Restart

By CalexTheNeko

Dan was used to things not quite working out for him. College had proven more difficult than he expected and after a couple of years he had dropped out. He chose to enter the workforce right away and soon found himself doing call center work. It wasn't the best life… But it paid the bills… Or at least it did. Then management decided on some cutbacks. Dan was given a choice. He could take a large pay cut and stay on, or he could clean out his desk.

He had perhaps… Been somewhat overconfident on how fast he might find a new job with his experiences. No longer having a steady source of income it wasn't long before he couldn't pay his rent. Now with no job and no home he was left with an option that was previously unthinkable. He had moved back in with his parents.

Dan was up in the attic of his parent's house now. He was dressed in an old shirt and jeans and had unkempt brown hair. Currently he was sifting through boxes in his parents attic. They had exactly one condition for him moving back in with them. It was one he argued over and fought but they wouldn't bulge. He had to go back to school. That was why he currently up here. He was trying to find his old school books. The attic was packed with old stuff and covered in dust. It was hard to find anything up here. Some of this stuff Dan wasn't even sure if it belonged to his parents. He was pretty sure whoever owned the house thirty or forty years ago had left some of this stuff behind.

Dan opened another box and looked inside. He found books… But they didn't look like the right ones. These were older than the school books he was looking for. He dug to the bottom of the box just to be sure they weren't here. At the very bottom of the pile was a colorful looking book that seemed at odds with the others. It was titled the 'Prepping Book.'

“What even is this one?" Dan asked as he opened the book. He flipped a few pages only seeing weird symbols and letters he didn't recognize. He was about to close the book when the pages began to move on their own. It was as if a gust of wind had suddenly blown into the attic as the pages flipped open to reveal a spiral pattern. The book began to shake in Dan's hands and he let go of it with a yelp. Instead of landing on the ground the book floated in the air so that the spiral pattern was facing Dan. It began to glow and then Dan felt as if he was being pulled towards the book.

Starting to panic Dan scooted away from the book as fast as he could. As he did various objects around the attic lifted up into the air and were pulled into the book. As soon as they reached the spiral pattern of the book itself they just vanished. They were gone. No idea what was going on but realizing it was something bad Dan tried to get to his feet. He made a run for the attic's exit but the sucking sensation only got stronger. Dan was lifted off his feet into the air. He let out a scream as he was pulled towards the book… And then he too disappeared inside of it.

Dan groaned when he came to. He wasn't sure how long it had been… But he now appeared to be outside. It was pleasantly warm out without being oppressively hot. He appeared to be laying on his back in the grass. He slowly sat up and looked around. He was surrounded by a giant pile of junk… It all appeared to be stuff from his attic. That was right! The stuff had disappeared into book! And then he had been pulled in too! And now he was outside? Yet… This didn't look like his neighborhood. The place felt… For lack of a better term… Too serene. Grassy hills extended in every direction. He could make out some streams in the distance. There were no signs of buildings or any form of civilization in sight. Well… That was almost correct. Just as there was a ton of junk from his attic scattered around where he had landed he could see other junk piles around the hill. There was no rhyme to reason what he actually saw. Some of the junk piles were what he might consider retro… Old TVs, VCR players stuff like that. Other piles looked even older and had to be antiques.

“Where the heck am I?" Dan rubbed the back of his head as he stood up.

“You're in the Prepping Book master!" A high pitched voice piped up from directly behind Dan.

“Awaaaaa!?" Dan spun around in place at hearing the voice. There was a small kitten standing behind him. The kitten stood on its hind legs and wasn't even as tall as his knees. “WHAT?" He fell down onto his bottom as he saw the kitten.

“Hello Master!" The kitten responded. She looked up at Dan with a smile. “How can we help you today?"

