Midwestern Values

By

Asukafan2001

                This tale takes place in the winter of 1993. Beverly Hills 90210 was building towards the season finale of its 3rd season and was slaughtering the competition in the ratings.  TGIF was still the best part of Friday’s and currently contained a show called Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper with Mark Curry and Omar Gooding.

                However, both those television shows were shot in California which is far away from the suburban Midwestern town this story takes place in. While there lives weren’t nearly as exciting as Brenda Walsh’s crush on bad boy Dillion, their lives were much more real than there superficial counterparts that they eagerly awaited to watch on television each night.

Emily Craft was a single mother with two children. She was married once, ten years ago to a man named Roger Keys.  They were happy at first, but six rocky years of marriage and two children later the love was gone.  Roger and Emily decided to save each other the pain of pretending to love one another and just split up.

                The divorce wasn’t nasty but it was far from pleasant. Emily had ended up with the kids like she wanted, but it was Roger who ended up having the last laugh. A few years down the road Roger got remarried to a beautiful woman named Tina who Emily simply hated. What bugged her most was how much her two kids loved her. She knew it was a petty thing and she should be beyond such a trivial rivalry, but each time she heard her kids call Tina mom it was like a stab to the heart. She couldn’t outspend Tina and Roger when it came to extravagance, so her children’s love was how she always felt she could best them. Now though, she wondered if she even had that.

                Emily had a nice suburban home where her two kids Sarah age 8 and Michael age 9 lived.  Emily worked fulltime at Macy’s department store, It wasn’t glamorous but it paid the bills. Between her nine to five job at Macy’s and the child support Emily got from Roger and Tina she managed a pretty fair life with a few luxuries.

                Emily, who just hit her forties a couple years ago, was still attractive, for her age.  She often dressed in a fashion that you wouldn’t notice her beauty. She dressed simple and conservatively. Emily didn’t believe in the elegant fashions that many other woman did. The only time Emily found herself really trying to gussy herself up was when she knew she was going to see Tina.  This was part of Emily’s unconscious desire to best Tina. Emily just didn’t understand how Roger who was also in his forties just a year younger than her could get the attention of a thirty one year old woman.

                Emily Had just gotten off work and was doing some last minute Christmas shopping for her family; she had her next door neighbor’s daughter Alex watching the kids.  Alex and Emily had an odd relationship. I guess you could call it a true business relationship.  Alex and Emily were like oil and water, they just didn’t get along. However, even with their rocky relationship they still managed to keep things professional.  Every day Monday through Friday Alex would watch the kids when they got home from school until Emily got off from work, and every other weekend Alex would watch the kids from eight to four. The main reason Alex put up with Emily was the pay was good and the job was easy. She got along with Emily’s kids fairly well, but the main reason was the pay.

Emily was bustling from store to store trying to find the last minute items her kids were begging for when she noticed a small booth giving out samples of a new cola. Emily had no idea how much stopping to try out this free sample was going to change her and her family’s life. Emily grabbed the small cup and gulped it down. It tasted pretty bad but Emily feigned interest out of politeness before moving on to finish her shopping.

                It was a few hours later that Emily had finally finished her shopping and was heading home when she started to feel sick.  She hadn’t eaten anything abnormal so she was a bit puzzled at first, until she remembered trying that nasty new soda.

                When Emily reached home she was sweating bullets. She decided to leave the presents in the trunk and grab them later. All Emily wanted to do was head into the house and pray whatever this is, passes by morning. As soon as she opened the door she saw the babysitter sprawled out on the couch using telephone while surfing through the channels.   

                “Alex would you mind watching the kids for another hour, I’m really not feeling too well. I think I’m going to throw up.”

                “Sure Mrs. Craft.” Alex responded as Emily went up stairs and walked into her personal bathroom. As soon as she saw the toilet Emily started to feel queasy. She fell to her knees and immediately started throwing up into the toilet. This went on for the better part of a half hour.  Every time Emily would think that she was finally done the feeling would overcome her again and she would be throwing up again.

                Emily finally felt well enough to leave the bathroom; she figured if nothing else she could pay Alex and send her on her way. However, when Emily stood up she noticed something was immediately wrong. Emily’s skirt fell from her body and puddle at her feet. Emily turned in a circle looking around at the bathroom which had grown in size.

