GTSyndrome
A flashback story by Wordmaster



***

Todd Arnold rose and tapped his spoon against his glass. "Folks, if I may, I'd like to say a few words..." (Thunderous applause) "Thank you, thank you all. First, let me just say thanks for coming out to the happiest day of my life..." (more applause) "And I'd also like to thank my new wife, Chrissy formerly Sanford, now Arnold." Todd turned to face his beautiful bride. "I'll never forget the day I first lay eyes on her. I'm sure none of you will either..." (resounding laughter)

***

She was 100 feet tall and still growing. Sobbing, she clasped her arms around herself and tried to stay perfectly still. Every move she made shook the ground. A slight stumble to the left, and a police car was crushed beneath her titanic, nearly 20 foot long foot.

"Christine!" I shouted. "You've got to stop!"

"I CAN'T!" She wailed.

***

"Yes, the circumstances of our first 'date' were a bit strange, but we had a connection that couldn't be found with anyone else."

***

According to Dr. Morris, it all started at the tender age of 13. I had just entered that "special time" in a boy's life, meaning I was now obsessed with girls and all their physical attributes. However, I had a unique fantasy that wasn't shared by most of my peers. You see, I was, and am, a macrophile. A lover of the large. A kid who watches films like "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman" and "Village of the Giants" much more often than others. In the beginning, I didn't think twice about my fetish. A few years later, when I discovered the marvels of the internet, I found that others in the world shared my fantasy. I was overjoyed at the wealth of stories, pictures, and videos posted on the web. I started a collection of my favorites. Unfortunately, as happens to most teens, my mother found out. I can still remember her words:

"WHAT IS THIS? WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH ALL OF THIS? THIS IS SICK! SICK! I NEVER WANT TO SEE ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN!" Tears of grief and rage poured down her face. Trembling, I lowered my eyes as she hurled my collection into the trash.

Dr. Morris says that was the incident that triggered my suppression of my fantasy. He says until I can stop being ashamed of it, my condition will continue.

***

"It's still hard for even me to believe, and not a day goes by that I don't recall the events of that terrible, wonderful month."

***

My eyes ached from staring at the moniter. A flickering, bluish light lent an eerie aspect to the room. My throat was dry, my palms sweaty. It had been years since I last went on a GTS site; the fear and loathing instilled by my mother's outburst had been so strong I felt dirty just thinking about it. Hastily, I rushed through a story, my heart thumping by the end. I enjoyed it, but it was wrong, wasn't it? A tickling sensation rose in my nose; a sneeze was brewing.

"Ah... ah.... ah-CHOO!"

When I opened my eyes after the explosive outburst, I nearly fainted. Everything was bigger. Much bigger. My clothing pooled around me, my desk and computer towered over me, I still sat on the chair, but it was now like sitting in the middle of a parking lot. Wild-eyed and fearful, I tried to yell, but couldn't. Somehow, I had shrunk. Glancing about the now-gigantic room, the shock was too much. I passed out, and when I awoke, I had reverted to my normal size.

"What... what the hell's going on?" I whimpered.

***

"A special toast goes out to Dr. Robert Morris, without whom neither I nor my wife would have had a chance..."

***

"... and then I woke up and I was back to normal. Doc, you've gotta help me! I think I'm going nuts!"

Calm and practical, Dr. Morris said in his soothing voice: "It's all right, Todd. This sort of thing, though rare, has been seen before. Now, I want you to tell me, what were you looking at on the computer when it happened?"

I couldn't admit it. I couldn't tell him! He'd think I was a freak, a monster, a pervert! This sort of thing wasn't done, it wasn't right! But now I couldn't stop thinking about it. Even in the psychiatrist's office, the beginnings of a fantasy were brewing. Again the tickling....

"Ah... ah... ah-CHOO!"

I lost a foot of height. Unable to help myself, I burst into tears. "It was a giantess site! I'm sorry, Doc! I'm sorry!"

"Sorry? No, no! Todd, there's nothing to be ashamed of! Thousands of people in the world share the same fantasy as you, and they lead perfectly normal, successful lives."

"Yeah, but they don't shrink!" I choked out.

"Todd, I know this must be very confusing and painful for you, but please, trust me. We can fix this problem. Tell me, why do you think your giantess dreams are so wrong?"

