Chapter 3 – Shrinkage

Taking the Redline to the Addison stop without further incident, the two walked the remaining distance easily. There was a heavy crowd going to the game. Excitement was in the air.

Once at the ballpark, Goodspeed found it strange – whenever he went to the bathroom or to the concession stand, he found that Kaitlin either accompanied him or trailed him closely. Thankfully, with the roving hotdog, beer and peanut vendors, he only had to make one trip inside the stadium otherwise, and that was for an Icee that Kaitlin wanted. He didn’t think she followed him on that occasion, but he couldn’t be sure.

When he confronted her about it, she didn’t deny keeping tabs on it, but shrugged it off.

“I just wanted to make sure you were safe. There’s all sorts of weird people, especially in downtown Chicago”, she assured him.

He just shook his head, thinking that if there was anyone that should be worried about strange people, it should be her. After all, he was the one that was 6’ tall and, even though he was of overall slender build, he packed some impressive muscles in the right spots. He wondered if she sometimes did not notice that. In fact, she had.

One other nearby fan also noticed the close attention and whispered into his ear, “dude, she’s giving you the ‘fuck me’ eyes.” Goodspeed didn’t think that was true, but it gave him a pep of confidence in his step.

Between keeping watch on him, interacting with other fans, and periodically checking on the tiny in her fanny pack, Goodspeed felt that Kaitlin didn’t watch much of the game. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the game and the Cubs did win quite easily. In fact, with a 9-2 lead, the two decided to try to get ahead of the crowd and exited not long after the 7th inning stretch. It was his suggestion, since he would be able to spend an extra forty-five minutes alone with Kaitlin once they got back to the apartment complex. He congratulated himself on his brilliant idea as they made their way back up the Redline to Bryn Mawr.

Thus, Goodspeed was disappointed by Kaitlin’s statement once they got to her building.

“You know, we’re still quite early. Syd’s not gonna be around for quite awhile yet. I think I’ll get in a little workout, if it’s allright with you.”

Goodspeed knew that meant she wanted to run on the treadmill that she’d had installed in her apartment. “Sure Kate, that’s no problem. I’ll just go take a shower and hang out for a bit. You can let me know when you’re ready for me come over.”

“That’s ok Good. I’ll leave the door unlocked. I’m not gonna run for too long. Just head over after your shower and you can watch TV while I finish up and take my shower. I don’t mind you being around. I mean, unless you’re bothered by me wearing my leotard or something…?”, she said, flirting with him.

Of course he wouldn’t mind seeing her in her leotard…or less, if he had his druthers. He wouldn’t state that out loud to her though, pretending to be thoughtful, he replied after several seconds, “Oh, alright Kate, as long as you don’t mind.”

“See ya in a bit”, she said, giving him a wink and a smile.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This is my chance!, Goodspeed thought as he walked to his building. If he was reading the signs right, he was about to get lucky, perhaps joining Kaitlin in the shower. He couldn’t wait to get into his shower for a quick rinse.

Rushing home, walking quickly at first, then jogging once he was out of her sight, he quickly made his way into his apartment, tossing off his clothes and hopped into the shower.

In just a handful of minutes, he had scrubbed down and rinsed off and was putting on what he thought might be some cool clothing – a light short-sleeve mock turtleneck and a pair of loose-fitting cargo shorts that came down to just above the knee. As he stepped into a pair of his favorite flip-flops, he noticed the farmer’s tan on his ankles. For a moment he thought about putting on some short socks, then thought better of it.

He checked his phone, seeing that he had received a couple texts since he had gotten home. One from his mother, wondering how he enjoyed the game. Another from his friend and coworker Mark, a junior level analyst who came in just a month before Kaitlin, teasing him about being out with the girls again and imploring him to ‘hit it’. Smiling and ignoring the latter, he replied to his mother: ‘Great day, Cubs won, just about to go to dinner. I’ll see you and Dad soon.’

Arriving at Kaitlin’s apartment, he took a moment, then gave his usual rap on the door.

