Carlos fumbled with his itchy school uniform, his trousers not cooperating with him as he pulled them up. He looked at his watch and noted he was making better time than usual. Carlos crammed his calculus book into his overstuffed backpack and skipped downstairs in his Brooklyn apartment for breakfast with his dad. Alejandro, his dad, sat in the dining room, and had prepared a bowl of cereal ready for him.

“Thanks dad,” he mumbled. He dropped his bag on the ground and pulled a seat.

“De nada, m’hijo,” his dad said while flipping through channels on the flatscreen that was mounted on the wall.

“What show are you looking for?” Carlos asked.

“Morning news.” Alejandro found the channel and set the remote down and continued eating his own bowl of cereal. “They’re interviewing a goddess this morning. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss that.”

“I don’t care about that stuff.”

“Oh—no?” Alejandro asked as he crammed a spoonful of Lucky Charms into his mouth. “We have multiple gods roaming the earth, and you don’t care?”

“Nope.” Carlos played with his spoon and didn’t bother eating.

Alejandro let out a tiny snort, recognizing his son’s foul mood. “Cheer up m’hijo. I’ll pray to the goddess that she brightens your day.”

Carlos rolled his eyes at his dad and then focused on the TV. He saw it was a morning show, the kind where two hosts talk about various topics and usually do interviews with celebrities. The show had a lively atmosphere with brightly lit lights and colorful furniture decorating the set. The hosts were a male and female wearing vibrant colored outfits and sitting on two barstool-looking seats.

“If you’re just joining us, we have a special guest this morning,” the male anchor said. “She’s a goddess that needs no introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show, the ruler of all gods, Goddess Melissa!”

The hosts stood and clapped along with the studio audience. Off stage, Goddess Melissa came walking in at approximately 20 feet tall. She was full of smiles and waved at the audience, her head coming close to the overhead stage lights. The cameramen had difficulty framing her entire body in the shot, having to pull their cameras back.

The goddess wore a summer dress that had a plunging neckline and ended about mid-thigh. Open-toe high-heels adorned her feet, showing off her white painted toenails. She wore her hair down, which was long and sleek, framing her beautiful Cuban face. Her skin tone matched her rich Hispanic heritage and was free of blemishes, wrinkles, or any imperfections. Even prior to Melissa’s ascension to godhood, most people would’ve considered her a goddess—post-ascension, her ‘goddess’ moniker transformed from a flirtatious nickname to an awe-inspiring reality.

After a boisterous round of clapping, the hosts dropped to their knees and bowed in prayer to the literal goddess gracing their presence and walked in front of them. The audience soon followed, and they too prayed Melissa’s prayer.

Carlos rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake. How can people demean themselves like that?”

“M’hijo, she’s a god. It’s just the way things are.”

“I don’t care who she is. I’ll never bow to her.”

On the TV, Goddess Melissa said, “thank you everyone. I feel everyone’s warmth and love here this morning. Please rise.” Everyone obeyed and took their seats, except for the hosts who stood at her knees. Fortunately, the soundstage was large enough to accommodate the deity. However, the cameras having to tilt far back to reveal the undecorated parts of the set and the myriad of stage lights that hung overhead. “Let me shrink down to something a little more reasonable.” With that, the goddess’s stature shrunk to approximately 10 feet.

The anchors waited for Melissa to sit before they sat in their seated. Melissa sat on a couch that was in the center of the set, which looked like a little playschool seat under her statuesque frame.

The news anchor was visibly perspiring, his brows dotted with sweat droplets. His voice almost cracked, his necktie feeling extra tight as he was about to interview god in front of the world. They exchanged a few pleasantries, like thanking her for coming on and whatnot, before proceeding to the actual interview.

“So, it’s been a year since you and the others ascended. Could you share with us what that day was like?” the male anchor asked.

“Well, it was quite chaotic—as everyone on earth knows. None of us knew what was happening. One moment we were our usual selves, and the next, we were... well, more than human.”

“And the... transformation. It was sudden?”

“Absolutely. Imagine if the world suddenly shrunk around you... Except the world didn’t shrink. Me and Goddess Hailee, who was with me at the time, found ourselves standing over Brooklyn, naked, and in a split second. It was so weird and shocking when it happened. Me and Hailee didn’t know we became gods and that our new size reflected our new powers. Unfortunately, it led to a lot of unintended collateral damage that day.”

“That must have been terrifying for you and the people around.”

“It was. We were scared, confused… It took us some time to learn how to manage our new forms and powers.”

“When you learned you were a god, how did your family react?” the anchor asked, reading the notes in his hand.

Carlos perked up, his eyes glued to the TV, and eagerly waiting for her response.

Melissa regally adjusted her seat on the small couch and said, “everything has stayed the same.”

“What?” Carlos asked aloud, causing his dad to turn his head toward him.

Melissa continued and said, “my family and I don’t live in a palace. We still live in Brooklyn. I’m still a mother and a loving wife. We moved to a bigger apartment and my son goes to a private school now, but other than that, things haven’t really changed. Instead of a New York police officer, I do what I can to prevent and punish the harshest crime.”

