“You’re free to come in now Mr. Hanson.”

In the lobby of the Charlottesville Bank a young man of mixed-race appearance looked up, eyes widening slightly. “A-Ah yes thank you.” His hand nervously reached to adjust the wavy brown hair over his brow before entering a nearby office.

What first caught his attention was how pristine and organized the room looked. Even by office standards it was something to behold. Framed along the wall were a series of doctorates and awards meticulously placed in perfect symmetry. Seated behind a dark mahogany desk was a brunette in a tight-fitting business skirt and blouse. Her wealth was immediately apparent by the fact she was over ten feet tall. The rest of the room was sized to suit women like her he noted.

Marcus Hanson couldn’t help but stare as he took a seat. Taller women always fascinated him. In a world where height was the ultimate status symbol it was something of a basic turn on to have to look up at them, to know that they held the power both financially and literally. He was by no means little. In fact Marcus was of average height and wealth. Not important enough to be a wealthy giant, nor pathetic enough to be a tiny bug.

“How can I help you Mr. Hanson?” The woman from behind the desk asked with a professional smile, looking down slightly at the young man who was barely taller than her desk.

“Well you see Miss…” Marcus blinked and realized he didn’t know the woman’s name. His eyes scanned her tidy desk for a name of some sort.

The woman laughed, tucking a thick lock of hair behind an ear. “Lockhart. Victoria Lockhart. You can just call me Victoria though.” Her welcoming smile seemed to encourage Marcus despite the small hiccup.

The young man nodded, now smiling himself. “Ah I see, thank you Victoria.  As I was saying, I came here because I wanted to take out a loan.”

Victoria arched an eyebrow. “A loan? Let me check your records.” She turned to the desktop situated at the corner of her desk, her fingers running like little bolts of lightning across the keyboard. If her tone was any indication she seemed to find the notion of a loan rather absurd.

Marcus slinked back into her seat, shrugging slightly. The banker’s reaction was totally normal. If your height was determined by money then a loan was one of the riskiest things you could do to yourself. If even a single thing went wrong and your debt turned against you then that was it. You’d start to lose your height and it would all go downhill from there. But Marcus was relatively unconcerned, he knew that when he decided to walk in. While Victoria went through his records he took the opportunity to size up the woman.

She was by no stretch of the imagination unattractive. Mid to late twenties, long flowing black hair held neatly in place with a ponytail, thin with a slight hourglass figure, the whole package. There was a mature yet still distinctly youthful look to Victoria, a look he very much appreciated.

Victoria’s eyes squinted slightly as she read from the screen. “It says here that you already have a loan Mr. Hanson. For…”

“For school. Yeah.” The young man nodded. “My student loan.”

Victoria turned back to Marcus, eyes widening. “Yet you still wish to take out another loan? That is quite…bold of you.”

Once more he shrugged. “You have to spend money to make money as they say.”

“True, but usually you spend money you have.”

Marcus laughed. “True enough. But my mind is made up. Am I eligible for a loan?”

After a long pause and a glance back to the screen Victoria nodded. “Your bank record is impeccable and your credit score is looking good. I wouldn’t advise it but we could give you a loan if need be, what was the amount you were considering?” Her fingers hovered over the number pad of her keyboard, ready to go at a moment’s notice.

“20,000 should do it.” Came an immediate reply.

“That is quite a lot of money. What could you possibly need that much for?” Even as she asked Victoria’s fingers did their magic on the computer once again and began very quickly filling out the appropriate forms.

Now the young man’s eyes lit up, he leaned forward in his seat. “I want to start my own company.  Me and some other graduates have an idea and we think we can pull it off. We just need the money for startup costs. You know how it is.”

Victoria shot him a curious look, pausing in her work. “A bunch of college graduates getting together to form their own startup company? I’m required to inform you that historically that has not boded well.”

“I know the odds.” Marcus said, unconcerned. His eyes gleamed with youthful optimism. “Even if it doesn’t work out I intend on getting a job so I can safely pay my loans off anyway.”

