Jane eyed the towering baby gate with growing determination. Her tiny arms and legs weren’t going to get her far on their own—but the pile of plushies in the corner gave her an idea. Waddling over with an awkward toddler gait, she began dragging the biggest stuffed animals she could find—an oversized bear, a giraffe with a floppy neck, and a pink elephant almost half her size.
Panting from the effort, she stacked them as best she could, pushing and nudging them into a wobbly, cushioned pile. She climbed on, little arms flailing for balance, and just barely managed to get her tummy over the top of the gate. With a grunt and a final heave, she tumbled over to the other side with a soft thud.
“Okay… okay,” she whispered to herself, blinking back tears from the fall and crawling forward. Her eyes found the cabinet across the room. The phone was still up there. Jane stood up unsteadily, then scurried over on her short legs.
A plastic storage box sat beside the cabinet—just tall enough to give her a chance. She pressed her weight against it, teeth clenched, and pushed with all her might. Inch by inch, it slid. When it finally bumped up against the cabinet, Jane clambered onto it.
Her little fingers stretched upward, pawing blindly at the edge of the shelf. She stood on her tippy toes, face squished against the cabinet wood, until—yes!—her hand brushed the edge of the phone.
She grabbed it in both hands, nearly losing her balance in the process. With a soft plop, she sat back down on the box, clutching her prize. Relief washed over her, but only for a moment. She turned on the screen and opened the app. But her smile faltered.
The sentence on the screen appeared in a strange blur. She squinted, but the letters no longer made sense. “No, no, no…” she whimpered. “I can’t read!”
Desperate, she tapped and swiped, trying to fix the sentence she couldn’t fully comprehend. Her changes only made things worse. Her five brothers disappeared and in their place, Sophia had become her sister. Her new father, Mr. Thompson was suddenly a woman now. And the entire daycare had a more feminine appearance than before, with more girls than ever.
Jane tried using the app again, and to her pleasant surprise, she succeeded. The new sentence improved her reading comprehension and all words became clear again.
"Yes! I can read again!" she gasped, eyes wide. But she didn’t get to celebrate too much.
“Jane!” a voice barked. Jane turned, heart freezing. It was Sophia who was staring at Jane with an angry look and with her arms crossed in defiance. “How did you get out?!”
Sophia stormed over, clearly recognizing the phone in Jane’s hands. “Give me that back!”
Jane raised it, ready to edit. “Nuh-uh. Not this time.”
A quick sentence formed on the screen: "Sophia is a thirty-two year old girl who works at the daycare."
Jane altered it as quickly as she could and hit Confirm. Immediately, Sophia disappeared and was replaced by a 2-year-old toddler girl, wearing nothing but a diaper. Clearly the little girl didn't know what was going on, so she just sat on the floor confused while sucking her thumb.
Jane couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, that was amazing.” But curiosity got the better of her. What if she gave Sophia her memories back? Just to see her reaction?
She generated a new sentence: "Sophia doesn't seem to remember everything that happened."
Jane changed to "Sophia doesn't seem to remember everything that happened."
Jane changed it to "seems to remember" and hit Confirm. Sophia’s eyes snapped open wide. Her thumb fell from her mouth, and she blinked rapidly, her face morphing from confusion to realization. She looked down at herself, her tiny toddler body, and then back at Jane. The fury was immediate. Sophia opened her mouth, as if about to scream, but she was too small to form the words.
"I—I’m... I’m—what happened to me?" she whimpered, her voice small and childlike.
Jane laughed, partly because this whole situation was just so absurd. But her amusement quickly turned to surprise as Sophia suddenly launched herself toward her.
The two girls began to tussle, fighting over the phone, each one desperate to control the app. They struggled and fought, one of them gaining control of the phone for a brief moment, only to have the other snatch it away. The back-and-forth was dizzying, neither one giving an inch. Finally, in the chaos of their tug-of-war, one of them tripped. The phone flew out of Jane’s hand, skidding across the floor and coming to a stop under a set of shelves, completely out of reach. Both girls froze, realizing the gravity of the situation. They had no phone, no app, and no way to fix what had been done. Panic set in.
"Great," Jane muttered under her breath.
Before they could even think of a solution, one of the daycare employees walked in, immediately noticing the two girls outside the gate. She scowled at them, her hands on her hips.
"What do you two think you're doing? You know you're not supposed to be out here." The woman was quick to scoop them up, carrying both Jane and Sophia back into the playroom, where they were unceremoniously placed back among the other toddlers.