“Where am I?" Dan asked. “What are you? I mean… Talking cat… And then… And where is my house. Just…" He started to scoot back away from the kitten. “And wait what did you mean the royal 'we' or…"

“Um ok in order…" The kitten took a deep breath before she spoke. “Inside the Prepping Book. A kitten of course! Where you left it! And I meant all of us here!" As she spoke other critters rose up from the side of the hill. Many of them were small animals. There were more kittens, bunnies and squirrels. All of them walked upright on their hind legs. Then there were smaller creatures that looked more human. They were small enough to ride on the heads of the various animals and had translucent wings coming from their back. They looked like a fairy right out of a cartoon… Except like the animals none of them wore clothes.

“Right well…" Dan backed up slightly more before getting to his feet. “This has all been… Really weird now but I'm just… Going to get… Going now. Places to go… People to see… So I just need to get home… If I knew where home was."

“Oh you can just take the stairs home!" The kitten replied happily as she beckoned a paw behind Dan. “It's like a back door out of here."

“The stairs?" Dan asked as he turned around. He looked to the top of the hill. There was a large staircase that just spiraled up into the sky disappearing into the clouds. “Huh… So… That leads back?"

“Yup!" The kitten replied happily. “You can go home anytime."

“Well then um… Okay… Then uh… Bye!" Dan sprinted for the stairs and started up them. He had no idea what was going on but he had no interest in figuring out more. He looked up seeing how far up the stairs extended. “It's going to take me forever to get up that… Everyone will probably think I just ran off."

“Don't worry about that!" A faerie flew up the stairs to address Dan. “No time has passed outside the book!"

“Wait really?" Dan paused at that and looked down at the faerie.

“That's right!" The faerie smiled. “Time doesn't pass and no one ever gets any older here!"

“Huh…" Dan considered what that meant and slowed down. “So what time is frozen outside?"

“It's not frozen you silly billy!" The kitten called from down the stairs. “Time just doesn't move here!"

“But that means time is frozen outside…" Dan insisted.

“No it means time doesn't move here!" The kitten continued to smile.

“But… What even is the difference?" Dan threw up his arms.

“It's like the difference between holding your breath and not breathing at all!" The kitten explained. Dan just nodded unsure of what the difference actually was.

“But that… it… Fine!" Dan threw his hands up in the air. “Whatever. So at least that means it'll be the same time I arrived when I get up there!" He paused considering that. It seemed an impossible concept… But then again so did talking kittens and tiny winged people. “So… No matter how much time I spend here… No actual time is going to pass in the real world?"

“This world is also real!" The faerie replied. “But yes!"

“I see…" Dan muttered as he rubbed a chin. He was starting to get an idea. “I don't suppose any of my schoolbooks got sucked into here with me? I could use a little extra study time."

“School books?" The faerie tilted its head. “I don't recall seeing anything like that…"

“Ugh figures…" Dan slumped against the railing. “If I had infinite time figured I could at least study a little bit so I was ready for school."

“Aren't you a little old for school?" The faerie asked.

“Don't remind me…" Dan groaned. “Things… Didn't work out lately… And so I decided to give school another go. But I feel like I barely remember anything from last time I tried."

“We can help with that!" The faerie smiled happily. “We have lots of things that can get you a head start in school! All you have to do is wish it!"

“Wish it?" Dan asked.

“It's what we're here to do!" The faerie replied. “Simply make the wish and we'll get you set to completely restart school again!"

“That's all it takes huh?" Dan almost laughed at the idea. He looked down at himself. If it came down to magical wishes he'd want to use it for a lot more than just to study. He was out of shape with a big beer belly. “Okay… Fine but I don't just want to relearn a few basics. I wish you could help me get back into shape for school both physically and mentally."

“Done!" The faerie replied before flying down to land on the kitten. “Now follow us!"

“Wait really!? Just like that!?" Dan quickly ran down the stairs trying to catch up with the kitten and her friends who were already bounding off over a hill. “Hey hold up now so fast!" Dan felt himself start to sweat as he ran after them. It wasn't exceptionally hot… But he was self conscious about his physical shape for a reason. He was panting absolutely exhausted by the time he caught up with them.

