Chapter 9

    Damien slouches in a chair in his father's room. His wrist is in a cast.

    His father takes a deep breath and says, "I'm sorry son. Not just about the bad news. About coming down and interrupting like I did. That wasn't smart."

    Damien sighs too. Eventually he says, "It's okay. It was just bad timing. I'm sorry I got mad, I'm just... stressed."

    His father laughs a little, under his breath. "Yeah... Bad time to fix a clock."

    Damien looks at his father. They both have a gleam in their eye. "Hmm, yeah," he says, "I gotta hand to you dad: you really got me wound up."

    "Well son, it's just in hour blood."

    "Well in that case, at least I won't be second-guessing myself."

    They both double over with laughter, unable to continue.

    His father takes a deep breath and wipes his teary eyes, grinning. "Your mother would have really hated us just now," he says, looking wistfully out the window.

    Damien's laughter fades away, and he follows his father's gaze. "Yeah.”

Chapter 10

    Damien freezes for a second. Soap foam drips from the dish he holds in his good hand. Then he hears it again. A bark. He drops the dish in the sink and runs to the front porch. He puts his hand over his eyes to shield them from the low evening sun. The sky is turning from blue to orange and pink. Pepsi's still in his yard, but she's barking at something down the road: Paige. Jacqueline's gate is open and Paige is about to walk right through it, following a large, shining black car as it enters the driveway.

    Shouting her name, Damien sprints after her. He can tell instantly by her posture that she's not herself again. She's in one of her states. She turns, sees him. There’s no sign of recognition in her face, only alarm. She backs away from the screaming man, up the driveway. The automatic gates start to slowly swing shut.

    Then her face contorts and she starts to shrink. She sinks into her clothes, terrified and confused. By the time Damien slips through the gate and lunges for her, Paige is gone.

    Suddenly Damien convulses. He looks down and sees the driveway rushing up to meet him. He turns and hurls himself backward toward the gate, but trips on his pants that are suddenly too long and sprawls onto the pavement. The doors close before him with the click of a mechanical lock and the echo of metal bars. He shouts and clutches at himself as he dwindles away.

    Eventually it ends. Lying in his giant clothes, it’s as if he's under a massive blanket. He gets up slowly, stiffly. The cast has fallen off of his broken wrist, revealing dark bruising. Stooped over and holding the shirt up with his good arm, he makes his way to the line of buttons and clambers through them awkwardly, emerging from the oppressive fabric. He’s only half an inch tall.

    He scans his new world. The blacktop is like a strange desert landscape, flat and endless in the golden evening. A nearby craggy hill signifies his pants, and a far away mountain range is Paige's clothes. He starts walking toward them.

    But then in the hazy distance, two figures, side by side, silhouettes against the neon sky and dying sun approach. It’s Jacqueline and Marlee, coming from the car. They’re in business attire. Jacqueline is wearing all black, jacket, skirt and pumps. Marlee is in the same basic outfit she wears most of the time - black pinstripe skirt and jacket, snakeskin pumps with buckles, and a pompadour. They approach casually, and even on the pavement, Damien feels the ground vibrating with each of their massive steps. Soon Jacqueline is towering over him like a goddess, almost incomprehensible in size.

    "Well," she says, her voice booming onto him, "This is rather unfortunate for you, isn't it?" Her immense presence is stifling. Even if he managed to speak, she couldn't hear him. "I mean you, and who I assume is your sibling here, both shrunk at the same time? How troublesome. It’s impossible to take care of your family like this, you’ll have to get yourself enlarged again. And that will take money of course, you’ll probably have to sell your house to afford the procedure. And get a bank loan. You would be in debt for the rest of your life, bankrupt, homeless. Yes? Here, put this on."

    Marlee crouches down gracefully and extends her upturned finger. Damien steps back in alarm from the huge hand that moves so quickly toward him, but once he gathers himself, he takes the object from her. It’s a huge square case, tiny to her, inside of which is a headset and mic made for his size. Jacqueline and Marlee put on their own headsets.

    She leans forward, peering down at him with her hands on her hips. "Is that what you want to do, Damien? Do you want to sell your house?"

    Damien swallows. His throat is really dry.

