Years for Sale - Chapter 6

Caroline’s aunt called a week later, and they scheduled an upcoming weekend for Caroline to babysit Audrey, one last time before the fall. It was an easy enough thing to agree to, but as time passed and the chosen Friday approached, Caroline grew increasingly apprehensive about returning to Audrey and the bracelets. There had been many risks taken, many close calls, and while everything had worked out each time, she was aware that their luck would run out, eventually. She had the money she needed, why tempt fate again? Would it be worth it, even with the secret bonus payments Audrey was sending her? Probably not.

Caroline texted Audrey, informing her cousin that she was going to make up an excuse to back out of babysitting. She would tell her aunt and uncle that she was feeling sick or something. She was done babysitting.

An hour went by, and Audrey texted back just two words, “5 figures.”

Caroline doubted that Audrey meant what she had written. “10,000?” she replied.

“Or more,” Audrey wrote back. “I’ll even give you free reign on Saturday to do what you want.”

Caroline was suspicious. “What is it that you want?”

“Sunday,” Audrey texted. “I get to take whatever I want on Sunday.”

“I see,” Caroline replied. “I’m not sure.”

“Think it over,” Audrey texted. “I’ll wait.”

Caroline took a whole day to reply. She wanted to refuse. Not only was she concerned about tempting fate, but the amount of money being offered made her think that Audrey had something awful planned for Sunday. However, $10,000 would go a long way to paying for college tuition or some other serious future expense. She might just save it or invest it, let it grow. There might be even more than that, if she could trust Audrey’s offer of “more.” Still, Caroline had many questions. Just how much money did the kid have access to? How could she afford this? Where had she learned so much about money? She recalled some mention of a college friend. What was it that Audrey’s parents had said about a previous babysitter? Something about a breakdown? It was all too suspicious, too shady. However, the money… Caroline knew she should refuse, but she felt herself unable to pass up that much money. She hated herself for being so easy to buy off, but like everyone, she had a price, and Audrey had offered it. Caroline had to do it. She would regret it too much if she did not. She would do it.

“I’ll do it,” Caroline replied.

“Thank you,” Audrey texted back. Then, she was silent until they saw each other on Friday.

***

Handing the house over to Caroline had become routine at this point. The conversation lasted barely fifteen minutes before Audrey's parents said their farewells and drove off for their weekend trip.

Audrey and Caroline did not even watch them drive off.

“So,” Audrey said, taking a seat on the living room sofa. “Did you bring anything special for the weekend?”

Caroline sat down on a recliner and said, “I grabbed some old clothes, as usual. Besides that…” She shook her head.

Audrey thought for a silent moment. “How about we even out our ages and have a sleepover tonight?” she suggested. “Like when we went to the carnival.”

“Let’s not go anywhere this weekend,” Caroline said. “I’m up for just about anything, as long as it doesn’t involve leaving the house.”

“Okay,” Audrey said, smiling. “We’ll stay in, have a sleepover.” She ran off upstairs, to grab the bracelets.

Caroline just sat there, mentally preparing to hand over a couple of years to her cousin.

***

They stripped naked. There was no hesitation about it now after all the experiences they had shared. They had nothing left to hide.

Caroline wore the silver bracelet and Audrey the gold. Audrey focused and started to grow. Caroline felt the months drain out of her and was only vaguely concerned now about getting smaller. Was she actually getting used to the sensation of shrinking? Audrey started to look more like a young woman. Caroline started to feel more like a girl. Then, the trade was over. As with the last time they were the same age, Caroline felt the awkwardness of realizing how much more developed Audrey appeared compared to her.

Audrey got dressed in the clothes Caroline had been wearing. Caroline just put on her pajamas and tightened the drawstring on the waist of her pants.

“Well,” Audrey said, “we’re back! Katie and Addie!”

“Don’t remind me of that,” Caroline said, wincing at the higher pitch of her voice. “And, don’t go messing with our faces, either.”

“I won’t be changing anything else,” Audrey assured her, “unless you want me to, of course.”

“Good,” Caroline said. “So, what will we do for our ‘sleepover?’”

“Let’s practice putting on makeup, again,” Audrey replied. “Also, I managed to find us something fun to drink, something my parents had leftover from Christmas.”

“I think we’re a little young for any ‘fun’ drinks,” Caroline cautioned her.

“At least try a sip or two,” Audrey said and smiled.

Caroline sighed. “Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

***

It was after their third shot of peppermint schnapps that Audrey suggested using the bracelets again.

“No,” Caroline said, but she was giggling.

“Come on,” Audrey replied, giggling herself.