The anchor, caught up in the moment and without looking at his notes, asked, “why don’t you stop all crime? Can’t you stop evils like crime and disease from existing in the first place?”

Melissa’s brightened mood ended. Her smile was no longer and genuine and appeared more like a smirk. “Are you insinuating I can’t?”

The studio lights hummed above normal as they became brighter. The interviewer realized his mistake and said, “of course not. Nevermind, I didn’t mean to ask—”

Carlos said to his dad, “and there she goes, getting all power-trippy again.”

“Poor bastard,” Alejandro said.

“My actions are deliberate,” Melissa said on screen, neither upset nor happy. “Whether I stop a crime or do not; whether I prevent all diseases or not—as a mortal, it is not your place to question your god.”

The anchor dropped to his knees before Melissa’s feet and said, “forgive me, goddess. I was being foolish. I didn’t mean any slight to you. Please have mercy on me.” He then recited Melissa’s prayer on repeat.

The studio lights return to their normal operation. Melissa smiled at the groveling man and looked up to the female anchor and asked, “do you have questions for me?”

“Umm. What’s your favorite food?”

Back at the breakfast table, Carlos asked his father, “jeez, was she going to smite him or something?”

“Nah. You know your mom—she’s all bark and no bite. She’s just putting a show on for the entire world to see.”

“What’s the point, though? Why is mom making people bow and pray like that? She’s so full of herself.” Carlos pushed himself from the table and grabbed his bookbag.

“It’s the new reality, m’hijo.”

“Well, tell mom this new reality sucks ass. Instead of scaring people and making them bow at her feet, maybe she should be home having breakfast with us family? Just a thought.”

Alejandro had something ready to say, but didn’t want to push it with his son. He could visibly see his anger and hear the quivering in his voice. “I’ll bring it up with her. Have fun at school.”

“Whatever.”

===

The rhythmic click-clacking echoed down the long old hallways of the 19th-century-era school. It was a private school, established for the world’s elites in Manhattan overlooking Central Park. The students wore costly uniforms: pristine white buttoned-up shirts, plaid skirts for the girls and gray slacks for the boys. All the High School students were impeccably elegant, with sharp haircuts, clean fingernails, and wrinkle-free uniforms.

The rhythmic clacking of heels on the polished floor ceased at a classroom’s doorway. The door, a stately piece of polished oak with a frosted window, swung open with a sense of purpose. A woman entered unannounced, interrupting the day’s lesson. The teacher was about to reprimand the intruder, that is, until he laid eyes on who it was.

“Goddess Melissa,” he said, trembling and dropping the chalk from his hands.

The classroom, once filled with the sounds of scribbling pens and shuffling paper, fell into a hushed awe, every pair of eyes drawn to the imposing, nine-and-a-half foot tall celestial who stood there, her presence commanding respect that silenced the room instantaneously.

The Goddess gracefully leaned into the doorway, clearing her head, and standing back upright once inside. Adorned in a tailored gray business suit that elegantly hugged her slim form, she radiated an air of both authority and grace. Her skirt fell short of her knees, embracing her shapely thighs and accenting her hips. Her blazer, fitted perfectly, complemented her statuesque figure. Beneath it, a white blouse shimmered like the sun’s reflection off a lake.

The teacher dropped to the ground and said, “Goddess Melissa, please forgive me,” before reciting her prayer:

“O Melissa, leader of the gods with heart so pure,

“Your reign is just, benevolent and sure.

“In your all-powerful embrace, we dwell,

“Guide us to peace, where love shall prevail.”

Melissa placed her hands together, interlocking her fingers, and rested them in front of her waist. Satisfied with the man’s groveling, she walked to the front of the class and eyed the high school Seniors who stared back with a terrified silence. Her body weight caused the floor to warp and groan under her divine feet. Her toes, flawlessly manicured, were on full display within her black strappy heels, which cost as much as an economy car.

She stood in front of the first row of tables; the students, too scared to even blink, didn’t dare say a word until she spoke. Melissa looked at all their terrified faces from up high. As she looked around the classroom and was pleased to see it organized and filled with expensive furniture and educational material for the students. Many first-edition books lined their bookcase and rare artifacts displayed on top of shelves. The school spared no expense for the education of its students. Her attention returned to the students.

“Children,” she said. “Your goddess stands before you. You do know what that means, right?”

They all let out a collective gasp, which was swiftly followed by them pushing their chairs back, scrapping them along the hardwood floor. The students fell to their knees and bowed, placing their hands flat on the ground, mimicking their teacher. Each student then uttered Melissa’s prayers through trembling lips.

“Looks like you were not taught well,” Melissa said, looking back at the sobbing teacher, his face planted on the filthy floor as he prayed. She turned back to the class. All the students were worshiping and praying incessantly. All except one. “Carlito,” she said. “Know why I’m here?”

“Why, mom?” he asked with a sigh, clearly unafraid of his mother.

“Your dad says you used his credit card at the mall without his permission. What do you have to say?”

“Mom,” he groaned. “That’s why you came down here? You’re embarrassing me and scaring all my friends.”

“Scared?” Melissa asked with hands raised. She then asked the classroom, “anyone scared of me?” There was no response. “See, no one fears little ole me.”

