Carefully, and with an air of toddler innocence, Jane shuffled toward Sophia’s pocket, keeping her movements slow and deliberate. Her tiny hands reached up, brushing against the fabric of Sophia’s pants, feeling the phone’s familiar shape. She could barely contain her excitement as she managed to slip the phone out of the pocket and into her grasp.
It was heavier than she remembered, and for a moment, she froze, the device resting in her chubby fingers. But no one noticed. Mr. Thomson was busy laughing and lifting the other kids into the air, his attention far away from the sneaky little girl with the phone.
Jane quickly toddled toward the small play corner, trying to keep the phone out of view. Her hands shook slightly with anticipation as she pressed the screen. The app glowed to life, and she saw the familiar interface, the rows of sentences ready for editing.
“Okay, focus,” she muttered to herself, or at least tried to. The words in front of her were blurry and jumbled. The sentences that had once been so easy to comprehend now seemed like a foreign language. Her toddler brain couldn’t quite piece them together.
Frustrated, Jane tried tapping randomly, hoping the app would still respond as it had before. The sentences morphed, but they weren’t making any sense. None of it made sense, and nothing seemed to be happening.
She tapped again, more frantically this time, her tiny fingers slipping on the smooth screen. She generated more sentences and confirmed them, but none of them returned her to normal. What the app did change were other things that left her somewhat surprised. Her brothers were now sisters, her father was now a robust woman with a large, gentle face, and the entire daycare now seemed to have a more feminine look. Jane was amazed at what she caused but decided not to be distracted and continued using the app.
Jane generated a sentence, and by modifying it, she ended up altering the entire world. She ended up resetting the entire day. It was now noon at the daycare. Everything was as ordered as it had been several hours ago; the now Mrs. Thompson was no longer there, and her new sisters were still playing in the playroom. Not to mention there were other girls in the playroom.
Jane was seriously considering giving up after several failed attempts, but the next sentence she confirmed ultimately cheered her up considerably. Her reading comprehension had finally returned, and every word was clear again. She now had a real chance to fix everything, to undo the changes and return to her original form.
Before she could continue, however, a shadow loomed over her. Jane looked up to see Sophia, her stern face framed by the bright lights of the daycare, towering over her. Before Jane could even react, Sophia snatched the phone from her hands with an annoyed sigh.
"That's enough, young lady," Sophia scolded, her voice firm. "You’ve had your fun with this phone long enough."
Jane let out a small whimper, her tiny heart sinking as she tried to reach for it. But it was no use. Sophia held the phone out of her reach, a look of exasperation crossing her face.
"You're going back to your crib for now," she said, her hands swiftly picking up Jane and carrying her over to one of the cribs near the corner of the room. Jane kicked her little legs, protesting with a babyish squeal, but it did nothing to stop Sophia. "You will stay here until you finally begin to obey."
In moments, Jane was deposited into the crib, the soft mattress sinking beneath her as she landed with a thud. The bars clanged shut in front of her. Now that Jane was in the crib, Sophia left and proceeded to attend other girls.
As Jane lay in the crib, her mind raced, trying to come up with a plan. Luckily for her, she had plenty of time to think about one and apart from Sophia, there were no adults in sight, just a bunch of infants playing. But still, Jane had to think of something quickly to get out of this crib and get her phone back.