"Haha. 'Attack of The 50 foot Cheerleader. The Irony, right Johanna?" I say with a chuckle.

"I know, right?" She says with a smile.

Maybe my time here won't be as bad as I thought. Especially with Joahnna around. I'm actually getting used to being in my birthday suit. Now that I say that, it sounds weird. But who wouldn't get used to naked after being only 2 inches tall.

It's been a hell of a month. Tortured by my bipolar crush and her pure evil friends. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen the last of them. Soon enough they'll pop up again. Just have to wait. Even though I don't want to wait.

What am I saying? This isn't going to get better! I need to get out of here, away from these people! I'll wait until Joahnna falls asleep.



She's asleep. Time to go! I hop off her legs and onto the couch cushion. I grab onto Joahnna's pants and slide down to the floor. I look around and see nothing useful. Only a dog bowl and...... Wait. A dog bowl? If theres a dog bowl..... Then theres a dog! Ohhhh man, oh this isn't good. I search for the dog but I'm then pushed to the floor and a heavy weight is pushed on me. Joahnna's foot is on top of me! But she's still snoring. She must've shifted.

Her giant foot fills my vision. I try not to move to much as I crawl out of under her foot. She giggles and she shifts again. Her foot pushes my head into the hardwood floor and almost scream in pain.

I then wiggle around and finally find my way out. I roll out from under her foot and sit up. I rub my forehead and stand up. After going under the couch, I look for the dog. Hopefully its not big. If is, it'll rip me apart. If it finds me. Man, I cannot believe the shit I get myself into! I'm 2 inches tall, naked, almost died, and trapped in a girl's house.

Then, I feel my body shifting. The pain is tolerable. I notice I'm growing. Yes! I'M GROWING- only 1 inch more. Great. 3 inches tall. How is one godamned extra inch is going to help me?

My luck is gone. Just gone. Hopefully nothing else happens. I continue walking and make my way to the kitchen. But guess what?

Of all the crappiest things to happen, the dog starts barking. Only, I don't see him. I hear a "clacking" noise behind me so I start to run. I run for the back door in the kitchen. A doggie door! Finally, my luck is back!

Time for a game of bull figher! I run up to the middle of the doggie door and stand there, looking at the dog charging towards me. It's a Toy. Not a real to, the kind of dog that is really small. It charges at me faster and right when its about to hit, I jump out of the way. The dog pushes it open and I dash out of there. I run to the front of the house and I hear the dog chasing me.

I run along the sidewalk, passing houses. I then feel my legs tiring. I'm running slower.

Then, I see a toy helicopter fly out of nowhere. It flies close to me and I grab onto the rails at the bottom. It then flies higher and I look down. I'm pretty high up. This is a good time to mention my fear and phobia of hights. I scream and close my eyes. I hear the helicopter blades slowing and I look down. A girl with a remote holds out her hand to catch me. I try to get out of the way, but its no use. She grabs me and throws the remote on the floor.

"I knew I'd need that one day." she says. Damn! I escaped one girl so I could caught by another?!

"LET ME GO!!" I shout.

"You talk? Ohhhhh, Eternity is going to love this!" She says.

Eternity?

Now that I think about, what I did was really stupid. I mean, I have done some really idiotic stuff in my 13 years of life, but nothing as stupid as this. Nothing. But then again, wouldn't you have done the same? I chose a twisting life over a horrible death. By a dog. At 3 inches tall. Not the smartest decision to some of you, but it was a damn good one to me.

My thoughts were interupted by the sound of a door closing. I was still in the girls fist, my hands were pinned to my sides. She then tossed me on the bed and I feel with a thud. Now that I think about it, I haven't really ate ANYTHING for a while. No wonder I'm all bones.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to throw you on the bed like that." Says the girl.

I crawled away from her and remembered about manhood. I covered it with my left hand.

"What are you? An alien?" the girl asked me, with her head tilted at an angle. She was still standing up.

"I....... I-I'm...... my name is Julian. Whats your name?" I studdered alot while trying to get the words out.

"I'm 13 and my name is Hope. How old are YOU?" she asked me, honestly interested in me, still looking at me as a person. Unlike Julissa, and Miranda, and all the other girls.

I still have a chance. A chance to stop her from thinking I'm not a human anymore. Not a pet, or a toy. A person.

"I'm 13 too." I say, a little too akward.

"What are you? Not to be mean, but seriously, what are you? No offense." She asks me with a raised eyebrow.

I see her face for the first time. She has coal black hair with a pair of very light brown eyes. Her face looks clear and smooth, without a single blemish. She's wearing a loose white t-shirt that says "I LOVE NY" on it. She was also wearing some brown shorts.

"What do you mean? I'm a kid! Like you! I'm human! I was regular sized, but my friend shrunk me and I was almost killed by my crush, Miranda. Before that, I was a slave to all of my friends that were girls." I say.

"Wow. How'd you get here?" she asks me.

"I escaped from this girl Joahnna. I don't know if I should thank you, or despise you from bringing me in here. So I'm going to be straight with you. Just give me an honest answer. Do you think of me as a toy, or as a person?" I ask her, afraid of what her answer might be.

"I......" she starts. I look down at the bedsheet.

She then tilts my head up with her index finger so I could look at her.

"I think of you as a person. I'm sorry I was a little rough to you earlier. I just want you to know I won't be mean to you like those other girls." She says.

I smile. Until she says "Although, I don't know about my sister Eternity."

Uh-oh. If she's younger than Hope, that means she might want to "PLAY" with me. A game I might not survive. Although, I'm still happy that she still thinks I'm a person and not a toy.

"Well, before we continue talking, can you give me something..... to like...... wear?" I ask akwardly.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Here." She grabs a kleenex tissue and gives to me. I grab it and wrap it around me. It didn't really let me move, so I wrapped it around my waist. It would show my stomach and chest, but at least not my piece.

"Oh yeah, do you have a mirror I could use?" I ask.

"Sure." She said as she opened a cabinet and brought a small square mirror out.

She lowered it down and I saw someone else. This wasn't the Julian I saw in the mirror in the morning several weeks ago. This was someone else. All traces of my past self were gone.

My hair had grown long. I could still spike it up, but it would be a hassle. My stomach..... well there was no stomach. I was so skinny, I'd make a poor african kid look well-fed. Sorry for my reference. Okay, I exagerated a bit, but it's true. My eyes have black circles around them.

I then heard my stomach growl. I think Hope might've heard it too.

"Um Hope? Can I have something to eat? I'm starving." I say.

"Oh, yeah, sure. But I have to introduce you to my mom first. Are you okay with that?" She says while gently holding me in her palm.

"Yeah. I'd like to meet her." I say.

Honestly, I just wanted something to eat, but I of course didn't tell her that.

She got a good hold on me and she started walking to a hallway. We entered the hallway and I saw a picture of a girl who wasn't Hope. She looked like she was 17. If that is Hope's sister, I have a little more time to live. Hopefully, it is.

Hope then looks down at me and says "Are you ready?"

I nod and say "As ready as I'll ever be."

Hope opens her hand and I see we are in a kitchen. Across from us is a woman, washing her hands in the sink.

"Mom?" Hope starts, "I need to show you something."

The lady turns around while saying "What is it swee-".

She stops dead in her tracks and screams at the top of her lungs. Then, she slaps me out of Hope's hand and I fly into the sink. I hit the metal sink with a loud thump. I'm lucky my back took the force of the hit. Meanwhile I try to stand up, Hope is trying to grab me and explain everything. But her mom is still screaming.

Then, she does something that made me scream. She holds Hope back and turns the faucet on. In the flash of a second, I'm pounded by ice-cold water. I scream for Hope as my makeshift kleenex shorts disolves.

"STOP, PLEASE!" I scream to Hope's mom.

She stops screaming and stares at me. Then, she turns the water off. I shiver in the metallic sink.

Hope pushes her aside and gently wraps me in a napkin. I shiver in her grasp.

"Mom, why did you do that? He's not a bug!" Hope says, angry at her mom.

"Why...... did it t-talk?" Hope's mom says, staring at my tiny form in astonishment.

"Because, he a boy! LOOK!" Hope carefully holds me in front of her mom.

"A.... Boy? How?" Her mom says.

