Adventures in Babysitting

Christina knocked on the door to her next door neighbour's house. She had agreed to babysit their son for the day to allow them to attend a conference downtown at the last minute. She had made previous arrangements that she wasn't happy to cancel but it seemed urgent and they offered to pay her a decent amount. As she was starting college that year, any source of income was desirable to her. Tony answered the door and greeted her enthusiastically. He was a cute 3 year old who was usually easy to handle, but could quickly get troublesome at the worst of times.

The day started off well with the two playing board games and watching animated films. It wasn't until after lunch when Tony started to get cranky. Christina knew what to do and took him upstairs to have a nap. But he was stubborn and wanted to watch another movie. Christina put him in bed and left him to hopefully fall asleep. 10 minutes later, she checked to make sure he was asleep only to find him on the floor playing with his toy planes. Getting frustrated, she picked him up and forced him under the covers, tucking him in as tight as she could.

Tony moaned and cried "But I'm not tired! I don't need a nap, I can stay awake all day!".

Christina put on a fake smile and said "But you're only a little boy. You need a nap so you'll have the energy to play more later on in the day. Staying awake will make you grumpy and unhappy and neither of us will like that. I'm sure as soon as you close your eyes, you'll fall asleep right away".

Tony groaned and said "But you don't need to nap so that means I don't have to!".

"Well that's because I'm older than you. I can handle staying awake all the time. When you're older you can do whatever you want but since you're only 3 and I'm your babysitter, you're just going to have to sleep".

Tony struggled inside his covers but couldn't break free. Christina smiled at that and left the room, barely hearing Tony mutter "I wish I was older so I didn't need a babysitter".

15 minutes passed while Christina caught up with her social networks on her phone when she heard a loud bang from upstairs, followed by heavy footsteps bound down the stairs. She rolled her eyes and walked towards the source of the noise, calling out "We've been over this, you need to have a nap or else you...". She trailed off her sentence once she entered the kitchen. An unwelcome stranger was standing by the dining table, completely naked.

He was young man of average height, possibly in his early twenties. He had a lean build with a dusting of hair coating his chest connected to a trail leading down his stomach where it faintly spread outwards. His thick, wavy hair grew down to his shoulders and he had a mischevous smirk on his scruffy face. He leaned against the wall with his underwear in his hands and said in a smooth, surprisingly deep voice "Looks like I'm grown up now".

Christina screamed and grabbed the nearest object to her to use as a weapon. She pointed the frying pan at the now confused and frightened man. "I don't know what the hell kinda messed-up thing you're thinking of doing but you're going to leave this place  before I call the cops!". The man shrieked and ran up the stairs. Christina panicked, fearing that the pervert might enter Tony's room and use him as a bargaining tool, and ran up after him.

Her suspicions were confirmed as she spotted the man's leg dart into the boy's bedroom. She followed him inside and cornered the cowering man. Looking around, she noticed that Tony was nowhere to be seen in the bedroom, but there was ripped clothing left on the bed. She advanced on the man and demanded "What did you do with him you bastard!".

The man struggling to say anything through his heavy breathing and sobs. After another advancement, he yelled out "Stop it Chrissie! This isn't a fun game!".

She froze and dropped her hands. Nobody called her Chrissie any more. The only person who still insisted on calling her that was "...Tony?". The man nodded and pointed towards the bed. Without taking her eyes off him, she dug around the ripped fabric and felt some hard inside. She grabbed it and pulled it out from it's hiding place. She held it in front of her face and immediately dropped it in revulsion. It looked like a shrunken hand, all the fingers were extended except for one. "Ewww! What is that thing!?" she asked in disgust.

"It's a monkey paw my auntie brought back from her vacation for me. It's s'posed to grant wishes. Let me show you". He held his hand out, and Christina cautiously nudged the paw towards him with her shoe. He held it in both hands and said "I wish Chrissie would know all that I know about the paw".

She recoiled in horror as one of the fingers quickly curled downwards with an audible crunch, and was hit by an unknown force. She fell to the floor and a vision of events played out in front of her like a projector film. She saw herself and Tony inside the bedroom only moments before when she tucked him into bed. He was squirming in his bed covers while she turned her back to him to leave the room. As soon as she reached the door, his arms broke free of their confinement and he reached out to his bedside table where the monkey paw laid. He held it in his hands and made his wish to be older just as she left the room. The first finger on the paw curled down and he dropped it on the bed. He burst out of his clothing as his body stretched and contorted and bulked and grew until the long-haired man she was now accustomed with laid in his bed where a toddler once was. He was understandably stunned and scared about his growth, awkwardly getting off his tiny bed and stumbling towards the bedroom door.

He quietly left the room and darted to his parents' bedroom to see himself in a mirror. As he gazed upon his adult form, his fear turned to excitement once he realised the full potential he had now as a man. He laughed and said to himself "I have to show Chrissie this!". He threw open the bedroom door with a bang, grabbing a pair of his dad's underwear on the way out, and bounded downstairs.

He ran into the kitchen and was about to put the underwear on when he heard Chrissie coming. He was beaming with excitement to show her that he was now old enough to stay awake, only for her to threaten him with a frying pan. The vision disappeared and she looked up to Tony who had left his corner and sat in front of her.

They looked at each other for a while until Christina broke the silence. "So you're really Tony and not some peverted intruder?". He nodded again and Christina pulled him into a big hug.

"So you're not angry anymore?" he asked her.

She smiled and replied "Of course not! Surprised and confused yeah, but not angry. I'm so sorry for threatening you but standing butt naked in the kitchen wasn't the best of entrances". They both shared a laugh and got up from the floor. Christina gave him a good look up and down, admiring how handsome he looked as a man before saying "Well I think we've had enough fun for one day. How do we make you younger?".

Tony backed away from Christina, holding the paw away from her. "I don't want to get younger! I'm an adult now, I can do adult things! And I think I'm even older than you now, you can't tell me what to do".

Christina sighed and said softly "But you can't stay like this forever. What will your parents think? They're not going to be happy that their little boy is now a big man".

Tony thought about it and said "Well they're not gonna be home for ages and ages so can't I stay big for a little while longer, pllleeeeaaasssseeee?".

Christina thought it over and said with a defeated groan "OK,  OK.  It's not like I know how to work that thing to do it myself. But promise me that as soon as I get the call from your parents, you'll turn yourself back to your 3 year old self".

Tony shook with excitement and squealed "Promise! Oh my gosh, this is going to be soooooo fun!". He jumped up and down with glee, and Christina stared at him blushing.


Finally she said "Maybe you should put some clothes on quickly". Tony nodded and rushed back to his parents' bedroom. Christina collapsed onto the bed and groaned into her hands. What had she gotten herself into?