    Jacqueline taps her foot. making Damien jump. He shudders at this display, the sheer pounding mass so close to him, and quickly puts on the headset. He clears his throat. His eyes dart back and forth as he struggles to concentrate.

    Jacqueline touches her headset. “Is this thing on?”

    Eventually, Damien says: “Uh, I… I don’t have choice. Yes, I want to sell our house.”

    Jacqueline hears his voice in her headset and smiles. "Hmmm, and I suppose you want me to help you by picking you up off the ground first?"

    Damien feels something cold run down his spine. “Yes.”

    Tap. Tap. Tap. Jacqueline leans down and says slowly, "I want you to beg."

    “W-what?” Damien is shaking now.

    "You heard me, little one. Get down on your knees and beg me to save you and your family. Go on."

    After a long hesitation, he slowly gets on his knees, and puts his hands out before him. “P-please, Jacqueline. Please.” He shakes his head in disbelief.

    "Hmmm," she contemplates again. She puts one finger up to her chin as if in deep thought. But then she simply says: "No.”

    Damien’s eyes bulge.

    “I just did that to see if you would,” she says. “Good job. You're so desperate right now, aren't you little one?" She smirks. "No, what you’re going to do is sign this paper now."

    Marlee steps forward and puts a document on the ground beside Damien. She uncaps a silver pen and holds it above the line requiring his signature.

    At his size, Damien can't even make out the the words stretching before him. He looks up at Jacqueline in confusion. "What is this? I can't see-"

    Jacqueline interrupts him, saying: "This document entrusts all your belongings to me, in the case of your disappearance or death. Or shrinkage. Whichever. That includes your property, your house, your "wealth", your pets. But at least you'll still have your family. Somebody has to take care of them, yes? Sign there."

    Damien backs away from the paper holding his head in his hands. "N-no, I don't think so..."

    "No?” She cocks her head. “Do you really think you have a choice? Is it because you care about your family that much, or because I could just squash you under my shoe like a bug after you sign the contract? Which is it, little one?”

    Damie’s heart pounds in his chest at an alarming rate and he starts to sweat. "L-look I know we have our differences, but please, you’re scaring me. I know you can't k-kill me before I sign it because the property would just go to my family so...." He takes a deep, shuddery breath. "...so, I’m saying I would rather d-die than leave them with noth-"

    "Yes, I thought so. Marlee?" She says, smiling.

    Marlee reaches inside her pocket and draws out a tiny figure by its leg. She kneels, and places the figure on the ground by her shoe before standing again.

    "Paige!" Damien yells.

    "Damien?" She says. "W-whats going? What the fuck happened, why are we… o-oh my God, Damien what-" She screams as Marlee lifts her enormous shoe, pivots on the heel, and lowers the dusty grey sole over her.

    "No!” Damien screams, “No no wait I’ll sign it! Please wait please!"

    Jacqueline leans down and holds the pen over the dotted line for Damien.

    Damien rushes across the paper, chest pounding. He reaches up for the pen, but it recedes from his grasp. He stands there confused.

    Jacqueline smiles. She waggles the pen in the air a bit.

    Damien jumps and tries to grab it, but she pulls it just out of his reach again with a chuckle. Damien flushes, panting. He grits his teeth, enduring the humiliation. He jumps again, misses again. His broken wrist hurts, but he tries harder, jumping up and down until he stumbles and falls. Panting, he says, "Please..."

    "That's the idea," Jacqueline says. "Keep going little one..." she says, twirling the pen.

    Damien raises himself to his hands and knees, his head bowed, partly in submission and partly to hide his deep shame.

    "Please... Please miss Jacqueline... I beg you..." He sniffs and wipes his face with the back of his hand.

    "Yesss?" Jacqueline purrs. "What is it you want?"

    "I want... The pen..."

    "Why?"

    "To sign-"

    "Sign what?

    "The ...agreement-”

    "And what does it say in the agreement that your want?"

    "I...I want to... To sign over everything I have to y-you... In case I disappear... Or d-"

    "And why else do you want it?" Jacqueline's eyes flicker to Marlee, and the assistant presses down slightly with her foot, causing Paige to shriek in fear as the sole makes contact with her body.

    "Please! I want it so that you won't kill my sister!" Damien screams.

