“Okay class, today we have a bit of a special lesson. Today, we’ll be going over ‘Acquired Miniaturized Polymolecular Cytosis’, more commonly known as the Shrinking Syndrome.” A few murmurs echoed through the students. “Now, y’all are fortunate enough to have a classmate who has this condition, and who has also volunteered to help demonstrate some of the symptoms and side effects of her condition.” The teacher gestured to Alex, who was poised on the front corner of the teacher’s desk, front and center for all to see. A tiny microphone was in front of her, mounted on a miniature podium that was just a bit too tall for Alex.

“Volunteered, my ass,” Alex muttered to herself. “Only because Lily told me I’d get twenty percent extra credit, and even then...”

“Miss Lily, would you come to the front?” the teacher motioned for Lily to come forward.

Lily beamed at the request, and eagerly nodded in agreement. She practically skipped to the front of the room, her giddy demeanor giving Alex a sense of regret. She knew that Lily thrived on stuff like this, group presentations and really anything science related things in general. Today’s lesson combined both of those, and Alex was beginning to worry that Lily would get a bit wrapped up in it, as usual.

For several minutes, the teacher droned on about the various theories surrounding the Shrinking Syndrome, from hereditary to radioactive mutations, but none of the theories were even remotely close to proven yet. Alex started to zone out, most of the rhetoric being told to the class she had heard a hundred times before, between numerous doctor visits and her own research as someone inflicted with the condition. Her attention returned as she heard her name called out.

“Miss Alex, would you mind explaining some of the unique characteristics of your condition for the class?”

Alex stepped up to the microphone stand, and tapped it a few times. The soft thump of the speakers around her was loud, but not deafening to her, so she stood on her tiptoes to get her mouth close enough to speak.

“Well, for starters, I’m a lot more durable than before. I’ve been stepped on more times than I can count, and while it hurts a bit, I don’t get any bruises or broken bones from it.” Even with the microphone, Alex’s voice was faint, and almost drowned out by the muttering students before her. The teacher clapped his hands twice, calling the class to some sort of attention, and Alex continued.

“I also don’t get too hot or cold as often, at least not like I used to. I mean, it still feels cold, but I won’t freeze like a popsicle in a few minutes like a mouse would. I’m not sure about the heat, but so far I haven’t overheated much since I’ve been small. I’m told I could survive a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, but I’m not really up for trying that.” A few chuckles came from the class. “Oh, and I can hold my breath for a really long time, so I’m not too likely to drown. I’ve held it for almost an hour, but there’s a guy up in New York that can hold his breath for just over four hours! I guess my body doesn’t need as much oxygen at this size.”

The teacher approached from the side of the room, where he had been standing to observe. “Thank you for sharing your perspective, Miss Alex. Now, as we spoke about before class, are you still willing to demonstrate some of these traits to the class? You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”

Alex leaned back towards the microphone. “No, that’s okay, I’m still good to do the demonstration!”

“Wonderful!” The teacher clapped his hands in front of him. “Now, allow me to move this podium out…of…the…way…” The speaker popped a few times as the teacher dragged the miniature stand aside, clearing the corner of everything except Alex. “Miss Lily, would you please help demonstrate with Miss Alex?”

Lily smiled, and turned towards the class. “Of course! Now, as Alex said, she’s pretty durable. So I could do this!” She slammed her hand down on the table, snuffing Alex out beneath her hand. Several students gasped as her palm slapped against the table.

“…And she’d be fine, see?” Lily’s hand lifted from the table, and she turned her palm towards the class. Her hand was clean, no splatter of blood like some of the students had grimly expected after the sudden smack. On the edge of the desk, Alex stood up and brushed off her shoulders, then gave the class a thumbs up.

“What if you just cupped your hand?” A girl from the back called. “That could just be a trick!”

