Chapter 3

Chad yawned and stretched out in his "bed". It had been a few days since the incident and the subsequent trip to the hospital. The first night had been something out of a nightmare with Pam insisting that he sleep with her for safe keeping. It had been anything but pleasant. He hadn't wanted to upset her and hadn't bothered protesting when she proposed him sleeping between her breasts. He never would have guessed that something so soft and captivating could be so dangerous. Pam, who usually slept like a log, had tossed and turned throughout the night. The simple shifting of his gargantuan wife had him fighting for stability and at one point his life.

At one point he had found himself pinned beneath the weight of both of her tits. His instincts kicked in and he had sunk his teeth into the soft flesh which startled her awake. She had sat up in an instant and that simple act caused him to come tumbling out of her nightie and rolling across the bed. This begat him a new kind of hell when she started looking for him. The world around him quaked and shook with each frantic motion she made and somehow he had ended up beneath her foot. The weight was excruciating, but thankfully it didn't last long. It was a good thing because Pam had started to sweat from the warmth of the covers. The stench of such a mild sheen of sweat was enough to make him light headed.

Pam hadn't been thrilled with his choice to bite her, but it was outweighed by the relief she felt from finding him. He had explained to her what had led to him getting a mouthful of her flesh and she understood immediately. His adrenaline made it impossible for him to sleep that night and Pam had opted to stay up with him. They had moved to the living room to watch some television. This time he insisted on sitting on his own on the arm of the couch. He could tell that Pam wasn't happy with it, but she understood his reservations. The look on her face and in her eyes almost hurt more than the crushing he had received only a short while ago, almost.

The night's final bit of trouble came from a gust of wind that knocked him off of the arm and wedged him between the cushions. He later learned that it was Pam reaching for a drink that was on the end table. There was no great weight this time, only filth the likes of which he had never imagined. He spent nearly half an hour in that crevice caked in a line of debris. Crumbs and other things much too small for most to notice surrounded him and began to cover his diminutive frame. His lost presence went unnoticed by Pam until the show came to an end. Then and only then did she start to hunt for him. He could feel the vibrations from her movements as she looked around the couch. Finally the walls that entrapped him shook and were pulled back to reveal his freedom. That freedom came at the cost of another sickening layer of filth as he found himself free falling into the abyss.

Thankfully it didn't take long for Pam to locate him this time. She had tried to defuse the situation with a joke about how he looked like a lost toy. He wasn't angry at the joke, no, the analogy only served to further instill the growing fear that had taken root in his mind. His comfort came in the form of the concern that was etched on her face as she gently grabbed him and lifted him up to eye level. She was worried about him and was just using humor as a defence mechanism.

She took him to the sink to clean him off shortly thereafter. She filled the sink about halfway and cleaned him off before letting him swim around a bit. It was like being in an Olympic sized pool. Things were certainly interesting from this perspective when he wasn't fighting for his life. The warmth of the water and the feeling of freshness had been what finally relaxed him enough to try and sleep. Pam found an old matchbox that she emptied out and a cotton ball to act as a pillow for him. The final touch had come from a shred of an old shirt of hers. It wasn't anything glamorous but it served its purpose well enough. The scent of his wife on the cloth was enough to lull him into a peaceful slumber in combination with the energy spent from his struggles.

The following days hadn't been much better for Chad. He spent the better part of his second day sandwiched beneath the ass of Victoria. It had been another unfortunate circumstance where Pam had left him on the arm of the couch to relax and watch television. Things had been going fine until he stretched and subsequently managed to fall from his perch. At first, he had been relieved to find himself merely lying prone on the cushion as opposed to the chasm he had been trapped in the night before. Whatever relief he felt was quickly snuffed out by the looming shadow of his daughter preparing to watch one of her shows. He had scrambled to get to his feet and away from the impending posterior that was falling fast. His efforts had been for naught as all it did was save him from being pinned beneath her right cheek and instead trapped him under the seam of her shorts. The last thing he saw before becoming encased in darkness and punishing weight had been the violet shorts Victoria had on.

The fabric of the shorts was stretched taut and did little to act as a reprieve from the mass resting atop him that was his daughter's backside. Any prayers he had for her to notice him went unheeded, and his struggles only caused him further agony. He writhed beneath her in an attempt for recognition and discovery, but all that did was cause her to grind her ass into the cushion. She had unknowingly caused him an unbearable amount of pain as the simple motion raked him back and forth and got him closer to her than he would have ever liked.

