Chapter 1: My Life         

            "Whatever Mom." I dejectedly slump my shoulders. "You just don't--"

            "What! What don't I understand! Explain it to me. Now." She crosses her arms and waits.

            Maybe I should move a bit back in the story. This is myself arguing with my mom but there is more to it than is obvious. My name is Matt. I am 20 years old and still living with my parents. I know, it's pathetic, you don't have to tell me. I've certainly heard it enough from my mother in recent months. What my parents really want is for me to man up, get a job, and start making my own way. They want their basement back.

            The only thing is I have a serious issue that prevents me from doing that. I feel inferior to other people all the time, especially women. I see what others have accomplished around me and it only gets worse. My mother degrading me everyday, it's her way of trying to put some fight into me and challenge me to get out of my situation.  It really is the wrong way to go considering my problems but I definitely can't own up to it: I have way too many self esteem issues already.

            "So?" She's getting impatient.

            "So?" I question back.

            "Answer me." She says.

            I'm torn. Do I finally explain my problems? How can I possibly explain so she'll understand. She's obviously never been through these self esteem issues herself. She commands every conversation she's in.

            "Well I guess I...umm..." I start

            "What?" She's just stares at me. Agh! I hate that! She just steamrolls over everything I say. Let me finish speaking if you actually want to hear my explanation!

            "You see..." I keep stalling. I barely understand my inferiority complex myself, how the hell am I supposed to explain it on demand!

            "I give up." She says. "I'm going to the parlor with your Aunt. You better show me those completed job applications when I get back."

            "Fine." I say quickly. I just want to end this awkward conversation. I'm not sure if I'll actually do them or not.

            What incited my mother to go at me today was the fact that I spent four hours watching TV. Way too long for someone without a job. What can I say? I'm practically agoraphobic. Normally she would pay less attention than that but my father and two sisters are out of town.

             My older sister came in for a visit. She, of course, has a job as executive vice president of a mid size software development firm. I'm happy for her but it also serves to contrast exactly how little I've accomplished. She's only two years older than me and much further down the path of success than I am. She took my younger sister and my dad to New Mexico for a small weekend getaway. She offered to take me as well but my mother said I'm busy. So I'm stuck with all of my mom's focus for the next two days or so. Great.

            After she leaves for the parlor I go outside to grab the mail. I barely lookup from the ground as I walk because I think I see my neighbor across the street staring at me. I wanted to see what came though. Reading my magazines is one of the few excitements of my life and I intend to capitalize on it soon.

            As I'm walking over the transition from driveway to sidewalk, I walk right into someone I really didn't want to see. Judith, our next door neighbor. It really was a small bump but it sends some purple liquid splashing out of her cup all over me.

            "Watch where you're walking you complete loser!" She snarls and catches her balance.

            By my standards, Judith is really evil. She treats my stuttering wit with disdain and talks down to me because of it. No attempts at empathy. In fact, I'm pretty sure she enjoys it.

            "Sorry, I'm just grabbing the mail." I say. "I think I--"

            "What makes you think I care." She just stares at me. "I think I'm going to enjoy stopping over later." A new smile creeps onto her face.

            "What?" I'm totally flummoxed by her sudden mood change.

            "Nothing. Goodbye Matt."

            I go back inside my house and grab a towel to dry myself off but the purple substance is gone.

            "The hell?..." I mutter.

            I put the towel back and have no idea what just happened to me.

Chapter 2: The Discovery

            I hear my mother come in the front door while I'm in the kitchen making some macaroni and cheese. She sighs contentedly and I can tell that the parlor trip must have been well worth it. She walks to the kitchen and sees me. Her mood immediately changes.

            "Oh." She glares. Man, I am such a problem. It just makes me feel worse.

            "How was your parlor trip?" I ask in what I hope is an agreeable tone.

            "Did you get those applications done like I told you?" She says pointedly. Shit, I forgot. Best to just make something up and hope for the best.

            "I was going to but--" I begin.

            "That's a no of course. You did nothing at all while I was gone did you?" She says disgustedly. "Why do you not want to get out of your mother's house?" She asks. "I can't seem to make you go away." She throws her hands up. I can see she's building up steam. I try to ameliorate it before she explodes at me.

            "Mom I was busy today. I had enough other things to do that I forgot about the job applications it's a simple slip up." I say.

            "Damnit Matt! I don't believe you. You have nothing to do you just stay around here all day!" She shoves me against the wall. I hit my head hard and I just stand there dazed. She's never been this angry before. "What does it take I want you gone!" She screams and comes at me and pins my wrists up against the wall darn near level with my shoulders. I'm about 6 inches taller than her so this is quite something.

            "Mom calm down" I say but then I notice something.

            My wrists.

            It's like they're not even there. I can feel my mom's hand pressing my wrists but I can't see my wrists where they should be. There is just my mom's hands and my hands are on one side and my arm is on the other but there seems to be nothing in between.

            "Huh? Uh?...Umm.." I look at them in shock.

            "You can't even look at me when I'm speaking to you!" She yells. "What are you..." Then she sees what I'm seeing.

            She quickly takes her hands off me and I drop my arms. We both look closer. My wrists are now flat and just an image of what they used to be. I can feel my hands but I can barely move my wrists. The strength left in them is apparently a fraction of what it used to be.

            "I can't lift my hands." I say, still totally shocked.

            "I can see that." She says and indeed they do look rather floppy.

            "H-How is this possible?" I ask.

            "I don't know." She says calmly, then grabs my hands and shoves them back against the wall.

            "Mom!" I yelp. "What are you doing?"

            "Testing."