***

"Little did I know that Dr. Morris was seeing another patient at the time, one Christine Sanford. Always the matchmaker, weren't you, Doc?"

***

It was a week after our first session, and though Dr. Morris said we were making headway, I still suffered from what he termed "spastic shrinking." We met an hour a day, and in that time Dr. Morris would do everything he could to erase the false teachings I had grown up with. It seemed nothing was working.

"Todd, I think the only way for you to get over this is to face your fear head on. Now, I have a suggestion that may sound a bit strange, but I believe it's just the thing you need."

"Lay it on me, Doc," I squeaked from the tiny, six-inch frame I had dwindled to.

Dr. Morris chuckled. "I want you to go for a drive this afternoon..."

***

"Go for a drive! Ha! Doc, you crazy son of a..."

***

After reverting to my normal height, I went home and waited for 3:30, like Doc said. The temptation to check out more GTS fantasy was strong, but I feared what would happen. Finally, the time came. I hopped in my car and headed down Gordon Street, just like Dr. Morris told me to.

Nothing out of the ordinary struck me. It was a mildly crowded area near a shopping center, but I kept my eyes peeled anyway. I kept repeating what the Doc had told me: "Liquid gold, fiery red. Liquid gold, fiery red." Until I saw her, I had no idea what he meant.

It was the dress that drew my eye. If that dress wasn't fiery red, than I don't know what was. Her hair fit the other half of the clue; like liquid gold, it spilled down around her shoulders and gleamed in the sunlight. I was awestruck by her beauty. She was a bit heavy, not fat, but she obviously had trouble sticking to diets. She wasn't voluptuous and didn't inspire lust at first sight. She was beautiful in her... normalness. She seemed preoccupied, as if she expected something, but didn't want it to happen.

Without any concious thought, I parked my car and walked over to her. A million thoughts raced through my head as my heart beat faster. I cleared my throat, and as she turned towards me, a little smile flitted across her face. I opened my mouth when...

"Ah... ah... ah-CHOO!" Oh no!

I dwindled in height before her. We now stood eye-to-eye, now my head was level with her chin, now with her petite breasts. Red faced, ashamed, I looked up at her face through eyes blurry with tears. She hurriedly looked away, blushing.

"I- I'm sorry, miss." I stammered, lamely.

"Please," she whispered, "Please leave before...." she stopped.

"Before what?" I inquired. God, she was beautiful. I stopped thinking about what other people would think about a four foot something midget in too-large clothing talking to a beautiful woman on the street.

"Ah... ah..." she began. Puzzled, I stared. What was going on? "ah-CHOO!"

There was a tearing sound. That fiery red dress was now a few sizes too small. She once was a foot higher than me, now she was two! I was amazed, yet overjoyed! My fantasy was coming true, and I wasn't ashamed of it any longer!

She, on the other hand....

"Oh, god! Don't look at me!"

"Don't look at you?" I asked, shocked. "How could I not?"

"I knew it! I'm a freak! A hideous, sideshow freak! Ah.. ah... choo!" She grew another foot. The dress now clung to her in tatters. She held the pieces to herself, covering her nakedness. She was crying now, and stood over seven feet tall. She sneezed again, and grew again. Furiously, she hurled the dress away and began to run, tears streaming all the while.

"Wait! Stop! Don't go!" I had to follow her. Her strides were much greater than mine, and she shoved gawking people out of her way recklessly. She turned down an alley, and I found her huddled at the end of it, weeping, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers. Her growth spurts had continued, and by now she was over twelve feet tall. She lay curled up on the ground, moaning. Cautiously, I approached.

"Hey, it's OK. Everything's gonna be OK."

"OK?" she shouted. "OK? Things are not going to be OK!" Her body expanded some more, the crowd stepped back. Entranced, I stood my ground. "Go ahead and stare. Everyone else does. I'm a... a monster! AH-CHOO!" I stepped back from her growing body.

"You're not a monster! And I'm not staring for the same reason these people are." I gestured at the gawking crowd.

"I... I think you're..." My voice failed as she lifted her head and stared at me with those clear blue eyes. "beautiful..." I concluded.

She smiled weakly. "You... you do? Even though I'm..." she glanced at her nearly twenty foot body.

