Arriving at Heather's mom's place, Nick asked, "Where shall we begin," as Heather unlocked the front door.
As she shrugged in response, Heather pushed open the door and breathed in the musty air of a place that hadn't known fresh air for a while. Looking about, Heather commented in a morose tone, "I really don't know. Mom had a lot of stuff saved up over the years," and still taking in the familiar before her, Nick's girlfriend eventually said, "I suppose we should start with the bedrooms and the attic," thinking of the space that was stuffed full of the odds and whatnot her mother had collected over the years.
Glad it was only a one-story house and that the attic only took up about a third of the house, Nick nodded and asked, "Should we start with the bedrooms or the attic?"
"The attic," Heather stated, deciding to work her way down and towards the front of the house.
As she started for the kitchen to get some bags, Nick headed for the back of the house and the small hole in the back-bedroom's closet ceiling. As he went through the house, he reached down and shifted the medallion he had bought from the garage sale as it had once again started to dig into his leg.
Wishing he had brought a light coat with him so that he could just put the amulet in one of the pockets, Nick took the jewellery from his pocket and looked at the scuffed image in mild curiosity as he pushed opened the door that led into Heather's mom's room. Without even pausing, he headed across the room toward the closet and opening the door, he tore his gaze away from the medallion and looked up at the piece of wood covering the opening to the attic, figuring he was going to need a step stool or something to reach it.
As he glanced around the closet, sure that Ms Joice had kept one somewhere nearby, Nick peered at the shelves and wondered if they would hold his weight. As he heard Heather coming down the hall toward her mother's room and then pause, Nick reached out and tried to jiggle a couple of the shelves that ran up one wall.
Finding them to rather secure, he set the amulet down on one of them and began to climb. Two shelves up, he heard a groan but decided that he was okay as the shelves appeared to holding his weight. Another two shelves up and he could almost reach the piece of panelling covering the hole in the ceiling. Shifting his weight just a little bit, Nick climbed up one more shelf and reached for the object that was blocking access to the attic just as, with another louder groan, the shelf he was standing on, gave way, followed by the next one, pitching Nick to the floor below.
As several boxes rained down onto him, spilling the contents within, Nick could have sworn he felt something sharp prick at his skin and for a moment he wondered if Ms Joice had kept some of her sewing in a couple of these boxes. But then he heard Heather exclaiming, "Oh my god! Are you all right?" followed by her running feet.
Pushing several of the boxes and the contents away, Nick replied, "Yeah," as he looked up at the ceiling.
As Heather appeared in the entryway of the closet, Nick casually asked, "So how did your mom get up there," still staring up at the ceiling, thinking that for some reason, it looked farther away.
Instead of answering his question, Heather asked, "Did you do something to your hair?" and then clicked on the over light as she asked, "Was there some of mom's hair dye in one of those..." but stopped in mid-sentence as the light flooded the small walk-in closet.
Turning to look at his girlfriend, finding it odd that she was for some reason taller, Nick watched as Heather covered in mouth in what looked to be surprise. As he was about to ask her what was the matter, she suddenly exclaimed, "Nick! What is happening to you," and taking a step closer, she squatted down, something Nick found to weird, and commented, "Nick, your shrinking and your hair..." as she reached out and touched his head.
"What's wrong with my hair," Nick whined out and then realised something was off about his voice and whining out, "And what's wrong with my voice," as the look of surprise of Heather's face shifted from surprise to fright to something that appeared close to recognition.
As Nick reached up and touched his head, finding that his hair felt for some odd reason softer and fuller, Heather breathed out, "My god! I don't understand any of this," and as Nick whined out, "What," Heather quietly explained, "It is somehow like I am looking in a mirror. Only the mirror shows me as a child. The child I was when I was four years old."
"I am not four years old!" Nick exclaimed, stomping his foot as Heather mumbled something about the baby pictures her mother had kept and insisted on showing to people.
Pushing past his girlfriend, unaware that he had just left every article of clothing he had been wearing from the waist down, Nick stated, "I'll pwove it," and taking off across the bedroom, he headed out into the hall, where he noted everything there also appeared bigger and after a couple tries, found himself in the bathroom.
As he struggled up onto the sink, Nick heard Heather come out of Ms Joice's room, muttering something that sounded like, "What did you do, mom?" and peering into the mirror, Nick nearly screamed with terror when he saw the image of his girlfriend as a child reflected back.
Sliding off of the sink and sinking to the floor, suddenly aware that all he was wearing was an over-sized shirt, Nick whined, "I don't wanna be a girl," as Heather wandered by, still in a daze, and lifting up the edge of his shirt, Nick took in the flat skin and the exterior genitals between his legs and letting the shirt drop, he whined out, "I wanna pee-pee like a boy. Like I'm supposed to," struggling on focusing and forming several words as he felt the prick and sting of tears forming before, a couple seconds later, he started to bawl.