Caroline noticed that her cousin had smeared her lipstick a little, probably during one of the shots. Audrey paused the movie they were watching and set her popcorn bowl down on the coffee table.

“What for?” Caroline asked, feeling the room sway a little around her.

Audrey stood up and said, “I’m having fun, and I want to give you something for having fun with me tonight.”

“No,” Caroline explained. “I meant, what do you want to do with them?”

Audrey took Caroline by the hands and pulled her to her feet, drawing her in close. “I wanna give you a little gift for tonight,” Audrey whispered. “Something fun, trust me.” Audrey had a smug, sneaky expression on her face, but there was nothing malicious about it.

Caroline sighed. “Alright,” she said. “Let’s do it.” She had let go of all her inhibitions already. Why not go along with it?

Audrey grabbed the bracelets, and put on the gold one. Caroline put on the silver and waited to find out what Audrey’s idea of “fun” would be. Audrey shut her eyes.

Caroline felt some swelling in her chest, and looked down to see her breasts growing back in. She thought that maybe Audrey was making her older again, but Audrey was not getting any smaller and, besides her chest, Caroline was not growing anywhere else. Soon, 13-year-old Caroline had her 16-year-old chest back, but the expansion did not stop there. It seemed that Caroline was getting some of Audrey’s own potential breast development as well as her own. Soon, she was sporting a weighty pair of melons on her chest, appearing absurdly gigantic when compared to the youthful body to which they were attached.

“Whoa,” Caroline said, when the growing slowed to a stop.

A flat-chested Audrey opened her eyes and smiled at what she saw. “There you go,” she said. “Have fun with those tonight.”

“But,” Caroline said, feeling some discomfort from the weight of so much dangling flesh. “Why not just make me older?”

“You see, if you’re smaller, then they seem even bigger,” explained Audrey.

While Caroline could admit that was true, the sensation of being a 13-year-old wearing their combined adult breast weight on her chest at the same time was somewhat overwhelming, even without considering how sensitive her huge nipples felt while compressed against her stretched-out sleep shirt. She cupped the weight of her tits in her hands, feeling them spill out over her fingers as they were bigger than a handful to her now. Just that bit of contact was particularly stimulating, making Caroline wonder if Audrey had added some extra sensitivity along with her size.

“How does it feel?” Audrey asked, setting down her bracelet and unhooking her empty bra beneath her shirt.

“Heavy,” Caroline confessed, trying to find her balance.

Audrey tossed the bra across the room and picked up her bowl of popcorn. After sitting down again, she asked, “Do you like it?”

“I feel… kinda ridiculous,” Caroline said, “like a girl with huge water balloons strapped to her.”

“Those are more fun than any water balloon,” Audrey assured her.

Still supporting her breasts in her hands, Caroline nearly toppled over just trying to take a seat, but she settled down comfortably a moment later.

“Hey,” Audrey said, grabbing the bottle of schnapps and their shot glasses. “One more round to celebrate your boobs.”

“No, thanks,” Caorline said. “I’m pretty tipsy already.”

“One more.”

“But…”

Audrey poured their shots.

Caroline sighed and clinked glasses with Audrey. They drank and Caroline stumbled back into her seat as she dropped the glass on the carpet.

Audrey put the movie back on, but Caroline was in no state to pay attention to it. Her head was swimming, and the weight on her chest felt oddly warm. She felt an irresistible desire to give her breasts a good fondle. If Audrey had not been sitting next to her, she might have done it right then. Instead, feeling her bladder getting full, Caroline excused herself to use the bathroom.

Stumbling her way down the hall, Caroline felt off balance both due to her enormous chest and also the last shot, which seemed to have gone straight to her head. After a few wrong doors, she found the toilet at last, and dropped her pajama pants. As she relieved herself, she lifted the weight of her breasts in her hands again, amazed that something so massive could be attached to her.

When Caroline was done, she nearly fell when leaning forward to wash her hands.

“Damn it,” she said, regaining her balance.

Standing up straight, she got a good look at herself in the mirror at last. “Oh my God,” she groaned. “I am ridiculous.”

At any age, those giant tits would look unnatural. Being only 13 made them appear cartoonishly absurd. That sensation of being a kid playing dress up was further enhanced by the clumsy makeup job they had done on her face. She appeared to be pretending to be an adult and doing a bad job of it.

Despite feeling like a living joke, Caroline was curious about what her huge boobs would look like now with her shirt off. She tried to take it off, but it was a struggle to slip the stretched tight fabric over her tit flesh. Eventually, after some squeezing and pulling, she managed to wriggle free of her shirt, and there they were, hanging free and drooping much less than she had expected. They did not have the spherical shape of fake breasts but hung tear-drop style. She recognized them as her own breasts, only more than doubled in size. Her nipples hardened now that they were exposed to the cool air. Caroline stared in amazement at those dark nubs, each one about the size of the tip of her thumbs.

