“Mom, come on,” Tim whined in a high-pitched, squeaky voice. “Be reasonable!”

     “I think I’m being MORE than reasonable, young man, ESPECIALLY considering the circumstances!” his mother, Natalie, replied sternly as she frantically rifled through her purse on the kitchen table, searching for her misplaced car keys. “I am NOT leaving you home alone! Not in your condition!”

     “Mom, I’ll be fine,” Tim protested, “Really! Just put me on the coffee table and turn on the TV.”

     “Oh no,” his mother objected, shaking her head rapidly, her shoulder-length, dark, blond hair quivering back and forth, “I’m not letting you sit in front of the TV all day, young man!”

     “Well, what ELSE am I supposed to do, mom?!” Tim squeaked. “It’s not like I can go anywhere!”

     “Well, whose fault is that, Tim, huh?!” Natalie snapped, frustratedly searching yet another purse pocket, “If you hadn’t gone….snooping around the refrigerator, you wouldn’t BE in this mess now, would you?!”

     “Well, WHY would you hide something like that in the FRIDGE, mom?!” Tim squeaked heatedly. “Why didn’t you just keep it in your lab at work?!”

     “Tim, I was keeping it here until I COULD take it to work with me tomorrow!” his mother replied, her hands motioning haphazardly. “Do you even realize how hard it was just to GET that formula you drank?! I practically had to call in EVERY favor I could just to get ahold of that little bottle, not to mention getting it back home; I even had to extend my trip by TWO whole days! I barely even got ONE NIGHT at home with your father before he had to leave for his business trip yesterday morning! We should all just consider ourselves LUCKY you only drank a tiny bit. Things COULD’VE turned out a lot worse!”

     “‘WORSE’?!” Tim squeaked indignantly. “What could be worse than THIS, Mom?!”

    “Tim, I’m through discussing this with you!” Natalie said frustratedly, walking towards the kitchen counter to grab a sip from her coffee mug. “Now, I’ve GOT to get to my lab and start analyzing what’s left of that formula; HOPEFULLY, I’ll be able to find a cure for you. Regardless, I’m not leaving you here by yourself, and that’s FINAL! If something happened to you, and there was no one around to help you, I’d never forgive myself!”

     Natalie took a hasty to sip of coffee before finishing her speech:

     “Besides, your Aunt Julia is already on her way.”

     Tim slumped onto the table, dejected, frustrated, and embarrassed over his current situation. This was supposed to be his summer vacation, but it was very quickly becoming something out of the Twilight Zone…

     Two days prior, his brilliant, 45-year-old, biochemist mother returned from a scientific expedition to the Amazon where she had been researching and collecting numerous rare plant and mineral samples, hoping that one of them might lead to a breakthrough cancer treatment. One such sample, in particular, not only seemed extremely promising, but was possibly her most coveted find….and the cause of all of the family’s current turmoil:

     Natalie had, through several back-channels, been able to acquire a rare medicinal potion that, according to rumor, had the potential to dissipate growths on the body wherever it was applied. She even had a first-hand experience when she watched it being applied externally to a small tumor on the back of a native’s neck; she was left completely dumbfounded and speechless as the watched the tumor shrink away before her eyes until it had all but disappeared.

     Natalie knew she had found exactly what she’d been looking for! She called in every favor imaginable, and even extended her trip two extra days just to get her hands on a small quantity. Worried it might become damaged or fall into a competitor’s hands, Natalie decided it was too valuable to risk shipping back home with the rest of her samples; while most of the other perishable samples from her trip were sent to a cold-storage facility until they could be delivered to her lab on Monday morning, she poured the potion into a mini liquor bottle from her hotel room and smuggled it onboard the plane with her carry-on luggage. Once home, she hid it in a small crevice in the back of her refrigerator at home, a secret hiding place she often utilized and THOUGHT no one was aware of.

     Unfortunately, Natalie hadn’t accounted for her son’s snooping for hidden samples of liquor that she and her husband often brought back from their semi-frequent work trips, and Tim was WELL-AWARE of his mother’s hiding spot. Earlier that Sunday morning, while his mother slept, Tim snuck a swig of a small, unmarked bottle he found in the back of the fridge, thinking it was a sample of some rare, South American liquor…

     The next thing he knew, Tim was on the floor of his kitchen, his usual 5’9” frame that was once equal to his mother’s reduced to a mere 1-inch tall. At first, he thought he was dreaming, but a few pinches—and the appearance of his gigantic mother about half an hour later—confirmed he was, unfortunately, wide awake. Tim was completely dumbfounded….and scared out of his mind. Luckily, he managed to get his mother’s attention when she sat down for her morning cup of coffee at the kitchen table; although, she DID almost step on him several times as she shuffled about the kitchen that morning.

     Even after his mother found him, however, Tim was still stuck. Being only an inch tall meant he couldn’t go anywhere, nor do anything—even around the house—without some kind of assistance. Until he was back to normal, he was completely at the mercy of his giant mother—who was currently running around the house trying to locate her missing car keys—and his Aunt Julia, someone Tim wasn’t exactly the fondest of.

     It wasn’t that Tim hated or despised his aunt or anything, nor that she felt that way about him. It was just that Julia was always condescending towards Tim whenever she was around: always telling him that he needed to do more to help his mother around the house while his father was constantly traveling for work; berating him about not trying out for sports or being involved in extracurricular activities; and lately, insisting he get a summer job now that he was 15 years old and had just finished his freshman year of high school. She even teased him about not having a girlfriend, or being enough of a catch, something he was actually hoping to rectify during the summer months, but now…

     After sulking for a bit and feeling sorry for himself, Tim resumed his efforts in trying to reason with his giant mother.

     “But couldn’t you have found someone else BESIDES Aunt Julia?!” he whined, anxiously brushing back his short, brown hair.

     “Tim, who, the hell, else was I gonna find to watch you on such short notice?!” Natalie spat in frustration, turning back towards the table. “With your father out of town, she’s the only option! For your information, that formula was SUPPOSED to be top-secret, and I can’t risk anyone finding out about it….or YOU, for that matter! It’ll be hard enough keeping this from everyone at the lab! If ANYONE finds out about this, you’re liable to be…taken away and locked in a cage somewhere, treated like some kind of lab rat, put through countless tests and experiments trying to exploit you and your...”

     Natalie’s voice trailed off as she motioned to her tiny son on the kitchen table, unable to find the words.

     “Look,” Natalie sighed sympathetically, calming her tone as she bent down to be eye-level with the tiny teenager, “I know this can’t be easy for you—“

     “You can say that again, mom!” Tim interrupted, motioning to his tiny body draped in a makeshift toga made out of Kleenex. “I’m practically the size of a BUG!”

     “I know, honey. I know. Look, with any luck, I’ll have you back to normal in a few days. It’s…just gonna be a little bit awkward for a while…”

     “Yeah, THAT’S an understatement!” Tim mumbled to himself, shooting his mother a dubious look of admonishment.

     “…but the longer I stay here discussing this with you,” Natalie continued as she stood back up, her 5’9”, semi-muscular frame now towering over her inch-tall son’s, “the longer you’re going to be like that.

     “As it is, I’m probably gonna have to work day and night over the next couple of days JUST to get this formula analyzed,” she sighed as she walked back over to the counter to take another well-needed sip of coffee, “and the sooner I get started, the sooner…HOPEFULLY, I can get you back to normal.

     “But, for now, at least, it’s best this ALL stays inside the family,” Natalie continued, shaking her head, though more slowly and sympathetic this time. “Besides, with your Aunt Julia not having to teach this summer school this year, she’s the perfect person to watch you while I’m at work….AND she knows how to keep her mouth shut, so I don’t wanna hear anymore about it, understand?!

     “Now, where in the world did I put my keys?” Natalie lamented, looking off in another direction.

     “But what am I supposed to DO around here, mom?!” Tim whined as he stood up and headed towards his mother who was now rifling through her giant purse. “If I can’t watch TV, I’ll be bored out of my mind, even WITH Aunt Julia here!”

     “I’m sure the two of you can come up with a some constructive things to do while she’s here,” Natalie shrugged without even looking up as she frustratedly rifled through her purse one last time.

     “But, MOM—“

     “Tim, I said I don’t wanna hear it!” his mother cut him off, her mind still on her missing keys. “Maybe I left them in the—“

     *DING DONG*

     Both Tim and Natalie jumped when the doorbell rang.

     “Great, that’ll be your aunt,” Natalie sighed, her heart still pounding from the start she’d just received as she motioned back to her tiny son. “Look, STAY here while I let her in.”

     “But, MOM—“ Tim whined again.

     “Tim…STAY!” His mother said gruffly, pointing at him as she grabbed her purse.

     *DING DONG*, the doorbell rang again.

     “COMING, JULES!” Natalie called out as she snatched her purse from the table and quickly headed out of the kitchen.

      Unfortunately, in her haste, Natalie inadvertently struck her tiny son with her purse as she yanked it from the table. The impact sent Tim hurtling towards the edge of the table, screaming for his mother as he soared through the air. He bounced off the mesh backing of one of the table’s chairs and tumbled down onto the cushioned seat.

     While Tim lay unconscious on the kitchen chair, Natalie, completely unaware of her blunder, was already headed through the living room to open the front door for her sister.

     “Hey, Jules,” she said as she opened the front door, “thanks for coming on such short notice.”

     “Of course, Nat,” Julia replied, taking a second to step inside. “You know you can always count on me.”

     “I know, and I appreciate it,” Natalie sighed, embracing her sister in a much-needed hug. “God, it’s so good to see you!”

     “It’s good to see you, too, Nat,” Julia chortled softly as she returned her sister’s embrace, “but it’s not like it’s been THAT long since my last visit.”

     “I know,” Natalie sniffed, teary eyed, truly embracing Julia’s muscular frame, “but you have NO idea how good it feels to have family I can count on right now.”

     “Of course,” Julia replied, patting her sister on the back before removing her head from Natalie’s shoulder to look her into her eyes, “what’re sisters for?”

     Julia was about 5 years younger than Natalie, and, despite their age difference, the two sisters had been really close throughout their lives. Like her sister, Julia had dark, blond hair, but she usually kept it longer and dyed it a couple shades lighter than Natalie’s, and her eyes were a lovely shade of baby blue, as opposed to Natalie’s and Tim’s brown. Julia was also just slightly shorter than the rest of the family, standing only about 5’7”, but she made up for it with a slightly fitter frame, the result of her healthy workout regimen.

     “I’m so sorry to have to ruin your Sunday afternoon,” Natalie said, shaking her head apologetically as she closed the front door, “but I didn’t know who else to call. I’ve been at my wits end all morning trying to get myself situated.”

     “It’s no trouble, Nat, really,” Julia replied, comforting her obviously troubled sister. “I was almost done with my workout anyway when you called. Now, just…calm down and tell me what’s going on. I mean, you were so cryptic on the phone...”

     “I’m know, Jules, and I’m sorry,” Natalie replied hastily, “but I really couldn’t say too much over the phone. I HAVE to keep all of this quiet!”

     “OK, I get it,” Julia shrugged, putting up her hands. “You can trust me, but, please, just tell me what’s happened. What’s wrong with Tim?”

     “OK,” Natalie began, taking a deep breath and trying to center herself. “Look, this is all kinda hard to explain….and a little hard to believe, but Tim is…well, he’s…kinda…small…”

     “‘Small’?!” Julia uttered with a confused shrug. “What do ya mean, ‘small’? I don’t understand.”

     “Look, the bottom line is: Tim got into something he shouldn’t have, and…” Natalie began, though quickly realizing from the confused look on Julia’s face that explaining it would be a bit difficult.

     “Look, maybe you’d better just come inside and see for yourself,” Natalie reiterated, beckoning her sister to follow her into the living room. “You probably wouldn’t believe me, anyway.”

     “Nat, you’re my sister,” Julia said reassuringly, kicking off her flats at the edge of the den before stepping into the living room, “of COURSE I believe you, it’s just that…well, you’re not making any sense...”

    “OK, look, I’ll just be straight with you,” Natalie stated firmly, trying to figuratively rip off the proverbial bandage as she grasped Julia’s hands, “Tim drank a super secret formula I brought back with me from my recent trip and ended up…”

     “…’ended up’…what?!” Julia urged, her eyes peeled.

     “I told you: Small…” Natalie admitted, gesturing with her fingers. “Like…tiny. Shrunken down.”

     “Wh—WHAT?!” Julia recoiled with confusion. “Nat, you’re shitting me!”

     “Look, I TOLD you ‘you wouldn’t believe me’!” Natalie replied dejectedly, shaking her head and stepping away.

     “Sis, no, wait, I BELIEVE you,” Julia reassured her, gently grasping Natalie’s shoulder and turning her back around. “Really, I do. It’s just…well…pretty unbelievable, that’s all. I mean, I’m….still having trouble wrapping my head around all this.”

     “Believe me, you’re not the only one,” Natalie sighed, putting her hand to her temple. “the whole situation’s pretty unbelievable, but…that actually might be a GOOD thing. It’ll make it easier to keep all of this on the down low.”

     “Yeah, sure….I guess…” Julia reluctantly agreed, though still dubious of her sister’s claims.

     “But…speaking of ‘down low’,” Julia continued smugly in a half grin, “just out of curiosity, exactly how…‘small’ IS Tim?”

     “Small enough,” Natalie sighed dejectedly. “It’s probably worse than your thinking.”

     “…How MUCH worse?” Julia inquired hesitantly.

     “Like I said: go in and see for yourself.” Natalie replied, pointing towards the kitchen as she headed in the opposite direction. “He’s in the kitchen; on the table.”

     “On the…on the TABLE?!” Julie exclaimed, pausing mid-step, and giving her sister a double-take, unsure she’d heard Natalie correctly.

     “That’s what I said,” Natalie replied, nodding sarcastically.

     “SERIOUSLY?!”

     “Oh, yeah…‘SERIOUSLY’!” Natalie reemphasized with an assured nod as she tried to get out of the room. “Look, just go on in and make yourself comfortable. I’ve gotta check my bedroom for my car keys.”

     Julia’s eyes widened in bewilderment as she watched her sister disappear down the hallway, unsure exactly what to make of their conversation….OR Natalie’s odd behavior.

     What exactly did Natalie mean when she said Tim was “on the table”? Julia wondered as she turned and headed into the kitchen, shaking her head with both disbelief and confusion. Exactly how “small” WAS Tim anyway?

     Tim slowly opened his eyes, roused by the combination of loud, booming slaps, and what sounded like tape being peeled off the floor.

     “Wha—?” Tim murmured as he pushed his head up, his tiny body hurting all over, “What’s going on?….Mom?!”

     The soft, cushioned ground vibrated beneath him with each booming slap as he tried to push himself up and get to his feet.

     “Where am I?” he pondered aloud. The last thing he remembered he was on the kitchen table, but where was he now?

     Tim tried to get his bearings, but eyes spotted a giant figure approaching….a figure he quickly realized wasn’t his mother.

     “TIM?” the giant woman called in a booming voice. “…YOU IN HERE?”

     “Oh, no!” Tim exclaimed softly. “Aunt Julia!”

     Julia’s size 7 1/2 feet smacked the floor as she headed through the kitchen towards the table, her bare soles sticking to the linoleum with each step, a result of her having worked out that morning, and barely having any time to get in and out of the shower before coming over to her sister’s place.

     “Tim?” Julia called out, pausing momentarily as she approached the kitchen table, her eyes intensely scanning its surface. “Are you in here?”

     Unfortunately, there was no sign of her supposedly small nephew.

     “Hmph, ‘on the table…’” She huffed sarcastically, shaking her head again, “…what, is he INVISIBLE too?!”

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted up as he scrambled to his feet, struggling to walk across cushioned seat of the chair he realized he’d fallen onto. “AUNT JULIA, DOWN HERE!”

     The tiny boy shouted and waved his arms, hoping the giant woman would see him as he desperately clambered across the cushion to the back of the seat, but its soft surface was making his task extremely difficult.

     “AUNT JULIA!”

     Unable to hear her tiny nephew’s shouts, Julia rolled her eyes and stepped up to the table, reaching for the back of one of the chairs.

     “AUNT JULIA, WAIYYYYYY—!” Tim shouted hysterically as the giant woman grabbed the the back of the chair he was in and pulled.

     The chair lurched forward, throwing Tim off his feet. He tumbled backwards, grasping desperately for the seat cushion to brace himself as the chair whipped around violently. 

     When everything had finally stopped moving, Tim was on his back, his feet pointing towards the rear of the chair, and his head facing upwards. He opened his eyes…just in time to see his Aunt Julia’s colossal butt bearing down on him…

     The tiny boy’s brown eyes bulged out of his head as he suddenly found himself shrouded in the ass’s dark, ominous shadow…

     He tried to move, but it was too late…

     “AUNT JUL—EEEEEE!” Tim screamed as he was suddenly thrust into the air. The giant ass collided with the front half of the seat cushion, causing the back half to bulge upwards, bouncing the tiny boy up and completely off the cushion. Tim was sent screaming off the back of the chair, landing a few moments later onto the kitchen’s hard, linoleum floor.

     Julia sighed as she adjusted her seat, scooting all the way back in the chair. It felt so good to finally be off her feet after all the rushing around she’d done to get over to her sister’s place, especially considering having worked out earlier that morning. She strained as she lifted her right leg and placed it across her lap, trying to give her feet some well-deserved rest.

     “Ah,” Julia sighed contently as she began massaging her aching sole, “Mm, that’s better.”

     Meanwhile, Tim was still reeling from his fall, pushing himself up off the floor. He was surprisingly intact, though his body still hurt all over. Once he managed to get to his feet and brush off his makeshift clothes, he was finally able to gauge his surroundings:

     Towering before him was the chair he’d just been thrown out off, and leaning against its back was his Aunt Julia’s massive figure. He could see the rear calf of one of her legs in front of the chair, her other one not currently visible, supposedly up in the seat somewhere.

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted frustratedly, cupping his hands around his mouth. “AUNT JULIA!”

     Unable to get his giant aunt’s attention, Tim sighed in frustration and took of in a jog underneath the chair.

     “Ugh, this is so STUPID!” he panted, shaking his head while he sprinted under the seat and out between two of the chair’s side legs. “I’m so small, I can’t even get across the floor without running.”

     As he emerged from the chair’s shadow, Tim turned around and carefully took several steps backwards until his aunt Julia’s giant figure came into view: 

     The giant woman was sitting with one foot on the floor, and the other in her lap, rubbing and massaging it intensely.

     “AHH,” the giant woman sighed and moaned, “MM, THAT FEELS GOOD!”

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted up again, waving his arms in frustration. “HEY, AUNT JULIA!”

     But the giant woman never looked down; she was completely engrossed in her foot rub. he was about to call up to her again, when he the huge toes of Julia’s left foot, which was still on the floor, started to wiggle, making sickening sucking sounds as they continuously peeled and re-adhered themselves to the linoleum floor—a sound that truly grossed Tim out and made him cringe.

     “Ugh…PEW!” Tim exclaimed, grimacing with disgust and waving his hand in front of face as a pungent, unwelcome odor suddenly invaded his nostrils. “GROSS! GEEZ, Aunt Julia! When’s the last time you washed your FEET?!”

     Julia was still massaging her foot when she heard Natalie stomping back through the living room.

     “Did you find your keys yet?” Julia called out, leaning forward and turning her head until she could just barely see her sister in the other room.

     “No,” Natalie huffed in frustration as she fidgeted about the living room, “and I can’t…for the life of me, remember what I did with them.”

     “Are you sure they’re not in here somewhere?”

     “I already checked the kitchen,” Natalie replied, stepping into Julia’s view just outside the kitchen doorway, “and I just checked the bedroom AND in the bathroom. Damn it!”

     “Hm,” Julia uttered, “you think Tim might’ve done something with them?”

     “I doubt it. Besides, I already asked him; he said he didn’t know…of course, with everything that’s happened in this morning, he’s probably too preoccupied to remember anyways.”

     While the two giant women jawed back and forth above, Tim had been down on the floor, constantly calling for help and waving his arms, and was growing more and more frustrated at being ignored, AND from having to cover his ears from Julia’s raised voice calling out to his mother in the other room.

     “MO-OM!” Tim shouted, turning his attention to try and contact his mother. “MO-OM! HELP!”

     He started jumping up and down and waving his arms frantically, hoping his mother would be able to spot him over by Julia’s chair.

     “So,” Julia chortled as she finished massaging her right foot and shifted in her seat, lowering her foot back to the floor, “where is my…‘little’ nephew anyway? I thought you said he was in here...”

     Tim was startled by loud creaks and groans coming from the chair above him. The tiny boy looked skyward…

     Tim’s brown eyes went wide as he was shrouded in a huge shadow. His jaw dropped open, trembling nervously as a massive, wrinkled sole headed towards the floor.

     “AAA—mmpf!” Tim barely managed to scream before Julia’s giant foot landed right on top of him.

     “I told you: he’s on the table,” Natalie called from the living room, just out of sight of the doorway.

     Julia turned her head and intensely scanned the table, but she didn’t see any sign of her supposedly small nephew.

     “Where on the table?” she remarked with confusion. “I don’t see him.”

     “Hang on!” Natalie called back, sighing frustratedly not just at her failure to locate her missing keys, but also from her sister’s apparent blindness.

     “Look!” Natalie huffed as she stomped into the kitchen, stopping just in front of Julia.

     “He’s right….HUH?!” Natalie gasped fearfully, her eyes widening. “Oh, SHIT! Where is he?!”

     “I don’t know,” Julia replied defensively, “you told me he was in here!”

     “Well, he WAS a minute ago!” Natalie’s explained frantically, deathly afraid she’d just lost her tiny son. “Jules, QUICK! Help me LOOK for him!”

     “WHA—‘LOOK for him’?!” Julia cried with confusion as she stood up from the table upon seeing her sister’s frantic reaction. “Nat, what do ya mean: ‘LOOK for him’?! You’re not making any sense…! Honestly, how SMALL could he BE?!”

     “Hlmmpf…Mmpf…amntnm Jlmmn…”

     Tim writhed beneath Julia’s stinky sole, screaming muffled cries for help as he frantically struggled to move his aunt’s huge foot off of his tiny body, the giant woman completely unaware she’d literally just stepped on him. In reality, Julia’s feet weren’t all that big, especially compared to Natalie’s size 9’s, but to a one-inch-tall teenager, they were more than sufficient to completely envelope his tiny figure, trapping him directly beneath her bare sole. He desperately tried to push up on Julia’s foot, but it was far too big and too heavy for him to move, and all his shouts for help were being muffled by her wrinkled flesh as it kept collapsing around his hands.

     Suddenly, and without warning, the pressure on top of him increased immensely. Tim let out a muffled, bloodcurdling scream of pain!

     This is it! he thought. I’m going to be crushed…!

     Then, just as quickly as it started, the pressure subsided, and the tiny boy suddenly felt himself being lifted into the air…

     “REALLY small!” Natalie snapped at her sister, frantically searching the table and chairs. “Like, tiny…inch-high! Now, COME on and help me LOOK for him!”

     “OK, OK…!” Julia relied hastily, taking a moment to lift up her foot and obliviously brush something foreign off her sole…

     No sooner than Tim felt himself being hoisted into the air, he was suddenly hit by a humongous object. The force from the impact completely dislodged him from the sticky underside of his aunt’s giant sole, flipping him end over end, and sending him screaming down towards the floor…

     “Oof!” Tim exclaimed as he impacted the floor. “Ouch!

     “Ugh!” he exclaimed in disgust as he strained to push himself into a sitting position, wiping the foot sweat and grime off his face. “Aw, YUCK! That was AWFUL!”

     Tim shook off the impact and managed to get to his feet, gathering his wits as he brushed more dirt and grime off his lower body.

     “Ugh, and I thought Aunt Julia’s feet smelled bad BEFORE!“ he complained. “Who’d have thought feet could be so disgusting when you’re small?!”

     Before he’d even finished his sentence, Tim’s tiny figure was suddenly shrouded in a huge, dark shadow again. He looked skyward…just in time to see Aunt Julia’s giant foot coming back down to the floor.

     “ACK!” Tim shouted as he frantically dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting stepped on again. “AUNT JULIA, WATCH OUT!”

     “Do you see anything?!” Natalie asked frantically.

     “No,” Julia replied as she began following her sister around the table, checking its surface and the surrounding chairs.

     “Well, keep looking…” Natalie said, growing more desperate…

     “…HE’S GOTTA BE HERE, SOMEWHERE!”

      Tim scrambled to get to his feet as his mother’s giant, booming voice echoed throughout the room.

     “HELLLLLP!” he shouted up desperately, hoping he could get his mother’s attention and get her to look down. “HEEEELLLLLLLP!”

     Just as Tim was about to call up to her again, his mother was suddenly took several steps towards his position on the floor, not paying attention to where she was walking.

     Tim shuddered, his jaw trembling, and his eyes going wide again.

     “EEK!” Tim shrieked as his mother’s bare foot stomped down just in front of him. “MOM, DON’T SQUISH ME!”

     The tiny boy frantically took a running leap and dove onto his mother’s second toe, a tactic he’d employed earlier that morning to get her attention while she was sitting at the table, enjoying her coffee.

     “Jules, keep your eyes peeled,” Natalie explained frantically as she took another step, nearly completing her lap around the table, “and make sure you—!”

     Natalie gasped, jerking instinctively as she suddenly felt something grab onto one of the toes on her right foot. Luckily, she restrained herself from kicking, quickly remembering the events of that morning, lest she’d have launched her tiny son completely across the room.

     “Oh my gosh!” She exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise as she suddenly spotted her tiny son clinging to her toe. “TIM!”

     Natalie hurriedly reached down and carefully scooped the tiny boy into her palm.

     “Honey, are you OK?!” She asked anxiously, bringing her hand up to eye level to inspect her tiny son.

     “Sweetheart,” Natalie continued in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, trying to help him fix his disheveled clothes, “what we’re you doing on the FLOOR?! Are you CRAZY?! One of us could’ve STEPPED on you!”

     Tim was about to answer, but Julia cut him off:

     “Holy SHIT, Nat!” she exclaimed, heading back around the table to get a closer look at the tiny teenager sitting in his mother’s palm. “Like, you weren’t KIDDING! Look how TINY he is!”

     Julia moved her face in close; Tim instinctively leaned away, putting his hands up defensively, unsure of the giant woman’s intentions.

     “I TOLD you!” Natalie reiterated firmly.

     “Yeah, but I didn’t think it was THIS bad!” Julia exclaimed, staring in amazement at her tiny nephew.

     Tim promptly covered his ears, shielding them from his aunt’s booming voice.

     “NOW do you see why I’ve been so flustered?!” Natalie sighed sympathetically.

     “Sis, how the hell did this happen?!” Julia inquired, lifting her gaze towards her sister. “How did Tim get so SMALL?!”

     “I told you,” Natalie reiterated, “it was a top secret formula I brought back with me from my recent trip to South America.”

     “Oh, right,” Julia confirmed. “You said you were going to Rio for that conference. I’m STILL totally jealous, by the way!”

     “Well, it wasn’t…exactly a ‘conference’,” Natalie admitted in air quotes with her free hand.

     “What do ya mean?” Julia asked, puzzled.

     “Well,” Natalie explained, “in actuality, it was a secret research trip to the Amazon. I was trying to collect some samples that I could bring back to my lab and analyze here in the states. Unfortunately, Tim accidentally drank one of the samples I brought back with me—a potion I got from a medicine man—and he ended up like THIS. Obviously, I couldn’t tell you about it over the phone; it’s all supposed to be…you know, hush-hush.”

     “I can see why!” Julia chortled nervously, still amazed at Tim’s tiny stature. “Wow! So…what’s this potion supposed to be, some kinda weight-loss formula?”

     “It’s SUPPOSED to be able to shrink tumors and growths and stuff like that,” Natalie explained sarcastically. “Apparently, it shrinks MORE than that!”

     “Yeah, no kidding!” Julia exclaimed, just as sarcastically. “So…what now? I mean, is this gonna be, like, permanent?! Is Tim gonna be stuck this way for the rest of his life?!”

     Tim felt like his heart had suddenly sunk to his feet, his aunt’s words cutting through him like a knife. The thought of him being stuck at an inch tall for the rest of his life was overwhelmingly mortifying.

     “God, I HOPE not!” Natalie replied, taking the words right out of Tim’s little mouth. “But, to be honest, I really don’t know. I wasn’t given a lotta details when I acquired it. The potion’s only supposed to be applied topically, or, at most, injected directly into whatever needs to be shrunk down, so….I don’t know how long the effects last. For all I know, this might only be temporary, and Tim just needs to flush it out of his system, but if that isn’t the case…

     “Look, first things first,” Natalie reiterated, “I’ve GOT to get this formula to my lab at work and get it analyzed; maybe then, I can create a cure, but I can’t DO THAT until I find my car keys.”

     “Where is this potion anyway?” Julia inquired.

     “I was keeping it in the fridge for safe keeping,” Natalie answered, pushing her hands towards her sister. “Here, hold Tim for me for a second while I get it.”

     “Whoa!” Tim exclaimed in surprise as his mother poured him into Aunt Julia’s open palms. “MO-OM, TAKE IT EASY, WOULD YA?!”

     Natalie didn’t respond as she stepped over to the fridge and opened the door, bending down and reaching towards the rear, bottom shelf to retrieve the rest of the formula from its hiding place.

    “I was hiding it in here because I didn’t want it mixed in with my other samples,” Natalie explained as she fumbled to grab the bottle, “I was hoping the cold could keep it—“

     Natalie gasped as her eyes suddenly spotted something out of place…

     “What the—?” Natalie uttered.

     “What?” Julia replied anxiously. “What is it?”

     “My KEYS!” Natalie replied, retrieving her keys and jingling them for her sister to see. “They were sitting on the bottom shelf in the back of the fridge!”

     “What we’re they doing in there?!” Julia chortled with confusion.

     “I-I must’ve accidentally set them down when I hid the potion the other day,” Natalie remarked as she stood up and closed the refrigerator door. “I was in a hurry because I needed to hide it before anyone else saw.”

     “And they’ve been in there this whole time?!” Julia asked. “For the past TWO DAYS?!”

     “I-I guess so,” Natalie chortled. “We drove Tom’s car to the airport yesterday, so I haven’t needed them all weekend. I swear, I’d lose my head if it wasn’t bolted to my neck.”

     Tim shuddered, completely flabbergasted: if his absent-minded mother could lose her CAR KEYS in such a stupid spot, how much better would HE fair at his current state? With HIS luck, his mother might accidentally lose HIM in the fridge, or in the FREEZER, for that matter…

     “If I’m LUCKY,” Tim said to himself, finishing his thought as he collapsed into his aunt’s palm.

     It hadn’t even been a full day since he’d been shrunk and he’d already been stepped on by Aunt Julia, AND spent the last few minutes struggling under her stinky foot, not to mention how many times he’d already dodged his both his aunt’s AND his mother’s feet that morning. Unfortunately, Tim couldn’t shake the feeling it wouldn’t be the last time he’d have to dodge someone’s feet that week, nor the last time he’d be stepped on before his present nightmare was all over.

     “Anyway, that’s why I called you over, Julia,” Natalie continued explaining, “I HAVE to get to my lab to get this formula analyzed, but I obviously can’t take Tim to work with me, and I can’t just leave him here by himself all alone and unsupervised—not in his condition! With Tom out of town, I was HOPING you could stay here and watch Tim for me while I’m at work.”

     “Well…considering the circumstances, how could I say ‘no’?” Julie shrugged, chortling disconcertingly. 

     “Oh, thank you, Jules,” Natalie sighed contently. “I know it’s a big ask, but—“

     “Actually….it’s not a ‘big’ ask at all,” Julia chortled deftly, admiring the tiny boy in her palms.

     Tim shot his giant aunt a nasty look, irritated she could be so smug about his situation.

     “Shouldn’t be TOO hard keeping an eye on him this afternoon.” Julia continued.

     “But Jules,” Natalie explained, “you don’t understand: it’s not just for today! I’m probably gonna need you to watch him all week.” 

     “ALL WEEK?!” Tim squeaked indignantly, “MOM, WAIT A MINUTE! THAT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAID EARLIER!”

    “Tim, don’t be rude!” Natalie scolded him, “And knock off all squeaking!

     “Anyway,” she continued, turning her attention back to Julia, “Until the effects of the potion wear off, or I can make an antidote, I’m gonna need someone to stay here and keep an eye on Tim every day while I’m at work. Now, I can do some of the analysis here at home, like crunching the numbers and other paperwork, but there’s bench top work that has to get done, and I obviously can’t do that from home. Ordinarily, I’d just pass a lot of this off onto my lab techs, but I’ve got to keep all this quiet, so I’m gonna have to do pretty much ALL of the work myself.

     “Look, I know it’s a lot to ask, Jules,” Natalie insisted desperately, “but I really don’t have any other options: Tom doesn’t get back until Saturday, and you’re the only family I can trust. So, what do ya say?”

     “Of course, sis,” Julia replied heartily. “You know you can trust me.”

     “MOM, WAIT!” Tim squeaked again from Julia’s hand, “YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS! I DON’T WANT AUNT JULIA WATCHING ME ALL WEEK!”

     “Tim, HUSH!” Julia said harshly, moving right hand over her left.

     “HEY—“

     Tim’s tiny squeaks were suddenly cut off as Julia gently cupped her hands together, sealing the tiny teenager inside. He repeatedly pounded on Julia’s fingers, squeaking furiously for his aunt to let him out, but the giant woman merely ignored his muffled cries, pulling her hands close to her body to make sure her captive couldn’t escape, allowing she and Natalie to continue their conversation.

     “Speaking of Tom,” Julia continued, “what does HE have to say about all this?”

     “Well, actually…I….haven’t told him,” Natalie admitted apprehensively.

     “Uh, Nat, don’t you think he should probably KNOW about this?!” Julia replied, motioning to her cupped hands.

     “NO!” Natalie exclaimed, then lowering her voice, “…at least, not yet. I told you: I’ve gotta keep all this secret! I don’t want ANYONE finding out about Tim OR that formula. Besides, my husband’s not exactly the best at keeping secrets, and if he finds out about this, he’ll FREAK! He’ll probably cancel his trip and book it back home on the first flight he can get, and THAT’S gonna raise a lot of suspicion. I’m hoping to fix this before Tom gets home next weekend, but right now, the less he knows the better. So, can I count on you?”

     “Absolutely,” Julia replied adamantly. “You know I’d do anything for my big sis.”

     “Oh, thank you SO much, Jules,” Natalie lauded, turning and heading for the living room. “I’m sorry to just lay all this on you so suddenly, but it’ll be nice to know Tim’ll be in good hands; at the very least, I can trust you to keep all this quiet.”

     “Of course, Nat,” Julia said reassuringly as she followed her sister into the living room, “I won’t say a word; and really, it’s no biggie. It’s not like I was really DOING anything important this week anyway, and besides, it’ll be fun looking after the little guy, won’t it Tim?”

     Julia opened her hands slightly and peeked in or her tiny nephew, shoot him a playful smile.

     Tim, however, felt rather disconcerted seeing Aunt Julia smile at him like that, his mind racing as he tried to recover from the bumpy ride he’d just endured.

    “Alright, you two,” Natalie said, putting one hand on her sister’s shoulder. “I should only be gone for a couple of hours today. I just need to get a jumpstart on the analysis, but I can leave the instruments running overnight. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

     “Don’t worry about a thing, sis,” Julia reassured her, grinning smugly as she gently lifted her cupped hands towards her sister. “I have everything well in hand.”

     “Cute,” Natalie replied sarcastically, giving her sister an irate look. “I’m serious, Jules. I don’t want anything happening to my son.”

     “Nat, relax,” Julia said defensively, “I’m just trying to ease the tension.”

     “‘RELAX’?!” Natalie exclaimed indignantly, slamming her keys down on the coffee table and reaching out her hands. “Jules, how can I ‘RELAX’?! My son’s literally the size of a BUG! Now, give him here….and be careful!”

      Julia hastily, yet carefully, parted her hands and gently dumped her tiny nephew into his mother’s cupped hands. Tim, meanwhile, was growing annoyed and quite dizzy at being passed back and forth like some kind of toy between the two giant women.

     “Alright, little guy,” Natalie began quietly, carefully holding her hands as she looked down sympathetically on her so , “I’m gonna really need you to be careful while I’m at work. You behave and listen to your Aunt Julia, OK?”

     “Mom, please,” Tim begged squeakily, “Don’t leave me here with her.”

     “Aw, honey,” Natalie sighed with discontent, yet still feeling sympathy for her tiny son. “Look, I know this is hard for you, but right now, you need someone here to look out for you and keep you safe. I promise you, I will figure all this out and get you back to normal as soon as possible, but for now, I need you to stay here and stay safe, OK?”

     Tim collapsed dejectedly into his mother’s palm, sulking at the thought of having to spend the next few hours, let alone the next week under the care of his aunt.

     “Now, be good and don’t get into any trouble.” Natalie said sternly, gently setting Tim down on the coffee table before scooping up her keys and retrieving her purse from the other end.

     “Jules,” she said genuinely, “make sure he eats and drinks plenty of water. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this stuff’ll just flush out of his system.”

     “Can do, sis,” Julia replied.

     “And sweating might help, too,” Natalie added. “Maybe you could have him run around the table a little bit. Maybe do a few laps.”

     “Sure, I can do that,” Julia chortled.

     “And keep an eye on him. I don’t want him running around unsupervised and getting lost.”

     “Don’t worry, sis,” Julia replied earnestly, “I’ve got it. I’ll keep him out of trouble, I promise.”

     “Yeah, you say that,” Natalie added, hanging her purse over her shoulder, “but I don’t think you realize how dangerous things could be for him. We almost STEPPED ON him on a few minutes ago, remember?”

     “OK, OK,” Julia replied defensively, “I promise, I’ll won’t let him out of my sight.”

     “You’d better not,” Natalie warned her sternly, “I’d prefer my son not be…SQUASHED when I get back home!”

     “Come on, Nat,” Julia sighed with disapproval, rolling her eyes as she followed her sister towards the front door. “Give me a little credit, would ya?”

     “And Tim,” she said, pointing her finger at the tiny boy as she walked past the coffee table again. “Stay OFF the floor, you HEAR ME?!”

     “MOM!” Tim whined, crossing his arms in frustration, “That wasn’t my FAULT!”

     Either Natalie purposely ignored her son’s squeaky response and didn’t reply, or her mind was already too preoccupied with the task ahead to respond as she turned and slipped on her own pair of flats sitting next to Julia’s just outside the den.

     “Alright,” Natalie said, turning back and giving Julia a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I’m off.”

     “Bye, sis,” Julia replied, returning her sister’s hug. “See you in a few.”

     “And Jules…” Natalie began, pausing to peer over her sister’s shoulder, taking an apprehensive glance at Tim over on the coffee table.

     “Please take care of my son,” Natalie sighed anxiously.

     “I will, Nat,” Julia replied softly. “I promise.”

     “OK,” Natalie said, hurrying out the door. “Bye, you two.”

     “Bye, sis, and don’t worry…” Julia called after her sister quickly as the door shut.

     “…I’ll take good care of him,” she added under her breath, smirking and giggling deviously.

     Julia waited at the door until Natalie had climbed into her car and drove away; then, she turned and haughtily walked back into the living room.

     Tim gulped anxiously, taking several steps backwards as his giant aunt headed towards the coffee. He’d felt uneasy ever since he’d since Julia had smiled so suspiciously at him when he was trapped in her palms. The irony of the situation suddenly hit the tiny boy like a ton of bricks: he was literally trapped in his aunt’s grasp, and was now left wondering exactly what the giant woman had in mind for him.

     “Hmph,” Julia huffed smugly, looming over her tiny nephew as she walked around the coffee table and sat down on the couch, “Well, well, well. You’ve certainly got yourself into quite the mess, haven’t you, little boy?

     “…Or should I say, ‘Tiny Tim’?” she giggled with a playful snort.

     “KNOCK IT OFF, Aunt Julia!” Tim squeaked demandingly, stamping his little foot on the table. “It’s NOT funny!”

     “Oh, it’s TOTALLY funny, Timmy,” she taunted him, giggling even harder now. “In fact, it’s downright HILARIOUS! I always told Nat, if she didn’t take a firmer hand with you, you were gonna get yourself into reeeealllll trouble one day! Well, look at you now!”

     “Aunt Julia, PLEASE!” Tim begged, blushing as he crossed his arms in frustration. “This is EMBARRASSING enough as it is!”

     “Oh, I’ll BET it is!” Julia chuckled. “I wonder what all your friends at school would say if they could see you now.”

     “Aunt Julia, I’m begging you: STOP IT, RIGHT NOW!”

     “Or what?!” Julia inquired irately, leaning forward over the tiny boy.

     “…Or…or…” Tim winced, his voice trailing off as he shied away from his aunt’s ominous looking figure leaning over him.

     “Yeah, that’s what I thought!” Julia scoffed, reclining back on the cushion. “You know, you should be GRATEFUL Nat made me promise to keep all this quiet. I’d have LOVED to post something like this to YouTube.”

     “Yeah, well, she DID!” Tim shouted assuredly. “So you’d better take good care of me this week, Aunt Julia…or else!”

     “‘Or else’, WHAT?!” Julia rebuked him. “You know, you MIGHT wanna reconsider your current situation, Tiny Tim! Have you looked in a MIRROR lately?! ‘Cause if you haven’t noticed, you’re only an inch tall! Which means, there’s not much you can do around here without my help, so unless you wanna spend the day in one of your mom’s mason jars, I’d suggest you straighten up. 

     “Like it or not, I’M in charge now,” Julia continued assuredly, leaning back on the cushion again, “so you’d better behave yourself…or else!”

     Tim was about to make a retort when the giant woman apathetically kicked her right foot up on the coffee table, crossing her left foot over it.

     “ACK!” the tiny boy yelped as Julia’s heel hit the wooden surface of the coffee table just off to his right, the impact shaking the whole table and knocking him off his feet.

     “HEY!” Tim shouted angrily. “AUNT JULIA, WATCH IT!”

     “Aw, what’s the matter, little nephew?” Julia cooed, wiggling her toes playfully at him. “Are you afraid of your auntie’s feet? Well, considering you’re practically the size of a BUG now, you probably SHOULD be. I could SQUASH you with just my big toe!”

     “Are you CRAZY, AUNT JULIA?!” Tim shouted irately, “You could’ve CRUSHED ME!”

     “Aw, I wouldn’t do that,” Julia replied, smirking as she pondered something to herself.

     “…Well, not on PURPOSE, anyway,” she chortled, feigning innocence as her eyes darted upwards.

     “AUNT JULIA, CUT IT OUT!” Tim demanded.

     “Of course, this house could be a pretty dangerous place for someone of your size,” Julia shrugged as she looked around the room, refusing to acknowledge her nephew’s demands, “I mean, you can’t just go…running around all willy-nilly without anyone knowing where you are. It’s not safe…

     “…Someone might STEP on you!” Julia chuckled maliciously, leaning in closer to him again.

     “A-Aunt Julia,” Tim gulped anxiously, seeing Aunt Julia scrunch her foot at him. “Y-You wouldn’t DARE!”

     “Oh, WOULDN’T I?!” Julia mocked him, raising her eyebrows. “I mean, heck, you’re so small now, you could probably get lost in the living room carpet. Imagine what might happen if…hm, I don’t know, someone came walking into the living room without knowing you were down there. All it would take is one wrong step and—”

     Without warning, Julia suddenly smacked the table with her right foot.

     “AAAH!” Tim screamed as he was suddenly knocked off his feet from the booming impact.

     “…You’d be squished!” Julia gasped playfully, feigning shock as she looked directly at her tiny nephew lying prone of the table. “You wouldn’t want to get squished, would you, Tim?”

     Tim frantically shook his head, a look of abject terror on his face.

     “Of course, not,” Julia confirmed, reclining again, “but don’t worry, I promise, I’ll be careful...”

     “….as long as you BEHAVE, that is.” she added, pointing her right big toe at the tiny boy. “But, if you’re bad...I might just forget where you are, and if I lose track of you, well…accidents might happen.”

     “NO!” Tim shouted firmly as he got to his feet. “AUNT JULIA, THAT’S IT! I’M TELLING MOM WHAT YOU JUST SAID! YOU CAN’T TREAT ME LIKE THIS! YOU HEAR ME?! AUNT JULIA, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!”

     Julia grinned arrogantly as she watched her tiny nephew frantically jumping up and down on the coffee table, squeaking his little lungs out. She put her hands behind her head and sighed contently, pretending to ignore him.

     Julia waited for Tim to get all his protests out of his system and tire himself out before she acknowledged him again; Tim, however, was only growing more and more irate that his giant aunt was ignoring him.

     “AUNT JULIA!” he shouted angrily as he ran over to her giant heel, pounding his fists into her flesh. “AUNT JULIA! DON’T YOU DARE IGNORE ME! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! AUNT JULIA!”

     Julia sighed and rolled her eyes, slightly frustrated by the tiny boy’s audacity. Out of sheer spite, she yanked her right foot away and smacked the edge of the table, shoving it forward.

     Tim was completely caught off-guard. He stumbled forward, knocked off balance and falling forward off the table at it suddenly shifted beneath him, screaming as he fell towards the floor.

     Julia gasped with genuine concern, her eyes going wide. She only meant to knock the little boy onto his butt again, not throw him completely off the table. She quickly leaned forward to see where her tiny nephew had landed, wondering if he was okay.

     Despite the long distance he had fallen relative to the size, Tim landed softly with a tiny FLOOF on the living room carpet. He lay prone for a moment, still processing what had just transpired, when his Aunt Julia’s giant face suddenly came into view far above him. He immediately began shouting curses up to her without even thinking:

     “Are you CRAZY, YOU GIANT BITCH! You could’ve KILLED ME!”

     Julia was about to reach down and pick her tiny nephew up off the floor, but the moment Tim started squeaking again, her genuine concern quickly faded, and a huge smirk developed on her face.

     “Oh my,” Julia gasped playfully, placing her hands on her cheeks, “I wonder where my tiny nephew has gone. I could’ve sworn he was here a minute ago.”

     “AUNT JULIA, KNOCK IT OFF!” Tim shouted up. “I KNOW YOU CAN SEE ME!”

     “Tim?” Julia called out. “Tim, where are you?”

     “A-Aunt Julia, stop!” Tim begged. “Please, you’re scaring me!”

     “Uh, oh,” Julia gasped again, “what if he shrank even MORE?! I hope he didn’t get TOO small…I hope I didn’t accidentally…step on him.”

     The giant woman quickly placed her right foot in her lap, pretending to inspect her sole.

     “A-Aunt Julia,” Tim stammered, slowly climbing to his feet, “wh-what’re you DOING?!”

     “Good, nothing there,” Julia sighed, removing her right foot from her lap and lowering it to the floor. “I’d better check the other one.”

     Tim had stopped shouting and was anxiously watching the scene unfold above him, unsure what his giant aunt was doing. It was only when he was about to shout up to her again that he realized Julia was lowering her right foot to the floor…right on top of him!

     “NOmmph—!”

     Once again, the tiny, bulgy-eyed boy barely had time to scream as Julia’s foot impacted the carpet. The giant woman, meanwhile, pretended not to notice she’d just stepped on her tiny nephew as she continued her ruse and lifted her left foot into her lap.

     “Hm, not there either,” Julie replied with a playful smile, disingenuously checking her other sole. “I guess I’ll just have to stay RIGHT HERE until I spot him. I wouldn’t want to go walking around the house and accidentally STEP on him!”

     Julia placed her left foot over her right leg, forcing Tim to now bear the full weight of her entire lower body. The poor, shrunken boy belted muffled screams for mercy, wiggling frantically to escape the underside of his aunt’s foot.

     “Hmph, now imagine what this would’ve been like if I HADN’T known you were down there, Tim,” Julia derided him as she playfully scrunched her foot and wiggled her toes. “So, from now on, you’re going and behave and do EVERYTHING your auntie tells you, and if you don’t….well, who knows what might happen?! I might not see you and accidentally sit on you, OR I might just STEP on you again. Do I make myself clear, Tiny Tim?”

     She paused and smiled, listening intently for her tiny nephew’s response, but obviously, she couldn’t hear his tiny muffled squeaks with her foot on top of him.

    “I said, do I—“

     Julia suddenly stopped mid-sentence. The sensation of feeling Tim squirming beneath her foot felt surprisingly enchanting. Julia suddenly felt a strange, yet alluring sense of power and dominance.

     “Hmm,” Julia moaned blithely, biting her lower lip. “You know, it actually feels kind of good having you squirming under my foot. Mm, I may have to do this more often.”

     Julia chuckled and leaned back carefully, making sure not to lift her foot from the floor.

     “Mm,” she moaned again, even more contently. “I could certainly get used to this.”

     “Ooh,” Julia chortled deviously, wiggling her toes, “I wonder how you’d feel squirming in between my toes.

     “Yes, sir,” she sighed, “it’s gonna be a LOT of fun keeping an eye on you this week, Tiny Tim.”

     As his giant aunt reclined on the couch, delighting in her tiny nephew’s struggles, Tim quickly realized his feeble attempts to escape from beneath his aunt’s giant foot were futile; all he could do at the moment was scream muffled cries for mercy and pray the torment wouldn’t last long.

     Alas, while it hadn’t been the first time the tiny teenager found himself beneath Aunt Julia’s bare foot that morning, Tim suspected it also wouldn’t be the last. He just knew in his heart that with Aunt Julia around, this whole shrunken nightmare was only going to get worse….MUCH worse.

     His tiny troubles were only just beginning.

     “Tim,” a disembodied voice whispered, “Sweetheart, wake up…”

     Tim opened his eyes, nearly jumping at the sight of his gigantic mother leaning over his bed, staring sympathetically down at him on his pillow.

     “Hey, sweetheart,” Natalie repeated softly. “Did you sleep OK?”

     “Kinda,” Tim replied, rubbing his eyes and slowly sitting up.

     “Still no change, I see,” Natalie commented somberly on her son’s as yet unchanged height.

     “No,” Tim replied dejectedly, hoping the events of the prior day had all been a dream, “and I’m still pretty tired.”

     “Aw, I’m sorry, hon,” his mother replied concernedly. “I know you could probably use your rest, but your Aunt Julia’s gonna be here pretty soon, and I need you to get up and around while I—”

     “…finish getting ready,” Natalie sighed awkwardly, realizing her inconsiderate assumption. “I’m sorry, Tim. I meant, I need to finish getting ready for work. Do you….need to use the bathroom or anything?”

     “I’m fine, mom,” Tim said flatly, with a heavy-hearted sigh. “Go ahead and get ready. I…just need to wake up a bit.”

     “OK, hon,” she replied sympathetically. “I just need to finish putting my makeup on, but I’ll be right back in to get you, okay?”

     “OK, mom,” Tim nodded.

     In reality, Tim was ANYTHING but fine: he honestly hadn’t slept much at all the night before. Despite somehow managing to convince his mother to let him sleep in his own bed, and making himself at least somewhat comfortable—sleeping on his pillow, using a Kleenex his mother had given him to use as a blanket—Tim spent the whole night tossing and turning, constantly worrying about how much torture he would have to endure at the hands—and feet—of his Aunt Julia when she arrived that morning.

     As he watched his mother step out of his bedroom, Tim sat anxiously on his pillow with his hands clasped in his lap, surveying the landscape, and reminiscing about what it felt being normal-sized. All the while, he couldn’t help reflecting on the events that had transpired the previous day:

     After knocking him off the coffee table, then purposely stepping on and trapping him under her foot, Julia spent the entire afternoon tormenting Tim with her nasty, sweaty feet, treating him as if he were some kind of toy: rolling him around under her soles, squeezing him in between her toes, and constantly scooping him up into her toe crevices, then dropping him back onto the floor over and over again.

     And the day only got worse from there when Tim tried to tell his mother about his mistreatment at dinner that evening:

     “Tim, I just don’t believe my sister would do that to you.” Natalie scoffed, taking a sip from her glass of wine. “Are you sure you aren’t just imagining things?”

     “I didn’t ‘imagine’ any of it, mom!” Tim squeaked assuredly, stamping his tiny foot on the kitchen table. “I SWEAR! That’s what happened! Please, you’ve gotta BELIEVE me!”

     “‘Believe’ WHAT?!” Natalie exclaimed dismissively, collecting her dirty dishes and standing up from table, “That my sister kept you under her FEET all afternoon?! Come on, Tim. Stop exaggerating!”

     “I’m not EXAGGERATING, mom!” Tim squeaked resentfully, taken aback by his mother’s dismissal. “I’m telling you the TRUTH! Aunt Julia put her FEET on me!”

     “Tim, why would your Aunt Julia do that?!” Natalie shrugged with confusion, taking her dishes over to the sink. “She loves you. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

     “But she DID, mom!” Tim whined desperately. “She practically STEPPED on me!”

     “Tim,” Natalie sighed in frustration, leaving her dishes on the counter as she walked back over to the table, “HOW could aunt Julia have even stepped on you, unless you were…Tim, were you running around on the floor again like I told you NOT to do?!”

     “NO!” Tim exclaimed defensively, trying to reiterate. “I mean…yes, I was on the floor, but I—”

     “TIM,” Natalie exclaimed heatedly, “I SPECIFICALLY told you NOT to go running around on the floor, didn’t I?!”

     “Mom, you don’t understand…” Tim tried to explain.

     “Damn it, Tim!” Natalie spat irately, pointing her finger at her son. “Are you TYRING to get yourself squished?!”

     “NO, MOM!” Tim objected, “I SWEAR. It wasn’t my FAULT! It was Aunt JULIA’S!”

     “I don’t care WHOSE fault it was, young man!” Natalie scolded him bitterly. “I SPECIFICALLY told you NOT to go running around on the floor, and you COMPLETELY disobeyed me!”

     “But, Mom,” Tim pleaded, “I told you, it was all Aunt Julia’s fault! She knocked me off the table and then STEPPED on me! Please, just LISTEN—!”

     “Tim, that’s enough!” Natalie rebuked as she stepped up to the table, standing over him as her tone suddenly becoming more agitated and fast paced. “First of all, if my sister HAD stepped on you, she would’ve squashed you, and you’re NOT squashed, are you?!”

     “MO-OM—!”

     “Secondly,” Natalie continued, cutting Tim off, “even if Julia DID….somehow put her…feet on you, it was probably an accident…and it wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been on the floor, now, would it?!”

     Natalie angrily collected some more dishes and took them over to the counter.

     “I busted my butt ALL DAY today trying to get this formula analyzed and get my tiny son back to normal size, and what’s he doing?! Running around the floor at home just asking to get himself squished! Now, I’m gonna have a talk with Aunt Julia tomorrow morning when she gets here and make sure she keeps a closer eye on you…

     “…But as for YOU, young man,” Natalie stated firmly, turning back towards the table and pointing her finger at Tim again, “stay OFF the floor! You GOT THAT?!”

     “But, MO-OM—!”

     “I MEAN it, mister! Or I might just consider putting you under MY feet! Maybe then, you’ll learn how to LISTEN!”

     Tim was clearly frustrated his own mother didn’t believe him about all the torture his aunt had put him through that day, and that frustration only festered into worry and anxiety as he went to bed that night. Tim had never given Aunt Julia’s feet—nor ANYONE’S feet, for that matter—a second thought, and never in his whole life did he honestly even fathom that one day, he’d have to worry about being stepped on and squashed beneath them. Yet, in the course of a single afternoon, Tim had not only faced the fears and harsh realities of being tiny, he’d experienced more of his Aunt Julia’s feet than he ever wanted to in his entire lifetime.

     “Alright, kiddo,” Natalie said warmly as she stepped back into the bedroom. “How about some breakfast before your Aunt Julia gets here, hm?”

     “Mom, please, I’m begging you,” Tim beseeched her, “Don’t leave me alone with Aunt Julia again today!”

     “Aw, Tim,” Natalie sighed with chagrin, “honey, we discussed this: I simply can’t leave you home alone in your condition! SOMEONE has be here to keep an eye on you!”

     “Well, couldn’t you just stay home today?” Tim whined. “Please?”

     “Honey, I have to keep working on that formula and find you an antidote!” Natalie replied staunchly. “You don’t wanna go through life stuck at an inch tall, do you?!”

     Tim sighed dejectedly, albeit begrudgingly agreeing with his mother. While he truly wanted her to stay home and give him some reprieve from Aunt Julia’s constant torment, he also knew that the sooner his mother made him an antidote, the sooner he’d grow back to normal; then, this whole shrinking nightmare would be over.

     “Of COURSE not!” Tim replied, answering his mother’s earlier question.

     “Well…then you’re gonna have to suck it up and let me go to work so I can fix this!” Natalie stated adamantly, lowering her hand to Tim’s pillow. “Maybe YOU’RE okay with being stuck this size a little bit longer, but I’M, sure as hell, not! I need to get you back to normal before anyone finds out about this!”

     “But,” Tim sighed frustratedly, “couldn’t I just stay in bed this morning?”

     “No,” Natalie dismissed him indignantly, “I’m NOT leaving you unsupervised, not like THIS, anyway! Even if there IS someone home watching you!”

     “But mom,” Tim whined, “I was fine sleeping alone in my room the whole night…”

     “Yeah, and I’m STILL not sure that was a good idea!” Natalie rebutted. “I was up half the night WORRYING that something might happen to you. I would’ve changed my mind and come back in here to get you, but I didn’t wanna risk coming in here and poking around blind the middle of the night and find out that you’d fallen out of bed or something.”

     “Mom, I’m NOT gonna fall outta bed!” Tim squeaked defensively.

     “Tim….ENOUGH!” Natalie chided, pointing her finger down at him. “I’ve made up my mind! It’s just too risky to leave you in here by yourself during the day! Remember what happened YESTERDAY when your Aunt Julia got here?! I thought we’d LOST you! What if you fell out of bed while the two of us were in the other room, huh?! You’d have NO way to get back in bed, and be stuck wandering around, lost in the carpet; and that’s all I need, for you to go running around the house, trying to get someone’s attention, only to have one of us STEP on you!”

     “But mom, if you leave me here with Aunt Julia again, I AM gonna get stepped on!” Tim chimed in smartly.

     “Honey, I told you,” Natalie sighed in frustration, lowering her cupped hands down to Tim’s pillow, “Julia loves you and she’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you.”

     Tim sighed despondently and sluggishly climbed into his mother’s palms.

     “Look,” Natalie said as she carefully lifted her hands back to her chest and headed out of the bedroom, “I’m sorry I was so cross with you last night, and I promise I will talk to your Aunt Julia this morning and make sure she takes better care of you today, alright, but in the meantime, I need you to be more careful and not put yourself in anymore dangerous situations, OK?”

     “OK,” Tim nodded with dejected sigh.

     With Tim safely cradled in her cupped palms, Natalie walked down the hall and through the living room into the kitchen, gently setting Tim on the kitchen table before going about making something for breakfast. Ordinarily, Tim would enjoy a bowl of cereal or a toaster pastry in the morning, but he hadn’t had much of an appetite since he shrank. Natalie, on the other hand, augmented her usual morning cup of coffee with a doughnut; she figured she was going to need the extra energy that day, what with the massive amount of testing she’d have to do not only on Tim’s problem, but with all the OTHER samples she’d had sent back from her trip.

     Tim sat in doleful silence, casually taking small bites from the crumb of doughnut his mother hand given him, insisting he needed to keep his strength up, and also give him the energy he’d need to generate enough body heat. She was also still clinging to the off-chance that eating and drinking enough might still eventually flush the formula out of his system.

     A few minutes later, the table suddenly vibrated underneath the tiny boy; Tim nearly jumped up into a standing position. Thankfully, it was only his mother’s phone indicating a text message:

     “Be there in a few”—Julia

     “OK,” Natalie spoke up as she finished reading her message and stood up from the table. “Your Aunt Julia’s almost here. Are you finished?”

     “Yeah,” Tim nodded unemotionally, tossing aside his crumb of doughnut as he brushed off his clothes.

     Natalie gathered her phone and coffee mug and headed over to the sink to clean up. Meanwhile, Tim sat on the table with his hands clasped in his lap again, twiddling his thumbs anxiously. He still kept picturing all the possible torment Aunt Julia might put him through that day, worried he’d have to spend another whole day under her feet.

     “Just pulled up”—Julia

     “Your aunt’s here,” Natalie said, setting her phone on the counter and stepping back over to the table. “Come on.”

     “Mom,” Tim sighed, unable to look his mother in the eye, “can’t I just stay here for a minute, please?”

     “Tim—“ Natalie began, but this time, Tim interrupted her:

     “I JUST need a minute to myself before I see Aunt Julia,” the tiny boy explained. “Look, I won’t go anywhere, I promise. I will literally sit RIGHT HERE and not move. Please, I just need a minute alone.”

     Natalie sighed, pausing for a moment to consider Tim’s request.

     “Alright, fine,” she finally relented, “I need a minute to talk to Julia in private anyway, but don’t you DARE move from that spot, young man! You GOT IT?!”

     Tim nodded a bit more lively this time as his mother headed out of the kitchen, continuously looking back as long as she could until she had to step out of sight; although, she did say a quick prayer asking that her tiny son still be on the table when she returned.

     “Morning, Jules,” Natalie greeted her sister as she opened the front door.

     “Mornin’, sis,” Julia replied.

     Natalie quickly took note of Julia’s outfit: she was wearing what appeared to be workout clothes—a white, midriff top with maroon leggings—and was carrying mid-sized tote bag over her right shoulder.

     “Did ya just come from the gym?” Natalie inquired, noting her sister’s outfit.

     “Oh, no,” Julia replied. “I just thought I might bring a few things over with me today. You know, help pass the time and make myself a little more comfortable. I hope that’s OK.”

     “Oh, it’s fine,” Natalie shrugged. “Come on in.”

     “Thanks,” Julie said as she scooted by her sister, kicking off the flip-flops she was wearing at the edge of the den. “So, how’s Tim this morning? Any change?”

    “No,” Natalie shrugged and sighed, shaking her head as she closed the front door and followed her sister into the living room, “he’s still small, but at least there haven’t been anymore unexpected SURPRISES this morning.”

     “Well, I guess that’s good news,” Julia agreed with a sly grin, dropping her bag on the nearest couch cushion, half-expecting to spot her tiny nephew sitting on the coffee table. “So, where IS Tim, hm?”

     “Uh, he’s in the kitchen…on the table,” Natalie replied, motioning to the kitchen as she anxiously rubbed her hands together.

     “Nat,” Julia recoiled, “are you sure it’s safe for him to be in there by himself?! Remember what happened yesterday?!”

     “Trust me, I remember,” Natalie replied, rolling her eyes, “but don’t worry, I told him not to move this time. Besides, I-I wanted you and I to have a little talk in private.”

     “Sure,” Julia shrugged. “What about?”

     “Well…I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday.”

     “OK…” Julia shook her head with confusion, unclear what her sister was referring to, “uh…just to be clear, what happened yesterday? I mean, BESIDES the fact I found out my nephew’s only an inch tall?”

     “I just wanted to know if anything…happened yesterday while I was at work,” Natalie prodded.

     “Like what?” Julia replied, shrugging.

     “I don’t know, Jules, you tell me,” Natalie said disdainfully, crossing her arms. “Did anything happen to Tim yesterday that I should know about?”

     “Sis, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Julia shrugged with confusion. “Whatever it is, just…come out and say it.”

     “Alright, fine!” Natalie sighed scornfully. “Tim said that you stepped on him yesterday!”

     “WHAT?!” Julia exclaimed, flabbergasted at the accusation. “WHEN?!”

     “Yesterday afternoon,” Natalie asserted. “He claims you put your feet on him.”

     “Oh…” Julia uttered guiltily, her tone much more timid, “…yeah…that.”

     “Yeah….’that’,” Natalie mocked.

     “Whaaaaat exactly did he say?” Julia inquired anxiously.

     “Well, according to him, you knocked him off the coffee table and then put your foot on top of him.”

     “Oh,” Julia replied, thinking quickly, “well, you see, Tim was on the coffee table, and I was on the couch with my feet up. I….guess I must’ve shifted my foot or something, because the next thing I knew, Tim was gone. I mean, I didn’t see him on the table anywhere. I-I panicked; I leaned forward to check, but I…didn’t realize that he was actually on the floor right under me, you know, just in front of the couch, and….when I put my feet on the floor, I…accidentally put my foot on top of him.”

    “JULES?!” Natalie exclaimed with reproach.

    “Nat, it was only for a FRACTION of a second, I swear!” Julia lied, “I didn’t even put any weight on it! As SOON as I felt him, I immediately lifted my foot and rescued him. He…seemed fine, so I…”

     “Well, he WASN’T ‘fine’, Jules,” Natalie snapped, “the poor kid was scared to DEATH! He thought you’d STEPPED on him; he probably thought he was gonna be SQUASHED! How could you not TELL ME about this?!”

     “Nat, I’m so sorry,” Julia apologized half-heartedly. “I-I didn’t say anything ‘cause I didn’t want you to worry.”

     “Well I AM worried, Jules!” Natalie exclaimed. “I mean, how could I NOT be?! My son’s the size of a BUG, and I just found out my sister almost SQUASHED him!”

     “OK, Nat,” Julia apologized again. “You’re right! I’m sorry, I should’ve told you.”

     “Yes, you SHOULD have!” Natalie replied flatly. “Now, look, I’ve ALREADY talked to Tim about this and specifically told him he is stay OFF the floor from now on, but I really need you promise me you’ll take better care of him and be more attentive, okay?”

     “OK, Nat,” Julia nodded, “I promise, I will.”

     “And please, TRY to be more careful today, alright?”

     “Alright, Nat,” Julia relented again, getting a bit annoyed at having to repeat herself. “I will, I promise.”

     “Good,” Natalie said, beckoning her sister as she headed towards the kitchen, “now, come on.”

     As the two woman walked through the kitchen, Natalie heaved a small sigh of relief seeing that Tim was still sitting on the table where she’d left him. Tim, however, became immediately apprehensive up seeing Aunt Julia approaching the table. He could pretty hear most of the scolding his mother had given to his aunt in the other room, and was fearful Aunt Julia was going to take out any and all of her frustrations on him after his mom left for work.

     The tiny boy quickly rose to his feet and took a few steps backwards, an action that made Julia smirk as she approached the table, a clear sign of submission on Tim’s part.

     “Alright, you two,” Natalie addressed them as she deposited her phone in her handbag, “I really need you BOTH to promise me you’re gonna be more careful today. Tim, not one foot on the floor, I mean it!”

     Tim nodded, albeit meekly, knowing full-well that such a promise still wasn’t going to save him from Aunt Julia’s feet that day.

     “And Jules,” Natalie continued, pointing at her sister, “keep him safe.”

     “Don’t worry, sis, I got it,” Julia replied assuredly.

     “…And mind your feet, would ya?” Natalie added, motioning towards the floor as she lowered her hands to the table and gently scooped Tim into her hands.

     Julia didn’t reply, only giving a perturbed sneer behind her sister’s back.

     “Alright, I’ll try not to be too late today,” Natalie said, planting a tiny kiss upon Tim’s head. “Be good, sweetie.”

     “MO-OM!” Tim squeaked, reeling as he wiped his mother’s lip gloss off his face, “Come on.”

     “Alright, I’m off,” Natalie said, placing her tiny son into Julia’s palms.

     Tim craned his neck and looked upwards: his aunt’s upside-down face was sporting an uncomfortably huge grin, making him shudder with anxiety.

     “Bye, guys,” Natalie waved as she headed out of the kitchen, “Have a good day.”

      Like a child awaiting their punishment, Tim sat uneasily in his aunt’s hands as he watched his mother disappear into the living room; meanwhile, Julia waited until she heard the door slam shut before saying anything:

     “Hmph, so,” she said with a playful smile, gripping her tiny nephew’s clothes between her right thumb and index finger, lifting him up rather jarringly to her face, “looks like my little nephew has a BIG mouth, huh?!”

     “Ack!” Tim yelped, straining to speak from being handled so roughly. “HEY! TAKE IT EASY, Aunt Julia!”

     “Well, you’re lucky your mom didn’t ruin my good mood this morning,” she chortled as she started walking towards the living room, playfully jiggling the tiny boy in her grip. “Otherwise, I might have to punish you.”

     “EEK!” Tim squealed frantically. “AUNT JULIA, STOP! NOT SO ROUGH!”

     “Oh, relax, Timmy,” Julia scoffed as she walked around to the front of the couch. “I promised your mom I’d be careful with you today, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

     Julia deposited her tiny nephew in the center of the coffee table and knelt down on the floor.

     “Now, hold on tight,” she instructed. “I gotta move the coffee table out of the way.”

     “Wait, WHAT?!” Tim exclaimed, although immediately dropping to the table’s wooden surface as soon as he saw Julia put both hands on its edge.

     “Ready?” she asked, eyeing him intently.

     Tim nodded his head and grit his teeth, preparing for the worst…

     Surprisingly, the journey wasn’t that bad: Julia was actually being quite careful as she scooted the table back until it was flush with the couch; although, there was a hefty jolt when it first started moving.

     “Ah, there we go,” Julia said, commending herself. “That should be enough room.”

     “Enough room for WHAT?!” Tim squeaked inquisitively, struggling to get to his feet.

     “For my workout, silly,” Julie replied, flashing Tim a playful grin before crawling over to grab her bag at the edge of the couch. “I can’t start the day without doing my yoga, and I couldn’t do it before I came over, so I figured I’d just do it here.”

     “Well, what am I supposed to do?” Tim inquired.

     “YOU are going to stay there and keep out of trouble while I’m stretching,” Julia replied, pausing a moment to point at her tiny nephew before continuing to rifle through her bag.

     “Come on, Aunt Julia!” Tim complained, “Can’t I watch TV or something?”

     “Sorry, Timmy, but I need the TV to play my instruction video,” Julia said dismissively, pulling a pair of fuzzy, pink slippers from her bag and setting them under the coffee table.

     “Well, if I can’t watch TV,” Tim offered, “can you, at least, take me back to my room and let me sleep for a little while longer?”

     “Sorry, no can do, kiddo,” Julia shot him down again, as she grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. “Your heard your mom: she told me to keep an eye on you, and I’m NOT letting you out of my sight, so I suggest you just sit there and make yourself comfortable.”

     “But I don’t wanna just SIT here and watch you work out,” Tim whined. “I wanna DO something!”

     “Well, your welcome to join me, if you’d like,” she replied, chortling as she started up YouTube on the TV, “although, I’d probably stay on the table if I were you. You wouldn’t want me to accidentally step on you during one of my stretches, would you?”

     Julia playfully waved her foot in Tim’s direction; the tiny teenager scrunched his nose in disgust.

     “In any case, your mom told you to stay off the floor, remember?” Julia continued.

     “COME on, Aunt Julia—!” Tim protested again, stomping his tiny foot on the table.

     “Tim, I’m done discussing this with you,” Julia replied, queuing up her yoga video. “Now, you can either follow along with me, or just sit there quietly ‘til I’m done. It’s up to you.”

     “Well, couldn’t you at least put me somewhere more comfortable?” Tim huffed in frustration. 

     “Where?!” Julia chortled skeptically. “I certainly couldn’t put you on the couch…

     “I might not see you and SIT on you!” Julia smiled, giggling playfully and wrinkling her nose at him.

     Tim merely shot the woman a look of discontent.

     “How about on one of the pillows?” Tim offered unenthusiastically, still displaying a look of annoyance as he pointed to a throw pillow on the far side of the couch.

     “Nah,” Julia shook her head, putting her fingers to her chin, “even if I put it on the coffee table, there’s still a chance you could fall off if you’re not careful…

     “OH, I know!” Julia exclaimed, getting an idea.

     She quickly snatched a tissue from a box on the far side of the coffee table and began folding it up into a rectangular shape. 

     “Here,” she offered happily, laying it down just in front of Tim. “Now, you have something you can lay down on, and, if want to follow along with my workout, you can.”

     Tim grumbled to himself, but reluctantly stepped onto the folded tissue; meanwhile, Julia started her yoga video and got into the first position for her workout.

     Tim made himself a small head rest to use as a pillow before laying down and making himself comfortable. Of course, he certainly would’ve liked to have taken the reprieve and gotten another half hour or so of sleep, but between the sounds of Julia moving around on the floor, and the blaring voice of the female yoga instructor on the TV, it was virtually impossible. Had he been in a better mood, or even at least been fully rested, the tiny boy certainly might’ve, at least, CONSIDERED joining his giant aunt for her workout, but for the moment, Tim relegated himself to tossing and turning, trying to ignore all the distractions as he attempted to fall asleep.

     The real problem for Tim trying to sleep at the moment was that he kept getting distracted, not just by his aunt, but by the YouTube video playing on the TV. The yoga instructor was a young and rather fit 20-something, with shoulder-length brown hair that just barely covered the straps of her purple sports bra, and Tim found something quite alluring watching her pose and stretch in her tight, patterned leggings.    

     At that point, Tim realized he probably had little to no chance of sleeping with all the distractions; he quickly scooted his makeshift bedroll towards the edge of the table, then sat down and relegated himself to watching the gorgeous, young creature on TV as she gracefully bent back and forth in each sultry pose.

     In actuality, the instructor reminded him a little bit of the girl who lived next door to him: McKenzie. She was an older girl who had gone away for her first year at college, so Tim hadn’t seen much of her since the previous summer, and the occasional weekend visits when she came home during the year. Still, Tim remembered how much she used to lay out sunbathing in lounge chair of the deck next door when the weather was nice, wearing nothing but her bikini as she worked on her slight suntan.

     Of course, Tim tried not to be a creep, nor did he ever say anything to McKenzie, as she was 4 years older than him, but a guy can always dream…

     Tim was suddenly caught off-guard when the yoga instructor unexpectedly got down into her downward-facing dog pose, sticking her tight, well-toned ass into the air…his mouth began watering; he could literally feel his teenage hormones welling up inside as he squirmed anxiously in his seat. He probably would’ve pleasured himself right then and there if his giant aunt hadn’t literally right next to him.

     “Why couldn’t I have someone like HER looking after me instead of Aunt Julia?” Tim said to himself, fantasizing about the gorgeous, young creature on TV. “I certainly wouldn’t mind watching THAT gorgeous body doing yoga in my living room.”

     “Mm,” Julia moaned loudly, startling the tiny boy and snapping him back to reality. 

“Ah, that felt good!”

      Tim had been so preoccupied with his fantasies that he hadn’t noticed the yoga video had ended.

     Julia slowly rose to her feet, standing up directly in front of the coffee table; Tim slowly scooted his tissue mat backwards, intimidated by her massive size being so close, her towering figure dwarfing the tiny teenager as she stretched her arms skyward. When she bent forward to touch her toes, however, Tim immediately averted his gaze to avoid staring at his aunt’s giant ass jiggling back and forth in her tight, maroon leggings, as if she was purposely taunting him, waving it in his direction.

     Tim’s eyes quickly became fixated upon the carpet directly beneath the Aunt Julia’s bare feet, the floor groaning and squeaking beneath them as their giant owner shifted her weight back and forth. Each subtle step and shifting of his giant aunt’s foot became the difference between a single carpet fiber being narrowly missed, or flattened beneath one of her soles, only knowing sweet relief when the weight upon it shifted again and the foot moved away.

     Unfortunately, thanks to Julia’s taunting, Tim couldn’t avoid picturing his tiny form on the floor directly beneath her towering figure: being lost amongst the carpet fibers; dodging her giant, bare feet as she exercised; and screaming helplessly as he desperately avoided being squashed.

     Yet, despite all the annoyances of that morning, Tim had to admit that things seemed to be going a lot better than they had a day prior. Other than how roughly she’d handled him earlier, Aunt Julia was actually being a lot nicer to him; of course, the day had barely begun, and Tim knocked on the surface of the table in front of him, praying he hadn’t just jinxed himself.

     “Mmmmm,” Julia moaned again, turning and looking down upon her tiny nephew still seated on the coffee table, a huge smile on her face. “Maybe tomorrow, you’ll consider joining me, tiny boy.”

     Tim sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, while Julia chuckled proudly and knelt down beside the coffee table.

     “Alright, Timmy, hold on tight,” she advised, gripping the table’s edge.

     “Wha—ACK!” Tim yelped with surprise, barely having a split second to react before the coffee table suddenly jerked forward, the force throwing him onto his back.

     “Ah, there we go,” Julia said proudly once the table was in place.

     “HEY, TAKE IT EASY, AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted irately once the table came to a stop.

     “Well, I told you to hang on, silly boy,” Julia chortled as she stood back up and headed around to the couch, grabbing the TV remote on her way.

     “Well, you didn’t give me a chance!” Tim snapped defensively, clambering to his feet and brushing himself off.

     “Anyway,” Julia sighed as she sat down on the middle cushion of the couch, “I think I’ve earned a little rest.”

     Tim rolled his eyes and shook his head, then began heading across the table in his aunt’s direction.

     “Ahhhhh,” Julia sighed again, leaning back onto the rear cushion and plopping her feet up on the coffee table.

     “AAAACK!” Tim howled as his aunt’s massive heels slammed down onto the table’s surface. “AUNT JULIA, would you WATCH IT?!”

     “Mmm,” Julia moaned, ignoring her nephew’s squeaks, “that’s better. It feels good to finally sit down. I feel like I’ve been on my feet all morning.”

     Julia moved her right foot into her lap, lazily stroking and massaging her sole.

     “MAN, my dogs are barkin’!” she complained, gently setting her foot back on the table, “Tim be a dear and rub your auntie’s feet, would ya?”

     “Wha—NO!” Tim recoiled in disgust, “I’m not rubbing your FEET, Aunt Julia! GROSS!”

     “Now, now, Tiny Tim; remember what I told you about misbehaving,” Julia crooned, wagging her finger and scrunching her toes menacingly at him, “you wouldn’t want your auntie to accidentally STEP on you, would you?”

     “Aunt Julia, STOP threatening to STEP on me!” Tim balked petulantly, “You heard what mom said: you’re SUPPOSED to be nicer to me, today!”

     “As I recall, Tiny Tim,” Julia rebutted, “she told me to be more CAREFUL with you from now on, AND make sure you stay off the floor, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still PUNISH you if you misbehave. So, be a good little boy and rub your auntie’s feet like I asked, or you can do it while you’re squirming under my sole. Your choice!”

      Tim gulped nervously as he slowly approached his aunt’s right foot; the smell was quite pungent. Tim gagged, nauseated at the sight of sweat glistening off her wrinkled flesh.

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim begged meekly, “please don’t make me do this.”

     “Oh, stop being so overdramatic!” she scoffed, seeing the tiny boy wave his hand in front of his nose. “They don’t smell THAT bad! Now, come on.”

     Tim reluctantly approached his giant aunt’s heel and, with a look of disgust on his face, apprehensively pressed his hands into the woman’s flesh.

     “Mm,” Julia moaned, just barely able to feel her nephew’s tiny hands on her heel.

     “Rub harder,” she commanded. “I can barely feel you down there.”

     Tim muttered curses under his breath and started pushing his hands deeper into his aunt’s flesh, even giving her a few punches to see if she’d notice. 

     “Hm,” Julie huffed in frustration, “I can still just barely feel you.

