Brett's large, bare feet straddled Matt's ankles as the over-hung teen sat in the sandbox and looked up with a still-stunned expression on his face. He could only stare, looking up the "barrel" of the wand as the now-older man held it, trained on him. Slowly, it dawned on Brett that Matt was counting.
"Three ... Two ... One. Ok, I wish..."
"Wait! Wait!" screamed Brett, his mind racing quickly. "Look, I...I don't know what happened! I ...well... this is all a mistake!" Brett paused, looking down at Brett and waiting. "I ... I didn't mean to send you away; I ... I just had been, well, fantasizing about you, and ... and... Well, I may have *shrunk* you, but I didn't mean to ... to make you disappear!"
Brett lowered his hand, the wand pointing at his feet. Matt, feeling as if he might be making headway here, drew up his legs and got to his knees. He pushed the thoughts of how his tight-fitting pants were hurting him, aside, and kept trying to explain himself.
"Look, I was ... was attracted to you... I know you're probably not gay or anything, but ... but, I'd always thought you were... You were..."
"...You were helpless and tiny?" finished the larger man. Faintly, the wand glowed, unnoticed by either man. "Do you know where I went?" he asked, with a scowl. "I tried to get myself away from you and I ended up on a goddamned mountain surrounded by giant animals and man-eating plants! It was like something outta 'Jumanji'!"
Matt slowly stood up, feeling a bit woozy. He looked around and up at Brett's anger-filled face. The tall man was still looming over him as the teen swallowed hard. "I ... I didn't mean it..." he stammered.
Around Brett's feet, several small shoots of green began to sprout in the sandbox. Nearby the grasses and plants began to wave and bow as if caught in an unfelt breeze, but both men were too engrossed in their conversation to notice.
"Of *course* you didn't! But this thing has side-effects!" shouted the bigger man. Inside, the sound of the television was probably loud enough to keep Matt's father from hearing the altercation. "I wished to be away from you and ended up trapped in a magical world with plants that could change your size, magical pools that could change your mind and even some magic animals that could change your body! Of *course* you didn't *mean* for it to happen to me, but *because* of you, I got stuck there!"
Matt swooned. The tightness in his jeans couldn't account for this and he leaned against the back wall of his house, looking up at his ranting, older neighbor. "Wait," he gasped, "Brett..."
Brett scowled. "What?"
Matt moaned and slowly slid down towards the ground. Everything was distorted and swimming. He pulled his head up as he felt himself getting weaker and weaker, and stared at Brett. What was wrong? Then, he stared.
Brett's overly-small clothing was tighter on him. A lot tighter! Not only that, but as he looked down at his own shoes in the sandbox, he could see his own foot prints from a moment ago, much bigger than his shoes, now...
"Oh no..." he moaned. "'Helpless and Tiny'...?" he gasped, remembering the unfortunately finished sentence that Brett had just used.
"What?" Brett asked, looking down as he slowly grew and became more muscular. "What did you say?"
The bigger man kicked sand over Brett as the teenager, covered his face. "You ... you made a wish..." he moaned, feeling his muscles fade and his body shrink smaller, now merely five and a half feet tall...
His eyes looked forward, his head not able to tilt up to meet Brett's fierce gaze without real effort, and he moaned. "You made a half-wish and ... and now, it's happening. I'm getting small and helpless and ... and the side-effect is making you ... too big and strong..."
The words froze Brett as he looked down at Matt for a full minute. He then looked at himself and dropped the wand to his feet. "Oh, no..." he muttered.
Around them, the plants continued to grow and move. Vines snaked out between the neatly-trimmed bushed in Matt's backyard and strange, tropical flowers began to sprout around the sandbox. Unbeknownst to either of them, a small piece of the world Brett had been banished to, had followed him home...
A small pair of beady, squirrl-like eyes stared at them from a nearby tree, watching and taking in the gradual metamorphosis of the two men...