Amy groaned, her coffee untouched as she read through the email on her phone. The hospital’s president, Harold Reed, was requesting a demonstration be done tomorrow for the hospital’s administrators who were still unfamiliar with the shrunken submarine technology.

“What are you so worried about? Just think about it as a chance to show off?” Her boss Marge was suggesting. Amy sat across from her boss, Marge’s office was spacious, yet Amy still felt like the walls were closing in on her. “Mr. Reed requested two subs if possible, and I’m using this as a chance to make sure Brooke is ready for the real thing,” Marge went on, “Between you two, the nurse volunteers and administrators should be in safe hands. He’s requesting specifically that his secretary be there as well for some reason.” If Marge was bothered by the restrictions Harold was placing on the demonstration, she didn’t show it.

Amy felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. Marge, Brooke, the nurses and administrators, none of them had any idea what was coming. Harold Reed was a monster, who’d swallowed Amy’s fellow pilot Heather whole and alive, and fired his daughter down the back of his secretary’s throat in a rope of cum. If Amy thought there was a chance that Harold’s request might be innocent, a glance at the roster of entirely female volunteers and admin staff told Amy her instincts were spot on. Tomorrow evening Harold would intentionally try and kill, or possibly capture them all.

Amy tried to worm her way out of it, unable to give her true reasons and reveal Harold’s secret, but Marge wasn’t budging. “You’ll be fine! Come on! The president just wants to see that his money’s in the right places, that’s all!” Her boss sighed. “I wish I could go, Mr. Reed requested my presence there as well, wanting me in one of the subs, but I’m taking care of my mom the next couple of days.” The woman slouched in her chair, disappointed, having no idea how lucky she was.

Left with no other option, Amy resigned herself to the fact that Harold would have his way, her best bet was to try and minimize casualties and control the situation. She chewed her lip, thinking about ways to keep as many people alive as she could, Harold only had so long in the conference area after all, she just had to survive long enough for someone else to come knocking, then Harold would have no choice but to relent and allow the tiny woman her freedom.

Amy ultimately agreed, pleasing her boss Marge as she walked from her office to collect her sub, passing Brooke in the halls.
“Hey! Excited about tomorrow?” The young woman seemed eager to finally stretch her wings and show off. What better way to move up at her job than by impressing the president himself? She voiced these affirmations and Amy resisted the urge to tell the girl that all Harold Reed was interested in was digesting her in his stomach acids.

– –

As she’d be having a very important day the next day, Marge had awarded Amy with a day off to plan and prepare around the demonstration. Feeling stressed, Amy decided to visit her mother’s house, a place to think and work things out in her head. She couldn’t tell her mother EXACTLY why she was so nervous, but her mother Chloe was more than happy to lend an ear, offering up that, while shrinking was dangerous, Amy was an excellent pilot and good under pressure. She knew this firsthand of course, having had her own private demonstration of the shrinking submarine herself. Chloe reminisced about the event often, fondly remembering the rush of power she’d felt as she peered inside the tiny object, just barely able to discern that her two children were in there, tinier than ants. Her fun had been interrupted by a visit from her sister, Sandra, and things had gone south from there. Chloe tried not to remember the later half of that visit, but constantly re-visited the beginning in her mind, wishing her daughter might offer again. She was no Sandra, she wouldn’t force the issue, and she loved her daughter, understanding that she was busy and the shrinking that small was incredibly dangerous. Still, her tooth had been aching the last couple days…

“So? See a dentist?” Amy pointed out harshly, knowing where the conversation was likely headed. Her face softened when she saw the disappointment on her mother’s face, feeling worse as Chloe explained that she’d just wanted Amy to go in and have a quick look in her sub so she knew if she needed a dentist, and how bad it might be.

“Okay okay,” Amy said, unable to hear more, feeling awful for being so blunt. She was wary of shrinking privately for anyone these days, her track record showed that she normally wound up in a struggle for survival. But this was her MOM, she’d never harm her, not on purpose. “You’re lucky I’ve got it on me today,” Amy said, quietly cursing Harold Reed and his demonstration.

“Thank you so much honey! I-” Chloe was cut off as the back door opened, Ryan stepping inside and seeing his sister, greeting her with a hug.

“Hey Amy! What’re you doing here?” Ryan asked, setting his bag from college down.

