It took about fifteen or twenty minutes but soon Kristen managed to find where I texted her. Since I may have neglected to mention my size she walked up and saw what looked like my bag and the place I described. She had no idea I was right in front of her, staring.

Wow, I just realized how creepy that sounded. Maybe awe-struck is the better word to use here. I’d never seen a giant person before so seeing one of my closest friends like that was more than a little jarring. She was just…massive. I can’t even put it into words. She couldn’t have been more than a few feet away but to me it was miles and miles away where she stood as this towering figure. To be honestly it didn’t even feel like I was looking at a person. I don’t even know how to describe it. She was just…big.

Maybe this’ll help. I couldn’t even see her face. If I looked up all I got was her chin and a bit of her nose. Imagine setting down a camera pointed straight up at you by your feet. That’s what it looked like. Only I wasn’t at her feet, I was actually quite a ways away.

I think you get the picture now. Anyway, enough of that, back to the story.

Although she was silent I could tell from the look on Kristen’s face that she wondered where I went. Sure enough, she pulled out her phone and I got a text asking what I already figured. When I started to type a reply though, that was right when Kristen decided to sit down. Couldn’t blame her really. It’s not like she knew I was on that couch or that I’d shrunken. For all she knew she was merely taking a breather on an available sofa. Not about to crush her friend under her butt.

If you couldn’t tell based on me telling the story this obviously didn’t happen. Mercifully, she sat on the cushion next to mine. But damn was it scary. The way the cushion just totally caved into her weight and smushed to accommodate her; that could’ve been me. Heck, I was on the next cushion over and her sitting down shook things up enough to make me fall flat on my ass.

That’s why I didn’t waste any time. Before she could lay down or something I called.

It rang twice before she picked up. I know that because her phone was the loudest damn thing I’d ever heard in my life. Kristen answering her phone when she did probably saved me from being deaf.

“Hello?”

“Hey Kristen, it’s Rob.”

“Hey, where are you?” As if I was suddenly nearby she turned to look around. “It sounds like there’s an echo.”

“Uh…” I laughed nervously, “Something like that…Promise me you won’t freak out.”

“Why would I freak out?”

“Promise me.”

My serious tone tipped her off that something was up. I could see her body tense slightly. “I promise.”

“Okay…” I had to take a breath. Saying this aloud would officially confirm everything. “I shrunk.”

Her eyes widened, “You…did…? Huh…” I clearly blindsided her.

“I’m as shocked as you are. You missed my great meltdown a few minutes ago.”

“Aw darn. And here I was hoping for a good show.” She joked, trying to lighten the mood. It was a nice idea, but I wasn’t laughing and neither was she. “So…how small are you?”

“I’m right next to you.”

Kristen turned her head to look at the cushion I was on. “I can’t see you.” Her eyes scanned all over for me.

“I can definitely see you though. I’m near the left-center if that helps you out any.”

Following my instructions, Kristen leaned over and looked directly at where I was. Up close I could see her eyes widen immediately. “Oh my God…”

“You have no idea.”

“How are you so…”

“Small? Beats me. Last I checked I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Nervously she extended a finger towards me. “Think you can you climb on?”

“Thankfully.” I was tiny as hell but I could at least say I was taller than a fingernail…Granted not by very much. I climbed aboard and braced myself as Kristen brought me closer to her face. Once more I found myself reminded just how small I actually was now. Carefully she kept her finger out and brought it just below her face, where all I could see was her enormous mouth wording out “Wow.”

By this point I was starting to adjust to some of the world like this but seeing a person’s face up close was…interesting. It really isn’t flattering, let’s say it like that. But I’ll give Kristen credit. Compared to a bunch of other faces I’d see down the line, she pulled it off really well.

What was probably more intimidating was staring into her eyes. They were two white ovals just piercing me with their gaze. She didn’t mean to of course but just by Kristen looking at me I felt an immediate desire to hide. Unconsciously I touched my own eye. I could fit two fingers on it. I pulled those fingers away and looked at them.  That was the rough size of my eye…Probably close to Kristen’s eyes. Yet they were over twice my size. If two fingers was the size of an eye then I was roughly a third the size of a finger. That comparison was all I could think about as I stared at my hand with growing horror.

“So…what now?” Kristen whispered as lightly as she could.

Her words snapped me out of the trance. “Can you please get me home. After that we can…I don’t know.” I sighed.

