Her fingers hovered over the phone again, drawn to the possibilities. What would happen if she changed her age? A silly thought, but she was in the mood to test it. She generated the next sentence, “Sophia is 32”
With a quick tap, she tried altering it, “Sophia is 22.” She waited for a moment, her heart racing with anticipation. But the app glowed, and the world around her shifted once again.
The floor seemed to tilt, her surroundings felt distant, and everything grew much larger. Sophia stumbled as her body seemed to shrink, her hands suddenly too small for the phone. Her gaze fell downward, and her breath hitched when she saw that her body was now that of a toddler. She panicked, staring at her tiny, chubby hands. She scrambled to look at the screen, realizing her error too late. The app had switched her from 32 years old to 22 months old, not 22 years old.
Her thoughts raced, trying to make sense of it. She wasn’t sure how to undo what had just happened. Her baby body wobbled as she tried to get a grip on the phone, but it was difficult. She was suddenly, undeniably, two years old, and she was panicking.
In her desperation, she tried to fix it, typing with her little hands. She hit enter again, but nothing happened. Instead, something else changed. She tried again, but she still remained the same. Sophia didn't realize that she could no longer read well, so any new sentence would be incomprehensible to her.
Before she could make another attempt, a sudden change swept through the room. Sophia found herself in a completely different reality. She was no longer just a toddler; everything around her seemed wrong.
The daycare was now exclusive for girls, and all the children were female. Jane was still present but now she seemed to have no memories of her past life. Jane wasn’t just confused by the changes; she now believed that she had always been a 2-year-old, even though she still knew about some details about her adult life, like the phone for example.
Then, the most unexpected thing happened. Instead of putting things back to normal, Sophia accidentally changed Mr. Thomson into Mrs. Thompson. Not only that, but Sophia herself was now Jane’s sister.
The world felt like it was collapsing around her. Sophia had no idea how to fix what she had done, or even where to start. She could only watch helplessly as the app did whatever it wanted. Her memories were hazy, and she struggled to comprehend the changes that had overtaken her life.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps broke through her panic. A new employee had arrived at the daycare. Sophia froze, instinctively hiding the phone under a small bookcase nearby. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she scrambled to regain some semblance of composure.
The employee came into the room, scanning the area. When she saw Sophia, she gave her a smile and a quick wave. “Hey there, sweetie! Are you okay?”
Sophia opened her mouth to respond, but the words didn’t come out as she expected. Instead, she felt a strange rush of helplessness. She was just a baby now, unsure of how to express herself or even control her actions.
The employee gently guided Sophia toward the playroom. The sounds of the other children, including Jane, echoed in the background, and Sophia’s stomach twisted with the realization that her actions had caused far more chaos than she had ever imagined.