2031 AD

“Prospects are…not good. Her vitals are declining rapidly,” the doctor explained, sighing in that rehearsed way someone who deals with tragedy regularly enough to be unaffected by it but has to still seem empathetic sighs, and adjusted his glasses, “you should go and be with her now.”

“T-there’s nothing you can do?”

“You know the effects of her condition as well as I do.  It’s come to the point where-“

“There has to be something! P-please, doctor, what about that experimental-“

“Out of the question. It’s not safe, and you know what could happen.”

“I want it. We can pay. I don’t care about the risks, I would do anything for my sister! I would,” I paused, making sure this was the decision I wanted to make, “give anything for her.”

The doctor mulled over this, reluctant but ultimately excited about the prospect of testing out the experimental treatment on two willing, matching candidates.

“Very well…please step into the operating room. We don’t have a lot of time.”

2034 AD

“Big bro! Look!”

My little sister skipped out of her room and posed in front of the door, wearing her brand new school uniform.  A wide, unfiltered grin spread across her cute, pale face as she did a quick twirl around, almost going off balance at the end. She kicked back one kneesock covered leg, rustling the plain blue skirt. The outfit was completed with a basic white shirt and matching blue tie.  Before this, I wasn’t even sure there were really schools with uniforms like these in real life, but it was a pretty high class school that her above average test scores and unique situation helped get her into.

“Aw, you look so cute, Bree!,” I said, reaching down to lightly ruffle her  short blonde hair.

Aubrey’s face immediately bloomed bright red.

“B-but in a mature way! You look like exactly like a high school student on her way to growing up….” I added hastily after realizing my mistake.

Aubrey’s  a beautiful young girl, but incredibly self conscious. She’s been isolated so long because of her condition, and it doesn’t help that she’s incredibly petite at 4’9”. Years of hospitalization during the prime of childhood might have stunted her growth a little, I can’t really say for sure. But I know the world is a big, scary place for her.

A few minutes later we both sat down at the table for breakfast, but I could tell my sister was nervous, just pushing around the food, seeming lost in worry.

“Uh Bree, you know it’s important that you eat…”

“Y-yeah, yeah,  I know,” she replied softly.

Soon it was almost time for the bus to arrive. Aubrey grabbed her backpack and turned towards the door, but I grabbed her on the shoulder.

“Forgetting something?”

“Oh, yeah….”

She turned back around, and reached her arm up to my neck. Her soft, delicate fingers spread and pressed lightly into my skin, gradually heating up. I braced and focused my mind on why it is I do this, I had long ago learned to tolerate the pain. In just a few seconds, it’s over with, and she withdraws her hand, turning back around and quickly shuffling towards the door, little feet in new shoes clacking against the floor in a pitter patter.

“Thank you,” she whispers , not able to look at me.

“You know you don’t have to thank me,” I say pointlessly, knowing I said the same thing yesterday and will say it tomorrow too.

The door closes and I sigh in relief. It’s been rough but I’m glad for her, and hopeful that from now on life can be more normal, or as close as was possible for us.

My sister, she suffers from an extremely rare condition. The same one that claimed the lives of both our parents, but a much quicker acting version she has since they both carried the gene. It’s actually a statistical miracle that I don’t have it. But I would trade anything to be have it instead of her, and in a way, I did. It was extremely risky, but me and her were the first and so far only to receive an experimental treatment.

Basically, I can transfer part of my immune system to her, so she has one at all and can stay alive. We must do this daily, or she’ll regress again, but it’s easy enough, miraculously able to be done just with touch. I don’t regret it for one second. Sure, I get colds more than the average person, but I have my sister here with me today.

When Aubrey got home from the first day of school, she immediately went into her room and shut the door. It was the worst I had expected. I could hear her crying in there, but I didn’t want to invade her privacy, so I left her in peace for the rest of the night.

The next morning, she willingly got out of bed and put on her uniform again, which was a good sign. I finished making a simple breakfast and approached her.

“Good morning, Bree. I-is there anything you wanna talk about? How was school yesterday?”

“Fine,” she mumbled, avoiding my face, “it was fun a-and, my classes are….g-good…” she began to well up with tears and dove toward me, wrapping her arms around my waist and burying her face in my chest while sobbing. “I-it wasn’t fine! It was scary…..I-, I don’t wanna go back.”

“It’s ok. What was scary?” I said, rubbing up and down her small back.