The small animals and faeries were gathered around what looked like an old arcade cabinet. It was something called Arithmetic Heroes Sr. Dan approached the cabinet and gave it a quizzical look.

“What is this?"

“Play it!" The faerie landed on the cabinet next to the joystick. Dan felt himself blushing as he looked down at her noticing her lack of clothing. “It's educational!"

“Ignoring why there's an arcade cabinet in the middle of a meadow… Or how it even has power…"

“Magic!" The original kitten shouted.

“Ignoring that…."Dan continued. “I'm sure it's a very engaging game… But I think educational games are more for little kids."

“Just try it!" The kitten insisted. “It'll help get you ready for school."

“Ugggh." Dan groaned as he slowly began to play the game. The game seemed to play like a lot of classic RPGs until he got to a boss battle. Occasionally it would ask him a riddle that seemed mostly only challenged him to figure out what some of the words meant. There he found the boss immune to normal attacks and only vulnerable to magic. Every time he tried to cast a spell though an equation popped up.

2(x+3) – 3(4x+2) = 50

Dan had to think for a moment… But he realized he did still remember how to do this! After a couple minutes he got the answer as negative 5. The questions seemed to be getting harder as he went on. When the boss was low on HP he struggled with the final equation.

3(x+5) = 18

It was a lot harder than the first one… But eventually he figured out the answer was 1! With that he had cleared the game.

“That wasn't too bad…" He muttered. He still couldn't believe how hard the last question had been.

“You're one step closer to being ready!" The kitten shouted as she threw a pawful of confetti into the air. “But you said you wanted to be in physical shape too!"

“I was kind of hoping that would be more magic than work…" Dan muttered.

“A healthy body can only be obtained with a healthy amount of work!" The faerie shouted as she flew around Dan's head. “On your mark! Get set! Sprint!" On her words she landed on the kitten who took off running again. Her friends followed after her leaving Dan behind.

“SERIOUSLY!?" Dan groaned. He had not expected to thrust into running long distances so quickly. Still… They were trying to help him get back into shape. He didn't see himself as having any choice but to sprint after them if he wanted his wish. Besides they were his only guides out of this world.

At first running was pretty miserable. He was huffing a lot and sweating and thought he was going to pass out. Once he got into it he found the running became easier though. By the time he caught up to the kitten and her friends he was even starting to enjoy it. He paused though as he examined it. This time they were all standing around a large tub and shower combo with curtain.

“Okay… I'll bite…" Dan studied the tub. “How does that help with studying?"

“It doesn't." The kitten explained. “Humans just tend to stink after they exercise. This is so you can get cleaned up before we go on."

“Um… huh…" Dan rubbed his chin and he paused realizing he had a stubble. How long had he been here? He wasn't sure since he didn't know how long he had been unconscious for. He supposed cleaning up was for the best. “Okay… So are you all going to go somewhere so I can get undressed?"

“Why would we do that?" It was the faerie who asked this time.

“Because it's not proper!" He said. “I can't just strip down in front of…" He paused as he was explaining it. Sure the kittens and bunnies and squirrels all had fur. Made sense they wouldn't wear clothes. Some of the faeries though? He began to wonder if they even knew what clothes were. “Never mind…" Dan stepped into the tub and drew the curtain to block the view. He then undressed and tossed his clothes out of the tub before running the water.

He showered off for a few moments but stopped as he considered something. “Wait how am I going to shave?"

“Here you go!" The faerie flew into the shower carrying a bottle of some kind of hair removal. It had a weird cartoon character on the front and Dan stared at it quizzically for a moment before recovering his senses.

