Barging through the backdoor, Marissa's muddy sneakers clumped over the laminate floor before she screeched to a sudden stop. Over there, roughly a few meters away from her stood Honey, her arch enemy. The beast lay waiting there on top of the wooden cabinet while all snuggled on her favorite pillow. Two slit-shaped pupils shone back at Marissa like the mutt was about to ambush her. Marissa smirked.

Not this time, fleabag.

She was a step ahead in this game. She took a cautious step – carefully not to creak the laminate boards beneath her dirtied sneaker – and another. A huff and a wide swing of her arm followed. Marissa's eyes were zeroed in on her backpack as it hurled through the air – spinning until it smacked against the cabinet.

"Blasted cat! Next time I'll shove a firecracker up your ass while asleep!" Marissa screeched as Honey hissed passionately at her before dashing off when a half-filled bottle of water came soaring his way. A vase clattered on the floor.

"Moooom! Marissa's at it again!"

Marissa's brunette braid swished through the air as her head shot to the side. There, in the doorway of the kitchen stood her older brother. A lanky and nerdy-looking lad with more bright red pimples on his face than their grandmother had hair on her back.

Marissa's fiery blue eyes shot daggers at her sibling. "Where's dad?" her voice demanded.

Her brother, Theo, seemed to do his utmost to show off his crooked teeth by smirking back at her in response. He leaned casually against the doorframe while snacking from a bag of candy. "I told mom about these skittles you stole at Walmart past weekend. So you better get ready for punishment." he took another handful of skittles and tipped them all over in his mouth.

Marissa dashed toward Theo and held one of her tiny fists threateningly under his chin. "You want me to smack your nose again?" she seethed. Marissa might be a scrawny 7th grader and only slightly taller than a leprechaun, but it was impossible to ignore her fiery temper.

Theo's stuffed mouth merely smiled while looking down upon her. "You may… If you can reach it." Marissa deciphered Theo's mumbled words.

"In that case–"Marissa's knee thrust forward. "I rather go for your nuts."

Standing akimbo style, Marissa looked down triumphantly while Theo meandered on the floor in a fetal position – with both hands clasped between his legs. Marissa cocked an eyebrow as it seemed like her brother wanted to say something between his fit of painful groans. His lower lip quivered as his teary eyes looked up at Marissa. A spree of disjointed syllables followed which sounded more like the wailings of a cat in heat than a normal functioning person saying his piece.

Marissa crouched down next to her brother and caressed his hair. She made a shushing gesture. "Don't talk brother, just…"

SMACK!

Her hand clattered hard on his cheek, leaving behind a fresh red print.

As Marissa was about to stand up and walk away, she was greeted by the sight of her mother.

"Well, good afternoon, miss! What a lovely day, isn't it?" Marissa said with her best British accent. Her words did not even seem to penetrate through her mother's ears as the latter looked about in utter disbelief at the wreckage in the living room. Her mother's eyes glided from the broken vase on the floor, made a pitstop at the muddy footprints smeared throughout the house and finished her journey with the sight of her son slithering in pain next to the couch.

"If you would excuse me now, miss" Marissa's continued British act interrupted her mother's moment of incredulity. Their eyes met each other. "I have a rehearsal and I can't be late." Marissa sauntered off to the stairway after a small bow with the head, creating even more muddy footprints on the floor.

"MARISSAAA!" Her mother screeched like a witchy crone with throat difficulties. "Here! Come here!" she paced after her daughter.

Her mother grabbed Marissa's arm the moment she was about to take her first step on the stairs.

"Dad! Where is dad?! I need him!" Marissa yelled while yanking her arm free. Marissa ran up the stairs – with her swearing mother in tow. Stumbling and darting through the hallway, Marissa saw the door of her father's laboratory. She rushed up, kicked the door open – which was luckily ajar – and was just in time to close it and lock it before her mother's pissed-off face.

Ignoring her mother's curses and bounces on the door, Marissa stepped deeper into her father's laboratory.

"Dad? You're here?" Marissa looked about as she walked among a forest of bleeping and blinking gadgets and machinery she would never dare understand.

"Dad?" Marissa's eyes fell on a metallic workbench on the far end of the laboratory. Her lips smiled brightly like the sun as she saw a circular terrarium placed on top of it. A table lamp provided enough light to make its content sufficiently visible – only not from this distance. Marissa paced in a straight line toward the workbench. Underway she stumbled upon an office chair on wheels. Marissa parked her butt on it and continued her journey while rolling. Using her sneakers to graze to a stop, Marissa lowered her head to take a peek inside the terrarium.