“All the girls are so…..t-tall. I mean w-way taller, we had to special order my uniforms in a smaller size after all. They’re mean and….I don’t think I can make any friends,” she sniffled, regaining composure.

“Oh come on now, you can make friends. I bet they’re not all as mean as you might think. And please don’t worry about your height. You’re still growing….a-and even if you don’t grow much, it doesn’t matter! You’re fine the way you are. Now come on, we need to exchange before you go out.”

Aubrey sighed as she once again pressed her hand to my neck, feeling for my pulse before going about her vampiric routine.

“I just wish I was a little taller is all….”

I winced. I hadn’t done that in years. But it was over quick enough so I didn’t pay it much mind.

After she left, I walked back into my room to study, which I do from home since colleges are rife with germs. But for some reason my clothes felt so roomy and comforting, and I laid down.  My bed felt bigger than usual. I used to get this a lot back when I first started giving to my sister. Drained. I guess it makes sense as a side effect.

That night at dinner, Aubrey wouldn’t quit looking at me funny, except when I looked back and she pretended to be interested in something else.  When I got up, she did too and awkwardly stood right next to me, before running off to her room.

After cleaning the dishes, I walked over to my sister’s bedroom and looked through the open door. She was alternating between looking at herself in the mirror and standing up against her wall height chart. After a few minutes she noticed me, and blushed a little.

“I….I grew!” she exclaimed, “You gotta see!”

She led me in by the hand until I was in the back by the height chart. Standing up tall, spine erect, she proudly measured herself.

“Wow,  4’11”, nearly 5 feet. That’s one heck of a growth spurt,” I smiled, rubbing the back of my neck, “I’m so happy for you.”

“I’m happy too big bro! I just wished it this morning, and then when I was at school I could tell I was a little bigger!” she practically bounced around in joy. Then she walked up in front of me and compared our heights. I was very surprised to see how much taller she seemed now, much more than 2 inches. Her face was now more in line with my chin instead of my chest.

“I really hope I grow more!” she said, looking straight in my eyes.

“Me too, Bree,” I said, exiting as she returned to marveling at the mirror, “just make sure you do your homework too, Amazon woman.” I joked.

I was happy for my sister, I only ever wanted the best for her. But I couldn’t help but feel like something was off. Maybe it was normal, maybe all that missed growth was catching up all at once. Walking back across the house to my room, I was annoyed by my slippers continually slipping off. I’ve had them forever, but now it was almost like they were too big, but I figured they were just getting worn out.

The next morning went by uneventfully. Aubrey was still in a good mood, and actually seemed excited about going to school.  When we went about our ritual, I noticed she hesitated a moment before putting her hand on me, but I figured she was just preoccupied.

That evening she returned with a box, carrying it with her back to her room.

“What’s in the box?” I asked curiously.

“Uh, just some extra uniforms,” she replied. I walked over and looked inside. They were uniforms, but in all different sizes. Small all the way up to the largest I’d seen, a girl’s uniform that seemed big enough for a male basketball player.

Aubrey nervously snatched the uniforms out of my hand and stuffed them messily back into the box. “It’s just in case, y’know,” she stammered, “I told the nurse I was having a growth spurt so…it’s in case I grow out of the extra small ones,” she pronounced the last few words with quiet disdain.

Not wanting to make her feel bad I dropped it. If she wanted to daydream about XXL schoolgirl uniforms, it’s alright. Our parents left behind more than enough money, so extra sets of clothes were nothing. And her current one was looking a little tight, especially around her thighs and developing bust. I, I really shouldn’t be looking there but, it’s just what I’d observed!

More and more the next few days, she seemed lost in her own world. I’m not complaining, I was glad she was enjoying herself and the new world she had been thrust into. I know a teen girl’s free time shouldn’t revolve around her older brother. But I couldn’t help but be curious about one thing, a notebook she spent most her nights looking through and occasionally writing in. She had kept a diary before, but this was different. So one afternoon when she was gone, I took it upon myself to sneak a peek.

Alyssa 5’3”

Jasmine 5’7”

Rachael 5’5”

Yun 5’2”

Amber 5’10”

It went on like this for a few dozen names. It was apparently a list of all the girls in her grade and their heights. I sighed, she really hadn’t gotten over it at all. Turning the page, I saw a sort of chart she had made, with simplistic drawings of all the girls arranged by height, up against a measurement axis, like a lineup of police suspects. My heart sank for my poor sister; I didn’t think she would become this obsessed about something as inconsequential as height.