Gently, Caroline rested her palms on her breasts, leaving her nipples bare in the space between her thumb and fingers. Slowly, she slid her thumbs and fingers to touch her nipples and gasped at their sensitivity, each one feeling like an exposed clit on her breasts. Had she been sober, she would have stopped there, or at least, she hoped she would have. Instead, she continued her fondling, taking care not to get too rough with her nipples as they seemed almost painfully sensitive to even the slightest touch. She leaned her back against the door and continued exploring the erotic potential of her giant tits. She was warming up, getting wet, breathing heavily, whimpering and moaning. One hand slipped down to her crotch, but only spent a few moments down there after realizing her chest was comparatively more sensitive now. She slid down the door coming to rest with her ass on the tiles. She hefted the weight of one breast to her face, wrapping her lips and tongue around her giant nipple, and squealed in delight at the pleasure she was causing herself. In her drunken haze, it did not take long for her to come, just from fondling her own tits. She shuddered and writhed as the joy of a youthful orgasm flooded her body.

In the afterglow of her drunken reverie, she leaned against the door with a stupid smile on her face. Vaguely, she wondered if all the bimbo girls felt like this. Her repose was cut short, though, by the sound of knocking on the door behind her.

“You okay in there,” Audrey asked through the door.

Caroline, feeling worried that her cousin had heard what she was doing in there, crawled away from the door and stumbled to her feet. “I’m fine,” Caroline said. “I just needed to take care of something.”

“I see,” Audrey said, still waiting outside.

Caroline thought she could hear Audrey smiling.

“Take your time,” Audrey said. “I can use another bathroom.”

Caroline listened as Audrey walked away and let out a sigh when she was confident that she was alone again. She took a seat on the toilet lid and waited until she had composed herself. Then, she got to work trying to squeeze her huge tits back inside her sleep shirt.

***

The next morning, Caroline woke up with her mouth dry and her head aching. She tried to recall what had happened after leaving the bathroom, but the rest of the evening was a blur. There may have been another shot followed by music and something playing on the TV. At some point, she passed out on the couch, where she was lying right now. She glanced around the room, seeing no sign of Audrey and wondering where the girl was now.

A glance down at her chest showed that her breasts remained just as huge as they had been last night. She could feel them weighing her down as she lay there, so she tried to sit herself up at more of an angle. Then, her head clearing a little, she started to plan her next moves. After getting some water, she would need to track down Audrey and get their bodies back to normal. Later, it would be her turn with the bracelets.

Caroline got to her feet and nearly tipped forward again. She regained her balance, noting the soreness in her shoulders and back. She decided that, as fun as these huge tits could be, they were more trouble than they were worth. She could not get rid of them soon enough. A visit to the sink and a stop in the bathroom were taken care of quickly. Then, she headed upstairs to find Audrey. The girl was at work on her computer when Caroline reached her doorway.

“‘Morning,” Caroline said.

Audrey glanced at her and replied, “‘Morning. I hope you don’t mind me not waking you up, but it looked like you could use some rest.”

“It’s fine,” Caroline said, checking what Audrey was doing on her computer.

Audrey noticed and said, “I’m sorting out your payment.”

There were a number of windows open, some with just numbers in spreadsheets and others seemed to include some kind of programming. It all looked very advanced for an 11-year-old.

“Since this is our last time,” Audrey said, “I’m putting together a special treat for you.”

“A ‘treat?’”

Audrey smirked. “You’ll see,” she said but did not elaborate.

“Alright,” Caroline said, not feeling awake enough to pry. “Today’s my day, right?”

“Yep,” Audrey said. She typed a little and closed some windows. “I’ll switch us back. Then, you tell me what you want to trade.”

Seeing Audrey sitting there, in control, at home in her mansion, Caroline realized what it was she wanted to do today.

***

Downstairs they readied themselves to swap years and breasts back. Both were standing there naked. Audrey had on the gold bracelet again and Caroline wore the silver one. First, Audrey rebalanced their breasts, leaving Caroline nearly flat again, to her relief. Then, Audrey gave back Caroline’s years, bringing her up to 16 again as Audrey went back to 11.

“There,” Audrey said. “That should bring everything back to normal.”

Caroline checked herself, finding everything as she remembered it being yesterday.

“So,” Audrey said. “What would you like to borrow from me for today?”

Caroline hesitated a moment and then just said it. “I want everything you have.”

Audrey seemed a little shocked and amused all at once. “What?” she asked.