"Neat, dad," Marissa whispered as she was all neatly impressed. The sight of a miniature town greeted her – with rows of infinitesimal houses not bigger than her pinky nail and a packed block of taller structures at the center. And she saw movement. There are barely visible dots – hundreds of them, no, thousands even – teeming about upon a sophisticated network of roads slimmer than the thinnest shoelace in existence.

"You're in here, dad? With all these people?" Marissa's eyes lowered further, hovering over the tiny city like a pair of celestial bodies. She tried desperately to gain a sharper view by closing in. She cussed as it only made her sight blurrier. She sighed and was about to give up when her eyes fell on a magnifying glass. She picked it up eagerly and tried it again.

"Hello there, little people," Marissa smiled when she had a clear picture of hundreds of people in the streets below looking up, pointing at her. Some scurried off, ducking into the nearest building they could find.

"Have you seen my dad? Tousled black hair with the nose of a hawk? Hey! Don't run off like that. I'm asking a sincere question here!" It vexed Marissa to see that none of the little people seemed to take her seriously. They all scurried off, every which way, with their hands covering their ears.

"If you do not answer me, I might as well– The fuck?! Are these choppers shooting at my face? Okay, now you've done it. Behold the power of my lungs." Marissa took a long deep breath, pursed her lips and blew out hard. A violent burst of wind blasted down from Marissa's lips – poleaxing its way through rows of shrunken infrastructure – leaving behind wrecked piles of concrete, wood and piled bodies. Marissa's created force of nature traveled in circles through the round-shaped terrarium. With no way out, its potency intensified drastically, generating a funnel-shaped vortex in its center way beyond the strength of an EF5 tornado. Marissa chuckled as debris and people swirled around in midair – being yanked from one side to the other.

"Now THAT was REALLY cool!" Marissa said. She was about to give it another go when a jolt of pain surged through her left upper arm. Something was grasping her. The pissed-off countenance of her mother filled Marissa's purview, spatting in her face, "This is the last time you pulled off something like THAT, young lady!"

Marissa whined. "You're hurting me, mommy!"

"Well, pity you, darling. You think Theo was floating on cloud nine when you decided to plant your knee between his legs?"

"He deserved it!" Marissa said while trying in vain to yank herself free from her mother's firm hold.

Her mother gave a derisive chuckle. "Why? Because he decided to eat your STOLEN candy?"

"He's just as guilty! Theo distracted the cashier!"

"You take me for a gull here? What were you doing in Dad's laboratory anyway? You know he doesn't like to be…" then her mother's eyes fell on the wreckage in the terrarium. In a blink, her expression churned from angry to shocked, or concern or fear or a mix of all of those things. Then it changed back to angry again when she aimed her piercing stare back at Marissa again.

"What the HELL did you do! Dad could be in there! John? You're there, John? Please show yourself," Marissa's mother peered through the magnifying glass in a desperate search for her husband. She feared the worst. There was no sign of life. Devastation was all that she saw. Caused by the simple act of her bratty daughter.

The door swung open – banging against the wall – and in flew a swearing Marissa. Her knees clattered painfully as she screeched over the floor, rolling on her butt.

The angry glare of her mother looked down upon her. "You stay RIGHT here in your bedroom, young lady! And you better pray I will find your father. ALIVE. Because, if I don't, I will ground you until the time beyond unending time!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" Marissa shouted while rubbing her knees.

SLAM! Went the door.

CLICK-CLACK, locked.

Marissa stood up and cussed a few words while kicking against a stuffed bear lying on the floor. Sauntering over to her bed, she plunged down. Marissa peered through the window in deep thought, sitting with her arms behind her back as support.

When do I get to be in charge for a change? She thought with a deep sigh.

Her whole life, people have been doing nothing less than to boss her around all day. Telling her what she should do and what she shouldn't. Shouting her about, yelling, denigrating her, or taking away her freedom in some way. Marissa was sick of it. She so wished that she could turn the tables in her favor someday – even if only for a short while. A smile crept upon Marissa's youthful face when she saw images in her head of her ordering her mother and brother around in doing all kinds of household chores while she herself was sitting all comfy in some lazy chair. Marissa cocked her head when her eyes noticed some faint blipping red light coming from a slit between the wall and her drawer. She stood up and walked over to it. Crouching down, Marissa's hand reached out and took hold of some heavy object wrapped in a few pieces of blotting paper – rustling within her fingers. She carefully tore it away and was greeted by the sight of a highly sophisticated-looking gun with an odd-looking design. There was a note attached to it. Marissa recognized her father's handwriting.