After a long examining look Victoria nodded. “Alright then. I can tell you’re dead set on this so I won’t try to stop you. You know what’s at stake if you fail to pay it off.” The brunette sighed slightly and reached for a nearby printer where a form slid cleanly from the machine. She placed it on the edge of the desk near Marcus with a pen quickly following suit. “Just sign at the bottom there and you’ll be all done. There will be a six month grace period before you need to worry about starting to pay it back with a five percent interest rate. I hope that’s fine.”

“That should be okay. Thank you very much Victoria.” Marcus took the pen into his hand and signed, grinning.

“Anytime Mr. Hanson. You take care.”

Marcus nodded, not even caring how rehearsed the last line seemed to come off.  As he exited the bank he had a thick envelope in his hands and a wide grin on his face. The world was his oyster.

Six Months Later

“You’re free to come in now Mr. Hanson.”

Marcus calmly looked up from the magazine he was reading and set it down, exhaling. “Okay…Let’s do this.” He mumbled aloud. The previous six months had done little to change his appearance. He was still the youthful bushy-haired, mixed-race man. There was just one noteworthy difference between him then and him now. Six months ago when he entered this very same bank Marcus Hanson was 5 “10”. Now he stood in the lobby at an even 4 “11”. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. With his little personal pep talk out of the way Marcus entered Victoria’s office where a new surprise awaited.

It was still the same carefully cared for room as before, only now it was even bigger. As Marcus climbed into the same seat he had during his previous he realized that the wooden desk before him now stood taller than him. Behind it sat the same beautiful woman as before, only now she had gotten even taller – easily twenty feet.

Despite the superior size she now sported Victoria still looked down at Marcus with the same nice, but professional smile. “Ah Mr. Hanson. It’s nice to see you again. How are things going?” She spoke as if they had only seen each other yesterday.

Before responding Marcus had to push his seat back a few inches to meet the woman’s gaze, some memories of his time as a young child reminiscent of the experience. “I’ve been better as you can probably tell.” He laughed nervously, gesturing to his smaller self. “Sadly the company idea didn’t work out. Turns out a couple friends weren’t as willing to invest as I was. Now I’m in the job market again. Money’s a little tight as you can probably tell.”

Victoria nodded with the same professional look, though her eyes seemed to have a distinct lack of sympathy for the man. “Such is life I’m afraid. It’s better to try and fail than to never try at all. I’m sure you can bounce back given enough time.” As encouraging as the words were they rolled off her tongue with such efficiency that it was clear they had seen a lot of use.

The meek little man before her gulped. “About that…”

There was a brief pause, the nervous statement hung in the air for a moment. Slowly Victoria leaned forward, smile still plastered on her face but her eyes narrowing ever so slightly as if she were now speaking with a child. “I take it this is about your loan? Would you like me to give your grace period an extension perhaps?”

Marcus’ eyes widened. “That obvious huh?” His hand reached for the back of his hand as he laughed nervously. “You caught me. I was hoping you could give me a few more months. I promise I’ll make all the payments I just need some time to sort everything out.”

Like the last time Marcus’ words hung in the air for a long moment with nothing but silence between the two. Their gazes met with Victoria’s increasingly serious stare making Marcus nervous in his seat. Two golf ball-sized pupils seemed to see right through him. The only sound he could hear was Victoria’s finger tapping on her desk the entire time.

Finally, she sighed. “I would like to help you Mr. Hanson. However it goes directly against Charlottesville Bank policy. I simply cannot extend your loan further. You will be billed at the end of the month. I’m sorry, but my hands are tied.”

“I..see…” Marcus seemed to deflate in his chair. Whatever meager confidence that had gotten him to this point seemed to abandon him, leaving only the sad realization that he had no way to pay these bills. Come the end of the month he was going to get a whole lot smaller. That depressing notion visually drained the life from his visage.

