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Elevation Pt 5
Daniel took one more prolonged breath and then opened the door to the 33rd floor. He took a quick look around and, once satisfied he was alone, made his way to his office.
“There’s got to be a phone number in that crazy bitch’s file,” he grumbled as he opened a file cabinet. He grabbed her file and sat it on his desk. It was fairly thin. Nowhere could he find a phone number or even an address.
“How the hell can this law firm have a client without any contact information???” he said frantically as he looked at the same papers over and over again.
“I’ve just got to be overlooking it!” he said as he started going through papers on his desk. “It’s got to be here... it just HAS to be here! Somewhere!”
“Daniel....What are you doing?” he heard a voice say. No! It was Devra. He was caught. He had to think fast.
“Devra? Uhhh..... What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call?”
“I tried, but I only got voice mail. I was worried.” she answered, eyeing him up and down. “What happened to you? You look like you’ve ran a marathon or something.”
“Oh...Ummm.... Well.... This has been a very trying night. Why don’t you sit down and let me explain?”
Devra pulled a chair away from a desk and took a seat “Please tell me what is going on!”
“You have to hear me out. This is going to sound incredible. I would never believe this if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes.”
“Yes?”
“I’ve been cursed,” he said.
“Cursed?”
“I mean a real curse. Voodoo. I don’t know how, but it is real.”
“Have you been drinking?” Devra asked.
“No.... I am sober as a judge.... Strike that.... Bad choice of words after the Drysen case last month. I am very sober and this is very serious! This is awful. I knew you wouldn’t believe me. See? Shit! That’s why I’ve been here so long because I’ve been trying to figure out how to end it, or beat it, or whatever you do to get rid of a curse! I knew you’d never believe it! Now I can’t find the old lady’s number who did this to me. I thought maybe if I called her and offered money... or an apology... or something....” Daniel’s voice trailed off. His wife didn’t appear to be believing him and he could find no sign of Ms. Madhat’s contact information.
“I’ll play along for a couple of minutes. WHY would an old woman put a curse on you?” she asked.
“Uhhhhhh....” Daniel stammered, trying to not mention Sara’s part in all of this “Wellll.... Hmmmmm.... I guess it was because she didn’t like how I handled her case.”
“You didn’t handle her case how she wanted, so she put a curse on you? But you’re fine! You’re worried something is going to happen to you in the future?”
“No.... something did happen.... I....” Daniel sighed “I’m stuck on this floor.”
“Stuck? There’s an elevator right there! Come on! You know the stairs always work, don’t you?”
“But if I use the stairs or the elevator I will.... I will.... I mean my age will change. If I go lower I get younger. If I go higher I get older. I know it sounds strange but you have to believe me. It doesn’t matter if I use the stairs or the elevator. It happens!”
Devra stared at Daniel and shook her head. “I don’t have time for this. This is absolutely crazy. There’s not something else you need to tell me, is there? Is that the best lie you can make up?”
“Devra, It is not a lie! You have to believe me,” Daniel pleaded, “I’ll prove it! Let’s get in the elevator.”
Devra agreed, although she didn’t appear convinced.
“I’ll just go down a few floors and you’ll see,” he told her as he pressed the button for the 25th floor. ”Just watch!”
The elevator began to move and Daniel recognized the pleasurable feelings the youthening brought. “Look at me,” he said. “I’m growing younger!”
“Younger? You look the same to me,” Devra told him.
“The same? Can’t you tell? I’m getting younger! You can see it? ....Can’t you?” All of a sudden Daniel realized that he may be losing his mind. Maybe that’s the real curse? “Oh come on! It HAS to be real.... I can’t be going crazy... No.... Here... I just need to go lower!”
Daniel pushed the button for the 15th floor. His wife would notice the changes when he became a teenager, he thought. He still felt the pleasurable sensations. He rubbed his chin and felt his five o’clock shadow soften. “Now you see, don’t you?”
Devra shook her head no “You’ve been working too hard.”
