Alf awoke suddenly. He had sweat on his brough, and his bed stunk of body odour. It was still dark, and he didn't have any idea what the time was. He rolled over with a tired groan and hit his alarm clock. 02:47. Damn. He had only managed to fall asleep about 3 hours ago. Could he have insomnia?

Nah.

Alf shrugged all these negative thoughts off and tried to get back to sleep. He must have woken up about three times within the space of twenty minutes, but he eventually got to sleep.

* * *

Yet again, Alf awoke, but this time not so suddenly. The morning sun was hanging low in the sky and the sunlight streamed through his window. It was a beautiful day outside.

"Oh look, and the weather said it was going to rain today", complained Alf, rubbing his eyes.

Alf was a thirty-one year old man with dark brown hair cut quite short, and a cowlick that he hated. He usually dressed casually, such as with a blue t-shirt and jeans.

After he had had breakfast and watched the morning news, Alf set off to work in his uniform. But just as he was about to leave, his phone rang. He dug through his bag and finally found it, but by the time he did it was too late. He checked to see if there were any messages, and there was one from Alexis, his wife.

"Hi Alf, I'm not feeling particularly great today so I think I will *COUGH COUGH* come home from my holiday later. I will catch the 2 o'clock train and I'll see you after work, OK? Love you!".

There was a short beep as the message ended. Alf looked miserable. Why did he have to go to work today? He was so tired after all these sleepless nights...

* * *

Alf jumped suddenly. He did not know why, he just did.

"Right, time to get going then", he muttered to himself. Just as he looked at his watch he realised... he was four and a half hours late for work! How could this have happened!? Alf sped off to work in his car, trying not to break the 50mph speed limit.

When he got to work, Alf looked around and saw nobody in sight, so he acted normal and headed for the entrance. On the inside, he got a funny look from one or two people but he just ignored them. He got to the lift and he snuck past the receptionist. Phew. He had made it. But just as the elevator doors slid open, they revealed Alf's boss standing in front of them. Alf jumped. His boss' eyes widened.

"ALF STEVENSON, YOU ARE FIVE HOURS LATE!", he bellowed.

Alf's boss was a short man with short blonde hair and a pinstripe suit. He was not the man you would ever want to mess with.

"Um, actually it's four and a half-"

"I DON'T CARE FOR DETAILS, STEVENSON! UNLESS YOU CAN GIVE ME A GOOD REASON FOR YOUR LATENESS, THERE IS GOING TO BE TROUBLE!"

"Um, well, you see, sir", Alf started nervously. "M-my alarm, you see, I-"

"THAT'S THE ALL TIME WORST EXCUSE, STEVENSON! IF YOUR ALARM DIDN'T GO OFF, IT'S BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T SET IT, YOU LAZY ASS!"

Alf was getting extremely annoyed by this point.

"Look, sir", he started assertively, "I did set my alarm, but I have ha-"

"THAT'S IT, STEVENSON! ENOUGH WITH THE EXCUSES! I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO! YOU'RE FIRED!"

"Wha-"

"DON'T ARGUE WITH ME! LEAVE MY BUILDING IMMEDIATELY!"

Alf left, in shame. What could be keeping him up at night? He decided to see a doctor.

* * *

..."So you get this same, recurring dream every night?"

"That's right, doc."

"Please, don't call me that."

"Sorry."

"Well, that's a pretty horrifying dream... sounds like you need to get more relaxed in the day."

Alf was so relieved.

"Thanks! But... what if that dosen't work?"

"Come back here and I will review the situation... if needed I will prescribe you sleeping pills."

"Thanks, doc."

The doctor looked at him.

"Sorry."

Alf left the doctor's surgery feeling content. It was starting to get dark, so he checked his watch. 4:26pm.

"Alexis should be getting home soon, and so should I", thought Alf to himself. He got into his small blue car and set off home.

To his surprise, when Alf returned home, Alexis had not arrived yet. He was starting to get a little worried, so he sat down to watch the evening news.

Alf liked the news. He watched it every day in the morning and the evening and even at lunchtime when he was off work. He never got bored of it even if there was the same headline for days. Today the news headline of the evening was 'Credit crunch causes bankrupcy in 2 more companies in England'.

Just as they got on to the sports section, Alf heard a car door slam. He got up and went to open the door, and was greeted by the beautiful face of Alexis.

Alexis was an attractive twenty-eight year old woman with long, wavy brown hair, deep blue eyes and a figure with luscious curves. She was quite tall, at five feet eleven inches.

"Hey Alf, I missed you!", Alexis said excitedly as she leant forward and hugged Alf.

"Yeah, missed you too, sweet." Alf hugged Alexis back and felt very happy with himself.

"How was your holiday then?" asked Alf.

"It was lovely, thanks! And, I took some medicine at the train station and I feel a bit better now." Alexis kissed Alf on the cheeks.

"What medicine was that, then?" inquired Alf.