Victoria looked down upon the tiny man, her professional mask cracking ever so slightly. She sighed. “I probably shouldn’t do this but…would you like a job Mr. Hanson?”

“Huh…?” Marcus looked back up at her.

“As luck would have it I’m looking for an assistant right now. It’s nothing glamorous, just busywork and cleaning, but it’ll give you a bit of an income to live off of.”

His dopey expression turned into one of amazed disbelief. “Are you serious? When can I start?”

“Today if you want.” She said shrugging.

“You’ve got it Victoria!” Marcus smiled in relief. “Thank you so much! You won’t regret this I promise.”

“I sure hope not.” Victoria smiled and rolled her eyes. “I think I have your first task then. Think you can handle picking up lunch?” The woman reached down to her side and placed a purse on the table, shortly afterwards pulling a few bills from it and placing them upon the table. “I was thinking of something nice and simple for the day. Subs perhaps?”

Marcus nodded, reaching up for the money on the desk above. “You’ve got it Victoria. I’ll get right on it.” He said enthusiastically as he left his seat and made for the door.

“And Marcus?” Victoria called as he grabbed the doorknob.

“Yes?” He turned back around.

“It’s Ms. Lockhart now. If I’m going to be your boss you need to start treating me like it, okay?” She smiled warmly at him.

“Alright Ms. Lockhart. No problem. I’ll be back soon!” He nodded once for emphasis and left the room.

Inside Victoria couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

The following days were hardly the stuff of dreams but Marcus couldn’t be happier. He had a new job filled with long hours of working under a beautiful, wealthy woman and, more importantly, he could afford his oncoming bills. Just the notion of not having to lose any more height was enough for him to be thrilled from relief alone. Besides who knows? Maybe one day in the not-too-distant future he could work himself up to his original height, maybe even beyond.

Marcus the Wealthy Giant. He chuckled to himself.

“Having fun in your fantasies again?” A familiar voice broke him from his thoughts.

“Of course. This kind of work doesn’t take any thought or anything, gotta make the time fly somehow right?” He turned back to the abnormally large desk behind him and the woman who looked down from her rotating chair. In his hands was another of the many child-sized papers he was organizing into a file cabinet.

“Is that why you’ve been on that same particular paper for five minutes? Last I checked D wasn’t a particularly hard letter to place.” She grinned.

“Oh really?” Marcus laughed, lowering his head to hide his reddened cheeks. “My bad Ms. Lockhart. It won’t happen again.” He turned back to resume filing.

Likewise Victoria did the same. “Let’s hope not. I do like you Marcus, don’t make me regret that.” With her back turned and the professional tone to her voice she really did sound like that kind of cold, domineering lady seen in movies but Marcus knew better. He resumed his work with a smile, mind drifting back off to fantasies of wealth and power. Every so often Marcus shot a glance to the towering babe behind him. For all his fantasies of prestige this particular woman had been slowly appearing in more and more of them.

“If only.” He laughed to himself again.

An hour passed in relative silence before the phone on Victoria’s desk rang. Naturally she answered it with near machine-like speed. “This is Victoria.” She casually answered. Marcus couldn’t help but tune in to the sudden influx of noise.

“Ah I see…today? Wait, right now…?” She suddenly turned, looking right at her new employee. Something about her expression made his heart jump a little. “Huh? No no, nothing like that. I can take care of it. Send her in in five minutes.” Victoria hung the phone up, sighing. “Well Marcus I have some bad news.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Victoria shook her head. “Just one of my higher level clients: Helen Walker. She’s usually something of a handful, but I guess being forty feet tall would give anyone a bit of an attitude.” She shrugged slightly.

Marcus’ eyes widened. “forty feet?” He glanced over Victoria again. She was only 20 feet tall but even that was enough to make him barely knee level. He had to constantly crane his neck to look at her and even the mere papers she held were big enough to cover an entire infant. He took all these little mental notes and multiplied them by three, and then he whistled. “…Wow she must be quite successful. That’s impressive.”

