Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

My name is Rosa. As far as looks go, I’m pretty average. My hair is short, only to about my shoulders, and brown. My body has average proportions, though I must admit I have a nice butt. You could say I was completely normal. Except for my height. I’m a whopping 14 centimeters. That’s around five or six inches to Americans. Also Liberians and… people from Burma, whatever you call them. Burmans? I’m getting off-track. Various complications pre-birth resulted in this short stature, though I won’t get into that right now.

Today is my eighteenth birthday, and I’m excited because it means I can finally get out of this heckhole of an orphanage, pardon my language. I’ve spent the last nearly 18 years as nothing but a doll for the other kids, and I am plum sick of it. I’d long given up hope of being adopted due to my “unique disability”, and I don’t even care where I go. I just need away from here.

So I suppose you’re now caught up to the present, more or less. Here I am, wandering the streets, trying to avoid getting stepped on. Goodness, how I wish I’d made arrangements, or at least some sort of plan… But I can’t get hung up on hypotheticals. This is the now. All of this is happening, and I am in legitimate danger. A large blue heel stomps down right next to me and I’m frozen for a moment. It passes by an instant later but it felt like ages. The reality of the situation suddenly hits me all at once. I need to find shelter, or at least someone big to help me.

I try calling out to some of the people walking by on the sidewalk, but they all seem to either not hear me or ignore me. Oh well, they all seem to be in a hurry anyway, and I would hate to bother them or keep them from an important place. There’s a slight lull in foot traffic, no doubt caused by the crosswalk currently going in the other direction, and I use this as a chance to try to take shelter in one of the buildings on this street.

I walk right up to the front door of some sort of store or office. The sign is too high up for me to get a readable look from this angle. I try to push on the door, and nothing. I try to pull on the door, and I have significant trouble getting a grip.

“These doors were not designed for the vertically challenged…” I say to myself. I step off to the side to think over my next move, when a woman and a child, likely her daughter, come up to the door. The woman opens it with relative ease, making me realize just how small and weak I actually am. The door stopped mere inches, or rather millimeters, from my face, and after a half a second to process it, I snuck in behind them. Looking around, I realized I was in a toy store.

“This is perfect!” I said to myself. “There’s a whole bunch of stuff scaled right to my size!” I walked down an incredibly pink aisle, looking up at everything in awe. “This is an unrealistic expectation for women.” I say, comparing my own body to a nearby Barbie doll.

“Hey, why is this doll out of its box?” I hear a voice say. I’m frozen in fear. I’ve been caught. This is the end. What will this person do to me? I slowly turn around to see a large (relatively speaking) hand reach for me. I’m pulled up quickly to see the face of the child from before, the one I followed into the store.

“Put that back, I’m not buying you a doll today” her mother says. With a disappointed look, I’m slammed into a display of a Barbie Dreamhouse. My heart pounding, I slowly stand up once I’m sure she’s gone. I look around the house, thinking that under other circumstances this could be a perfectly acceptable place to live. It’s nice, and pretty dang big in comparison to me. But I know I can’t live in a dollhouse inside a toy store; that would be rude and probably illegal. I think it’s considered trespassing. I decide to wait in here for a while while I plan my next move.

Through the windows of the Dreamhouse, I can actually get a pretty good look at the front of the store. I see people come and go from the building, buying things and generally browsing. There are a few close calls, I’m almost spotted inside the house, though I’m luckily able to keep hidden. From the bits and pieces of conversation, and visual cues, I figure out that the clerk, a cute girl who seems to be in her early twenties, is my best option for an ally. She’s the only person who remains in the store long enough except for the manager, and he kind of scares me. But from her customer service skills, she seems really nice. I only hope I’m a good judge of character, and she does help me…

After what feels like hours of hiding in fear, I decide it’s time for action. I walk out of the Dreamhouse when there’s a lull in business and the aisle is empty. I didn’t even realize until now just how high up I was. I was on one of the upper shelves, probably about four or five feet up. Of course, to me, that felt like fifty or sixty feet. Nervously, I scale down one of those things in the middle of the aisle that they hang products on. You know what I mean, those ones that hang down toward the floor. I don’t know what the proper term is.

It stops only a couple of inches off the ground, and I drop down to the floor. I cautiously make my way to the front of the store. There she is. The only person that can help me at this point. Leaning over the counter with a slightly bored look in her eye. It’s understandable, the store is empty except for me and the people working. I slowly approach the counter.

“Hey!” I yell. Nothing. No reaction. I sigh, and make my way around the counter to reach the side she’s standing on. I tap on her pant leg. Still no reaction. I realize now just how insignificant I am. I cannot even get this girl to notice me. Literally, I cannot let her know that I am here at all. She can’t see me. She can’t hear me. She can’t even feel me, at least through her pants. I punch her leg as hard as I can, yelling “Hey you!” as loud as I can. She shifts her leg a bit, reaching down to itch the point I hit her. I’m so dang weak, pardon my language, my punches feel like tickles. While I’m standing there, cursing my lack of muscle mass, I don’t realize I’ve actually been spotted.

