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  I woke up early the next morning. The guest room felt very welcoming - small, tidy and cool, bright morning light streaming in from outside - and it was the first time I had woken in this house a guest, my presence no longer concealed by Annie and Liz.

  I made my way down the stairs to find the girls waiting for me. Mrs. Kim, or Mindy as I now knew her, labored in the kitchen. I saw Annie and Liz seated at the table. They wished me good morning and I joined them. Mindy came over to us, and took a seat across from me. We began to eat. No one spoke as we sampled Mindy's cooking - eggs, bacon, and toast with jam. I looked up at Mindy, already chewing some eggs as she worked at cutting some bacon. The silverware glinted in her hands. I looked over at Annie, the girl with interminable appetite, who wasted no time with her own food. Slowly, a light and genial conversation started. There was no mention of Annie's powers, but in all the eyes around the table, I could sense tacit acknowledgement of a shared secret.

  Annie and Liz had decided they were going to the mall. Annie asked me if I wanted to come. I declined and told her that I'd see her at home later. I felt like taking a walk. She seemed disheartened. I told her to have fun and be careful. Annie would be coming back to Liz's house afterwards to spend the day there. I thanked Mrs. Kim for breakfast, and she told me I was welcome to visit anytime. I headed out for my walk.

  The sun shone brightly that Saturday morning as I started walking back to the condo. I passed rows of houses in the Kims' quiet neighborhood. It was an enjoyable walk. The morning air was crisp and clean, and traffic was thin. As I continued walking, it began to rain. The sky had been bright blue only moments ago, now, grey clouds were gathering. I quickened my pace. It was still only a drizzle, but I was less than halfway to Annie's house. The rain seemed to gain momentum slowly as I came to the busy center of town. Pretty soon it was pouring. I started to run. A boom of thunder rattled the ground beneath me. At this point I knew I wasn't going to make it home. I would have to wait out the storm. I ducked into the nearest building.

  I didn't catch the name on the sign as I ran in, but I noticed the graphic on the window - a coffee mug with a fat wisp of steam rising out. The interior was dark and crowded. Its patrons snacked on bagels, read newspapers, chattered quietly. As I stood in the doorway, dripping, no one seemed to notice me. The coffee shop was modern in design. Its chairs, tables and walls were a jumble of brown, pale yellow, and dark orange shapes. A strange piece of art on the wall could have been a mirror. A glint of red caught my eye - a hue out of place among the drab colors. In the corner by the window, sat a woman in her mid twenties. The blue glass seemed a melting cascade beside her as the rain beat against it. The spray on the window came in bursts, growing loud with what seemed like anger, as it tried in vain to extinguish the fire that was the girl's hair. I knew her at once - it was Alice from work. She sat huddled over a laptop screen. She didn't notice me as I moved toward her.

  "Hello, Alice."

  She seemed startled as she looked up. At the office, she always seemed to curl up into herself at her desk, so that I never really got a good look at her. She had a plain yet pretty face, with smooth features. She had strange hazel eyes.

  "Oh," she exclaimed. "Will... hi."
  "May I sit?"
  "Yes... yes."

  Though she didn't smile, and her eyes avoided mine, her face somehow managed to convey benevolence.

  "So, Will... um, how are you?"
  "Good. You?"
  "Good, good," she said with a stiff, nervous nod.

  There was a silence. She waited for me to speak, to explain why I had come over to her. I hesitated, unsure of the answer to that unspoken question myself. Suddenly a memory came to me. I realized that the last time I had seen Alice, I had been less than an inch tall on the floor of Linda's office. The gentle girl before me had been a titan to me then. Her very presence had seemed reassuringly powerful. It had been unsettling to watch Linda make her cry.

  Her eyes conveyed something of that gentle reassurance even now. There was something oddly familiar there...

  "For work?" I asked, nodding at her laptop.
  "Yeah," she replied. "Linda keeps me busy."
  Her eyes met mine in a flash when she said the name.
  "It feels good to be out of there," I said.
  Alice sighed. She looked up at me and swallowed.
  "You have to leave too," I said. "We can't let her control us anymore."