                “What is going on?” Emily had said to herself as she finally looked down at her own body and saw that she probably wasn’t any taller than her eight year old daughter.  She screamed in her mind and started having a panic attack. Emily fell to the floor unable to control herself. Tears begun to well in her eyes as her stomach begin knot.  No longer able to control herself, Emily closed her eyes tightly hoping this was some kind of dream but her body was going through a metamorphosis.

                It took several minutes for Emily to calm herself, however when she did, she found herself even more shocked then she originally was. Everything had grown even larger and this time the scale wasn’t even comprehendible. The porcelain toilet she had been throwing up in now towered above her. She couldn’t even picture a being large enough to use such a structure in her mind.

                Emily continued to grow even more stunned and horrified as the realizations of what had happened to her started to settle in her mind. The bathroom counter, was nearly twice as tall as the toilet, the bathtub seemed to stretch out forever.  Even the tan bathroom rug was reaching well up her ankles almost touching her knees.

                The ground started to shake and creek. Fear began to boil over inside of Emily, her body was shacking visibly. She couldn’t imagine one her children finding her like this. Would they even know it was her? 

                A loud powerful noise cut through air like lightning in a thunder storm. A few moments later it happened again. Then her bedroom door opened up. Emily realized it was the babysitter shouting her name.  The first thought through Emily’s mind was oh god she can’t see me like this. Emily looked from left to right for a place to hide, a place where this would all make sense, however it was too late. Emily’s bedroom door started to open up as the same familiar sound erupted through the air but at a much more manageable level this time.  It sounded more like standing next to the speaker at a loud concert, as opposed to before which was more an all encompassing noise that seemed to be coming from everywhere.

                Emily’s eyes bulged out as Alex entered the room. She couldn’t believe this young girl, was so large. It simply should not be possible. Alex was always tiny a girl standing at approximately five four, or five three, however now she appeared to hundreds or thousands of feet tall to little Emily. Emily didn’t even realize she was backing up until her back hit the cold porcelain of the toilet.

                “Mrs. Craft, Mrs. Craft” Alex called out. She was a bit surprised to not see Emily lying on her bed, but then turned her attention towards the bathroom. 

                “She must really be sick” Alex thought as she slowly opened the bathroom door.  The first thing she noticed was Emily’s dress lying on the floor.  She scanned the room for Emily but saw nothing, nothing at first.

                Emily on the other hand was now quite terrified. She found herself staring at the largest being she had ever seen in all her years. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, or thought to be imaginable. Emily didn’t even know what to think or do as Alex stepped into her bathroom. The sound of her doc martens seemed echo through the bathroom.  The brown scuffed up shoes looked to be larger than life, but they were nothing compared to the denim pillars which were her legs.  Emily was almost too terrified to look any further but she couldn’t take her eyes off this giant. Emily was scared, yet strangely curious and it was a bit exhilarating.  She wanted to run in terror, wake up from this nightmare, but at the same time it was strangely fascinating.

                Emily’s finally locked onto the deep dark brown, red, almost mud-like color tones of Alex’s flannel shirt which hung loosely well past her waist and covering most of her white t-shirt.  Emily heard Alex start to call out again but this time it was cut off in mid sentence.

                Alex scanned the bathroom again with her eyes figuring she must have missed Mrs. Craft somehow but at the same time she wondered how she could as it’s pretty hard to not notice a person.  Alex was about to leave when her eyes caught something propped up against the toilet. It looked like a small action figure, like a G.I. Joe figurine she always saw lying around her brother’s room.  At first she though it just must be one of Michaels but then she saw it move slightly. Alex took a few more steps towards it and knelt down while lowering her face towards what she still thought was a doll for the most part.  It wasn’t until her face was just a few inches away that she realized what it truly was.

                “Holy Crap!” pierced Alex’s lips as she stared at her neighbor and employer only she was the size of a toy.

                Emily on the other hand was going out of her mind; her neighbor’s daughter is now not only some kind of giant, but her face is only a few feet away and larger than Emily is period. Emily kept mumbling this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening but she knew deep down inside that it had to be. This all was way too real to be some kind of dream.

                “Alex?” Emily managed to spit out. While eyeing Alex’s giant brown eyes and straight dark brown hair.

