You decide to stop looking at your reflection since it was creeping you out. Instead you decide to head back to The Magic Shop. After all they made you like this so they probably had something to make you back to normal.
You come out of the bathroom and head right to the front door before a voice stops you.
“Where are you going Jake?” A confused voice says.
You turn to see your Mom watching you from the living room in confusion. She’s currently watching something on TV and had noticed you on your way out.
“Oh I need to go buy something really quick…… for school,” you say making sure to add the school part in to sound more convincing.
Your Mom looks at you with doubt before speaking. “You can go but only if Kyle, (your original name), goes with you.”
You look at her in shock. You weren’t so used to being treated like a kid since, well you yourself were a kid but it sure was annoying. Knowing your self, you wouldn’t want to drop studying just to take your little brother to the store. Besides, now that you were 10 and your original self was 21, it seemed that your relationship had altered so that the two of you weren’t as close as before. Probably due to the much larger age gap in between the two of you.
You sigh and head back to your room hoping you can convince your other self. A little trepidatious you knock at the door quietly before realizing that you were only dealing with your original self.
“Why do I feel so scared? It’s just me,” you tell yourself as the door opens. You see your original body looking down at you before asking you what you want. “Oh, Mom wants you to take me to the store.”
You or you guess Fake Kyle looks at you before speaking. “I thought Mom just went grocery shopping. Why do we need to head back to the store?” He asks you.
“Oh… um.. I actually need to go to the store to buy something from school,” you say realizing how high and squeaky it sounds from your slight anxiety of being caught lying and your intimidating presence.
“I don’t know I have a lot to do for school. Can it wait til’ tomorrow?” Fake Kyle says as he scratches the back of his head looking disinterested. Just like you suspected, it seemed your fake self wasn’t as close to your younger brother. Before you would have definitely been willing to take Jake to the store just to spend time with him.
It seemed that you would have to convince your fake self. Luckily nobody knew you better that you yourself. “Oh, but you can stop by that clothes store along the way. They’re having a huge 50% off sale,” you tell him.
He looks back at your face with slight interest. After all you had wanted to stop by the store earlier before going to The Magic Shop. It was only getting the ring gave you too much embarrassment to stop by. “Sure whatever but don’t take too long,” Fake Kyle says as he opens the door and starts heading to the front door.
You follow him eagerly excited to get back to your normal self. The walk to The Magic Shop is slightly awkward as you realize you have nothing to communicate with between the two of you as Fake Kyle stares at his phone the whole time. You realize that Jake should be grateful he had been only five years younger than you because it seemed being eleven years younger made the close relationship you guys had nonexistent.
You see Fake Kyle head into the store as he doesn’t even glance up from his phone to see you head into The Magic Shop. You find the clerk from before and see him waiting at the front and run up to him.
“What can I do for you kid?” He asks kindly.
“Listen I bought a swap ring from here an hour ago and it turned me into my younger brother. Is there something that can help me swap back?” You ask quickly rushing your words as fast as you can. You wanted the solution to your problem as soon as possible. Before your fake self showed up to take you home.
“Ca you explain what happened?” He asks. You quickly tell him you wanted to swap your eyes but thought about your brother was he was ten by mistake.
“I see what happened. It seemed that the ring swapped your eyes but it also seems to have swapped your roles,” the clerk explains, “if the ring worked as it was supposed to it would have just turned you into your original 10 year old self with your brother’s eyes but the the extra attribute swapped your entire roles.”
“But why does he look like me?” You ask him a little annoyed at the explanation. Perhaps you were just annoyed at yourself for getting caught up in this mess.
“I guess since you turned into him, reality had to alter to the effects and turned your brother into you,” the clerk explains.
“Well the ring disappeared after I used it so can I buy another one?” You ask him desperately.
The clerk looks a bit sympathetic at you before telling you that it was the only swap ring he had in stock. Your mouth opens in horror as you begin to realize you might be stuck as a ten year old for good now.
“Don’t worry I’ll order a new one. In the meantime, why not buy something else?” The clerk suggests before waving towards the merchandise on the shelves. You look at the items in doubt realizing they could probably worsen your situation if you weren’t careful. Since you could probably only afford the items in the bargain bin. So would you rather wait for the new ring or take another change with a faulty item?