“Of course they won’t say it to your face,” Carlos said with a drawn-out sigh. “Listen, can we talk about this back home? I’ll pay back dad, don’t worry.”

“We’ll ‘talk about it’ when I want to talk about it. Which is right now. I don’t think your teacher minds.” Melissa looked over her shoulder and saw the teacher slink further into the ground. She turned back to her son and said, “I don’t care about the money you spent. What I don’t like is stealing your dad’s card to purchase something behind his back.”

“But what’s the big deal, seriously?”

“You know exactly what you did wrong, and not another word from you. And if you talk back again, I’ll ground you for a month. Remember Carlito, my punishments can be a lot more creative than what other parents can come up with. Want to spend a month in my shoe box with no TV or games, again?”

“No,” he said. He looked around at his classmates and felt so flustered he wanted to run out of class and never return.

“Okay, then. When you come home tonight, you will apologize to your father and work off the debt for using his card.”

He bit his lips, not wanting to push things with his mother. “Sorry, mom. Won’t happen again.”

“That’s my boy.” She walked over to him, bent over, and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

“Mom! Come on, please.” He whined.

Melissa walked over to the teacher, her feet planting right before his face, her toes in front of his eyes. She told him to rise, and he did so with gusto. She tilted her head and looked down at him like a concerned parent, her brows furrowed upwards.

“Know what you did wrong?” she asked. The sky outside turned dark as thick thunder clouds covered the sun.

“Yes, Goddess Melissa.” He was on the verge of breaking down.

“It’s important these students, who are on the verge of adulthood, learn how to properly respect their gods,” she said with a tone full of maternal warmth. It started raining outside, and the wind picked up with enough force to make the leaves in trees rustle and the branches crackle. “That means dropping to the ground in prayer when a god is in your presence—come on, you know this. I won’t tolerate it again.” Thunder from outside reverberated in the room.

“Yes, Goddess. I’ll do better.” His lips were trembling, his skin perspiring.

“Aww,” she placed a hand on his shoulder. The storm outside vanished and was replaced with a calm sunshine. Carlos rolled his eyes. “I know you’ve been having a hard time. Isn’t that right?”

“Umm, I—”

“Money problems, huh?” Melissa asked as she closed her eyes and explored the man’s life. “Your wife is in the hospital? And you’re accumulating a lot of debt. Why haven’t you told me this?”

“Goddess?”

“In your prayers to me?”

“I—I can’t trouble you… I can manage…”

Melissa brought the man close to her body for a hug. Because of her towering height, it looked like an adult hugging a young child. “You’re a good man. Let me help you, yeah? When you get home, your wife will be back from the hospital, with no more cancer. And I’ll just take care of all those pesky loans.”

“God—goddess? Really, did you just…?” he asked, his eyes filling with unbridled joy and tears streaming down.

“You can worship me later,” Melissa said with a warm smile. “Now, you have a lesson to get back to. And remember to treat my son like any other student. No special treatment.”

===

“This cruise was a good idea, mi amor,” Melissa said to her husband.

“I thought it might help. You’ve been so busy lately, running around the world, doing this and that,” Alejandro said.

“I know. I’m still finding pockets of humanity that are still unwilling to accept me and the three as gods.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

Melissa giggled and said, “only a human would ask that kind of question.”

“Should I be offended when you call me human like that?”

“What? No, don’t be silly.”

“Okay. Because it sounds a little insulting when you say it.”

Melissa laughed this time. “Not an insult, you baby. It’s who you are: a little human.”

“But you’re human too!”

“No, I’m not.” She said with a wide smile. “What am I? I want to hear you say it.”

“Melissa Camillo,” her husband said.

“Not my name. Try again. Who am I?”

With a groan, he said, “you’re a goddess.”

They were on the deck of the cruise ship, near the stern, where an open bar and large hot tub stood. For a completely booked ship, with over three thousand passengers, the deck was relatively empty. The few patrons that dared enter the area—whether by accident or to pass through—were on their knees, hunched over and praying on the floor, angled towards Melissa. They kept praying, waiting for the Goddess to dismiss them.

The lounge chairs were placed meticulously in a grid-like pattern on the deck. They were all empty, save for the ones Melissa and her husband occupied. At her comfortable height of nine and half feet, Melissa used her powers to grow one lounge chair to fit her frame. Her husband, laying in his, was well below her body and in her shadow.

Alejandro wore a woolly jacket, ski pants, and thick, fur-lined boots. Even in gloves, his hands were in his jacket pocket, attempting desperately to stay warm. His lips cracked, and he dreaded fishing for his chapstick, because that meant he had to take off his glove to work the little capsule. The beanie in his head wasn’t doing much, keeping his ears warm. He wondered if the sundries shop had earmuffs in stock.

Melissa, on the other hand, wore her white bikini. A skimpy bottom and top provided little modesty as she tanned her skin under the sun.

It was an arctic cruise that took its passengers on a tour of glaciers, whale watching, and breathtaking scenery. The temperature hovered between 10 and 14 degrees Fahrenheit—but the worst part was the winds. They cut through the thickest jackets and chilled the bones.