“Just a little lower... a little more,” he said nervously as he pushed the 11th floor button. Down it went. He was sure his body was racing toward the age 13. It had to be real. It couldn’t be in his mind! His wife looked taller. The sleeves on his jacket grew over his hands. His voice began growing higher in
pitch. “Tell me you see this!” he squeaked.
“I’m afraid not and I think we need to get you home,” she said as she pressed the 1st floor button.
“No... not that! Don’t you see what is happening? Can’t you see what I’ll become? I’ll be too young!”
10....9... 8....
His jacket began to swallow him. “It’s real.... see???? We gotta go back up. You gotta see it! I’m getting little! Let’s go back up!” he whined. “Pleasssssssse!”
He felt the waves of pleasure intensifying as he became younger. It was easing his fears of growing even younger. The feeling was addicting and he didn’t like losing control. “We gotta stop it now. You can see what is happening... You hafta!”
“Ohhhh Danny.... You’re just so cute.” Devra said as a smile erupted on her face.
“OK... Now we can go back up,” he said as he reached for a button.
“No you don’t!” Devra said as she grabbed his hands and easily kept the child from breaking free of her grip.
“HEY!?” he said as he tried to understand.
7.... 6...
“You’re just so cute!” Devra purred.
What’s wrong with her? Doesn’t she realize this is serious? He knew he would soon be too young to escape. He gave his wife a kick directly to her shin and she immediately let go of him as she grabbed for her leg. He hit the stop button and the elevator screeched to a halt on the 5th floor. The door opened and he ran right out of his shoes and pants to escape the elevator.
Devra stumbled backwards. “You little brat!” she said as she tried to get over the pain in her leg.
Devra saw Daniel running away down the long hall. Before she could follow, the stairwell door opened and Steven appeared. “What happened to you?” he asked seeing Devra rubbing her leg.
“The little brat kicked me! He kicked me and then took off down the hall”
“Sara is down here too. We’re closing in. I thought I had her trapped but she got on the other elevator and it stopped down here.”
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“Danny? Is that you?” a little girl whispered from behind a desk.
“Sara?” he answered.
“Yeah..... over here,” she said. “We’re gettin’ little”
“I know,” Daniel answered as he found little Sara. “Look at us.”
Sara giggled. “You look funny,” she said, pointing at Daniel’s oversized shirt and jacket.
“You look pretty funny yourself with all that makeup on,” he countered, seeing five-year-old Sara’s still made up face.
“I think it makes me look pretty!” she shot back, her voice cracking with emotion.
“I’m sorry... We don’t have time for this. Something is clouding our thinking. We can’t let them catch both of us. We can’t tell them we’ve been having an affair!” Daniel explained. “Devra knows I came this way, so she’ll be down here soon. She hought it was funny what was happening to me. I don’t think she understands how serious it is!”
“Steven is prob’ly down here too! I ran away from him,” Sara said.
“Damn... they’re both on this floor? OK... I’ll think of something.”
“How ‘bout we get in the vent thingies and sneak back to the elevator?” Sara asked.
“No... that won’t..... Uhhhhh.... actually... Out of the mouths of babes....” Daniel mumbled.
“I’m not a baby!” Sara complained.
“It was just an expression... I was trying to be funny. That was a pretty good idea actually. We both ought to fit just fine now. While they are searching down this way for us we can sneak out the other way through the vents! Good idea. Let’s hurry!”
The vent was low enough that they had no problem reaching it. They both slithered in and crawled as quietly as possible down the vent system. They carefully tried to work their way back to the elevator without Devra or Steven hearing them. They could hear Devra and Steven talking as they made their way the opposite direction. After a couple of wrong turns, they finally found the vent exit nearest the elevators. Unfortunately, by this time Steven and Devra were working their way back.
Daniel started to push the elevator button and then stopped. He could hear the approaching voices. “They’re coming! They’ll hear the bell now! We gotta take the stairs.”
He grabbed Sara’s hand and he opened the stairwell door as quietly as possible.
“Let’s go down,” she said. “I got a plan!”