The odor emanating from her backside was potent and tainted whatever breaths he took. It was early in the morning and Cups was closed temporarily until he and his family could decide on the proper course of action. This meant that Victoria would most likely be on the couch for some time. It also meant that Chad was stuck here until she decided to get up. Being as early as it was, Victoria hadn't showered just yet due to the stress from the previous day's events. This observation was confirmed by the stench rolling off of his daughter and assaulting his nostrils. To most it wouldn't have been noticeable but being the size of a flea meant that everything was bigger including scents. It was something Chad hadn't considered and honestly one that he would have preferred to have kept unknown to him.

Light eventually flooded his vision and blinded him, but not before one final and revolting circumstance hit him. Along with the smells, sounds were also much more pronounced whether it be voices or in this case gurgles. It was something that would stick out in his memory for as long as he lived. The first sound had been the rumble of Victoria's innards which was followed by another twist from her becoming seemingly uncomfortable. He felt the pressure above him shift and decrease right before it happened. A noxious and powerful gust of air accompanied by the deafening and demeaning ripping sound sent him careening backwards and had him gagging. Victoria had broken wind right as she got up and rushed out of the room, presumably to the bathroom. Chad was left panting and fighting the urge to up-heave what little was in his stomach. He found the will to move before he managed to regain his sense of smell and was climbing in an instant.

The fabric of the couch was cloth and there were a few stray strands of string that he used to pull himself upwards. He summoned what little strength he had remaining to ascend back to his original resting place on the arm of the couch. He managed to make it and was left feeling spent and ready for a nap. He surveyed his surroundings and felt a sense of unnerving dread when he noticed Anna staring at him with a devious and knowing smirk on her face. She had been sitting in a chair a short distance, at normal height, from the couch and looked as delighted as she did hungry. There was a lustful desire behind those eyes that put a terror in him that he didn't think was possible. How long she had been there he didn't know, but he was certain she had seen more of his undignified plight than he would have liked. The eyes that stared at him with sadistic mirth reaffirmed his urge to steer clear of Anna if it all possible.

Pam had come along shortly thereafter, thankfully just as Anna appeared to be making a move to grab him. The familiar shelter and safety of his wife's hand enveloped him and brought him to her face. She planted a quick peck that smothered him for only a second before pulling back and remarking about how awful he smelled. He would later explain the predicament that he had found himself in to the entire household. The time came and Victoria felt mortified at what she had inadvertently done to her father. Pam seemed torn between concern and stifling a laugh. Bram had done his best to ensure he was fine, while Anna openly snorted at the retelling of the story. She had found his suffering to be the height of hilarity and made no secret of it, even when she was reprimanded by the others. Chad simply stood there on the glossy white counter top and watched the exchange knowing that it would do little good with Anna.

It didn’t help his growing sense of unease that the news seemed to periodically interrupt whatever he and his family were watching on TV. Updates on the virus with numbers growing every day only served as a reminder that his reality was something that many men were dealing with. He would try to tune out the news, but whenever Anna was around she would feign concern and turn the volume up. She seemed to be fascinated with everything going on, and whenever she had control of the TV she would almost always switch to the news. Reports of the afflicted going missing, getting abused, dismembered, and one particularly disturbing account of a young woman who had taken to capturing and ingesting them were both horrific and disturbing. What was worse, Anna seemed to take some sort of sadistic delight in these reports. The look on her face and the way she talked about them hammered home his desire to stay as far away from her as humanly possible while stuck at this size.

Her interactions with Pam and Victoria were clearly attempts at showing mock concern. She would remark about how awful it was what was happening to all the tinies, all the while keeping a predatory gaze locked on his small form. She continued to try to make a case for her keeping him in an attempt to help Pam or take some stress off of Victoria. Pam seemed to buy into Anna’s ruse, but thankfully Victoria was adamant about him staying with either her or Pam. Anna didn’t have to try to hide her disappointment on the matter, but while she acted like it was because of a lack of trust, she knew that it was because she wouldn’t be allowed to act out any of her twisted ideas.