  I knew that what I was saying was too simple, that it might not be so easy for her to leave, but I felt I had to say it that way. My words seemed to bring a calmness to Alice. She sat less tensely in her chair.

  "It's funny," I said. "We've worked together for so long and yet, this is the first time we've spoken."

  Her eyes met mine finally. They quivered, hazel rings full of trust and longing. Her face was beautiful.

  "I'd like to speak to you again sometime," she said, smiling.

  She closed her laptop, then picked up the purse by her heel and placed it on her lap. She rooted around until she found something, and placed it on the table. She was scribbling something. She gathered her things and stood up.

  "See you later, Will."

  I turned my head to admire her pretty form as she left. When she stepped through the door, I noticed that it had stopped raining. I turned back to the table, snatching up the scrap of paper she left behind.

***

  I was sitting on the sofa when Annie returned, my fingers playing idly with the scrap of paper. I heard Annie say goodbye to Liz as she closed the door. We had a quiet evening - dinner and the latest episode of Intergalactic Princess Hero Team.

  The next week passed quickly. It was the last we would spend together, as her father would be returning the following Sunday. By day, Annie would go to school, while I stayed at the condo, making preparations for the changes that lay ahead. At night, we would eat, watch TV together, and only occasionally play her shrinking games. I noticed she kept a slight emotional distance between us during this time. She knew that soon she wouldn't be seeing me anymore.

  On Friday the dam finally broke. She called my name and solemnly invited me into her room.

  "I have something to show you."

  She got on her knees and pulled something from beneath the bed. It was the shoebox lair she had shown me once before. She placed it on the bed and lifted the top. We peered down like giants into the miniature room, which had been furnished and decorated with great care by Annie.

  "Please, Will, you don't have to go. You can live with me. You can sleep in here, I'll bring you food, and... and you won't ever have to worry about money or a job ever again!"

  Her teary eyes pleaded with me, and I could feel her pain as she saw the response in my own eyes. I think part of me even wanted to go along with her plan, but I knew the way it had to be, and I told Annie as much. I held Annie as she cried.

  "Will, promise me we'll go dancing tomorrow."

  Dancing? It took a moment before I remembered. Then scenes of the fair came to my mind. The arcade and the Japanese dancing game. The ferris wheel. Winning her a teddy bear. I wasn't sure what Annie was planning, but I wasn't about to let her down now.

  "All right, Annie, we'll go dancing."

***

  Saturday morning came. My last day with Annie. At breakfast, her mood seemed to have changed drastically.

  "Remember, we're going dancing tonight."

  She gave me an enigmatic smile.

  I spent the day tidying up the condo for Gary's arrival. I packed much of my things. When I left here, I would be staying with a friend for a while before I finalized my plans for the future. In the afternoon, Gary called. He would be taking a flight that evening and would be home the next day. He asked how everything was going and if Annie wasn't causing any trouble.

  "Not too much trouble," I laughed.

  Annie was quiet all day, spending much of her time alone in her room. She came out when I called her for dinner. She came to the dining room, and plopped herself in her seat.

  "After dinner, we're going dancing, okay?"
  "Okay," I replied, still unsure what exactly she was planning.

  After dinner, she led me to her room. The middle of the room had been cleared, and in the middle sat a black and white chess board, a CD player with speakers, and an electric rainbow disco light.

  "Let's dance, Will."

  She turned off the light, and turned on the music. We walked to the chess board, and she shrank us. The disco light sent balls of color dancing around the room as it rotated. The music boomed loudly, the beat rumbling the ground beneath our feet. And we danced.

  Later, we said good night. This night, though, I would be sleeping not in Gary's bed, but in the shoebox beneath her bed - at Annie's insistence. For that one night, I was not Will. I was hers - the precious possession of a girl reluctant to grow up, a childhood doll given life.

  Good night, Annie.

***

  The next day, Gary came home. Annie rushed into his arms before the door had swung completely open, startling him. He laughed helplessly, his arms full of luggage as his daughter clung to him. Gary and I talked in the kitchen while Annie eavesdropped from the living room, watching TV. Soon it came time for me to leave. Annie gave me a hug and said goodbye. As she backed away, she became again that mysterious girl I had met a month ago, with the strange twinkle in her eye.

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