“Do you have all your clothes, books, phone, wallet?”

“Check, check, check, and check. I have everything mom, you don’t need to keep worrying”. Alison said with a smile and slight eye roll from her moms double and triple checking.

“Oh I know sweety, but I just can’t help it.” Said Alison's mom Sheryl. “You’re going to that human college with all those humans. What if something happens to you? What if you get hurt? What if one of those humans take you?”

“Mom, everything will be fine. I’ll be roommates with someone with the same schedule as me and they’re going to help me get from class to class. And we’ve gone over this, humans aren’t like the stories you heard when you were a kid. They're just like you and me, only bigger.”

“Oh, you know what I meant. It’s because they’re so much bigger that you should be careful. We may be more durable than them but that doesn’t mean getting stepped on doesn’t hurt.” Sheryl shivered at the memory of getting stepped on while touring a human city in her college years. “I swear, some of them do it just for the fun of it.”

“Mom! That’s so rude! Sure, there may be bad humans, but just like there are bad minis.”

“Yeah but no bad mini can step on you like it’s nothing.” Sheryl said under her breath. She didn’t fully accept her daughter going to a human college, but Alison seemed so passionate about it, and the scholarship she received certainly would help.

“Ugh,” Alison said, choosing to ignore the final comment from her mother. “I’m going to put my suitcase in the car.

It was finally happening. She was going to a human college. She had always dreamed of this day. Ever since learning about humans in school, something about them always fascinated Alison. The way they looked so similar to minis, yet were so large. How influential they were on the world, even minis adopted their measuring system. According to what they call the Imperial system, the average mini stood at around 2.5 inches for women, and 3 inches for men. Humans on the other hand, the average human stood around 5 feet 4 inches for women and 5 feet 9 inches for men.

Alison was always astonished at how large humans were, fantasizing about being friends with them from a young age. Then, as she developed, she began wanting a more intimate relationship with humans. She could never tell her family this though. She was already nervous enough when she told them that she liked girls, imagine telling them she liked human girls.

She didn’t want to show it, but her mom's comments about a human stepping on her didn’t make her worry like her mother would have wanted. Of course, nothing completely malicious, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t have the occasional fantasy of a human girl lightly stepping on her with her socks, or leaving Alison in her shoe.

Alison lightly shook her head as she placed her suitcase in the car. She could think about this all later when she got to her new room in the dorm.

“Mom! You ready!” Alison called out. Not wanting to waste another moment.

“Coming dear!” Her mother called out.

It was a long drive to the college which is why they left early in the morning. They finally got to the front of the college, following the signs that said ‘MINI DROP OFF’. When they arrived, they were greeted by what seemed to be a student.

“Hi there! You must be a new student. I’m Andrew, nice to meet you! What’s your name?”

“Hi there! I’m Alison, and this is my mom.” Alison said, getting out of the car. Her mother, still behind the wheel, hesitant to get out.

“Mom, come on out and say hi.”

“O-Of course” Shyrl said, a little hesitantly.

“Nice to meet you Andrew. I’m Sheryl, Alison’s mother.

“Well nice to meet both of you.” Andrew said excitedly. “Do you know which room you’re staying in? I can help you get there if you would like.

“I’m in building C, room 110 and if you could help me get there, that would be a great help.” Alison said, trying to contain her excitement. This is it. Her first ever contact with a human. She silently wished it was a girl, but beggars can’t be choosers.

“Are you coming mom?”

“No, I think I’ll leave you to it. It’s a long drive back anyways, so I should get going.” Sheryl said, keeping an eye on the human named Andwer. He seemed nice enough, and helpful too. But she just couldn’t bring herself to be carried by a human. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

“I’ll miss you SO much dear!” Said Sheryl, giving Alison a big bear hug. “Don’t forget to brush your teeth, wash your clothes, eat healthy, and don’t forget to call.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t forget.” Alison was getting a little embarrassed. Andrew was still standing here while her mom was saying all these embarrassing things. 

Sheryl leaned in one more time and whispered something to Alison. “And watch out for the humans. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Alison leaned away from the hug, rolling her eyes again at her mother. “I told you, I’ll be fine. I’ll make sure to call you later. Love you.”

“Love you too”

And just like that, Sheryl got back into her car, and drove away, giving her daughter one last wave goodbye as she left.

