Elevation Pt 4
Sara pleaded with Daniel to continue searching on “Maximilian Madhat” in hopes that there was a connection. Daniel’s ten-year-old body didn’t seem to have much patience to follow such minor, and seemingly meaningless, leads. He wanted the answer now and the computer just wasn’t giving up information fast enough.
“Maybe it’s just hopeless…” he said.
“It can’t be!” Sara answered fighting back her emotions. She didn’t want to cry like a little girl... even though that is what she had become. “Keep
reading! Pleeeeease!”
Daniel sighed and typed “Maximilian Madhat” into the Google search engine again and waited anxiously for new info to fill the screen.
“I wonder if we can stay on one floor too long,” Daniel wondered aloud as he appeared to be thinking ahead.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Sara replied, fighting back tears.
“I mean.... We look like kids and all but surely we don’t.... you know.... forget we’re really adults if we stay this age too long?”
Suddenly, Sara had a new worry. Was that why her emotions were getting the best of her? She didn’t want to be a little girl again... or a baby! She didn't like this new worry. Now, she too was growing impatient with the slow progress of Daniel’s internet search. Her young eyes grew wide. “You gotta hurry!” she told him.
Daniel turned back to the computer but was distracted by a glow. It was from the elevator indicator lights. The elevator was in motion and headed to their floor!
“Shit! They’re in the elevator,” Daniel exclaimed as he shut down the computer “We can’t stay here. They’ll find us!”
Sara said nothing. She just wanted this to end. Daniel grabbed her hand and led her to the stairs. Sara padded along as best she could, but she couldn’t keep up with ten-year-old Daniel’s longer legs. “Hurry!” he pleaded, not wanting to leave her behind.
He grabbed the door to the stairs and they quickly entered. And then stopped....
Up or down? The question went unspoken. They looked into each other’s eyes hoping to find an answer. There wasn’t much time and they knew it. They couldn’t risk getting caught.
Daniel swallowed hard before speaking. “I think we should split up. Maybe... Hopefully... I can find a phone number for Ms. Madhat in her file back upstairs”
“Split up!? You go up? I’m not going further down!” Sara protested.
“You don’t have to go further down. Just don’t follow me all the way back to the 33rd floor.”
“I dunno... I'm scared. I want to stay together! Do we have to split up? Where to?” she asked worriedly.
“I don’t know... but not here!” Daniel said as he grabbed Sara’s eight-year-old hand and nearly pulled her up the first few steps.
-----------------------
-DING- They heard the elevator stop on the floor they had just left. They barely cleared the first turn when Daniel stopped suddenly and held Sara close. “Shhhhhhhhhhh…” he whispered. They heard the door to the stairway open. Daniel frantically signaled for Sara to keep quiet. He only hoped their pursuers didn’t follow them up the stairwell. Had they been discovered? Both trembled but Daniel did his best to be strong for Sara.
The door shut but they heard no footsteps. Obviously, it was just a quick check in the stairwell. They were safe... for now. They tip-toed up the steps, not wanting to alert anyone they were there. When they reached the next floor Sara pointed at the door and her eyes looked questionably at Daniel. Daniel shook his head and whispered, “Not here.... They might hear the door. Higher.”
Floor 9...
Sara loosened the dress that she now wore tied around her waist. She was now a nine-year-old and it was growing progressively tighter. Their bodies were changing. The steps actually got easier to climb as the two grew older and stronger. Their growing limbs more easily scaled the steps.
Floor 10...
Sara grew slightly more aware of her body and her state of dress. She knew it was the least of her worries, but she couldn’t help it. Revisiting the innocence of childhood hadn’t been as bad as she had feared, but she was enjoying the thought of her body slowly returning to its more feminine form.
Floor 11...
Daniel knew he was soon to be experiencing puberty... again! His large sport coat rubbed against his genitals and he could sense the changes. His pubic hair was returning and he began to feel more masculine. More in control. He hadn’t liked how he had felt only moments before: weak and insecure. His feelings for Sara had changed as well. During his time as a child, his feelings for her had become more like something he’d feel for a sister... or a playmate! Daniel sensed that her feelings for him had changed as well. But now his feelings were changing again. He felt more powerful... rebellious even... like the teenager that he had become.
Floor 12....