Lily glanced down at Alex, waiting to see if she was up for another round. Alex nodded, signaling that Lily could call the student’s bluff. Lily grinned, and grabbed one of the teacher’s hard bound books. She lifted the book above her head, aiming directly for the occupied corner of the desk. Lily brought the book down with both hands, letting go halfway and allowing the book to continue its trajectory. The resounding thud against the desk brought a hush over the students, the front row having been treated to a unobstructed view of their one inch tall classmate being pulverized underneath a rather heavy textbook. Waiting a few seconds for dramatic flair, Lily finally picked up the textbook, and turned it to face the audience. Alex was plastered on the back cover like a sticker, her limbs splayed out in all directions.

“Oops, didn’t mean to have you stick there!” Lily giggled as she shook the book with on hand, holding her other underneath Alex. The tiny teen flopped loose after three firm shakes, and pushed herself back to her feet. Lily set the book down, then present her open palms towards the classroom. “See, she’s perfectly fine!”

The class clapped, most of the students worried they had witnessed a murder only seconds earlier. The teacher walked up to the front of the room, and gestured for Lily and Alex to return to their seats.

“Thank you girls, for that exciting demonstration!” He nervously chuckled as he replaced the book in its home on the far edge of his desk, completely surprised by the girls’ unplanned second act. “Now, will everybody please turn to page ninety-seven, we will continue on with hereditary diseases and their causes…”

Lily giggled softly as she sat down at her desk, and placed Alex on the wooden surface. “Did you see the teacher’s reaction? I told you that was a good backup plan!” She whispered to her smaller friend.

Alex rotated her shoulders and flexed her forearms, the sting of being hit with a book the size of a building still lingering in her nerves. “You didn’t have to swing it that hard though, Lily, that still hurts!”

“Oh shush, you’ll be fine in five minutes and you know it.”

Alex huffed, and sat down at the edge of the desk. Lily was right, the pain was already fading from her limbs. Just another one of the side effects, though one that was much harder to quantify for a demonstration. As the class droned on, she noticed Lily fidgeting in her seat. Before she could inquire the sudden need to shift about so much, the bell rang, and Lily bolted from her seat, almost toppling Alex from the edge of the desk.

“Sorry gotta pee be right back!”

“Lily, wait!” Alex called out, but Lily was already out the door, followed by a flurry of classmates. Alex sighed, and stood in the center of the desk, hoping either another student would notice, or at least the teacher could take her to her next class. As the last students filtered out through the doorway, one blonde looked over at her desk, and stopped. Alex shuddered as she made eye contact with none other than Kelsey. She gulped as the cheerleader sauntered over, a cruel smirk growing on her lips.

“Well well well, aren’t you little Miss Popular today?” Kelsey sneered, scooping up Alex with a swift pass of her hand. Holding the tiny close to her face, she muttered, “I told you to not make a scene for yourself, and what do you do? Get up in front of the class and show off your genetic lottery.” She walked out into the hallway, her grip firmly holding Alex in her fist. The tiny girl pounded on the fingers wrapped around her, demanding to be set down at once. Kelsey pushed her shoulder against one of the metal doors leading to the cafeteria, the roar of several hundred students filling the air.

“Since you’re so tough, why don’t you go for a little trip through the cafeteria? See how many people actually notice you.” She poised a curled middle finger next to Alex, then flicked the inch tall girl towards the sea of students. In less than a second, she had lost sight of the tiny, and she spun on her heels towards the exit. With a puff of air from her lips, she blew a blonde lock from her face, a haughty grin on her face as she strutted out of the cafeteria.

Alex screamed as she hurtled through the air. Everything spun around her, she couldn’t tell which direction she was headed until she slammed into something hard. She caught a glimpse of a lunch tray as she skipped away, her small frame holding a surprising amount of momentum. Ahead of her was another tray, loaded with the contents of a late breakfast. Alex drew a short breath as she realized her destination, and closed her eyes as she slipped under the surface of something cold and thick. Swimming in what direction she thought was up, she finally breached the surface of the cool yogurt. Chunks of fruit more than half her size dotted the surface of the pink pool she was stuck in.

