Have you ever made a wish that, after thinking about, you know is a bad idea? Like, “Oh, I wish I was the ruler of the world!” It sounds good at first, but then you think about the semantics and realize that you’d have to take care of everything and everyone. Wouldn’t be worth it. 

My name is Sam. My parents called me Mouse on account of my tendency to tread light and speak soft. I’m an average girl with average hobbies, I do average things and I try not to stand out too much. I was sorta the invisible girl. Ya know, the one in the background that no one really gives the time of day because… well, they don’t ask for it. Still, I was given all the attention I could ever want. 

And today was no different. Today was very normal. That’s why I was currently in the bathroom trying to wash the bloodstain off my blouse. It wasn’t anything serious. My nose bleeds sometimes when I get stressed and, heh, stressed was an understatement. 

The school dance was coming up and I was the only senior without a date. Not to mention the science finals were creeping up and I was nowhere near done with my final project! But none of that was on my mind right now because I was currently trying to scrub out the light red bloodstain off my white shirt. 

It was hardly visible at this point, but still, it upset me. And my day wouldn’t calm down from there. As I stared into the mirror, running tap water over my hands to rub at the stain, Piper walked in. 

“Hey there, Shortcake,” she greeted, ruffling my strawberry blonde hair as she walked past me.
“I’m not short,” I huffed.
“Shorter than me. Therefore, and excuse my lack of scientific process, you’re short.” 

She gave me a smug smirk before looking towards the mirror and gently pulling her eyelid down away from her eye. 

“Shit…” she muttered, lightly poking her eye, “I lost my damn contact. I think it’s still in my eye somewhere.” 

I stayed quiet and received a side eye from Piper. 

“Why, yes, Sam, I would like some help,” she huffed, stepping up to me. 

She took my shoulders in her hands and turned me towards her and stared into my eyes. I felt my face get warm as our eyes locked. Her light brown hair cascading down her shoulders, framing her sharp jaw with bouncy curls. Deep hazel eyes stared into mine as a soft smile crossed over her glossed lips. 

“I- um-” I stammered, realizing my task and gently leaning in to get a better look.
“It should stand out,” she noted, pulling her eyelid down a little. 

The sudden sound of the door opening was enough to change the mood of the scene very quickly. Piper grabbed my collar without missing a beat and shoved me backwards, making me stumble and land flat on my ass. 

“Jesus,” she muttered, “Back off, weirdo.” 

With those cold words, she turned her back to me and walked out. And it hurt. I-I can’t tell you why, but… um… I could never bring myself to be upset with her. 

Piper brushed past the group who had walked in, gently rubbing her eye as she did so. My heart dropped when those cold blue eyes locked onto me from behind a veil of blond bangs. 

“Well, if it isn’t little Sammy.”
I sighed, “H-Hey,” I stammered.
“H-H-H-Hey,” she mocked, “‘Hey’ what?” 

I stared down at the tiled floor. 

“Oh, poor Sammy,” she cooed with a tsk, “We’ve been over this so many times.” 

She held out her hand before one of her lackeys handed her a blood red tube of lipstick. With a cocky strut, she walked up to me and flicked off the lid of the makeup. She quickly took a handful of my shirt and pulled it taught across my shoulders before pressing the red wax against the white surface. 

“Wait!” I shouted, but as her eyes darted back up to mine, I quickly shut my mouth and looked away.
“That’s what I thought.” 

She slowly dragged her makeshift marker over my shirt, spelling out two words. 

“Veronica’s Property.” 

She smirked before saying as light as a giddy child, “Now maybe that will help you remember! So, ‘hey,’... what…?”
I hung my head, “Hello, master…”
“Oh, come on,” she complained, grabbing my chin and bringing my face up to hers, “At least sound happy about seeing me.” 

I kept quiet and watched her smirk slowly disappear. She glanced over her shoulder and nodded at one of the girls who handed over Veronica’s bag. Slowly, my so called, “master,” pulled a handheld stun gun out of her bag and pressed the metal tong into my shoulder. Her thumb ominously hovering over the button. 

Her slender fingers wrapped themselves in my hair before she tugged, forcing me to look up at her. 

They left the bathroom probably twenty minutes later. I didn’t. Lunch was over by now and I knew my math teacher would come looking for his star student, but I figured it’d be better not to walk yet. 

My muscles were quivering and my fingers tingled with a staticy buzz. Blood dripped from my nose, staining my collar and leaving a coppery taste on my lips. Small, bloody wounds coated the palms of my hands from where my fingernails had dug into the skin. 

“Idiot…” I huffed, lightly bangging my head against the wall behind me. “All you had to do was play along…” 

With a wince, I pulled myself to the sink and hoisted myself up. Staring at my bloodied face in the mirror. My ruined shirt mocking me. I’d fantasize a million times a day about fighting back, but the truth was I wasn’t strong enough to. I wiped the blood from my nose and left a long red streak down my sleeve after deciding the shirt was beyond cleaning. 

I wished it was easier. I wished I was so small they’d never find me again. Yeah. Stupid, I know. Instead of magic and odd defying action, I swallowed my pride and limped my way out into the hallway and down to my locker. I pulled my hoodie out from the metal box and zipped it up over Veronica’s branding, trying to forget it ever happened. 

With no evidence of anything having happened other than a light pink stain on my upper lip, I stumbled my way to my next class and buried myself in my work. 

I found myself focusing very heavily on my science project, even had Piper say she’d help bring it to school when it was done this weekend. Which I needed because the machine was huge. The idea was for a way to duplicate items by separating the matter into two smaller versions of the same thing. 

Sort of a mock cloning, but it was really a loophole for me to do a bit of research into some scientific ideas that were complex and would most certainly not be approved by the school board. The only reason I got away with this was because I passed it off as so dumb experiment of making something to “measure” mass. 

