“Ok.. ye.. yes sir. Sorry sir.”

Michael hung up. His hands were trembling. He was in tears. He hurriedly reached for a pen and paper and wrote a letter, trembling, sobbing. On a hurry, Mike packed his clothes and some stuff on a trekking bag. He left the letter on the counter and ran away. It was raining heavily.

Mike didn’t return for a long time. 10 years he was away. He had gone from a teenager to an adult. It was never his choice to stay away without contacting his loved ones. His hurried letter 10 years ago wasn’t very informative of his goals either. Now, after so many years, he knocked the door.

He used to live with his sister and her daughter. His sister, Sally was a beautiful 6 ft tall woman. She, being elder to Michael had always looked after him. She had lost her husband the same way she lost her brother. He simply left, and never contacted back. This had destroyed her faith on men. When Mike left, his niece Jane was a cute 8yr old. Her need of a father was satisfied by Mike, before he left.

Mike arrived to his previous home. He was smiling with a huge flower bouquet on his hand and huge suitcase on the floor. He ringed the doorbell. The door opened. It was a tall girl asking who he was. It took more than it should have to realize that it was her niece. He was speechless and overwhelmed to see how his niece had become from that small cute child to a gorgeous girl taller than him. Just as he was about to speak, his sister came to the door.

“Mi… Mike?” she said, instantly recognizing him.

Jane looked to his mother and whispered something, Sally nodded.

All of them were speechless. Sally was the first to break the silence, offering Mike to come in.

Mike pulled his suitcase in and closed the door behind him. He looked ahead and instantly his face was met with a tight slap. Mike held his face in pain.

Tears fell from Sally’s eyes. “Where the fuck were you? Why are you back?” Sally shouted.

Jane went to her room, almost crying.

“I am sorry sister. I had to go.” Mike said.

“Yeah but couldn’t you at least write a mail or something? You were dead for us.”

“I am sorry. I am ready to do whatever that is required to make it up to you and Jane.”

Sally couldn’t get angry with Mike for a long time. Although she’d not completely forgiven him, she was not too angry either. She silently stood up and made way for her bedroom, leaving Mike all by himself.

Mike’s room was intact. He put his suitcase there on the floor and thought for a while.

Jane was angry too. The person who she’d always looked up to vanishes and appears after a decade. It was definitely not easy for her to take. Back when Mike left, she was about 8 years old. Her 19 old year uncle Mike was closest to her, or so she felt. She decided to go talk to Mike about what happened and why he didn’t call.

Jane entered Mike’s room.

“Don’t you ever do this to us again.” She shouted.

“I won’t Jane. And I am sorry for what you had to go through. But I had no choice.”

“Where were you?”

“I don’t quite know. But it was far away.”

It was not the answer Jane had hoped but at least they got talking.

“You’ve grown quite a lot Jane. Back when you..”

“Don’t bring up the past.” Jane interrupted him.

They took some time to catch up. Well, it was mostly Jane telling her past 10 years to him. He didn’t talk that much about his.

After 8 PM, Dinner was served. Jane and Sally seemed to have forgiven Mike. They finally got talking a a family reunited. Everyone was happy to see each other. They talked through midnight.

Few weeks passed this way. They’d talk a little about their past and what they were together. Mike would bring a gift, big or small everyday to her niece and sister. They took many photos together, they went to travel.

One day, Mike had gone out to meet his friends from around the city. His friends had lavishly treated him at the most expensive place in town.

Meanwhile, Sally was at work and Jane was alone in the house. Having known very little about her uncle despite him staying over a month, she decided it was a good idea to check him suitcase. Maybe there was some business card or something like that. She looked thoroughly and saw some nude magazines and a mysterious box. She reached out and her hand held a small gun. It was a bit too colorful to be intimidating though!

She thought maybe he was a cop. Or a crook? The gun brought many questions in her mind. She pointed towards a flower pot and without thinking twice, pulled the trigger. It didn’t shoot a bullet. Rather, it created a small zap sound that created a dust cloud to form around the flowerpot. To her greatest surprise, the flower pot seemed smaller. It was still decreasing in size until it was distinctly smaller than before.

It was like magic. She kept the gun for herself and took the flower pot, which fit on her palm to her room to further look into it. She put her uncle’s suitcase back where and how it was.

The presence of the mysterious shrink gun and of course the mysterious box made Jane think that they still don’t know Mike very well. Mike seemed as mysterious as the items he possessed. Jane pointed and shot a wall lizard. Out of the dust cloud that followed, came a lizard much much smaller than the one which was shot. This meant the shrink gun could be used on living things as well.

Further few weeks passed. Mike hadn’t yet noticed one of his items was gone.

 One night, Jane was still chatting with her friends online when she heard the door. She hurriedly looked towards Mike’s room. The door was open and Mike wasn’t in. She descended the stairs to see a letter lying on the floor.

“NOT AGAIN” Jane thought.

She hurried back to her room and began to think what could be done. Then she remembered the gun. On her mind, it was the only way to prevent him from going away. She took the gun, ran to the balcony and saw Mike still waiting for someone.