"M-my name is Julian." My teeth chatter as I talk, "I escaped from a g-g-girl who was going to t-torture me. A different girl shr-shrunk me. Can you please h-help me?" I say weakly.

With the napkin on I'm still cold as an ice cube in a freezer.

"I..... I'm sorry. I'm Elizabeth. And I'm sure I could help you. Please forgive me for what I just did." Says Elizabeth.

"It's...." I feel my eyes getting heavy. I close them and I feel myself unable to open them....



I slowly open my eyes and rub them to clear my sight. But its no use, its dark in here. Too dark. Where am I? I stand up and walk around. After a few seconds of walking, I walk face first into a wall. I fall back and land on something soft. I feel it and realize my situation. I'm in a make-shift bed made from a shoe box. This is bad. I have a serious case of Claustrophobia. I can't get out. It's getting smaller!

"HELP, GET ME OUT!" I scream.
(I told you I had Claustrophobia.)

I find myself breathless. I can't breath. No room. No light. I think I'm have a panic attack! Theres no air. I run over to the cardboard wall and punch it. I punch it as hard as I can. I actually feel myself getting through. I make a tiny hole and try to make it bigger. Then, the box shakes and the lid is removed and light pours in. I fall to the floor and look up. A familiar hand comes in and grabs me. It pulls me out and I see it was Hope.

"What happened?" She says while rubbing her eyes. I obviously just woke her up fron her sleep. "You were screaming." She continues.

I crawl in fetal position in her palm and say "Please, don't put me back in there, please!"

"Small spaces..... c-can't handle them....... Don't let go. Please." I say.

Okay, I need to see a doctor or something. I sound like wimp. A really wimpy wimp.

But its not my fault. I've been traumatized by this. One time, I was walking home with my friend. I heard an odd noise in a small little hole in this giant rock (my school is in the desert, a mile away from home.) I decided to investigate. I crawled in the hole and got stuck. I couldn't move my arms or head. I screamed and my friend asked me what happened. I told him I got stuck and to get help imediately.

In hindsight, that was a stupid move. But I was 8, what do you expect?

"Are you okay? I didn't know you were afraid of the dark. I'm sorry." Hope says.

"It's not the dark I'm afraid of. Its the small spaces. Small spaces with no light." I say.

"Oh, sorry."

"Its okay, can we just move on? What happened?" I say, embaressed about the past 5 minutes.

"Well I tried to introduce you to my mom, but she slapped you in the sink and tried to drown you. After that, you were knocked out cold. Then I explained everything to my mom and she made you this shoebox." Says Hope.

Damn, how could I not remember almost drowning?

"Hey sis, whats up- what's in your hand?" I hear a voice behind Hope say.

"Hey Eternity." Says Hope.

Shit.

"I...... Um..... I have....." Hope studders, trying to find an answer to the question.

"Don't do it! Don't show me to her!" I whisper to Hope.

"Here, let me s-........." I hear Eternity say.

Thats it. I'm screwed. Eternity saw me. My cover is blown.

Eternity snatches me from Hope and runs into the hallway. I see Elizabeth sitting on the couch watching some show.

Eternity walks up to her and yells "MOM, DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?! HOPE HAD THIS...... THIS....... BUG!"

Her grip on me was tightening and I couldn't breathe. Which meant I couldn't talk. Which made Eternity think I was a bug.

"Honey, that isn't a bug! It's a boy! And you're crushing him! Give him to me!" Elizabeth says.

Eternity hands me to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth holds me in her palm.

She points at me and says "See it's a boy. His name is Julian. And he is a new part of our family." Elizabeth says as she places me on the foot-stool

"WHAT!?" Me and Eternity say in unision.

"I don't want to stay here, no offense, with you people! I have a family too!" I shout.

"Mom, you can't just let it in here like that!" Eternity says.

"I believe thats 'him in', but I agree with her!" I say.

"Eternity, Julian is staying with us wether you like it or not!" Elizabeth says.

"THIS IS SO UNFAIR!" Eternity yells.

She screams and kicks the foot-stool. The one I'm on. I fly through the air and fall flat on my back. I think I even heard a little crack. I look at Eternity. She stomping into her room. I look at where I landed. Right in the middle of Elizabeth's big soft feet.

I back up under the couch. Or at least I tried. I bit my knuckle and slid under the couch. I felt a searing pain in my spinal cord. That's one thing she did to damage me.

"Julian? Julian? Where are you?" I hear Elizabeth stand up.

"ETERNITY! GET OVER HERE NOW!" Elizabeth shouts at the hallway.

I hear the thudding footsteps of Eternity coming near.

"What do you want, mom?" I hear Eternity say.

"I haven't seen Julian. Did you grab him!?" Elizabeth says to Eternity.

"Why would I?" I hear Eternity say.

I hear Elizabeth's mouth open to say something, but no words come out.

I look up at Eternity. She has her eyes on the floor. They're following up to.... Me? She looks at me and stamps her foot on the floor, Grinding it as if she was crushing a ciguarette. I'm screwed. Again.

"Well tell me if you see him, okay?" Elizabeth says.

"Sure thing mom." Eternity says while Grinning at me.

Elizabeth walks away and almost instinctively, Eternity grabs me with her toes and walks towards her room. I lay wedged between her toes. With every step she takes, my spinal cord gets more fucked up. She's putting all of her weight on me when she steps on me on purpose.

We finally make it to her room. She opens the door and kicks her foot in the air, letting go of me. I fly in the air and hit her purple-sheeted bed. She then closes the door and locks it.

"I've got you now you little shit. You think you can come in my house? And think you're family? You're wrong. You're a bug. An insect. I should crush you right now. What do you think 'Julian'? You want me to crush you?" Eternity says, right in front of me.

"No..... My back..... please help...." My voice sounds raspy as I talk.

"You want me to help? Okay, here." Eternity says.

She grabs me and places me on the floor, next to giant feet.

"We're going to play a game. If you survive, I'll help you. If you don't, you'll already be dead." Eternity says.

She said 'survive'. But its clear I don't have a choice.

"I'll.... Play." I say.

"This is how you play. I give you 30 seconds to run away. Then you hide. If I find you, I'll squish you. If you last at least 10 minutes without me finding you, I'll help you. Got it?" She says.

I lay on the floor and look up at her smirk, right in front of me.

"You're....... an evil bitch...." I wheeze out.

"I'll take that as a yes. You're 30 seconds start...... Now." She says.

I turn to my stomach and lift myself up. I cough and run away from Eternity. Why can't I be normal? I want to go home. I want to be normal-sized. I NEED therapy to forget all of this. I wish I could go home.

"Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen," Eternity says.

By this time, I'm almost under her bed. I limp under it and I fall to the floor face-first. I lift my head up a bit and see all kinds of forgotten things under here. Lipstick, dolls, loose change, dead bugs, posters, dust, dust bunnies, old homework, so many things. My dead body is about to the next forgotten thing under here. Now that I think about it, her reaction to me was way too over dramatic. I don't know her and she already wants to kill me? Maybe I'd be better off with Miranda. Would I? I mean, when I was normal sized, she was nice to me. She was, and still is (even though she tried to kill me), pretty. Her voice was low and soft and soothing. My crush for two years. My crush tried to crush me. The Irony.

"Twenty Five, Twenty Six," Eternity says.

I'm going to die anyway, might as well not make an effort. I'm in so much physical and mental pain right now, I might come out and ask her to kill me already. I limp to a sock under the bed and hide under it. Now I just have to wait. Man, what a way to go. Being squashed under the foot of a girl. I always thought I would die by a car crash, or food poisoning. Who would've thought I'd go this way?

What am I talking about? Do I want to die? I could still survive! What's wrong with me!? I move the sock and crawl to the far corner of the bed and I hide behind the leg of the bed. I huddle up in fetal position and think about Miranda. I know, I know, she almost killed me. But still, she's beautiful. She's nice. Valerie and Julissa are too. I just haven't seen that nice part of them. When I was normal, they were nice to me too. I have a friend named Jeffery, and he's Valerie's cousin. Melanie is also Jeffery's cousin. Melanie was always kind of a bitch to me. In class, I always tried to be funny and make people laugh, but she always killed it. I tried to be nice to her, but it didn't work.

