To be a kid again

[pamperfresh]

This is still a WIP and will change and get fleshed out. This is actually my long haul project but got this done today.

 

It was a beautiful Friday morning in July.  Amy had just finished her shower and went downstairs for her coffee while Rachel got herself freshened up.  She liked having her first cup of coffee before her roommate came down.  She poured it into her glass and went outside on their deck.  They both lived in a two-story house in the city which they had bought only a year ago. Both of them were in their early 30’s and had been friends for around 10 years.  Actually, they were the bestest of friends.  They had met each other in a coffee shop in another city and just clicked.  Amy had just finished at the nail salon next door and Rachel needed a break from her stressful day.  Her job had stressed her out and she needed to unwind and decompress for a bit.  On her way out, Amy had just casually complimented her dress which led to talking which led to a real heart to heart conversation.  Flash forward to a year ago, they both got sick of the bad apartments they kept getting stuck with and after months of searching, found a beautiful house in a very thriving Neigbourhood of the city they both grew up in.

Currently, Amy was taking in the beauty of their backyard.  She loved summer and being able to be outdoors.  The winters were so harsh and cold.  As she finished her last sip, Rachel came out.

“Enjoying the scenery,” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Amy replied.  “You ready to go?”

“All packed.  Finished the last of it before I got out here. “

“Ok!” Amy excitingly exclaimed. "Call Curtis and find out where he’s at. “

Curtis was the third person in this trio friendship.  All three of them were super close but Amy had known him since college. The three of them did a lot together, with Curtis only backing out of the girly things.  

“K. He said he was just coming up the sidewalk,” Rachel said.

Amy went to the front door to answer and sure enough, there he was.  She giggled. He had more luggage than they did.  
“Need a hand,” she asked him.
“Nope. Got it.  You two ready to head out?”
“Ready and excited.”

The three of them had been planning this weekend since early spring.  All three loved the summer, being outdoors and exploring and had planned a weekend full of activities.  First up was an hour's drive to a park where they planned on doing some hiking, followed by a picnic.  Curtis loaded up Amy’s 4x4 and the three of them were off.

After the picnic, they decide to just drive around a bit and explore.  They went down one country road and found this huge building.  Almost in unison they all said, “Wow!” The place was the biggest building they had ever seen, and they had been places.  It was the size of two large football fields back-to-back. 
“Ok,” Amy said, “I never knew this was here. Anybody else?” 
The other two shook their heads.
“Wonder what it is,” Rachel asked.
“Or how long it’s been here,” Curtis added. “Place looks deserted. Not a single car in sight.”  
“Yet somehow, it is still in great shape,” Amy added. “Wanna go check it out?”
All three of them nodded. Amy pulled the car into the driveway and parked in what was a rather large parking lot.  No car there so they got front row seating.  They got out of the car.

“Anybody catch a name or sign anywhere,” Curtis asked.
They looked around and sure enough, near the front entrance there was a sign saying, “To be a kid again.”  All three were puzzled and pulled out their cell phones but could not get online.  Only one bar of service that kept going on and off.  Too curious to stop now, they walked up to the entrance. The double doors open automatically and once inside, they were even more confused.  
 

[Kaiko-chan]

Ooo interesting. Gonna keep an eye on this one. 

[aldl4811]

Fun start, looking forward to reading more

[pamperfresh]

17 hours ago, Kaiko-chan said:

Ooo interesting. Gonna keep an eye on this one. 

Thank you   It's might take a while cause it's the long haul project but I've been wanting to write this for a long time now.

[pamperfresh]

I changed the ending of the first chapter just a tad but here's the next.

Chapter 2:

 

They looked around and sure enough, near the front entrance there was a sign saying, “To be a kid again.”  All three were puzzled and pulled out their cell phones but could not get online.  Only one bar of service that kept going on and off.  Too curious to stop now, they walked up to the entrance. The double doors open automatically, and, once inside, their questions were not answered.  The room they were in appeared to be a reception/waiting room.  It was large but, considering the size of the building, rather small.  The walls were all classic white with pictures of the outdoors and a few children’s storybook characters here and there. On the left were many chairs for people to sit down on and boxes filled with stuff every now and then.  On the right was a long reception desk equipped with computers and office equipment you would usually see at a doctor's office. It went from one wall to the other and was rather high. However, there was no one around.   Curious about what was in the boxes, Amy went to inspect and found they were filled with various children’s toys.  There were books, building blocks, dolls, stuffed bears and even bead mazes of various sizes. 

 

“Well,” she said, “these bins would suggest this place is for kids.  Loaded with toys.” 

