The blazing hot August sun battered down on Josh as his tired, blistered fingers trimmed away at the hedges. He wiped a trail of sweat from his forehead and peered over at his wristwatch. "Ugh, it's only one o'clock," he whined to himself quietly. We would have screamed it to the heavens if it weren't for the fact Miss Johnson was lounging by the pool only twenty feet away.

"Josh!" She called out. "Chop chop, those hedges aren't going to trim themselves!"

"Yes ma'am..."

Josh had been involuntarily servicing Miss Johnson all summer per request of his own mother. "You need to get out of your room," Josh's mom would tell him. He did her yardwork, cleaned her house, and essentially slaved over her every weekend against his will. All he got in return was a measly five-dollar bill at the end of every afternoon.

The clouds began to open up, causing the sun's harsh rays to strike Josh's pale skin painfully. He began to groan with every clip and slash of the bushes as he felt his neck tighten up.

"Miss Johnson..."

"Yes? Why have you stopped?"

"May I please have a break?" Josh asked, setting the shears down onto the ground. "I've been out here for hours..."

She raised her sunglasses and gave him an evil eye. "You have sixty seconds inside. After that, you're back outside. Understand?"

"Yes... ma'am!" He yelled back as he darted for the patio door.

Josh swung inside and immediately searched for a paper cup throughout all of the pantry. He grasped the first cup he saw and rammed it under the refridgerator's water dispenser. Three full cups of ice water later, Josh was gasping for air. As his time inside began to run out, he rummaged through the kitchen drawers looking for sunscreen. He flung open the drawer underneath the sink to find a white tube. Without hesitating, he clenched the tube and squeezed a load of the thick, light-blue gel all over his visible body.

"Five, four..." Miss Johnson counted down. "Three, two, one-"

The sound of the patio door furiously opening as Josh stumbled outside interrupted her countdown. "I'm back, I'm here," he panted loudly.

"With only half a second to spare. Did I hear you going through my things?" Miss Johnson asked, crossing her arms as she lounged on the poolside chair.

"N-No, ma'am," he lied. "I just went in for a cup of water, just like you allowed me."

"Good," she huffed. "Now, finish those hedges or I'm deducting your pay in half."

Josh clenched his fists in anger, but obeyed by her rules. He would never want his mother to hear he had been disobedient to a neighbor, no matter how much of a bitch she was. His muscles twitched as he pushed the shears together, clipping away at the backyard's hedges. The sun showed no mercy and only intensified on that dreadfully hot late-summer day. He began to feel his entire body sweat and tingle, more than he had ever felt before. In his mind, he assumed he was going into heat stroke.

"Oh, Josh..."

"I'm taking care of the hedges, Miss Johnson!" he said gritting his teeth. "No worries!"

"Josh," her voice began to get louder.

"I'll be done in a second!" Josh shouted feeling his entire body vibrate with rage.

"Josh!"

"WHAT!?" Josh yelled, turning around only to be met face to face with a solid fleshy wall. He froze in confusion, unaware of what was happening.

"You little shit. I thought I told you not to go through my things."

As Josh leaned his head up to the clouds, he was met with the towering silhouette of Miss Johnson in her bikini. Her now-massive head was now blocking the sun as if she were a gigantic monolith. He began to scream frantically and run, only to find he had no chances of escaping her.

"That cream you rubbed on yourself? Probably my weight-loss cream I use to burn fat. Looks like it just burned you away though!" she laughed, wriggling her giant toes towards him.

Josh yelled out and cried as her huge toe approached him quickly, stopping only centimeters from crushing him into the dirt.

"You little fucking bug, look at you. You're just as useless as you were before you shrank," she chuckled from above. "I knew you were stupid, I just didn't know you were THIS stupid." Against Josh's screams and howls, she picked him up with her fingertips and dropped his tiny body into her palm. "There's no use in keeping you at this size; after all, it is your fault," she taunted. "I suppose I'll finish you off with some more of that skin cream."

Josh wailed before she ultimately closed her hand shut.

Miss Johnson continued to lay out by the pool as the sun began to set behind the clouds, leaving the sky a gorgeous fuschia color. She sipped from her wine glass and grinned as her fingers lazily rubbed against her sides. The additional cream she had applied to her love handles was working its magic as it was slowly tingling and burning away at her fat. Inside the magic was Josh, shrunken to a now unsalvageable state as he was gradually absorbed into his neighbors skin.

"Y'know Josh? I think your work here is done. Have a great rest of your summer!" she cheerfully joked to herself before taking another refreshing sip.