Chapter 5

Day 439

12"




I’d had a fight with Sarah over whether or not we should stay in the government research program..

She figured that the money that kept us above water and also paid for all of our medical expense with a few extra perks thrown in should out-way my selfish inclinations as she put it to me...

I disagreed and asked her how she’d like having needles stuck in her all the time and rectal probes and what not..

But she wouldn’t relent.. To the point that I think she was going to force me to go whether I wanted to or not.

With a “Well you’re going to keep on going and that’s final!” Declaration, this seemed to leave little room to imagine any other way that might pan out. Because I steadfastly refused to go to one more medical exam.

After a lot of thought, deliberation, and well, self pity I decided that enough was enough. It was time for me to take back control of my life.. Looking back now, this was a foolish act of desperation but I had to try something. I couldn’t always have my decisions decided by others as if I were a child with no personal rights... It wasn’t fair and so for better or worse I was going to change this continual downward slide into ineptness....


So a week later after careful coordination and planning I waited for her to go to work and stealthily followed her right out the door when she was routinely walking to our car. And by some miracle she did not see me follow her... I suppose she never would have suspected such a bold plan or course of action so surprise was on my side. Though I’ve lost my size and strength, my metal acumen still undiminished she would learn... I’d see to that.

Out I ran just before the door closed behind her.. I made a quick dart underneath the front porch bushes as I waited for her to go which having no reason not to due to my surprise undetected measure she did.

Once the minivan was out of site I checked my gear. I had my makeshift hobo sack made from a head bandanna, slung across a cut down soda straw, that contained my food, some water which I had secured by putting some plastic wrap over a thimble with. I even had a knife that I’d fashioned from a bobby pin in case a bird or cat got too close during my journey ahead. . Oh, and my all important street address with a map where Sheila lived.. Sheila as in my therapy group but I’ll get back to that later...


We had talked about today being our day to strike it out on our own for better or worse through our Shrinker Friends Unite chat server. She was just as fed up with her intolerable life as I was... She need only wait for me to make it the ten blocks from the Orangevale subdivision, over to her house in Citrus Heights and then she’d sneak out too which she already had a plan in place once I got there.

But I had to get there first so, I set off across my front lawn remembering that I’d have to make my way near Greenback Lane and then cut a right at Fair Oaks Blvd. I’d stick to the back roads in order to avoid most people and vehicle traffic. Airing on the side of caution I figured.


I knew these neighborhoods pretty well too being a avid biking enthusiast who had been up and down most all of them as I once did before I shrunk so small that I couldn’t even negotiate a child’s tricycle today.

As I took my first step into our yard I noticed that the freshly cut grass that Laura had mowed just yesterday in accordance with her chores was still almost to my knees and this was freshly cut!

I should have known right then and there that I’d probably bitten off more than I could chew, but press on I did, determined to make a new independent life for myself. And the fact that somebody on the other side was counting on me made it even more exhilarating.

I got to the sidewalk at last and then the easement where more grass waited for me. I could smell it much more strongly than ever before, due to experiencing this very low vantage point.

The road was just a few steps further to which I arrived at looking both ways for cars.. There were none as we did not live on a busy thoroughfare so I began to sprint across it not wanting to wait another second..

When I was about twenty odd steps from the far side a car roared past... It had come out of nowhere so quickly that it made me almost dizzy. This was a new problem to have to bear in mind for the rest of my journey.. Luckily it was on the other side of the street but the driver noticed me or something moving and had slowed to a stop.. I should have figured that would happen.

I kept running until I came to a mailbox and hid behind the wooden post that held it aloft...

The station wagon sat and idled for a few more seconds and then drove off.. The driver probably had figured that they’d imagined me and yet if this mailbox had not been here then I clearly would have been spotted. Which begged the question of what then?

I didn’t want to ponder that as I made my way towards a backyard in order to get out of plane site...

Then another couple of unforseen problems reared up.. The house had a simple chain link fence that cordoned it off from the next backyard beside it.

But this fence was three of my body lengths high... Luckily I was able to fit through the diamond shaped steel lattice in order to press on..

This backyard had not been mowed yet so the grass came up to my waist and was wet underneath due to the morning dew that permeated it..

