The morning started out like normal, woke up early, used the bathroom, got dressed, but that was where I discovered the problem. The only clothes that fit me now were my elastic shorts, but even those were starting to get a little too loose for me. My shirts were almost two sizes to large for me now, and this was only from losing a total of five inches! I had to dig through my old dresser and almost gave up hope thinking I would need to go up into the attic to see if maybe Mom saved any of my old clothes and skip the run this morning, but thankfully I found a pair of old sweat pants and a much smaller sweatshirt.

    It wasn't ideal, but it would work for the time being, but unfortunately this was the sign I would need to get my ass over to the second hand store to get new clothes. Not something I was looking forward to as I knew that Gwen would start teasing me, especially if I shrunk anymore, but for now I could at least still look like I was wearing normal clothes.

    I had started taking the run at a much slower pace after I had, had my shrinking episode, mostly on both Mom, and Gwen's insistence. Though Gwen didn't show it, I could tell that the episode really shook her pretty heavily, and she seemed determined to prevent another episode. We would constantly stop every couple of yards, or so, so I could “take a break”, even when I had barely worked up a sweat.

    “Look, Gwen I'm alright, it was a learning experience, I'm not going to have another one, t least hopefully not for some time. So please stop having me stop every five seconds, this is becoming more of a waste of time than a workout, and I need to keep in shape if I'm to stave off the shrinking,” I say to her when we stop for the final time before we turn around to go back.

    “I don't care, I don't want you to go through that again! You have no idea how much pain you were in, I thought you were going to die!” shouted Gwen shiny tears in her brown eyes.

    “I'm not going to die alright? I'm fine, it was just a bad episode, worst case scenario I might end up the size of a doll a little faster, but I'm not going to die,” I say trying to reassure her.

    “I thought they said they were going to cure you,” she said hugging me tightly her red hair just below my eye level so it was at least a slight mental relief for me to know that I was taller than she was, but the question was, for how long?

    “They said they were researching a cure, but viruses are tricky, the fact that we've never cured the common cold, even though it's been around for millennia proves that much,” I say smiling as I then kiss her forehead.

    “Now stop worrying about me, I'm perfectly fine, and I'm not going to die on you, I know we lost Dad to a virus, but that's not going to happen to me, I promise, I'll always be around,” I say comfortingly.

    “Yeah, especially, if I keep you in my pocket!” I she said teasing me.

    “As tight as some of your clothes are I don't think I'd survive,” I say earning a punch to the arm.

    When we got back Mom informed me that the doctor had called and asked for me to come in for an examination. The problem with that was that it meant that Mom would have to take me, and take off work. That wouldn't have meant much, unless you were me, and you were shrinking away, and your mother is a worry wart. Normally I would have asked Gwen to take me to the doctor, but she had to take an examination to take at school today, and she couldn't afford to miss it.

    I was able to wear my old jeans for a little while longer, but only because I found an old belt that was just small enough to fit me, after I notched it anyway. The t-shirts thankfully weren't a problem, but I knew that there was no doubt about it I was going to need to get new clothes, or hopefully the research laboratory managed to find a way to cure me. If it did then I wouldn't need the new clothes, I'd be able to just enjoy being tall again.

    The drive was slow and tedious, Mom drove like an old lady, and just had to blare Britney Spears over the radio. So needless to say it was a very miserable experience, thankfully it only lasted for about ten minutes, but it felt a lot longer. When she parked the car I practically jumped out of the seat and wanted to run into the building, but I had to keep some form of maturity.

    I sat on the uncomfortable table top that every doctor office had, the white paper that covered the pleather surface crinkled and crunched with every move I made. Unfortunately for me, my mother decided she wanted to sit in on this visit instead of waiting in the car like I had asked her to do. It didn't take long before the doctor walked into the office, his usual look of absolute seriousness plastered on his chiseled face. His dark hair had white sides, like Mr. Fantastic from the comic books, he looked to be as old as my Mom, and from the look on my Mom's face she didn't seem to mind him too much.