“I came over to chat with mom for a bit, and, APPARENTLY I’m going on an expedition to examine her tooth pain.” Amy’s dismal smile turned into a wide grin. “You wanna come along?” It was a joke, and Ryan knew this.

“No thank you!” He said quickly and firmly, and the two of them laughed. Amy knew full well ONE shrunken adventure was more than enough for Ryan.
“Why not? It would be good for you!” Their mother interjected.
Ryan’s smile faded. “Mom, I’m not going to school to be a dentist you know!” He pointed out, standing, intending on getting out of there before Chloe could say anything further.

“It’s important to see a woman at work! Amy’s job is very difficult and takes practice!”

“Mom, really, it’s fine, I can be in and out in-” Amy began.

“No, no I want him there with you dear,” Chloe said, growing more and more certain this was the right call. She stood up to block her son, who shrank back into his seat, beginning to look terrified. “You’ve never worked a day in your life, young man,” Chloe went on, doubling down. “You live here under our roof with your father and I’s good graces! School and study are both important, but so is seeing what actual hard work looks like!”

“I can go with Dad to work tomorrow!?” Ryan supplied wildly, desperate to get out of this.
Chloe shook her head with a small smile. “Nice try. Amy?”
Amy sighed, looking at Ryan apologetically. She hadn’t intended for him to get caught up in this. Feeling slightly responsible considering her little joke had sparked the whole conversation, she put a comforting hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

“I’ll make sure we’re fine, okay? We’re just checking her tooth out and maybe getting out of the sub for a minute or two, we won’t be going into her stomach,” Ryan wasn’t looking at her, he was twisting his hands together nervously. “Okay?” She said, squeezing his arm gently. She gave him a supportive and reassuring smile.

“Okay,” he said, nodding and giving her a weak smile in return.

The kitchen table and chairs were cleared aside so Amy could first grow the sub to full size for her and Ryan to enter. Ryan looked like he was walking to his own execution as he boarded the sub, immediately strapping himself into the passenger hold.

“Honestly,” Chloe muttered, watching her son climb into the submarine, “He knows I’m not my sister, doesn’t he? I’m not unreasonable, am I?” Chloe thought aloud quietly to herself. She felt that was a fair assessment, though, she did get prickly and defensive when it came to her foot hygiene. No matter what she tried, ever since she was little, Chloe was unable to mitigate the rancid and pungent odor of her feet when they got sweaty. Other than that? She was a perfectly sane and calm woman.

“Gonna run a few checks mom,” Amy said into the microphone, her voice projecting over the sub’s speaker, snapping Chloe out of her thoughts as she stood, viewable through the sub’s front window. Her arms folded as she waited patiently for the sub to shrink back down.

“Okay dear!” Chloe said happily, “And Ryan? Try to pay attention sweetie, you’re just going for a quick trip in my mouth, that’s all!” She knew the boy was scared, and feeling guilty that her own desire for power and dominance was the TRUE reason she wanted another person on board–the more the merrier–she felt it was important she reassure her son that this would not be a repeat of his trip inside of his Aunt Sandra.

“Okay, just the mouth, got it mom!” Ryan said. The sub’s microphone was powerful enough to pick up his voice in the holding area. He sounded a bit more firm, resolute, as though this news had bolstered his nerves, if only a little.

Chloe smiled. Maybe it was possible for this to be good for both of them? She could have her little power trip, and her son might gain a little courage by being tiny inside of someone who wasn’t mentally unhinged?

“All good Ryan?” came Amy’s voice. The sensitive and high powered microphone was still live and Chloe could hear the two of them shuffling around as they prepared for their ‘fantastic voyage’.

“Yeah, I think so,” came her son’s voice.

Chloe smiled, glad to know he hadn’t been putting on a show for her. Her boy sounded a bit braver, even when he didn’t know his mom was listening.

“Just as long as we don’t have to smell mom’s feet again, I think I’ll manage!” Ryan joked. The two of them laughed, having no idea their conversation was being overheard.

“Okay! I’m gonna let mom know we’re all set! Make sure your restraints are all good!” came Amy’s voice.
Chloe gnashed her teeth, feeling color rise to her face. She fought the anger back down, plastering a warm, fake smile over the rising frustration. Didn’t they know how hard she tried to keep the smell in check?

“We’re all good mom! Ready to shrink down!” Said Amy, now back in the driver's seat, looking out at Chloe and giving her a thumbs up.
“Lovely, ready when you are dear!” Chloe said in a sweet voice.