“Sure…” Kristen started to move but quickly stopped. “Um…”

“What is it?”

“Where…do I put you…?”

Oh yeah, I didn’t think about that. Where would Kristen put me? She couldn’t exactly drive while carrying me on her nail. The seat would be a bad idea as would pockets. “Maybe your ear?” I shrugged, “I can’t think of anywhere else.”

“It’ll have to do. Hold on.” Once again I braced myself as Kristen brought me to her ear. From there I hopped on down and found a nice little crevice in the outer edge, safe from the disturbingly copious amounts of ear wax filling the place. It got dark further in but from what I saw it just looked like a smooth, tan, cave with a thick, orangish goop caked to almost all walls further in.

“You think you’ll be okay in there?”

I nodded to no one in particular. “Should be.”

I could actually hear Kristen’s body shift into an expression, probably a weak smile knowing her. “Then…I’ll have to hang up now. I won’t be able to hear you when I do.”

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. This whole time our phones let us communicate but she couldn’t just hold it up to her ear until she got me home. I didn’t think about that. In other words, we couldn’t talk during the drive. Unless…

I covered my phone with my hand, shouting as loudly as I could. “Can you still hear me?”

No response. Maybe if I was deeper in her ear she could hear me but that’d involve swimming in pools of ear wax. No thanks. “I’ll be fine. If I really need you I’ll just call again.”

“Okay…Bye…”

“Why you saying bye? I’m right here with you.” I forced a laugh.

“True. I’ll chat with you in a bit then.”

“Til then.” I hung up and let out the sigh I’d been holding in.

The next half an hour or so was pretty uneventful. Kristen hurried to her car and started driving towards my place while I rested in her ear. I couldn’t talk to her. I couldn’t explore without risking getting thrown out. Heck, I wasn’t even able to stare longingly at the world outside. Nope, it was just me and my thoughts.

I honestly can’t explain everything that ran through my head at that time. I mean, I shrank after all. Once I was stuck with nobody but myself the shock started to settle back in and my thoughts started running wild. Ever have a moment where something major happens and for a while you just can’t stop thinking? Same thing. I needed a distraction. My first instinct was to try and find someone to talk with so I pulled out my phone to scroll through my contacts.

“Damn.” My phone was nearly dead. It would probably manage one or two more calls before dying on me. Meaning if I called someone I’d probably be unable to communicate with Kristen later when I’d need it. “God dammit, useless fucking thing.”

For a moment I had the urge to toss my phone but I quickly ignored it. Probably wouldn’t find it again. Really I should’ve been grateful it even worked. Phones nowadays were made with the idea in mind that someone might shrink on the spot. Beforehand they were damn near useless if you shrank. I knew that and was grateful I just…I really wanted to talk to someone. Despite being inside my friend’s ear I’d never felt lonelier.

I could go on detailing my increasingly depressive thoughts but really it all just amounted to the fact that my life was now significantly different, and not in a good way. By the time I finally arrived home all I could feel in my chest was this overwhelming dread. Kristen gently removed me from her ear and began to walk towards my home. All I could think about was how the second I went through those doors everyone will know what had happened to me. What would they do? What would happen to me? Would I have to quit school? Would I have to move out and work for some stranger? I racked my brain trying to remember shrinking cases and how they turned out. Despite seeing them near-constantly I never paid them any mind and as a result I now had no idea what to expect.

If I had it my way I’d have probably stood in front of my own door debating on knocking for who knows how long. Kristen on the other hand was much quicker to it. I jumped at the sound of my own door being knocked on. My heart felt like it was going to explode. For the first time in I couldn’t tell you how long I could feel myself shaking.

As if she could sense my worries, I heard Kristen’s voice gently whisper to me. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay Rob…” I could feel the falseness in her words from a mile away but it still managed to calm me down.

After a couple knocks I could hear loud booms coming from inside the building. After a second I realized these were footsteps. They stopped just on the other end of the door and opened up.

“Hey Kristen, what brings you down here?” My Mom cheerfully answered the door.

“Um…Is it okay if I come in Misses Lindley?”

Mom must’ve picked up on her mood; I heard the cheeriness leave her voice immediately. “Sure, come on in.” Awkwardly Kristen entered and stood in the living room, just as unsure of what to do as I was. “It looks like something’s bothering you. Do you wanna talk about it?” Mom asked as she shut the door.

