Dylan groaned as he tied his shoes for what seemed like the hundredth time. He hadn’t put those fancy shoes on for a long time, and his feet were killing him. His tight pants threatening to rip apart every time he crouched didn’t help. Why had he agreed to this? A few feet ahead, Nathan, Carmen and Will turned around, annoyed.
“That’s why we should have taken the car”, said Carmen, tired. “Again?”, complained Nathan, his shorter body seemingly adjusting much better to the formal clothing. “Did your mom buy you these when you were five or what? Hurry up, we’re almost there!”
“I got these for my graduation, and I hoped I’d never have to wear them again. They make me look like a rich prick”. Dylan stood up, easily a head taller than Nathan and Carmen, and almost two on Will, who kept shooting uncomfortable glances at his girlfriend’s high heels.
“Believe me, no tailor has ever come up with anything that’d make you look rich.” Nathan retorted, chuckling at himself. “We’ll see about that by the end of the night. I might win the jackpot”. Dylan hurried his steps, advancing to the front of the group and trying to keep his dignity. The shining lights of a casino blinked in front of them. “Won’t matter. In this place you can win the jackpot and not get a single cent for it” said Carmen. “What do you mean?” Carmen looked at Nathan, amused. “Oh God, you didn’t tell him?”
“Tell me what?” Dylan turned around, suspicious. Nathan emitted his signature annoying chuckle again. “When I said I’d be picking up chicks if I won tonight, I meant that literally”. The color slowly drained from Dylan’s face as he realized what his friend was hinting at. “Wait, you don’t mean this is one of those…”
Before he had time to answer, the massive door of the establishment opened, the two muscular bouncers moving aside as they were dwarfed by the very drunk man who emerged from inside, having to crouch as he moved past the door, his equally drunk boyfriend hanging on for dear life from his shoulder as the two walked past the group laughing. Nathan walked towards the open door and turned around, hands on his hips.
“That’ll be me before the end of the night. Minus, you know, the gay thing” said Nathan, getting a collective groan in response. “What? They can do whatever they like, it’s just that I, personally… nevermind, let’s go”. Nathan hurried inside, while Will approached Dylan “I thought he’d have told you, I’m sorry. You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”.
“It’s alright, let’s go in.” After a quick ID check by the bouncers, Dylan led the other two inside, where they were greeted by a woman with formal clothing. “Good evening. Is this your first time here?” The three of them nodded, nervous. “Great. Will you please step in there once the light turns green? Your friend’s almost done” She pointed to a massive door, red light above it. A strange hum came from inside.
Suddenly the light turned green. After exchanging apprehensive looks, all three walked through the large door. On the other side awaited a spacious, featureless room. Black walls, black ceiling, dim lighting, only a series of small round orifices on the floor and an equally massive door on the other side. Will got startled as the door closed behind them. “What the fuck has he gotten us into?”. His girlfriend sneered. “Oh, come on. We both know he did this for you, shortie”. Will’s face became red. “What are you implying here exactly? I don’t care about…”
Suddenly, a loud hum made the ground vibrate, and a dense fog started coming out from under the trio’s feet. Dylan turned pale. “We’re gonna die. We’re so dead.”. The calm voice from the woman outside came through a speaker. “No one’s gonna die here. This is linking you to our molecular modification system. Your clothes will also be affected, so you don’t shrink out of them. when you lose”.
Will looked at the others, offended. “When we lose? That’s not too encouraging.” Dylan stepped forward through the fog, looking down at his ill-fitting shoes. “Hey, is there a way to grow just the clothes, but only a little bit?” There was no answer, and the fog slowly dissipated. Then, a long, awkward silence as the three just stood there, waiting, Dylan quickly running out of patience. “This place sucks, let’s just go…” Right then, the door on the other side of the room opened wide, as the voice on the speakers cheerfully spoke. “Enjoy yourselves, best of luck!”.
As the group approached the door, they froze as they observed the scene. It was a massive casino, bustling with activity. Roulette wheels, poker tables, slot machines and all manner of games you might find on any other establishment. But it was the people partaking on those games that were far from ordinary. Some were unnaturally small, having to stand up on their chairs to reach the tables, or dodging the legs of larger folk as they scurried around the floor. Some were more or less normal sized, though the extreme mix of heights made it difficult to know who exactly had or hadn’t been affected. The tallest players, however, were the most impressive, carefully moving around so as not to crush anyone, easily dwarfing the tables they were playing on.
