but slightly different. Most people cant tell us spart.
"I guess my mom was right. I was a good looking kid."
"What did you do!? What....what happened!?" I demanded.
My doppelganger smiled, and lifted his, my former, right leg. Nicely tanned, perfectly formed from years of working out.
"The socks, man. And these shoes. We followed you. Stole the socks, and put those clothes, which my mom....your mom now....just bought the other day. I been wearing those clothes all day."
"What? Yuck!" I bounced up, suddenly creeped out that i was now wearing the clothes a boy id never met had just been wearing. But they looked clean and new.
"Don't worry, man! I just took a shower and put them ob for the first time before riding my bike....haha, now your bike....over here! I knocked you out using a date rape drug after i turned into you. I then dressed you in my former clothes after taking a shower, getting dressed in a fresh set of your own clothing. You daughter....excuse me, MY daughter now and your slightly OLDER classmate....helped me out."
Unbelievably, i looked over, and slightly UP....at her.
"I hated you going through my stuff. So, i recruited Charlie who wanted to be a real man."
"You gotta gimme those socks!" I said.
"Sorry, SON! I don't " GOTTA" do anything!"
"But-"
"Shush! Now that you're acquainted with yourself, you need to leave MY house! Your mom will be wondering where you ran off to before too long."
"But-"
"I left your bike in the front lawn."
"Bike? I dont even ride a bike!"
The imposter reached into the pockets of my jeans he is wearing, and pulled out a set of keys. My keys!
"You do now!"
"Wait! Those are-"
"My keys, my car now!" he finished.
"You don't even know how to drive!"
"The longer i wear these socks with these shoes on, the more of your knowledge and skill I absorb. Taking it away from you. The more of an 11 year old boy you become."
I could already tell my confidence was depleted. I felt intimidated standing there, in a house that was apparently no longer mine. And the girl, my daughter, with her big pretty green eyes. Several inches taller than me now. I was beginning to feel....inadequate!
Kaylee was self-assured. Always has been, much like me. I could see how kids her age would be intimidated by her. How she was the most popular girl in her class.
"Come on, dweeb! Go home!" She said.
"I swear, boys are so dumb, " she said, turning towards her....uummm...new father. I suddenly had the strong urge to just...beat it out of there.
And so i did. I heard them laughing, as i ran out of my own house, almost in tears. I looked at my car, longing to hop in and just drive away. But somehow, i knew i couldn't drive, even if it was my car. Instead, i saw a bike lying in the grass. It was a cool looking white mountain bike. And it slowly became somehow familiar to me.
I ran over to it. It was a small mountain bike, but it was big enough for my small sub five-foot body. I hopped on, and quickly rode away as fast as my shorter legs would go.
I wasn't sure where i was headed, but at some point it dawned on me: I'm just a kid! A young boy, aged 11, riding his bicycle on a neighborhood sidewalk. Riding home to mommy! And probably some 6th grade homework.