 

Curtis was busing with just taking things in and trying to look for people.  There were doors behind the desk, but they were inaccessible. There were no openings on either side, and it was too high to jump over.   There were a pair of double doors in between the desk and waiting area but as he approached, he discovered they were locked and you needed a swipe pass.

“Hello,” he finally called out. “Anybody here?” No response. 

 

Rachel was still busy reading the sign on the desk. It read: 

Away for a half hour break. If you have pre-registered, please scan your code. If not, please either register and select your package or wait for the receptionist to return. The AI systems have been turned on to help you. 

 

 She looked and saw a laptop sitting on the desk equipped with a QR code scanner and what appeared to be a fingerprint scanner as well. She was hesitant to give the computer her fingerprint, so she tried jiggling the computer to no avail. The screen remained black. 

“Amy,” she called. “Can you come over here?” 

“Sure. What’s up?” 

“Well, it needs a fingerprint to wake up and you know me.” 

Amy nodded and pressed her finger on the scanner. 

A female AI voice gently spoke, “Scanning................Welcome here. Please input your information and select package to begin.” 

“Begin what,” Amy asked but the voice did not respond. 

Instead, a form appeared on the screen asking for her name, gender, age, etc. She suddenly felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Curtis. He nodded towards the screen, and she began to put in her data, hoping to get more information on this place. 

Name: Amy Smith 

Gender: Female 

Age:33 

Address: 523 Cherry Dr.

After putting in her number, she clicked submit and the next page gave all three of them a clue as to what this place was, but not much.  There were two drop down menus that said packages on top of it and were subdivided into boys and girls. She clicked on the girls one. There were eight options: Day spa, daycare, pampered girl, spoiled girl, deluxe, fresh start, fresh start plus, fresh start full. Out of curiosity, she clicked on the last option and hit submit. Another form appeared saying, “Select billing address.” There was an option to pick hers but also an odd option that said, “Free one time only lifetime membership.” She selected it and it asked her to scan her giveaway code. 

“Well,” she said, “Guess that ends that. Unless someone knows what, it’s talking about.”  

Rachel shrugged and as she looked down, saw a small slip of paper by her feet. Not sure how she had missed it before, she picked it up and on there was the very code the computer was looking for. 

“Ok,” Curtis said, “that’s creepy.” 

“Oh, don’t let your imagination run away on you, “Rachel replied. “Someone probably dropped it somewhere in here and couldn’t find it. It is rather small.” 

She scanned it and sure enough, the prompt went away and a “Thank you,” appeared.  

The AI voice spoke up again but this time, in the direction of the double doors. “Thank you, Amy. As part of this giveaway, you get to have others with you in this. Would you like to add more people or are you alone?” 

All three walked up to the doors and noticed a small screen had appeared above the key pass. 

“Awaiting response,” the AI voice said. 

“Umm,” Amy replied, “Yes I would like to add more.” 

“How many?” 

“Two.” 

A small scanner appeared and scanned the other two. “Please state your names and ages.” 

“My name is Curtis Klassen, and I am 34.” 

“Mine Is Rachel Powers and I am 31.” 

“Please wait,” the voice said. A few moments later, “Thank you for your interest in our services. You may now enter. Please follow the glowing arrows on the wall to your destination.”  

They entered as the doors slowly closed behind them. On the right wall was a series of pink arrows the directed them to keep going forward and appeared to go around a corner a rather long way down. They followed the arrows and suddenly heard a slight click. The doors they had come through had shut and locked. 

“Still think I’m being silly, “Curtis asked Rachel.  

She shook her head. “Nope. Not anymore. Definitely creepy but there is nowhere else to go. I haven’t seen any other doors or hallways except that bend up ahead.” 

They kept walking until they reached the corner. This hallway appeared shorter and as they looked where the arrows led, it seemed there was another pair of doors at the end. 

[BabySofia]

Good start!

[pamperfresh]

2 hours ago, BabySofia said:

Good start!

Thank you   It will change over time, probably. Just uploading it as I go for fun and stuff.  It's kinda like a rough draft with a bit of polish to it

[Kaiko-chan]

Ooooo ominous. Spooky hallway. 

[pamperfresh]

Here's chapter three. Just wanna remind that I am aware that there is hole's in the story.  Going to fill those in yet, just wanted to get a good start on it :). Also changed chapter two just a touch and added last names to the characters.