     “Here,” she offered, carefully tilting her foot onto the the table, resting it on the side, “try the MIDDLE of my foot.”

     Tim grumbled again, quickly repositioning himself to start massaging the softer, more tender part of the giant foot. 

     “Ah, now, that’s better,” Julia commented, trying to get more relaxed. “Hey, that kind of tickles.”

     “Well, try not to move around too much,” Tim forewarned her. “I don’t want to get kicked in the face!”

     Of course, Tim knew full-well that if his aunt’s foot suddenly jerked forward, he’d be MORE than just kicked in the face. He’d probably be thrown clear off the table!

     After a few minutes of trying to relax and enjoy her pampering, Julia spoke up again:

     “Mm, that does feel good,” she commended Tim’s effort, “but it’s still not quite good enough.”

     “Gimme a break, Aunt Julia!” Tim shouted in frustration as he stepped into her view, taking a moment to wipe the sweat from his hands down the front of his makeshift toga. “I’m doin’ the best I can! This isn’t exactly EASY, you know!”

     “Well, maybe if you weren’t so small, it’d be easier for ya,” Julia chuckled.

     “If I weren’t this SMALL, I wouldn’t be DOING THIS for you!” Tim asserted, crossing his arms. “In fact, you wouldn’t even BE here lookin’ after me!”

     “Well, I AM, and you ARE,” Julia rebuked, “so, you’re just gonna have to find a way to do a better job.”

     “Well, maybe, if your FEET weren’t so darn big, I’d be able to!” Tim reciprocated.

     “Well then, here,” Julia replied with a grin, sitting up on the couch, “let me help you.”

     Tim jerked as Julia’s right foot suddenly repositioned itself so that its sole was perpendicular to the edge of the table; unfortunately, he was so startled and distracted by the appendage he’d just been massaging that he didn’t see Julia’s other foot sliding in behind him. With a surprised yelp, the tiny boy suddenly found himself sandwiched between both of his aunt’s giant soles.

     “Hlmpf!” Tim shouted incoherently, struggling frantically to escape his fleshy prison. “Lmnt Mrm Omt!

      Tim could barely move, and try as he might he was nowhere near strong enough to push his aunt’s feet apart. The hot, stifling environment suffocated him, and each gasp of air the tiny boy managed to gulp down when he wasn’t face deep in Julia’s flesh was stale and ripe with foot odor.

     “Amnt Jmlmrm! Plrms, it STMNKS mn hrm!”

     Julia could barely hear, let alone understand Tim’s muffled cries—not that she cared either way. With her tiny nephew squirming for freedom between her soles, the giant woman repositioned her legs and scooted forward on the couch to make herself more comfortable, ensuring her feet were kept firmly, yet gently pressed together as she rested them on the coffee table.

     Then, Tim’s REAL torture began:

     Julia began slowly rubbing her feet together, rolling the tiny boy back-and-forth in between her soles like her own personal foot massager. She could actually feel her tiny nephew’s squirms and screams intensifying, no doubt begging her to stop, but unfortunately, Tim’s wiggles and screams only enhanced Julia’s self-massage, not to mention her feelings of dominance and power, which only encouraged her to continue.

     Soon, Julia was rolling Tim along the balls of her feet, gripping his tiny figure within the grooves at the base of her toes, and each time Tim would scream for mercy, the giant woman simply grinned and maneuvered him back between her feet, or scrunched her toes even tighter, giggling with delight as her nephew’s cries kept getting stifled.

     Tim’s suffering went on for a good five minutes before his strength and will to resist waned; he purposely went limp, relegating himself to his aunt’s whims. Thankfully, his inactivity was enough to curb his aunt’s enthusiasm. 

     “Aw, what’s the matter, Tiny Tim?” The giant woman cooed as she opened her feet, cradling the tiny boy between her soles. “Are you getting tired? You we’re doing so well. I was actually enjoying myself.”

     “ARE YOU CRAZY, AUNT JULIA?!” Tim squeaked furiously, completely disheveled. “You nearly SUFFOCATED me!”

     “Oh, stop exaggerating!” Julia scoffed. “You were fine!”

     “I’m NOT EXAGGERATING, AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted, struggling to stand up, though finding it difficult with the flesh around him caked with sweat and grime. “And your FEET are DISGUSTING! YUCK!”

     “First of all,” Julia replied, pointing and taking offense, “my feet are not ‘disgusting’, so watch your mouth, Tiny Tim—!”

     “STOP CALLING ME ‘TINY TIM’!” the shrunken boy interrupted.

     “Secondly,” Julia continued, growing more annoyed, “if I were as small as you, I MIGHT wanna reconsider how you talk to someone who’s much….MUCH bigger than you are! Don’t forget: I’m NOT above punishing you!”

     “You’ve done nothing BUT punish me since you got here, Aunt Julia,” Tim whined, “and that’s all you did yesterday, too! I’m tired of you treating me like some kind of foot toy just because I’m small!”

     “Well, I can’t help it if you’re fun to play with, Tim,” Julia chortled jokingly, “and besides, YOU’RE the one who got yourself into this mess in the first place.”

     “I don’t care! I’m NOT letting you torture me with your feet anymore, Aunt Julia. Just wait until mom hears about this!”

     Julia scowled, and with one quick move, she shifted her soles apart and grasped her tiny nephew between the big and second toes of her right foot.

     “HEY!” Tim shouted as he was yanked upward. “AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     “You’re not telling ANYONE about this, Tiny Tim!” she spat irately, holding her foot near her face.

     “HEY,” Tim strained as his aunt’s toes gripped him tighter, “LET ME GO!”

     “I WARNED you about that little mouth of yours, young man, but if you’re gonna be difficult and misbehave, I think you’re gonna need a TIME OUT!”

     Julia quickly reached down with her right hand and retrieved one of the pink slippers she’d placed by the couch earlier. 

     “HEY!” Tim exclaimed as he saw his aunt pass her slipper to her other hand, gripping her ankle with her free hand. “AUNT JULIA, WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!

     “WHERE’RE YOU TAKING ME?!” Tim demanded, seeing the dark mouth of the huge pink slipper coming towards him. “NO! STOP! I DON’T WANNA…go in there!”

     Tim‘s cries were suddenly muffled as Julia slid her foot into her slipper.

     “Now, keep quiet!” Julia commanded sternly as she slipped on her other slipper and placed her left foot back onto the coffee table, resting her right leg over her left shin. Then, she scooted back and relaxed on the couch cushion behind her, all the while playfully swinging her foot back and forth, delighting in feeling her tiny nephew’s squirms as she squeezed him in between her toes.

     “Squirm all you want, Timmy, but I’m NOT taking you out of there!” Julia politely dismissed him, reaching for her phone on the table. “Not until you’ve learned your lesson!”

     Julia ignored Tim’s barely-audible screams, playing on her phone until his struggles finally died down; although, she secretly wanted them to continue.

     “I’m sorry it had to come to this, Tim,” Julia shrugged nonchalantly, “but I warned you what would happen if you didn’t watch your mouth. NOW look at you: stuck between my toes and shoved inside my slipper!”

     Julia gave the tiny boy a few playful squeezes, giggling as she felt his squirms intensify each time.

     “You know, normally, I wouldn’t take any pleasure in punishing you,” Julia chuckled, “but given the circumstances…

     “Actually,” she pondered, “now that I think about it, I think this little situation of yours is the PERFECT opportunity for us to work on that little attitude of yours, AND teach you some manners while we’re at it.

     “Yes, sir,” she chortled, smiling, “I think we’re gonna have QUITE the productive week fixing your behavior. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Timmy, but mark my words, you’re GOING to learn to behave yourself….even if I have to keep you in there ALL WEEK!”

     Julia grabbed the TV remote and, after a quick bit of channel surfing, eventually laid back and relaxed with a movie, leaving Tim and her sweaty foot snuggly tucked away to suffer in the hot, steamy environment of her slipper.

     Julia felt confused and disoriented when she first opened her eyes; then, after taking a moment for her mind to clear, she realized she had fallen asleep.

     “What time is it?!” she gasped as she came to her senses, suddenly remembering where she’d left Tim. “Uh oh…!”

     Julia quickly pulled her right foot into her lap and removed her slipper…

     There was her tiny nephew, still trapped and slumped over one of her toes; he was barely conscious, having collapsed from heat exhaustion. Finally free from Julia’s slipper, Tim gasped in several breaths of cool, fresh air, although the atmosphere still held a strong, overpowering funk of sweaty feet.

     “Oops,” Julia chortled with a half-hearted sigh of relief as she watched her tiny nephew writhe between her toes. “Sorry, Timmy. I guess fell asleep.”

     “Did you have a nice time in my slipper?” Julia chuckled.

     “Aunt Julia, please,” Tim begged desperately, tired and breathless, “please, let me go!”

     “I take it you’ve learned your lesson then?”

     “Yes!” Tim nodded frantically, trying to pry his tiny body from the vice-grip clutches of his aunt’s toes, “Yes…most definitely, just please…uhn, let me go. I don’t wanna go back in your slipper again!”

     Julia smiled and lifted her foot up in front of her face, glaring at the tiny boy between her toes.

     “So….you’re going to behave from now on, and do EVERYTHING I say?”

     Tim nodded reluctantly in defeat.

     “…AND you’re not going to tell your mother about our little deal,” his aunt added, “and keep your mouth shut about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that happens while I’m here?”

     Tim sighed heavily, hesitating as he carefully thought over his answer.

     “As long as you promise not to hurt me…” Tim replied through gritted teeth, “…and, at least, show a little restraint….then….*sigh*, I promise, I won’t tell mom.”

     “Hmph,” Julia huffed, “you know, you’re not exactly in a position to be demanding concessions, Tiny Tim…”

     …Bu-ut,” Julia continued, pretending to think it over as she lifted her gaze towards the ceiling, “as long as you promise to behave yourself…I guess I can agree to that…”

     Tim nodded reluctantly, heaving a heavy sigh, and hoping that things, at least, wouldn’t be so bad from then on.

     “…But I still get to have fun with you.” Julia added quickly, playfully scrunching her toes.

     Tim yelped and howled as he was haphazardly squeezed and smooshed again, quickly realizing he’d let his guard down a little too soon.

     “Alright, fine!” Tim shouted up once he could, hoping it would get Aunt Julia to stop her roughhousing. “Just…no more calling me ‘Tiny Tim’, OK?”

     “Nope!” Julia replied quickly, shaking her head. “Our deal’s already done, kiddo. You should’ve spoken up sooner.”

     Julia quickly brought her foot and Tim up closer to her face, giggling playfully as she  began squeezing her toes again. She beamed with delight listening to her tiny nephew’s yelps and squeaks for her to stop, and chuckled with sadistic glee as she watched him squirm in vain to free himself, adding in a playful snort at the end.

     “Phew!” Julia exclaimed with a smile, gently waving her hand in front of her face after getting a whiff of her sweaty foot, “I guess my feet are a little rank, aren’t they? Sorry, Tim.”

     Tim grumbled to himself about his aunt’s obviously halfhearted apology, but smartly kept his snide remarks to himself.

     “I guess I didn’t realize how sweaty they got during my workout earlier,” Julia chortled with an apathetic shrug. “Oh, well.”

     Julia smiled genially and carefully plucked her tiny nephew from her toes by his disheveled clothes. Tim was practically out of energy, neither resisting nor complaining about how roughly he was being handled.

     “Come on,” Julia chortled, standing up from the couch. “I think we both need to get cleaned up a bit.”

     “Whoa!” Tim exclaimed as he was suddenly thrust into the air. “ACK!”

     Julia was still holding her tiny nephew by the nape of his toga as she walked towards the main bathroom near the rear of the house. Unfortunately, her gait was so rough that with each step she took, Tim jostled about wildly within her grasp.

     “AUNT JU-LI-A-A-A-A-A!”

     The tiny boy squealed continuously, reeling from each impact of Julia’s bare feet stomping heavily upon the hallway carpet on the way to the bathroom. Thankfully, it was a somewhat short trip.

     Julia turned on the bathroom light and sat down on the edge of the tub, resting her feet inside the basin and carefully setting Tim down next to her.

     “Go ahead and ditch that ratty tissue,” she instructed, motioning to his toga as she rolled up her leggings, “I’ll get you a new one once we’re done.”

     Tim was slightly embarrassed at having to undress and stand naked in front of his giant aunt, but he was more than happy to ditch his soiled garb, especially considering it absolutely reeked of Julia’s feet.

     No sooner had he removed the tissue, his giant aunt snatched up the remnants between her fingers and threw them away in a nearby trash can.

     With Tim now undressed, and her leggings rolled up, Julia pulled the shower head off its bracket, letting it hang down by its hose; then, she reached over and turned the knob for the tub.

     A rush of water suddenly burst forth from the bathtub faucet, splashing down into the basin below like a roaring waterfall. Julia quickly ensured the temperature of the water was warm enough, then flipped the switch to close the drain. 

     “Alright, little guy,” she said as she turned and lowered her palm in front of her tiny nephew. “What’s say we get you rinsed off, huh?”

     “A-Aunt Julia,” Tim squeaked apprehensively, “You’re not gonna WASH me, are you?!”

     “What?” Julia inquired, unable to make out what the tiny teenager was saying over the splashing of the water filling up the tub. “Speak up, kiddo. I can’t hear you.”

     “I SAID,” Tim shouted louder, cupping his hands around his mouth, “YOU’RE NOT GONNA WASH ME, ARE YOU?!”

     “Hang on, Tim,” she waved him off, reaching over and briefly shutting off the water so she could hear him. “Now, what did you say?”

     “I SAID—” Tim began shouting again, quickly lowering his voice when he realized he didn’t have to speak as loudly, “I said, you’re not going to WASH me, are you?”

     “Of course I am, silly,” Julia chortled, shaking her head, “What did you think we came in here for?”

     “I meant,” Tim reiterated, “surely, your not thinking of washing me YOURSELF, are you?! I’m a big—”

     Tim immediately swallowed his words, quickly realizing he’d just undermined his own argument. 

     “Mm, hm, exactly!” Julia mocked him, placing her hand down again. “Now, quit stalling and hop on.”

     Tim started to move forward, but he was still reluctant.

     “Look,” he offered, “maybe if you just took me over to the sink—“

     “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Julia cut him off with a frustrated sigh, snatching him up between her fingers.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as he was violently thrust into the air. “AUNT JULIA, STOP! NO! WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!”

     The giant woman quickly lifted her leg and slapped her overturned right foot into her lap, depositing the tiny boy feet first between her 2nd and 3rd toes.

     “HEY!” Tim shouted in protest as he was callously shoved between his aunt’s wet toes. “YUCK! AUNT JULIA, GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

     Julia didn’t reply as she scooted her body closer to the tub faucet and reached for the knob again.

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed. “NOOOOOOO—!”

      The water burst forth once again, immediately covering up the tiny teenager’s screams. Tim struggled frantically to free himself from the vice-like grip of his aunt’s toes while Julia once again adjusted the water temperature, moving her her right foot beneath the thundering spout.

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed in horror, raising his hands defensively, “NOblbbl…grgl…blub…!”

    A massive deluge washed over Julia’s foot, water surging in to every exposed orifice, drowning the tiny boy alive. Thankfully, the giant woman only kept her foot under the roaring faucet for a few seconds to rinse it off, quickly removing it before Tim was washed away completely. The tiny teenager coughed and sputtered with each gasping breath he took, gagging to expel the water from his lungs.

     Meanwhile, Julia reached over and retreated a soap dish resting on the far-front corner of the tub’s edge, setting it down next to her; then, she snatched up the body bar that was resting in the dish and began vigorously rubbing it back and forth in her hands to build up a lather.

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim coughed weakly, still gasping for air. “Please—!”

     The giant woman payed him no attention, setting the body bar back down in the  soap dish and reaching her hands towards her foot.

     Tim shrieked frantically as he saw aunt’s huge, soapy hands reaching out for him:

     “AUNT JULIrmpf!”

     The moment Julia grabbed her foot, Tim disappeared within the crevices of her scrunched toes. The giant woman carefully massaged her sole and scrubbed her calloused heel, grinning proudly and humming to herself, imagining her tiny nephew squirming helplessly between her toes and mercy as she thoroughly ran her soapy hands over her foot.

     Although Julia couldn’t actually hear Tim amidst her scrunched flesh and the torrent of water streaming from the faucet, each time she ran her soapy hands over her toes, the pressure upon the tiny boy increased immensely, and Tim’s muffled screams intensified. He was desperate for air, struggling to resist the cascade of soap bubbles that were now infiltrating his aunt’s toe crevices. Tim squirmed vigorously, hoping the soap might lubricate Julia toes enough to allow him to escape, but the giant woman kept playfully wiggling them back-and-forth, hampering his efforts.

     “Aunt Julirm!” the tiny boy strained to speak as he struggled to keep his head out from between Julia’s soapy toes. “Oomph! AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     “Aw, what’s a matter, Tiny Tim,” Julia cooed mockingly as she relaxed her foot, “are my toes-ies bothering you?”

     Julia playfully wiggled her toes again, giggling maniacally as her tiny nephew screamed in protest.

     “Here, let me help you,” the giant woman smiled, reaching her hand behind the top of her foot.

     Tim suddenly felt something grab and pinch one of his legs…

     *THWHIP*

     The next thing Tim knew, he was yanked downwards, popping out the opposite side of his aunt’s toes; a split second later, he was dangling upside down in front of aunt Julia’s face.

     “AUNT JULIA, LET ME GO!” Tim squeaked demandingly.

     “‘Let you go’?!” she replied cordially, shaking her head and cooing at the tiny boy in her grasp, “but you did such a good job cleaning in between my toes. Now, be a dear and clean between the rest of them for me, okay?”

     “NOrmpf!”

     Before Tim could protest again, Julia gripped both his legs between her left thumb and index fingers, then shoved him face-first in between her big and second toes.

     “Ah, that’s a good boy,” Julia smiled as she maneuvered her tiny nephew in and out of her of toe crevices. “Now, make sure you scrub in there nice and good. They got pretty dirty during my workout.” 

     Tim squirmed frantically in his aunt’s grasp as he was mercilessly thrust between each of the giant woman’s smelly toes, shouting and begging for her to stop as he choked on toe jam and soap. The torturous process continued until all the spaces between the toes of Julia’s right foot were thoroughly scrubbed.

     “Ah, that’s better,” Julia sighed pridefully as she gently deposited her tiny nephew into her right hand, leaving him to recover a bit while she took a moment to rinse off her foot in the water that was filling up the tub basin.

     “Now for the other foot.” Julia spoke up, plopping her left foot into her lap.

     “Hm,” she uttered, inspecting her sole, “I think I’m gonna need a LEETLE more soap.”

     Julia reached her left hand down into the soap dish beside her, rubbing it thoroughly against the body bar.

     “There, that should be enough,” she commented. “Now, let’s get you lathered up again, little guy.”

     Tim was still coughing and trying catching his breath when he saw Aunt Julia’s left hand bearing down on him. The tiny teenager screamed in terror, bracing himself as the giant woman’s hands clasped together.

     Julia started rubbing her hands together, rolling her tiny nephew around in between her palms. Tim tried desperately to steady himself and hold his breath, but he was no match for Julia’s powerful hands as they built up a suffocating lather between them.

     After a few seconds, Julia’s hands parted. She looked down upon the tiny boy, smiling as she watched him writhing in a pool of bubbles within her soap-covered palms.

     Tim glanced upward; his blood suddenly ran cold at the sight of the huge, shit-eating grin spread widely across Aunt Julia’s giant face.

     With one quick movement, Julia flipped her hand over and smacked it onto her left foot, smashing Tim against her sole. The tiny teenager kept screaming muffled cries for mercy, while his giant aunt ran her hands across the bottom of her soul, singing giddily to herself:

     “Oh, I wish I were a little bar of soap,

      Oh, I wish I were a little bar of soap,

      I’d go slippy, slappy, slidey,

      Over everybody’s hidey,

      Oh, I wish I were a little bar of soap.”

     After several torturous minutes of being plastered across his aunt’s giant foot and shoved between her toes, Tim’s ordeal was finally over. The giant woman thoroughly rinsed off her foot under the faucet before turning off the water, then gently dipped the tiny boy into the massive tub basin to rinse him off. Tim was pleasantly surprised that his rinsing off didn’t involve him being drowned beneath the tub’s spout or shoved between Aunt Julia‘s toes again, but he still wasn’t letting his guard down after his recent torture.

     Julia grabbed a nearby, dry washcloth and placed her tiny nephew in the center, then pulled the stopper to drain the tub. She carefully scooped up the cloth with both hands and lifted it up to her face, her lips puckered.

     Tim was fearful that his aunt was going to kiss him, but what she actually did wasn’t much better:

     Julia inhaled a deep breath through her nose, then slowly let it escape through her pursed lips, blowing gently across the wash cloth.

     “ACK!” Tim squeaked as he was blown backwards a good inch and a half. “AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     Julia’s intention may have been to blow a warm, gentle breeze of air upon her tiny nephew to dry him off, but to a 1-inch tall teenager, the giant woman’s breath was closer to that of a hurricane-force wind. Tim tried to stand up when the wind died down, but before he could fully recover, the giant woman inhaled again and blew him down once more. The cycle repeated two more times, each time Tim yelling for his aunt to stop as he was blown over by her sour breath. 

     “Alright, kiddo,” Julia finally said as she grabbed the corner of the washcloth, “go ahead and finish drying yourself off while I dry off my feet.”

     Before Tim could protest, Julia flipped up the corner of the washcloth on top of him, leaving her tiny nephew squirming in near darkness while she carefully set the bundle in her hands down on the vanity and grabbed a towel from the nearby towel rack to dry off her feet.

     Tim muttered muffled curses as he struggled to uncover himself and get out from under the washcloth, emerging a few moments later to see his giant aunt sitting on the toilet lid drying off her feet with a bath towel.

     “This day isn’t even halfway over!” Tim lamented with a frustrated sigh, reflecting on that morning’s events, “Could things honestly get any WORSE?!”

     Tim nearly choked on his words.

     “You know what?” he quickly rethought himself. “I shouldn’t have said that out loud, because they always can!”

     With her feet now thoroughly dried off, Julia stood up from the toilet and draped her towel over the towel rack again.

     “All dried off, kiddo?” Julia chuckled with a playful smile as she stepped over to the sink.

     “Y-Yes,” Tim stammered, shivering. “Now, could you p-please get me some clothes before I f-freeze to death?!”

     “But we’re not done yet, Timmy,” Julia rebutted. “First, we’ve gotta moisturize.

     “Now, where does your mom keep the lotion?” she pondered aloud, rummaging through the vanity drawers.

     “WHAT?!” Tim squeaked, shuddering as he pictured his aunt rubbing lotion over his naked body.

     “Ooh, a pumice stone!” Julia ejaculated, pulling a clear, plastic bag out from under the sink. “Ooh, and it’s got some foot cream with it.

     “Oh, this is perfect!” She exclaimed as she stood up, meticulously grabbing all four corners of Tim’s washcloth. “Come on, kiddo. We’re taking this into the living room.”

     “But Aunt Juli-AAA!”

     The giant woman promptly lifted the washcloth into the air, throwing Tim off his feet and onto his back, and hastily stomped back down the hallway into the living room. Meanwhile, Tim was a helpless prisoner in the makeshift bindle, unable to stand up as the washcloth jostled up and down with each of his aunt’s giant steps.

      Once she was in the living room, Julia unfurled the washcloth on the coffee table, then plopped her ass down on the couch.

     “Ah,” she sighed contently as her butt hit the cushion, “that’s better. Now, for a little pampering.”

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim squeaked, shivering as he tried to cover his shame, “can I PLEASE have some clothes?!”

     Julia, however, paid the tiny boy no attention, opening the plastic bag and pouring out the items onto the coffee table before tossing the empty bag aside. She quickly scooped up the pumice stone and placed her right foot in her lap; then, she began rubbing the stone across the ball of her foot.

     The pumice stone made audible, scraping sounds as it ground and shaved away the loose layers of callused skin from Julia’s foot. The whole nauseating scene made Tim gag; he grit his teeth and covered his ears, turning his back to the giant woman to shield himself and his stomach. For the next several minutes, Tim stood shivering in the middle of his washcloth, doing his best to ignore his giant aunt scraping the dead skin off her feet.

     “There, that’s better,” Julia sighed again once she’d finished running the stone over both her feet, setting it down on the couch next to her and turning her gaze to her tiny nephew. She chuckled and rolled her eyes at the sight of the tiny boy covering his ears with his hands and standing naked, shivering in the middle of the washcloth. Julia bit her lower lip and quietly set her feet on the carpet, then leaned forward over the table:

     “Hey, Tim!” she said forcefully.

     “YAAAA!” Tim screamed, nearly jumping out of his skin.

     Julia couldn’t hold back her laughter.

     “THAT WASN’T FUNNY, AUNT JULIA!” the tiny boy shouted.

     “Well, I had to get your attention,” his aunt giggled. “Besides, I’m just about ready for you.”

     “R-Ready for me to do what?!” Tim inquired snidely.

     “Oh, you’ll see,” Julia giggled playfully, visibly biting her tongue at him.

     Tim gulped nervously as Julia reached for the tube of foot cream and unscrewed the cap. After squirting a sizable dollop into her hand, she nimbly screwed the cap back on and set the bottle back down next to her. Then, she plopped her right foot back into her lap and began the cream all over her sole.

     “Ugh!” Tim exclaimed with disgust, the sickening slurps from his aunt slathering the lotion all over her foot making him visibly nauseous.

     Once Julia’s right foot was well-covered in cream, she placed it on the coffee table with her sole facing the tiny boy.

     “Ew!” Tim exclaimed softly as the giant woman wiggled the toes of her right foot, showing off their healthy glaze of cream. “Aren’t you gonna rub that in?!”

     Julia didn’t answer him, and merely moved on to her left foot, leaving the tiny boy to scowl and wonder why she was applying so much cream to her feet, and why wasn’t rubbing it all in.

     Unfortunately, Tim soon got his answer.

     With both feet now well coated in cream, Julia scooted forward on her cushion and, without giving her tiny nephew any warning, carefully pulled the coffee table towards her until it was butting up against the couch.

     Tim stumbled, struggling to steady himself as the ground beneath him suddenly lurched forward; surprisingly, he able to keep his balance and stay on his feet.

     “HEY!” he shouted in protest. “AUNT JULIA, How about a little WARNING next time?!”

     Once again, Julia ignored the tiny boy, placing her legs and feet on the coffee table, her souls parted in a V-shape.

     “OK, little guy,” the giant woman said in a sickeningly sweet voice, “I’m ready for you.”

     “Wh-What do ya mean: ‘r-ready for me’?” Tim stammered. “A-Aunt Julia, I-I don’t know what you’re planning, but just leave me out of it!”

     “Now, now, Tiny Tim,” Julia scolded him gently, shaking her finger at him, “remember our agreement: you wouldn’t want me to have to punish you again, would you?”

     “STOP CALLING ME, TINY TIM!” the tiny boy squeaked adamantly, stamping his tiny foot. “AND IF YOU THINK I’M GOING ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR FEET AGAIN, YOU CAN JUST FORGET IT!”

     Julia promptly reached forward and grabbed the tiny body by one of his leg, snatching him off the table and bringing him towards her.

     “HEY! PUT ME DOWN!” Tim screamed as he suddenly found himself dangling upside down in front of his aunt’s giant face. “AUNT JULIA, STOP!”

     “Look, little boy,” Julia said forcefully, poking him in the stomach, “I already told you once before: as long as I’m here, I’m in charge, and unless you fix that little attitude of yours, things are going to get VERY uncomfortable for you. Now, I’m giving you the chance to cooperate and prove that you can behave yourself, but if you want to make things difficult, that’s on you! So, what’s it going to be: we can do things the easy way, or the hard way?”

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted as he dangled upside down. “LET ME GO!”

     “OK, Timmy,” Julie shrugged, chortling as she moved her hand forward until the tiny boy was dangling directly over her open feet. “Whatever you say.”

     “NO, WAIT!” Tim screamed. “NOT THERE! AAAAAA…!”

     Julia casually opened her fingers and dropped Tim in between her soles, gently closing her feet and trapping the tiny boy inside.

     “Amnt Jlmnrm, lrt mrm urt umf hrm!” Tim shouted in muffled screams, but the giant woman paid them no heed as she began rubbing her soles together.

     Tim’s screams intensified as he was once again rolled about haphazardly between his aunt’s giant soles, only this time, he was getting completely covered with foot cream as he was forcibly dragged back and forth across the folds of her wrinkled flesh. The torturous process continued for at least a minute, and Tim was finding it difficult to even inhale the tiniest gasp of air without his mouth filling up with oily cream.

     All the while, Julia grinned and hummed to herself, taking joy in feeling the tiny boy squirm and struggle as she rolled him in between her soles, just barely able to hear his tiny, muffled screams intensify each time she rubbed her feet back-and-forth.

     At one point, she pressed her soles together somewhat tightly, taking a moment to rub in the excess cream on the outside of her closed feet. She knew the act would only make Tim squirm even more frantically, but she just couldn’t help enjoying herself. It was only when she felt Tim’s squirms weakening that she finally opened her feet and allowed him a reprieve.

     “Well now, Tiny Tim,” she inquired, gazing down apathetically at the tiny boy cradled between her soles as he writhed in pain and struggled to catch his breath, “are you ready to behave?”

     “Aunt Julia, please…” Tim strained to speak.

     “That’s not a ‘Yes’, ” Julia chided him offhandedly as she slowly pressed her soles back together.

     “WAImmpf!” Tim tried to squeak as the giant feet closed around him again.

     Julia rubbed her soles together for another 30 seconds before allowing Tim another chance at redemption.

     “Now,” Julia repeated, opening her feet once more, “let’s try this again. Are you going to behave yourself and do everything your auntie tells you?”

     “Yes!” Tim nodded frantically as he scrambled to his feet. “Yes, I swear, just please, get me OUT OF HERE!”

     “Uh-uhn, not so fast,” his aunt continued, wagging her index finger, “first, I think we need to go over our little agreement one more time: now, do you promise to be cooperative and open to do whatever I ask of you?”

     “Yes, yes, I promise,” Tim replied as he began climbing the wrinkles of his aunt’s soles.

     “…And do you promise not to tell your mother that I’ve been ‘torturing you’ anymore,” Julia emphasized in air quotes, “and that we’ve both been agreeable and nice to each other?”

     Tim paused his ascent, cringing as he realized he honestly had no good choices.

     “Yes, I promise,” Tim sighed dejectedly.

     “Hmmmm,” Julia uttered, pretending to be lost in thought, “you know, I think you hesitated a little bit too much on that last one.

     “I think I might just need a leeeetle more foot cream,” she said, snatching up the tube of cream resting beside her.

     “Oh no!” Tim exclaimed, scrambling to climb faster. “Aunt Julia, pleeease!”

     It was no use. Julia had already and unscrewed the cap, holding the open nozzle directly over the tiny boy as she began squeezing…

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed, holding up his hand defensively. “NOOOO—glblb!”

      A huge dollop of cream squirted out of the tube, smacking the tiny boy in the face and knocking him back down into the fleshy canyon. In an instant, Julia had once again slammed her feet closed and started rolling him back and forth between her soles again. This time, however, she would intermittently grasp his tiny frame with the toes of one foot, and plaster him across the sole of her opposite foot, switching back and forth several times. All poor Tim could do was keep his eyes and mouth closed, and pray the nightmare would soon be over. 

     “Ah, there now,” Julia sighed contentedly, giggling playfully, “my feet are all clean and moisturized…and so are you, Timmy.”

     She smiled pridefully as she moved her scrunched, left foot—which currently contained her tiny nephew—into her lap, staring down at him with reserved haughtiness.

     “Well now, I think we’ve finally come to an amicable agreement, don’t you, Tiny Tim?”

     Tim, unfortunately, couldn’t answer: he was still squirming frantically, his head and upper torso stuck between the creamy crevices of his aunt’s toes. Thankfully, the giant woman was done having her fun and took pity on him, moving her foot over the coffee table and un-scrunching her toes. After a slight bit of jostling and wiggling, Julia gently deposited her tiny nephew in the middle of the washcloth.

     Tim lay prone on his hands and knees, gasping for air as he recovered from the ordeal.

     “Go ahead and rub in the rest of that cream,” Julia said politely, reaching for the Kleenex box and setting it in her lap. “I’ll get you something to wear.”

     Julia tore off a piece of tissue and placed it on the coffee table just beside the washcloth, while Tim, not wanting to feel the wrath of his aunt’s giant feet again, heart-fully obeyed her instructions, rubbing in the rest of the foot cream. He hated to admit it, but the cream DID make his skin feel nice and smooth, and actually made him contemplate putting lotion on after all of future showers….once he grew back to normal, that is.

     Tim hastily wrapped the torn piece of tissue around his shivering body, making himself another makeshift toga, then looked up meekly at his giant aunt, anxiously awaiting what other torturous activity she might have in mind.

     “So,” Julia spoke up once Tim was done dressing, “How about a little TV while I make us some lunch?”

—————————————————————————————————————

     Much to Tim’s relief, the rest of that afternoon was pretty uneventful: Julia made herself a sandwich for lunch, welcoming Tim to eat whatever scraps he wanted off her plate. Both of them were surprised that, for a tiny guy, Tim actually had a healthy appetite. After that, the two spent the remaining time watching TV: Tim sitting on the folded cushion of tissue his aunt had made him earlier, while Julia lounged on the couch, her feet kicked up and resting on one of the cushions, a position that Tim greatly appreciated, considering she could’ve placed them on the coffee table instead.

     When he wasn’t being tortured to death, Tim was surprised how fast the time flew by, and was slightly annoyed, wondering why it couldn’t have moved faster while Aunt Julia was prodding him with her feet; in fact, it felt like no time had passed at all when Julia received a call from Natalie saying that she was on her way home:

     “Hey sis, what’s up?” Julia said as she picked up her phone, “…Oh, you’re on your way home, finally? Good!…No, it’s been a pretty uneventful day around here, isn’t that right, Tim?”

     Julia winked playfully and crinkled her nose at him. Tim, however, shot back a disgruntled look, forgetting himself for a split second before quickly wiping the look off his face and lowering his head. Thankfully, his aunt didn’t see it.

     “…Oh, yeah, it’s been a good day,” Julia continued, “we’ve both eaten and gotten cleaned up, and now, we’re just relaxing in the living room, watching some TV…OK, we’ll see you in a little bit…alright, bye.

     “Alright, your mom’s on her way home, little guy,” Julia said as she hung up the phone and shifted her body to get up from the couch. “Time to get things cleaned up.”

     Tim became a little apprehensive as his giant aunt picked up the plate and carried the remnants of their lunch back into the kitchen. He kept wondering each time Julia walked by and tidied something up if she might grab him and put him through some kind of rigorous torture again; thankfully, Julia pretty much left him alone, leaving Tim free to watch the rest of the movie.

     “Hi guys, I’m home,” Natalie called out as she opened and walked through the front door.

     “Hey sis,” Julia replied, stepping back into the living room. “How was your day?”

     “Exhausting,” Natalie sighed as she entered the living room and set her purse on the floor at the edge of the foyer. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of work I had to do today, on top of analyzing that shrinking formula Tim drank…

     “Speaking of which, where is Tim?” she asked, looking around the room anxiously. 

     “He’s right there, on the coffee table,” Julia pointing. “I let them watch some TV while I cleaned up in the kitchen.

     “Thank goodness,” Natalie sighed again, this time with relief as she stepped over and knelt down in front of the coffee table to check on her son. “Hey, sweetheart, how’re you feeling?”

     “Hey, mom,” Tim squeaked anxiously, looking up into his mother’s worried face, trying to come up with a response that wouldn’t incur the wrath of his hovering aunt. “I’m…OK…you know, considering…”

     “I know, hon,” Natalie said sympathetically. “I can’t imagine how hard this is for you, but I promise I’m working as hard as I can to find a cure for you.

     “I, uh, take it there weren’t anymore incidents today,” Natalie continued, raising her head and directing a suspicious gaze towards her sister.

     “No,” Julia replied, shaking her head rather cooly, “everything was fine. In fact, Tim and I had a little talk after you left this morning and we worked a few things out, so everything’s good. Isn’t that right, Tim?”

     Tim shivered; he could feel his aunt’s glare cutting through him, chilling him to his core.

     “Y-Yeah,” Tim replied apprehensively, “e-everything’s fine.”

     “Good,” Natalie said, standing back up, “I’m glad. It’s good to not have to worry about you two…

     “… Now I just have to worry about…getting these shoes off,” she added, struggling to balance herself while she removed her flats. “God, my feet are KILLING me!”

     Natalie stepped over and dropped her shoes next to her purse, then made her way back to the couch, plopping her ass down on the nearest cushion.

     “Ah, that’s better,” Natalie sighed contently as she made herself comfortable, kicking her bare feet up onto the coffee table.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as he was knocked off his feet from the impact of his mother’s heels with the table. “TAKE IT EASY, MOM!”

     “Rough day?” Julia asked, heading over to sit down beside her sister.

     “You can say that again,” Natalie sighed. “Not only did I have all my normal work to do, I had EXTRA work from all the samples I brought back, PLUS all the work I missed while I was gone, PLUS the work I had to put in getting that formula analyzed…! And if that wasn’t bad enough, I’m supposed to give the board a presentation tomorrow about my trip and all the samples I brought back, not to mention a research outline on how I plan to move forward over the next couple of months…!”

     Natalie sighed heavily, tilting her head back and putting one hand over her brow.

     “At the very least,” she continued, “I’ve got most of the preliminary analysis done on that formula, and anything I have left to do I can sneak into the work my lab techs are doing without anyone asking too many questions; unfortunately, I’m still gonna have a ton of paperwork to analyze tomorrow, and I’m probably gonna have to bring it home with me…!

     “God, Jules,” Natalie said in a softer, more somber tone, “I really hope I can deconstruct this formula and figure out what’s in it, not to mention finding a cure…”

     “Sis, don’t worry,” Julia said comfortingly, placing one hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You’re intelligent. I’m sure you’ll figure this out. Look, it’s only been a couple of days, and we still don’t even know if this stuff’ll just wear off or not. So….things have been a little hectic at work; no one said you were on a deadline. I mean, sure, you wanna get Tim back to normal as soon as possible, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you don’t get things all figured out by the end of the week…it’s not like Tim’s GOING anywhere. He’ll just have to be small a little longer.”

     “Longer?!” Tim squeaked apprehensively to himself, gulping nervously.

     “Bottom line,” Julia continued, “you just take the all time you need to analyze that formula and find a cure. In the meantime, I’ll take of Tim until his father gets back in town, so don’t worry. Everything’ll work out.”

     “Let’s hope so,” Natalie replied, eyeing her son standing just past her feet on the coffee table, his hands clasped in front of him. “For Tim’s sake…

     “…Anyway, thanks, Jules,” Natalie said gratefully, giving her sister an appreciative rub on the thigh. “I’m so glad I have you.”

     “Hey,” Julia chortled, “what’re little sisters for?”

     After a couple moments of silence, Julia picked up her phone and checked the time.

     “Whelp,” Julia sighed, moving to get up from the sofa, “I’d better get home. I’ve still got some things to do before the day is out.”

     “OK, Jules. See you tomorrow.”

     “Yeah,” Julia began, “Oh, Nat, would it be okay if I brought over some of my laundry tomorrow? I’ve got a lot of other stuff to do tonight, and it would really help if I could just do it here.”

     “Sure, I don’t mind,” Natalie replied, “but as long as you’re at it, would you mind doing some of my and Tim’s laundry, too? I, um, really didn’t have a chance to do it this past weekend…you know, with everything that’s happened.”

     “Not at all, sis.” Julia replied cooly, “I don’t mind. In fact, why don’t I just make a day out of it? You gather up everything that you want washed tonight, I’ll bring over all my laundry in the morning, and I’ll just get everything done while I’m watching Tim tomorrow.”

     “Oh, Jules, would you?!” Natalie asked, pleasantly surprised. “That would be so great!”

     “Of course,” Julia confirmed happily. “Well, I’d better get home. I wanna get all my laundry bundled up and set out tonight so I don’t forget anything in the morning.”

     “OK,” Natalie acknowledged, getting up from the couch. “Thank you so much, sis…for everything you’ve done for me this week!”

     “It’s my pleasure,” Julia said, gathering up her things in her tote bag. “What time do you want me over in the morning. Same time?”

     “Yeah, 7 o’clock should be fine,” Natalie confirmed. “I’ll probably still be rushing around getting dressed up for my presentation, but I’ll make sure to leave the front door unlocked for ya. Just come on in when you get here.”

     “OK, sounds good,” Julia said, tossing her bag over her shoulder and slipping on her flip-flops. “See you tomorrow, Nat.”

     “OK,” Natalie said, escorting her sister to the front door.

     “Bye, Tim,” Julia said gleefully with a huge smile on her face, waving her fingers and blowing her nephew a tiny kiss. “See you in the morning.”

     Tim gulped again as he watched the two giant women head out the front door. He desperately wanted to tell his mother about all the torment his aunt had put him through that day, but he also didn’t want to have to relive it, either. If he said anything, Aunt Julia would put him through the ringer. All he could do was cross his fingers and pray the next day wouldn’t be any worse.

     Most of all, Tim just hoped his mother could synthesize an antidote as soon as possible…before he ended up as a dark, red stain on the bottom of Aunt Julia’s foot.

     Tim was awoken by the sounds of soft, booming footsteps moving up and down the hallway just outside his bedroom. His mother had apparently been rushing back and forth through the house that morning getting around and ready for her big presentation at work later that day. From the sound of it, she was trying to be as quiet as she could stepping through the hallway, but Tim being so small meant he could hear and even feel the vibrations from every footstep the giant woman took, regardless of how soft.

     Tim sat up and rubbed his eyes, checking himself over:

     “Yup, still small,” Tim confirmed, disheartened, hoping that maybe the formula had worn off during the night. “I haven’t even gained back one, single, stupid inch!

    “Great,” he lamented as he slumped his chin into his hands. “I’m gonna be Aunt Julia’s foot toy the rest of my life!”

     Tim peered over to the digital alarm clock on the nightstand beside his bed: 6:34AM was displayed in soft, red, glowing numbers. He desperately wanted to get more sleep, especially with Aunt Julia arriving in less than half an hour, but between his mother’s stomping and the anxiety he felt pondering the many ways his aunt could torture him with her feet that day, it would be nigh impossible to drift off again.

     Thankfully, Tim wasn’t exactly short on sleep: given the torture Aunt Julia had put him through the prior day, he practically passed out from exhaustion not long after dinner. His mother had been able to gently scoop him into her palms and carry Tim to his room without rousing him last night, so he was well rested. Nonetheless, Tim wanted to spend as much time as he could in bed that morning, hoping to avoid Aunt Julia AND her feet for as long as possible. 

      Natalie’s booming footsteps soon came down back down the hall and stopped just outside Tim’s bedroom door.

     “Knock, knock,” Natalie said out loud as she quietly knocked and slowly opened the door. “Sweetheart, are you up?”

     “Yeah, mom,” Tim squeaked, “I’m awake.”

     Natalie didn’t hear his answer, entering the room and stepping over next to Tim’s bed. He immediately noticed her semi-formal attire: a red, orange, and yellow patterned mini-dress, and she was wearing pantyhose, a definite change from her normal semi-casual work attire.

     “Hey, hon,” she said softly, peering down at the tiny boy. “Did you sleep okay?”

     “Yeah, mom,” he squeaked again. “I slept fine.”

     “I should hope so; you practically passed out right after dinner last night.”

     “Yeah…” Tim replied with hesitation, scratching the back of his head, “well, I…kinda had a long day yesterday...”

     “Really? Doing what?”

     “Uh…” Tim stammered, trying to choose his words carefully, “…just, you know…doing stuff with Aunt Julia.”

     “Oh, like what?” Natalie inquired, puzzled. “From the way you two talked after I got home, it sounded like it was a pretty lazy day.”

     Tim bit his lower lip anxiously. He desperately wanted to tell his mother the truth, but setting aside his embarrassment, if she said anything to Aunt Julia, HE’D be the one paying the price.

     “I-It WAS a lazy day, mom,” Tim replied quickly, trying to come up with an excuse. “I’m sorry, mom, my mind’s a little fuzzy. It…It must be that formula! I mean, my body’s not used to being this small, you know. And…maybe even the smallest amount of exertion saps all my energy. I-I’m sure that’s it.”

     “Well, maybe you should eat a bigger breakfast this morning,” his mother offered. “Believe it or not, at your size, you might be burning calories at a faster rate.”

     “Actually, mom,” Tim responded quickly, “I was…hoping I could sleep in a little longer.”

     “Honey, you practically slept all last evening!”

     “Mom, please?” Tim squeaked desperately. “I just wanna sleep in this morning before Aunt Julia gets here.”

     “But your aunt already texted and said she was gonna be here in a little bit,” his mother protested, “and you know I don’t like to leave you alone when you’re like this. I’m still skittish about letting you sleep in your room all by yourself.”

     “Mom, please, I won’t go anywhere, I promise. I-I’ll stay right here on my pillow. Please, I’m begging you.”

     “Well…,” Natalie sighed, shaking her head, “well, alright. I’ll let you sleep until after I’m gone, but don’t you dare leave this bed, young man, you got that?!”

     “Got it, mom,” Tim replied assuredly. “Thank you. I won’t go anywhere, I promise.”

     “You’d better not,” Natalie said sternly, “If I find out you were on the floor again, or running around the house unsupervised…I don’t know, maybe I just might consider letting your aunt step on you to teach you a lesson.”

     “MOM, please tell me you’re KIDDING!” Tim exclaimed nervously, completely taken aback at his mother’s warning.

     “Of COURSE I’m kidding, sweetheart,” Natalie replied incredulously. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I just wanna make sure you get it through your head that you need be careful, alright?

     “Well,” Natalie continued, bending down towards him, “if I don’t see you before I leave, you have a good day, OK?”

     “O-OK, mom,” Tim winced, seeing his mother’s giant lips approaching.

      Natalie gave what she thought was a tiny kiss upon her sons head.

     “MO-OM!” Tim whined, reeling from almost having his head sucked off. “Take it easy, would ya?!”

     “Sorry, sweetheart,” she apologized with a chuckle, watching him frantically wipe off all the lipstick she’d planted on him. “Have a good day.”

     Tim nodded frustratedly as he watched his mother head out of his bedroom, gently closing the door behind her.

——————————————————————————————————————

     “Sis, are you here?” Julie called out as she stepped through the front door, dropping a large laundry bag just outside the foyer and kicking off her flip-flops.

     “Come on in, Jules,” Natalie called from the rear bedroom, snapping in one of her earrings and trying to put in the other as she scurried down the hallway.

     “Wow, you look nice!” Julia commented on her sister’s attire as Natalie stepped into the living room, a sharp contrast from her own outfit: a soft, cotton, yellow-and-white-striped sports top, with navy blue gym shorts.

     “Thanks,” Natalie replied, clasping her other earring to her ear and flipping out her hair from her neck. “I gotta look good for the board.”

     “Well, you look great!” Julia said, setting her phone and keys down on the coffee table before stepping up to her sister to help adjust her necklace, “You’re gonna knock ‘em dead!”

     “I don’t wanna ‘knock ‘em dead’, Jules, I just want them to approve my proposal,” Natalie commented facetiously, suddenly noticing the large bag by the front entrance. “Is ALL that your laundry?!”

     “Yeah, why?”

     “Nothing….I just didn’t realize you had so much to do.”

     “Well, we both lead busy lives, sis,” Julia chortled defensively, putting her hand on her hip. “You know, just because I’m off during the summer doesn’t mean I don’t have shit to do.”

     “Right, sorry,” Natalie apologized with her own chortle. “Anyway, I’ve got all my dirty clothes in the laundry basket in my bedroom, and all of Tim’s washing is in the laundry basket in his room.”

     “OK, great…” Julia replied, taking a quick glance around the room. “…Uh, where is Tim, anyway?”

     “He’s still in his bed,” Natalie replied. “He wanted to sleep in a bit longer. Poor thing practically passed out after for dinner last night.”

     “Oh…” Julia uttered. “…I’m assuming he’s still tiny?”

     “You assume correctly,” Natalie sighed dejectedly, shaking her head. “There’s been no change whatsoever. Unfortunately, it’s looking less and less likely that this formula’s gonna work its way out of his system. His only hope now is me finding a cure.”

     “I’m sorry, sis,” Julia replied sympathetically. “I know it’s been tough. You’ve been working so hard the past couple of days. I’m sure you’re exhausted!”

     “Yeah…hey, Jules, did Tim seem…I don’t know, tired or sleepy while you were here yesterday?”

     “Not that I recall,” Julia replied, shaking her head. “I mean, no more than normal. He WAS a bit sluggish while I was working out yesterday morning, but that’s probably because he’s used to sleeping in during the summer. Anyway, he pretty much woke up throughout the day. Why?”

     “I don’t know, he just seemed really tired this morning and wanted to stay in bed, that’s all,” Natalie clarified. “He said he had long day yesterday.”

     “‘Long day’?” Julia recoiled, “I don’t see how. Besides giving him a bath, we pretty much just vegged out yesterday.”

     “You…you gave him a bath?” Natalie inquired suspiciously.

     “Well…yeah,” Julia replied hesitantly, thinking up a little, white lie, “in the sink, but it was just to get him cleaned up after lunch. Don’t worry, I was gentle.”

     “I should hope so,” Natalie emphasized. “I’d prefer you not drown my son…or accidentally wash him down the drain.”

     “Nat, I’m not incompetent!” Julia snapped, crossing her arms defensively. “Geez, gimme a little credit!”

     “Your right,” Natalie apologized. “I’m sorry. Anyway, speaking of lunch, how’s Tim’s appetite? Has he been eating enough?”

     “Actually, he has quite a healthy appetite for such a little guy,” Julia noted. “He ate a good portion of my sandwich yesterday…you know, relatively speaking.”

     “Good,” Natalie said, “that’s a relief.”

     “Why?” Julia inquired suspiciously. “Did he say something?”

     “No,” Natalie replied offhandedly, shaking her head, “it’s just that he ate quite a bit last night at dinner, and then got really tired afterwards, but considering what time he went to bed last night, I’m a little worried.”

     “Well, maybe it has something to do with that formula he drank,” Julia suggested with a shrug. “Who knows what else that stuff might’ve done to his little body? Plus, I’m sure shrinking down to 1 inch tall can’t be easy on him.”

     “You know, Tim said the same thing,” Natalie commented, putting her hand on her hip. “The little guy’s smarter than I give him on him credit for. Look, just do me a favor and let him sleep in a little while longer…but DON’T let him just sleep all day, alright?”

     “I won’t, sis,” Julia acknowledged. “I’ll just get a load of laundry started and do some stretches before I get him up, if that’s okay.”

     “Yeah, that’s fine,” Natalie concurred. “Oh, and make sure he gets enough to eat today. He’s gonna need the extra calories to maintain his body temperature and energy levels.”

     “Can do,” Julia acknowledged again.

     “Good. In fact, go ahead and fix him some breakfast for when he wakes up, if you don’t mind. There should be some eggs in the fridge.”

     “Alright, Nat,” Julia chortled with polite irksomeness. “Relax, would ya? I’ll take care of him. Don’t worry, I’ve got it. Just go finish getting ready.”

     “I AM ready,” Natalie retorted, “I just need to get my purse and shoes….and put on some more lipstick.”

     “Would you just go and get your things so I can get some laundry started?” Julia laughed.

     “OK, fine!” Natalie chuckled, heading back down the hallway.

     While Natalie headed back to the master bedroom to gather her things, Julia grabbed her laundry bag and carried it through the kitchen and down into the laundry room at the back of the house.

     The laundry room was actually a modified pantry that had been built partly into the ground as sort of a pseudo basement, with a half-flight of stairs leading down from the kitchen. Despite its natural tendency to be a musty storage area and gather dust, both Natalie and her husband did their best to keep it clean and show-worthy.

     Julia plopped her huge laundry bag in front of the top-loading washing machine and began unloading her clothes. After she’d separated her laundry into whites, darks, and delicates, she started a load of washing and headed back up the stairs, meeting her sister in the living room again.

     “Alright, I’m off,” Natalie said, slipping on a comfortable pair of nice-looking flats. “Wish me luck.”

     “You’ll do great, sis,” Julia said, giving her sister a kiss on the cheek. “I just know it!”

     “Thanks,” Natalie said, heading out the front door. “Have a good day.”

     “You, too.”

     With her sister now out of the house, Julia went back into the living room and pushed aside the coffee table; then, she went about doing her stretches and calisthenics for the day.

——————————————————————————————————————

     Tim hadn’t gotten one more wink of sleep. From the second he heard Aunt Julia calling from the living room after arriving, he’d been dreading the moment she’d inevitably come bursting into his bedroom, dispensing whatever torture she had in mind for him that day. He actually contemplated trying to avoid her, finding somewhere in his room to lay low and hide out for the remainder of the day, or at least until his mother came back home, but considering his mother’s warning, despite her telling him it was just a joke, it ultimately wasn’t going to save him, and the odds of it actually working were slim to none anyway. Plus, once Julia DID find him, he’d be put through even worse punishment.

     “Great!” Tim lamented with a heavy sigh, “so my options are a LITTLE of Aunt Julia’s feet, or a LOT of Aunt Julia’s feet. God, it’s only been two days, and I’ve already experienced more of Aunt Julia’s feet than I ever want to in my entire life!”

     Tim regretted not telling his mother what his aunt was up to, but even if he did…then what? His mom couldn’t take him to work with her, and until his father got back from his business trip, he was stuck at home with Aunt Julia regardless.

     Tim didn’t like his options, but honestly, what could he do?

     The tiny teenager stood up and walked across the soft surface of his pillow until he reached its edge, carefully peering over and down until he could see his bedroom carpet far below…

     He couldn’t believe how high up he was. His bed seemed to be at least 10 stories tall! Even if he wanted to leave the bed and somehow hide from Aunt Julia, how the hell would he get down?!

     “Please, God,” he prayed in desperation, clasping his hands, “Just let today be a normal day…so to speak. Just, please, keep Aunt Julia’s feet away from me today.”

——————————————————————————————————————

     “Mm,” Julia moaned contently, taking a moment to crack her back before sitting up on the living room carpet, “ah, that feels SO much better!”

     She extended her arms over her head, really stretching out her body and shaking off her residual drowsiness; then, she placed her arms in her lap, sitting cross-legged for a moment to recover from her short workout.

     “Ah, now then,” she sighed, clicking her tongue eagerly, “let’s go see if Tiny Tim’s awake.”

     Julia pushed herself up from the floor and casually strolled down the hallway, stopping just in front of her nephew’s bedroom door.

     “Tim?” she called softly, knocking three times on the door. “Oh, Tim?”

     Tim was actually so distracted praying, he didn’t even hear his aunt’s booming footsteps coming down the hallway as she approached his bedroom.

     “TIM?!”

     Julia’s booming voice echoed through the room, her knocks rattling the doorframe. Poor Tim was so startled by the calamity that he lost his balance, slipping off the pillow. The tiny boy yelped as he bounced off the side of his mattress, sending him tumbling aimlessly down towards the floor below…

     “Tim?” Julia called again as she opened the door. “Time to get up, little guy.”

     She grinned as she entered the room, eagerly walking over to her nephew’s bedside, fully expecting to find him cowering under the tiny bit of bedsheet that covered his pillow…

     “RISE AND SHINE, TIMMY!” Tim heard a giant voice call out, followed by soft booms that intermittently shook the ground.

     The tiny boy opened his eyes, blinking several times and jostling his head to shake off the delirium…

     Tim’s jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide, nearly bulging out of his head…his vision was completely filled with Aunt Julia’s wrinkled sole.

    “EEK!” Tim squeaked in terror, reeling as Julia’s foot slammed down on the carpet just in front of him. The tiny boy was trembling violently, the reality that he’d just narrowly escaped being squashed suddenly sinking in. He skittered backwards on his hands and legs, desperately trying to move out of the path of Aunt Julia’s feet before the giant woman moved towards him again...

     “Tim?” Julia said with confusion as she stepped up to his bedside, not immediately spotting him on the pillow. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for any sign of her tiny nephew on the bed. “Tim, where are you?”

     Julia carefully gripped and pulled back the bedsheet, checking if the tiny boy was hiding underneath; then, she tossed the entire top sheet towards the far end of the bed, but there still was no sign of her shrunken nephew.

     “Tim?!” Julia called out irately, stomping her foot in frustration. “Where are you, you little bug?!”

     “ACK!” Tim yelped louder as Julia’s giant foot stomped down only a few inches in front of him again. “AUNT JULIA, WATCH IT!”

     He flipped over and clambered to his feet, desperately scrambling to get out of the way, but it was too late. Julia’s left foot shifted again, lifting up and pivoting on its heel. Before Tim could get clear, the giant woman’s toes collapsed onto his back, knocking him to the ground…

     He struggled to get up, but the massively plump toes began applying pressure, pressing his face into the carpet…

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed. “NMmmmphf—!”

     Julia was growing increasingly agitated from her inability to locate Tim. As she took another step closer to the head of the bed, she suddenly felt something wiggling under the toes of her left foot. She gasped, quickly yanking her foot away and peering down to the floor…

     “TIM!” she exclaimed, quickly bending down to retrieve the tiny boy, who was lying face-down in the carpet directly below where her toes had been. “Jesus Christ, are you OK?!”

     Julia quickly scooped the tiny teenager into her palms and stood back up, bringing her hand close to her face.

     “Tim, speak to me!” she commanded desperately as she watched her nephew writhing in her palm. “Kiddo, are you OK?!”

     “Yeah,” Tim responded weakly, sitting up and rubbing his head to shake off the recent assault from his aunt’s massive toes. “I’m alright.”

     “You stupid, little boy!” Julia scolded him, “What the HELL were you doing on the floor?! I almost STEPPED on you!”

     “I…”, Tim hesitated, trying to explain himself, “…I must’ve fallen out of bed while I was sleeping. I-I just woke up on the floor!”

     “Well, you’re lucky I found you when I did, you naughty boy!” Julia huffed, carefully cupping her hands and carrying the tiny boy out of his bedroom. “I could’ve SQUASHED you!”

     Julia carried her nephew down the hallway, through the living room, and into the kitchen, setting him down rather haphazardly on the counter near the stove.

     “Whoa!” Tim exclaimed softly as he was roughly deposited on the counter, rubbing his backside, “OW! Aunt Julia, BE CAREFUL!”

     “ME, ‘be careful’?!” Julia exclaimed incredulously. “How ‘bout YOU be more careful, mister?! I’M the one who’s responsible for you while you’re mom’s at work trying to figure out a cure for you! All I need is for you to get SQUASHED before she can!”

     “But, Aunt Julia, I swear, it wasn’t my fault—!” Tim protested.

     “I don’t care, Tim!” Julia interrupted him in frustration as she fumbled about the kitchen, “You heard what your mom said about you being on the floor, and if you can’t be more careful, I’m just gonna have to take more drastic measures to keep you safe. Now, you just sit there and make yourself comfortable, little man, while I make us some breakfast. Your mom wants me to make sure you’re getting enough to eat this week.”

     Tim heaved a heavy sigh and sat down on the counter, crossing his arms in frustration. He obviously didn’t like being scolded, especially considering what Aunt Julia might have in store for him later as a result, but frankly, he was slightly irked at her reaction to almost stepping him. Sure, Tim wanted Aunt Julia to be concerned for his safety, but she didn’t seem all that concerned when she was smashing him between her feet the other day. Plus, if she hadn’t been so abusive, he wouldn’t have considered trying to get away from her in the first place.

     Although he hated to admit it, Aunt Julia was certainly right about one thing: it would really suck to get squashed before he could grow back to normal, the mere thought freezing Tim to his very core. He could just imagine the fateful step, leaving him nothing more than a dark, red stain beneath his aunt’s giant foot. He’d certainly dodged a bullet that morning, but how long would his luck hold out? If Aunt Julia didn’t knock off all her playfulness, Tim’s fatal thought might soon become a gruesome reality.

     Despite being preoccupied pondering his fate over the coming week, Tim sat bored out of his mind on the kitchen counter watching Aunt Julia finish cooking their breakfast on the stove. The aromas of cooked bacon and eggs emanating from the nearby skillet wafted into Tim’s nose; the pleasant pops from the fat sizzling in the hot skillet made the tiny boy’s mouth water. Even considering his near-death experience mere minutes ago, Tim found himself with quite the healthy appetite, hungry enough to eat a horse…or at least, one that was relative to his current size.

     A few minutes later, breakfast was ready, and Julia hastily scooped the cooked bacon and eggs onto a plate and walked them over to the kitchen table, stopping briefly to retrieve two pieces of toast from the toaster on the far side of the counter. She pulled out a few pieces of silverware from a nearby drawer and, with the table now fully set, walked back to retrieve her tiny nephew, taking a second to turn off the burner she’d been using.

     “Alright, little guy,” she said, lowering her hand to the edge of the counter, “hop on.”

     Tim eagerly obeyed, hopping into his aunt’s palm; he couldn’t wait to dig in!

     “Here ya go,” Julia said as she carefully placed him on the edge of her plate. “Eat up! Your mom wants you to keep your strength up.”

     While Julia stepped back over to the fridge to grab the tub of whipped butter she’d forgotten to get earlier, Tim picked up a small handful of eggs and started chomping away, taking bite after bite, almost finishing his first batch before his aunt even made it back to the table.

     “My, my,” Julia chortled as she pulled out her chair and sat down. “You ARE hungry, aren’t ya?!”

     “Mm hm,” Tim nodded, his mouth full of food.

     “Your mom said you might have a healthy appetite,” Julia added, picking up her fork.

     “She DID?!” Tim exclaimed with confusion.

     “Yeah,“ Julia confirmed, taking a quick bite of eggs, “She told me you had a lot to eat last night at dinner, too. I think she said something about you having an increased metabolism, or something like that.

     “Anyway, eat up,” she continued, hastily putting some butter on her toast while it was still warm. “we’ve gotta long day of laundry ahead of us.”

     “What do ya mean ‘WE’?!” Tim inquired with incredulity, gulping down his latest bite. “What do you expect ME to do?!”

     “Nothing,” Julia answered, taking a bite of toast, “but I’m keeping you close by me today to make sure you stay safe and out of trouble.”

     “Aunt Julia, that’s ridiculous!” Tim objected. “You can’t just carry me around with you all day.”

     “Oh yeah? Just watch me, little man! Now, I’ve got a lot of laundry to do today, and given what’s already happened this morning, I’m not taking any chances.”

    “Come on, Aunt Julia,” Tim protested, “be reasonable! Just leave me on the coffee table with the TV on. I’ll be fine!”

     “Absolutely not!” Julia objected. “I’m NOT letting you out of my sight today, Tim. I don’t wanna spend my whole day tiptoeing around the house, constantly worrying I might STEP on you again! What would I tell your mom: ‘Oh, sorry sis, but I accidentally SQUASHED Tim under my bare feet today’?!”

     “But…Aunt Julia—“ Tim squeaked.

     “No ‘BUTS’ mister,” his aunt interrupted sternly, pointing her fork at him. “Your staying close by me today where I can keep an eye on you, and that’s final! And we’re NOT telling your mother about that little incident this morning, you got that?! If she ever found out I almost stepped on you she’d throw a FIT!”

     Tim reluctantly nodded. Aunt Julia’s reaction about almost stepping on him, despite the torture he’d already endured at her feet, may have been irksome, but at least he was in full agreement: if his mother found out about him nearly being squashed that morning, she’d no doubt give him AND Aunt Julia a stern lecture, and Aunt Julia would then take out her frustrations on HIM! Reluctantly, he felt it best, for the sake of all parties involved, to just keep his mouth shut.

     All things considered, Tim didn’t want ANYONE finding out about his being shrunk, let alone suffering at his aunt’s nasty feet. He’d never live down the embarrassment. 

     After eating a sizable amount from Julia’s plate by the time they’d finished breakfast, Tim collapsed into a bloated heap on the kitchen table.

     “All done, kiddo?” Julia chortled as she stood up from the table.

     “Uh huh,” Tim nodded, rubbing his stomach. “I’m full!”

     “Good. Lemme just clean up these dishes and we’ll go start the next load of laundry, okay?”

     While Julia cleaned up the kitchen, Tim moped on the table, digesting his meal. He wasn’t looking forward to being carried around all day while his aunt did chores around the house, but if it meant not having to be near her feet again that day, it might actually be worth it.

     “Alright, kiddo,” Julia said as she approached the table after she was done cleaning up from breakfast. “Let’s get a move on.”

     She lowered her hands to the table and scooped her tiny nephew into her palms, then carried him down the back stairs into the laundry room, setting him down on the dryer.

     “Now, thankfully, I already separated all my clothes before I came to get you this morning,” Julia said, opening the lid on the washing machine and transferring all her wet clothes to the dryer.

     “Great!” Chris said with increasing enthusiasm, “So, you don’t have very much left to do?”

     “Oh no,” Julia rebutted, grabbing an armful of her next load, “this is just MY laundry. We still have to grab all your and your mom‘s clothes and get them down here, plus the towels from the bathroom, plus the sheets off all your beds, not to mention putting on fresh sheets when we’re through…

     “Like I said,” she reiterated with an impish smile, grabbing the laundry detergent from behind Tim on the dryer, “we’ve got a LONG day of laundry ahead of us.”

     “Great,” Chris repeated with a heavy sigh, his enthusiasm suddenly waning.

     “Aw, buck up, kiddo…” Julia cooed, gently poking him in the stomach before bending down to organize some things in the dryer.

     “Oof…HEY!” Chris exclaimed frustratedly, reeling from the impact of his aunt’s finger with his mid-section.

     “…We’ll still have plenty of time for fun this afternoon,” Julia continued, “plus all the downtime between loads. Maybe you could give me another foot rub later on. Ooh, maybe we can spend some time out on the back deck today. I’d really love to work on my tan.”

     “So much for avoiding Aunt Julia’s feet today,” Tim grumbled to himself, sighing heavily as he crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

     As Julia finished loading the washer, she hastily poured in some fabric softer and quickly closed lid, inadvertently kicking up a small gust of wind that completely blew Chris onto his backside.

     “Oops!” Julia chuckled. “Sorry, kiddo.”

     The giant woman grabbed a dryer sheet and threw it into the dryer below Tim, securely closing the door; then, she did a once over to make sure she was ready to start the machines.

     “Alright,” Julia said, lowering her hands onto the dryer, “Let’s get these started and head back upstairs and strip the beds.”

     Tim brushed himself off and stood up, adjusting his clothes before heading over to the edge of the dryer. He had already had his fill of being carried around like some kind of toy that morning, and the day was just getting started. He was literally on the verge of reiterating his protests, but opted to keep his mouth shut for the moment.

     After pushing the START buttons on both machines, Julia carried her nephew back up the stairs and walked through the house all the way back to the master bedroom.

     “Alright,” Julia sighed as she entered the room, “let’s get your mom’s stuff together and strip the bed.”

     “Aunt Julia, WHY do you keep saying ‘us’?” Tim moaned. “It’s not like I can actually help you or anything!”

     “Well…you’re keeping me company,” Julia offered, setting the little guy down on the bed for a moment. “That’s something.”

     Tim sighed yet again as Julia grabbed a laundry basket from the corner of the room and brought it back over to the main hamper, transferring over her sister’s washing.

     “Alright, lemme think…” Julia pondered aloud, “…Yeah, I think I can fit some of this in with my last load, but I’ll take it down just to make sure.

     “Come on, kiddo,” she continued, stepping back over to the bed, “let’s go see.”

     “But…Aunt Julia,” Tim whined, “you just put me down!”

     “I know, but I need to take these clothes back down to the laundry room to plan out the next couple of loads.”

     “Aunt Julia, I’m getting really tired of being carried around all morning.”

     “Well, I’m sorry, Tim,” she apologized half-heartedly, “but I don’t have a choice.”

     “Why don’t you just leave me on the coffee table like I said earlier?! I’ll be fine, I swear!”

     “And like I said,” Julia objected, shaking her head. “I’m NOT letting you outta my sight today. Now, come on.”

     “But…you’re gonna need two hands to carry that basket down to the laundry room,” Tim pointed out. “You can’t possibly carry it AND me at he same time.”

     “Hm, you have a point,” Julia uttered as she took a moment to think.

     “Oh, I know!” Julia said with a snap of her fingers before reaching down to the bed with her right hand.

     “Hey, what’re—Rmpf!”

     Tim’s words were cut off as Julia snatched up her tiny nephew in her hand, then stepped back to the laundry basket, haphazardly depositing Tim on top of the pile of clothes.

     “HEY,” Tim cursed up, “WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?!”

     Julia paid him no heed, squatting down and grasping the basket’s handles.

     “Alright, now hold on tight!” she said. 

     “WHOA—!” Tim yelped.

     Julia’s warning barely gave Tim enough time to brace himself before he and the laundry basket were suddenly hoisted into the air. The tiny boy tumbled backwards, rolling partway into one of his mother’s blouses. Tim scrambled to try to get up, calling for help, but Julia had already started walking out of the bedroom and back across the house, each step jostling the basket and throwing the tiny teenager onto his back, negating any progress he was making.

     The half-flight of stairs down to the laundry room was the worst part: Julia walked down too quickly, nearly throwing Tim AND the blouse he was trapped in over the side of the laundry basket.

     Thirty grueling seconds after having left the master bedroom, Julia set the laundry basket on the floor, finally giving Tim a chance to free himself. The tiny boy slowly crawled out of his mother’s shirt, gazing upwards at his negligent caregiver as she surveyed the pile of clothes.

     “Aunt Julia, are you CRAZY?!” Tim shouted up. “You nearly tossed me off the side of this thing!”

     Julia wasn’t listening, still pondering how to efficiently wash everything.

     “AUNT JULIA, STOP IGNORING ME!” Tim shouted angrily.

     “I’m not answering you until you fix that attitude of yours, little man,” Julia replied sternly, not even giving Tim a fleeting glance, “and knock off all that squeaking! It’s getting really annoying!”

     Tim sighed and stood up, trying to steady himself on the soft surface of clothes beneath him.

     “Yeah, I think I can get it all in two loads,” Julia said to herself, turning and bending down to the tiny boy. “Now, let’s go see about your sheets.”

     “No,” Tim objected, waving her hand off. “Aunt Julia, I told you: I don’t wanna be carried around all day!”

     “Tim, I’m getting really sick of this attitude of yours!” The giant woman snapped irately. “Now, I’m not leaving you alone today. So, come on!”

     “But…you’re constantly picking me up, and putting me down, and picking me back up again…and THAT’s getting really annoying.”

     “Tim,” Julia huffed. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m keeping you with me today and that’s that. Now, if you don’t like being in my hand, maybe I should just find somewhere else to put you.”

     “Well, what’re you gonna do, keep me in your POCKET?!” Tim shouted, immediately regretting his words.

     “Sorry, Tiny Tim, no pockets in these shorts,” Julia replied sarcastically, pulling at and displaying her pants to indicate her truthfulness. She then reached down and plucked the tiny boy up between her thumb and index fingers.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as he was painfully yanked upwards. “Aunt Julia, STOP! THAT HURTS! PUT ME DOWN!”

     “Fine, Timmy!” Julia stated bluntly. “If you don’t wanna be carried in my hands, I’ll just have to put you somewhere else!”

     “HEY, WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!” Tim squeaked as Julia pulled him towards her chest, dangling him over her cleavage. “AUNT JULIA, WAIT! NO! AAAAAA—!”

     The giant woman unclenched her fingers, dropping her tiny, screaming nephew into her cleavage. Tim promptly disappeared between his aunt’s breasts, his tiny squeaks now muffled as he struggled to free himself.

     Julia calmly placed her hands onto the outside of her top, squeezing and adjusting her breasts into a comfortable position, causing Tim to scream in agony as he was smashed in between them. A few moments later, her tiny nephew was firmly secured in her bosom; Julia nodded her head in satisfaction, then headed back up the stairs towards the bedroom.

     Tim screamed muffled cries for help as he was squeezed and bounced in between two massive mounds of jiggly flesh. Each step his aunt took, especially up the stairs, violently jiggled her breasts up and down, and as she walked, Julia intentionally exaggerated her upper body movements, swinging her chest right and left, delighting in feeling Tim’s squirms intensify and grow ever more frantic.

     By the time Tim managed to push his head out from between his aunt’s breasts, Julia had already made it back to the master bedroom and was in the middle of stripping the sheets off her sister’s bed.

     “Uhn!” Tim strained, gasping for air as he struggled to keep his head out of his aunt’s massive cleavage; unfortunately, as the giant woman continued with her chore, her chest kept jostling back and forth, and her arms pressing her boobs together, smothering him continuously.

     “Aunt Juliumpf…Ugh…Aunt Julia, STOmpf…PLEASE!”

     “Aw, what's the matter, Tiny Tim?" the giant woman cooed, pouty-faced, playfully jiggling her breasts back and forth, “Don’t you like being between my breasts?! Hmph, I'd figure most boys your age would LOVE to be where you are right now.”

     “Oomph—!” Tim strained, trying to keep his footing as he screamed up at the giant woman again, “NOT WHEN ITS MY OWN AUNT!”

     “Oh, honestly, Tiny Tim,” the giant woman scoffed, “don’t be such a prude! Besides, after almost getting squashed under my feet this morning, I figure this is the safest option.”

     “Uhn…AUNT JULIA, get me out of here, RIGHT NOW!” Tim squeaked demandingly.

     “Why would I wanna take you out, little man?” Julia chortled smugly. “As of right now, you’re safe and sound. Snug as a bug in a rug. Besides…*giggle*, I kind of like having you there.”

     The giant woman giggled with delight as she squeezed and manipulated her huge tits again, watching as her tiny nephew disappear into her cleavage, his muffled squeaks and frantic squirms widening her sadistic smile.

     “Oompf…Aunt Julia, PLrfmp…” Tim begged, tears in his eyes welling up as he struggled for his life, “STOP! Before you smother mrmm!”

     “Oh, Geez!” she scoffed sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Stop being so melodramatic, Tim! You’re fine! I can't, very well, have you running around the house unsupervised, can I?! Now, this is the safest place I could think of to keep you close and out of trouble, and you’re gonna stay in there at least until I’m finished stripping the beds, so just….get comfortable!”

     “Aunt Julia, PLEASE!” Tim squeaked. “This is EMBARRASSING!”

     “Well, it’s either this, or putting you in my slipper again, Tiny Tim,” Julia rebuked, “so which would you prefer?”

     “I’d prefer it if you just put me down!” Tim replied smartly.

     “Not gonna happen, little guy,” Julia replied, “and seeing as you nearly suffocated in my slipper yesterday, I’d have guessed you’d PREFER this mode of travel...”

     “Aunt Julia, NO—!” Tim squeaked, seeing the giant woman’s hand coming towards him.

     “Aw, don’t worry, Timmy,” Julia cooed playfully, “You’ll be just fine. I'm sure you'll come to enjoy it…”

     Tim squealed frantically as the giant woman put her thumb atop his head and shoved him back down into her cleavage, completely submerging the tiny teenager deep down between her breasts.

     “…I know I will!” Julia giggled, playfully shaking her chest back and forth as she continued with her chores.

      Although Tim might have reluctantly agreed that his current position within Aunt Julia’s cleavage was marginally better than being trapped between the giant woman’s toes and shoved inside a hot, steamy slipper, the conditions were still far less than ideal. All the rest of that morning, while Julia went about stripping and remaking the beds and gathering up clothes for the day’s laundry, Tim was continuously smashed, squeezed, and squashed between his aunt’s giant breasts as they bounced around haphazardly, and each time he managed to push his head out of her cleavage for some much needed air, Julia would simply smile and shove him back down in between, delighting in feeling his frantic squirms and hearing his muffled squeaks, as if her nephew’s struggles for survival were nothing more than a sick, perverted game to bring her pleasure.

     To make matters worse, with all her running around, it wasn’t long before Julia’s cleavage became unbearably hot and sweaty, amplifying Tim’s torment and hampering his escape efforts. At one point, Tim even tried escaping out the bottom of his aunt’s chest when she was hovering over his bed, but Julia was more than prepared to catch and redeposit him back down her top.

     Eventually, Tim’s squirms stopped being pleasurable for Julia, and started becoming more of a nuisance, and each subsequent escape attempt only made her more and more irritable and frustrated, which, in turn, made her handling of the tiny boy rougher and more violent.

     “Tim,” she warned him sternly, putting the next load of clothes into the washer, “I swear, if you don’t calm down and stop all that squirming, I’m going to SIT on you!”

      Whether it was the threat of being trapped under his aunt’s ass, or the sheer exhaustion from all his failed escape attempts, Tim eventually stopped his frantic squirming, opting to move slowly and lethargically until his head just barely poked out of his aunt’s cleavage.

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim begged breathlessly, “please let me out. It’s getting hot in here.”

     “Well, it’s your own fault for trying to wriggle free so many times,” the giant woman chuckled. “If you’d just sit still, you wouldn’t be so hot now, would you?! Now, keep quiet while I finish this up.”

     “But, Aunt Julrmpf—!” Before Tim could protest any further, the giant woman shoved him back down between her breasts again, muffling his pleas, and leaving him struggling in hot, sweaty darkness while Julia finished loading her latest batch of clothes into the washing machine. 

     Shortly thereafter, Julia carried a clean, dry load of laundry back up into the living room, setting her basket down onto on of the couch cushions, before plopping her ass down beside it to make herself comfortable. She didn’t hear it, but Tim yelped as he was unceremoniously bounced up and down, nearly popping completely out of the giant woman’s tits from the impact.

     “Aunt Julia,” he pleaded meekly after poking his head out from between her breasts once his aunt was still again, “would you please take me out of here now?!”

     “Nope,” the giant woman replied abruptly, “you’re fine right where you are. Besides, once I finish folding these, I’ll be getting right back up again.”

     “But…even when you do,” Tim objected, “it’ll be forever before the next load of laundry gets done. You’ve already stripped and made the beds. What ELSE do you have to do?!” 

     Julia inhaled, about to answer, when she suddenly paused:

     “You know?” she pondered, “You may have a point. All the beds all done and remade, and I’ve already switched out all the towels, so I may have some to relax for a bit.”

     “Good,” Tim sighed breathlessly, “excellent! Now, please get me out of here!”

     “Actually,” Julia continued, staring at the digital clock on the Blu-Ray player, “with all the running around I’ve been doing this morning, I’ve worked up quite the appetite.

     “What do ya say, kiddo,” she said, staring down at the tiny boy in her cleavage, “care for some lunch?”

     “Yes,” Tim replied immediately, frantically nodding his head. “Yes, absolutely.”

     “Good, then that’s settled,” Julia stated. “I’ll finish folding these and I’ll go make us some lunch.”

     “Great! Wonderful! Now, can you PLEASE put me on the coffee table?!”

     “What for?” Julia scoffed, chortling. “I’ll be done folding these clothes in a minute here, so just hold on and I’ll be done shortly, OK?”

     “NO!” Tim shouted demandingly. “Lemme out of here RIGHT NOW, Aunt Julia!”