He waited for several seconds, but there was no response.

He rang the doorbell.

Still, no response.

He grasped the handle and found it unlocked, then peeked his head in, saying loudly, “Hello. Kate?”

“Come on in Good!”, Kaitlin’s voice yelled from somewhere to his left, “I’ll be done it a little bit. Just make yourself at home and watch some TV.”

Goodspeed entered the large foyer. Seeing the blue matted material which covered the entirety of the hexagonal area’s floor always made him smile. Kaitlin used the large area to do her yoga. The thought made him wonder what she was wearing for her workout. He had seen her in her workout clothes before and it was always tantalizing for him to keep from drooling at such times.

Taking his shoes off, he put them on a shoe rack which was placed near the storage door to his right. A door flanked both sides of the front door. These led to small storage areas, used for coats, paint and other storage supplies. A hallway to the left led to a study, her bedroom and her large bathroom, complete with Jacuzzi and walk-in shower. To the right, the foyer entered into both the large living room and the kitchen, the dining room bridging the other side of the kitchen to the back corner of the living room.

Opposite the front door, against the wall, was a stand which held some knick-knacks, a few trophies and other odds and ends. Walking over to the stand, he saw that on it’s top was a weighted jar with no covering, but it was several inches in height and a few inches in diameter. Inside it, he saw that Kaitlin had placed the other of the twins that had shrunk down. Next to the jar was her phone, connected to a charging cord that coiled comfortably down to an outlet near the base of the stand.

The little shrinky waved at him excitedly as he neared.

“Please! Please! Git me out of here!”, the little nude man screamed up at him.

“Sorry little guy. I wish I could”, said Goodspeed. He did feel some empathy for the shrinky, whom he still considered a person, though he knew the girls looked upon them as simply food. And he worked with said girls and was actively trying to get into the pants of one of them.

“How can you just leave me here? You know what they’re going to do to me, right?”, the tiny man said, exasperated.

“Dude, I know. And I agree with you. I don’t like how people treat shrinkies. I mean, after all, you are people”, Goodspeed said, thoughtfully.

Seeing a possible chink in his armor, the tiny man saw a chance. He sat in the middle of his prison and began to sob, “That’s what I thought too….sigh…of course, my brother saw shrinkies as toys to play with, but I never believed that…sob..and that’s before I shrunk.”

A twinge of guilt rumbled through Goodspeed’s conscience. “Adam, right?”, he asked.

For a couple moments, the tiny man did not respond, but then looked up at Goodspeed, with tears in his eyes, and nodded affirmatively.

“Yeah, I thought so. I could tell. Your brother…he didn’t deserve what happened to him, but there is a bit of karma, don’t you think? I mean, it sounded like he was so mean to shrinkies.”

“I..I guess”, the tiny boy replied.

“Tell you what. I’ll talk to Kaitlin, see if I can talk her into not hurting you…”, Goodspeed began.

The tiny man stood, looking torn between gratitude and urgency. “It won’t work. I mean…thanks dude, but I saw the look in her eyes and in that other girl’s eyes. They see me as a snack now and there’s no getting around that. Can’t you just like, hide me, then tell them I escaped.”

“Nah…I just don’t roll that way. Those girls are my friends”, Goodspeed explained.

The tiny was frantic, feeling his window of opportunity was rapidly closing, “Believe me, they are not your friends. They are…monsters!”

Goodspeed wanted to help the shrinky, but he didn’t condone insults towards his colleagues. As he pivoted away to the right, towards the living room and away from the stand, he said as he walked away, “Sorry man, I’ll talk to her. That’s the best I can do for you.” He didn’t look to see the tiny boy’s reaction.

Coming into the living room, Goodspeed noticed the TV, mounted to the wall on his left, was on, though it was on mute. Kaitlin had it tuned to a news channel. Stepping around a large central coffee table, he dove into the comfortable lounger which faced the TV.

