I have been staring at this dark blue ceiling ever since I woke up probably hours ago, thinking if I dreamt it all or it really happened. I have already decided that it was not just a bad dream, and that I really did have the gene expression. Now, I am just too afraid to get out of bed and face the world at 3 inches tall (7 cm). But when did hiding from problems ever solve them?
I stand up and see myself in a… bachelor suite? Why do I see the entrance from my bed and a small dining table in the bedroom? There is a smaller door next to the entrance. I walk towards it to open it… yep, a tiny bathroom with only a shower in a corner. Tiny… like me…. I go towards the entrance and place my hand on the door knob… pausing for a few seconds as a shiver goes down my spine. I take a deep breath and open the door… to take a step into the giants’ world.
Wow! It’s like I am in a huge cavern; the environment is dark, but I can make out a black ceiling high in the sky…. It is… too high…. This room is larger than the grandest churches and concert halls I have ever been to… and my brain has a hard time processing that such an enormous space is in fact enclosed in a room. I take another step…. There is railing up to my waist along its outer ledge, and it is covered on either side by dark grey walls made of hard plastic. Let me get closer to railing and see… Oh boy, it seems to be bottomless! Okay, I can see other units on either side of me having similar balconies at the same level as mine, but we are all separated with plastic walls. I can see the edge of another balcony under mine too… where is the pretty front lawn I saw in the video? This looks like communist-era public housing in Eastern Europe…. Well, better head back in. It is a bit chilly here, and I am still naked.
The door does not have a lock, which is… understandable? At least it is made of wood, and so are the four chairs and the small dining table in the room. I don’t see a clock anywhere though… it’s too dark… where is the light switch? Aha! Next to the door, of course. I flip it to see… nothing? Hmm… doesn’t seem to be working…. How much am I paying for rent here again? 1.6 million dollars a month? I need to have a word with Victoria. This is…
The lights suddenly turn on! Wow, I guess it was just a temporary issue. The small room is now lit thanks to a small LED light on the ceiling… there is a small door… a hatch… in the back wall next to the bed too…. Perhaps another room? Hmm, no. It is locked. Well, it is very disappointing, I must say. They should have told me they were going to put me in temporary accommodation first. I wonder if there is a phone…. SHIT!
“EVERYBODY COME OUT TO YOUR PLATFORMS.” A thunderous voice booms from the outside, startling me. Oh my god! Why is she being so loud? These geniuses forgot to leave me any clothes, so I grab one of the two bed linens and make a toga out of it before opening the door to get out to the balcony. Bright light rushes in as soon as I open the door… is it daytime already? There is huge opaque glass in the wall of the cavernous room to my right; it stretches for miles away and is now shining bright! How long was I thinking to myself? Wish they had used clear glass in the window so we could get some direct sunlight here and enjoy the outside view. Perhaps it’s one of those new privacy glasses that change to opaque with a switch?
I stand in the balcony, looking at the dark grey/blue building structure in front of me at the distance. I can see people standing in their balconies, too. I approach the ledge and look around. There is a ginormous door to my left across the window, and there is a huge light above, shining like the sun. I see a man around my age in the balcony to my left! His balcony has a few pieces of furniture in it, it seems. And he is wearing a nice sweater! I bend over the rails and wave at him.
“Hey, neighbour! I’m new here. My name’s….”
“Get back. She doesn’t like it when we peak around.” He says hurriedly, looking terrified. What?
“What are you talking about?”
He takes a few steps back and is now out of my view. Weirdo. I shrug and take a few steps to the other side of the balcony to bend over the railing again to look to my right. Two young women are standing in the balcony each wearing a thin, pale dress, holding hands. Theirs has no furniture and is completely bare like mine. They notice me immediately.
“Morning, guys!” I say as sweetly as I can.
“Get the fuck back into your balcony, idiot!” the shorter one barks at me sharply, while the taller woman seems to try and hide behind her.