     “My, my,” Julia chided blithely, “so disrespectful! I definitely think we’re gonna have to take some time to work on that attitude of yours today!”

     “NOmpf—!”

     Once again, Julia pushed Tim back down between her breasts; this time, however, she forcefully pressed her tits together, causing Tim to scream muffled cries in agony.

     “Now, keep quiet and let me finish folding my laundry,” Julia warned sternly, “or the next time, I’ll squeeze you ‘til you pop!”

     Tim wasn’t sure if his aunt was serious, but nonetheless, he didn’t want to take any more chances, finally, albeit reluctantly opting to keep still and just bear his hot, fleshy prison until Aunt Julia finished her task.

     A few minutes later, the last of the load had been folded, and with a nod of satisfaction, Julia grabbed the stack of clothes and carefully placed it back into the laundry basket. Then, she rocked back slightly and propelled her body forward off the couch and into a standing position, the sudden movements jostling her chest in every direction. Finally, she grabbed her phone she’d set down on the coffee table earlier, stepped around the couch, and headed into the kitchen to find something for lunch.

     The cabinets Julia quickly scoured for food didn’t provide anything that was both quick and sounded even remotely appetizing, relegating her options to the refrigerator and freezer.

     “Nah, I don’t really want to warm anything up,” Julia said to herself as she searched the freezer, “and I really don’t want a meal: I just want a snack.”

     With still nothing that looked appealing, Julia finally checked the fridge.

     “Hm,” she uttered as she opened a large, plastic container from the rear, middle shelf, “you know what? I COULD go for some chocolate pudding right about now. I think some cheese and crackers with pudding for dessert sounds good. What do you think, Tim?”

     Her tiny nephew, however, couldn’t answer, his only reply being muffled shouts as he struggled deep within his aunt’s cleavage.

     Julia smiled and giggled as she took the container of pudding and set it down on the kitchen counter, then grabbed a smaller bowl from a nearby cabinet along with a spoon from one of the kitchen drawers. She quickly scooped a hefty portion of pudding into the smaller bowl, then closed and replaced the main container back into the fridge, wiping some stray pudding off the side with her fingers. Next, she grabbed some sliced cheese before shutting the door and retrieved a sleeve of crackers from a box atop the refrigerator. Finally, will all her food in hand, Julia headed over to the table to sit down.

     She was just about to dive into her snack when she felt Tim squirming between her breasts again.

     “Oops,” she giggled, reaching into her cleavage and plucking out the tiny boy between her fingers, “I almost forgot: we need to get you cleaned up, don’t we?”

     Unfortunately, and much to his dismay, Tim was in no condition to refuse. One cold, kitchen faucet shower later, Julia was sitting back down at the kitchen table, her tiny, freshly cleaned and clothed nephew in hand.

     “Alright, there you go, kiddo,” Julia sighed, setting the tiny boy onto the table. “Cheese, crackers, and pudding. Let’s dig in.”

     Tim certainly would’ve preferred something a little heartier than cheese and crackers for lunch, but he wasn’t exactly in a position to be picky or demanding; plus, he was hungry enough to eat anything regardless. In any case, cheese and crackers was one of Tim’s favorite snacks, and he quickly downed as much as his little body could tolerate, while still saving room for some much anticipated dessert.

     Soon, Julia herself had had her fill of cheese and crackers, and began brushing the leftover crumbs off her hands before reaching for the bowl of pudding.

     “Alright, Tiny Tim,” she said as she slid the bowl in front of her, “ready for some dessert?”

     The bowl Julia had grabbed had a shallow lip that eventually tapered down into a deeper basin; not wanting to risk having to wipe up any mess, she plucked her tiny nephew from the table and set him back down on the bowl’s rim.

     Tim quickly steadied himself about halfway between the bowl’s edge and the lake of pudding within, doing his best to sit comfortably without sliding any further into the basin.

     “Comfy?” Julia chortled, watching her nephew desperately trying to steady himself.

     “I’m just fine,” Tim seethed, exhaling through his nose as he tried to control his emotions, “but I would really like it if you’d stop manhandling me so much!”

     “Oh, would you stop being so overdramatic?!” Julia scoffed, rolling her eyes. “It wasn’t THAT bad!”

     “Oh, and exactly what part do you think ‘wasn’t that bad’, Aunt Julia,” Tim chimed in snidely, “being constantly carried around like a doll all the time, or being stuck between your breasts all morning?!”

     “Oh, geez, Tim!” Julia replied apathetically, resting her head on her left hand, “Would you get a grip?! You act like you’ve been so mistreated!”

     “I HAVE been ‘mistreated’, Aunt Julia!” Tim shouted up argumentatively. “How would YOU like it if YOU were the one who was shrunk and I kept putting MY feet on you, or sticking you in MY slipper, huh?!”

     “Well, first off,” Julia mocked, picking up her spoon, “I wouldn’t BE shrunk, seeing as I’d know better not to drink from some unmarked bottle in the back of the fridge.”

     “Hmph!” Tim huffed, folding his arms as he looked away.

     “Secondly,” the giant woman continued, “if you’d just behave yourself and do what I ask, I wouldn’t have to punish you, now, would I?”

     “WHAT HAVE I DONE WRONG?!” Tim exclaimed, gesturing. “How….exactly have I earned ANY PUNISHMENT whatsoever?!”

     “Well, you WERE on the floor this morning, weren’t you?” Julia rebuked.

     Tim sighed in frustration, grumbling to himself. Although Julia didn’t actually know the truth behind that encounter, the whole incident had technically been his own fault, but certainly not one that deserved the punishment he’d received.

     “Lastly,” Julia continued, scooping up a small dollop of pudding from the bowl, “and most importantly, I’M not the one who’s small, now, am I? YOU ARE! So, unless you wanna end up under my feet again, I’d suggest you straighten up and do what I tell you from now on.

     “Now,” she said, carefully pushing the spoon towards the tiny teenager, “care for a bite?”

     Tim seethed again, not wanting to relent to his giant aunt, but seeing as he’d been craving the dessert, he reluctantly leaned over to the spoon and slurped down a large serving of pudding.

     “There, now,” Julia said pridefully, “that’s a good boy.”

     Tim grumbled as he swallowed his bite, trying to figure out how he was going to survive the next several days with his bitch of an aunt. Surely, he couldn’t let this torment go on, could he? He had to say something to his mother, but if he did…

     The shrunken boy’s mind immediately recollected his giant aunt’s warning about the house being a dangerous place. Would Aunt Julia really follow through with her thinly-veiled threat the other day? Would she really…squash him?!

     Tim swallowed hard, trying to shake the dreadful image from his mind and be rational:

     Aunt Julia would never actually squash me, he reassured himself. She couldn’t be that cruel, right?

     He peered up meekly at his giant aunt, watching her nonchalantly scroll through her phone, her eyes locked on its screen as she inattentively scooped up another bite of pudding from the bowl and shoveled it into her mouth.

     ….Right? Tim thought nervously, biting his lower lip. Unfortunately, considering how roughly Aunt Julia had treated him the past couple days, he wasn’t sure he could take the risk of incurring her wrath again. His only real hope was to just kept his head down and be as obedient as he could, and just maybe he’d survive long enough to be cured. Besides, as long as he literally did everything Aunt Julia asked of him—no matter how gross or humiliating—what’s the worst she could do?

     “Step on me, that’s what!” Tim sighed dejectedly.

     Tim’s stomach grumbled, snapping him back to reality. He gazed up at his aunt as she dipped her spoon into the bowl again; he was ready to receive another bite as it emerged from the chocolatey lake, but Julia merely moved the spoon up to her mouth, never even acknowledging her tiny nephew.

     “Aunt Julia, can I please have another bite?” Tim asked, trying to sound polite.

     Julia, however, didn’t answer; she was still too engrossed in reading her phone.

    “AUNT JULIA,” Tim shouted up, still trying to sound cordial. “I SAID: I’M READY FOR ANOTHER BITE!”

     “Yes, Tim,” the giant woman replied, slightly irked, barely taking a fleeting glance at him, “I heard you. Just a second, OK? I wanna finish reading this.”

     “Fine,” Tim huffed in frustration, “I’ll just get some myself.”

     The tiny boy repositioned himself, lying facedown on the lip of the bowl and carefully sliding his body forward. Once he was close enough, he reached his arms down towards the basin to grab a handful of pudding; unfortunately, the sweet, chocolatey surface was a bit further into the bowl than he was able to reach. He leaned in further, scooting forward, stretching his arms lower into the bowl…

     “Almost…Almost…WHOA—!”

     *SPLAT*

     “Tim,” Julia sighed frustratedly, looking away from her phone, “would you wait—“

     Her voice trailed off; Tim was no longer sitting on the edge of her bowl.

     “Tim?!” She called out, sliding the bowl towards her, thinking he might’ve fallen onto the table. “Where are you?”

     Unfortunately, a quick scan of the table yielded no sign of the tiny boy.

     Julia quickly set down her phone and lifted her bowl off pudding off the table, giving her an unobstructed view of the entire surface, but Tim was still nowhere in sight.

     “TIM?! Where’d the hell did you go?!”

     The second the tiny teenager hit the cold, chocolatey lake, he immediately flailed his limbs in a chaotic scramble to resurface. The icy sludge was thick and viscous, and Tim was fearful that Aunt Julia could scoop him up at any second without realizing it.

     Unfortunately, before he could surface, the bowl was suddenly hoisted into the air, thrusting him even deeper into the pudding’s chocolatey depths. He wanted to scream for help, but Tim knew he had to conserve what precious air he had. All he could do was paddle even more frantically, desperately struggling to resurface before it was too late…

     Julia was getting anxious, worried she’d just lost her tiny nephew again. Her mind suddenly shot to the floor, wondering if he might’ve accidentally fallen off the table somehow, but as she set her bowl back down on the table, she suddenly spotted something moving inside the basin. 

     Julia gasped…then burst into a fit of laughter as her tiny nephew suddenly surfaced, waist-deep in a lake of chocolate pudding.

     “Oh my gosh!” Julia cackled, struggling to catch her breath. “Look at you! You fell in the—!”

     Julia couldn’t finish her comment; she was laughing so hard it became high-pitched and semi-silent.

     “KNOCK IT OFF, AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted up demandingly as he tried to maneuver his way towards the side of the bowl. “It’s NOT FUNNY!”

     Julia, however, couldn’t stop laughing, unable to control herself over the hysterics of the situation. She watched with sadistic glee as her tiny nephew struggled to swim for the side of the bowl, and her laughter only intensified each time Tim stumbled and slipped beneath the surface, coughing and sputtering each time he re-emerged. 

     “Blech!” Tim squeaked in disgust, flailing his arms as he spit out some unwanted pudding that had invaded his mouth. “Uhn, Aunt Julia, would PLEASE get me out of here?!”

     “Aw, what’s the matter, Tiny Tim,” Julia cooed, struggling to stifle her laughter through her pouty lips, “did you get a little too much pudding? Here, lemme help you.”

     The giant woman picked up her spoon and carefully dipped it into the middle of the bowl, nimbly sliding it underneath the tiny boy and scooping him up within a large dollop of pudding.

     As Julia slowly moved the spoon towards her, Tim thought he was done with his unexpected pudding bath…

     The spoon suddenly tilted forward. Tim jerked, flailing his arms to arrest himself, but it was no use: with a tiny squeak, he and the scoop of pudding were unceremoniously dumped back down into the middle of the bowl. Once again, the tiny boy struggled to swim to the surface, barely able to take a breath without his lungs being invaded with chocolate.

     “Oops,” Julia chuckled playfully as she saw Tim resurfacing, “clumsy me. Here, I’ll get you.”

     Tim spun around, watching the giant spoon dip into the far edge of the bowl, scooping up a huge heap of pudding as it plowed in his direction.

     “AUNT JULmfp—!” the tiny boy yelped as he was suddenly buried beneath a tidal wave of pudding. 

     Tim immediately scrambled to reorient himself and resurface, but was unsure which way was up, plowing forward in a direction he hoped would lead him to much needed air.

     Ultimately, it mattered little; each time the tiny teenager managed to breach the surface of the pudding, Julia kept dumping more pudding on top of him with her spoon, chuckling as she watched his desperate struggles for survival.

     Tim pleaded desperately for mercy, gasping for precious air as he choked and coughed to expel the pudding that had invaded his lungs, but Julia only grinned and gently pressed the tiny boy back down into the pudding with her spoon.

     “Aw, what’s a matter, Timmy,” the giant woman cooed, watching him scream and flail about helplessly as she mercilessly scooped him up and dumped him back into the bowl over and over again, “can’t you get yourself out of there? Well, maybe you should be more careful around big peoples’ food.”

     After a few more moments of unrelenting torture, Julia finally scooped Tim and a large dollop of pudding out of the bowl with her spoon, holding it a short distance from her face.

     “Ah, there we go,” Julia teased, giggling as she watched the tiny teenager writhing in the scoop of pudding, coughing and flailing his arms around wildly to right himself. “Did you have a nice swim?”

     “Aunt Julia, are you CRAZY?!” Tim squeaked, wiping the excess chocolate from his face. “You almost DROWNED me!”

     “Oh, pipe down,” Julia scoffed, “I was just having a little fun. Besides, you’re lucky I found you when I did, otherwise…”

     “You think this is FUN?!” Tim shouted irately. “You could’ve KILLED ME!”

     “Oh, SO the drama queen!” Julia huffed, repeating herself. “Stop being so overdramatic!”

     “I’m NOT being ‘overdramatic’, Aunt Julia!” Tim squeaked, nearly losing his balance. “I’m being serious! If you don’t stop being so rough with me, you’re gonna kill me!”

     “Tim,” Julia sighed apathetically, shaking her head, “do you honesty think I’d really let anything bad happen to you?”

     “You mean ASIDE from stepping on me,” Tim replied abruptly, “AND using me to wash your nasty feet, AND making me give you a foot rub, AND shoving me between your breasts?! I can’t wait ‘til mom makes me big again; then, this whole nightmare will be over and I’ll be done with you AND all your stupid punishments!”

     Julia rolled her eyes, inadvertently jostling the spoon, causing Tim to fall onto his butt with a tiny splat into the dollop of pudding.

     “Ugh!” Tim exclaimed as he recovered from the tumble. “Damn it, Aunt Julia! Would you PLEASE get me off this spoon!”

     Julia’s eyes suddenly went wide, and a huge smile grew across her face. She had just gotten a fiendishly clever idea.

     “OK, Tim,” she replied with a shrug, innocently looking up to the ceiling. “Whatever you say…”

     “Wait,” Tim said, growing extremely anxious at his aunt’s words, unsure exactly what she meant, “what’re you doing?!”

     Julia lifted the spoon closer to her face, eyeing him intently. Then, her massive jaw dropped open, her smile turning into a gaping maw, with a huge, slimy tongue darting back back-and-forth within.

     Tim’s eyes went wide, his jaw trembling…

     “A-AUNT JULIA!” the tiny teenager screamed, as the spoon was slowly thrust forward towards the menacing cave. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO—!”

     Julia daintily closed her mouth around the spoon’s handle, cutting off her nephew’s tiny screams, then slowly withdrew the utensil through her lips, sliding its contents onto her tongue. She sat quietly for a moment, just barely able to feel her tiny nephew’s frantic squirms on her tongue…

     Then, the giant woman began gently sliding Tim, and her bite of pudding, around her mouth with her nimble tongue: pressing him up against her soft pallet, then letting him drop back down onto her tongue; holding him against the inside of her cheek; and pressing him up against the back of her teeth, all the while sucking on him like a piece of candy….and reveling in feeling the tiny boy’s squirms intensify.

     “Mm,” Julia moaned seductively as she savored her tiny morsel, a huge, satisfied grin on her face. “You know, you actually taste pretty good, Tim.”

     She playfully flipped the tiny teenager over and over again, occasionally placing him underneath the her huge, slimy tongue.

     “You know, it’s kinda fun feeling you squirming around in there,” she chuckled. “I should eat you more often.”

     For Tim, however, there was absolutely NOTHING fun about his current ordeal. The tiny teenager was being continuously pummeled and recklessly thrown about his aunt’s mouth by her massively muscular tongue, his bloodcurdling screams echoing throughout the dark cavern. Numerous times, he found himself pressed against the inside of Julia’s cheek, or held to the roof of her mouth, and each time the giant woman sucked upon his tiny body, Tim feared the paratrophic force would pull his skin clean off. The environment was hot and disgustingly humid, reeking of sour milk and chocolate, and the tiny boy’s nostrils were constantly being assaulted by Julia’s rancid breath.

     If his torture wasn’t bad enough, the entire time Tim remained in near total darkness, in sheer terror of being chomped to death between Autnt Julia’s boulder-like teeth, or tossed down her throat and swallowed.

     “AUNT JULIA!” he kept screaming over and over. “STOP! PLEASE! LET ME OUT, BEFORE YOU SWALLOW ME!”

     Eventually, Julia grew tired of sucking on her tiny nephew. She stood up from the table and headed over to the sink, stopping briefly to grab a clear, drinking glass from one of the upper cabinets. Once she was in front of the sink, she quickly filled up her glass with water from the faucet and held it up to her face…

     “PTUI!”

     Tim squealed as he was unceremoniously spit out of his aunt’s mouth, splashing down into a pool of cold water. He quickly scrambled to the surface, gasping for air, and shivering madly as he tried to remain afloat.

     “Aw,” his giant aunt cooed down at the tiny teenager, her giant face hovering ominously over the rim of his glass prison. “Enjoying your swim, little guy?”

     “A-AUNT J-JULIA, a-are you C-CRAZY?!” Tim stammered as his body shivered violently—a combination of the cold water he was treading and the shock from being in his aunt’s mouth. “Y-You could’ve SWALLOWED me!”

     “Oh, really Tim,” the giant woman scoffed. “I was being careful. You were just fine.”

     “I WAS NOT FINE, AUNT JULIA!” Tim objected harshly. “I WAS TERRIFIED! One wrong move and I could’ve gone down your throat!”

     “Tim, would you lighten up? I told you: I was being careful.”

     “NO!” Tim shouted back. “I will not ‘lighten up’! That’s it, I’m DONE! YOU HEAR ME, AUNT JULIA?! I’m FINISHED! As soon as mom gets home, I’m telling her EVERYTHING you’ve done to me, and you’re gonna be in BIG TROUBLE, Aunt Julia. YOU HEAR ME?! BIG TROUBLE…!”

     Julia stood idly by, listening to her little nephew squeak up at her angrily from inside the glass. She merely sighed and shook her head, almost regretting her next move as she rolled her eyes and tilted the glass of water up to her lips…

     Tim’s squeaks suddenly became louder and more frantic as Julia started taking huge gulps of water. Her eyes were fixated on the tiny boy as he desperately struggled to swim away, almost chuckling at the futility of his endeavor.

     With one quick slurp, Tim disappeared between Julia’s lips. The giant woman nonchalantly swished her tiny nephew around her mouth for a moment, then held her cup up to her lips once again, spitting Tim and her gulp of water back into the glass.

     Tim’s semi-lifeless body floated to the surface, and the giant woman carefully swirled the slurry of water and saliva around the glass until the tiny teenager came to. The moment he regained his wits, Tim immediately began flailing his arms wildly, coughing and sputtering to clear the foul blend of liquids from his lungs. As he wiped off his face and looked skyward, he locked eyes with his giant aunt, her menacing face looming over the opening of his glass prison.

     “Now, let’s get one thing clear, Tiny Tim,” Julia said bluntly. “You’re not telling your mother ANYTHING, you got that?! Have you forgotten about our little deal? You behave yourself, and you don’t get squished! So, unless you want to end up as a tiny, red stain on the bottom of my foot, you’ll do what I say…or else!”

     “Y-You wouldn’t dare, Aunt Julia,” Tim stammered meekly, pointing upwards. “You just said you’d never do anything to hurt me!”

     “Oh, I wouldn’t,” Julia replied innocently, “…not on purpose anyway, but like I said from the beginning, Tim, the world can be a pretty dangerous place for a person of your size, and if you’re not careful…”

     The giant woman chortled menacingly, a satisfied smirk on her face, and an icy stare that chilled Tim to his core.

     “…ACCIDENTS can happen,” Julia finished her sentence, “but…maybe I haven’t made myself clear enough. Maybe, I just need to be a bit more direct with you. Now, come here.”

     “Whoa—ACK!” Tim yelped as Julia reached two of her massively plump fingers into the glass and plucked him out of the water, bringing him up close to her face.

     “HEY…AAA…!” Tim yipped as he dangled helplessly between his aunt’s fingers.

     “Now then,” Julia began, “I think what you really need is to take some time to reevaluate your ‘little’ situation, Tiny Tim. Maybe after you’ve had some time to think things over, we can discuss your behavior moving forward. In the meantime, I’m going to go and work on my tan, and you are going…in time out!”

     “NO! WAIT! AAAAAA—!”

     Tim squeaked in protest as Julia moved the tiny boy over her chest, pulling back her top and exposing her right breast…

     Then, she dumped him onto her tit.

     Tim tumbled down his aunt’s giant breast, struggling to arrest his descent. The moment the tiny boy tumbled off her tit, Julia snapped her top closed, slamming him against her areola. Tim screamed in protest, squirming frantically to free himself, but the giant tank top was too tight, holding him firmly against his aunt’s nipple. 

     Julia slapped her hand over her breast, smashing the tiny boy against her chest. He screamed in agony as he was forcefully pressed into her tit while the giant woman roughly adjusted her top.

     Then, with a slight indentation of her tiny nephew poking through her top, Julia walked through the living room and out the sliding-glass door to the back deck.

——————————————————————————————————————

     Two 11 year old boys were sitting on the back deck of one of the neighborhood houses. They were just hanging out and talking, minding their own business as they discussed what to do on such a boring, summer’s day, when one of them suddenly spotted a neighbor lady in a tank top and shorts coming out of the house next door, sitting down on one of the lounge chairs on her back deck.

     “Hey, Matt,” one of them said, motioning over his buddy’s shoulder. “Check it out: somebody’s mom is sunbathing.”

     Matt, the boy who lived at the house where they were sitting, looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse…a slight look of confusion and bewilderment suddenly washed over his face.

     “Yeah,” Matt replied to his friend who was visiting from down the street, “but that’s not the lady who lives there…I don’t recognize her.”

     “Really?” the visiting friend asked. “Maybe she’s like, housesitting or something?”

     “Yeah, could be,” Matt shrugged. “The dad who lives there goes out of town a lot…the mom sometimes, too.”

     The boys were about to go back to their prior conversation, when the visiting boy suddenly spotted the next door lady fiddling with her chest…then, she reached down into her top, almost flashing a view of her bare breasts.

     “What?” Matt inquired, noticing the widened eyes of his friend. “What is it?”

     Matt quickly turned around and also caught a glimpse of the lady’s strange behavior.

     “Wh-What’s she doing?” he asked aloud.

     “I don’t know,” the visiting friend admitted, moving to stand up, “but I’m gonna get a closer look.”

     “Bryce, wait,” Matt said, getting up to follow his friend. “Hang on.”

     Matt stood up and headed across the deck where Bryce was now standing, his eyes fixated on the lady next door.

     “Dude, what’re ya doing?” Matt asked.

     “Shh,” Bryce quieted his buddy in a hushed tone, “keep your voice down. I’m just getting a closer look.”

     “Dude, come on,” Matt urged quietly. “She’s gonna see you—”

     “Only if you don’t shut up!” Bryce replied harshly.

     “Come on, Bryce. Let’s just go back inside and play Halo. Please?”

     “Fine,” Bryce agreed.

     “…in a minute,” he added softly, turning back to the neighbor lady.

     “Dude, come on,” Matt pleaded, getting slightly annoyed and nervous. “You’re gonna get us in trouble.”

     About that time, the back door of the house opened, and a 19-year old girl stepped onto the deck. She quickly spotted the two boys over on the far end of the deck, apparently looking at something in one of the neighboring yards. When she shifted her gaze and finally saw what they were looking at, her brow immediately furrowed.

     “What’re you two doing?” she inquired bitterly.

     The two boys yelped in surprise and whipped around.

     “N-Nothing, sis,” Matt stammered. “W-We were just…uh…”

     “Uh huh,” his sister replied with sarcastic chagrin, her hands on her hips. “Both of you get your butts in the house, right now! I’ve almost got lunch ready.”

     “Sorry, sis,” Matt replied dejectedly, walking towards the door.

     “Yeah, well, quit spying on the neighbors, you little perverts!” she said.

     “We weren’t SPYING,” Bryce protested, “we were just…looking.”

     “I don’t care,” she replied, pointing towards the door. “Now, MOVE IT….before I call mom and tell her about this!”

     The two boys headed back into the house with the teenaged girl close behind…

     “…Tim, would you knock it off…?!” the woman next door suddenly cried out.

     The teenaged girl paused just before heading though the back door into the house, peering over at the neighbor woman sunbathing next door. The woman was looking directly down her top with sunglass-covered eyes, fondling and adjusting her breasts.

     “…Now, stop trying to get away…!” the neighbor woman called out forcefully.

     The teenaged girl’s eyes widened; she was completely perplexed by the neighbor’s odd behavior.

     “Who the hell talks to their tits?!” she thought to herself.

     “Whatever,” the teenaged girl shrugged, rolling her eyes with an apathetic sigh. Then, she shook her head and stepped back inside the house to deal with her brother and his friend, closing the back door behind her.

    Julia was sitting comfortably on the couch—one foot resting on the coffee table, and the other stretched out onto the adjacent cushions—switching between TV programs during the commercials and passively fiddling around on her phone. A laundry basket with the final, dirty load of the family’s washing was sitting on the floor beneath the far, left corner of the coffee table, and Julia had decided to sit and relax a little while and wait for the latest loads of laundry to finish before she took the last load downstairs. It wasn’t until one of the programs she was watching began rolling credits that she noticed the time.

     “Uhn,” she grunted, sitting up, “almost 4:30. Your mom should be getting home pretty soon, kiddo.”

     She carefully pulled back her top and reached her right hand into her cleavage, plucking her tiny nephew from between her giant breasts and placing him gently in her left palm.

     “Now then, Tim,” she began in a cordial tone, a satisfied grin on her face, “have you have you had enough time to think things over?”

     Tim writhed in his aunt’s palm, panting heavily and struggling to catch his breath as he strained to push himself on his side. He was too hot and tired to verbally respond, only wiping the sweat from his face and giving his giant aunt an exhausted nod.

     “So, once again, we’re agreed: we’re not telling your mother anything about our deal and keeping it strictly between us…AND we’re not telling her about your little ‘incident’ this morning, or any other ‘incidents’ that may happen going forward, got it?”

     The tiny teenager quickly shook his head ‘no’.

     “Good!” Julia smiled, carefully lowering the tiny boy to the table. “I knew you’d see it my way. Just remember, you open your mouth about any of this, and I’ll be closing it with my foot!”

     The giant woman gently, albeit haphazardly, dumped her tiny nephew on the coffee table and leaned back into her prior resting position, awaiting her sister’s return from work.

     Tim tumbled across the table’s surface for a moment before coming to a stop. He was tired, thirsty, and in desperate need of sustenance as he lay on his back, trying to regain his strength and recover from the day’s events:

     Just like the majority of that morning, Tim had pretty much spent the whole afternoon stuffed inside Aunt Julia’s cleavage, smashed between her giant breasts, the only exception being the half hour he spent stuck between the giant woman’s toes, an additional time out he’d earned from his escape attempt while she was sunbathing, and from almost being spotted by some neighbor kids.

     Tim stared blankly up at the ceiling, lamenting his dumb luck that landed him in his current situation. It was his own, stupid fault that he ended up small, but he ever suspected Aunt Julia would be so cruel and uncaring towards his situation. The past 3 days had been absolute torture, and given the most recent days events, there was currently no sign that it would end in the coming days. All Tim could do in the meantime was somehow grin and bear it….and pray to God that his mother would find a cure for him soon.

     As Tim lay contemplating how the hell he was going to make it through the rest of the week, Julia absentmindedly kicked her left foot back up on the coffee table.

    “HEY!” Tim yelped in fear, planting his palms on the table’s surface to brace himself. “AUNT JULIA, TAKE IT EASY!”

     The giant woman didn’t answer, however, her attention never wavering from her phone. Tim honestly couldn’t tell if Aunt Julia had done it on purpose, trying to taunt him again, or if it really was an accident. At the very least, she did have the presence of mind to place her heel a good distance away from his current resting place, but the impact was still enough to shake the entire table…and scare the hell out of the tiny boy.

     Tim sighed in frustration, laying his head back down and craning his neck, his gaze now fixated upon his aunt’s giant, bare foot. Her wrinkled sole stared him in the face as it scrunched and relaxed reflexively, her meaty toes wiggling playfully back and forth. Tim crumpled his nose in disgust, the stench of his aunt’s toe jam still fresh in his mind…and all over his body. The tiny teenager sighed again—this time, dejectedly—and nervously bit his lower lip. Even if he obeyed Aunt Julia’s every command, bowed to her every whim, and tried to be extremely obedient for the next few days, he couldn’t help but worry that somehow, no matter what the circumstances, he was still going to end up underneath that giant foot of hers again. Whether it be an accident, or on purpose, Tim knew it was only a matter of time before that wrinkled sole that was staring him ominously in the face, or one just like it, was going to come down and squash him.

     Julia and Tim both perked up when they heard his Natalie’s car pull into the driveway.

     “Three days with Aunt Julia down…” Tim said to himself, sighing heavily as he sat up, “…but how many more to go?”

     “Hey, Jules,” Natalie said as she stepped through the front door, her purse draped over her right shoulder, and a bundle of folders tucked under her left arm.

     “Hey, sis,” Julie replied as she sat up, removing her foot from the coffee table. “How was your day?”

    “Long and arduous,” Natalie sighed, dropping her purse at the edge of the den and kicking off her pumps.

     “…but productive.” she added with a prideful smirk. “The presentation went great! I just KNOW the board’s gonna approve the extra funding I requested!”

     “Nat, that’s GREAT!” Julia exclaimed, getting up off the couch to head over and give her sister a hug.

     “I know,” Natalie said happily, embracing her sister, “it’s VERY good news…AND, I was able to get the last of the analyses done on that formula. (I was able to sneak the last few tests in with some of my lab techs’ other analyses. They just thought it was another one of the many samples they were testing—they didn’t suspect a thing). I gathered up all of the data and paperwork and brought everything home. I’m gonna start reading through it tonight, and hopefully, I’ll be able to start working an antidote first thing tomorrow morning.”

     “YES!” Chris squeaked exuberantly from the coffee table, pumping his fist in the air before holding his hands in front of him thankfully.

     “That’s great news, sis!” Julia said, tugging her sister’s hands, “Come on in and sit down on the couch for a bit. You must be exhausted!”

     “I AM!” Natalie sighed, letting Julia lead her over to the couch, where she quickly spotted Tim standing on the coffee table.

     “Hey, sweetheart,” she said sympathetically, setting her papers down on the coffee table as she sat down on the closest cushion, “how was your day?”

     Tim desperately wanted to tell his mother everything what had happened that day, but he also valued his life, and knew exactly what would happen if he did.

     “Oh….O-OK, I guess,” he squeaked, shrugging, “you know, considering…”

     “Aw, I know, kiddo,” Natalie tsked. “How’re you holding up?”

     “Well…uh…” Tim hesitated, shrugging again, “you know…Mom, it’s…not exactly been easy.”

     “I can imagine. I know this has been hard on you…”

     Natalie paused, finally taking notice of his disheveled appearance.

     “…Why do you look so…well, so filthy?” she inquired.

     “Uh…I, uh…” Tim stammered, trying to come up with a good explanation while appeasing Aunt Julia, “…well, I’ve kinda been helping Aunt Julia with the laundry all day.”

     “Ugh, the laundry!” Natalie sighed with exhaustion, collapsing back onto the cushion behind her. “I completely forgot about that. I’ve been so preoccupied.”

     “Don’t worry, sis,” Julia reassured her, placing a hand on Natalie’s shoulder, “I’ve got it all taken care of. I just have one more load of your things to take down and it’ll all be done…well, all in the machines anyway. I even stripped the beds and put out fresh towels for you guys.”

     “Oh, Jules, thank you so much,” Natalie sighed gratefully. “I really appreciate it. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

     “Not at all,” Julia scoffed, “It’s not like I had anything else to do today…you know, besides watching Tim, of course.”

     “Even so, I appreciate the help,” Natalie said, motioning to the pile of folders she brought home, “ESPECIALLY since I’ll be spending my entire evening going through all this paperwork.”

     “Aw, I’m sure you’ll get through it, sis,” Julia said encouragingly. “Just take it one page at a time.”

     “Yeah, but getting THROUGH it isn’t the problem,” Natalie replied dispiritedly. “How am I supposed to focus on it AND keeping an eye on Tim tonight?”

     “Hm,” Julia uttered, pondering over the situation. “well, he’s been fine all day with me. I guess I could stay a little longer this evening; I don’t necessarily have to get home right away…HEY! I’ve got an idea: why don’t I just stay HERE for the rest of the week?”

     “WHAT?!” Tim squeaked in shock.

     “Oh, Jules, I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Natalie replied.

     “Why not?!” Julia rebutted with a chortle. “It’d save me from having to drive back and forth across town every day, and it’d give you some time in the evening to do your work without having to worry about Tim. You could even relax a bit if you wanted.”

     “But…don’t you have things that you need to do back home?” Natalie inquired.

     “Nothing that’s pressing,” Julia shrugged, shaking her head. “It’s the summertime: until school’s back in session, I’m pretty much free…the only thing I REALLY needed to do was the laundry, and since I got it all done here, I wouldn’t have to bring much from home; just pack a few toiletries and whatnot.”

     “Well…I-I guess it’d be fine,” Natalie relented, shrugging, “at least until Tom gets back into town.”

     “Mom, NO…!” Tim squeaked in protest, moving closer to her.

     “Shh, Tim, don’t be rude!” his mother shushed him.

     “But, MO-OM…!” Tim whined.

     “Honey, I said be quiet!” Natalie cut him off, pointing her finger at the tiny teenager before turning back to her sister. “Anyway, Jules, are you sure you’re okay staying here for a few days?”

     “Of course I’m sure! Heck, you’d be doing ME a favor! Like I said, I wouldn’t have to drive across town every day, and it’ll give you some much needed help around here keeping an eye on Tim until you figure out some kinda antidote for him. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

     Not for ME, Tim thought, wisely keeping his comment to himself.

     “Well…I-I guess if you’re OK with it,” Natalie said, “then I’m good with it.”

     “Great!” Julia said, rubbing her hands together. “I’ll head home and pack a few things, then come back tonight.”

     “Oh, Jules, you don’t have to make another trip back tonight. I was just venting, that’s all. Look, just go home tonight and bring back whatever you need with you in the morning. Besides, I still need to figure out the sleeping arrangements.”

     “What’s to figure out?” Julia queried, shrugging. “I’ll just stay in Tim’s room.”

     “WHAT?!” Tim squeaked with bewilderment.

     “Julia,” Natalie inquired with incredulity, “where is Tim supposed to sleep?”

     “He’s literally an inch tall. I can just make up a little bed for him on the nightstand.”

     “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” Tim exclaimed in defiance. “You are NOT staying in my room, Aunt Julia!”

     “Tim, what did I just say?!” his mother scolded, pointing her finger at him.

     “But, MOM,” Tim whined, “you can’t be SERIOUS!”

     “Tim, I’ve had just about enough…!” his mother warned.

     “Here, kiddo,” Julia interrupted, scooping up the tiny boy in her hands, “why don’t you just stay out of the way and let the adults talk for a bit?”

     “HEY!” Tim yelped as he was knocked into Julia’s hands and unceremoniously dumped on the far corner of the coffee table. He hurriedly pushed himself to his feet, stomping his way back over to the two giant women, but Julia quickly grabbed a tissue box and placed it catty-corner just in front of the tiny teenager, literally boxing him into the table’s corner.

     “MOM!” Tim called out as he pushed against the box, trying to move it out of the way. “MO-OM! AUNT JULIA!”

     “Anyway,” Julia continued, “as I was saying, I think it’d be best if I stay in Tim’s room to make sure he stays safe during the night.”

     “Well, I certainly appreciate the concern, Jules,” Natalie sighed, “but you can just stay in my room; we’ll share the bed. As paranoid as I’ve been for Tim’s safety, he’s been just fine on his own the past couple of nights; I’m sure he’ll be fine. Besides, I think he prefers sleeping in his own bed for the time being: it’s the only semblance of privacy he gets at the moment.

     “Oh, alright,” Julia sighed, slumping down in her seat. She considered telling her sister about almost stepping on Tim that morning as a rebuttal, but ultimately opted not to press her luck and admit a potential mistake.

     “Anyway, thanks for doing this, Jules,” Natalie continued. “This is REALLY gonna be a big help!”

     “Anytime, sis.” Julia replied smugly. “Anytime! Hey, maybe we can have a movie night one evening after Tim goes to bed? It’ll be like a slumber party.”

     “I think we’re both a little too old for slumber parties, sis,” Natalie chuckled.

     “Speak for yourself,” Julia chortled, playfully shoving Natalie’s shoulder. “I’m still young.”

    While the two, giant women jawed back and forth, Tim was frustratedly still pushing and throwing his body into the tissue box trying to move it out of the way, but was far too heavy for his little muscles to move, and too tall for him to climb over; his only option was trying to go around. Unfortunately, Julia had set the box down in such a way that two of it’s corners were protruding partly off the table’s edge. Nonetheless, Tim ran to the edge of the coffee table, trying to maneuver his way around the tissue box.

    “MO-OM!” Tim called out as he somehow found a precarious handhold and carefully shifted his weight around the box. “MOM! AUNT JULIA! Would you t—whoa…AAA!”

     Tim’s foot suddenly slipped off the edge, and with no sufficient handholds to grab on to, the tiny boy immediately lost his balance and fell from the table. With a surprised yelp, Tim went tumbling downwards into the laundry basket directly below him…

     “Well, in all seriousness, as long as I get my work done, I guess I could unwind a bit one of these evenings,” Natalie relented. “Obviously, not tonight though; I’ve got too much paperwork.”

     “Awesome!” Julia exclaimed, getting up from the couch. “I’m gonna go through my clean clothes and figure out what I want to keep here and get the rest of my stuff out to the car….Oh, but first, lemme get this last load into the washer.”

     From the moment the daze of his fall wore off, Tim had been struggling and scrambling trying to right himself. Still somewhat disoriented from the fall, he wasn’t entirely sure where he was at the moment. All Tim knew was that his environment was completely dark, the air was stale and musty, and his surroundings felt like fabric of some sort…

     Tim immediately snapped to attention, suddenly realizing where he’d fallen…

     Before he could call for help, a pair of giant, thundering footsteps were booming towards him.

     A second later, he was being hoisted into the air…

     Julia absentmindedly reached down and picked up the laundry basket, tucking it under her arm.

     “Oh Jules, that’s OK,” Natalie stopped her, getting up from the couch herself. “You’ve already done so much today; why don’t you let me get that started while you go through your clothes?”

     “Are you sure, Nat?” Julia chortled. “You’ve practically been on your feet all day.”

     “Yeah, I’m sure,” Natalie nodded, grasping the handles of the basket before continuing in a hushed tone. “There’s a couple of things I’m currently wearing I’d like to throw in on top.”

     “OK, sis,” Julia chuckled, handing over the basket. “I’ll be back in the bedroom.”

     “OK,” Natalie replied, heading for the kitchen. “I’ll bring the rest of your dry clothes up to you when I’m done.”

     “Oh, my clothes are already done,” Julia called out, “Everything in there is your guys’.”

     “Oh, okay. See you in a few.”

     “OK,” Julia replied as she scurried off to the master bedroom.

     “HELpmf!” Tim yelped as his environment collapsed around him, burying him under a mound of dirty clothes. He desperately shouted for help, but everything was being violently jostled about, and the shifting, suffocating fabric kept invading his mouth each time he tried to breathe or scream.

     “Hlmpf! Mrm! Amnt Jlmrmnm! Hlmpf!”

     Natalie tucked the laundry basket under her right arm, holding it against her hip as she made her way through the kitchen. All the while, she was singing nonchalantly to herself, trying to stay in a good mood and focus on the considerable progress she’d made at work that week, rather than the sizable amount of paperwork waiting for her that evening.

     “MOM!” Tim shouted, finally able to free his mouth of the suffocating fabric that enveloped him. “MOM, AUNT JULIA, HELP!”

     For the past several minutes, Tim had been struggling to get out of the laundry basket; unfortunately, it had been slow going. After being jerked upwards, everything had been jostling and shifting around him, the entire basket bouncing in time to the booming footsteps the tiny teenager could hear outside his laundry-filled prison.

     Once she made it down the stairs into the laundry room, Natalie momentarily set the laundry basket on the edge of the dryer to provide some leverage, then carefully poured out the clothes upon the dryer’s top…

     “HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE!” he screamed again helplessly, “I’M IN HE—EEEEEEEERE!”

     Tim’s world unexpectedly tipped over and everything shifted around him…

     Then, he was suddenly thrust forward and flipped upside down…

     Natalie used her free hand to scoop the rest of the dirty clothes into the pile on top of the dryer, then dropped the basket onto the floor in front of the dryer door to collect the freshly-dried laundry.

     For a moment, everything seemed calm; then, Tim heard the dryer door opening, and someone shuffling about outside the laundry pile. He kept shouting for help, but his cries weren’t yielding any response indicating anyone could hear him. The only saving grace was that the pressure on his back was significantly lighter at the moment, and he quickly renewed his efforts to wiggle and free himself, knowing he didn’t have long before he ended up in the washing machine.

     “MOM! AUNT JULIA! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

     With all of the clothes from the dryer unloaded into the laundry basket, Natalie closed the dryer door, straightened back up, and opened the lid of the washing machine. Then, she reached over to the dirty pile of clothes on top of the dryer and started tossing handfuls into the washer…

     Tim yelped with a start, nearly jumping out of his skin when he heard the booming slam of the dryer door closing, followed by the washer lid opening...

     “Oh, SHIT!” Tim exclaimed, redoubling his efforts to free himself. “Come on, Tim! MOVE!”

     Then, the piece of clothing he was trapped inside was being lifted up. He squeaked frantically, desperately flailing his limbs to escape the surrounding fabric, but before he could make any headway, something hit him from below…

     The next thing Tim knew, he was was falling…

     About halfway through the pile of laundry, Natalie reached into a small patch of her underwear, using her fingers to grip as many pairs as she could and toss them into the washer all at once. Unfortunately, several were left hanging precariously off the bottom of the clump she’d grabbed, and in her haste, one of her black pairs slipped from her grasp.

     “Whoops!” Natalie exclaimed softly, jerking reflexively to reach out and grab her panties. She tried snatching them out of the air, but couldn’t effectively grab on with her fist already full. Her panties ended up falling to the floor, collapsing into a scrunched mass…

     “AAAAAA—!” Tim squealed, tumbling about as he fell helplessly through the air, trying to grasp the fabric in a futile attempt to arrest his descent.

     “OOF!” he cried out as he hit the floor, the fabric around him collapsing into a small heap. Tim immediately shook off the impact, regained his composure, and scrambled to get out from under the fabric, hoping he’d be noticed before being picked up again…

     “Aw, nuts!” Natalie exclaimed in frustration, seeing her underwear fall onto the floor. She was about to bend over and pick them up, but her back was already feeling a little stiff from all her running around at work that day. Instead, Natalie hurriedly reached down under her dress and removed her pantie hose, tossing them into the washing machine, then reached down with her bare foot to retrieve her panties…

     “MOM! AUNT JULIA!” Tim called out, crawling through partial darkness trying to get out from underneath his cover. “CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

     Then, he spotted unfiltered light up ahead, and immediately scampered towards the source.

     “MOM! AUNT JULIA!” He shouted again. “DON’T DO ANYTHING! I’M ALMOST OUT!”

     Tim finally stuck his face out from under the waistband of his mother’s underwear…

     He was immediately greeted with the sight of a massive set of plump, splayed toes reaching towards him.

     “NOOmmpf!”

     Tim was barely able to utter a squeak before the giant toes grasped the fabric around him, scrunching him in between and scooping him up.

     Unfortunately, Natalie didn’t notice her poor, shrunken son struggling beneath her underwear as she nonchalantly grasped the fabric with her foot and scooped them up off the floor, unintentionally muffling his desperate squeaks for help. Although she might have easily felt someone of Tim’s size squirming and wiggling between her scrunched toes, Natalie couldn’t discern her son’s presence from the odd sensation of her panties gripped in between as well, merely dismissing any unusual feelings as normal.

    Completely oblivious to her tiny son’s predicament, Natalie snatched the panties from between her toes and quickly tossed them inside the washer before continuing on with the rest of the pile.

     “OOF!” Tim cried out again when he landed atop a pile of clothes in the washing machine. He desperately tried to get up again and shout for help, but his mother kept tossing more and more clothes on top of him, burying him alive underneath her laundry.

     “Nrmpf! Mrrmmm, Hlmpf!” Tim kept screaming, struggling to find his way back out from under the pile of clothing, knowing full well that he HAD to get his mother’s attention before it was too late.

     “There!” Natalie sighed contently as she tossed the last of her laundry into the washing machine.

     She paused for moment, tongue in her cheek as she pondered over the open lid of the washer.

     “Eh, why not?” she said with a shrug. “It’s not like I’m not going right upstairs to change anyway.”

     Natalie looked around, making sure the coast was clear, then reached down and hiked up her dress. She grasped the waistband of the panties she was wearing, quickly pulled them down and stepped out of them, then spiked them into the washing machine.

     Just as Tim managed to make it to the top of the pile of clothes he’d been buried in, his mother flung her soiled underwear into the machine. Tim squeaked out a muffled yelp as the panties smacked him squarely in the face, knocking him onto his back. He struggled to get the latest article of clothing off him, but was interrupted when something cold and slimy splash all over him. It smelled of lavender and flowers, similar to bar of soap in the bathroom…

     “UGH, MOM, NO!” he squeaked as he frantically scrambled to get out from under the panties. “DON’T WASH ME!”

     Before Tim could scream again, there was a loud creaking…

     A split second later, the washer lid closed!

     Natalie finished pouring in the last of her laundry detergent, then closed the lid on the machine. She reached for the control panel on the back of the machine, set the dials, then pushed the START button.

     “MOM, NO!” Tim screamed in terror as a torrential waterfall burst forth from the back of the pitch-black washing machine. “HEEEELLLLP!”

     The tiny teenager shouted frantically for his mother over and over again, but with the lid closed and water pouring in, there was no way she was going to hear him. Tim scrambled in near darkness to get to higher ground, desperate to stay ahead of the rising water quickly filling the machine. He knew it was risky, but he started making his way to the huge, obelisk-like agitator in the center of the machine, hoping to use its screw like a ramp to make his way up to the top of the washer.

     Even if he made it, however, Tim knew his chances of survival were bleak at best: if no one rescued him before the agitator kicked on, his only hope would to hold on for dear life and pray he didn’t get thrown off…but once the machine hit the first spin cycle, he knew he’d be a goner.

     The rising water was right on Tim’s heels by the time he’d crawled his way over to the agitator and scrambled to ascend the steep incline.

     “MOOOOM!” Tim shouted as loud as he could without slowing his ascent, panting heavily. “AUNT JULIA, HELP! I’M IN THE WASHING MACHINE! PLEASE! SOMEBODY, GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

     With the washing machine now filling up, Natalie promptly grabbed the laundry basket full of clean clothes and headed back upstairs, her bare feet stomping up the wooden steps and sticking to the linoleum as she made her way back through the house to the bedroom.

     As Natalie stomped through the living room, she took a passing glance at the corner of the coffee table where the tissue box was.

     “Tim!” she gasped, immediately remembering she had left him there when she took the laundry downstairs. “I’m so sorry, kiddo. I forget all about you.”

     She peeked around the box, half expecting to still see her tiny son moping on the corner of the coffee table.

     Tim, however, wasn’t there.

     Natalie wasn’t overly concerned initially, figuring Julia had simply come back and retrieved the tiny boy and taken him back to the bedroom with her. Natalie shrugged and made her way down the hall, finding Julia in the bedroom rifling through her folded clothes that were laid out on the bed.

     “Hey, sis,” Natalie said as she stepped into the bedroom and set the laundry basket down on the floor. “Figure out what clothes you need for the week.”

     “Almost,” Julia replied, “just need to set out some pairs of underwear. I don’t think I’ll need socks. I can just wear my flip-flops if I need to go outside for anything…

     “…or just go barefoot,” she added with a smirk, shrugging offhandedly.

     “Sounds good,” Natalie said, scanning the room. “Where’s Tim?”

     “What do ya mean ‘where’s Tim’?” Julia shrugged quizzically as she turned away from the bed. “I thought he was with you.”

     “No, I went to take the laundry downstairs, remember? I didn’t have any free hands. I figured you grabbed him and brought him in here with you!”

     “Nat, as soon as you took the laundry basket from me, I came straight back here to sort through my clothes…”

     “Oh, no!” Natalie exclaimed as she turned and ran back out of the bedroom.

     “Nat, relax,” Julia called as she chased her sister down the hallway. “He’s probably still on the coffee table!”

     “No, he’s not!” Natalie called back frantically, “He wasn’t there when I walked by just now. I thought YOU had him!

     “TIM?!” Natalie called out anxiously as she entered the living room and made a beeline to the coffee table, intently scanning the surface for her tiny son. “Tim, sweetheart, where are you?”

     “Tim?” Julia chimed in, following suit. “Kiddo, are you there?”

     “Jules, I don’t see him,” Natalie said nervously.

     “Neither do I,” Julia replied, shaking her head.

     “SHIT!” Natalie exclaimed, immediately snapping her eyes to the carpet. “Jules, don’t move! He might’ve fallen onto the floor!”

     Julia froze where she stood, twisting her body to check the carpet around her feet for any sign of her tiny nephew.

     “Tim?!” Natalie called down, trying not to move, “Sweetheart, are you down there?!”

     She intently scanned the carpet with her eyes, looking for any sign of her shrunken son.

     “Jules, quick, check your feet!” Natalie directed, carefully lifting and inspecting her soles. “Make sure you didn’t step on him!”

     Julia apprehensively checked the soles of her feet, hoping she wouldn’t find her tiny nephew smashed beneath on of them them.

     Meanwhile, Natalie was still scanning the carpet, moving slowly but being very deliberate when and where she stepped. L Julia lifted her foot and was about to take a step towards her sister, but Natalie immediately stopped her:

     “Jules, DON’T MOVE!” She commanded frantically. “Don’t take another step! You might SQUASH him!”

     “Nat, this is ridiculous!” Julia replied, freezing in place with her foot raised in the air. “If Tim was down there, we’d see him! He’s not THAT small!”

     “Jules, we can take any chances!” Natalie heaved nervously, turning her attention back to the floor. “For all we know, he could’ve shrunk even smaller!”

     “Nat, he’s been the same size for three days now,” Julia replied indignantly. “If he was gonna shrink any smaller, I’m sure it would’ve happened already.”

     “Tim, sweetheart, please!” Natalie continued calling down to the floor, practically ignoring her sister’s objections. “If-If you’re down there, you’ve gotta come out where we can see you!”

     Natalie stood absolutely still, trying to give her son all the time she could for him to emerge into her line of sight, half expecting to his his tiny figure appear at her feet.

     “Nat, this is ridiculous!” Julia spoke up, repeating herself and growing tired of trying to balance on one foot. “I can’t stay like this all day!”

     “OK, Jules,” Natalie relented hesitantly, putting out her hands defensively, “just PLEASE, be careful when you put your foot down!”

     “Nat, I already told you,” Julia restated, slowly lowering her foot to the floor, “If Tim was down there, we’d see him, and if he was somewhere we COULDN’T see him, surely he would’ve come out by now!” 

     “You’re right,” Natalie affirmed, carefully getting down on her hands and knees, “We’ve gotta start searching the carpet. Tim, sweetheart, if you can hear me, we’re going to get down on the floor and start looking for you. Try to get into our line of sight, OK?”  

     The washing machine was almost full by the time Tim reached the top of the agitator; he was quickly running out of time. He cupped his hands around his mouth, and screamed as loud as he could:

     “MOOOOOOM! AUNT JULIAAAAAA! HEEEEEEELLLLLLLP!!!!!!”

     Seconds later, the agitator kicked on...

     Natalie and Julia had been thoroughly scouring the carpet for the past several minutes, looking for any sign of Tim, but despite a thorough screening of the carpet around the coffee table, Tim was still nowhere to be found.

     “Have you found anything yet?” Natalie asked anxiously.

     “No,” Julia replied. “Nothing!”

     “Well, keep looking! We HAVE to find him! He HAS to be here!”

     “Nat, we’ve been searching the carpet for, like, 10 minutes!” Julia exaggerated, venting her frustrations. “He’s not here!”

     “Oh, Tim,” Natalie cried tearfully, “sweetheart, please, you’re scaring me. Where are you?!”

     “Well, what do we do now?!” Julia shrugged, sitting up on her knees and resting her hands on the coffee table.

     “I don’t know, Jules!” Natalie replied hysterically, sitting up herself. “I don’t know, but we have to do SOMETHING!”

     “Well, we can’t just keep searching the carpet all night, Nat!” Julia rebutted, chortling nervously.

     “Well, we CAN’T give up, Julia,” Natalie said frantically. “We HAVE to keep looking! Even if we have to search the whole house!”

     “But sis, where could he have gone?!” Julia asked bluntly, “I mean, he’s only an inch tall! And we were only gone a few minutes! I mean, honestly, how far could the little guy have gotten?!”

      “I don’t know, Jules, but we can’t take any chances!” Natalie said. “We’ll just have to expand our search. Maybe he’s under the furniture!”

     “Nat, listen to me,” Julia stated flatly. “Let’s be reasonable: why would Tim be under the furniture? Look, if he was here, we would’ve found him, and if he WAS under a random piece of furniture, he would’ve come out by now.”

     “Yeah, but what if he CAN’T, Jules?!” Natalie sobbed, her tone growing more and more frantic and hopeless. “I mean, what if he’s hurt, or trapped somewhere and we can’t see him?! What if one of us STEPPED on him without realizing it?! For all we know, he could be lying helpless somewhere, unable to call for help!”

     “Nat, calm down,” Julia tried to reassure her sis. “Look, we’re not giving up, okay? We’ll find him, I promise! We just have to keep looking.”

     “You’re right,” Natalie said, calming down a bit as she lowered her torso back down to the floor, “we’re gonna find him. We just have to—“

     Natalie stopped mid-sentence when her hand brushed over a slight indentation in the carpet. She turned her head and looked up, noting the indentation’s position directly beneath the corner of the coffee table where she’d last seen Tim. Her mind was racing, pondering what had been…

     “JULES!” she exclaimed frantically, snapping her body up. “What was sitting right here?!”

     The two women’s eyes locked, practically widening in shock at the same time.

     “The LAUNDRY BASKET!” Julia exclaimed, scrambling to her feet and taking off towards the kitchen.

     “Oh my, God!” Natalie exclaimed, immediately getting up and taking off after her sister.

     The two women sprinted through the kitchen, practically tripping over each other as they stomped down the back stairs.

      “Julia, quick, stop the dryer!” Natalie gestured frantically as she crowded her sister down the steps. “I’ll get the washer!”

      Julia hurriedly lunged for the dryer door and yanked it open, rummaging through the wet clothes for any sign of her tiny nephew, while Natalie practically flung herself over to the washing machine and flipped open the lid to stop the cycle.

      “TIM?!” Natalie called down into the machine, quickly reaching in to remove a few soaked pairs of her underwear from the top layer. She frantically, yet meticulously, searched the wet clothes in her grip, hoping her tiny son would be there. Initially seeing nothing, she set the wet clothes on top of the dryer and looked back inside the washing machine.

     Then, as Natalie plucked a pair of shorts from the machine, the up-current suddenly brought the tiny teenager to the surface.

     “HELblbgrgl!” the tiny boy gurgled squeakily, flailing his arms to attempt to stay afloat.

     “Oh my, God!” Natalie gasped, covering her mouth with her hands at the shock of seeing her tiny son drowning inside their own washing machine.

     In her haste, the giant woman accidentally dropped the soaked pair of shorts from her grasp. Tim yelped as the giant pair of shorts splashed back down into the machine right on top of him, knocking him back below the surface.

     “EEP, NO!” Natalie squeaked, frantically plunging her hands into the soapy water.

     “Tim…Tim!” she cried frantically as she scoured the depths of the washer to find her son. “Jules, he’s in here!”

     “WHERE?…WHERE?!” Julia asked frantically as she stood up and joined her sister over the washing machine.

     “In the washer; I just saw him!” Natalie replied in a frenzy, redoubling her search. “Tim! Hang on, sweetheart! I’ll get you out!

     “Jules, quick, the clothes!” she directed her sister. “Get the CLOTHES OUT!”

     Julia hurriedly reached around her sisters arms and started pulling wet clothes out of the machine and tossing them onto the dryer.

     “Anything?” Julia asked, reaching back in for more clothes.

     “No, I don’t see him? Quick, check the wet clothes! Make sure he didn’t get scooped up by mistake!”

     Julia reached over and had just started to rummage through the pile of wet underwear when Natalie spoke up again:

     “WAIT, Jules! I think I’ve got him!”

     Natalie gently closed her fist around Tim’s submerged body and quickly scooped him out of the soapy water. When she opened her hand, her tiny son lay lifeless in her palm.

     “Oh my God!” Natalie cried. “TIM! My poor, baby boy! Speak to me!…”

     “Mom, PLEASE, I’m BEGGING YOU!” Tim squeaked frantically, beseeching his mother, “You CAN’T let Aunt Julia STAY here!”

     “Tim, we’ve already discussed this,” Natalie sighed with frustration as she gathered up her dirty dishes from the kitchen table, “your Aunt Julia is family and she’s welcome to stay with us if she wants. Now, stop your whining! You’re driving me CRAZY!”

     “But, mom,” Tim squeaked, “if you let Aunt Julia stay with us, I’M the one who’s gonna go crazy!”

     “Tim, I don’t know why you’re being so difficult this morning!” Natalie said frustratedly as she went to go drop off the dirty dishes in the sink. “Now, I already told you, with your father out of town, there’s no one else I can get to watch you while you’re like this, so the discussion is over! Besides, having your Aunt Julia here ‘round the clock is gonna be a BIG help: I barely got any of my paperwork done last night after that whole laundry fiasco.”

     Tim only grew more and more frustrated with his mother’s apparent lack of empathy towards him when it came to Aunt Julia, not to mention her decision to let his aunt stay with them for the rest of the week. The evenings without Aunt Julia around were the only reprieve he had from the giant woman’s playfulness and torture; and now, she was going to be there 24/7.

     In fact, the prior evening was practically a premiere of what lay in store for him during the days ahead:

     After returning to consciousness following his rescue from the washing machine the prior evening, Tim practically spent the rest of the evening cupped in Aunt Julia’s palms and cradled against her bosom until she left. Thankfully, she didn’t try any funny business, what with his mother literally sitting right next to them, although one or two times Tim could feel Aunt Julia discreetly pushing her hands deeper into her chest and lightly pressing him against her breasts, all the while flashing Tim an unsettling view of her cleavage.

     Things only improved slightly once Julia left for the night: Tim spent the remainder of the evening either in his mother’s palms, or in her lap while she tried to look over her work papers, and that was in between her constantly checking on him to make sure he was still safe and hadn’t fallen or disappeared again. In fact, Natalie was so paranoid that when they both retired for the night, she insisted Tim sleep in her bedroom on a clean sponge on her nightstand so she wouldn’t worry about him during the night; although, she was constantly checking on him throughout the night to make sure he was still on the nightstand and hadn’t fallen onto the floor.

     “Look,” Natalie continued in a softer tone, looking down sympathetically at her tiny son on the kitchen table, “I know this whole shrinking thing has been hard on you, but if you want me to get you back to normal anytime soon, I’m gonna need some help keeping an eye on you and making sure you’re safe in the meantime.”

     “Mom, I’m just as worried about my safety as you are,” Tim explained anxiously, as his giant mother approached the table again, “but you just don’t understand: if Aunt Julia stays here, she’s gonna SQUASH me for sure!”

     “Tim, WHY the hell you’re so afraid of my sister all of a sudden?!” Natalie exclaimed with aghast. “You’ve never acted this way before when she was around!”

     “That’s because I wasn’t an INCH TALL before, mom!” Tim whined adamantly. “Y-You have NO idea what it’s like being this small with Aunt Julia around! I mean, every day it’s something new! I’m CONSTANTLY afraid of being…stepped on, or sat on, or tossed in the laundry again…! I-I don’t know how much longer I can hold out!”

     “Oh, sweetheart,” Natalie sighed sympathetically, taking her seat at the table. “Look, I know you’re scared—I’M scared too. Yes, there have been some…incidents the past couple of days, but they’ve all been accidents; no one’s TRYING to hurt you. I think we all just need to be a lot more careful, that’s all.”

     “But, Mom, you don’t understand—!” Tim squeaked in desperation. “They weren’t ALL accidents! You don’t know what it’s been like for me the past few days…how Aunt Julia’s been treating me!”

     “Wh…What do you mean?” Natalie inquired with confusion. “How’s she been treating you?”

     “Mom, she’s practically been tormenting me NON-STOP while you’ve been at work!Remember when Aunt Julia ‘accidentally’ put her feet on me when she was getting off the couch on Sunday?!”

     “Y-Yeah,” Natalie stammered, shrugging. “but….but we all talked about it. I know it must’ve been scary for you, but you both agreed it was an accident.”

     “Yeah…hardly!” Tim scoffed. “From the moment you left for work that day, Aunt Julia started tormenting me: first, she kicked her feet up on the coffee table, then started taunting me and poking me with her toes; then, when I told her to stop, she kicked the table and knocked me off onto the floor; and THEN, instead of apologizing and picking me up, she just smiled and put her foot down on top of me. Mom, she was laughing the whole time!”

     “Tim, I—,” Natalie stammered, completely confused at her son’s accusations. “Tim, are you SURE you’re remembering things correctly? I mean, you know you have an active imagination.”

     “I didn’t ’IMAGINE’ it, mom!” Tim squeaked, “PLEASE, you have to BELIEVE ME!”

     “Tim,” Natalie stammered, rubbing her eyes, “I-I believe that’s what you THINK happened, but I just don’t believe that my sister would actually do anything to hurt you! Not on purpose, anyway!”

     “Well, what about what happened last night when I fell in the laundry basket?!” Tim prodded.

     “Tim, that was an accident,” Natalie rebutted. “Plus, you already admitted it was your own fault.”

     “I wouldn’t have fallen in if Aunt Julia hadn’t trapped me in the corner of the coffee table, mom,” Tim rebutted. “And that’s just the beginning: do you know she almost ATE me yesterday?!”

     “WHA—Alright, that’s it!” Natalie said impatiently, placing her hands on the table.“I’ve heard enough! Now, look, when your Aunt Julia gets here, we’re ALL gonna sit down and have a long discussion about what happened last night and what’s going to happen for here on out, alright?!”

     “Mom, no!” Tim replied anxiously, “You don’t understand! If you say anything to Aunt Julia, she’s gonna get mad and PUNISH me!”

     “Punish you for WHAT?!” Natalie replied with disbelief, getting back up from her seat, “ME telling HER that we all need to be more careful from now on?! Come on, Tim!”

     “Mom, would you PLEASE just LISTEN to me!” Tim pleaded. “Aunt Julia swore she’d STEP on me if I ever told you!”

     “Tim, that’s NOT FUNNY!” Natalie exclaimed irately, waving her finger at her tiny son. “Now, stop it, RIGHT NOW! I MEAN IT, mister!”

     “Mom, PLEASE—!” Tim begged.

     “TIM…ENOUGH!” Natalie commanded sternly, standing up from the table and pushing in her chair, taking the last of the dishes over to the sink.

     Tim sighed dejectedly, collapsing onto his butt on the table. while his mother dropped the last of the dirty dishes into the sink basin, returning a moment later with a wet washcloth to wipe down the table.

     “OK,” Natalie said calmly, lowering her hand to the table. “Come on.”

     Tim sauntered over to his mother’s open hand and climbed into her palm. Natalie carefully lifted her hand and wiped down the table before heading out of the kitchen, dropping the wash cloth into the sink as she passed by.

     “Now,” Natalie spoke up as she carefully lowered her hand to the coffee table, tilting her hand until Tim climbed off her palm, “I’m need to finish gathering up my paperwork, so you just sit tight until your Aunt Julia gets here, okay?”

     Tim sighed and nodded as his mother headed back to the bedroom for a moment, returning a minute later with a folder of paperwork containing all of the analyses she’d done on the shrinking formula, setting everything down on the opposite corner of the coffee table from her tiny son before scuttling around the living room gathering the last of her things she needed for work.

     “Alright,” Natalie sighed as she stopped next to the coffee table after a few minutes of rushing around the living room, “paperwork, keys, purse…I think that’s everything! You still doing OK, sweetheart?”

     “I’m fine, mom!” Tim scoffed with irate frustration. “Geez, it’s only been a few minutes.”

     “OK, I was just asking,” Natalie replied defensively.

     *DING DONG*

     Tim’s heart sank as doorbell rang ominously in his ears, watching anxiously as his mother stepped into the foyer to open the front door.

     “Hey, sis,” Julia smiled. “I’m all packed and ready for our sleepover.”

     “Great,” Natalie said flatly, not reacting to her sister’s joke. “Go ahead and take your stuff back to the bedroom while I finish grabbing my things.”

     Julia stepped through the den, kicking off her flip-flops before continuing on into the living room.

     “Morning, little guy,” she giggled disparagingly as she passed by the coffee table, a sadistic smile on her face. “I’m looking forward to our little sleepover…we’re going to have soooo much fun while I’m staying here.”

    Tim’s heart sank again; he trembled, biting his lower lip nervously as he watched his aunt practically strut through of the living room in her T-shirt and capris leggings and disappear down the hallway. His emotional state was an indescribable jumble of feelings, as if he sensed his whole world crashing down around him. In fact, he was so distracted focusing on his dread that he didn’t even notice his mother stepping up to the table.

     “Honey, what’s the matter?” Natalie asked concernedly. “Why are you shaking so badly?!”

     Tim couldn’t answer, and could only look up at her with fear-filled eyes.

     “Oh, sweetheart, it’ll be okay,” his mother said, kneeling down by the table to comfort her son, giving him a tiny kiss on the head. “Don’t worry, you’ll feel a lot better once we talk everything over, okay?”

     “OK, I’m all set,” Julia said contently as she walked back into the room, finding her sister kneeling down next to the coffee table.

     “What’s going on?” Julia asked suspiciously. “Everything OK with Tim?”

     “Oh, he’s…still just a little shaken up about what happened last night with the laundry, that’s all,” Natalie replied as she stood back up.

     “Alright, now listen up you two,” Natalie continued more sternly, alternating her attention back-and-forth between her tiny son and her sister, “Considering last night’s events, I’m not taking anymore chances. I don’t want any funny business while I’m at work today, so Julia, you are to be extra careful with Tim from here on out, understand?”

     “Hey, wait a minute,” Julia chimed in defensively, “as I recall, it was TIM’S fault he fell in the laundry basket, not MINE!”

     Tim tried to squeak a rebuttal, but his mother was quicker to the punch:

     “I don’t care WHOSE fault it was, Jules,” Natalie snapped, gesturing with her hands. “Tim’s already had TWO close calls this week, and I DON’T want him having any more, you got it?!”

     “…More than that,” Tim chimed in under his breath.

     “Because of last night’s events,” Natalie continued, waving her file of papers in Julia’s face, “I barely got ANY of my analysis done on that formula. As it is, I’ll probably be spending all day working out all the active ingredients AND figuring out how to neutralize them! Needless to say, I’d prefer it if my son were still in one piece when I get back home, so from now on, Jules, you are to keep your hands AND FEET to yourself, am I clear?!”

     “Crystal,” Julia replied with a smug grin, trying to save face.

     “I mean it, you two,” Natalie reiterated sternly, “NO….MORE….INCIDENTS!”

     “OK,” Julia relented.

     “Tim?” Natalie said, pointing at her son.

     “Okay, mom,” Tim agreed, sighing.

     “Good,” his mother nodded.

     “…yeah…like I have any control over it,” Tim added under his breath, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes…

      …Tim’s brow suddenly furled, his own sarcastic remark triggering a state of deep thought.

     “Now,” Natalie continued as she grabbed her purse and headed towards the front door, “both of you, have a good day. I’ll try not to be home too late. OK?”

     “OK, Nat, you too,” Julia replied, following her sister out the front door.

     Tim was left alone for a minute, still mulling over what he’d literally just uttered…

     “…Could it really be that simple?” he pondered aloud.

     A few moments later, Julia stepped back inside and slinked into the living room, a smug expression on her face as she approached the coffee table.

     “Hmph,” she huffed, standing over her tiny nephew with her hands on her hips. “So, Tiny Tim, looks like SOMEONE still hasn’t learned his lesson about keeping his mouth shut, huh?”

     “Yeah, we’ll…” Tim called up timidly, “…you didn’t exactly leave me much choice, Aunt Julia, but it doesn’t really matter now, does it? So let’s just drop it, OK?”

     “What…you don’t actually think your mom’s little speech is going to CHANGE anything, do you?” Julia scoffed, chortling, “Like I’ve had to remind you so many times before, as long as I’m here, I’M in charge, and you’ll do whatever I say….or else!”

     “‘Or else’ WHAT?!” Tim queried back, shrugging. “You’ll PUNISH ME?! You heard what mom said, Aunt Julia: NO….MORE….INCIDENTS! If anything happens to me, you’ll be in BIG TROUBLE when she gets home!”

     “My, my, such IMPUDENCE!” Julia recoiled, slightly taken aback by her tiny nephew’s sudden brazenness. “Do I need to remind you what happens if you don’t behave yourself? You wouldn’t want to have any ACCIDENTS today, would you?!”

     “KNOCK IT OFF, Aunt Julia!” Tim squeaked irately. “That’s NOT going to work anymore! I’m THROUGH with you AND your sick, twisted games, treating me like some kind of plaything you can torture for your own amusement! You lay ONE FINGER on me and mom’s gonna hear about it, understand?!”

     “Hmph, oh really?!” Julie rebuked, still slightly off-put by her nephew’s impudence as she smugly lifted her bare, right foot into the air, menacingly scrunching her sole and wiggling her toes playfully at him. “Maybe you’d like to say all that again…to the bottom of my FOOT?!”

      Julia slammed her heel down on the coffee table, shaking it violently, grinning as she watched the tiny boy fall onto his butt. Tim, however, remained firm, immediately standing back up, clenching his fists and teeth.

     “I’m NOT gonna let you THREATEN me anymore, Aunt Julia!” Tim replied assuredly, pointing up at the giant woman. “You STEP on me and mom’ll NEVER forgive you, so you’d better be gentle with me from now on….or else!”

     “Oh, is that so?!” Julia said as she removed her foot from the table and put her hands back on her hips.

     “YEAH, ‘THAT’S SO’!” Tim squeaked back adamantly.

     “Well, we’ll just SEE about that!” Julia spat, reaching her hand down towards the table.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped, trying to run away. “NO, STAY AWAY FROM ME! HEEELLLLLP!!”

     Unfortunately, there was nowhere for the tiny boy to run, and the giant woman snatched him up between her fingers within a matter of seconds, bringing him up in front of her face.

     “ACK…NO, STOP!” Tim protested, “LEMME GO!”

     “Now, you listen good, you little pipsqueak!” she derided him menacingly. “I don’t care WHAT your mother said! I made myself VERY CLEAR from the get go: You do as I say, and you don’t get squashed! You GOT THAT?!”

     “PUT ME DOWN, RIGHT NOW, AUNT JULIA!” Tim shouted again, kicking and struggling within his aunt’s grasp.

     “Apparently, I’m just not getting through to you, am I, Tiny Tim?!” Julia smiled pridefully, jiggling her tiny nephew as he dangled between her fingers. “Well, I guess I’m just gonna have to take more drastic measures!”

     “WOAH!” Tim yelped as his giant aunt turned and stepped away from the coffee table, jostling him violently. “ACK! WHAT’RE YOU DOING!”

     I’m not letting my sister have a spoiled, little brat for a son any longer!” Julia affirmed, pointing angrily at the tiny boy with her free hand. “I don’t care what it takes, but you’re GOING to learn to behave yourself, even if I have to take matters into my own hands!”

     Julia moved her hand over her chest, pulling back the front of her T-shirt, revealing a sports bra underneath.

     “WAIT!” Tim shrieked. “DON’T PUT ME THERE AGAIN! AUNT JULI—AAAAAAAA!”

     Tim screamed hysterically his aunt’s giant fingers loosened their grip, dropping him directly into her cleavage. 

     “AUNT Jlmrmm!” the tiny boy tried shouting as Julia used her fingers to shove him down between her giant breasts. “Lmt mrm rt urv hrm!”

     A split second later, the giant woman violently slammed her tits together. Tim let out a bloodcurdling scream, immediately struggling to free himself as Julia forcefully shifted and manipulated her chest.

     “There!” Julia said assuredly as she took a few moments to adjust her sports bra. “That’ll hold ya!

     “Now then,” Julia chortled with a devious smirk, taking off her shirt and tossing it over onto the couch, “let’s just see how brave you are AFTER my workout!”

     Tim was now trapped, held securely in place by the two mountainous globes of fat and flesh which enveloped him. He kept screaming muffled curses up at his giant aunt, but Julia neither heard him, nor would’ve even cared to answer as she turned on the TV and started up YouTube. 

     After typing a few letters into the search-bar, she began scrolling through the numerous videos, casually shifting her weight back and forth, jigging and shifting her breasts, and Tim’s muffled screams intensified as he was continuously slammed, smacked, and smashed in between two massive globes of hot, sweaty flesh.

     It wasn’t long before Julia found just the selection she wanted for her day’s workout, pressing the PLAY button on the remote and setting it back down on the coffee table. Then, she stood with her feet together, placed her arms at her sides, and grinned mischievously as she waited for the video to load…

     The very moment that everything stopped moving and shifting around, Tim scrambled to climb upwards and make his way out of his giant aunt’s cleavage. It was slow going, and the walls were already starting to become coated with sweat, hampering his efforts he clawed and kicked his way upwards, but he knew he had to escape before Aunt Julia started moving again...

     Then, Tim suddenly heard a familiar, booming, female voice. It was loud and muffled, and he couldn’t quite make out what was being said, but he knew it wasn’t Aunt Julia talking…

     “Alright,” the young and fit yoga instructor spoke. “Today’s workout is really going to change things up. So, let’s start with your hands at heart center.”

     Julia slowly lifted her arms and placed her palms together in front of her torso.

     “Now, close your eyes,” the instructor continued, “and let’s take a few, deep breaths…inhale….and exhale….inhale….exhale…and on this last breath, we’re going to slowly raise our arms over our heads….and clasp our hands together…”

     Just asked Tim finally was able to see light above him, everything shifted upwards.

     “AAAmpf!” Tim yelped as the giant breasts suddenly slammed together, smashing him in between. The pressure was immense, and he instinctively tried pushing against the walls of suffocating flesh, but he was currently trapped in an awkward position—with his hands and arms stuck above his head—and couldn’t muster the strength to push the giant breasts apart, not that he probably could regardless.

     He screamed for mercy, but all his cries were muffled, and his air supply was quickly running thin…

      “…That’s right, REALLY feel that stretch…” the instructor said, pausing for just a moment before continuing. “Now, from here, we’re gonna slowly bend our torsos to the right…and get into our half-moon pose…”

     Tim was on the verge of passing out when the gravity started shifting to his right. Aunt Julia’s breasts relaxed slightly, albeit not much, but just enough for him to gasp a few much needed breaths of air. As his world kept tilting to the side, Tim quickly pulled his arms in and was able to turn his body just in time before one of Aunt Julia’s breasts shifted again, collapsing onto his back.

     “NRMPF!” he yelped as one of the giant tits steamrolled over his back, pressing his face into the other. Once again, Tim found himself enveloped within a mound of suffocating flesh, as desperately pushed against the soft mass below him, trying in vain to breathe.

     “…and slowly straighten back up,” the instructor directed.

     Julia obeyed, slowly shifting her torso and standing up straight again, her arms still extended over her head.

     “Now, let’s work on the other side…”

     After nearly a minute, the gravity began shifting back to vertical, and the pressure on Tim’s back subsided. He gasped for air once his mouth was clear frantically grasping the giant tit in front of him so as not to fall. He began kicking his legs, trying to get a footing to climb upwards. Unfortunately, just as soon as everything was upright again, gravity began shifting to the opposite side. Tim lost his grip and slipped backwards, becoming wedged between even deeper into Julia’s cleavage. He tried bracing himself, but he was no match for the giant breast which quickly collapsed on top of him.

     “AUNT JULHRrmpf!”

     For another 30-40 seconds, Julia stood with her torso bent to the left in a half-moon pose, and her tiny nephew squirming between her smooshed tits.

     “Alright,” the instructor exhaled, “now, slowly straighten back up and return your arms to heart center…and slowly lower them to your sides…Good, now, let’s rest for a moment and get ready to warm up our legs and abs: once your arms feel rested enough, move them straight out in front of you and raise your heels…now, tighten your abs and bend your knees…let’s hold this chair pose for about 30 seconds…”

     With Julia back in an upright position and somewhat relaxed for the moment, the immense pressure on her chest subsided, and Tim wasted no time in scrambling to climb out of his aunt’s cleavage. As she moved into her next yoga pose, Julia’s arm position started squeezing her breasts back together, but Tim wasn’t deterred: he kept wiggling his way upwards, trying to stay ahead of the pressure apex as his aunt’s giant tits enveloped him once more…

     Julia found herself a little wobbly holding her latest pose, having to really work to steady herself and not lose her balance.

     “Good,” the instructor commented. “Now, return to the starting position.”

     Thank goodness, Julia thought to herself as she straightened back up and lowered her arms. I’m not sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold that one.

     After about 10 or so seconds of rest, the instructor continued on:

    “Alright, now here’s where we’re REALLY gonna shake things up and get our heart rates elevated…”

     As soon as the instructor called out the next exercise, a sly smile grew across Julia’s face:

     Oh, Tim’s gonna LOVE this one, she thought…

     Despite numerous setbacks, Tim finally managed to pop his head and right arm out of the top of his aunt’s cleavage, inhaling several gasps of cool, fresh air.

     He turned his gaze skyward, immediately staring at the underside of Aunt Julia’s chin, her giant face staring intently at the TV. He was about to speak up, but the instructor’s booming voice cut him off:

     “ALRIGHT, I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE READY. WE’RE GONNA DO TWO REPS OF 25, OK?”

     “WAIT!” Tim squeaked anxiously. “‘Two reps of 25’ WHAT?!”

     Julia’s only response was a wide smiled; a second later, her huge figure jumped into the air!

     “HElmpf!” Tim yelped with surprise as he suddenly slipped downwards, and his aunt’s giant breasts shifted upwards to meet him, enveloping him in between her again.