“Just five more minutes Good. Then, I’ll be in the shower”, Kaitlin shouted from her treadmill, which was in her study down the hallway from the foyer. “Who were you talking to?”

“Ah…nobody”, he said loudly, adding, “take your time. By the way, have you put dinner on yet? I’m starving!” From all appearances, it looked like the girl had gone straight into her workout, which concerned Goodspeed and his growling stomach. He had purposefully restrained himself to one hot dog at the ballpark.

“Oh, not yet” , she yelled back between breaths, “Don’t worry though. I’ll whip up something quick.”

Goodspeed thought he heard her giggling after she said this. He shrugged; taking the remote, he flipped through a few channels, turning the volume up just a bit above mute, so that there was some sound coming from the TV.

Seeing nothing he was interested in, he walked behind the lounger and towards the far wall, where book towers housed Kaitlin’s small library of books and also included a few video games and movie videos. He noticed a small section which seemed to be dedicated towards shrinkies. Amused, he noticed some of the book titles: ‘The Legality of Devouring Tinies’ and ‘Tiny ways to Spruce up your Love Life’ and ‘Using Tiny Situations for your Financial Benefit’.

Geez, what will they think of next?, he wondered. These books will all be out-dated soon, when the vaccine for MSD is found.

After taking a few more moments, he squatted down to peruse the lower shelfs when another tickle ran down his spine. This one was stronger than any he’d had thus far and it caused his feet to give way beneath him as he sprawled backwards onto his back.

Laughing at himself, he reached his hands down to begin to prop himself back up when he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck, where it met his skull. He felt a sudden dizziness and lay back down, rubbing his forehead as he closed his eyes.

Had Goodspeed taken the time to visit a doctor after the tickling sensations started, he would have been forewarned that not only did he have the MSD gene, but that it had been triggered and his shrinking was imminent. They would have strongly recommended he immediately visit his parents or other close relative to enhance his security when the moment occurred, telling him to stay away from friends and colleagues and possibly even a roommate or girlfriend, as recent incidents indicated that a shrunken person’s safety was gravely impaired in such situations.

It turned out that not only did the MSD gene lay dormant within many people, but also the voring fetish also lay dormant within a large majority of persons, especially female, many not realizing their fetish until the opportunity presented itself.

Goodspeed’s POV, some time later

“Goodspeed?”, a feminine voice said. “Good? Where are you?”

I shook my head, trying to shake myself awake. How long had I been out? Where am I?

I looked up and around at the special area. What is this material I’m walking on?

Holy shit!, I realized with shock, I’ve shrunk! These…these are my clothes that I’m walking on and…I’m naked!

I must have scrambled, in my last moments of shrinking, out of my shirt before I lost conscious.

“Gooood?”, said the voice, a bit closer. It almost sounded like a bit of worry or doubt had crept into her voice.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. I knew it was Kaitlin’s voice and that she was clearly looking for me. But what would she do if she found me. Would she look at me as just some other shrinky or would she continue to view  me as her friend and colleague…and crush? I wasn’t sure. I hoped she would look mercifully on me, but after what I’d witnessed in the past, I just couldn’t be sure. Also, I didn’t want her to see me naked – not like this.

I quickly scrambled out of the end of my clothes and made a bee-line towards a nearby recliner. I wanted to observe things play out a little more before I took the risk of allowing her to see me this small.

Many seconds later, I panted as I made it to the small pillar raising up the section of the lounger. Around the corner appeared Kaitlin, crouching as if to spring out and scare me (had I been normal sized).

“Boo…”, she said, gesturing with her hands, then stopping short as she looked down at the empty set of clothes.

“Ha ha ha ha”, she laughed, then she actually snorted.

What the hell?!, I thought. Why is she laughing? Maybe she thinks I stripped down and doesn’t realize I actually shrunk?

“Well, it’s about time!”, she exclaimed. “I was wondering when you’d finally shrink. Syd thought it could happen anytime today.”

Well, that settles that question, I thought. She had expected me to shrink. What’s more, both her and Sydney had actually discussed this.

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