It was a new day as the sun began to rise over Olympia City. The early morning city was greeted with luminous beams of light and a sky of warm reds and oranges as the sun began to peak over the horizon. It was a crisp and cool early morning as patches of mist floating around the region as the new day began. Even at sunrise, Olympia City was already bustling and rushing about its hectic flow of life, commuters honking their horns in frustration as they were caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic, construction workers hard at work trying to keep the city in top shape, first responder sirens blaring as they screeched down the downtown streets as they responded to calls, and hundreds and thousands of pedestrians strolling down the sidewalks, eyes on their phones as they caught up with the news and social media. It was truly a city that didn't rest.

On the outskirts of the city, the suburbs were quieter as the life for most of the families there hadn't begun yet. It was the start of the weekend so the kids didn't have to wake up early and they took advantage of the extra sleep. As the sun continued to rise, birds began to sing their early morning songs and family pets started to annoy their owners to let them out to do their early morning duties. Some homeowners decided that earlier was better to do yard work and the sounds of lawnmowers, weed whackers, and chainsaws revved up and got to work. Little by little, the region began to wake up and embrace the day. Except for one household.

Alex Goldfield slowly opened his eyes and breathed deeply. He stretched and yawned as he started to sit up before he took a moment to look around himself. It took him a second, but he realized that he was in a giant bedroom. Off to his right were two massive chest of drawers that seemed to be made of a dark wood while the top of them remained bare. Closer towards him was a nightstand that was also devoid of anything on it, not even a lamp. Alex gazed up and saw that there was a ceiling fan, but it didn't seem to be rotating very fast. He then realized that the bed he was in was incredibly vast and large. He had an idea why he was here before a loud rustle distracted him. He turned to his left to see a large mound of sheets and blankets rising up and lowering before him. It didn't take him more than a second to realize it was his sister, Gloria. She seemed to be in a pretty deep sleep and he didn't want to disturb her. A sudden growling noise caught his attention and he realized that he was hungry. The last thing he knew, there was a bedroom on the first floor of the house and he was hoping that's where they were. He noticed that the door to the hallway was open, so he figured all he needed to do would be to get out of the room, go to the kitchen, and then get Gloria awake. She said that it would be easy to get her attention, so he planned to take advantage of that. Yawning again, he approves his plan and stood up. He had to fight for his footing, as every step he took sunk into the soft mattress and blanket and swallowed his legs, but he eventually made it to the edge of the bed before he realized he had a bit of a problem.

It was a long way down.

He gazed over the side of the bed and saw that it was quite a drop down to the carpeted floor below. He looked around and took in his situation. The blanket that Gloria had wrapped around herself dangled over the side of the bed and seemed to go halfway to the floor, but it was still a long drop. Alex weighed his options and decided that if he could get Gloria awake and help him, it wouldn't risk his well being for him to do something as risky as climbing down the bed. He turned back towards his slumbering sister until he felt he was close enough, but out of range in case she unexpectedly rolled over on top of him.

“Gloria! Hey Gloria! Wake up!” He yelled.

She didn't respond and continued to snore lightly.

“GLORIA!!” He yelled louder, but got the same response, nothing.

Alex started to get frustrated, “WAKE UP GLORIA!” He bellowed as loud as he could.

Still nothing. For as loud as he was yelling, and with how quiet the room was, it was a marvel that she didn't even budge.

Alex sighed in deep annoyance. Looks like he had to risk it.

He made his way back to the edge of the bed and carefully lowered himself onto the blanket and began to climb down. Luckily for him, the blanket was thick and could be easily grasped and climbed.

“Just one foot at a time” he whispered to himself as he slowly descended.

Finally, he reached the edge of the blanket and gazed down at how much farther he had to go. With a lower perspective, it didn't seem as bad as it did when he was higher up.

“Hope that carpet is as soft as it looks…” Alex gulped. He took a breath before he dropped. The floor came up faster than he thought it would and the rushing air blew over him, but he hit the carpet and felt it absorb some of the fall, but he tumbled over and rolled before ending up on his stomach. He twitched his limbs and was relieved that nothing seemed injured.