                Neither person could believe what they were looking at. Alex was looking at the world’s smallest woman, and Emily was looking at a teenager the size of a mountain; however it was Alex who made the first move as her curiosity had gotten the better of her.  She reached her hand towards Emily. As soon as she touched Emily she knew it was really her. A certain level of doubt about the small woman was raging through Alex’s mind until that moment. A smile crept across Alex’s face as her fingers curled around the tiny older woman and lifted her up from the floor.

                “Put me down” Emily yelled, terrified over the entire situation. She felt her feet leave the tile floor and soon she was rising up higher and higher.  She watched in fear as Alex stood to her full height. Emily bit her lower lip and kicked her feet in the air.

                “What happened to you Mrs. Craft?” Emily asked as she held her employer in her hand. She wanted to just squeeze her, but not out of cruelty just to see if she was real.  Also, to see what would happen. It was empowering holding a being in your hand. It was different than holding a hamster or a rabbit. This was an intelligent being, a person who by societal standards was above you. Carried more weight, had more rights.  As no one really carried what you thought until they viewed you as an equal which usually took place once you reached 30 or so.

                “You answer when you’re spoken too” the words cut through the air.  Emily was taken aback. No one has talked to her like that since she was a child. A part of her wanted to yell out in enraged over the tone this girl was taking with her, while the other part of her was afraid of this giant and what she may do to her if she showed a bit of defiance.

                Emily watched in a daze as the world whizzed by. This was all her house but everything looked strangely different. Some things she instantly recognized other things looked like they were simply out of this world. Emily didn’t really know what to think.  

                Emily didn’t notice something was amiss until Alex knelt down by the front door. Emily desperately tried to see what was going on but it wasn’t until it was too late that she found out. A horrified look fell across Emily’s face as she found herself lowered into Alex’s book bag, her fingers begun to loosen as and Emily rolled out of Alex’s hand. The world raced past Emily’s face. Everything was a blur of colors as the wind pressed against her face. Emily tightly shut her eyes and screamed as she fell seemingly hundreds upon hundreds of feet.  She could feel her stomach crawling up her throat and beating against the backside of her teeth fighting to try pull itself out of her mouth. Than all at once everything came to a halt as if she a fly and the floor was a windshield.

Emily opened her eyes seeing nothing but black. She took a deep breath and inhaled nothing but stale sweat. She coughed and rolled over onto her back gasping for air. She looked upwards in absolute horror. Textbooks, folders and notebooks stood standing upwards hundreds of feet in the air, Emily looked beneath her to see a black mesh material Emily couldn’t even identify as gym shorts.  She looked up to see Alex staring down at her.  Emily took a few steps backwards and tumbled over a pencil case and fell onto the floor hitting her head as Alex tightens the drawstring of the bag and then snaps the flap down. 

                Laughter which sounded more like thunder spilled across the backpack as Alex closed the bag. Emily couldn’t believe that this was happening. While her and Alex were generally pretty cold towards each other She had known Alex her entire life and couldn’t believe this was happening. Emily kept making excuses in her head. Excuses like, Alex is just putting me here to keep me safe from the kids. She is going to call for help now.  It was these excuses which may have put her in the situation she comes to be in.

                “Hi, Mr. Keys this is Alex, I’m the babysitter for Mike and Sarah. No, no nothing is wrong with them. It’s just I can’t seem to find Mrs. Craft. She came home, and was feeling sick so she went   to her room. I go to check on her and she’s gone. No, she couldn’t have run to the store for some medicine because her car is here. Okay, see you in a few minutes.”

                As soon as Emily heard this she felt relived. Alex was going to help her. She figured Alex was calling Roger over here to get the kids as not to worry them.  Then she was going to help her.  Emily decided to make the best of things while the help came and climbed back over the pencil case and onto the gym shorts and sat down on the soft material.

                The darkness lulled Emily to sleep until she heard the door open up and the voices of Roger and Tina sound throughout the room. A few moments later the stomping of her kid’s feet rushing towards their father and Tina filled the room. Emily cringed as she heard her daughter call Tina Mommy.  Emily couldn’t figure out what was going on. She heard everyone walk away from the door and people call her name a few times.

                “What in the world is going on? Alex you know where I am. Tell them I am in here.” Emily said as she paced nervously in the darkness of Alex’s bag.  The more Emily paced the more she wondered if Alex was actually helping her?  

