Mark said, "I don't want to be a kid. I hated my childhood. I was so glad to finally get away from my parents."
Lucas said, "I don't want to be a kid either. This has to be a hallucination. There's no such thing as magic. I'm just going to lay down and sleep it off."
Lucas found a soft spot on the beach and laid down. Mark found a soft spot near him and sat. It was silent for a long time.
"I can't sleep, bro." Mark said, "I'm not sleepy."
Lucas said, "Me neither."
Then they waited in silence for a while longer.
Mark said, "I keep going over and over in my head. I'm Mark, the son of Bill and Heather from Chicago. I keep going through my memories to make sure I haven't lost any. It's weird but I can't find any gaps. I remember my whole life including trivial details like how much money I made selling my car. It's just that I seem to have a second set of memories as well. These new memories are much more vague but in these new memories, you're my brother and Emily is our mother."
Lucas said, "I have the same new memories but haven't lost my old memories. I'm Lucas, the son of Randall and Angela from Austin."
Mark said, "I don't think we're hallucinating. Not only do I still have my memories, I still have my skills. I still know how to do installation, drive a car, and file taxes. I just don't care about that stuff right now. I want to have fun."
Lucas smiled and said, "Me too. You know, I think I'm getting a handle on this. Maybe we are slowly turning into children but we're not losing ourselves in the process. The reason I hated my childhood so much is because I was dependent on my dad. Maybe we get a chance to enjoy a childhood where we're not dependent on our fathers."
Mark said, "That would be nice. My dad was a drunk. He was often at the bar and not dependable."
After a little silence, Lucas said, "My dad slept around. My parents were divorced and I got shipped back and forth between homes. I don't have any full siblings but I have fifteen half-siblings. I haven't even met all of them and it's possible there might be a few more that my dad doesn't know about."
More silence and then Lucas leaned over, "You know, this could be a second chance for us. A chance to do our childhood over again."
Mark said, "A chance to have a father take me to a father-son activity?"
Lucas said, "A chance to explore feelings we didn't get to explore."
Mark said, "Feelings like what? Are you coming out of the closet?"
Lucas said, "Not exactly. I'm not gay. But I've had so much sex now just like my dad that I'm bored with it. And I'm also starting to realize how lonely I feel. I've never had a relationship because as soon as I built one, I'd have to leave. But now I magically have a brother. Were you an only child?"
Mark said, "No but I didn't get along with my brothers. I was the oldest and they got away with everything. I had to take care of them because Mom and Dad weren't around but they were my parents favorites."
As he said this, Lucas noticed that Mark had lost a few more years. Just at that moment, Marks balls undropped and he became prepubescent.