The Incredible Shrinking Teenager





Matt Druszkowski is the average 16 year-old teenager. He loves hanging out with friends, and he likes seeing stuff blow up. He also has a knack for working with machines. He enjoys building different kinds of inventions and seeing if they work. His latest creation may be his greatest yet. Now Matt loves adventure, but his latest may have been bigger than he ever wanted.
The persistent buzz of Matt's alarm clock forced him to get out of bed early Friday morning that fateful day in summer. He knew that his parents were leaving for a business trip in Japan. He went through his morning routine, and then lumbered downstairs into the kitchen. His Mom and Dad were already ready to leave. Matt's 14 year-old sister Kelly was not to be found. She had gone to a friend's house to spend the night, and would be home in about ten minutes. "Now listen here Matt, I want you to be on your best behavior this weekend while we're gone, I already told your sister this" Matt's Mom said. "Sure." Matt replied, eagerly hurrying his parents along in his mind. He wanted to get downstairs and test his shrink ray. He knew it probably wouldn't work, but you just never knew. After what felt like forever, his parents finally left. Matt went downstairs to the family room. Not only was it a rec room with couches, a TV, and computers; it doubled as his laboratory, where his shrinking machine was stored. He pulled the cover off the machine and marveled at the shrink ray. It was put together from various parts bought from a junkyard. The machine itself was designed currently to shrink objects down to three inches high. That was small enough to work with before he modified it to shrink things down smaller. He hoped one day to find his first human test subject. But his sister didn't want to be "hurt" by the shrink ray. He placed an apple onto the firing circle. As the machine powered up, he thought about the possibilities that the machine could unlock. Just to be safe, he put the machine on auto fire mode. After the machine fired once, the auto fire would fire again in case of an error in the first shot. But there was an obvious power drain; the machine would not fire again for at least 24 hours. When the machine was finally ready to fire, he flipped open the firing button, and fired. The brightness of the shot faded, and Matt opened his eyes. To his amazement, the apple was gone! He retrieved his magnifying glass, and bent down over the firing circle. The apple was now about the size of a marble. He heard the machine buzzing behind him, but he knew the machine would only fire under his own power. He had completely forgotten about the fact that the machine was on auto fire. The machine fired, knocking Matt unconcious.
Matt finally came to about nine minutes after the blast. He groggily got to his feet, rubbing his head as he had a searing headache. It slowly subsided as Matt took a look at his surroundings. He was still unaware of what had happened to him. He turned around and saw the leg of the pool table the machine rested on. He looked up, a long ways up, and saw the machine protruding over the front of the table. He turned back around and saw the couch far off in the distance rising up toward the sky. The floor seemed to stretch on forever in the distance. And then it finally hit him. He had been shrunk. He was now tiny. And he had another problem. He would never be able to reach the remote. He turned back around. There was no way he was only three inches tall. Something must have gone terribly wrong. He couldn't be more than a few millimeters tall. He was extremely tiny. He heard the machine behind him power down. Matt tried to contemplate his situation. He was so small; he could probably set up housekeeping inside a thimble. Speaking of housekeeping. Matt thought as he looked around. Now that he was down at ground level, he saw that the hardwood floor was dirtier than he imagined. Dust bunnies the size of Buicks, candy wrappers as big as tents, pieces of discarded plastic the size of buildings ,and other bits of trash littered the floor. He couldn't believe how untidy he was. Matt then heard a loud boom. It was immediately followed by another. They proceeded to get louder, and the booms were now being accompanied by small tremors. He recognized what they were immediately. They were the impacts of footfalls. Someone was coming. Matt checked his watch, and he realized that it was probably Kelly who was on her way in. And then it hit him. With the machine powered down, she would have no idea of what just happened to him! He heard the doorknob turn, and the door swung open. His sister Kelly walked into the room. She was no longer the little sister he knew her as however. She was huge. Her legs were like redwoods; her feet were the size of twin Titanics. She seemed to be a million miles tall. "MATT, ARE YOU HERE?" Kelly called out in a huge, booming voice that reverberated around him. Matt began to scream and yell at Kelly. She began to walk forward, thinking that maybe he was at work in the back of the lab. Matt's computer was in a small niche in the back of the lab. He designed it to work in privacy. Each of Kelly's steps created a thundeclap-like boom. She moved closer to Matt. Her gigantic foot moved towards him. Her left foot slammed down a few feet away from him. Matt continued to scream and wave his arms even as her other shoe moved in. Her right foot also slammed down near him. She stopped; Matt was directly between her impossibly huge Lower East Side sandals. "WHAT'S THAT SMELL?" Kelly boomed while looking around. She must have smelled the smoke from the machine. Maybe she would figure out that it had been fired! "MATT MUST HAVE BEEN LIGHTING MATCHES AGAIN!" She thundered. She continued to look around. "MATT, WHERE ARE YOU?" She thundered. "Kelly, down here! On the floor!" Matt screamed up at his gigantic sister. But it was useless; he was just too tiny for