“The fuck is wrong with you people?” I snap back. A sudden gust of wind hits me in the left chick, and I turn around just in time to see the huge door is now open, and a young woman is there, as the third tower in the cavernous room. I thought I was on one of the higher floors judging by the distance to the tiled ground, but it must only be as high as her waist. Her blue eyes scan the area and meet my mine as I am still bent over the railing. I freeze in the giantess’s gaze, feeling all my internal organs turning into liquid and sinking within me. The giant blond takes a step towards me as I begin shivering uncontrollably at the sheer size of her. Soon, the crotch of her pink pants casts a shadow on my existence, and she bends down to look into my eyes with her deep blue eyes, the tip of her nose barely penetrating into my space. She studies me momentarily as I stand like a statue, still processing her massive size. Her pink lips slightly shift up and down with each motion of her jaw as she chews a piece of gum, making a slushing sound each time she bites down, and I hear the wheezing of air into and out of her great nostrils with every breath she takes.
“You new here?” She asks sweetly in a voice that is thankfully much lower than her initial call.
“Y… yes,” I stutter, striving to regain control of my frozen muscles. “My n… name is…..”
Her head goes slightly back and I hear tornado and see a flash of red, followed by a cannonball hitting me in the chest and stomach. The force throws me back, hitting me against the hard plastic. My eyes roll up as my ears begin ringing. The world of dark grey and deep blue is spinning around me, and my stomach contracts violently. I manage to get on my one knee, and begin vomiting violently but nothing comes out. My entire body is shivering.
“Get up.” A voice commands from above, compelling me to obey out of fear for a second blow. I muster all my strength to slowly get up on my feet, using the plastic wall as support. There is a huge red ball next to me… is it… her chewing gum?
“Look at me,” the giantess commands as I shift my dilated eyes from her chewing gum to her. “I don’t like nosy tinies.”
I stare at her large eyes, too much in shock. My brain struggles to say something, anything that will show my obedience, but… I cannot. Having been failed by my speech, I begin nodding violently, which must have complemented my shaky body quite well as a faint smile is now forming on the giantess’s pink lips. Since she is bending down to see me, her scrub top is hanging down, and I see a thin chain around her neck through the V-neck that vanishes into the darkness of her chest. She notices my gaze. Guess this is the end for me.
“You are new. All new tinies are forgiven the first time. Isn’t that right, everyone?” The giantess finishes the last part more loudly.
“Yes, Miss Laura.” An orchestra of voices merge to show their unified obedience and affirmation from all around us.
Laura puts her right hand into her pink scrub and pulls out the rest of the chain. At the end is a naked tiny man in his mid 40s, whose hands are tied above him, making a ring through which the intricate chain goes. He is… a human pendant. And his face looks eerily familiar.
“See, even this adventurous cockroach was forgiven the first time he was found roaming around. Tell me, what is the penalty for roaming around without permission again?” Laura says, shaking the chain effortlessly. The man is violently thrown round at the motion of her hand, but still manages to speak.
“Ending up under your shoes.”
“Yes, we all know I just got these flats,” Laura says, putting the man back into her collar. “So, you’d better be careful!”
Laura stands tall, and I cannot see her face anymore. “The new guy has already used his one freebie at the beginning of his very first day. He must be a special kind of retard!”
I hear a few forced laughs from around the block. The giantess continues: “You should all reject and ignore him, if you know what’s good for you. Got it?”
“Yes, Miss Laura” the chorus of flat voices responds. The giantess bends down again to face me: “You will get no food today. Also, you have no freebies left. Remember that.” She says before standing up and walking away, out of my view. All I can do is to stare at the red, disfigured boulder next to me, absorbing the sheer size of the incisors on it, involuntarily taking in the scent of her spit and watermelon.