Slowly, she reaches down for me. I’m snatched up in a fist quickly, and pulled up to her eye level before I even have time to react. She stares at me, wide eyed and focused, turning me over to get a look at every inch of me, all five of them.

“I didn’t know we sold dolls like this…” I hear her mutter under her breath. My mind wants to speak out and correct her, but my body is too scared to let it. I never realized how much bigger she would seem up close.

“It’s so soft… this skin feels so real… and the detail is amazing!” she said out loud to herself. I tried to speak, but nothing would come out. She finally put me down on the counter, and I stumbled. I’m not sure she noticed me. I fell down. After a moment, I finally got up the strength to bring myself back up to my feet. I guess she saw that, because now she’s staring at me, wide-eyed and curious. “A-are… are you…” she reaches for me again. I flinch and she takes her hand back for a second, before slowly cupping her hands around my body.

“Are you... alive?” she asks me. I manage to look up at her and nod. Looking into her face, I realize she’s beautiful, even prettier up close. “C-can you speak?” she adds. I nod again, a bit faster this time.

“O-oh, are you scared? I’m sorry!” she sets me down immediately. “I must look huge to you… It’s okay, I won’t hurt you! My name’s Olivia.”

“I-I’m… R-rosa…” I manage to squeak out.

“There you go! So, Rosa, what are you doing here? And… well, you know… the, uh…”

“M-my height…”

“Yeah… What’s the, er…” Olivia asks me. I explain to her the gist of it, my life up til this point, the whole hiding in the Dreamhouse thing, you get the picture.

“S-so I’m… I need… I need someone to… help me… I-I-I’m all alone and frightened… th-the world is too big… I can’t… I can’t survive on my own…”

“I get it.” she pats my head with her finger. I shudder, but in a calming way. Like all the anxieties are just flowing out through her fingers. I like this feeling. “Look, my shift’s about to end. Do you… Do you want to come home with me tonight? I’ll get you some food and stuff…”

“Umm… y-yeah, I think I’d l-like that…” I say, still unsure. She gently places me down, walks to the back of the store for a minute, and returns shortly. She places her hand down and I step onto it. She cups her other hand around my body and heads outside. It’s dark now, and cold. I shiver. Soon, we approach a car, and Olivia gets into the driver’s seat.

“So, uh… how do you… want to do this?” She asks me.

“What do you mean…?” I respond.

“I mean… do you want to sit in the passenger seat or… like, in my lap…? I’m sorry, I don’t know the, er, protocol…”

“I’ll, uh, feel safer in your lap, I think… b-but if you want me to sit in the seat I can!”

“No, no, it’s fine! Wherever you feel most comfortable.” She sets me down gently on her pant leg. Let me tell you, sitting on denim feels kinda weird. I can’t even really describe it. As she drives, I sort of lose my balance and end up falling down onto the seat in between her legs. She looks down and smiles at me, before returning her gaze to the road. I think she just wanted to make sure I was okay.

“So, a few things you should know before we get back to my place…” she started talking after a few minutes of silence “I have a cat. She shouldn’t bother you unless you bother her, though. Just want to warn you, since, well… cats eat, uh… small… animals…” I nodded. “Second, my roommate, Chanelle, she’s… look, she’s probably gonna hurt you at some point. I’ll try to keep you safe, but… her sense of humor is kinda… fucked up. She doesn’t really know when to stop. I promise you, she doesn’t mean to hurt you, but she probably will. Fair warning. Okay, we’re here.” she stops the car. She gently lifts me up and walks inside. I can see a girl sitting on the couch drinking from a beer bottle, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties playing some sort of video game. Olivia walks over and sits in a chair next to the couch and calls her name.

“Chanelle! I want you to meet someone.” she glances over at Olivia, then returns to focusing on the game.

“Who? Where are they? All I see is you.” she hits the pause button and takes a big swig from her bottle. Olivia opens up her hands so Chanelle can see me. I slowly reach an arm up and make a small wave at her. Suddenly, without warning, Chanelle grabs me out of Olivia’s hands and holds me by one leg. I’m freaking out here, I let out a small yelp and try to keep my skirt from showing too much skin. Chanelle just laughs.

“Oh my god, you found a tiny little bitch! That’s great! She’s so fucking small. I could probably eat her in one bite…” she chomps her teeth mere centimeters from my face and I yelp again. Slowly, she lowers me toward her mouth. I can feel her warm breath on me. It smells of alcohol. I can see down her throat into the dark abyss of the human digestive system. My whole head is past her teeth before Olivia grabs me out of her hands.