Either way, I had a good mindset after getting off the bus and decided to get back to work on what I was coming to call, “The Divider.” In a broad sense, I was pretty nearly done. All the screws were in, the motherboards were programmed, everything was wired. The problem was going to be testing it because… well… there was a slight chance some atoms get split and I blow up half the city. Slight chance. 

I idly chipped away at various things that needed doing before deciding to pull off my hoodie. I saw the red stains again as I slid down the zipper and frowned. I had gotten so good at forgetting this kind of stuff. But now I had a reminder. She went too far.  

I scowled as I angrily zipped up my hoodie and marched out of my garage and to the shower. Throwing the shirt away, I stepped into the glass cubicle, turning the water up as hot as it would go in a small burst of anger. Steam filled the air quickly as I winced from the scalding pain tingling through my skin, but I didn’t touch the knobs. 

“Idiot!” I seethed at myself, “Why couldn’t you just swallow your stupid fucking pride?” 

My long hair matted and stuck to my skin as water seeped into it and I found myself looking in the foggy mirror across the room with my back to the showerhead. I felt the heat scrape across my spine with grit teeth before huffing a sigh of discontent and turning off the water. I took another glance at the shirt in the trash can. 

“Never again.” 

I pulled open a small drawer under the sink and grabbed a pair of scissors. Without much thought, I took a large handful of my wet hair and snipped it off. By the time I came back to my senses, my hair was a butchered mess. Unevenly cut into a mock pixie cut. Ruffled and spiked from drying weird. 

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. There wasn’t much else to do from that point. I got dressed, grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and walked back out to the garage. I carefully placed the fruit on a glass plate and stood next to the large machine pointed at it. 

If it blew up, at least I wouldn’t have to find a date to the dance. I flicked it on.

The machine whirred to life with an electrical buzz, basking the closed off garage with bright blue light that made me squint. I cursed myself for not thinking of eye protection, but a shine of the apple’s surface took my mind off it. 

“Shit, wax,” I huffed as I turned to the divider to shut it down, but when I touched the metal casing, I was shocked bad enough to force me to withdraw my hand. 

I barely had time to glance back at the target before a condensed beam of energy shot from the divider and crashed into the fruit, but the waxy coating of the preserved fruit deflected the light, spraying it throughout the room like a disco ball. I remember getting caught in the chest with a stray beam… then nothing. 

I woke up cold, and on a hard metal surface. I was laid flat against the hood of my mom’s car, but something was off. That was easy to tell, but my vision was so blurred that I couldn’t make out my surroundings. I vaguely could make out the colors around me, and it looked like I was still in my garage, but it wasn’t the same. My eyes started to focus and I could see the walls getting farther and farther away than I thought they were. 

Suddenly, I came to a couple realizations. First, I was two inches tall. Secondly, the divider worked. Thirdly, there should be a second me somewhere if everything had worked how it was supposed to and, judging by my size, I was guessing that clone had most of my matter. 

Speaking of clones, I was laid out on a miniature version of my mom’s car. The big one looked like it didn’t change much, there was certainly a toy sized version of my mom’s car under me. It was too small to use, but the concept that the matter distribution was random fascinated me. I glanced around and noticed a bellow of steam drifting into the air from behind a knocked over chair. A sudden thought crossed my mind. I had no idea how the divider would work on organic matter. 

Nerves overtook me as I slowly inched my way towards the chair. Just beyond that veil was a steaming pile of biowaste. The rest of my matter. Not assembled like everything else, but pulped and piled up like a mound of ground beef. 

I stumbled backwards and landed on my ass. I-I… I couldn’t fix this. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a knock at the garage door. 

“Sam?” Piper asked, “Are you home? You said you’d leave this thing open!” 

Piper! Piper would help me! She had to. Shaking the sight of my… matter piled up, I ran back to the miniature version of the car and pulled open the door. I crossed my fingers and pushed down on the horn. 

Outside, Piper heard the smallest of beeps and cocked an eyebrow. 

“Um…” She muttered, taking a step back and looking over to the door, “Is there an intercom or something…?” 

The beeps continued and Piper frowned before deciding to take matters into her own hands. She flipped open the small panel next to the garage door and looked over the keypad. With three button presses, the door opened and she chuckled as she stepped inside. A plastic bag with two sodas in her hand. 

“Hey, Sam?” she asked looking over the room, “I let myself in. I… um… Sam?” 

Nearly every item in the room had a duplicate of varying sizes. Exact copies of tools and papers sat next to each other, random garage junk had been thrown around. It looked like an explosion had gone off in the small space. As she scanned the room, her eyes suddenly locked onto the pile of what used to be me. 

The bag fell out of her hand and crashed to the floor, spilling the drinks, as Piper stood there. Her mind obviously trying to process what she was staring at. 

“S-Sam…?” she stammered before taking a step back and covering her mouth. 

Her shoulders bobbed up and down as she gagged, but stopped as she turned her back to me and planted her hands on her knees, staring into the pavement. 

“Holy shit,” she whispered, her voice quivering and shaking. 

I pressed down on the horn again and Piper slowly looked over her shoulder to the site of the noise. Relief washed over her face as she saw me leaning out of the tiny car. With every bit of skill you’d expect the captain of the soccer team to have, she jumped over an awkwardly sized spare tire before sliding on her hip, stopping just next to me. 

“Fucking christ!” she exclaimed in a quiet huff, “What the shit happened, Sam!? Wh- Who-”
I interjected as loudly as I could to get her attention, “It’s okay! No one’s dead! That’s just… That’s… um… well, the rest of me.”
“The rest of you!?” she asked, panic overtaking her hushed voice, “Are- What are you missing? Can you breathe okay?”
“I’m not missing anything!” I assured, trying my best to keep the situation simple, “It’s just extra matter that I don’t need at this size.” 