“I want to be you today. I want you to give me your whole body and anything else you’re willing to hand over for today.”

“Why?” Audrey inquired, sounding genuinely curious.

“I want to know what it would feel like to be someone different,” Caroline explained. “This will probably be my only chance to try it.”

Audrey smirked. “Interesting,” she said. “So, that’ll mean I’ll be you for today.”

Caroline nodded.

“Okay,” Audrey said. “Let’s do it.” She shut her eyes, and Caroline readied herself for the change.

The change began everywhere, all at once. Caroline’s body reshaped as it shrank smaller. There were so many subtle changes that it was hard to keep track of them all: a different-sized nose, teeth that felt a little out-of-place, something funny about the shape of her thumbs, and countless other little things. She felt the new and old parts of her flow in and out all at once. As her Caroline identity bled away, Audrey soaked into the gaps where it had been. At the tipping point of the transfer, Caroline and Audrey’s eyes met, and they saw a mirror image of themselves in the other person, a perfect half-and-half mixture of them both. They were twins. Then, they drifted towards opposite identities. Caroline felt her body get younger, her face reshape in many subtle little ways. She watched as Audrey grew to resemble the person she saw in the mirror every day. It was so disorientating, seeing her body appearing as someone else across from her as she felt herself becoming a different person. Soon enough, Audrey had become a dead ringer for Caroline, and Caroline sensed that she had settled into the body of her cousin. The trade ended. In every physical way, they had become each other.

Caroline was stunned into silence by having her identity rewritten so completely. She just stood there, holding up her hands, Audrey’s hands, and examining them. She looked over at Audrey, who was acting the same way in her own body, so much so that she might have believed that she was looking at a mirror. Then, Audrey smiled, smiled with Caroline’s mouth, and Caroline felt a shiver run up her spine. There was something deeply disturbing about seeing your body being piloted by a stranger. It was herself, but the way Audrey moved was not how Caroline would move. Audrey seemed so much more confident and comfortable than Caroline normally did, as if she felt more at home in that body than Caroline had felt. That level of poise and self-assurance seemed out-of-place on Caroline’s face. Caroline wondered if the opposite was true for her right now. Was she making Audrey’s body look uncharacteristically uncertain and worried?

“This is so different,” Audrey said, sounding exactly like Caroline. “I’ve never gone this far before with a trade.”

“It’s really weird,” Caroline said. Hearing Audrey’s voice coming from her mouth felt like an invasion, like her cousin had taken over her body.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Audrey asked.

“Uh,” Caroline said, looking down at Audrey’s immature nude body below. “I didn’t think I would feel so… uncomfortable. Like, everything feels a little bit wrong.”

“It’s definitely a strange experience,” Audrey said. “Still, I think I would like to see what it’s like once we have more time to get comfortable in our skin. What do you think?”

“I guess,” Caroline said, her curiosity edging out ahead of her worry just enough to keep her from begging to go back to normal.

“Great,” Audrey said. “Now, I’ll go find an outfit in the luggage, and you can go up to your own room to get dressed. Right, Audrey?”

“Uh,” Caroline said, “sure.” She turned and left the room. After a few stumbles on the stairs while she got used to her shorter legs, she made it to Audrey’s room. Her room? For today, at least, it was. Still, she hesitated to shut the door. It still felt like trespassing.

Caroline stood in front of Audrey’s mirror and found Audrey’s reflection looking back at her from it. There was something so uncanny about it. That was her cousin, but the way she moved, her posture, her expressions, was clearly Caroline. She tried to stand up straighter, to smile a little more confidently, to feel more in control. She thought to herself that this was her room, her home, her money. The girl in the mirror started to carry herself more like Audrey in addition to looking like her. She decided that she might feel even more comfortable if she were dressed.

Caroline dug through Audrey’s drawers, searching for underwear. After locating some she pulled them on. Next, she searched for dresses, looking for something similar to what Audrey would wear. She found the exact dress that Audrey had worn the first time she had babysat for her. That and a pair of dark tights and Mary Jane’s completed the look. She tied up her hair in a ribbon and checked her appearance in the mirror.

She smiled and said, “Hello, Audrey.” Now, she saw her cousin in the mirror, inside and out. “I ought to go check on Caroline downstairs,” she said and chuckled, enjoying pretending. It felt like Halloween, and she had the world’s best costume on.

She left her bedroom, and headed downstairs to see her cousin. The teen was in the living room, sitting on the couch and staring at her hands.

“Hello, Caroline.”

She looked up from her hands at her cousin standing there. “Hi, Audrey,” she replied.