Wow. I'm really getting into a deep look on my life. Maybe it's because I might die in a few minutes. Speaking of minutes, how long has it been? I don't want to risk looking out and getting caught, so I just sit there in this small space. My back against the leg the bed. My shins and knees against the corner where the two walls meet. Man, I hate being naked. I have splinters in places I didn't know I had. I just have to stay calm and cool, or else my claustrophobia will kick in. Good things. Like Miranda. I can't stop thinking about her. Her face. Her voice. Things I'll never see if I don't get out of this hell house.

I feel a cold breeze against my left side. I look in that direction and see and air vent. An air vent! If I can get in it, I could make my way to Hope's room and she could save me! The only thing is, I have no way to navigate through this house. My chances outside are better than in here.

"Where are you, you little shit?!" Eternity quietly screams.

Hehe. "Quietly Screams". A contradiction. Like that Startbursts commercial. Solid but juicy. Ha ha. I hate this suspense. Is she going to find me? Or let the bugs get to me first? Oh yeah, the vent! I have to open it quietly, or she'll hear it and kill me. I have to make a distraction. Maybe if I throw something far away from me, she'll hear it and investigate and I can make my getaway. Perfect! It's fool-proof! Well, considering I'm a fool, it might work. Now, what do I have to work with?

I look around. Everything is too big for me to throw. Except the lipstick and the loose change. I'll try the lipstick. I walk over to it and pick it up. It's half the size of my body. I can do it. As I walk over to the edge of the bed where I see Eternity on her knees looking under her bookshelf, I get a good grip on the lipstick. Here goes nothing. I spin around and around with the lipstick pressed against my chest. Right when I'm about to puke, I let go. It flies away from me. Right into Eternity's foot.

Shit. Again.

As I sit inside the vents of Hope's and Eternity's house, I think about how the hell I got away from Eternity a while ago.

After the most cliche thing ever to happen to me happened, the lip gloss bottle hitting her foot, I ran over to the grate to the vents. I got a good strong grip on the grate, and a burst of adrenaline let me rip off the grate. I run inside and keep running. I hear Eternity curse under her breath behind me.

"Fucking piece of shit." She says with a level of anger in her voice.

A level that wants me to never be found by her. She has proven that she is the main character in this house. She doesn't want to upstaged by someone smaller than her middle finger. Anyways, as soon as I got into the vents, I just kept on running. I felt the cold smooth metal under my bare feet. I saw the little breath cloud after every time I took a breath. A little puff of smoke, to me. I started shivering a few minutes after in the vents. It was extremely cold in there. Then again it was summer, of course it would be cold, they have the Air Conditioning on. But now that Eternity knows I'm in a easily trapped area she could flush me out. She could turn the heat on. My bare skin would be burned against the metal. I'd sweat and burn. It sickens me to think about it. Soon, I found a room temperature area. I sat down slowly, to think about my next move. The burst of adrenaline made me forget about the throbbing pain in my left leg.

And here I m now, trying to ignore the pain in my leg that I can't do anything about it at this size. Or anything at all. I should have brought one of her socks to keep me warm. But I can't blame myself. The heat of the moment made me make choices that kept me alive. But the ones to come most likely won't. What IS my next move? I can guarantee if Eternity gets her claws on me, I'm as good as dead. What to do what to do.....

It's way too dark for me to find my way around the vents. I take back about what I said about living outside would be easier. I forgot about the deadly animals, insects, and so on, that could kill me. I need to find the address of this house for two reasons. For revenge when or if I get back to normal. And the second, to see if I know any people or places near here. But how? First, I need to get up, and find some light. Then after that, I'll look for the vent that leads to the living room. Maybe there could be forgotten mail on the floor. Or something like that.

Great plan! I get up and ignore me being in my birthday suit in the freezing cold in here, and my pain caused by Eternity. I follow the faintest glow of light ahead of me. I hear the faint chatter of a TV. I walk foward. I think as I walk.

What will I do when I find the address? How will I make it out? Is there a vent in here that leads to the outside? Wait. The air conditioner! If I can follow the pipes to the machine, I can find a way out of there! I can make it out and get help! I just hope it doesn't grind me up or something. I don't know how air conditioners work, but I know they start at one vent. As soon as I find the address of this hell house, I'll make it out of here. Finally, my brain is working!

Not paying attention, I walk straight into a vent wall. I fall down on my back making a soft "thump". I sit up and look to my left and my right. The path splits up. Crap. Maybe I could listen to both paths and hear where the TV chatter is coming from. But my ears are ringing from hitting my head on the wall and floor. I rub my forehead and stand up. I walk into the the left path and listen closely. Nothing but a hum of some machine. I walk over to the right path. Right before I put my right foot down, I don't feel the floor. I fall into a tube and hit my head hard against a metal pipe as I hit the floor. I feel my vision blurring. I stay on the floor and close my eyes......





"Let's just keep looking Hope. He has to be here." I hear a woman say.

What happened? I sit up and realize I'm in total darkness. I can't see a single thing. I just stare of into the darkness to try to let my eyes adjust to the lack of light. It works a bit and I can see round, cylinder-like shapes around me. What happened to me? Wait, now I remember. I fell down a pipe and I must have hit my head, making me black out. Gently, I touch the back of my head. I feel a bump, and an extreme amount of pain. I shout in pain. In a quick act, I cover my mouth Someone had to have heard that loud pain-filled shriek. I better hide. I don't know where I could be. Maybe I'm in the water-workings of the sink?

As i stand on my two legs, I realize the pain in my legs is gone. But my head and back are killing me. Looking around, I see my eyes have adjusted better. I can see vague shapes and colors around me. I'm in an area with alot of pipes. Many, pipes. I walk foward, trying to navigate around the pipes. But as I walk, I trip on something furry and big. I hit my face against what feels like hardwood. I use my arms to lift myself and turn around. It looks like..... A dead rat?!? If he's dead, they must have mouse traps in here, or he starved to death. And with Eternity looking for me, I'm sure it was a mouse trap. This just got very dangerous. I need something to make sure there aren't any traps ahead of me. Like a long stick! Like blind people do, I'll be using the stick to see the things I can't right now.

I get on my knees and start feeling the ground, looking around blindly. I hear footsteps coming. I stand up and start running. Trying to avoid the big dark objects, which could be pipes. I trip on a wire or something on the floor, but I keep balance and stay on my feet. But I feel something ahead. Maybe another wire? As I reach it, I jump, just in case. But it's higher than I thought it was. It hits me in the waist and makes me tumble on the floor. I feel my left arm hit a piece of cold metal for a split second. Then the next thing I know, I feel the most powerful, head-splitting, bone-cracking, tear-dropping pain I've ever experienced in my entire life. I hear a loud snap along with it.

I scream louder than I ever knew I could. I shouted in pain, trying to regain the nerves in my left arm. I stop screaming and clutch my left shoulder. I look at my left arm. I flinch and the pain grows. I can't even MOVE my left hand. The nerves are being blocked off from what feels like 2 tons of pressure, all falling on one part of my arm. I don't know how my arm didn't snap off, but right now, all I feel is a cold heavy piece of metal resting on the middle area of my shoulder and elbow. I feel a smooth piece of wood under my elbow. Being able to do nothing, I just sit there silent tears coming out of my eyes. I look up. Is this really the end? After what I've escaped? What I survived through? My killer is going to be a damn rat trap? This can't be the end. It can't. I know I'm going to regret this, but I start making as much as I can, to gain attention.

I shout, and I punch the wall or whatever it is with my right hand. I continue this for two minutes, then, I grow weak. I haven't food had food or water. I can't go on anymore. My mouth is dry and tastes like my own spit. I haven't slept, but I've been knocked the fuck out by a pipe. What can I do in this condition? I use my last energy to punch the wall as hard is I can.

"What was that?" I hear Hope say.

I feel footsteps coming closer to me and a big thud against the floor.

"Julian? Is that you?" She says, against the wall, blasting my ears out.

"Yes!" I shout, "Help!".

"Really? I'm coming Julian, don't worry!" She says.

I really don't think before I act. I don't have care for the consequences of my actions are. But, I soon will I bet.