Chad’s sole solace came from his time spent with Bram. His son had been careful and attentive to him anytime he was with him. Their time together generally consisted of him watching Bram play games, watching a movie, or even simply talking. It was the closest thing that Chad had to normalcy, ignoring the fact that he was generally on Bram's nightstand during his time in his room. It wasn't that Victoria or Pam were outright trying to endanger him or anything, it was simply that they more often than not forgot about him or overlooked him. There were times when Bram would be gaming when he would forget about his father's presence, but it never really put Chad in harm's way.

This particular morning Chad had the luxury of an undisturbed rest. He'd spent the prior evening trying to outrun Pam's feet after he had managed to tumble from her lap and slide down her legs. It was a miracle that circumstance hadn't caused him to be seriously injured; a fall from that height could have spelled the end for him! Fate had other plans for disaster to throw at him, however, and those plans entailed dodging the colossal feet of his beloved wife while she searched for him. Fifteen minutes had felt like hours while he ran, dove, and screamed in an attempt to get her attention. By the time she found him his heart was pounding in his chest! He'd asked to just go to his bed for the night and she had begrudgingly agreed.

Today was the day that Cups needed to reopen if his business was to continue to flourish as it had been. Closing for too long meant that he ran the risk of losing the clientele that he had been steadily building. This meant that Victoria would be taking the reigns for the first time. It also meant that he would be spending the day with her and trying to ease her transition into the daily operations. He hoped that things would be fairly uneventful, but hope had done little for him as of late. It wasn't that he was becoming pessimistic, on the contrary he was cautiously optimistic about everything. It just seemed that no matter who he was with things seemed to take an unexpected turn. In spite of this, he knew that his family loved him and held onto the hope for a cure to this plague.

He glanced over to the billboard of a clock to see that it was close to nine in the morning. Pam had placed his makeshift bed on the dresser that first night so as not to be too close to the borderline offensive neon lights of the clock. Being the distance that he was meant that it was actually easier to read it. He pushed his blanket aside and prepared to start his day. He stretched a bit and looked over to the mirror behind him.

The dresser was a large mahogany piece that had been a wedding present from his mother; it had been part of a bedroom set that she insisted on gifting to them. The jewellery box that rested fairly close by looked like a three story house to him where Pam's prized necklace resided. He shook his head as he approached it and realized he wasn't much bigger than the sapphire pendant that dangled from the sterling silver chain. Part of him hoped to eventually find something that he was bigger than, but that seemed unlikely.

He was forced to wait for someone to come and retrieve him from his vantage point. Chad was strong enough to climb something like the arm of the couch but climbing down the dresser was akin to suicide. This part of his routine was the closest to mundane and in truth he didn't mind. It was a little dull, but at least he was safe here. He walked over to the mirror to get a look at himself. His figure, despite the drastic size change, was mostly the same. Being perpetually nude was something that he was still getting used to. There were times he would forget until a breeze came by or his member was drug across the flesh of somebody's skin.

His stomach rumbled at about the same time as he heard the thunderous footfalls of someone approaching. He looked over to the doorway to see who would be collecting him first today. The anxiety of this moment was perhaps the most difficult to deal with. Each morning he wondered and worried who it would be, and in the back of his mind he feared that it would be Anna. His fears had been quelled every morning and today was no different. The visage of Victoria entering the room wearing a maroon blouse and a pair of dark jeans greeted him and brought a smile to his face. Her auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and Chad couldn't help but be struck by her sheer beauty. He shook the thoughts away, which had started to become more frequent, and reminded himself that this was his daughter.

She approached a sincere smile on her face that he returned. She bent down to get a closer look at him and he was struck by the majesty of her features from this perspective. It felt like he was looking at some monument, only living and breathing.

"Hey, dad," she greeted, "Hope you slept well cause I'm going to need your help today."

She lowered her hand at a slow and deliberate speed to avoid the potential back draft that would have knocked him off his feet. He maintained his smile as he climbed aboard the hand that would be guiding him and hopefully protecting him throughout the day. She brought him closer to her face so that she would be able to hear him speak, "Don't worry, sweetie, I'll be here for you every step of the way. You were already starting to get a feel for things before all of this, today is just going to be an extra step."

Her father's reassurance helped to ease her mind. She was slightly anxious about the prospect of running Cups on her own, but she knew in her heart that he was right. Outside of the paperwork and directly dealing with vendors, she had learned a great deal from him. It helped knowing that she would have him close by if anything were to go awry or if she encountered any unforeseen obstacles.

With her mind at ease she posed the question that had become commonplace for the start of a day, "Where do you want me to keep you?"