There was something so disorienting about the situation. It felt so easy, just being the people that they appeared to be, as if it were instinctual to act as that person when in her body. It seemed even more natural than to be who they knew themselves to be. After all, the evidence of their senses was much more immediate than their memories.

“Hey,” Audrey said. “Would you play a little violin for me?”

Caroline looked at the violin case, realizing that it was her case and her violin within. She walked over and prepared to play the instrument, tuning it, loosening up her fingers. When she set it under her chin, she found it fit perfectly there.

Caroline played the violin. Her fingers worked through a short piece of Beethoven. Years of practice and muscle memory made it an effortless performance. In the middle of it, her mind focused on the moment and lost track of herself. Mind and body united together, she was Audrey, exercising her gift to make beautiful music for her cousin.

When Caroline finished playing, Audrey applauded, pulling Caroline’s attention back to the actual situation they were in. There was her cousin clapping with Caroline’s hands as Caroline set down the violin and bow with Audrey’s hands.

“That was awesome,” Audrey said as she finished clapping. “Wow. It’s like watching a live version of my own recorded performance.”

“Thanks,” Caroline said. “That was your talent I was borrowing, though.” She thought about it for a moment. “Did you lend me anything else?”

“The French again,” Audrey said, “and maybe one or two other things.”

“What ‘things?’”

Audrey smirked in a way that was quite out-of-character for Caroline’s face. “That’s for you to find out,” she said, leaving it at that.

***

They watched some TV and ate lunch. Audrey said she might like some time alone, and Caroline admitted that she felt the same way. It was not that either of them wanted to do anything inappropriate with each other’s bodies. They both just wanted some solo time to breathe and explore life from a different perspective.

Audrey left the house to go for a walk in the yard. Caroline went upstairs to settle into Audrey’s room. She spent a long time sitting in front of the mirror, making faces at herself, twisting Audrey’s face into silly expressions, and giggling at the results.

Caroline noticed Audrey’s computer. It was turned on, and the screen lit up when she nudged the mouse. She took a seat and considered if she were allowed to use it or not.

“This is Audrey’s computer,” she said in Audrey’s voice. “If I am Audrey right now, then it would be my computer. Right?” That seemed logical if not exactly ethical.

Caroline clicked around for a few seconds and realized that she already knew what programs were installed and what she could do with them. She opened up a site on the dark web and accessed a secret bank account that Audrey had created in the past few months. Caroline knew the account number and password as if she had memorized them. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars in the balance. Caroline was not sure where it had come from, but she realized that there was a way to access a trust fund with Audrey’s name on it, which could have been the source.

A little searching brought her to another account that had been created that morning. There was a note attached to it, just one word, “Caroline.” She checked the balance in the account. “Ten thousand?” she said. This was her money, her payment for the weekend. It was a huge sum, while at the same time, it was also the minimum that Audrey had promised. Caroline checked the other account, the one with hundreds of thousands in it, and realized it would be so easy to transfer a little more money into her account, just one simple transaction. Before she gave herself a moment to decide if she should do it, it was already done. Now the “Caroline” account had $70,000 dollars on the balance sheet. Caroline logged out of the bank once she was certain that the transfer had gone through, ensuring that she had no time to change her mind. Then, she closed everything and shut down the computer.

“It’s done,” she told herself and was spooked to hear Audrey’s voice. She stood up and spun around, expecting to find her cousin in the room. Then, she noticed her reflection in the mirror, again. Seeing Audrey’s face reflected back at her, she let out a sigh of relief. She walked up to the mirror and stared at the face reflected back at her and said, “That money is mine.”

The words were Caroline’s, but they were spoken in Audrey’s voice from Audrey’s body.

One way or the other, the statement was true.

She turned from the mirror and noticed the bed must have been made that morning. As she considered how comfortable it would feel to lie down on it, she yawned and decided to find out. She kicked off her shoes, pulled back the blankets and sheets, and lay down on the bed. Soon, with her head resting on a downy pillow, she felt drowsy enough to take a nap, and that is what she did.

***

She woke up confused. It felt as though she had been dreaming, and even now, there was something dreamlike about her thinking. She recalled two girls in her dream, cousins, trading bodies, something about money. She stretched and got out of bed. The room felt familiar and yet she felt as though it was not hers. Looking in the mirror, she saw an 11-year-old girl reflected back at her, Audrey. Her face, her body, her room? Had she dreamed of being someone else? Was she not Audrey?

“I am Audrey,” she said, hearing Audrey’s voice from her mouth while seeing Audrey’s reflection speaking in the mirror. She did not feel as though it was a lie. Everything she was experiencing said it was true, except for some conflicting memories that might or might not be the remnants of a dream life. “Am I her, or do I just want to be her?” she asked and wondered if she wanted an answer.