All of a sudden, a wall of bright light shines upon me. The light is too bright and I shut my eyes, to adjust. She screams in horror the second she saw me. She gets up to call her mom. After my eyes adjust, I look to my left and scream too. Apparently, the rat trap had cut me in some way, and blood was seeping out, but since my nerves have been M.I.A, I didn't feel anything but the cold metal and wood. It turns out I was in the kitchen sink. There are washing supplies around me, soap, scrubbers, Clorox, that kind of stuff. I shout for Hope to come back. Then she returns with her mom. Her mom kneels down to get a better look at me. She gasps and says "Oh my!".

"Please help me. I haven't had food or water." I say, trying to look as pathetic as I can.

"I'll try..." Hope's mom says.

She hovers her hands over my body and with her right hand, she, with the most grace and careful way ever, picks the right half of my body and, with her left hand. She carefully and slowly picks the rat trap up, holding my hand up with her pinkie. Standing up, she slowly walks me over to the table. She sets me on it and looks in her medical kit. It looks like that of a doctors. She pulls out a needle and she puts some liquid into it.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

She ignores me and walks over to me with the needle. I see the sharp pointy tip of the metal, and the plastic body of the shot, holding a strange liquid.

"This might hurt a bit." She says.

The needle is big to me. She then inserts the needle into my right shoulder. It doesn't really hurt at all. Then my vision gets wobbly and blurry, like I'm high. I try to keep my eyes open, but it's no use. I just close my eyes for a bit. Just to..... rest them.....





I wake up to the feeling of soft warm flesh. I open my eyes and see Hope's eyes wide looking down at me. I shout and back away, but as I back away, I feel a sharp pain in my left arm. I stop in my tracks and look at my left arm. Almost all of it is covered by white bandages. I remember now, that damn Rat trap. I sit up. Hope has me in her hands, in the living room. The TV is on so I'm glad she wasn't watching me the whole time I was asleep. That would have been a bit creepy. I'm also glad I didn't wake up in Eternity's hands. I sit up and look at Hope.

"What did your mom do to me?" I ask.

"She drugged you so you would fall asleep. Then, she worked on you arm. She had to break the metal on your arm and when she got the metal off, well, your arm was REALLY messed up. She did as much as she could to fix your arm, but...." Hope said, talking slower and slower.

"But, what?" I ask.

"Your arm won't heal she said. Not without the help of a real professional doctor." She said quickly.

It felt liked I was punched in the stomach. My arm will never heal? I can't go to a doctor, they will call the government and take me away to perform tests on me. Once they find out about me, it'll be the end. I can kiss my house goodbye, as well as ever seeing my mom again. I grow pale and lose my balance. I fall off of Hope's hand. She shouts and quickly puts her other hand under me and catches me.

"I....I can't stay like this forever. I.... I need my hand. What am I going to do?" I say laying down, my arms and legs spread out, looking at the ceiling.

"We'll take care of you." Hope says, looking down at me.

They still don't know that the whole entire reason this happened to me was because of Eternity. Should I snitch? If I do, Eternity will get her revenge and make it look like an accident. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and call a truce with Eternity. I don't know why she's mad at me, but I really don't want any other limbs broken. Speaking of broken, how am I not dead? My body has taken a hell of a beating. Falling, freezing cold, being crushed, rat traps, and all kinds of things. I should be dead already! Then, as if on cue, Eternity walks in. I look at her and she looks at me.

"Eternity, can you watch Julian while I take a shower really quick?" She asks Eternity.

"Sure." She says with an evil grin only I can see.

"Thanks." Hope says as she puts me in her hands. "I'll be back in while.

"Okay." Eternity says as she sits on the couch.

Hope walks away and Eternity looks at me with a devilish smile. I have a feeling I'm going to break another arm.

Eternity crushes me in her fist, my arms pinned to my sides. She looks down at me, I try to scream, but the force is way too much than you can imagine. I keep trying to scream, as nothing is coming out, my throat grows hoarse and raspy. I try to wiggle but she has me on lockdown.

"You shouldn't have ran away from me you little shit. My mom and Hope may think of you as a person, but I see you as a Toy, made for my fun and a way to take out my anger. Can you see how angry I am?" She says.

I try to nod, but her fingers have restrained my entire body. I throw my head back in pain, my mouth still open.

"I said, 'Do you know how angry I am?!" She asks me, shaking me back and forth.

My head moves back and forth, with the movement of her hands.

"yes...." I weakly whisper.

"Good." She simply says.

She wave me over the coffee table in the living room, over 5 inches high in the air. That's like 6 feet in the air to my size. She opens her hand and lets me fall on the cold glass. I hit it with a thud. I land on my face and my body falls soon after. I lift my upper body with my right hand and take a long deep breath. It hurts my chest though. I try to lift myself up using my right hand, but then, with the speed of light, I feel a large object push my into the glass. I move my head to look at what is about to squish my insides out of my mouth. It's Eternity's finger. It presses into my back with no mercy. I shout in pain. God, how long does it take to take a shower?!

"Eternity.... please don't kill me...." I wheeze out.

"What? I wouldn't kill you." She says as she lifts her finger of my back.

I turn around on my back and say "Really?"

I see her finger coming for me but it's too late. She stabs me with her sharp finger nail. It cuts me and I scream. It's like being stabbed with a kitchen knife. I convulse in the pain but it makes it worse.

"I wouldn't kill you yet, because I wanna have some fun with you. Do you want to know why I don't like you?" She asks me.

I try my best to stay silent and not move. She frowns at me and twists her nail around, making the cut wound much bigger.

"Fuck! Yes, I do!" I shout as loud as I can.

"I don't like the way you take advantage over being small." Eternity says bluntly.

"How am I taking advantage of being small? You're the one who broke my arm, injured my leg, scarred me mentally, and now you're sticking your finger into my chest! You're the one taking advantage of how I'm small, you.... you.... you Bitch!" I shout as I wrap my fingers around Eternity's finger.

In an attempt to save myself from having my heart taken out, I push Eternity's finger out of me. This, obviously, was a bad idea. She moves her finger and I look at my chest. There's a large, bloody hole in the middle of it. Well, large to me. I back up and turn to my side by accident. Blood seeps out of the wound and onto the table.

"MY CHEST!" I scream out.

By the way, I'm still naked. I've been really uncomfortable letting these people see my tally whacker.

Eternity sits back and looks at me. I've had enough. I look at the height of the table. A fall from here is enough to kill me, if I aim it right. Using all my strength, I try to get up. I get on one knee and try to lift myself up. It's no use though. Eternity's stab drained me of all my energy. I fall flat on my back letting blood fly in the air and fall on my face.

"Why god? Why me? Why did I have to shrink down to three fucking inches and be tortured, by girl after girl after girl? Just end it. Please." I say looking at the ceiling.

I look at Eternity and see her hand reaching for me. Quickly, I roll to the edge of the table. Without thought, I roll off the ledge and fall to my doom. Well, this is really it I guess. I'll never say good-bye to my mom, or my friends. I close my eyes, but the second I close them, I feel something hard. I hits me in my stomach, making blood fly onto it. I stay still for a few seconds, then I roll off of it onto what feels like carpet. I'm on my back, then I feel something coming up and out of my throat. I roll onto my stomach, and lift myself up. I open my eyes, I'm looking at Eternity's big foot. A lump in my throat is about to come out, I close my eyes and vomit blood all over Eternity's foot. It covers her toe and the top of her foot. She shrieks and moves her foot away, on the couch. I'm still vomiting blood. Then, I stop. I feel weak, as if I'm nothing. My arms wobbling, I fall face-first into a pool of blood vomit.

I feel fingers wrap around my waist and lift me up from the pool of blood. I feel the blood on my face, dripping off of it. I try to lift my head up to look at Eternity's face. I bet she's smiling at what she's done. My pain, and sorrow. No one can begin to fathom the pain I'm experiencing right now.

"I just want a truce. Please." I say.

Silence.

"Ok. Only for now. Only because I pity you. But just remember, you're a toy. MY toy." She says holding me to her face.

I see her raise her finger and
get it ready, like she's going to flick somethi-







"Julian? Come on, please wake up. Please!" I faintly hear a voice say.

"Wha?" I say, opening my eyes a bit.

"Julian? You're alive? Thank God!" She says.

I think Eternity flicked me in my face to knock me out to fake an accident. Why am I so easily knocked out? It's getting a bit old, and too painful.

"What happened?" I say rubbing my head.