Amy began to key in the parameters for shrinking, setting the sub’s projected size to the smallest she could go. The smaller the sub was, she reasoned, the less likely to irritate her mom’s mouth and cause an accidental swallow reaction. 

“Down we go little bro!” Amy said, trying to keep things light and fun for her brother.

The sub shrank, dwindling slowly, until it was almost entirely gone. Chloe took slow, cautious steps forward into the now empty kitchen, not wanting to step on the sub.

Not yet.

She squinted down, evidently Amy had decided on an EXTREMELY small size, Chloe didn’t remember having this much trouble spotting the thing last time! She even tried to squash it, thinking it was a strange bug! If she’d thought the sub was comparable to an ant or fly before, then now she would have to compare it to a grain of rice, maybe even half that size. 

“Oh my!” She gasped when she finally spotted it there, on the ground, bending forward with a grin to retrieve her daughter and son from the floor.

“Oh god…oh god…” Ryan was shaking in his seat, his eyes squeezed shut as the boy desperately tried to pretend the earth shaking thuds and booms and shakes that rocked the sub were an earthquake, and not simply the casual footsteps of his gigantic mother. How small had Amy made them? Ryan was no expert, but even HE could tell something was different this time.

Amy said, rigid and resolute, gripping the sub’’s steering wheel. Only practice and confidence in her own abilities, as well as surviving far more harrowing situations allowed her to stay this way. Her insides squirmed a bit as she saw how large her mother now was, maybe she’d overdone it a bit?

If Amy had wanted to grow the sub to a less miniscule size, the chance was lost as her mother’s giant face contorted into shock, and then pleasure. Chloe loomed above, bending forward, her finger and thumb descending like meteors out of the sky to pinch the speck sized submarine between them lifting it off of the floor.

Definitely too small! Amy thought desperately as she and Ryan were bounced around in their restraints, rocketing upward into the air, pinched between her mothers fingers. Panting, her heart pounding out of her chest, Amy clawed her phone out of her pocket and fired off a quick text to let her mother know that the sub was much smaller than last time, asking her to be gentle, take things slow.

Chloe’s phone buzzed on the counter nearby, but she ignored it, having eyes only for the incredible invention pinched between her two fingers, not wanting to be interrupted a second time and having no idea it was her daughter currently trapped inside the tiny sub that was attempting to reach her.

“Amazing…” Chloe breathed out in a gasp of wonder. Her breath fogged the sub’s front window temporarily, condensing on the thick protective glass. She began to roll the tiny object between her fingers, marveling out how tiny it was. Her reverence for the sub only increased, as she reminded herself that no matter how tiny the submarine was, Amy and Ryan were even tinier INSIDE of it somewhere! She felt the warmth spreading, a tingle in her hips, a tightness in her chest. That old feeling of power was coming back, creeping over her as she literally held her children’s lives between her fingers.

Ryan was fighting back tears of panic as the sub was rolled and twisted in every direction by their colossal, curious mother. In the cockpit not far away, Amy scrambled, attempting to type in commands on the console in front of her as warning sirens went off, alerting her to pressure levels rising, threatening the hull’s integrity. She had gone overboard in an attempt to prevent her brother and her from reliving their trip into aunt Sandra’s stomach. As the sub continued to roll, Amy flung her arms out desperately, turning dials and typing commands into her keyboard, even as it was upside down, cursing when saw an error message scroll across her screen.
“Damn it!” She slammed a fist into her chair’s arm. The proximity sensors on the outside of the sub’s hull had been warped under the pressure of her mother’s fingers. The sub still had an internal sensor, but would need far more additional space, as well as a flat, unmoving surface before it would allow her to make any alterations to its size. Amy realized that even a veteran pilot like herself still had things to learn. Had she even informed her mother about the sub’s need for space to re-grow? There had been so much panic and confusion last time, AMy couldn’t even remember.
“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked in a panicked tone. The boy was trembling, looking to his sister for strength. If even SHE was worried…

Amy chewed her lip. “The hull’s getting pretty banged up,” she began, thinking on the spot, “I have a presentation tomorrow and I didn’t want it to look rough and used. Oh well.” She gave him a shrug and plastered a confident smile on her face for her brother’s benefit.