This was something of a vexing question and one that required more thought than might have been necessary. There were pros and cons to every nook that he could fit in. The first option was to be carried within the pocket of her jeans, but that could prove to be a restricting and uncomfortable ride. He could have taken Pam's usual method of shuttling him on her chest, but that felt more than a little wrong even outside of the potential dangers that came with being in the valley of cleavage; this was his daughter and he wasn't trying to get closer than he already had. Her shoulder was a precarious perch and one that posed more risk than anything. He had tried that once and had nearly taken a fall that could have resulted in his death. Thankfully, Victoria had noticed him that day and had managed to catch him in the palm of her hand.

As he was mulling over his options, he caught sight of a pocket on her blouse. It was small and seemed more than deep enough to prevent him from falling out. It was new territory, but then again what wasn't new to him these days? He settled on the gambit of the shirt pocket since it seemed both safe and logical. He would be close enough that if she needed anything he would be readily available. "Why don't we try something different," he started and motioned for her shirt, "I'm assuming that pocket isn't just for show, right?"

Victoria looked down to the small pocket and smiled. It seemed that she shared his sentiment, "That works for me, maybe riding along here will make it more difficult to lose you. I wonder if anyone has considered a two way radio for victims of this disease?"

"Pretty sure they're more focused on finding a cure," Chad pointed out, "I also don't know if, one: they could make something that small and two: if it would even operate on the same frequency as a full sized one."

She slowly moved her hand towards her shirt pocket and gently deposited her father into it. She shrugged which felt like a small quake to him, "Those are good points. Still, it would be nice to have some way to keep track of you if something happens. Pam and I get so freaked out when you disappear on us."

He wasn't sure if she meant that as a pun or not. He figured it best to simply leave that one be; better to not call attention to the compromising predicaments he was often finding himself in with them. He nestled himself into as comfortable a position as he could. It wasn't difficult considering the soft material of the top combined with Victoria's own endowments. All in all, it was a fairly pleasant position he found himself in. The only drawback being the depth of the small pocket dwarfed him, but with a small amount of effort he found he could pull himself up to the hem.

He did just that and looked up to Victoria's face which was one of mild concern. She was waiting to make sure he was satisfied with his choice before embarking on their current endeavor. He flashed her a confident smile, "All set on my end, don't worry this is as close to perfect as we can get."

The concern from her face faded and was replaced with her own smile, "If you're good, then I'm good. Why don't we get something to eat before we head down?"

His stomach grumbled once more at the mention of food, but he didn't want to be away from Cups longer than was necessary. "Why don't we see if we can get it to go?" he offered.

The frown on his daughter's face wasn't lost on him and somehow seemed more pronounced than typically. There was a second where he worried he might have offended her until she opened her mouth to reply, "Are you sure, dad? I don't want to lose track of you at the shop."

Her concern was admirable and touching. He could see her point, but the business side of him simply couldn't stand to be away from the storefront any longer. "I'm sure, kiddo, I'll be fine. We can eat on the counter while we get everything set up and go over a few things. I believe Stuart is supposed to come by with a new shipment of coffee beans and I want to make sure we have a place to put them."

Victoria grimaced at the mention of Stuart but didn't object to his request. Chad was well aware of his daughter's aversion to Stuart. He really couldn't blame her and he didn't much care for him either. Stuart was prone to making passes or other inappropriate gestures at Victoria. It had taken Chad threatening to report him to his employer for the young man to stop. That seemed to work, but only if Chad was around. The boy had a mentality along the lines of out of sight, out of mind. He believed that what Chad didn't know wouldn't hurt him, but Victoria had always brought his advances to his attention. He wasn't sure how things would go considering that Chad was more or less now out of sight and therefore out of mind.

"Alright, dad, we can grab a few things from downstairs before we head over," Victoria said as her smile returned.

With her consent they were in motion. Victoria walked carefully, but even her subtle footsteps were enough to jar Chad. It wasn't anything unbearable, just mildly disorienting. He had learned that fighting against the momentum was a futile endeavor. It was better to simply let himself follow the flow of movement. As long as Victoria didn't take off in a jog or anything too brisk he would be fine.