Upward they went, adjusting their clothing as their growing bodies required. “You wanna take this floor?” Daniel squeaked with his changing voice.
Sara stopped and adjusted her dress to better cover herself and frowned. “Ummm a couple more, OK?”
Daniel figured he understood, although he was thinking only on sexual terms. Sara was not only thinking of her returning womanhood, but also realizing that once they split up that she would be alone. She thought things might not be so frightening if she was older. She knew the aging and de-aging was having an effect on her mental state. They continued.
Sara spied her discarded shoes and panties that she had lost earlier and gathered them in her growing arms. More floors passed by. They were now to floor 15. Sara tugged on Daniel’s arm and gave him a quick kiss. “I’ll stop here,” she told him as she straightened her dress and slipped on her still slightly large panties and shoes. Daniel shook his head in agreement and also began putting on his formerly discarded clothing. They both looked like a couple of teens dressing up for Halloween with their baggy clothing. To them, though, it was a positive sign that they were on their way back to adulthood.
“Here,” Daniel said, handing Sara his cell phone, “I’ll call you from the 33rd floor when everything is clear.”
Sara took the phone “But what if you can’t find any answers from Ms. Madhat? What if you can’t even find her phone number? What if we get found?”
“First, we won’t get found. We just can’t let that happen. Not both of us anyway. And as to the other part, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. She probably wants money. I’ll pay her whatever she wants and this will all be over. Don’t you worry. You just stay hidden. It’ll be all right. I promise”
“Promise?” Sara replied, wanting reassurance.
“Promise!” Daniel answered, squeezing her hand.
“All right,” she said, feeling comforted by Daniel’s
confident voice and touch.
Teenaged Sara opened the door to floor 15 and then pressed her face to the tiny window, worriedly watching her lover continue without her.
Daniel shook his head and wondered what he was going to do. What if Ms. Madhat did want money? How could he possibly pay her if she wanted some unreasonable sum of money? He picked up the pace. With every step he filled out his suit more and more. His five o’clock shadow slowly returned to his face. Unfortunately, the feelings of aging were growing stronger as well. The excitement the couple had felt while growing younger was gone. It was replaced by a growing sense of dread. The weight of the world slowly lowered itself back onto his shoulders. He worried about Sara. He worried about himself. His body was obviously not in as good as shape as it had been only a few floors back. Closing in on the 30th floor, Daniel was becoming winded. Very. Only a few more floors he kept telling himself. ...”Just a few more steps....”
His legs began to hurt.
31...32...33....
“Finally,” he sighed as he leaned against the door and tried to catch his breath.
------
Steven looked around the 8th floor. Many of the rooms were locked and he knew that neither Sara nor Daniel would have access. He decided to have a seat at one of the desks to think things over and discovered that the seat was warm. They’ve been here! he thought. He looked under the surrounding desks and scratched his chin. It was a big building, but he knew his prey was near.
He went back to the stairwell, but this time opened the door very slowly and waited.... and waited. Almost ready to shut the door, his patience paid off. He heard voices! The voices were faint, but he knew it was Sara and Daniel. Judging by the sound of their voices he figured them to be only three or four floors above him. He quietly began to follow, but wanted to keep his distance for now. He heard the voices yet again. This time they were deeper. Obviously older now. He figured Daniel to be sixteen or seventeen by his voice. His wife still had a girlish quality to her voice. Fourteen or fifteen, he figured. He wondered if he should capture them now or wait? After all, they were there for the taking. Before he could decide, he heard the clank of shoes on the metal and concrete floor. And then he noticed the clank of a door being closed slowly followed by only one set of footsteps walking away.
They’ve split up, he decided. Even better! Devra can find one and I’ll get the other! Judging by the sound he figured one of them had stopped on the 15th floor. That fit perfectly with the age of the voices he was hearing. This was too easy, he thought, as he slowly and quietly made his way to the 15th floor. He didn’t want whichever one had continued on to hear him, so he took his time. He knew he had his prey trapped. Devra would soon have the other one.
Sara sat down and brushed her hair back from her eyes. Why had this happened to her? How could it be happening? She was supposed to be a 33-year-old confident young woman... not some skinny fifteen-year-old schoolgirl! It was impossible yet she knew it was all so very real.
