Bryan was making his way upstairs to go to the bathroom, silently cursing at his trick knee with every step.
Before he reached the top, he thought he heard his son's bedroom door open and close, yet Simon was watching
TV downstairs. His hearing aid must be acting up again. But sure enough, Mark came walking towards the stairs,
offering to help him up. He rejected the offer. He didn't need his grandson's help to do something so simple.
He might not be as fit and healthy as the heavily bearded man, a thing that irritated him because he taught
his grandkids to be proud of their hefty bodies and Mark seemed to do his best to rid himself of it, but he
wasn't some senile, incompetent, old man just yet. He still had a bit of life in him, even if he needed a
cane. Mark frowned and waited for Bryan to reach the top of the stairs before making his way down. Bryan
wondered what he was doing in Simon's room, but that would have to wait for his bladder to empty. He entered
the bathroom and fiddled with his belt before managing to relieve himself. His felt the heft of his penis in
his hand while he urinated. He hadn't been able to see it in decades as his rotund stomach developed. Not that
it mattered since he developed erectile dysfunction around the same time. Nevertheless, he finished his
business and left the bathroom, seeing Danny run down the stairs with his workout gear. He shook his head in
shame. Following in his brother's footsteps with that health mumbo jumbo. He himself ate whatever he wanted
and barely exercised throughout his life and yet, despite numerous health scares, he had made it to 80 years
old. He was even disappointed by the boy's hair, which had barely even started to recede despite being 25 now.
At least he still had Jay to be proud of. Bryan let out a dismayed sigh and entered his son's room to see what
Mark was doing. Nothing looked out of place, but then he noticed some sort of device on the desk at the foot
of his bed. He was no expert in technology, but he knew he'd never seen anything like it. After a bit of
fiddling, he turned it on. His success went downhill quickly once he noticed the words on the screen were too
small for him to read, even with his prescription glasses. He looked for anything that looked like it could
help, and could just make out the words "increase" and "decrease" somewhere in the middle. It couldn't hurt to
try. He clicked on the increase button multiple times, realising that it did nothing to increase the font
size. Irritated, he switched the device off. It's not like technology ever enriched his life anyway. He
grunted as he got out of the seat and made his way back downstairs to join his son on the sofa.
Danny started up the car while he waited for Mark to come by. While he sat there, he felt a bunch of shivers
go up his back in succession. It was a chilly day, but it didn't feel that cold in the car. His thoughts were
disrupted as Mark opened the passenger door and they drove off. What neither of them realised was that Bryan
had accidentally started up the Chronivac onto the quick changes page, designed to make any adjustments to
ongoing transformations, where he had increased the speed of Danny's aging from 1 year every 48 minutes to 1
year every 4.8 minutes. It was already becoming apparent as his hairline started to recede again, now
disappearing faster than ever, and his stomach started to expand slightly. The drive to the gym was long,
about 15 minutes if traffic was clear, but the road could jam up pretty quickly at times, sometimes taking an
hour just to get there or back. It may of been inconvenient, but it was the cheapest one close to their home,
even taking in the price of fuel. Luckily for Danny, it was a smooth journey, making it there just as he
reached 28 years old. His hairstyle had changed again, being more closely cropped so as to not emphasize his
hair loss, which had taken a couple of inches off the front and a small bald spot was developing at the back.
His goatee had extended further along his jaw as it connected to his sideburns, leaving his cheeks and upper
lip free of hair, or as free as it could be given the stubbly shadow. He had put on a bit of weight during the
journey but his muscles still remained visible, barring his stomach which had bulged out a bit more. Mark had
noticed how much he seemed to have changed on the journey, but he chalked it up to being similar to how he'd
changed during his first jog to the shop. But by the time they'd made it into the gym and gotten changed, Mark
was getting a bit concerned about his now 30 year old brother. He'd lost another inch of so off his hairline,
with a thin strip of hair separating it from the enlarged bald spot at the back, and an island of hair
floating in the sea of skin at the front of his head. His chin curtain beard had a few stray grey hairs now
littered amongst the brown. His body hair seemed to increase a bit more, a healthy growth now sticking out of
his vest in all directions. Danny seemed to be aware of the changes as well, self-conscious of his hairline,
but he kept repeating to himself that he wasn't getting older quickly, his previous memories were just a
dream. They both separated to work at different stations, yet Mark wanted to stay close by and observe his
brother's changes more. He was sure he should by 26 by now, yet his memories told him he was 30 going on 31.
Maybe leaving the Chronivac by itself wasn't such a good idea.