her to hear him. She was completly oblivious to the tiny speck between her feet. Her foot sailed into the air as Kelly continued on. She walked past the machine and checked inside Matt's niche, but didn't see him. "I GUESS HE WENT TO A FRIEND'S HOUSE OR SOMETHING." Kelly said. She looked around at the floor. "WHY DOES MATT HAVE TO MAKE THESE MESSES, NOW I HAVE TO SWEEP THIS PLACE UP!" She said. Matt cowered in fear as Kelly stomped toward him. Her sandal slammed down inches from him. The impact knocked Matt of his feet. He had almost been stepped on. Kelly walked towards the closet near the door. Matt watched as she opened the door and pulled out an enormous broom. Matt got up and ran in terror as Kelly started to sweep up the floor! She worked her way across the floor, sweeping the debris into a small pile in the middle of the floor. Even as Matt ran just as fast as he could across the floor, Kelly was still gaining ground on him. Matt was almost near safety. Suddenly, his vision was filled with brown as Kelly moved the broom ahead of him. Matt stopped and prepared to turn around, but Kelly had started to push to broom at him. Matt was swept into the broom. He grabbed hold of one of the tree-sized bristles and was swept along. Matt could see he was heading for the garbage pile. But behind it, Matt saw the gigantic green dustpan lower down into view as Kelly’s other hand held it. She moved it towards the pile. Matt screamed in horror as he was swept towards the dustpan. The dustpan moved under the broom, and he was scooped up into the pan along with the garbage pile. Kelly set the broom down and carried the pan over to the garbage can. She tilted it forward and began to empty it. Matt screamed as he began to slide forward. He was going to be dumped into the trash by his own sister! He continued to pick up speed as the dustpan tilted forward. He slid down in one of the grooves in the dustpan. Suddenly, the bottom gave out underneath him, and Matt was falling. He tumbled through the air. He landed with a painful thud in the garbage can. He got up and found himself standing on top of a discarded TV Guide. He looked up and saw Kelly, bent over finishing up with the dustpan. "Kelly, down here!" Matt yelled. She didn't notice. She finished dumping the contents of the dustpan out, and stood up to leave. Matt waved his arms desperately but she left and Matt gave up as he listened to her booming footsteps fade away as she headed upstairs. Matt felt sick to his stomach. He had screamed nonstop at the top of his lungs, but Kelly never noticed. It was going to take a monumental effort to get her attention. He had to try to find a way out of the garbage can. He grabbed hold of the plastic of the bag. He began to climb up. It took some effort, but he made his way onto the rim of the garbage can. He looked down, miles down, to the floor. Matt decided to try a parachute theory. He tore a piece of garbage bag off, and held it above his head. He leapt of the rim, and began to fall. Just as he suspected, when the wind caught the plastic, he began to float down. He glided down towards the floor. He hit the ground, and dropped the garbage bag piece. He now had to formulate a plan to get upstairs. The carpeted stairs provided handholds that he could grip. Using the threads, he began to scale the stairs. It took about ten minutes per stair, and there were five stairs. It took him almost an hour, but he finally reached the tiled floor of the kitchen. Each tile seemed almost football field sized. He looked to the living room, and saw that Kelly was lying on the couch watching TV. He made his way over there, and stood at the base of his mountainous couch. Kelly was no longer wearing sandals; they were gone, replaced by a pair of tennis shoes. Kelly's bare feet were dangling over the side of the couch, miles away on the other end. Matt decided that his best option was to climb up the couch and get to Kelly's ear, where he could try to get her to notice him. He searched for the best place to climb up. He got to a place to climb, and using the same strategy he used to climb the stairs, he began to make his way up the couch. He was about halfway there, when a gnat buzzed over near Matt. It resembled a fuzzy basketball, darting around like mad. Then suddenly, without warning, the gnat slammed into him. The impact knocked him off the couch's side. He fell down, and landed softly in a darkened area. He got up and looked around. He had no idea where he was. He looked up and saw an opening he had fallen through far above him. He looked behind him, and saw a tunnel extending forward into darkness. He walked into the tunnel, and his nostrils were bombarded by an odor that he couldn't quite place his finger on. The tunnel ended abruptly with a curved wall. He turned and walked back into the light under the opening. He looked down and saw he was standing on a label. He backed up to read what it said. He was stunned when he read the words Cross Trekker on the ground. He was inside one of Kelly's shoes! He tried to climb up the side of the shoe, but he couldn’t, as there was nothing to grab hold of. Matt looked up again to see that Kelly had given up on watching television. She moved near the shoe. Matt waved up at his sister. "Kelly, I'm in the shoe!" Matt screamed. He saw her hand reaching out towards the shoe. She grabbed the shoe from the back, and lifted it up. The shoe fell forward, and Matt tumbled into the toe end of the shoe. The shoe was set down. Matt looked up towards the opening of the shoe. His heart sunk in horror as he saw Kelly's toes begin to enter the shoe. She was going to crush him under her toes! Her foot continued to enter the shoe. Matt backed as far as he could against the wall of the shoe. Matt was pinned against the wall as Kelly's foot fully entered the shoe. He was sandwiched between two of Kelly's toes. Matt grabbed hold of the toes. After about ten minutes, Matt passed out.