“What kind of goddess?”

“¿Que?” Alejandro asked his wife.

“What kind of goddess am I?”

He sighed and failed to hide his grin. “You’re the goddess. Head honcho. The one in charge.”

She giggled. “Why does it bother you so much to say that?”

“It doesn’t bother me you’re a goddess. But y’know, you were my goddess, and my goddess alone. Now the entire world prays to you and it takes some of the fun out of it. Wasn’t it better when only I praised you, honey?”

“Oh, sweetie, I could just eat you up! How did I get so lucky to marry you?” Melissa asked.

“You were after my money, remember?”

“What money?” She laughed. “Remember our first date? McDonald’s; we had to share a coke, and you only bought from the dollar menu.”

“Why buy separate drinks when refills are free?”

She laughed again.

“Speaking about everyone praying to you.” He pointed behind his shoulder with his thumb. “You think you got enough prayers for now?”

“I suppose,” she said in a mocking tone. She then addressed her subjects on the deck around her and said, “thank you everyone for your devotion. You are dismissed. But if you come near my presence again, I expect more bowing and praying.”

A crowd of about twenty passengers got up from the floor and raced off the deck. They learned their lesson about walking near the goddess. Some had been praying for as long as 45 minutes before she released them.

Melissa grabbed a margarita that was on a table near her. Her personal bartender kept the oversized glass filled and a fresh lime nearby stocked. After taking a drink, Melissa adjusted her breasts in her bikini top. She grabbed a plastic bottle of suntan oil and squeezed a generous amount onto her flat stomach. She rubbed the oil into her brown skin as another ice-chilled breeze came howling across the ship. It caused Alejandro to shiver, despite all his protection he wore for the cold.

“You think it’s messed up we’re vacationing without Carlos?” her husband asked.

“Not at all. I’m still mad at him for using your credit card.”

“Fair enough.”

“Whoa, that’s pretty,” she said, pointing off into the distance. “Come, let’s get a better look.” Melissa grabbed her drink and padded off to the railing. Aside from her bikini, Melissa had large sunglasses and a Panama hat. Her skin glowed, almost giving off an ethereal radiance as the cold sunrays caressed her body. As they looked out, they saw a bay surrounded by pristine white glaciers. The bay almost looked like a tub with floating ice cubes, which were actually building-sized icebergs.

“Damn, that’s gorgeous,” Alejandro said. “I can’t believe animals swim in that water. It’s gotta be way below freezing, huh?” He asked Melissa, but as he turned to face her, she was gone. “Babe? Where’d you go? A loud splash caused him to snap his head back out to the scenery. “Oh, god…”

Melissa had grown herself. A lot. From head to toe, Melissa was five thousand, five hundred feet tall. She nestled herself in the bay as if she were laying in those free-standing bathtubs. Her head rested against a mountain that jutted out of the coast. She crossed her legs at the ankles, planting her heels on the shore, causing a flock of penguins to scatter away as if they were mites in the shadow of her feet. In her hand, her margarita, sized for her proportions, now sat inland, surrounded by glaciers.

As Melissa materialized and landed in the ice-cold water, a wave about fifty feet tall formed around her, and splashed outwards like a shockwave. Alejandro swallowed a lump in his throat as he saw the wave crashing towards him. With no sense of urgency, Melissa waved her fingers towards the cruise ship, creating an invisible shield around it, just as the frigid arctic waters threatened to slam against the white cruise liner.

Alejandro and the passengers were in awe as the ocean waters splashed upward around this shield. If they looked closely, they could see fish and whales in the waters. Though the ship was safe from the violent collision of the ocean, the sounds it created were nerve-wracking. Like a hundred hurricanes rolled into one cacophonous crash. The environment wasn’t safe from Melissa’s splashdown. Glaciers broke apart, and icebergs she landed on top of floated upwards around her body and launched outwards like missiles. Land flooded with tsunami-like waves as her mile-long body occupied the once serene bay.

“Ahh,” Melissa sighed as she relaxed in her makeshift bath. She wiggled her toes and stretched her back, pulverizing the mountain so it conformed to her body. “Now, this is divine,” she said, drinking her cold beverage.

Melissa’s powers protected the ship further from the unsteady waves, as her body displaced hundreds of million gallons of ocean water. She hooked a thumb under her bikini top and pulled it downward to show off more cleavage. Satisfied her boobs looked good and were above water, she went back to relaxing.

Alejandro's mouth remained open in astonishment the whole time. His knuckles turned white as he gripped tightly to the railing, afraid to loosen even for a moment. The goddess cracked her eyes open and turned her head to face the ship, which was about the length of her foot.

“I’d say you should join me, honey.” Melissa said. “But I think the water is a tad too cold for you.”

Alejandro whimpered. His wife was the size of the landscape. He’s never seen her so large before, and even though it was his wife, he feared for his life. The ocean was violent and strong waves kept forming around her powerful body, cascading outwards and colliding into everything with wrathful force. The shield and ship stabilization kept everyone safe while floating dangerously close to the gigantic giantess.