     Another second later, Tim felt weightless…then, Julia’s feet impacted the floor with a resounding BOOM, and her hands clapped loudly over her head. Her giant breasts bounced up and down wildly, violently jostling their tiny prisoner back and forth within.

     Julia jumped again, only this time, she lowered her arms to her sides, and her breasts relaxed, although she still hit the floor with enough force to jostle her tits wildly.

     Then, the vicious cycle repeated again…and again…and again…

     Julia was doing jumping jacks: each time her hands clasped over her head, her boobs squeezed together, and each time she hit the floor, they bounced up and down within her sports bra. Tim’s screams for mercy went unheard and unheeded as he was helplessly squeezed and bounced around like a rag doll. It was a nightmarish ride, and the tiny boy was right in the middle of the action.

     For each of her 50 torturous jumps—25 with Julia’s hands clasped over her head, and 25 with her arms at her side—Tim was bounced, squeezed, smashed, and squashed by his aunt’s massive breasts, all the while continuously screaming muffled pleas for mercy.

     Finally, Julia reached a 30 second rest period. Tim was dazed from the ordeal, lucky to even still be conscious. He tried to shake off the confusion, knowing he had to escape Julia’s breasts before she started jumping again, but he was battered, bruised, and still reeling from all the impacts and violent shaking.

     Nonetheless, Tim somehow managed the mental capacity to pull his arms free, using them to push against Julia’s breasts and slowly slip his upper and lower torso free. Unfortunately, his lower half still remained trapped, and as he reached down to start pulling them free, the instructor spoke up again:

     “Alright; time for our second set…”

     Julia began crouching, preparing to jump.

     “AUNT JULIA!” Tim screamed. “NOOOOOOO!”

     Julia jumped again, and with only his legs secured, Tim’s upper body flailed about like a rag doll, smacking and bouncing off each of his aunt’s giant breasts, and with each subsequent bounce, he could feel his legs slowly slipping free.

     “AA-AA-AUNT JU-HU-LE-AA-AA, STO-O-OP!”

     On her next jump, Julia’s feet hit the floor hard; her breasts bounced violently upwards, and Tim popped completely out of her cleavage. He flew over her right fit, as as Julia jumped again, her right breast flew upwards, smacking her tiny nephew and bunting him up towards the ceiling.

     Tim screamed as soared upwards, arcing just in front of the his aunt’s giant face as he flew. He flailed his arms, hoping that Julia might hear or see him, but she never noticed him, her attention never wavering from the TV.

     Down, down, down the tiny boy fell, awaiting his inevitable impact with the floor below…

     FLOOF

     Tim landed surprisingly softer than he expected. The living room carpet had once been soft enough to cushion his fall, despite the much greater height than when Aunt Julia knocked him off the coffee table a few days ago. Tim quickly struggled to right himself, trying to find firm ground to stand on.

     BOOM, BOOM

     “ACK!” Tim yelped out as a two giant feet landed just in front of him, knocking him back to the ground. “AUNT JULIA, WATCH IT!”

     As she shouted up angrily at her, Tim’s demeanor quickly changed as when he finally gazed upon the giantess before him: her massive legs stretched upwards for miles, two giant pillars that supported her gargantuan frame. Her giant feet settled into place, the floor creaking beneath them as she shifted her weight from side to side.

     Tim quickly realized how lucky his landing was: a few inches one way or the other and he would’ve been squashed beneath one of his aunt’s giant feet on her latest jump.

     The tiny teenager scrambled to his feet, hoping to make a run towards the TV and safely out of harm’s way, but before he could move, the instructor’s voice boomed overhead:

     “ALRIGHT, NOW WE’RE GONNA MOVE ON TO SOME INTERMITTENT TRAINING…LET’S START WITH A GENTLE PACE...”

     Tim suddenly heard the floor creaking behind him; a split second later, Julia’s huge left foot swung overhead.

     “ACK!” Tim yelped, dropping to the floor, bracing himself as the giant foot crashed down several feet in front of him. “AUNT JULIA…!”

     Julia’s other foot quickly followed suit, slamming down just next to her left. 

     Then, the two giant feet stepped backwards in sequence…

     “EEK!” Tim squeaked again as he dove forward, just barely dodging the toes of Julia’s left foot. “AUNT JULIA…!”

     Julia stepped forwards again…and then back…

     The giant woman was walking back and forth in place, her huge feet pounding the carpet with each nightmarish stomp. Tim had landed directly in the middle of Julia’s gait, and with each step, the giant woman’s footfalls were becoming more and more sporadic, with no real way of knowing where they’d land at any given moment.

     “AAAA!” the tiny teenager screamed as he frantically darted back and forth, desperately trying to avoid his aunt’s feet as they stomped all around him. “HELP! AUNT JULIA, STOP! NO, PLEASE! DON’T SQUISH ME!”

     Tim’s horrific vision from the other day had now come to fruition: he was on the floor directly beneath Aunt Julia’s towering figure, dodging her giant, bare feet as she worked out, desperately avoiding being squashed.

     “NOW, ON THIS LAST STEP BACK, WE’RE GOING TO STOP FOR A MOMENT...,” the instructor continued, pausing momentarily.

     The giant woman ended her steps slightly forward from where she began, her feet booming down just to the left and right of her tiny nephew’s current position beneath her.

     Tim hesitated, unsure which way to go: should he keep heading for the TV, or dart through Aunt Julia’s legs and head towards the back of the living room?

     Unfortunately, he never had the chance to decide…

     “NOW, LET’S CONTINUE WITH SOME HIGH STEPS,” the instructor said.

     “Oh no,” Tim uttered. “AUNT JULIA….WAAAAAIT!”

     Julia immediately lifted her right foot into the air, hovering it dangerously over Tim’s position. The tiny boy’s eyes widened, his face contorted in absolute terror as he ogled the giant, fleshy sole above him.

    “ACK!” Tim yelped as the giant foot slammed down hard onto the floor, tossing him into the air several inches. Julia’s left foot immediately raised up, hovering dangerously over her tiny nephew’s position in the carpet below her.

     “A-AUNT JULIA, NOOOO!” Tim screamed up as he frantically scrambled to get get clear. “DON’T STEP ON ME!”

     The massive left foot hit the ground with a thunderous boom, the impact bouncing Tim into the air again.

     Julia was practically hopping back-and-forth from one leg to the other, lifting her knees high into the air each time, her feet hitting the floor with such force they actually shook the ground. The poor, helpless Tim was repeatedly getting tossed into the air with every impact, screaming profusely for his giant aunt to stop:

     “EEK! ACK! NO! AUNT JULIA, HELP! PLEASE! STOP! I’M GONNA GET SQUASHED! WATCH OUT!”

     Julia’s high steps quickly accelerated into a run, and her feet were moving dangerously fast now. Tim was screaming for mercy, trying to remain grounded, but his aunt’s giant feet were booming around him so rapidly now that they threatened to bounce him into he wrong spot and crush him instantly.

     Thankfully, her stomping quickly slowed; the giant woman was panting heavily, though still lifting and dropping her feet to keep her blood flowing.

     Tim could tell the impacts of the huge feet were lessening, but he still kept on his toes as they landed with soft booms all around him. The tiny teenager was sweating profusely, and his little heart was pounding out of his chest. He couldn’t believe he was still intact, though he knew he couldn’t dottle: Tim HAD to get out from under Aunt Julia before she started her next exercise, but choosing the wrong direction meant being squashed!

     Tim chanced it: he took off like a shot, sprinting towards the TV as quickly as his little legs could move. He’d just managed to clear Julia’s toes when, once again, the instructor spoke up with perfect timing:

     “ALRIGHT, TIME FOR SOME KICK OUTS…!”

     Julia’s left foot pressed into the carpet as the giant woman shifted her weight…Then, her right foot suddenly soared over Tim’s head. He ducked quickly, cowering in fear as the foot stomped back down hard off to his right. The second her right foot touched down, Julia’s left foot lifted up and swung out as well.

     Tim screamed as the giant feet began stomping all around him again. He immediately dropped to the floor to avoid being decapitated, crawling on his hands and knees towards the TV as Julia’s huge feet zoomed overhead; unfortunately, crawling wasn’t exactly the fastest way to get to safety, and his aunt’s stomping feet were shaking the ground violently, making it virtually impossible to make any progress...     

     *BOOM*

     Julia’s right foot suddenly hit the floor directly beside her tiny nephew, bouncing him a good foot into the air…

     Things couldn’t have been lined up any worse. As Julia kicked out her left foot, it collided with Tim’s tiny figure, sending him flying across the room…

     Julia stopped her workout mid-step; her left foot had just smacked into something, and she just barely caught it sailing across the room out of the corner of her eye!

     “What the…?” She uttered, scanning the floor in front of her…

     She suddenly spotted Tim’s tiny figure writhing in the carpet near the entertainment center.

     “How did…?” Julia uttered in surprise.

     “Why you little…?!” she grimaced, stepping intently over towards the tiny boy. 

     Tim squeaked in terror as he saw his giant aunt stomping towards him, scrambling to get up and run for his life.

     “Oh no, you DON’T!” Julia exclaimed, moving her right foot into the tiny boy’s path, blocking his escape. “Come ‘ere, you naughty, little boy!”

     “AAAH!” Tim shrieked, trying to find another escape route, but the giant woman was far too fast for him.

     “You can’t get away from me!” Julia sneered, quickly bending down and snatching him up between her fingers.

     Tim squirmed frantically, trying to push himself free of his aunt’s grasp, but she was holding him too tightly, practically squeezing his ribs as she brought him up close to her face.

     “SO,” Julia spat, “trying to escape, huh?! Well, just for that, you’re REALLY gonna suffer!”

     “NO!” Tim shouted. “LET ME GO!”

     The tiny boy flailed helplessly between his aunt’s plump fingers as she swung him behind her back, using her free hand to reach down her backside and pull back the waistband of her leggings.

     “NOOO!” Tim screamed frantically as he was held over Julia’s open panties. “WAIT! WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!”

     “Try escaping THIS!” Julia stated, unclenching her fingers.

     “AUNT JULI-AAAAAAAAA…!” Tim screamed as he was unceremoniously dropped into the back of his aunt’s panties. He bounced off the fabric, tumbling uncontrollably into rank darkness.

     A second later, Julia let go of the waistband. The panties snapped shut against her backside, catching Tim mid-fall and slinging him up against one of her massive asscheeks. The tiny boy smacked into his aunt’s right buttock, screaming in pain from the violent impact. He squirmed frantically trying to free himself, but the impact was so strong, and Julia’s skin so moist and grimy with perspiration from her workout that Tim was now firmly plastered face-first onto his aunt’s ass.

     “There,” Julia grinned pridefully as she adjusted her leggings, lightly patting her right buttock. “That’ll hold ya! Now…back to my workout.”

     Julia grabbed the remote control off the coffee table and casually strolled back over to her spot in the middle of the living room. While Tim squirmed frantically frantically inside her panties trying to escape again, the giant woman paused and rewound her video until she found the exact spot she’d left off.

     “If I were you, little boy,” Julia warned, chortling smugly, “I’d knock off all that squirming, or things might just get a little messy for you!”

     Julia bit her lip playfully and resumed her workout video, mimicking the instructor’s current stance…

     “…STAND WITH YOUR FEET TOGETHER AGAIN,” a huge, booming voice spoke.

     “Amnt Jlrmrnm!” Tim shouted in muffled screams, trying to pull his face off of his aunt’s asscheek. “Mmpf…Amnt Jlrmrnmmmm! Lmt mrm urnt umpf hrm!”

     The tiny teenager was completely plastered, spread-eagle and splayed out against his aunt’s rump, his face buried in her behind. He frantically shifted his weight back and forth, trying to peel an arm, or a foot, from her skin, hoping to get some kind of leverage to peel the rest of himself off the giant asscheek.

     “...THIS TIME, WE’RE GONNA SLOWLY BEND FORWARD AT THE HIPS...” the huge voice boomed again.

     “Wrmrt…Nrmmpf!” Tim screamed faintly as Julia’s asscheek suddenly shifted and thrust him backwards, completely filling out the back of her panties. Tim was pressed so firmly against the now taut fabric that you could actually see the impression of his tiny figure pushing out the back of his aunt’s leggings if you’d been standing directly behind her.

     The tiny teenager screamed in pain, desperately squirming to free himself, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, his shouts were completely muffled, and the pressure was so great he thought he was going to burst...

     Julia had been bent over for a good 30 seconds, straining to just barely touch her toes and hold her breath...

     “Now, slowly straighten up,” the instructor said, “and reach your arms to the ceiling...”

     Tim was extremely thankful once the pressure subsided. He immediately shifted his weight again, this time managing to peel his left arm free of Julia’s skin. He immediately grabbed his hair and tugged with what little strength he could muster, finally pulling his face free.

     He gasped for air, trying to shake the sweat and grime from his face.

     “AUNT JULIA!” he finally managed to scream, panting. “LET ME OUT OF HERE!”

     “...AND NOW, BEND FORWARD AGAIN,” the trainer’s voice boomed once more.

     “NOmrmrmpfmfmf!”

      Before he could finish screaming, Tim was plastered face-first into Julia’s asscheek once again.

     At the instructor’s behest, every half minute or so, Julia would bend over and grasp her ankles, holding her pose for 30-40 seconds before straightening up again and stretching her arms to the ceiling; each time the giant woman bent forward, her leggings would fill out, smashing her poor, tiny nephew into her butt cheek, and each time she straightened back up, Tim would struggle madly to pull his face free so he could breathe.

     The torturous cycle repeated itself several more times, and each bend kept plastering Tim to his aunt’s rear, negating any potential progress he might have made during the prior reprieve.

     Tim didn’t give up, however; on his latest attempt, he managed to free both his arms, then used his hands to push his upper body away from his aunt’s sticky ass flesh.

     “AUNT JULIA!” he screamed irately as he continued his struggles to free himself. “LET ME OUT OF HERE, RIGHT NOW!”

     Tim yanked on his legs to free them, but they were still well-adhered tight to Aunt Julia’s ass. He stretched his right arm behind him, reaching for anything he could grab onto to give him the leverage he needed to free his lower half. His hands brushed against the smooth, silky texture of the panties behind him; somehow, he managed to find a handhold and pulled hard, twisting his upper torso until he could just barely grab on with his left hand…

     “Come on…” he strained, pulling as hard as he could, “Come on…”

     Finally, one at a time, Tim’s legs peeled off his aunt’s ass. He grasped the fabric, holding on tight so as not to fall as he breathed a heavy sigh of relief…

     “…AND ONE LAST TIME, BEND FORWARD…” Tim heard the instructor call out.

     “OH, NOMMmpff!” he cried out as the huge ass cheek suddenly pressed his whole body into the back of the panties, burying his face in the taught, suffocating fabric.

     “Mmpf…Amnt Jlrmrnmmmm! Hlmpmf!”    

     Julia smiled as she bent forward for the last time and grabbed her ankles, exhaling a satisfied sigh; she could just picture Tim being plastered to the inside of her panties as she held her pose.

     Even when her tiny nephew’s face wasn’t buried in her ass cheek, Julia couldn’t actually Tim’s squeaks inside her tights, but she could feel him against her ass each time she bent over, his desperate squirms making her grin profusely.

     Julia was slightly concerned that her ass might suffocate or inadvertently squish the tiny boy, but ultimately, she didn’t care. She delighted in the thought of the torture she was putting her tiny nephew through, and the more he squirmed, the more pleased she became with herself. It felt empowering. This was the most enjoyable workout ever.

     After holding her pose for another 30 seconds, the instructor spoke up again:

     “…and one more time, slowly back upright.”

     Julia inhaled deeply as she slowly lifted her torso, relaxing her muscles as she straightened her body, and taking solace in the slight reprieve before moving on. She might’ve been relishing the thought of Tim being stuck to her ass, but she wasn’t exactly keen on staying hunched over for so long.

     Nonetheless, Julia took several deep breaths to recover, anxiously awaiting the next pose the instructor was about to call out…

     As Julia’s ass withdrew from the back of her panties, Tim gripped the fabric tighter, trying not to fall. Unfortunately, without Aunt Julia’s ass cheek supporting the bulk of his weight, gravity took hold, and Tim dropped.

    “HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLP!” the tiny teenager squealed as he helplessly tumbled down the back of Aunt Julia’s panties in near total darkness, flailing his arms and frantically grasping at the fabric to arrest his fall.

     As the panties started leveling off, Tim bounced and rolled down the fabric, eventually sliding to a complete stop. He immediately shook off the fall and composed himself, scrambling to flip over and begin searching for a way out.

     Tim didn’t realize it at the moment, but he couldn’t have ended up in a worse possible spot…

     “Alright,” the trainer continued, “we’re going to widen our stance so our legs are a little wider than shoulder-width apart…now, reach your arms being your back and clasp your hands together, and you’re gonna slowly bend forward and extend your spine…”

     As Julia followed the instructions on the video, bending forward into her new stance, her ass cheeks flexed and protruded backwards into her leggings again…

     …Something felt off; Julia suddenly realized she could no longer feel Tim struggling on her ass. She nonchalantly shifted her ass back and forth, seeing if she could make him start squirming again, but there was no response…nothing.

     Julia immediately reached around and began feeling the back of her leggings, scanning for her tiny nephew’s impression on her behind.

     Where did he go? she wondered.

     Then, her brow furrowed.

     “Oh, if he escaped again…” she said to herself, her eyes immediately scanning the floor underneath her.

     Tim, however, was nowhere to be found.

     “Now, unclasp your hands,” the video continued, “and reach both hands around your right ankle…and we’re gonna slowly move back and forth, grabbing each ankle and holding it for a few seconds…”

     Julia hastily complied to the trainer’s instructions, although she was still checking the floor, frustrated that she didn’t know exactly where her tiny nephew was at the moment.

     Tim was clinging to the fabric of Aunt Julia’s panties, trying to keep his profile as flat as possible. There wasn’t much light inside his prison, but between his own intuition and the pungent odor emanating from above him, he knew exactly where he was. During his fall, the shape of Aunt Julia’s panties funneled Tim down to their narrowest point: the base of the his aunt’s giant ass, under her crotch. Now, he was pressing his body into the bottom of his aunt’s underwear, the fabric making sickening swishing sounds as her massive rear end shifted and swayed only a few inches above him.

     For the past several minutes, at the instructor’s behest, Julia had shifted her body from side to side, swaying her rear end back and forth, and alternating her hands from one of her ankles to the other. All the while, she was growing more and more frustrated that she still didn’t know her tiny nephew’s exact whereabouts. Her eyes kept scouring the carpet around her, half expecting to see Tim’s tiny figure sprinting across the floor, but there’d been no sign of him.

     By the time she’d finished her latest exercise, Julia had had enough.

     “Alright, you little bug,” she spat irately as she straightened back up, adjusting and hiking up her leggings, “if you’ve escaped again, I’m gonna—“

     “YAH!” Tim yelped in surprise as he was suddenly thrust forward and plunged face-first in between her two, massive ass cheeks...

     Julia’s eyes suddenly went wide; she’d just felt something being shoved into her crack…

     Then, as her shock wore off, her face grew a satisfied smile.

     “Mm, there you are,” she chuckled deviously to herself, “hope you don’t have too much fun back there.”

     Julia playfully shook her ass from side to side, giggling as she felt her tiny nephew squirming between her cheeks, smashing him in between as she casually flexed and squeezed her ass. His little feet and calves just barely stuck out of Julia’s crack, kicking madly, and Tim could only scream muffled cries for mercy as he struggled in futility to free himself.

     Unfortunately, things were about to get worse…MUCH worse.

     Julia’s constant bending over had propelled several air bubbles through her intestines, and even with the trainer’s booming, albeit muffled voice filling his ears, Tim could clear hear the rumbling welling up in front of him.

    “Ohm mn grd!” Tim screamed frantically. “Amnt Jlrmrnm, NMMMMMM!“

     *PHFRRRRRRRRRT*

     “Ahhhhh,” Julia exhaled proudly as the gas vacated her rectum in a short, loud burst.

     Unfortunately, what was a simple fart to her, was a blaring foghorn to the tiny teenager, with a hurricane-force wind blowing a foul, noxious blast directly in his face.

     “RMMMMMMM!”

      Tim’s muffled scream lasted for nearly 10 full seconds; he squirmed even more frantically to escape, but Julia’s ass was holding him firmly in place. The stench of his aunt’s bowels practically saturated his entire body, and he most definitely would have choked on the rancid gas if he’d actually been able to effectively breathe.

     “OHM MN GRD! Amnt Jlmrmm, LRT MRM ORFT UMF HRRRRRMMMMMM!”

     “Well, I warned you, silly boy,” Julia giggled maniacally, feeling his tiny screams reverberating inside her crack. “Maybe next time, you’ll listen to me.”

     “OK,” the instructor continued, “now, close your stance a bit so your legs are about shoulder-width apart, and stretch your arms out in front of you, clasping your hands again. Make sure you keep your arms parallel to the floor…alright, let’s do some squats…”

     Tim was still struggling to free himself from his giant aunt’s foul-smelling crack, when he suddenly felt the sensation he was falling. His muffled screams intensified, and the giant asscheeks holding him in place began to part until only Tim’s head, arms, and upper chest were still stuck. For a moment, he thought he might actually fall free of Julia’s crack, but the tremendous force of her ass’s downward thrust kept him in place.

     Julia’s ass soon halted its descent, and began heading back up.

     “NMMPF!” Tim shouted as the giant asscheeks collapsed around his tiny body again, sealing Julia’s crack tightly.

     The nightmarish process continued over and over again; it was like being on a frightening carnival ride. Tim screamed each time the giant ass dropped, having only fleeting moments of relief from the immense pressure before it rose into the air and swallowed him up again, squeezing him tightly. At one point, Julia’s ass ripped another fart on the way down, and Tim was forced to endure the acrid stench of her toxic gas, diminishing his meager supply of air as her bulbous globes engulfed him once more.

     The tiny teenager repeatedly pleaded for Aunt Julia to stop, screaming for mercy, but his tiny, muffled cries went unheard and unheeded, and with each squat, the tiny boy feared his aunt’s massive asscheeks were going to squash him like a bug:

     “mmpf....Amnt Jlmrmnm…RRMpf....nmmf…stmpf…HELmmrfpmm....”

     Thankfully, Julia’s squats only lasted about a minute, although Tim was still wedged tightly between her asscheeks. The whole ordeal had left him reeling: between the up and down motions from Julia’s workout, the constant squeezing and smacking of her giant asscheeks, and the toxic emissions that kept escaping her asshole, the tiny teenager was suffocating, and almost on the verge of passing out…

     “Alright,” the instructor said. “Now, we’re going to slowly drop to our knees and lie face down, placing your forearms on the floor…”

     Julia followed suit, slowly moving down to the floor, taking a couple of seconds to breathe and center herself as she waited for the video to continue…

     Tim’s strength was waning, and he was struggling to keep his composure.

     “Amnt Jlmrmpf, plrmsfm...” he called out weakly, desperately trying to stay conscious.

     Suddenly, Julia’s ass dropped again; this time, however, it didn’t stop.

     “MMM—OOMF!”

     Tim cried out as the ass abruptly stopped, the impact so forceful it actually dislodged the tiny teenager and shoved him deeper into Julia’s crack, nearer to her sphincter. He was still trapped, and the environment still ripe with toxic fumes, but the pressure at the base of her crack wasn’t as intense, and Tim now found that he actually had some wiggle room. 

     With no time to lose, he resumed kicking and squirming, trying to get himself moving and somehow make his way to freedom.

     “...now, inhale slowly, and push your torso up,” the instructor said. “Press the tops of your feet into the floor, and relax your glutes…and we’re gonna hold this snake pose for about 30 seconds.”

     Julia stretched her abs and clenched her inner thighs, pushing her torso up into the air; then, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She tried to relax her glutes like the instructor had said, but Tim was currently making that difficult. Apparently, the tiny teenager had slipped deeper into her crack when she got down onto the floor, and his constant wiggling was tickling her asshole, making her giggle.

     Julia held the current pose as best she could, clenching her ass in hopes to quell Tim’s squirming...

     “HRMMMPF!” Tim yelped as the muscles in Julia’s asscheeks suddenly tightened around him. He tried pushing back as best he could against the fleshy, constricting walls, straining to resist being crushed, but he was unsure how long he could hold out...

     Julia exhaled and slowly lowered her stomach back to the floor to rest...she wasn’t exactly a yoga master, but surprisingly held that snake pose quite well considering her tiny nephew was wiggling inside her ass the whole time.

     “Tim, I’m warning you,” she warned casually, “if you don’t knock off that squirming, you’re gonna make me FART on you again!”

     Tim had heard his giant aunt’s ominous warning, but at the moment, he was more concerned with getting out from between her asscheeks. As soon as the pressure around him subsided, he quickly gasped for air, coughing to clear the foul gasses from his lungs, and resumed his efforts to climb out of Julia’s crack.

     “I’ve gotta get out of here before Aunt Julia does another move,” he kept telling himself, trying to keep his footing as he ascended. “No matter what; just keep moving!”

     “Alright,” the instructor spoke up as the next segment started, “so for this next exercise, we’re gonna get on all fours...”

     The next exercise in Julia’s workout were some arm and leg lifts. At the instructor’s behest, she slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees...

     “WHOA!” Tim yelped as the ground shifted again. He clung to the giant asscheeks as best he could, desperate to keep his footing and avoid falling back down into her wide open crack again.

     Thankfully, Julia’s movements didn’t last long, and Tim heaved a sigh of relief that he was able to hold out. After taking a moment to recover, he resumed his ascent out.

     “Almost there,” Tim said breathlessly as he neared the top, “I’m almost there...

     “Now, slowly raise your right arm out in front of you, while stretching out your left leg behind you.”

     Julia did as the instructor said, stretching out her arm and leg, holding them out for a moment before lowering them back to the ground again. Then, she repeated the process with her opposite arm and leg...

    “MMPF…*Gasp* AUNT JULIMMPF…MMPF, WAIT! AUNT JULIA, STMpf—!”

     Poor Tim was being continuously smashed between Julia’s asscheeks over and over again: each time the giant woman lifted one of her legs, her asscheeks would slam together, smashing the tiny teenager in between, giving him only short reprieves between movements to breathe.

     Suddenly, Tim heard the frighteningly familiar sound of something bubbling up behind him:

     “Ohm Gmrd! Nmt Agmnm—!”

     *PHFRRRRRRRRRT*

     Julia ripped a massive fart from her sphincter so powerful that it actually blasted Tim completely free of her ass crack, shooting him up into the back of her panties. The tiny boy bounced and rolled deeper into his underwear prison, coming to a stop just below his aunt’s chode.

     “Oops…Sorry about that, Tim,” Julia chuckled, apologizing half-heartedly at the rather loud, massive fart she’d just ripped, and at the fact she’d just felt her tiny nephew rocketing out from between her asscheeks. “You OK back there?”

      Tim, however, didn’t answer; he was still writhing in the bottom of his aunt’s panties, recovering from the foul smell, and being an unwilling human cannonball.

     “...and relax,” the trainer instructed, finally ending the workout.

     “Ahhh,” Julia exhaled as she shifted her body off her hands and sat back on her knees.

     “AUNT JULI—NMMFMMMMPF!” Tim squeaked frantically as he was quickly engulfed by his aunt’s giant ass again. Since he was no longer stuck between her asscheeks, when Julia shifted back onto her knees, she ended up sitting right on top of him in the process, her immense weight pressing him face-first into the fabric of her panties.

     “Mm,” Julia moaned contently, stretching out her arms over her head, “what a NICE workout!”

     She smiled impishly, biting her lip and peering over her shoulder, curious about how much her nephew was suffering.

    “You doin’ OK back there, Timmy?” she asked jokingly, playfully jiggling her ass on her heels.

     “WHDMMM! MMPF! HLLLLLMPFMM!”

     Tim’s only responses were muffled screams of pain as Julia’s weight pushed his face deeper into the fabric of her panties. The tiny teenager writhed and struggled, desperately trying to get out from under his aunt’s massive ass, all the while pushing against the fabric of the panties, hoping to find a hole to escape the toxic environment, or even just get a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, there were no openings in the tightly-woven fabric, nor was he strong enough to tear one open, and although Tim had been spared from having ALL of Aunt Julia’s weight pressing on his back, it was still more than enough to keep him pinned and immobile….and in constant pain from the immense pressure.

     Julia was a little worried when she lost track of her tiny nephew during her last fart, but she was quickly appeased, sporting a satisfied smile when she felt him squirming in the bottom of her panties.

     Then, she felt another tiny gas bubble welling up inside her colon.

     “Uh oh,” she uttered, feeling another gas bubble welling up inside her colon, “brace yourself, Tim. Here comes another one…

     “…Mmnh!” she strained, feeling a tiny *pop* as the gas bubble burst out her sphincter…

     *PHRRT!*

     MMMMMPF!” Tim screamed as a gust of foul-smelling wind escaped Julia’s ass, the shock waves from the blast reverberating through his tiny body.

     “OHMN Mrm, GMRD! Amnt Jlmrmm, imt STRMKS MN HRMN!”

     “Whew, sorry about that, Tim,” Julia half-heartedly apologized again as she felt his squirms intensify.

     “Man, I don’t know WHY I’m so gassy today!” Julia continued with a chortle, feigning incompetence as she rubbed her tummy. “Must’ve been something I ate…

     “…Or something in my underwear,” Julia said, laughing deviously…

     Tim, of course, didn’t find the situation amusing at all: he was still struggling to get the pantie fabric out of his mouth and face so he could breathe, kicking his legs like mad to get out from under his aunt’s chode…

     “Oh!” Julia gasped with surprise, her tiny nephew’s squirms unexpectedly stimulated her.

     “Why, Tim, you naughty, little boy!” she giggled, biting her lower lip as she tried to contain herself. “You might wanna knock off all that squirming, kiddo….or you MIGHT just find things getting a leee-tle wet for you down there.”

     Tim wasn’t listening, however; he was still preoccupied with trying to move out from under the giant woman’s ass, his squirms only intensifying and, in turn, stimulating her more and more.

     Meanwhile, Julia couldn’t believe how turned on she was getting feeling her tiny nephew struggling for freedom inside her underwear, and was forced to restrain herself to refrain from bucking her hips in response. 

     “Geez, Tim,” Julia said breathily, struggling to contain herself as she stood up, “If I’d have known how good it’d feel to have you squirming around my panties, I would’ve put you in there days ago!”

     Julia chortled to herself as she carefully stumbled her way over to the couch. Luckily for her, Tim’s squirms had diminished substantially once she wasn’t sitting on him anymore, and with her weight not pushing directly down on him, the tiny teenager found himself able to move again. Unfortunately, his now lighter touch upon the giant woman’s underside was stimulating her even more, and Julia just barely made it to the couch before having to stop and compose herself.

     “Tim!” She warned more forcefully, “Seriously, if you don’t knock off all that squirming, you’re gonna make me SIT on you!”

     Julia’s warnings didn’t deter her tiny nephew, though; he just kept wriggling and struggling, trying to escape his current situation. He DID heed the warning about being sat on again, however, and as such, shifted his course AWAY from the rear of his aunt’s panties.

    Unfortunately, in his haste, Tim unintentionally brushed against a rather sensitive spot near the base of Julia’s womanhood…

     Julia gasped with exhilaration as a huge surge of endorphins suddenly flooded her body; she completely lost her balance, falling backwards onto the sofa, splaying out across the cushions.

     Tim narrowly avoided being sat on and crushed beneath his aunt’s giant ass, but the resulting impact bounced him upwards and into the front of Julia’s underwear. The tiny boy frantically grasped the fabric as it cushioned his ascent, desperately trying not to fall back down deeper into his aunt’s panties and lose the progress he’d made.

     A wet, slimy surface suddenly pressed into his back, the force from the impact splaying out his arms and legs, and thrusting him spread eagle into the front of Julia’s panties.

     As Tim squirmed and struggled to move again, a sour, fishy odor invaded his nostrils. He’d never smelt anything like it before, but having already endured the stench of Aunt Julia’s bowels, this new odor didn’t phase him much, and only incentivized him to redouble his efforts in trying to escape.

     Meanwhile, Julia was breathing heavily, biting her lower lip as she desperately tried to contain herself.

     “Tim…!” She squeaked breathlessly, “Seriously! You need to stop…RIGHT NOW!”

     Soon, Julia was bucking and gyrating her hips, which only made Tim struggles intensify and worsen the problem. Julia REALLY wanted Tim to stop squirming….but at the same time, she also didn’t. All his wriggling about was really stimulating her: it was an amazing sensation she never felt before. Her own nephew was literally pleasuring her: it felt so wrong…and yet, so right!

     Julia didn’t want this feeling to end. She moaned deeply, struggling to endure the feelings of ecstasy she was experiencing as she forced her hands to reach down and grasp the waistband of her panties, desperately trying to pull them down and retrieve her tiny nephew before she climaxed.

     All of Aunt Julia’s movements were making things difficult for Tim as he scrambled to keep moving, hoping he could somehow reach the waistband and make his way out of the giant panties. The ground kept shifting in all directions, and Julia’s constant moaning certainly didn’t help matters: not only were they creating tremors that reverberated throughout the surface of her skin, but they were also making Tim more and more uncomfortable with his current location and what his movements were doing.

     He kept going, regardless, clawing his way towards what he hoped was an exit…

     Julia’s face was contorted in both pain and pleasure as she struggled to control herself: her eyes were closed, her teeth were clenched, and her breathing was shallow and rapid. Tim was now squirming directly on top of her C-spot, and she was desperately trying to get her tights pulled down; unfortunately, her body was resisting, her hands moving in slow motion. Her body didn’t want to stop its pleasure, despite what her mind was frantically screaming to her limbs…

     Julia had reached her breaking point: she took a deep breath, bit her lower lip hard, and yanked her tights down with both hands. She quickly thrust her left hand into her crotch and snatched up her tiny nephew, who barely managed to squeak out a surprised yelp as he disappeared into his aunt’s fist.

     Julia’s jaw dropped, her eyes went wide, and her right hand released her tights and immediately grasped the back of the couch, holding on for dear life as her body released all her pent up sexual energy. With a strained moan, she deeply exhaled…

     Julia collapsed onto the couch cushions. She sat for moment with her eye closed, trying to recover and catch her breath, all the while Tim squirming within her closed fist, demanding to be let out. Julia opened her eyes and stared off past the ceiling, her mind swirling with incomprehensible thoughts, unable to process what had just happened to her.

     Once she’d finally returned to reality and composed herself, Julia slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position and opened her fist still containing her tiny nephew.

     Poor Tim was writhing in the middle of her palm, covered heat to toe in his aunt’s slimy cum.

     “OK,” Julia managed to say flatly, trying to remain calm and keep her composure. “Let’s, uh….let’s go get you cleaned up, shall we?”

     Despite Tim’s recent torturous experience, the mental trauma he’d suffered, and the unspeakable embarrassment of being shoved into his aunt’s panties and forced into the crack of her ass while she exercised, the rest of the day was, much to his relief, relatively normal. After giving him a bath in the bathroom sink to getting him all cleaned up, Julia barely said a word to Tim the rest of the morning, nor much else that afternoon. In fact, for the remainder of the day, Julia actually treated Tim like a true, benevolent caregiver would: she helped get him dressed, cooked him lunch, then let him relax on the coffee table and watch TV pretty much the whole afternoon while she puttered around the house and tidied things up, almost as if she was actively avoiding him.

     At one point, Julia did sit down on the couch with the tube of foot cream, making Tim very apprehensive and worried he might have to give the giant woman a foot massage again; to the contrary, Julia merely rubbed her own feet and applied the cream herself, although she did playfully wrinkle her nose at him when she caught Tim looking back at her once or twice.

     Tim wasn’t trying to peep, however; he just wasn’t comfortable having Aunt Julia sitting behind him out of his line of sight, and was anxious that she might slam her bare feet on the coffee table again, trying to scare and intimidate him, or even just do it absentmindedly. Either way, Tim wanted to remain prepared, just in case.

     Such a scare never happened, thankfully, although Julia DID give the tiny teenager her usual, stern warning not to say a word about what had transpired that morning to his mother when she got home, lest he be forced to go give her another foot massage…this time, with him underneath her soles. She even threatened to take pictures and show all his friends at school if he talked, despite Tim reminding her about what his mother had said about keeping the whole shrinking thing quiet.

     Tim wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of continuing to keep his mouth shut about his mistreatment, especially considering everything that had happened that morning, yet he still reluctantly agreed: he most certainly didn’t want ANYONE finding out about being shrunken down, nor any of the other embarrassments he’d suffered during that time either. Notwithstanding, he also didn’t want Aunt Julia to stomp him, but certainly wasn’t complaining about how the rest of the day was going; if enduring all her humiliation and keeping his mouth shut was what it took to get Aunt Julia to start treating him better, especially after all the torture she’d already put him through, it might well be worth the price.     

     “I’m home,” Natalie called out as she walked through the front door that evening.

     “Hey, sis.” Julia said as she stepped into the living room from the kitchen. “You’re home a bit late.”

     “I know,” Natalie sighed dejectedly, kicking off her flats by the den. “It’s been a long, exhausting day. I was running around all day trying to supervise my lab techs, test samples, and work on the analysis of that formula. It wasn’t until most everyone lab left for the day that I could actually get to my paperwork.”

     “Have you made anymore progress?” Julie inquired.

     “A bit,” Natalie nodded, setting some papers down on the corner of the coffee table, dropping her purse onto the floor next to it, “but I’ve still got a lot left to do, so I brought some home with me. Everything go alright around HERE today?”

     “Yeah, everything’s good,” Julia shrugged, motioning over to her nephew’s position on the coffee table. “Tim’s just been in here watching TV while I’ve been making dinner.” 

     “Oh, bless you, Jules!” Natalie extolled, placing a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “You didn’t have to do that.”

     “Oh, it’s no trouble, Nat,” Julia scoffed. “Really. You weren’t home yet, so I figured I’d start cooking and have dinner ready by the time you got home.”

     “Ah, I’m so glad you’re staying here this week, Jules,” Natalie sighed contentedly. “You’ve been an absolute GODSEND throughout this whole order!”

     “Hey, what’re sisters for?” Julia replied off-handedly.

     “Hey, sweetheart,” Natalie called over to her son as she stepped around the coffee table.

     “Hey, mom,” Tim squeaked up as his mother bend over to hear him, a sympathetic grin on her face.

     “How was your day?”

     “Well…” Tim shrugged. “…it’s been OK, I guess.”

     “You ‘guess’?!” Natalie replied suspiciously, putting her hands on her hips. “Did something happen I should know about?”

     “Oh, he’s just a little irked ‘cause I made him workout with me this morning,” Julia butted in slyly, “but I’ve pretty much been letting him relax this afternoon while I’ve been busy doing a little housework.”

     “Well….I guess that’s fine,” Natalie sighed, shifting her gaze back and forth between her tiny son and her sister, “but I’m not sure I like the idea of you leaving him on the coffee table all by himself while you’re off in another room.”

     “Nat, he’s fine,” Julia reassured, motioning to the coffee table with her hand. “I’ve been checking in on him regularly to make sure nothing’s happened. Besides, he’s a teenager: you put him in front of a screen and he’s happy for hours….plus, it keeps him out of trouble.”

     “Well, I guess as long as he’s safe, that’s all that matters,” Natalie shrugged, doting over her tiny son.

     “Yeah,” Julia nodded, “well, why don’t you come in, take a load off, get changed…Dinner’s gonna be a little while longer, so you can just relax a bit.”

     “Oh, thanks Jules,” Natalie replied appreciatively, “but I still need to take a look at some paperwork this evening.”

     “Well…bring it on in the kitchen and sit at the table with me,” Julia offered. “We can chat while you and I are working.”

     “OK,” Natalie agreed. “Why don’t you grab Tim and bring him in with you? I’ll be in once I’ve changed.”

     “Why?” Julia rebutted, shrugging. “Just leave him in here and let him watch his show.”

     “Oh, Jules,” Natalie shook her head, “you know I’m not keen on leaving him unattended, not with what happened last night!”

     “Nat, he’ll be fine,” Julia reassured her, “Don’t worry. Nothing’s gonna happen. He’s been fine all afternoon, and we’re just gonna be in the next room.

     “Besides,” Julia continued with a shrug, walking around the couch towards the coffee table, “Tim doesn’t wanna just sit on the kitchen table listening to our girl talk, do ya Tim?”

     “Mom, I swear, I’ll be fine,” Tim squeaked faintly, surprised and slightly taken aback that Aunt Julia was being so supportive and defending his independence. “I promise.”

     “Alright, fine,” Natalie reluctantly agreed. “But don’t you DARE move from that spot, mister, you HEAR ME?!”

     “Uh huh,” Tim nodded in agreement. “I won’t. I promise.”

     “Good,” Julia said, turning back towards the kitchen, “we’re all settled. Just come into the kitchen when you’re all changed, sis.”

     “OK, I’ll be in in a few,” Natalie replied, heading the opposite direction, giving her tiny son one final glance before disappearing down the hallway.

     “So, what exactly are you working on?” Julia asked, joining her sister at the kitchen table, having a free moment while the food on the stove was simmering.

     “What do ya think?!” Natalie replied mockingly, barely taking her eyes off her paperwork. “It’s the chemical analysis of that shrinking formula.”

     “Yeah, I know that, Nat,” Julia rolled her eyes sarcastically. “I meant: what PART of the analysis are you working on?”

     “Well,” Natalie sighed heavily, “I’m working on separating out and identifying all the separate ingredients. Most of it’s pretty normal stuff: plant extracts, natural oils, organic compounds…nothing really unexpected…but there’s one compound here I haven’t been able to identify.”

     “Well, what is it?” Julie inquired with curiosity.

     “I don’t know,” Natalie said bluntly. “I just told you: I haven’t been able to identify it.”

     Julia sighed frustratedly and diverted her eyes, not appreciating her sister’s sarcasm.

     “Based on my initial analysis and its chemical properties,” Natalie continued, “it looks like some kind of complex, organic molecule, but I haven’t been able to find a match for it in any of my usual databases. Given everything else in that formula, it’s GOTTA be the key ingredient. I’m SURE of it! I just…don’t know exactly what IT is. Luckily, I’ve managed to isolate it; I’m gonna run a structural analysis on it tomorrow when I get to work. I should have enough time to do it alongside my other work.”

     “What do you mean a ‘structural analysis’?” Julia inquired curiously.

     “You know, figuring out its molecular structure,” Natalie explained, “what elements it’s made up of, how they’re arranged and put together…Hopefully, I can, at LEAST, figure out an approximate structure.”

     “Great…” Julia chimed in, “…and then what?”

     “Well, if I know its structure, I can figure out how to break it down; either what enzymes or chemicals I can use to dissolve it, and maybe even reverse the process. Hopefully, I’ll have some good news by the time I come home tomorrow, but I might be home late again.”

     “Hey, no worries, sis,” Julia said as she got up from her seat. “Take all the time you need. I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually.” .

     “Yeah…” Natalie replied anxiously as Julia stood up and headed over towards the stove, “…hey, Jules?!”

     “Yeah?” Julia asked, pausing in her stride

     Natalie glanced past her sister towards the living room and lowered her voice before continuing:

     “Listen, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to Tim about this. I mean, he’s counting on me to get him back to normal size, and I don’t want him worrying about the trouble I’m having…you know, until I know more…”

     “No problem, Nat.” Julia replied with a shrug. “I know how to keep a secret.”

     Much to everyone’s relief, the remainder of that evening was pretty normal and laid-back. Everyone enjoyed the dinner that Julia had provided, with Tim eating his fill, while eagerly asking how his mother’s analysis was coming along:

     “So, mom, how’s it going analyzing that formula?”

     “Oh…it’s going,” Natalie replied anxiously, trying to stay positive. “Slowly, but surely, I’m getting it figured out.”

     “And then you’ll be able to get me back to normal?!” Tim asked eagerly.

     “Well…” his mother replied with a slight hesitation, “figuring out all the components is the first step. Once that’s finished, I’ll start putting together and testing some potential antidotes to see if I can neutralize and reverse the effects.”

     “See kiddo,” Julia chimed in with a chipper smile. “Your mom’s got this. Just be patient, and you’ll be back to normal in no time!”

     Soon afterwards, the trio retired to living room to watch a movie: Tim sat on the coffee table on his makeshift, floor mat, while Julia and Natalie sat on opposite ends of the couch, the latter with her feet kicked up as she relaxed and casually browsed over the paperwork she’d brought home.

     By about 9:30, Tim was getting quite sleepy and was on the verge of passing out, having stuffed him full with the thanksgiving-sized dinner he’d had earlier. With few objections, Natalie gently scooped up her son and carried him back to his room to tuck him into bed for the night. At Tim’s request, his mother used his cell phone to put on some soft, relaxing music—something Tim hadn’t been able to do all week—and soon, the tiny teenager drifted off to sleep.

     Meanwhile, Natalie quietly tiptoed back down the hall and plopped back down on the sofa next to her sister.

     “Tim all tucked in?” Julia asked wittily.

     “Yup,” Natalie sighed, a blank expression on her face, and her hands clasped anxiously in her lap. “Should be all good for the night.”

     “Somethin’ wrong, sis?” Julia inquired.

     “Well,” Natalie sighed again, this time dejectedly. “first off, I wanna say that I really appreciate you being here, Jules, and for watching Tim for me this week, not to mention trying to save face and keep him optimistic about my analysis on that formula…”

     “Of course, sis,” Julia smiled. “You know you can depend on me.”

     “Yeah,” Natalie said, “well, I didn’t want to say this to you earlier, especially with Tim in earshot, but…honestly, even if I DO figure out that the component in that shrinking formula….there’s still a pretty good chance I may not be able to restore Tim to his normal size.”

     “Oh, sis,” Julia tutted, “you can’t think like that. You’ll figure it out. I KNOW you will. You just have to stay positive.”

     “Jules, let’s be realistic for just a moment,” Natalie rebutted, shaking her head as she looked her sister squarely in the face, “let’s say, I finish the analysis on that last ingredient, and I know EVERYTHING there is to know about that formula…then what?! I mean, there’s no guarantee that the effects are even reversible! Look, if there’s just some trace chemical lingering in Tim’s system that’s keeping him small, then, yeah, it should be relatively easy to break it down and restore him to his normal size, but if it’s ANYTHING more complex than that—like an exotic protein that’s somehow altered his DNA or cellular structure on a molecular level—it could take MONTHS, or even YEARS just to figure out exactly what it did to him, let alone reversing the process…IF it’s even possible!”

     “Nat, calm down!” Julia instructed, reassuring her sister. “Don’t stress yourself out! Look, you’ve only been working on it for a few days. I’d say you’ve done pretty good so far with what little time you’ve had to work on it. Just go into work tomorrow and run that….structural analysis, or whatever you called it, and wait for the results. I mean, you’re smart, you’ll figure it out…eventually. So…Tim might have to stay small for a little while longer…he’s just gonna have to be patient—We ALL are—and once you finish that analysis, you’ll be one step closer to curing him.”

     “But Julia,” Natalie rebuffed, “what if I CAN’T?! I mean, what if Tim’s stuck this way for the rest of his LIFE, huh?! What then?! What am I supposed to do, keep him in a…in a HAMSTER cage the rest of his life, like he’s some kind of PET?! Even if that WERE a viable option, I-I can’t keep him hidden here at home FOREVER! Sooner or later, someone’s bound to find out about him, and then, who KNOWS what’ll happen?! He’ll probably end up in some lab somewhere—and not mine—treated like some kinda… guinea pig the rest of his life!”

     “Sis, you gotta calm down!” Julia instructed forcefully, comfortingly placing her hands on her sister’s shoulders. “Look, there’s no sense panicking until you know for sure. Just go into work tomorrow, finish your analysis, figure out that last ingredient and then…we’ll go from there. All we can do now is just…wait and see.”

     “Yeah,” Natalie sighed, nodding her head reassuringly, trying to calm herself down a bit. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m getting ahead of myself. I just have to…go into work tomorrow, run my analysis, and then…*sigh* hope for the best.”

     “See, there ya go. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and I’m sure…eventually, things’ll work out. If Tim’s small for a little while longer, he’ll just have to deal with it—again, we ALL will—once we know something for sure, we’ll start making plans.”

     “Ok,” Natalie sighed heavily again, standing up from the couch. “Well, I think I’m gonna head to bed, Jules. It’s been a long day, and…I‘ve got a another long day ahead of me.”

     “OK, Nat,” Julia chortled, standing up herself and giving her sister a hug goodnight. “Sleep well.”

     “Thanks,” Natalie moaned, “Mm, I will. Are you coming to bed soon?”

     “Uh, I think I’m gonna stay up for a little while longer,” Julia replied.

     “OK. Goodnight, Jules.”

     “Night, Nat,” Julia replied as her sister headed out of the living room and disappeared down the hallway.

     Julia sighed and slumped back down onto the couch. She sat quietly for a minute, lost in deep thought as she mulled over the events of the past week…

     Then, a sly, half-grin grew up one side of her face…

     “Hm, shrunk for a while, huh?” Julia said smugly to herself as she reclined back on the couch with her hands clasped behind her head, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. “I could certainly get used to that…”

     Julia slowly opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times until they adjusted to the natural light peeking through the window shade on the far side of the bedroom.

     “Mm, morning already?” she moaned to herself, taking a deep breath.

     Julia slowly turned he head and looked over to her sister, who was still fast sleep on the other end of the master bed. The alarm clock on the nightstand next to Natalie displayed the time in soft, red numbers: 6:07AM—not quite time for Natalie to wake up for the workday yet.

     Julia slowly pushed back the covers and quietly moaned as she stretched her arms. She had slept somewhat restlessly that night, not that she wasn’t accustomed to sleeping in a strange bed, but with the current situation in the household, her mind was a swirling vortex of jumbled thoughts and emotions over her nephew being shrunk, and everything that had transpired that week as a result. 

     One thought, however, was on the forefront of Julia’s mind: something that had been nagging her since the prior morning. The idea grew throughout the day as she went about with some housework, and on into the afternoon as she weighed the pros and cons, and despite initially shooting it down, her resolve was only strengthened by her and Natalie’s conversation the prior evening.

     What if Natalie couldn’t figure out a cure? Julia contemplated. What if Tim WAS going to be small for the foreseeable future?…OR the rest of his life?!

     On the opposite end of the spectrum, what if Natalie DID find a cure? What if this whole shrinking ordeal was just a short, albeit memorable blip in the family’s lives? 

     Julia quietly slid her legs over and out of bed, her bare feet alighting softly onto the bedroom carpet. She slowly stood up so as not to rouse her sleeping sister, took a second to adjust her camisole nightie—which was just barely long enough to reach about halfway down her thighs—then quietly slipped out of the room. She tiptoed down the hallway towards Tim’s bedroom, quietly approaching his door.

     Then, Julia bit her lower lip anxiously, and slowly turned the doorknob…

     Tim was still half asleep when he heard his bedroom door slowly creaking open that morning. He groaned and scrunched his face: he wasn’t ready to get up just yet, and certainly wasn’t prepared to face another shrunken day at home with Aunt Julia.

    “Come on, mom,” he said groggily, forcibly keeping his eyes closed. “I don’t wanna get up yet.”

     In all actuality, despite the prior morning’s antics, last night had been the first night since the whole shrinking ordeal started that Tim had actually gotten a good night’s sleep, a product of the laid-back and relaxed nature of the previous afternoon, coupled with a full belly from the evening’s dinner, along with the gentle sounds of the relaxing music playing from his phone which had elapsed and fell silent a few of hours beforehand.

     Tim buried his head into his pillow upon which he was sleeping, and slunk down further beneath his Kleenex blanket, hiding his eyes from the glow of the morning light.

     Please, mom, he thought to himself, just let me sleep a little longer.

     Surprisingly, Tim’s telepathic request was answered: just as quickly as it opened, his bedroom door softly shut and latched, leaving him alone in the silence of his room.

     “Thank you,” Tim said to himself, relaxing his face and body, falling asleep not long after.

     Julia quietly closed Tim’s door, carefully turning and releasing the tension on the doorknob in the until it silently slipped back into its latch, sealing her tiny nephew back into his bedroom. Then, she turned and tiptoed the rest of the way down the hall, disappearing into the living room.

——————————————————————————————————————

     “Mm, morning Jules,” Natalie moaned softly as she stepped into the kitchen, finding her sister sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a cup of coffee.

     “Morning, sis,” Julia replied. “How’d you sleep?”

     “Not bad, considering…How about you?”

     “I slept OK,” Julia shrugged. “Might have been a little restless, but…”

     “Yeah, I could tell,” Natalie confirmed as she opened one of the nearby cabinets. “I felt you tossing and turning all night.”

     “Aah, it’s no biggie,” Julia scoffed. “Besides, I can take a nap today if I need to.”

     “Wish I could say the same,” Natalie replied, grabbing a coffee mug from the top shelf.

     “Is….Tim with you?” Julia inquired.

     “Nah, I figured I’d let him sleep a little longer,” Natalie replied. “Did you want something for breakfast?”

     “Nah, I’m good. I just fixed myself a pot of coffee. I hope you don’t mind.”

     “Are you kidding, it’s EXACTLY what I need this morning!” Natalie replied enthusiastically, quickly retrieving the coffee pot. “I’m probably going to need the extra caffeine, what with the long day ahead of me.”

     “Yeah, I’ll bet,” Julia chortled, taking another sip of coffee.

     Natalie finished adding cream and sugar to her mug, then grabbed a spoon from a nearby drawer, clinking it against the ceramic sides of her cup as she stirred her coffee and joined her sister at the table.

     “So,” Natalie sighed as she sat down at the end of the table in a chair adjacent to her sister’s, “we’re YOU up half the night worrying how long Tim might be stuck in this situation, too?!”

     “Well, kinda,” Julia replied distantly, averting her gaze for a moment as she but her lip. “I think it was probably more like….sleeping in a strange bed, or something like that, you know. I mean, I guess I WAS kinda thinking about Tim’s situation, but...”

     “Well, I’ve been thinking over a few things, too,” Natalie continued. “I think, today, while I’ve got that structural analysis going…I’m gonna test some of that leftover formula on a couple of test subjects. That way, I can get a jumpstart on testing an antidote once I get one synthesized.”

     “Nat, are you sure that’s wise?!” Julia exclaimed with surprise. “I mean, you said it yourself, you haven’t even finished your analysis yet. You don’t even know if you can make more of it!”

     “I know Jules, but what choice do I have?” Natalie shrugged defensively. “I’m gonna HAVE to test any antidote I make, and for that, I’m gonna need some test subjects. Besides, I’m not really sure I can afford to wait. Tim’s already been small for four days now, and, for all I know, any cure I make might only work when it’s administered within the first few hours. I need at least ONE test subject that’s been tiny for at LEAST a day; it’s the only way to make sure that anything that works in the lab will also work on Tim!”

     “OK, but how exactly are you going to test it?” Julia chortled, “I mean, what’re you gonna do, drum up some volunteers?! Who the hell’s gonna be first in line for THAT assignment?!”

     “Julia!” Natalie scoffed indignantly. “Get real! We have a veterinary lab that breeds stocks of animals for testing—you know, mice, rats…whatever—I’ll just get a couple of rabbits from one of the holding pens.”

     “Great…” Julia replied unenthusiastically, shrugging, “…and don’t you think someone might get a tad bit suspicious when they see two tiny, shrunken rabbits running around your lab?”

     “Jules, I’ll keep them hidden away in one of my office drawers,” Natalie rebutted. “No one’ll even know they’re there.”

     “OK, but how’re you gonna shrink ‘em down without anyone noticing?”

     “I’ll grab ‘em and inject ‘em while everyone’s at lunch. Nobody’ll see.”

     “Yeah, but still, are you SURE you have enough formula for that?!” Julia inquired. “I mean, what if you need some of it to make Tim’s cure? What if you can’t make more and it’s all used up?! Once it’s gone, it’s gone!”

     “Even considering everything I’ve used so far on all the analytics I’ve done, I’ve got more than enough leftover for testing. Plus, once I have a blueprint, I’m SURE I can synthesize more, depending on the difficulty. But, if worse comes to worse, and I CAN’T reproduce it, AND and it’s absolutely essential for creating a cure, I should have enough left for at least a couple of test subjects and 2 doses of any antidote once I formulate one—one for the rabbit, and one for Tim.”

     The two women sat in silence for a moment, each taking a few loud slurps of coffee.

     Eventually, Julia broke the silence with a slight chortle, shaking her head.

     “What?” Natalie inquired with curiosity.

     “It’s just…” Julia began, “…this whole situation’s pretty unbelievable, isn’t it? I mean, never in my wildest dreams could I have EVER have imagined I’d have a one-inch-tall nephew.”

     “I know,” Natalie replied morosely. “It’s like this whole thing is just one big nightmare.”

     “Well,” Julia shrugged, “maybe it’s not ALL bad…”

     “What do ya mean?” Natalie inquired with disbelief. “I fail to see the GOOD in all of this.”

     “Nat, are you forgetting how AMAZING all of this is?!” Julia exclaimed. “I mean, you actually have, in your possession, a formula that can actually SHRINK things! I mean that ALONE has got to be an AMAZING discovery. You’re gonna win, like, a Nobel Prize or something. So….your son accidentally shrunk himself…you found this formula, and I know you’ll eventually find a cure! And once this thing is all over, Tim’ll be back to normal, and we can put this WHOLE ordeal behind us…”

     Julia paused, wondering if she’d taken her words of encouragement too far.

     Natalie didn’t speak; only sighed heavily and took another sip of coffee.

     “Sis,” Julia sighed, reaching out and placing her hand face down on Natalie’s side of the table, “look, no matter what happens, I just want you to know that I’m here for you. No matter WHAT the outcome.”

     “Thanks, Jules,” Natalie replied softly, gently grasping her sister’s hand. “I really appreciate it. Thank you….for everything you’ve done this week.”

     “You’re welcome,” Julia smiled softly.

     “Whelp,” Natalie continued as she took her last sip of coffee and stood up from the table, “I’d better go get cleaned up and get ready for work…and I’d better wake Tim up, too.”

     “Oh, actually sis, why don’t you let him sleep a little while longer?” Julia requested, reaching out to her sister with a halting gesture. “There’s a couple things I’d like to do before he gets up.”

     “Oh?” Natalie uttered. “Like what?”

     “Oh, you know,” Julia replied offhandedly, “maybe workout, shower…actually, I also wanted to sweep and mop the kitchen this morning. I really didn’t get around to it yesterday.”

     “Oh, Jules, actually, if you’re gonna do that, would you mind taking out the trash when you’re done, and moving the recycling to the curb for me, too? I forgot to do it after I got home from work yesterday, and it’s trash day.”

     “Sure, sis. No prob. I’ll try to get it all taken care of before I get Tim up.”

     “OK, but don’t make it TOO late,” Natalie cautioned. “I don’t want Tim sleeping the day away. And you KNOW I don’t exactly like the idea of leaving him in his room all by himself.”

     “Nat, he’s fine,” Julia scoffed. “I looked in on him this morning after I got up. Actually, I think he could use the extra rest.”

     “Oh, OK, but are you sure you don’t want me getting him up before I leave?” Natalie inquired. “You know it’s not exactly easy getting him out of bed.”

     “Sis, he’s an inch tall,” Julia offered bluntly. “I’m sure I can handle it. Besides, I’d like a little more time to myself this morning.”

     “Well…OK,” Natalie relented as she dropped her coffee mug in the sink. “Anyway, I’ll be in the shower.”

     “OK,” Julia replied as Natalie headed out of the kitchen, leaving Julia alone with her thoughts.

     A short while later, Natalie was showered and dressed, wearing a casual and more laid-back outfit than the previous days. Without any meetings scheduled, she could spend more time in the lab and less time trying to impress her bosses and fellow coworkers.

     “All ready for work?” Julia inquired as she stepped into the bedroom, still holding her cup of coffee.

    “Yeah, I think so,” Natalie replied, albeit slightly taken aback by the fact that Julia was still wearing her rather immodest nightgown. “Are you gonna walk around in that nightgown all day?!”

     “No,” Julia replied defensively. “Why, what’s wrong with it?”

     “Well, it’s not exactly the most appropriate thing you could be wearing. I’m not sure I’m comfortable letting Tim see you in that. Heck, I’M not exactly comfortable seeing you in that either!”

     “Oh, come on, Nat,” Julia scoffed. “Don’t be such a prude. I just wanna be comfortable for a little while longer. Look, if it bothers you so much, I promise, I’ll get dressed before I wake Tim up.”

     “Thanks, I’d appreciate it,” Natalie said bluntly, adjusting her clothes. “And don’t wait too long to go check on him again. I don’t want him getting restless and start roaming the house unsupervised. We’ve had too many close calls this week already and I don’t want him getting STEPPED on now!”

     “Sis, would you relax?!” Julia replied defensively. “I’m not gonna STEP on my nephew! Geez! Gimme a little credit!”

     “Yeah, well, anyway, I gotta get going,” Natalie said as she walked past her sister and headed out of the room. “Is my paperwork still on the coffee table?”

     “Yeah, I think so,” Julia replied, following her sister down the hall into the living room. “At least, that’s where I think you put it last night before you went to bed.”

     “Yep, it’s right where I left it,” Natalie said, pointing at the coffee table and heading over to retrieve her papers. “Alright, I’m off.”

     “Bye, sis,” Julia replied, giving her sister two faux kisses on either cheek. “Have a good day.”

     “Thanks, you too.”

     “…And good luck with that analysis.”

     “Thanks, I’ll need it,” Natalie replied, slipping on her flats by the den. “I might be home late. Depends on how long it takes to finish everything I need to get done.”

     “OK, I won’t wait up.”

     “Alright, See you later.”

     “Bye, drive safe,” Julia called as her sister headed out the front door.

     Julia watched anxiously from the front door window as her sister headed down the front steps and across the walk to her car.

     A few minutes later, she watched as Natalie situated herself inside the car, pulled out of the driveway, and slowly drove away down the street.

     “Thank God,” Julia sighed with relief, practically squirming in her nightgown. “I thought she’d NEVER leave!”     

     Tim was awoken again by the sound of heavy footsteps approaching his bedroom door. He quickly rolled over away from the door, hoping to feign being asleep so whomever it was would let him rest a bit longer.

     “Knock, knock,” Julia said as she opened the bedroom door, grinning excitedly as she scurried on tiptoes into the room, closing the door behind her.

     “Wakey, wakey, little nephew,” she giggled devilishly as she scampered across the room towards Tim‘s bed, setting a small, squeeze bottle on his nightstand. “I’ve got a little sur-PRISE for you!”

     Tim pulled his tissue blanket up over his head and buried his face in his pillow again in a half-assed attempt to hide.

     “Come on, little guy,” Julia cooed as she bent down and leaned over his pillow.

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim groaned, “I’m really not in the mood for surprises this morning.”

     “Oh, don’t be like that,” Julia pouted. “We’re gonna have a lot of fun today.”

     “What’re you gonna do?” Tim asked snidely, albeit nervously as he immediately rolled over and sat upright. “Stick me in the back of your panties again?!”

     “Mm, not quite,” Julia replied with a playful chortle. “See, ever since my workout yesterday, I’ve been a little…well, distracted. Seems having you squirming around in my panties kinda got me…well, stimulated.”

     “Ew!” Tim exclaimed disconcertedly. “Aunt Julia, I REALLY don’t wanna hear this!”

     “Well, in any case,” Julia chuckled, motioning with her finger, “having you squirming around down there kinda got me thinking. So….I decided to do a little research. At first, I was honestly just scouring the internet trying to figure out some other fun things we could do with you—you know, seeing as you’re so small—but the more I kept digging…well, honestly, you wouldn’t BELIEVE all the stuff I found! Did you know there are people that actually have fetishes about being SMALL like you?! Or playing with a tiny person?! Man, the things that people get off on!”

     “Come on, Aunt Julia,” Tim objected with a sour face. “Please, stop!”

     “But, the more I watched,” Julia continued undeterred, “the more intrigued I was. I tried to ignore it, tried to suppress it, but ultimately, I knew I just couldn’t resist. I just HAD to try it…”

     “Tr-Try what?” Tim stammered nervously.

     Julia giggled mischievously, biting her lower lip as she moved her face in close to her tiny nephew:

     “…Putting you inside me!” She replied softly.

     “Wh—WHAT?!” Tim exclaimed in utter shock, his eyes going wide.

     “Oh, don’t act so surprised, Tim!” Julia chortled, shrugging, “Like you didn’t know this was coming. Surely you realized how turned on you were getting me yesterday!”

     “Wha—I was TRYING to get outta your panties, Aunt Julia!” Tim exclaimed irately, trying to keep himself from gagging.

     “…And you have NO idea how GOOD it felt!” Julia exclaimed. “And then, watching ALL those videos with women playing around with tiny toys, pretending they were shrunken people, sticking them in inside their…*sigh* it was all so EROTIC! I just HAVE  to you feel what it’s like having you inside me!”

     “WHA—NO!” Tim reeled in horror. “Y…You can’t be SERIOUS, Aunt Julia!”

     “Oh, I’m VERY serious, little man!” Julia exclaimed, “And the best part is, all those videos I watched…those people were just playing with little dolls and toys. I get to experience it with a REAL-LIVE, tiny person!

     “Oh, I’m getting wet just THINKING about it!” Julia moaned breathlessly, rubbing the front of her nightgown. “Sure, I wish it weren’t my NEPHEW, but HEY, beggars can’t be choosers!”

     “Aunt Julia, NO!” Tim screamed, putting up his hands defensively. “Y-You can’t DO THIS!”

     “Oh, my mind’s already made up, Tiny Tim,” Julia said assuredly, shaking her head. “We’re most DEFINITELY doing this! I mean, when else am I honestly gonna have a chance like this again? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’m certainly NOT passing it up!”

     Tim looked on in horror as his giant aunt reached down and pulled her nightgown up over her head, exposing her bare breasts underneath. He immediately seized upon the opportunity, springing to his feet and making a mad dash towards to the edge of his bed.

     By the time Julia pulled her nightgown off over her head, Tim had already made it to the other side of his bed.

     “What the—?” Julia uttered, dropping her nightgown to the floor as she saw her tiny nephew heading for the far side of his bed. “TIM, Get BACK here!”

     Julia lunged, throwing herself onto the bed as she reached out to grab the tiny teenager. Tim instinctively backed away to avoid being snatched, just barely dodging her giant hand. Unfortunately, as Aunt Julia’s colossal, topless frame landed on the bed, the impact bounced Tim into the air and clear off the side. The tiny teenager went squealing off the mattress, tumbling helplessly down towards the floor.

     Julia gasped in shock as she watched Tim’s tiny frame flew off the bed, scrambling after him as quickly as she could.

     Tim landed surprisingly softly into the plush carpet of his bedroom, taking a moment to shake off the stupor…

     As he looked skyward, Aunt Julia’s giant face appeared, peeking out over the edge of the mattress above. Not wanting to get caught, Tim scrambled to get to his feet and took off towards the underside of his bed, hoping he could find somewhere to hide.

     “Why you sneaky little…” Julia exclaimed, clambering to get her body moving. “COME HERE!”

     Julia hurriedly shifted her weight and swung her legs around, thrusting herself into a standing position. Tim squeaked in terror, diving out of the way, just barely avoiding the woman’s giant heels as they stomped down onto the floor. Julia leaned back to get a better angle at the floor under the bed, quickly spotting her tiny nephew struggling to stand up in the sea of carpet strands after being knocked over from the impact when her feet hit the floor. Julia quickly stepped forward, reaching her right foot under the bed.

     Tim yelped in terror as he scrambled to get out of reach, but Julia was too fast for him. Before he could get clear, his aunt’s plump toes clamped down on the swath of carpet that surrounded him, cutting off his screams.

     “Gotcha!” Julia uttered in triumph as she felt her toes wrap around her nephew’s tiny body, scooping him up as she pulled her foot out from under the bed.

     “You’re not getting away from me THAT easily, Tiny Tim!” she giggled menacingly at her scrunched foot, feeling the tiny teenager squirming inside her toe crevasses, shouting muffled screams and curses at her.

     Julia carefully turned her body around and plopped her ass back down on the bed, placing her overturned foot in her lap. Then, she carefully unclenched and nimbly wiggled her toes, maneuvering Tim’s tiny frame up into the gap between her big and second toes.

    Tim immediately screamed and struggled to free himself as soon as Julia unclenched her foot, but the giant woman wasn’t letting that happen. With a few tiny movements, her toes had grasped his tiny legs and swallowed him up to his sternum, leaving only his head and chest visible near her toe prints, his lower legs hanging out the other side. Tim’s arms were pinned to his sides, along with the majority of his midsection, and Julia laughed maniacally as he desperately wiggled to free himself, delighting in watching her tiny nephew squirm with futility within her toes’ vice-like grip.

     “Now, YOU just sit tight, little guy,” she smiled with sadistic glee, “while I make myself comfortable.”

     Julia quickly scooted her butt back, carelessly swinging her legs all the way over to the other side of the bed; Tim could only yelp and hold on for dear life as he was violently jerked through the air along with his aunt’s giant foot.

     Over the next minute or two, Julia fidgeted about, grabbing and fluffing up pillows to make herself more comfortable. Meanwhile, her right leg dangled slightly off the side of the bed, leaving Tim hanging precariously, upside down and screaming for mercy as he was haphazardly swung back and forth with each careless movement of his aunt’s giant foot.

     With the bed all set, Julia scooted herself to right side of the bed, placing her hands on her thighs as both her legs dangled over the floor. She paused for a moment, giggling with delight as she watched her nephew’s tiny legs kicking helplessly between her toes, chuckling as his tiny squeaks intensified with each playful squeeze and back-and-forth sway of her foot.

     Then, Julia shifted her hands to the waistband of her panties, and slowly began sliding them down over her legs and down her shins.

     Meanwhile, Tim was screaming his head off as his aunt’s foot kept haphazardly shifting and swaying about, when he was suddenly shrouded in darkness. He shouts became even more frantic as he was unsure of exactly what was happening, yet feared Julia could move her foot to the floor at any time.

     Julia chuckled as her panties slipped over her foot, muffling Tim’s squeaks for a moment before she flipped them onto the floor on top of her previously discarded nightgown. 

     Tim kept screaming as he was jerked upwards, the giant woman shifting her body and scooting back, placing her upturned foot onto the bed. His shouts suddenly ceased: he was completely mortified at the sight of his giant aunt sitting completely naked before him, too terrified to move and unable to speak.

     “Ah,” Julia sighed contently as she leaned back onto two pillows situated behind her, “that’s better.”

     “Aunt Julia, PLEASE!” Tim squeaked desperately. “DON’T DO THIS!” 

     “Aw, don’t be nervous, Tiny Tim!” the giant woman cooed, shaking her head and gently stroking the tiny teenager with her index finger. “I promise I’ll be gentle…well, at least I’ll TRY to be, but, just in case, I think I’d like to use just a lee-tle bit more lubrication!”

     Tim certainly did not like the sound nor tone of Aunt Julia’s voice, and immediately resumed his struggles to free himself from the giant toes clamped around his waist.

     His wiggling didn’t go unnoticed, however; as Julia reached for the squeeze bottle she’d placed on the nightstand just a few minutes prior, she felt her nephew’s squirms intensify, and clamped her toes down harder to keep the little guy from slipping away.

     “Tim!” she exclaimed impatiently, “I swear, if you don’t knock off all that squirming, I’m gonna SIT on you!”

     Tim didn’t care, however. Even Aunt Julia sitting on him was FAR preferable to where she was about to stick him.

     “Now then, seeing as I’m already pretty wet, and you’re so small, I shouldn’t need too much.” Julia commented as she flipped open the cap on the squeeze bottle, holding the open end over her toes. “Just a little bit should do…”

     “WAIT!” Tim shouted in desperation, putting his arms up defensively as he saw Aunt Julia squeeze the bottle, “NOmfglb—!”

     Tim was enveloped in a huge glob of slime that dripped down from the spout above him, his squirms becoming ever more frantic and jerky as he struggled within the thick coating of goop.

     “Oops!” Julie uttered apologetically, giggling as she quickly pulled the bottle back and popped the lid closed, setting it back down on the nightstand next to her. “I think I may have gotten a little too much. Oh well.”

     She quickly reached down and used her fingers to scoop away the excess lube from her toes, gently brushing against Tim’s upper body to free him from his goopy prison. The tiny teenager coughed and sputtered to clear the offending substance from his mouth and throat, while Julia smeared the excess lube she’d wiped from her foot around her labia, astounded by how wet she already was.

     She purred with excitement seeing her tiny nephew writhing between her toes, completely covered in lubricant.

     “Here,” Julia giggled softly, “Let me just rub that in for ya.”

     Before Tim could protest, Julia began wiggling her big and second toes back-and-forth, slathering lube up and down all sides of his tiny figure while he squirmed and writhed about, struggling in vain to get away.

     “Oh, I can’t believe how wet I am!” Julia exclaimed breathlessly, biting her lower lip with anxiety as she slowly scooted her foot towards her quivering womanhood. “I’m REALLY going to enjoy this!”

     Tim began screaming in terror as his aunt’s giant foot slowly inched its way towards her huge, naked body. His struggles intensified, squirming like mad to free himself from the clutches of Aunt Julia’s toes.

     “Mm, save some of that squirming for when you’re inside me, Timmy!” the giant woman giggled seductively, tightening her toes’ grip on his tiny body.

     Unbelievably, Tim was actually making some headway, using the recent lubrication to his advantage and pulling his arms free. He frantically pushed against Julia’s big toes to slide his body the rest of the way free, but he was quickly approaching face-to-face with Aunt Julia’s giant labia.

     Tim immediately put out his hands to brace himself against the soft exterior of his aunt’s vagina…

     The impact was surprisingly soft, but Tim was buried face-first into Aunt Julia’s vulva. He screamed frantically for mercy, pushing against the moist, malleable flesh of the giant vagina with all his might to keep himself from being forced inside the ominous cavern before him…

     The giant foot’s forward motion abruptly stopped…

     Tim suddenly felt a huge, plump object impacting the balls of his feet; Tim twisted his body, straining to see what was happening…

     Then, Julia’s toes suddenly unclamped from his waist….a split second later, he was thrust forward into the gaping maw…

     With a tiny slurp, Tim was swallowed whole.

     “MRMMMMMPF!” Tim screamed, immediately kicking his legs and flailing his arms wildly, twisting and turning his body in his struggle to move his way backwards out of the moist, actively-quacking prison. 

     A few seconds later, Tim felt his legs emerging from aunt’s pussy; he immediately thrust his hands into the ground and pushed as hard as he could to slide the rest of his body free…

     Something huge impacted his behind, forcing Tim forward again. He immediately planted his hands to halt his movement, but he was too weak to resist. His world turned upside down, his body pushed into a somersault as he was thrust even deeper into the cavernous pussy.

     Tim desperately reached out for the giant, fleshy objects as they retracted from his prison, but he couldn’t find a grip. He immediately began clawing his way in the direction he believed they came from, somehow finding a small crack of light. Tim scrambled forward, reaching his hands for freedom. They emerged from the giant pussy a second later, grabbing the outside surface and pushing until the tiny teenager’s head popped out.

     Tim gasped for air, opening his mouth to scream, but only managed a surprised yelp as something huge smacked him squarely in the face, forcing him back inside again... 

     With her finger firmly in position against Tim’s tiny feet, Julia simultaneously unclenched her toes and immediately shoved her tiny nephew inside her cum-soaked pussy…

    She gasped; the sensation was intense and immediate! She could feel every single one of Tim’s movements inside her! Julia chuckled in ecstasy, moaning and biting her lip as she struggled to keep herself still.

     All the while, she actively watched her crotch, occasionally spotting a tiny arm or leg—even her nephew’s tiny head a couple of times—sticking out of her pussy as the tiny teenager struggled desperately to escape; each time, however, Julia would gently push him back inside her with her fingers, his frantic screams and struggles ever intensifying and only serving to heighten her ecstasy.

     Julia moaned softly; her breathing became shallow. She started gyrating her hips, bucking and thrusting with each surge of pleasure that coursed through her body, trying to sync her movements with the struggles and squirms of her pussy’s tiny prisoner.

     “Holy SHIT, Tim!” she exclaimed. “If I’d have known how good this was gonna feel, I’d have put you in there from day one!”

     Julia felt something building inside her; she just needed to help it along. She immediately moved her right hand to her crotch and began massaging her clit.

     “Oh, that’s right: keep squirming little guy!” she beckoned breathlessly, her fingers now applying constant pressure, and continuously colliding with Tim as they penetrated inside her. “Keep squirming!”

     Julia began rubbing her clit harder…faster…

     Her moaning became louder, her heart beat faster, and her breathing became quick and shallow…

     At that point, Julia relented her control, letting her body take over…

     Her toes curled, and her free hand grasped the bedsheets, desperately trying to hold on as every muscle throughout her body tensed up.

     She gasped deeply; then, with a loud moan, she came…!

     Tim was suddenly swept up in a tidal wave of discharge, his entire prison flooding with come. The wave surged forth, carrying its shrunken captive towards the entrance of the hot, moist cavern…

     Tim burst out into the light, splashing down a few moments later into a huge puddle of cum just below his aunt’s giant pussy. He struggled to catch his breath, writhing in the pool of nasty liquid as he scrambled to right himself, slipping and stumbling several times in his attempts to get clear. Once he’d found his footing, however, Tim sprinted down the bed as fast as his little legs could take him, desperate to get away before Aunt Julia realized he was gone…

     A satisfied sigh escaped Julia’s lips; she closed her eyes and laid her head to the side. She was still able to feel the discharge literally dripping from her pussy. A few moments beforehand, her body was spasmodic, squirting huge amounts of cum onto the bed beneath her, more than she’d ever gushed before. Now, it had slowed to a tiny trickle, eventually coming to a stop altogether.

     She lay there for a moment, struggling to catch her breath and calm her mind, her body still overcome with giddiness and waves of ecstasy.

     “Oh, my God!” Julia exclaimed breathlessly. “That was….AMAZING!”

     Once she finally had control over her body again, she reached down and patted the area of the bed between her legs, blindly scanning for her nephew’s tiny figure. She bit her lip, grinning obnoxiously at just how much cum she’d deposited on the bed. There was quite the sizable puddle of discharge, but she didn’t feel Tim anywhere.

     “Tim?” Julia called down, her hand feeling about more intently. “Tim, are you there?”

     She turned and raised her head, straining to see down the bed…

     She quickly spotted Tim running down the mattress, apparently trying some futile attempt to get away.

    “Where do you think YOUR going, Tiny Tim?!” Julia chuckled with annoyance, grinning smugly as she saw him flinch, “You know better than to try to get away from ME!”

     Tim squealed in fear as Julia quickly raised her right leg and stomped her foot hard on the bed. The tiny boy bounced several inches into the air, flailing his arms and legs as he came back down and landed on the mattress. He hurriedly scrambled to his feet again, struggling to get himself to the far end of the bed.

     “Why you little—!” Julia scoured, struggling herself to sit up. “Come here!”

     She reached out with her right foot, trying to slap it down on top of the tiny teenager before he could move any further.