“If only her attitude matched.” She woefully added. “She has something of a tendency to…well I’m sure you hear the stories of what the upper class do to those smaller than them.”

Suddenly it clicked and became all too obvious why this was bad news. “S-She wouldn’t. I mean I’m not even that small. I work here. She can’t do anything in here. I-“

“She doesn’t care.”

“Well what am I supposed to do? I don’t want to get stepped on! Or…worse…” Marcus began to fidget as anxiety took hold.

Victoria waved a hand towards him, signaling him to relax. “Don’t worry. That’s why you’re going to make yourself scarce.”

Marcus blinked. “What, like go out there? She’ll see me.”

Now she laughed. “I said don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to my little employee. You’ll be right where she won’t see you.” She pulled her seat back and smirked, her finger gesturing to the bottom of her desk.

“You…want me to…?” He tilted his head, somewhat confused. “Are you sure about this Ms. Lockhart? It seems kind of…unprofessional and…”

Victoria’s azure eyes narrowed. Her foot started tapping impatiently. “Do you like making a habit out of questioning your boss?”

The sudden change of tone was all the persuasion needed for Marcus to make his way to the woman’s desk. Every so often Victoria would get serious and the young man knew better than to question her when she got like that. Sure, it was a little embarrassing being ordered to crawl under a grown woman’s desk but if the alternative was to become a whim of a wealthier lady then it really wasn’t much a choice. Much to Marcus’ shame he didn’t even need to bend over to walk under it, there was still enough room above for a good foot or two.

“Good boy. Don’t worry. This should be quick.” Victoria smiled at him and scooted her seat back into place. Sadly her skirt was long enough that Marcus couldn’t at least get a nice reward for this embarrassment. A couple minutes passed with her acting casually as if there wasn’t a person by her legs until a particularly loud knock came from her door. “Come on in Mrs. Walker.” She greeted in her most professional voice.

Curiosity got the better of Marcus as he peeked from the opening beneath Victoria’s desk to see this woman.

The first thing he noted was, obviously, her size. In a room built to easily accommodate someone up to thirty feet tall she had to bend over and keep her head down just to walk. Helen Walker was an older-looking woman; at a rough guess Marcus would’ve put her in the late forties – early fifties range. She had that mature woman look to her, where she was still thin but age was definitely starting to add on the pounds and curves. Despite that she still had on clothes more indicative of a young person or, in this case, a woman who refused to be anything but young. A tank top, yoga pants, sandals, all of which were so tightly fit it made Marcus think she might have been a few feet shorter when she got them. Still, all things considered she didn’t look that bad. She was just another of those aging, attractive, rich girl types. If he had been into blondes Marcus might have even called her beautiful.

“Nice as always Victoria I’m sure.” Helen smirked at the woman and waved, strutting her way to a seat designed for someone of Victoria’s height. After grimacing for a moment she carefully sat in it. The chair cried in agony beneath her incredible weight but held firm. Marcus backed up and away as the area in front of him was filled with a pair of feet the size of his body. Toes painted neon pink sat in a similarly colored sandal and seemed to stare at him while the women above began their business.

“Always a pleasure Mrs. Walker.” Victoria smiled and leaned over to shake the woman’s hand. “How might I help you today?”

Helen shrugged, or snorted. From his location it was hard to tell but Marcus guessed it was some kind of combination of the two. “Just the usual. Some money to put into the ol’ savings account to make sure this big girl doesn’t stop getting any bigger.”

“Already? That’s the second time this month. At this rate even I’m going to have to start watching out for where you’re walking.” Victoria laughed a completely fake, polite laugh. The sound of her keyboard going crazy soon followed.

“Nonsense. Each time I come here you’re another five feet. Once those investments start rolling in you’ll probably hit a full hundred before you know it sweetheart!” Helen laughed along with her.