Ryan let out a breath of relief, clearly assuming something far worse. “Thank god, I thought something was-”
“OH LITTLE AMY! LITTLE RYAN! ARE YOU TWO READY FOR YOUR ADVENTURE INTO MOMMY’S MOUTH?”
Amy and Ryan both cringed, hunching forward and wincing, clasping their hands over their ears as Chloe’s voice buzzed and boomed, the vibrations causing equipment to spark and static.

“How small are we!?” Ryan asked, terrified all over again. His mom had definitely not been this loud last time.

“Pretty small…” Amy said noncommittally, turning back to the console and seeing her mother’s all encompassing iris fill her entire field of view. Amy let out a shaky breath, gripping the wheel. “Okay, here we go. In and out. No problem.” She said quietly, psyching herself up as she checked the sub’s thrusters. At least THOSE were intact. She sent another text to Chloe.

Her phone buzzed, and Chloe grabbed it this time. Just having spoken down to her tiny, incredibly miniscule children, she correctly assumed this text was from Amy. With a grin, she read the first text. Although she was a little sad that she couldn’t SEE her tiny children inside, the sub’s utterly pathetic new size more than made up for it. The tinier her sub–and children–were, the more powerful Chloe felt.

“AWWW, DID YOU MAKE YOURSELF TOO SMALL DEAR?” Chloe asked the tiny speck in between her fingers, chuckling and rolling it again. The second text informed her that her daughter was ready it seemed, tiny size be damned.
Amy’s face burned with embarrassment. She was supposed to be the expert. Still, better this happen in private, rather than while exploring an actual patient. Lesson learned. Amy’s knuckles whitened as she gripped the steering wheel, seeing the outside world change. Her mother’s planet sized face shrank away, only for her to open her mouth, a gaping black hole of spit, tongue, and teeth. Her breath once again fogged the view screen, and Amy turned on the defogger, keeping small patches of window from becoming obscured by her mother’s moist breathing.

“Just a quick look, she has a toothache. Just a quick look,” Ryan was muttering, unable to look out of the front window as his mother’s mouth approached, worried he might wet his pants.

Chloe deposited the tiny sub on her tongue, and began to tilt it, this way and that, and back again, loving the power trip more the longer it went on. She wished she could eat them, at that moment. Maybe Sandra was onto something? This was incredible! Still though, she reminded herself that she didn’t know how long they might need to pass through her system, and her other plans could not go on hold, her son and daughter had a lesson to learn that she thought they’d learned last time. A mother’s work was never done.

She retracted her tongue, pulling the sub and its passengers into her mouth, shuddering with delight as she imagined the view they were having, what her mouth must look like from their perspective. 

“I think I’m gonna be sick…” Ryan moaned, clutching his stomach. He’d chanced a quick glance out of the window and shuddered in horror upon seeing how big just a single molar of his mother’s was now. Why had Amy made them so much tinier?

Amy, who was growing increasingly annoyed at having her decisions second guessed, snapped at him. “Look, if we were bigger, mom would be able to feel us! A tickle? One wrong twitch? The mouth’s purpose is to begin the digestion process, and I don’t want mom fighting her swallow reflex the whole time, do you?” She shot at her brother. 

Ryan shook his head, not wanting to think about how long her mother could fight the urge to swallow her children off for.

“Alright then!” Amy said, spinning back around and piloting the sub along to Chloe’s back molars. She spotted the problem immediately as the sub’s front lights fell upon it. One of Chloe’s upper molars was swollen, or more accurately her gums were swollen where they met the ivory tooth. Amy parked the sub and sent a text to her mother.

Leaving sub with Ryan. Keep tongue still.

Short and to the point. Amy unbuckled herself and slipped a wetsuit over her flight suit, zipping it up.

“You’re going out there!?” Ryan asked his older sister.

“WE’RE going out there. I’m not leaving you unattended in a sub you have no idea how to pilot. Here.” She threw him a wetsuit, grabbing an expensive and high powered camera, and a helmet.

Ryan swallowed, looking down at the helmet she handed him a moment later.

They trudged along through ankle deep tastebuds and saliva. Amy led the way, camera and flashlight in hand. She had a harness strapped to her chest, a cable running from it and attaching to an identical harness Ryan wore. The boy followed along, twitching and jumping aside as strands of saliva fell from the roof of Chloe’s gargantuan mouth and splashed around him. He yelped as he heard a low and bassy groan echo from beyond his mother’s throat.

