43 hours after arrival.
Susan led the way back to the trees they had been cutting. While they had managed one, it had taken nearly four hours. The trees were constantly healing from the change in time. Each swing against the bark was only met again with a fresh layer of bark soon after.
Susan toiled away with her machete as she put all of her energy into cutting down the tree. Dorothy focused on making rope from vines and Natalie would work on building the raft. It was back-breaking effort, the only upside was with their deaging bodies, the strain of working never settled in. After three hours, second tree began to tumble down. Natalie looked back to Susan and Dorothy, they had started to cross into their teenage years, so was herself, though she couldn't see it as easily. Her shirt was starting to get looser as she noticed her bra had begun to slip. Natalie rolled her eyes as she simply took the thing off and tightened her belt. "A little wardrobe malfunction won't stop us." She said, trying to regain some confidence. Natalie looked at her watch, they needed four logs in total probably, that would be another six hours if they kept up the pace. It was too slow.
Natalie walked up to Susan. "Here let me help you." She pulled out her pocket knife. Quickly whittling an incising, quickly pulling away before Susan wacked the mark with the blade. It was still time consuming but they had gotten the third tree cut nearly an hour faster.
Susan gasped she looked up at Natalie. Her face had broken out in classic teenage acne. "Pfft. Natalie your face." Susan giggled. "What about it?" worried, Natalie felt her face, quickly noticing the new bumps. She checked her watch, they were all now only sixteen. "Come on we gotta hurry." Natalie exclaimed as she tried to mark the last tree. Just before Susan swung they heard a scream.
Turning around they spotted Dorothy face down in the sandy dirt. "What happened?" Natalie exclaimed as she rushed over to Dorothy. She picked her head up, now caked in dirt and sand stuck in her hair. "Sorry, I just got surprised. I tripped over my shoes." Turning back she looked back at her feet, her thick workboots had slid right off her feet. Her socks more loosely hanging off her calf. "I think I just lost a shoe size." Dorothy grunted as she sat up. "Or two." Dorothy pulled off her socks in frustration. Natalie offered a hand. "Here let me help."
As Dorothy stood up she looked at Natalie, she had lost a good chunk of height. Her must have had the last growth spurt of the trio. "Oh no." She said as her eyes widened with fear.
Natalie held on to her shoulders. "Hey it's going to be ok, we are going to make it out of here I promise." she said reassuringly. Her message failed as Dorothy watched as within a second Natalie had nearly half an inch of height. Over the remaining hour the girls had started to lose a lot of body mass, Susan was the tallest among them and she must have only been maybe 5'4, a scrawny fifteen year old. The machete in her hand had become heavy and unwieldy, each swing had less and less force behind it.
Desperation had started to set in as the girls begun to shift blames on each other. Natalie desperately tried to keep her friends in check, but it all came to a head when Susan stormed off despite Natalie's protests. Shaking her head Natalie took over for Susan as she continued to fight against the tree trunk.
Susan stumbled through the jungle in a huff. Her stupid teenage body was flowing with hormones. As she stormed through the brush she suddenly tripped. Grunting in anger she looked back to see her cargo pants had slipped down to her knees. "Stupid pants." She said to herself as she tried to pull them up. No such luck, even her last belt loop was too large for her tiny waist. She blushed as she noticed her panties has shared the same fate, now loosely dangling on her quickly thinning hips.
Holding on to her pants with one hand she made her way back to the beach. No boat on the horizon. She slumped down as she started to cry. With each wail she could hear her voice get higher and higher. "I'll never get off this island, I'm gonna die here." She cried to herself. Sobbing she looked up from her arms. The small baggie of half eaten berries had remained. A idea flashed across her mind. She had the option to not deal with the reality of aging into nothing, she could go out peacefully, obviously.
Susan shook her head, it was tantamount to suicide. But the idea latched on to her, if they didn't finish by today they'd have to eat the islands food. Is it better to go down willingly or out of desperation? Susan weighed her options carefully along the silent oceanfront.
Natalie wiped her brow and looked at her hard work. Not even a mark remained on the fourth tree. "Fuck." Natalie said breathlessly. The tree had won. Natalie checked her watch. "Dorothy, let's get the raft together, three will half to do. Let's go befor-" Natalie was cut off as she gasped as she grasped her chest. She fell to her knee as a burning sensation flooded over her. She looked down to see the last remnant of her breasts fade away. She grabbed her pants, her pubes slowly fading away one by one. Natalie groaned as she could feel her bones rapidly shrinking, her purberty growth spurt happening in reverse at times ten speed. She looked up to see Dorothy as she had started to experience the same feeling. After a half hour the feeling subsidded as Natalie stood back up. They had crossed back into childhood, their shirts were the only things able to cling onto their tiny bodies. Their boots easily could fit up to the calfs. Even Natalie's watch had become too big, the last strap leaving it dangling on her wrist.
"Dorothy come on." Natalie was surprised at her high pitched voice. "We can still make it, grab the raft!" Dorothy struggled with the weight, she was now almost half the age she was this morning. "What about Susan?" Natalie grunted as she heaved the raft. "She. Will. Be. Fine." She said with each tug.