    "Good job, little one. That wasn't so hard was it? Now,” she says, “crawl over to my shoe. And start kissing it."

    Damien shudders, but does as he's told. The toe of her pump is taller than he is, and he lifts his head to kiss it. The smell of leather is strong.

    "Now beg. Say it all."

    Damien chokes back a sob and says: "Please Jacqueline, I beg you, let me sign over everything I have to you so you won't kill my sister."

    After a few heartpounding moments, Jacqueline bends down and dangles the pen over the line. "Go on then," she says.

    Damien scurries over to the pen, reaches for it with only a moment of hesitation, and brings the massive instrument down onto the line. With Jacqueline supporting the top of the pen, he painfully manages to scribble his signature in scrawling letters.

    "There. It's done," he says. He stumbles backward in alarm as Jacqueline snatches up the paper and stands straight. She holds the document in front of her, looking it over with a tight lipped smirk and gleaming eyes. Damien stands, panting nervously, eyes darting between Jacqueline and Paige.

    Then Jacqueline bursts with, sharp, mocking laughter. "Look Marlee, he signed it. He really signed it," she says, holding it out to her assistant and laughing some more. Marlee looks at it and smiles, happy for her mistress.

    "Please let her go now,” Damien says. “I did what you asked, I gave you every-"

    Jacqueline crumples the paper into a ball and drops it.

    Damien gapes. "I... I don't understand, why-"

    "That wasn’t a contract. You didn't sign anything, it was just a copy of the shipping receipt for the shrink machine Veronica gave me. Speaking of which, Marlee, tell them to bring it over now. Anyway little one, the point is I just wanted to see you beg before I destroy everything in your life. Did you really think I need a piece of paper to get what I want? My friend Emily is the Federal Justice Minister. She'll be over for the party next week, and I’m sure she'll be delighted to hear about the ‘agreement’ I had you sign."

    "H-how, y-you can't just do this to people-"

    "Oh but I can. Look." Jacqueline nods to Marlee, and Marlee turns her attention down to her foot. She looks under her shoe to make sure Paige is still underneath.

    "What are you..." Damien starts.

    Paige looks up, squinting and holding her hand to block out the sun suddenly shining down on her dusty, naked body, but then Marlee repositions her foot directly overhead and lowers it. Paige screams at the top of her lungs, “Damieee-” but is cut off abruptly in a wet crunch as Marlee presses her into to the ground. A jet of blood squirts onto the pavement from beneath her shoe, and as she lifts her her heel slightly, guts squeeze out from beneath like paste. Bones crackle and crunch flat while the giant shoe twists slowly side to side.

    Damien falls to his knees, grasping at his face and gaping jaw with trembling fingers.

    "Pretty soon you little ones won't even be ‘people’ any more, not legally,” Jacqueline continues. “You'll be more like 'pets'. At least that's what Emily says. Oh dear, was that your sibling under there?"

    Marlee lifts her foot once more to examine her work, turning her ankle. A flap of completely smashed flesh peels off the shoe and lands in a wet, folded heap. What was once a recognizable human is now only a tiny, gory flake on the ground. Satisfied, Marlee presses her foot down once more and drags it backward on the pavement, scraping what little is left of the remains.

    Damien vomits, barely able to hold himself off the ground with trembling arms. His sister was alive a minute ago, screaming for him to help, and now she’s a wet streak spread out on the pavement.

    Marlee lifts her foot behind her so she can see how clean her sole is. There’s still a gristly wet spot, so she scrapes it on the ground a few more times until satisfied.

    Jacqueline says: "That was her, wasn't it. Oh well, one less mouth to feed, hmm? Really I'm doing you a favor here. At least you still have your father though, isn't that right? Speaking of which, ah, here it is..." One of the staff staff arrives from the house carrying a small silver case. She presents it to Jacqueline, who opens it and produces what looks like a silver gun. "I got this as an early welcoming gift from Veronica. It's quite new, not ready to be marketed yet. It’s what I used to demolish the other houses so quickly."

    The assistant says: "Its already calibrated Miss jacqueline, just point and shoot.”

    "Excellent. You can go," Jacqueline tells her. "Now then. I've waited too long for this." She points the gun at Damien's house. "I hope you're watching, little one. Now, about your father and all your things..."