“Relax,” Amy told him over her shoulder. “Mom’s stomach is just digesting her lunch, that’s all. Not far now,” she added as they ascended up a slight incline, the pair were completely unfelt by their mother, less than specks, lost in the sea of taste buds on her tongue.

Chloe, for her part, kept her word. She did not swallow the moment she knew Amy and Ryan were out of the sub, nor did she toss them around her mouth for fun, as much as she wanted to. Instead, she stood, using her phone camera to try and see into her own mouth, wondering where they were. She could see the sub, barely, parked on the back left hand side of her tongue, and knew that her children were trekking across its slimy, saliva covered surface. The thought made her wet. She felt slightly guilty. Her she was, using her children to get a power trip, at the expense of their time and safety, and while using a very expensive and integral piece of technology. Did they really need a punishment after they were done? Chloe had been looking forward to it, but maybe she was being too harsh. She felt her stomach gurgle, and wondered if her children could hear it too. When it gurgled again, she grew nervous. Should she have mentioned that she’d eaten mexican? Would Amy have needed that information?

“One more little brother,” Amy told Ryan, snapping the last picture for her mother and hooking the camera onto her belt. “See? Told you,” She said, clapping him on the shoulder as she walked by the shivering, shaking hask that was Ryan. His head bumped into his helmet and he groaned.

“Ow! Thanks for that!”

Amy giggled. With the task done, all they had to do was return to the sub. Amy would let her know she could retrieve them and place them on the floor, and they could unshrink. The expedition had gone almost exactly as planned.

“Race you back to the sub?” Amy supplied, noting that Ryan could likely beat her due to how frightened he was. She took a step and then felt a tug from her harness. She turned and found Ryan was not moving, he was staring backwards, at their mother’s throat.

“Hey? Earth to Ryan? Wanna get a move on? Let’s get out of here already,” She said with a sigh, walking back to him, her feet sinking into thick pools of saliva. 

“Mom’s stomach is making a lot of noise…” He muttered without looking at her.

“I told you, that’s-” but Amy stopped. Ryan was right, her stomach WAS making a lot of noise. She felt it before it happened, in her feet. A rumble.
“What’s-?”
Chloe brought her fist to her lips and stifled a foamy burp as it rolled up her esophagus. “Goodness! Excuse me!” She said out of habit, and then, chuckling, “Sorry kiddos! Are you two okay in there?”

“I’ve got you! I’ve got you! Don’t panic!” Amy was saying, clawing desperately at the surface of her mother’s tongue as she slid, dragged towards her mother’s throat by Ryan’s weight, the cable was taut and rigid. Amy held the cable with one hand, her other searched for a handhold. She worked her gloved fist into a tangle of taste buds and managed to stop their slow descent.

Ryan was screaming and wailing and kicking wildly, causing the cable to tug and pull on Amy as she fought to save herself from going over the edge of the tongue as Ryan had, the burp having shaken the interior of Chloe’s mouth violently. Wryly, Amy remembered how her fear had been getting blown OUT of her mother’s mouth. She hadn’t expected this.

“Amy! I’m slipping!” Ryan was saying as he dangled over the opening of his mother’s throat, the hole was twitching and pulsating, a thin flap of skin only half covering it as fumes hinted at the lake of acid below.

“That’s because I’M slipping! Stop moving!” Amy told him through clenched teeth.

The boy froze, long enough for Amy to worm her way forward, pulling Ryan back out, slightly. This continued for sometime, Amy almost army crawling with the cable clutched in one hand, terrified that at any moment her mother might speak or burp or do something to send her children careening into the pit of her stomach. As soon as he could Ryan threw an arm over the slope of his mother’s tongue, and Amy scrambled back to help him up. The pair ran as fast as they could, climbing awkwardly across the subs surface, having tipped over during the burp, the hatch, thankfully, still accessible.

“Get us THE FUCK out of here!” Ryan said, panting as he tossed his helmet to the floor and strapped in.

“Roger that,” Amy said. She didn’t need telling twice. She fired up the thrusters and the sub lifted out of its saliva pool. “I’m setting to maximum burn,” she told Ryan as he clutched his restraints, the sub beginning to rumble with power. “I want us out and on the ground asap, I’ve had enough of this size for one day,” Or forever.

