The Second Bottle

Grabbing the second bottle, he added some to the vial and returned to the cauldron.

“Alright here you go, one order of mystery juice coming up” he said chuckling. Elizabeth likewise chuckled “well thank you sweetie, just pour it into the mixture and that will just about do it”. He did as she asked and carefully poured the contents out as she mixed it in. Elizabeth then lowered her hand above the soupy mixture and whispered some words that he didn’t understand when suddenly the mixture flashed a bright light. In a moment it settled into a faint iridescent glow as Elizabeth filled a bottle with its contents. “Here you go, are you ready?” she said handing it to him. He gingerly received the small bottle and replied “as ready as I’ll ever be I suppose”. Lifting the bottle to his lips, he tipped the liquid to the tip of his tongue finding it surprisingly sweet. With a quick gulp he downed a mouthful of liquid and placed the bottle on the table. He then waited for the effects to begin. He did not have long to wait as he soon felt an unfamiliar tingle throughout his body.

John quickly felt a very strong change course throughout his body, far more than he expected. He expected his height to perhaps shorten a bit, but he realized he was rapidly shrinking in size. In nearly a single moment, his entire body body became tiny and small. At the end of it, he felt himself become covered in darkness as he plopped down in a pile of fabric.

Recovering quickly from the shock, John tried to look around to see where he was to only see darkness and feel fabric cover his entire body. He tried to lift his arms and legs to push it, but something felt wrong. His limbs felt so weak and swayed uncertainly, as if underwater. He thrashed around as much as he could but made no progress. He soon felt very scared and that he would soon cry for some reason. Suddenly Elizabeth’s voice called out “John hold on let me see what’s happened”! He soon felt the thick fabric lifted off his body, leaving him on his back and exposed. Looking down at him loomed a larger than before Elizabeth, who’s face quickly changed to shock as she loudly gasped. “John! You’re a- a…” before she could finish gasping out whatever she was struggling to say, he turned his head to the nearby mirror. Instead of his familiar form facing him, the small form of a tiny infant, probably only six months old, stared back at him. In a split second, John realized who’s body that was. Quickly looking back at Elizabeth’s shocked face, he let out a loud baby’s cry.

“John calm down,” she quickly bent over picking his small body up to her “please calm down okay please”. It took John a minute but eventually he stopped his crying long enough for Elizabeth to speak. “John I need to know, can you still talk”?