“What a way to wake up. Climb down a bed and jump a couple stories” he groaned.

Shaking his head, adrenaline coursing through his body, he hopped to his feet and began to head towards the door. He was halfway there when he heard a loud rustling in the bed and turned around. Gloria seemed to have rolled over and was now facing the other way. As she moved, the blanket seemed to droop further off the bed until it touched the ground.

“Oh come on, really?” Alex sighed. “You couldn't have done that 10 minutes ago?” He groaned in annoyance, but continued on his way out of the room.

Living with his sister, who had the powers of a god, for only a couple hours had shown him that she was incredibly unhelpful and more of a challenge than a blessing. Not that she had even done anything to actually be a blessing for him yet, she was rather brash and arrogant and not really one that seemed to care for anything around her, except for herself, of course. She had said repeatedly that she cared for him and would do what she needed to make sure he was happy, but in his limited time with her, he didn't believe most of what she said, or any of it, if he wanted to be honest. She seemed insincere when she had said those things and if her first impression to him was any indication, he was probably no more important to her than any other human. As he thought more about her interactions with him, the things she said, it sounded as though she truly didn’t care about him. When she swiped him from the school and listed the ways she could’ve taken him home, in her pants, shirt, being stepped on and pressed into her soles, in her mouth. These weren’t things that someone who cared for you would do. On top of that and considering that her first impression had her rather giddily trampling a part of the city where there were over hundreds of thousands of humans with seemingly no remorse, Alex felt that him being around her was more dangerous than beneficial.

As he continued to walk, Alex sighed as he thought about his sudden change in his life.

One day earlier he was living by himself in a small apartment just on the outskirts of the city and getting ready for school. He was able to do so because he had inherited the place from his mom’s, dad’s brother and his parents had wanted him to learn how to live independently from them. It wasn’t a big place so he was able to live rather comfortably for a while. After he had eaten breakfast, he caught the bus and headed to school. That was when things got really weird.  

Just before his last couple classes of the day, he got a couple messages from a mysterious sender, which he discovered was Gloria, and noticed that things around his school suddenly began unnatural and wacky. That was just around the time that Alex was introduced to his sister, though she introduced herself to the whole region first by flattening just about everything beneath her. One thing led to another and then he was suddenly living with her in this new, gigantic house. After a night of hanging out, Alex now currently found himself having to climb down beds and walking down a hallway that he didn’t recognize before he found himself at the top of a flight of stairs that led down and figured out he must have been on the second floor of the home, not the first like he was hoping.

“Figures...” he groaned.

He looked down and was pleased to see that the stairs were all carpeted, so he had some handholds to help him down. After a couple minutes of climbing down, he finally finished the first step, but was breathing pretty hard. As he gasped for air, he looked to see just how many of them there were.

“Only…*huff*...11 more…*wheeze*...to go…” he puffed, “I’m gonna die.”

Alex took a minute to catch his breath before he began the next one. After another couple minutes, he took another breather before beginning again.

“There has got to be a better way” he grunted as he climbed down.

After a making it about halfway he decided to give himself a rest and sat on the edge of the latest stair. As he sat there, he began replaying the last day’s events in his head and tried to get a better understanding of what had happened and was now happening. As he remembered what had happened, he realized that his memory was rather fuzzy in some places and he had trouble remembering some of the events that happened. What he remembered for sure was the rampage Gloria had gone on and the powers she had shown off. He remembered that when she was attacked, or more likely bothered, by the military, she simply shrugged it off. But the way that she responded still bothered him. She had manifested some kind of blue, antigravity energy or magic that seemed to swallow up everything around her before it all vanished without a trace. Alex had trouble comprehending how someone could have the power to suck things towards them and then make them disappear with no problem. And it wasn’t the only time as she used it again against the stray army unit that attacked her near the school. He didn’t know enough about her powers to know what she was entirely capable of, but he wasn’t entirely eager to figure out either.

While that had lead him to ponder her powers, there were two other events that didn’t seem to make much sense to him. They were hazy in his mind, but he thought about the context of them and realized that there was something amiss.

