Josh and Jenn wandered down a quiet corridor that branched off from the main hall. The floorboards creaked beneath them with each step, and the air felt oddly thicker—cool, but stale, like a room that hadn’t been aired out in decades. Each hallway looked like a time capsule long forgotten with different class projects hanging on the walls.
"This place is really giving me the creeps." Josh muttered, flicking his light down a side hallway, revealing an another empty corridor with dust motes floating in the air current. They turned to follow it and to see where it led.
Jenn kept close, her fingers brushing against Josh’s as they moved. "You wanted to go exploring. Just think of it as another abandoned level in that game you play."
"Right… just with more mold." Josh joked, thinking back to when Jenn came over and she made him play it so that she could have fun watching his reactions.
Continuing down the corridor, they stopped in front of a faded door with peeling paint that read 'Welcome to Kindergarten – Room 2' in crooked wooden letters, each letter with its own color of faded paint. A soft breeze seemed to seep from the crack under the door, despite the stale air everywhere else. "There must be a window open." Jenn replied, trying to make sense of the situation.
Josh turned the knob slowly, expecting resistance, but the door glided open with only a little protest from the squeaky hinges. The inside was dusty but oddly preserved—low tables, tiny chairs, finger paintings flaking off the walls, and a chalkboard with faint writing still scrawled across it. In the corner there was a worn reading nook that had certainly seen better day. It was oddly quiet, but was broken by Jenn. "Its eerie how intact this place is." Jenn said, stepping into the room.
Josh followed closely behind her and the second both of them crossed the threshold, a strange pull seemed to yank at the center of their bodies. Jenn stumbled forward, nearly falling, while Josh groaned, clutched his chest, and doubled over in pain.
"What the..." Josh started, but his voice cracked, warbling unnaturally.
Jenn blinked and looked down. Her clothes began to billow around her, body shrinking, bones subtly cracking and reforming. Her hair lightened in color and shortened. "Oh no... Josh!" She squeaked.
Josh turned towards her, but his own face contorted in surprise. He was also getting shorter, fast... his jeans pooled around his legs, his shirt sleeves dragging past his hands. Even more bizarre, his body was subtly shifting in form, becoming smaller, narrower, more childlike.
Jenn’s transformation was equally shocking. Her frame widened just slightly, but her features reshaped into that of a young boy, about five or six. Her glasses slid off her now smaller, differently shaped face and clattered to the floor.
They stared at each other in stunned silence. "Jenn… you… you’re a boy!" Josh gasped, his voice now high and feminine. He brought his hands up to his mouth.
"And you’re a girl!" Jenn shouted, her voice cracking in confusion. She tried to step forward, but her oversized sneakers made her trip, landing with a soft plop on the old rug. Her t-shirt hung over her body like a nightgown.
“I... I’m drowning in my clothes,” Josh said, tugging at the waistband of jeans that now fell instantly to his ankles.
“We both are.” Jenn added. “I mean, we look like kids playing dress-up in our parents' laundry.”
As if on cue, both their clothes began to shimmer softly. The fabric unraveled and rewove itself with a strange, silken rustling sound. Pants shrank into denim shorts; baggy shirts twisted into child-sized t-shirts. Shoes shifted, rubber and fabric morphing into tiny sneakers with light-up soles.
Jenn looked down at herself—now clad in a red t-shirt with a cartoon rocket and matching jeans. Josh’s clothing had transformed into a lavender top with sparkly hearts, denim jeans, and pink sneakers.
Josh stared at his reflection in the chalkboard’s metal trim, his small hands trembling. “This… this isn’t just some prank. This is real.”
Jenn reached out, now significantly shorter than before. “We need to find Will and Emily. Something really weird is going on here.”
They stepped back into the hallway, their tiny feet echoing oddly in the vast silence. Somewhere deeper in the school, a soft creaking sound echoed. And something began to stir.
