Ignoring the strong reservations he was feeling about using the malfunctioning Chronivac again, Jeff clicked on his age and changed it from 8 to 16.
"I'm not growing up again," he said. "No way."
He heard footsteps approaching his room. His sister was back with the screwdriver, no doubt. "Too late, Jamie," he said, smirking, and executed the change.
That familiar tingle, again. He stood up, ready to be grown up again. He could feel it. He was changing.
He was shrinking.
"Shit!" he said as he watched his already young body get even younger.
"I'm back, Jeffy," said his sister as she fiddled with a screwdriver in his doorknob. "Get ready to have your mouth washed out with soap, you little jerk."
"No, no, no," he moaned as he watched his body regress into preschool years. He looked at his computer just in time to watch it disappear along with the Chronivac. He had wanted to check just what the Chronivac had done to him, but he realized that he already knew. Instead of twice his age, it had made him half his age.
"Four years old," he said with the voice of a little, preschool boy. He looked around. The room was now furnished for a four-year-old boy. Sadly, he realized that four year olds don't get their own computers. The lock clicked on his door, which swung open to reveal his now relatively giant sister. She did not look happy. "Um," he said, trying to find some words to fix things, "I'm... sorry?"