     Tim yelped as he saw Julia’s giant foot move his direction, leaping out of the way as it slammed down on the bed again. He managed to narrowly avoid being stomped, but the impact, coupled with Tim’s current momentum, was enough to send him flying into the air and careening off the end of the bed again. The tiny teenager squealed in sheer terror as he went tumbling end over end towards the floor below…

     “TIM!” Julia gasped fearfully as she watched her nephew’s tiny figure fly off the end of the bed and drop from sight. She immediately lunged forward, thrusting her body upright and quickly crawling her way down the bed, peering over the edge apprehensively…

     She immediately spotted the tiny teenager writhing on his back in the carpet below, unsurprisingly stunned from the fall.

     “Timmy,” Julie called down, sincerely concerned, “are you OK?”

     Tim lay prone for a moment, stunned once again from the heights from which he’d fallen. He finally snapped back to reality when he heard Aunt Julia calling down to him, shooting his gaze upwards, and seeing his aunt’s giant face looking down at him with concern.

     “Are you CRAZY, AUNT JULIA!” He shouted up, straining as he scrambled to stand up. “You could’ve KILLED me!”

     Julia smiled once she saw Tim moving around in the carpet below, relieved he wasn’t badly hurt, despite the fact it had been the SECOND time the tiny teenager had fallen off the bed that morning. She chortled as she watched him squeaking up and shaking his little fist at her, finding his plight somewhat amusing. 

     “Oh, look,” Julia chided playfully, “he’s OK.”

     Tim began squeaking even more frantically from her words, now standing and jumping amidst a sea of carpet strands. Julia merely giggled at his reaction, swinging her legs around until they hung off the edge of the bed. She sat for a few moments, watching her tiny nephew with indifference as he continuously squeaked profanities and curses up at her, waiting for him to wear himself out.

     After a minute or so, Julia grew tiresome of the wait and scooted forward until her feet could reach the floor. Then, she lightly, yet menacingly, slapped them down on either side of the tiny teenager, grinning with sadistic glee as she watched Tim fall backwards onto his rear from the impact.

     “Now, now, now, Tiny Tim,” Julia rebuked him, raising her right foot and hovering it over his tiny figure, “if you don’t stop all that squeaking, your Auntie’s gonna have to STEP on you again!”

     Tim cowered in fear as Aunt Julia’s foot hovered overhead, her plump, meaty toes wiggling playfully as she scrunched and flexed her sole, casting an ominous shadow over a huge swathe of the carpet. 

     “Ah, that’s better,” Julia commented pridefully as she lowered her foot, and set it back down off to Tim’s left.

     Tim breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the giant foot moved away…but as he stared up at the giant woman smiling down at him arrogantly as she exerted her dominance, the look of fear on the tiny boy’s face turned to anger and disgust. He immediately stood up, brushed himself off, took a deep breath, and shouted up irately:

     “Aunt Julia, I’ve had ENOUGH! You CAN’T keep treating me like this! I’m not some TOY that you can just use for your amusement! I’m telling mom about all this as SOON as she gets home. DO YOU HEAR ME! I’VE HAD ENOUGH—!”

     Julia shook her head apathetically as she stared down at her tiny nephew squeaking inaudibly and jumping up and down again, no doubt protesting his treatment. Whatever he was saying, however, didn’t concern her in the least. She grinned widely and merely raised her right foot, moving it over him again.

     “A-Aunt Julia,” Tim stammered as he watched his aunt lift her foot and hover it over him again, “D-Don’t you DARE put your nasty foot on me again! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I SAID—MMpf!”

     The tiny teenager’s squeaks were suddenly cut off as Julia nonchalantly slapped her right foot on top of him. She grinned with satisfaction as she felt Tim frantically squirming beneath her sole, his tiny, muffled screams vibrating her tender, wrinkled flesh. Julia left her foot in place for a solid minute, waiting until her nephew’s futile struggles died down; then, once they’d finally stopped, she leaned forward and applied just slightest amount of extra pressure…

     Julia swore she could actually hear Tim’s muffled screams, even with her foot on top of him. She giggled heartlessly as his tiny struggles intensified, despite the extra pressure stifling his movement.

     Finally, the tiny boy’s struggles ceased for the second time, and Julia carefully lifted her foot, expecting to see Tim writhing on the carpet…

     …To her surprise, he wasn’t there.

     Julia quickly turned over her foot and inspected her sole…

     There was Tim, splayed out and plastered face down in the middle of her sole, struggling to push his face free of her foot flesh. The dried-cum from Julia’s pussy had formed a sticky paste, and the pressure she’d exerted on him was more than enough to firmly adhere the tiny teenager to the underside of her foot.

     “Oh my, God!” Julia laughed out loud as she reached down and lifted her foot into her lap. “You’re actually STUCK to my foot!” 

     Once she’d gotten her giggles out, Julia sighed and shook her head, wiggling her toes and playfully scrunching her foot again, all the while her tiny nephew continuing his struggles to push himself free of her sole.

     “I’m really sorry it’s come to this, Tim,” she apologized halfheartedly, with an apathetic shrug, “but I warned you what would happen if you misbehaved, and NOW look at you: stuck to the bottom of my foot. I made it all VERY clear from the get go, little one: you do what I say, and you don’t get squished, but seems I just haven’t gotten through to you, have I? Well, I guess you’ll just have to learn your lesson the HARD way!”

     While Julia finished talking, Tim somehow managed to pull his right arm free using it to gain the leverage he needed to push his face out of his aunt’s flesh. The tiny teenager gasped for air, shaking his head and disheveled hair as he struggled to free his left arm with fleeting strength.

     “So,” Julia cooed, moving her face closer, “are you done with your little temper tantrum?”

     “Aunt Julia, please,” Tim begged weakly, his eyes almost in tears. “Why are you doing this to me?”

     “I already told you, Tiny Tim,” Julia replied bluntly. “Either you do what I say, or else. Don’t blame me if you don’t like your punishment.”

     “PUNISHMENT?!” Tim squeaked with aghast, “Punishment is putting me in timeout, or grounding me for a week, not STEPPING on me, or sticking me inside your…your…”

     Tim’s voice trailed off, unable to verbalize where he’d been.

     “Oh, THAT wasn’t a punishment, Tim,” Julia dismissed, “that was just me having a little fun.”

     “‘FUN’?! THAT wasn’t ‘FUN’, it was HORRIFYING! How could you DO THAT to me?!”

     “Oh, lighten up, Tim,” Julia scoffed. “I’m sure it wasn’t THAT bad!”

     “‘Wasn’t that BAD’?!” Tim exclaimed, utterly appalled. “It was TERRIBLE! Just wait until mom hears about this!”

     Julia scowled resentfully, quickly reaching her fingers down and plucking her tiny nephew off her foot by one of his legs.

     “WH—HEY!” Tim shrieked as he was suddenly peeled from his aunt’s sole and jerked up in front of her face.

     “NOBODY’S gonna hear about this!” the giant woman said harshly. “You HEAR me, Tiny Tim?! NOBODY!”

     “HEY, PUT ME DOWN!” Tim demanded as he helplessly dangled upside-down between his aunt’s plump fingers. “PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW, AUNT JULIA!”

     “Oh, I don’t think so, little man!” Julia seethed, repeatedly poking him with the index finger of her free hand, “not until you get through that thick, little head of yours that as long as I’m here, I’m in charge, and when I tell you to do something, you DO IT! You GOT ME?!”

     “NO!” Tim objected adamantly, pointing his little finger at her. “I’m NOT playing your stupid games anymore, Aunt Julia! You CAN’T treat me like this, and before you even THINK about punishing me again, YOU’D better remember that if ANYTHING happens to me, mom’ll NEVER forgive you, and once she makes me big again, I’m telling her EVERYTHING you’ve done to me! Do you hear ME?! EVERYTHING!!”

     Julia remained surprisingly calm and silent, giving Tim the inclination that he’d won…

     Then, the giant woman slowly and deliberately moved Tim and her hand in close to her face:

     “Now, you look here, Tiny Tim,” Julia began calmly, “You REALLY might wanna reconsider your, uh…‘little’ situation. I know that you’re clinging to this…HOPE….that your mom’ll be able to find a cure for you, but have you even considered the possibility that she might NOT be able to bring you back to normal size? Hm? Did you ever THINK about the possibility you might be stuck this small….FOREVER?!”

     “NO!” Tim objected, “Mom’s working on a cure for me RIGHT NOW! As we speak!”

     “Uh huh,” Julia humored him, “I’m sure that’s what she TOLD you, and I’m sure, at this very moment, she working FRANTICALLY on finishing up analyzing that formula you drank, but even once that’s done…then what? For all we know, even if she gets started right away, it could take weeks, even months for her to find a cure, and THAT’S  if she even CAN.”

     Tim’s heart sank; he became increasingly anxious as Aunt Julia continued:

     “But what if she CAN’T! Huh? What if she CAN’T cure you?! For all you know, your shrinking might be PERMANENT! You might be STUCK that size for the rest of your pathetic, little life!”

     “N…No,” Tim stammered, “No! Mom wouldn’t let that happen! She’ll cure me! I KNOW she will!”

     “Yeah, yeah,” Julia disparaged, gently, albeit deliberately shaking the tiny boy between her fingers, “go ahead and cling to that hope, little man. I mean, maybe she will….or maybe she won’t, but whether it’s THIS week, NEXT week, or not at all, I’m sure as hell NOT gonna have a disobedient, little nephew running around the house, so I suggest you straighten up right now…or your gonna find out just how uncomfortable I can make your tiny, little life!”

     “No!” Tim objected weakly, somehow finding his courage. “I’m NOT taking your crap ONE MORE MINUTE, AUNT JULIA! I may be small, but I’m still a human being, and I’m NOT gonna let you harass me anymore!”

     “Alright, little man,” Julia replied sternly, bringing Tim in close. “I warned you! I’d have thought being stuck in the back of my panties would’ve made you watch that little mouth of yours, but I guess I’m gonna have to do something a bit more drastic!”

    “HEY, WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!” Tim shrieked. “AAA—!”

     Julia immediately deposited her tiny nephew into her left hand and closed her fist around him, cutting off his cries. Then, she rocked her body forward and stood up from the bed, taking a moment to snatch her panties and nightgown from the floor with her free hand before stomping out of the room.

     Meanwhile, Tim struggled inside his aunt’s fist, shouting curses and demanding to be freed, but his cries fell on deaf ears. He didn’t know where Aunt Julia was taking him, but he was sure he wasn’t going to like it.

     A few moments later, Julia, still naked and carrying her nightgown in her hand, stomped through the kitchen, stopping by one of the kitchen drawers to retrieve a small, scotch tape dispenser; then, she closed the drawer with her hip and stepped over the kitchen table, placing the contents of her hand on the table and sitting her bare ass down in one of the chairs.     

     Next, Julia lifted her right foot and placed it upturned in her lap, then opened her fist and tilted her palm, maneuvering Tim between her thumb and index finger and bringing him up right in front of her face.

     “Alright, little man,” Julia spoke sternly, “you wanted to keep misbehaving, well NOW you’re gonna have to face some REAL consequences!”

     “WAIT!” Tim shrieked as Julia’s hand moved towards her upturned foot. “NO—mpf!”

     Julia thrust Tim face-first into the middle of her bare sole, using her free hand to reach back to the table and tear off a small piece of tape from the dispenser. The tiny teenager struggled madly, trying to push his face off his aunt’s foot flesh so he could breathe, but Julia’s fingers held him securely in place, unintentionally suffocating him…

     Then, the pressure on Tim’s back suddenly lessened enough for him to push his face free. He quickly lifted his head and gasped for air, shouting as soon as he could breathe.

     “AUNT JULIA, What—ACK!”

     Tim suddenly felt Aunt Julia’s huge fingers slide across back, putting pressure on his midsection as they pressed into her sole; as soon as the sensation passed, Tim tried pushing himself up again…

     He was surprised to find he couldn’t move: his arms and midsection were stuck, held in place by some unknown force. Tim immediately craned his neck to look…

     That’s when he noticed a huge piece of scotch tape lying straight across his back, pinning his arms out to the side.

     “AUNT JULIA!” he squeaked anxiously, struggling in desperation to free his arms. “Wh-What’re you DOING?!”

     “I….” Julia began, pausing for a moment as she tore off a second piece of tape and placed it across his legs, making Tim yelp in pain again, “….am taking matters….into my own hands.

     “Sorry, Tim,” she half-heartedly apologized, adamantly tearing off another piece of tape, “but this is for your own good. Small or not, I’m NOT letting my sister have a spoiled, disobedient little BRAT for a son for one more minute! I’m gonna fix your behavior, if it’s the last thing I DO!”

     “AUNT JULIA, NO!” Tim screamed, desperately pleading within his giant aunt.“PLEASE! WAIT! AUNT JULI—MRMpf!”

     Tim’s tiny screams were immediately muffled as Julia placed the third piece of tape over his head, pressing his face into her sole. The tiny boy struggled futilely to free himself, but the tape was holding fast, and he couldn’t move or make any sound other than a muffled scream.

     Meanwhile, Julia grabbed a final piece of tape for good measure and placed it lengthwise along her nephew’s body, firmly sealing him in place.

     “There,” Julia commended herself, nodding assuredly as she rubbed her hand across the bottom of her foot to make sure the tape was adhered nice and tightly, “that’ll hold ya.”

     She smiled proudly as she wiggled your toes and scrunched her foot again, making sure the tape stayed put, and delighting in watching Tim squirm and writhe beneath it.

     “Ah,” Julia sighed contently. “so much better. Now, you just stay right there while I take care of some housework…

     “But don’t worry,” she giggled maniacally, “I’m sure you won’t be squished!”

     Tim’s muffled cries continued, his desperate struggles and pleas for mercy going unheeded as the giant woman removed her foot from her lap and carefully lowered it to the floor. She waited for a moment, making sure her tiny nephew was still moving before she stood up…

     Tim screamed as the pressure greatly intensified, believing for sure he was about to be squashed, but he was still alive…and completely conscious. Despite his face being buried in Julia’s foot flesh, he still was somehow able to breathe, although the air was hot and reeked of feet.

     For the next few moments, Tim could feel himself being jerked into the air while his giant aunt put her panties and nightgown back on…

     Then, she took a step…pausing her again to make sure Tim was still moving…which he was, and screaming even more from the immense pressure.

     Julia merely grinned and proceeded out of the kitchen, her nephew firmly taped to her sole.

     Tim was in absolute hell! For the remainder of that morning, the tiny teenager remained securely taped to the bottom of his aunt’s bare foot while she walked and puttered around the house: getting dressed, taking care of the housework, sweeping and cleaning up the kitchen, and even the few minutes Julia slipped her feet into her flip flops to take the trash out to the curb, Tim was along for the nightmarish ride.

     Each step the giant woman took was absolute torture, and although he was thankfully plastered in the middle of Julia’s sole, avoiding the worst and no doubt heaviest parts of her stride, it came of little comfort considering the immense pressures Tim was experiencing regardless, not to mention the pungent, inescapable stench of his aunt’s sweaty sole which his face was presently buried in. Between each stride came only a small semblance of reprieve from the intermittent pressure, but Tim used of every opportunity to squirm and wiggle in his desperate, yet futile attempts to escape his sticky prison.

     A few times, the tiny teenager was actually able to loosen the tape a bit — a combination of his struggles, and the tape loosing its stickiness thanks to Julia’s excessive perspiration. Unfortunately, the giant woman was always one step ahead: being paranoid that the tape on her foot might fall off, every five minutes or so, Julia would run her hand over the tape on her foot to re-secure Tim in place, even going so far as to replace and add additional strips of tape along her sole when needed.

     The punishment continued into the lunch hour: Julia sat at the kitchen table enjoying her meal, placing her foot across her lap, and playfully scrunching her sole, grinning and giggling as she watch her tiny nephew squirming for real life beneath the layers of tape. For a moment, she considered taking pity on him by peeling Tim off her sole and giving him a bite to eat, but considering she was technically already giving him a slight reprieve from all her stomping around, she ultimately decided to leave him in place and use the opportunity to exert her dominance and attempt to make him more docile, figuring the more time Tim spent taped to her foot, the less likely he’d be to resist her orders. If nothing else, the whole experience would certainly make him think twice before mouthing off to her again.

     After lunch, Julia lounged on the living room sofa, relaxing with one of her romance novels. She had her right leg draped over the armrest, playfully bouncing her calf on the cushioned surface, jostling and swinging her foot back and forth, delighting in thinking about the plight of the tiny, little teenager taped to her sole.

     “Ah,” Julia sighed loudly, breaking the silence, “it feels so nice to relax after a productive morning, wouldn’t you say so Tim?”

     Tim’s only response was muffled screams and desperate wiggles.

     “Yeah, you’re right,” Julia chortled blithely, “it’s probably better for those of us that AREN’T stuck to the bottom of my foot….but HEY, things could always be worse: I could’ve forgotten to shower today. Boy, imagine how smelly my foot might be then…!

     “…Oh, wait, “I DIDN’T shower this morning, did I?!” Julia chuckled, feigning innocence as she shrugged and shifted her gaze towards the ceiling. “Oh well…”

     Julia went back to her book and resumed nonchalantly bouncing her calf on the armrest, just barely able to feel Tim’s squirms on her foot, ever the queer, yet pleasing feeling.

     “Aw, what’s the matter, Tiny Tim?” Julia cooed apathetically, swaying her foot back and forth. “Do you want off my foot? Well, maybe if you’re good, I’ll take you off there when I fix myself a snack later on, but for now, you just sit tight where you are. I’m just getting to the good part of my book.”

     Tim used what little strength he had left in him to continue his desperate struggles to free himself from Aunt Julia’s nasty foot. Although he was thankful for any semblance of a reprieve his aunt graced him with throughout the day, he could certainly do without the constant, playful bouncing and shifting of her foot. Thankfully, with the bulk of Aunt Julia’s housework out of the way, it seemed that perhaps the worst part of his torture might actually be behind him. At the very least, Tim took solace in the fact that, for the moment, he wasn’t being constantly stepped on over and over again.

——————————————————————————————————————

     Sandra Peterson stood in her backyard, watching her son, Matt, and his friend, Bryce, from down the street, playing on their family’s Slip ‘N Slide. Her 19-year-old daughter, McKenzie, was up on the back deck sunbathing in the family’s lounge chair in a T-shirt and shorts, listening to music playing through her wireless earbuds.

     It was a nice, warm, summer day, and after finishing lunch, the boys wanted to cool off for a bit; so, the family decided to enjoy the weather and spend some time out in the backyard. After setting up the Slip ‘N Slide for the two boys, Sandra went about taking care of a few weeds that had been growing along the deck and backside of the house. She wasn’t much of a gardener, but she did try to keep the back yard looking, at least, somewhat kempt and weed-free.     

     “Hey Bryce!” Matt called out as he slowly back-stepped from one end of the Slip ‘N Slide. “Watch this!”

     “Go for it!” Bryce urged.

     With a running start, Matt dashed across the lawn and dove onto the Slip ‘N Slide, careening at full speed down its slippery surface all the way towards the end, where he smacked the bumper cushion and summersaulted over onto the grass beyond.

     “Dude!” Bryce laughed, giving his friend two thumbs up. “Awesome wipeout!”

     Matt cringed as he sat up, rubbing his butt as he got to his feet again.

     “Alright, my turn!” Bryce announced as he headed down to the other end of Slip ‘N Slide.

     “Boys, be careful!” Sandra called out from over by the deck. “I’d prefer not to have to take anyone to the hospital today, alright?”

     “We’ll be fine, Mom,” Matt replied, “we promise.”

     “Uh huh, yeah…no more running starts, OK?”

     “Come on, mom,” Matt whined. “We’re just trying to have some fun.”

     “You can HAVE your fun,” Sandra replied facetiously. “I just don’t want either of you getting hurt, alright?”

     “Fine,” Matt relented. “We’ll be careful.”

     “Thank you,” Sandra replied pridefully.

     Sandra sighed and shook her head, then headed over to the edge of the deck to uproot a few more rogue weeds.

——————————————————————————————————————

     Julia’s reading was suddenly interrupted by a commotion coming from outside. Ever the curious busybody, she closed and dropped her book on the nearby cushion, removed her leg from the armrest, and swung her legs off the couch, completely forgetting herself for a moment as her feet hit the floor. She paused and smiled, quickly reminded of her nephew’s current location was when she felt his frantic squirms on the underside of her foot, albeit unable to hear his muffled screams as she callously stood up from the couch and stepped over to the back door to peer outside.

     Julia’s attention was immediately drawn to two neighbor boys playing in the backyard next door.

     “Hm,” she pondered aloud as she watched the two kids playing neighbors through the back door, “looks like there’s a couple of neighbor kids out playing on their Slip ‘N Slide. Not a bad way to enjoy a hot, summer day.

     “Too bad you’re stuck down there for the moment, Tiny Tim,” she said callously, chortling as she lifted her foot off the floor to admire the tiny teenager stuck to her sole. “Otherwise, you might be able to enjoy the nice weather, too.”

     Julia nonchalantly ran her hand over the tape to make sure it was still secured in place; all the while, Tim desperately wiggled and squirmed as he was firmly pressed into his aunt’s foot flesh, screaming frantic, muffled cries as Julia casually lowered her the floor again.

     Then, Julia’s eyes fell upon the edge of the back deck, where a large green recycling bin was sitting on the ground...

     “Oh, nuts!” Julia exclaimed, unintentionally stomping her foot in frustration when she set it back down on the carpet. “I forgot to take the recycling out to the curb!”

     Julia hurriedly stepped over to the den to get her flip-flops, practically forgetting all about her tiny nephew for the moment.

     Meanwhile, Tim had been screaming hysterically ever since the unexpected stomp a few moments earlier, and was pleading for Aunt Julia to let him go before she headed outside again. It had been absolute torture when she’d put on her shoes and took out the trash the first time, and he certainly didn’t want to go through it again. Obviously, for the moment, he had no choice in the matter; Aunt Julia wasn’t really listening to his muffled screams, which were completely silenced when the giant woman slipped her foot into her flip-flop.

     Julia took a moment to adjust her sandals, then scurried back across the room and out the back door. 

——————————————————————————————————————

     Sandra had just finished pulling a couple of weeds from the corner of the house, when her attention was grabbed by an unfamiliar woman stepping out the back door of the neighboring house and hurriedly stomping down the back steps of the deck, turning and coming right towards her.

     “Hi,” Sandra called out, lifting her hand.

     “Oh…hi there,” the woman replied hesitantly, slightly caught off guard.

     “Haven’t seen you around before,” Sandra commented, taking off her gardening gloves and reaching out her hand as she walked over to greet the friendly stranger. “I’m Sandra.”

     “Pleased to meet you,” the woman responded in kind, stepping across the lawn, meeting Sandra halfway. “I’m Julia; Natalie’s sister.”

     “Oh, nice to meet you. Are…you in town for a visit, or…?”

     “Oh…no,” Julia replied. “I live just across town. I’m actually staying here for a few days to take care of my nephew while Natalie’s at work and his father’s out of town.”

     “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that…about Tim, I mean.”

     “Oh, you know Tim?!” Julia commented.

     “Yeah, of course. I…didn’t realize he was sick,” Sandra said concernedly. “Nothing serious, I hope.”

     “Oh, he’s fine….he’s just come down with a…’little’ something,” Julia replied coyly, nonchalantly grinding her foot back and forth in her flip-flop.

     “Oh, well that’s good,” Sandra replied, noticing Julia fiddling with her sandal. “Uh…somethin’ wrong with your shoe?”

     “Oh…I just need to adjust it, that’s all.” Julia replied quickly as she scrunched and flexed her toes. “Sometimes, you just have to...wiggle your foot into them…and make it…comfortable…

     “Ah,” Julia sighed contently, stomping her flip-flop into the ground. “That’s better.”

     “Uh, OK…” Sandra commented, shaking her head in confusion before getting back to her introductions. “Anyway, that’s my son, Matt, there in the red swim trunks, and the one in the black trunks is his friend, Bryce, from down the street…”

     “Hey, Kenzie!” Matt suddenly called out, interrupting the two woman’s conversation, “You sure you don’t wanna turn?”

     “Yeah, Kenz,” Bryce chimed in mockingly, “I wanna see you wipe out!”

     “Noooo, thank you,” McKenzie replied from the deck, not even lowering her sunglasses. “I’m good RIGHT where I am, thank you very much.”

     “…and that little ray of sunshine is my daughter, McKenzie,” Sandra chimed in, motioning to the deck with her head. “She’s home from her first year away at college.”

     “Oh, how fun,” Julia replied with a half smile. “I’m guessing one of the popular girls on campus, huh?”

     “Well, I’m sure that what she thinks,” Sandra chuckled.

     “You know, I CAN hear you, mom!” McKenzie barked, rolling her eyes under her sunglasses.

     “…Like I said,” Sandra repeated sarcastically, “A little ray of sunshine.”

     “Apparently,” Julia chortled.

     Tim moaned in agony, his muffled screams of pain reverberating throughout his aunt’s giant flesh. The last few minutes of torture from Julia’s stomping were, by far, the worst than anything he’d already endured that morning thus far; if that weren’t bad enough, Tim’s hopes of his latest torment being over quickly were dashed when he heard Aunt Julia starting up a conversation with the next door neighbor, Mrs. Peterson. He tried shouting and squirming in a desperate attempt to somehow remind Aunt Julia that he was still down there and coax into finishing her current task and getting back inside the house as soon as possible, but the most recent smashing and grinding of her foot into her flip-flop was more than enough of an indication that not only did she know perfectly well he was still under her foot, but that she was not to be rushed.

     To make matters even worse, as if Tim wasn’t hot enough already underneath the blanket of tape on Aunt Julia’s foot, the hot, summer day, coupled with the musty environment between her sole and the insole of her flip-flop, created an unbearable, steamy atmosphere that was quickly sapping what meager strength the tiny teenager had left.

     Yet, despite the hellish combination of factors contributing to his turmoil, there was a slight glimmer of hope: the humid environment Tim was enduring meant Julia’s foot was perspiring profusely, and before long, the added moisture started loosening the tape around him.

     Tim mustered what little strength he had left to resume his futile efforts to wiggle free from his adhesive prison…

     Then, just when he was about to give up, he felt his leg break free…then an arm...

     Tim was finally able to turn and unbury his head from Julia’s foot flesh. He gasped for what little air he could: it was the first breath of non-stale air he’d taken in hours, despite it being nowhere near fresh and reeking of Julia’s sweaty sole.

     Tim took a few moments to catch his breath, then resumed his escape efforts. In no time at all, the tiny teenager was able to loosen enough of the tape to unstick his entire body. He was far from free, however, quickly grasping and pulling at the flesh above him to slowly slide his body along the underside of Julia‘s foot, loosening more and more tape as he went…

     Then came another rush of air. It was still hot and humid, but far cooler than what he had been experiencing. With newfound hope, Tim kept moving. He wasn’t about give up; he could literally taste his freedom…

     “So….do you have any kids?” Sandra inquired curiously.

     “Me?! No…” Julia replied, shaking her head. “Never really had the desire. Besides, my nephew is MORE than enough for me to handle.”

     “Yeah, I hear ya,” Sandra nodded with a slight chortle, “most teenagers are. Of course, taking care of a SICK one’s no picnic either.”

     “Tell me about it,” Julia embellished. “But, all things considered, this week’s actually gone a lot better than I expected. I’ve actually enjoyed looking after Tim the past few days.”

     “Really?!” Sandra exclaimed, slightly dubious. “Even with him being SICK?!”

     “Yeah,” Julia confirmed. “it’s given my sister and I the opportunity to work on his behavior.”

     “Behavior?” Sandra shrugged with confusion, shooting Julie a perplexed look. “What…has he been acting out lately?”

     “Well, let’s just say he hasn’t exactly been himself since his mom got back from her business trip,” Julia replied coyly.

     “Oh…well, I’m sure Tom and Natalie being gone so frequently can’t be easy for him, or on ANY kid, for that matter.” Sandra commented, referring to what she knew about her neighbors. “I certainly hope you haven’t been TOO hard on him, especially with him not feeling well.”

     “Oh, he’ll be fine,” Julia dismissed her gently, gesturing with her hand. “Don’t worry. When all is said and done, Tim will be MUCH better behaved. Mark my words.”

     “If you say so,” Sandra relented, taking a fleeting glance at her daughter up on the deck. “I guess, when it comes to teenagers, every once in a while, I suppose you just have to put your foot down, huh?”

     Julia grinned widely, beaming from ear to ear.

    “Couldn’t have said it better myself,” she replied, lifting her foot to check on her tiny prisoner…

     “Almost there,” Tim kept repeating to himself as he mustered the strength to keep sliding towards freedom. “You can make it. Almost….YAAAAAH!”

     Tim yelped in surprise as he was unexpectedly hoisted into the air, his orientation abruptly shifting from horizontal to vertical. He frantically grasped at Julia’s flesh, holding on for dear life to prevent himself from falling back under his aunt’s sole, and probably would have had it not been for the residual adhesive from the tape he had loosened moments prior.

     Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Julia nimbly slipped her finger in-between her foot and the insole of her flip-flop, running it back and forth over the tape to make sure it was still securely in place….and that Tim was still there.

     The poor teenager yelped muffled cries in pain as his aunt’s giant finger unceremoniously shoved his face deep into her sweaty sole again, sliding his tiny body along her skin as she ran it over the tape. It was sheer happenstance that Julia didn’t notice that Tim wasn’t in the same place he’d been for the last few hours, mistaking a few wrinkled folds in the tape for her tiny nephew; plus, her need for subterfuge ultimately prevented her from removing her flip-flop and discovering her nephew’s escape attempt, let alone being able to properly re-secure the tape in place.

     Just quickly as it had before, Tim’s whole environment shifted back to horizontal as Julia finished fiddling with the tape and lowered her foot back to the ground, planting it on the grass with a light, playful stomp…

     That little stomp, however, was enough to dislodge Tim AND a decent portion of the tape Julia had just re-adhered; in one fell swoop, the tiny teenager dropped from his aunt’s sole and slid down the inside of the tape.

     “Oof!” Tim uttered as he plopped down onto the insole of Julia’s flip-flop, just inside the arch of the giant woman’s foot. At least, for the moment, he was finally free of his aunt’s sole…almost.

     While the tiny teenager lay gasping for air, taking a few moments to recover and gather his wits, he listened as the two, giant women prattled on above: Aunt Julia constantly making clever quips about his ‘little’ condition, and Mrs. Peterson just listening on and responding in kind, having no idea just how coy his aunt was being.

     “Yeah, because why should Mrs. Peterson suspect in a MILLION YEARS that the tiny neighbor boy was literally stuck in the shoe of the woman standing next to her,” Tim thought helplessly. “Like she could even FATHOM the possibility...”

     Tim sighed dejectedly, burying his head in her hands. If only Mrs. Peterson knew what kind of situation he was actually in…

     Tim immediately snapped awake; he couldn’t believe he didn’t think of it before: Mrs. Peterson! If he could get Mrs. Peterson’s attention, she could rescue him from his horrible situation. Screw what his mother said about keeping his shrinking a secret! SHE wasn’t the one who’d been suffering under Aunt Julia’s feet all week. Given the choice between the humiliation of being discovered and having to explain his shrunken state to the neighbors, or spending one more minute taped to Aunt Julia’s nasty feet, Tim chose to take his chances with the former.

     He gathered his wits and quickly pulled himself to the edge of the flip-flop’s insole, carefully yet hurriedly dropping down to the ground. Once he got to his feet, he quickly brushed himself off…

     It was only then that Tim realized he was completely naked. Aunt Julia hadn’t bothered to give him any clothes after his others ripped off when she had her way with him that morning, nor did she even take the time to get him cleaned up before taping him to her foot. In fact, he’d probably still be covered in Aunt Julia’s cum if he hadn’t been doused with her foot sweat for the past several hours.

     Embarrassment aside, Tim sighed and swallowed his pride, scurrying alongside Aunt Julia’s flip-flop towards her heel, a task which proved to be a challenge as it was quite difficult to run barefoot through a sea of grass and dirt. Thankfully, it only took him about 15-20 seconds to get behind the two, giant women.

     Tim looked skyward at the towering giantesses as they continued chatting away overhead, unintentionally making himself dizzy as he worked his way behind Aunt Julia and around to the right side of Mrs. Peterson’s sandal-clad foot, preparing to jut down along her shoe as soon as he was lined up…

     Tim was spooked, stopping dead in his tracks when Mrs. Peterson suddenly shifted her weight, her sandals haphazardly pivoting back and forth in the grass. He watched the giant woman intently as she nonchalantly swayed slightly from side to side.

     The tiny teenager suddenly realized the flaw in his plan, and was now mulling things over in his mind:

     He was anxious to get Mrs. Peterson’s attention, but his proximity to her shoe meant that one unexpected shift and the giant woman could easily crush him beneath her heel without ever even realizing it.

     And that wasn’t the only problem: but had no idea how she’d react when and if she saw him.

     What if she thinks I’m a bug?! Tim pondered anxiously. She could stomp me flat before even realizing it was me.

     Tim contemplated moving in around front of the giant woman before he tried contacting her. It might be the better option, but once again, there was another problem: with Aunt Julia literally standing right next to her, she could easily snatch him up before Mrs. Peterson even noticed…and even if he DID get Mrs. Peterson’s attention, Aunt Julia could still steal him away and disappear inside the house before anyone could ask any questions. In either case, there was no telling what kind of punishment might await him afterwards.

     Tim needed to get Mrs. Peterson away from Aunt Julia before attempting to contact her, but how was he going to do that without Aunt Julia noticing?

     Time was running out, and his window for action was quickly closing; he couldn’t risk being stuck outside in such a small and vulnerable state.

     “Alright,” Tim said to himself, “here goes nothin’!”

     With those words, the tiny teenager took off down the right side of Mrs. Pederson’s sandal…

     Running down about the mid-center of the lawn was a garden hose that connected the Slip ‘N Slide to an outside spigot located up on the Peterson’s back deck. The hose was somewhat old and had become riddled with numerous holes and weak points from being dragged across the deck each time it was used over the past several years. Parts of its outer lining had long since been scraped off, now weakening it to the point of leakage. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson had patched and applied water-tight tape around several of these holes and weak points when they did leak, but it only served to delay an inevitable failure.

     That day, one of the sections of hose that had been previously wrapped in tape had developed a concealed leak not long after the two boys connected it to the Slip ‘N Slide and turned on the faucet; since that moment, there was a steady trickle of water soaking the portion of the lawn surrounding the weakened section. Soon, the trickle became a stream, and the surrounding area had become completely waterlogged, creating an inconspicuous puddle of water, mud, and grass about midway down the lawn.  

     Bryce was about to take his latest turn down the Slip ‘N Slide when he suddenly noticed the sprinklers on the side of the mat getting weaker, their spray soon barely reaching the center.

     “Dude, what’s going on with your Slip ‘N Slide?” Bryce inquired, pointing out the issue. “The sprinklers are going down.”

     “Oh, great,” Matt muttered in frustration. “Mo-om?!”

     “…so I’m usually home on Fridays…” Sandra said, finishing up a conversation she’d been having with Julia about work.

     “Hey, MOM?!” Matt called out again.

     “What is it, hon?” Sandra replied, slightly irked by the interruption.

     “The sprinklers on the Slip ‘N Slide aren’t working again.”

     “Must be that stupid hose again,” Sandra sighed frustratedly, turning to Julia for a moment. “Would you excuse me for just one second?”

     “Sure, no problem,” Julia replied.

     “Hang on,” Sandra called out as she started across the lawn, “I’ll be right there…”

     Tim had just started to climb up one of the side straps on Mrs. Peterson’s sandal when the giant woman suddenly began shouting towards the other side of the lawn. Startled, the tiny teenager’s foot slipped, and he reactively grabbed the strap to keep from falling.

     “…HANG ON, I’LL BE RIGHT THERE…” the giant woman called out.

     “Oh no!” Tim exclaimed. “MRS. PETERSON, WAI—AAAAY!”

     The giant woman’s foot suddenly lurched forward; Tim clung desperately to the sandal strap, hanging on for dear life as Mrs. Peterson stomped her way through the grass and across the lawn.

     “MRS. PETERSON, HELP!” Tim shrieked. “STOP! WAIT! WHOA!”

     Each monstrous step the giant woman took boomed and shook the ground upon impact, violently jostling Tim and threatening to throw him clean off the sandal the next time her giant foot kicked forward. All the tiny teenager could only hold on and pray he wouldn’t get tossed into Mrs. Peterson’s walking path, least he be crushed beneath her sandal.

     Then, just as giant woman approached the hose, she abruptly halted mid-step; the sudden stop sent Tim hurtling forward, causing him to lose his grip. He was thrown screaming from the giant sandal into the grass, skipping once across a huge puddle, and smacking into the side of the hose as he splashed down a second time.

     In an instant, Tim disappeared into a watery grave of grass and mud…

     Sandra stopped dead in her tracks just before reaching the hose, immediately noticing the leaky tape and soaked area surrounding it.

     “Aw, Crap!” she cursed quietly, trying not to let her kids her swear as she surveyed the damage. “Stupid hose!”

     Sandra huffed in frustration as she bent over and reached down to grab the hose…

     Tim broke the surface of the watery muck, coughing and sputtering as he gasped for air. He flailed his arms wildly, blindly reaching out for anything to grab onto and keep him afloat. Quickly finding the huge hose next to him, Tim grabbed on and tried pulling himself up, but the water spurting from beneath a taped section next to him had lubricated the outer lining, making it slippery and difficult to grasp.

     Somehow, Tim managed to plant his arm and partially pull himself up onto the side of the hose, taking a moment to wipe the grime off his face with his free hand.

     Unfortunately, Mrs. Peterson didn’t notice Tim’s tiny figure surfacing literally adjacent to her right hand as she reached down and grabbed the taped section of hose. As her plump fingers wrapped around the tape, the flow of water shifted…

     Tim let out a gurgled yelp as he was suddenly hit in the face with a powerful spray of water, loosening his grip and leaving him partially stunned. Before he could recover, the hose lurched into the air. Tim lost his grip completely and splashed back down into the puddle, slipping below the surface of the muddy water…

     Sandra wrapped her hand around the piece of tape on the hose, trying to redirect the water and keep from getting sprayed as she lifted it off the ground. Holding the hose out away from her body, she pressed and ran her fingers over the tape, re-securing it around the leak until the water stopped flowing…

     Tim breached the surface of the quagmire once again, struggling to stay afloat. The thick mud clung tightly to his tiny body, and he was finding it somewhat difficult just to wipe off his face.

     Once he could open his eyes, Tim realized he was shrouded in a huge shadow. He turned his gaze upwards, and once his vision cleared, he saw a gigantic figure towering before him, partially blocking the sun…

     “Mrs. Peterson!” he coughed, still trying to catch his breath. The giant woman was looking intently down at the hose as she tried to fix it.

     “MRS. PETERSON!” Tim shouted, waving his arms, almost dipping beneath the surface again in the process. “Uhn, MRS. PETERSON, DOWN HERE!”

     The tiny teenager tried moving forward through the puddle to get into her line of sight, but the mud was so thick and viscous he could barely move, straining just to pull his arms out of the bog with each stroke.

     “MRS. PETERSON!” He shouted again desperately. “IT’S ME, TIM! I’M DOWN HERE! HELP! MRS. PETERSOOOOOON…!”

     With the water leak finally under control, Sandra pulled the hose closer to her body to double-check and ensure the tape was secure for the moment, taking a slight step forward in the process…

     Mrs. Peterson’s giant foot suddenly stepped forward, splashing into the outer edge of the puddle and kicking up a huge wave of water and muck that completely washed over the tiny teenager. Tim plunged back down beneath the grimy dips, struggling to resurface once again, but all the mud and debris piled on top of him was weighing him down, making it difficult to move upwards…

     “Ugh!” Sandra uttered in disgust as she felt the toe of her sandal splash into the puddle below her. ”Nuts!”

     She instinctively backed away and shook her foot a few times to shake off the excess water. In the process, she yanked the hose along with her, pulling its ends out of place and off kilter from one another, ultimately causing the rest of the hose to start bunching up.

     “Hey, boys,” Sandra called out, pointing towards the end of the Slip ‘N Slide, “do me a favor: grab the ends of the mat there and help me scootch it down this way a bit. I think it’ll work better if we keep the hose straight.”

     “Ok, mom,” Matt replied, grabbing the far end of the Slip ‘N Slide…

     Tim managed to resurface again just in time to see Mrs. Peterson’s giant form walking away.

     “NO!” he shouted up, desperately trying to swim after her, and nearly plunging beneath the surface again. “MRS. PETERSON, WAIT! PLEASE! COME BACK!”

     Tim couldn’t understand why he was finding it so hard to move through the puddle. It was just water and mud mixed with blades of grass, but for some reason, everything seemed way more viscous than he thought it should.

     With his only sign of rescue quickly walking away, Tim grit his teeth and mustered what strength he had left, trudging as fast as he could towards the edge of the mud puddle…

     “There, that should be good, boys,” Sandra commented after she and the two boys had carefully scooted the Slip ‘N Slide down the lawn towards Tim’s house until the length of the hose and the connectors on either end were aligned. “Go ahead and set it down there. Thank you.”

     Meanwhile, Julia had been watching the whole ordeal, waiting patiently for Sandra to finish fiddling with the garden hose and head back. She was still unaware that Tim was no longer beneath her foot, and that what she kept feeling when she ran her finger across her sole was nothing more that a small grouping of wrinkles and imperfections in the tape. Even if Julia had been paying closer attention when Sandra walked over to the hose a few minutes prior, her line of sight was partially blocked, and she couldn’t have noticed her tiny nephew hanging off Sandra’s sandal.

     “Having some problems with your garden hose?” Julia inquired, stating the obvious.

     “Yeah, it’s gotten pretty beat up over the past couple of years,” Sandra replied as she walked back across the lawn. “My husband and I have tried patching it up several times, but it just seems to get more holes. I think, at this point, we just need to throw it out and get a new one.”

     “Speaking of which,” Sandra continued, gesturing to Julia’s large, green, recycling bin, “you’d better get those recycles out to the curb. The trash guys usually come around this time.”

     “Crap, I almost forgot!” Julia replied, shuffling over to the house to grab the recycling bin. “Thanks for reminding me.”

     “No problem,” Sandra said. “Here, I’ll walk with you. Never hurts to have a little company.”

     “Sure,” Julia chortled.

     Julia tilted the recycling bin onto it wheels and the two women started heading between their respective houses towards the front yard.

     “MO-OM!” Matt called out before anyone got to far.

     “What is it, hun?” Sandra called, turning her body back towards the yard.

     “The Slip ‘N Slide sprinklers still aren’t working right!”

     “Great,” Sandra commented sarcastically, turning towards her daughter still up on the deck. “McKenzie, would you go help your brother, please?”

     “Wha’dya say, mom?” McKenzie replied, taking off one of her earbuds.

     “I said, go help your brother with the Slip ‘N Slide,” Sandra repeated. “Please.”

     “Mom, I’m trying to get a tan, here,” McKenzie whined, tilting down her sunglasses, “and I don’t wanna get wet!”

     “McKenzie,” Sandra said forcefully, pointing her finger, “I said: GO help your brother. NOW, young lady! MOVE IT!”

     “Fine,” McKenzie sighed frustratedly, getting up from the lounge chair.

     “…And check the hose for more leaks while you’re walking over,” Sandra added.

     “Sure, mom, Whatever,” McKenzie replied sourly, rolling her eyes as she began setting her things down in the chair.

     “These kids,” Sandra sighed, shaking her head as she turned back to Julia. “They used to be so well-behaved. NOW look at them!”

     “Eh, I guess they all go through a rebellious phase, don’t they,” Julia commented with a shrug. “The trick is to keep ‘em under your foot.”

     “…You mean: ‘Under your thumb’?” Sandra corrected, shooting Julia a confused look.

     “U-Uh…right,” Julia stammered. “That’s what I meant to say.”

     As the two woman disappeared in front of the house, McKenzie set her phone, earbuds, and sunglasses down on the lounge chair to keep them from getting wet, then stomped across the deck and down the wooden steps, entering the grass barefoot. She hurriedly cut over to the hose, then turned and made her way across the lawn towards the Slip ‘N Slide, checking the hose along the way for any sign of leaks…

     Slowly, but surely, Tim was struggled and trudged his way through the mud puddle, trying to get to the edge in the direction where the hose had been moved. He figured it was his best chance at being discovered and rescued, and was about 2/3 of the way towards the edge of the puddle when it puddle suddenly started quivering. Tim immediately spotted the giant figure of the neighbor girl, McKenzie, stomping in his direction through the grass.

     “Oh, no,” he uttered to himself. “McKenzie!”

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as the giant girl’s massive bare foot stomped down right beside the puddle, missing it by only about 6 inches or so; the impact, however, shook the ground violently, dipping Tim into the mud again.

     “Ugh, McKENZIE!” he shouted up as he resurfaced again, “WATCH OUT!”

     The giant teenager neither heard nor noticed Tim’s tiny figure in the mud, however, and continued on through the grass towards the Slip ‘N Slide.

     Tim felt more dejected than ever. He’d secretly had a crush on McKenzie ever since the 6th grade; she was the quintessential girl next door. Of course, Tim never said anything. How could he? The girl was a sophomore in high school at the time, and the closest he felt he’d ever get was spotting her on the back deck of the house next door when she came out to sunbathe, or occasionally seeing her and her friends hanging out on the deck while they all lounged in the sun and worked on their tans. Other than a fleeting glance, McKenzie probably barely even gave him a second thought, despite literally living right next door.

     Tim shook off his delirium, took a moment to catch his breath, then continued moving towards the edge of the mud puddle…

     “Alright, what’s wrong?” McKenzie asked the two boys in frustration as she approached the Slip ‘N Slide.

     “It’s the sprinklers,” Matt replied. “They’re not working right.”

     “Well, here’s the problem,” McKenzie sighed in frustration, spotting a kink in the hose near the connection to the Slip ‘N Slide. “There’s a kink in the hose, you goof! Geez, you guys are so helpless!”

     “We are NOT!” Matt exclaimed, defending himself and his friend. “It’s it OUR fault we have a crappy hose!”

     “It doesn’t take a genius to just LOOK with your eyes, dummy!” McKenzie snapped, gesturing to her eyes with two fingers as she bent down to straighten out the hose. With a few quick movements, and a lift of the mat, McKenzie had successfully straightened out the hose; immediately, the sprinklers returned to full force.

     “There, problem solved,” McKenzie balked, dropping the hose and carefully backing away to avoid getting sprayed.

     “Gee, thanks, sis,” Matt said half-heartedly.

     “Yeah, thanks,” Bryce chimed in, also half-heartedly.

     “Yeah, whatever,” McKenzie scoffed, waving the boys off as she turned to head back to the deck.

     “You SURE you don’t wanna take a turn while you’re here?” Bryce taunted.

     “No, I don’t wanna ‘take a turn’!” McKenzie mocked them sharply, making air quotes with her fingers as she turned to face them again. “I wanna get back to my chair….and I don’t wanna get wet.”

     “But what if the sprinklers mess up again?” Matt asked before his sister walked too far away.

     “I don’t know!” McKenzie replied harshly, now walking backwards towards the deck as she continued her rant. “Figure it out for yourselves! Why do I have to do everything for you dweebs?!”

     “Hey, BACK OFF, Kenzie!” Bryce shouted defensively. “What’s your beef?! He was just asking!”

     “Nobody asked for your input, Bryce!” McKenzie exclaimed. “I’ve got better things to do than to babysit you two!”

     “Oh ya?!” Bryce queried, “Like what: working on your ‘tan’?!”

     “SHUT UP, you little WORM!” McKenzie barked indignantly, still walking backwards, unaware of the mud puddle in her path…

     “Almost there,” Tim asserted, trying to keep himself motivated as he was nearly at the edge of the mud puddle. “Almost Th—“

     Tim snapped his head to the right, startled by the huge commotion over by the Slip ‘N Slide….

     His eyes suddenly went wide, and his jaw dropped open: McKenzie’s colossal figure was walking backwards in his direction, her gigantic bare feet heading right for the mud puddle!

     “McKENZIE, WAIT!” Tim screamed, scrambling to get out of the way as the giant girl’s right foot lifted overhead, shrouding the entire puddle in its ominous shadow. “McKENZIE, NO! STOP! AAAAAAA—!”

     “…And another thing, Bryce,” McKenzie continued barking, “the next time you come over, you—“

     *SQUELCH*

     McKenzie gasped in shock; her eyes went wide and shot to the ground, and her face contorted in disgust. She’d just stepped in a huge mud puddle in the middle of the yard!

     “EW!” McKenzie exclaimed as she slowly lifted her right foot out of the puddle, her sole caked in mud. “GROSS!”

     “Nice one!” Bryce laughed teasingly, giving McKenzie a consolation thumbs up.

     “SHUT UP, you little weasel!” McKenzie barked as she carefully tilted and examined her the bottom of her foot, the mud covering her sole and encroaching into the crevices between her toes. “Look what you made me do! UGH! Stupid, fucking, mud puddle!”

     “Hey, don’t get mad at us!” Bryce replied defensively. “YOU’RE the one who STEPPED in it!”

     “I said: SHUT UP, Bryce!” McKenzie shouted again as she started wiping off her foot across the grass. “DAMN IT!”

     “Hey, hey, hey!” Sandra called out as she and Julia returned from the front yard. “What’s going on back here?! What’s all the yelling about?!”

     “MOM, that STUPID HOSE left a huge mud puddle in the middle of the yard!” McKenzie complained.

     “Yeah, and Kenzie stepped RIGHT in it!” Matt chimed in with a loud chuckle.

     “It’s NOT FUNNY, Matt!” McKenzie shouted back, wiping her foot off more frantically.

     “Oh, I’m sorry, hun!” Sandra apologized, “I forgot to warn you about that!”

     “Gee, THANKS, mom!” McKenzie replied sarcastically as she inspected her foot and the mud she’d just wiped in the grass. “YUCK, and I think there was a BUG in it, too! I could feel it squirming on my foot…!”

     “EW, I was RIGHT!” McKenzie exclaimed, pointing down to the grass where a tiny figure was writhing. “…And it’s STILL MOVING, too. Ugh, I hate mud….AND bugs!”

     “Geez, McKenzie, relax!” Matt scoffed. “It’s just a but!”

     “Yeah, you act like you’ve never seen a BUG before!” Bryce chimed.

     “Shut UP, you little worms!” McKenzie shot back.

     “Alright, knock it off, you three!” Sandra called out commandingly. “Boy’s, stop taunting her, and McKenzie, enough with the name calling, alright?! Honestly, why do you have to make such a BIG DEAL outta everything…?!”

     Tim writhed in the grass, trying to shake off the pain and recover from his recent ordeal: After McKenzie stepped on him, the tiny teenager ended up getting stuck to her giant, mud-covered foot when she lifted it out of the puddle. Somehow, he’d remained conscious the entire time, and immediately struggled to free himself, but the real pain began when the giant girl frantically brushed her foot off in the grass, smashing him into the ground over and over again in her attempts to clean off her foot. At this point, Tim honestly couldn’t say which was worse: being taped to Aunt Julia’s foot, or his recent steamrolling from McKenzie’s.

     To make matters worse, the giant girl had been shouting back and forth with her brother, his friend, and her mother, her loud, booming voice pounding constantly in Tim’s head. He strained to cover his ears while struggling to get to his feet. Pushing through the pain, Tim stood up and stumbled over to McKenzie’s giant foot, hoping he could get her attention…

     “…All I was trying to do is enjoy the weather in soak up some sun.” McKenzie continued complaining. “Is that too much to ask?!”

     “Geez, Kenzie, calm down.” Matt said. “It’s just little mud.”

     “Yeah, McKenzie,” Bryce chimed in. “Lighten up!”

     “NOBODY asked you, worm!” McKenzie shot back, balling her fists.

     “McKenzie, that’s enough!” Sandra called out.

     “NO, mom!” McKenzie shouted belligerently, waving her arms around and pointing. “I’ve HAD it! If you think for ONE SECOND that I’m gonna put up with THESE TWO all summer, you—EEK!”

     McKenzie shrieked as something unexpectedly touched the side of her foot. She instinctively kicked out her foot, booting whatever had just touched her across the lawn.

     Everyone’s eyes went wide, their attention immediately falling upon the teenaged girl freaking out.

     “Honey, what’s wrong?!” Sandra asked concernedly.

     “S-Something just touched my foot!” McKenzie cried distressfully, visibly shaken. “I-I think it was that BUG!”

     “Honey, calm down,” Sandra said, gesturing at her daughter. “It’s just a bug. Don’t get so worked up.”

     “Mom, you…you don’t understand,” McKenzie stammered nervously, holding her hands to her chest as she peered intently at the spot across the lawn where the offending bug had landed. “I…I don’t…”

     “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Sandra inquired, slightly off-put by her daughter’s reaction. “What is it?”

     “…Mom, it wasn’t…” McKenzie tried explaining, slowly creeping closer to where the bug had been thrown, “…mom, I…I don’t think it was a bug…”

     “Honey, what do ya mean?” Sandra asked, slowly heading towards her daughter.

     “Mom…I know it sounds crazy….but, I SWEAR…for a second there…it-it looked just like a little person!” McKenzie finally managed to articulate.

     “WHAT?!” Julia exclaimed anxiously, immediately snapping to attention. If she hadn’t been paying attention before, she certainly was now.

     “Honey….what’re you talking about?!” Sandra asked, shaking her head with confusion as she wrapped her arm around her daughter. “You’re not making any sense.”

     “Mom,” McKenzie insisted, “I’m telling you: that bug looked just like a little person!”

     “What…you mean, like a doll?” Sandra inquired, trying to make sense of what her daughter was saying.

     “No, mom. NOT like a doll…”

     “Dude, I think your sister’s losing it,” Bryce commented to Matt.

     “Yeah, Kenzie, I’ve think you’ve been in the sun too long,” Matt chimed in, making circles with his index finger around his right temple. “Your brain’s cooked.”

     “SHUT UP, MATT!” McKenzie cried hysterically.

     “Alright, that’s enough out of all of you!” Sandra shouted in a commanding voice. “I think we’re done for the day. Boys, go turn off the Slip ‘N Slide and get dried off.”

     “But, mom,” Matt whined, “we still wanna slide some more…”

     With Sandra and her kids preoccupied, Julia nonchalantly lifted her leg and slipped her fingers inside her flip-flop, frantically checking the tape on her foot. The moment she’d heard McKenzie mentioned the strange bug, she got a bad feeling.

     “It couldn’t be…,” Julia said anxiously to herself as she ran her hand over her sole. “It just COULDN’T be…”

     Unfortunately, she couldn’t feel Tim beneath the tape. Julia became extremely nervous, completely removing her flip-flop and staring directly at her overturned foot…

     A wave of panic suddenly swept over her, her face turning white as a ghost as all the blood drained away…

     …Tim was gone!

     “Mom, come on,” Matt whined, “Can’t we play for just a little while longer?!”

     “Absolutely NOT!” Sandra replied sternly. “That hose has already left a huge puddle in the grass, and I don’t want my backyard turning into a swamp. I don’t even know why I agreed to let you two use it in the first place. Let’s just turn off the Slip ‘N Slide for now, and I’ll have your father pick up a new hose on his way home from work. Maybe you guys can use it later if it’s still light out; plus, you’ve got all day tomorrow, too. Now, come on.”

     “Alright,” Matt grumped, motioning to his friend. “Come on, Bryce. Let’s go inside and play Xbox.”

     “Sounds good,” Bryce replied as he and Matt both hopped over the Slip ‘N Slide and headed back towards the deck.

     Julia’s stomach lurched, and her eyes went wide. The two boys were stomping right towards the spot in the lawn where McKenzie had been pointing earlier…

     “Boys, FREEZE!” Julia suddenly shouted, extending her arms and hands out in front of her. “Don’t….move!”

     The boys stopped dead in their tracks; everyone’s eyes immediately shot to Julia.

     “Why?!” Sandra asked, seeing the look of sheer panic on the woman’s face. “What’s wrong?!”

     “Everyone just stay still.” Julia directed, turning towards Sandra and her daughter. “Nobody move. McKenzie….wh-where exactly did you say that bug went?”

     “Uh…over there,” McKenzie stammered, pointing a few feet in front of where the boys were standing. “I think it landed there, in the grass.”

     “OK, good,” Julia said intently, directing her attention back towards the two boys. “Boys, just…stay there and don’t move, and whatever you do, don’t go near where she’s pointing.”

     “Why?” Sandra asked with confusion.

     “Please,” Julia insisted, carefully stepping across the lawn, “everyone, just do as I say, and keep clear. I’ll see if I can find it.”

     “What for?” Sandra asked, even more perplexed. “It’s just a bug. I’m sure it’s fine.”

     “I know,” Julia replied, “I just wanna get a look at it.”

     “Hey, I wanna see, too,” Bryce said, stepping closer.

     “NO!” Julia snapped, “Just stay back! Just…walk around and don’t come any closer.”

     “Why?” Matt asked, shrugging. “It’s just a bug. What’s the big deal?”

     “It could be dangerous,” Julia insisted. “I don’t want anyone getting bit.”

     “I…doubt there’s anything that dangerous in my backyard, Julia,” Sandra commented.

     “I know,” Julia replied hastily, carefully watching her steps as she approached the general area where McKenzie had indicated the bug flew. “I….just wanna be sure.”

     Julia bit her lip nervously, and intensely inspected the lawn below her, searching for any signs of movement…

     Tim cringed, moaning weakly as he crept back to consciousness. As he started moving, pain suddenly shot through his entire body; he felt like he’d just hit by a truck. He tried to recall exactly what had happened to him, but everything was still fuzzy.

     Tim grit his teeth and opened his eyes, slowly rolling onto his stomach and pushing his torso up... 

     A huge shadow suddenly crept over him. He shot his gaze skyward, and immediately spotted a huge bare foot coming down from above, and five, plump toes splayed out, reaching for him…

     As the boys reluctantly obeyed the neighbor woman’s orders and walked around the far end of the lawn on their way back to the deck, Julia eyes were peeled on the section of grass just in front of her.

    For a moment, she didn’t see anything, and grew increasingly nervous, worrying that she may have just lost her tiny nephew…

     Then, she spotted something moving within a section of grass about a foot in front of her. The tiny figure was covered in mud from head to toe, and appeared to be just coming back to his senses. Julia gasped and gritted her teeth, then nonchalantly removed her foot from her flip-flop and reached down to grab him.

     With a squeaky yelp, the tiny teenager disappeared between his aunt’s toes as she scrunched her foot around him and pulled her leg back, attempting to slip her foot back into her flip-flop, all the while trying to keep her nephew’s squirms to a minimum.

     Meanwhile, Sandra’s attention was currently focused on the two boys as they scurried around the lawn and jumped onto the far side of the deck.

     “Go ahead and turn off and disconnect the hose, Matt,” she directed. “Don’t worry about wrapping it up. I’ll have your father throw it away later.”

     “OK, mom,” her son replied.

     Sandra watched as the two boys executed her instructions before disappearing inside the house; then, she and McKenzie turned their attention back to Julia, still standing in the middle of the lawn. Sandra was about to speak up, when she noticed Julia fiddling with her sandal again, apparently trying to slip it back onto her foot.

     “Uh…i-is everything okay?” Sandra asked.

     “Uh, yeah,” Julia replied as she adjusted her shoe. “Everything’s…everything’s good.”

     “Uh…did you find it?” Sandra inquired.

     “Find what?” Julia replied quickly, suddenly remembering her deception as she turned back . “Oh, the bug. Uh…nope, didn’t see it. No biggie, though.”

     “Well, OK…” Sandra replied suspiciously, “…but you made such a big deal over trying to find it…”

     “Yeah, but it’s fine.” Julia chortled nervously, scrunching and jiggling her foot to slide her nephew under her arch to keep him concealed and quiet. “I was just curious, that’s all. Anyway, I should get back inside and check on Tim.

     Julia slowly took her first step back towards her sister’s house, trying not to squash Tim under the ball of her foot.

     “Are…Are you sure you’re OK?” Sandra stammered, noticing the woman walking funny.

     “Yeah, I’m fine,” Julia replied quickly as she limped across the lawn.

     “Is it your shoe again?”

     “Yeah,” Julia chortled. “You know, I think I’m just gonna go buy a new pair.”

     “Uh…OK,” Sandra replied. “Do you want any help?”

     “No, no, I’ve got it,” Julia replied hurriedly, “Anyway, nice to meet you, and thank you so much for the polite conversation, Sandra.”

     “Y-Yeah…uh, you too.”

     Sandra and her daughter both watched with bewilderment as Julia hobbled across the backyard, hopped one-footed up onto her own deck, and quickly disappeared inside the house next door.

     “See, mom?” McKenzie shook her head as she removed her mother’s arm from her shoulder and walked back towards the house. “I told ya she was weird.”

     “McKenzie, that’s enough,” Sandra scolded her lightly. “Now, go rinse off your feet and head on back inside.”

     “Where do ya think I’m going?!” McKenzie replied in a snarky tone as she stomped up the deck stairs, heading over to the faucet to rinse the mud off her foot.

    “Well, I just don’t want you tracking mud all through the house!” Sandra warned sternly. “I JUST got the kitchen cleaned up!”

     “I WON’T, Mom!” McKenzie whined, as she turned of the faucet. “Geez! I already wiped most of it off in the grass!”

     “Alright, I’m just making sure,” Sandra called back as she headed onto the deck herself, moving towards the back door. “I’m only trying to help.”

     “Gee, thanks, mom,” McKenzie replied sarcastically as she turned off the faucet and stepped over to the lounge chair to grab her things. “If you really wanna help, you can tell those boys to just leave me alone the rest of the day.”

     “Honey, I really wish you’d be a lot nicer to your brother and his friends,” Sandra scowled. “Besides, your brother misses you now that you’re away at college half the year.”

     “And that’s JUST how I like it,” McKenzie retorted as she gathered up her things and headed towards the back door. “Maybe I’d be a lot nicer to him if he weren’t so immature.”

     Sandra sighed heavily as her daughter pulled open the screen door and disappeared inside the house, letting the door slam shut behind her.

     “I swear,” Sandra lamented as headed towards the door, “that girl’s gonna drive me CRAZY this summer!”

     Sandra opened the screen door….then paused, turning her gaze to the house next door. She mused for a brief moment, trying to make sense of the curious and odd behavior of the woman she’d just met. Then, Sandra shook her head, shrugged, and disappeared inside the house.

     It was well into the evening before Natalie finally left work: almost half past seven. She texted Julia as she was walking out to her car to let her know she was finally headed home after her long, yet productive day at the lab. The analysis on the shrinking formula was finally complete, and the preliminary work on the test rabbits finished; now came the real question: could she synthesize an antidote? Furthermore, how long would it take?

     The final component was pretty complex, but now that she had it analyzed, Natalie was already working on a few ideas to go about breaking it down. Once that was done, assuming it was the key component, which Natalie was pretty sure of, the affected subject should return to normal size…at least, theoretically. There was honestly no guarantee that the even with the original formula neutralized, the subject would then grow back to its normal size, but it was the first logical step.

     The whole situation had been a nerve-racking ordeal, and Natalie was still pondering all the possible outcomes when she finally pulled into her driveway.

     As Natalie walked through the front door around 7:50 that evening, she found Julia lounging on the living room couch, her right leg draped over her left, apparently enjoying a good book while she awaited her sister’s return home.

     “Hey, sis,” Natalie called out as she closed the front door and stepped through the foyer.

     “Oh….hey, Nat,” Julie replied, slightly startled, casually uncrossing and re-crossing her legs the opposite direction, so that her right foot was now on the floor with her left leg draped over it. “Finally finished with work for the day, huh?”

     “Yeah,” Natalie replied with another heavy sigh as she kicked off her flats by the entryway. “It’s been a long day…

     “…but,” she added, perking up slightly as she stepped into the living room, “it was very productive. I finally figured out the structure on that last molecule. It’s pretty complex, but I’ve got it, and I’m already working on how to break it down and neutralize it.”

     “Wow, that’s GREAT news, sis!” Julia congratulated her, “So….does that mean you can make a cure for Tim?”

     “It’s a good possibility; I’m already synthesizing a few protein mixtures,” Natalie explained, setting her purse and paperwork down on the coffee table. “I’ll check and see how they’re coming in the morning; once they’re complete, I’ll start testing them on those rabbits I shrunk down today. With any luck, one of them’ll show promise.”

     “Awesome…well, come on in and sit down for a minute,” Julia offered, patting the couch cushion next to her. “Take a load off. You look exhausted!”

     “Thanks,” Natalie replied as she walked around the coffee table. “I’m pretty beat.

     “Boy!” Natalie proclaimed as she plopped her ass down on the couch, exhaling a huge sigh. “What an exhausting week!”

     “You can say that again!” Julia replied. “You’ve been working practically nonstop for five straight days now!”

     “Tell me about it!” Natalie lamented, leaning back and resting her head on the rear cushion, her hand over her eyes.

     “Everything go OK around here today?” Natalie asked, tilting her head towards her sister.

     “Well, actually…” Julia sighed, setting her phone down on the armrest of the couch, “…OK, let me start off by saying that everyone’s fine, but….I had to punish Tim today.”

     “What?!” Natalie exclaimed anxiously, sitting up. “Why?! What happened?! Is he OK?!”

     “Nat, calm down,“ Julie reassured her sister. “He’s fine! It’s just that…well, after you left this morning, I went into Tim’s room to wake him up; long story short, the little guy tried to run away from me and ended up on the floor. Now, at first, I was freaked out; I-I thought he might’ve been hurt, but when I went to pick him up off the floor, he immediately got up and ran under the bed, apparently trying to hide. So…I had to punish him.”

     “Wha—Well, WHY would Tim try to run away from you?!” Natalie asked heatedly. “Unless…Jules, did you do something to my son?!”

     “NO!” Julia exclaimed defensively, “I didn’t do anything, I SWEAR! Maybe….being small and cooped up in the house for the past few days has really gotten to him. I don’t know.”

     “Well, I’m sure this whole ordeal has been pretty hard for him,” Natalie concurred, “but that still doesn’t explain why he tried to run from you!”

     “Like I said, Nat: I don’t know,” Julia lied with a convincing shrug, “I tried to give him a chance to explain himself, but he just kept mouthing off to me, so…I took matters into my own hands. Look, I didn’t wanna have to punish him, but he left me no choice.”

     “And how exactly did you ‘punish him’, sis?!” Natalie asked irately, making air quotes.

     “Well, while I was taking care of the rest of my housework today—you know sweeping up the kitchen, getting the trash and recyclables out to the curb, and what not—I went down to the basement and found that little aquarium you guys have. You know, the one you all used when Tim had that hamster? Anyway, I brought it up and washed it out. I figured it was the only way to make sure Tim doesn’t try to run away again. You should see it, Nat: I fixed it up really nice for him, just like a little bedroom; I tried to make him as comfortable as I could. I put it in Tim’s room, on his dresser. I’ve pretty much had to keep him confined all day.”

     “Jules, you…you put my son in a CAGE?!” Natalie exclaimed hysterically.

     “Nat, what was I supposed to do?!” Julia exclaimed defensively, shrugging. “I mean, I couldn’t just let him run around the house unsupervised, could I?! I was just trying to keep him out of trouble!”

     “Well…yeah, but…I’m not sure if that was best option,” Natalie relented apprehensively as she peered down the hallway.

     “Well, it was the only thing I could think of at the time, sis,” Julia explained, “but don’t worry: at least now we know EXACTLY where Tim is and don’t have to worry about accidentally stepping on him or anything.”

     “Well, I’m still not exactly keen on the thought of you sticking him in a cage,” Natalie sighed sympathetically. “Poor, little guy. I’ll go in check on him in a little bit to make sure he’s doing OK. Maybe we all talk this out and find a better solution. Anyway, since Tim’s in his room at the moment, there’s something I need to ask you...”

     “Sure, sis. What’s up?”

     Natalie sighed and put her tongue in her cheek, hesitating slightly before biting her lower her lip and continuing:

     “…What’s your availability for this weekend…and into next week?”

     “Uh…” Julia paused, shrugging, “…I-I guess I’m pretty open. I mean, it is the summer after all. Not much going on except household stuff. Why?”

     “Well, as of right now, I’m formulating several potential antidotes for Tim, but…in all honesty, I really don’t know if any of them’ll actually work. Frankly, I’m amazed I’ve been able to get THIS far so fast, but I don’t know how much longer it’ll take to actually find a cure for him. I may need few more days to work on it, so I’ll need someone to watch Tim for me while I’m at the lab running tests.”

     “Well, sure, sis,” Julia agreed, shrugging. “I mean, it’s no problem, but…what about Tom? Won’t he be home on Saturday?”

     “Well, that’s the other thing,” Natalie explained, “Tom called me today. Turns out, his company needs him to fly to Indianapolis this weekend.”

     “Really?! What for?” Julia inquired.

     “Well, you know he’s been away on a job site all week optimizing and streamlining a lot of his client’s software systems. Well, he did such a good job that this client wants him to do the same with another one of their offices in Indianapolis, and they want him to fly out right away.”

     “I’m assuming that means he won’t be coming home at all this weekend,” Julia deduced.

     “Yeah,” Natalie nodded. “His company’s already made arrangements to fly him directly to Indianapolis on Saturday. It’ll be at least halfway into next week before he’s finished and headed home. Ordinarily, I’d be upset with the whole thing, but with everything that’s been going on around HERE, and all the added pressure I’ve been under, it honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. Now, I don’t have to feel so rushed to finish that antidote. I mean, obviously, I want to get Tim back to normal as soon as possible, but I also wanna make sure I get it right!”

     “Well…I guess, Nat,” Julia shrugged, scrunching and repositioning her foot as she adjusted her seat on the couch, “but….don’t you also need to get Tim back to normal before anyone figures out what’s happened to him?”

     “Of course,” Natalie agreed wholeheartedly, “but I’ve also gotta make sure that any antidote I make for Tim doesn’t have any nasty side effects. I mean, we wouldn’t want Tim suffering any more than he already has: what if I give him an antidote that grows him back too fast, or presumably gets him back to normal at first, but then wears off a few hours later and he shrinks again? And that’s assuming the best possible scenario. For all I know, one of these formulations could end up cementing him at his current size permanently, or shrink him even SMALLER. I just won’t know until I start testing. I can’t take any chances, Jules! I’ve gotta know for sure!”

     “Well, I understand that, Nat,” Julia replied with hesitation. “but even if you manage to cure Tim before your husband gets back home, don’t you think you should, at least, tell Tom what’s been happening? I mean, don’t you think he needs to know that his son is…you know, tiny?!”

     “NO!” Natalie exclaimed, then lowering her voice, “Jules, we’ve already discussed this: this whole shrinking thing has to be kept top secret. Not even Tom can know. Besides, I really don’t want him to worry, and there’s nothing he could do anyway. Even if I tell him, it’ll only upset him and probably make him rush home, and then people will DEFINITELY know something’s up!”

     “Yeah, but couldn’t he just explain it away as family emergency?” Julia offered. “Surely, they’d make a concession for that.” 

     “There’ll still be too many questions,” Natalie replied anxiously, “and even if Tom DOESN’T come home, he’ll just spend the rest of his trip worrying nonstop. No, I wanna wait and see if I can get Tim back to normal before his father gets home.”

     “…And if you CAN’T?!”

     “…We’ll just cross that bridge if we come to it.” Natalie sighed. “In any case, I want to make sure any antidote I make that actually works is going to last, and check for any side effects before giving it to Tim.”

     “Well, I guess you two are stuck with me for a little while longer, ay?” Julia chortled, nudging her sister, a sly grin on her face.

     “Yeah, how will we manage?” Natalie chortled sarcastically.

     Julia nudged her sister again a bit harder.

     “Well, anyway, I better go look in on Tim and see how he’s doing,” Natalie sighed as she stood up from the couch. “He probably isn’t taking being cooped up very well.”

     “Oh, Nat, why don’t let him be for a little while, huh?” Julia spoke up, grabbing her sister’s arm. “Besides, you just got home, and you’ve had a long day. Why don’t you go into the kitchen and relax for a little bit? Maybe warm yourself up some dinner? I made tuna casserole. Just let Tim stew for a little while longer; he’s not going anywhere. Besides, he’s probably asleep at this point. No sense in getting him up before we have to.”

     “Well…alright,” Natalie relented with chagrin, looking over at the hallway with a sympathetic sigh. “I guess I am a little hungry, but as soon as I’m done, I want us all to sit down and talk about this whole cage thing, alright?”

     “Fine,” Julia acknowledged, “Food’s in the fridge. I’ll go and check up on Tim while you’re eating. If he’s awake and ready to behave, I’ll bring him in to you.”

     “Okay,” Natalie sighed, slightly irked as she pointed her finger at her sister, “but don’t be too hard on him, alright? Poor guy’s probably had a long day, and I’d appreciate it if you’d cut him a little slack.”

     “Don’t worry, sis,” Julia chortled. “I’ll be gentle,“I promise.”

     Natalie shook her head, and with another heavy sigh headed around the opposite end of the couch and into the kitchen.

     Julia leaned over and checked to make sure her sister was out of earshot; then, she grinned slyly and lifted her right foot into her lap, revealing her tiny nephew writhing in the middle of her sole beneath a fresh layer of tape.

     “Did you hear that, little guy?” Julia chortled gleefully, patting the side of her foot, “looks like you’re gonna be tiny for a little while longer, just like I warned you. Aw, but don’t worry. I promise I’ll take good care of you in the meantime.”

     Tim moaned weakly, barely able to move or breathe, his face buried deeply into his aunt’s foot flesh. He’d been shouting for his mother from the moment he heard her voice, but when Julia had quickly shifted her legs earlier, she placed her foot on the floor, effectively silencing his cries, or at least quieting them enough so that Natalie couldn’t hear.

     “Now, you just behave yourself when we go talk to your mom later, Tiny Tim, or you’re gonna get raped to my foot all day tomorrow, too.” she warned him, crooning as she gently stroked the side of her foot and ran her index finger over the mass of tape on her sole. “Just let ME do the talking; you just smile and nod, and don’t speak unless you’re spoken to, ‘cause if you step outta line or say anything to your mom about any of this….you’re gonna get stomped! Understand?”

     “Did you say something, Jules?” Natalie called from the kitchen, stepping into the living room doorway.

     “Uh…no, sis,” Julia called back, quickly lowering her foot back to the floor, crossing her left leg over her right, “I was just…talking to myself, that’s all. You know, thinking out loud.”

     “Oh…uh, OK,” Natalie shrugged, slightly perplexed as she stepped back into the kitchen, unable to hear the tiny, muffled screams for help emanating from beneath her sister’s bare foot.

     Tim slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he came to his senses. He moaned softly as he push off his blanket and sat up in his makeshift bed, gazing at his surroundings: four glass walls towered overhead, spanning the perimeter of his new bedroom — a rectangular aquarium. When Tim was born, the aquarium had been the home for a small family of fish; and when he was older, Tim used it to house his pet hamster, Lenny. Tim remembered several years before when Lenny used to run around his cage, spin in his hamster wheel, and meander through the plastic tunnels Tim had attached together for him. Then, after Lenny died, the family had sold off or given away most of the equipment—all except for the aquarium, that is, which was stored away in the laundry room, gathering dust and holding an assortment of miscellaneous items over the years.

     Now, it was Tim‘s cage. He never would have thought in all the years of watching Lenny through the glass that he’d one day find himself trapped inside it, shrunken and helpless to the whims of his giant aunt. The entire week had been one, big nightmare….and it was now apparent the nightmare was far from over. From the moment he’d heard his mother lamenting the prior evening about the difficulties she’d been facing in analyzing the formula, Tim realized as he writhed within his confinement on the underside of Aunt Julia’s foot that there was a frightening possibility that it might take weeks, or even months for his mother to formulate a cure; and there was still the distinct possibility that she might never be able to cure him, leaving him stuck at an inch tall, and an unwilling foot pet for Aunt Julia for the rest of his miserable, little life.

     Tim stood up, adjusted his toga, and walked the confines of his prison, peering out at the bedroom he’d once complained was too small for him; now, he was too small for it. He pressed his hands and nose against the glass, gazing longingly at his bed just across the gap from the dresser where his cage was situated, and reminisced about what it was like to be normal sized, wondering if honestly he’d ever be normal again.

     Tim also couldn’t shake an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, how powerless he felt each time he unwillingly succumbed to his aunt’s whims over the past week, and how useless and insignificant he felt when he failed to get the Mrs. Peterson’s attention…

     …Or McKenzie’s. Tim sighed brokenheartedly, turning and placing his back against the glass, sliding down into a sitting position. If only McKenzie could’ve spotted and rescued him from Aunt Julia’s clutches. For that matter, why couldn’t he have McKenzie looking after him during this nightmare instead of Aunt Julia? Sure, his mother wanted to keep his shrinking a secret and within the family, but SHE wasn’t the one suffering under Aunt Julia’s nasty feet, and given the choice between the two of them, McKenzie would’ve been his preferred guardian, even if she put him through the exact same torture. Of course, Tim wouldn’t have looked forward to being stepped on or taped to McKenzie’s foot, but then again, he also wouldn’t mind giving the giant girl a foot massage…or being stuffed between her breasts…or shoved inside her…

     Tim quickly shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. He was starting to get a little turned on, and he didn’t want to admit to himself that being small might have certain advantages, even if he WERE under the care of someone different.

     Tim had had enough. After spending practically the entire day before taped to the underside of Aunt Julia’s sweaty foot, and almost half the night worrying that he might an inch tall and at the mercy of his giant aunt for the rest of his life, he’d finally built up the courage to tell his mother about his treatment that week…the ENTIRE story—every embarrassing detail. He may have failed once before, and didn’t really get the chance to explain himself the prior night with Aunt Julia hovering so closely outside his door when his mother came in to say goodnight, but he affirmed he wasn’t going to fail again. All he needed was a moment alone before his mother left for work, and this time, he would MAKE her listen! He was done playing the meek, helpless toy; at this point, even if Aunt Julia did follow through with her threat and squash him for snitching, Tim didn’t care. At least then, his horrible, shrunken nightmare would be over.

     One aspect of being small that Tim had discovered was that he had developed the ability to tell exactly who was walking outside his bedroom door, even when it was closed. It was usually his mother who was up and around first the past couple of mornings, and he could usually tell by the soft, slow steps she’d take past his room, obviously trying to be quiet. Aunt Julia, on the other hand, had loud, rather heavy stomps, and Tim honestly couldn’t say if that was how she normally walked, or if she was just exaggerating her steps on his behalf.

     That morning, thankfully, it was his mother stepping up to and knocking on his bedroom door.

     Tim was visibly anxious…

     “This is it,” he said to himself. “No chickening out.”

     “Morning, sweetheart,” Natalie greeted him as she entered the room, apparently freshly showered and already dressed for work, aside from the pink, fuzzy slippers she was wearing on her bare feet. She stood over the aquarium, staring affectionately at her tiny son with his back against one of the glass walls.

     “How’d you sleep?” she asked.

