When Edith moved to turn off her watch’s alarm, she immediately noticed something was amiss. And it wasn’t just that her watch was no longer on her wrist.

Why am I under so many blankets, she wondered while trying to push her way out of the thing. Flannel too. I don’t think I…

It only took her a moment to realize what had happened. Her clothes, which she had specially chosen because they were so tight, remained on her body, if not a bit looser than she would have liked, but the pajamas she had been wearing now swamped her completely. As much as she would have loved to figure out what had happened, she needed to turn off her watch’s alarm. Luckily, she had only shrunk to about three-fourths of her previous size, and her watch was still within arm’s reach. She grabbed the thing, now the size of a headband, and pulled it in towards her, shutting off the alarm. The display stopped flashing and instead shown a dull blue, indicating a new message. Edith pressed the button again to playback the message.

“Your account balance has recently been changed,” a monotone male voice announced to her. “Your living conditions are now classified as ‘normal,’ and you can expect to see a reduction in size soon.”

“Mom!” Edith cried as quietly as she could. “I can’t believe she did that.” Perhaps her mother had known there was something suspicious about her daughter visiting her grandmother’s nature reserve of a house, and had decided to take action to hamper any attempts at misdeeds.

Despite her initial shock, though, Edith was quick to react. I have to leave before the maids awake. The teen shuffled around the room to look for some suitable shoes. She came across a small bag that one of the maids had brought along and looked inside. These traitors knew!

The bag held a set of clothes small enough to fit someone of her size, and held shoes, shirts, and pants, all meant to fit her. She took the bag and placed any other clothes that were still wearable into the bag.

She then emptied out the bag she had brought along and moved her toiletries and food into a smaller drawstring bag that now served as a duffle bag.

“I have to go now,” she said quietly to herself, sliding a pair of hiking shoes from the maid’s bag onto her feet. She picked up the bags and silently opened the door o the bedroom. Edith made her way towards the port side of the boat, stealthily jumped and landed on the dock, and ran as fast and quietly as she could towards the big, decaying house.

***

Why is everything shaking? Cole thought, as he was stirred from his sleep. His home was now moving in a crazy manner, as if Edith was panicking about something.

“Are you okay?” the tiny boy yelled, not sure if he would get a response. Instead hearing anything, Cole felt a tremor as something slammed into him. He groaned lightly as Edith shifted to stand up and began moving, first lightly and quietly, then much heavier and faster. She was running now, with no regard for her tiny friend.

“Hey!” screamed Cole. “Edith, stop! I’m gonna get crushed under here!” Though he was safe from the full impact of his friend’s feet while under the arch, he was still rocked by every footfall. At best, he would end up lightly bruised. At worst, he would end up with a concussion, or dead. He remember a friend of his falling to the floor one night and ending up with a concussion. The poor boy could hardly speak, let alone think. He disappeared to who-knows-where the day after Miss Jewel found out.

Refocusing on his predicament, Cole had to find a way to get Edith to notice him. He remembered earlier that night at the dinner table, and began tickling her feet with his fingers. The giantess almost slowed down for a moment, the continued to run through the discomfort.

I’ve got to try something else, the boy thought, wondering what better way there was to get a giant girl’s attention while trapped under her foot. He thought for a moment, ignoring the pounding and the dull headache he was developing, and came up with a solution.

Sticking his tongue out, Cole winced at the thought of tasting her feet. They didn’t smell too bad now, but more running would build up more sweat making the situation even more uncomfortable. If he was to do something, now was his chance. The boy placed his tongue on Edith’s foot and slowly licked. It tasted of salt and lavender, but it wasn’t so offensive that he had to stop. Edith, on the other hand, did stop, and immediately pulled off her shoe and sock to reveal a worn-out and bruised Cole.

***

“Oh my gosh, Cole!” she said, bringing him to her face, “are you alright?” The boy now rested in her palm and appeared the same size as the earring had previously been to her. I really have gotten smaller, she thought, reveling in her friend’s new relative size to her.

“Yeah, I’m just a little hurt.” Obviously the running she had been doing had taken its toll on Cole’s tiny body. He moved slowly when standing up, like an old man pacing himself as to prevent injury.

This was the second time she had forgotten him, and she began to feel neglectful for it. I care about him, I do. He’s like a brother to me. She thought back to the tinies she had eaten with dinner the previous night, or all the times she had abused shrunken citizens who were all but anonymous to her. Those were different. I didn’t know any of them. I didn’t care about any of them. She continued her thought train until Cole interrupted. “What happened?”

Edith did her best to explain the situation to him. He understood the concept of wealth effecting one’s size, but he didn’t understand why she wasn’t as small as he was. “My mother planned for me to only shrink a little,” Edith explained as she continued walking towards the house with tiny in hand. “She wanted to make things difficult, not to kill me.” That would come later.

She stopped at the massive front of the house. The entryway alone was ten meters tall, but the door had long since been removed by invading plant life. The two stood in silence, looking over the challenges to come.

“It looks like this is gonna be an actual adventure now,” Cole burst out. “Now you’ll have to see how us little people do it.” Edith smiled. She was in no way nearly as small as her friend, but he could certainly believe that. She patted him lightly on the head before lifting him to her shoulder. He climbed onto his new perch and looked towards her in anticipation.

“If that’s what you still want, then let’s start looking.”