Emerging from the mess of differently scaled bodies, ducking to fit under a man’s oversized legs, came Nathan, enthusiastic as ever. “Come on, don’t just stand there like that, someone will step on you! Come, come!” The three friends came out of their momentary trance and followed Dylan through the crowd. Will jumped as a tiny woman screamed after almost getting crushed by him. “Sorry, I’m sorry!” He had of course seen some giant and tiny people in the wild, but never so many in the same place. As he recovered from the scare, he couldn’t help but smile at thinking how big and strong he would have looked to that woman.
Carmen wasn’t looking at the floor, where the tiniest players were diving out of the way of her heels. Her eyes were fixed on the biggest player, a giant who seemed to shake the entire place with his roaring laughter, and whose voice boomed over everyone. “Red again, let’s go! I’m busting through the ceiling tonight!” Suddenly, the confident giant’s eyes open wide. “Oh, shi-”. and quickly disappeared among the crowd he towered over, giving way to laughter and cheers from the crowd.
Dylan, meanwhile, walked among the tables, observing the wild differences between the players. A woman held her husband on her lap as she blew on his dice. “Come on baby, you’re winning this one, and if you don’t… that wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” The man nervously threw the oversized dice on the table and immediately shrunk down to a measly foot. “You said it always works!” “But honey, it did!” The woman said, chuckling, giving her husband a mischievous smile.
Dylan felt so flustered for some reason, and quickened his pace, looking over at one of the roulette tables. At first sight he thought he saw two balls spinning around, only to look closer. A tiny girl, who couldn't measure more than two inches, was holding on to the wheel as she drunkenly giggled. Dylan stared at her, hypnotized, as she went round and round, wondering how it would feel to…
“JACKPOT!!!” The loud, excited female voice seemed to freeze the entire room, as all the players stood still for a brief moment, before diving out of the way in a panic. Dylan saw the rapidly expanding bare foot speeding towards him, knocking slot machines out of the way. He braced for impact and got hit right as the foot stopped, sending him to the ground and momentarily taking the air off his lungs. The girl’s massive shoe, detached by the fast movement of her growth, loudly landed on a table beside him, sending a shower of playing cards everywhere. The chandeliers above swayed back and forth as the fortunate gambler groaned after her celebration was cut short by a now very low ceiling. Dylan was just catching his breath when he felt something wiggling under his arm. He lifted it to reveal a tiny player, who got up, visibly dazed. “Fuck me, what a night…” He walked away, more annoyed than anything. As Dylan looked up, he saw a massive face looming over him.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry” said the girl, still ruffling her hair after hitting the reinforced ceiling. She couldn’t even sit up now, and had crawled towards Dylan to check on him. “Are you hurt?” As he tried to get up, the girl suddenly pitched his arm between two of his fingers and pulled him to his feet. Dylan couldn’t even answer at first, shocked at the casual display of strength, at how easy it had been for her to yank his entire body off the ground, with just… “Uh… yes, I’m fine, thank you, I’ve… got to go”.
Dylan hurried over to the bar, not looking back at the girl, who was now talking to the staff. “No, I won’t go for another round, I know how this works, just lift the wall and let me out of here!”. Carmen was sitting in front of the bar, staring at the girl, fascinated. Her eyes went down for a moment and spotted Dylan, waddling towards her. “Oh no. Was it you who got hit?” “Yeah, that was me”. He sat next to her as an entire wall of the casino slowly opened like a hangar door to let the giantess out.
“I didn’t get out of the way in time. This place is insane. Can you imagine how it must feel like…?” “To grow? Yeah, that’s why everyone comes here. To get bigger, stronger…”. Dylan nodded. “Yeah, sure, sure. Is that why you came too?” She laughed. “I’m here for Will. We all are. I know Nathan can be… well, he can be fucking obnoxious at times, but he’s observant. That’s what makes him so obnoxious I guess. Anyways, he knows Will is insecure about his height. He’s always been worried about that, and he isn’t even that short, it’s just that…”
“He’s dating you”. Carmen groaned and drank from her glass. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I don’t get why it’s such a fucking problem. Oh no, a chick’s taller than me, what is he, twelve?”. Dylan sighed “Yeah, it’s so stupid. I myself wouldn’t mind, but there aren’t that many women taller than me”. Carmen laughed “I can see about five right now. If you wanted a taller woman, you could have asked your barefoot friend out over there!”. Dylan got up, annoyed. “I didn’t say I wanted one, I said I wouldn’t mind. Fuck it, let’s go over to the poker tables and make things worse for your boyfriend. You’re great at that game, imagine his face if you came back twice as tall as him”.