“Gah stay out!" Dan gave a shout shooing the faerie as he grabbed the bottle. The bottle squirted over the tub and he groaned as he applied what he could salvage to his face. As he looked down though he saw more than just his facial hair being washed down the drain. When he snagged the bottle he must have gotten it all over himself. He sighed and finished rinsing off. “Anyone have a towel?"

“Here here!" Two new faeries flew over the shower and dropped a towel on him. Dan growled at them for again not respecting his privacy. He dried off then quickly grabbed his jeans and boxers from outside the tub before putting them on. He paused as he noticed they were loose. Looking down at himself he had lost weight! But… Shouldn't that take months of exercise? Then again if time was meaningless here maybe not. Dan spared a look at the naked faeries then down at his flatter stomach. He decided to continue shirtless from here. He had a feeling that there was anyone here who was going to actually object. And it was kind of nice to show his skinnier body.

“It's time for the next game!" The kitten shouted. “It's right over here!" The kitten bounded a short distance away from the tub. This time there was a small home video game console plugged into a TV. Dan was fairly confident that it had not been there earlier.

“I see…" Dan walked over to where the game was and sat down in the grass. The kitten immediately leaped into his lap as he picked up a controller. “Easy now…" He muttered. “Okay let's see how easy this one is!"

The game booted up and revealed the title. It was titled Arithmetic Heroes. More math? That figured. Still he gave a sigh of relief as he realized he still remembered how to do the problems in this one. The game played a bit differently from the last one. He still had to solve math problems to use spells… But this time the game was more of a puzzle and exploration game. Occasionally he'd also run into a riddle that required him to figure out a few vocabulary words. He would also have to solve mazes right location to proceed. Luckily the math problems weren't too hard in the game.

12 = 3x+6

He was able to solve that one pretty quickly! The answer was obviously 2! Still… As the game went on he found himself struggling. The math problems seemed to get harder as the game went on. Near the end of the game he found himself almost truly stumped.

8 = 2x

He knew he could solve this! He had solved all the other problems up to now! This one had to be easy! He just had to think… How many times did two go into eight? He started to count on his fingers as he spoke out loud.

“Two… Four… Six… Eight…" He studied his fingers. He had four of them held up. Two went into eight four times! So x had to be 4! That was a tough one! It seemed unfair to have it right at the end right after all of those easy problems!

“You did it!" The kitten in his lap purred.

“Gaaaaah!" Dan gave a shout. His voice cracked as he spoke. That was odd. Perhaps it was a side effect from being in this world. Then there was the heavy lump in his lap. Somehow he had completely forgotten about the kitting sitting in his lap while he was playing. Now that he was aware of her again and aware of how heavy she felt he couldn't understand how had had forgotten.

“No need to be scared!" The kitten leaped out of his lap with feline grace. “You're doing good! You'll be ready for your first day of school really soon! Just keep up the studying!"

“Technically it won't be my first day…" Dan muttered as he stood up. His jeans nearly fell from his waist as he did. He was going to need to get a tighter belt at this rate. He couldn't believe he was losing weight. He looked at the kitten. He could swear it as well as all the other creatures were bigger. “Is it just me or are you looking a bit… Larger than when I first met you?"

“It's just a natural part of the process!" The kitten laughed at this.

“Weird magic in this world…" Dan muttered shaking his head. He guessed they were just getting bigger than.

“Come on come on!" The kitten bounded ahead. “Remember always exercise both your mind and your body! That was your wish" With that the kitten and her friends took off again to the sounds of giggling.

“We did promise to get your body into shape too!" The faerie laughed. “So a little more exercise will do you good."

“Oh come on again?" Dan didn't even have time to get his shoes back on. He continued barefoot and shirtless in just his jeans. He had to hold them up as he ran… However as he arrived down at the bottom of the hill he found they were all waiting for him next to a stream.

“We thought we'd mix it up and do swimming exercises!" The faerie shouted. “You know how to swim right?" As she spoke the two other faeries flew down towards Dan holding a pair of swim trunks.