“Sorry about that, she gets a little clingy”

“Don’t worry about it. It's nice to see that she cares so much. Now let’s get you to your new room. Building C, room 110 right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. So, how does this work? Do you just pick me up? Do I stand on your shoulder? Sit on your head?”

Andrew couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “Ha ha, no no no. You can just stand on my palm and I’ll carry you to your room. I have to say, you seem a lot more calm about this than some of the other minis I’ve help out today. A lot of them seemed a little hesitant when I offered to help.

Alison began to blush. Did she already go too far in trying to get closer to humans? I guess asking to be grabbed was a little strange. Alison thought

“Eh heh, to be honest, I’ve really been looking forward to coming here. I’ve never left my hometown before so this is the first time I’m meeting a human.”

“Well I hope I’m making a good first impression. Here, hop on and I’ll get you to your room in no time.” Andrew lay his hand down flat, for Alison to get on.

“You're making a great first impression.” Alison complimented as she stepped onto Andrew's hand, placing her suitcases next to her.

“If I’m moving too fast, don’t hesitate to tell me.” Andrew said as he brought his hand up.

It felt like a roller coaster at first. The wind blowing through her hair, the ground getting further and further away. She peered over his hand and looked down. She had to be around 3 feet in the air! This was the highest she’s ever been off the ground. She knew a fall from this height wouldn’t seriously hurt her, but she knew it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience either. 

“WOW! I’m so high up!”

“Ha ha, really? I’m only holding you up to around half my height.”

Half his height? Alison thought. She looked behind her to see that it was true. She was only to about his waist. She would have thought she’d be at least at the upper part of his stomach, if not around his chest.

“Wow! How tall are you?”

“I’m a solid 6 foot 1” Andrew said proudly.

6 FOOT 1! That’s way more than the average I read about! Do humans really vary that greatly in height? Alison thought. To her surprise, when she looked around, she found that it was true. Many humans, walking around at varying heights.

“Do you want me to lift you higher?” Andrew asked, amused by the small girl's amazement. It was kind of cute to see her so awestruck at being just a little bit off the ground.

“No, I- I think this is fine.” Alison so badly wanted to say yes, but worried that too much excitement wouldn’t be good all at once. She wanted to save some excitement for the rest of the semester. She still hadn’t seen her room.

“Alright then. Off we go then” 

And off they went to Alisons new room.

Once at the door, Andrew slowly lowered his hand to let Alison off.

“Here’s your room. And here….” He said, pulling out a tiny folder and flipping through it ”is your key. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Thank you Andrew, I’ll keep that in mind.”

As Andrew turned to walk away, Alison faced the giant door and began to wonder. ‘How am I supposed to open this?’

She then looked down and noticed the much smaller door, clearly meant for her with the same room number labeled on it. 

Duh Alison. Of course they would make it so you can get in your own room. 

She stepped up to the door and turned her key. Walking into her room felt so surreal. Everything was so huge!

“Hello! Is anyone here?!” Alison called out.

It seemed as if her new roommate wasn’t here yet. What did the email say her name was again? I think it was Emily.

Alison walked further into her new room. It was a big open room with an open area to the left, supposedly the kitchen area, and a small hallway with two doors. One of which being a bedroom and the other being a bathroom. Alison had looked at the floor plan before coming so that she would be somewhat familiar before she got here. But nothing could have prepared her for the scale of everything. It was one thing seeing it as a number on a screen. It was another thing seeing it in person.

Looking towards one of the corners she saw her room. A clearly scaled down room with a 3 and a half inch door clearly meant for a mini. She walked to it with her suit cases in tow and entered into the smaller room.

This room looked a lot more like what she was used to back home. It almost looked like a copy of the bigger dorm room, except this one didn’t have a bathroom. Guess they didn’t want to hook up more plumbing in the middle of the room. Alison shrugged.

Alison set her luggage down on her bed and stepped back out into the larger dorm. She looked around. Really getting a sense of how big everything was. She spun around, really taking everything in. She almost fell over and her cheeks started to hurt from smiling. This was a dream come true! 

“I can’t wait to meet my roommate! I hope she’s nice. Or… maybe a little…” Alison started to get lost in thought. “No! Don’t think like that. Not yet anyways.”

Alison continued to let her mind wander as she walked around the main room some more. She was back around the front door when she heard a click.

Alison froze. This was it.