"Okay," Katie said. "What do you want to do,"
"Well," Mary Elise said. "I would like to talk with Claudia as she grows younger. Talking with you as I becme 10 helped me deal with it a lot better than if you didn't tell me."
"I don't know," Katie said. "Claudia won't realize what's going on. The ring adjusts your mind as you change ages she wouldn't know what was happening."
"Then how come I remembered?" Mary asked.
Katie looked down at her sandaled feet. "I wanted you to notice," she said. "I thought it would be fun."
Mary Elise smiled and approached her placing her hand on her shoulder. "It was fun," she said. "That's why I want to share this with her. I've known Claudia for 60 years. As kids we were inseparable but as we got older we've drifted a little as friends sometimes do. She had her family and I had my life. Something this special I want to share with her."
Katie weighed her options telling Claudia wasn't part of her original plan but then again telling Mary Elise wasn't part of the plan either. Maybe things would turn out okay but still she worried about it.
"I'm still not sure," she said. "I don't know how comfortable I am telling anybody else about the ring."
"Come on please," Mary Elise whined giving Katie a sorrowful look. "It mean a lot to me plus you owe me, I can't believe you made me eight." Mary Elise grinned as this sentence left her mouth. Katie smiled. "You're lucky I didn't make you any younger," she said with a grin.
Both girls giggled softly before Mary Elise spoke. "Tell you what," she said. "If you do this for me I'll let y make me even younger. No complaints just please don't let me be little for too long."
Katie raised an eyebrow. She knew Mary Elise wasn't all too comfortable with regressing herself for her to offer that this much truely mean a lot to her. Katie sighed she didn't want to disappoint her new friend.
"Okay I'll do it," Katie relented. "We'll regress Claudia down to 10 with her knowledge of what's going on and I'll let you be there to talk her through it."
Mary Elsie smiled. "Awesome," she squealed. "I guess that leaves just one more thing." Mary sighed as she looked in Katie's direction. "Guess I gotta get younger again."
Katie shook her head. "No Mary you don't have to go through with it."
Mary Elise looked at Katie although her face had a look of discomfort her eyes told a different story.
"I'm a girl of my word Katie," she said. "I told you I would become younger so let's do this I don't want to lose my nerve."
"Okay how old you want to be!"
Mary Elise shrugged. "I don't know maybe five. Just hurry up please so we can go take care of Claudia."
Katie nodded and made her wish. Mary Elise slowly began to shrink going from 10 to 9. "Oh man this feels so weird," a now 8 year old Mary Elise stated. The hem of her dress slowly descended down her legs. As she became 7 only her toes poked out for the bottom of the dress. Her freckles began to spread across her cheeks. "I'm so small," the seven year old said. The dress was becoming increasingly looser as it now pooled around her feet.
"You doing alright?" Katie asked her diminutive friend. Mary Elise looked up with wide innocent eyes. "Yeah I guess," the six year old stammered. "My brain feels weird. I'm starting to forget stuff like what it's like to be a grown up. Is this almost over?"
Katie smiled down at Mary Elise as she became five. Now only half the age she was previously she had an air of innocence framed by slightly curly red hair, an agelic freckle covered face and a large blue eyes. Her peach dress now pooled around her diminished body forcing her to hike it up to walk. Looking at the much larger girl she had a look of indignation and confusion on her face.
"I'm whittle," she lisped. "Can I be a big girl again being little is weird. Everything is so big and I feel funny."
Katie paused and took in her tiny friend. She was adorable but Katie was concerned she seemed to be having trouble remembering things. Katie wondered why that was but the ring told her it was part of the age magic. At such a young age her brain wasn't as fully developed meaning she would have problems remembering her adult life. Katie thought she would question her a little more. The ring told her to be quick though or Mary Elise would truely vece a five year old mentally.
"Do remember how old you used to be Mary?" She asked. Mary nodded and held ten tiny fingers. "What about before that do you remember how old you used to be."
Mary paused as she tried to remember. Her mind seemed to be in a fog. She remembered that she was old like her moms age or was it older, she wasn't sure. Her and the others had also been somewhere in between but she couldn't put her finger on how old it was. Her memories were fading fast she was forgetting what it was like being an adult.
"Katie," Mary stammered. "I forget what it like being big and I'm forgetting more every minute. Can I be a big girl again?"
"Sure," Katie said and wished Mary Elise back to ten. Mary Elise once again swelled to late childhood stopping at ten years old. Mary Elise shook her head and looked at Katie. "How you feel,"Katie asked.
"That was weird I was starting to think like a kid. It was fun but a little scary kind of like going on a roller coaster. Hopefully we can figure out a way to get that young without losing our minds."
Katie smiled watching Mary Elise readjusting her dress. Now that she was ten again she seemed alright. "Well you sure were a cutie in kindergarten. We'll have to try that one again sometime just as soon as I figure out why you started thinking like a kid."
Mary Elise smiled. "That wasn't as bad as I thought. Was kind of fun actually. I wouldn't mine doing it again sometime but now let's go find Claudia." Both girls nodded and slowly made their way upstairs.