      Tim didn’t respond right away. He merely sighed and crossed his arms, averting his eyes as he tried to think of a response. Despite tossing and turning a majority of the night, worrying about his future as a foot toy, he actually hadn’t slept all that badly; of course, being confined inside your former pet’s cage certainly didn’t help matters.

     “How do you think I slept, mom?!” Tim squeaked with incredulity. “You and Aunt Julia stuck me in this stupid aquarium all night!”

     “Aw, honey,” Natalie sighed sympathetically, bending closer, “I know you’re not happy about this, but after your Aunt Julia and I talked it over, I really think it’s for the best. Now, we all know that you’ll be safe and out of harm’s way, and we don’t have to worry so much when you’re out of our sight.”

     “Mom, please,” Tim begged, “I’m begging you…you can’t leave me in here! Aunt Julia—!”

     “Sweetheart, I’m not discussing this with you any further,” Natalie interrupted him adamantly. “Your staying in there, and that’s that. Now, can I get you anything? Do you need to use the restroom, or some fresh clothes?”

     “What I NEED is for you to do is just LISTEN to me, mom!” Tim replied smartly. “If you don’t, Aunt Julia’s gonna—!”

     “Tim,” Natalie interrupted him again with a frustrated sigh, standing up straight, “look, I’m hoping this is only gonna be for a few more days, alright? In fact, once I get to work and check on my results, I’ll begin testing them right away. If there’s good news, I might even be able to get you back to normal before the weekend’s out, so just sit tight and be patient for a little while longer, okay?”

     “Mom, would you please, just listen to me?!” Tim pleaded desperately. “You don’t understand. I-I won’t last a few more days. Aunt Julia’s been torturing me—!”

     “Tim, I don’t wanna hear it!” Natalie dismissed him. “Now, I know this has been hard for you, but I’m working as fast as I can. You just need to be patient.

    “Look, I’ll give your Aunt Julia a call with an update later on today, but for now, just stay put and keep out of trouble.” She continued as she started walking away. “Now, I will see you tonight, and we can talk everything over then, okay?”

     “Mom, NO!” Tim squealed as he followed after his mother, heading to the side of the aquarium. “Please! You don’t understand! You can’t leave me with Aunt Julia again! She’s gonna SQUISH me! Mom, PLEASE! You have to let me out of here before it’s too late! MO-OM!”

     Natalie ignored her son’s tiny squeaks, leaving him pounding desperately on the glass of his cage as she walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

——————————————————————————————————————

     Julia opened her eyes and took a deep breath, grinning as she stretched her arms.

     “Mm,” she moaned contently, pushing off the covers and sitting up in bed. “Today’s gonna be a good day. I wonder if I can get Tim to give me another foot massage today…

     “…Like he honestly has a choice,” she chortled as she slid her legs off the bed and planted her feet on the carpet below…

    Julia paused before standing up, taking a moment to admire how the carpet felt beneath her bare soles, the feeling of its fibers between her toes as she playfully scrunched and wiggled them about. It was a queer, yet pleasant feeling she’d honestly never paid much attention to before, but having a tiny nephew to play with the past week made her really appreciate how things felt under her feet and between her toes, and she affirmed right then and there that she’d never take that feeling for granted ever again.     

     Julia bit her lip eagerly as she walked out of the bedroom and headed down the hall towards the living room…

     As she approached Tim’s bedroom door, she paused again. Julia leaned to her right and peered into the living room, making sure her sister was well out of earshot; then, she smiled slyly and began softly stomping back and forth on the carpet just outside Tim’s bedroom door:

     “Boom, boom, boom…” she chuckled with each playful stomp. “Boy, my feet sure are stomp-y this morning. I sure hope my tiny, little nephew doesn’t try to get away from me again today. I’d hate to accidentally got stepped on by THESE feet this morning.”

     Julia planted one last playful stomp directly in front of Tim’s door, chuckling maniacally as she continued down the hallway and through the living room.

     “Yes, sir,” she said with a cheerful grin. “Today’s gonna be a VERY good day.”

     As Julia headed into the kitchen, she found Natalie already dressed and sitting at the kitchen table, reading the morning paper and stirring some cream and sugar into her cup of coffee.

     “Morning, Nat,” Julia said gleefully.

     “Morning, Jules,” Natalie replied, taking note of her sister’s merry mood. “You’re awfully chipper this morning.”

     “Am I?!” Julia interjected, feigning ignorance as she grabbed a mug from a nearby cabinet. “Must be because I slept pretty well last night.”

     “Apparently,” Natalie acknowledged with a half smile. “You didn’t even stir when I got up this morning to shower.”

     “Well, I’m a heavy sleeper,” Julia added, pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Plus, it’s Friday. Even in the summertime, us teachers still look forward to the weekend.”

     “Yeah, I’ll bet,” Natalie chortled, taking a well-needed sip of coffee. “I won’t know if I’M gonna be looking forward to this weekend until I get to work.”

     “So, today’s the big day, huh?” Julia sighed as she pulled out a chair and sat down at the table across from her sister.

     Natalie shot Julia a rather incredulous look:

     “Well, if by ‘big day’, you mean crossing my fingers and hoping that at least one of the mixtures I’m synthesizing might actually grow my shrunken son back to normal, then yes, Jules, today is a very ‘big day’.”

     “Nat, relax,” Julian said defensively, “I wasn’t trying to make a joke…although, in retrospect, I guess it was kinda….’punny’.”

     “Jules, would you get real?!” Natalie snarked irately.

     “I’m sorry, sis,” Julia chortled. “But, seriously, I….just wanted to see if you were, you know…ready, or nervous, or something like that.”

     “As ready as I’ll every be…” Natalie shrugged. “…and, yes, very nervous.”

     “So, what’s the plan?”

     “Well, the ‘plan’ is I’m going to test two of the mixtures I synthesized on the two rabbits I shrunk down, one on each; hopefully, one of them’ll grow their respective subject back to normal. If at least one of them does, I’ll shrink down a third rabbit with the leftover shrinking formula and retest the antidote to make sure I’m getting consistent results.”

     “…What if neither of them work?” Julia inquired after a brief silence.

     “Then, I’ve got one more I can try. I’m also gonna see if I can replicate the original shrinking formula in the meantime, just to make sure that I can make more of it if I need to.”

     “How long until you know if one of them works?”

     “Well, I should know right away. Should only take about 15 minutes or so for the formula to be metabolized. Then, I just wait and see if my test subjects regain all their height.”

     “Whelp,” Julia said, raising her coffee cup. “Here’s hoping…”

     “Yeah,” Natalie reciprocated, somewhat unenthusiastically. “For Tim’s sake, let’s just hope something works. He’s certainly NOT taken this whole shrinking thing well.”

     “Well, can you blame him?!” Julia asserted. “Speaking of which, how is little guy this morning? Have you checked in on him yet?”

     “I looked in on him after I got up and around; obviously, he’s not happy about the whole cage thing.”

     “Trust me, Nat,” Julia replied. “It’s the best thing for him. Now, we don’t have to worry about him running loose through the house and accidentally getting stepped on.”

     “Yeah, but…” Natalie replied, her voice trailing off a with a sigh, “…look, I know I initially agreed to this cage idea of yours, but I’m not sure I like the thought of my son being cooped up like some kind of pet.”

     “Yeah, well, he’ll get over it,” Julia scoffed. “With all the trouble he’s gotten himself into over the past few days, I think we need to take some more drastic measures. Besides, I think it’ll also help fix his behavior.”

     “Why?” Natalie inquired, shrugging. “What’s wrong with his behavior?”

     “Well,” Julia explained, “for one thing, he doesn’t mind me when I tell him to do something. He needs to learn to do what I tell him to do the first time I tell him to do it. And secondly, he needs to learn to watch that little mouth of his: small or not, it’s no excuse for back-talking me.”

     “Oh, come on, Jules,” Natalie replied dismissively, “Stop exaggerating! Tim’s behavior isn’t THAT bad! And even if it was, I think we should BOTH cut him a little slack, considering the situation.”

     “Cutting him slack is one thing, sis,” Julia rebutted. “Letting him act out and mouth off to us is another.”

     “Yeah, well…” Natalie acquiesced reluctantly, “look, just do me a favor: Don’t keep him in there all day, alright? I mean, I want my son to be safe, but I also I don’t want him feeling like a prisoner is own home.”

     “Don’t worry, Nat,” Julia reassured her jokingly as she stood up from the table, “I’ll make sure he gets some time in the yard.”

     “Not funny, sis,” Natalie snapped.

     “OK, you’re right,” Julia replied, putting up her hands defensively, “I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m gonna go change out of this nightgown and put on my yoga pants. I’ll look in on Tim once I’m dressed.”

     “Okay, but try not to be too loud,” Natalie insisted. “He had a rough day yesterday, so if he’s gone back to sleep, just let him be, alright?”

     “Alright, sis, I’ll be quiet,” Julia replied as she headed out of the room.

——————————————————————————————————————

     From the moment Julia had stomped past his bedroom door that morning, Tim had been nervously pacing back and forth along the long wall of his aquarium. Her entire performance left him trembling on his mattress, but it was the final stomp that truly rattled him.

     He kept picturing himself on the floor in the middle of his living room, watching in horror as Aunt Julia’s giant feet stomped towards him as he desperately tried to escape. The image of her massive, wrinkled soles was burned into his mind, seeing them hovering ominously overhead right before they slowly came down on top of his tiny, cowering figure…

     Tim gulped fearfully; he was trapped. He desperately needed to talk to his mother, but Tim just knew that if she didn’t come back to check on him before leaving for work that morning, the moment she was out of the house, Aunt Julia would make a beeline for his bedroom, and he’d be spending yet another day taped to her foot, or shoved into the back of her panties again, or…

     “That’s it!” Tim affirmed out loud. “I don’t care what mom says: I’m not spending one more minute trapped in this stupid cage, waiting for Aunt Julia to come up with some new way to torture me. I’m getting the hell out of here!”

     For Tim, unfortunately, getting the hell out of there meant somehow scaling the glass walls of the aquarium, then finding a way to climb back down, and then finding somewhere to hide and stay out of Julia’s clutches until his mom got back home…

    “Aw, man,” Tim muttered dejectedly, shaking his head, “there’s gotta be better way!”

     He immediately began pacing the interior perimeter of the aquarium, looking for a hole or some other weak point he could use as an escape hatch, but his cage seemed well-built and impenetrable; the only opening was the lack of a ceiling overhead. If he wanted out, Tim was going to have to climb.

    “Great…” Tim said sarcastically, “…and how, the hell, am I supposed to scale THESE walls?!”

     The tiny teenager looked desperately around his cage, trying to come up with an idea…

    Tim made a beeline over to his sponge bed, sliding it over into the corner of the aquarium. Then, he headed around to the far end, slipped his hands underneath, and lifted with all his might…

     He couldn’t believe how heavy the sponge was at his size, but the fear and adrenaline coursing through his veins was a welcome godsend; in no time, he’d managed to lift and tilt his bed all the way over, leaning it longways up the wall. Tim quickly scaled the sponge and seated himself on top. He’d still have a long climb ahead of him, and jumping was certainly out of the question, but it was a good start.

     Next, Tim grabbed the Kleenex he’d been using as a blanket, folded it up, and draped it over his shoulder. Finally, he pushed his back into the corner of his cage, planted his bare foot against one the glass walls, then pushed himself up, following suit with his other foot against the adjacent wall…then back to his first foot…

     Slowly but surely, Tim was sliding his body upwards…

     “You’re doin’ good, Tim,” the tiny teenager kept saying to himself over and over again as he slowly inched his way up the glass walls of his prison, “just keep going…”

     All the while, his mind was racing. Tim knew he’d be punished for escaping, but the thought of facing another day taped to Aunt Julia’s foot, or used as her sex toy… If it meant facing his mother’s—or even Aunt Julia’s—wrath, it was well worth the risk. He couldn’t take one more minute of torture.

     Tim’s ascent, albeit productive, was slow going, and Tim had already slipped several times over the past few minutes, hampering his progress. The back of his toga allowed for easily sliding both up and down the glass, unfortunately, but the tiny teenager remained undeterred. Freedom was literally only a few inches over his head.

     “You’re almost there, Tim. Just a little further…”

     Once he was near enough to the top, Tim braced himself carefully, making sure he wouldn’t fall again, then removed the Kleenex from over his shoulder and tossed it up onto the rim of the aquarium. Finally, Tim took a deep breath to ready himself, then threw himself upwards until his hand could grab onto the rim of the cage. He frantically grabbed on with his other hand and pulled himself onto the top of the wall, laying partly slumped over the rim to recover and catch his breath.

     Tim knew he couldn’t rest long, though; he needed to keep moving. He carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position, letting his legs dangle over the side of the wall; then, he began unfolding the Kleenex, letting it drape down the glass of the aquarium. His plan was to make a rope out of the tissue, tying one end into a loop and hooking it to the corner of the aquarium to repel down onto the dresser top, then make his way over to his nightstand and hide behind his alarm clock.

     Tim had to work fast, but also knew he had to get it right the first time. There were no do-overs. A fall from this height onto the dresser, let alone the floor, would surely be instant death…

——————————————————————————————————————

     Julia exited the kitchen and headed back through the living room. As she approached the entrance to the hallway, she slowed her pace, taking careful, quiet steps through the carpet, making sure the floor didn’t make some much a a tiny creak or groan as she slowly crept her way towards Tim’s bedroom door…

     With only a few feet left, Julia stopped. She took one quick look back to make sure Natalie wasn’t behind her; then, she bit her lip, placed her feet together, and jumped…

     Tim had just leaned forward to splay out the tissue before he started twisting it into a rope, when suddenly…

     *BOOM*

     Something huge impacted the floor just outside his bedroom. The shockwave rattled the entire dresser, aquarium and all. The tiny teenager yelped in shock, flailing his arms wildly to grab a hold of something, but it was already too late; he was quickly thrown from the rim of the aquarium, tissue in tow as he went careening past the dresser top and screaming all the way down towards the floor…

     Julia could barely contain her chuckles after landing her jump on the carpet just outside Tim’s bedroom door, swearing she could hear her nephew’s tiny screams of terror. She pictured his tiny figure cowering in the corner of his cage when her feet hit the floor, smiling with sadistic glee as she continued down the hall to the master bedroom. If Tim HAD been sleeping, like Natalie had said, he was awake now, and as soon as Julia was dressed, she was coming back to say good morning…

     Tim was noticeably shaken from the fall, yet still found the motivation to push himself up into a standing position. He gazed upwards at the dresser towering over his position on the floor; only then did he truly grasp just how far he had fallen. Luckily, the tissue Tim had been clinging to had acted as a makeshift cape which slowed his descent just enough to allow a somewhat soft, yet survivable landing on his bedroom carpet. It wasn’t exactly how he’d intended his escape to go, but for the moment, he was down from the top of the aquarium.

     Unfortunately, Tim had wanted to stay on top of the dresser so he could make his way to the nightstand; with no feasible way to climb back up, he’d have to settle for finding a hiding spot at ground level.

     But where was he supposed to hide: under the bed?! It might have been a good hiding place, but considering the prior day’s incident, it’d most certainly be the first place Aunt Julia would look for him once she discovered him missing, not to mention that despite her relative size, the clearance under Tim’s bed was still high enough for her to easily follow him under.

     What about UNDER my nightstand, instead of on top? Tim contemplated. It’d definitely be dusty, and possibly had bugs lurking in the shadows, but the odds were slightly better than under the bed.

     Under the dresser was also an option. The clearance was low enough that Aunt Julia would barely be able to fit her hand, let alone her whole arm, underneath it, but once again, there was a risk of dust and bugs.

     Three possible options—none of them ideal.

     “Note to self,” Tim affirmed aloud, sighing as he started off towards the nightstand, “if I ever get back to normal again, the first thing I’m doing is cleaning, vacuuming, and dusting under all my furniture!”

     “Man, I just washed this!” Julia exclaimed after sniffing her nightgown. “I was hoping to get another night out of it.

     “Oh well,” Julia shrugged as she casually tossed her nightgown onto the bed. She quickly slipped into a white yoga top and gray leggings, brushed herself down, then eagerly scurried back out of the bedroom and down the hall.

     Tim had barely made it halfway to his nightstand when he heard a giant pair of footsteps booming towards his bedroom door…

     “KNOCK, KNOCK,” Julia’s ominously booming voice called from outside the door. “TIME TO GET UP, TINY TIM.”

     Tim’s blood ran cold; he needed to get out of the open. With only a moment’s hesitation, he immediately took off towards the underside of the dresser, the clearance just tall enough for him to duck underneath right before the bedroom door opened.

     “Oh, Tim,” Julia called softly as she stepped into the room, a huge grin on her face as she quietly closing the door behind her. “Where are you, little guy? Are you trying to hide from your auntie?”

     As Julia peered into the aquarium, however, her face slowly morphed from happiness to confusion: she didn’t see her tiny nephew anywhere inside his cage, only his sponge bed propped up against the side of the glass.

     “What the…” Julia uttered to herself in confusion, her voice trailing off. “Where’d he go?”

     “Tim?” she called out as she stepped around the dresser. “Where are y—?”

     Julia stopped dead in her tracks; her voice immediately cut off. Something was out of place…

     Tim watched anxiously from his hiding spot as his aunt’s giant, bare feet stomped across the carpet and around the corner of the dresser…

     Then, they abruptly stopped in their tracks, and Tim immediately realized why: he’d left the tissue he’d used to escape lying in the middle of the carpet between his bed and the dresser, and could only look on nervously as the giant woman reached down to retrieve it.

     “What is—?!” Julia uttered, bending down to snatch up a discarded tissue from the carpet. It took her a second to process why it was there, but a quick glance back inside the aquarium yielded the answer…

     “Why you clever, little—!” she said with indignation, “So, you used your blanket as a parachute, huh?”

     “Parachute…” Tim said to himself, smacking his forehead for being so dense. “…Why didn’t I think of that?!”

     “Alright, you little bug!” Julia spat in frustration, dropping to her hands and knees. “Now, where are you?!”

     She peered under the bed where she figured her tiny nephew would be hiding.

     “You know better than to hide from me! Come out right now, or I swear your gonna get it!”

     Not immediately spotting her nephew, Julia huffed in frustration and reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. Then, she clicked on the flashlight and pointed it under the bed to conduct a better search…

     The moment Aunt Julia turned on her phone’s flashlight, Tim immediately slunk back into the shadows and ducked out of sight. As the tiny teenager watched his aunt’s search intensifying, he was thankful he’d chosen the dresser for cover as opposed to under the bed where Aunt Julia was now scouring the floor.

     Unfortunately, Tim knew his cover was only temporary. Aunt Julia could easily spot him under the dresser if she should turned her head and shined her flashlight his way. He frantically scurried through the darkness to find better cover, but the area beneath the dresser was merely a large, open space, and the only semblance of cover he could find was the inside corner of the dresser’s right, front leg, just a few feet away from his aunt.

     “Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Julia called out as she scoured the carpet under the bed. “You can’t hide forever, Tiny Tim, so unless you wanna get taped to my foot again, I’d suggest you show yourself!”

     Unfortunately, there was still no sign of her tiny nephew.

     Julia began crawling forward, expanding her search to the underside of the nightstand, her flashlight scanning the carpet intensely.

     “Damn it, Tim!” Julia exclaimed irately, moving her flashlight to the space under the dresser. “I mean it. If you don’t come out right now, I’m gonna stomp you when I find you! Now, where are you?!”

     Tim‘s little heart started beating even more frantically when Aunt Julia moved her flashlight to the underside of the dresser, scanning the dusty carpet for her prey; she shoved her huge hand as far into the crevice as she could, her long, slender fingers steamrolling over the carpet fibers as they slid along the floor.

     The tiny teenager pushed his back into the corner, trying to flatten his body against the wood as much as possible.

     The spotlight kept inching closer; Tim held his breath, trying to keep quiet and not give away his position.

     The light crept even closer, passing literally an inch in front of his feet…

     The light quickly retreated from sight; Tim exhaled quietly, grasping his chest, his heart still beating frantically from the close call.

     The ground suddenly shook violently, and Tim nearly lost his balance. Julia’s knees boomed across the floor as her gigantic figure clambered around to the adjacent side of the dresser, now scanning the underside long ways down the carpet. Tim quickly switched his position to the adjacent wall of the dresser’s foot, pressing his back into the wood again.

     The light crept even closer than before; then immediately shot over to the foot off to his left, nearest the wall.

     A giant hand suddenly thrust itself under the dresser, feeling the inside corner the foot across from him.

     Tim’s face was wracked with terror. He slowly slid his back down the wood and grasped his knees, tucking himself into a ball in the corner of his dresser foot.

     Then, Aunt Julia’s giant hand quickly shot his direction.

     Tim cringed and grit his teeth as it grasped the top of the dresser foot just over his head…

     This is it! he thought with a terrified gulp. Aunt Julia’s got me!

     “Ouch!” Julia exclaimed, yanking her hand out from under the dresser. “Damn splinters!”

     She quickly stuck her middle finger in her mouth, sucking on the pad in an attempt to dull the pain.

     “Damn it!” Julia huffed in frustration, standing up from the floor and picking up her phone. “Ugh! Tim, you stupid, little bug! I swear, when I find you, I’m gonna squash you!”

     She frustratedly stomped her right foot onto the carpet next to the foot of the dresser, too flustered to even consider being mindful of where landed feet. Julia was certain she’d find Tim cowering in darkness beneath one of the pieces of furniture in the vicinity of his cage, but there was no sign of him. She began intensely scanning the room, contemplating where her tiny nephew might possibly be hiding.

     Could he have made it to the closet? she wondered as she quickly stepped across the room and slid open Tim’s closet door.

     “Ugh, this closet’s such a mess!” she exclaimed again in frustration, haphazardly tossing aside a pair of Tim’s shoes with no regard to the possibility that her act might have accidentally crushed her nephew had he actually been hiding in the closet. “I’m never gonna find him in here! And Natalie’s gonna kill me if anything happens to that little brat!”

     Julia frustratedly stomped back across the room, dropping back down on her hands and knees to check under the bed again. She made one last pass with her flashlight over the carpet as she crawled around to the corner of the bed nearest the dresser, looking for even the slightest shred of evidence that her tiny nephew was, or had been there, still having no clue that he was literally hiding only a foot away under another piece of furniture.

      Tim was getting tired of having to cover his ears and steady himself each time Aunt Julia stomped her foot or dropped her body onto the floor, and he consciously had to restrain himself from yelping and giving away his position when she stomped her foot right next to the the dresser foot where he was hiding. From his vantage point, he watched his giant aunt grow increasingly more frustrated as she stomped back and forth across the room, frantically scouring the floor for his whereabouts. If he had any qualms about staying hidden instead of coming out and revealing himself before, they had all but dissipated, fearing he’d be squashed for sure the moment Aunt Julia found him.

     “Ugh, this is so stupid—!” Julia huffed in frustration as she rose to her feet again, inadvertently kicking up a cloud of dust in the process.

     “That’s it, Tim! If you don’t come out RIGHT NOW, I’m gonna…I’m…A—

     “…A-ACHOO!!”

     Tim managed to brace himself and cover his ears just in time before his aunt’s roaring sneeze, the cacophony so loud that it would’ve burst his eardrums had he not had the foresight to protect them. The giant woman practically flung herself several inches into the air with her sternutation, her feet stomping back down onto the carpet with a thunderous boom that shook the whole floor so violently that it completely knocked Tim off his feet.

     Julia froze; her eyes opened wide. She cringed and slowly lowered her gaze towards the carpet below her. She hadn’t expected her sneeze to be so severe, nor to land so hard on the floor after her involuntary jump. For the first time since she entered the Tim’s bedroom room, Julia was actually concerned about her nephew’s wellbeing, apprehensively checking her soles, hoping she hadn’t accidentally squashed Tim with her jump.

     Thankfully, there was no sign of a tiny, squashed teenager under either foot, nor in the surrounding carpet.

     Julia exhaled a small sigh of relief, carefully lowering her raised foot back down to the floor…

     Then, a sly grin suddenly spread across Julia’s face as a deviously, playful thought popped into her head.

     “A-choo!” Julia cried out as she faked a sneeze and jumped off the floor again, landing with a slight thud.

     “A-choo…” she said again, repeating the process, this time jumping slightly forward and landing between the corners of the bed and the dresser. “A-choo…”

     Julia chuckled callously, inhaling a playful gasp as she peered down at the floor.

     “Oops…sorry,” she called down apathetically, giggling manically as she turned and headed out of Tim’s bedroom, faking one more sneeze and jumping before closing the door behind her.

     Tim peeked out from his hiding spot behind the leg of his dresser once the sudden breeze from his door closing died down, heaving a sigh of relief that the giant woman was finally gone. The whole time Aunt Julia was sneezing and jumping around, Tim had been bracing against the inside walls of the dresser leg, covering his ears and trying to steady himself from the massive earthquakes.

     “Missed me!” he squeaked out hubristically. He was thankful he hadn’t been out in the open when it happened; otherwise, Aunt Julia might have…

     Tim’s demeanor suddenly changed, his mind just then processing what had transpired.

     “What, the hell, am I SAYING?!” he gasped fearfully. “My own aunt just tried to SQUASH me!”

     Tim knew Aunt Julia could literally come back any minute, and would be more determined than ever to find him. He contemplated staying under the dresser for the whole day, but how long could he realistically stay hidden? Besides, Aunt Julia was bound to come back and scour his bedroom from top to bottom; she was eventually going to find him.

     Tim needed to get to his mom before she left for work. His very life depended on it!

     Julia was still grinning as she headed back down the hallway towards the living room, thinking up a fiendishly clever scheme to search for Tim…

     “Everything alright, Jules?” Natalie called out as she suddenly emerged from the kitchen.

     “Oh…” Julia yelped in surprise, jerking slightly at her sister’s sudden appearance.

     “Sorry, sis,” Natalie apologized. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

     “That’s okay, Nat,” Julia sighed with relief. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I was, uh…”

     Julia’s voice trailed off slightly; a clever smirk grew across her face.

     “…Actually, I just came from checking on Tim,” she said.

     “Sis, I thought I told you to just let him be!” Natalie retorted sternly.

     “I know….I know, you did,” Julia acknowledged, nodding her head, “but…I thought I heard him squeaking when I walked by after getting dressed. I just looked in on him to make sure he was alright. Poor, little guy was just having a nightmare, that’s all. I think me opening his door might’ve scared him awake. Luckily, I was able to get him back to sleep, so shh, make sure you’re quiet when you walk by.”

     “Aw, my poor boy,” Natalie sighed, shaking her head. “You know, I don’t think she slept very well last night. Maybe I should look in on him before I leave.”

     “Sis, I literally just got him back to sleep,” Julia protested. “You wouldn’t wanna wake him back up, would ya?”

     “Eh…no, I guess you’re right,” Natalie acknowledged. “I’ll just leave him be for now and check on him this evening when I get home.

     “Just remember what I told you,” she continued, pointing her finger at Julia, “keep him safe, but don’t just leave him in there all day, alright?”

     “Don’t worry, Nat,” Julia reassured her. “Trust me, he’s gonna have plenty of time to run around and stretch his legs. Oh, and that reminds me, there’s something else I need to ask you…”

     From his hiding place under the dresser, Tim could just barely hear his mother and Aunt Julia having a conversation down the hall. He was still apprehensive about coming out, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying and needed to get closer.

     Tim instinctively looked around (as if he honestly needed to check and see if the coast was clear), then scurried over to his bedroom door, pressing his ear to the wood in hopes of overhearing what the two, giant woman were talking about…

     “…it’s in the coat closet, by the foyer.” Natalie replied, pointing. “Why?”

     “Oh, well, I figured since I already cleaned and mopped the kitchen and bathroom yesterday, I might as well just finish cleaning up the rest of the house today.” Julia explained.

     “Oh, Jules, you don’t have to do that,” Natalie replied cordially.

     “It’s not a problem, Nat. Really. Besides, other than watching Tim, I really don’t have anything else to do today. I don’t wanna get bored.”

     “Aw, you’re a gem, sis,” Natalie lauded. “Really. I’m SO glad you’re here this week.”

     “Me, too,” Julia grinned widely.

     “Whelp, I’d better go finish getting ready,” Natalie said, walking towards her sister. “I still need to finish blow drying my hair and put on my makeup.”

     “Okay, sis,” Julia replied hurriedly, practically stepping in front of and blocking Natalie’s access to the hallway. “Just remember to be quiet going past Tim’s room…and don’t go in. You wouldn’t wanna wake him up.”

     Tim’s heart sank listening to Aunt Julia’s latest words. If his mother didn’t back come in to check on him, he’d be completely at Aunt Julia’s mercy for the whole day. His window was quickly closing, and he knew he couldn’t afford to miss it.

     “MOM!” Tim shouted, pounding his fists on the door. “MOM, HELP! COME IN MY ROOM! PLEASE, MOM!”

     “Thanks, Jules,” Natalie replied as she started walking past her sister. “I’ll be quiet, OK?”

     “Actually…” Julia spoke up again, blocking her sister’s path, “…you know what? Why don’t I just come with you and help you finish getting ready?”

     “MOM, NO!” Tim shouted, pounding more frantically on his door. “DON’T LISTEN TO HER! MO-OM!”

     Tim slammed his fists into his door in frustration, stepping back to gauge his situation:

     His bedroom door towered overhead, the only hope of opening it being the door knob which was obviously too far out of reach. His gaze lowered as he desperately scanned the door and racked his brain for an idea…

     Tim’s eyes fell upon the gap beneath his door, between the doorframe and the carpet. There wasn’t much clearance, but there might be just enough room for an inch-tall human to squeeze underneath. Tim quickly crouched down and slid on his belly underneath the door jam.

     “Mom!” he strained to call out, the low clearance making it difficult to breathe, “Mom, help…!”

     “I’m…perfectly capable of putting on own makeup, sis,” Natalie chortled dubiously, “and I’m not really gonna put on that much, anyway.”

     “I know, I just… thought you might like you little sister’s opinion, that’s all,” Julia replied anxiously. “I mean, you wanna look your best…”

     “Thanks, Jules,” Natalie dismissed her, continuing down the hallway, “but I think I’ve got it.”

     “Well…at least, let me keep you company,” Julia added quickly, putting her arm around her sister’s shoulder and escorting her down the hallway.

     “Uh…Jules, you really don’t have to,” Natalie replied suspiciously.

     “Come on, sis,” Julia chortled, “I could use a little grown-up girl talk.”

     “Mom!” Tim called out weakly, straining to speak. “Mom, help!”

     The gap under his bedroom door had proven tighter than Tim had initially anticipated, and now his midsection was wedged underneath the door about halfway between the bedroom and the hallway. Tim slowly moved his arms forward and grasped the hallway carpet, trying to use the leverage pull himself out from under the door, but he wasn’t moving, and quickly realized he was stuck tight.

     “Oh, no,” Tim said to himself. “This isn’t good.”

     Tim began to panic, frantically clawing and tugging at the carpet fibers to get himself moving. He somehow managed to get just enough leverage to scoot his body forward, just barely able to poke his head out into the hallway…

      “Eek!” Tim squeaked as a giant, bare foot impacted the floor about a foot in front of him. His head quickly retreated back under the door jam, catching a glimpse of Aunt Julia and his mother walking down the hallway towards the bedroom.

     “Help!” he squeaked desperately, but the two giantesses were already heading into his parents’ bedroom.

     “Nuts!” Tim cursed. “If I don’t get to mom before she leaves, Aunt Julia’ll squash me for sure!”

     “So, you really think one of these mixtures you’re whipping up’ll really get Tim back to normal size?” Julia asked as her sister turned off the hairdryer.

     “Well, yeah, obviously,” Natalie retorted, somewhat irked at her sister’s silly question. “Like I said earlier, I won’t know for sure until I test them.”

     “Any ONE in particular you think might work the best?”

     “Uh…” Natalie uttered, trying to find her thoughts as she put away her hairdryer and picked up her lip gloss. “…Well, the first one I wanna test probably has the best shot: it’s the one I made directly from the original formula. It’s basically a mixture of all the molecular inverses directly synthesized from the original ingredients. It should trigger everything it binds with to break down into smaller components, which then should facilitate breaking more and more down. Basically the effect is exponential.”

     “…Uh, sounds complicated,” Julia replied, raising an eyebrow.

     “Well, in this case….” Natalie explained, spreading some lip gloss across her lips, “….it’s actually easier done than said. At least, the basic premise is…Jules’s I thought you wanted to have some ‘girl talk’, not ‘talk about my work’.”

     “I’m just curious, that’s all,” Julia shrugged.

     “Yeah, well, I think I had enough ‘girl talk’ for the morning. Why don’t you just go on wait for me in the living room. I’ll be there in a minute.”

     “Come on, sis,” Julia urged. “I’m sorry, I’ll change the subject…”

     “Jules, just GO!” Natalie repeated firmly. “I just need to put on some blush. I’ll be there in a minute. Go on.”

     Julia sighed and shook her head frustratedly, heading back through the bedroom and out into the hallway.

     It was no use: Tim had been stuck in the same spot for almost five minutes. His head and arms we’re peeking out into the hallway, but he couldn’t flatten the rest of his body enough to get his shoulder blades the rest of the way out from under the door jam. His lungs were having a hard time expanding, and his breathing became shallow and rapid…

     Just then, Aunt Julia’s towering figure appeared in the hallway, her bare feet pounding the carpet as they boomed in his direction.

     Tim started panicking; she was going to spot him for sure!

     He immediately pulled his head back under the door jam and yanked his arms back down to his sides, ducking out of sight as the giant woman approached his bedroom. Her bare feet stopped right in front of his door, her meaty toes pointing in Tim’s direction, wiggling playfully on the hallway carpet, as if they knew the tiny teenager was hiding under the door right in front of them.

     Tim became extremely nervous as the giant feet stepped forward; they were literally right in front of him…

     “Oh, no!” Tim thought, his heart sinking. “She knows I’m here. I’m a goner!”

     Then, Tim heard the doorknob jostling…     

     “Oh no, AAH—!” Tim squeaked as the door slowly swung open, dragging him along with it. His belly was immediately rubbed raw from being slid several inches through the carpet. He frantically reached out his arms, grasping at the carpet fibers to keep from sliding back any further…

     “ACK!” Tim exclaimed reservedly through gritted teeth as the underside of the door slid along his back until his tiny body was freed, leaving him prone on the floor. The excruciating pain felt like someone had just pulled a huge Band-Aid off his back.

     Unfortunately, before Tim could recover, something huge landed on top of him…

     As Julia left the master bedroom and headed back down the hallway, she paused outside Tim’s bedroom, facing his door. She looked back to make sure the coast was clear, then stepped forward and slowly turned the door knob, quietly pushing the door open and taking one step inside.

     Julia scanned the large, open section of carpet just in front of Tim’s bed, half-expecting to see her nephew’s tiny figure scampering across the floor, but there was still no sign of him. 

    “Where are you, you little bug?!” she cursed quietly, her eyes moving along the carpet towards the door, just to make sure Tim didn’t try to slip past her feet.

     Julia suddenly heard a drawer slamming shut from behind the closed bathroom door across the hall. Realizing that Natalie was probably finished applying her makeup and would be coming out of the master bedroom any second, Julia quickly, yet quietly pulled Tim’s door shut and slowly turned the latch to prevent it from making any noise. Then, she scurried the rest of the way down the hall, disappearing around the corner into the living room.

     A few minutes later, Natalie was finished getting ready and headed back down the hallway towards the living room, finding Julia standing over by the coat closet.

     “Alright, sis,” Natalie inquired as she turned the corner into the living room, “since you were so invested before, how’s my makeup look?”

     “Uh…perfect,” Julia replied with slight hesitation. “Just the right amount of lipgloss.”

     “See?!” Natalie remarked, slightly condensing. “I told you I had everything handled. Don’t forget, I was the one who taught YOU how to put on YOUR make up when we were kids.”

     “You’re right, sis,” Julia said, putting her hands up defensively. “As always.”

     “Anyway, did you find the…?” Natalie asked, motioning to the coat closet as her voice trailed off.

     “Yep,” Julia replied, closing the closet door, “I was just taking a quick peek at it. I’ll pull it out after a bit.”

     “Do you need me to show you how it works?”

     “Uh…I’m pretty sure I can figure it out, sis,” Julia replied with admonishment. “I’m not an idiot.”

     “Alright, no need to get pissy,” Natalie replied defensively as she stepped over to the coffee table to retrieved her purse and gather her work papers. “Just make sure Tim’s out of earshot when you turn it on. He might be sensitive to the noise; I don’t want him to get scared.”

     “Don’t worry, sis,” Julia replied smugly, “I’ll make sure Tim’s right where he needs to be.”

     “Good,” Natalie acknowledged, stepping over to the edge of the den and slipping on her flats. “Oh, and if you DO decide to clean up in Tim’s room, make sure you get under his bed and all the hard to reach places. It’s probably pretty dusty.”

     “Trust me, sis. I’ll be VERY thorough,” Julia smiled, nodding her head assuredly.

     “Awesome,” Natalie replied appreciatively. “Thank you SO much for doing this, Jules.”

     “Not at all, Nat,” Julia smiled. “Believe me: it’s my pleasure.”

     “Great. Anyway, I’m off.”

     “Have a good day, sis,” Julia said, giving her sister a hug. “Hope everything works out.”

     “Me too,” Natalie said, kissing Julia on the cheek. “Bye, Jules.”

     “Bye,” Julia replied, waving slightly as her sister left through the front door.

     Once she heard her sister stepping off the porch, Julia smiled and stepped back over to the coat closet, opening the door and rolling out a large, upright contraption.

     “Oh, Tim’s gonna LOVE this!” she giggled contemptuously.

     Tim cringed as he slowly returned to consciousness, immense pain coursing through his tiny body; he felt like he’d just been hit by a truck. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the light, then carefully pushed his torso up, moaning with discomfort. His brain was foggy, and Tim shook his head a few times to shake off the delirium before checking his surroundings:

     Tim found himself lying on his bedroom floor; the carpet fibers, although still rather short even at his current size, created a sea of uneven grass, with the fibers immediately surrounding him apparently flatter than those a short distance away, as if they’d been trampled by a huge mass. Then, there was the unmistakable smell of feet—Aunt Julia’s feet, to be precise. Tim knew that potent stench all too well after being stuck to the giant woman’s sole almost the entire day prior.

     Using all of his sensory inputs, Tim begin piecing together the events of the past few minutes: he remembered being trapped under the door jam…then, seeing Aunt Julia’s feet approaching as she opened his door…then, he recalled sliding along the carpet before slipping free of underside of the door…the last thing he remembered was something landing on top of him…but after that, it was all a blur. Tim figured he must’ve blacked out…

     “Mom!” Tim cried out as he suddenly remembered his prior mission and scrambled to his feet, “I’ve gotta get to mom before she leaves for work!”

     Tim pushed through the pain as he stood up and quickly jogged back over to the bedroom door. He knew the door jam hadn’t exactly been the best escape route before, but it was the only one he had. He bent over and scuttled along the door jam towards the dresser, trying to find a larger gap he might be able to squeeze through…

     Tim suddenly heard foot stomps coming down the hallway, along with a strange, unfamiliar squeaking sound, like something was being rolled across the floor.

     “Oh, Tim,” he heard Aunt Julia call out from the hall, “I have a surprise for you!”

     Tim freaked, immediately taking off and diving underneath his dresser as the giant woman approached.

     The doorknob turned loudly, and the huge, bedroom door creaked open. Tim looked back from his prone position under the dresser, seeing Aunt Julia’s bare feet entering his room, right behind something rolling into the room.

     The tiny teenager got to his feet and ran to one of the dresser legs; then, he carefully peeked out to see what was happening…

     Tim’s blood ran cold; his heart sinking into his chest…

     Aunt Julia was standing over their vacuum cleaner!

     The family’s vacuum cleaner was a cyclonic upright model, which had a dust bin for easy clean-up afterwards. After Natalie left for the lab, Julia had taken a moment to clean and empty the dust bin before heading back down the hall to Tim’s bedroom, making sure she’d easily be able to see her tiny nephew inside if and when she sucked him up.

     “Alright, Tiny Tim,” Julia said apathetically as she began unwinding the cord from the vacuum cleaner, “if you don’t wanna come out, I’m just gonna have take more drastic measures.”

     “No!” Tim exclaimed quietly, anxiously watching as his giant aunt plugged the gargantuan machine into the wall outlet on the other side of his bedroom door. “She—She can’t be serious! She wouldn’t…!”

     Alas, Tim could only watch in horror as Aunt Julia lifted her bare foot pressed the pedal on the vacuum cleaner.

     The monstrous machine roared to life, its thunderous howl causing the tiny teenager to scream in terror and cover his ears. He immediately ducked back behind the dresser foot, doing his best to stay out of sight.

     Meanwhile, Julia began vigorously vacuuming the carpet in the large, open area of Tim’s bedroom. She doubted she’d see him out in the open; she was to trying funnel and corner him beneath a piece of furniture, slowly working her way towards what she assumed was her nephew’s most likely hiding spot: under his bed.

     Tim scrunched himself into a ball behind the inside corner the dresser foot, his hands still firmly over his ears as he sheltered in place, trying to ride out the storm. All the while, he wondered anxiously just how long he could remain hidden. Aunt Julia was already bound and determined to find him, and would no doubt start vacuuming underneath the rest of his furniture once she finished vacuuming the open areas of the floor. Unfortunately; his options for hiding were minimal at best. There was nowhere else close he could go, and the moment he left cover Aunt Julia would immediately spot him; he’d get sucked up for sure! Tim felt his best option was to stay put. At the very least, he took a sliver of solace in the fact the vacuum couldn’t reach under the dresser.

     Tim felt the ground beneath him start rumbling, and could hear the vacuum’s roar coming ominously closer. He grit his teeth, pressed his hands over his ears, and bore down…

     Julia scowled as she swept the vacuum back and forth over the bedroom carpet, muttering curses under her breath at the fact that she’d had to resort to such measures just to find one shrunken teenager. Although she was sure Tim had taken shelter under the bed by now, she wanted to be as thorough as possible. Besides, Tim’s bedroom carpet was proving to be a lot grittier and dustier than she’d realized. Who’d have thought one lousy teenager could be so messy?

     Julia turned the corner around the bed and began running the vacuum up and down the lane of carpet between the bed and the dresser, keeping her eyes peeled on the off chance her tiny nephew happened to peek his little head out into the open…

     The ground was literally shaking as Aunt Julia rolled the vacuum cleaner back and forth along the carpet just on the other side of the dresser foot at Tim’s back, and he could practically feel the suction from the roaring beast trying to suck him into its hungry maw. To make matters worse, the monstrous machine was now so loud now that Tim practically had his head in a literal vice-grip to keep his eardrums from bursting. The noise was pounding in his head, and Tim was clenching his teeth to the point of pain…

     Julia pressed the off switch with her foot, reaching around and trying to remove the dust bin to check for any spoils.

     “Man, this room is dusty!” Julia griped in disgust, slightly shocked at the amount of dust and hair in the vacuum’s dust bin. “Ugh! Geez, Tim, don’t you ever clean your room?!”

     She gently shook and jostled the waste bin, maneuvering the dust around as she looked for any sign of her tiny nephew.

     “Hmph,” she muttered aloud, “nothing yet. Oh, well. Looks like I’m gonna have to get out the suction tools…”

     Tim breathed a huge sigh of relief when Julia switched off the vacuum cleaner, but his momentary reprieve was short-lived: when he heard Aunt Julia talking about using the suction tools, his anxiety increased another notch. He quickly un-scrunched himself from his hiding corner and crawled over to the edge of the dresser leg to take a look...

     Julia removed that attachable hose on the back of the vacuum cleaner and connected it one of the extender arms, setting a smaller, narrower extension attachment down on the bed for the time being. Then, she turned on her phone’s flashlight, knelt down on all fours, and shined the light under the bed:

     “I know you’re under there, Tim,” she growled as she scoured the underside of the bed with her flashlight, “This is your last chance to come out before things REALLY get bad for you!”

     Seeing no sign of her nephew, Julia set down her phone, snatched up the vacuum hose, and reached back to hit the on switch with her hand.

     “Alright, Tiny Tim,” she said irately. “You asked for it…!”

     Tim reeled, immediately clasping his hands over his ears again to prepare himself…

     The humongous vacuum cleaner whirred to life once again. Tim quickly ducked back out of sight, bracing against the inside of the dresser foot in a desperate attempt to shield himself from the noise. He watched with gritted teeth as Aunt Julia shoved the vacuum hose as far under his bed as it could reach, and although Tim may have been relatively safe for the time being, he knew it would only be a matter of time before the giant woman started sweeping the vacuum hose under the rest of his furniture. He’d be sucked up for sure!

     Julia only grew more and more frustrated as she swept the vacuum hose back-and-forth under Tim’s bed, sucking up every last dust bunny and dirt clod she could find, but alas, there was still no sign of her tiny nephew. Refusing to give up, she laid down on her belly and crawled partway underneath the bed stretching out her arms and legs to get as far under the bed as possible…

     Tim reeled as Julia’s left foot suddenly shot his direction. He stumbled backwards onto his butt, yelping in surprise as the woman’s giant toes clasped the dresser foot between the big and second digits. Desperate to avoid them, Tim frantically scooted himself back, alternating his hands between covering his ears and using them to assist in propelling himself across the carpet. His back unexpectedly hit the opposite wall of the dresser foot; Tim pressed himself against it, desperately trying to avoid the meaty digits reaching for him, but they just kept stretching and inching their way closer. The tiny teenager screamed in panic, knowing that if Aunt Julia’s toes even so much as touched him, he’d be found out…

     “Damn it!” Julia cursed, quickly reaching her breaking point. She would’ve bet a hundred bucks that she’d find Tim cowering under his bed. Not only that, as she tried to make herself comfortable while splaying her body out to reach further under the bed, her left foot kept hitting the dresser behind her. In frustration, Julia tossed away the vacuum hose, shoving it behind her, then worked to reposition her legs and feet, scooting her body further under the bed…

     The end of the vacuum hose smacked the lip of the dresser with a loud crack, landing on the carpet with its nozzle pointed underneath the dresser…directly towards the very leg Tim was hiding behind. The tiny teenager screeched in terror as he suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of the ominous hose, the suction on his body pulling him closer. He immediately lunged the opposite direction, grasping the edge of the dresser foot to prevent himself from being sucked in. Tim tried to pull himself around to the other side of the dresser foot and clear of the hose’s intake, but the suction force was too strong, and he could barely muster the strength to even keep his grip.

     “HEEELLLP!” Tim screamed in futility, holding on for dear life as his tiny legs and torso flailed helplessly in the air. “HEEEEEELLLP!”

     The suction was starting to overtake him; his knuckles burned and ached as he struggled to hold on, but he was quickly losing his grip…

     “SHIT!” Julia exclaimed irately, mumbling curses as she scooted herself out from under the bed and sat up on her knees. “Damn it, Tim! Where are you?!”

     Julia snatched up the vacuum hose next to her and smacked the off switch with her fist…

     “I swear to God, you little shit,” he heard Aunt Julia say as she stomped her foot on the floor and pushed herself into a standing position, “I’m gonna SQUASH you the moment I find you!”

     Just as Tim’s strength was about to give out, the vacuum switched off; his tiny body fell to the carpet with a tiny thump. The giant woman’s dire threat had Tim cringing anxiously, but he was mostly focused recovering from the recent episode, panting heavily, and trying to catch his breath while he rested his sore, aching hands. 

     He could both hear and feel Aunt Julia stomping past the dresser foot, the vacuum’s wheels squeaking as the giant woman rolled it through the carpet. All the while, Tim prayed the giant woman didn’t suddenly drop to the floor and search under the dresser while he was still recovering. Thankfully, it sounded like Aunt Julia was headed towards the other end of the room.

     Tim recovered enough to crawl forward and poke his head around the dresser foot, peeking around the corner to see what was happening. He couldn’t see Aunt Julia over the corner of his towering bed just across the way, but he did have a clear enough view through the underside of his bed of the giant woman’s bare feet stomping around the somewhat narrow swath of carpet between the other side of his bed and the wall. She was bound to start vacuuming again any second, and it would only be a matter of time before she started cleaning under dresser. Staying put was no longer an option; Tim HAD to get out of his room ASAP!

     The tiny teenager quickly retreated behind the dresser foot, staying hidden as best he could as he frantically looked around for an escape route. He began scanning the wall behind the dresser through the darkness, wondering if there might be a mouse hole or something he could escape. Of course, even if Tim had seen one, he wasn’t sure going though would’ve been a good plan anyway: he could get stuck wandering through the walls for hours trying to find an exit, and if he happened to run into an actual mouse at HIS size…

     Unfortunately, the gap beneath his bedroom door seemed like Tim’s only likely mode of escape, but if he didn’t fit before…

     Tim had one last desperate plan, but would it work?…

     …He had to chance it!

     Tim jumped as the vacuum cleaner roared to life yet again. He clasped his hands over his ears and peered around the dresser foot again, catching a glimpse of his giant aunt as she vacuumed the carpet under the far side of his bed before he quickly retreated back out of sight. Thankfully, Aunt Julia wasn’t looking in his direction, but with her now in front of him partially facing the dresser, Tim knew he’d have to find the right moment to make his move.

     Tim took one last fleeting glance of Aunt Julia to make sure her attention was elsewhere, then quickly scampered to the dresser foot of the dresser opposite him—the one nearest the bedroom door—hurriedly slipping into the narrow space between the dresser foot and the wall. He stayed put for a moment, listening to see if the vacuum turned off: a clear sign Aunt Julia had somehow spotted him…

     …The vacuum was still running, and Tim didn’t hear loud stomps heading in his direction. For the moment, it seemed the giant woman hadn’t noticed him.

     Tim peered out from behind from the outside corner of the dresser foot, taking one last look to make sure Aunt Julia wasn’t looking, nor had a clear view of his escape; then, with only a couple seconds of hesitation, the tiny teenager emerged from his hiding spot and dove underneath the corner of the door jam. He’d figured it would’ve had the widest gap between the door and the carpet, and his best chance at escape.

     Tim scrambled to slide himself forward, paranoid that Aunt Julia would somehow spot him trying to squeeze under his bedroom door should she gaze in his direction.

     “Please, let me keep going…” Tim repeated to himself, praying he wouldn’t get stuck again. “Please, just let this work…!”

     The hallway carpet was in sight; the tiny teenager stretched out his arms and frantically grasped at the fibers, pushing through the pain, and pulling with all his might…

     *POP*

     Tim pooped out of from under the door jam, somersaulting a few inches before rolling to a stop. Sharp pains shot through his shoulder blades, and he winced and clenched as he waited for the pain to deaden.

    For the moment, at the very least, the tiny teenager had escaped his bedroom and the menacing vacuum cleaner…but what was he going to go now? Tim was still stuck in the house with Aunt Julia for the day, and if he didn’t get out of the middle of the hallway, he’d be spotted the moment she opened the door. He needed a safe place to hide, and fast, but where?

     Tim looked around the hallway, his gaze falling upon the doorway to his parents’ bedroom at the far end of the hall. Even for someone of his tiny stature, it honestly wasn’t very far; in fact, he could just head across the hall and slip underneath the closed door to the bathroom and access the bedroom from there. There’d be plenty of places to hide—under the bed, behind one of the other pieces of furniture…—and there’d be two potential exits if he needed to make another hasty escape. Unfortunately, that option would just leave him stuck in the exact same situation he’d just escaped from: hiding under a piece of furniture while Aunt Julia searched the house and vacuumed the carpet until she found him.

     Tim looked the other direction, eyeing the entrance to the living room at the opposite end of the hall: it offered far more options to hide and keep out of sight, but it was a much further distance. If he didn’t make it there before Aunt Julia emerged from his bedroom, he’d be right out in the open with no cover. He’d be sucked up or stomped for sure!

     “Come on, Tim!” the tiny teenager urged himself. “You’re wasting time. You’ve gotta get moving!”

     With only a few moments of hesitation, Tim sighed heavily, then began jogging down the hallway towards the living room, praying he could avoid the unwelcome fate that awaited him if he didn’t stay hidden all day.

——————————————————————————————————————

     “DAMN IT!” Julia cursed in frustration as she scoured Tim’s closet. “I’ve been cleaning and searching this whole stupid room for over an hour and I still haven’t found that little brat! Where the HELL could he have gone?!”

     In her frustration, Julia haphazardly tossed aside some shoes in the bottom of Tim’s closet without any regard that they might accidentally land on and potentially crush her tiny nephew if he’d actually been hiding in there. She was certain she’d find the tiny teenager hiding in there; it seemed like an ideal spot for him to hide, especially since it was so unkempt, but Julia had combed the floor, tossed aside dirty clothes, and checked every possible nook and cranny she could think of—even inside his shoes—and had still come up with nothing.

     This was not how Julia pictured her morning going: even after discovering Tim had escaped, she figured she’d easily find him within half an hour once she started cleaning his room, but she’d vacuumed the entire carpet—in the open, under the bed, beneath the nightstand and dresser…and still no luck. At the very least, she’d been able buy herself the whole day to look for him, keeping her sister unaware of the situation when she left for work, but the clock was ticking. Julia needed to find Tim before Natalie came home or there’d be hell to pay.

     “This doesn’t make any sense!” Julia sighed frustratedly, her eyes anxiously scanning the room for any spots she may have missed while conducting her search. “I mean, I’ve searched everywhere and there’s no sign of him…But he HAS to be in here! It’s not like he could’ve gotten out—!”

     Julia’s gaze suddenly fell upon the bedroom door: more specifically, the narrow streak of light peeking through the door jam. She hurriedly stomped across the room, dropping to the floor to examine the underside of the door: Julia could just barely slip her fingers into the door jam, yet could still reach far enough to feel the bottom edge of the hallway side of the door…not much clearance, but just enough for someone of Tim’s size to squeeze through.

     “Shit!” Julia cursed, springing to her feet, “I should’ve thought about shoving a towel under here before I started vacuuming.”

     Julia threw open the door, making sure to check the area just outside the bedroom before stepping into the hallway.

     “Alright, you little shit, now where did you go?!” she seethed just above a whisper, as she scanned the carpet up and down the hallway, ponder where her tiny nephew may have gone. Her eyes glanced past the bathroom door just across the hall, then further down to the master bedroom at the far end.

     “Now, would you try to make it to the living room,” Julia pondered aloud, “or did you just hide in your parent’s bedroom?”

     Julia scowled, knowing she’d probably have a long day of searching ahead of her.

     “You can’t hide forever, you little brat!” She called out bitterly. “You hear me, Tiny Tim?! I’m gonna find you….even if I have to vacuum this whole, damn house!”

     McKenzie yawned as she slowly descended the staircase to the ground floor, her bare heels stomping heavily on each wooden step. It was almost a quarter to noon, but sleeping in wasn’t new to the college girl, especially considering she’d been browsing videos on YouTube until almost two in the morning the night before. The smells wafting up to her second floor bedroom from the downstairs kitchen had roused McKenzie from her late-morning slumber, tempting her to get up and immediately head downstairs for a bite to eat, not even bothering to stop and change out of her night shirt and pajama shorts.

     McKenzie’s eyes were still glued to her phone as rounded the banister on the ground floor and headed through the hallway and into the kitchen, finding her mother apparently slaving over over a hot stove, and moving back and forth between the kitchen island and the oven across from it. Mrs. Peterson was making her famous cheeseburger casserole, and McKenzie was practically salivating for a bite.

     “Morning, sleepyhead,” Mrs. Peterson said with a half-smile as her daughter sauntered into the kitchen.

     “Hey, mom,” McKenzie replied flatly as she headed through the kitchen towards the table. “Smells good.”

     “Well, good morning to you, too, sunshine,” Mrs. Pederson replied smartly. “About time you got up.”

     “Come on, mom,” McKenzie sighed. “gimme a break, will ya? It’s my summer vacation; you know I like to sleep in.”

     “Uh huh, and as long as you’re home for the summer and don’t have a job, It’d be nice if you could help me out around the house more.”

     “Mom, please,” McKenzie whined. “I just wanna relax, OK?! I really didn’t get a chance to yesterday with all that excitement with the boys after lunch…not to mention that weird, neighbor lady.”

     “Kenzie, be nice!” Mrs. Peterson scolded her daughter.

     “Well, she was acting weird, mom!” McKenzie shrugged defensively. “I don’t know how much nicer I can say it.”

     “Look, I know her behavior was…a bit odd, but cut her some slack, okay? She probably been under a lot of stress taking care of that sick nephew of her’s all week. That’s why I’m baking this casserole to take over to her. I figure she might appreciate the offer.”

     “Wha…I thought that was our lunch,” McKenzie commented, slightly confused and disheartened.

     “No,” her mother clarified, motioning to the casserole dish that just came out of the oven, “THIS is to take next door. I’ll make a fresh casserole this evening for dinner. Besides, Matt went over to Bryce’s for the day, so lunch is gonna be on your own.”

     “Fine,” McKenzie sighed as she stood up from the table, “then I’m going back to bed.”

     “Oh no, you’re not, young lady,” Mrs. Peterson retorted. “I want you to get started cleaning up the house today.”

     “Come on, mom,” McKenzie whined again, “Do I really have to?! It’s my summer break. Can’t I at least enjoy it?!”

     “Young lady, we had an agreement!” Mrs. Peterson replied sternly. “Either you get a summer job or you help out around here with the housework. I already told you: I don’t just want you lounging around the house all summer. Now, it’s already June, and I’ve yet to see you even go out and LOOK for a summer job.”

     “Well, what about all the babysitting I’ve been doing?”

     “Staying at home for the past month and looking after your brother when he got home from school in the afternoons is hardly what I would call ‘babysitting’,” Mrs. Peterson retorted. “Even watching him during the summer while your father and I are at work barely qualifies; he’s practically old enough to stay home and take care of himself, if need be. Now, if that IS how you wanna spend your summer, that’s perfectly fine with me; I’ll gladly pay you for the effort, but you’re not just gonna sit around here and slack off while you’re doing it. If you’re home during the day, I want you helping out around the house, and you start by taking this casserole next door for me.”

     “Wha…why me?!” McKenzie exclaimed with aghast.

     “Because I asked you, that’s why,” Mrs. Peterson mocked, grabbing a nearby lid and setting in on top of the casserole dish to keep it warm. “Now, run up and get dressed so you can take this over to ‘em.”

     “But…I haven’t even had breakfast yet!”

     “It’s not gonna take that long,”  Mrs. Peterson retorted. “It’ll take you five minutes, tops. You can fix yourself a bowl of cereal or something when we get back.”

     “But mom, I-I don’t wanna go over there!” McKenzie whined. “I already told you, that Julia woman really freaked me out yesterday. I-I don’t wanna see her again.”

     “Alright, look,” Mrs. Peterson offered with a sigh, “would it make you feel any better if I went over with you?”

     “I’d feel a lot better if I didn’t have to go,” McKenzie retorted smartly.

     “Alright, fine,” Mrs. Peterson relented. “If you don’t wanna go, I’LL take the casserole over myself. In the mean time, you can start rinsing some of these dishes and load the dishwasher. Then, I want you to go upstairs and get all your clothes and whatnot off your bedroom floor so we can vacuum later.”

     “But, mom…”

     “No ‘buts’, Kenzie. If you don’t wanna take this casserole next door, you can just start on something else.”

     “Fine, I’ll take the stupid casserole next door,” McKenzie relented with a frustrated sigh as she got up from the table.

     “Well, not like THAT, you’re not!” Mrs. Peterson rebuffed, noting her daughter’s sleeping outfit. “Now, run upstairs and change your clothes; unless, of course, you’d like the neighbors to see you in your underwear.”

     “I’m not in my underwear, mom,” McKenzie griped. “They’re my pj’s!”

     “Fine, do you really wanna walk over in your ‘pj’s’, or would you prefer to get dressed first?”

     “Fine, I’ll go upstairs and change,” McKenzie sighed again, heading back across the kitchen.

     “Thank you,” Mrs. Peterson said, “and don’t doddle. I’d like to get this next door while it’s still warm.”

     “Well…you’re still coming with me, right?” McKenzie inquired anxiously. “I-I don’t know if I can face that Julia woman by myself.”

     “Yes, I will go with you,” Mrs. Peterson confirmed with an impatient sigh. “Now, go on; hurry up and get changed.”

     “Yes, mother,” McKenzie replied smartly as she walked out of the kitchen and headed back towards the stairs. 

     “And don’t give me any of your sass, young lady,” Mrs.Peterson added, raising her voice slightly as her daughter headed down the hall. “You’re 19 years old, so act like it!”

     McKenzie only sighed and rolled her eyes, not wanting to continue the argument. She rounded the stairs and headed up to the second floor, sticking her tongue out when her mother’s back was turned.

     Meanwhile, Sandra headed over to the back door to slip on a pair of flip-flops she kept there for quick trips outside, then stepped back over to the counter, grabbing a towel to wrap around the still hot glass dish of casserole.

     “Well, I hope they like it,” Sandra sighed to herself. “I’m sure Julia’ll appreciate the help, what with Tim being sick. She just seemed so flustered yesterday…

     “…Especially over that bug,” she added, a perplexed look on her face.

     “Hmph,” Sandra shrugged as she finished wrapping the towel around the casserole, awaiting her daughter’s immanent return.

—————————————————————————

     Tim sat with his arms wrapped around his legs and his knees tucked into his chest, anxiously rocking back and forth as he listened to the distant sounds of Aunt Julia’s booming stomps amidst the roar of the vacuum cleaner. Under different circumstances, he might have lost track of time, but the digital clock that hung over the living room’s entertainment center served as a constant, ominous reminder of how early in the day it still was; despite its relative distance from the tiny teenager and the blurry appearance of the numbers, Tim could still read the large, black digits: 11:35.

     It seemed like forever ago since he’d taken refuge under the living room couch, and despite the somewhat short distance from his bedroom, it had still taken the tiny teenager almost half an hour just to get down the hall and descend the single step into the large, sunken area of the living room, not to mention the extra few minutes it took to get to the couch. Considering Tim jogged the whole way out of fear that Aunt Julia could open his bedroom door at any time and easily spot him out in the open, by the time he reached the underside of the couch, the tiny teenager was tired and out of breath. He might have tried falling asleep to help pass the time, but his anxieties about being discovered, coupled with the fact that the underside of the couch was quite dirty and dusty, and could be a harborage site for bugs, meant that his body was still on high alert, and any real attempt at relaxing was an almost impossible task.

     Tim sighed dejectedly, resting his back against the left, front leg of the couch, doing his best to enjoy the respite after the terrifying events that had transpired earlier that morning. Aunt Julia had reached a new low: he couldn’t believe she was actually trying to suck him up with the vacuum cleaner, nor that she’d faked a sneezing fit as an excuse to “accidentally” squash him. 

    Tim was also well aware that even with the underside of the couch’s shelter, he was hardly free from danger: his giant aunt was still vacuuming and vigorously searching for him at one end of the house—most likely his parents’ bedroom by that point—and any minute she could appear in the hallway arch and start cleaning the living room. He just hoped that when all was said and done, he could hold out and stay hidden long enough for his mother to come home.

     Unfortunately, it was impossible to say exactly when that would be. Natalie’s work hours had been somewhat inconsistent over the past week given the time she’d been spending trying to formulate his cure; for all he knew, it could be another late evening, and even if not, it would still be several hours before his mother got home at the very earliest.

     All Tim could really do was sit and wait….and reluctantly hope Aunt Julia didn’t think to vacuum under the couch.

——————————————————————————

     “Darn, that kid!” Julia spat frustratedly, smacking the off switch on the vacuum cleaner with her foot. “I’ve been searching these stupid bedrooms for hours, and there’s still no sign of him! Where the hell could he be?!”

     Ordinarily, it wouldn’t have taken Julia so long to vacuum two measly bedrooms, but having to literally search every possible nook and cranny that a 1-inch tall teenager could fit into was painstakingly slow. It also didn’t help matters that Natalie apparently hadn’t vacuumed in a while, what with her busy work and travel schedule, so the master bedroom was almost as dusty as Tim’s.

     Nonetheless, Julia scrutinized every possible hiding spot in the master bedroom and bathroom for her tiny nephew. She even dumped out the clothes hamper at the edge of the master bathroom onto the bedroom floor, meticulously searching each garment before tossing it back inside. Thankfully, Julia having done all the family’s laundry a few days prior made the task somewhat small and manageable, but with having to search every corner, check under every piece of furniture, and even scour the baseboards and vents, it was past 11:30 before she’d finished cleaning the back of the house, and she was still no closer to finding Tim.

     “Argh, this is taking too long!” Julia griped as she glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand by her sister’s bed, only then realizing just how long it had taken her to clean and search the bedrooms. “At this rate, Natalie’ll be home before I find that little brat!”

     With the morning practically gone, Julia knew she had to start searching the rest of the house, or she’d never find her tiny nephew in time. Given the thorough nature of her search of the bedrooms and master bathroom so far, Julia surmised that Tim must’ve taken refuge elsewhere…unless, of course, he’d doubled back while she was searching.

     Julia stepped out to the hallway and thoroughly scanned the carpet with her eyes—from the baseboards just outside the master bedroom, to the archway at the other end of the hall. She reasoned that if Tim had somehow made it down the step into the living room—as opposed to the bedrooms which she’d initially suspected—he’d most certainly be trapped: he’d be too small to climb any of the steps out of the sunken area of the living room, at least not without a great deal of effort and some kind of climbing equipment, and he surely wouldn’t be foolish enough to try escaping through the front door, even if he could find a way outside. Plus, even if the tiny guy DID try to climb one of the steps to another room, she’d easily be able to spot his attempt.

     “Alright,” Julia said to herself, “I’ll do one last sweep of the bedrooms and bathroom, then vacuum my way down the hall to the living room. If he’s in there, there’s no way he’s getting past me again…!”

——————————————————————————

     “…I still don’t see why you wanted ME to come with you, mom,” McKenzie griped as she stepped out the back door, carrying the towel-covered casserole dish in her hands, “You could’ve easily just taken this over yourself before I even got dressed.”

     “You’re not coming with ME, Kenzie,” Mrs. Peterson retorted, pulling the back door closed behind her, “I’M coming with YOU, remember? Besides, it wouldn’t kill you to learn to be a bit more neighborly while you’re home, especially to someone who’s caring for a sick kid.”

     “She’s not really our neighbor, mom,” McKenzie commented smartly as she carefully descended the deck stairs, “I mean, you literally just met her yesterday. Don’t you think it’s a bit…I don’t know…presumptuous, to just assume she wants any help?”

     “Honey, look, know it seems a bit…forward…” Sandra shrugged as she followed her daughter down the steps. “…but I’m sure Julia’ll appreciate the gesture, nonetheless. Besides, I just want her to know that we’re here to help out if she needs it.”

     “Well, she hasn’t needed our help so far this week, mom,” McKenzie commented, readjusting the bundle in her arms. “I don’t see why she’d start asking now.”

     “Oh, hun,” Mrs. Peterson scoffed, waving her hand. “Come on.”

     The two women started across the lawn towards the neighboring house, their footfalls almost in sync throughout the journey. The grass, still wet with morning dew, rustled and crunched beneath the soles of their shoes as they walked, their flip-flops slapping each of their heels with each step.

     McKenzie turned to head towards the front by way of the small side yard between the two houses, when her mother spoke up:

     “Oh, no…this way, hon,” Mrs. Peterson said abruptly, “We’ll just go to the back door.”

     “Mom, don’t you think it’d be better to just go around to the front and ring the doorbell?” McKenzie queried. “I mean, we barely know her.”

     “Hon, Natalie and I are pretty well-acquainted,” Mrs. Peterson added, gesturing for her daughter to follow. “Besides, we’re not gonna be that long: we’re just gonna drop that off and head back. It won’t take more than a minute. Now, come on.”

     “…But this isn’t Natalie, mom,” McKenzie tried clarifying with aghast, stomping after her mother, her flip-flops smacking her heels even more loudly, “it’s her sister!”

     “Oh, would you stop your bellyaching and come on?!” Mrs. Peterson snapped in frustration, pausing briefly at the bottom step of the neighbor’s deck, “Geez, if I’d have known there would be this much complaining, I would’ve just done this myself.”

     “Well, why didn’t you?!” McKenzie retorted. “I already told you that Julia woman creeped me out yesterday.”

     “Well, we’re already here,” Mrs. Peterson said as she headed up the deck stairs, “so you might as well just suck it up and get it over with.”

     “I still say this is a bad idea,” McKenzie sighed, shaking her head as she stomped up the stairs after her mother. “We should’ve just gone around the front.”

     “It’ll be fine,” Mrs. Peterson reassured her daughter, stepping up to the back door. “Don’t worry. Look, the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can get back home and eat…you know, BEFORE you start the rest of your chores.”

     McKenzie sighed again, this time with annoyance as her mother knocked on the back door and peered through the glass, looking around to see if anyone was inside.

     “Hello?” Mrs. Peterson called out, knocking on the window again. “Julia?! Are you home…?”

     Tim jerked, startled by a sudden knocking on the back door. He quickly crawled over to the edge of the couch foot he was resting behind and peered out…

     His eyes went wide with surprise when he saw Mrs. Peterson’s giant figure standing at the back door…with McKenzie standing just a foot or so behind her.

     “Mrs. Peterson?” Tim uttered in surprise, suddenly realizing he might have a way out of his current situation.

     “MRS. PETERSON….McKENZIE!” Tim shouted as he scrambled to emerge from his hiding spot, screaming and waving his arms as he ran towards the back door. “DOWN HERE! IT’S ME, TIM! MRS. PETERSON, LOOK DOWN HERE…”

     Julia was on her hands and knees, scouring the base of the bathroom vanity when she thought she heard a noise coming from the other room. She quickly froze and held her breath, waiting silently in the hopes to hear the pitter-patter of Tim’s tiny, little feet giving away his location…

     Then, she heard muffled voices, and the sound of someone stomping around the back deck.

     Julia quickly rose to her feet, headed out of the bathroom, and started down the hall to the living room…

     “Whelp, I guess she’s not home,” McKenzie spoke up as she turned around and quickly descended the deck stairs.

     “Not so fast, young lady,” Mrs. Peterson replied, quickly following after her daughter. “You get back here right now! McKenzie…!”

     “NO, Mrs. Peterson, WAIT!” Tim squeaked frantically, watching helplessly as the two giant women headed away from the back door. “Mrs. PETERSON…McKENZIE….COME BACK! PLEASE, COME BA-ACK!”

     Tim gasped as he suddenly heard loud stomps coming down the hall…

     Aunt Julia’s giant figure had suddenly emerged from the rear of the house and was headed right for him!

     The tiny teenager quickly scrambled back under the couch, hoping to get out of the middle of the floor before the his giant aunt could spot him. He dove underneath the couch and quickly rolled behind the nearest foot, waiting nervously as he struggled to catch his breath…

     Julia hurriedly stomped down the hallway with a look of confusion on her face.

     Who the hell could be out on the back deck? she wondered. It certainly couldn’t have been Tim making all that noise, and Julia was starting to worry that someone might be trying to break in through the back door.

     As she reached the step into the living room, Julia leaned to her left to get a better view of the deck…but she didn’t see anyone outside. She stepped down into the living room and peered across the deck…no one was in sight.

     Julia shrugged and turned around, heading back up the step into the hallway…

     She paused, scanning the entirety of the hall again with her eyes.

     “Nah, he’s not in the hallway,” Julia shook her head assuredly, contemplating her nephew’s whereabouts. “I’d have seen him by now…”

     Julia twisted her back and slowly scanned her eyes around the living room, scowling as she mulling over her next move…

     “That’s it…” she stated decidedly. “I’m making my way to the living room….now!”

     “But mom, she didn’t answer,” McKenzie argued, motioning up to the back door on on the deck. “She probably not even home. What do you wanna do: stand around here all day until she gets back?!”

     “She’s taking care of a sick kid, Kenzie,” Mrs. Peterson retorted, “I doubt she’d leave him home by himself…I mean, unless she had to run a quick errand, or something.”

     “Yeah, and that’s another thing, mom,” McKenzie retorted bluntly. “If that Tim kid is so sick, are you sure it’s a good idea for us to be over here?! I mean, I don’t wanna catch anything!”

     “Honey, she said it wasn’t that serious, alright?! So, calm down! Besides, Tim being a teenaged boy, one look at you in THAT outfit, he’ll probably perk right up!”

     “What do ya mean?” McKenzie queried with confusion, checking out the clothes she was wearing: a thin, light-brown T-shirt and short, cut-off jean shorts that didn’t even reach a third of the way down her semi-muscular thighs. “What’s wrong with my outfit?”

     Mrs. Peterson quickly stepped in close to her daughter before responding in a hushed tone:

     “I don’t think it’s exactly appropriate for you to be wearing that in public, young lady.”

     “Wh…I’m 19 years old, mom,” McKenzie retorted defensively, “and we’re not, technically, IN public. We literally just came next door!”

     “That’s beside the point, Kenzie,” Mrs. Peterson proposed, motioning to her daughter’s shorts. “I’m just saying: couldn’t you have put on something a bit less…revealing?!”

     “What do ya want me to wear, mom, a turtleneck sweater and long pants?!” McKenzie replied sarcastically. “You told me to get dressed, and I did.”

     “Yeah, well, I’d prefer it if you would’ve dressed a little more…conservatively, that’s all.”

     “Mom, come on, don’t make a big deal out of it. It’s just a style. Lots of girls wear this stuff.”

     “Honey,” Mrs. Peterson sighed, trying to calm her frustration, gently placing her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, “look, I know this is what a lot of girls your age are wearing, but…I just don’t want people getting the wrong idea when they look at you.”

     “Mom,” McKenzie sighed forgivingly, “we literally had this talk when I first left for college, remember? That’s why I took that self-defense class last summer. Don’t worry, I know how to take care of myself, okay? Besides, it’d be nice to have guys notice me every once in a while.”

     “Honey, you’re a beautiful, young, college girl,” Mrs. Peterson scoffed gently. “Trust me, guys notice you.”

     McKenzie sighed and averted her eyes to the side, reluctant to admit her mother was probably right. 

     “Hey,” Mrs. Pederson said softly, placing her index finger and thumb just beneath her daughter’s chin and gently turning McKenzie’s head back to the front, “Sweetheart, look, I know, sometimes, it’s nice to be the center of attention. All I’m saying is that I’d prefer it be the right kind of attention. I just don’t want anyone taking advantage of you, or think less of you just because of how you dress, okay?”

     “Okay, mom,” McKenzie sighed, relenting to her mother’s reasoning, “but, if we could get back to our earlier conversation, are you still planning to stand around here and just wait for someone to come home?”

     Mrs. Peterson quickly looked back towards the neighbor’s house.

     “Well, maybe you’re right,” she relented, motioning to their own house with a nod. “Come on, we’ll go and put this back in the oven to keep it warm…”

     Tim watched nervously from his vantage point under the couch, anxiously switching his gaze back and forth from the back door to the hallway, hoping that either Mrs. Peterson or McKenzie would appear on the deck before Aunt Julia emerged from the rear of the house again. He kept eyeing the step from the sunken portion of the living room up to the back door, wishing he was tall enough to climb it, but even if he was able to reach the door, he still wouldn’t have been tall enough to even see over the door frame.

     “Please come back,” Tim kept repeating softly, tears in his eyes. “Please…I don’t wanna get vacuumed!”

     Julia was scrolling through her phone, trying to find some music to help her stay motivated for the task ahead. She knew it seemed counterproductive to be listening to music with her earbuds in while she was looking for her tiny nephew, but she’d been searching for him all morning with practically nothing to listen to but the monotonous roar of the vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, it wasn’t like Tim would be calling out for her, and if by chance he WAS calling for help because he’d gotten himself into some kind of trouble, Julia figured he deserved to go unheard for a bit—it’d be a fitting punishment for escaping. Besides, Julia figured wouldn’t be able to hear Tim with the vacuum running anyway, and concluded her eyes were her best weapon.

     Once Julia found the song she wanted—“One away or Another” by Blondie (a fitting soundtrack for hunting for a shrunken, little boy)—she pressed play on her phone and shoved it into her pocket as her earbuds came to life. Then, the quickly plugged the cord into the wall outlet just inside the master bedroom, then pressed the switch on the vacuum cleaner before pushing it out into the hallway…

     Mrs. Peterson stopped dead in her tracks; she and McKenzie had made it about halfway back across the lawn when she suddenly heard a high-pitched squealing coming from the neighbors’ house, possibly the sound of a vacuum cleaner.

     “Hon, wait,” she said to her daughter, lightly tugging McKenzie’s shoulder.

     “What? What is it?” McKenzie replied, slightly startled.

     “I think I hear something…” Mrs. Peterson explained, listening intently. “…Sounds like a vacuum cleaner. I think Julia’s home after all.

     “JULIA?!” she called out, stepping back towards the neighbor’s house. “JULIA!”

     Mrs. Peterson, however, received no reply.

     “Come on, Kenzie,” she said, gently pulling her daughter by the arm. “Let’s get back up to the back door and try to get her attention.”

     “Well, why don’t we just go around front and ring the doorbell like I said earlier?” McKenzie proposed. “That way, she’ll hear us.”

     “Nonsense,” Mrs. Peterson scoffed. “Now that we know she’s home, she’s bound to see us waiting at the door again.”

     “But she didn’t hear us when you knocked before. I doubt she’ll hear us now.”

     “Would you just come on?!” Mrs. Peterson said forcefully, hurrying back to the deck and ascending the stairs. She stepped up to the back door again and peered through the glass, holding her hand over her brow to get a better look inside; she still didn’t see Julia, but could clearly hear the vacuum cleaner running inside. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from.

     Meanwhile, McKenzie waited at the bottom step of the deck, not wanting to carry the bundle in her arms back up the stairs again until she knew they could go in.

     “Well…see anything?” McKenzie asked patiently.

     “Well, I can hear the vacuum running, but I don’t see anybody,” Mrs. Peterson replied, knocking on the glass again. “JULIA?!”

     Tim was growing increasingly anxious. Thankfully, Mrs. Peterson had returned and was once again literally standing just a few feet in front of him on the other side of the back door, yet the tiny teenager couldn’t risk trying to get her attention: Aunt Julia was already vacuuming the hallway, giving her a direct line of sight to the area of the living room carpet between the couch and the step up to the back door; if Tim came out of his hiding spot now, he’d be spotted for sure. He had to come up with a better plan before Mrs. Peterson and McKenzie left again.

     Unfortunately, and much to his dismay, Tim came to the unfortunate conclusion that his only chance of either neighbor discovering him was trying to alert them of his presence when Aunt Julia answered the door…if she ever did, of course. And that wasn’t the only issue: even if she DID answer the door, there was no way Aunt Julia would actually let either one of them inside the house.

     Whatever the reason behind Mrs. Peterson’s and McKenzies visit, Tim knew they were his only shot at being rescued from his evil aunt’s clutches. His chances were slim, but he had to try something.

     Tim literally just needed a moment…just one, blasted moment…

     He just hoped that either Mrs. Peterson’s or McKenzie’s eyes and ears were more attuned and much faster than Aunt Julia’s foot.