Now I was getting soaked and this did not feel too good at all. In fact it made me want to shiver which I did. The God damned middle of the summer and here I am getting soaked in this cold morning dew...

Luckily the next lawn was cut but as I started to go through the fence a massive doge ran out from a house doggy door and began barking at me... It was a yellow lab whose back was well over my head.. It saw me as a rodent as it tried to bite me through the fence links... My size just not registering as a human anymore... This too did not bode well for me.

It actually scared the shit out of me truth be known, and the barking did nothing to alleviate this fear.

So I had to make my way along the fence with that damn beast pacing me the whole way and come out into the front of the house which was definitely what I wanted to avoid yet had no choice now.

I’d have to risk running across another street and trying my luck at the next house..

I fortunately made it without no incidents of automobiles and traversed to the next back yard...

But then another obstacle occurred... These houses had elected to put up wooden fences instead of chain links..... I’d not be able to pass through them so I’d have to walk the gambit of front lawns until this trend was broken.

If somebody was to look out their living room window they would have seen a Ken doll sized man ducking and running from bush to bird feeder or anything else that someone had elected to decorate their property with which I was having to use for cover. I would have laughed hysterically to see someone do this but it was me who was being forced to do such. I’ll admit I did at least smile at my predicament as I leaped, ran, hid behind, and jumped over obstacle after obstacle.

Also, this was taking much longer than I thought it would with all of the obstructions and diversions that people’s houses were causing me. Which was not lost on my apprehensive considerations either.

About nine houses down I got a lucky break were a home owner was renovating their wooden fence so was able to walk right through it to the house on the other side...

Continuing along the brick exterior of that house in question I popped out and was making my way towards the sidewalk for another street crossing when I heard a door open.

I froze in place in the middle of a yard next to a orange tree and looked to my left to see a giantess in a blue bath robe and matching slippers bend down to pick up a newspaper that had been thrown just before her front door.

She looked to be in her mid forties and had curlers in her hair with no make up on.. I had no idea who she was but she was formidable in her stature compared to me at this stage.... If she saw me this would all get very difficult very fast..

I caught a lucky break though. She simply regarded the rolled up cylinder of news print and turned to go back into her house which she did. The storm door closing last.

I finally took a breath and sucked in the much needed oxygen that I’d been depriving myself of due to my shock of almost having this journey cut short.

It was then that I heard a gasp though. I slowly looked the opposite direction and saw two girls looking back at me in shock.

They were wearing Brownie uniforms which is a junior version of Girl Scouts. Brown loafers, dark knee socks of which I did not come all the way up to, which lead to brown skirts and on to brown uniform long sleeves bedecked with various achievement badges. To be crowned with their signature hats of similar coloring..

Their young cute faces were adorned with long braided hair.. They cut a classical description of the girls who would knock on your door in order to sell you delicious cookies, which they were indeed in the process of doing judging by the boxes and clip boards that they were carrying...

But these were no cute little seven or eight year old girls who would make the task of refusing to buy a box or two from them near impossible.. These were to two hulking giantesses each one looking back down at me with a look of astonishment, which was quickly changing to glee..

“Look Terra!.. It’s a little man!”
The other girl responded.
“I know, he looks like a living doll!”

Then they both looked at each other each sharing the same thought which I didn’t wish to stick around for because I knew exactly what they were thinking.

“Let’s get em!” They screeched in an octave that only girls that young can make. It almost busted my ear drums for Christ’s sakes.

I used the bushes as cover and quickly dropped my hobo stash in order to go into an all out sprint.. I looked behind me to see if they were following me and sure as shit, they were.

They even stopped to coordinate.. “You go that way around the house Cheral and I’ll go this way.”

Damn, they were going to force me to run across the open back yard if they stuck to their plan.. So I kept running for all that I was worth. Perhaps a I could outfox them around the back of the house. I did have age and wisdom on my side after all. Though size, strength, and speed were all on theirs.

I looked back again to see what the progress was of the one who chose to directly pursue me and watched my hobo sack get crushed underneath her loafer, not even breaking stride or noticing my now destroyed traveling goods. Her focus so intent on catching me.

