Martha got increasingly curious as Kayla, nor Katie, returned to the table. Worried, she decided to investigate. Upstairs she found two girls playing with Barbie dolls. Aunt Martha saw Katie's discarded clothing in a pile. The one girl was obviously Jenni... and the other was Katie!
"Katie!?" she said "What happened to you?"
Jenni giggled as her friend looked confused.
"Am I in trouble?" little Katie replied with a quivering lip.
"Trouble? How'd this happen? I told you to be careful" Aunt Martha said.
"I dunno.... What???" Katie asked in confusion.
"Oh dear! This is more serious than I thought! You don't even know do you? And you haven't been asleep! This is more serious than I thought!" Martha explained to the confused children.
"Big Katie turned into my friend Katie!" Jenni said happily.
Aunt Martha figured that Jenni must not have recognized 16 year old Katie but she certainly recognized now her as a child. But how did it happen? It didn't follow how things were supposed to happen with the Dreamkeeper! Did Kayla do this? Where was Kayla?
"Katie, honey.... I think we better go" Aunt Martha told her niece.
"Not yet!" a voice behind Martha bellowed. It was Kayla and she was holding the hand of another little girl. Aunt Martha could tell it was a younger version of Billi. "I told you that your opinion about none of this mattered but you wouldn't just leave use alone. You're just trying to ruin this for me! I'm sorry but I can't let that happen!"
Martha reached in her large purse and pulled a cell phone out.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kayla asked.
"I'm calling my sister Veronica. The Dreamkeeper isn't getting away with this and while his tricks might've worked on Katie and your family, Veronica and myself are too wise to fall for that! I won't let him in my head!" She said as she pressed the auto-dial button.
"C'mon Katie!" she ordered as she put the phone to her ear.
"You crazy OLD bat!" Kayla yelled and tried to grab at the phone but Martha jerked away.
"Veronica... I'm glad you're home.... We have a problem...." Martha said.
Kayla looked at Martha "I don't think you want to do that do you?"
Martha stared back curiously.
"You don't want to make that call...." Kayla told the older woman.
Martha realized she didn't want to be making the phone call but she didn't want Kayla to know that. "I'm hanging up but it most certainly isn't because you told me to!" Martha told Kayla.
"You enjoyed your coffee didn't you?" Kayla asked barely concealing a laugh.
Martha had originally thought it a little bitter but now that Kayla mentioned it... it was pretty good.
"Martha... your hair looks like a gray mop doesn't it?... I think you'd like it much better in a ponytail. Why don't you grab one of those rubber bands and change it?"
Martha hated the fact that Kayla was right. Her old gray hair did look like a mop. Of course it would look better in a ponytail! She let her dried out hair fall loose and brushed it out. "As soon as I get my hair fixed I am taking Katie and we are leaving!" Martha explained as she threaded her hair thru the rubber band. She did like her hair better in a ponytail. She hated that Kayla had suggested it but it really had to be done. She couldn't leave with it looking as it did before!
"You wear too much makeup too, don't you?" Kayla said.
Martha grabbed a towel and began scrubbing her face and lipstick "Don't think you are stalling me! As soon as I make myself presentable Katie and I are leaving"
"Martha, when you see yourself you see yourself as a 20 year old girl don't you?" Kayla said "But that's normal isn't it?"
Martha looked in the mirror and saw a 19 year old face looking back at her. She smiled. Her jet black hair complimeted her pretty face. What was Kayla even talking about? Of course she saw this face in the mirror!
None of the others in the room saw Martha as a 19 year old though. She still looked the same to them.
"Enough of this stalling... Katie and I are leaving!" Martha said again.
"Like that? Dressed like that?" Kayla asked "You know you hate dowdy old clothing like that! Why don't you ask.... no... BEG... me for something more suitable for a teenager to wear!"
Martha realized she was dressed like an old maid. She just couldn't leave the house looking like this! She just wished Kayla wasn't the one who mentioned it first. Martha knew she would've thought of it herself. She just needed something else to wear. Maybe Kayla had something? "Kayla, could you.... would you..... have something here I could wear?"
"I don't think there is" Kayla quickly answered.
"Oh... there has to be SOMETHING???? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease! Anything is better than THIS! You just have to have something.... Please oh pleeeeeeeeeeease!" Martha said. She hated begging but there was no choice. She had to wear Kayla down. Kayla had said there wasn't anything available.
"Ohhhh I suppose I could find something down the hall. C'mon with me" Kayla said and headed for Jennifer's former room. Martha followed dutifully along.
Kayla handed Martha a pair of Jennifer's faded cutoffs and a short little top "You'll like these much better !" she said.
Martha struggled to get into the shorts. They felt tight but she could see in the mirror that they should fit perfectly. And she really liked this outfit. It was perfect for her. She finally got them one once the seams expanded some. With some effort she was even able to zip them. She pulled off her blouse and Kayla suggested she didn't need her bra for her perky breasts. Kayla was right too. Martha liked her perky breasts and the shorts fit perfectly.
Kayla laughed seeing the matronly figure with her breasts sagging and her stomach hanging over the top of her shorts. Martha pulled the short little top over her head and admired her teenage figure in the mirror. Kayla laughed more.
"What?" Martha asked.
"Think nothing of my laughing" Kayla told her and Martha suddenly realized she shouldn't pay attention to Kayla's laughing.
Kayla handed Martha a strappy pair of sandals which Martha had trouble getting on. They were a little too small and getting them on made her knees and ankles hurt.
"Those are perfect for that outfit. You really do like your look, don't you?" Kayla said.
Martha looked one more time in the mirror. She couldn't look cuter! Her outfit was perfect for her! Kayla laughed harder "You really should consider a belly button ring!"
As soon as Kayla said that, Martha started looking at her belly button in the mirror. Of course Martha saw a flat 19 year old stomach but Kayla saw a matronly woman admiring a pale white slightly overweight stomach!
"Now that I am more presentable I am going to get Katie and we will get this mess straightened out! That Dreamkeeper is not going to get away with this! "Martha told Kayla.
Kayla laughed "About the Dreamkeeper.....I want you to forget everything you know about him!"
"That Dreamkeeper... he'll..... uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh........ ummmmmmmmmmm......" Martha stammered.
"What?" Kayla asked.
"I forgot what I was going to say!??" Martha replied.
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"You mean I was a big girl?" little Katie asked Jenni as a sliver of recollection crept to the front of her mind.
"Yeah.... but I wanted you to be a little girl so we could play so I just kinda wished it and then you turned into a kid" Jenni explained giggling.
Katie had another recollection coming into focus "I think I remember... I'm not really a little...". Katie was cut off.
"You can be my playmate now! You're my age!" Jenni said.
Katie lost her train of thought. She felt a chill and her body got just a little smaller as she became an 8 year old. She was happy that her and Jenni were friends.
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To be continued.....