With the situation now already beyond the point of no return Marcus was strangely calm, despite toes the size of his head not even three feet away from him. He stared at the sandal clad feet nearby with slight trepidation, but largely awe. He’d never seen a woman this size at this close up before. Heck, he could practically see his reflection in her toenail polish. He was almost relaxed. He could feel himself easing up and just taking the chance to admire these beautiful women in all their powerful glory.

That is, until Helen’s toes came for him.

In reality the woman slipped her sandals off and ran her toes along the bottom of the desk but when you were hiding beneath that very desk it quickly became a problem. A small gasp slipped from his mouth as he jumped back into Victoria’s thigh, causing the woman to jump.

“Everything okay Victoria?” Helen immediately asked at the sudden jolt.

“Ah, yes…Just a shiver. The AC gets to you after a while.” She quickly covered herself, wondering what was going on beneath the desk before resuming their business.

Marcus exhaled, fearfully eyeing the feet in front of him as though they were his personal grim reapers. Thankfully their advance seemed to have stopped and they stayed where they were, content with their place. He left Victoria’s legs and went back to hugging the wall of the desk for safety, making doubly sure he was nice and away from Helen and her probing soles.

Which of course meant he wasn’t paying any attention to the black heels of Victoria.

Whether by accident or playful intent the tip of Victoria’s heel swept the ground by the young man’s feet, knocking him down into the carpet with a minute thud. He rolled around and found himself staring dangerously close to the bare foot he was so carefully trying to avoid. In a split second he rolled to the side without pausing to think, just in time to see Helen’s sole lower right where he was. While doing his best not to make any sorts of noises he crawled backwards and away as fast he could but Helen was faster. With a simple brush of her foot her toes ran along Marcus’ wavy hair and the foot pulled back.

Neither woman drew attention to the gesture but Victoria’s eyes narrowed when she saw Helen glance towards her feet. Her heel came over Marcus, forcefully pressing into him and dragging him back towards her and away from the curious lady.

After a minute of shooting subtle, almost hopeful glances to her feet Helen shrugged and put all her focus back to the conversation.

Meanwhile after his second strike now Victoria decided to make sure Marcus didn’t cause any more trouble. As such her foot didn’t leave him. Instead it seemed to punish him for his sloppiness, gently grinding his body into the ground and holding him firmly in his place beneath her. Numerous questions plagued the man’s mind, not the least of which being why she hadn’t released him yet but he sighed and realized there was little to do but to deal with it. Questions and complaints could come later when the threat of crushing death wasn’t literally looming over him.

The clock continued ticking and business proceeded as normal for the two giants while Marcus lay beneath Victoria. One minute, two, five, ten, it was nearly half an hour before the great words finally came.

“This should all just about do it then. You should see it all finalized on your bank account in roughly two to three business days Mrs. Walker.”

“Thank you Victoria, you really are the best. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Helen laughed again.

“Just doing my job.” Victoria shrugged slightly.

Helen’s seat pulled back, the woman rising back to her feet. “And doing it well. I won’t linger and take any more of your time dearie. Just one last thing?”

“And what’s that?”

Helen grinned at her. “Can you stop holding out on me? Bring him out.”

At that moment Marcus froze. Victoria’s foot suddenly stopped moving. The brunette stared at her client in surprise, quickly covering it up with the smile of a professional. “Is it that obvious?” Her voice sounded a touch defeated.

The blonde giantess merely laughed yet again. “I’ve been in this business a long time Victoria. I know a tiny head of hair when I feel it. He can come on out now, I won’t bite.” She eagerly looked down below the desk and smirked. “I can’t leave until I get a goodbye from him too. It’d be rude.”

Marcus felt the pressure holding him in place go away. Even without a word between him and his boss he knew there was little choice. Hesitantly the man got back up and walked from his spot under the desk, into the open area before the towering Helen. She giggled slightly upon seeing him, her toes starting to impatiently drum along the worn edges of her sandals.