Piper dropped her face into her hand and rubbed her temple before changing position into a kneeling position and hesitantly reaching for me. 

“Um…” she started, “Do-Do you mind?” 

I just shook my head and looked away as she gently picked me up. I was no taller than her pinky finger. 

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath, “How do we fix this? Should I call someone?”
“No!” I shouted, but reeled myself back, “I mean, the divider isn’t exactly legal.”
“Well, turn it on reverse!”
I sighed as I stared at the lifeless chunk of me on the ground, “I… I can’t.” 

She stared down at me. Empathy heavy in her eyes. 

“O-Okay,” she started, “I’ll go get your parents and then we’ll work from there!”
“You can’t do that either,” I admitted, pinching the bridge of my nose, “My parents abandoned me two years ago.” 

Her face blank and jaw slightly slack, she cocked her head to the side and enticed me to continue. 

“Okay, that’s a lie,” I admitted, “But seriously! You cannot tell them! They can’t get a chance at me like this. I won’t survive it.”
Piper stared at me quizzically, “What the fuck are you talking about?” 

I looked down at the ground. A moment of silence passed before Piper nodded. 

“I see…” she said before pausing. 

I looked back up at her face. Her hazel eyes looked so much deeper now and thoughts passed behind them. 

“Well,” she said with a sigh, “I can’t leave you alone. And I can’t leave you with your parents. I know for a fact you don’t have friends.”
“Thanks, I really needed an ego check right now,” I huffed sarcastically.
Her soft lips curled into an innocent smile as she shushed me, saying, “Relax. I’m kidding. Seriously though, I’m not leaving you here like this. Can-... How do I say this?” 

A silence passed. 

“Um, wanna have a sleepover?” 

“Why did you bring drinks?” I asked, breaking the silence of the long drive.
Piper, barely having heard me from my perch on the edge of her dash, cocked an eyebrow before saying, “Why don’t we talk when I’m off the road. I don’t wanna hit a bump and lose you under the seats.” 

I nodded. She was right. Luckily, I was never really scared of heights and felt more or less safe sitting with my feet just barely hanging off the edge of the plastic dashboard. Still, I was nervous. 

I hadn’t been completely honest with Piper about why she couldn’t tell my parents about what happened. I mean, I wasn’t worried about her catching on, but if I disappeared from school then that would attract a lot of attention I didn’t want. 

Not to say I didn’t feel bad about lying to Piper. I guess it was fair to say I had a crush on her, if that wasn’t obvious by now, but I felt like that was pretty fair. People like people, I didn’t need to justify that to myself. And yet I am. Ugh. 

With a sigh, I rolled over onto my stomach and stared out the front windshield. Everything was so big. It felt like the world was looking down on me with how it all moved. Cars driving by looked like comets with how massive they were. Buildings were nearly past my comprehension. I think the only reason that I wasn’t freaking out was because I knew what all this stuff was at normal size. I suddenly had a real empathy for squirrels. 

Still though. With the mix of odd emotions and my current company, I felt oddly confident. 

Suddenly, Piper took a turn and I slid a bit to the side, coming to a stop near the door. 

“Woah,” Piper muttered, putting the car in park after pulling up to her house, “Hold on, Shortcake,” She stopped herself, “Err- Sam. Sorry. Force of habit.” 

I frowned slightly, but held my tongue. There wasn’t much point in trying to talk to her before she shut off the car anyway, but to my surprise, it didn’t look like that was going to be her next step. Piper quickly threw a few things into her purse before looking around a little. 

“Um, crap,” she huffed, finally turning off the car.
“What’s wrong? Did you forget something?”
“No. Um, I was going to hide you in my bag,” she explained, holding up her leather purse for reference, “But I don’t have anything to pad it. I don’t want you getting pinned under my phone or some shit.”
I cringed, “Yeah, that doesn’t sound ideal.” 

I quickly corrected my posture and stood, lightly brushing the dust off myself. 

“Well, I mean, I have one idea,” Piper started, “But you might not like it.”
“Oh, you mean like it less than being kept in a cage and possibly dissected by government funded sadists? Because if it’s that bad, just step on me.”
“Jesus, Sam,” Piper scoffed, “You’re chipper today.”
“I feel like I can justify a little bit of pent up aggression.”
Piper rolled her eyes, “Okay, brat, here’s your options. I could put you in my purse and just try my best to keep it stable, or…” she went quiet.
“Anything safer, please,” I begged and saw an odd rush of emotions behind her eyes. 

She looked guilty and embarrassed, but there was something else to it. It looked forced. I was surprised at how easy it was to read the tiny movements in her facial features at this size. 

“Okay, sometimes when I don’t want to carry my bag around with me and I don’t have pockets, I keep my phone tucked in my waistband,” she mentioned, “If you see where I’m going with this.”
“... Piper, I know there’s rumors about me around school, but I’m not that desperate to get into your pants.” 

WHY DID I SAY THAT!? 

I was halfway to a stress induced heart attack when I heard a soft chuckle from Piper. A nice warm feeling of relief radiated through my stomach. 

“Dork,” she huffed, pressing the pad of her finger against the top of my head and ruffling my hair. 

Her eyes suddenly narrowed. 

“Did you cut your hair?”
I looked down and quickly changed the subject, saying, “I think it’d be safer if I went in your waistband.”
The corner of her mouth dropped into a half frown, but she nodded, “Right. Okay, since I don’t wanna bump anything, I’m gonna put you front and center. Figure you wouldn’t appreciate a hip check from someone two hundred times your size.” 