But I had bigger problems to solve first as I rounded the corner.. To my relief the other girl wasn’t there yet and the cypress bushes continued around the back of the house as well.. A feature that I had not noticed previously before my life had depended on it.

So hearing the monster gaining on me from behind I chose the second bush along the back of the house to jump up inside of and hide in..

The damn thing was like a bushy tree at my size... I hugged the middle stock and pulled my limbs within the branches...

Something that occurred to me in the heat of the moment was here this was a fun and exciting game for these two.. Yet for me it was a life tempo changing event.. This is what really made me upset... A normal person would walk on by them. Maybe say hello as they went on their way.. Not get chased by them because they wanted to have their way with you. It just burned my ass up to know this was my current fate.. My condition had made this ridiculous situation possible..

But to return to the predicament at hand, the giant girl who turned the corner hell bent on capturing me lumbered right past my hiding place. Crushing arm and leg sized twigs carelessly as she hurried along. The snapping sounds of the dead debris due to her massive weight and size not being lost on me I assure you.

My plan had worked but I didn’t know for how long it would so I jumped down and rounded the corner again intent on going right back the direction I came from. Or I doubled back if you will.

“Did you see him?” Shouted the first girl.
“No, you were closer to him than I was Terra!.. “ The second belatedly responded..

“Check the bushes he must be hiding in them!”

I smiled to myself as I heard their confusion.. Their fruitless search was going to buy me some more time. Kids, ha, ha!

So I ran past my flattened supply sack with a frown on my face knowing that my trip was going to be much more hazardous and difficult without it... But I had to keep running.. I couldn’t stop and sulk. . My damp cool clothing still not having dried making this ordeal all the more miserable.

I hooked a hard right at the front of the house intent on using the next home as cover in order to beat my hasty retreat.

That’s when I saw their mother picking up the discarded cookie boxes... Who had just spotted me due to my quick movements... But of course... I should have suspected that she’d be around somewhere chaperoning them but in the heat of the moment I didn’t have time to calculate that far.

Her eyes were wide and her mouth was fully open in horror..

I had a concrete driveway to run across before I’d be in the grass of the next yard where my familiar yard decorations would be waiting to cover my retreat but I was quickly running out of breath and steam by this point.

“Mom! Did you see a tiny little man running anywhere?”

The shocked lady simply pointed to me.... I heard the two Brownies screech with merriment, knowing full well that I’d been located again...

I had no bushes on this flat hard plain of concrete and very little gas left in my tank by this juncture but never the less I had to try. So I picked up my run again but by this time I could hear their flat soled shoes slapping across the hard surface from behind...

Looking back over my shoulder they were evilly smiling , and half hunched over with their arms reaching forward like two Tyrannosaurus Rex’s chasing down their prey. Only a couple of steps away from me now.

Well, I wish I could say that a Hollywood movie miracle happened at this juncture but sadly this was not to be the case. I’d run out of advantages by this point.

I didn’t even make it to the grass on the other side of the driveway before I was snatched up right into the air.

Being cooed and awed over by two giant girls who hadn’t even broken a sweat while they were touching and squeezing my limbs and face...

Soon they were joined by their incredulous mother who let them have their way with me for a few moments by just regarding the amazing sight unfolding in front of her before she ordered them to hand me over.... To which two disappointed complaints rolled out of..

But hand me over they did when a second more stern demand followed...

I went from two very soft appendages to a pair of hands that were as big as both of their’s combined.. I kept trying to get my breath back as I was passed from one giantess to the other...

The mother brought me up to her face and looked at me in wonder...

“Wow, you’re a Shrinker!... I never thought I’d be holding one in my hands!”

“Can we keep him mom? Please!!!!!

Their mother kept squeezing my arms and legs as if to reassure herself that I was indeed real..

“No, sugar pies, he belongs to someone and we’ve got to return him..”

Awe, Mom!.. Come on... I’ll do all of my chores all the time for the rest of my life if you let us keep him!”

The mother just kept smiling and feeling me up. I could do nothing but be manipulated by her massive hands while suspended several feet above the ground.. I was still trying to catch my breath too. The fact that people took these entitled liberties of just handling me made my blood boil once again... But there was nothing that I could do now. I’d tried my best and wound up a doll in their clutches anyway.