Dear beloved Marissa Lammers, my daughter,

I'm afraid I have some grave news for you. We will never be able to play ball together in the courtyard again, nor will I ever be able to drop you off at school in the morning or give you a goodbye hug. But please, do not allow these words to sadden you. I will never leave you. In fact, I will stay closer to you now than ever before.

Now listen, before you read any further, walk over to your desk. On top of it, you will see a red velvet blanket draped on top of a circular object. Remove it.

Marissa peeked over her shoulder and saw indeed a crimson-colored blanket cloaking some object on her desk. The blanket was pontifical present in her room, so Marissa was quite surprised that she had not noticed the thing herself. She walked over to her desk and removed it. It did not surprise her that another tiny city greeted her – neatly placed in a similar-looking circular-shaped terrarium. However, this city was considerably larger than the one she'd seen in her father's laboratory – more developed and packed and containing amply of high rises in its center.

Marissa's eyes found her father's note again.

Surprise darling! I can see you! In the top drawer, you will find a magnifying glass. Take it and look closely. At the left side (your left) of the big green central park – that is roughly the size of two stamps from your perspective – you will see a black, pointy tower. Focus your attention on its roof. You will see someone standing there.

Curious, Marissa took hold of the magnifying glass and followed her Dad's instructions. And there she saw it, an infinitesimal figure standing on the roof, waving up at her frantically.

"Dad!" Marissa blurted out. She quickly placed her hand against her lips when she saw her Dad covering his ears.

"Sorry," she said with an almost whispery voice. "Oh my God, Dad. You are so incredibly tiny."

She grabbed her father's notes again.

You've always been my princes, Marissa. My Queen even. I know your struggles to cope with authority. As your father, I've seen it up close. Most people would label your behavior as unruly. I myself would rather describe it as character. You know what you want in life and aren't afraid of showing it. You want to spread your wings. I want to give you that opportunity to spread your wings. To be in charge of others for a change. Queen-maker is it called, the gun you've found near your drawer and is looking like some highly confidential object coming straight from area 51. It is my latest invention. It is capable of reducing matter to any size you want. Want to shrink down your luggage before traveling? You got it! Or you rather dwindle that whining neighboring cat of yours to nothingness? Done! And as you can see, it can even shrink down an entire city full of millions of people. That was a mistake, by the way, I merely wanted to shrink down the city's police headquarters, but don't you tell anyone.

Anyway, it's yours, Marissa! Use it wisely. You can find the instructions in your top drawer. The Queen-maker has a three-factor authentication system responding only to your fingerprint, voice, and facial features.

And do not worry about mom. I've left her a note telling her that I'm on a business trip for an indefinite period. Lucky me!

Well, have fun with it, Marissa! Oh, and last but not least, the effects of the Queen-maker are irreversible.

While still processing her father's instructions, Marissa looked down upon the microscopic city sprawled on her desk. Her father was down there living his life till the end of his days as a speck being. She was glad with his present, but it made her also kind of sad that she would never be able to see him as his former self.

Turning around, Marissa walked over to her drawer to pick up the Queenmaker that she'd left lying on the floor. The moment her hand took hold of its grip, a laser-like stripe beamed out of the gun – scanning her face.

"Is it really you?"

Marissa frowned and chuckled while shaking her head when a feminine robot voice spoke from the gun.

"Is it really you?" the robot voice repeated.

"Yes… yes, it's really me." Marissa said.

"Good day Marissa Lammers," the robot voice said. And the Queen-maker lit up, charging, as if it was waking up.

"Awesome, Dad!" Marissa beamed with a flare of keenness in her eyes. She wanted to try it out. After reading the instructions – that was luckily short and simple – Marissa adjusted the settings and aimed at a chair. She gave the trigger a squeeze. A high, pitching squeaking sound followed and subsequently, a radiant violet and blue beam – thin as a clothesline – left the barrel's end, giving the chair the full brunt.

Marissa's eyes drooled at the sight of her chair as it was surrounded by a radiant aura and dwindling down in size at a rapid pace. She bent over and picked up the chair. Marissa sniggered like a 1st grader receiving his first pocket money as she looked at the chair standing on the palm of her hand. The thing was so tiny that it could easily function as a seat for a cockroach now.