I nodded. 

… 

… 

Piper sighed and took a piece of gum in her mouth before looking up to my perch, “Peppermint, one some?”
“O-Oh, uh, no thanks.” 

… 

… 

“So…” she started, breaking the silence, “Guess, I’ll… um, do it now.”
“Okay.” 

… 

… 

“Do you think it’d be easier if I closed my eyes?” I asked.
“Do I think putting a living person literally in my pants would be easier if they closed their eyes? No, not much.”
“Well, don’t think of me as a person then,” I suggested, “Pretend I’m a toy or something for a little bit.”
“I-,” she bit her lip, “I dunno, Sam. That feels kinda fucked.”
“Kinda fucked would be a nice refresher to the rest of my day so far.” 

With a short period of silent eye contact, Piper nodded and gently reached out for me. I climbed into her palm and felt her warm fingers wrapped around my body with the hesitant pressure of someone holding a piece of clay. She lowered me past her chest before bringing me close to her body and pulling open the waistband of her leggings. 

She carefully pressed me against her abs and slowly let the pants settle back into place. 

“Is that too much pressure?” she asked, staring down at me.
“No,” I reassured, shaking my head, “It’s okay.” 

She slowly nodded and stepped out of her truck. It was so warm, pressed that close to her. It was like having a heated blanket, but overwhelming and more plush. Odd to say, but overwhelming in a good way. Kinda like being wrapped up in bed with no other stimulus. 

“Just tap me if you need me to pull you out,” Piper mentioned as she walked inside her house. 

She carefully peered through the door to make sure the coast was clear before stepping inside. Decided there was no immediate threat, she stopped to kick her shoes off at the door before heading to her room, but did so hastily. There was nothing that warranted avoidance about her family, but Piper was trying desperately to avoid hugs at that moment. 

“Okay,” she whispered, closing her door and locking it, “Coast is clear, Sam.” 

Piper quickly pulled her shirt up past her waist to see the absence of me. What she didn’t realize was that raising her legs and bending over to pull off her shoes caused her abs to shift and move me downward. I went from being comfortably hugged by the spandex, to being smothered by it. I could hardly move, but in my frantic struggling, I managed to drop a bit lower. Officially being free from the strip of elastic that hugged Piper’s waist so tightly, I dropped freely down a couple relative feet into the hammock of spandex that ran parallel to her panties. 

I blushed as I realized where I was. 

Luckily, my accidental captor had figured what would’ve happened and slowly pulled her pants away from her stomach, peering down them. She let out a sigh of relief as she found me and gently pulled me out. 

“Okay,” she started, “Didn’t think I needed to address this, but do I need to give you a list of body parts you should be nowhere near at this size?”
My face was hot with embarrassment and I failed to make eye contact with her as I muttered a very soft and defeated, “Sorry.” 

A gentle hum escaped Piper’s lips as she rubbed my back with her thumb. 

“Oh, no,” she cooed, “Don’t feel bad. I was kidding. I know it wasn’t your fault.”
“Can we not talk about it?” I requested suddenly, burying my face in my hands.
Piper chuckled, “Well, if you have a better topic in mind.”
“The drinks,” I started, shocking her with how quickly I settled down, “Why did you bring drinks when you showed up to load the divider? And why were you so early?” 

She smirked. 

“Ya know, for someone as smart as you, you’re a real dumbass sometimes.” 

A sudden knock at Piper’s door made her jump, but she quickly composed herself and hid me away in a drawer before calling back to the door to tell whoever was knocking that she was getting dressed. 

I laid flat on the hard wood surface of the bottom of drawer when I realized I still had my clothes on. Well- Obviously, I had realized that before, but I didn’t understand what it meant until I thought about it. Everything I was touching when I shrank must’ve gotten the same amount of energy I did. Meaning…! 

I quickly dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone. 

“Yes!” I exclaimed, unlocking it and scrolling to the flashlight app. 

As the beam of light bore through the darkness, I let out a sigh of relief. Who knew what kinda weird science crap could’ve made this implasable and unrealistic, I was just glad I wasn’t stuck describing a dark drawer for the next two-hundred words, READER. 

It was a typical junk drawer. Random coins were spread around the ground and a mess of tangled cords pushed into the back half of the space. It was odd. Like I was in some sort of weird art exhibit. 

I smirked to myself as I pulled open my texts and found Piper’s number. I hadn’t used it since freshman year when we were still closer friends, but it felt like a good time to break the silence. I snapped a few pictures of random sections of the drawer and sat cross legged in the center, compiling the various images into one collage before attaching the image to a text. 

“Okay corners. Polished floor. No windows? 8/10” 

I giggled to myself as I sent it to Piper. Much to my surprise, her phone buzzed from somewhere deeper in the drawer. I cocked an eyebrow and wormed my way through the cords, pinging it every once in a while to get my bearings, before finding the illuminated screen of Piper’s old phone. She must’ve gotten a new number with her current phone. 

I glanced down at the notification of my text and smiled. She still had my contact saved. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was nice to know. Something was off though. Why was her old phone charged? I had to use the heel of my palm, but I finally got the phone to register my touches. 

I swiped away the notifications of my texts as new ones filled the screen. Odd texts. Things that were cryptic and hinting at something I couldn’t piece together. Not that I got much time to read them over before movement caught my eye. I glanced up and froze. The phone’s light barely caught the bottom of something fuzzy. And eight turquoise orbs shined down at me. A fucking spider. 

I slowly backed up, but tripped over a wire and landed flat on my back. I saw the spider twitch and instinctively put my arms up to defend myself, but it didn’t move. Suddenly, the large phone went into sleep mode and I was cast into darkness. Not wanting to give it any more of an opportunity, I bolted, frantically crawling my way back through the cords, but I could feel the cords moving beyond what I was doing. It was following me. 

