Nicky stopped struggling as he saw that Elise was leading him towards a nearby park. There was a large group of children his current age, playing on the massive playground. Surely he’d be able to escape easily once he blended in with the kids a bit.
“All right, go play with your friends,” Elise said. She gently pushed him towards the play structure. Nicky sprinted for the play structure. He climbed up a ladder, ran across a bridge, and went down a slide, trying to give off the impression he was a regular kindergartener having a fun time playing. It worked. Elise’s attention was soon no longer on Nicky.
“Perfect,” Nicky whispered. He climbed down on the side of the structure away from Elise and ran away. As he ran, however, a child surprisingly larger than him shoved him out of the way. Nicky fell down behind a tree. To his horror, he heard a voice speak.
“Six years you have walked this Earth, now this number is but three. Each roll of the dice returns more of what you have lost.”
“Dammit!” Nicky swore under his breath. The dice must have somehow broke free of their case and rolled in his backpack! The golden light surrounded him. When it faded, he’d been demoted from a kindergartener to a toddler.
While he could still carry his backpack all right, his clothes were a definite problem now. Nicky wouldn’t fit in what he currently had. He peered around the tree, trying to think of where he could get some new clothes. His eyes landed on a nearby playground specifically for toddlers. A group of moms were sitting there, watching their children play. Each mom had a diaper bag. Presumably, the diaper bags would have not just diapers, but also outfits in case their children got too dirty.
Now that he had a source of clothing, Nicky just had to figure out how to get his annoyingly tiny hands on it.