John was beside himself; he should’ve anticipated that something like this would happen. After all, what 8-year-old would rightfully own, let alone be able to purchase, a device like this?!
“What are you talking about?! Get out of my room!” John barked, attempting to feign ignorance via a display of indignance.
It was to little avail, though, as Conner deftly snatched the boy’s shoulders and spun him around, revealing the device concealed in John’s small, soft hands. “I knew it!” he snapped. “You wouldn’t even know how to use this, so why would you even want it?! God, you’re so annoying.” Having retrieved “his” device, Conner made a swift exit, clearly excited to try out the device’s power for himself, knowing all too well what it could do, since he had been the one to buy it in this reality.
“Conner, wait! I need that!” John piped, his squeaky, prepubescent voice doing him little favors in the way of issuing serious commands.
John surveyed his surroundings once more, taking in the distantly familiar scenery of his childhood bedroom. I really hope I don’t have to get used to this… Looking in the mirror that hung on the back of his door, he for the first time gazed upon the young boy that stared back at him, looking ever so devastated and impossibly puny. How would he get the device back from Conner in this state? The door to Conner’s room had a lock on it, since he was “at that age,” as his dad had stated when installing it months ago, and he often holed up in there by himself gaming. Surely, he’d be in there right now, meddling with the Chronivac that he thought was his… John needed a plan, but any feasible method to retrieve the device wasn’t coming to him at the moment. He’d have to wait and see if an opportunity presented itself.
“John, Conner! Dinner’s ready!” his mom’s voice rang out from downstairs.
Great… John grew tired of taking in the sad state of his defeated countenance and turned from the mirror to search his multi-color kiddie dresser for some pants. Rummaging through the bottom drawer, he found a pair of jeans with an elastic waistband. He slipped them on over his tight, new undies and trudged out to the kitchen.
“Good of you to finally join us, little bro,” a deep, unfamiliar voice sounded from the table as John rounded the corner.
Their dad chimed in to defend the boy, “Oh, give him a break Conner. The boy needed a nap.”
Conner?! That was him?! He must’ve been at least as old as John had been just 10 minutes ago. The newfound adult sported a messy, deep-brown stubble beard along with a mature short-sleeve Oxford shirt and some Chinos. Now he, not John, looked the part of the freshly graduated senior, eager to enjoy his last summer before college.
“Conner…” John stammered, “How old are you?”
Conner’s eyes shot a suspicious, knowing glance at his younger brother.
“Honey, you know he’s 18!” their mom chirped. “His birthday was only 2 weeks ago; you can’t have forgotten it that fast!”
“Oh… right, haha,” John replied, feeling uneasy that the disparity in power between him and his brother had risen almost exponentially now. Retrieval of the Chronivac would be that much harder now.
John sat down and silently played with the food on his plate, taking a nibble here and there as he let his new reality sink in. He peered up occasionally, finding that Conner would meet his eyes surreptitiously, as if to survey him in some way, but what exactly was he thinking?
Oh no… If Conner had changed his age, and his parents weren’t aware of it, then he must’ve checked the change reality box, which would mean he’d expect John not to know about his age change either, unless…
John gulped, avoiding Conner’s piercing stare. John knew that he knew. Conner was surely aware that John had previously used and was attuned to the Chronivac, making him able to detect changes even through reality shifts, which would make him a threat to Conner, since he knew what the device could do and how to use it.
Several minutes of this standoff and some polite parental conversation later, Conner stood abruptly from his chair. “Thanks for cooking, Mom. I’m done.” In saying this, he looked not at their mom but at John, signaling what could only be his intent to take care of the situation at hand.
John cowered in his seat, terrified of the power his brother now held, and he watched helplessly as Conner ascended the stairs to his room.
Moments later, his gut took over, and John got up from his seat at the table, announcing in a similar fashion that he was done with dinner, and he marched hastily upstairs.
He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he had to do something… convince his brother somehow to not do anything drastic!
John tilted his head up when he got to Conner’s door, inspecting a new poster he’d not seen before of a video game befitting the interests of a mature teenager much more thoroughly than of a newly christened 13-year-old. He raised a small fist and knocked.
On command, the door swung open; Conner must’ve been waiting for him. The young man towered over John and beckoned him inside. “Let’s talk, little bro.”