The first instance was when she made her way towards the school. She had taken a couple steps before suddenly she was sitting in front of him and looking down upon the school. The second was when she had taken him to the house. He remembered that they were having a conversation about something, but she had cut him off before he found himself in the home. What had he been talking about? He wasn’t a guy of many words, so whatever he was talking about must have had some importance, but what?

A loud growling brought him back to reality and he felt hungrier than before. He decided that it would be the best for him if he just risked it and get Gloria to help him. He patted his pockets and found his phone. He swiftly pulled it out and began dialing the number for Gloria. How she had entered her number into his phone without him knowing still baffled him, but with everything that he had experienced lately, it was lower on his list. He let the phone ring a couple times, hoping that Gloria would answer it. After a couple seconds, he heard a faint click.

“Alex? What’s up?” she said, her voice muffled and groggy.

“Gloria? I’m trying to head down stairs to get some food, but the stairs are too much of a problem, can you come pick me up and help me?” Alex explained.

There was a pause as Gloria inhaled and moaned before she responded.

“You’re heading downstairs alone? Why didn’t you wake me up?” she said lazily before yawning.

“I tried to! I yelled out your name but you were still asleep” Alex replied.

“Well, why didn’t you try harder?” she chuckled sleepily.

“Just come help me, would you?” Alex snapped.

Gloria yawned again before responding with a long hum before another click was heard.

“Gloria? You there?” Alex looked at his phone as he realized she had ended the call.

He stood up and looked back up the stairs as he waited for Gloria. A couple minutes passed, Alex getting more and more frustrated, before he heard a couple dull thuds. Then the thuds became much louder rather quickly, several shakes rattling Alex slightly. Then a loud yawn was heard that made Alex cover his ears in discomfort before the source finally revealed itself.

At the top of the stairs, yawning obnoxiously loud and her hair a complete mess, was Gloria. The god of a sister stretched and groaned as she tried to awaken from her sleep. As she did, Alex seemed to notice something. As she continued to stretch, her arms lifted above her head, they seemed to keep going higher and higher and her body seemed to move with them. Then he realized why.

She was growing as she stretched.

The longer she stretched, the more she seemed to grow until she relaxed and brought her arms down. By the time she did, she seemed to have grown at least several feet. He couldn’t tell exactly how much she had, but she definitely had. With one last inhale and exhale, Gloria took a step down the stairs. Her step rocked the stairs and Alex had to drop to the ground to prevent him from tipping backwards and off the ledge of the stair. Then she took another step and the quakes got heavier.

“Hey Gloria! Down here!” Alex called out, waving his hands.

She didn’t respond and took another step, another strong quake that kept Alex pinned to the ground rocked him. She took another step down and was now only two steps away from Alex, who was right in her path. She took another step and was now upon him. Alex craned his neck upwards and looked at his towering sister who seemed to not notice him beneath her. Then her foot swung down towards the next stair and began to descend upon him in almost slow motion. With one last attempt, Alex tried to get his tormentor’s attention.

“GLORIA!!”

He braced himself for the worst as he felt pain from above fall upon him. It got hotter and darker as he could sense her taking her step. Then it happened, he felt her sole smash into him and the weight press into him and force him to the floor as more and more of her weight began to flatten him. He was completely pressed into her foot and was unable to move or breath as all the air had been forced from his lungs but yet more and more weight pressed down on him. Her foot was soft and squishy, but with the amount of mass that she was exerting on him, it was beginning to stress the bones in his body and the smell of she gave off was an overwhelming smell of fragrant flowers and berries. Even if he could breath, the smell almost overloaded his sense of smell as her fragrant scent was matched with the also noticeable stench of warm, but light perspiration of sweat. Just as he felt he was about to pass out, the weight began to lift off of him. More and more stress began to relieve itself off of him and he could almost hear his brain and lungs celebrating as he was able to get some air. However, he realized that as the weight began to lift off of him, he began to lift off the ground, still trapped on the bottom of his sister’s foot. He swung quickly through the air and could feel the rush of air race over his body as Gloria began to put her foot down again. This time, Alex took the full force of her step as he slammed into the step again, the same crushing and oppressive weight threatening to reduce him to a smear again, before, after what felt like an eternity of being pressed underneath her, she relieved him of the weight again, only to repeat the process several more times. Just as he thought it couldn’t get any worse, her next step landed on something that had no softness or give to it and Alex felt a couple snaps and pops before he suddenly lost consciousness.

