“No. No. Absolutely not.” Eli backed against the opposite side of the vocal booth and crossed his arms.

“Dude. Are you kidding me?” Carter’s head blocked half the view and, not for the first time, Ally wished she’d installed a second camera in the booth. Yet another drawback to her role as producer, where she had to sit outside the booth, wearing headphones, staring at a video feed on Eli’s crummy laptop. They’d never even ‘produced’ anything. Eli deleted it all after listening a couple times.

“The entire school will be there.” Carter raised his voice. “It’s the opportunity of a lifetime!”

“I don’t even go to that school.”

“Not yet. You will next year. Besides, bands are allowed to include one outside member. It’s totally legit. I’ve already spoken with the music teacher.”

“That’s beside the point. I’m not going to your fucking talent show. End of story.”

“Dude. Chill. Ok. You don’t have to act like a…”

Eli’s eyes glistened and his mouth drew to a thin line. Ally had rarely seen him this upset (he rarely ever cursed), and she was almost ready to make an excuse to get him out of there.

“Fine.” Carter’s voice seethed with frustration and mild anger. “So we gonna finish the session at least, or did I drive down here for nothing?”

Eli blinked a few times and took a deep breath through his nose. “Yeh.”

“Ok.” Carter always tried to squeeze in diagonally behind Eli, but his head never quite fit in the frame. Standing now four inches taller than her brother didn't help either. “But if you insist on singing this grunge crap, at least put your fucking heart into it. The last few takes, you sounded like a kid who dropped his ice cream. You hate the world, you hate life, whatever. Just stop bottling it up and pour that shit into your music.”

“Fine.” Eli glared at the camera for a moment, and a weird sensation tingled the back of Ally’s skull. She didn’t like seeing him upset, usually, but something about the rawness of his expression stopped her breath.

Carter played the familiar guitar riff to Come As You Are and Eli’s eyes seemed to focus on nothing. His head tilted slightly to the side, and when he opened his mouth, he was a different person.

He didn't sound like his current idol, Kurt Cobain, but he didn’t sound like Eli either. His voice traveled through her headphones like spiritual electricity, causing her spine to shiver and her heart to race. Time lost it’s meaning, and if not for the visuals of the recording software, she’d swear it had frozen.

When the song ended, she exhaled, finally, and blinked waterlogged eyes. What just happened? She didn’t even like Nirvana. But it was as if he’d shared his deepest secret, a true piece of his soul, and she’d been the only one around to listen.

Clearly, she hadn’t been the only one.

“Holy shit.” Carter’s lax-mouthed expression made her smile, as did the bubbles of excitement forming in her chest. It took everything she had not to throw open the door and hug her brother.

Turned out, she didn’t need to open the door because Eli did it for her. “I feel sick.” He lurched across his room, one hand clutching his stomach.

“Wait, Eli.” Ally rose from her chair and removed the headphones. “Are you shrinking?”

“Did you hear that?” Carter emerged from the booth and headed straight for the computer, just as Eli slammed the door to the hallway bathroom.

“What are you doing?” Ally watched as he grabbed the mouse and started clicking around.

“I gotta hear it again.”

“I think Eli might be shrinking.”

“So.” Carter pulled up the recording and set it to replay.

“Aren’t you concerned?” She never did understand why he was Eli’s best friend.

“A little, maybe. But if I follow him to the bathroom, he’d freak out. He ain't going to want to see me right after he shrinks either. No, I’m just going to grab this and head out.”

“You can’t copy it. Eli would go ballistic.”

“Chill. I’m just going to listen to it. You have to admit, that was some of the dopest shit you’ve ever heard.”

“I’ve got to go check on Eli. Don’t mess anything up.”

Carter had already donned the headphones and was playing back the recording. It didn’t really matter if he messed it up somehow. Eli would delete it anyway.

She ran into the hallway and knocked on the bathroom door. “Eli? You in there?” She heard a groan followed by a soft kick against the wall. “I’m coming in.”

She had to squeeze inside as his feet prevented the door from fully opening. He lay in a fetal position on the floor, cheek plastered against the linoleum. She shut the door and knelt, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you OK? Should I call Mom?”

He shook his head a bit. “I’m going to throw up.”

“Can you make it to the toilet?”

He made as if to rise, then paused, arms wobbling as they supported his weight.

“Here, let me help you.” Awkwardly, Ally placed her hands under his armpits and lifted, helping move his body toward the toilet. Once he made it there, she lifted the seat and held his hair back as his body shivered.