“Damn it, Chanelle! I knew this would happen…” she holds me close and walks into the other room, closing the door behind her. From the looks of it, this appears to be Olivia’s bedroom.

“I am so sorry for that… I shouldn’t have let her grab you… Please, Rosa, forgive me…”

“I-it’s… it’s okay, Miss Olivia… I’m, uh… I’m fine now. Don’t.... don’t worry.” I try to smile up at her. She smiles back.

“Hey, you know, I think I have some old doll stuff you can use… if, uh, you want to, that is. I have a bed you can sleep in. And some clothes that may or may not fit you. We can try, I guess. Right?” she starts digging through her closet and finds a box labeled ‘DOLL STUFF’. She brings it back to her bed where I’m standing and starts going through it.

“Here you go, this is perfect. It’s just your size!” she pulls out a bed and places it on her nightstand. She gently scoops me up and places me on top of it. “I’ve got some fabric you can use for blankets, too. And, uh, here’s some clothes!” she drops a pile of dresses, skirts, shirts, pants, and the like all next to me. “You can sort through that and try it on if you want.”

I search through it and do find some clothes I like. I think I may actually like living with Olivia. I could do without Chanelle, but who knows, maybe she’ll mellow out when she’s sober?

The next morning, I wake up and roll over. I yawn, and look over at Olivia, this massive goddess sleeping in a bed I could get lost walking on. And yet, she takes up almost all of it. It’s almost unfathomable how much bigger she is than me. I jump off the nightstand and, surprisingly, stick the landing on her mattress. I slowly approach her face. When I’m almost there, I slip on a puddle of drool and slam my face against her lips.

Suddenly, she awakes! She makes a slight gasp and then notices me, my face pressed against her lip. I get back up to my feet, and look up at her eyes, each one larger than my head. Olivia shifts her position so she sits up and wraps her fingers around my body. She lifts me up to eye level.

“Were you trying to get fresh with me?” She asks, jokingly.

“Ahehehe… I was, uh… j-just trying to wake you up…”

“Well, you succeeded. Did you need anything in particular or just want to say hi?”

“Oh, I, um… I am kinda hungry…”

“...Ohh, shit. You haven’t eaten in like two days have you. Sorry, I meant to get you something last night, but then Chanelle… yeah… What, um… What do you even… eat…?”

“I can eat anything you do! We’re the same species. I just… my portions are smaller.”

“R...right. Yeah. Sorry about that… What would you… like?” She asks me, standing up and carrying me out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.

She gets some stuff out from her pantry and fridge, puts some waffles in the toaster and pours a bowl of cereal. She places the bowl near me and motions at it. I approach it and reach in for a cocoa puff. She makes another motion like “go on” and I grab a few more cocoa puffs. I bite into one like an apple and then I just completely go after the next two, devouring them in seconds. By the fourth puff I’m feeling kind of full, but I take a bite out of it anyway.

The toaster pops and Olivia places a plate of waffles on the counter where I’m sitting, full of cocoa puff. She offers me some, but I’m just too full to eat any waffle. I do accept her offer of a spoonful of chocolate milk, though, to wash down the puffs. I sit against the wall and watch her eat for a few minutes, noting how she manages to eat in one bite more than I could eat for the whole meal.

Suddenly, she stands up and looks at the clock, like she remembered she forgot something.

“Oh shit! I need to go to class today!” she places her dishes in the sink and scoops me up quickly.

“Do you think you can handle staying here with Chanelle on your own?” Olivia asks me.

“I… I, uh… I don’t… er… think…” I don’t really want to disagree with her, but I dread the thought of what Chanelle would do to me if she had me all to herself…

“...Ah… well… I see your point. Look… I think I can take you with me if you’re okay with sitting in my jacket pocket. Otherwise, well…”

“I-I-I’m fine with that! It’ll be fine… I can handle it.”

So she scoops me up into her hands and drops me gently into the inside pocket of her coat.

Not much happens for a while, and I occasionally peek out of the pocket to see what’s what. I poke my head out and whisper-yell at Olivia. You know what I mean, yelling but like… in a whispering tone… Stage whispering, I guess, is what I’m getting at. Regardless of what I actually did with my voice, she didn’t hear. I say her name a bit louder, but she still doesn’t hear it. I try to get a bit closer to her ears by climbing halfway out of the pocket. As soon as I make it, I realize what a terrible idea that was, because I fall. As soon as I hit the ground, I try to roll to lessen the blow, as I’ve seen done in many movies and other media. Let me say right now, it’s hard to get the amount of focus you need to land just so that you roll when you’re falling to the ground. I am able to somewhat get it right, though, and I roll right up against a shoe. As I compose myself, still dizzying from the fall, a hand reaches down to grab me. I get ready to explain myself to Olivia, but as soon as I get a look at the person’s face I realize - I’ve never met this guy before.