#ShortStory
Joe’s team had been working ceaselessly at finding a cure for Alzheimers. He felt that they were close and got carried away. Too carried away. He was excited to write his report for his boss, which would detail how truly close they were to making a breakthrough. But while his mind was off on paperwork, he forgot that he was holding a vial. He accidentally let go of the vial, instead thinking about the pen he had put down after filling out the paperwork in his mind. Once the vial hit the ground, he immediately came back to his senses and realized what he had done.
Joe ran over to the emergency button, red like the normal buttons. He hit it and the lights and sirens went off in the building. He called his boss and asked what the procedure was, since this had never happened, and he couldn’t think to take control of the situation himself.
His boss told him he needed to find the cleaning solution and to not touch the spilled liquid. Agreeing, Joe ran over to the first aid kits and pulled all the cleaning solution that he could find. He ran back to the spill and put gloves on, not realizing that one glove had a pinprick hole in the index finger.
It took Joe over an hour to finish cleaning properly. Afterwards, he dumped all of his personal protective equipment off and went to the lockers to get his things and head home. He was ready for a hot shower after this mess. He only hoped that his boss wouldn’t fire him tomorrow.
Joe arrived at home and walked through his door. He ran upstairs, took all of his clothes off, and put them in the hamper for the wash tomorrow. He went to the shower and turned it on medium high for heat. After getting in, he scrubbed everything to make sure he missed nothing from cleaning up the mess. Once he finished showering, he ended the night with some reading.
Joe’s alarm went off in the morning like it always did. His routine was sound; he would get up, eat some breakfast, jog, and finish getting ready for work. This morning, however, was about to throw off his routine. He took his legs out of the covers like he does every morning, except something was different this time. He moved his feet to the floor to stand up, realizing that he was shorter than his normal height.
He went into his bathroom and looked in the mirror. Joe screamed at the top of his lungs and realized it was very high-pitched. He could barely believe it, but it looked like he had somehow been reverted to his ten-year-old self. He panicked and ran around the house trying to figure out what he needed to do. He stopped for a moment to think, realizing that even though his body had changed, his mind was still the same. Trying to catch his breath, he went to his phone and called his boss’s cell.
-Until next time-
W.A. McCauley is a Technology Director for a small-town school. He is the author, of the most recent, and first book, Federal Magic of Investigation. He had a calling to be a writer after high school, coincidently; he didn’t enjoy writing for a purpose then but enjoys writing fiction now.
