"Gosh, I just don't know what's going on, I was feeling fine all of a sudden and then..."

Laci spoke to the school nurse, Ms. Wong, across from her. 

"It's okay, honey," the nurse replied, "it's probably just a stomach bug or something of that sort. Do you mind if I take your temperature?"

Laci had made it through the entire day, but just after lunch, her day took a turn for the worse. Out of nowhere, her chest began to tighten, her sinuses started to act up, and she was so dizzy she could barely walk.

"Well, I don't know what to say," Ms. Wong was stumped. "You should rest here for another fifteen minutes or so, and if it isn't gone by then, we'll send you on your way."

The woman asked her a few more questions before stepping out for coffee, leaving her alone to lay on the cold sheet of paper lining the bed. She lay there for a bit, barely able to catch her thoughts, before she quickly realized that she should tell her mom that she's probably going home. She reached into her left pocket, but found that it was empty. The illness must've been messing with her sense of direction - she checked in her right pocket.

Still nothing.

Where was her phone? She looked to each side of the bed, but came up short. As she started to get up to look for it, all of her senses seemed to suddenly explode. She screamed out as loud as she could in pain, but just as quickly as it began, it was over.

Unable to process what had just happened, she figured a number of people would come rushing in to the room, startled by all the noise she made. However, once she came to, everything looked different. The paper sheet that lined the exam bed was all around her, like she was in a huge field of cotton. Everything seemed so far away. As she started to move, she was startled by how slow she was.

This seemed impossible. She looked down at her own body and began to process the situation.

Impossible.

She had no idea how small she was, but she couldn't have been taller than seven inches. Before she could even start to accept her new reality, mountainous footfalls sounded from nearby. 

"Ah, good," the sound of Ms. Wong's now thunderous voice reverberated on all sides of her. Laci hadn't even realized she should start running before she was swept up by the woman's digits. In a matter of less than half a minute, she was swept through the air, held down a cold surface, tied up with what felt like string, gagged with a cotton ball, and haphazardly tossed into a purse. She tried her best to move her body toward the opening, which shined the only source of light in the cramped space. The light was blocked by the face of her captor, who whispered to her.

"This is just until we get home, sweetie," Ms. Wong said before zipping the purse up completely, trapping the gagged & tied-up tiny girl in complete darkness. 

Laci couldn't believe the last minute of her life. She immediately tried her best to scream out for help, but was likely making little to no noise. As the purse was set down somewhere, the contents - including Laci - shook around a bit, pushing her up against something. She was blinded by the light of the screen in front of her, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw a picture of her dog.

It was her phone! The nurse must have taken it from her at some point when she was disoriented. She frantically tapped her head against it, trying to put in her pass code, but found that no matter how hard she pushed herself against it, she would probably have to give herself brain damage just to get a single number in. The screen turned dark again.

This was how she spent the last couple of hours of school. Just a short time ago, she believed shrinking to be a complete impossibility, and yet here she was, less than a foot tall, trapped in someone's purse. Her mind filled with fear at the thought of what the school nurse was planning to do with her. 

A couple of hours later, she felt movement again. She was set somewhere, and could hear an engine roar under her. More movement. Then she was set down. Laci was blinded once again as the zipper was undone. A terrifying hand reached in and grabbed her. Her restraints were undone and the cotton ball was finally removed from her mouth. She thought about screaming for help once again, but the grip on her body began to tighten. 

She looked, suspended in air over a couch, at a different Ms. Wong - instead of her usual school nurse outfit, she was in a relaxed attire - a sweater and dress pants. 

"I'm sorry for restraining you, but I couldn't risk you finding a way out of my purse." 

A door opened behind her. Laci felt excited and anxious - was Ms. Wong going to get caught? She looked over to the front door, where a girl she quickly recognized to be Alice Wong was.

"Hi mom," Alice said calmly. "Did it go well today?"

"Yes dear, I've got her right here actually," Ms. Wong replied. Alice excitedly ran over, and gasped in amazement at Laci's shrunken form.

"Oh my god mom, you have to understand, this is like, the hottest girl at our school!"

Laci quickly realized that she was totally naked, and desperately tried to cover herself up, unable to free any of her limbs from the mother's tight grip.

"She's squirming around in my hand, look," Ms. Wong noted, inciting a hearty chuckle from mother and daughter.

"What is this? What do you want with me? Let me go!!!" Laci yelped, unaware of just how pathetic she sounded to the two giants, who laughed even harder.

"Sorry, pipsqueak, you're ours now!" Alice mocked.

"Now now, Alice, let's not be spiteful," her mother corrected. "After all, Laci is going to be a big help around here."

"Yeah, whatever you say. Let me know when you break her in, I'm going to check to see if my shoes are done," Alice ran off.

"Don't let Alice upset you," Ms. Wong reassured, "she really doesn't mean it. She's just putting up a front for you tinies. She's a really nice girl if you get to know her."

"Wait, you guys shrank more people than me?"

"Yes, three more as a matter of fact. Well, three of them are still around, I mean. We've moved around a lot in recent years, making sure to collect tinies everywhere we go. You're our newest one - congratulations!" 

Laci didn't even know where to begin. She was petrified at the thought of being added to this family's collection, as it was clear that Ms. Wong already thought of her as property.

"W-why do you do it, though - shrink people, I mean?" Laci asked.

"Hmm... Well," Ms. Wong paused, as if to take a second to think about her answer. "We use you little things for household labor... Cleaning our shoes, helping us with dishes, that sort of thing... You'll even learn how to do our laundry!" 

She spoke of servitude like it was a high honor, and the most exciting thing Laci could possibly be doing.

"So... like... slaves?"

"Slaves?" Ms. Wong chuckled. "You've got the right idea. I don't like using that word with new tinies because it usually has negative connotations, but yes. You're going to be our little slave!"

Laci couldn't believe this woman was being serious.

"Ma'am-"

"Ms. Wong is fine," she interrupted.

"Ms. Wong, this is really messed up and illegal. I don't know why you think I would want to be your... slave..." the word made Laci's skin crawl, "but you need to undo this very quickly before you get in serious trouble."

The mother holding Laci in the palm of her hand thought for a few seconds. "So, it's going to be like that, then?" The friendly, hospitable tone from before had shifted into the most terrifying, domineering voice the tiny girl had ever heard. 

"I-"

"No," the giant mother cut her off. "You are done talking. I don't think you understand how much power I have over you. I could just..." - the grip around Laci tightened enough to make her squeal, before subsiding - "...I invited you into my house and you insulted me, so now I'm going to have to punish you."

"Wait, no, please, I-" Laci continued pleading, but Ms. Wong was not hearing it at all. She grabbed a pair of light black winter boots and set them at her feet, then found a pair of socks.

"The funny thing about that shrinking serum I put in your lunch today," she started, "I figured out pretty quickly that shrunken humans can take about fifty times the damage of regular humans and remain uninjured."

Ms. Wong dropped Laci into her sock. She could already tell it had been used today, as she was surrounded by the scent of fresh sweat. 

A foot invaded the space, and before she knew it, Laci was pressed firmly against the woman's giant sole. She felt intense vertigo as the foot was lifted off the ground, and wondered how she didn't die at the immense impact that followed. This repeated, over and over again. Despite what Ms. Wong had just said, it felt like Laci's whole body was wracked with pain. Then, a voice up above sounded off:

"Let's go for a walk."