"Ah, I got it from some health shop. Something like 'Ancient Chinese Remedy - cures headaches and sick tummies'".

"Huh, sounds good."

"I guess it worked!" Alexis said, excitedly.

Alf smiled and went to watch the news, while Alexis went into the kitchen and started to cook dinner.

* * *

"Mmm, that was lovely, Alexis!" complimented Alf.

"Thanks, honey. Now I am going to get changed, okay?" Alexis winked at Alf.

With a grin, Alf replied: "Okay, I will be in in a minute!"

Alexis left the room while Alf finished his food. When he got into the bedroom, Alexis was lying on the bed in her lingerie.

"Hey there!" she said.

Alf smiled and started to to take his top off. He went into the room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Alexis woke up, and noticed she was in Alf's arms. She looked over at him and saw that he was still sleeping. Carefully, she got out of his arms and got out of her bed. She checked the date on her calendar. '17 June, 2018'. It was still two days until she had to start work again.

Alexis drearily made her way into the bathroom, and stood on the scales.

"BEEEP". The scales jumped into action. "Identifying... Name: Alexis Stevenson. Weight: Nine stone three. Height: Six feet and one inch."

"Hmm..." Alexis was deep in thought. "Hold on... Six one? Scales! Verify height!"

"BEEEP. Verifying... Height: Six foot and one inch, verified."

"How odd.. Scales, what height was I before I started my holiday?"

"BEEEP. Checking database... 28 May two-thousand and eighteen. Name: Alexis Stevenson. Height: Five foot eleven."

"I've grown 2 inches overnight? Hm, must be a growth spurt."

Something stirred in the hall.

"Alexis, you awake?" Alexis heard Alf shout from the hall.

"Of course I am, silly! How else would I have gotten out of the bed?" she replied.

Alf smiled and walked tiredly into the kitchen.

"You know I had a growth spurt, honey?" Alexis shouted.

"Really?" answered Alf.

"Yeah, 2 inches overnight. Cool, huh?"

"Huh, I guess. You want toast?" shouted Alf.

"Yes please, honey!" replied Alexis.

She stepped off the scales and started to get dressed. She put on a purple jumper with thin wool, a pair of jeans, and her C cup bra.

She was just about to go and get her toast when she heard an odd kind of creaking noise, and the sleeves on her jumper seemed to get a little shorter.

"OK... I'm sure it was nothing", she thought to herself and brushed it aside.

Alexis found Alf in the kitchen buttering some toast. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. Alf turned round.

"Hey! Good morning, Alexis! That growth spurt... um... is pretty noticeable!" he said.

"Yeah, Scales says I'm six foot one now!" she answered.

"S... how could this have happened?" he asked.

"Ah well, sometimes people just get growth spurts randomly, I guess."

"Hm, I suppose so." said Alf, handing Alexis a slice of toast.

Alexis took the toast, smiled at Alf and went into the front room. Alf followed, turned on the TV and watched the news. The two of them sat and ate their toast, while conversing lightly.

Alexis was deep in thought. She was responding to Alf, but only with simple 'Yes', 'No' or 'OK' answers. How could she have had a growth spurt that much overnight? And what was that when she was in the bathroom? Did her sleeves really get shorter?

"I'm just going to the bathroom, honey", she said to Alf.

"What, already? Didn't you just go?" He asked.

"Nah, I forgot." she replied.

She went into the bathroom and stood on Scales.

"BEEEP - Identifying.. .Name: Alexis Stevenson. Weight: Nine stone five. Height: Six feet and five inches."

"Oh my... five inches?" Alexis exclaimed. "What is happening to me? Should I tell Alf? See a doctor?" Thoughts rushed through her head. Eventually, she came to a conclusion. It was nothing to worry about for the time being, and she shouldn't need to tell Alf or it might worry him. She stepped off the scales and she didn't notice, but her sleeves got a little shorter again and part of one of her seams ripped.

Alf saw Alexis walk into the room, and for some reason, he felt she was radiating an air of dominance. He felt a little uneasy and shuffled his feet.

"Come on Alf, you'll be late for work!" she said

"Umm.... uh... I kind of got fired yesterday."

"Whaaat!? How did you manage that!?" she shouted.

"I don't know... I h-have not been able to sleep well recently a-and I was four and a half hours late for work... so my boss fired me."

"What are we going to do for cash?"

"Don't worry! I found an opening as a waiter at that classy restraunt in town!"

"Well, I hope you get it." Alexis said, darkly.

"Uh, yeah. Well, I'll be off then! See you later, ok?" he said.

"Yep! See you later, honey!" she shouted to him, as he left the room.

She heard a door slam as he left the house.

"Odd... he didn't give me a kiss like he usually does.." she thought.

She was starting to feel a little dizzy, so she walked into her bedroom and laid on the bed. "I must need more sleep", she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she hit her head on the back of the bed, but she had not moved.

"Ouch... was that another growth spurt? This is getting out of control!" she said.