"Even more awesome, Dad!" she grinned.

The things she could do with this gun…

She felt giddy with excitement. The possibilities would be endless. From now on, people will start listening to HER instead of the other way around. No more, 'Yes, Sir.' Or 'Excuse me, Miss.'. No! Only HER needs are going to matter now!

She wanted to try something else. Looking around, Marissa's lips curled into a sardonic grin as she laid eyes on their neighbor's car parked on the driveway – a big, black Chevrolet old-timer pickup. That guy had always been a douchebag, so Marissa did not mind experimenting on the dude's car. She adjusted the Queen-maker, opened her window, and shot the Chevrolet. Marissa chuckled with delight when she saw the whole car dwindling down drastically. She laughed even louder when two miniature figures – roughly a few inches tall – stepped out of the vehicle and looked around in consternation.

"Oh my God!" Marissa sniggered with her hand against her mouth. "They were still inside!"

She quickly slammed her window closed.

BANG BANG BANG!

Someone knocked on her door, and not quite softly.

"Oh, Marissaaaa," her brother sang in glee. "Guess what? Mom is gone and she gave me the key to your bedroom."

CLICK-CLACK. He unlocked the door.

"Time for a little payback, don't you think?" he said.

Marissa smiled while watching the doorknob turn around. Her brother couldn't find a better timing. She parked her butt on the desk – right next to the shrunken city where her father resided – crossed her legs and aimed her sights at the door.

"You may enter, brother." She said in an inviting manner. The door opened.

Stupefied and angry at himself, Theo looked up at his monstrously huge sister, grinning down upon him with a self-complacent smirk. He should have known better than to barge into Marissa's bedroom head-on after she invited him in like he was a welcoming friend.

The moment he heard her friendly tone, he knew he should be wary of some filthy trickery concocted by his kid sister. Most of the time, the girl was just a straight-forwarded hot head, but she could be pretty cunning on occasion.

Just like the time when Marissa made him believe it was a glass of cold lemonade instead of a cup of horse piss she handed him during a vacation on a farm camping a few years ago. That warm mixed cocktail of salt and bitterness came as a nasty surprise. Especially since he was expecting to be greeted with the taste of sweetness and cold on his tongue instead.

So because he was too pigheaded to learn from the past – and because he was armed with a thick leathery belt and foremost because he was most eager to settle the score after his kid sister's knee treated his nuts on a first-class jingle all the way – Theo simply barged into her room.

A curt smile on Marissa's face – accentuating the cute-looking dimples on her cheeks – that is all Theo saw before getting hit by the dwindling effects of his father's invention.

Now here he stood at the pitiful size of a mug – probably smaller even – looking up at his kid sister that now appeared more like Glumdalclitch from Gulliver's travel to him than the insufferable little brat he used to spank when his parents were gone.

Spank… Theo pondered while looking at the belt clasped in his hand. He was so terribly keen on getting even with Marissa, but what would he be able to begin against her now? Even her big toe would be able to defeat him. Theo's first instinctive response when standing face to face with a being that towered over him like an apartment building was to flee. So that is the exact thing he did. There was nothing to gain for him here He could only lose.

Marissa's eyes narrowed when he took a step backward. Then her hands – which were folded on her lap – clasped themselves on the desk's edge when he took another step backward.

Theo darted off, sprinting like an adrenaline-pumped American football player with the ball in hand being chased by a flock of steroid strengthened adversaries who wanted nothing more than to tackle his ass to the ground. Only in this case, it was his kid sister doing the chasing. And she was truly alarmingly huge. It took the girl merely three leisurely paced steps to block off the escape route Theo was planning to take. Marissa's fishing vessel-sized sneaker seemed to soar in slo-mo over Theo's head before it crash-landed right in front of his nose. The air displacement made the poor guy stumble backward on his butt. The door was shut close.

His eyes were pulled towards the pink Nike logo on Marissa's sneaker before traveling up. He gasped deeply when he drank in the sight of Marissa's legs rising unendingly high like two stately, indestructible pillars one could only find in the realm of Greek mythology. And this was just the lower part of the girl's body. How could he ever challenge such might? Or even outrun it?

Marissa's giggle brought his attention to his kid sister's face.

"Run, brother." her voice boomed from the sky.

"W-why should I? You'll catch me anyway."

"Simple, brother, because if you don't, I'll just" Marissa rose her leg in the air, dangling the underside of her sneaker above her shivering brother. "step on you!"

