Whispers of amazement emanated from the tour group as they snapped pictures of the ancient hourglass. The 18 year old employee looked at the tour group with satisfaction, she noticed one tourist seemed to be squinting their eyes as they looked upon the ancient hourglass. After a moment the individual raised their hand to get the employee's attention.
"Yes sir?" She said with a smile as she approached him.
"There seems to be a smudge on the hourglass." The man said as he pointed out the smudge on top of the ancient hourglass.
Surreptitiously, the 18 year old employee looked around to make sure none of her coworkers were looking.
"Ordinarily, we're not supposed to touch any artifacts on museum property." She said, still looking around the room. "But I think I can make an exception."
Gingerly, she lifted up the velvet rope that separated the ancient hourglass from the tour group and approached the hourglass. Once more she turned to the man, she noted he was cute, with a wink she pointed a finger at a spot on the ancient hourglass.
"Here?" She asked rather slyly.
"That's the spot." He said with a smirk.
Pulling up the sleeve of her jacket, the woman began to rub the ancient hourglass vigorously. After a moment she took a step back to admire her work and turned to face the man once more.
"How's that?" She asked him.
"It looks good." He replied.
The woman opened her mouth to respond but stopped as a sudden burst of light emanated from the ancient hourglass. With great confusion, everyone turned to face the ancient hourglass, the 18 year old employee merely looked on in amazement.
Turning once more to face the tour group she said. "Well this is certainly amazing, we've never had anything like this happen be-"
She was cutoff as she was struck by a bolt of light, her body tensed up as she felt a jolt of energy course through her, seeping through every orifice of her being. And just like that it ceased, no more burst of light no more jolt of energy, just an 18 year old woman standing before a tour group.
"Are you okay?" A woman asked from the tour group.
"I... I think so." The 18 year old employee said, unsure of herself. "Excuse me, while I go alert the museum cura-"
She stopped for a moment as she placed a hand atop her head, she was struck with a sudden sense of vertigo as she steadied herself. As she looked up at the tour group she realized something was wrong.
"Up?" She muttered to herself as se watched in confusion and horror as the tour group seemed to be getting bigger. Soon she realized it wasn't only the tour group growing but the room as well. "What's going on?"
"Is she shrinking?" Someone whispered from the tour group.
"No, look." Another responded as they pointed a finger at her. "I think she's getting younger!?"
"Younger?" The 18 year old said as she looked down at herself. Her eyes went wide with horror as she realized what everyone was referring to, her clothes were slowly sliding off her body. Her once snug fitting jacket had engulfed her hands. The white button-down shirt she had carefully picked out this moring ballooned out from her chest, as her waist hugging skirt had slid down to her mid thighs.
"Oh crap." She whispered as she continued to regress.