"Oh, but hold on I deleted something let me fix it quick." The woman replied with obviously good intentions, but Jason was only able to think with fear about how he might change! Would he even be aware? Would she be aware?
"Wait!" Jason called out to no avail as the woman hit enter on her edition.
In an instant, Jason's world changed. He watched as the walls and ceiling seemed to shoot up instantly, growing higher than a sky scraper, while his own body felt smaller and smaller. He saw a blanket appear and wrap around his body, preventing him from watching his body change. He was also now sitting in something, but he couldn't tell what. Finally, he figured it out, as soon as something large and squishy appeared in his mouth.
Mary, meanwhile, was amazed beyond belief. In an instant, the young boy whom she had just bumped into was gone, and in his place was a tiny baby sitting in a carrier. She knelt down to get a closer look. The baby seemed Asian judging by his eyes, was swaddled in a blue blanket with a matching warm hat and binky in his mouth.
"I- I don't believe it." She muttered.
Just then, the baby's eyes narrowed. He the spit the pacifier out as fast as he could, nailing Mary's forehead. She winced only slightly, and then glared at the child. He began to wave his arms frantically, gesturing towards her hand. it only took a moment for Mary to piece it together. That app. She had forgotten what number had been in that sentence on the boy's screen, but she figured it had been a 1... and now that college aged boy was replaced by what might be a 1 year old baby!
Lifting up the phone to her face, she had to gawk once more as the phone was her own! She of course had hers safely secured in her purse, but apparently the boy's phone was gone, but that odd app was on her device now.
"Okay... I, I think I'm getting what happened." She muttered. "Were you that college boy?" She asked.
However, her face turned red and her eyes darted around. Mary figured she must look insane asking an infant such a question. She scooped up the little carrier, gave the few who were looking an awkward smile before walking to the wall of the mall. Placing the carrier on the seat, she sat adjacent to it so she could still see him.
"Okay, sorry, don't wanna look mental right love?" She chuckled.
"Bwa... bwwaba? Bwababa!" The child responded, at first seemingly to answer her but then seemingly angry at the lack of speech he now had. He waved his arms around, continuing to point at her phone.
"Yes I figured out that bit." She whispered. "But, how? HOW is this possible?" She asked.
Mary waited for a response, but the baby just stared at her blankly. Her face glowed red again slightly and she gave herself a light tap across her forehead.
"Ah, right, you can't talk can you?" She asked.
Jason shook his head, silently judging her.
"Alright, I can fix this... I just need to use the app again right?" She asked.
Jason nodded his head for yes repeatedly before getting a little dizzy and stopping. He didn't realize how fragile babies really were until he was one again.
"Gotcha love, alright, here goes." She muttered, pulling up the app.
It had a bunch of different targets on it, but centered with an occasional circular wave pattern emanating from it was a different pattern. She guessed that represented her phone. Then, the icon practically on top of it was her, and the icon across was the boy. She selected his icon, and a sentence popped up.
"Jason is impatiently waiting to be turned back." It read.
"Bingo." She said with a smile. "So, you're Jason?" She asked.
Jason just smiled, now eagerly awaiting his age progression.
She quickly erased most of it besides for his name, then wrote "Jason is older again." She hoped this would work, though she didn't know what his actual age was supposed to be. She hit enter, but then a large error screen popped up.
ERROR: ALTERATION LIMITED TO ONE WORD PER SENTENCE!!!
"One bloody word that's all I get?" She gasped, rightfully irritated.
Jason gave a weak nod, feeling frustrated once more at her slow understanding of the apps limits and power.
She was starting to get frustrated as well. Mary couldn't help but wonder if she was being pranked or just insane. Even if it was real, who was this kid? What was going on? She decided she'd keep as many cards as she could and try to figure out what was going on. She then selected his icon again and tried once more.
It read, "Jason is a baby."
She replaced the word " baby" with "child" and hit enter once more. She glanced up, and to her surprise standing before her was a small child, no older than 7 or 8! He looked a lot like her own son Luke when he was that age, although with a decent amount of subtle differences that made him seem more like the guy he was before. Though, he was still Asian, and could definitely pass for her child.
"Yes I'm... wait, what the heck lady!?" He gasped upon seeing his diminutive size and batman t-shirt. "I thought you saw me before! I'm supposed to be 19!"
"Stop, just stop! I want answers!" Mary replied, getting more and more freaked out. "Who are you, what is this thing how is it doing this?!"
Jason realized that this was gonna be tricky. He didn't want to share the app with anyone. What if she found out what he was up to, would she try to stop him or punish him? Best case punishment he'd have to grow up all over again! He decided to play it cool, and when he got the app back he'd then figure out what to do with her. For now, he started with snippets.
"Look, you got me mum. All I know is that it's an app that can change reality. Change a word, change the world type of thing. Now, can I please just return to normal.
Mary looked blankly at her phone. Reality, itself? Like, she could bend the fabric of the world and change anyone or anything? And nobody else would ever be the wiser. The power was certainly, alluring
"Hold on a minute... that's a lot to take in." Mary stuttered.
That's when...