I spent the rest of the day trying to think of what to do. I needed to bring it up somehow, but I didn’t want to admit to snooping in her notebook, or embarrass her. But I can’t let her go on like this. Being an older brother and a parent all at once is tough, and I just don’t know how to handle it sometimes. It was Friday, so at least we’d get a chance to spend some time together over the weekend and maybe sort this out.

That night, I intercepted Aubrey before she could escape to her room.

“Hey, it’s the weekend so you don’t have to do your homework right away or anything. Why don’t we play a game or something,” she nervously avoided my gaze as I walked closer, “you can be player 1 or wha-“

“Ok, fine.”

On the couch, playing games, she seemed more open. She especially took delight in beating me, so I let her.

“Haha! Take that, big bro!” she’d laugh and stick her tongue out at me, standing up triumphantly before the next round, eventually even taking the opportunity to loom down on me while I was sitting.

“Heh, yeah you got me that time. H-hey, what’s the news on that growth spurt of yours? I’m worried you’re gonna be taller than me soon,” I joked awkwardly.

“I, uh, soon….” She stammered.

“Soon?” I was confused.

“Well yeah…I just think so…”

“You can tell? What does it have something to do with the motion of the stars or whatever? That stuff is way over my head…” I tried to playfully chide her.

All she could manage was awkward mumbled sounds, looking around and slumping, face blush and soft blonde hair falling over.

“Aubrey,” I shifted toned to be more serious, “you don’t have to keep anything secret from me. If you’re worried about something-“

Suddenly, she look at me and dove forward, placing her feminine hand forcefully at my neck. She appeared to concentrate for a second, and I was too confused to do anything. Suddenly I felt the familiar white hot pain, but a little worse than even the incident several days ago.

“Agh!” I yelped from the sudden jolt of pain, and stood up from the couch. “What the hell are you doing Bree!?” I yelled, looking straight into her own shocked eyes. It took me several seconds to realize that I shouldn’t have been able to do that. I fell backwards out of surprise.

“W-what…how….did you….”

Aubrey, still standing and with her hand frozen in position, looked down at me. Tears were welled up in her eyes, and her expression was somewhere between shock and joy.

“I can’t believe it really worked. I thought that was what happened, but I wasn’t sure,” she thought out loud, “I really stole his height…”

“Um, Bree, I’m right here,” I interjected, heart beating a mile a minute but trying to regain control of the situation.

Snapped out of her thoughts, Aubrey’s half-smile fell and she placed her hands on my shoulders.

“I didn’t mean it the first time, I swear! I didn’t even know I could! I just thought about how I wanted to be a little bit taller at the same time I was siphoning….I didn’t know how it could have happened, but I figured it out over the last few days, and this proves it,” she explained. “Please don’t be mad….”

“I’m not mad, of course not,” I said, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened, that I was now 6 inches shorter than I should be, “but we have to tell the doctors about this. I mean no way is this an intended effect, it shouldn’t even be possible….”

“No!” she screamed, tightening her grip on my shoulder and pulling herself in closer, “That will ruin everything! They…..They’ll take us in for a bunch of tests! We won’t be free for months, maybe years! I just started school and this will ruin all of that! You can’t, you can’t….” she pleaded, crying.

She was right, it wouldn’t be fair to ruin our lives, which were the closest to being on a normal track as they had ever been, to go back to some medical research facility and get poked and prodded by needles and run through loud machines.

“Alright, not now then. But they’ll have to know some day.”

“Oh, thank you big bro!” she wrapped me up in a hug. We’d hugged hundreds of times before, but it was strange to do it with her being the same size and nearly the same strength. The tiny girl I was used to grabbing my waist, and slouching down to envelop her upper back, was now constricting me as an equal, with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm. She didn’t know her own strength.

We barely spoke for a few hours after that, just lying together on the couch with the tv on. I couldn’t help but notice how small her pajamas had become. The pants only came halfway down her calf, and her bellybutton and part of her flat tummy were exposed by the ill-fitting shirt. Even her meager breasts seemed to strain the fabric a little. I was sitting and she had her legs resting across my lap like usual, but they felt much heavier than usual. Every so often I caught her looking at me, mentally comparing my size to the furniture and herself. I guess I really hadn’t solved anything about her obsession, just added an entire new dimension to it.