The building was so quiet. So very, very quiet. It was very late now and she was tired. She was tired of the running and she was tired of the lies. She tilted her head back to look questionably to the heavens when she thought she heard something. Was it Daniel? Why would he come back she wondered? It’s too soon! He didn’t
have time to get to the 33rd floor yet! She dropped to the floor and crawled behind a desk. Maybe the noise was nothing but her imagination? Before she could convince herself of its insignificance she heard the door open. No!
“Sara? ...Sara? Sara, are you in here?” she heard a voice saying. It was Steven’s voice. “I wonder if you’ve fallen asleep and that’s why you don’t answer me?” he said, toying with her. “It’s time to come home.”
Sara tried to hold her breath. Maybe he’d go away.
“Sara?”
“Sara?”
The sound of his voice would move as he carefully inspected different areas of the room.
“Sara?”
Sara placed her head against the floor and peered under the desk. She could see Steven’s heels walking away and down the hall.
“Sara? I know you are on this floor.... Are you in the little girl’s room?” he snickered as he walked toward the ladies room.
This was her chance. She had to slip out now. Sara removed her shoes and slid them under the desk. She wanted to be a quiet as possible as she tip-toed quickly toward the stairwell. Her heart was racing. Only a few more feet to go. Then she heard Steven exit the ladies room. “Sara?”
Damn! No time! Realizing the elevator was right there she hit a button and the doors immediately slid open. In a panic she repeatedly punched the first button her finger landed on. The doors seemed to take forever to close. “C’mon!!!!” she said as she bit her lip. “C’mon!”
“Sara?...... Sara?..... Sara? ...Sara?... Sara, Sara, Sara?” Steven yelled out in a quickening voice as he ran toward the elevator. Sara heard his voice drawing closer.
“Close dammit!” she said through gritted teeth.
“Sara, Sara, Sara.....!”
The door slammed shut just as Steven rounded the corner. Thank God he didn’t see me she said aloud as she wiped her brow and glanced at the buttons. The elevator was going down!
She didn’t need to see the illuminated indicator to tell her that. She recognized the feeling. The energy. The giddiness. Only this time she would be going back even more. Time was again moving rapidly in the wrong direction. Her teens were about to be a memory..... Childhood was again in her immediate future. Her dress flattened out as her curves yet again disappeared. The elevator’s relentless decline took her further and further back into childhood. She knew where it was headed, but couldn’t bring herself to think of it. She only hoped that when she got there that she would still have her adult senses. She didn’t want Steven to find her sitting on the floor and crying, “I want my mommy.” In her panic it never crossed her mind to simply push a higher button so that the elevator would take her higher once reaching its first destination.
All she could think of was getting off the elevator and running. Running fast. Besides, she knew that she’d be, so much smaller that maybe she could hide where Steven would never think to look. Steven wasn’t looking for a child anyway. That would be her advantage, she hoped.
The elevator passed floor number 8. And then 7....
The elevator was growing larger as was her clothing. Her panties fell to her bare feet, but her huge dress covered her. She kicked them aside. She wanted to stay focused on running and getting away as soon as the elevator stopped. She knew she couldn’t afford to take stock of her age or changes when the elevator finally reached its destination. No matter how curious, she couldn’t waste time. Even with the problems that she faced the feelings of giddiness, even happiness, were growing overwhelming as she grew younger and younger. Ever younger. Energy was racing through her body and her mind was spinning. Changes were happening fast. She knew she had a missing tooth now.
Sara’s fear about what would happen to her mind when the elevator stopped was subsiding. The feelings that both her and Daniel had felt each time that they had grown younger only intensified as the elevator went further down. Sara was learning just how intense the feelings could get. It was intoxicating. She felt good.... She felt invigorated... She felt more than good.... Sara felt rejuvenated!
6....
And the feelings intensified. And then intensified more.... more...
5...
The elevator stopped and Sara giggled at her funny clothes. She almost hated that the ride had stopped. It felt so good. She looked at her painted nails as she kicked at the huge dress and saw her now 5 year old hands. This wonderment lasted only a moment though. The sound of metal hitting the floor brought her back to her senses. It was her wedding ring. It stood no chance of staying on her younger hand.
No!
She had to run.... Steven had to be close behind on the stairs!
To be continued....