“Amen!” Ryan agreed with a nervous laugh.

The sub shot forward, rocketing past Chloe’s teeth. It would burn more fuel to do it this way, but Amy didn’t care anymore. She’d fly down to the ground, and before her mother knew what was what she’d grow them back and hand her the pictures.

Chloe felt the tiniest sting as the sub’s engines burned her tastebuds, like a little needle pricking the surface of her tongue. She wondered what the sensation could be, before she saw something glint in the light. She nearly went cross eyed to get it in focus. The sub? It was moving fast, though that was relative. It was pathetically tiny, and couldn’t cover much distance at that size, despite how fast Amy and Ryan were moving from their tiny perspective’s inside it.

“DON’T WORRY YOU TWO! MOM’S GOT YOU!” She said with a warm smile, bringing her hand upward, index finger and thumb extended to pluck the sub from the air.

“Don’t let her Amy! Please!” Ryan begged. The boy just wanted to return to normal size. He resolved no matter what anyone said, he wouldn’t get back into one of these things even at gunpoint. 

“I’m on it little bro,” Amy said as she hunched into her chair, diverting emergency power to the sub’s engines. She was pressed flat back into her chair, and warnings began to flash on screen. The hull was heating up, and shaking itself apart from the intense speed as Amy raced against her mom’s fingers. 

Ryan watched with horror as his mother’s giant fingers pinched closed, just missing them. When they parted again, he could see her face behind them, contorting into frustration that she’d missed, her eyes narrowing.

“WHERE ARE YOU TWO GOING?” She boomed, reaching for them a second time.

“Amy!?” Ryan shouted.
Amy sent the sub into a roll, consoles blaring at her that she needed to stop whatever she was doing, that the sub could only take so much of this. She didn’t care. She had been through this too many times before. She just needed to land. She needed a flat surface and ten seconds, and she could regrow them both. Chloe’s fingers missed a second time.

“ARE YOU RUNNING FROM ME?” Chloe asked in surprise. Her children should know better. She may not be a fancy sub-pilot, or have a college degree, but she was still their MOTHER. That was it. Gloves off.

She reached for them for a third time, no longer smiling.

“Amy she’s-!”
“I KNOW!” Amy roared, gripping the steering wheel for dear life as the console began to spark. A pipe to Ryan’s left burst and steam began to hiss from it. Just a little more, she just needed to get out of her mom’s reach, she could let gravity take them most of the way down, and then one soft landing later…
“AMY!?” Ryan’s terrified voice.

“Gotcha,” Chloe said, a wicked and triumphant grin spreading across her face as she sandwiched the sub between the pads of her index finger and her thumb. She allowed her children a few moments to stew in their own panic. Mom was mad. It had been a long time since they’d upset her this much. She slowly brought her outstretched arm in, bringing her hand back to her face.
“MY MY, WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING?” She rumbled down at them, wishing that she could see into the cockpit, but again, she wanted them as small as possible for this. 

The inside of the sub was dark, and then red, and dark again as a warning light continually flashed. The metal hull groaned between the cruel fingers of Chloe as she squeezed, the metal folding and denting slightly.

“Are we gonna get squished!?” Ryan asked in a panic as he watched his sister douse a fire with a fire extinguisher.

“Idiot! You think mom wants to kill us?” Though Amy still swallowed as she felt the sub shudder and groan metallically. She glanced out of the now cracked front window at her mother’s cruel smile. At that moment, Amy realized with horror, Chloe looked very much like her sister.

“NOW…” Began Chloe, relishing the sense of complete and utter dominance she had over her tiny children as she trapped them. “WHAT WAS THAT JOKE YOU MADE RYAN? WHEN YOU TWO WERE GETTING READY TO SHRINK DOWN?”

Her voice vibrated the metal hull and buzzed in their heads. Joke? Amy thought back, they hadn’t been telling jokes, had they? She remembered laughing maybe, but at what she couldn’t say.

Ryan looked pale, and he was trembling.

“Ryan?” Amy asked, stepping down and placing a hand on his shoulder as the boy huddled on the floor, hugging his knees. He glanced at her, his skin was clammy and devoid of color, like he’d seen a ghost.

“I made fun of her foot odor.” He said simply.
“Shit…” Amy said slowly, her jaw dropping as she looked back out the window at the distant, blurry, smiling face of their mother. “Not good.”