When You Were Young - Page 96/259

She reached down towards the little girl's reflection, the girl's hand reaching out towards hers. Molly's hand touched the pool's surface and began to glow like the water. The glow spread from her hand to her entire body. She screamed and yanked her hand away from the water, falling onto her back.

The glow faded a minute later. As Molly sat up, something felt different. She touched the back of her head to find her hair shorter. She put a hand to her chest to find her breasts reduced to mere bumps. When she stood up, the hem of her dress overlapped the ground by a good two inches. She shuffled forward a step in her loose shoes to kneel down at the surface of the pool.

This time she saw only two reflections in the water. The toddler and the infant looked back at her. The little girl had disappeared. She stared at the water a moment before the stark realization came: she was the little girl now. "No," she said, her voice now higher. "I'm not. I can't be. This can't be happening." She burst from the cave, running towards home to find the only man capable of helping her.