Instead, she decided she wanted to dig around in the closet and dresser for a while, looking to try on some clothes. It was like visiting a changing room in a high-end store, so many expensive brands, nothing particularly gaudy or flashy, but everything was of the best quality. She removed her dress, stripping down to her underwear. She pieced together a series of outfits for different occasions, something casual, something formal, something sporty, something comfortable, and so on. For each one, she took a minute or two to admire how she looked in the mirror. Without fail, she was pleased with what she saw. The girl in the mirror was an heiress, a princess, and whatever she wore only seemed to reinforce that role. Ultimately, she settled on something colorful and sporty. Shorts and gym shoes, a T-shirt with a stylish pattern, and a button-down shirt above it. The Audrey in the mirror looked ready to model for a photoshoot. She nodded and exited the bedroom to seek out her cousin in the backyard.

She sprinted down the stairs, riding gravity to the first floor and jogged to the door to the backyard. A quick walk around the pool brought her over to the gardens and grassy yard beyond. She spotted her cousin seated on a bench swing, slowly rocking forward and back.

A quick walk brought them together, and then they were sitting on the bench beside each other.

“Audrey?” said one.

“Caroline?” said the other.

The older one chuckled and said, “Are you feeling a bit confused about who you are?”

The younger one nodded. “I think I’m Audrey,” she said. “Is that right?”

“It depends,” said the older one. “I mean, you are physically her. Everyone would think that is who you are. However…”

“I’m not,” the younger one said with a sorrowful look on her face. “I know I’m not, but…”

“It feels good,” the older one said. “I’m enjoying being Caroline. It’s nice to be older and… a little more at ease, I suppose. None of this is mine. I get to be a visitor, not a resident. I’m free to leave on Monday.”

“I’m at home,” the younger one said. “I never want to leave.”

After a moment of silence as the two of them considered the feeling of their bodies, Caroline’s phone rang, and the older one answered it. “Hello,” she said. “How are you doing, Aunt Beverly?”

She listened silently and replied, “That’s good to hear. Everything is fine here. Would you like to talk to Audrey?”

There was a response, and the older one handed the phone over to the younger one. “Your mom wants to say, ‘Hi.’”

“Hello?” the young one said on the phone.

“How are you, darling? How is your cousin treating you?”

“Everything is great,” she replied, realizing that she was talking to Audrey’s mother and realizing that it was not her mother. “I’ve never felt closer to her.”

“Excellent,” Aunt Beverly said. “We’ll be home late on Sunday. You’ll want to get some dinner before we get back.”

“Sure,” Caroline, in Audrey’s body, replied. “We will. I’ll see you, then.”

They said their goodbyes and Caroline handed her phone back to Audrey, in Caroline’s body, and she ended the call.

Caroline looked down at Audrey’s body and felt like she was playing dress up in an ill-fitting costume. “I’m ready to go back,” she told Audrey.

Audrey gave her a knowing look and said, “Yeah, I agree. I want to be me again, too.”

They returned to the house and went through the process of returning to their correct bodies.

***

That night, as they ate dinner, Caroline asked Audrey what she had planned for tomorrow.

Audrey ate quietly for a little while, considering her response. “The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow,” she said, glancing out the window into the darkness. “I thought we might spend some time in the pool. I want to have a body that looks good in a bathing suit while we do.”

“Sure,” Caroline said. “Sounds like fun.”

***

The next morning, after breakfast, they went to Audrey’s father’s library.

“Wow,” Caroline said as she looked around the room, glancing at the case that contained the imitation bracelets. “Strange being back in here again. This is where all of this started.”

“Yeah,” Audrey said. “Since this is our last time together this summer, I thought it made sense to come back here. Also, I’ve got some specific things I want to change, and the mirror in here would make it easier to get it all right.” She stripped off her pajamas and discarded them on the floor before approaching the mirror. Audrey handed the silver bracelet to Caroline and put on the gold one. Caroline hesitated to put on the silver one. “What’s wrong?” Audrey asked.

“Uh,” Caroline said, feeling some strange apprehension all of a sudden, something about being back at the beginning again. She looked down at her naked little cousin’s expectant face. “It’s nothing,” Caroline said, waving away her concerns. She slipped on the bracelet. “Take what you want.”

They gazed into the mirror together, both observing Audrey’s body.

Audrey shut her eyes to focus. Then, she reopened them and said, “No, I want to try to watch this one.”

When Caroline felt her body begin to shrink, she was surprised to see that Audrey was actually managing their transformation with her eyes open. Caroline had thought it would be impossible to use the bracelets without visualizing the changes fully in your imagination. Audrey, it seemed, had progressed to the point that she could use the magic with no apparent conscious effort.