Matt had no idea how long he was out. When he finally woke up, Kelly's foot was gone. He walked right out of the shoe, as it was lying on its side. He was in Kelly's room. He could see everything was quiet. Light was streaming through breaks in Kelly's curtains. He must have been out awhile. He must have slept throughout the night in Kelly's shoe. She was lying on her bed, fast asleep. He looked at the massive clock on Kelly's nightstand and saw it read 7:00 A.M. He had to get to Kelly before she woke up. He decided to try to get to her ear. He made his way over to the base of her bed. He grabbed a piece of low hanging sheets and began to climb. He made his way up and reached the top of Kelly's bed. He was greeted by a blast of warm air as Kelly breathed out. H walked up and clambered up onto Kelly's pillow. He walked over to Kelly's hair. He had to climb to get to Kelly's ear. He grabbed a hair, but just as he did, Kelly began to stir. Before long his plans took a turn for the worse as he found himself holding on to the hair as Kelly got up. He was holding on for dear life as Kelly stood up and put her slippers on. Kelly was unaware that her tiny brother was clinging for dear life in her hair! Kelly walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She poured herself a bowl of cheerios for breakfast. She set the bowl at the table and sat down to eat. She leaned forward to get a napkin. Matt was dangling precariously from the hair. He looked down and saw he was hanging over Kelly's cereal bowl. Terror gripped him as he saw the sea of milk and giant cheerios drifting around. Just then, the phone rang. Kelly jerked her head suddenly, and Matt lost his grip on the hair. He found himself freefalling down towards Kelly's cereal bowl! Matt screamed and landed with a tiny splash in the massive basin of liquid. Kelly left to go answer the call. Matt surfaced and gave a cough. He heard Kelly pick up the phone. "HELLO? OH HEY JULIE!" She boomed. Matt looked around at the enormous cheerios all around him. He couldn't believe he had fallen into his own sister's bowl of cereal! Kelly appeared over the rim of the bowl again as she returned to the table. "Kelly, it's me, Matt! I'm down here, in the cereal!" Matt screamed and waved his arms. But his tiny voice was muffled by the milk and cereal. Matt looked on in terror as she picked up the spoon. She started to dip the spoon down towards the cereal. The spoon lowered down into the milk, and Matt swam to avoid the marauding metal scoop. Kelly picked up a load of Cheerios, and raised them up to her face. Matt watched as the spoon disappeared into Kelly's mouth. If he didn't get her attention, he would be eaten by his own sister! The thought terrified him. "NOTHING RIGHT NOW, JUST EATING A BOWL OF CHEERIOS." Kelly thundered into the phone. Kelly came very close to scooping up Matt as she picked up another load of Cheerios. The turbulence in the milk sent him crashing into a giant cheerio. "Kelly, stop eating, I'm in the cereal bowl!" Matt was running out of time. Kelly was babbling into the phone, still completely unaware that her tiny shrunken brother was swimming around helplessly in her cereal! "NO, I HAVE NO CLUE WHERE MY BROTHER IS RIGHT NOW." Kelly spoke, and while she uttered the phrase she lowered the spoon down again. Kelly once again came dangerously close to scooping up her miniaturized brother with the spoon, the spoon moving by inches from his current position. He was swept under the milk surface in the current. He surfaced in the center of a gigantic cheerio. He was using it almost like an inner tube. "Kelly, down here!" Matt screamed. "I KNOW, HE SPENDS ALL HIS TIME WORKING ON THAT STUPID SHRINK RAY THAT WILL NEVER WORK." Kelly thundered to Julie, never once looking into the cereal bowl. Matt knew he couldn't last much longer. He was trapped in the cheerio which drifted further into the middle of the lake-sized cereal bowl. "I WISH I KNEW WHERE HE WAS." Kelly boomed and dipped the spoon towards the cereal bowl once more. Matt looked up just in time to see that the spoon was heading directly towards him! "No Kelly!" Matt screamed, but the spoon moved into the bowl several feet away to his right and Matt felt the edge of the spoon move underneath him and felt the cool metal of the spoon, and his worst fears were realized as Kelly scooped him up along with several cheerios. It was a horrible sensation, feeling the spoon lifting out of the bowl and knowing the end was near. Matt slowly rose up past the giant words OLD NAVY printed on Kelly's pajama shirt. Kelly lifted the spoon up to her face. He was still in the center of the cheerio, which now sat at the top of a pile on Kelly's spoon. He had a perfectly unobstructed view of his giant sister's billboard-sized face. He was in Kelly's gigantic spoonful of cereal! Matt screamed and