As the night grew later, Aubrey began reminiscing.

“Remember when you’d visit me in the hospital and we’d lay there together…”

“Yeah, I was suited up like I worked at a nuclear power plant and completely sterilized for germs. Real comfortable,” I joked.

“Well I liked it,” she said wistfully, continuing, “Remember when you snuck in candy?”

“Uh-huh”

“Remember when you’d,” she looked away, smiling but embarrassed, “paint my toenails?” She wiggled and flexed her feet that were dangling on the other side of my lap.

“Hey, I only did that cuz you couldn’t!” I snapped, face glowing bright red.

“Oh….” She whispered, dejected. I couldn’t take the sad look on her face, it sucked me right in.

“W-well, it’s not like I minded either or anything. I was happy to do it for you,” I corrected myself, and she perked up.

“Then, will you do it now?” she asked hopefully.

“Uh,” I resigned myself, not wanting to disappoint her, “sure. Go get the stuff though.”

Aubrey squealed in joy and sprang from the couch, skipping into her room and back out a second later with the polish. She handed it to me and positioned herself on the couch’s opposite end, sticking out her legs with her feet right in front of my face when I turned around. Her milky white soles caught me by surprise and completely obscured my field of vision.

“H-hey!” I playfully batted her feet away and she giggled, moving them down to a more reasonable position, pausing for a second, and then swooping them into my own foot. “What are you…” I asked before realizing she was interested in comparing the size of our feet. I begrudgingly complied to this weird game, placing mine sole to sole with hers in the middle of the couch. To both our surprise, I could nearly an inch of her toes peaking up over mine. I blushed without knowing why, and her eyes lit up. I mean it made sense, her feet were always slender and long and a little out of proportion with her otherwise tiny size. But I couldn’t help but feel belittled.

“Ok ok, enough of that. Do you want me to paint them or not?” I groaned, and she complied, humming and smiling as I painted over the chipping previous paintjob of each cute little toe. She really enjoyed me doing it, which I assumed was just a girl thing.

As I finished the job, placing my hand on her sole to stabilize the foot and check over my work, I felt a familiar sensation and actually watched as my hand appeared to shrink on her on the foot. I jumped back, she stuck out her leg and planted the foot on my face. From forehead to chin the sole blanketed my entire face. I could feel a slight warmth radiating from it, and very feint smell like old lotion and sweat, but not unpleasant. In the distance I heard Aubrey giggling.

“Gee thanks big bro, but where did you go? I can’t see you past my-“

“AUBREY!” I yelled, pulling the foot off me, “C-change back right now! Give it back!” I commanded, seething. Her smile immediately faded and I could see her becoming guilty.

“S-sorry,” she said while reaching out her hand and returning the few inches to me, “I was just trying to see if I could do it with my foot too….” She whispered and trailed off.

“It’s uh, it’s alright. Why don’t we both go to bed now, it’s late.”

As she walked off to her room, something popped into my mind.

“Um, Bree,” I asked stopping her outside her door, “how did you know you could give me back the height at all?”

“I…I just knew,” she replied hastily before shutting the door. I tried to believe her, even though I knew she didn’t really know. My stomach turned for a second thinking about being left like that without anyway to return, but I tried to not think of it anymore.

Monday morning came.

“Oh come on, that is so unfair!”

“I think what’s unfair is you,” I sighed and shook my head, “siphoning my height, or whatever. I know you didn’t mean to originally, but-“

Aubrey stomped the ground. “Aggh! I don’t see what’s the big deal! I mean you hardly ever leave the house anyway, what’s it to you if you’re a little shorter.”

“I’m not just going to have you stealing something from me, ok!?” I grabbed my sister’s hand and moved it onto the regular position on my neck, “Now, please give it back so this can all go back to normal.”

“Ugh, fine….” She relented, still pouting. “But like, not all of it….I mean if I go all the way back, people might notice I got shorter somehow…it won’t make sense, they’ll think I’m a freak or something, they’ll-“

I sighed again, “F-fine.  Until we sort all this out, you can keep the 2 inches or whatever. But no more.” I couldn’t believe I was giving in, but I didn’t know what else to do. She’s always had that effect on me, I’m not good at putting my foot down.