It felt like a maze trying to leave, but I eventually found my way out, stumbling head of heels onto the wooden floor. I pulled my phone up and quickly checked behind me. The little tunnel I had wiggled my way through was now filled with light brown movement of frantic legs. A scream escaped me against my will as I backpedaled, but as I did so, I felt something grab my leg. 

I tripped and landed against a slanted net before realizing it had chased me into its web. 

“Shit,” I huffed, twisting my body to try and pull an arm free or anything. 

Luckily, half the web seemed to be coated with a fine layer of dust and my left side was free to move, but I still couldn’t run. The eight legged beast emerged from the pile of wires, much less rushed now as it carefully felt its way over to me. I tugged at the web with everything I had, but I couldn’t pull myself free. 

It got closer and closer to me until I saw the tiny hairs on its legs and an idea popped into my head. With everything I could muster, I screamed. A shrill, ear shattering screech that hurt my throat. The spider nearly leapt back, waving it’s legs to detect the threat, but still backing away. I stopped for a second, but only to take a deep breath and scream again, only stopping when my throat was raw and my voice was gone. It backed off farther before retreating next to the mess of wires, assuming a much bigger creature was coming. 

And it just so happened that one was. Piper pulled open the drawer and scanned the front of the drawer before tracing her eyes along the corners. Her hazel eyes locked onto me in the spider's web, then darted to the spider. I could see her shudder before she quickly hooked the web with her finger and tore it away, freeing me. Doing this, however, seemed to alert the spider to something being in its web. 

It charged at me again. Piper, startled by the sudden movement of the arachnid, pulled her hand back and inadvertently left me completely exposed to the monster. 

“Fuck,” she hissed, realizing her mistake but was quick to act. 

I was suddenly hit with a glob of something warm and slimy, that reeked of peppermint. Completely drenched, head to toe, I watched as the spider backed off into its hiding spot, those glowing eyes still watching me from the blackness. 

“Piper,” I started, wiping a layer of spit off my face, “What the fuck was that?”
I looked up to see her blushing, “Uh, well, spiders- um, generally… stay away from things that smell like… peppermint. So… since I was chewing the gum earlier, I-”
“You spit on me?”
“I spit on you.”
I sighed, “Just… get me something to wipe this off.”

My eyes locked with Piper’s for a heated minute. 

“You can’t be serious,” I muttered.
She rolled her eyes, resting her chin in her hand and arm on the bathroom counter, “Well, I am. So, hurry up. This is weird for me too, ya know.” 

I crossed my arms with a subtle squelch that made me cringe. I was suddenly more motivated by that. 

“Okay, fine,” I yielded, “But you need to close your eyes!”
“Sam-”
“I offered in the car! You owe me that!” 

Piper sighed, but decided to humor me. She turned her back to me and leaned lightly against the counter, inadvertently putting me directly in front of her ass. Which did not help the situation. I bit my cheek as my face warmed with a blush. I started to undress. 

“I’m gonna have to look sooner or later anyway,” Piper noted, looking over her shoulder despite her eyes being closed.
“Yeah, I know,” I said, my voice meek and embarrassed. 

She let out a curious hum after I said that, but didn’t say anything which rattled my nerves. After pulling off my spit soaked clothes, I covered myself with my arms which wasn’t difficult. My features were always… well, modest. 

“O-Okay,” I called out, “I’m ready.”
Piper quickly turned around and dropped to a kneel to match my height, “Good, now tell me if you get uncomfortable.” 

With less hesitation than previous, Piper scooped me up in an open palm and held me under the spout of a nearby hand soap. She pumped out a small glob of soap onto the heel of her palm before bringing her hand under the faucet. With her free hand, she twisted the warm on and tested the temperature a couple times. 

“Tell me if it’s too hot, okay?” 

I nodded to her as she moved her fingers under the tap. Her cupped hand quickly filled up with warm water that came up to about my ankles. I scooped a handful of the hand soap onto myself and stepped under the stream of water as if I was taking a shower. Piper chuckled softly. 

“Ya know what’s weird?” she asked, resting her chin against the countertop, “This isn’t.”
“I disagree.”
“Well, yeah, no doy, ya brat. I’m saying this isn’t weird for me. It’s like… I dunno… Like you’re a pet or something I’m taking care of.” 

I stopped for a second and locked eyes with her. 

She quickly diverted her gaze, saying, “Sorry if that was weird of me to say.”
I gently shook my head, “No. I- um. I get it.”
“Hey, Sam?” she started, resetting the momentum of the conversation, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, “Yeah, it’s fine. The water could be a little warmer.” 

Piper rolled her eyes before adjusting the temperature. 

“No, dumbass,” she said with a small smile that quickly fell, “I mean more… big picture. How are you doing?” 

Another lengthy silence filled the room. 

“Can this wait until I’m dressed?” I asked, a forced smile on my face.
She scoffed, “Yeah. Probably a good idea.” 

After a couple minutes of scrubbing, I finally washed the smell of Piper’s breath out of my hair but realized I couldn’t put on my old clothes since they were still damp. Piper noticed my frown and snapped her fingers before diving down to dig through the cupboards. 

“Crap,” she huffed before standing and walking to the door.
“Where are you going!?” I called out to her, loud as I could to make sure she heard me.
“My mom’s bathroom. She has a hairdryer I think.” 

With that, she stepped out of the bathroom and hurried down the hall and out of sight. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and was happy to see it stayed mostly dry thanks to my case. Taking the small victory at face value, I turned on my phone and cursed myself for not asking for Piper’s new number. 