They headed downstairs and grabbed a few protein bars, a small bag of chips, a single bottle of water, and finally a couple of pieces of fruit. The one upside to being this size was that any small amount of food was the equivalent of a feast for Chad. It didn't take much of any one thing to make a meal for him. While Victoria was grabbing everything and tossing it into a bag, Chad took a moment to inquire about his son, "Have you seen Bram? I didn't see him at all yesterday, but I might have missed him while I was with Pam."

"He's holed up in his room," Victoria replied as she finished filling their parcel, "My guess is he's either planning for his next dungeons and dragons campaign or he's close to beating one of his games."

That made sense. Bram was more than just an avid gamer and athlete; he was also a tabletop enthusiast. Chad chuckled as the memory of his first and only attempt to join his son's campaign came to mind. Between the stats, lore, and equipment he had been more lost than anything. It was nice to see his son taking varying interests, though, and he supported him wholeheartedly. The way his eyes lit up and the pace with which he spoke about any of his tabletop games was as endearing as it was infectious. Whatever Bram was doing, Chad hoped that he was enjoying it and decided it best to just leave him be. It wasn’t like there was much that he could do about it at his size anyways.

He shifted his focus to the task at hand. Victoria was in motion once again and that meant that he was back to bouncing around the purple pocket. They didn’t have that long of a trip to the car, but each step sent another round of subtle quakes his way. He didn’t much mind it. It was better than having to dodge the dangers that lie in wait outside of his place of protection. The worst part of his travel accommodations came when Victoria plopped herself down into the driver seat of his car. The sudden drop just before she got herself settled nearly sent him soaring. He had been prepared, however, and made it a point to take a couple of fistfuls of the fabric in his hands to prevent himself from being ejected.

Once she was settled in and the car was running, she peered down into her pocket to check on him, “You alright in there, dad?”

He gave her a thumbs up that he wasn’t sure if she could see or not and yelled his response, “Never better, hon!”

He still couldn’t tell if she saw his gesture or not, but she definitely heard him. With her concern put to rest, she pulled the car out and headed down the road. Car rides, excluding that first trip to the hospital, hadn’t provided much risk or challenge to Chad at his new height. As long as he had a safe and secure place to sit there wasn’t much to worry about. The occasional speed bump or turn would jostle him about, but other than that it was fairly smooth sailing for him. He leaned back again and got himself into a comfortable position as their drive progressed. The fabric of the blouse in combination with the soft flesh of Victoria’s bosom made for a near excellent resting place. With little else to do in the pocket, Chad further began to take note of where he was. He knew this was Victoria of course, but intimately and more immediately the realization further dawned on him that he was resting against a breast. A breast many times larger than he was. He could feel its gentle curve beneath him and visualized how close he was to the nipple a little further below. It was all at once oddly exciting and oddly discomforting when realizing the bigger picture, that this was his own daughter, and he quickly shook the darker thoughts from his mind.

The drive was short and silent. It wasn’t long before they arrived outside of Cups. The city streets were busy and Victoria parked the car just outside of the small storefront. Chad felt the car come to a stop and braced himself for his daughter’s egress from the car. Getting out usually went smoother than getting in but he was learning to prepare for the unexpected whenever possible. His preparation turned out to be slightly unnecessary as Victoria made a cautious exit from the vehicle.

The familiar scent of coffee grinds and fresh beans hit his nose as the chime from the door sounded upon their entrance. The smell was stronger at his size, but it was something that he still found to be a pleasant comfort. He was sure that today was going to be different and most likely present him with some new challenges, but it was good to be back in his establishment. Working and growing his business had been something that he enjoyed, no matter the hours that he spent within the walls of his shop. The old saying was certainly true: do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.

Victoria’s fingers slid their way into her pocket and retrieved her father from its confines to place him on the counter top. Chad felt like he was one of those many prizes one would find in the old crane games he had played growing up. The grip of the fingers was gentle and he knew that Victoria was doing her best not to apply any unnecessary pressure to his diminutive frame.

She placed him on the sales counter and he felt dumbstruck as he looked around. The white expanse that was his counter top was enormous and he could make out the glass mansion that was his pastry display in the distance. There were proverbial towers of coffee cups stacked in the distance across the chasm that was the floor space. His head spun from the drastic changes in the palace he had come to know as a home away from home. Everything was exactly how he had left it a few days ago, but everything seemed so much...bigger. He rolled his eyes at the simplicity of his realization. “Of course it’s bigger, idiot, you’re the size of a flea!” he thought to himself with a laugh.