                “She, she wouldn’t keep in here, Alex and I may not get along but she is not a kidnapper. She just wants to get Tiny or Roger alone and tell them about me. No need to worry the kids and all.” Emily said to herself in a attempt to convince herself nothing was wrong.

                                Alex played along helping Mr. and Mrs. Keys search the craft household. Alex darted into Emily’s room and pretended to look about the room when she spotted Mrs. Crafts purse on the chair. Alex headed back towards the door and carefully closed it, then rushed back over to the chair. Alex looked back at the door one last time before unzipping the purse and grabbing Mrs. Craft’s wallet. She pawed through a couple of compartments and finally hit the jackpot. She pulled out a thick wad of cash along with a few scraps of paper.

                “Where did Mrs. Craft get all this cash? There has to be two or three hundred dollars here.” Alex whispered. She then looked at the paper she had in her hands saw he stub for a child support check.

                “Alex?” Mr. Keys shouted. This caused Alex to shove the wallet back in Mrs. Craft’s purse and zipped it up quickly and shoved the cash into her pocket. She turned to the right and poked her head in the closet just as Mr. Keys opened the door.

                “She’s not in here. I even checked some odd places like the closet thinking maybe she fell or something. I did find her dress in the bathroom, but that’s about it.

                “Well we are going to take the kids back to our house, and then call the police as we don’t want to worry them. I’m sorry about this but all I have is thirty bucks on me. “

                “Oh that’s okay Mr. Keys. Be sure to call me if you hear anything.” Alex said before excusing herself from the room.

                Emily was fuming as she heard Tina telling her kids put their coats on and get to the car. Emily desperately called out but no one could hear her. Emily’s heart sank as she heard Tina and her kids leave. 

                A few minutes later everything shifted from left to right and Emily found herself knocked back into the pencil pouch and then slammed head first into a textbook. Emily’s final cry for help was cut off in midsentence as she fell unconscious as Alex ran across the street to her house.

Midwestern Values

By

Asukafan2001

Chapter Two

                When you think of Christmas Eve morning, you usually think of getting ready to spend the day with your family. Well for the Keys household things were very different this Christmas Eve morning. The police had stopped by Roger and Tina’s house early to ask questions about what had happened the night before.  After spending the better part of an hour spilling out everything they knew the police left just as puzzled as Roger and Tina.  

                There were so many unanswered questions floating around everyone’s head that just did not add up. There was no sign of intrusion, and no sign of struggle anywhere. However, Emily Craft is gone and no one believes she would just leave her children. She has been too good of a mother for too long for that. The police as well as Tiny and Roger were completely baffled, but Tina and Roger knew the show must go on. They had to try to make a great Christmas happen for Sarah and Michael.

                Emily on the other hand awoke to a surreal scene. It was almost something you would expect to happen in a dream.  She found herself lying on a bed that had been made out of a piece of foam. The bed frame was made of a plastic that was sculpted to look like wood.  The headboard was made of the same plastic wood like material only there was a square in the middle of the headboard that was smooth brown plastic that had a gigantic Fisher Price logo engraved into it.

                Emily slowly turned her head taking in the gravity of the situation. Everything since last night was so in comprehendible.  You wake up one morning and you’re going to work, shopping for Christmas presents then later that day you find yourself becoming the incredible shrinking woman. Emily didn’t want to believe that this was reality. She kept lying on her foam mattress thinking that any minute she would wake up and this would be over. She would have her life back, her kids, and her family all around her as they butcher classic Christmas carols.

                The reality of the situation was; her family and her kids weren’t coming and as the minutes ticked by Emily began to realize this too. Slowly she sat up in her bed and once again looked about the room. The floor was plastic coca cola red.  As Emily swung her legs over the side of the bed and stepped down onto the plastic floor she immediately pulled her feet up. The floor was freezing, and the room was cold. Emily shivered as she stepped out into the middle of the room. She spun around on her heels taking in the sights of her surrounds.  That is when it her.

                “I’m in a cage. I’m in some cage like some animal.” Sobbed Emily. The words struck something inside of her, something primal. Emily ran towards the cage bars and grasped the cold metal bars. She pushed and pulled at them trying with all her might to bend them but they weren’t moving. As Emily shook the bars tears started to well in her eyes as she continued to shake the bars desperately trying to gain back the freedom she so cruelly lost. Emily finally slunk down from the cage bars and fell to the floor with no energy left and placed her head on her knees as she continued to sob unable to believe that this was actually happening.