“Don’t worry, honey. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” She drank her margarita. Melissa then snapped her fingers, and the waves ceased, the ocean becoming as flat as a sheet of glass. Another wave of her 400 feet long fingers, and the cruise ship gently glided closer to her body. Alejandro’s, along with the thousands of passengers, felt their hearts drop as they came close to Melissa’s massive breast. “You know what your goddess would love right about now?” She asked everyone on the ship, her breath slamming against the toy-sized vessel. “Some worshiping.”

Almost everyone on the ship, no matter where they were located, even if they were in the head, dropped to their knees and recited Melissa’s prayer. She moaned as she felt her worshippers grace her with their fear and love.

“That’s so good,” she said, with a mixture of pleasure and relief. She sunk deeper into the arctic waters, but floated high enough for her boobs to be above water, rivaling any present iceberg.

Alejandro’s adrenaline pumped so fast through his veins, he didn’t feel cold anymore. He backed away from the railings. Dropped to his knees and prayed to his wife.

“Oh, honey.” Melissa moaned at that exact moment. “You’re so sweet. I love you so much! I love all my children,” she said, referring to the passengers.

Alejandro felt it and so did everyone that was praying. They felt her love embracing them. The warmth one gets when holding a puppy, or holding their child for the very first time. Like enjoying an ice cream cone with one’s sweetheart on a hot Fourth of July. Some of those praying were crying as they felt their goddess’s love reciprocate.

“Almost perfect…” Melissa said. She replaced the loving warmth everyone felt with an icy chill. “There are some of you that are not bowing and devoting your mortal lives to me.” She turned and looked at the toy ship next to her island-sized tits. Her eyes burned with a growing flame that terrified them as the goddess grew angry. The frigid water near her skin boiled, steam rising like a thick fog. “No need to fear everyone. I’m not one to smite everyone, for the actions of a few. Which is not something that can be said about the other gods. Everyone, check your phones. I’m texting you the names of the 23 individuals, foolish enough not to worship me. Bring them to me on a lifeboat.”

As she declared, the names of the non-believers popped on everyone’s phones. It was the fastest game of hide-and-seek ever performed on a cruise ship. The passengers shoved twenty-three doomed lives onto a lifeboat and lowered into the waters.

“Honey, what are you doing?” Alejandro asked. Though there was a vast size difference between the two, Melissa had a link to her husband where they could speak normally, and it was equivalent to having a conversation in front of each other at the same size.

“Just some god-stuff.” She smiled.

“Yeah, but you’re making me kinda nervous. Is it terrible that some people don’t drop to their knees for you?”

“We’ve been through this, mi amor. I can’t explain it to you, because you won’t understand.”

“What? Because I’m a mortal?” he asked.

“Hey, you said it, not me.”

“Babe, please don’t hurt them.”

“Honey, I don’t tell you how to do your job. Don’t tell me how to be god.”

“But you tell me how to do my job all the time.”

Melissa giggled. “Yeah, that’s right. Hey, babe, why don’t you go wait in our cabin? I don’t want you to see this.”

“Babe, no—”

The scenery changed for Alejandro faster than a blink. He was back in their stately cabin. She shut the porthole window and sealed the door leading out, effectively making him a prisoner in his room. “Mierda.”

Back outside, Melissa took control of the lifeboat with her celestial powers and cruised it towards her, straight under her chin. She was sunken enough in the water, so that they floated above her upper chest, but were flanked by her exposed tits that came out of the water like a volcano. The men and women on the boat tried to stand resolutely and unphased by Melissa, though they couldn’t help feel insignificant under her massive size.

Under the depths of the water came her finger, and the tiny lifeboat balanced on her gigantic fingernail from her index finger. She brought the boat up to her immense brown eyes. Her divine powers prevented the boat and their non-believing from falling over during their rapid ascent into the sky. She toned down her speech to not send them flying.

“Tell me, why do you refuse to believe I’m your god?” she asked with no trace of emotions.

“You ain’t no god, demon!” one man shouted. “Jesus is the only true god!”

An argument broke out in the boat as the non-believers argued Jesus was no god either. Each person on the boat shouted who god actually was. From Yahweh to Allah, and Ganesha to Elohim.

Melissa’s eyes narrowed, and her brows dropped. “Enough! I am your god.” Her voice sounded like it came from everywhere at once. The fog from her boiling the arctic waters surrounded them as she talked down at them. “I am a goddess. The most powerful goddess in the universe. And I’m right in front you in the flesh, doing godlike—things! Why do you choose not to believe me and worship me?”

Their explanations varied, but the common theme was they believed the god they were respectively indoctrinated into.

“I will give you one chance, and once chance only. Recant your old gods. Give yourselves unto me, or forfeit your souls.”

The non-Melissa believers remained steadfast to their devotions of their gods. They didn’t fear the ‘false god’ that held them up on her finger. The non-believers remained faithful to whatever god they believed before Melissa’s ascension. They were persecuted from day one, since Melissa made the heretical claim she was a god and abolished all old world religions. No, they believed in their true god, who would, in turn, reward them for their unwavering faith.

“So be it,” Melissa said with a cruel smile. “But you’re all in for a rude awakening in the afterlife.”