The two quickly started down the stairs. In a matter of moments they were on the 4th floor, but Sara headed down another flight. Her legs were growing shorter each step. Daniel’s shirt and jacket were dragging the floor now. But the time they reached the next landing Sara was only three and Daniel only five.
Sara didn’t stop though. She round the corner and was waddling toward the next flight of steps. Daniel yanked her back.
“What’re ya doin?” he asked. “We can’t keep goin’ down! We’ll get too little!”
“I got a plan.... C’mon!” Sara pleaded.
“Wait.... What’s your plan?”
“Uhhhhhhhh.... I dunno.... C’mon!”
“We can’t! Look how little we already are!”
“But it feels gooooooooooood!” Sara whined. “Pleassssssssse Danny??”
“What’s the matter with you? No! We gotta stop right here. Sit down!” he ordered.
Sara pouted, but slid down beside Danny.
“Maybe we don’t need to run from Devra and Steven. Maybe I could make up a story?” he suggested.
“I dunno... You mean fib? My mommy told me it’s not nice to fib,” Sara answered.
“Mine did too, but we don’t have a choice,” Danny said, thinking about the conversation he was having, “’member
when I wondered if we could get too little?”
“Uh huh?”
“I think maybe you’re already there and I’m not far behind. I don’t think we should stay here..OK?”
“Are we gonna do down more?” Sara sniffed.
“No... C’mon... Let me tell ‘em my fib...errrr story. You gotta just be quiet. I bet they’ll believe me”
The two children started back up the stairs. They both felt the feelings of dread begin to wash over them with each step. It only made Danny worry more about his plan. Still, he knew he had to try. Time was running out. They couldn’t run any longer.
3...4...5
Danny pushed open the door and saw Steven and Devra waiting on them. They had figured the two children would finally return on their own at this point. They were too close to the bottom floor and time was running out. The building would be open soon.
“Sara? Is that you?” Steven asked.
“Uh huh,” she answered and looked away.
“She was cursed too,” Danny explained. “That’s why we’re stuck here and didn’t want nobody… errr, anybody to see
us!”
“Why didn’t you call??” Devra asked.
“’Cuz.... you wouldn’t believe me if you hadn’t seen it! I told ya already!”
“I see,” Steven said, shaking his head in agreement.
“But we don’t wanna be kids!” Danny said. “We just wanna get back to normal and be grownups and stuff. This is serious!”
“Why did Sara get cursed?” Steven asked.
“Uhhhh.... Cuz she was here workin’ on the case too. So Ms. Madhat cursed us both!”
“She’s mean!” Sara added.
Danny looked at little Sara. She seemed a little too comfortable with her second childhood. “Ummm, maybe we can go back upstairs, so me and Sara can be grownups again? We can talk like adults then!”
“Nuh uh!” Sara protested and stomped her foot. “Gettin’ big hurts!”
“It’ll be OK, Sara. It’s not that bad growin’ up. We just can’t stay here though. I don’t think it’s good for us.”
“I can’t believe this. This woman turned you two into children?” Steven asked, ignoring the obvious.
“We get bigger and littler when we ride the ‘vator thingie,” Sara explained.
Danny glanced at Sara and felt sorry for her. He realized that she wasn’t as strong-willed as himself and it was costing her now. “We need to go upstairs. Maybe with four adults working on this we can think of somethin’. You can’t be messin’ ‘round with the elevator this time either, Devra. We don’t have time for you to tease me. It’s bad enough without you doin’ that!”
“I’m sorry Danny....errrr, Daniel. I didn’t realize how serious this is,” Devra told him.
Danny called for the elevator and it quickly opened.
“Oh, ummm, Sara, I found some of your stuff,” Steven said as he handed Sara her shoes. “I found them under a desk. I knew they were yours, so I figured I find you around here somewhere.”
“Thank you, sir,” she told him.
“And I also found this,” he said holding up her wedding band. “...Found it on the floor in the elevator.”
“I, ummm, dropped it,” Sara said.
“It’s a good thing I found it then, huh?” Steven said as he took Sara’s hand and slid the ring back onto her small finger.