                This was the reality for Emily. She was trapped in a simple cage. The kind of cage you would see in countless homes across America. The kind of cage you can find at any pet store, walmart, or similar store. It was a cage you’d put in some kind of small rodent whether it be a hamster, mouse, or gerbil.  The bed was a simple dolls bed that Alex and had placed a small layer soft foam onto before placing Emily onto it.

                It took quite awhile for Emily to regain her composure; she could barely process the reality of this situation.  Emily looked out from behind the bars of her cage at a gigantic bedroom.  The bedroom was on a scale of unlike anything she has ever seen in her life. Posters the size of large apartment buildings, chairs the size of skyscrapers. Even the structure that this cage was on was nothing more than a dresser but it’s a dresser that seems to be rise hundreds of feet into the air. The images of all the gigantic everyday structures were overloading Emily’s brain. 

                However what astonished and scared her most was what was on the bed. It was the image of Alex curled up under the warm blankets and comforter of her bed while Emily shivered naked and without blankets in the freezing cold cage. The metal bars of the cage seemed to hold in the coldness of the room and block out the heat.

                Emily shivered and stared at her captor wondering how she could do this, what kind of monster was she? This girl who Emily had seen grow from a young child into a responsible teenager. Emily desperately sought reasoning behind how Alex could keep her locked in a cage like some animal? This is inhuman. Emily thought as tears streaked down her face, her mind struggling for some rational reasoning behind why this could be happening.  

                “Alex! ALEX!” Emily screamed her with her hoarse voice and her eyes puffy from crying. She desperately prayed for Alex to awake and give some answer or reasoning Emily hadn’t thought of.  As she cried her Emily’s gaze would bore into the lump on the bed which was Alex.  She was hoping for some kind of movement, some sign of life but nothing happened.

                “Alex, Please!” Emily yelled almost beside herself as she shook the bars with all her strength.  Emily could feel hope flittering from her body when she heard the bed springs groan slightly. This immediately perked Emily up, she had done it. She thought as she watched Alex turn over onto her back, a slight snort filled the room followed by a light snore.

                Emily fell forward, her head banged against the metal bars and then slid downward as Emily fell to her knees sobbing. Tears pelted Emily’s knees, than fell to the red plastic floor as hopelessness filled her heart and soul.  She was only left wondering what her kids were doing, if they were happy or sad. She hoped they didn’t think there mother had run out on them. She desperately hoped they didn’t think that. That would kill her right now; it would be the fatal blow. Emily collapsed emotionally exhausted and sprawled out on the plastic floor.

                Emily drifted in and out of consciousness, her mind focusing on nothing, barely aware of what was around her. The cold red floor caused her body to shiver in a desperate attempt to keep warm.  Time passed with Emily in this near catatonic state, it wasn’t until the sunlight was shining directly through a small opening in Alex’s otherwise tightly shut drapes that she awoke.  Emily rolled over at first forgetting the reality of her situation. She pulled her stiff body up to her feet and looked straight through the metal bars. Emily’s hand covered her mouth in shock.

                “It wasn’t a dream, oh god, it wasn’t a dream” Emily sobbed.

                “Would you quit the damn cryin’?” Alex coldly said as she rolled out of bed.

                The groaning of the bed springs compressing and decompressing rang loudly which caused Emily to cover her ears as she winced in pain. She ran towards the bars and looked out at the titanic form of her neighbor’s daughter. It was an unreal sight to behold which shook Emily to the core. She watched fearfully as Alex rose from her bed.

                Alex’s hair was messy from her nights slumber; she was wearing a simple white t-shirt along with baggy grey sweatpants.  Alex yawned while stretching her arms, and then walked over the window and pushed the slightly ajar curtains all the way open which let the near afternoon sunlight in.  Snow drifted up along the corners of the window with a frosty haze covering the rest. 

                “A, Al, Alex, what’s going on? Get me out of here!” Emily said in her now squeaky voice which came out gruff from crying and shouting throughout the morning.  The request caused Alex to turn and Emily to bite her lower lip nervously as Alex’s gaze met hers.  Emily felt a twinge of nervousness as Alex neared the cage; the expression spread across Alex’s face had an air of superiority to it.