"Especially because you're...." I walked up to her face and planted a kiss on her lips. The world faded away in that sweet moment. The gaping onlookers, the difference in our sizes, they didn't matter. I just wanted to be with this woman, to hold her in my arms. And suddenly, I was. She had shrunk! And I had grown. We were our normal sizes again! She blushed as she realized she was naked; I removed my coat and gave it to her. Arm in arm, we walked through the crowds, which parted before us. "By the way, my name is Christine. Christine Sanford."

I was about to say something, when a hand roughly grabbed me, pulling me away from Christine. I spun around and saw a big, beefy fellow in a leather jacket. "You'd better back away from her, man." He told me. "No tellin' what might set her off."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I exploded.

"You know. She might... get bigger. Just leave this to us."

"Us?" I turned towards Christine and saw a group of guys moving towards her. They looked decidedly unfriendly. They circled around Christine and grabbed her. "Hey!" I shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Stay out of this, man! She's dangerous!"

Christine's eyes were rapidly filling with tears. "Todd..." she whimpered.

"Don't listen to them, Christine! There's nothing wrong with you!"

"Nothing wrong?" Snickered one of the toughs. "What the hell're you smokin', buddy? This girl's a regular bona-fide freak!"

Christine's face fell. She began to sniffle, and then... "ah-CHOO!" The men backed away as Christine shot up in height. "Ah-CHOO!" She grew some more. "AH-CHOO!" The thugs turned and fled. I approached her, intending to calm her down. My assurance that she wasn't a freak, that I didn't hate her, that her growth wasn't wrong, just misunderstood started to work. Until the police arrived.

Christine stood nearly fifty feet tall, and gentle or not she was attracting an awful lot of attention. I guess they don't teach cops what to do in a situation like this, because they opened fire as soon as they arrived. Christine took this the wrong way and... "AH-CHOO!"

She was 100 feet tall and still growing. Sobbing, she clasped her arms around herself and tried to stay perfectly still. Every move she made shook the ground. A slight stumble to the left, and a police car was crushed beneath her titanic, nearly 20 foot long foot.

"Christine!" I shouted. "You've got to stop!"

"I CAN'T!" She wailed.

"You can!" I told her. I grabbed a police officer and tried to explain that she wouldn't stop growing unless they stopped making her think she was in the wrong. It was no use. They continued to fire, she continued to grow. Swearing, I tried to wrestle the gun away, but was stopped by a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw...

"Dr. Morris?"

"Yes, Todd, it's me. Now, officer, I think you'd better let me handle this." He went to a police car and grabbed a megaphone. "CHRISTINE! IT'S DR. MORRIS! REMEMBER OUR SESSIONS? REMEMBER WHAT I'VE BEEN TELLING YOU? WHAT TODD'S BEEN TELLING YOU? YOU'RE NOT A MONSTER." He had her attention. He had the police's attention. He had the crowd's attention. "Here, Todd. You finish it up." He handed me the megaphone.

Licking my dry lips, I swallowed and began. "YOU'RE NOT A MONSTER, CHRISTINE. YOU'RE A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN." Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began to shrink. "YOU'RE A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, AND EVEN THOUGH I JUST MET YOU..." she shrank further. "I'D REALLY LIKE TO..." I faltered.

Dr. Morris nudged me. "Go on, Todd. Go on."

"CHRISTINE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO..." she was now only twenty feet tall, and looked at me quizzically. She was still shrinking, and I put the megaphone down. "Would you like to go out with me?" I asked, as she finally reached her normal height.

"Oh, Todd!" She gushed. "I'd love that!"

We embraced there, in front of thousands. Dr. Morris beamed at us. "Same time, next week?" I asked him.

"No, no." He responded. "I think the two of you will be fine without me." Clapping his hand on my shoulder, he locked eyes with me. "You're cured, Todd. And with your help, Christine can be, too."

***

"And so, three years later, Christine and I are man and wife." (more applause)

"And I can truly say," Dr. Morris's voice rang out, "There was never a better match!"

Grinning, a three foot tall Todd bowed slightly and turned to his fifty foot bride, who had her hand outstretched to receive him. He stood in her palm as the two dwindled (a controlled shrink, as Dr. Morris would say) and exited to their limo. It would be an interesting honeymoon...