     Julia tried to be as thorough as possible as she vacuumed the hallway, getting as close to the corners and baseboards as she could as she quickly moved towards the living room, all the while keeping her eyes peeled for her nephew’s tiny form. She was doubtful Tim would still be in the hallway at that point, but Julia wasn’t about to take any chances or leave any gaps in her search.

     As she pushed the vacuum back and forth across the hallway carpet, Julia gleefully sang and danced along to the music blasting through her earbuds:

     “One way, or another…I’m gonna find ya, (Tiny Tim)! I’m gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya…!”

     Julia sang along assuredly under the roar of the vacuum cleaner; she was actually enjoying herself, almost completely forgetting that she was technically on a time crunch and needed to find Tim before her sister got home.

     As Julia approached the end of the hallway, her eyes fixated on the living room floor in front of her. She grinned playfully, anxious to dig in and start vacuuming the carpet, wondering just what kind of juicy morsels—and tiny teenagers—she might suck up. 

    The moment her vacuum reached the edge of the step down at the end of the hallway, she pulled the contraption back towards her and pressed the OFF pedal, eagerly scurrying back towards the master bedroom to grab the plug and find a closer outlet in the living room.

     The anxiety was pure torment. Tim could only watch helplessly as Mrs. Pedersen stood outside on the deck and knocked on the back door, trying in vain for the last several minutes to get Aunt Julia’s attention. It seemed like fate was against him: every time his giant aunt switched off the vacuum cleaner—the perfect opportunity for the neighbor woman to make her presence known—Mrs. Peterson chose those exact moments to step away from the back door, most likely conversing with McKenzie who was currently out of Tim’s view.

     The temptation to simply emerge from his hiding place and wave frantically to Mrs. Peterson again was overwhelming, but at that point, Aunt Julia was already nearing the living room with the vacuum cleaner, and would spot him in a hot second if he came out of hiding now.

     As if things weren’t bad enough, as Aunt Julia vacuumed, she was happily singing and dancing along to music blasting through her earbuds, and seemed to be taunting him with her words. Every stinking song seemed to have lyrics that applied to his situation, and the ones that didn’t, Aunt Julia would change to make them relevant, purposely mocking his shrunken plight. The absolute worst was her changing the words from Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” to “Beneath My Feet”, and her complete bastardization of the chorus:

     “Well, my neph-ew’s shrunk down to the size

      Of an itty bitty bug, to his surprise.

      He thinks it’s scary, but I think it’s pretty neat.

      He’d bet-ter hope he learns to hold his nose

      ‘Cause I’m gonna stick him right between my toes

      Maybe he’ll like the view beneath my fe-e-et.”

     Yeah, Tim might’ve thought it clever if it hadn’t been so cruel.

     How could Aunt Julia be so happy and giddy about trying to suck him up with the vacuum cleaner? Tim wondered morosely. How could she act so cruel and heartless? Did she honestly have no sympathy whatsoever towards his situation? Did she honestly want him—her own nephew—to die, or get squished? True, Aunt Julia and he hadn’t always seen to eye to eye on things, and she’d always been somewhat critical of him, but her behavior the past week was just cold-blooded…merciless…sadistic…

     It was like his shrinking had had some kind of effect on her…like, it made her wicked and spiteful…almost resentful of him. Julia saw him as nothing more than a toy…or a bug…something she could use for her own pleasure, compel to do her bidding…or squash beneath her foot without even a shred of hesitation. Indeed, at his size, Tim was nothing more than a bug to her, and if she found him now, he feared he wouldn’t survive the inevitable punishment.

     And what about his mother? Given Aunt Julia’s behavior, Tim started to suspect his shrinking was having an adverse effect on his mother as well. Natalie had begun the week being so overprotective of him (rightfully so), but over the last couple of days, she seemed to have become somewhat dismissive and inattentive. Somehow, his mother had been somewhat oblivious to Aunt Julia’s subterfuge and deceitfulness concerning Tim’s wellbeing, and wouldn’t even begin to entertain the notion that Aunt Julia was torturing him. Sure, Natalie was no doubt under a lot of pressure getting that shrinking formula analyzed and developing a cure for him, but was it merely the stress and workload that was affecting her, or something else about his being tiny that was making her so ignorant?

     Whatever the reason behind the lack of empathy from either his mother or his aunt, Tim couldn’t say, but regardless, as he watched Aunt Julia stomping back towards the living room to begin vacuuming again, the tiny teenager knew he needed help….he needed sympathy, and it seemed his only source was literally standing in front of him at the back door.

     “Julia?!” Mrs. Peterson called out, frantically waving and knocking on the back door when she spotted the neighbor woman’s figure at the edge of the hallway inside the house. “Julia?!”

     Julia, however, apparently never noticed someone was at the back door, and quickly disappeared back down the hallway.

     “Nuts!” Mrs. Peterson said, “I don’t think she heard me.”

     “Mom,” McKenzie whined from the bottom step, “can we please just go around to the front and ring the doorbell now? My arms are getting tired carrying this stupid thing.”

     “Honey, I literally just saw her,” Mrs. Peterson retorted, looking away from the window for a brief moment. “I’m sure she’ll be right back. Just…be patient, OK?!”

     “I’ve BEEN patient, mom….for the last 15 minutes!”

     “Oh, it’s not been 15 minutes!” Mrs. Peterson rebutted, stepping away from the back door and closer to the top of the stairs. “It’s only been about…5 or so.”

     “Well, it sure feels like longer,” McKenzie complained. “In fact, it feels like I’ve been standing here for over an hour!”

     “Oh, Kenzie,” Mrs. Peterson scoffed. “Stop being so overdramatic!”

     As Sandra turned back towards the door, she saw Julia bent over in the living room, plugging in her vacuum.

     “Ope, there she is now,” Mrs. Peterson commented, hurriedly stepping back over to the door. “Julia?”

     Unfortunately, Julia had already pressed the switch on the vacuum cleaner and begun vacuuming the living room carpet, facing away from the back door without even noticing her neighbor.

     “Julia,” Mrs. Peterson called. “Julia!

     “Nuts!” she exclaimed again. “She still can’t hear me.”

     McKenzie sighed loudly from the base of the deck, wondering if she could sit on the steps for a moment.

     Out of desperation, Mrs. Peterson reached for the handle of the sliding glass door and pulled…

     …To her surprise, it slid open.

     “Oh…wait, the door’s open,” she called to back to her daughter. 

     “Mom, stop!” McKenzie protested, hurrying up the deck stairs, “You can’t just go into their house uninvited!”

     “Honey, it’ll be fine,” Mrs. Peterson scoffed. “I’m just gonna get her attention…”

     “Shit!” Tim exclaimed in frustration, cringing and covering his ears when Aunt Julia turned the vacuum cleaner back on. He couldn’t believe how oblivious his stupid aunt could be. Did she honestly not see Mrs. Peterson standing just a few feet away on the back deck, or hear her knocking on the back door. What, was she blind?! Was her music so loud it was actually making her deaf?!

     Tim also noticed that Mrs. Pederson was apparently getting just as frustrated as he was, and hoped she didn’t leave as a result.

     Then, Tim caught a break: when Mrs. Peterson pulled on the door handle—a clear last-ditch effort on her part—it miraculously slid open. His little eyes went wide with hope; this was his chance!

     “MRS. PETERSON!” he shouted desperately, bursting fourth from his hiding place, and running towards the step. “MRS. PETERSON, DOWN HERE!”

     It wasn’t until Tim started shouting that he realized the futility of his effort. There was no way the giant woman was going to hear his tiny voice over the roar of the vacuum cleaner. He needed to get her attention some other way, and the only other clear option was getting her to physically see him.

     Tim braced himself, preparing to endure the noise his ears were about to experience; then, he removed his hands from his head and began waving his arms and jumping up and down, frantically shouting the giant woman’s name again out of habit:

     “MRS. PETERSON!…MRS. PETERSON!…”

     “Julia?” Mrs. Pederson called to her singing and dancing neighbor, trying to shout over the vacuum cleaner. “Julia!”

     Julia, however, showed no signs of acknowledgment.

     “Julia!” Mrs. Peterson repeated, inching her way along the step and waving her arms, trying to get Julia to turn around. “Julia!”

     Alas, Julia still couldn’t hear the neighbor over her music blasting in her ears. Mrs. Peterson sighed; she hated to do it, but it seemed the only way to get Julia’s attention was literally walking over and tapping her on the shoulder. She just hoped it wouldn’t startle Julia too much.

     Not wanting to get any dirt on the freshly vacuumed living room carpet, Mrs. Peterson lifted her feet and began removing her flip-flops…

     “MRS. PETERSON!” Tim kept shouting up to the towering woman above, waving and jumping about frantically. “MRS. PETERSON, HELP!”

     Unfortunately, Mrs. Peterson showed no signs that she’d noticed him, and even took a couple steps away along the step.

     “NO, Mrs. Peterson, WAIT!” Tim shouted desperately. “COME BACK!”

     The tiny teenager was growing more disheartened; his frantic shouts and gestures weren’t having any affect, and the giant, neighbor woman wasn’t looking down, nor even looking in his direction. He needed to get into her line-of-sight…without accidentally getting stomped in the process, but that wasn’t Tim’s only concern: in his current position, the side of the couch was blocking Aunt Julia’s view of him, and getting into Mrs. Peterson’s line-of-sight meant potentially losing his cover. Tim, however, was willing to take the risk; he immediately sprinted after the giant woman towards, continuing to wave his arms as he ran…

     To Tim’s surprise, Mrs. Peterson actually looked down. The tiny teenager grew extremely anxious, hoping his opportunity had finally arrived; unfortunately, it was only a fleeting glance: the giant woman was merely checking the carpet directly in front of her before removing her flip-flops.

     “Please, look down again,” Tim pleaded, still trying to run towards the giantess. “Oh, God, please, let her look down again!”

      Then, Mrs. Peterson stepped down, her bare foot landing on the living room floor with a booming thud. Luckily for Tim, it was nowhere near close enough to accidentally step on him, but the shock waves from the impact shook the whole floor, knocking the tiny teenager off his feet. With a surprised yelp, Tim stumbled forward, landing face-first on the carpet. By the time he’d pushed himself up, the giant Mrs. Peterson was already stomping over towards his aunt…

     Julia had her eyes peeled to the floor as she swept the vacuum back and forth across the living room carpet, watching for any signs of movement, when someone suddenly tapped her left shoulder.

     “EEP!” she yelped, nearly jumping out of her skin as she instinctively whipped around to see who was behind her…

     “Sandra?!” Julia exclaimed with surprise and confusion, heaving a sigh of relief as she turned off the vacuum with her foot and tapped the pause button on her earbuds. “Jesus! You scared the hell out of me!”

     “I’m so sorry, Julia,” Mrs. Peterson apologized. “I didn’t mean to startle you…”

     “‘Startle’ me?!” Julia replied, placing her hand over her chest. “You scared me half to death!”

     “Again, I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Peterson repeated, motioning to the back door with her thumb, “it’s just that I’ve been knocking on your back door for the past 10 minutes...”

     “Wait,” Julia interrupted, “tha…that was YOU I heard out on the back deck?!”

     “Yeah,” Mrs. Peterson acknowledged. “I-I was trying to get your attention, but I guess you didn’t hear us. Sorry to just barge in like this.”

     “But…I just checked the door a few minutes ago,” Julia explained. “I didn’t see you.”

     “Oh…well, you must’ve just missed us,” Mrs. Peterson uttered, motioning to her daughter who was now standing just outside the open, deck door. “When you didn’t answer the door, we weren’t sure you were home, we started heading back to our house. We got about halfway when I heard the vacuum cleaner start up...”

     “Oh…well, I’m obviously here,” Julia replied, still slightly confused, “sorry I didn’t hear you, but why didn’t you just come around to the front and ring the doorbell?”

     “See? I told you!” McKenzie abruptly chimed in.

     “Kenzie!” Mrs. Peterson snapped at her daughter before turning back to Julia, “Anyway, yes; in retrospect, we probably should’ve just come around the front door, but that just seemed so impersonal after our chat yesterday.”

     “OK…,” Julia replied hesitantly, “…well…is there something I can do for you? I mean, why’d you two come over?”

     “Oh, I just wanted to bring over this tuna casserole I made for you all,” Mrs. Peterson explained, turning and moving towards her daughter...

     Tim recovered from his tumble as quickly as he could, thankful that Mrs. Peterson’s presence had gotten Aunt Julia to finally turn off the vacuum cleaner. Realizing that his current position on the carpet left him in the line-of-sight of his giant aunt, the tiny teenager quickly scrambled for cover behind the left-front leg of the couch, peering out at the two giant women as they chatted uncomfortably.

     If fact, Tim was so hyper-focused on Aunt Julia’s and Mrs. Peterson’s conversation, that he’d completely forgotten about McKenzie until her mother acknowledged that the giant, teenaged girl was literally standing a few feet behind him at the back door.

     “McKenzie!” Tim uttered excitedly, his little eyes going wide. With Mrs. Peterson keeping Aunt Julia preoccupied, McKenzie might actually be able to spot him.

     “McKENZIE!” he shouted up, taking off in her direction and waving his arms frantically. “McKENZIE, DOWN HERE! IT’S ME, TIM!”

     McKenzie took a couple of strolling steps inside the door, the edge of her flip-flop stopping near the edge of the living room step; Tim immediately redoubled his efforts, trying to get into her sight-line. Unfortunately, the tiny teenager was so enamored with the giant girl above him that he didn’t realize he’d just put himself in the middle of the floor again….directly in the path of Mrs. Peterson, who was heading in his direction to retrieve the casserole dish from her daughter. By the time Tim realized his error, the giant woman’s was already on top of him.

     “Here, Kenzie, I’ll grab it…” Mrs. Peterson said as she stepped around the couch…

     “EEK!” Tim squealed as the giant woman’s right foot impacted only a few inches to his right, almost knocking him down. He ducked instinctively as her left foot soared overhead, landing just shy of the step where McKenzie was standing.

     “MRS. PETERSON, LOOK OUT!” Tim squeaked as he scrambled to his feet. “DON’T SQUISH ME!”   

     Tim scrambled to get out of the way as quickly as he could, trying to get back to the safety of the couch’s cover. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mrs. Peterson’s right heel raising off the floor, and assumed her right foot was about to take another step. Tim tried correcting his path to keep clear, but the giant woman was merely leaning forward and balancing for a brief moment to collect the casserole dish from her daughter. As Mrs. Peterson lowered her heel back to the floor, she shifted her weight back onto her right foot, taking a slight step with her left as she adjusted the bundle in her hands to ensure it was secure.

     “Thanks, hon,” Mrs. Peterson sighed, accepting the towel-covered dish from McKenzie…

     “Whoops…!” Mrs. Peterson uttered as the casserole dish suddenly slipped in her grasp.

     “Whoa, you got it, mom?” McKenzie asked.

     “Yeah, I’ve got it,” Mrs. Peterson replied, adjusting her stance as she tried to get a better grip on the bundle in her arms.

     “ACK!” Tim squeaked again, skidding to a sudden stop as Mrs. Peterson’s left foot landed directly in his path. He tried to recover and scurry out of the way again, but tripped over his own feet and lost his balance, stumbling to the floor.

     The next thing he saw was the giant woman’s right foot shifting his direction…

     “Mrs. PETERSOOOON!” Tim cried out in vain, covering his head with his arms.

     Tim closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, awaiting the inevitable…

     “There, that’s better,” Mrs. Peterson sighed, finally finding a secure grip on the dish. “The towel just made it a bit awkward.

     “Anyway,” she continued, pivoting on her toes as she headed back around the couch towards Julia. “I figured….you and Natalie might appreciate a little neighborly help, what with Tim being sick and all.”

     “Oh…wow,” Julia replied, still somewhat dumbfounded, “that’s…so thoughtful of you, b-but you really didn’t have to…”

     “Oh, it was no trouble, really,” Mrs. Peterson scoffed lightly, “I was already planning to make one for my family tonight, and I had a bit extra, so I figured: why not make you guys one, too?”

     “Yeah, my mom’s kinda thoughtful like that,” McKenzie chimed in as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone.

     Mrs. Peterson didn’t acknowledge her daughter’s statement, and merely sighed heavily and rolled her eyes.

     “Gee…thanks,” Julia said, “I certainly appreciate the gesture…I’m sure Natalie will, too, it’s just….now’s not really a good time…”

     “Oh, I completely understand,” Mrs. Peterson smiled, “I guess we kind of caught you in the middle of cleaning, huh?”

     “Yeah…,” Julia replied with a cordial nod, “…exactly, and I just….really need to get back to it.”

     “That’s alright. Is there someone we can put it until you’re done?”

     “Well…I’ll just put it in the kitchen for now,” Julia offered, thinking quickly. “Maybe I’ll just keep it in the oven on low…”

     “Oh that’ll be great,” Mrs. Peterson said positively, “That should keep it nice and warm until you’re ready to eat. Here, I’ll lemme carry it to the kitchen for ya…”

     Tim slowly opened his eyes and uncovered his head. Up above him, McKenzie was still staring at her phone, while Mrs. Peterson was across the room, conversing with Aunt Julia again. He’d miraculously avoided being squashed beneath Mrs. Peterson’s heel, but as the giant woman walked away, her left foot had kicked up small gust of wind as it soared overhead, rolling him a few inches across the floor.

     Realizing he was still prone in the middle of the carpet, Tim quickly scrambled to his feet, hoping to resume his efforts in getting McKenzie’s attention, but before he could even so much as wave, he heard two sets of booming footsteps coming his direction…

     “Oh, you really don’t have to…” Julia spoke up anxiously, chasing after Sandra as she walked away.

     “It’s no trouble, really,” Mrs. Peterson replied, pausing for a moment after rounding the corner of the couch, “I just wanna get this situated in your oven so we can get out of your hair and you can get back to vacuuming, okay?”

     “Well…OK,” Julia replied hesitantly, “but let’s just be quick about, alright?”

     “Don’t worry, it won’t take more than a couple seconds…” Mrs Peterson replied as she raised her foot to take another step. “Trust me, we’ll be out of your hair in no time...”

     Tim’s face contorted in terror and his tiny eyes bugged out as his vision was suddenly filled with underside of Mrs. Peterson’s bare, wrinkled sole hovering ominously over his head. He clambered to get out of the way and back to the couch, but his tiny legs just weren’t fast enough.

     “NOOOOOO—!” Tim shouted as he tumbled to the floor again.

     A split second later, Mrs. Peterson’s foot stepped down onto the carpet…

     “McKenzie,” Mrs. Peterson said, taking a single step and stopping dead in her tracks, “shut the door, sweetheart. Julia’s been cleaning all morning; you don’t wanna make her job harder and let any bugs in, do ya?”

     “…Or out,” Julia mumbled to herself under her breath.

     McKenzie sighed, then reached behind her and slid the back door closed.

     “Thank you,” Mrs. Peterson said, continuing on towards the kitchen. “Just wait here, hon. We won’t be long.”

     “Yeah,” Julia added, pointing at the ground under McKenzie’s feet, “In fact….don’t move from that spot.”

     “OK…fine,” McKenzie shrugged defensively. “I’ll wait here.”

     “Good…” Julia acknowledged, following after Mrs. Peterson towards the kitchen.

     “Oh…and if you DO happen to see any bugs,” Julia added, stopping and turning back just after passing the end of the couch, “let me know right away.”

     “What’s this weird thing with you and bugs?!” McKenzie inquired bitterly.

     “Kenzie, don’t be rude!” her mother snapped disdainfully.

     “Nothing,” Julia replied, thinking up a response on the fly. “I just….think I might’ve saw one in here earlier, that’s all. In fact, that’s why I’ve been vacuuming all morning. Plus, who knows what kind of nasty diseases they can carry? I don’t want Tim getting any sicker than he already is.”

     “Aw,” Mrs. Peterson cooed. “Is the poor guy feeling any better?”

     “Oh, he’s definitely a bit more sprightly today,” Julia replied coyly.

     “Well, that’s good,” Mrs. Peterson replied. “At least he’s doing better. Anyway, come on. Let’s get this in the oven for ya.”

     Tim screamed muffled cries for help, squirming desperately to move, but the weight pushing down on his back made that impossible. The tiny teenager was sure that the moment Mrs. Peterson’s huge foot landed on the carpet, it would be the end of him, but amazingly, despite her tremendous size compared to his, she hadn’t outright squashed him. He was alive, but definitely NOT okay: when the giant woman’s foot had landed on top of him, Tim ended up facedown on the floor beneath the fleshy area of Mrs. Peterson’s sole just behind the ball of her foot. His position spared him from being squashed outright, but it also left him trapped. The giant woman’s foot had completely engulfed his tiny body, pressing his tiny, naked body into the soft, sticky flesh of Mrs. Peterson’s sole. His arms and legs were completely pinned, splayed out in all directions, and although Tim had been spared from having his face completely buried in her sole, the atmosphere still reeked with the stench of feet, and he was quickly running out of air...

         Then, the pressure receded. Tim was suddenly jerked upwards into the air and thrust forward, his eyes watching the carpet as it fell away; then, he looked on in horror as the floor started coming towards him again. He screamed in terror, but his cries were immediately silenced once he’d crashed down. 

     Tim was now firmly plastered to the underside of Mrs. Peterson’s foot, dragged along helplessly as the giant woman walked across the living room. He kept struggling to free himself, but his attempts were continuously thwarted and set back each time the giant foot landed on the floor, firmly re-adhering him to Mrs. Peterson’s sole and pressing him even more deeply into her flesh.

     A few nightmarish steps later, the carpet beneath the tiny teenager had turned to the familiar kitchen linoleum, and Tim quickly became nauseated not from the hellish ride, but from the sickening sounds of Mrs. Peterson’s bare soles sticking to the floor, then peeling off as she lifted her foot again. His screams went unanswered, his struggles unnoticed, and Tim was personally in disbelief that the giant woman couldn’t feel him squirming on her foot. All he could do was brace himself and pray her next step wouldn’t be his last…

     “Alrighty,” Mrs. Peterson said as she walked through the kitchen towards the stove, “if you’ll set the oven, Julia, I’ll go ahead and pop this in for ya.”

     “Sure, no problem.” Julia replied, still slightly irked at Sandra’s intrusiveness.

     Julia turned the knob to set the temperature on the oven to its lowest setting, while Sandra set the casserole on the stove for a moment and opened the oven door.

     “Ah, there we go,” Sandra commented as she placed the casserole on the topmost oven rack and removed the towel, closing the oven door a second later. “You’re all set.”

     “Great,” Julia replied anxiously, “it was really nice of you to make that for us, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t be more hospitable, but unfortunately, it’s been kind of a frustrating morning—having to clean and sanitize the house—and with Tim…well, with Tim not exactly himself, I really need to get this cleaning done.”

     “Of course,” Sandra replied, hustling out of the kitchen. “I completely understand. We need to get back home anyway...”

     The two women exited the kitchen, finding McKenzie half-sitting on the armrest of the couch.

     “…we’ve gotta lot of cleaning to do ourselves,” Mrs. Peterson continued, “don’t we, sweetheart?”

     “Yeah,” McKenzie replied, grinning sarcastically as she stood up, “really looking forward to it, mom.”

     “Good, let’s get going,” Mrs. Peterson said as she approached the step up to the back door, reaching down to grab her flip-flops. “Here, hon, hold this for a second.”

     Mrs. Peterson tossed the towel she was holding to her daughter and proceeded to slip on her shoes.

     “Oh,” Mrs. Peterson said to Julia as she slipped on her left flip-flop, “just have Natalie return the casserole dish whenever, Julia.”

     “Sure, will do,” Julia replied. “We can just run it through the dishwasher, right?”

     “Uh, yeah, of course,” Mrs. Peterson said, lifting her right foot to slip on her other shoe. “It’s all glass, so it’s dishwasher safe.”

     Tim was barely conscious by the time Mrs. Peterson had returned to the living room, but was immediately jostled awake when her foot lifted higher into the air than normal. The scenery flew by his eyes for a moment, then settled on the sight of a giant flip-flop.

     “Oh, no!” Tim reeled in horror at the sight before him, desperately tugging at his stuck limbs. “Mrs. Peterson, NO-HO-HOOO!”

     Just as Sandra was about to slip on her flip-flop, she suddenly felt a slight tickle on the bottom of her foot, and took a second reach down to scratch.

     Tim watched helplessly as the giant flip-flop closed in, screaming and struggling frantically to free himself before the giant woman could slip her foot in, but it was quickly looking like a losing battle…

     The forward motion suddenly stopped; the giant foot dropped, and Tim found himself staring down at the carpet again. He feared Mrs. Peterson was about to lower her foot to the floor again, but was startled by the sound of a loud scraping sound off to his right.

     Tim craned his neck to the right to see what was going on, and was immediately shocked by the sight of several giant fingers scratching the right side of Mrs. Peterson’s sole….and quickly inching their way towards him.

     The tiny teenager began panicking, struggling frantically and redoubling his efforts to free himself before he was sliced in half.

     “MRS. PETERSON, STOP! WAIT! DON’T SCRATCH! I’M RIGHT HERE! PLEEEEEEASE!”

     The giant fingers inched closer…and closer…

     “MRS. PETERSOOOOON!” Tim screamed hysterically as the giant fingers passed over him. “NOOOOOOO—!”

     As the giant woman’s hand impacted, Tim was immediately dislodged from her sole. He screamed as he was thrown backwards, flying past her heel, and tumbling end over end down towards the floor...

     “Ah, that’s better,” Mrs. Peterson continued, brushing off the sole. “Anyway, I greased the dish really good before I started, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting it clean.”

     “Well, Natalie’ll certainly be happy to hear that,” Julia commented.

     Mrs. Peterson took a second to inspect her sole, trying to find the source of her itch. Seeing nothing, she shrugged, made sure her foot looked clean, then finished slipping on her flip flop.

     “Anyway,” she said, craning her neck to address her daughter, “ready to go, hun?”

     “Yup,” McKenzie replied impatiently, having been more than ready to go since she arrived.

     “OOF!” Tim cried out as he landed in the carpet below and rolled to a stop. He quickly shook off the impact and pushed himself up.

     “…Ready to go, hon…” he heard Mrs. Peterson say.

     Tim looked skyward as the giant woman’s flip-flop-clad foot descended towards the floor, landing with a muffled boom several feet in front of him.

     “…Yup…” he heard the giant McKenzie reply just behind him.

     “Oh no!” Tim exclaimed to himself, shouting up as he scrambled to his feet. “MRS. PETERSON, McKENZIE, WAIT! NO! DON’T LEAVE!”

     The tiny teenager watched helplessly as Mrs. Peterson moved towards the back door and stepped up out of reach. He quickly spun around and sprinted towards McKenzie’s flip-flop. She was now his last hope, and prayed he could reach her before it was too late.

     “MCKENZIEEEEE! PLEASE! HEAR MEEEEE…!”

     “Bye, Julia,” Mrs. Peterson said, stopping on the back door landing and unintentionally blocking McKenzie’s path in the process. “Let me know if you or Natalie need anything else.”

     “Thanks, but I’m sure we can manage,” Julia dismissed her politely.

     McKenzie rolled her eyes and sighed frustratedly at her mother’s continued delays, wanting to get back home as soon as possible.

     “Well, if you change your mind,” Mrs. Peterson added as she slid open the back door, “you know where to find me.”

     McKenzie was literally just a split second away from moving her feet when she suddenly felt something land on her flip-flop and touch the small toes of her left foot.

     “AAH!” the teenaged girl exclaimed, immediately jerking her foot away and lifting it off the floor.

     “Honey, what’s wrong?!” Mrs. Peterson asked, reacting to her daughter’s sudden yelp.

     “Something just—“

     McKenzie lifted and brushed off her foot, her gaze falling to floor to investigate what had just touched her…

     As replied to her mother’s inquiry, the teenaged girl suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence, her eyes alighting on something laying on the carpet near the couch.

     “What the—?” McKenzie uttered, leaning down to get a closer look at what she first assumed was some kind of bug…

     The teenager’s eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped open. She couldn’t what she was seeing…

     “Oh my, God!” McKenzie gasped, slapping her hands over her mouth.

     “Honey, what is it?!” Mrs. Peterson inquired anxiously, looking down at the floor.

     “Mom, look!” McKenzie exclaimed, pointing at the floor. “It’s—”

     “Why you little…!” Julia exclaimed as she hurriedly stomped over, lifting and reaching out her right foot.

     “NO!” McKenzie exclaimed, shoving Julia slightly to prevent her from squashing the tiny figure.

     The momentary act of defense was enough to save its life: the figure emitted a tiny squeak and managed to leap out of the way a split second before Julia’s foot stomped down onto the floor, quickly disappearing under the couch.

     “Kenzie, what’s the matter with you?!” Mrs. Peterson exclaimed, seizing her daughter by the arm.

     “Mom,” McKenzie tried explaining, “th-that was—“

     “—A bug!” Julia interrupted, immediately dropping to the floor to look under the couch. “I’ve been looking for that little pest all morning.”

     “Wha…No!” McKenzie protested. “That wasn’t a bug!”

     “McKenzie, what’re you talking about?!” her mother inquired. “What do you mean, ‘that wasn’t a bug’?”

     “Yeah, of course it’s a bug,” Julia declared, doubling down on her lie, “and I’ve been looking for it all morning.”

     “That wasn’t a bug, and you know it!” McKenzie exclaimed disparagingly.

     “McKenzie, what’s gotten into you?!” Mrs. Peterson asked sternly, shaking her daughter by the arm.

      “Mom, I’m swear,” McKenzie asserted, “that wasn’t a bug! It…it was a…a person, a tiny person!”

     “WHAT?!” Mrs. Peterson recoiled. “Honey, you’re talking nonsense!”

     “No, I’m not, mom!” McKenzie insisted defensively. “You saw it, didn’t you?! It was a tiny, little person!”

     “No, it’s a bug!” Julia reiterated, grinning maliciously at her tiny nephew cowering under the couch, “I knew it must’ve come in here earlier, and now I know exactly where it’s been hiding! Come ‘ere you!”

     Julia thrust her hand underneath the couch to grab her tiny nephew, but Tim nimbly dodged out of the way and retreated further under the couch and we’ll out of his giant aunt’s reach.

     “Careful, Julia!” Mrs. Peterson exclaimed as she saw her neighbor struggling to reach.

     “Damn it!” Julia cursed, pulling her arm back out. “I can’t get ‘im!”

     “Lemme see!” McKenzie demanded, starting to get down on her knees.

     “No!” Julia protested sternly, putting up her hand.

     Julia was right to be concerned; although she knew she had Tim cornered under the couch, at that point, there was honestly no reason for him to stay hidden. McKenzie was already onto her, and all Tim had to do was make his presence known again to either of the two, neighboring women and she’d be found out. She had to think of a way to keep him out of sight and prevent him from making contact.

     “…I don’t want you to scare it away,” Julia asserted, standing back up. “I’ve got it cornered for the moment, and I just need to find a way to get it out of…”

     Julia’s eyes immediately fell on the vacuum cleaner; she knew exactly what to do.

     “Alright, here’s the plan,” Julia continued, quickly scurrying over to the device, “I’m gonna hook up the extension attachments on the vacuum, here. Sandra, you and McKenzie stand behind the couch. When I give the word, you two tilt the couch back while I’ll shove the hose underneath. I’ll suck up that bug before he gets away.”

     “What?!” McKenzie exclaimed in shock. “No!”

     “Julia,” Mrs. Peterson suggested calmly, “we’ll gladly try to help flush whatever it is from under the couch, but couldn’t we just try to catch it and put it outside?”

    “That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Julia insisted deceitfully, “and this’ll be the easiest way to catch it.”

     “Maybe,” Mrs. Peterson acquiesced, “but you don’t wanna kill it in the process.”

     “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill it,” Julia explained, “This is a cyclonic vacuum. All that’ll happen when I suck it up is it’ll end up in the dust bin. I can just dump it outside with the rest of the dirt and grime when I’m done cleaning. Now, get ready…

     “…Oh,” Julia continued with a devious smirk, “and if that bug so much as pops his little head out the back of the couch, don’t hesitate to stomp it!”

     “NO!” McKenzie shrieked. “I’m not gonna crush it! It’s a person for God’s sake!”

     “McKenzie, stop talking nonsense and get over there!” Mrs. Peterson scolded her, pointing towards the other rear corner of the couch.

     “But mom—“

     “NOW, young lady!” Mrs Peterson commanded sternly.

     McKenzie reluctantly positioned herself to the right of her mother, placing both hands on the rear of the couch, while Julia pushed the coffee table out of the way and knelt down on the floor in front, taking a quick peek underneath the couch to get her tiny nephew’s position.

     “Alright,” Julia reiterated, “once I switch on the vacuum, go ahead and tilt the couch back, okay?”

     “Got it,” Mrs. Peterson acknowledged, readying herself.

     “Mom, please…” McKenzie pleaded. “…you’ve gotta listen—“

     “Kenzie,” Mrs. Peterson barked, “I’ve heard enough. Now, do as you’re told.”

     McKenzie sighed anxiously and mirrored her mother’s stance.

     “Ready?” Julia confirmed, reaching for the vacuum switch.

     Mrs. Peterson nodded her head, and, after taking a deep breath, Julia hit the pedal.

     The vacuum whirred to life again; McKenzie and Sandra immediately tilted back the couch, while Julia gripped the hose and thrust it into the now, exposed space. Tim’s tiny figure squealed in terror as the suction nozzle approached, scampering towards the rear of the couch. As the hose closed in, the tiny teenager could feel the suction pulling him backwards. He quickly grabbed the carpet fibers to save himself, but with no cover nor protection to keep the nozzle at bay, it was a futile effort. Tim screamed in terror, desperate to hold on, but as the nozzle came closer, the suction became greater and greater…

     Tim suddenly lost his grip, and the suction overtook him…

    *SLURP*

     “Got ‘im!” Julia declared proudly, retracting the nozzle and pushing herself up on her knees.

     “Did you get it?” Mrs. Peterson inquired, lowering the couch once Julia was out of the way.

     “Yup,” Julia confirmed, getting to her feet, “went right up the hose, as expected.”

     Sandra and McKenzie watched as Julia lifted the hose in the air and gave it a quick jostle to shake everything inside down to its base.

     “Is it stuck in the hose?” Mrs. Peterson inquired.

     “Yeah, I think so,” Julia confirmed, shaking the hose a few more times, “but don’t worry: I’ll eventually get the little guy out.”

     “Do you need any more help?” Mrs. Peterson inquired.

     “No, that’s okay,” Julia said. “I’ve got it from here. Thanks, though. You two go on home, Sandra.”

     “Wait,” McKenzie spoke up. “I wanna see it.”

     “McKenzie, hush!” Her mother scolded her sharply.

     “No,” McKenzie insisted. “I wanna take another look at it.”

     “You don’t see any bug, McKenzie,” her mother replied, motioning towards the door. “Now, come on. Let’s get back home.”

     “Mom, you don’t understand,” McKenzie contended. “I’m telling you, it wasn’t a bug. Something weird is going on.”

     “The only thing that’s ‘going on’ is you wasting time,” Mrs. Peterson asserted, pulling her daughter by the arm towards the door. “Now, let’s get going. You’ve got chores to do back home.”

     “But mom,” McKenzie whined. “I just wanna see what it looks like.”

     “If you wanna look at bugs,” Mrs. Peterson inquired mockingly, “you can look at the ones you find when you’re vacuuming your OWN room this afternoon. I’m sure there’s plenty hiding in that pig sty. Now, move it!

     “Bye, Julia,” Mrs Peterson waved, pushing her daughter out the back door. “Sorry for the bother.”

     “No problem, Sandra,” Julia scoffed politely, rolling the vacuum behind her as she stepped up to close the back door. “It all worked out fine.”

      “But, mom, please,” McKenzie kept insisting as her mother funneled her down the deck stairs, “I’m telling you. It was a tiny man…In fact…I-I think it might’ve even been that Tim kid!” 

     “Kenzie, not another word,” Mrs. Peterson commanded as she pushed her daughter across the back yard, “or you’re gonna find yourself grounded for the rest of the month…!”

     Julia grinned as she slid the back door closed, muffling the voices of the two woman as they proceeded back across the lawn to their own house. Then, she locked the door and rolled the vacuum back into the living room, disconnecting the extension hose at its base and lifting it into the air. She held the base of the hose over her right hand and gave it a few, gentle shakes…

     A second later, her tiny nephew popped out of the hose collapsed into a heap in the middle of her open palm.

     “Well, well, well,” Julia gloated, grinning deviously over him. “Look what we have here: a little, dust-covered teenager.”

     “I’ve got you now you tiny, little bug!” Julia sneered as shoved the tiny teenager with her thumb, rolling him down her hand until he was secured between her thumb and forefinger.

     “You had me on quite the search this morning, you tiny, little brat!” the giant woman snarled, holding her tiny, squirming nephew in front of her face. “So, found a way to escape your cage, huh? Well, I’ll be making sure that doesn’t happen again. I warned you what would happen once I found you, and now you’re really gonna pay!”

     Tim screamed in protest as Julia brought the tiny teenager behind her back, opening the waistband of her leggings with her free hand; then, she unceremoniously dropped her tiny, shrieking nephew down the back of her paints, depositing him into the crack of her ass. Tim shouted and struggled to free himself, but Julia quickly placed her thumb on his head and shoved him deeper into her crack, effectively silencing his cries.

     “There, that’ll hold ya,” she proclaimed contemptuously, removing her hand and snapping the waistband of her leggings shut.

     “Hmph, hope it’s not too sweaty in there for ya,” she giggled maniacally, giving her ass a playful jiggle, “but that’s what you get for making me search the house for all  morning.”

     Tim screamed and shouted profusely as the giant asscheeks smashed and squeezed him in between, but the giant woman showed sympathy, patting her right buttock with her hand, causing her tiny prisoner to shriek in pain with each impact.

     Julia nodded her head with satisfaction, pleased with herself for a job well done.

     She paused for a moment, nonchalantly scanning the living room.

     “Whelp,” she shrugged, gripping the vacuum cleaner once again, “might as well finish what I started.”

     “Yes!” Natalie exclaimed excitedly, watching glassy eyed as the shrunken rabbit in front of her finished growing back to its original size. “It works! My God, it actually works!”

      Natalie clenched her fists and pulled her hands close to her body, doing her best to contain her jubilation so as not to draw the attention of the lab techs working just a few feet outside her closed office door.

     Up until that point, it had been a long, frustrating week:

     On Sunday, Natalie received the shock of her life when she discovered her son, Tim,  only an inch tall, desperately clinging to her toe as she sat at the kitchen table. After taking a few minutes to process what had happened and frantically calling her sister for help, Natalie hurried to her lab, spending the rest of the day bustling about, frantically preparing and running samples of the shrinking formula through various pieces of equipment, hoping that some combination of all the analyses would shed some light on its exact, chemical makeup. There were a lot of tests, but with no one there to bother her, Natalie was able to get a lot of preliminary work done and catch up on all her missed emails while she was away.

     Monday, however, was a different story. Her entire day was spent checking in, cataloging, and analyzing all the other samples from her trip. Despite having an entire team of lab techs at her disposal, she still had to finish catching up on all the work she missed while she was on her trip. If that weren’t bad enough, Natalie was informed by her boss of an impromptu board meeting the next day where she was expected to give a presentation on her trip which needed to include a research outline, and had to spend the rest of the afternoon putting everything together. By the end of the day, she barely had any time to get any additional work on analyzing the shrinking formula.

     Thankfully, Tuesday went surprisingly well. With all her prep work the day prior, Natalie’s board presentation went off without a hitch, and by the end of it, the board members were so excited with her research prospects that they promised a big bonus and all the extra funding she’d need for the next year, including new equipment and hiring more help. Natalie also found a way to sneak the last of the analyses she needed to finish on the shrinking formula into her lab techs’ work; with all their rushing around to analyze all the other samples she’d brought back, no one suspected anything out of the ordinary. With all of the test data in hand, Natalie took all her paperwork home that afternoon, planning to spend the evening combing through her results and hopefully find the answers she needed to start work on an antidote first thing Wednesday morning…

     …That was, until the whole laundry incident. The ordeal left Natalie so afraid for her son’s safety that she couldn’t concentrate on analyzing her data, and was constantly looking up from her paperwork to make sure Tim was still alive. She was so thankful that her sister offered to stay with her through the end of the week; Natalie was already stressed and at her wits end, and needed help keeping the last of her sanity.

     Wednesday was a busy day. Natalie’s lab techs kept her preoccupied with dozens of questions about the test results they were getting from all their work, and she didn’t really get the bulk of her work done until everyone had gone home for the day. By the time she’d left work herself, Natalie only had a couple things left to go over paperwork wise. Unfortunately, those turned out to be the hardest of them all. Her entire trip home and throughout most of the evening, Natalie pondered and poured through her data trying to figure out the last unidentified component of the shrinking formula. Given everything else she’d identified, she surmised it had to be the active ingredient, but with her all the databases she had at her disposal as yet unable to properly identify it, Natalie knew she’d have quite the puzzle on her hands.

     As the evening wore on, Natalie’s concerns and insecurities about the situation had taken their toll on her mental state, and she became increasingly worried that even if she figured out the final component, she might be stuck with an inch-tall son for the foreseeable future. Thankfully, her sister calmed her anxieties and reassured Natalie that no matter the outcome, she would always be supportive.

     With newfound hope, a positive attitude, and iron will, Natalie went into her lab on Thursday morning executing her well-thought-out plan of action: she immediately went to work isolating the active ingredient of the shrinking formula, and conducting a complex series of tests to determine its molecular structure. It was a long, arduous process requiring several different pieces of equipment, numerous mathematical calculations, tedious hours of combing through data, and a lot of tribal knowledge, but by the early evening, Natalie was sighing with accomplishment as she stared at a picture of an organic molecule on her computer monitor.

     Her spirits were lifted, and Natalie immediately went to work jotting down ideas for various chemical mixtures and enzyme combinations, and by the end of the day had put together ideas for three, separate antidote solutions, hoping that at least one would be able to neutralize the original shrinking formula and grow one of the two test rabbits she’d shrunk down during the day back to its original size.

     Friday was the big day. When Natalie arrived at work, her enzyme mixtures were tempered and ready; she immediately she began been testing the antidotes on the two rabbits she’d shrunk down.

     Unfortunately, the first two protein mixtures showed little promise: even after several hours of waiting for any kind of change, neither one had any significant effect on altering the size of its respective rabbit, and that included the one she’d synthesized from the original formula. Natalie grew increasingly nervous; she’d already implemented her best ideas, and thought for sure she had the solution. Given the apparent failures, she began questioning her work, and was losing confidence she’d ever be able to synthesize a cure for her tiny son, not to mention the added stress and difficulty of delivering the minuscule doses of the antidotes to two, tiny rabbits.

     All her hopes and hard work came down to the last mixture. Natalie carefully gave the dose to one of the shrunken rabbits and held her breath…

     Success! Within a minute, the rabbit had miraculously returned to its normal size. Profoundly enthusiastic with the results, Natalie quickly gave another dose to the second rabbit: just like his brother, the rabbit grew back to its original size as well.

     Natalie was ecstatic! She still didn’t know exactly if it was the third formula alone, or the result of a combination of the mixtures; but ultimately, it didn’t matter: the rabbits were back to normal—at long last, Natalie found a cure! It was outstanding news! Her tiny son was as good as back to normal, and her nightmare of a week would soon be over.

     Wanting to know for sure whether it was a single mixture or a combination thereof, Natalie acquired a fresh test rabbit from the veterinary lab and fed it a new batch of shrinking formula she’d managed to replicate from her structural analysis and the various samples she’d brought back from her trip. She waited a few hours for the new test subject to equilibrate to its shrunken size, then administered her newfound antidote; by mid-afternoon, she’d confirmed her results: the third antidote was the genuine cure!

     At that point, Natalie knew it was time to call her sister at home and tell her the good news.

     Julia was sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a healthy portion of the tuna casserole Sandra had brought over earlier that afternoon. She’d worked up quite the appetite from vacuuming and searching the house for her tiny nephew that morning, and Julia figured she deserved a little rest along with an afternoon cup of coffee. As Julia enjoyed her late lunch and browsed through her social media, her phone suddenly indicated she was getting a call from Natalie. Julia grinned and gleefully accepted the call:

     “Hey sis,” Julia answered. “What’s up?”

     “Jules?!” Natalie responded in an excited state. “Jules, it worked. I’ve done it!”

     “‘Calm down, Nat,” Julia replied, playing coy. “‘Done’ what?”

     “I’ve found an antidote, sis,” Natalie sighed, with a lighthearted chortle. “I’ve found a cure for Tim!”

     “Really?!” Julia exclaimed, sitting up a bit. “Are you sure?!”

     “Of course I’m sure. I’m looking at all three of my test rabbits right now. They’re all back to their normal size, with no signs of any side effects so far. They seem to be stable.”

     “Wow, sis, that’s…” Julie hesitated for a brief moment, “…that’s great! So….how long do you think until you can mix up a batch for Tim?”

     “Well, I still have enough of the antidote leftover from all my testing, and I’m synthesizing more as we speak just to be on the safe side. I’ll bring it home with me later on this evening.”

     “So….that’s it? It’s over?”

     “Well, the whole spiel of having an inch tall son is gonna be over,” Natalie replied softly. “Now, I can finally start working on all the other things I need to do, like putting together my preliminary reports and preparing my research grants.”

     “Right,” Julia chortled. “Sounds like you’re going to have your hands full at work for a while.”

     “Yeah,” Natalie chortled back. “Anyway, how’s Tim?”

     “Oh, he’s fine,” Julia replied, lounging back in her chair and crossing her legs seductively. “Just, uh…a little indisposed at the moment.”

     “Wh-what do ya mean ‘indisposed’?” Natalie asked, growing concerned. “Did something happen? Is…Is he okay?”

     “Oh, he’s fine, sis,” Julia replied casually, bouncing her right calf muscle on her left knee, “Don’t worry. He just got a little restless while I was cleaning today, that’s all.”

     “Restless?!” Natalie recoiled, suddenly remembering Julia and her’s discussion from that morning. “From what: your vacuuming? Being in his cage?!”

     “Well…no,” Julia replied hesitantly. “Not…not exactly.”

     “Well, then what?” Natalie pressed anxiously. “What happened, sis? Tell me.”

     “Oh, it’s nothing big; it’s just…” Julia’s voice trailed off.

     “‘It’s just’…what?” Natalie inquired nervously. “Come on, Jules. You gotta tell me!”

     Julia bit her lip anxiously, realizing she’d already said too much. Knowing she couldn’t avoid her sister’s question Julia took a deep breath, and thought over her next words very carefully before answering:

     “…OK…so, we kinda had an unexpected visit from your neighbors late this morning.”

     “What?!” Natalie shrieked. “Which neighbors?!”

     “Uh…Sandra Peterson, from next door. She and her daughter, McKenzie, kinda…. showed up unannounced.”

     “Wha—Wait what do ya mean she just ‘kinda showed up unannounced’?!” 

     “Well, apparently she came by to drop off a casserole she made for us.”

     “Casserole?!…Wait, why would she even come over in the first place?! She knows I work during the day.”

     “Well…actually, I think she came over because of me…” Julia explained hesitantly, “…because of….what I might’ve told her yesterday.”

     “What exactly did you tell her?” Natalie enunciated slowly, “A-And how’d the two of you even meet, anyway?”

     “Well, we met yesterday when I was taking the recycling out to the curb,” Julia explained.

     “…And you told her about Tim?!” Natalie inquired hysterically.

     “No!” Julia asserted, “All I told her was that Tim was sick, and that I staying with you guys to help take care of him, but that’s all I said. I swear!”

     “Jules, tell me she didn’t see Tim when she came over today,” Natalie implored.

     “…Unfortunately…yes—”

     “JULES?!”

     “Nat, I’m sorry, but there was nothing I could do,” Julia tried explaining. “She caught me completely off-guard.”

     “Jules!” Natalie exclaimed, trying to lower her voice. “You were supposed to help me keep all this quiet. How could you let her see him?!” 

     “Nat, it was only for a second, I swear! I snatched Tim up and got him out of there as quickly as I could.”

     “Oh my, God!” Natalie lamented, collapsing in her office chair. “Jules, tell me this isn’t happening!“

     “Nat, look, let’s not panic, okay?” Julia said trying to maintain her composure. “Look, I was able to convince them that all they saw was a bug, OK?…Well, I was able to convince Sandra, anyway. McKenzie might be another story…”

     “Oh, that’s just great, Jules!” Natalie barked sarcastically. “And what happens if one of them comes around and starts asking questions?”

     “Nat, would you please, calm down?! Look, all you have to do is just stick to the story that all either of them saw was just a bug, and we should be able to keep a lid on all this.”

     “…Of course, you might want to have a little talk with Tim when you get home and make sure he keeps his mouth shut about everything,” Julia added, “you know, before.…unshrinking him.”

     “Okay…okay…” Natalie repeated aloud, sitting up in her chair and trying to compose yourself. “Alright, look, I think I might have Sandra’s number in my phone. If I do, I’ll give her a call in a little bit and see if I can’t smooth things over.”

     “Nat, are you sure that’s wise?” Julia inquired. “I mean, like I said, I think I was able to convince her that Tim was just a bug. Why chance it and, you know, poke the proverbial bear, if we don’t have to?”

     “We can’t afford to take any chances, Jules. Look, I’ll try to give her a call later on this afternoon, if I can find her number, that is; if not, I’ll try to swing by over there when I get home. For now, just make sure Tim stays out of sight. You know, just in case we get any more unexpected visitors.”

     “Can do, sis,” Julia acknowledged.

     “Good…Oh, and would you let Tim know about the antidote? I’m sure he’s been dying for some good news.”

     “Oh, of course, Nat,” Julia smiled, “I have no doubt he’ll most definitely be thrilled to hear it.”

     “Alright, I’ve gotta finish up some work on a few things around here, and then I’ll head out; I’ll be home as soon as I can. Just hold the fort ‘til I get there.”

     “OK, sis,” Julia chuckled, “but take your time. There’s no hurry. I’ve got everything well in hand around here.”

     “Alright,” Natalie chortled back. “Oh, and if Sandra happens to come by…”

     Natalie paused and sighed heavily.

     “…just handle it, okay?”

     “Okay, sis,” Julia chortled. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle it if it comes up.”

     “Alright, talk to you later.”

     “OK, Nat. Bye.”

     “Bye.”

     Julia ended the call and set her phone facedown on the table.

     “Well, maybe ‘in hand’ wasn’t exactly the right phrase…” Julia commented smugly, slowly sliding her right leg up her left until the side of her foot was resting comfortably over her knee, revealing a tiny pair of legs sticking out from in between her big and second toes, “…I suppose I should’ve said ‘foot’…or ‘toes’ if you wanna get technical.”

     Julia chuckled playfully as she watched Tim’s tiny legs kick wildly between her clenched toes. She reached down with her finger and playfully tickled Tim’s feet, giggling as his tiny legs kicked even more wildly as the tiny teenager struggled futilely to free the rest of his tiny body form between her clenched toes.

     “Whelp, looks like your mom was able to make an antidote for you after all, Tiny Tim.” She cooed, pouting her lips. “Aw, such a pity; I was so looking forward to spending another few days with you like this. I’ve really enjoyed all the time we’ve spent together so far…

     “But don’t worry, little guy,” she continued, gently stroking the side of her foot with her index finger, “there’s still plenty of time for us to have fun this afternoon before your mom gets home. Besides, you’ve still got a lot of making up to do for that little stunt you pulled this morning.

     “Hm, I wonder if I could do my yoga with you stuck between my toes.” Julia pondered aloud. “That might be fun.”

     She cackled maniacally as she watched Tim’s tiny legs kicking wildly again. If this was going to be her last afternoon with a shrunken nephew, she was going to make sure it would be an enjoyable one.

     “Mmm,” Julia moaned contently as she lounged on the couch, her legs resting comfortably on the coffee table which abutted the cushion, “I must say, Tiny Tim, your foot massages have really improved over the past week. It’s a shame all this has to come to an end after today.”

     Julia grinned and seductively leaned forward over her legs. Her feet were resting on the coffee table with their soles gently pressed together, and a healthy slather of lotion oozing out from between them; the woman carefully opened her feet, revealing her tiny nephew cradled between her soles, covered from head to toe in a healthy coating of thick, pink fluid.

     “Of course, if it were up to me,” she continued with a chortle, staring down over her tiny, lotion-covered nephew, “I’d probably just leave you that size. I could certainly get used to having an inch tall nephew catering to my whims for the summer.”

     Tim writhed between his aunt’s feet, struggling catch his breath and recover from the giant woman’s “foot massage”. While Aunt Julia might have been having a good time that afternoon, but HE, most certainly, hadn’t enjoyed it one bit. Much to his dismay, Aunt Julia had spent the entire afternoon serving up a replay of the greatest hits from her torture playbook which she’d been developing over the past week from all of the “fun” she’d had at her tiny nephew’s expense:

     After spending the remainder of the morning stuffed into Aunt Julia’s sweaty ass crack while she vacuumed the remainder of the living room, Tim spent the latter half of the day stuck between the giant woman’s toes as she puttered around the house. She left him there all throughout her late lunch and into the mid-afternoon when, despite having expended a lot of energy vacuuming and cleaning the house that morning, Julia still found the time and energy to do a light yoga workout, with Tim struggling between her scrunched toes the whole time. The smaller, lighter stretches weren’t so bad, but some of the poses, like the downward-facing dog where Julia was putting a good portion of her body weight on her toes, were sheer agony.

     Yet, the worst was yet to come. After enduring Aunt Julia’s workout, and spending an exhausting fifteen minutes struggling inside the giant woman’s pussy while she pleasured herself, Tim was subjected to an agonizing shower with her:

     First, Julia placed the tiny teenager in the tub while she stripped the rest of the way naked; then, she purposefully tried to step on him as she climbed into the tub, giggling maniacally as she watched him squeal and scramble like mad to avoid being squashed. Thankfully, the giant woman humored him and closed the shower drain to appease his frantic squeaks, but while that act may have spared him from getting sucked down the drain, it also meant the tub wouldn’t drain out either. In no time at all, Tim was swept off his feet and left at the complete mercy of the rising, churning currents of water pouring in from the bathtub faucet, and then from the shower head as it rained down from above. Tim paddled frantically to keep his head above water, while at the same time desperately avoiding Julia’s feet as they constantly shifted and splashed about, sloshing water in every direction. To make matters even worse, a constant downpour of water and body wash streamed off his aunt’s naked body as she nonchalantly lathered up and rinsed herself off, threatening to drown the tiny teenager beneath a deluge of used bath water and soap suds. And all of this happened before Julia used him to clean her feet by rubbing his tiny body across her soles and violently shoving him into and out of the crevices between her toes.

     To finish out the rest of the afternoon, Julia dressed herself in a tank top and pink shorts and relaxed on the couch in front of the TV, forcing Tim to give her a foot massage by smashing and rolling him around in between her lotion-covered soles. By the time the entire ordeal was over, Tim was exhausted and almost completely submissive to his giant aunt….almost. The only source of strength that kept him from completely giving in to his aunt’s punishments was the knowledge that in a few short hours, his mother would be home with the antidote, and this whole shrinking nightmare would finally be over.

     “Whoops, it’s almost 5 o’clock,” Julia uttered, practically losing herself as she watching Tim flail about and fail to climb out from between her lotion-covered soles. “Your mom should be home pretty soon. Man, did this day really fly by!

     “Now the , see how much nicer things can be when you just behave yourself and obey me, Tiny Tim?” Julia inquired, scrunching her index finger at him.

     Tim didn’t reply audibly; he merely sighed heavily and wiped the sweat and lotion from his face, thankful that in a few minutes, he’d be back to his normal size…and would finally be able to tell his mother about all the torture Aunt Julia had put him through since he shrank.

     “Whelp,” Julia commented with a chuckle, “I guess I should get you out of there and get all this lotion rubbed in, huh?”

     Julia peered up at the clock again, contemplating how much time she’d realistically have before Natalie got home. After a few moments, she looked back down at the tiny teenager between her feet, a playful grin on her face, which only made Tim extremely nervous and uncomfortable.

     “Eh, I still have a little time left,” Julia said wryly.

     With a tiny yelp, Tim disappeared between his giant aunt’s feet as they closed around him again. Julia giggled playfully as she rubbed her soles back and forth against each other, rolling her tiny nephew around in between them.

     “Aw, what’s the matter, Tiny Tim?” Julia cooed playfully. “Aren’t you having any fun?”

     The only response the tiny teenager could manage, however, was sticking a tiny arm out from between his aunt’s smashed soles, flailing it about as he desperately tried to free himself and plead for mercy.

     “What’s that, little man?” Julia inquired mockingly. “I didn’t quite hear you. You’ll have to speak up.”

     Julia chuckled maniacally as she rubbed her soles together even faster and with slightly more force than before, reveling in the power she felt feeling her tiny nephew’s intensifying squirms.

     After a few more torturous minutes, the giant woman finally grew tired of having her fun and opened her feet again, giving Tim a well-deserved reprieve.

     “Aunt Julia,” Tim exclaimed breathlessly, “are you CRAZY?! You nearly KILLED me!”

      “Oh, relax, Tiny Tim,” Julia scoffed. “I was just having a little fun. Now, come on; let’s get all this lotion rubbed in before your mom gets home.”

     Julia gently plucked Tim from between her soles and carefully wiped the excess lotion from his tiny body before setting him down on the coffee table next to her feet. She directed him to finish rubbing in the leftover lotion on his body, while she took care of the sizable amount still covering her soles. Tim was more than willing to get the rest of the lotion rubbed off—or at least rubbed into—his tiny figure, although he could’ve certainly done without the loud, sickening slurps Aunt Julia’s hands made as she rubbed the excess globs of lotion into her feet.

     “Mm, that feels so good,” Julia moaned contentedly as she massaged her soles in large, firm, deep circles. “Oh my, God! That feels nice…”

     “Here, kiddo,” she commented as she plucked a fresh Kleenex from the nearby tissue box on the coffee table. “Make yourself a new toga while I finish up.”

     Tim eagerly accepted the tissue and began tearing off enough to drape around his body. He’d pretty much been naked since his prior toga was literally torn from his body when Aunt Julia sucked him up with the vacuum cleaner earlier.

     “Ah, there now,” Julia sighed with a satisfied grin as she finished rubbing in the last of the lotion into her soles. “All done…

     “…Ope, and not a moment too soon,” she added, hearing her sister’s car pull into the driveway.

     “‘Not a moment too soon’ indeed,”  Tim chimed in under his breath, beyond relieved that his mother was finally home.

     “Alright, now listen up, kiddo,” Julia instructed as she used her feet to shove the coffee table back into its proper place in front of the couch, an act which momentarily knocked Tim off his feet. “Don’t you be getting too over excited when your mother walks in the door. No doubt, given everything that happened today, there’ll be several things she wants to discuss with us before she gives you that antidote, so just be patient and hear her out…and don’t forget about our little deal: not a word about anything that’s happened between you and me over the past week, you got that? Just keep that little mouth of yours shut!”

     “Yeah, right,” Tim mumbled to himself, grinning sarcastically and giving his aunt a half-hearted nod of acknowledgement. Like hell he was going to keep his mouth shut! He may have acted subservient to Aunt Julia for the remainder of the afternoon, but it was all just a ruse so the giant woman wouldn’t torture him any worse than she already was. The moment Tim was big again, he planned to tell his mother EVERYTHING Aunt Julia had done to him that week…or at least the parts that weren’t completely embarrassing. What was she going to do, step on him again? Once he back to his normal size, all of Aunt Julia‘s power over him would be gone.

    Tim had never been happier in his entire life when he heard the jingling of his mother’s keys as they unlocked the front door, and could hardly contain his excitement as her giant figure stepped over the threshold. It was almost over: in just a few short minutes, he’d finally be back to his normal self, and this nightmare of a week would finally be over.

     “I’m home,” Natalie called out as she stepped through the front door, carrying nothing but her keys in one hand, and her purse draped over the opposite shoulder.

     “Hey, welcome home, sis,” Julia replied with an affable smile as she sat forward on the couch. “Bet you’re glad to be finally be home.”

     “You have no idea!” Natalie chortled as she closed the front door behind her and stepped towards the edge of the den. “It’s been a looooong week.”

     “Well, at least it’s finally over,” Julia offered.

     “Well….it’s not over just yet,” Natalie sighed as she slipped off her flats and dropped her purse at the edge of the den, scrunching and wiggling her newly freed toes among the carpet fibers, “but, yeah: thank God, it’s Friday!

     “Hi sweetheart,” Natalie continued, waving cheerfully at her tiny son as she spotted him on the coffee table.

     “Mom!” Tim squeaked excitedly, literally jumping for joy as he scurried across the coffee table towards her.

     “Whoa!” Natalie uttered in surprise, quickly cupping and lowered her hands as Tim leapt into her open palms.

     “My goodness,” she chuckled as she carefully raised her hands up towards her face, overjoyed that her son was in such a chipper mood, “someone’s excited to see me!”

     “I AM, mom!” Tim exclaimed eagerly. “I’ve never been happier to see you in my whole life!”

     “I’m sorry, Nat,” Julia apologized with a shrug, “I warned him not to get too overexcited.”

     “Oh, that’s okay,” Natalie chortled, cooing at her tiny son. “If I were in his shoes, I’d probably be excited, too.”

     “You can say that again, mom,” Tim chimed in eagerly. “I’ve been waiting all week for this! I’m finally gonna be my normal….regular-sized self again. So, come on, where’s the antidote? I wanna get big before anything else happens.”

     “Honey, just calm down for a second, okay?” Natalie settled the tiny teenager, gently raising him up to her face. “Look, I know you’re excited to get back to normal, but there’s a couple things we need to—“

     Natalie stopped talking mid sentence; her face scrunched in confusion as she noted her son’s slightly unkempt appearance.

     “Honey, wha…why do you look so disheveled?” she inquired, looking him over…

     “…And what’s that scent?” She added, taking a couple sniffs as a distinct aroma wafted into her nose. “Is that lavender…?”

     “Oh…yeah, that’s just my body lotion,” Julia spoke up. “I put some on after I showered.”

     “O-kay…so why does TIM smell like your body lotion?” Natalie pushed, turning her gaze back to her tiny son in her palm. “…And furthermore, why does he look so sweaty and disheveled? What did you do, bathe him in it?!”

     “Well…actually, most of that’s probably from him giving me a foot massage a few minutes ago,” Julia confessed.

     “Wha…What?!” Natalie exclaimed in confusion.

     Tim stood slack-jawed and bug-eyed, completely beside himself. He couldn’t believe Aunt Julia had actually just admitted the truth to his mother.

     “You…You had my son give you a foot massage?!” Natalie exclaimed, dumbfounded.

     “Well…kinda,” Julia continued timidly. “It’s more like: I put my foot on the table and he just rubs the parts he can reach.”

     “That’s not exactly how I would put it!” Tim squeaked inaudibly.

     “Look, details aside,” Natalie continued, slightly bothered by her sister’s admission, “I still wanna know why you had Tim giving you a foot massage.”

     “Well, he DID almost get himself discovered by the neighbors today,” Julia replied defensively, “you know how much running around and lying I had to do to convince Sandra and that nosy daughter of her’s that they DIDN’T see an inch-tall teenager running around when they stopped by earlier. I figured he owed me a little thank you for keeping him out of trouble.”

     “‘KEEPING’ ME OUT OF ‘TROUBLE’?!” Tim squeaked irately. “YOU TRIED TO SQUISH ME!”

     “Tim, sit still!” Natalie scolded her son firmly, quickly moving her free hand around the front of the one her son was in to keep him from falling. “If you don’t stop all that jumping around, you’re gonna fall off my hand!”

     Natalie hadn’t quite made out what her tiny son had just said, but she was too shocked by Julia’s recent admission to press him any further.

     “Relax, Nat, okay?” Julia continued explaining herself, “It’s no biggie. Tim’s fine. You know, despite his current size, you’d be surprised how resourceful and adept he is.”

     “Look, sis, regardless of what happened today OR how resourceful you think he is,” Natalie stated bluntly, “I’d prefer you kept your nasty feet away from my son…at ANY size.”

     “Hey, my feet aren’t ‘nasty’!” Julia rebutted defensively, lifting her left foot into her lap…timidly brushing off a few stray carpet fibers that had gotten stuck to her freshly-lotioned soles. “Besides, I just washed them…”

     “I don’t care, Jules. We’ve had too many close calls this week and I don’t want him getting stepped on before I can get him back to normal, so just keep your feet to yourself, and no more foot rubs…or at least wait until Tim’s back to his normal size first.”

     “Gee, thanks, mom,” Tim chimed in sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

     “Anyway, speaking of the neighbors,” Natalie continued in a calmer tone as she stepped over to the couch, “I have some good news on that front: I was able to get a hold of Sandra this afternoon and smooth everything over.”

     “Oh, good,” Julia sighed with relief, “I assume you stuck to the story that all she and McKenzie saw was a bug?”

     “Well, what other choice did I have, Jules?!” Natalie shrugged, trying not to jostle her hands too much as she took a seat on the couch; unfortunately, but Tim ended up falling onto his backside regardless.

     “I mean, our stories had to stay consistent,” Natalie continued, “and I honestly couldn’t think of any other logical explanations at the time.”

     “So…you think they both bought it?” Julia inquired.

     “Yeah, I think so…” Natalie acknowledged timidly, “…well, Sandra bought it, anyway. I’m not so sure on McKenzie just yet. I could only hear her intermittently in the background of Sandra’s and my conversation. The girl seemed pretty upset, and I could only make out bits and pieces of what she was saying, but it sounded like she calmed down eventually. Needless to say, let’s just hope this all eventually blows over.”

     “Enough small talk, mom,” Tim spoke up impatiently. “Gimme the antidote so I can get back to normal.”

     “I’m getting to that, hon,” his mother stifled him, “just be patient for a second, okay?”

     Tim sighed and crossed his arms in frustration, only growing more impatient by the second.

     “Now look, you two,” Natalie explained, “I know we’ve already discussed this, but there’s a couple of things I really need to reiterate to the both of you before going forward. Now, I know that we’re very close to putting this whole shrinking situation behind us, but that doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. No matter what happens going forward, I cannot the stress to the two how absolutely vital it is to keep everything that’s happened this week a secret. You can’t tell ANYONE about it, even if my company goes public with the discovery of the shrinking formula, no one can ever know that Tim was accidentally shrunk for nearly a week….

     “…and that includes telling your father about any of this, young man,” Natalie reiterated, pointing to Tim with her free hand. “Understand?”

     “Yes, mom, I understand,” The tiny teenager nodded impatiently; however, at that point, he was willing to agree to anything if it meant getting un-shrunk faster.

     “That goes for you too, Jules,” Natalie continued, turning her attention towards her sister. “There’s no wiggle room on this. Just keep your mouth shut, got it?”

     “Nat, for Pete’s sake,” Julia said with resentment, “I might be dense at times, but I’m not a complete idiot.”

     “I’m not saying you an idiot, sis,” Natalie replied, rolling her eyes, “I’m just trying to stress how important it is that we keep all this quiet. I mean, just look at what happened with the neighbors today: this incident is a prime example of what can happen if we’re not careful. People’ll start asking too many questions and then everything just falls apart and comes out. Luckily, I think with all the damage control we’ve done so far, this’ll all just blow over without any more issues, but we still can’t let our guards down. For now, just stick to the story about you being sick this week, Tim….and you looking after him while Tom is out of town, Jules, and I think we’ll be fine…and if either Sandra or McKenzie comes around asking questions about what they saw while they were over here today, just be adamant that all they saw was a bug…and if they push any further, just point out how ridiculous they sound inferring that Tim was actually the size of a bug. Everyone clear?”

     “Alright, mom, we get it,” Tim said impatiently, “we won’t tell anybody. Now, can you PLEASE just give me the antidote so I can get back to my normal size?”

     “Right…” Natalie explained apprehensively, scratching the back of her head, “…the antidote…about that…”

     “What?” Tim squeaked anxiously, starting to get extremely nervous. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

     “Well…um…” Natalie stammered, trying to spit out her words, “…You see, I’m…not quite ready to give it to you yet.”

     “Wh—WHAT?!” Tim squealed with aghast. “Why not?!”

     “Honey, I’m sorry,” Natalie explained, “I know I called and said that I was bringing the antidote home with me this afternoon, but…after I finished talking with your Aunt Julia this afternoon, I decided I wanted to wait at least 24 hours to make sure there weren’t any latent or adverse side effects on any of my test subjects before giving it to you….but don’t worry, I’m gonna go back to my lab tomorrow morning and do one last check on the rabbits; if everything seems okay with them, I’ll bring the antidote home with me tomorrow afternoon.”

     “‘TOMORROW AFTERNOON’?!” Tim squeaked indignantly, “Mom, NO! Y-You can’t be serious! I-I don’t wanna spend another day this!”

     “Honey, calm down,” Natalie said, trying to mollify her tiny son, “I know you’re anxious to get back to normal, but it’s just for one more day. Look, I promise, I’ll get you be back to normal by tomorrow evening.”

     “I don’t wanna wait until tomorrow evening, mom,” Tim shouted, stomping his foot in frustration. “I wanna be un-shrunk NOW!”

     “Tim, don’t be rude!” Julia chimed in sternly. “Your mother has been working her butt off this past week analyzing that shrinking formula you drank and working on an antidote; the LEAST you could do is show her a little gratitude…and patience.”

     “I’ve been patient enough!” Tim shouted irately. “I’m tired of being stuck like this!”

     “Tim, sweetheart, I know you’re upset,” Natalie said, trying to be sympathetic, “but honestly, I really think it’s best if we just wait on this. I mean, what’s one more day if it means you don’t suffer any nasty side effects?”

     “I don’t care about the side effects, mom!” Tim affirmed. “Nothing could be worse that THIS! I’d rather take my chances.”

     “Oh, Tim, now, don’t be ridiculous,” Natalie scolded him, “you have no idea what the possible side effects could be! I mean, what if I gave you the antidote tonight, and then went into work tomorrow only to discover that not only was the antidote temporary and wears off after a few hours, but that it ends up shrinking my all my test rabbits even smaller than they were as a result? I mean, is that what you want: to shrink so small you disappear?!”

     “Of course not, Mom!” Tim whined. “But even if it IS only temporary, ANYTHING’S better than spending another night like THIS!”

     “Oh, Tim, stop your bellyaching,” Julia scoffed. “One more night of being an inch tall isn’t gonna kill ya.”

     “So says YOU!” Tim shouted in rebuttal. “YOU’RE not the one who had to massage your nasty feet today.”

     “HEY!” Julia snapped irately. “My feet are not ‘nasty’!”

     “Alright, that’s enough out of both of you!” Natalie exclaimed, pointing a firm finger towards her sister. “Jules, from here on out, keep those nasty feet of yours away from my son!”

     “HEY!” Julia aped resentfully.

     “And Tim,” Natalie continued, turning her attention back to her tiny son, “I know you’ve had some close calls this week, and yes, given everything that’s happened, I agree, there’s some risk, but I’m not risking your life any more than than I already have by giving you an antidote before I fully test it and know that it’s safe, alright?! End….of….discussion!

     “….Besides, it doesn’t matter anyway,” Natalie explained more calmly, “the antidote’s still back at my lab. I didn’t bring it home with me, so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow regardless.”

     “Well, go back and get it, Mom!” Tim pleaded on his knees, “Better yet, just take to your lab and give it to me there. Please!”

     “Tim, I am not taking you anywhere,” Natalie reiterated. “Not tonight, and certainly not like this. Now, I’m not gonna tell you again: we are waiting until tomorrow to give you the antidote, and that’s final!”

    “Good, then, it’s all settled,” Julia chimed in gleefully as she stood up from the couch, “if there’s nothing we can do about it tonight, then we’re not gonna worry ourselves about it. Tonight, sis, you and I are going to relax. We gonna having a girls night in: I’ve already got that casserole Sandra brought over for us in the oven to warm it up, so while we’re waiting, you can relax, take a shower, change into some comfortable clothes…tonight, we’re relaxing.”

     “‘GIRL’S NIGHT’?!” Tim squeaked with aghast. “Hey, wait a minute—!”

     “Oh, Jules,” Natalie replied appreciatively, “I appreciate the gesture, but I couldn’t possibly—“

     “‘But’ nothing,” Julia interrupted her, “you said it yourself: ‘there’s nothing we can do tonight but wait’, and if we have to wait, there’s no sense in worrying ourselves to death.  We’ll have some dinner, drink some wine, watch a few movies…Come on, Nat, you’ve been working non-stop all week; you deserve a little rest.”

     “Well…I-I guess I could relax a little bit this evening,” Natalie accepted reluctantly, gesturing to her tiny son in her palm “…but, what about Tim?”

     “He’ll be fine,” Julia responded, “he can stay in his cage. If you want, we can leave him one of our phones so he can watch a movie or something.”

     “I don’t wanna go back in that stupid cage!” Tim squeaked irately, hopping up and down in his mother’s palm. “I wanna be big again!”

     “Jules,” Natalie replied with a look of chagrin, “I wanna keep him safe, but I don’t wanna just stick Tim in his cage all night.”

     “MO-OM…AUNT JULIA…!” Tim screeched, “Would you PLEASE stop talking about me like I’m not in the room?!”

     “Honey, clam down!” Natalie rebuked, “You’re getting yourself all worked up.”

     “But, mom, I don’t wanna go back in that stupid cage!” Tim whined.

     “Tim, now, stop that whining,” Natalie scolded him more forcefully, “I mean it!”

     “NO!” Tim shouted up impudently. “I’m not just gonna sit in that cage all night! I wanna be un-shrunk! I wanna be big again! Now, I want that antidote, and I want it NOW!”

     “Alright, that’s it!” Julia said impatiently, snatching the tiny boy out of his mother’s palm.

     “HEY—!” Tim squeaked as he disappeared into his giant aunt’s fist.

     “YOU need to learn to mind your manners, little man,” Julia spat, gently shaking her fist, “AND learn to have a little patience.”

     “Jules, please, be careful,” Natalie said nervously as she quickly jumped up from the couch.

     “No!” Julia affirmed sternly, pointing her finger to keep her sister at bay. “HE needs to learn to be a little more grateful.”

     “That’s fine,” Natalie relented, “but please don’t jostle him so much.”

     “Don’t worry, sis, he’s fine,” Julia replied, feeling her nephew’s squirms inside her closed fist. “Look, why don’t you go relax for a bit; get changed, and take a shower or something? In the meantime, I’m gonna put this little one back into his cage to cool off.”

     Julia quickly stepped over to coffee table and snatched a fresh Kleenex from the tissue box, then marched out of the living room and disappeared down the hallway.

     “Jules, hang on a second,” Natalie pleaded, quickly scurrying after her sister.

     Tim continuously shouted muffled screams and squirmed within his aunt’s fist, but the giant woman paid him no heed as she stomped down the hall and quickly entered his bedroom.

     “Jules, wait,” Natalie called as she hurried down the hall and stopped in Tim’s doorway, slightly irked by her sister’s behavior. “Look, let’s not be rash, okay—?”

     Julia, however, didn’t respond as she stepped around to the dresser to the front of the hamster cage, which now donned a wire-mesh lid.

     “Wh—Where’d you find the lid for that?” Natalie inquired.

     “I found it downstairs while I was cleaning today,” Julia replied quickly, nimbly using her Kleenex-clad hand and the knuckle of her other fist to carefully lift the lid off the hamster cage. “Figured I might as well bring it up and wash it off. Here, hold this a second.”

     Julia handed the lid to her sister, then lowered her fist into the in the cage, slowly opening her hand and unceremoniously dumping Tim onto the floor of the cage.

     “Uhn,” Tim uttered as he rolled onto the floor in a collapsed heap. He scrambled to  stand back up and began shouting up at his giant aunt, but Julia quickly lowered her other hand into the cage and dropped the Kleenex she was holding on top of him, burying the tiny teenager beneath it.

     “Here, gimme the lid,” Julia said, holding at her hands and taking the lid from Natalie.

     “Oh, Jules, do you really think that’s necessary?” Natalie asked with incredulity as her sister fiddled with the lid to get it back on the cage.

     “Absolutely….” Julia affirmed as she smacked the lid of with the palms of her hands, securing it back into place. “….Uhn….especially, given his most recent outburst.”

     Tim struggled frantically to get out from under the tissue, immediately squeaking up curses one he emerged, but Julia kept smacking the lid with her hand, forcing him back into submission.

     “Besides,” Julia continued, tapping the lid a few more times in accomplishment, knocking her tiny nephew to the floor of the cage in the process, “I got to thinking today: you don’t want any mice, or insects, or anything else to eat Tim while we’re having our girls night, do ya? This way, nothing gets in…

     “…and nothing gets out,” Julia grinned widely, tapping the side of the glass. 

     “Jules,” Natalie sighed with dissatisfaction, “I told you: I don’t want my son feeling like a prisoner in his own house. This cage is just supposed to keep him safe until I can give him the antidote.”

     “I know you did….and that’s exactly what I’m doing: keeping him safe.” Julia replied, answering her sister’s questions respectively. “This’ll make sure he doesn’t try anything foolish. I mean, you wouldn’t want Tim climbing out of his cage and running around on the floor unsupervised, would you…?”

     Julia turned her attention to her tiny nephew, who was pressing his hands and face against the glass of his cage.

     “…One of us might step on him,” Julia said with a sly grin, swiping her index finger along the glass.

     “Oh, Jules, do you honestly think Tim can actually climb out of that thing?” Natalie inquired dubiously.

     “Like I said, sis,” Julia replied, “you’d be surprised how resourceful he’s become now that he’s an inch tall. This way, he’s completely safe.

     “Now, come on,” she continued, nudging her sister out of the room. “I want you to get out of those work clothes and into something more comfortable so you can relax.”

     “But, Jules—“ Natalie protested as her sister practically shoved her out into the hallway, closing Tim’s bedroom door behind her.

     “No ‘buts’, Nat,” Julia interrupted her with insistence, guiding her towards the end of the hall. “Now, you’ve been under a lot of stress this week, and you need to relax.”

    “Ugh, I just wish you hadn’t been so rough with him, Jules,” Natalie sighed resentfully as she rounded the doorframe into her bedroom. “You know how hard this has been for Tim, being that small.”

     “I don’t care HOW hard it’s been for him,” Julia retorted, stepping into the bedroom and closing the door behind her. “Small or not, he has no right to yell at you like that! I mean, this week’s been hard on us, too, ya know.”

     “Yes, but couldn’t you, at least, show him a little sympathy?!” Natalie said. begrudgingly as she took a seat on her bed, “I mean, he’s been the size of a bug for almost a week now, and counting on me finding a cure. He’s just upset because I got his hopes up.”

     “Well…yeah,” Julia acquiesced, “but he still needs to show you some gratitude. After all, you’ve been working your butt off all week to make that antidote for him, and I don’t think he appreciates how lucky he is that you managed to make one so fast.”

     “Well….OK, I guess you do have a point,” Natalie concurred reluctantly. “I mean, being able to make an antidote for a shrinking formula in less than a week is pretty amazing.”