Melissa opened her mouth, tilted back, and let the lifeboat with twenty-three souls drop in her mouth. They screamed in fear as they fell in the black void in the back of her throat. Her uvula was larger than their boat and hung menacingly over their heads as they dropped into the black void in the back of her throat. She swallowed them as if she were knocking back a pill. She moaned as she took an extra long sip from her margarita. “Delicious.” Their bodies disintegrated in her divine stomach. Their souls would soon reckon with a harsh afterlife.

-

“Hey, what’s up?” Melissa asked her husband as she entered their cabin, back to her normal nine and half feet tall stature. “Miss me?”

“Babe, what the heck was all that about?” Alejandro asked.

“Oh, baby, did I scare you?” She pouted.

“What did you do to those people? You didn’t hurt them, did you?”

She tilted her head, smirked as if she were an uncaring teenager, and shrugged her shoulders. “Y’know, goddess stuff.” She was still in her bikini, and her skin had a briny sheen from the cold ocean.

Alejandro sighed. “I know—I know. My little mortal mind won’t be able to handle it, huh?” he asked as he sat on the bed. Melissa sat next to him, her weight pulling the mattress downwards, causing her husband to sink into her. She caught him in her arms and hugged him.

“That’s right. Your goddess works in mysterious ways.” She kissed him on the lips as she cradled him under her arms.

“Babe, you couldn’t even parallel park a year ago,” he said as their kissing turned up a level. Their tongues tasting each other’s mouth. “Now, you’re the most powerful force in the universe.”

“Mm-hmm.”

He jumped on her, and straddled on top of her as she laid back on the small bed, her long legs hanging over the sides and her feet planted on the floor.

“And for whatever reason, you choose to stay with me. I guess my mortal ass will never understand why, huh?”

“Because I love your mortal ass,” she said with a hoarse voice.

Moments later, the entire cruise ship heard the goddess making love to her husband.

===

Melissa teleported herself and her husband back to New York, in front of their apartment door. Though she was the most powerful, and leader of all the gods, she raised her family in a somewhat modest apartment in Brooklyn, her home city. Her unit was two stories, four bedrooms and two baths, with a quaint balcony. She was back wearing her business outfit, standing at her normal Amazonian height, and Alejandro wore his comfortable jeans and a shirt.

They entered, still enamored and kissing one another. Carlos appeared halfway down the stairs and froze. “Mom, dad… what are you doing back so soon? I thought you were still on vacation.”

Melissa could already sense it. “We decided to come early. Anything wrong with that, Carlito?” she asked.

“Umm, nothing.”

Melissa closed her eyes as if something stung her. “M’hijo, please don’t lie. You know it hurts me when you do that.” Alejandro stood by the door, nervous about what his wife might do to their son, but ready to intervene if it escalated.

“Nothings wrong, mom,” Carlos said with a shrug.

Melissa walked up to the stairs. She closed her eyes and focussed her powers on shrinking her frame to her pre-goddess height of 5’6”. It was hard packing a god to such a small height, and might only last for a few hours before going back to her ‘normal’ height, but it would be long enough for her to have a conversation with her son, and not intimidate him. By the time she reached him on the stairs, she shrunk down shorter than him.

“Everything went well when we were gone?” she asked, her eyes smoldering.

“Yeah.”

“And nothing interesting happened?”

“Nope.”

She nodded. “Okay.” She looked down at her husband, who still stood in the doorway. The tension in the room was so thick, it could be cut with a butter knife. “I’m going to take a bath,” she said to Alejandro. She looked up at her son. “Then I’m off to sleep. Good night, in case I don’t see you,” she gave her son a peck on the cheek and walked past him.

As soon as they heard the bedroom door closed, both father and son let out their breaths, not realizing they were holding it in.

-

Carlos rushed into his room and said, “you gotta get out of here, now!”

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Vanessa said as she crawled out from under Carlos’ bed. Her shaking hands grabbed her purse and spilled its contents with her fumbling hands. Carlos helped her scoop everything back in. “She’s going to kill me if she sees me.”

“She won’t kill you,” he said, rather unconvincingly. “She’s not like that.”

“Carlos, I’ve heard she’s killed people for so little.”

“Those are just stupid rumors. My mom isn’t a murderer and not some crazy sociopath.”

“She’s god… your mom is god. And it’s scary that I’m sneaking into god’s house like this. What was I thinking?”

“Relax, it’s gonna be fine.”

Carlos guided her to his bedroom door. He stopped her and opened it ajar, wide enough to stick his head out. The hallway was clear and he could hear his mother turning the knobs to the bath several rooms down the hallway. He closed the door and turned to his girlfriend.

“Here’s the plan. I open the door and we calmly go downstairs and out the front door,” he said.

“What about your dad?” she asked.

“He won’t care if he sees you. It’s mom we have to worry about. Ready?”

She took a nervous breath, as if she were about to parachute out of a plane for the first time. “Ready.”

“One. Two. Three.”

Carlos swung the door open, and they both went through the doorway together.

“Shoot,” he said.

They didn’t enter the hallways like they expected. Instead, their world transformed beyond imagination. They were now in a giant world. They probably stood around four inches tall judging by the surrounding items nearby; everyday objects loomed overhead like colossal structures. The salt and pepper shakers looked like pillars on a mansion and a cereal box was grander than a movie screen.