            "Testing what?" I'm too freaked out to think it through at all.

            Then I see her smile. It's a smile that really creeps me out. It's devious and evil looking and I don't like it one bit. Then I look at my hands.

            The same thing has happened to them. I can feel my mom's hands on mine but can barely move mine at all.

            "Mom! You've made it worse." I say freaked out.

            "Yeah."

            "Yeah?!" I say and my voice cracks a bit. "I need to go to a doctor or something. We need to--"

            "Yeah Matt well the thing is I don't care."

            "You don't...care?" I repeat back.

            "Nope, and if my theory is correct..." She stops talking mid sentence and quickly reaches down  and squeezes my ankle.

            "Jesus Mom!" I start but then I lose balance and quickly fall. My hands are flat and floppy so I can't use them to steady myself and I fall on my back. I land hard and the air rushes out me and I struggle to catch my breath. I lay there and cough for a minute and finally lookup to see my mother looking me up and down, sizing me up and I start to realize how much trouble I might be in. 

Chapter 3: I'm in trouble

            So there I am laying rather uncomfortably on my back as I couldn't catch myself right because of my hands. I'm starting to realize just how bad this might be.

            "Mom why did you do that?" I wheeze, still struggling to catch my breath.

            "So you can't escape." She states matter of factly.

            "Can't escape..." I think. Oh shit.

            "That's right I'm leaving you this way." She looks down at me. "You do nothing around here it seems except eat, sleep and watch that damn TV." She's still a little angry. I'm more than a little surprised though, that she could even think of doing this to me.

            "I've been trying harder Mom I really have--"

            "Oh, shut up. It's just words to you. I don't believe anything you say anymore." She sneers at me. "You're barely a son to me."

            That hit me right me in the heart because it rather sounds like one of her lectures. She might not have been yelling at me for my best interests, she really just wants me gone as she put it when she was screaming at me. I start to get even more uneasy. This situation is getting worse every minute.

            "Mom..." I start weakly.

            "What did I just say! I don't care and I don't believe anything you have to say! Be quiet." She carries on a bit but she doesn't seem as mad. I'd judge this new mood more...playful? I can't say for sure though because it doesn't fit what she's saying. It will soon become clear however.

            "Now...what to do with you first?" She eyes me all over. I just numbly watch because I can't seem to reason with her. I see a flash in her eyes and she kicks off her flip flops.

            "What do you think of my pedicure?" She asks coyly. Her feet have been scrubbed and are very clean looking. She walks over to me and waves them in front of my face and I can see they've been painted purple of all colors. Purple! What was that stuff Judith spilled on me that disappeared? Did it soak into me and change me somehow? I'm mulling over all this when suddenly I'm snapped back to reality by an unreal pain in my right leg.

            I cry out and see that my mother has walked over to my feet and stepped on to my shin.

            "How's that feel?" She asks. I just look at her with tears forming it's so painful. "Here's some more..." With that pronouncement she rocks her full weight onto it. God! It's even worse than before. I grit my teeth and look down at my feet. Where she stepped has been flattened down just like the other parts. It's not quite as thin as my wrists and ankle are though.

            "That's for lying to me all the time." She says. I don't detect much sympathy from her for my pain. In fact I'd say she's rather enjoying this.

            "Don't you care about h-how I'm hurting I'm yuh-your son!" I somewhat scream at her. I kind of choke on the words because my self esteem issues come back into play. I almost never talk louder than a mumble and yelling is fairly foreign to me.

            "You don't listen at all do you? I don't care and if you talk without my asking you one more time, I'm gonna step on your face." She states. I immediately cower from that thought. How much that would hurt. I open my mouth to beg for her not to do that then realize how stupid that would be.

            "Smart boy. Now that you're ready to listen, I'm gonna tell you why I don't care."

            Over the next hour she talks about how much of a disappointment I became after high school. How she tried for a while to understand but when I wouldn't change she gave up and stopped caring. During this monologue, she punctuated her points with pain and slowly walked her way up and down my legs, feet, and lower chest. It felt every bit as real if my body was still at full function. This was not a nice evening for me. I curled up inside my own head and waited as best I could for it to pass. Eventually she seemed to stop and I looked down at my body.

            It was not a pretty sight. Her feet treading all over me had left foot prints everywhere the eye could see. My thighs and chest weren't nearly as thin as my lower legs. They seemed to have maintained proportion to each other. It's like my lower body was just a flatter version of itself. At least I didn't go paper thin. Something to be happy about.

            "This is wonderful I love it." She smiles and laughs. I start to pay attention to my mother again because I forgot for one moment why I was in this situation.

            "Next we're going to--" my mother is interrupted as the doorbell rings. "Who could it be at this hour?" She asks irritably. My hopes leap up. I'm rescued! I'm in the middle of the kitchen floor no way whoever it is misses me. But, I hoped too soon.

            "Think you're getting away?" She says nastily. She opens a kitchen drawer and grabs out a roll of duct tape.

            "Noo...!" I start to scream but she tapes my mouth shut.  I can only glare at her in my useless fury. She pauses to chuckle and admire her handiwork but then the doorbell rings again.

            She glances at the door and goes back to business. She bends down and lifts me up quite easily. It seems my flattened legs weigh less now too. "That's useful." She mutters as she carries me to the living room.

            I can imagine why we're here and I'm not proven wrong. We have this old sofa that has room underneath it. It's not a lot but she manages to shove me under there and says "Stay put." I can barely move but I can still thump on the couch and hope whoever this is hears me.

            My mother who I am pretty sure is never going to let me go then smiles at me, pulls the flap that hides the underside of the couch back into position and goes to answer the door.