*Squelch*

Gloria paused as she felt something wet and slightly crunchy pop under her foot as she stepped on the wooden floorboards. She flinched and sighed, as she was pretty sure she knew what the cause of the feeling was. Slowly, she lifted her foot and looked at the underside of her foot. Sure enough, there was a small, red outline of her little brother squished into her sole. However, she didn’t remember him being that small in comparison to her.

“Ah geez, I grew accidentally, didn’t I?” she groaned. “Dammit Alex, you should have told me where you were.” She sighed again and realized that she had made another problem for herself in the future. The more she kept stepping on him like this, the harder it would be for him to trust her for when she needed him. On top of that, she would likely hear about this and be all over her about it. Gloria could hear the scolding and lectures now and it made her gag.

“I guess that’s what I get for having to deal with living with a mortal human. Good thing they’re easy to revive and memory wipe” she groaned as she put her foot back down and started walking towards the kitchen, each step only squishing the remains of Alex more and making her wince.

“He’d better not track on the floor.”

Suddenly, there was light and Alex had to blink several times as he was blinded by the sudden illumination. After a moment he was able to see again and looked around to gather his surroundings before he began tapping himself.

“Yes, you’re alive. Wouldn’t have been needed if you had moved to your left or right, you know”

An incredibly loud voice made him jump and he turned to the source of the noise and saw Gloria leaning on the table behind him, slowly munching on some food. She then grabbed her mug and took a quick swig of whatever was in it before turning back to Alex, an innocent looking smile on her face.

“Y-You stepped on me!” Alex choked, his voice suddenly raspy, “YOU KILLED ME!” he yelled at her.

Gloria sighed, her smile vanishing instantly.

“Look…” she began before Alex cut her off.

“I TOLD YOU WHERE I WAS, WHY WEREN’T YOU LOOKING FOR ME!?” he bellowed, pointing a finger at her accusingly.

She looked indignantly at him.

“Hey, I brought you back to life. You should be thanking me, honestly. Most mortals like you don’t get a third chance at life” she said sternly.

Third chance? Third. Chance. That seemed to trigger something in Alex’s mind and the pieces began to fall into place. He remembered what had happened.

“You stepped on the school. You killed everyone there and you didn’t even notice...YOU’VE SQUISHED ME TWICE NOW! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM?” he was seething in anger now, his face going red.

“And I’ve brought you back both times” Gloria argued. “Like I sai-”

“WHY BOTHER IF YOU’RE GOING TO KEEP KILLING ME, HUH? A SELFISH, ARROGANT, UNCARING MONSTER LIKE YOU PROBABLY DOESN’T EVEN CARE, DO YOU?” Alex roared.

“Alex…”

“FIRST YOU KILL EVERYONE IN CLAUSEN, THEN YOU KILL ABOUT HALF OF OLYMPIA CITY AND SEE BRINGING THEM BACK AS A CHORE…”

“ALEX”

“AND THEN YOU TRY TO ACT LIKE YOU AREN’T AT FAULT WHEN YOU KILL ME AGAIN? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? DIDN’T YOU SAY YOU CARED FOR ME? OR WAS THAT JUST YOUR WAY OF LURING ME INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY SO YOU COULD TORTURE ME LIKE THIS?”

“ALEX”

“IF YOU WANTED TO BREAK ME, THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME KEEP MY MEMORIES OF MY REAL PARENTS TOO, INSTEAD OF TRYING TO ERASE THEM. IF YOU WANT ME DEAD THEN JUST SAY SO, DON’T MAKE ME FUCKING SUFFER, YOU BIT-”

“ALEX!!!”