Vanessa’s eyes widened in terror, her body tensing as she clutched Carlos’s hand. She recognized where they were. They were on a kitchen island; countertops that stood on their own in the center, detached from the walls. As she looked out, she saw a row of gigantic barstools lined near the counter, and beyond that was the dining area.

Every sound was amplified—a distant drip of water from the faucet sounded like a heavy thud, the hum of the refrigerator like the drone of an aircraft. The air itself felt different, heavier and more imposing. The grains and knicks on the wooden countertop resembled deep grooves in the earth. Dust and crumbs were as large as river rocks, and everything was so far from them because of their size, it was like standing on top of a mountain and gazing at the distant landscape.

“Mom’s idea of a joke,” he said, his voice sounding annoyed. It was yet another godly antic courtesy of his mother that involved size difference. They looked back at the bedroom door. It was just the door and frame, but peering in, they could see the entire room. He moved his head left and right and could see the parallax of his room giving the illusion it was right there, despite it being only a five-inch doorway that was standing there.

Then, the immense figure of Melissa loomed over them, her presence like that of a titan from Greek mythology. To Vanessa, she appeared as a goddess in her full, awe-inspiring grandeur, her features both beautiful and terrifying in their magnified state. Her eyes, usually warm and kind, now seemed mixed with amusement and maternal sternness.

Goddess Melissa was done with her bath, as shown in her outfit and the towel wrapped around her head. She must’ve slowed down time to enjoy her bath, Carlos figured. She wore her pajama shorts, which were a little too short for Carlos’ comfort. A baggy white shirt, her breasts unsupported, and a sheer cotton bathrobe that was loosely draped over her shoulder. Carlos and Vanessa were like mortals meeting the Gods at the pantheon, but instead of Athena, it was a mother in her comfortable post-bath outfit, about to scold him in their modest kitchen.

Melissa’s voice boomed like thunder, yet held a softness that was unmistakably her. “Seems like you had plans while I was away,” she said, a playful inflection in her tone.

Vanessa, still clutching Carlos’s hand, was too overwhelmed to speak. The vastness of the kitchen, the enormity of Melissa, the surreal nature of their situation—it was all too much to comprehend. She felt herself drop to her knees and bow down towards the goddess, reciting her prayer on repeat, as fast as an auctioneer in Texas. Carlos was about to tell Vanessa to knock it off and get back to her feet, but somehow knew his mother would force her back to the ground.

Carlos, attempting to maintain a semblance of dignity, said, “ah y’know, just showing Vanessa around the house. She asked me to give her the mini-tour.”

Melissa smirked. Her colossal form stepped away, her bare feet slapping against the hard floor of the kitchen, causing the floor below the miniature couple to quake. Melissa returned with a filled glass of red wine. Though she was one of the most powerful entities in the universe, and could call upon anything she desired, her glass was filled with $11.99 wine from Costco. She sat at the barstool nearest the two and set her glass next to them.

“Vanessa?” Melissa said, with no trace of anger or malice. “Thank you for your worship. You can stand back up next to my son.”

Vanessa nodded and did as she was instructed. She tried to hide her body behind Carlos, while peering at the goddess staring back down at them. Melissa took off the towel from her head and dropped it on the ground, her dark hair cascading down and bouncing into a perfect hairdo.

“Want to know why I’m upset, Carlito?” Melissa asked, drinking her wine.

“I snuck a girl into my room,” he said, whining.

“Actually, no.”

“No?” Carlos and Vanessa asked at the same time.

“I’m mad that you lied to me. Come on, m’hijo. Not only am I god, but I’m your mother and I know when you’re lying to me, even without using my powers.”

“I guess…”

“And Vanessa,” Melissa said, her eyes cutting through the terrified girl. Vanessa shut her eyes and felt tears running down her cheek. She was quaking so much, her vision blurred.

“Yes, Goddess Melissa.”

Melissa looked down emotionless, wineglass in hand, gazing at the frightened little thing. “Where did you get those earrings?” Melissa asked, with a lilt.

“Uh?” Vanessa asked. She felt her ears and remembered what she was wearing. “Clair’s.”

“Of course. I need to head out there one day.” Melissa took a long, sensual drink. “What were you up to before I rudely interrupted your evening?”

Vanessa wanted to lie. She wouldn’t—couldn’t tell Melissa the truth. But was it worth it? To lie to god? …heart so pure; your reign is just, benevolent and sure. Vanessa recited part of Melissa’s prayer in her mind. She mounted what little courage existed in her tiny body and said, “I was making out with your son.” She squinted her eyes, as if about to be struck.

“Mom, before—” Carlos intervened, but Melissa shot him a look that caused him to shut his mouth.

“Tell me, Vanessa,” Melissa said slowly, the tension heightening. “Did Carlos brush his teeth before your little make-out session?”

“What?” Vanessa asked, unsure where the goddess was going with this. “No.” She told the truth.

“Carlos, what’s the matter with you?” she asked her son.

“What?” he asked, confused.

“When’s the last time you brushed your teeth?”