In the nick of time, Theo was able to roll out of the way of Marissa's incoming sneaker. It crashed right next to him, nearly pulverizing his left leg.

"Are you crazy?!" Theo fumed, clenching his tiny pathetic fist up to her. "You almost killed me!"

"And what would you do if exactly that was my intention?" Marissa looked down upon her tiny big brother with a poker face.

"You wouldn't," Theo said with uncertainty in his eyes while lying on his back next to Marissa's jumbo-sized sneaker, looking up at his towering sister.

Marissa raised her other leg in the air.

"Mom! Mooooom! I'm telling mom!"

"I think you should, brother. She will definitely hear,"

CRASH!

"Aaaaaaargh!!! You-you broke my – gasp – I think, I think you broke my hand!" Theo whined. Pulling his hand free from under Marissa's titanic sneaker. He had a baby-like pout on his face as tears streamed down his cheeks while looking at his distorted hand. Some finger's stood in unnaturally looking angles.

Marissa crouched down, engulfing her little brother in shadow. "Aaaaw! Does baby Theo have big owie wauwie?" she said with an overly belittling voice.

"M-mom? MOM!?" Theo looked about in vain, hoping that his mother would come barging through the door to save his ass.

"One… Two… Three…"

Theo gaped up at his gigantic sister as a blob of snot came dripping out of his nose. "Wha-what are you doing?"

"Four… Five… Six…" Marissa continued while standing up to her full height. Her brows cocked, urging Theo to take action before it was too late.

Theo gulped when Marissa's sneaker sole hovered above him once more. "Seven… Eight…"

Marissa continued. Theo realized he would never be in time to dodge her stomping feet. He stood frozen there, awaiting his fate. He closed his eyes.

Then cars started to honk outside, and shoutings went back and forth between a couple of people. Marissa stopped her counting. Theo dared to peel his eyes open when his humongous sister sauntered off, walking up to her window to take a peek outside.

Marissa's face churned into a look of gleeful mischief when she noticed a traffic dispute scenery down in the street below.

"Stay!" Marissa commanded while pointing a finger at Theo before dashing out of her room. And that is precisely what Theo did, staying meekly in place – despite the freedom he now had of running out of Marissa's bedroom now the door was open.

"Okay, listen, that pedestrian was miles away still, so you've clearly put your foot on the brake on purpose there. So why don't you just bugger off with your rusted banger so we can all have a happy day."

"Ha! And let you get away with a poorly executed staged crash?"

"Hi! I'm Marissa Lammers and how would you like to become my slaves?"

Both wrought-up traffic participants eyed the teen squirt, who appeared out of nowhere with annoyance before continuing their heated quibble.

"I take that as a yes!" Marissa gleamed as she pulled out her shrink ray, cocked it, and blasted one of the busted cars. The vehicle shrunk down to toy size.

"My-my car! My wife!" One of the men clasped his hands to his head while looking down upon his now dinky-toy car.

"Don't worry, mister. I was planning on taking you both," Marissa winked before blasting the poor guy, dwindling him down to a more appropriate size, in her opinion. Marissa watched with curiosity as the little guy ran up to his wife sitting in the shrunken vehicle. She picked the car up scrutinized it for a moment before stuffing it in her back pocket.

The other guy – who kept standing there all perplexed – aimed his discomfited eyes at Marissa when the latter pointed the shrink gun at him.

Marissa gave a nod with her head, urging him to step into his car. She saw his eyes darting every which way like a skittish squirrel.

"Hey!" Marissa shouted when the guy fled on foot. The man groaned and stumbled on his knees when he was hit in the back. The pavement shot up closer when his body dwindled down in size rapidly. He scrambled back to his feet and turned around.

Marissa walked up to her shrunken prey. She already had his miniature car clutched in her hand. The man flinched a few steps backward when Marissa's mansion-sized hand dove down from the sky to place his car right in front of him.

He already knew what was expected of him. And this time, he meekly complied.

While crouched down, with her head leaning on her hand, Marissa watched, satisfied as the little dude made haste to step into his car. A greedy hand emerged from the sky to pick him and his car up. He ended up in the same back pocket as his fellow road user with whom he had a spat before.

Marissa stretched her arms and looked around the now abandoned crossroad. She was about to get back inside to play some more with her tiny brother when a loud honk caught her attention. A lorry drove up in the street. Its burly bald driver opened the window and waved his meaty arm at Marissa.

She waved back at him with a smile while cocking her gun behind her back.