“Um… Yes…" Dan muttered. He grabbed the swim trunks from the faeries. As he did his jeans and boxers fell into a pile at his ankles. He blushed slightly and turned away from everyone as he pulled on the swim trunks. These fit his slimmer body perfectly at least! “Okay um…" He turned around still blushing a bit. He still couldn't get used to how this world was making his voice sound… He hoped it didn't last long when he left. Then that kitten and her friends kept getting bigger. And he still couldn't get over the fact he had just accidentally flashed everyone.

The animals leaped into the water first while the faeries flew above the water. They then began to swim down or fly down the stream with the current. At this point Dan had given up on fighting any of the strange whims the creatures of this world. He leaped into the water and was surprised it was deep enough for him to swim.

The water was cold though… And as if his body shrank away from the cold. What was left of his body hair and his arms and legs were soon shed from his body. He must have still had some of that cream… At least it was all washed off for now. He supposed he should just be happy he managed to avoid his head or he might be bald right now.

Dan swam after the animals. At first it was easy… But he realized he must have been starting to get tired. The swimming activity was becoming harder and he soon found himself flailing. For a moment he was afraid he would go under! Then two otters came up above the water. One went under each of his arms and helped keep him above the water. All he had to do was kick and they helped keep him afloat. He let out a gasp though as he saw they were heading towards a waterfall. He tried to flail… But the otters guided him right over the waterfall! To his surprise he was completely unharmed as they landed with a big splash at the bottom. Dan couldn't help but giggle as they finished their swim and the otters dragged him ashore.

“You're having fun!" The kitten shook the water from her fur. Dan couldn't help but laugh as her fur poofed up and she had to groom it back down. “But it's time for another lesson! But it's still a bit away! So we'll have to travel a bit more! Don't worry! It'll be easy! You can take the bike!"

There was indeed a bicycle sitting in the grass next to where they had come out of the water. It was shiny and red and looked brand new. Dan slowly walked over to it and examined it. He hadn't ridden a bike since he was a kid! But he supposed it fit the tone of everything else he had done today. He looked back at the stream for a moment. He realized he had left his jeans and boxers upstream somewhere. On the other hand… It was warm. His swim trunks would dry soon and they were down to his knees on him! They could easily pass for shorts. He decided to stay in just his trunks as he climbed up onto the bike and began to ride.

The faerie flew above him while kitten ran ahead of him and the other animals were behind. Running on all fours none of them had any trouble keeping up. It was surreal. Dan felt like he was leading some kind of parade progression with all the other animals following him!

Eventually they came to a stop at the location of the next game. This one was just a small plastic handheld electronic. The words 'Arithmetic Heroes Jr' were printed on the side of it.

“Heh I've got this…" Swelling with pride from how easily he had beaten the last two games Dan sat down in the grass and picked the game up. Again it was a game that required him to solve math problems to advance. This time there wasn't much actual gameplay though. Instead it would show him a cartoon of the heroes running around. Then the heroes would turn to face the screen and ask the player if he could help them solve the puzzle. Occasionally they would mix it up with a new character showing up who would ask Dan how to spell the names of certain animals. The first puzzle to pop up was as always exceptionally easy for him.

4 x 3 = ?

It was easy! Dan realized he just had to add up four three times! So… Four plus four was eight! Then… If you added another four… The answer was twelve! He selected 12 on the screen. The heroes of the game jumped up and down and told him how smart he was. Then they ran into a cave the villain they were after had fled.

It was a trap though! The villain had set up bomb that would go off and destroy the heroes! Dan let out an audible grasp as he realized the heroes were in real trouble! But… They thought they could maybe disarm the bomb! But the cowardly villain had made a truly devious explosive! The heroes simply couldn't figure out the equation to disarm the bomb! It was all up to Dan! Dan gripped the game tightly. He knew he had to be the one to save them! He studied the equation.

7 – 2 = ?