“Last night,” he said, not even believing himself. “I think.”

“You don’t even brush your teeth in the morning, and now you’re kissing this poor girl with your yucky mouth?”

“It’s not that yucky.”

“This poor, poor girl.” Melissa said.

She yelped and hugged Carlos tightly as Melissa’s finger came down and stroked her back gently. The massive digit made small circling moves around her upper back and had a soothing effect on her. Over time, Vanessa could sense Melissa’s love extend to her and felt her fear fade away.

Melissa spoke to her son while massaging the girl and said, “you took a shower at least, right?”

“Yes,” he groaned.

“And you’re wearing clean underwear? You know, the one without the streaks?”

“Mom! Please!”

“I threw out all the dirty pairs I found, but that only left a few behind. We’ll go shopping for new underwear tomorrow, okay? We can also shop for new clothes for you. But you’ll have to try them out in the store and show me they fit, okay?”

“I’m literally going to die from embarrassment.”

Melissa smiled and removed her finger from Vanessa. She said, “so, you two are dating?”

“Yes,” Vanessa said.

“Carlito, why didn’t you tell me you had a girlfriend?”

“I was planning on telling you over breakfast. But you haven’t been around for weeks, so I guess you didn’t get the message.”

Melissa’s eyes lowered away from the tiny couple under her massive form. Carlos wondered if he went too far, but those were his true feelings regarding his mom’s absence from his life. Melissa took a breath and released slowly. “You’re right,” she said. “I’ll do better, m’hijo. It’s not fair to you I became god and that my attention is needed elsewhere. I’ll be a better mom, okay?”

I’ll believe it when I see it, Carlos thought to himself.

“Vanessa?” Melissa asked. “Since you’re dating my son, my home is your home. And as a special rule for you, you don’t have to worship me when inside my home. Oh, and one day we’ll have to sit down together and have dinner, okay? Now, head back to your room and enjoy the rest of the night.”

The tiny couple turned and headed over to the free standing doorframe.

“Wait!” Melissa said, “are you two having sex?”

Vanessa, not wanting to lie to the goddess, said, “yes.”

“Vanessa!” Carlos shouted.

“Protection? You are using protection, yes?”

“We are,” Venessa said.

“Oh, thank me.” Melissa gave her head a few shakes before taking another sip of her wine. “I don’t mind what you do, as long as it’s safe.”

Carlos mumbled under his breath, close to imploding under the weight of his overbearing mother. He quickly guided Vanessa back to his room and slammed the door behind him.

===

“How’d it go?” Alejandro asked as his Amazonian-sized wife laid in their enlarged bed next to him. Her weight caused the mattress to sink and her husband to rise a little higher in a seesaw effect. Their bedroom was dimly lit, the purple glow from their flatscreen providing most of the illumination in the room.

“Great. Did you know our son has a girlfriend?” Melissa asked.

“Uh, yeah, I think he mentioned it.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Guess it slipped my mind.”

She shot him a look while shaking her head. She brought her bare legs under the bedcovers and sighed.

“Sorry, I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know it would bother you not knowing.” He said.

“No, it’s not that. That was my fault and I’ll fix that. It’s something else.”

“What’s up?” he asked while setting the alarm on his smartphone.

Melissa drank some wine and set the glass on her nightstand. She then picked up an oversized remote and flipped through Netflix shows on their smart TV.

“Something strange happened on the cruise,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Ever since I became a god, I not only have all these powers. But I also have these… senses. I’m not talking about seeing or hearing better, although those are heightened. But I also have these weird senses. Like, I know when there’s someone around. I can feel their life… their soul.” She set the remote down and made gestures with her hands as she spoke. “When I entered our apartment, I already knew Carlos had a girl in his room. I felt her. Her soul was so scared when I came inside, poor thing.”

“You already knew Carlos was lying, then?”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I’m getting at. The thing is, I can feel the lives and souls anywhere I go, whether or not I focus on it.”

“Must be annoying,” he said, taking the remote and browsing for a show.

“I learned to live with it. When we were on the cruise, I could feel everyone on the ship. If I walked down the hallways, I could tell how many people were in the rooms next to me, below me, above… everywhere. I knew where everyone was at all times, because I could feel them.”

“Alright…” Alejandro said, waiting for the point his wife was driving at.

“When I was heading back to our cabin, I thought I saw someone. Down the long hallway, like a hundred feet away, I saw a shadow of someone running down a corridor.”

“And…?”

“And I didn’t sense their presence. At first I thought I was seeing things—but I was like, ‘nah, I’m god.’ I don’t see things or hallucinate that I see things. I saw someone, a quick, blurry, black shadow, run by. Whatever it was, it didn’t have a soul. They had no presence.”

Alejandro felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. “You someone with no soul? No life force?”

“Yes. And this wasn’t the only instance. I’ve encountered it before several times, and I don’t know what it is.”

“Strange. Is something following you? Should we be afraid?”

Melissa was lost in thought. She turned to her husband, who was full of worry. “Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you, honey.” She wrapped her arms around his tiny frame and pulled it against her warm body. “Forget I said anything. Right now, I need you between my legs.”

“Yes, goddess,” he said with a grin.

===