Aim… finger on the trigger.. pull the trigger… ZAP

It was a direct hit. Jane hurried to the road and saw Mike lying on the floor. For her, he seemed like the cutest thing ever at only 4 inches tall. She gently put him on her pocket, lifted the huge and heavy suitcase and put it back to Mike’s room. She put the letter Mike had written few minutes ago back where it was to make it look legit.

Mike woke up. He was on a dark place, swaying back and forth. He looked to see what was happening and by his experience, knew what was. Before he could do anything, he passed out again.

Next time Mike woke up, he saw his beautiful niece’s giant face hovering right above him.

“You bitch. What have you done?” He shouted at his niece out of anger.

“You were leaving us. Again.”

“So? I could’ve died.”

Jane took some time to think but ultimately didn’t speak at all.

“Hey come back come back. Bitch.” Mike shouted.

“I will not be called that. Who are you Mike? Why did you have all this instruments?” She said out of curiosity.

“Listen.. Jane… my dear niece. Please take me where I ask you to. Please? I’ll never run away again.”

“Bit too late for that. You do not answer my questions either.”

“Listen. It’s all classified. I am supposed to die before I tell anyone about it.”

“JAAANNEEE” shouted Sally from downstairs.

“Coming.”

Jane tucked her uncle back on her pocket and went downstairs.

“He’s done it again.” Sally said, upon seeing Jane.

“I can’t believe it.” Jane replied trying to look innocent although there was a bit of overacting about her!

“Men.” Sally said. “Carry on Jane. Life seems to be like this to us.” She continued.

All of a sudden, Mike rose out of Jane’s pocket and ran towards Sally’s feet. Sally immediately noticed and observed the small creature. She noticed it was Mike and passed out.

After she woke up, Mike told everything that happened and especially how Jane was responsible behind his disappearance and size. Sally scolded Jane and ordered her to give the Shrink gun to her. Jane obliged. Sally, asked Jane why she did what she did. Jane replied quite quickly as she had thought of what she was going to say beforehand.

Jane raised the topic of how Mike came to possess the gun. She informed her mom about the mysterious box. She also told how Mike indeed abandoned them for a second time.

Sally was convinced and herself curious to know what was in the box. The two women and the 4 inch guy went to Mike’s room and took the box out. It was a large box occupying more than half of the suitcase. It had a large lock on it. Sally asked how the box could be opened. After Mike denied for quite a while, Sally pressed hard on his body with her pointed nails. It didn’t take Mike that long to tell her that the box was opened by using the shrink gun to shrink the lock. Sally immediately pressed the trigger on the lock. She slowly lifted the lid. In there, there were…… two girls. 4 inches each.

They were a mess. They were lying on the floor, seemed underfed. The only food there was few potato chips. The water supply there seemed to be full of piss rather than water and it seemed that the were in there for a long time. Sally immediately ordered Jane to bring some water. Jane brought a small plate and some water. She placed the plate on the table and put the water there. The two girls jumped at the sight of water and drank. Jane brought some fresh food of every kind, salty, sweet etc. The girls devoured the food. Then finally, they laid back on a cloth that Jane had brought them. They fell asleep as if they hadn’t for a long time.

“You are in a heap of trouble.” Sally told Mike.

“And Jane, you did the right thing, mistakenly. “ Sally said.

They waited for the two girls to wake up. Mike couldn’t speak.

The girls finally woke up.

“Thanks a lot my pretty goddesses.” Cried one of them.

“Who are you? Why are you so small?” Jane said from behind.

“I’m Amber and this is my sister Jessica. A man took us and put us in this position. Due to him, Jess still hesitates to speak.”

“It’s okay now Jessica. We are good people. And you can call me Sally and her Jane. She’s my daughter.” Sally said.

“Thank you, Sally.” Amber said.

“Any chance the man is him?” Sally asked, lifting Mike up.

“YOU!” Amber shouted. Jessica hid behind Amber.

Mike was speechless.

“Hey, wimp. Can we grow these beautiful ladies back to normal?” Sally shouted at her brother.

“N.. NO.”

“Sally, I think the gun he had could grow stuff.” Amber said.

Sally looked at the gun, changed the mode to grow. She pressed the trigger.

The girls had just gained about an inch when the gun exploded and they stopped growing at 5 inches.

“Mike??” Sally shouted.

“Out.. of juice.” He said.

“Fine. You have your own victims. I’ll let them punish you. They’ll have satisfaction at least. He’s yours girls. Make sure you don’t injure him that bad. Rest is Ok.” Sally said and tossed 4 inch mike to the 5 inch girls.

“From today, you are our servant, our slave.” Amber said to Mike.

“I can’t thank you enough.” Jessica finally spoke.

“It’s okay. And yes, you can live with us.” Sally said.

“Can we call you and Jane our goddess?” Amber asked.

“You don’t have to.” Sally said.

“We want to.” Amber said.

“Ok!” Jane said.

“Thank you.” Amber followed up.