***
Hours have passed. I heard Laura walking around for a while, and I occasionally caught a whiff of peanut butter, but she kept her promise and brought me no food. Eventually, I could no longer take it, and… took a bit of her chewed gum and… ate it. Look, the scent was too strong, and I had not eaten anything for god knows how long…. I’m not ashamed of it…. The water from the bathroom sink tastes funny, but I think it is safe to drink. There are no towels, soap or shampoo though. I just took a quick shower and used the bed linen to dry myself. Now, I’m just lying in the bed, trying to process it all. Is Laura a rogue employee? Nah… she is way too comfortable with it all. This means only one thing, and the thought sends shivers down my spine… the entire staff here are OK with her treatment of us. I am trapped in here. *Crank*
Shit, something is making noise behind the hatch… I sit up in the bed, but before I can move, the small door opens and the human pendant steps into my room, followed by a very thin, middle-age man in a sharp grey suit and the shorter woman who lives next to my unit. I stare at the individuals as they all enter the room and quietly close the hatch, but leave it unlocked. The 40-something-year-old human pendant grabs one of the wooden chairs and brings it closer to the bed, and sits on it. He looks muscular under his very large white shirt. The other two lean against the wall next to him, all staring at me.
“You remember me from earlier?” He asks me, rubbing his wrists.
“Yes.”
“Tell me what you have learned about this place, and be direct about it.” He demands.
I examine the trio, hesitant. If this is some trap Laura has devised to get me to… fuck, what am I thinking? I almost died when she spit her gum at me… if she wanted me dead, I’d be dead.
“This is a death trap for size-altered people, particularly sprung for rich people,” I say unceremoniously. “Possibly to get rid of us and take our wealth.”
The human pendant looks at the thin man with raised eyebrows, who nods in return. The short woman keeps glancing at the entrance across the room, which makes me nervous.
“Well, you are right for the most part,” the sitting man replies. “And these giant folks have us all on the palm of their hands… literally.”
“Don’t worry. I have people I can trust who check on me every week. They will save us.” I reassure them.
The short woman begins shaking her head disappointedly. “Just when you get your hopes up…” she mutters. The thin man does not react, but continues to peruse me.
“Please, indulge us by sharing who these individuals are” the human pendant says with a grin. I know he wants to dismiss it, but I’ll give it a shot.
“Oh, just the top cybersecurity expert this side of the Pacific, and my head of security who just happens to be a special forces veteran,” I list proudly; just thinking about them warms my heart… but… why is he still grinning? “… and Evelyn….” I mutter.
“Who is Evelyn?” The thin man asks. I ignore him, still looking at the human pendant’s grin.
“My boy, who do you think we are?” He asks. “Just a bunch of supermarket owners?”
“I… I know you are rich enough to be here….” I reply, confused.
“This is Jana Baker, CFO of Tycoon Banks,” he points at the girl, who is staring at me. She suddenly seems uncomfortable in her fading dress, and rubs her ankle with her bare foot. “This man is Thomas Bews, the CEO of Serenity1 and a professor of psychology at Stanford.” He points at the thin man, who nods at me respectfully.
“And who are you?” I ask.
“My name is Rico Miller. I am the founder of Ironhorse Security Solutions,” he says, still grinning.
“I have heard of your security firm….” I reply, feeling a cold, dark void forming behind my heart. “And of you….” This man is a war hero….
“And you saw how I was turned into a piece of jewellery… a toy… at the mercy of a 24-year-old personal assistant weighing 125 pounds (57 kg)?” He is not grinning anymore. “You think we do not have people on the outside who care for us? You think I had a shortage of special forces at my disposal who would follow me into the depths of hell?
“I… how is that possible?” I ask in disbelief. How can they treat some of the most influential people like this without anyone knowing… “How… how long have you been here?”
“They don’t tell us the time.” Jana answers with a frown as she uses her fingers to comb her shoulder-length auburn hair back. “My best guess is around a year for me.”
“It has been over 2.5 years for me,” Thomas says. “Assuming they turn on the lights with each dawn.”
“4 months for me, assuming the same. The point is that nobody has come looking for us,” Rico says impatiently. “We are on our own.”
“But how is that possible?” I ask. This makes no fucking sense!
“We don’t know!” Rico says.
“I have some theories though….” Thomas retorts.
“Not now, Tom.” Jana interrupts.