Devra shot a glance at Steven. “She’ll just lose it again!” she said icily.
“I’ll be careful,” Sara said.
“It’ll fit by the time we get a few flights up,” Danny said as he pushed the button for the 33rd floor. He didn’t want to waste any more time. Darkness was running out and soon people would be arriving at the building.
“I don’t like this feelin’!” Sara whined as the elevator worked its way upward.
Steven watched as his wife began to get taller. The same was happening to Danny. Sara and Danny began to adjust their clothing as they grew taller. Even though Sara didn’t enjoy the feelings that the rising elevator brought, she did find some solace in her returning curves. The two teens couldn’t help, but steal glances at their developing bodies. Neither wanted to be too obvious and risk giving away their affair though.
Sara was able to undue the knots in her crumpled dress to cover her sixteen-year-old body. Eighteen-year-old Daniel tugged on his jacket and wished he hadn’t lost his pants in the last transformation. He was growing stronger and his body hair was growing thicker.
The excitement of their teenage years began to subside as they met their twenties head-on. The feelings of dread grew worse as their thirties approached. The elevator continued on. It was relentless, adding and taking away years in just moments.
Closer the elevator traveled. Floor after floor passed. The 33rd floor was next.
When the elevator stopped, Sara and Daniel were restored to their mid-thirty year old selves and both were self-conscious about their state of dress. Daniel had only his shirt and jacket to cover himself. Sara still had her dress but it was a wrinkled and torn mess from her earlier adventure.
“All right, our clothing not withstanding, everything is pretty much back to normal up here,” Daniel said as he led the others to his office. “That’s the way the curse works.”
Sara followed quietly and took a seat.
“Daniel, what are you going to tell people? You can’t live on this floor forever!” Devra explained
“I know that! Geez, Don’t you think I know that? That’s why we need to break this curse. We have to figure something out!” Daniel’s panic was growing. “Damnit, try and do something constructive. Don’t just tell me the obvious!”
“Daniel, I don’t know what we can do right now. I’m sure given some time we can get in touch with this person and we’ll find out why she did this to you and Sara.” Steven said. “But right now, what can we do? It’s
almost morning...”
“I KNOW!!! I KNOW!!!! Help me look through these drawers! I can’t find the page with Ms. Madhat’s address or phone number! It HAS to be here...It HAS to! Maybe it’s filed wrong? Maybe somebody accidentally threw it in the trash!?”
Sara remained silent. It was as if she was in shock just staring into space.
A stream of light appeared through the window.
“Daniel, the sun is coming up. People will be here soon. Maybe we should leave and find this woman from home?” Devra asked.
“Home? Leave here? But... we can’t! Sara... Help me here...” Daniel replied as he frantically emptied trash cans from around the office onto the floor.
“Maybe they are right?” Sara finally said sofly.
“What??? Leave here? You know what that means???”
“Well, it would only be temporary...right? They know who to look for. I don’t want to be stuck in some high rise building all my life and I certainly don’t want to be explaining this to people. It seems our choice is pretty simple - Steve and Devra can find Ms. Madhat and she can lift the curse,” Sara said calmly.
“Listen to her, Daniel,” Devra added. “We can find this Ms. Madhat. How many Madhats do you think there could be? We can hire a private investigator to find her if we have to. When we get you two out of here we’ll have time. You could never explain this to coworkers. And the authorities would make human guinea pigs out of you anyway. Poking and prodding.... trying to find out how this is happening. Is that what you want... growing up in some lab?”
Daniel sighed. “You’re right... Damn! Why is this happening? Why?”
“I think you’ve made a good decision, Daniel. This probably will be all over by this evening.” Steven told him.
Daniel looked down to the floor. He knew they were right. Devra and Steven were their best hope now.
Daniel’s knees were weak as he walked to the elevator. Sara looked to be accepting things a little better than Daniel.
“Don’t worry, Daniel,” Devra said as she pressed the button for the elevator and watched for the doors to open. The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.