She was wearing dark sun glasses that matched the color of her long hair.. Dressed in a pink jogging outfit and wasn’t half bad looking either..

The mother brought me closer to her face and excitedly began her interrogation.

“What were you doing wandering around out here honey? Tell me where you live and we’ll take you home ok?”

At this point I was completely defeated and could only nod my head.. My fight and previous notions of flight to some rendevous with Sheila were gone at this point. I was just relieved that I wasn’t going to be given to this lady’s daughters to be their prized toy..

But then again that’s where they were taking me back to anyway.. A house where I essentially functioned as one.

They collected their discarded boxes of cookies and filed back into their SUV taking me along with them of course... Both girls insisting on holding me as I gave the mother directions back to my house..

The girls kept pining over who got to squeeze me up and touch every inch of my body like I was some new stuffed teddy bear or something... It was pretty damned humbling to be quite honest. My family I was used to. But these were complete strangers who were manhandling my person as if they were somehow entitled to have their way with me just because I was smaller than them.

My head, hands, and feet were squeezed and pinched.. My arms and legs were stretched out and moved back and forth like one would idly play with a rag doll. They’d rub my hair like one would pet a puppy or force me to sit in their laps only to be stretched out straight again.. There was some tickling involved too between their curious giggles.

Also the girls would hug me to their chests just as a mother would do to a newborn child which I guess I was roughly the size of... To this I was assaulted with their scents.. Their uniforms smelling of sea foam fabric softener.. Their hair awash with the fresh odor of coffee fruit fragrance shampoo... Their clothing and bodily scents overwhelmed my being I am sad to have to report.

Even at this young tender age, the girl’s motherly nurturing sides shining through mashing me into cuddles. My face pushed against their shoulders while their cheeks mashed down upon the top of my head.. Rocking back and forth all the while with my helplessly secured body captured taking the air from my lungs with each adoring squeeze..

Thankfully we got back rather soon as I’d only made it two blocks before I was captured by this curious family of giants...

The mother apologized for her daughters chasing me and asked me repeatedly why I was outside.. As if I didn’t belong outdoors or something. Perhaps already assuming that the person that I belonged to would have forbidden it which my wife did.. Truth be known.

I finally made up a lie that I had stepped out to get some fresh air but that the door had shut trapping me outside and that I was making my way over to a friends house in order to get let back in...

Luckily she bought the fairy tale I told her and let that matter lie at that.

Her name was Mary Ellen and she was a sweet typical soccer mom who asked me a good deal more questions while her SUV idled in our driveway... She even took a few snap photos of me being held in her daughter’s arms with her cell phone, claiming that nobody would ever believe her unless she did... I should have figured that was going to happen too as it did.

Her questions were things like what was it like and how did I do this and that, while her daughters kept pawing me. I answered her curiosities as best I could but eventually wearied of the constant attentions of her excited daughters so asked them if they’d just help me get inside of my house which she agreed to do.

She even opened my door for me once Terra had reluctantly set me back down on our front porch with her sister Cheral sadly looking on having lost an opportunity to add a living human doll to their toy collection.. My feet had finally touched the ground though.. The first time in about a half an hour.

They said goodbye while Mary shut the door behind me after asking if I was sure that I’d be alright..... I watched them pull away from the living room window having climbed the couch in order to do so as they returned to their normal lives... They were gone no more than five minutes when Sarah’s mother pulled up.. Oh yeah, this was her week to watch us...

Laura was still sleeping from being up half the night playing her video games again.. I’d long since stopped trying to make her go to bed as she wouldn’t listen to me anyway..

It was now 11:00 AM on a Saturday.. Nobody even knew that I’d tried to escape... I never told them either. I simply collapsed on the couch being both mentally and physically spent.

I did tell Sheila, however a couple of hours later.. The whole story too.. She didn’t laugh at any of it though, because she knew exactly what I had been through at various stages of my ordeal. She even apologized for going along with my foolish plan, not considering how much danger I was putting myself into at that point in our diminishment...

I wondered if there was some other way we could try to run off together but who was I fooling? Today was a very good example of just how helpless we were now.