                “Hello, Mrs. Craft. I hope you are enjoying your accommodations.”  Alex said as she leaned towards the cage.  As Alex spoke waves of morning breath washed over Emily causing her nose wrinkle up and turn away slightly.

                “What’s wrong? Don’t like my breath?” Alex laughed as she puckered her lips and blew her warm raunchy breath onto Emily which caused her tumble onto her bottom.

                “Why, why are you doing this to me?” Emily fumbled to get out as she looked up at the large face of Alex mere inches from her.  She couldn’t believe how different Alex looked from this vantage point.  Her face was much wider and taller; Emily could see all the pores on Alex’s face, along with minute hairs.  The face Emily found herself looking at hardly resembles the young, vibrant, and youthful face she was use to seeing.

                “Because you’re a bitch, your cheap and unappreciative, I worked for you for three years and never once did you raise my pay. Then, because anytime one of my dogs would go to your yard you would call my folks actin’ like them sniffing around your yard was going to hurt something? Most of all because as much as you love your children you treat everyone else like shit. I don’t know how you got like that, but when I saw you, it was like fate intervening.”

                “Ya, ya, you can’t be serious? Alex, I’m a grown woman. I can’t stay like this!” shouts Emily in her squeaky voice as tears drip down her face.  

“I have children, a job, responsibilities you can’t just keep me like this.” Emily added

                “Keep on whinin’ bitch” Alex said as she yawned again, and then headed out of the room while stating that she was hungry.

                The silence was deafening, Emily could hear the sounds from beyond Alex’s room, the sounds of life going on, the sounds of a family happily getting ready to spend the Christmas Eve together, a family mostly completely unaware of the torment, and entrapment going on around them.   Emily screamed as best she could praying for someone to open the door and save her, however as the seconds turned to minutes, and Emily’s voice begun to wear down the hopelessness of everything came rushing to her mind. She was trapped, imprisoned by the most unlikely source.

                “How is anyone ever going to find me?  Who would ever think to look for me here?” Emily said to herself as she looked around at her new surroundings hoping that she would never think of this as her home.

                The door burst open, and Emily’s thoughts were interrupted by her captor walking back into the room. The smell of bacon and eggs wafted into the room causing Emily’s stomach to groan in hunger. She never realized how hungry she was until the smell of food entered the picture, now it’s all Emily could think about.  Her mouth salivated as the images of scrambled eggs, and perfectly marbled bacon danced through her mind.

                “You never can underestimate the value of a good breakfast you know? It’s hard to beat mom’s bacon and eggs.” Alex said as she bent down to look into the cage while smiling ear to ear.

                Emily crawled backwards as she found it terrifying to see a face so large, so close in scale. It really hit home on how much larger Alex really was now as she eyed her captor with fear clearly spelled across her face.  A part of her wondered what was about to happen, while the other part didn’t want to know.

                “Alex, please let me out. You’ve had your fun! Now just let me go to family, please!” Emily pleaded. A moment later Emily felt all the air being shoved out of her, she never even had time to react. Emily slumped forward slightly staring at the eraser end of a pencil shoved into her stomach. Instinctively Emily grasped the pencil and attempted to push it away but it didn’t even budge, not even slightly.  It wasn’t until a long couple of minutes passed the Emily felt the pencil retreat and started to slump over but was met with another stab of the pencil.  All the life seemed to flow out of her. Emily looked up the length of the pencil and saw Alex grasping it, forcing the rubber eraser further and further into her stomach.

                “Well, now that I have your attention, I hope you understand who’s in charge and just what happens when you start whining Mrs. Craft. Face it, you are home now.”

                “I have a family, a home, and…” Emily sputtered out

                “You don’t have shit, I own you now. You are a possession, a thing, something I own. You are incapable of owning anything. There is no difference between you and my dogs; well there is one difference between you and dogs. I actually love them. You on the other hand haven’t earned my care or respect.” What happened next Emily couldn’t believe, she watched Alex’s lips suck in slightly and then a ball of phlegm came hurdling out before she could even react. The warm saliva splattered on Emily and covered her instantly.

                “Merry Christmas” Alex said as she pulled away and ignored Emily.