It was hard. The hardest math problem had had seen all day. Still… He could do this. He was good at math! He had beaten the other games! And now that the heroes needed him he wouldn't fail them here! He held up seven fingers and counted them. Five fingers on one hand and two on the other. So if he put two fingers down… He counted them. Five. Five were left! The answer was 5!

Dan put in his answer. The heroes disarmed the bomb with it! And the villain was caught and sent to jail where he would be forced to do homework every day even on weekends! The heroes then all turned to face the screen and congratulated Dan on being the true hero!

“Yeeeeah!" Dan gave a shout! His voice was a lot higher pitched now. He didn't care. He was too psyched up from winning his game.

“Congratulations!" The kitten purred. Dan looked at her. She was now practically half his size! Why was she getting so big? Still. He grabbed her and began to pet her. Her fur was so soft.

“Ahhhh!" The kitten screamed in mock terror. “You got me! But… You still got one game left to win!" She squeaked as she struggled out of his grasp. Dan stood up and walked after her. His swim trunks slid off his waist as he did. He didn't really care. No one else in this place wore clothes? Why should he?

He giggled as one of the naked faeries flew past him. His parents would probably be upset about it. But they weren't here right now. The faerie that always showed up landed on his head.

“Come on! It's just a short ride away!" The faerie shouted. “You can take the new bike!" As the kitten spoke Dan became aware of a tricycle nearby. It was bright red like the bike he had been riding. He sat down finding that his legs and body were the perfect size for it. He looked back to the bike he had ridden earlier. He didn't understand why he couldn't take that one. He climbed up on it and found that he couldn't balance himself. He was a bit annoyed at that… But realized that all the exercise he had been doing must have been taking its toll. Instead he went ahead and climbed onto the tricycle.

“Come on come on!" The kitten shouted. “Don't get left behind!" With that Dan forgot what he had been focusing on. Instead he took off on the tricycle chasing after the kitten as the other animals and faeries followed.

It didn't take long to reach the last game. It was just a large cube that sat in the grass. The words 'Arithmetic Heroes Preschool: Shapes' were written on the side. Pictures of the heroes from the game were painted on the side of the cube and there were several shapes cut into the box such as a square, a star and even a circle! As Dan looked over the area he saw several colorful plastic shapes next to the boss.

“Last one!" The kitten sat down next to the cube. “Think you can beat it?"

“You know I can!" Dan squeaked. He sat down next to the kitten. Part of him just wanted to keep petting her soft fur… But he also wanted to beat the final game and prove he could do it!

He picked up the circle piece of plastic and dropped it into the circular shaped hole.

“You're the best!" An electronic voice from the cube shouted. Dan laughed in delight from that. He then began to quickly put all the pieces into the cube. With each piece the cube would speak up telling him how great he was! But it also got harder as he went on. Soon he was left with only a star shaped piece. It couldn't go in the square… Or even the triangle. How was he supposed to solve it? He studied it for a moment… Then he turned the cube over and…

The star went in the star shaped hole! Realization hit him! It was tricky but he had solved it! He put the star in and the box again congratulated.

“I did it!" Dan squeaked. But he realized all this studying had left him exhausted. He heard the kitten saying something to him but he couldn't register it. The entire world was becoming blurry. As the kitten came near him latched onto her, pressing his face into her soft fur. Then he laid down and was out for a nap.

When Dan woke up he discovered the animals were all piled around him to keep him warm. He was amazed by how big they were! Each of them seemed to be as big as him. He tried to greet them as he woke up… But something was wrong.

“H… hello." The word came out of his mouth clumsily. “Wh- What is… what's… what's nex-" It only got harder as he continued to try to talk.

The words in his brain… He couldn't get himself to vocalize them now. It was like the words simply didn't work. Then he couldn't remember what the words were he was trying to say. He paused looking at the animals trying to figure out what was wrong.