Then I noticed a text. 

“Where r u? Need my slave xoxo,” sent by the one and only, Veronica. 

That wasn’t the part that made this worth mentioning though. It was sent two days ago. I looked at the day. Sunday. I lost three whole days!? So, Piper wasn’t early, I had missed school for the past two days in a row, and no one was answering the home phone. 

Hesitantly, I opened my browser with fingers crossed, but there it was. At the top of my local news feed. “Local family missing.” I quickly tapped on it, learning that police were working on getting a warrant for my house after performing a wellness check just earlier today. Piper must’ve just missed them. 

But maybe this was for the best. I could convince myself of that. There was enough of me left in the garage to declare me legally dead. They wouldn’t look for me. I just hoped Piper had been discreet enough about leaving my house. Speaking of… 

The door to the bathroom slowly swung open as Piper snuck back in. 

“Okay,” she started, “I got the hair dryer, but my mom’s gonna want it back.”
“Why would I care about that, Piper?” I snarked, “I’m not planning on making this an everyday occurrence.”
Piper scoffed, “There it is again!” she shouted, “What’s up with you!?” 

I was suddenly poked in the chest and knocked onto my ass as Piper leaned in. 

“You’ve been all over the place lately!” she exclaimed, “Like, I can’t keep you in the same mood for more than two minutes!” 

I stayed silent as Piper’s eyes drilled into me, but she eventually yielded with a sigh and backed off. 

“Look,” she started, “I get that this can’t be an easy transition to deal with, but you have got to cut the fronts here. I’m trying to help you. Stop trying to cover your ass with these stupid quips and this-this- Fucking, I don’t know what it is! But it’s annoying as hell! So stop being an entitled piece of shit and accept that I’m helping you clean up your fuck up!”
“I-,” I started, but was cut off.
“No!” Piper shouted, “You say nothing right now! Just shut up and think before you talk yourself out of experiencing an actual healthy fucking emotion. You need to process this instead of bottling it and taking it out on me for just trying to be helpful.” 

With an annoyed sigh, Piper gently pinched my clothes off the counter and sat in the corner of the room next to an outlet to dry them off. 

So, that was a shock. I pulled my knees to my chest with eyes still wide and mouth glued shut. I guess I didn’t really think about it too heavily because of everything else going on… but what the fuck was I going to do? I was two inches tall for Christ's sake! And the only way I could change that was with a pile of steaming, decomposing slop that used to be… me… Wait a minute… 

“Piper!” I shouted, suddenly getting to my feet. 

Her glare nearly sat me back down, but as she rolled her eyes, her gaze softened. 

“Yeah?” she muttered, obviously still upset with me.
I bit my lip, contemplating a few things before clenching my fists, “I… I just wanted to say I’m sorry.” I said, backing away from the original topic, “You’re right. I’ve been a real bitch about everything.”
Piper let out a long sigh, “Damnit, Sam,” she whispered, standing and walking back to the counter, “You aren’t a bitch. You’re traumatized. And you aren’t dealing with it. I’m not mad at you, and I shouldn’t’ve yelled at you in the first place, but it’s like you can’t even tell you’re numb.” 

Piper kneeled, handing me the dried clothes. 

“Look, I’m talking out my ass here,” she continued, “But it doesn’t take a therapist to see you aren’t okay.” 

I quickly pulled my shirt back on, covering me for the most part. The collar was still a little damp and I still smelled like mint, but… I don’t think I cared. Slowly, I stood and took a deep breath. 

“I’m scared I can’t fix this…” I sighed. 

It was a lie. The fact was, I had a theory. The rest of my matter was still steaming when Piper found me two or three days after the transformation took place. Meaning it was still putting out body heat. Somehow, that tissue was still alive meaning I could still use it to reconstruct myself. I’d probably get a nasty infection from it, but nothing I couldn’t fix with a little alchemy. 

The point was… I didn’t want to go back. This whole… mess, it-it was a blessing in disguise. The police would declare me legally dead. It was the perfect out. 

“Don’t think like that,” Piper urged, gently raising my chin with her pointer finger to look into my eyes, “You’re the smartest girl in the world. There’s no mess on the planet you can’t clean up.” 

I hoped she was right. Though the more pressing issue at the moment. 

“I’m gonna need somewhere to sleep…”
Piper paused, “Well… I have one idea…” 

Later that night, I found myself lying awake, staring at the neon lines of the digital clock across the bed from me. 3am. I rolled onto my back, trying to get comfortable in my makeshift hammock. I was suspended between a floor lamp and Piper’s bedframe by a sock that was tied to each item, Piper’s idea. Only a couple inches off the ground so I could get off if I needed to. And to make sure I didn’t roll over and fall to my death in my sleep, my idea. 

There was a lot to process about today, and Piper made sure I understood I needed to confront that challenge. Not that I knew how. I mean, yeah, she made it pretty clear my head was fucked, but… what do I do about that? I mean, this wasn’t some machine with a bad battery, this was me. The way I thought. How was I supposed to know what’s a normal thought pattern and what isn’t if I’ve only ever used this one? Unless I haven’t? 

God! Why does mental health have to be so fucking confusing!? I needed a drink. With a sigh, I pulled myself out of the hammock and looked up at the side of the bed. 

“Piper!” I called out, “Please wake up!” 

Nothing. She must’ve not been able to hear me. Or she was ignoring me. I guess I have been pretty needy during this whole thing. 

“Hmm,” I hummed, discontent and uncomfortable before mumbling, “Fuck it.” 

I got back into the makeshift bed and forced my eyes shut. I’d be asleep any second now… Maybe minute. 

Or hour. 