Josh and Jenn crept back down the hallway, now child-sized and oddly silent, the only sound the soft clap-clap of their sneakers against the dusty floor and small light coming with each step. The building seemed bigger now... more imposing, more alive. Shadows stretched longer and corners looked darker. "This is so messed up." Josh whispered, hugging himself. His tiny fingers clenched into fists. "I feel like I’m in some kind of dream. Or nightmare."
Jenn adjusted the waistband of her newly-fitted jeans and huffed, trying to stay calm. "Okay, okay. Let’s just think this through. We went into that classroom, and boom... magic or whatever turned us into kids… and switched us."
"Yeah, that sums it up." Josh said, pulling his longer hair out of her face. “And now I’m basically six and a girl. Awesome."
Jenn gave him a look. "Hey, you think I wanted to swap into this?" She gestured at herself. "Do you know how weird it is to hear my voice crack like this?"
Josh cracked a smile despite herself. "You look like a boy band dropout from 1999."
Jenn rolled his eyes. "And you look like the mascot for a girl scouts cookie box." That earned a chuckle, then silence fell again... tense and strange.
Josh glanced up at the old classroom signs as they passed. "You think we’re stuck like this?"
Jenn shook his head. "No. I mean—there has to be a way to change back. We just have to figure out what triggered it. Maybe something in another room?"
"We didn’t touch anything." Josh reminded her. "We just walked in."
"Yeah, but maybe it’s the room itself. Like some kind of enchanted spot or old curse." Jenn thought to herself out loud. Something that she did when something didn't make rational sense.
Josh shuddered. "Okay, Hogwarts from hell. Got it."
They turned a corner and found themselves facing another hallway lined with lockers, the kind used by older students. Unlike the kindergarten room, this part of the school looked somewhat newer. Less decayed, the lockers weren’t rusted, the walls weren’t cracked, and the lights, dim as they were, actually worked and didn't flicker.
"I don’t like this." Josh muttered. "It’s too clean."
Jenn moved forward cautiously. "Let’s find another classroom and see if we change back. Or… change again. Maybe something will reverse it."
They stepped into a second room marked 'Art Room – Grades 1 & 2' Inside, the smell of dust mixed with old paint. Tables were still set up, some with dried brushes and jars of crusted water. The room had a warm glow to it, like it had been frozen in time.
They stepped inside. Nothing happened. "Okay, no instant change." Jenn casually replied, letting out a breath she didn't know that she was holding.
Josh rubbed his arms, glancing around. "It’s weird. I feel… like I remember being in a room like this. Not this one, but one just like it. Finger painting and construction paper shapes."
Jenn blinked and nodded her head. “I feel it too.” They locked eyes.
“Is it doing something to our memories?” Josh whispered towards Jenn, horrified.
Jenn bit his lip. “Let’s not stay here too long.”
They turned to leave, but as they reached the door, a small child’s voice echoed faintly behind them. “Where are your hall passes?”
Josh froze and slowly, they turned around. Standing near the back of the classroom was a girl, maybe seven, wearing an old-fashioned school uniform, her hands clasped behind her back. Her hair was curled and tied with ribbons, and her eyes were a deep, almost unnatural shade of blue.
“I asked.” She repeated, voice calm and even. “Where are your hall passes?”
Jenn instinctively stepped in front of Josh. “We… we’re new. We don’t know where the office is.”
The girl tilted her head. “That’s okay. I’ll take you there.” She smiled, but there was something off about it. It was too wide, too still.
Josh tugged at Jenn’s arm. "We need to go. Now."
The girl’s smile dropped and stared at the two children in front of her. "You don’t want to go to the office?"
"Nope." Jenn affirmed, grabbing Josh’s hand and backing toward the door.
The girl took a step forward, the smile returning. "Then you’ll stay here with the rest of us."
"What do you mean, with the rest of us?" Josh asked, fear showing in his voice.
The lights flickered and behind the girl, in the reflection of the dusty art room windows, shadows moved. Kids lined the windows, their faces blacked out, silent and watching.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author