As Caroline wilted away, Audrey sprouted taller and ripened into puberty. However many times Caroline had witnessed her cousin growing older, it never failed to amaze her. Power flowed into the girl, stretching her bones, swelling her flesh, and maturing her attributes. Hair spread and thickened, features sharpened, and a woman emerged from the sum of it all.

Then, when Audrey had become a woman, the changes shifted to her aesthetic appearance. Her face seemed to come into focus, simple prettiness becoming beauty. Her body tightened to be fit without becoming overtly muscular. Secondary sexual characteristics became more sexual, bigger breasts, darker areola, protruding nipples, wider hips, rounder ass, and longer legs. Everything grew and shrank slightly back and forth as Audrey experimentally measured out proportions, seeking the perfect composition of every related attribute, until at last, she had built herself into her own image of perfection. When she had finished, she adored her reflection for a long while, smiling and posing, seeing herself from every angle and loving what the mirror reflected back. Undoubtedly, she had created her masterpiece. Not quite a supermodel and somewhat resembling a porn star, but just average enough to not draw too much unwanted attention.

Caroline became aware of how much she had been staring at Audrey’s stunning body and tried to turn her attention to something else. She found her own reflection in the mirror and frowned. The plain little girl beside the wonderful woman looked deflated in her oversized pajamas, a diminutive left-over child in comparison to the perfection next to her. It would have been a depressing sight even without being overshadowed by Audrey.

“Right, then,” Audrey said, nodding. “Let’s go to the pool.”

***

Caroline dove in. The cool pool water felt startlingly refreshing in the warm summer sun. As she surfaced and took a breath, she forgot about how small her body had become and focused on treading water. She turned to see Audrey mount the diving board and step to the end. Her little red Bikini showed off an abundance of skin, gleaming with suntan lotion. A few bounces and she launched into the air and seemed to hang there for a minute, rotating around, enjoying how her body moved, before plunging into the water as she finished her elegant dive. Caroline watched Audrey slip through the water like a mermaid before ascending to the surface and flinging her hair back as she took a breath. As Audrey climbed the ladder out of the pool, water cascaded down her Bikini body, making Caroline feel self-conscious about her own pink one-piece suit and the kid body it covered.

Audrey noticed Caroline staring and asked, “So, what do you think? Does my body look good in motion, too?”

“It’s perfect,” Caroline said, wondering if she sounded jealous.

“Great,” Audrey said. “You know what, I think I might do some sunbathing, but first...” She crouched down above Caroline and gave her a conspiratorial look. “Want to try out the water slide?”

Caroline smiled and nodded, and the two of them ran off giggling to the stone stairs up to the slide which ran through a concrete rocky hill. They slid down one after another, laughing and cheering as they splashed into the pool. Then, they ran back and did it again. By the third time, Caroline was feeling like a kid again, just having carefree fun. The next time, they rode down together, with Caroline between Audrey’s legs. They hit the pool together with Audrey holding Caroline to her in a hug, like a mother and daughter.

After that, they ate some sandwiches and took a break to watch TV. Then, Caroline rode the slide a few more times on her own as Audrey removed her bikini and reclined on a lawn chair to sunbathe. When Caroline noticed that her cousin was nude again, she decided to focus on practicing her snorkeling. And, that was how they spent the remainder of the afternoon.

***

“I’m getting hungry,” Caroline said, toweling off as the sun got low on the horizon.

Audrey sat up and gave Caroline an uncertain look. “It’s that time,” she said. “Isn’t it?”

“I can wait a little longer,” Caroline said. “I guess.”

“No,” Audrey said, wrapping a towel around her body. “It’s time. I’ll take care of it. I’ll order us a pizza. You can keep swimming.”

“Okay,” Caroline said and reminded Audrey to get pepperoni.

Audrey nodded and walked to the house as Caroline headed off to ride the slide a few more times.

***

When Audrey did not appear again after what felt like half an hour, Caroline started to get concerned. She tried to reassure herself that there was probably a simple reason why it was taking her cousin so long to return. Maybe she was using the bathroom. She might have decided to take a shower. Caroline tried to remember if she knew how to drive and realized that she probably did not anymore. It was possible that Audrey had taken the opportunity to go for one more drive to pick up the pizza by herself. All of those seemed like reasonable explanations. However, as it grew darker and Audrey was still nowhere to be seen, Caroline grew worried.

Fearing the worst now, Caroline tried to open the back door to the house and found that it was locked. She knocked, but there was no response. She tried other doors, circling around the house to the front door and back, and found them all locked. It seemed that there was no way for her to get in.