I let out a disgruntled moan before cursing myself for having such a shitty sleep schedule before getting back up. Piper had a water bottle in her backpack and she kept it in her room. I’d just have to make my way to it. I started my trek. 

It was pretty uneventful. Piper’s room was sort of… barren. Not that I took her for the vain type, but still. Not a single poster, no collectables, no rugs or pictures. It looked like she hadn’t lived here long, but she’s been in my class for as long as I could remember. 

I shrugged to myself, figuring I shouldn’t read into it, but it ate at me. I don’t know why. Maybe I felt bad for her? It seemed different than that though. I dunno. After a couple minutes of walking, I had crossed the room and stared up at the large, leather book bag. This was probably a dumb idea. 

Piper woke up with a small headache and a very dry mouth, but as she glanced to the clock, she realized she didn’t have time. 

“Son of a bitch!” she huffed, quickly flinging herself out of bed and getting dressed as fast as possible. 

She paused as she glanced back at the sock hammock in the corner of the room that was haphazardly covered with the duvet she had thrown off herself in a panic. She swore under her breath, but quickly picked up her bag and looked back to the blanket. 

“I’m sorry, Sam,” she insisted, “But I’m late and I really can’t spend the time to find you! Just… I have snacks in the bottom drawer, it doesn’t shut all the way. You’ll have to fend for yourself until I get home.” 

She quickly shut the door to her room and sighed, slinging her bag over her shoulder and rushing out the door. It was a hot day and Piper found herself envious of anyone who had a body of water to jump into, but she paid it no mind as she started up her truck and sped off to school. 

In the end, she only barely made it through the door before the bell rang, which bought her an unsavory look from her teacher, but she technically wasn’t late, so nothing could be done. She quickly found her seat near all the other popular seniors with a sigh. 

“Jesus, Piper,” Veronica huffed, “You need to get that ac in your truck fixed. You smell like sweat.”
Piper rolled her eyes, “Please,” she huffed, “If I couldn’t take a little heat, I wouldn’t be in that fucking gym every other weekend.”
“What a badass,” Veronica mocked, sticking her tongue out.
“Fuck off,” Piper scoffed, pulling her waterbottle out of her bag. 

She quickly unscrewed the cap and pressed the metal bottle to her lips before taking a long swig. She separated from the bottle with the water still in her mouth. She casually swished it around a little to get the sticky mucus of dehydration out of her mouth. 

The teacher had finally managed to quell the class and begin the lesson. Just as marker touched whiteboard, Piper sprayed water from her mouth like a sprinkler before quickly covering her mouth with wide eyes. This drew a lot of attention. 

“Oh, god,” Veronica huffed, taking Piper by the shoulders and standing her up, “I think she’s getting sick, can we go to the bathroom?” 

The teacher quickly allowed the two to leave the room. Veronica leading Piper the whole way. 

What Veronica didn’t see, was the fact that I had been in Piper’s water bottle when she had taken that drink, and was now in her mouth, with water up to my waist and the hard roof of her mouth pressed against the back of my head, forcing me into a slouched position. It didn’t help that Piper didn’t have time to brush her teeth this morning, and her little swig’s main purpose was to get all the slime off the walls of her mouth. Which it fucking did. Which it fucking did very well. 

So, instead of sitting in a pool of lukewarm water and spit, I was sitting in a sludge-y mixture of very little water since most of it was spit out and a LOT of slimy, goop that was all that remained of the evaporated spit. I was not happy. 

Piper quickly leaned over the sink and glanced up at Veronica who seemed to get the memo and looked away. Gently, Piper stuck out her tongue and let me spill out from her lips with a large glob of mucus. Too stunned to speak, and too embarrassed to come up with words, I stood and scooped the goop off myself. 

“No fucking way,” Veronica whispered, pushing Piper slightly to the side to get a better look at me. 

Piper rolled her eyes and stood back up, shaking her head and giving a secondary spit into the next sink over. 

Veronica’s eyes suddenly widened as she looked up at Piper, muttering, “D-Did you eat her?”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Ronnie! I’m not a cannibal!” Piper defended, “Trust me, this shit happens. She’s two inches tall, it doesn’t take a lot for her to end up in shitty situations.”
“Aw~,” Veronica purred, “Sure you weren’t trying to give the little thing a kiss~?” 

Piper scowled, before pushing the bully backwards. 

“F-Fuck off!” she growled.
Veronica looked taken back for a second before pulling out her phone, “Fine by me,” she muttered, typing out a text. 

Piper shook her head with an angry heat in her face that formed a light blush. 

“C’mon, Sam,” she said, gently plucking me out of the sink, “We’re leaving.”
“No,” Veronica said simply, still buried in her phone as she leaned next to the door.
Piper looked furious, but swallowed it, asking, “What do you mean, ‘no?’” in a cold, dead tone that even made me shiver.
“I mean,” she said, pulling out her stun gun, “No. I disagree. You can’t. And you won’t. Not yet, anyway.” 

Veronica took a step forward and Piper instinctively backed off a little. 

“Ya see,” the bully started, “It’s not every day I get to flash my… meaner side, but- And correct me if I’m wrong! But I think that our little Sammy here… won’t be missed~” she sang, quickly leaning down to my level.
Piper quickly moved the hand she held me in behind her back, huffing, “The fuck are you saying?” 

The door behind Veronica quickly opened as her posse filled in. In total, it was four girls that made up her following. All athletic types. The types that could kick my ass with one hand. More so now. 

“Veronica…” Piper muttered in a growl, “Don’t make this happen.”
“Hmm~ Too late!” 

With those words, Piper was rushed, two of the girls grabbing her arms and the third diving to the ground and hugging her legs together. 

“Son of bitch!” Piper huffed, pulling back against the girls, but their coordination and speed didn’t give her any wiggle room. 