    The barrage of tests soon followed after he gave me an initial examination, he took my vitals, checked my eyes, ears, had me strip so that he could checked my nether regions. It was starting to feel like I had come in for a sports physical instead of a life saving check up. The doctor left, the nurse came in, drew more blood, then the doctor came back in some time later.

    “Well Mr. Smith you're physically healthy as a horse, if it weren't for the virus running through your system, I'd say there was no point in coming here at all,” He said smiling at me.

    “The reason I called you here today is because there is a chance we may have found a way to halt the virus, it won't stop it for, forever, and if possible it may even make it worse, or accelerate it, there is no way to be sure until we run some tests on your blood,” He said again.

    “Well what would this treatment entitle?” I ask curiously.

    “Well, we would be using an extremely heavy dose of powerful antibiotics. If it works, you'll be bought a little more time,” He said.

    “But wouldn't that completely trash my kidneys and liver?” I asked knowing that this was a bad idea.

    “That's the risk that one runs with all antibiotics as you're aware, and we feel if this does work it could extend your time at this height by maybe a couple of years so long as we get the dosage and time between them correct,” said the Doctor.

    “I don't think I'll take the chance, even IF you did manage to slow it down, you said it yourself it would only be temporary. And I'd rather have my body functioning than to have something inside of me that would damage me further,”

    “Well it's your choice Mr. Smith, but I strongly suggest you think about it before you make a complete decision, sleep on it,” He said smiling kindly.

    “I don't need to sleep on it Doc, I have a doctorate in Virology, my entire job was to know what antibiotics would do to the human body, and I am not going to damage my own body in a slim chance,” I replied firmly.

    The drive to the store was a little quiet, Mom didn't really say a word, she didn't even turn on her radio. This I knew meant she disapproved of my decision, but I knew more about this field than she did, but I suppose at the same time, I would need to explain it to her, because all she knew was this would be something to save her son from possible oblivion.

    “Look I know you don't approve of my decision, but trust me, it's better that I just either let it run its course, or I get shorter. Trust me Mom it'd be better than having my kidneys trashed so badly I'd need to go on dialysis, and even if the antibiotics did work, once the virus mutated so that they wouldn't work it would come back in full force and possibly nuke my entire system,” I explain to her.

    “You're not even going to give it a chance David, you're just giving up!” she said almost crying now.

    “Mom, I'm not giving up trust me, I've been running my own tests on my blood and tracking the virus, so far it seems to trigger only when I'm having heavy periods of physical exertion, or when my immune system is low. As for curing it, it's like any other virus it mutates and is hard to create vaccine for, but if anyone can find a treatment to either stall it, or stop it, it will be me,” I say reassuring her.

    “You better, I don't want to lose one of my kids, on top of losing a husband,” she said smiling through tear stained cheeks.

    “I'm not going anywhere, but home with you, and eventually back to my own place,” I said chuckling as I hugged her tightly.

    The rest of the day went fairly normal, we stopped and went grocery shopping, and got me some new clothes, even a few smaller sizes, just encase.

    When I got home however I was met with Gwen, she looked less than pleased about something.

    “Hey Gwen, what's wrong?”asked mom.

    “I just got off the phone with your doctor, and he was still insisting on you getting some sort of treatment that could slow your shrinking, and you refused! Why?!” she shouted at me.

    “Like I told mom, there is no guarantee that it would work, and it would do my body more harm than good,” I said calmly.

    “Bullshit!” she shouted with the same tear filled look mom had given me.

    “No, it's not, sis they're just trying to go that route because they don't want to look for the cure, they just want to try and make me feel better emotionally. Because the antibiotics they were prescribing would have trashed my kidneys, or fried my liver before they even got close to finding a cure, and that's assuming that the virus wouldn't mutate and become immune to the antibiotics to begin with, and if it did then it would kick into overdrive. I'd shrink more rapidly, and possibly more painful than what has happened to me so far,” I say hoping to bring her around like I did mom.