“Oh my you’re a cute one. Not bad at all Victoria.” She grinned. “It’s nice to meet you little man. It might be a little late for introductions but I’m Helen.”

Marcus stopped in front of her and gently lowered his head in greeting. As terrified as he was he knew better than to show it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Carter. You can just call me Marcus.” He said with his best neutral voice.

“Oh I think I like you.” Helen snorted. “I might just have to talk with Victoria later and see how much she’d be willing to give you up for. But for now I have to go…” She sighed and pouted.

“Don’t worry I’m sure we’ll see each other again sometime. Until then you take care.” He flashed the older woman a wide smile.

And she didn’t so much as move one step.

The words hung awkwardly in the air with Helen still staring expectantly at Marcus like he hadn’t done anything. Two large brown eyes stared at him, narrowing and growing more stern with each passing second. What did she want? She wanted a goodbye and Marcus gave it. Her increasingly unnerving expression was making him…well…unnerved.

Helen eventually shook her head. “Is that how they teach you to say goodbye around here?” She clicked her tongue. One large finger pointed down to the sandaled feet before Marcus. “Kiss my toes.” She said it as though it was such a natural thing that was so obvious even a child should know it.

Marcus, however, simply gave the giantess a perplexed look. He looked down to the bare toes then back up to her expectant face, repeating the motion a few more times until it was painfully clear she wasn’t joking. He turned back to Victoria as if she would weigh in on the situation but there she sat with the same professional look on her face. There wasn’t a hint of sympathy in either of their expressions. They both looked at him expectantly. The more seconds passed the more painfully obvious it was that there was no getting out of this.

Marcus let out a defeated sigh and dragged himself towards the awaiting woman. The toes wiggled, more than eager for their appeasement. Marcus grimaced at them, each one coming up to his ankles and bigger than either of his feet. He knelt down and slowly brought his face closer. All things considered it could have been worse. If the stories were to believed there were people who had to do this sort of thing as a living and their owners weren’t necessary the most attractive people. By comparison Helen, while not a model by any means, was certainly beautiful and her feet seemed well cared for. Each toe was nicely shaped and evenly painted with no particular fault or even scent to them. Even once his lips pressed up onto her big toe it didn’t seem especially gross or even bad, just humiliating. Not that it was anything people hadn’t done before. You did what had to do to get by in a world filled with wealthy giants.

It wasn’t until Marcus had kissed each individual toe that Helen finally let him go. “That should do. I’ll let it slide this time but don’t be so sloppy next time, you’ve got that?”

“Yes M’am.”

“Good boy. Now you two take care. Don’t let me take up too much of your time. Here’s a little thank you for letting me use your toy Victoria.” The woman pulled a slip of paper from her purse and quickly wrote something on it, handing it to Victoria. Whatever was on it must’ve been impressive, because she grew a foot taller just from seeing it.

“Thank you Mrs. Carter!” Victoria was now all smiles.

“Anytime. And for you little man.” Helen pulled a large bill from her purse and knelt down towards Marcus. “Say ahhh~”

He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, where a hundred-dollar bill was quickly shoved in between his lips. Letting out another, now incredibly annoying, laugh Helen exited the room, waving the two goodbye and tossing the smaller young man a wink as he pulled the bill from his lips.

Once she was safely away and out of earshot Marcus gagged and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I can see why you didn’t want her to know about me. I think I need to go brush my teeth after that.”

Victoria shrugged. “She isn’t so bad once you get to know her. But she certainly has a way about her doesn’t she?” She pulled away from the desk and began opening drawers on her end, pulling out various documents and forms. “After that little number I can’t in good faith have you work the rest of the day. Just one last thing and you can head home early.” As she said this she slid one of the forms to the other side of the desk and placed a pen beside it.

Marcus quickly climbed into his seat and stood on top to get a clear view of the paper. “An employment contract?”