As Piper’s hand was pried away from her back, Veronica bent down at the waist to get a closer look at me. 

“Aw,” she cooed, “Someone got a haircut!” 

With a quick, uncaring action, the bully pulled me out of Piper’s hand, pinching me by the legs and hoisting me up to let me dangle a comparative thousand feet above the ground. My mind raced with adrenaline and fear, but a nagging voice in the back of my head kept me calm. Silent and still, I stared up at Veronica as she casually poked and prodded at my body. 

“Veronica!” Piper yelled, violently thrashing with the little room she could move, “I swear to god, I’ll fucking kill you if you hurt her!” 

Veronica smirked. That little smile I knew all too well. The tell to her devious side boiling over. What could very well be my death sentence. I knew right then and there… things were about to get very violent. Suddenly, Veronica grabbed hold of my wrist and pulled my arm taught, focing a high pitched yelp from my thoat as I felt my shoulder strain. 

“Don’t threaten me,” Veronica huffed. 

With a simple tug, I felt a searing hot pain rip through my shoulder like a bullet as warm blood poured downward, coating my neck and the side of my face. Truth be told, I didn’t know what happened at first. I mean, I had assumptions, but I didn’t really get it. I was hanging by my feet, staring down at Veronica’s bloody hand… and my arm… She… She ripped my arm off. My eyes slowly traced the flow of blood up to my empty shoulder and my shaky hand gently covered the wound. As if I needed to check if it was real. In total, I think it took me thirty seconds before I started to scream. 

I-I’m not proud of that. I mean, I wish I could say I took it like an action hero, ya know? Say that I somehow managed to use my blood as lubricant to slip out of Veronica’s grasp, but I didn’t. 

I just hung there. And I screamed. 

Piper’s mouth hung open in shock and disgust. Her eyes deep and wide with disbelief until… suddenly… they weren’t. 

“Yuck,” Veronica huffed, casually tossing my disembodied limb into the nearby sink and shaking my blood off her hand. 

Slowly, Veronica stepped up to Piper and pressed a bloody hand to her cheek, wiping the redness off her hand and onto Piper’s face. 

“So,” Veronica started, holding my bleeding body in front of her newest victim’s face, “When are you gonna kill me then~?” she mocked, sticking her tongue out. 

Piper, however, was blank. I remember hanging there, my head getting light, gasping for more air to sob with, and staring into her eyes. Those deep eyes. They were glassy now. Hollow and dead. Like her mind wasn’t there anymore. I remember reaching out to her, my bloody fingers coming nowhere near her face. 

And I whispered, “Please… help me…” 

Her unmoving visage suddenly broke as her eye subtly twitched. Slowly and steadily, Piper tugged against her captors which Veronica seemed to find amusing. The spoiled girl nodded to her lackeys who quickly let Piper go. She gently took me from Veronica’s hands, cradling me. 

The warmth of her hand seemed to bring my mind back. I could feel everything going fuzzy and realized I had to do something before I passed out. Quickly, I grabbed the torn end of my sleeve and bit the collar of my shirt before stuffing the cloth into the wound. I screamed into the fabric and I kept the fabric firmly pushed into the gaping hole in my side. 

“Aw~,” Veronica cooed, “She doesn’t wanna die, that’s so cute!”
“S-Sam?” Piper muttered, her eyes glassy and dull.
I hissed through my teeth and forced a smile, “It’s okay,” I insisted, lying like I was so used to, “I’m gonna be okay! I-I just… I need to… to- um.” 

I trailed off, staring at my missing arm again. Even Veronica’s goons seemed a bit taken back by what had happened. I figured they were on the same page, but really… I imagine they were more scared of Veronica than I was. Come to think of it, I think Piper was more scared of Veronica than I was. Maybe it was the blood loss. Maybe I was braver since boxing with a spider. Maybe I was just… tired. 

I stumbled to my feet in Piper’s hand and took a deep breath before turning to Veronica. 

“You fucking bitch.” 

Piper seemed to gather herself a little after that, her posture unstiffening and movements getting less rigid. Veronica, on the other hand, was in absolute disbelief that I had dared to defy her. And I wasn’t done either. 

“You ride your wealth through life like it absolves you from being a shitty person,” I huffed, baring fangs I never knew I had, “But even still, I ha-” 

Piper pulled me back a little which interrupted my train of thought. Taking initiative, and I quite literally mean, “Taking,” Piper slid her foot back and punched Veronica in the jaw with a strong jab, knocking her on her ass. 

“Wh-,” I started, “Piper! I was monologuing!” 

With a shrug, Piper placed me on the counter of the lined sinks before gently pressing a finger against the top of my head. 

“Stay put,” she ordered, “Mommy has some anger issues to work out.”
“Don’t call yoursel-”
“Yeah, no, I didn’t really think about it before I said it.” 

Piper turned back to the group of bullies and cracked her knuckles. 

“Okay,” she huffed, “Which one of you cunt warts wants to get popped first?” 

I-I don’t- um… I don’t condone Piper’s colorful vocabulary. Also don’t condone the next few actions Piper made, but I’ll give an idea of the aftermath. By the time Piper had wrapped up, she had all three henchmen on the ground, one with a mouth full of broken teeth, and Veronica… I didn’t get much of a chance to watch that since I was fading in and out of consciousness, but by the end, Veronica was paralized from the waist down and her arm had been amputated at the elbow which Piper did with a shard from a mirror that broke in the tussle, and the cover to a water tank off one of the toilets to snap the bone. 

It made me… think. Alot. About everything. Mostly, it made me realize that Piper cared a hell of alot more than I gave her credit for. And… I think… I think I knew why she brought drinks. I laughed to myself. She thought it was a date.