 

Chapter 3:

 

They kept walking until they reached the corner.  This hallway appeared shorter and as they looked where the arrows led, it seemed there was another pair of doors at the end. Once they got there, the doors clicked and opened.  As they entered, they noticed this room was rather small.  The walls were the same medical white and there was no equipment. Three chairs lined one wall and on the other was a circular hole which appeared to be closed.  

“Welcome Amy, Curtis and Rachel,” the female AI said. “Before proceeding further, please place hands on scanner.” 

“Umm...no thanks,” Rachel said. 

“Yeah, I’m with her,” Curtis added. “This place is creepy, and we don’t want to give you and more information than we already have.” 

“I understand.  Please know that we here at ‘To be a Kid Again,’ care about you. Precautions are in place to ensure no harm is done.  All our services have been tested and have received great reviews.” 

“How can we know that” Amy asked. “We cannot use our phones to find any information.” 

“Please place hands on scanner to proceed,” it repeated again. 

“Great,” Curis said. “Only goes so far with answers. Well, do we just turn back?” 

“Can’t,” Amy replied by the doors. “Doors are locked again. Sheesh, this place doesn’t give you much choice in things, does it? Well, you two. Do you want to risk this? “ 

“The sign at the front said the receptionist was on break,” Rachel said. “So, we know there are other people here. Maybe we wait for help.” 

“For how long,” Curtis asked. “And we are going off what a sign said.  When we pulled in, there were no cars or people anywhere at all. You wanna risk waiting here until something breaks down?” 

“Well,” Amy said. “That only leaves us with the choice of going through with whatever thing we happened to sign up for. I mean, the AI did say precautions were made and things were tested. We know, too, that other people do come here. I mean, explain all the baby and kids toys in the front.  If kids go through this, then it should be safe for us.” 

 

The other two paused to think about that.  All three of them were scared but it appeared what Amy said had helped. After a minute, they nodded in agreement.  Rachel was first to approach the scanner and place her hand on it. 

“Please state your name.” 

“Rachel Powers.”  

She saw a green light scan her hand, “Acknowledged Rachel and thank you.” 

Curtis was next. 

“Please state your name.” 

“Curtis Klassen.” 

A short pause and then, ‘Acknowledged, Curtis and thank you. You three may now proceed down the slide and again, welcome here.” 

The hole opened and exposed a bright yellow slide. All three looked down, trying to see where it led, but there were twists and bends.  With a gulp, Amy slid down first, followed by Rachel and then Curtis. 

 

The slide was short but all of them enjoyed it.  Amy was the first to exit and landed on a large, white, moving pad.  The pad moved forward and stopped while Rachel landed gently on her own. The process happened again until all three of them were out on their own pads and once there, the entrance they came in gently closed. Realizing they were now committed to whatever was about to happen to them, they took in their surroundings.  At the moment, they were inside a large and long tunnel. None of them could see an end anywhere but the walls of the tunnel looked like the sky. Suddenly, the pads began to slowly move, as soothing music began to play. Amy recognized it right away as she used to do a lot of babysitting. It was nursery music. For babies. It wasn’t being played loud, just ever so soft and gentle. After a minute, they stopped. A scanning device appeared from above and began to go over her, from top to bottom. She then advanced and it repeated with the other two. Once all three of them had been scanned, some cartoonish looking mechanical hands came out, equipped with white gloves. It went towards her shoes and began removing them. She didn’t like this at all and began to kick it. She knew it was trying to strip her and she wasn’t about to let herself be exposed to this machine and to her friends. However, the machine knew how to deal with stubborn clients. It stopped and injected her with a very mild sedative. Not enough to make her fall asleep or even close, but enough to relax her and sure enough, thirty seconds later, it worked. She stopped kicking and calmed right down. Seeing the client was now calm, it went back to work untying and removing her shoes. It then removed the socks, her brand new jeans and T-shirt until she was left in her matching pink bra and panties. Curtis, being the last in line, couldn’t see what was going on, but Rachel did. She couldn’t believe what this thing was doing and put up a fight of her own. Well, the machine responded the same way as Amy and eventually did the same to Curtis. With all three clients relaxed, it went back to Amy and removed the undies. With the first person now naked, the pad moved forward. It was now Rachel’s turn. She was wearing a beautiful long white dress and sandals, so it had less work. Curtis was the last and soon enough, all three were naked. They advanced for 30 seconds and stopped. A hose-looking device came out and covered all three of them in a pink foam, which, about a minute later, was removed with a moving, overhead waterfall. They were then patted down with some fluffy towels and discovered that all their body hair had been removed. Except for their heads, they were now completely hairless all over. Not even a trace of stubble. The machine proceeded to move them forward again to what appeared to be an opening.