James groaned loudly when the piercing ring of his alarm clock shattered though the silence of his bedroom, waking him instantly. Not willing to wake up quite yet, he yawned loudly and limply flailed his hand out towards the alarm clock on his bedside table from underneath the covers. Confusion filtered through his sleep-addled mind when his hand hit nothing but empty air.
He flailed it around a bit more, growing more and more irritated when the snooze button didn’t appear under his hand like it usually did when he reached out to turn off the clock. Finally having had enough, James yanked the blankets down from over his head and turned his head around to look for the offending clock. Not seeing it, he let loose a growl of aggravation. For some weird reason, it wasn’t right next to his bed where it always was. The timed alarm clock clicked off on its own after releasing a couple more ear-splitting wails for attention. James didn’t bother going back to bed at this point though, knowing he had to wake up for work.
Rubbing his fists tiredly against his bleary eyes, he blinked a couple times as they started to slowly adjust to the room around him. Taking in his surroundings, James felt his confusion come back in an instant, along with a heavy feeling of shock as he looked around the bedroom. Sleepiness not entirely forgotten, James leapt out of the bed, head whipping around back and forth.
Was- Was he in… his college dorm room? Slowly walking around the small dormitory, James felt his disbelief grow heavier with each passing second. Not only was he in his college dorm (a place he hasn’t been to in almost ten years) but it looked exactly like it did when he’d been living there. Empty soda cans and dirty clothes littered the floor all around him. James instantly recognized an old AC/DC shirt draped over a chair as the one he’d lost about five years back during a vacation.
“What am I doing here?” He asked himself aloud in disbelief, freezing momentarily after he finished speaking. His brain took a moment to process the sound that had just come from his mouth before he practically sprinted over across the short distance to his dresser mirror. A decidedly unmanly shriek ripped from his throat when he came face to face with his twenty year old face.
Running his fingers through his hair fitfully James started to pace back and forth. “I’m just dreaming. None of this is real- it can’t be real!” He hissed under his breath. “I just need to lay down, close my eyes, and when they open again I’ll be back in my apartment ten years from now in my real body.” He started to nod frantically to himself. “Yea, that’s it.”
James leapt back into bed, squeezing his eyes shut in a feverish attempt to sleep. He stayed like that for a full twenty minuets before letting loose a loud groan. “This can’t be happening to me.” He cried, covering his face with his hands and rubbing his face. A sudden memory hit him, reminding him of something he used to do almost a decade ago.
Warily rolling onto his side he reached over to the cluttered bedside table and pulled open the top drawer. He was relieved to see that the memory was correct when his eyes landed on the small bottle of extra-strength sleeping pills he used to take. Between his constant stream of tests, homework, and studying James’ schedule was constantly getting out of whack back then, forcing him to start taking some powerful sleeping meds in order to get his internal clock back into a halfway decent loop.
He poured out two of the pills into his hand before tossing the orange bottle into the drawer and shoving it shut. Tossing them back dry he flopped back onto his bed and pulled the blanket over his head to imitate nighttime. He felt consciousness start to enter his mind and sighed softly in relief. Next time he woke up everything would be back to normal and he could chalk this all up to a really vivid, freaky dream…
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James was startled from his slumber by the sound his mother, shouting his name.
“Jimmy! Time to wake up for school sweetie. I made your favorite special-day smiley face pancakes for breakfast! Hurry before they get cold!” She called up the stairs towards his room.
James felt like a knot the size of Texas had just grown instantly inside of his stomach. Slowly sitting up in his bed, he felt the blood drain from his face as he took in his new surroundings. Bright blue wallpaper with sailboats was plastered on every square inch of walls. The carpeted floor was a minefield of army men and Lego blocks.
“Jimmy, are you awake baby? Your pancakes are getting cold and if you take any longer you’re going to be late for your first day of fourth grade!” His mom called up to him again.
James didn’t respond, simply continuing to stare around the bedroom he hadn’t seen in over twenty years in muted shock. He raised his arms to inspect his hands, filled with a mixture of horror and fascination at how small they were. His legs –hell, his entire body- had gone through the same shrinking process. He must have stayed like this for a while because the sound of muffled feet coming up the stairs didn’t register until the door to the room opened.
The brunette head of his mom poked inside of the room from behind the door. She looked like she was ready to do some scolding until her eyes landed on his face. “Oh, my goodness! What’s wrong Jimmy?” She asked, worry in her voice as she quickly crossed the room and sat down next to him on the bed.
He tried to answer her, he really did, but all that came out of his mouth when he opened it to respond was a strangled sob. Why was this happening to him? How was this happening to him?! Thousands of questions ran through his mind and his reaction to the complete lack of answers decided to manifest itself in the form of a completely breakdown.
Tears started to streak down his plump, dark-red cheeks, still full of baby fat. Unable to hold in his hysterics anymore, full body sobs started to rip through his tiny body. Gasping in shock, his mother wrapped her arms around his tiny body in a desperate effort to console her hysterical son.
She hugged him tightly; hand rubbing soothing circles into his back. “Now, now, it’s okay baby, don’t cry.” She crooned.
He could see how much his reaction was upsetting his mom, but no matter how hard he tried the sobs would stop. Making a small sound of distress, she pulled James into her lap. Childhood reflexes had him instinctively pressing his tear stained face into the crook of her neck. She started to rock her entire body back, the soothing circles she was rubbing against his back never stopping. “There’s my favorite little man.” She said gently before she began humming a lullaby she used to sing to him when he was little.
Apparently unable to handle his hysterics anymore, James felt his body slowly but surely go limp in his mother’s arms. His full-body sobs devolved into hiccupping whimpers. Weariness started to claim every inch of his small body like it always did when he used to throw tantrums or cry.
“That’s it, go to sleep sweetheart. I don’t know what had you so upset, but a clearly someone needs more sleep before he goes anywhere.” His mother whispered to him softly, stroking his tiny blond head.
James was inclined to agree with her. He felt like he was being filled with lead as he started to drift off to sleep. Moments before consciousness left him completely, a thought struck him like a semi-truck. Every time he’s gone to sleep, he jumped back ten years. James had started out at thirty years old, then twenty, and now ten. It only makes sense that the next time he fell asleep he’d regress back ten more years.
His mothers voice interrupted his hazy thoughts just as he was about to pass out. “We’ll just miss school for today. It is your birthday after all, and one day won’t hurt. I promise that we’re going to have so much fun when you wake up Jimmy.” Huh, that’s right. The first day of fourth grade was on the same day as his birthday.

Wait a second, that mean’s he’ll be…
Oh, my God. James thought is horror as realization dawned on him, but no matter how hard he fought mentally to stay awake he was too weak to hold back the powerful wave of exhaustion from sweeping over him and dragging him down into unconsciousness.
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“Congratulations, it’s a boy!”
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THE END