“Sara, maybe you had better give that to me,” Steven said to his wife as he pointed at her wedding wing.
Sara looked at the ring and then tugged on it to remove it. “It won’t fit so tight in a few minutes,
will it?” she joked nervously.
Devra smiled as Sara handed the ring to Steven. Daniel pressed the button for the first floor and dejectedly hung his head. At least for now, Ms. Madhat had won.
The elevator headed downward. The waves of youthening pleasure soon washed over Daniel and Sara. Into their twenties they went. Wrinkles were washed away. Worries seemed to fade more and more. Especially for Sara who enjoyed these pleasurable sensations. As they approached their early twenties they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other. Even with their spouses right there with them they found it difficult to control their feelings for one another. Daniel realized his excitement could easily be seen barely concealed behind his jacket.
Into their teens they went. First Sara and then Daniel. Seventeen and nineteen years old and still growing younger. Both felt lighter and could see the elevator begin to appear larger. Seventeen and fifteen. Sara just wanted to hug Daniel and have him hold her tight, but she knew circumstances wouldn’t allow it. Fifteen and thirteen. Their
clothing was growing large on them. Sara had trouble keeping her balance in her large shoes. Thirteen and eleven. Both were on a fast track to childhood. The pleasurable sensations only increased in intensity. No sign of slowing now.
Eleven and nine. Both were children now. They were on the wrong side of puberty. Daniel fought surrendering to the waves of pleasure that he was feeling with each youthening moment. Sara did not. She seemed to bask in them. Nine and Seven. Seven and Five.
They were becoming smaller and smaller. Sara acquired a lisp. Her dress barely hung on her shoulders and touched the floor. Her shoes were huge. Daniel’s shirt and jacket threatened to engulf him at any moment.
5th floor... 4th floor... 3rd floor..... Sara was becoming a toddler and Daniel wasn’t far behind. Sara’s once flat stomach was getting more rounded. Her once thick hair was becoming fine and wispy.
2nd Floor.... The elevator screeched to a halt... “Steven! Do you have to do this?” Devra asked, seeing
Steven’s hand on the ‘stop’ button “They’re just children....”
“I want to say it now while they are old enough to understand. At least Daniel will... I’m not so sure about Sara,” Steven explained as Devra plucked the teetering two-year-old off the floor before she fell over.
“What’s going on?” Four-year-old Daniel asked, seeing his wife holding Sara under one arm and digging in her large purse with the other hand.
“You think we didn’t know about your affair? We knew. Of course we knew... We’re not stupid!” Steven explained.
Daniel stepped back.
“But you know what... we’re not mad... In fact, if it wasn’t for you two, then Devra and I would’ve never met
and fallen in love.”
“What?” Daniel asked. “You’ve been having an affair with my wife!??”
“Don’t act so hurt, little man... This could’ve been much worse for you two, but we when found out we could have you turned into children we thought that would be a perfect solution... and punishment. We’re going to be one big happy family.”
Sara began to squirm. “Stop it!” Devra ordered as she pulled a diaper out of her purse. “You’re not going to be needing this dress anymore... Maybe when you do it’ll finally be in style by then!”
“You mean we’re gonna have to grow up all over again?” little Daniel asked. “No! When we get off this elevator Sara’s only gonna be one year old... and I’ll just be... three! It’ll be forever before -we- can be together!”
“You think you’re so smart,” Devra said. “You think you have this all figured out. There’s a couple things you should know. We’re going to raise you as brother and sister so you won’t be -together- ever again.”
“No! I love Sara!” little Daniel yelled. He was going to push the ‘open door’ button but before he could make a move Steven grabbed his arms. He struggled, but couldn’t break free.
“Settle down, slugger,” Steven said as he easily controlled little Daniel.
“And what’s the other thing you need to tell me!?” Daniel spat.
“Oh...Well, you said you and Sara would be just one and three when we get off on the 1st floor....”
“Yeah..?” Daniel replied as he continued struggling.
“Well. We parked in the basement!” Steven said as Devra pressed the ‘B’ button on the elevator.
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