The next thing he knew, a large slice of a banana was placed in front of him along with an apple slice that had been halved and then quartered, a chip that had been broken into fragments, and a cap full of water that looked like he could fit himself in. Drinking was still something of a hurdle for him that neither he nor his family had found a way to overcome. Finding a vessel for whatever liquids they came across wasn’t easy, so they had opted to simply pour a small amount into the cap of whatever they were drinking. It wasn’t the most dignified thing, but it worked and it wasn’t like he had clothes to worry about ruining.

Victoria pulled up a stool that was behind the counter to have a seat and eat her breakfast with her father. She watched the little man that had once seemed larger than life to her move between the buffet that she had provided for him. Seeing him like this was still something that she was getting used to. She didn’t know if she ever would, if she were being honest with herself. She prayed that the doctors were close to finding a cure to end the plight that had befallen her father and by extension their family and so many others. She decided to try to act as normal as possible before her mind started getting bogged down in the ‘what ifs’ that teetered on the fringes of her mind. She finished her bite of the apple and set it down so she could address what exactly she would be doing today, “So, I know that we have to get the drawer setup before we can open up. I’ve done the opening paperwork and count before, but you’ve always done the mixing and you typically handle the deliveries. Once we get the paperwork done, what’s first?”

Chad swallowed the mouthful of fruit that he had and carefully took a sip of the water before answering, “Well, once you have that done we need to get the machines ready. You’ll have to switch them on and let them warm up first, then we can start by adding in the blends. I was working on a new recipe, but I haven’t advertised it yet so we won’t worry about that.”

“That is actually what the delivery is for, though. I have some new beans coming from South America that are supposed to have a more earthy flavor to them that will pair nicely with our signature creamer. Don’t worry about that for now, though, we can just receive the shipment in and store it in the back until you feel like you’re ready.”

Victoria smiled and stood to retrieve the drawer for the register and the small sheet of paper that was used to record the starting total. She placed them down a short distance from their breakfast and moved to the safe. She entered the combination and got the typical amount used to start the day before moving back to her spot to count it out. She lost herself in the count as all of her focus turned to ensuring that the total was correct. The total came out to be exactly what she needed it to be and she went to place the bills and change into the drawer. In her haste, however, she dropped a handful of pennies that spilled out onto the counter.

Chad heard the clattering clang of the change dropping along the counter top and looked up in time to dive out of the way of a rolling bronze coin. He managed to avoid one only to find himself suddenly pinned beneath another one that had been rolling beside it. It wasn’t any sort of crushing weight, but it was more than enough to knock the wind out of him. He grunted as he tried to dislodge himself from his penny prison. It wasn’t easy, but he was on his way to freedom when it happened. He managed to almost get to his feet when he suddenly found his world encased in darkness and everything spinning. He realized too little too late that Victoria had inadvertently snatched him along with the change and was putting him in the drawer.

He was unceremoniously dropped into the slot for the pennies as though he were little more than one of them. His body hit the rough and cold surface of the sea of brown right before a few other loose pennies rained down on him. He was about to call out to Victoria to let her know about his predicament when he was assaulted by one of the pieces of falling bronze. It dazed him and left him feeling a bit dizzy as it smacked his face before falling next to its brethren. He fell back onto his ass and blinked a few times to make sure he still had control of his faculties. He started to call out but was silenced as his world shook and he was thrust forward without warning. Darkness surrounded him as Victoria closed the register. He rolled his eyes and huffed as he realized that he was now trapped amongst the change until his daughter either decided to check in here for him or until the first transaction of the day.

Victoria clapped her hands together and smiled. She felt confident that she would be able to handle today, especially with her dad here to help her. She decided to let him finish eating while she prepped the machinery. She had seen him do this and heard him talk about this countless times before. She could do this.

“Alright, let’s get everything ready. I’ll be back, dad, just finish eating and I’ll take care of the startup.”, she said with a nod.

Victoria walked away from the counter to switch the machines on and grab the ingredients that she knew would be needed. Her father would be fine while she worked. He needed to eat, she was worried that the stress was affecting his appetite.

Meanwhile, Chad cursed his luck and tried to find a comfortable position in the darkness and among the metal that surrounded him. He hoped that he wouldn’t be trapped here for too long, but he honestly wasn’t sure how long it would be before Victoria noticed he was gone. He sighed and resigned himself to his fate of waiting. At least he wasn’t in danger of being trampled this time.