“No no no, I ain’t taking part in this. He can knock himself out. If he loses we’ll have a laugh at his expense, and if he wins…” Carmen smiled at Dylan “...well, as a wise man once said… I wouldn’t mind”. Dylan walked away from the bar, annoyed. “What did she mean by that?” His eyes darted to one of the roulettes, and was shocked to see his feet were carrying him there, almost against his will. The table was pretty much empty except for the dealer, a four inch woman in a suggestive uniform who walked over to Dylan. “So, want to try your luck?” Dylan didn’t even look down at her, eyes fixed on the wheel, ruminating. “Alright, let’s do this. 10% on black”.
The woman turned around and walked towards a big red button. “Your wish is my command. I see you’ve already won a little tonight?” Dylan sighed. “Nah, I’m just tall like that. Could be taller though.” The dealer giggled and pressed the button. “Ooh, don’t jinx it!” Dylan’s heart beat faster and faster as the wheel and ball turned in opposite directions before suddenly meeting. Each bounce of the ball made him lean forward more and more, the wheel slowing down and revealing each slot as the ball bounced. Black, red, black, red, black…
Dylan yelped as he felt a strange energy running through his body. It seemed like someone was lifting his seat, and his knees hit the underside of the table. “Holy…”. Black. He had won. He was 10% bigger. “Aaaaalright, here we go!” The dealer approached him again. “You’re a lucky man! Care to spin it again? You could reach eight feet!” Dylan got up from the seat, a bit dazed, still getting used to his new height. He was tall before, but now he’d fit in an NBA team. “Uuuh, thank you for the offer, ma’am, but I’m… satisfied. I don’t wanna risk it all now”. She giggled and waved goodbye “That’s understandable cutie. Enjoy your new size!”.
Meanwhile, Carmen was looking at the bottom of her glass, still in the bar. “Bad night?” The small voice came from beside her, and she quickly recognised the former giant she saw earlier, now sitting on the counter, next to a shot glass he could fit inside of. “Believe me, it could be worse. I had it, I had the world in my hand, and then, just like that, in an instant…”. Suddenly, a hand snatched the tiny man from the table, an angry woman taking him away. “I told you, I told you to leave it there! It’s always got to be more, more, more…”
The yelling died down as the couple disappeared among the crowd. Carmen chuckled as she looked over the establishment, before locking her eyes on Will, walking towards her, as short as always. “Hey babe. You’re looking… like you, I guess”. Will looked at her, noticing the first glimpse of disappointment in the two years they had been together. “Ugh. I’m sorry, I just got to the slot machines and… I couldn’t do it. I was too afraid to lose. I’m so sorry”. Carmen cursed herself for the way she reacted and hugged him. “It’s alright babe, it’s alright. You know I love you the way you are…”
Suddenly, she saw a one foot tall, pissed off player walking towards them, and erupted into laughter. “Babe, look at that. It could be worse. It could be waaay worse”. She kneeled down in front of the most embarrassed version of Nathan she had ever laid eyes on. “What’s up little one? Did you lose your mom in the crowd?” Life came back to Will’s eyes as he saw his friend, and began cackling uncontrollably.
“Oh, fuck off you two! It’s bad enough to look like a goddamn garden gnome. I ain’t putting a foot in this place again.” Carmen put her hand over his head, as if measuring him. “Oh, come on, give it another try, I want to see what happens…” Nathan tried to push her hand away, but didn’t have the strength for that. “No way. I know it ain’t cheap, but I’m paying to get my size back. These games are rigged anyway, it’s literally impossible to win”. Will pointed at someone emerging from the crowd. “I don’t think it’s impossible, shortie. Look at that absolute unit of a man!”
Everyone turned to Dylan at once. He seemed more uncomfortable in his own skin than ever. “Hey guys. So, I won…” Nathan ran away, fuming with anger “Fuck this. Fuck this fucking place. I’m paying them right now!” Carmen easily followed him, casually walking as fast as him “Size returns can only be paid 24 hours after the checkout, dumbass. You’re stuck like this for a whole day, come here!” She picked him up effortlessly and walked over to the other two with Nathan in her arms.. “Come on guys, let’s get out of here and celebrate this wonderful event!”