“Look, the point is that these guys have a reward system in place, OK?” Rico says in a calmer manner. “You play the role of a good little toy, and if you are lucky, you get a piece of soap or some tissue… clothes… food… stuff like that…. Otherwise….”
“Operant conditioning with a heavy focus on positive punishment,” Thomas adds, winking at me while scratching his clean-shaven chin.
“It’s like… they prefer to keep us alive….” Jana adds with a sigh. “But do not hesitate to kill us if they find an excuse... or feel like it….”
“They are getting very little resistance,” Rico says hotly. “These folks have accepted their fate!”
“Can we blame them, Rico?” Thomas asks softly.
“Are you sure they kill size-altered people?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around it all. “Maybe it’s a bluff? They have public advertisements on TV for god’s sake!”
“Laura stomped Charlie Pence two weeks ago in front of everyone,” Rico says. “And left his smudge on the floor for us all to see during outdoor recess.”
“I have seen her personally crush 17 people during my time,” Thomas adds.
“That bitch uses their money to buy new shoes afterwards,” Jana says with so much hate I can feel the heat radiating from her. “And announces it happily the next day.”
“She calls this room the Forever Room….” Thomas explains bitterly, “Because it is the room we will never leave alive.”
“Joke’s on that bitch. Rico got out!” Jenna says, pointing at the sitting man with her head.
“And look what it got me? And to think Tom says she is one of the kinder staff members here,” concludes Rico, looking down at his hands. The skin is rubbed off around the wrists, and there is blood mixing with the yellowish cream he has put on it. "This was my only chance. They will kill me next time."
“Who are the others?” I ask.
“Not important!” Rico replies quickly as we hear gigantic footsteps coming from the outside. Jana takes two long strides towards the hatch and opens it wide.
“We just wanted you to know what is going on, because we know how it feels to be thrown into this hell with zero context.” Thomas says hurriedly before crouching to get through the open hatch. Jana follows him without saying anything.
“I’ll be in touch. Do not lose your humanity,” Rico tells me grimly as he crouches down. “Do not let them win.”
He gets into the hatch and closes it shut behind him. I sit on the bed, holding my head in my hands. How can somebody kill and torture so many rich and powerful people without anyone noticing? Even prisons allow in-person visits? And why? For money? They are pocketing millions of dollars each year. Isn’t that enough? What type of business kills their cash cows like this?
A rustling of fabric attracts my attention from behind the entrance… well, the balcony… door. I look up just in time to see Laura’s pillar-like pinky leaving the door wide open as it creeps into the room. I instantly curl up in a ball and pull the bed linen up. Her right eye is looking inside the rectangular room, pausing on the single chair next to my bed.
“Why is that chair over there?” she demands to know.
“It’s… it’s for….” I force myself to speak, but the words barely come out.
“Answer me loudly and clearly, worm!” She says threateningly.
“I put the extra linen on it, Miss Laura!” I say as loudly as my trembling body can produce. I can see a flicker of amusement in her blue eye.
“Is there anyone in your unit?”
“N… No, Miss Laura!” I answer, feeling my heart clawing around in my chest. Her eye disappears for a bit, but soon comes back with a large mirror at the end of a steel handle, much like dental mirrors used by dentists. She quickly peers around the two corners of the room on either side of the balcony door – the only blind spots in the otherwise visible room. She retracts the dental mirror and opens the bathroom door with her long index, presumably exploring the small space with her fingertip. Being satisfied, she extends her index finger towards me. It is long enough to come most of the way towards the opposite wall, but barely reaches the bed.
“I noticed you forgot to thank me for letting you off the hook,” she says disappointedly. “Well, now is your chance.”
I freeze at the sight of the huge finger in my room, but the message is clear. I jump off the bed and hold her finger with my hands, as I kiss her fingertip again and again, ensuring to press my face into her flesh so that she feels it.
“Okay, that's enough, worm” she demands as her finger tip pushes me back rather gently. I see her pink scrubs disappearing from my doorway. The lights go out everywhere, leaving me in cold darkness, in a small box among a stack of hundreds of other small boxes, in the Forever Room at Oak Haven.