"Eternity said that when she was walking, she stepped on something sharp. It made her flinch, dropping you. She caught you though, but with her finger, which is why you have a hole in you're chest. How are you feeling.?" She says.

"Okay I guess. My arm and chest are killing me though." I say.

I sit up to look at my body. I look like a goddamned mummy. My chest is covered with gauze and so is my left arm. I can still move my left hand though, I can also move my left arm. But it hurts like a bitch. The gauze on my chest has a few bloodstains on it, along with the gauze on my arm.

"By the way, I could use some food and water. Please." I say.

"Okay, I'll be right back, Try not to get hurt. My mom is kind of getting tired of saving your life." She says, with a laugh, to let me know she's joking.

She leaves on a pillow in her room and stands up and walks to the kitchen. Boy, am I hungry. I'm just glad there's a temporary truce between me and Eternity. She still said I was her toy though, so I can expect her to still torture me, but to go easy on me. I hope.

Eternity left to spend a night at her friends house, and Hope's mom is at the Hospital, working as a nurse. Thank god she's a nurse. If she wasn't I would have died a long time ago. I sit on Hope's lap, my head and upper body resting on her stomach. It's about 8:00, I think. We were watching some show call "Million Dollar Dare" or something like that. Basically, it's like one of those fake rigged shows where you get dared the most insane and outrageous stuff ever win money. Like swim in a tank full of sharks for ten minutes. The show has gotten many lawsuits, deaths, injuries, things like that. I don't even know how the show hasn't been cancelled yet. I start feeling a hot pain in my left arm. I try to move it around a little, but it makes it worse. The pain gets worse and worse. It starts crawling up to my shoulder and into my stomach. I try to keep calm and take deep breaths, but the pain is getting stronger and stronger. It's almost like I can feel it. Like a bulge of pain, crawling through my nerves bursting the wide open.I clutch my left shoulder and wince. Then, I feel a pain, a strong pain in my left arm. As if a thousand burning hot needles were jammed into my arm. All at the same time. I scream and roll off of Hope's leg and onto the couch. I fall on my arm and it makes the pain even WORSE. I shout and scream, convulsing in the pain.

"Julian, whats wrong?" She asks me as she gets up.

I lay on the couch cushion. I writhe around, unable to do anything as my body is wracked with searing pain. Hope gets on her knees and looks at me at eye level.

"What's happening?!" She shouts.

I look at her big brown eyes and say "Kill... me..."

The pain is more than anything I've ever experienced before. Maybe this is the pain I didn't experience before. Aftershock pain. A heavy pain then settles on my chest, the pain that Eternity caused me. Heat arises as the gauze cover my wounds. I feel hot. Without thinking, I rip the gauze off my chest. Or at least I try to. With my right arm, I rip the tape off the gauze and rip the gauze off. I see the red bloody crater Eternity left me. I scream at the pain and detail of the mess. My skin is hanging loosely, and I see my flesh torn apart. Deeper, I see my own meat, torn and crushed. I close my eyes and cover the wound with the gauze again. The pain is too much. I pass out, the last thing I see is Hope trying to figure out what is wrong with me.


*****


I awake to the sound of the TV blaring. I open my eyes again. I'm in a bowl of water. I have nothing but pair of shorts on. I look at the shorts. They must be barbie shorts, there's no tag on them and they feel a bit uncomfortable. I look at my arm. The gauze is off and is in the liquid I'm in. The liquid is lukewarm and reaches up to my neck. It seeped into my chest wound and into my arm wound. I dip my right hand into the liquid. It feels a bit thick. Like a shot of syrup was put into a cup of water. I lift my head up and out of the bowl. I see Hope sitting on the couch, with her bare feet propped up on the coffee table I'm on. She has a laptop on her lap and she's typing something. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a couple napkins. With my right arm, I lift myself out of the bowl and onto the glass surface. I feel a bit slippery. I wobble over to the napkin and I grab one. I rub it over my body, like a towel. I make sure to get rid of the gel-like substance off of me. After I feel like I'm clean, I walk over to Hope's foot. I touch the soft smooth skin of her sole. She gasps and moves her feet. She places the laptop to her side and takes a look at what touched her foot. I see her eyes look at me and I wave.

"You need to stop passing out, you're scaring me to death!" she says.

"It's not my fault my body is weak. Whatever Jessica gave me, it messed with my body. I wasn't this weak." I say. "What was I lying in?" I ask.

"It was alcohol with water and some vinegar." She says.

"No wonder I smell like shit." I think to myself. "Why was I in there?" I ask her.

"After you passed out, I went to Google and looked up something to help you. I found that mix was supposed to reduce pain and heal you faster. How do you feel?"

"Good, surprisingly."

"It worked! I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Hope, thanks for taking care of me. I think it's nice that you don't even know me and you and your mom are taking care me, letting me into your home. Thanks."

"No problem." She says with a big smile.

She carefully picks me up and sets me in her lap.

"Hope. Wanna know the whole story of how I got into this mess?" I ask her, looking up at her.

"Yeah. I do.

"Okay. It started out when I was getting ready for school. I was walking to the bus, like any other day, when my friend, Jessica, came beside me. She shoved some pill or candy in my mouth and I INSTANTLY shrunk. I don't know how that's possible, but it happened. I shrunk out of my clothes and she put me in her back pack. I think I fell asleep, but what I remember is standing naked and tiny in front of some of my friends. They soon decided my fate. They were going to take turns taking me home, playing with me. Basically, I was nothing but a toy to them. A G.I. Joe action figure."


********


"and then I met you." I finish.

Boy, explaining that took a while.

"Wow." She says, astounded at my tale.

"Yeah." I say.

"How are you alive?" Hope asks me, with a soft laugh.

"I don't know actually. But you and your mom have kept me alive so far. Thanks for that." I say.

"I'm sorry you went through all of that. You must miss being regular sized, huh?"

"Well yeah. At this size, small things can mean death for me. And it's hard to use things. Speaking of using things, I need to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, okay. Hop on."

Hope lowers her hand next to me and I crawl onto it. She walks into a hallway and into a bathroom. She puts me inside the sink and turns away so I could do my business. I walk over to the drain and squat to take care of my business. After I'm done, I shout for Hope. She turns the faucet on to a warm little waterfall for me and I wash myself. This feels good.

"Can I have some soap?" I shout.

"Sure. Here." Hope says.

She gives me a dab of soap. I dip my hands in it and scrub my hair. Dirt and gunk falls out it. Wow, didn't know I was that dirty. I wash myself good and I shout for Hope to turn the water off. She turns the knob, stopping the water. She hands me a rag and I dry myself off. Then she hands me my shorts. I put them on and step into her awaiting hand. Even though I passed out alot, I feel tired.

"Hey Hope, I know I passed out alot, but I feel tired. Can I go to bed?" I ask.

"I'm feeling tired too. Lets go to sleep then." She says.

She walks into the hallway again, into her room.

"Hope, is it okay if I sleep with you? In case I have a pain-spasm again? Please?" I ask.

"Sure, but be careful." She replies.

She turns off her light and crawls under the covers with me in her hand. When she's comfortable, she puts me on her pillow, next to her face. The pillow feels soft and I already feel my eyes closing.

I open my eyes and see a white ceiling. I feel a warm moist feeling on my right side. I sit up and look to my right. Hope is sleeping still, breathing on me. It smells good, like cinnamon gum. An itchy feeling arises on my upper chest. I try to scratch it, but I feel white cloth. Hope must have patched me up when I was asleep. What time is it? I look to my left and see an alarm clock with the numbers "6:12 A.M.". Why did I wake up early? Usually, I always wake up at like 9 or 8, but 6? That's crazy. My wounds are actually starting to heal. Well, my arm is at least. I try flexing it and moving it, but it still hurts a bit. Damn mouse trap. I officially hate them now. I stand up and roll off of the pillow. I land next to Hope's breast. Too close than I wanted to be with her. I sit up and try to get up, but Hope rolls over onto me. Her enormous breast rolls on me, crushing me. She has a tank top on, but I feel her nipple harden and press into my chest. I squirm but it just makes her giggle and smile. But she's still sleeping. My claustrophobia kicks in and I start squirming around, breathing heavily as I try to get out from under here. I shout and start panicking. I hate being trapped in small spaces. With no other options, I move my head downward and bite down on Hope's nipple. It's hard, like biting into a sour rubber ball. Hope shouts and turns over. My teeth are still on her nipple, so I fly in the air for a moment. My weight of my body pulls my head, but I don't let go and I slam into the side of her big fleshy boob. Hope sits up and looks at me.