“Oh you're awake?" The faerie spoke. He could understand some of her words. At least he understood her meaning. As the faerie addressed him the kitten woke up too. She let out a yawn and uncurled and rubbed against him as the faerie continued to talk. “I think… We've done as much as we can to help you though! You should probably get home to your parents."

Dan wanted to stay! But it seemed the faerie had made her decision… And he couldn't vocalize his objections in a coherent method. Instead he found himself forced to stand up follow after her. For some reason walking was difficult. He kept nearly falling over! The kitten stayed at his side, and she let him keep a hand on her back to help steady himself. They slowly made their way to a large doorway sitting in the middle of the field. It had a large grandfather clock standing next to it. Dan peered at it curious as to what time it was in a world without time. To his frustration though he found he couldn't understand what time it was. The big hand was halfway between two numbers and the little hand was somewhere else. It was a mystery what it said.

“Come on let's keep going!" The kitten said. “Careful with the doorway" She continued to walk with Dan as he tried to walk towards the door. It was slow going. Maybe it was because of all the exercise but he was having trouble walking. Still the kitten seemed to have infinite patience to help him up each step one by one. Walking only seemed to get harder as he got closer though. As he reached the doorway Dan toppled onto all fours.

“Aguuuh…" Dan tried to speak his frustration. He couldn't make words. He tried to stand back up on two legs… But he couldn't. His legs just weren't strong enough.

“Don't force yourself!" The kitten said. “Come on just focus on getting to the top. You can do it." The kitten nudged against Dan to reassure him. He then began to crawl up what remained of the last few stairs. Soon he was touching the glowing doorway. He crawled through it and then…

And then he was so sleepy. He fella sleep right where he was forgetting about what he was supposed to be doing.

When Dan awoke he was back in the attic. He looked around in confusion. Everything was gigantic now! He remembered the other world… The door and then… Now he looked down at himself. He was still naked and so small now! He couldn't figure out what had happened and started to panic. Then he heard a voice.

“There he is." Dan's father voice rang out through the attic. Dan began to calm down a little at his parents voice. He looked around and found both his mom and dad towering above him. His parents were looking down at him smiling.

“You sure do love your books huh?" Dan's mom asked as she slowly bent down and picked him up. “But you shouldn't wonder off like that! And without your clothes too!" With Dan held against her chest she slowly began to walk back down into the main house. Dan leaned against her simply feeling safe while he was held by his mother. The earlier panic was completely forgotten.

“He may be a bit eccentric but that could be a sign of genius!" His father spoke as he followed his mother. After they left the attic they headed to Dan's room. It resembled a nursery at this point. It was full of tiny furniture sized for a toddler, a crib and a lot of stuffed animals. “The doctor thinks he might be advanced for his age! Will probably be talking and even reading before any of the kids his age."

“Isn't that nice." His mother said as she sat Dan down. “But little geniuses still need to wear their jammie jams to bed." She grabbed a pair of folded up pajamas that were next to Dan's crib. She then slowly dressed him. “Don't want you catching a cold."

“Quite right. Hopefully he grows out of his nudist phase soon." The father nodded. “He just doesn't know better." He ruffled Dan's hair as Dan giggled.

“Well we can work on that later. For now it's your nappy time." With Dan dressed his mother picked him up and then set him in the crib. “See you in the morning Danny."

“Bwuuuuh… Awuuuuh?" Dan tried to object as he realized something was wrong.

“So silly of us!" The dad said. “We almost forgot your best friend!" With that his dad picked up a stuffed animal of a kitten and placed it in the crib next to Dan.

“Ahhhh!" Dan let out a happy shout. He grabbed the stuffed kitten and cuddled up next to it. He felt safe and secure now. It didn't take long as he drifted off into dreamland. His parents meanwhile continued to watch over their sleeping child as they smiled.

“See you in the morning Danny." His mother whispered quietly. “You've got a big day tomorrow. Your first day of nursery school."

The End