“Oh, thank you big bro! Thank you thank you thank you!” She gave me a quick hug and peck on the cheek while we were still the same height, then returned the siphoned inches before running out the door to catch the bus.

Later that afternoon I got a phone call from Aubrey’s school.

“Hello, this is Ms. Thompson, the counselor at Alta Vista High. This is the guardian for Aubrey, correct?”

“Um, yes. I’m her older brother. What is this about?”

“I’m just calling to inform you that today Aubrey and another girl had a minor altercation today-“

“What? Aubrey, a fight!? Is she hurt?! I-I can’t believe this…”

“Sir, she’s perfectly alright. Like I said, it was only very minor. Neither girl is in any more trouble than having a call home like this one.”

“Well who instigated it? I don’t want Aubrey to be getting bullied there, this is her first year in a real school.”

“T-there was no one instigator, from what we can tell the girls just got into an argument that escalated. This sort of thing happens all the time.”

“A-alright. Thank you,” I finished before hanging up. I was worried for Aubrey, and yet I couldn’t get it out of the back of my mind that she could’ve been the one that caused it all. It seemed more and more lately like she had something to prove.

I waited for her to come home so I could ask what happened, but she completely ignored me and slammed her door shut. I knocked on her door but she had turned her speakers up all the way, blasting some godawful tween pop-punk. It went on like that for the rest of the night, without me able to ask her anything. Between the reverberation of the music in the walls and my worry about my little sister, I didn’t fall asleep until nearly dawn.

I sprang awake and looked over at the bedside clock. “Shit!” I had overslept by an hour, Aubrey was supposed to be on the way to school now. Was she asleep too, or had I missed her?

Getting up and sitting on the side of the bed, I noticed my legs dangled a good few inches off the ground. “Oh no, no no no….” My heart raced, my worst nightmare had come true. She must have snuck in at night and siphoned off over a foot from me while I slept. I felt hurt, but for some reason I felt more nervous for what she planned to do with it. I couldn’t let her go through with it. Hell I couldn’t even let her show up to school like that, with all the questions that would be asked it would ruin me and her forever.

I had to act fast. While rushing around looking for clothes I tried to dial her cellphone, but she didn’t answer. All of mine were too big, shirts draping me like a dress and pants too large to be salvaged by any belt. Wracking my brain for what to do, I came up with a solution. But not one that would leave my dignity intact.

I dashed into Aubrey’s room and opened up her closet. I estimated I was a little shorter than her original size, but all her things should still fit. I picked out a t-shirt with a pink cartoon kitten on it (somehow the least embarrassing thing I could find at the time) and a pair of tiny, tight fitting jeans that hugged me in ways I was not used to. I didn’t have time to wallow in the shame of wearing my little sister’s clothes, I had to find her.

Running out the door, I grabbed Aubrey’s bike that was propped up on the side of the house. The school wasn’t too far away and I made good time getting there. But I couldn’t just go in. I noticed the buses had already arrived but there were still students fraternizing out in the parking lot and surrounding grounds. I unassuredly made my way past the crowds, looking ahead and not even able to see the faces of the huge (to me) students. My heart raced and everything seemed amplified, the cacophonous chatter of gossipy groups of teen girls, the towering people brushing past me casually but nearly knocking my small frame off my feet. I could hear the giggling at my diminutive size and cutesy clothing. But what most alarmed me was every distant, insignificant cough and sneeze into the wind, germs threatening to rip through my threadbare immune system, the miniscule part left after I pawn the rest off every morning to keep the only person left I care about alive.

Yes, Aubrey, that was who I was here for. But wherever I looked, she wasn’t there. Finally, the crowd thinned out and I found myself at the edge of the grounds. Off in the distance, I saw a tall redheaded girl sitting by a tree, and another tall blonde girl approaching her. I realized the latter was my sister and sprinted after her. I could barely make out the girls’ speech as Aubrey got closer to her target.

“Um, hey. Do I, like, know you?” asked the redhead, rising from her seat on the ground. Aubrey just continued to walk closer, closing in and straightening out her back as high as it could go.

“Wait, wait, you’re that girl from yesterday. Abby or something? You kinda seem different. Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it so just chill out- Hey!”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My sweet, formerly petite, meek little sister was pinning another girl to a tree by her wrists. She only had about an inch on her, but I could sense the perverted determination behind her actions. The other girl struggled and squirmed, but Aubrey slapped her hard across the face.