Gloria slammed her hands on the table as she yelled back at Alex. The sudden, uncontrolled outburst sent a shockwave of power screeching through the house and outside where it continued to travel. The shocks caused everything outside the house to shake and rattle, including every house that was nearby at the base of the hill the house was on, alarms going off everywhere.

Everything was silent in the house as the two looked at each other, neither breaking eye contact with the other, and catching their breath as their anger continued to steam. They gazed at each other, Alex’s eyes filled with unbridled fury meeting Gloria’s eyes of anger, until the sudden, calming chimes of a wall clock broke the tension. Finally, Gloria relented and sighed as she slumped back into her chair.

“Look, you obviously aren’t going to forgive me, but it wasn’t my intention of stepping on you...again” she weakly apologized, still annoyed. “And with the whole school thing, that...that was also an accident. I’d like you to try and find something no larger than a dust mite and try not to crush it by accident.”

Alex was still fuming, but at least he managed to get some kind of apology from her, even if was incredibly half-assed and pathetic.

“But you’re a god. How were you able to hear me fall over, but not be able to know where that was?” he demanded.

“My godhood, surprisingly, has its limits. I could tell what direction you were in, but not where you were” she replied.

“Then how did you know you stepped on me?” Alex was utterly confused.

“Do you remember when I said if you were on my foot to lick it? There was a reason for that other than me seemingly looking like a weird freak. I’m…” she paused and sighed, as if she didn’t want to continue, but she carried on, “I’m not as adept at being able to be as omnipotent as you think a god might be. I have some pretty awesome powers, but my senses are...not...as, uh, good...as they could be” she stammered, looking ashamed to say such a thing. “I was using my power then to try and distinguish you from the rest of the drabble and when I didn’t feel it, I assumed you were nowhere nearby. Then when I heard you, I couldn’t tell where it came from other than the general direction. By the time I realized I should have tried to focus in on you, I already had about a thousand teenagers crushed under my foot.”

Alex mulled over what he had just been told and thought about it.

“So you basically aren’t a god then? A god would be able to be all-powerful and all knowing. You sound like you’re only half knowing” he stated.

Gloria’s eye twitched when he said that, visibly stricken by Alex’s comment.

“Watch it, shrimp. I’m still all powerful” she huffed.

“You sure?” Alex sneered, “or are you guessing that you are?”

Gloria rose quickly from the table and swiped Alex up into her grip, bringing him to her face, burning red at the cheeks.

“Don’t. Try. Me. Mortal” she growled. “You should seriously be thankful I have reasons to keep you alive and safe, otherwise I would kill you here.”

“Hasn’t stopped you before” Alex said, straining against her tightening grip.

They locked eyes for another couple moments, though Alex strained to do so through Gloria’s slowly tightening grasp.

Finally, Gloria seemed to realize that she was in the wrong and seemed to relax and gently lowered him back onto the table. Alex breathed deeply and was glad to know that he didn’t suffer any injuries.

“You know? Fine, you win. I’m sorry, I am. It was stupid of me to not be paying attention where you were and I should have been more careful” she said somberly, having calmed down. “So maybe we didn’t get off on the right foot with introductions. It was a rather unorthodox meeting, after all” She gently reached a finger over towards Alex, who flinched slightly, “I’m Gloria, your kinda-almost goddess sister. I came here because I was looking for you.”

Alex decided that it if she had chosen to try and restart this relationship they had, then he might as well meet her there.

“Alex. And I wasn’t aware that I ever had a sister, let alone one that kinda-almost had godlike powers” he said.

“I’m guessing you’d like to know a bit more about me?” she asked calmly.

“After I get some food first, my stomach has been killing me...among other things” he said.

It wasn’t the most pleasant of first mornings together with a new housemate, but Alex and Gloria spent the next couple hours getting to know a little more about the other. The tension between them was still palpable and they each avoided some questions from the other and only revealed little bits of information about themselves, but they eventually realized that if they were to live together, and for Gloria to complete whatever goal she had, they would need to at least be on better terms with the other.