"Your clothes?" you asked, smiling slightly to mask your worry. You weren't quite sure what was going on now or what was going to happen, but you didn't want to get your brother unnecessarily anxious or upset.
"Yeah," he said as he sat up and wiped his eyes. Looking down at his bare chest, a smile crept across his lips, and he began to giggle. "I guess I'm getting my growth spurt, huh, big bro?"
You slowly nodded, and he jumped to his feet, his pajama pants giving a short but loud ripping sound as he did so. Kyle turned around and saw that the back of his pants had ripped, revealing his checkered underwear. He laughed louder. "Oops," he said, grinning widely, "I guess I should be more careful."
He stretched his arms high above his head, and you saw his muscles flex slightly. You breathed a sigh of relief. Other than his height, everything seemed to be normal now. Or so you hoped. "How are you feeling, Kyle?" you asked.
"Pretty good!" he exclaimed. "I wanna go do something, actually. Ooh! Big bro, can we go to the pool today?"
You shook your head, laughing. "Perhaps later," you said, and then brought up the subject that gave you the most apprehension. "Are - are you hungry at all?"
Kyle thought for a second, and then shook his head furiously. "Nope! In fact, I still feel kinda full from yesterday. What did we have again?" He looked around, and at this moment he noticed the wrappers and empty boxes surrounding him. "Uhhh, what happened here?" he asked.
You scrunched up your nose and tilted your head. "You mean you don't remember?"
"Not really," he said. "I remember having a little lasagna--"
"A little?!" you interrupted. "Kyle, you ate the whole pan! Plus a whole bunch of bread and chips and meat and everything! And apparently the rest of the food that's around you. You really don't remember it at all?"
Kyle grinned sheepishly. "Uhhhh... Not really, no." At this, he let out a loud belch, as if to drive the irony home.
"Hmmm, weird," you said, then shrugged. "At least you're not hungry anymore."
As you said that, a much longer ripping sound came from Kyle's pants, and some of the fabric fell off to the ground, leaving him wearing only bits of fabric of his shirt and pants, as well as his ever-stretching underwear. His smile only seemed to be getting wider, and you were certain of one thing: he was definitely still growing. "Kyle, hold on one second."
You went over to the drawer next to the refrigerator and started rummaging through it. Finally, you found what you were looking for: the tape measure. You motioned to Kyle and brought it over to the wall. "Lemme check something," you said, having him stand straight, flat on his heels, as you extended the tape measure. "Kyle, do you remember how tall you were the last time you measured?"
"Yeah!" he said. "Mom measured me last week, and I was three feet, eleven inches.". How big am I now?"
You finally lined up the tape measure with the tip of his head, and were shocked by what you saw. "61 1/2 inches. That's, uh..." your jaw nearly drops to the floor. "Five feet one-and-a-half!"
"Wow!" Kyle said. "I grew over a foot in a week!"
"Actually, Li'l Bro," you said, "I think most of that was on the last day." You stepped back and examined your little brother's body. He was now definitely too big to be an eight-year-old, and could pass for eleven or twelve, or even older. As you looked closer, you noticed that his stomach, which had earlier been so round from his gorging, was now fit and lean, and his chest was beginning to develop the slightest bit of muscular definition. Your eyes traveled down to his feet, which looked exceptionally big. You placed yours next to his and noticed that they were nearly the same size!
"Wow, that's awesome!" Kyle exclaimed. "Big Bro, why are my feet the same size as yours if you're still taller?"
"I dunno," you said. "I suppose if you're growing proportionally, that might make sense. Not that anything about this really DOES make sense."
"Well," Kyle said, beginning to jump up and down a little in excitement, "whatever the case, I'm glad it's happening! I've always wanted to be a little bigger!"
You nodded, but inside you knew that something was wrong, and you had to figure out what was going on. You didn't quite know where, but you knew that you had to take Kyle to some experts, whoever they were.
As Kyle began to check himself out in the full-size mirror in the kitchen, you went upstairs to your bedroom, looking for clothing he could wear to go out in. At first, you thought to grab some clothes from a year or two ago when you were about as tall as Kyle is now. As you thought harder, however, you realized that if Kyle had grown thirteen inches in just under fifteen hours, and what seemed like about six inches in the last hour, then by the time you got to wherever it was you were going, Kyle would probably be even bigger, and you'd have to go through all this again. Of course, that assumes that he kept growing at the same rate. His growth could slow down or even stop. Or, the opposite could also happen. You shuddered at the thought.
Finally, you grabbed some clothes, a pair of basketball shorts that were a little baggy even for you now, a very large sleeveless t-shirt, some boxers and a pair of flip-flops, and began to head back. As you passed your parents' room, you thought that maybe you should have a backup plan. Your dad was a very tall man at 6' 7", and some of his clothing was bound to fit Kyle, in a worst case scenario. You went in and grabbed a button-up shirt and khaki pants, and a pair of his size 19 sneakers. Just in case, you thought to yourself.
Going back downstairs, you handed your clothes to Kyle. "Put these on," you said.
Sure enough, they were a little baggy, and Kyle laughed at how he looked in them. "Why am I wearing these?" he asked.
"Because," you said, "I need to take you somewhere. Just to make sure everything's all right."
The two of you head out to your car, and you try to decide where you should go. Finally, you make up your mind and head to...