She wished Mom were here to handle this. Unlike Winter, Ally had no desire to be a nurse. The sight of blood disturbed her and puke wasn’t far behind on her would-rather-not-see list. She turned away and stared at the socked feet poking out of his jeans. As he emptied his stomach, his toes twitched. After the retching noises ceased, she held her breath and flushed the toilet. Unfortunately, she caught a whiff and it almost made her want to puke herself. He really shouldn’t have eaten the rest of that pizza for lunch — five slices! — even though he knew gaining weight was a lost cause.

“Gotta run, Eli!” Carter’s voice carried in from the hallway. “Hang in there man. And if you change your mind on the talent show before Thursday, give me a ring!”

Eli made no attempt to respond, so Ally did for him. “Bye Carter!” The front door shut before she could even finish speaking his name. Thank goodness he wasn’t the only one here with Eli today. She could imagine him shrugging off anything short of a gunshot wound and going about his day as normal. Boys really irritated her sometimes.

Eli sat back and stared at the floor. A drop of liquid rolled down his chin.

Ally grabbed a washcloth, moistened it in the sink, and cleaned his face. “Feel better now?”

“Cold.” His shivering had intensified, and that could mean one thing.

“I think you’re getting ready to shrink again.” Feeling somewhat guilty, Ally pulled out her phone. “Do you mind if I film it for the channel?”

“Don’t.”

“Eli, we really need to show everything if we’re going to get subscribers and donations. You do want to go to Premoria, right?”

He just sat there, crossing his arms, staring listlessly. Not knowing what to do, she placed a hand on his back and massaged in circles. He actually felt cooler. Not like ice, of course, more like an inanimate object, like a stuffed animal might feel when left unattended. Not cold but certainly not warm, unless someone warmed it.

“Ok.” His mumble, though barely audible, was enough for her to leap to her feet and rush to her room. She grabbed her tripod and a thick blanket, then returned to the bathroom. After laying her blanket over his shoulders, she set the tripod in the bathtub, inserted her phone and aimed it at Eli. Then she sat down with him.

And waited.

The waiting was simultaneously the best and worst part. She had no idea how to comfort him, but the thrill of it all eclipsed her unease. How much would he shrink? What would it look like? What would it feel like to him? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time shrinking had been documented on YouTube, not by a long shot. But she’d only rarely see it happen in real life. Most premies went someplace private when they started feeling the chills.

“So cold.” The blanket vibrated like a frozen volcano preparing to erupt. She continued rubbing and patting his back, as if her actions would magically warm him.

“I’m scared.” His words came out as a whisper and certainly hadn’t been caught by her camera. However, they triggered something deep in her gut, something that made her want to turn the camera off. Instead, she reached for his hand, found it, and clutched it tight in hers.

“You’re going to be OK.”

He drew a sudden breath and squeezed her hand. Hard. She endured the pain. It was the least she could do. “Hang in there.”

His eyes snapped shut and his teeth clacked together. His body went rigid. She was about to pull her hand away...when the pressure relaxed. It hadn’t relaxed, per se, it had simply shifted, and continued to shift.

Incredible. She could feel his hand shrinking as she held onto it. His bones literally reduced in size, and his fingertips slid an incremental amount across the back of her hand. Though he likely still gripped her with all his might, his strength had lessened, and therefore so had the pain.

Finally, his mouth opened and he took several quick breaths, as if he’d just finished running a mile. Since he wasn’t standing, she couldn’t tell for sure, but he seemed smaller. The most anyone had ever shrunk at once was eleven inches. He hadn’t shrunk nearly that much, but he probably lost more than an inch.

“Stop the camera.” He pulled his hand away.

“Wait, we have to do measurements.”

“Not today.” He sounded exhausted. “I just want to sleep.”

“Ok.” She couldn’t argue with him. They could always get the measurements tomorrow, and she could edit the footage. But it was more than that. At the moment the channel didn’t seem to matter as much. The vivid memory of his hand getting smaller in hers awakened something inside her, something she couldn’t identify. She just knew she had to help him. It was all she could think of at the moment.

After turning off the camera, she asked, “Can you stand?”

He nodded and rose to his feet. His pants fell to the floor, pooling around his ankles, but luckily his boxers remained in place. He glanced down, then looked directly into her eyes. Directly — as in at the same level.

She just stood there like an idiot and stared back, unable to speak. So many confusing thoughts and emotions.

He looked away and pulled the blanket tighter around himself, perhaps for modesty, perhaps because he was still cold. Then, he turned and walked out of the room.