"What the hell Julian?!" Hope asks me, angry as hell.

She puts her fingers around me and lifts me to her face as she rubs her nipple.

"I woke up and I started walking down the bed, but your boob fell on me. I have claustrophobia, and I started freaking out. I had nothing else to do but bite your... well.... you know." I say.

"You didn't have to bite it that hard." She says.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm sorry too. But next time, don't get so close to me. What time is it?"

"It's six in the morning. Is your mom home?"

"No. She doesn't come home till' tomorrow."

"Dang. Why that late?"

"She has a lot of patients coming in. Maybe that friend of yours, Jessica, made a pill that makes you grow. That'd be horrible. Can you imagine all the people she'd kill?"

"God, that would be horrible. But I have a new plan."

"Huh?"

"I think we should try to find Jessica and force her to give me the antidote pill."

"How do we find her?"

"Well, she lived next to me, so if we go to my address, we can find her."

"Great! What's your address?"

"That's the thing. I don't remember. I must have forgotten when Eternity flicked me in-" Shit.

"When what?"

"I mean uh.... When I got hit with the rat trap. Yeah, that's it."

Hope narrows her eyes at me and I give a nervous smile. If Eternity finds out I snitched, she'll squish me flat.

"Well then how will we find her then?"

"I didn't think that through. All I remember, is that I lived next to Bellard Elementary school. A block or two away from it."

"I guess that's helpful. Bellard is only three streets from here."

"No wonder I ended up here. So what do you think of my plan?"

"I like it, but I also like having you here. Having something to take care of."

Well, this is weird. I just hope she doesn't turn evil like Eternity and decide to keep me here forever. I really hope she doesn't. Eternity might even turn Hope into her, making my life a living hell.

"Yeah, but I really wanna get back to normal. As you can see, everything that would seem like a little tickle, or paper cut to you, could do serious damage to me. As you can also see by my injuries. I don't even know how I'm alive still. Another accident, and I'm as good as dead."

"You have a point. Well then, lets try your plan!"

"Can we leave right now?"

"Well yeah. We'll be back by 7. My mom gets home tomorrow and so does Eternity."

"Well okay then, lets do it!"

That was a close one. Hope is just a really good person. Thank god she came along. I couldn't take any more injuries or anything like that. But I think I like like Hope. She's just really pretty and nice. Her voice is like listening to soothing music. But her sister just makes it unbearable. When or if I get back to normal, I'm going to beat the shit out of Eternity. I will make her pay good.

Hope is all ready to go. She took a shower and put fresh clothes on. She took me a little shower in the sink and gave me better fitting barbie clothes. We just ate some cereal and it's barely 9:00 a.m. I'm sitting on top of her head, securely strapped to it by her long brown hair.

"Ready?" She asks me.

"Yup, lets do this!" I say.

She opens the door and walks out. I see the sun is up in the sky, midway. A cool breeze hits my face, cooling it down. I finally see the neighborhood without being chased by a damn dog. I look up at the street. It looks like this is a cul-de-sac. Hope's house isn't at the center of it though. She walks down the sidewalk, heading towards Bellard Elementary. I take a good look at the houses.They seem smaller than Hope's house. I continue to look around and I get a good look at the address. 350 Konta Street. I have to remember that. While hope walks, I remember our route. How many steps, the houses, the addresses the sounds. I feel like Liam Neeson in Taken 2. But I have a feeling that Jessica will pull something funny. I just wish she won't.

"So how far is it Hope?" I ask.

"We're about one street away." She replies.

"Good, I just wanna get this over with." I say.

Hope just stays quiet. I think I do like her. Everything about her. Does she like me back? I Hope she does. Pun intended. Now that I think about it, Hope's hair smells real nice. Like watermelon. I lift her hair up to my nose and take a whiff. It smells really good. Now I feel like a weirdo, I mean I'm smelling her goddamned hair! I just want to get back to normal and fuck up Eternity. That's what I want more than anything. I want to see her cry out in pain as I break HER arm. And stab her with kitchen knife. I've never wanted revenge this badly before.

"We're here." Hope says, interrupting my thoughts.

"Huh?" I ask.

I look up and see the school. My memories flood back into my mind.

"Go down on Peat street. My house is a peach color. Two story house." I say.

"Okay. But what house is Jessica's?" She asks.

"Oh yeah. It's a white house with a red trim on the bottom and on top."

"Okay, lets go."

We walk in the direction of Peat Street. I love that name.

"Hey, now that I think about it, how will we get the antidote for you? If she shrunk you purposely, I don't think she's just gonna grow you back to normal for no reason." Hope says.

"It's simple, we kill the Jessica." I say.

(Comment if you understood the reference!)

"What?! We can't kill her!" Hope says, stopping in her tracks.

"Well, then just beat her up. You've got muscles, right?" I ask, joking about the muscle part.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." She says with a snicker as she starts walking again.

"Haha, very funny. Just grab a stick and hit her on the head real hard to knock her out. She deserves it."

"I'll find a way to trick her. Don't worry."

"Okay. Just don't let her get her hands on me."

"I promise I won't let her get you."

We were so busy talking, we didn't notice we passed the house. Hope turns around and walks to the entrance of the house. She grabs me and places me in her shirt pocket and tells me to hide. I nod and hide in her pocket. I hear the "ding-dong" of the doorbell as Hope waits patiently. I get up for a second and look at Jessica's window. I see an eye peeking through the curtain. The looks me and it vanishes. Shit, she knows it's me.

"Run Hope, it's a trap, it's a trap!" I shout as I start waving.

She looks down at me but it's too late. Jessica must have anticipated something like this, because instantly after she saw me, a bucket of green warm liquid fell on Hope. I was covered by her head, as she was looking down at me, but she got drenched. She instantly shrunk and I remained in her clothes. I see something squirming in the clothes, and I know it's Hope. Quickly, I run over to hit, and move the shirt off of it. I see Hope naked, surprised, scared, and wet. I grabbed her hand and ran to the small step of the door. She keeps up with me surprisingly. We hear thumps and the door above us opens.

"Let's go." I say.

The step to leading inside the house it as tall as me, so I boost Hope over it, and grab onto it and lift myself. The door remains open, as Jessica picks up Hope's wet clothing and tosses it in the trash. She walks back in the house and I see a giant barefoot, the size of a bus pass by. The air pushes me on my back. I fall to the floor and look up. The air pushed me under a couch. Hope is already under it. Quickly, I get up and run to her. She's scared and shaking. She's huddled up into a ball, covering her private parts.

"It's okay Hope. We're here and now we just need to get the antidote. Here, take this." I say.

I take off my shirt and give it to her. She puts it on and tells me thanks. Well, I guess the tables have turned.

After calming my self down about the fact that me and Hope are now BOTH shrunk, I sat down to think about a solution to the problem. Maybe we could wait until someone opens the door and we sneak out? No, we'll have no idea where to go at this size. Flag one of her family members and ask them to help? No, too risky. Her parents could be loony like her, or they'll think we're bugs and they'll squish us.

"So this is what it's like to be this small, huh?" I hear Hope say behind me.

I turn around and see Hope sitting down on the floor, looking at the floor.

"Well, yeah. But there's more to the story than you can know." I say, accidentally forgetting about the deal I made with Eternity.

"What?" She questions me as she looks up at me. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. But what is something, is how we're going to get out of this Insane Asylum." I say, pacing back and forth again.

Hope and I turn our brains on and start thinking. I pace back and forth while she sits there, looking coldly at the carpeted floor. No ideas pop into my head as I pace. Well they do, but the thing we need to find out, is how we're going to get home. We can get out, without extreme difficulty, still difficult though, but we have no way home. Then, Hope and I are jolted with fear as we hear a doorbell ring. I can hear to faint voices through the door. One was a kid's voice, most likely 12 years old.

"I'm scared, this is my first time doing this Amanda! What do I say?!" The nervous voice says.

The second voice was a female voice.

"Calm down Joseph. It's simple, just ask them if they want to buy some girl scout cookies." "Amanda" says.