“Just a formality to get your name into the system. You know, cover our bases and such.” Victoria quickly explained. “When you’re done reading it just sign at the dotted line on the bottom. Then you can head on home.”

Marcus took the pen in hand and nodded, giving the contract more of an in depth look while his name hovered over the signature.

The following agrees to become an employee of Charlottesville National Bank and all of its subsidiaries. The employee cannot be wrongfully terminated unless he or she is shown to be inept at their duties and fails to perform them as directed or is incapable of completing his or her work due to personal injury or other related illnesses. Charlottesville Bank is not held responsible in the event of injury or sickness brought about by but not limited to incidents involving crushing or digestion and would otherwise like to encourage safety in working with its clientele to avoid such incidents as well as humanly possible…

Marcus blinked, rereading the line another few times. “What’s this about crushing and digestion?”

“It’s corporate’s way of saying if you get eaten or stepped on we can’t be held responsible. In our line of work we get a lot of different sized people walking in here and it’s not unheard of for an incident or two to happen. So long as you’re smart about it you should be fine though. Aside from that you do get some health coverage, it should be buried somewhere in the third or fourth section. Plus dental coverage too.” Victoria smiled, never taking her eyes from her computer monitor as she busily typed.

“Ah. Makes sense I suppose.”  He muttered vacantly. The contract did as all contracts did and soon became incomprehensibly complex as it went on and on about every minute little thing. Eventually Marcus just shrugged and signed his name along the bottom.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Ms. Lockhart.” He waved and promptly left.

After what was by far the most interesting day of his first month at work things proceeded without anything special happening since. Day after day Marcus would show up and work as Victoria’s assistant. One day he might be filing paperwork, another he might spend most of his time tidying the office, make food runs, answer phone calls, the typical menial sorts of jobs as expected of an assistant. Days turned to weeks and before he’d even realized it that fabled day had finally arrived: pay day.

Marcus entered his workplace much like he always did and entered Victoria’s office as he had grown used to. Right behind her desk sat the twenty-something foot tall lass, looking just like the day they met. Her eyes glanced up from a series of forms to welcome him in. “I bet I know why you’re here.” She smiled and reached inside of her desk, pulling out a thin envelope. “It took some time getting you into the system but here it is: your paycheck for the month.” A large hand reached over and held out the envelope towards him.

“It’s been a little rough getting by until now but I think with this it’ll all be worth it.” Marcus said as he took the envelope from her. Rather impatiently his fingers already started opening it eagerly. “I really do owe you for all this Victo - Ms. Lockhart. The stories make it out like all people of a certain size do nothing but horrible things to people smaller than them but here you’ve helped me every step of the way. I can’t thank you enough.”

He was answered with a modest shrug. Victoria stood from her seat and walked towards Marcus. “You can’t believe everything you hear you know.”

“I guess not.” Marcus laughed, his fingers pulling that glorious piece of paper from its slot. His eyes looked to see how much all his work had earned him. And then that joy-filled expression on his face vanished.

“What’s this?”

“What’s what?” Victoria asked back, her calm smiling visage remained the same. She now stood in front of Marcus, towering over him and looking down at the man who only came to her knees. “That’s your paycheck.”

All the color had left Marcus’ light brown skin. “Is this how much I earned? This can’t be right. I mean, I can’t hope to pay all my bills with just this. You know that right?”

The woman’s eyes widened though they conveyed no sense of surprise whatsoever. “Well what did you expect? A banker’s assistant isn’t exactly a high paying job. This was meant to help you while you continued that job hunt you were having.”

“But I haven’t been looking for another job!”

Her eyes narrowed as a playful smirk crept up the side of her face. “Now why is that?” One of her heeled feet started tapping in place.

“Because you said this job would be enough to pay my bills!” Marcus now yelled up at her, his frustration beginning to get the better of him.