    “But how can you be sure?! There is no way of knowing unless you actually try!” She shouted almost screaming at me.

    “Gwen I literally did antibiotics for a living, if anyone is going to know about this sort of thing I think it would be me,” I say smiling as I walked closer to her.

    “You're just giving up!” she said now crying harder as I started hugging her she pounded on my chest.

    “I'm not giving up, I've been working night and day trying to find something to treat myself, safely,” I say hugging her.

    “Y-You better be you asshole, because otherwise I'll drag you there myself and you'll get those antibiotics if it kills you,” she said hugging me now.

    “I promise,” I say grinning.

    When she finally left me go I walked into the house and ran upstairs to my room, while the doctor's might have given up on trying to cure me I truly hadn't. I walked over to my computer as I saw a message had appeared on the screen while I was away, I had been analyzing the DNA structure of the virus to see if I could break down what it had been created from.

    Genome sequences, and protein sequences flashed on screen as the computer gave me the rundown of what the thing was made from. It appeared to be a form of A.I.D.'s only instead of it causing my immune system to attack my cells and destroy them it was causing the cells to reduce not just my blood cells, but the very cells that made up the structure of my body. I actually sat there and nearly laughed myself stupid.

    If I had taken that antibiotic treatment that they had suggested it would have sent this shrinking virus into overdrive and I would have probably shrunk within the week instead of the rate I was going at now. Though the one thing that still bothered me is why they would have suggested something like this, surely they would have came upon the same results I had?

    My mind started to flash back to when I had encountered that female doctor when the accident first happened. I then decide to actually look into my current physician, my eyes widened with horror when I read through his profile.

    “Employed by VitaCorp, as a lead researcher in autoimmune disease,” I said reading the words out loud.

    I quickly ran out of my room and down the stairs taking them two at a time, I had to show this to both my mother and my sister.

    Thankfully they were both sitting on the couch, I breathed heavily, as I quickly told them to follow me back up the stairs. First I showed them the results of the scans of my blood, then I told them my thoughts and how I couldn't understand how the doctor's office didn't find this the same way that I did. They nodded and began to follow the same line of thinking I was now.

    “So, I did a little research on my doctor,” I say bringing up the web page showing my doctor's profile.

    “B-But that says,” stuttered my mother.

    “That he works for VitaCorp,” I finished.

    “S-So do you think that this is all apart of that crap about the bioweapons they were planning to make?” asked Gwen anger showing on her face.

    “Sis I think that's exactly, what's going on, they are still continuing their research, but under the guise of trying to help the victims,” I said almost spitting.

    “We have to go to the police about this!” said mom.

    “And do what mom? We have no proof about any of this, and the worst part of it is, I have to keep seeing this doctor at least until the trial is over,” I say as my eyes widen.

    “That's why they wanted to give me the antibiotics! They wanted to accelerate the process! I shrink down and disappear and they don't need to pay out for damages rendered,” I say almost shouting angrily.

    “Sweetie you can't go back there, if you do they're going to kill you!” said my mom.

    “Mom I have to it's a court order that I have to see these doctors until I get my money, and Vitacorp and all of its constituents get a one way trip to jail,” I said sensibly.

    “But, but,” she said trying to argue.

    “No, buts this time mom, I have to do it, it's the only way don't worry I won't take anything they give me, or try to, unless I check it out for myself,” I say reassuringly.

    “I just hope we can get you through this before something bad truly happens,” said Gwen.

    “Yeah me too sweetheart, I don't want to lose you,” said mom.

    “I promise I'm not going anywhere, though I might need to ride around on a drone,” I say chuckling then I actually sat there for a moment and just imagined what that would be like then I shivered because I knew the only way that something like that could happen would be if my sister were to be the one driving it.

    “I'll just make sure to leave you on the roof,” Gwen replied laughing.