"But what if- EW! What the heck is this!" Joseph says.

"What kind of prank is this? Who pours slime on a couple of-" Amanda stops there.

This can't be good. But then that means she didn't see me, she just shrinks anyone that is unfortunate enough to walk right up to her door and knock or ring the doorbell. Within a few seconds I see a pair of familiar feet walk by. The door opens and I crawl to the edge of the couch, but still in an area where she can't see me. I hear screaming as I watch her bend over and grab the tiny people. She stands up and I see two tiny objects in her hand, squirming, but clothed. How did their clothes shrink with them, but it didn't with Hope? The door closes and the air from the quick closure pushes me back a little. Jessica then turns around and leaves off to her room.

"Oh no! We have to go help them!" I hear Hope say behind me.

I look at her and say "You do know we are about only three inches, right?"

"I know, but.... but we can't leave them in the hands of that.... that.... monster!" Hope says, fumbling with words.

"We don't know our way around this house though! And if we get squished, or worse, caught, it's game over! We need to think this through!" I say.

"Please! We can try at least, right?" Hope says looking up at me with her puppy dog eyes.

She has a genuine heart. She is really kind, deep down to her core. Risking her life for the sake of others. I might as well try to help those kids. There's already enough damage done. I have almost nothing left to lose. Except for Hope. I would lose my mind if I lost Hope. In the short time I've known her, a few days, she is too kind of a person to get hurt. I have to make sure nothing happens to her.

"Okay. I'll go. But you stay here. Stay hidden so she can't find you. It'll be a while before I come back, or if I come back at all. But do NOT come for me. Just stay safe." I say looking into her eyes.

I feel an odd feeling in my heart. It starts rising up to my head. What is this?

"Okay. I will." She says looking back into my eyes.

I turn away, before anything else could develop. I have feelings for Hope. I admit it. How though? I've only known her for a short period of time, and I have terrible memories from Eternity. Speaking of Eternity, What is she doing right now? Oh well. I start walking away from
Hope, to the edge of the couch that is closest to the hallway. As I walk, I feel the coldness of the hardwood floor under the soles of my feet. There is an AC vent under the couch, hitting me with freezing air. The dust under here clings to my skin, and I inhale through my nose, to try to get the least amount of dust in my throat. Dust bunnies are scattered everywhere. There's a bit of light pouring in from a weak nightlight that was forgotten under here. This house has a eerie feel to it. My foot is then stuck in something sticky and yellow. I bend down and smell it. Animal urine. It's still wet, so that isn't good. I stick my foot out of the puddle and try to dry it by wiping across the floor. It doesn't work.

I round to the corner of the hallway and see five doors. Assuming the one with Zebra prints on the door is hers, I walk to it. It's opened just a crack, but wide enough for me to squeeze through. Instantly, my feet are met with soft carpet. Distracted with the carpet, I almost jumped up when I heard Jessica giggle a distance away from me. She was taping a band-aid to her foot, with something in the middle of the band-aid and her foot. I stay close to the wall as I maneuver over to her. I try to move as slowly as possible, but I want to see what is happening. Squinting, I see a tiny form struggling against the band-aid bonds holding him to Jessica's giant foot. She wiggles her toes and giggles. It must be that Joseph kid from earlier. Then, still sitting down, she put on her socks and some running shoes. Without hesitation, she walks out of the room and turns off the light, and closes the door after her. I look around and hear a growling. I freeze, since it's so dark, anything can pop up at me. The growling is coming from my left. I slowly turn around, but something jumps on me and licks my face. Opening my eyes, I see it's a dog, but shrunken. So it was if I wasn't shrunken and the dog wasn't either. He barks at me and wags his tail. I pet him and he licks my finger. A dog? Really Jessica? I guess he's mine now. Time to look for the other kid. She wasn't on Jessica's other sole, so she must be here somewhere. God, I wish I was a rock climber, I think to myself as I look up at the mountainous drawer in front of me. This is going to be a pain.

************************************




The dog just circles around me, panting and wagging it's tail. How am I going to get him up there? I can't leave him here, waiting to be squished or caught by Jessica. Although, I'd take option A. I walk around the drawer and look for good footholds. There's a few, but not that many. If Jessica doesn't come back in here for 15 minutes or less, I'll be good.

"Hmm. You'll know what I'll call you dog? I'm going to call you Sparx. That's a cool name, don't you think?" I say looking down at the dog.

He wags his tail and jumps on me. I fall and he starts licking me all over.

"Okay, Sparx it is! Now, how do I get you up there?" I ask, asking basically no one.

I put on my thinking face and try to think of a solution. I can't just hold him, I need two hands for this journey. What could I use? Without any other choice, I decide to look under the bed for something I could use. I walk under the bed, into almost complete darkness. There a bit of sunlight coming in, but not that much. It's smells like something rotten down here. Weird. Walking around, I trip over something. I fall to the floor and Sparx gets startled. I sit up and tell Sparx to be quiet.

"Shh boy! I just fell, calm down!" I say, getting up to my feet.

It turns out, he wasn't barking at ME, there was something behind me. I turned around and told Sparx to shush. He stopped. With the sudden silence, I heard a very soft moan. When I heard it, I felt a shiver go up my spine. Slowly, I start walking to where the sound had originated.

"Hello? Anyone there?" I say out loud, my voice cracking.

The moaning gets louder and I think I heard a soft "yes". What am I getting myself into? I start walking forward. There's a small little light, illuminating a box ahead of me. A flashlight, I think. I slowly walk towards the box. The flashlight is facing it from the front, I'm behind the box. I slowly, very slowly, walk around the corner and nearly scream from the sight. Six people, tied up in the box, taped in different areas.

"Oh my god. What happened?" I say, rubbing my eyes to see if this horrible sight is real.

"The girl... She shrunk us off the street. I was on the sidewalk asking for money, so I could buy a morsel to eat... when she came along and shrunk me down to three inches. No one cares if bum goes missing. I don't know about these other people. I'm Barry." A 30-year-old-looking man who looked like he was a hobo said.

"Help us, please." A weak lady said to me, with her head down.

They were bound to the box with twisty-ties. Bound by their ankles and their wrists.

"I.... I....." I studder with words, still trying to believe what is in front of me right now.

"If I get you out, how will you get out? You're so weak, and tired. I'll let you out of course, but will you get away from here, back to normal size?" I ask.

"She keeps pills that shrink and grow on top of that drawer. I know because she plays with us, and our size, alot. If you can hurry, you can get the pills and help us out of here." Barry says, looking at me.

"I'll try. But let me get you out of there first." I say, walking around the box, getting the twisty-ties loose.

I make sure to do their ankles first then their hands. If I did it the other way around, they'd fall face first on the floor. Jessica did these ties real good. But with my small, yet strong, hands, I untwisted them easily. After the people were all loose, they were rubbing their ankles and their wrists. Sparx was walking around them, sniffing them and such. Then I heard another scream for help. But this time it was a real scream. Sparx froze and looked at the direction of the sound. Everyone stopped. Another scream, a louder one, but the same one. Without thinking about the consequences of this decision, I grab the nearest object, a pencil, and run in the direction of the scream. What am I doing? Why am I here? Why am I running at a suspicious scream coming from the edge of the bed? Sparx is close behind me, running a little slower than me. He could run faster, but I don't think he wants to deal with that odd scream either. But, I can't leave someone who's screaming alone. I have to try to help. Right?

I get to the area and I see a girl, about 12, screaming looking at something in front of her. I squint and see a spider. Of course it's a spider. What story about a shrunken story doesn't involve a spider? It's just about bigger than Sparx. I instantly back away and my manliness has just faded away. The smaller ones carry the most venom, right?

"You, go to the flash light, and stay there!" I tell the girl who was screaming.