Whatever smile Victoria had on her face vanished in that instant. Her foot stomped the ground beside the man, scaring him enough that he jumped back. He stared at her bare leg as if it had tried to kill him. “Don’t get that attitude with me Marcus. Do not forget who your superiors are. I had told you that this job was to help you. It was on you to follow through and use this time efficiently was it not?” She chided.

Marcus shook his head. “But I didn’t realize that. I can’t pay my bills and both my loans with just this?”

“Then I suppose in that case we will need to follow protocol. In the event that you fail to pay back your debts the bank withholds the right to seize your properties as payment and whatever is left will be held against you in a federal court of law.” Victoria’s expression was pure ice. The only part of her that seemed to indicate her feelings were her eyes that looked at him as a snake would its prey.

The young man before her gasped, suddenly feeling very light headed. He’d only felt this feeling once before: when he went from nearly six feet tall to nearly five feet tall. He was shrinking again and not slowly by the looks of it.

“It would appear you are changing to reflect your change in net worth Marcus.” Victoria noted with an all too thrilled gleam in her eyes. “I wonder how small someone becomes when they owe over 60,000 dollars.” She watched on eagerly as the man before her dwindled more and more. His panicked sounds and cries grew lower and lower until she just flat out couldn’t hear them anymore and even then he became smaller. The man who was once up to her knees now found himself staring at her ankles, then her heels, then up at her heels. When it was all said and done there was little more than a small bug standing before her. Victoria couldn’t help but laugh.

“That may be a record for shrinking Marcus. I must admit it’s rather impressive. However I regret to inform you that you are now breaking your employment contract as you are now unable to carry out your duties. As such your employment with Charlottesville National Bank is hereby terminated.” Her heel rose over the shrunken man. “So I will kindly ask you to leave my office. Nothing personal but I cannot be seen with bugs scurrying about. It wouldn’t make for a very good impression now would it?”

Marcus stared up at the dirty sole of Victoria’s heel as it loomed overhead. Countless thoughts filled and jumbled his head. So many questions. So much confusion. But at this very moment none of it mattered. What mattered above all else and was his only coherent thought was to run far away as fast as he could. He turned, scrambling for the door as fast as his legs could take him. Everything grew dark with the light being eclipsed by Victoria’s shoe. In fact it seemed like it was getting darker. Almost pitch black even. His eyes widened as the realization hit him.

Victoria’s heel was less than an inch from the ground as he dove forward. Freedom was right there in his reach. He was going to make it! In his final jump he pierced the darkness and rejoined the world of light. The celebration was only momentary as he realized he had much more distance to go. His tiny arms scurried trying to lift himself back up off the carpet.

Then all he could feel was crippling pain.

Rational thought left Marcus in an instant, his mind unable to piece together what just happened although it was one of the simplest things to understand. His body convulsed as loud, agony-filled cries escaped his throat. He eyes glanced behind him, barely able to comprehend what he was seeing. All he could see was what appeared to be red goo where his legs were meant to be. Just behind them stood Victoria’s heel, also decorated with a splotch of red. It took far too long for him to connect the dots for what that meant.

“I understand termination is a difficult thing to deal with Marcus but could you do me a favor and not bleed on the carpet?” Victoria clicked her tongue and adjusted her glasses. “It sends the wrong sort of message to our customers. Please do not make this any worse than it already is.” Her foot rose once again, this time with no way for its target to escape. There were no grandiose cries or struggles from the tiny, mutilated man. There was something beneath her foot one second and the next there wasn’t. That’s all it was.

“And one less bug to worry about. Nothing personal Marcus, just business.” Victoria smiled proudly, her heel digging into the carpet. It came back up with nary a sign of anything that once stood under it. Still, to be safe it wiped itself on the carpet for a few more seconds before she made her way back to her desk. Her fingers danced along the keyboard, pulling up a company page on the young man she had just crushed. “I warned him it was a bad idea taking a loan.” She clicked her tongue, making the necessary changes to his file to indicate his unfortunate passing. As the changes were made and saved she smirked.

“I love this job.”