screamed, but Kelly had no idea that she was about to eat her tiny brother! "Kelly, stop, I'm on your spoon!" Matt screamed, but even this close to Kelly's face, she couldn't hear him. Kelly began to slowly move the spoon forward towards her lips. "WELL I DON'T KNOW WHERE MY BROTHER IS, BUT HE'D BETTER SHOW UP SOON!" She said, totally oblivious to the tiny passenger on her spoonful of cheerios, her brother!. Kelly slowly parted her gigantic, glossy pink lips and opened her mouth, exposing her gargantuan pink tongue and huge sets of white teeth. In the back of her mouth was a gaping black hole that was the entrance to her throat. "No Kelly, don't eat me!" Matt screamed and waved his arms as he moved closer and closer to his sister's open mouth. This was the end; he was about to be eaten by his own sister, a small part of her breakfast meal. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, as Matt screamed desperately at his sister, hoping she wouldn’t eat him. He felt Kelly's warm breath wash over him as the spoon moved within inches of disappearing into her mouth. Matt closed his eyes and waited for Kelly to eat him. Just as Kelly was going to take the spoon into her mouth, the spoon abruptly stopped. Matt tumbled off the cheerio and down off the pile. Not wanting to fall to his death, he grabbed onto the edge of the spoon. Kelly must have heard something important. “ARE YOU JOKING ME?” Kelly’s giant voice boomed, nearly deafening tiny Matt. Matt held on in terror as Kelly took the spoon over to the sink. With a sudden movement, Matt fell of the spoon and down towards the full sink. The sink was full of water as there were cleanly rinsed dishes inside. He landed with a splash in the sink. He surfaced and bobbed around as Kelly began to pull dishes out of the sink. After she finished, she dunked her hand in and pulled out what looked like a UFO. But Matt realized it was the drain plug. Immediately, the water began to stir with turbulence. It began to swirl and form a whirlpool. Matt screamed in terror. The water continued to drain rapidly as Matt spun faster and faster. He was going to be swept down the drain. He saw that as he spun past the side of the sink, he came close to the rag used to wash off dishes. On his next pass, Matt made a wild grab. He managed to grab hold of some loose fibers on the rag. He struggled, but he managed to pull himself out of the rapidly draining sink water. He climbed up the rag, and made his way up onto the divider that seperated the two sinks. He ran towards Kelly. Well, actually he ran forwards towards Kelly's waist. "Kelly!" Matt yelled. "EWWWW, A BUG!" Kelly thundered. "No Kelly, I'm not a bug, it's me Matt!" Kelly raised her enormous hand into the air, and then brought it down. Matt covered his head in fear. BOOM! Kelly's tree-like fingers slammed down on both sides. The impact sent Matt into the air. He flew up and then began to fall. He landed on the rug at the base of the sink, and thankfully it's softness kept him alive. Kelly left the kitchen. Matt was beginning to lose all hope. He had tried everything, and Kelly had still not heard or noticed him. He was going to be bug-sized forever. He looked around at his enormous kitchen. Maybe he could find a crack in the wall and live there. He could live off of scraps of food. No. Matt pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He made his way back into the massive living room. He looked up the stairs and saw Kelly preparing to walk down them. He heard the boom of her footsteps as she made her way down. She had changed into her L.E.I. jeans and her black U.S.A. shirt. She was once again wearing her black sandals. She reached the bottom of the stairs, and the doorbell rang. "THAT MUST BE JULIE AND ANDREA!" Kelly boomed. She walked over to the door and opened it. Kelly's best friends Julie and Andrea stood in the doorway. They stepped inside. "HI KELLY!" Andrea thundered. Andrea was wearing brown Sketcher Cids, black Mudd pants and a yellow tank-top. Julie was wearing brown sandals, brown pants, and a red shirt with a heart on it. "COME ON IN, I WAS JUST ON MY WAY TO MY ROOM ANYWAY." Kelly boomed. "WHERE'S YOU BROTHER?" Julie asked. "I DON'T KNOW, I THINK HE'S AT JEREMY'S OR SOMETHING." Kelly said. "I DON'T THINK SO, BECAUSE WE WERE JUST THERE." Andrea replied. Kelly looked surprised. "Girls, I'm down here!" Matt screamed. Kelly then started to walk up the stairs. Julie and Andrea started to follow. Julie stomped towards tiny Matt. He looked up and saw the bottom of Julie's shoe sail over his head as she walked over him. Andrea's gigantic sandal slammed to the ground inches away from Matt. The shockwave knocked Matt to the ground. He looked up at Andrea's face as she towered over him. "Down here Andrea!" Andrea simply continued right past Matt. Things were beginning to look hopeless.
