Scott sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He hated the end of the day and he hated his last class period of the day. They were loud, unruly, and paid no attention to him whatsoever. He felt as if he were two inches tall in comparison to them. To his students he was Mr. Anderson, but after class he went back to being Scott. He hated Scott. Not only had he been divorced only three months ago, but he was behind on paying his bills and was watching his life crumble away in front of his own eyes. He faked a smile through all of his class periods except for this last one, at least not today.

Being a science teacher was one of Scott's many joys in life but that as well faded over time. Now it was an excuse to leave his empty home and have some form of human interaction, even if it were with obnoxious sixteen-year-olds. His paychecks were slimmer and slimmer at the end of every week; he felt like he would be let go very soon. His favorite students from over the years had graduated school long ago and never wrote him anymore. The teachers and staff he had once bonded with had all either been canned or left on their own. He wanted to follow them but was held to the school by a contract.

With his head in his hands, he felt his head throb from the constant chattering and loud yelling of his students around the classroom. There was no point in scolding or pleading with them, they wouldn't listen. After all, Scott only had four more minutes before his classroom would pile out into the hallways and he would be left in crippling silence until the sun would begin to set. His eyes painfully glared at the tiny clock in the corner of his computer screen.

The end-of-the-day announcements flashed onto the TV screen above him, but everybody talked over it anyway. Once the clock struck three o'clock, everybody had vacated his room except for him. Not a single goodbye or farewell was given to Mr. Anderson, but he couldn't have cared less. Today was the last day of his life and he wanted that. He had been working towards it for weeks, devising and plotting how he would go out. After careful consideration and many sleepless hours, he decided his fate: shrinking.

The moment his classroom cleared out, Scott lazily paced over to the door and locked it to make sure no one would come in on him. He then walked to one of the closets in his classroom to find the chemicals necessary for his procedure to work. On the top shelf, he grabbed three vials full of colorful substances; one blue, one white, and one black. With these three tubes of liquid, he carefully poured them into a Pyrex dish. Unlocking and sliding open one of the many drawers along the lab table, he carefully retrieved a syringe from its holder. He pulled back on the syringe and it began to suck up the murky blue-grey concoction he had mixed together.

Scott took a very deep breath as he watched a drop of the shrinking substance drip from the tip of the needle. It was so cloudy and mysterious looking, he had never seen such a color before. His hands began to tremble as he held the syringe against his forearm, looking for a good vein to plant his concoction in. He quivered as the needle dragged along his skin like a prickly pin sending shivers down his spine. The exact spot had been found, but just as he was about to inject himself, a knock was heard at the door.

Scott hesitated but quietly spoke, "Who is it?"

Another few knocks were heard.

He sighed out of frustration and slipped the needle into a lab drawer before walking back over to the door. "Yes? Who is it?"

"Oh, it's Abigail!" she chimed from the other side of the door. Abigail was one of Mr. Anderson's most tolerable students, albeit a little strange, but she kept to herself and performed extraordinarily well in all of her subjects. He knew that she could honestly outsmart him in his own lessons. "May I come in?"

Scott unlocked the door and opened it to find Abigail standing there soaking wet. Her curly black hair had been straightened by the amount of water in it; her pink polo shirt and khaki skirt had been drenched as well and were a darker shade altogether. "Abby, you're so wet! What happened?"

"Have you not seen the downpour outside sir?" she asked, pointing to the gloomy windows of his classroom. It was indeed very rainy, as the parking lot was almost completely obscured by the storm outside.

"I guess I haven't, I've been a little bit out of it this afternoon. Would you like to come in?"

"Please," she smiled as her teacher opened the door for her. "Is everything alright Mr. Anderson? You seem... tired, or like you said, "out of it."

"Yeah, I'm fine, just... don't worry about me. What made you stop by my classroom? It's the end of the day."

"On my way out to the parking lot, I noticed my car had been blocked in by a teacher. I couldn't have stood out in that rain, so I decided to come back here to discuss my grade with you."

"Your grade? You're doing phenomenally Abby, what's wrong?"

"Well, on that last test we took - the chemistry one - I managed to score a 96%, can you believe that?"

"I know Abby, it's a fantastic grade. You scored better than... well, everybody."

"A 96%?! Are you kidding me? That's dreadful Mr. Anderson!" she cried out. "I don't think my grade has scooped so low in well over a year."

Mr. Anderson rolled his eyes as she babbled on about her "failing" grade. His eyes kept wandering back to the drawer in which his sacred syringe laid.

"In preparation for the next test, I'm going to devote all of my resources and studying time towards this class, you hear me? I'm going to strive above and beyond so you never forget the name Abigail Adams!" she triumphantly shouted. "Mr. Anderson?"

He snapped back into reality. "Oh, yes? Yeah! You'll do fine Abby, I trust you."

"Are you okay, sir? You don't seem like yourself. Is something wrong?"

Scott looked down at his desk and sighed. "It's... nothing, kid. Don't worry about it."