She nods and turns and runs away, towards the light. I turn back to the spider. It's gleaming red eyes pierce the darkness, staring into my soul. It makes an odd hiss sound and jumps for me. Thanks to video games, my hand eye coordination helps me grab the spider in mid-air and toss it to the side. I threw it to the left of me. It hits the floor and rolls once before stopping. Getting back on it's feet I feel a stinging sensation in my hands. I rub them and feel thorn like prickles in my palms. It must have been the spider's hair! It hurts alot though. I try to take it out but that was when the spider got the jump on me. It jumped on me, my hands holding it's fangs back. With nothing else to do, I stick my hand deep in the spider's mouth, looking for anything to grab. My hand was traveling at lightning speed, before it could close it's mouth. Almost instantly, I found an odd squishy sac, and without thinking, I ripped it out of it's body. It jumped off me and and fell down, it's legs kicking in the air. I threw the sac to the floor and grabbed the pencil. Without a thought, I jammed the pencil in it's throat, sticking it deep inside of it. So much, it came out the other end. When I moved back and looked at my hands, there was a red liquid in on my palms. But, it wasn't the spider's. I felt light headed and pale. I felt as if the blood from my body was being drained away. I hit the floor with a thud. My vision was blurring out and I couldn't see at all. Sparx was running around, barking and such, circling me. Then, I just gave up. I just closed my eyes, not sure if I ever wanted to open them up again.


***


I wake up to the sound of people talking. Slowly and carefully, I open my eyes. Light pours in and hurts my eyes a bit. My hands are wrapped in something that feels like cloth. I sit up slowly, blinking quickly.

"What happened?" I ask to no one in particular.

"Well, remember that spider you killed? The one you killed to save this girl?" A man says, pointing at a giant dead spider and a girl. Well, when you grabbed the spider, it's hair, which can be shot out of it's back and legs, got stuck in your hands. These hairs can cut, and they did just that to you. And I don't know how, but you grabbed it's venom sac, which was currently 'leaking' and that's why it was aggressive. The venom from the sac drained into you cuts and because you were on the floor, must have gotten into your head, making you forget." The man says.

"Oh, I remember now! Wait, I forgot about about Hope!" I say.

"Who's Hope?" The old man asks me.

"I need to go, I'll be back later! If I'm alive!" I say as I stand up and start running for the door.

Sparx is behind me, barking enthusiastically. The cloth is still on my hands the pain is starting to kick in, but I ignore the fact that I fought a spider with only a pair of shorts on my body. Good thing the venom didn't get on my chest, that would've been a disaster! Without paying attention, I hear the door open and a large socked foot steps through the thresh-hold. Then the whole body. I'm in the middle of the room, out in the open. I look up at the face of the intruder. It's Jessica.

Jessica hasn't seen me yet. Thank god. I need to get to Hope. Jessica seems to be too concerned with something on her dresser. She just put something made of glass on it. Interesting. I run over to the dresser, as if I could climb it. But it wouldn't hurt to try. Sparx follows me, yipping and barking at Jessica's socked foot.

"Sparx! Get over here!" I shout.

He ignores me and he runs to Jessica's foot and bites her ankle. She doesn't feel it. Sparx remains biting, dangling in the air, but she doesn't feel a thing. I ignore it and run to the dresser. Looks like mahogany. It's old. Doesn't have many footholds. And the fact that I'm the worst hiker and climber ever doesn't help. I look around for the closest foothold. The little gold ring that you pull to pull the drawer out makes a good one. Walking closer, I put my right foot into it and I reach for the top of the drawer. My hands feel the ledge and I pull. I reach on top of the drawer and prop my elbows on it. Moving my foot on top of the gold ring holder, I kick and I hop on the ledge. I stand up and reach the second gold ring. There isn't much space here. The width of this ledge is at least one inch, or two. I shimmy to my left to even myself with the gold ring. And with one jump, with everything I have, I reach the gold ring. Then again, I pull up and my feet are planted on the ring. I am so nervous and scared right now. I can't even think.

"Well, well, look what we have here. How'd you get here little man?" I hear Jessica's booming voice say.

I gulp. I turn around. Jessica's face meets my gaze. I scream and almost lose my balance. All I'm standing on is the gold ring. I try to steady myself, but that won't help. Jessica's brown eyes stare into my soul, telling me my time is done. Her fingers grab my body and pull me away from the ring. I didn't even get that high up.

"I said, how did you get here?" Jessica says again, her patience wearing thin.

Her fingers are crushing me, and my ribs.

"I... walked here... with some... help." I manage to wheeze out.

"Let me guess, help from her?" Jessica says as she turns me around to face Hope in a jar.

"Hope!" I shout.

She perks her head up. She sees me and she stands up and puts her hands on the glass. I squirm in Jessica's grasp, desperate to get to Hope. Jessica's grasp tightens as I continue to squirm. I don't stop, and neither does she. Her grip on me tightens to the point where everything around my eyes is going white. I can't see and my body is screaming in pain, but I don't give up. I bite her index finger as hard as I can. She screeches and lets go of me as she shakes her hand. I go flying into the jar face-first. I slam into the jar, making an audible "smack". After my face hits, my body comes in contact with the jar. My face hurts very bad, and my stomach lurches. After a second or two, I peel off and fall painfully on my back.

I stare up into Jessica's hand, ready to squish me. My body aches, disabling me. Jessica squished me, and as an insult to injury, threw me into a jar. She picks me up and drops me into the jar. I fall in on my ass. The second I hit the glass, my head is rocked back and it hits the glass. I have the biggest headache right now. I would kill myself right now if I could. My head is spinning, I can't see, my body is writhing in pain, and my ass hurts. Hope comes to my side and touches my chest.

"Are you okay?!" She says.

All I reply is a scream in agony, because she touched my chest. She immediately backs away. I want to die. The only thing holding me back from doing so is Hope.

"You little shits! I'm locking both of you away for a while." Jessica says.

She puts a white lid on top of our jar and pokes one single hole in the middle. Without a care, Jessica grabs the jar and shoves us into a dark drawer. I'm flung into the glass, sending my body into another pain spasm. Tears fall from my eyes, I clench my fists and grit my teeth.. Hope just sits down, her back against the glass, sliding down to the floor. I hear her crying from here. It echoes throughout our glass jar.

"You know," I say chuckling, even though it hurts my body immensely, "maybe this was a bad idea."

Hope laughs a small laugh.

"Don't worry, we'll get out of here. Like I got away from Eternity." I say, immediately regretting the last part.

"What do you mean you got away from Eternity?" Hope asks.

"Nothing." I say.

I know I'm caught, but how long can I drag this out? I can't let Hope know what Eternity did to me! Eternity would squish me!

"Julian, tell me right now!" Hope says, with a sense of authority in her voice.

"Promise me you won't say a word to her about this. Then I'll talk." I say.

"I promise I won't tell Eternity anything." She says.

"Remember when I went missing? And why my body was so messed up? Well you can thank Eternity. She had me captured in her room, but I got away and lived like a rat in the vents, until I was found." I say.

"Why would Eternity do that?" Hope asks.

"She's evil is why."

"She is not evil! I guess she's going through a phase."

"Or she's on her rag."

I laugh at this, but scream when Hope slaps me for saying it. My skin is cool against the glass. My body is still in alot of pain, and that is why I haven't moved. At all. I just stay still. Silence falls over Hope and I. Until the drawer is pulled open and we're flung into the glass, sending a horrible pain spasm in my body again. Jessica grabs the jar and I feel like I'm in an elevator. After we're in the air she places us on the dresser. I see a jar of salsa across from us. This can't be good.

"You know Julian, I remember you always loved Hot Cheetos™. So did I. And now, you're going to be my Cheeto." She says in a seducing voice.

I always fell victim to her looks. Her tall frame, her sexy hips. She unscrews the top of my jar and picks me up. Her fingers close around my body, squeezing my ribs, making me cry in pain. The pain I'm feeling is too much to say in words.

"Jessica... Please don't...." I whisper.

"And now your little girlfriend can watch." Jessica says as she looks at Hope.

Without another word, she holds me by my hands, making my arms carry all my weight. She dips me in the salsa. The hot substance leaks into all my cuts and in some places it shouldn't be. I scream from the burning until my mouth is submerged into the salsa. Gallons (to me) of salsa enter my mouth and pass into my throat. Chunks of chilli and other vegetables go through. I squirm and writhe in pain. Then, I'm lifted up from the salsa. I stare into the face of Jessica. She brings me closer to her as she opens her mouth. I'm lowered into the deep chasm of Jessica's mouth. It's warm in here and smells like mint. She leaves me on her tongue and closes her mouth. Her lips are sealed. Then, she drags me out of her mouth, sucking the salsa off. My body has fallen numb, because of all the salsa it has in it right now. I close my eyes and feel myself drift away.