Matt got up and watched as the girls walked up the stairs. He almost felt like crying. Trying to get his sister to notice him had drained him physically and emotionally. He had been right under her nose in her spoon and she didn't even see him. The thick threads of the living room carpet were rising up past his knees the longer he stood there. He had to keep moving. He moved out and onto the tiled floor at the base of the stairs leading up to the second floor. Using the same strategy as before, he slowly worked his way up the stairs. He walked into his room. He looked around at his posters, which were now like billboards on buildings. Just then he heard the front door open and close down stairs. "KIDS, I'M HOME!" The voice boomed. It was his mom, Linda. He watched as his giant sister walked past his room and headed downstairs. "HI MOM!" Kelly thundered. "HI KELLY, WHERE'S YOR BROTHER AT?" Linda boomed. "THAT'S THE FUNNY THING, I DON'T KNOW." Kelly answered. "YOU MEAN HE DIDN'T LEAVE A NOTE OR ANYTHING AS TO WHERE HE WAS GOING?" Linda said. "NOPE." Kelly said. "WHERE'S DAD?" Kelly asked. "OH, HE HAD TO STAY FOR A FEW EXTRA DAYS." Linda responded. Matt then heard thunderous footsteps pounding up the stairs. Matt's mom appeared in the doorway. Matt cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted "Mom, down here!" Matt's mother was in her mid 30s and was completely oblivious to her tiny son! "MATT, THIS ISN'T A JOKE IS IT?" Linda boomed. She walked forward. Expecting Matt to pop out and surprise her at any moment. Matt was greeted by a wall of leather as his mom's enormous brown shoe slammed down mere feet from him. "THIS MESS SICKENS ME!" She thundered. She turned and walked away. He heard the closet door open and close in the hall. She returned to Matt's room, wielding the most deadly weapon ever: a vacuum cleaner. She walked up to outlet and plugged the vacuum in. "Mom, no!" Matt screamed. "JUST WHAT I WANTED TO DO WHEN I GOT HOME." Linda boomed. She turned the vacuum on with her foot. Immediately, Matt's tiny ears were filled with the roar of the vacuum. Matt ran away from his mom just as fast as he could. Linda began to push the vacuum cleaner around. Matt got an idea. But it was thrown off when she pushed the vacuum cleaner at him suddenly. Matt quickly grabbed a thread of carpet as the vacuum descended upon him. Matt was immedialtely thrust into the air as the vacuum's pull kicked in. He was hanging on for dear life as he looked up and saw the dark black hole that was the opening of the vacuum. Matt was losing grip. Just when he thought he was going to let go, the vacuum disappeared. Matt got up and ran at his mother's foot. He climbed up onto her shoe and held on for dear life as she continued to vacuum the floor. She finished up and put the vacuum away. She made her way down the hall and towards Kelly's room. The three girls were huddled around a bowl of onion dip. Matt lost his grip on the shoe and flew into the air. He screamed as he tumbled through the air. He landed with a plop in some thick white substance. He tasted it. The onion dip! He looked up snd watched in terror as a giant chip began to descend into the bowl. Matt screamed and tried to wade through the dip to get away from the chip. The chip was held by Kelly. It descended into the dip and pushed Matt onto his back. He watched as the chip disappeared into Kelly's mouth. He heard the crunch and realized that could have been him. He had to get out of there. He righted himself and continued towards the side of the bowl. He looked up and saw another chip coming. To be continued......