"I care about you, I really do! I'll let you in on a little secret..."

"What?"

"You're my favorite teacher."

Scott felt his face twitch a little bit before ultimately letting out a small smile. It was the first time he had smiled in over a month, all thanks to her. "Thank you, that's very kind of you."

Abigail smiled back at him, showing off her braces. "I mean it sir! You're great at teaching lessons and you don't get enough credit for it! I'm serious." she continued to praise him. "Now what was it you were upset about? I understand if you don't want to talk about it sir."

"It's... well, okay, I'll tell you. I just feel like my life is... I don't know, crashing down?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I'm not sure if you heard but my wife left me months ago and it's really put me in a bad place recently. I'm struggling to pay any of my bills and this school isn't paying me jack shit. I hate a majority of the classes I teach now and I just feel like everything is coming to an end, do you get what I mean?"

Abigail nodded and looked at him for a while. "You're going through a lot, I can see that. Do you have any idea what you're going to do to fix it?"

"Honestly... I don't know if I should say this."

"Why not?"

"Because it's horrible."

"You can tell me if you would like to, sir."

Scott took another very long breath. "Just before you came in here, I was about to end my life for good. You see that Pyrex dish over there?" he asked, nodding over to the lab table. "That's filled with a very dangerous substance that reduces matter in seconds. I was going to inject myself with it, shrink down to microscopic size and die on this here floor over the weekend."

"That is horrible..." Abigail said covering her mouth in shock.

He clenched his fists and held back tears before standing up from his desk and walking over to the lab table. "I'm going to do it, goodbye Abby."

"Sir, wait!" she yelled out.

Scott grabbed the syringe and stared at her. "Why shouldn't I do it?"

She sighed and lowered her head. "I don't know, but what I do know is that if you were to do it, I would personally miss you. I'd miss this class and being able to see you every single school day. I wasn't lying when I said you were my favorite teacher and I'd do anything to stop you from this, but it seems like your mind has been made up already. Just please... don't do it sir."

He looked at the needle hovering over his arm and back at her before breaking down and crying. Scott hadn't heard such nice words about him in so long, it broke his heart to hear how much she cared about him.

Abigail walked over to him and placed her hand on his back. "Are you okay, sir?"

"No..." he sniffled. "I just don't know what to do! I can't live this life anymore, it's all downhill from here!"

She continued to watch him cry out and wail to himself as she thought of an idea. Her eyes continued to focus on the syringe until a solution clicked in her head. "Sir!"

"*sniff*, yeah?"

"I have thought of an idea that could benefit both of us! Please hear me out; what if you shrink down to... I don't know, an inch or two? I could take you home with me and you could live in my room!"

Scott wiped his tears away with his shirt sleeve. "I don't know kid, I just don't-"

"No, I'm serious!" she interrupted. "I have taken care of so many small animals in the past and I could do the same for you! Think about it, no more work, no more bills, no more sadness!"

"Are you sure? This isn't reversible you know..." he asked her, looking down into the pool of swirling grey liquid in the dish.

"I'm positive, this will be fun! Are you sure you want to do it?"

He thought about it for several minutes before nodding. "I'm sure." Scott gripped the syringe in one hand and quickly jabbed it into his right arm, releasing half of the shrinking serum into his bloodstream.

"Sir, it's working!" Abigail cried out as she watched her teacher shrink to the floor.

Scott's entire body tingled and shot awake with pain. He yelled out as he shrunk, hearing his shout get more and more quiet. His clothing began to loosen and fall off his body as he descended to the tile floor below, though his eyes were clenched shut due to the horrific pain squeezing his body. Once the shrinking had ceased, he found himself lying on the cold floor below completely naked and surrounded by darkness. "Hello?"

All of a sudden, his world was bright once again, but this time only fifty times larger. His clothes lifted into the sky as Abigail looked down on his tiny body, blushing at the sight of his member. "Oh, Mr. Anderson!"

"Gah!" he shouted, covering his privates with both hands.

"You're so small!" she let out in a squee.

His body froze in fear as he realized just how gigantic she was in comparison to him now, as he couldn't even see the top of her shoes from that height. Water splashed onto his shivering body as Abigail's wet hair dripped onto the ground from up above.

"Are you okay, sir? How does it feel?" her booming voice asked.

"I... I think I'm alright, just a bit shaken by all of this," he peeped.

"Well, I better get you to your new home now, there's no use in standing around here all afternoon." Abigail bent over and scooped up her teacher in both of her soft, lotion-covered hands. She brought the captive man closer to her face for a better look. "Aww, you're so small mister!" she coo'ed in an attempt to not startle him.

Her warm breath surrounded Scott as he looked up to find himself face-to-face with her enormous braces. "Oh god, I'm so high up," he gasped as he peered off the edge of her hands. He grasped onto her palm as hard as he could and buried his face into her skin.

"It's okay, sir! You'll be safe with me, I promise," she smiled before closing her hands.