I could hear Kristen nervously gulping. In hindsight it was a really inconsiderate choice on my part to leave breaking the news to her. But at that moment I was just grateful to have a friend who helped me out during all this. “You…may want to sit down Misses Lindley…”

Mom’s eyes probably widened. That line made it clear that Kristen wasn’t the one in trouble like she thought. She braced herself and took a seat on our couch, “Is Robby okay?”

“He’s fine, but…maybe you should see for yourself.”

“See? See what?”

Gingerly, Kristen walked over to our coffee table and brought me as close as she could. I had no choice. Feebly, I climbed off Kristen’s nail and stood on the table. Mom watched with a confused look as she saw Kristen apparently put something down. She probably had a sick feeling in her stomach. But once she leaned in close enough there was no denying it. Her child had shrunken.

“Oh God…” She muttered, “Oh God!” Immediately Mom’s eyes started tearing up. She reeled away and hid her face behind her hands, audibly sobbing. I could only stare, unable to even comfort my Mother at this moment. Mercifully Kristen awkwardly stepped up and began to pat her shoulder. “It’ll be okay Misses Lindley…He’s…still a good guy.”

That sentence sounded odd to me. Then I realized what it meant.

I wasn’t sure how Mom would react to my sudden shrinking. It was a sad thing for sure, but did it warrant crying almost immediately? Hard to say, but I can tell you that she wasn’t crying because her son was now shrunken. That’s far from good news of course but society’s adapted well to its tiny inhabitants so it isn’t that big of a deal. No, the fact I’d shrunken meant something else; it meant I was a bad kid. This wasn’t a Mother crying because her son caught a bad disease or something, this was a Mother crying because she found out her child’s a delinquent. No, on second thought delinquent is too nice. If my size was any indication this was a Mother finding out her child was one of the worst living beings on the planet.

“It has to be some kind of mistake. It has to be!”

“I’m sure it is.” Kristen smiled weakly. But I could tell what both of them felt deep down: Sizes don’t lie. I know they felt that way because that’s how I felt. I didn’t think…No, I knew I wasn’t a bad person. But my size now said otherwise. I wanted to scream up and defend myself, explain it all as some kind of weird mishap and how I was innocent. But I was denied even that basic human privilege. Even if I got a megaphone and screamed as loudly as I could I doubt they’d have heard me in pure silence, let alone in the middle of a middle-aged woman’s sobs. Without realizing it I reached for my phone and checked to see if I could at least give a brief call or message. Of course by this point my phone was completely dead, used up when I coordinated with Kristen to get out of her ear.

I had no choice but to stand there and watch as my giant friend consoled my giant mother. This was the first time I was completely excluded from something because of my size, and it wouldn’t be the last time either.

Imagine how that must be like. Watching two of your closest loved ones faced with heavy evidence about how you were the worst of society, yet still trying to argue in their heads that you were not a bad person. This was probably the worst news a child could ever give to their parent. And not only was I not able to deliver it myself. I was unable to comfort her afterwards. Heck, I wasn’t even able to make it home by myself! I just…watched, even crying a bit myself.

I wanted to comfort Mom, but maybe even more than that, I wanted someone to comfort me. The sad realization that even a consoling hug was now impossible just seemed like the nail in the coffin. I collapsed, unable to stand anymore, and I let my own sorrows out alongside Mom’s.

Couldn’t tell you how long this went on for. I know I calmed down first, then Mom started to a little later. Eventually her sobs died down entirely and the only trace of her tears was a sniffle she had.

“Thank You Kristen. Sorry to break down like that.” Mom smiled appreciatively.

Kristen shook her head. “It was no problem Misses Lindley. I’d hope someone would do that for me.”

“Let’s hope you never need that. I’m sorry we kept you so long.”

“It’s okay. I don’t have that much homework tonight anyway.”

“I don’t wanna hurt your grades. Go ahead and head home. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you…sure?”

Mom waved a hand towards the door, “Go on. I’m a grown woman. I don’t need a kid comforting me all night.” A sad chuckle escaped her lips.

“If you say so. Call me if you need anything. Okay?” Kristen opened the door and turned back towards us. “Bye Misses Lindley…..See you later Rob.” She couldn’t see but I was waving goodbye as she left.

Now I was alone with Mom, both of us fully cried out and starting to regain our rationality. It didn’t take long before I heard her finally address me.

“We need to talk.”