The sky had grown dark, and Caroline feared that her aunt and uncle would be home before she had a chance to grow back up into her normal body. Again, she baged on the back door by the pool, desperately screaming for Audrey to open up.

“What is going on?” Caroline asked, as tears formed in her eyes. Where was Audrey? Did she go out and get into trouble somewhere? Was she hurt? Dead? Was Audrey just playing a mean prank on Caroline?

Had Audrey… run away?

There were no answers that night, only more questions when Aunt Beverly and Uncle David looked out the back door by the pool and found a little girl, draped in a towel for warmth, her eyes red from tears. Somehow, she managed to convince them that she was their niece, Caroline. Meanwhile, Audrey and the real bracelets were nowhere to be found, and one car was missing from the garage.

The police found the car at the airport the next day, parked nearby the entrance to the international terminal.

***

A package addressed to Caroline arrived in the mail about a week later. It was a simple manila envelope that seemed to be full of documents. Audrey was the sender, and the return address was her home address. It was the first time Audrey had contacted anyone since the night she disappeared.

At the time when Caroline’s mother went to pick up the mail, Caroline was in her bedroom, staring at herself in the mirror, which seemed to happen surprisingly often despite her trying to avoid her reflection. No matter how many times she saw the girl she had become, she never seemed to get used to the change. It was not just that she had become younger, but she seemed to be somewhat smaller and plainer than she had been at this age, however old she was now. That uncertainty about her age was one major reason she kept staring at herself. It felt wrong to no longer know how old she was. She might be nine or a tall seven or a short eleven. She suspected she was older and shorter than would be expected, but she had no way of knowing for sure. Why did it matter? It would not make much difference one way or the other. Maybe she would rather focus on something trivial like her age than have to face up to her uncertain future. After all, not only her body, but her whole life had been altered beyond recognition.

Caroline went downstairs after being called to see the package Audrey had sent. There was a brief debate over whether they should contact Audrey’s parents first before opening it. Ultimately, they decided not to. The package had been sent to Caroline, and she could decide to share it with them or not after she opened it.

For a moment as she opened the package, she hoped that she might find the bracelets inside. Unfortunately, there were only pages of documents inside with a short letter on top of them all. Caroline flipped through the pages, finding a collection of new identifying documents with her name on them, including a birth certificate with a date on it from about nine years ago. (At least she had that mystery settled now.) Although she was no expert, Caroline thought that the documents looked authentic. She read Audrey’s letter out loud to her parents.

“Caroline,” Audrey wrote.

“I am not going to apologize as I have no remorse over what I did to you. We made a deal, money for years, and I am paying you for what you gave me. You get $70,000 dollars, the amount you picked for yourself. (I noticed, of course.) And, I get 7 years of your life, as well as some other associated things. Understand that there is nothing personal about this. You are not being punished. This happened just because you were willing to put on the bracelet, and so you ended up being the one I used to get what I want. You are getting what you wanted. You have enough money now to afford a car, even if you will not be able to drive it now.

“I am not a cruel person, though, so I am helping you start a new life. I went ahead and had high quality forgeries made of all the documents you will need. I also paid to have your information altered in a number of databases to match your new life. As far as the government is concerned, the old Caroline no longer exists. You should be able to go back to fourth grade now. I suspect you have noticed that I took most of your education with me along with the rest of your adolescent knowledge.”

Caroline paused, realizing that she had been avoiding considering that possibility, but she had no doubt that she was less smart now. She had noticed herself struggling to read complex words and getting confused by things that seemed too mature for her. It was frustrating because she could remember knowing more, but as painful as it was to admit, that knowledge was gone now, stolen by Audrey.

Caroline continued reading Audrey’s letter: “Do not try to find me. I am covering my tracks, and I am not coming back. Live your life, and stay out of mine. Goodbye. (By the way, I have sent a similar letter to my parents. You do not need to share this letter with them. In fact, you probably should not as they might want to take your money.)”

She signed it “Sincerely, Audrey.”

And, that was it.

***

Caroline wanted to do the math to figure out how much money she could make in interest on $70,000, but she could not remember how to do the calculations anymore. Not that it would matter at the moment. She had no use for a car, now. She could not drive one. More immediately, her parents would probably need to use some of that money to set up Caroline’s new life, such as buying new clothes and moving house. Ultimately, in the years ahead, the money might grow and Caroline might grow with it, but whatever it all amounted to, it will never have been worth it.

Caroline decided to forget about the money for now. It was all just numbers, anyway. What did they matter? She had a lot to relearn, and she felt it was best to focus on smartening up.