“Great, just great…” Alex mumbled, wiping the thick cream from her face. Her hair was coated in the strawberry flavored goop, and the viscosity made it hard for her to move, though she was light enough to not sink any deeper than her shoulders. Resigned to wait and be noticed, Alex signed and spread her arms on the surface of the yogurt, trying to keep herself as visible as possible. A few moments later, the owner of her little delectable prison cell returned, chatting away on her phone. Alex reached her hands above her head, waving her pink arms at the distracted classmate. The girl finally didn’t even glance down at her tray as she picked up her spoon, and dug into her breakfast.

Alex was pushed under the surface by the rounded metal utensil, and curled into a ball as the spoon began to stir the contents of the plastic cup around her. Several pieces of fruit bumped against her as she was tugged around by the current. After a moment, the sitting stopped, and Alex felt something solid lift up beneath her. Her head popped up above the surface of the thick yogurt, and she realized she was going upwards at an alarming rate. The girl holding the spoon was completely unaware of her presence, too busy chatting away at the phone glued to the side of her face. A pair of plump pink lips jabbered away, then opened wide as the spoon approached.

Alex shouted up at the girl as the glistening upper lip passed over her head. Her cries were drowned out by the girl grunting in affirmation to something said on the phone, her voice rumbling around Alex as she deposited the glob of yogurt on her tongue. Alex scrambled towards the light, her hands and knees slipping on the mixture of yogurt and saliva, the latter quickly warming the contents around her. The spoon quickly retreated, sliding through the puckered lips as they gleaned the rest of the yogurt from the spoon. It was pitch black around Alex, save for a faint red glow of light bleeding through the girl’s cheeks. Below, the squirming muscle began to move, quickly gathering up the creamy mouthful and shuffling it backwards.

Alex screamed, and was slapped in the face by a nimble swish of the tongue, pushed backwards as if she was a simple piece of fruit. She frantically grabbed for something to hold onto, a tooth, the uvula, anything. All her hands could find were slimy walls or more yogurt, then everything shifted. The trap door of the girl’s throat sprang open, and Alex felt a brief sensation of weightlessness as she plummeted down.

It was a short trip down, but to Alex, time seemed to stretch on. She had never been swallowed before, and had heard mixed things about it from other shrunken people. She tried not to dwell on the darker stories she had read as she was dumped unceremoniously into the waiting chamber. Thick juices splashed around her, the stomach mostly empty for now. Alex could just barely feel the bottom underneath her feet, though it was hard to tell with al the sloshing about. All around her, gurgles and groans echoed throughout the dark cavern. A rhythmic thumping cold be heard above her, no doubt the girl’s heartbeat. As Alex felt along the walls, another splash behind her signaled the next bite’s arrival. Waves of caustic juices rippled around her, and Alex was keenly aware that her clothes were beginning to dissolve. Her shirt was already tattered around her midriff, and her jeans felt more exposed with every passing second. Even her shoes were starting to erode. However, her skin barely stung, the acids not causing any serious damage yet. Alex focused on that positive note, as another bite fell into the gurgling stomach. She was now wading in the mushy soup, no longer able to touch the bottom as the stomach quickly filled.

After several minutes, the bites stopped coming, finished off by a long sip of coffee into the packed stomach. Alex was grateful for that, oddly enough. The sour stench of bile was replaced with that of roasted beans, at least for a moment. The churning slurry of melted foods and digestive enzymes tossed the tiny girl about, keeping her from getting more than one or two hits against any firm surface. She was beginning to feel fatigue set in, and started to think of the alternative way out. It wasn’t going to be pleasant, but at least she seemed to be immune to the harsh acids in a person’s stomach. Also, the contents seemed to be draining onto the next stage of digestion, the glorping sound of the sphincter below pulling Alex closer with each pulse. Finally, she felt her feet bump against a wrinkled surface that twitched at her touch, and took a deep breath. The floor beneath her stretched open, and with a short slurp, Alex was pulled under the surface.

********