Welling up with tears, my little sister’s victim shrieked, “What the hell, you crazy bitch!? Just let me go, I’m sorry for whatever! A-and why are you like, way taller…”

Finally within distance, I yelled out “Aubrey!” She turned around, releasing the other girl who slumped to the ground, sobbing. Aubrey bounded over to me, scooping me up in her arms with ease.

“Oh, big bro! I knew you’d come, I knew it! You care about me so much….” She exclaimed with joy, still holding me tight. I was unable to resist when she gripped me around the neck with her large, soft, but strong hand. “Thank you,” she whispered sincerely, as I felt myself shrink away in her grasp. I felt her hand grow until it wrapped around my neck and more. Her beautiful face, topped off with bright, crystal clear blue eyes, looked to be in complete serenity as she ascended. For a second, her eyebrows furrowed, as if she had just come up with a thought, and then I felt a strange sensation, like every muscle in my body falling asleep at once.

But it was all over in a second, and I was dumped on the ground in a pile of clothes as Aubrey reasserted her attention on the girl, who was now attempting to scramble away and get help. My sister had apparently kicked off her shoes before her latest self-induced growth spurt, but the rest of her clothes stayed on, in various degrees of either torn or strained. It was then, looking at the towering form of my once-little sister, now more like a statue of an ancient goddess brought to life, that I realized what happened.

I grazed my hand down my own arm and felt how bony it was, then back to my sister, whose arms were now mostly uncovered by the inadequate sleeves of her schoolgirl outfit. Her arms were very well toned, and a cute little bicep peeked out. The rest of her body had tightened in the same way. Now, I was no bodybuilder, but as someone who spends the vast majority of my time in mandatory exile indoors, I like to do regular exercise to stay fit. But now I was bordering emaciated. My little sister had stolen my muscle mass, my strength, and added it to her already freakishly tall body.

Aubrey quickly caught up to the girl trying to escape.  She reached out one long arm and caught the collar of her shirt, yanking back and knocking her on her butt. She then stood over her, leg on each side of the poor girl’s waist, and looked down, grinning with sadistic delight. The redhead just lay there, quivering in the shadow of a nearly 9 foot tall Amazonian bully. Aubrey made a hocking sound with her throat, and spit right on the girl’s face. The huge glob splatted and covered a huge area, the viscous fluid even covering her nostrils as the victim started to rapidly hyperventilate through her mouth.

“Aw, it’s ok little girl, calm down now,” Aubrey mocked, “nothing to be afraid of as long as you mind yourself where big people are stepping.”

Then she raised one unfathomably long, muscular leg and stepped down hard the girl’s stomach. Her huge foot, big toe peeking through a hole in a black sock that was stretched almost completely to its limit, took up nearly the whole girl’s torso. The redhead winced in pain, and my sister stifled a cruel laugh.

“P-please….” She begged.

“What’s that, little girl? Sorry, but it’s hard to hear you all the way up here. Honestly, I’m getting a little sick of your whining like a little baby! Maybe it’s time I put you down to sleep.”

Aubrey bent down, foot still pinning the girl to the grass, and went to place her massive palm over the girl’s mouth. She wriggled wildly but it was no use against the huge girl’s strength and rage.

Freeing myself from confines of the billowing tent of my little sister’s shirt, I spotted the two, my jaw nearly dropped when I saw what she was doing. Despite not even being two feet tall, and naked, I ran as fast as I could over. Wrapping my arms around her calf, my head not even coming to her knee, I shook as hard as I could to get her attention. “Bree!”

Thankfully, she turned around. “We are going home, right now!” I commanded to the gigantic teenager. I knew she could kill me, hell I probably couldn’t outwrestle her foot at this size, but I also knew she was my little sister still, and she loved me. It paid off, she seemed to suddenly come to her senses, or at least regain a healthy amount of fear of getting caught. She grabbed me and the clothes and hightailed it off the school campus. A girl as tall as that, with enhanced leg muscles, can apparently make very good time running. She held me against her chest with one arm the whole way, my face buried against her breasts, still very small even with the size change, but comfortingly soft and warm. A few beads of sweat dripped down her neck from the run, soaking her collar and dampening my hair. The fresh, rainy smell of my sister’s perspiration and the cool breeze rushing past as we traveled was bizarrely soothing.

“I love you big bro,” she stated, tinged with guilt.

“I love you too, Bree….”