     “Of course it is,” Julia chimed in. “Now, what’s say we both relax enjoy ourselves this evening?”

     “Ok….fine,” Natalie sighed, relenting. “I guess I am pretty exhausted. I could use a relaxing, stress-free evening.”

     “Perfect. Now, why don’t you get changed and relax for a bit while I go get the food ready and set up the coffee table. We can eat while we watch a movie.”

     “Julia,” Natalie balked, “we can eat at the table.”

     “We CA-AN….but this is girl’s night, remember?” Julia offered in rebuttal. “That means, no rules.”

     “You sound like a teenager,” Natalie chuckled.

     “Yeah,” Julia grinned. “Except mom isn’t around to tell us ‘no’.”

     “OK,” Natalie chortled, “well, I think I’m gonna go ahead and take a shower and clean up a bit. Would you mind checking in on Tim for me when you finish getting dinner ready? And while you’re at it, go ahead and put a movie on for him. Use his phone, it should still be sitting on his nightstand.”

     “Are you sure you want to reward him with a movie, sis?” Julia inquired dubiously, “After that little tantrum of his?”

     “It’ll be fine, Jules,” Natalie replied, stifling her sister’s objections. “By the time you finish getting everything set up in the kitchen, I think enough time will have passed for Tim to have calmed down a bit. Besides, I don’t want him getting bored sitting in that cage all night. I want him to relax, too, okay?”

     “Alright, sis,” Julia acquiesced with a nod and a sigh. “Whatever you say.”

     About a twenty minutes later, Julia was finishing up getting ready for dinner: a bottle of red wine was chilling in a small ice bucket on the counter top, the cork already popped to allow it to breathe a bit, and two wine glasses sat next to a pair shallow bowls, with two sets of silverware laying nearby. She’d already cleared some space on the coffee table, and had a few movies in mind for Natalie to choose from when they sat down to eat.

     With everything set in the kitchen and living rooms for dinner, Julia headed back down the hallway, grinning with smug satisfaction as she approached the linen closet at the end of the hall. She quickly retrieved a small bath towel and draped it over her arm before closing the closet door and heading back down the hall to Tim’s bedroom.

     “Now then, Tiny Tim,” Julia said smugly as she opened the door and stepped into Tim’s room, smiling with sadistic glee as she leaned over his cage, “have we decided to calm down and behave ourselves?”

     “Aunt Julia, would you PLEASE stop calling me that?!” Tim squeaked up irately, stamping his little foot on the floor of his cage.

     “Hmph, I guess not,” Julia commented apathetically as she straightened back up. “Maybe I should go and tell your mother that I decided that you needed to take some more time to think about your behavior instead of putting on a movie for you like she asked, hm?”

     “I don’t wanna watch a movie, Aunt Julia,” Tim whined. “I want you to let me out of here!”

    “Hmph, fine,” Julia shrugged. “Suit yourself, but you might get a little bored sitting in there all night with nothing to do while your mother and I are having our girls night.”

     Tim sighed loudly and folded his arms in frustration.

     “Alright, fine,” Tim sighed again. “Just be quick about it.”

     “Well, since you asked so nicely,” Julia replied sarcastically as she stepped over to the nightstand and grabbed his phone, unplugging it from its charger.

     “Now, then,” she continued as she stepped back over to the cage, “what’s your passcode?”

     “Wha—I’m not telling you that!” Tim squeaked with aghast. “I don’t want you going through my phone!”

     “Well, good luck unlocking it on your own, little guy,” Julia replied acrimoniously. “Even sitting on its side, I doubt you could even reach all the numbers on the touchscreen.”

     “Just set it down on the floor in here. I can manage.”

     “Oh, now this I’ve gotta see,” Julia said eagerly as she tossed the towel she was holding onto the bed behind her. She lifted the lid and carefully lowered Tim’s phone into the cage, laying it flat on the floor. Then, she took a seat on Tim’s bed next to the towel and motioned for the tiny teenager to proceed.

     Tim determinately climbed up onto his smartphone and walked across the touchscreen; then, he quickly jumped on and off the right numbers in sequence to punch in his passcode and unlock his phone. He was so eager and impressed with his accomplishment that he didn’t even think to have Aunt Julia look away so she couldn’t see his passcode. Luckily, she seemed more focused on watching him jump around and accomplish the task rather than spying on his passcode.

     “Ta da,” Tim squeaked arrogantly as he jumped off his now unlocked phone.

     “Hmph,” Julia uttered, as she stood up, “I must say, I’m impressed. You HAVE gotten pretty resourceful since you shrank down to the size of a bug.”

     “I told ya,” Tim replied pridefully.

     “Well, what shall I queue up for ya?”

     “Just start up the Netflix app. I can manage from there.”

     “Suit yourself,” Julia shrugged.

     She quickly retrieved the phone, started up the app, then leaned the phone up against the wall of the cage before re-securing the lid.

     “Oh, and to help you create the right atmosphere for watching your movie,” Julia said as she retrieved the towel from the bed, “what’s say I make things a little darker for ya?”

    “HEY—!” Tim squeaked up protest as his giant aunt draped the huge towel over the hamster cage, shrouding him in darkness and muffling his squeaks.

    “Now, you behave and enjoy your movie, little one,” Julia cooed, gently tapping the towel. “Your mom and I’ll bring you in some dinner in a little bit.”

     The tiny teenager kept shouting up muffled profanities to the giant woman, but Julia merely disregarded his squeaks. Pleased with her exertion of dominance over her tiny nephew, she pridefully strolled out of his bedroom, closing the door behind her before walking back down the hall.

     By the time Julia made it back to the master bedroom, Natalie had already finished showering and was just stepping out of the bathroom, wrapped in her pink bathrobe and drying off her hair with a towel.

     “Feel better?” Julia inquired with a smug grin.

     “A bit,” Natalie sighed with nod as she stepped over to the bed, continuing to dry off her hair with the bath towel. “Did you check in on Tim?”

     “Uh…yup, just came from there,” Julia acknowledged, “and I put on a movie for him like you asked.”

     “Thanks. How’s he doing?”

     “About the same.”

     “Still upset, huh?”

     “Eh, just let him stew for a bit,” Julia shrugged. “He’ll calm down eventually.”

     “Aw, Jules, this is all my fault,” Natalie lamented with a heavy sigh, collapsing onto her bed. “He had his little heart set on growing back to normal this evening, and I let him down. I never should’ve called you guys and said that I had the antidote. I just got too overexcited.”

     “Sis, you had every right to be excited,” Julia said, sitting on the bed next to her sister. “I mean, you’ve been working nonstop all week analyzing that formula and working on a cure, and once you had it…”

     “Yeah, but I shouldn’t have implied I was bringing it home with me today. I should’ve said that I THOUGHT I had an antidote, but that I wasn’t finished testing it yet. At least then I wouldn’t of gotten Tim’s hopes up.”

     “Look, Nat, what’s done is done. There’s no sense beating yourself up over it. Besides, there’s nothing you can do about it now: the antidote’s back at your lab, so Tim is just gonna have to deal with being small for until tomorrow, so let’s all just calm down and relax this evening.”

     “‘Relax’?!” Natalie repined. “You keep saying that, Jules. How can I possibly relax when my son’s literally the size of a bug and sitting in a hamster cage in his bedroom like some kind of pet?!”

     “Nat, don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” Julia replied, trying to mollify her sister. “That’s why I set up that cage: to keep him safe and out of trouble. Look, he’s made it this long being small; it’s not going to kill him to have to wait one more night. Now, what’s say we go fix him up a little plate of food, huh? We’ll take it to him, make sure he’s comfortable, and then the two of us’ll go settle down for nice, relaxing dinner, okay?”

     “Actually….would you mind doing it yourself?” Natalie inquired apprehensively. “I-I don’t think I can face him…at least, not right now. I feel too guilty.”

     “Not a problem, sis,” Julia smiled softly, putting her arm around Natalie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.”

     Tim sat sulking in the middle of his cage, resting on the tissue that Aunt Julia had dropped in the cage earlier, which the tiny teenager had folded into a makeshift blanket. Nearby, sat a small, torn piece of napkin, upon which lay a tiny helping of noodles and meat that Aunt Julia had scooped from Mrs. Peterson’s casserole for him to eat, along with a small thimble-full of water for him to drink out of if he was thirsty.

     Although Aunt Julia had put his cell phone in his cage to give him something to watch while she and his mother were having their girls night in the living room, and had graciously pulled back the towel covering his cage when she brought him his dinner, Tim was far too depressed to pay attention to the movie, nor did he have an appetite despite having literally not eaten anything the entire day. He’d spent the entire morning avoiding Aunt Julia and getting stepped on by Mrs. Peterson, then ended up suffering for the remainder of the afternoon at the hands—and feet—of his aunt, albeit willing to endure his punishment under the assumption that his mother would eventually be home with the antidote that would finally restore him back to his normal size.

     Alas, all his suffering had been for nothing; at his mother’s behest, he was forced to spend yet another day the size of a bug, and enduring whatever cruel torment Aunt Julia could think up.

     Tim didn’t want to wait another day; he wanted to be big now! He wasn’t sure he could take another day of Aunt Julia’s torture, especially since his suffering was bound to be exponentially increased after his mother’s scolding of his aunt about her feet; there were still plenty of other parts of her body that Aunt Julia could torture him with.

     Tim also realized that in all his excitement when his mother got home, he’d missed yet another opportunity to tell her about Aunt Julia’s cruel treatment of him over the past week. Sure, his mother found out about the foot massages, but that was only because Aunt Julia had freely admitted to it, as if it were no big deal. In fact, gauging Aunt Julia’s calm and poised demeanor during the incident, Tim still wasn’t sure if she had been thinking up a believable explanation for the foot massages and every other incident on hand if she was ever found out, or if his aunt was just devious and clever enough to be able to make up an excuse one on the spot. Would it even be worth telling his mother about his suffering at this point, only to have Aunt Julia merely explain everything away?

     Unfortunately, at present, even if Tim wanted to tell his mother, he wouldn’t have the chance: Aunt Julia had wisely kept his mother at bay for the evening, never allowing them to have any time alone together, and constantly chaperoning any fleeting contact Tim and Natalie did have. Not that there was much: Natalie still felt guilty for dashing her son’s hopes of getting him back to normal that evening, and had opted to keep her distance until she could find the courage to face him…

     Tim was unexpectedly snapped back to reality by the sound of knocking on his bedroom door.

     “Knock, knock,” Julia called out with a chortle, feigning sweetness as she barged into Tim’s bedroom room and removed the bath towel from the cage, tossing it over on the other side of the dresser.

     “Well, hey there, Tiny Tim,” she cooed down at the tiny teenager inside, a huge, devilish smile on her face. “Did you enjoy your meal?”

     “I told you to stop calling me that!” Tim complained grumpily.

     “Hmph,” Julia shrugged and crossed her arms. “I’d have figured you’d practically be used to it by now.”

     “Well, I’m NOT!” Tim shouted up irately as he jumped to his feet. “How would YOU like it if YOU were the one who was small, and I kept poking fun at YOUR predicament?!”

     “Well, as I’ve no doubt reminded you before,” Julia replied smugly, “I’M not the one who drank your mother’s shrinking potion, little guy, YOU did.

     “Besides,” she chuckled, “It’s fun teasing you about it.”

     “It’s not fun for ME!” Tim recoiled. “Aunt Julia, why are you treating me like this?! How can you be so cruel?!”

     “‘Cruel’?! Julia recoiled, mirroring her tiny nephew’s prior reaction. “You think I’m being cruel?!”

     “Well, what else would you call….stepping on me, and putting your feet on me, or sticking me in your panties…and everything else you’ve done do me this week?!”

     “Oh, that was just me having a little fun,” Julia scoffed, gesturing with her hand.

     “You think tormenting me is FUN?!” Tim recoiled again. “Aunt Julia, I’m your nephew! You’re supposed to take care of me. You’re supposed to love me!”

     “Aw, but I DO love you, Tiny Tim…” Julia cooed, wiggling her index finger at the glass “…and I love you even more now that you’re so small.

     “Hm,” the giant woman moaned softly, “I wonder if your mom’d be willing to leave you tiny for a couple more days. I could sure go for a few more of your foot massages.”

     “Yeah, well don’t count on it, Aunt Julia,” Tim retorted. “By this time tomorrow, I’ll be back to my normal size and this’ll all be over.”

     “Hmph, you seem pretty sure of yourself, little man,” Julia replied incredulously, crossing her arms again. “What makes you think you’re even gonna grow back tomorrow, hm? Your mom’s smart, but even she can’t predict all the possible side effects of that antidote she cooked up. For all you know, it could turn you into a frog or something.”

     “Nice try, Aunt Julia,” Tim rebutted assuredly. “Mom already said her test rabbits grew back to normal when she gave it to them, so at least we know it works.”

     “Yeah, and how do you know it’s not just temporary, smart guy?” Julia posed.

     “Temporary or not, at least it works…well, for a little while anyway, but so what?! Even if it IS only temporary, I can still take it and grow back to normal. I’ll just have to keep taking it so I don’t shrink down again, that’s all.”

     “Hmph,” Julia scoffed again, sneering. “So….you’ve got it all figured out, don’t ya, little guy? Well, we’ll just see about that…”

     Julia leaned forward, spouting a deviously scornful grin:

     “ …Gonna be a little hard to grow back if you never get that antidote, Tiny Tim,” she said.

     “Wh…What’re you talking about, Aunt Julia?” Tim inquired suspiciously. “Mom already said she’s bringing the antidote home with her tomorrow.”

     “Uh, as I recall, what she said was: she’d bring home the antidote IF there were no side effects….but even if she does, what makes you think I’m gonna let her give it to you?”

     “What do you mean: ‘let her give it to me’?” Tim recoiled suspiciously. “You don’t have any say in the matter.”

     “Yeah, that’s what YOU think, little guy,” Julia chortled smugly. “I can be very persuasive. Maybe I’ll just convince her to leave you this way for the rest of the summer. I’d love keeping you as my tiny, little, foot slave.”

     “That’ll never happen, Aunt Julia!” Tim shouted up defiantly. “Mom wants me un-shrunk just as much as I do.”

     “Sure, maybe right now,” Julia said pridefully, “but by the end of the night, I’ll have my sister convinced to keep you this way. Mark my words, you’re days being tiny are far from over.”

     “You’ll never get away with it, Aunt Julia!” Tim retorted. “I’m sure, as hell, not staying this way forever!”

     “Oh yeah, and just what’re YOU gonna do to stop me, small fry?!” Julia impugned contemptuously, tapping on the glass of Tim cage. “Don’t forget, you’re still the size of a bug, and it’d only take a second for me to snatch you up and stomp you flat. By the time you’re mom could even do anything about it, you’d be nothing but a tiny, red stain on the bottom of my foot.”

     Tim was about to shout up a response in kind, but wisely composed himself and kept his mouth shut.

     “Uh-huh, Julia ginned pridefully. “That’s what I thought. Face it, Tiny Tim, your fate is in MY hands, so I suggest you learn your place, or else you’re gonna find yourself stuck the size of a bug for a very….very long time.”

     “Yeah, well we’ll just see what happens tomorrow, Aunt Julia, ” Tim replied impudently. “Just you watch. I’ll be un-shrunk by tomorrow afternoon.”

     “Oh yeah, we’ll see all right,” Julia sneered, lifting the lid of the cage.

     Tim recoiled as he saw Aunt Julia’s open hand coming down towards him. He scrambled to avoid the giant hand and find cover, but there was honestly no where he could run. He squealed in terror as the giant woman’s fingers curled around his body, quickly disappearing into her grasp.

     “LET ME GO!” Tim shouted demandingly with his aunt’s fist, fearful he was mere moments away from being stomped.

     Julia quietly lowered the lid back onto the cage and headed out of the room back down the hall to the master bedroom. Once there, she pushed the door closed and marched over to the laundry hamper, lifting the lid.

     “HEY, WHERE’RE YOU TAKING ME?!” Tim shouted again when he felt Aunt Julia come to a stop.

     “Hmph,” Julia snarled at her tiny nephew still enclosed within her fist, “‘un-shrunk by tomorrow afternoon’, huh?! Not if I have anything to say about it!”

     Julia threw her fist down towards the open hamper, tossing the tiny boy inside. Tim screamed as he hurtled downwards, landing in a small pile of clothes at the bottom.

     “Let’s see what a few hours trapped in the laundry hamper’ll do for that little attitude of yours!” Julia sneered.

     Before Tim could come to his senses and recover, Julia slammed the lid of the hamper slammed shut, trapping the tiny teenager inside.

     “Enjoy your evening,” Julia chuckled maniacally as she kicked the side of the hamper and proudly marched out of the room, closing the door behind her. Then, she headed back down the hall into Tim’s bedroom, hurriedly collected the remnants of the tiny teenager’s dinner, covered the empty cage with the towel again, and took a second to gather herself before heading out of the room and closing the door behind her.

     “Hey sis,” Natalie called out, pausing the movie as Julia stepped back into the living room. “Was Tim finished with his dinner?”

     “Oh yeah,” Julia replied coyly, “quite finished. In fact, I was just collecting his trash.”

     “Is he feeling any better?” Natalie inquired apprehensively.

     “Oh, he’s calmed down a bit…” Julia nodded, “…buuuuut he’s still pretty upset. I think it’s best if we don’t bother him for the rest of the evening. Are you finished with your dinner?”

     “Actually, I think I’m gonna have another helping in a second,” Natalie replied, moving her bowl to the coffee table.

     “Yeah, I might have another helping myself,” Julia concurred, motioning to the remnants of Tim’s dinner in her hands. “Let me just take care of these things real fast, and I’ll be back in.”

     “OK,” Natalie replied.

     Julia stepped into the kitchen for a moment and dumped out the thimble of water into the sink. Then, she flicked the piece of napkin off her finger into the garbage disposal, rinsed off her hand, and re-joined Natalie on the couch to finish their movie.

     Tim scrambled to right himself and quickly clambered to the highest point of the pile of clothes he’d landed in. Streaks of light flooded in through the wicker-mesh sides of the hamper, and the tiny teenager could only gaze upwards, awestruck at the sheer size of his newfound prison as the light beams illuminated its towering heights.

     “That giant….bitch!” Tim cursed as he crawled towards the sides of the hamper. “I swear, the first thing I’m gonna do when I get big again is give that woman a piece of my mind…if I don’t strangle her first.”

     Tim slid down one of mother’s tops, hopped over to the side of the hamper, and gazed through one of the wicker-mesh holes: from his vantage point, he could see the foot of his parents’ bed, and could just make out the closed bedroom door off to his right. If he just could squeeze through one of the hamper’s holes, he was sure he could shimmy under that door. Then, all he had to do was make it down the hall, hop down the step into the living room, and scurry over to the couch where his mother should be sitting and get her attention…all without being spotted by Aunt Julia. Simple.     

     Tim took a moment to inspect the wicker material immediately surrounding the hole, then braced himself as he tried pushing it apart, hoping to open a hole wide enough for him to squeeze his body through. The wicker had some give, but the material proved too strong to pry apart enough for him to escape through. He quickly clambered to another hole and repeated his efforts, trying to find a larger opening, a loose strand of wicker…any weakness he could exploit to escape; alas, he found none.

     Tim frustratedly yanked at the wicker, smacking it with his fists in anger. The tiny teenager quickly realized there were only two ways out of the hamper: wait for someone to come along and get him out—hopefully his mother—or start climbing.

     Tim heaved a heavy sigh; he already knew the answer.

     “Great,” Tim groaned sarcastically as he surveyed the huge chore that lay ahead of him, finding his first hand and footholds. “Of course, Aunt Julia would have to throw me in here right after doing the laundry a couple of days ago.”

     Slowly but surely, Tim carefully climbed upwards. Luckily, the wicker mesh of the hamper provided an ample supply of hand and footholds for him, but the task still seemed insurmountable. Even after all several minutes of climbing, Tim still had over halfway to go.

     “Aunt Julia’s not keeping me small forever,” Tim affirmed as he climbed higher. “Not if I have anything to say about it. I’ll show her. I’m gonna get to mom and tell her EVERYTHING Aunt Julia’s done to me if it’s the last thing I do…”

     Tim paused, gulping loudly:

     “…even if it IS the last thing I do.”

     Tim sighed morosely. He could already picture in his mind Aunt Julia squashing him beneath her foot once he squealed on her, and knew he’d be better off just biding his time and waiting for his mother to give him the antidote the next day, continuously reaffirming that Aunt Julia couldn’t possibly keep his mother from giving it to him. Alas, his aunt’s ominous warning kept echoing in his mind: all it would take was a few seconds, a brief moment when his mother was distracted…and he’d be on the floor, watching in horror as his aunt’s huge sole came down on him. Although, if it really came down to it, Tim reaffirmed he’d rather be squashed flat than spend the rest of his life stuck at an inch tall and subservient to his giant bitch of an aunt.

     The tiny teenager held his position for a few moments to catch his breath and rest his arms, then slowly resumed his ascent, hoping he could find a way out once he reached the top.

     “Mm, good movie,” Julia moaned as she stretched out her arms.

     “Yeah,” Natalie concurred, grabbing the remote and returning to the main menu of the streaming service, “I’m always in the mood for a good drama.”

     “How about a romantic comedy next?” Julia proposed.

     “Sounds good,” Natalie replied, “but how about we try to clean up a little first?”

     “Sure,” Julia chortled in agreement, “sounds good.”

     Julia leaned forward and stuck her finger in the middle of the remaining casserole.

     “Hm,” she uttered. “Probably for the best: casserole’s gotten a little cold. So much for second helpings.”

     “Well, we can just scoop a little into each of our bowls and pop ‘em in the microwave for a little bit,” Natalie proposed. “We’ll put the rest back in the fridge for tomorrow.”

     “Yeah, I guess that’ll be fine,” Julia agreed with a shrug as she stood up from the couch and picked up her wine glass from the coffee table. “You want any more wine?”

     “Please,” Natalie said assuredly, grabbing her own wine glass and handing it to her sister. “With the way things have been going around here this evening, I think I’m gonna need it.”

    “Come on,” Julia chuckled, gesturing to the kitchen with her head.

     Natalie helped Julia gather up the casserole dish, then grabbed the their two bowls and headed off to the kitchen. They each took a few minutes to rinse some things off, top off their glasses of wine, and freshen up each their bowls with one last helping of casserole before covering the dish and putting it back into the fridge.

     “Maybe one of us should look in on Tim before we start the next movie,” Natalie suggested as she closed the refrigerator door.

     “Uh…actually, why don’t we give him a little bit?” Julia stammered. “I just started up a fresh movie for him when I picked up his leftovers from dinner earlier, so it’s probably only about half over at this point. He should be OK for a little while longer.”

     “Well…” Natalie sighed hesitantly, “…alright, I’ll just leave him be for now, but I don’t want us to forget about him.”

     “Relax, sis,” Julia chortled offhandedly. “We’re not gonna forget about him. Geez.”

     “Alright, well….would you mind tossing my bowl in the microwave for me? I need to use the bathroom really quickly.”

     “Um….O-OK,” Julie replied anxiously, realizing the trouble she’d be in if Natalie happened to find Tim in the laundry hamper, “but hurry back. I don’t want your food to get cold again.”

     “Don’t worry, I won’t be long,” Natalie scoffed politely as she headed towards the kitchen door. “I just have to pee.”

     Julia looked on nervously as she watched Natalie walk through the living room and head down the hallway, disappearing into the bathroom right before a distant door closed shut.

     Tim was panting heavily, exhausted from his ascent up the inside of the hamper. It had been a long, arduous climb, but he’d just about reached the top. He hated to admit it, but Aunt Julia had been right about one thing: he really needed to start working out and get in shape…or, at least, a shape that was something other than “out of”. He affirmed in his mind that he was going to start exercising as soon as he was big again, but first, he needed to get out of the hamper.

     Tim surveyed the huge, closed lid above him, wondering with dispirited confidence how he could possibly muster enough strength to actually push it open and escape. Luckily, the lid was supported by four, small rubber gaskets at the corners, leaving a small gap between the lid and the edges around the basket. It wasn’t much, but without outside assistance, it was Tim‘s only shot.

     Then, just as he was about to finish his climb up to the lid, Tim heard distant footsteps moving through the house. They were getting louder…stomping closer…

     Tim’s heart started racing; if Aunt Julia looked in and found him in his current position…

     Suddenly, he heard the bathroom door opening on the other side of the wall next to the hamper, the footsteps now lightly smacking the hard, tile floor. Obviously, someone was coming to use the bathroom, but Tim wasn’t sure if it was his mother or Aunt Julia.

     “H-Hello?” Tim called out hesitantly, nervously biting his lower lip.

     The bathroom door closed just quickly as it opened, and a moment later, Tim heard the toilet lid clink against the rear tank.

     He listened intently…

     Then, he heard a heavy sigh just before the sound of urine splashing into the toilet bowl. The sigh wasn’t much, but it was enough for Tim to know exactly who was in the bathroom…

     “Mom!” Tim exclaimed eagerly. “MOM, I’M IN HERE! MOM, HELP ME!”

     Tim quickly stifled himself and conserved his energy, realizing it was no use trying to shout over the sound of his mother relieving herself. She was barely able to hear his tiny voice even when she was literally holding him up in front of her face. He’d have to wait until she was through, and hope he could somehow get her attention before she left the bathroom.

     Natalie sighed heavily as she sat on the toilet and relieved herself, taking a moment to breathe and center herself as she emptied her bladder. Although her shrunken son wasn’t back to normal just yet, with a potential cure waiting for her at her lab, it was nice to finally be able to take an evening to relax and decompress after such a long, stressful week. She finally—or at least presumably—had an antidote to show for her week’s worth of hard work, and although she was a little anxious about going into the lab in the morning, hoping she wouldn’t find anything wrong with any of her test rabbits, she heaved another sigh of contentment and flashed a satisfied smile, knowing in her heart that this nightmare of a week would soon be over.

     Natalie stood up from the toilet and tore off a few squares of toilet paper to wipe herself off, flushing the toilet as she pulled up her pants. Then, she nonchalantly stepped over to the sink to wash your hands.

     As she began drying them on a hand towel hanging on a nearby towel rack, however, a musty odor wafted into her nostrils. She moved her face in closer to towel and took another quick sniff…

     “Phew,” she exclaimed, her face contorting in disgust. “Yuck! I thought Julia washed these the other day. Ugh, oh well…”

     Natalie sighed and yanked the towel off the rack, then stepped over to the door to her bedroom and turned the doorknob…

     Tim tried shouting for his mother again when he heard that she’d stopped relieving herself, but almost immediately, he heard the toilet flushing, and bathroom sink turning on not long after.

     More sounds…more noises that drowned out his voice, and Tim started losing hope that he’d ever have the opportunity to call to her again, let alone getting her to hear him.

     The door just outside the clothes hamper suddenly thrust open, and Tim was so startled, he jerked, nearly throwing himself back down into the bottom of the clothes hamper. When he finally recovered and regained his footing on the wicker lining, he saw his mother’s towering figure standing over by the bed.

     “MOM…MOM!” Tim shouted desperately as he stuck his arm through the wicker mesh, waving frantically to his mother over by the bed in hopes she’d see him. “MOM, HELP! IT’S ME, TIM! I’M HERE, IN THE LAUNDRY HAMPER! LOOK IN THE LAUNDRY HAMPER! MO-OM!”

     Natalie stood by her bed and finished drying off her hands with the dirty hand-towel. The laundry hamper was just to the right of the door, but she also wanted to throw in the leggings and bra which she’d worn that day and had laid out on the bed during her shower to air out.

     Just as she’d finished gathering up all the articles of clothing she wanted to toss into the hamper, she suddenly heard a faint, tiny squeaking sound. She paused, listening intently to pinpoint the sound’s location…

     “Julia?” Natalie called out in a hushed tone, shifting her attention to the bedroom door where she figured the sound was coming from. “Julia, is that you…?”

     “No, mom, it’s ME!” Tim cried out frantically, realizing his mother was apparently reacting to his voice. “I’m over HERE. In the HAMPER!”

     Natalie set the bundle of clothes she was holding on the bed and stepped over to the bedroom door, gently turning the doorknob and cracking the door open just enough to peek out into the hallway…

     …There was no one out there.

     Slightly puzzled, Natalie shrugged and closed the door, dismissing the noise as her imagination playing tricks on her. Then, she stepped back over to the bed to grab her laundry…

     As she turned to walk towards the hamper, Natalie paused again, spotting her bathrobe hanging on the back of the bathroom door. It had been there, in her line of sight, since she entered the bathroom earlier, but hadn’t given it much thought up until that point.

     “Hmph, might as well throw that in, too, while I’m at it,” she shrugged as she stepped over to grab it. “Should be dry by now…”

     “YES, mom, YES!” Tim shouted excitedly as his mother finally started walking towards the hamper. He quickly climbed the last few steps up to the top, pounding his fist on the lid.

     “I’m in HERE!” he cried out again. “Get me OU—HOWT!”

     Natalie reached for her robe, grabbing a handful of the soft fabric around the breast area and tried lifting it off its hook…unfortunately, the robe didn’t come off the door. Apparently, it was still caught on its hook. Natalie fidgeted and maneuvered the robe around for a few seconds as she tried to get it off the hook with one hand; alas, she still couldn’t pull it down.

     Natalie sighed in frustration, keeping one hand on the robe and reaching for the hamper with her foot…

     Without warning, the huge, hamper lid suddenly lifted open above him. Tim yelped in surprise as a huge burst of air suddenly rushed in through the holes in the sides of hamper, thrusting him upwards and clean over the edge, sending him tumbling downwards towards the carpet below…

     Natalie lifted the lid of the hamper open with her toes and quickly tossed in the bundle of laundry in her hands just before it slammed shut again with a loud smack.

     As she turned back and reached her newly freed hand for her robe, she suddenly heard the tiny squeaking sound again. She immediately looked back stepped over to the hamper again, raising the lid and peeking inside.

     Natalie moved her ear closer and listened, thinking there might be a mouse or something trapped inside, but yet again, the faint sound had disappeared just as quickly as it began, and she didn’t see any signs of movement as she stared at the pile of laundry in the bottom of the hamper.

     “I must be losing my mind,” Natalie sighed to herself, shaking her head as she stepped back to get a better grip on her robe.

     “Julia was right,” she continued as she successfully pulled her robe off its hook and stuffed it into the hamper. “I think the stress is getting to me. I really need to relax and clear my mind this evening.”

     Natalie closed the lid on the hamper, taking a couple steps back to close the bathroom door. She had no idea her tiny son currently lay on the carpet next to the clothes hamper, still recovering from his recent fall…nor that he was directly in her walking path as she stepped around the hamper to head out of the bedroom. By the time Tim recovered enough to realize his precarious position, his mother’s giant figure was already bearing down on him. With a tiny squeak, the shrunken teenager disappeared beneath his mother’s bare sole as her foot crashed down to the floor.

     Meanwhile, Natalie, still unaware of her tiny son’s plight, casually walked out of her bedroom and headed back down the hall towards the living room…

     Only a few steps down the hallway, however, Natalie paused, stopping dead in her tracks as her gaze alighted upon Tim’s bedroom door. She stood there for a moment, contemplating, almost frozen in place as she stared at the door.

     Natalie sighed, racked with guilt: she wanted to go in and speak with her son so badly, but she still couldn’t muster the courage to face him. Tim was so upset when she told him he’d have to wait another day before being cured, that Natalie wasn’t sure she could ever forgive herself for disappointing him…for everything that’d happened to him. The whole shrinking situation had been her fault. If she’d only taken the formula to her lab immediately after arriving back in the states, or even shipped it back home with the rest of her samples, none of this would’ve happened. Perhaps just telling Tim that the responsibility for this mess lay solely on her, it might, at least, somewhat ease his burdens.

     Natalie quietly stepped up and placed her ear against the door to listen: she could hear some sounds coming from inside, specifically the muffled conversations and music from the movie playing on the phone inside the hamster cage. She removed her ear from the door, and slowly reached for the doorknob, grasping it gently in her hand…

     Natalie released the doorknob, dropping her hand as she sighed quietly. She didn’t want interrupt her son’s movie, especially if it was helping him decompress and forget about his predicament, providing a momentary escape from his troubles, even for a little while.

     Natalie turned and carefully tiptoed away from the door, continuing down the hallway to the living room, where Julia was setting their refilled wine glasses down on the coffee table next to two reheated bowls of casserole.

     “…Everything OK, sis?” Julie asked anxiously as Natalie stepped back into the living room.

     “Uh…yeah,” Natalie replied, rubbing her hands together nervously. “Every—everything’s fine.”

     “Good,” Julia sighed with relief. “Ready for the next movie?”

     “Sure. What’d you pick out?”

     “Well, I thought maybe we could watch Bridesmaids?”

     “Sounds good,” Natalie smiled softly, heading around the coffee table to sit down on the couch. “I could use a good laugh…”

     “Hey…” Natalie spoke up, pausing just in front of the coffee table. “…you…. didn’t happen to hear anything coming from Tim’s room while I was in the bathroom just now, did you?”

     “N-No…” Julia stammered, shaking her head vigorously. “…I’ve mostly been in the kitchen getting our food warmed up and topping off our drinks. Why?”

     “Oh, no reason,” Natalie replied, shaking her head quickly. “I…thought I might’ve heard something when I was coming down the hall just now. I was gonna check in on him, but I didn’t wanna bother him until his movie was over.”

     “Probably a good idea,” Julia nodded quickly, relieved by her sister’s statement. “Why don’t we…sit down and enjoy our movie for a while. I-I’ll check in on Tim in a bit.”

     “Sure, sounds good,” Natalie said as she continued around the coffee table…

     “Hey, Jules?” she spoke up again just before turning to sit down on the couch.

     “Yeah?”

     Natalie’s demeanor relaxed, and she flashed a small grin:

     “Thank you…” she sighed contentedly, “…for…you know, helping me relax this evening. I really needed this, what with everything that’s been going on.”

     “My pleasure, sis,” Julia smiled, stepping closer and gently rubbing her sisters arms.

     “Besides,” Julia chortled, “I could tell you’ve been wound a little tight lately.”

     “Well, can you blame me?” Natalie proffered. “My son’s literally turned into the incredible shrinking teenager.”

     “Yeah,” Julia chortled again, “but we’ve got things under control now: Tim’s safe and sound in his cage, and you’ve got an antidote waiting for you when you get to your lab in the morning, so stop worrying.

     “All you have to do now,” Julia said assuredly as she sat down on the couch, “is just sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your evening.”

     “Yeah….I guess you’re right,” Natalie acknowledged with a heavy sigh, collapsing onto the couch as well.

     “Of course, I’m right,” Julia said haughtily, kicking her feet underneath her and reaching for her glass on the coffee table. “Now, what’s say we have some more wine before starting our movie?”

     “Alright,” Natalie sighed, picking up her own glass and crossing her left leg underneath her as she turned to face her sister, “but don’t forget: one of us needs to look in on Tim in a little bit just to make sure he’s okay.”

      “He’s fine, sis,” Julia replied coyly, raising her glass. “Trust me. At the moment, our tiny boy is right where he needs to be.”

     Tim was grateful he finally had some semblance of a reprieve from his recent ordeal, but he was still in extreme peril. One minute, he was trapped in the clothes hamper, shouting for his mother to help him out; the next thing he knew, he was lying on his back on the carpet, recovering from an apparent fall. He lay in shock for a moment, staring blankly at the towering hamper off to his left, unable to process how far he had fallen.

     Then, just as he’d managed to sit up and come to his senses, and a huge shadow shrouded him in darkness. As he looked skyward, his vision was suddenly filled with the wrinkled underside of his mother’s bare foot.

     “MO—!” Tim screeched as his mother’s foot slammed down on top of him, cutting off his screams as it smashed him into the carpet. The pressure was immense, but brief, dissipating just as quickly as it began; unfortunately, as Tim felt his mother’s foot lifting off the floor, he felt himself being carried along with it. He began screaming hysterically, but his face was stuck, plastered to his mother’s sole, muffling his cries.

     Tim frantically struggled to peel himself off his mother’s foot before the giant woman could take another step, but he was already firmly adhered to her flesh, and every step she took only pressed his tiny body deeper into her wrinkled sole.

     Each step his mother took was sheer torture, and even the fleeting moments when she stood still, the situation wasn’t much less painful for Tim, especially when she shifted her weight onto her right side, causing him to scream in agony from the immense pressure.

     Tim repeatedly screamed for help, but with his face buried in her foot flesh, he knew it was unlikely his mother would actually hear him. His only hope was her feeling him squirming beneath her foot, but she as yet appeared to give any sign that she’d stepped on him, nor that he was stuck to her sole.

     At one point, he could hear his mother and Aunt Julia talking, and continuously shouted and yanked his body back and forth in hopes to get her to feel his presence, but each time she started walking again only reconfirmed that she had no idea he was down there.

     After several minutes of torture, the pressure finally receded. Tim couldn’t tell if his mother was about to step down again, but for the moment, her foot appeared to be somewhat stationary. Once again, he could hear his mother and Aunt Julia talking, but from what he could make out, their conversation seemed casual, and both seemed unaware of his plight no matter how much he shouted and struggled.

     At least, for the moment, Tim wasn’t constantly being stepped on, and with the momentary reprieve, he refocused his efforts on peeling himself off his mother’s foot, concentrating on slow, deliberate movements that might have been more productive and likely to yield results.

     Throughout the process, Tim couldn’t help but moan, confused as to why his mother’s foot was so sticky. Hadn’t she taken a shower earlier?

     What Tim didn’t realize, however, was that since her shower, Natalie had been walking throughout the house, specifically through the non-carpeted floors of the kitchen and bathroom, which Julia had mopped the day prior. As the floors had dried, the cleaning solution that Julia had used left a slightly sticky residue behind—a residue that had since transferred to the bottoms of Natalie’s and Julia’s feet and they puttered about getting dinner ready. To any normal sized human, including the two, giant women, the sticky residue was weak and went relatively unnoticed as they walked around the house, but to a tiny, one-inch teenager, it had the strength of a powerful, industrial adhesive, and Tim was now struggling desperately, fighting to un-adhere himself from his mother’s foot.

     After several minutes of tugging and pulling at his mother’s foot flesh, Tim finally managed to pry his right arm off her sole. He quickly pressed his hand into the part of the sole adhered to his face, slowly sliding his fingers between the two stuck layers of skin, eventually prying them apart and peeling his face free.

     Tim gasped the first breath of fresh air he’d inhaled in several minutes, shaking and wiping the grime from his face. He craned his neck to look around: he couldn’t see much from his vantage point, as the ball of his mother’s foot blocked his view, but looking from side to side, Tim could see distinct landmarks around the living room couch, and could hear music and conversations coming from the TV above, quickly surmising that his mother and aunt were presently sitting on the couch, watching a movie.

     “MOM!” the tiny boy shouted desperately, pounding his free hand into her sole. “MO-OM!”

     Tim’s efforts, however, yielded no response. Natalie was still unable to hear him, nor feel him on wiggling on her foot. Quickly surmising that his mother wouldn’t be able to hear his tiny squeaks over the blaring TV anyway, Tim concentrated on redoubling his efforts to pry himself off her foot, praying he could free himself and get clear before she got up from the couch.

     Over the next half hour, Natalie and Julia relaxed on the couch: enjoying their movie, laughing at the humorous situations, and occasionally taking small bites of reheated casserole from their respective bowls. Natalie, in particular, was thoroughly enjoying herself, finally taking her sister’s advise to decompress and ease her mind. It felt so good to just kick back and let her worries go for the night like her sister had suggested, knowing that there was nothing she could do about her son’s current situation until the next morning. All she had to worry about at the moment was the situational comedy on the TV, and scratching a tiny, persistent itch on the bottom of her foot.

     Meanwhile, Tim was still struggling to pry himself off his mother’s sole. He’d managed to free his arms and head, but despite his best efforts, he couldn’t dislodge the rest of his torso nor his legs from his mothers flesh, as the mixture of sticky floor residue, sweat, and tattered remains of his makeshift toga all combined to form a gooey paste which firmly adhered him to the underside of her foot. In desperation, he constantly pounded and scratched at his mother’s sole, hoping she’d inspect her foot and spot him, but his mother had yet to give so much as a fleeting glimpse.

     His efforts, however, hadn’t gone completely unnoticed: Tim’s constant squirming was causing his mother’s sole to itch, and Natalie would occasionally reach down to scratch the underside of her foot with her massive fingers. Each time she did, her tiny son would scream hysterically, watching in terror as his mother’s sharp fingernails kept inching closer and closer to his body with each subsequent scratch, threatening to slice him in half in a split second. To make matters worse, her fingers proved too far away for the tiny teenager to reach out and touch, and the closest they came was just within range for Tim to brush his hands unnoticeably against one of his mother’s fingernails.

     Tim wasn’t deterred, however, and refocused his energy to work himself free from his mother’s foot, opting to save trying to contact her until he wasn’t plastered to her sole.

     Natalie started feeling thirsty. She hadn’t touched her wine since Julia topped off their glasses and set them down on the coffee table earlier. She slowly leaned forward and reached for her glass, hoping she could grab it without having to get up, but it was too far out of reach. Dying for a satisfying sip of wine, Natalie uttered a frustrated sigh, set her bowl down on the couch cushion next to her, and uncrossed her legs as she lowered her feet to the floor…

     “Whoa!” Tim exclaimed as he suddenly felt his mother shifting above him. Her foot raised up slightly, then began lowering itself to the floor.

     “OH, NO! MOM! WAIrmpf—!”

     “Uhn,” Natalie groaned as she put her feet on the floor and stretched out her right arm to grab her glass of wine; unfortunately, she quickly realized that to grab it without making a mess, she would have to stand up…

     Tim screamed in agony as the weight on his mother’s foot increased dramatically, pressing him into the floor and threatening to pop him like a grape…

     Now that she was on her feet, Natalie moaned and took the opportunity to stretch out her arms and body. She’d been sitting for a while now, and her left leg had developed a slight cramp from being sat on for so long.

     “You okay, sis?” Julia inquired with a chortle.

     “Yeah,” Natalie replied, flexing and shaking her left leg out beside her for a moment. “I was just trying to get my wine glass…and then my leg started cramping.”

     “You need me to massage it for ya?” Julia offered jokingly.

     “Don’t laugh, or I might just take you up on that offer,” Natalie chuckled.

     “I know,” Julia joked, chortling. “Maybe we could get Tim rub it for you? Like I said, he’s become quite resourceful, despite his size.”

     “I’ll be fine, Jules,” Natalie replied suspiciously, shooting her sister a look of annoyance. “Thanks.”

     “Hmph, suit yourself,” Julia shrugged, “but you don’t know what you’re missing.”

     “Uh huh,” Natalie uttered with discontent, leaning over to pick up her wine glass, “Jules, I’d better not be hearing anything about you forcing Tim to give you foot rubs again.”

     “Okay, Nat…” Julia chortled, sloughing off her sister’s warning. “…you won’t hear about it.”

     “I’m not kidding, Jules!” Natalie repeated staunchly, pointing her finger, “I told you earlier: Tim’s had way too many close calls this week as it is, and I don’t want us taking any unnecessary risks…especially when I’m so close to curing him! Now, we’ve got less than 24 hours left before this whole shrinking mess’ll finally be over, and the last thing I need is for you and your big, stupid feet to screw things up now!”

     “Alright, sis, I’m sorry!” Julia replied defensively. “Geez, lighten up, would ya?! I was only kidding…and would you please stop making snide remarks about my feet?!”

     “I will when you learn to keep ‘em to yourself!” Natalie retorted smartly, “Now, I mean it, Jules: no….more….foot rubs! You got it?!”

     “Yeah, I got it, Nat!” Julia replied indirectly.

     “Good,” Natalie nodded her head, handing Julia her glass. “Now, hold this a sec while I make myself comfortable…”

     The pain was unbearable: Tim’s mother had been standing on top of him for what felt like forever, and every time she shifted her weight onto her right foot, he would scream in agony as the pressure on his tiny body increased exponentially.

     There were a couple of times when Tim felt the pressure on him lessen, and thought he might finally be in the clear…but they were only fleeting reprieves where his mother merely readjusted her stance, her foot stepping back down onto the floor a second later.

     Tim felt his strength waning, and the frustration towards his mother’s inattentiveness steadily growing:

     How could mom be so oblivious?! he wondered. With how many times she’s reached down to scratch her sole, you’d think she’d have discovered me by NOW…or at least glanced at her foot to see what was causing her itch?

     “For fuck’s same, mom!” his mind implored her, as if trying to somehow contact her telepathically. ”Would you please sit down already?!”

     After handing off her wine glass to Julia, Natalie took a few moments to fix the couch cushions and shift them back into place, placing her knee on the couch to fluff up the ones on the backrest…

     After nearly a minute of continuous, excruciating torture, the pressure finally subsided…

     A split second later, Tim suddenly felt himself being jerked upwards. By the time he was stationary again…Tim realized he was upside down. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anything: all the pressure his mother’s foot had applied from her standing on the floor for so long had firmly re-adhered his tiny body back to her sole, burying his face into her flesh again. Tim immediately resumed squirming, wondering if his mother might have finally felt his presence on her foot, but he honestly couldn’t tell whether his mother was inspecting her sole because she realized he was there, or if she was just getting a better angle to scratch the bottom of her foot. All Tim hoped what his mom spotted him before he was sliced in twain by her fingernails…

     With the couch cushions back in order, Natalie retrieved her bowl of casserole from the coffee table and took her seat again; this time, swinging her right leg beneath her as she sat back down…

     “Wrmmmm…!” Tim exclaimed as he felt his mother’s foot feeling his flying through the air.

     “…MMphf!” he cried out again as he came to an abrupt stop.

     “Mmh,” Natalie sighed at she collapsed onto the sofa, setting her bowl down on the couch cushion abutting her upturned foot, unknowingly concealing Tim’s presence from both herself and Julia, who most likely would’ve noticed her tiny nephew had she been staring at her sister’s sole, nor holding Natalie’s wine glass which was partially blocking her view of Natalie’s foot as she shuffled and shifted about.

     “Comfy?” Julia inquired with a chortle, watching her sister shifting in her seat.

     “Yeah, getting there,” Natalie chortled back as she put a throw pillow behind her back.

     “Ah,” Natalie sighed contently, “that’s better.”

     “Good,” Julia replied, handing her sister back her wine glass and gesturing to the TV with her head. “You want me to rewind a bit?”

     “Please,” Natalie acknowledged as she accepted her glass, taking a much needed drink of her wine. “Just the start this scene over, would you? I was so distracted, I hardly paid any attention.”

     “Sure, no prob,” Julia chortled, grabbing the remote from the coffee table.

     While Julia fiddled with the remote, Natalie set her wine glass down on the corner of the coffee table and picked up her bowl, taking one last bite of her casserole before setting it back down next to her again and retrieving her wine glass. Although Julia’s attention was centered on the TV, for a brief moment, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something on the underside of her sister’s bare foot just before Natalie set her bowl back down next to her, obstructing Julia’s view once again. Before Julia could vocalize or investigate any further, her sister interrupted her train of thought:

     “Yeah, this is good,” Natalie spoke up about the movie scene. “I kinda missed it the first time.”

     “Huh…?” Julia uttered, her mind snapping back to the present. “…oh…yeah, me too.”

     “…You okay, Jules?” Natalie inquired, slightly confused by her sister’s response.

     “Oh…yeah,” Julia replied with a shrug, setting the remote back down on the couch cushion in front of her. “Sorry, I….just got….distracted, that’s all.”

     Julia pushed the recent thought out of her mind, and both women shifted their attention back to the movie.

     After a few more seconds of shifting around, his mother’s foot had finally stopped moving…

     Tim could tell his orientation had changed again: this time, it felt like he was lying on his left side. Thankfully, despite Natalie’s recent actions which had re-adhered Tim to her sole again, the impact of her foot with the couch cushion had loosened its grip on the tiny teenager’s body; after several more agonizing minutes of shifting, wriggling, and tugging, he finally managed to free not only has arms and head, but the rest of his body from his mother’s flesh.

     “Uhn…Oof!” Tim uttered as he pushed his body the rest of the way mother’s sole, landing on the couch cushion a moment later. He slowly brushed himself off and staggered to his feet, surveying his surroundings:

     Tim found himself shrouded in the shadow of a large protrusion extending out overhead, stopping just shy of his mothers foot. As he looked up through the semi-narrow opening, he could just barely make out his mother as she sipped wine from her glass, her attention apparently on the TV off to her right.

     “Mom!” Tim called up, cupping his hands over his mouth. “MOM!”

     Unfortunately, Natalie didn’t give any inclination she’d heard him. Tim stumbled along the cushion and moved towards the ball of his mothers foot, trying to get out from under the rounded ceiling above and find a better vantage point. He emerged into the light a few seconds later, waving and jumping up and down, attempting to get his giant woman’s attention again:

     “MOM!” Tim shouted up, “Hey, mom! Down here!”

     Alas, Natalie couldn’t hear her tiny son over the volume of the movie. Still receiving no response, Tim frantically looked around for another option, his eyes soon alighting on his mother’s foot…

     “Mom’s toes!” Tim said aloud, almost tumbling forward into the indentation his mother’s foot was making in the cushion. “Perfect! All I have to do touch mom’s toes; she’ll feel me for sure!”

     Tim scrambled towards his mother’s toes, reaching out to grab her pinky toe once he was close enough…

     Tim hesitated. He apprehensively looked back at the bowl behind him, gritting his teeth and nervously biting his lip as he suddenly remembered who was sitting behind it. Tim immediately scrambled over and crept around the underside of the bowl, staying under the lip until the other side of the couch came into view:

     Sure enough, there was Aunt Julia’s giant figure sitting nonchalantly on the other side of the couch.

     Tim slunk back out of sight, taking several deep breaths to center himself as he contemplated his situation:

     If he got his mother’s attention now, Aunt Julia could easily snatch him up and ferry him away before he could say anything…he’d be right back in his cage…or worse. He’d just spent the last half-hour stuck to the bottom of his mothers foot; he certainly wasn’t ready to be stuck under Aunt Julia’s again. Of course, that was if Aunt Julia didn’t follow through with her threat to squash him.

     “But she was just bluffing,” Tim reassured himself quietly. “Even with everything she’s done to me this week, it was just an empty threat. Aunt Julia wouldn’t actually…”

     Tim’s voice trailed off. He took another quick peek back at his aunt sitting on the couch.

     “…would she?” Tim gulped nervously.

    “No, she’d never get away with it,” Tim reasoned. “Mom’d kill her. Besides, she wouldn’t try anything with mom literally sitting right there…”

     “…She wouldn’t have to,” he sighed dejectedly. “All she’d have to do is claim she was taking me back to my cage and making it so I couldn’t get out this time…then, I’m as good as taped to her sole again.”

     Tim looked back towards his mothers foot. He’d been trying to talk to his mother all evening, and now that he finally had the chance, was he really going to pass up this opportunity?

     “No!” Tim uttered assuredly, standing up straight, and turning to face his mother’s foot. “I’m not letting Aunt Julia torment me anymore. I’ll MAKE mom listen, and I won’t rest until she does!”

     Tim marched over to the edge of the bowl’s shadow and peered out under the rim: his mother’s attention was still focused on the television. He nodded his head assuredly, took a deep breath, and…

     Tim found himself unable to move; he still couldn’t overcome his body’s innate sense of self-preservation. Even though his mind kept saying to screw his aunt’s threats and contact his mother right now while he had the chance, his heart wasn’t ready for his body to be squished.

     Tim clenched his fists in frustration. Why was this so damn complicated?! he fumed. If only that giant bitch weren’t sitting…

     Tim snapped to attention; he suddenly came to an obvious solution:

     All he had to do was just wait until Aunt Julia wasn’t sitting nearby to contact his mother; she wasn’t going anywhere at the moment. He only needed a moment when Aunt Julia went to the kitchen—or to the bathroom, even better. He knew there was a risk in waiting, but at the moment, he felt his best option was to stay out of sight and wait for an opening.

     As Tim started backing further underneath the bowl, a familiar aroma suddenly wafted into his nose: it was the first thing besides feet he’d smelled for the last half hour…

     It was the smell of food—Mrs. Peterson’s casserole, to be precise. Tim remembered the aroma from the small amount Aunt Julia had brought to his cage earlier, and it was making his tiny stomach rumble. For the first time that entire day, Tim actually found his appetite, and it was voracious.

     The only issue was how he could get a bite to eat without Aunt Julia nor his mother noticing. Once again, Tim found himself in the middle of a decision that could’ve easily been rendered moot if he’d just stop being so stubborn and contact his mother like he knew he should have in the first place. Alas, against his better judgment, and although his mind told him he would ultimately regret it, Tim decided to stick to his plan: wait to contact his mother until Aunt Julia left the room.

     Tim took a quick look up to make sure the coast was clear, then jumped and grabbed the rim of the bowl, eventually pulling himself up and rolling onto the lip. His head shot back and forth, shifting his gaze between each of his giant relatives to see if either had noticed him; both their attentions, however, hadn’t wavered from the TV screen. The tiny teenager crawled across the lip of the bowl, then carefully slid downwards into the basin, scurrying closer to the pile of food on the opposite side of his mother’s plate while doing his best to stay low and out of Aunt Julia’s sight line. 

     The huge mound of casserole was only lukewarm by the time Tim reached it, but it still smelled quite delicious, and he was regretting not eating any of that small portion his aunt had left in his cage earlier. Tim took a huge, satisfying whiff of the casserole; then, he dug in his hands pulled out a handful of meat, and began heartily chomping away. The salty meat tasted so good coated in the creamy sauce that dripped down his hands, and Tim closed his eyes, chewing slowly to savor each delectable bite.

     His appetite was so voracious that even after downing the whole nugget of meat, Tim wanted more. He dug into the pile of food in front of him, pushing aside huge strands of noodles and taking tiny bites from smaller scraps of beef as he searched for his next ingot…

     He soon found his treasure, but it was wedged in pretty good. Tim pushed his body in a little further, standing on his tiptoes and shoving his hands around the chunk of meat to begin working it free...

     “Hey sis,” Julia spoke up, rocking forward from her reclined position against the couch’s armrest.

     “Hm?” Natalie uttered, turning her head to her sister.

     “Pause it for a second, will ya?” motioning to the remote on the middle cushion as she reached over to the coffee table to grab her empty wine glass. “I wanna freshen up my wine and use the restroom real quick.”

     “Huh?” Natalie uttered as she looked down at the cushion on the other side of her bowl where Julia was motioning. “Oh…sure.”

     Natalie quickly reached down and grabbed the remote…as she pulled it back up, however, her hand accidentally knocked against the lip of her bowl.

     “Whoops…!” Natalie cried out as her bowl lifted up slightly, then dropped back down onto the couch cushion, her fork clinking along the inside.

     The sudden jostling disrupted the stability of the food in the bowl, toppling over the casserole mound in which Tim was currently submerged. With a surprised squeak, the tiny teenager disappeared beneath an avalanche of noodles, meat, and sauce.

     “Whew,” Natalie sighed with relief, “that was close. Almost made a mess.”

     “You want me to take that outta your way?” Julia inquired, motioning to Natalie’s bowl.

     “Yeah, I think I’m done…” Natalie answered, picking up her bowl and gripping the fork with her thumb to stabilize it…

     “…Eh, maybe just one more bite.” she reconsidered, pulling the bowl closer and picking up her fork…

     Tim struggled to unbury himself from the mountain of casserole currently on top of him, but he could barely move. With all the weight pushing down on him, his arms were pinned out in front of him, and he couldn’t move his legs more than just a few millimeters. 

     “Hlmpfmn…” he cried out, trying to expel the food that kept intruding on his mouth. “Help…AMpf!”

      The whole mountain of food suddenly shifted again, burying Tim’s face in a massive noodle that quickly wrapped itself around his head and upper torso. He tried shouting for help again, but with the soft, mushy noodle invading every facial orifice, he could barely breathe, let alone muster the air necessary to scream.

     Suddenly, the weight on top of him intensified, and everything around him started to shift about. The next thing Tim knew, he was being flipped end over end, turning upside down over and over again…

     “Oh, Jules,” Natalie added as she folded the mound of casserole over on itself with her fork a few times to mix it up, “while you’re up, would you mind looking in on Tim? I’m sure his movie’s over by now.”

     “Sure, sis,” Julia replied with a wide grin, “No problem.”

     “Thanks”, Natalie grinned back with a nod of acknowledgement as she scraped her fork along the bottom of her bowl and scooped up one last sizable bite…

     Tim could feel himself suffocating. He struggled desperately to remove the noodle from his face, but he was completely disoriented from all the flipping and shifting upside down. He couldn’t tell exactly what was happening outside, but he distinctly recognized the sensation of being hoisted into the air.

     “Hlmnmf…” Tim shouted with futility through the wet noodle, struggling to free an arm, or a leg, or anything else that could use to pry it from his face. “mrm…hlmmn…”

     Natalie raised the scoop of casserole up to her mouth and slowly parted her lips. Her tongue welcomed the incoming fork, gently cradling the utensil as her lips daintily closed around it. When she slowly pulled it out a second later, her bite was completely gone.

     “Mpf, I’m done,” Natalie said as she chewed her last bite, passing her bowl to her sister.

     “OK,” Julia replied as she grabbed her own fork and stacked her sister’s bowl on top of her’s.

     “I’ll just dump the rest of this into the garbage disposal,” she said as she picked up her nearly empty wine glass from the coffee table and started off towards the kitchen.

     “Oh, actually, Jules, could you just to scrape it off into the trash?” Natalie spoke up as she continued chewing her last bite.

     “Why?!” Julia asked in confusion, stopping in her tracks as she turned to look back at her sister. “That’s what garbage disposals are for.”

     “I know…” Natalie explained as she swallowed, taking a second to tap her chest as something in her last bite irritated her throat on its way down. “Mpf…but I don’t like putting greasy stuff down the drain.”

     “But I just took the garbage out yesterday,” Julia argued. “That means it’ll be sitting in the trash can all week. What if it starts to smell?”

     “It’ll be fine,” Natalie rebutted. “It’s not that much.”

     “Alright, whatever,” Julia sighed, rolling her eyes as she continued on into the kitchen.

     “Honestly, I don’t see what the big deal is,” Julia grumbled to herself as she walked through into the kitchen, setting her wine glass down on the counter as she passed by on her way to the nook where the trash can sat. “If it’s not that much, I don’t see why I can’t just put it down the garbage disposal?

     “But…whatever.” Julia sighed again as she gathered up the forks and stepped up to the trash can, pressing her bare foot to the pedal to flip open the lid…

     Tim had been shouting muffled cries for help for the past minute or so, the wet noodle still wrapped around his head. He still couldn’t tell what was happening outside his casserole prison, but he’d been able to feel the deep reverberations from someone’s giant footsteps carrying him to his unknown destination.

     “Hlmpf…Hlmpf…!”

     The tiny teenager kept shouting for help, struggling to move his body, but his air was running thin, and he was on the verge of passing out…

     Then, gravity unexpectedly shifted; everything suddenly tilted to one side. The entire mound of food moved abruptly, and Tim realized he was falling. He screamed in terror as he descended, still blindfolded by the wet noodle wrapped around his upper body.

     “Mmpf!” Tim cried out as he landed a second later in what felt like plastic net.

     Before he could recover, there was a loud, clanging sound that resonated above him…

     Julia scraped the leftover remnants of casserole from Natalie’s bowl into the trash can and removed her foot from the pedal, letting the lid slam shut; then, she walked back to the sink to quickly rinse off the dishes, leaving them in the basin as she went to the fridge to grab the now over half-empty bottle of wine before retrieving her glass and heading back into the living room.

     “Alright,” Julia said to Natalie as she quickly stepped over to the coffee table and set down the bottle of wine and her glass. “Would you mind topping me off while I pee, sis?”

     “Sure,” Natalie chortled as she moved to grab the bottle of wine. “Just don’t forget to check in on Tim on your way back.”

     “I won’t forget, sis,” Julia dismissed with an offhanded wave of her hand as she strolled through the living room. “Would you relax? I’m sure he’s fine….

     “.…right where I left him,” Julia added under her breath after she stepped into the hallway.

     Tim frantically clawed at the noodle covering his face, digging his fingers into the soft, wet surface to clear his mouth…the moment he’d finally made a hole, Tim gasped a huge breath of air, coughing to clear the stray noodle pieces from his throat.

     As he struggled to catch his breath, he continued wiping and rubbing the noodle remnants away from his eyes…

     Tim kept blinking and wiping, but strangely, even when the starchy substance had been completely cleared from his eyes, he could only see blackness.

     Tim was confused: he should’ve been able to see at that point, but wherever he was was completely dark.

     His other senses seemed to be working just fine, however: it was all quiet, except for the sounds of him moving and shifting about, and his entire body felt greasy and slimy from the casserole sauce. But what really tipped Tim off as to where he was was the odor: he was most definitely in the trash. Thankfully, the stench wasn’t that bad, as Aunt Julia had just taken out the trash the day prior, but that also meant that the trash bag was mostly empty; for Tim to get out, he’d once again either have to wait for someone to open the trash can again—and hope they saw him (hopefully, not Aunt Julia)—or start another long climb.

     “HELLO?!” Tim shouted up in futility on the remote chance someone was in the kitchen and could even hear him. “MOM?! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?! I’M IN THE TRASHCAN! LOOK IN THE TRASHCAN!”

     “Ugh, great,” Tim uttered in frustration and disgust as he moved onto his hands and knees and began blindly crawling towards the side of the trash bag. “This has been worst week of my life! I swear, if I ever get big again, I’m never going snooping in mom’s hiding place in the back of the fridge ever again.”

     Like a video game character who’d just lost a life and was forced to start a level all over again, Tim once again found himself in the bottom of a huge, dark container, forced to scale the walls to climb out, only this time, he’d have to do it in utter darkness and on a rather unstable surface, relying solely on his other senses to find the incline and start climbing.

     “Perfect,” Tim sighed sarcastically as he dug his hands into the sides of the trash bag and slowly started climbing upwards. “First the laundry hamper, now the trash can…Why couldn’t Aunt Julia have tossed me into one of these stupid things when it was full?!”

     As soon as she was done peeing, Julia flushed the toilet, hurriedly ran to the sink to wash and dry her hands, then eagerly stepped over and opened the door to the master bedroom. She positioned herself over the laundry hamper, grinning arrogantly at the closed lid….and the thought of her little nephew still trapped inside.

     “Enjoying your evening, Tiny Tim?” She taunted playfully, chuckling as she opened the lid and peered inside.

     Julia’s smile quickly dissolved: the hamper had been stuffed with more clothes than when she’d left it earlier.

    “Oh, shit!” Julie exclaimed quietly as she grabbed the her sister’s bathrobe and quickly pulled it out of the hamper, anxiously scanning the interior of the hamper. “Tim?!”

    She frantically stared inspecting and shaking out the bathrobe in her arms in case he’d been tangled up in it, and checked the floor around her feet for her nephew’s tiny form.

     “Tim, where are you?!” Julia called again softly, tossing aside the bathrobe and digging through the rest of the clothes in the hamper, searching for any sign of the tiny teenager; unfortunately, it was hard to tell where he was with all the extra clothes that had been stuffed inside, and Julia only grew more concerned and frustrated as she dug towards the bottom.

     “There’s no way…” she affirmed aloud to herself, “There’s no way he could’ve gotten out. Unless…”

     Julia dropped to her hands and began inspecting the sides of the hamper near the floor, maneuvering it away from the wall as she looked for any holes large enough for her tiny nephew to fit through.

     “No holes…” she confirmed aloud, inspecting the wicker mesh to see if it was possible Tim could’ve forced it apart, “…well, at least none he could’ve fit through.”

     “Damn it, Tim, where are you?!” Julia called again in frustration, lightly pounding her fists into the floor as she quickly rose to her feet and started scouring the hamper again.

     Alas, there was no sign of her tiny nephew, nor any evidence he’d escaped.

     “Alright, don’t panic,” Julia reasoned aloud, trying to logically work through the situation. “Now, there’s no way Tim could’ve gotten out of this thing on his own…but if he did somehow get out….it had to have been when Natalie put all these extra clothes in here, and she would’ve said something if she’d found him…

     “…Naw, he’s gotta still be in here,” she continued, scanning the hamper with her eyes, “but if he was, I surely would’ve found him by now!”

     Julia’s gaze fell back upon the pink bathrobe she’d tossed aside a few moments ago. She quickly stepped back over and reinspected it, picking it up off the floor and looking at the carpet that was beneath it.

     Julia bit her lip anxiously, forcing herself to think quickly as to Tim’s possible and most logical whereabouts. She dropped to the floor again, peeking under the bed on the off-chance he was taking shelter there…

     “Nothing,” Julia sighed with disappointment, sitting up on her knees. “Well, if he did somehow manage to get out of the hamper….

     “ ….he’ll head straight for his mom,” she induced, scrambling to her feet. “I’d better get back before he gets to her.”

     Julia hurriedly gathered up the clothes she’d tossed on the floor and quickly stuffed them back into the hamper, quietly closing the lid when she was finished.

     “Hmph,” she uttered, tapping devilishly on the hamper lid as she spoke, “well, if you ARE still in there, Tiny Tim, let’s hope you don’t suffocate under all those extra clothes…”

     “…And if you’re NOT in there…” she continued with a fiendish chortle, “…well, you’d better hope I don’t step on ya!”

     Julia stepped around the hamper, giving it a swift, playful kick with the side of her foot before heading out of the bedroom. Then, she made a quick stop in Tim’s bedroom, reaching into his cage to start another movie on his phone, just to help cover her tracks in case Natalie happened to walk by; finally, she re-covered the cage, closed the bedroom door, and headed back down the hall towards the living room, casually scanning the floor, keeping her eyes peeled for her tiny nephew.

     Julia considered calling out like she was pretending to say goodbye to Tim as she left his bedroom, but on the off-chance he’d somehow already made it to and contacted his mother, she didn’t want to expose herself nor her subterfuge, opting to retain the ability to feign ignorance and maintain her innocence.

     “Hey,” Natalie called out from her comfortable position on the couch, her wine glass in her hand as Julia stepped back into the living room.

     “Hey,” Julia mimicked with a sigh, trying to casually scan the living room floor while not letting on that anything was wrong.

     “I….topped off your wine for ya,” Natalie continued, her words carrying a suspicious tone as she noticed her sister’s awkward behavior and her attention to the floor.

     “Oh…Thanks,” Julia replied, rounding the coffee table at a wide enough angle to see beneath it.

     “Uh…is everything okay?” Natalie inquired.

     “Huh…yeah, everything’s fine,” Julia replied quickly.

     “Good…Did you check in on Tim like I asked?”

     “…Yeah, he’s good,” Julia lied, although trying to remain coy as she motioned to the back of the house with her thumb. “Right where I left him. In fact, I…just put on another movie for him.”

     “Okay…so….why were you looking at the floor just now?” Natalie inquired quizzically.

     “Oh…sorry, force of habit,” Julia replied with a nervous laugh, heading to sit down on the couch. “I’ve….kinda had to make some behavioral adjustments this past week…can’t be too careful, you know, what with a….tiny teenager running around the house.”

     “Okay…but that’s why we put Tim in that cage, remember?” Natalie added inquisitively. “So we wouldn’t have to worry.”

     “Yeah…I know,” Julia nodded as she took her seat. “Like I said, just…force of habit.”

     “You sure everything’s alright, Jules?” Natalie inquired, growing concerned. “Because if there’s something going on with Tim, I need to know.”

     “Tim’s fine, Nat,” Julia reassured her sister, trying to keep up her charade. “Don’t worry. I’m sorry, I’m just a….little distracted, that’s all.”

     “Oh? With what?”

     “Well, actually, I was just wondering…did you….happen to put some more clothes in the laundry hamper earlier?” Julia inquired, motioning to the back of the house again.

     “Um…yeah,” Natalie confirmed, “As a matter of fact, I tossed in a couple more things of mine a little while ago, along with my bathrobe. Why?”

     “Oh, I was just wondering if you….maybe, happened to….see anything in there?”

     “‘See anything’?” Natalie asked with confusion, raising an eyebrow as she pondered the question. “Like what?”

     “Oh, just….something I might have tossed in there,” Julia shrugged offhandedly.

     “Not…that I can recall,” Natalie replied, “but I didn’t really look that hard. What was it: a shirt? Bra?”

     “Oh, just…something I could’ve sworn I put in there,” Julia chortled nervously, “only I…can’t seem to find it now.”

     “Well, you want me to help you go look for it?” Natalie offered, leaning forward and setting her wine glass down on the table.

     “Oh, that’s OK,” Julia stopped her, chortling nervously. “I’m….sure it’s around around here somewhere. You know what? I….need to do another couple more loads of laundry anyway, you know, before I head home after all this is over. So, I’m…sure it’ll turn up eventually.”

     “Okay,” Natalie nodded, relaxing back in her seat. “As….long as you’re sure.”

     “Course, I’m sure,” Julia replied. “I’m good. Everything’s good.”

     “So…back to the movie then?” Natalie gestured.

     “Yup,” Julia replied, with a nervous smile. “Sounds good.”

     Natalie apprehensively picked up the remote and pressed play on the movie, all the while mulling over her sister’s suspicious behavior.

     “Hmph, I think Jules needs to lay off the wine,” Natalie thought to herself. It’s really going to her head tonight.”

     Tim’s progress was slow-going: after nearly an hour and a half of climbing, he was barely halfway up the inside of the trash bag. The plastic lining made it hard to get a decent grip, and having to do everything in complete darkness on top of it all certainly didn’t help matters; luckily, the trash bag was the type that had been augmented with reinforcing bands in it’s lining, which allowed Tim some semblance of climbing assists for hand- and footholds.

     “Uhn, I can’t believe this!” Tim complained, venting his frustrations as he strained to pull himself upwards. “Stupid mom! If she’d just brought the stupid antidote home with her like she promised, I wouldn’t be stuck….climbing out up this stupid trash bag. Heck, if she hadn’t brought that stupid, shrinking potion home instead of just taking it to her lab like she should have in the first place, I wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with!”

     Never in his wildest dreams could Tim have ever imagined he’d be shrunk to an inch tall and thrown in the garbage…or stepped on repeatedly by his giant aunt and mother…OR by the next door neighbors, for that matter…

     “…or McKenzie,” he continued aloud, lamenting with a melancholy sigh. “I always wished I could be closer to McKenzie, but this was NOT what I had in mind. Two chances! I had TWO chances to get her attention, and both times she kicked me away like I was…

     “…like I was nothing but a bug…” Tim sighed again dejectedly.

     Was this his life now? He hated to admit it, but what if, among all the other vicious threats she’d made, Aunt Julia was right about something: what if, despite all mom’s work and apparent successes with the test rabbits…what if the antidote didn’t work on him? What if he’d been shrunk for too long? What if it were too late to un-shrink him? What if he was doomed to be stuck at an inch tall for the rest of his miserable, little life…trapped in a hamster cage and treated like some sort of pet…continuously tormented by his giant aunt…having to constantly dodge people’s feet and avoid being stepped on by his giant family, or the neighbors, or his friends…if he’d even have any left when all was said and done?!

     “Come on, Tim,” the tiny teenager reassured himself, shaking off his negative thoughts. “You can’t think like that! Mom’ll get you back to normal…somehow. Besides, she’s already got an antidote, and you know it works…at least on rabbits, anyway…

     “…But what if it’s only temporary…” Tim pondered aloud, feeling a sense of dread.

     “…Well, so what? Even if it IS only temporary, I’ll just keep taking it for as long as you have to…and if it doesn’t work…well, mom won’t leave me like this forever. She won’t stop until she finds a cure….however long that takes…”

     “…And no matter what she says,” Tim reaffirmed as he resumed climbing, “Aunt Julia’s not gonna keep it from me!”

     “Oh, my God!” Julia laughed as she picked up the remote and pressed the button to return to the streaming menu. “I forgot how funny this movie was!”

     “Yeah, I know,” Natalie confirmed with a chuckle herself, followed by a satisfied sigh. “I really needed a good laugh tonight.”

     “See?” Julia boasted as she leaned over and gently smacked her sister’s arm. “I told ya: you needed a night off.”

     “Yes, you were right, Jules,” Natalie relented in a sarcastic tone as she rubbed her arm. “As always.”

     “Well, thank you…” Julia grinned pridefully, “…and you know I’ve always got your back, sis.”

     “Yeah, well…” Natalie replied, “at least I know I can count on family when I really need them.”

     “Whelp, like I’ve said so many times before, Nat,” Julia added, clicking her tongue as she reached for the bottle of wine on the coffee table to top off her glass, “what’re sisters for?”

     Natalie was about to speak up again, but paused as she watched Julia pouring the last of the wine from the bottle.

     “Uh…haven’t you had enough, Jules?” Natalie sneered, sighing with discontent.

     “What?!” Julia shrugged innocently. “I thought we were relaxing tonight.”

     “Yeah, but I think all that wine’s going to your head,” Natalie bantered. “You’ve been acting funny for the past couple hours.”

     “Oh, I have not!” Julia scoffed, gently shaking the bottle up and down, making sure to get every last drop of wine, “And I’m entitled to drink if I want to. It’s not like I’m going anywhere tomorrow.”

     “Need I remind you that you still have to look after my son in the morning?” Natalie rebutted. “I’d prefer you not be hungover while you’re doing it.”

     “Lighten up, Nat,” Julia scoffed. “Geez, it’s just wine: not tequila!”

     “Ugh, I still can’t believe you finished off the whole bottle!” Natalie criticized.

     “…WE finished it, Nat,” Julia corrected her as she picked up her glass and motioned ‘cheers’ to her sister before taking another sip. “WE finished it.”

     “WE?!” Natalie objected defensively. “I only had 2 glasses…

     “…well, maybe three,” Natalie admitted reluctantly, “but MY glass wasn’t exactly empty each time I topped it off.”

     “Eh, you still helped,” Julia shrugged, leaning back against the armrest behind her.

     “Yeah, well…anyway,” Natalie continued as she stood up from the couch and stretched again. “Mm, I’d better be gettin’ to bed. It’s already after 9:30.”

     “Aw, come on, sis,” Julia whined. “Don’t be a spoil sport. The night’s still young. How ‘bout just one more movie, huh?”

     “Oh, Jules, I don’t know,” Natalie rebutted, “it’s already getting late, and I gotta get up and go into work tomorrow, remember?”

     “I know, but come on, sis, it’s Friday night.” Julia argued compellingly. “Just stay up with me for a little while longer, hm?”

     “Need I also remind you,” Natalie reiterated frankly, gesturing towards the back of the house, “that the whole reason I’m going into my lab in the morning is so I can confirm the antidote I’ve been working on is safe and get my shrunken son back to normal?”

     “I know that,” Julia replied, “but Tim’s not going anywhere; he can wait. He’s already waited this long. What’s a couple more hours if it means you get to sleep in a little bit on a Saturday morning? Besides, after a long week, a few more hours of extra sleep would do you good.”

     “Well…I guess I could stay up for a little while longer,” Natalie pondered aloud. “I could sleep in tomorrow morning and still get to my lab at a decent hour…

     “Oh, what the hell…” Natalie shrugged, retaking her seat on the couch.

     “That’s the spirit!” Julia commended happily, tapping her sister’s arm with support.

     “Well, I’m probably still gonna wake up at the same time regardless,” Natalie admitted. “But, maybe I could just delay getting up for a couple hours…and, if nothing else, I can just take a nap tomorrow afternoon after Tim’s back to normal.”

     “Yeah…maybe…” Julia chimed in coyly.

     “In any case,” Natalie continued, “it’ll be nice to get finally get some extra rest, especially after the week I’ve had.”

     “Great…so, one more movie?”

     “Oh, sure. I guess…”

     “Awesome!” Julia chittered, standing up from the couch and picking up the empty wine bottle. “Go ahead and pick out another movie while I get this bottle out of the way.”

     “OK,” Natalie nodded, “Just make sure you rinse it out.”

     “Don’t worry, I will,” Julia said as she rounded the couch and headed off into the kitchen...

     A few seconds after she stepped into the kitchen, Julia carefully poked her head back into the living room, making sure Natalie was still sitting on the couch with her attention on the TV. Julia had spent the remainder of the previous movie discreetly scanning the living room floor, keeping an eye out in case Tim tried to sneak into the living room undetected. She still wasn’t entirely sure how or even if he’d managed to escape the laundry hamper, but she wasn’t taking any chances: if Tim managed to make it to and contact his mother, Julia would have a lot of explaining to do.

     “That little twerp better not be up to anything,” Julia sighed to herself, looking across the living room carpet towards the hallway. “I’m gonna be in big trouble if he makes it to his mom and squeals on me!

     “I gotta start searching for him again,” she sighed, shaking her head, “but how am I gonna do it without Natalie noticing?”

     Julia racked her brain for an idea on how to resume her search for her little nephew without her sister noticing, but she couldn’t think of a way to do it discreetly.

     “Maybe I can say I need to use the bathroom? That’d give me a few minutes to search the hamper again…and the bedroom…”

     Julia sighed in frustration:

     “…But if he’s already made it to the living room, that’d give him the perfect opportunity to get to his mom while I’m distracted.

     “I just gotta keep calm and get my head on straight,” she sighed again. “I’ll just have to keep my eyes open…that little bug’s bound to turn up sooner or later.”

     Julia hurried over to the sink, hastily rinsed out the empty wine bottle, then headed over to the trash can to throw it away…

     Tim suddenly heard footsteps booming outside the trash can. He knew there was a definite possibility it could be Aunt Julia, but given his circumstances, he didn’t hesitate to call for help:

     “HELLO?!…MOM?! I’M IN HERE! MOM, I’M IN THE TRASH! HELP ME!”

     The blooming thuds came closer…and closer…

     The lid above him suddenly thrust open; Tim immediately cringed and turned his head downwards, trying to shield his eyes from the blinding light currently flooding the trash can’s interior…

     Suddenly, a roaring CLANK rang out directly behind him, startling Tim so much that he completely lost his footing. He frantically grasped the plastic liner, digging in his fingers to keep from falling, but the bag was unexpectedly jerked downwards, and Tim lost his grip. He yelped in terror as he was thrown from the side of the trash bag, hurtling downwards into the grimy depths…

     *FOOMP*

     Tim felt himself pass through some kind of narrow opening, impacting a smooth, slanted surface a second later. He slid downwards in total darkness, landing abruptly, with his whole body collapsing onto a cold, wet floor of his dark prison.

     Julia nonchalantly tossed the wine empty bottle into the trashcan and removed her foot from the pedal, allowing the lid to slam shut as she turned and headed back towards the living room. Before she could make it out of the kitchen, however, she saw Natalie rounding the couch and heading her direction:

     “Oh, Jules,” Natalie inquired adamantly, “you didn’t throw that bottle in the trash, did you?!”

     “Uh…y-yeah…” Julia admitted hesitantly. “Why?”

     “Ugh, I wanted to recycle it!” Natalie sighed frustratedly, stomping past her sister and heading towards the trash can.

     “But…I thought you couldn’t put glass in the recycling bin,” Julia spoke up, following her sister back through the kitchen.

     “You can’t; but there’s a separate place I take glass bottles. I just wanted you to rinse it out and leave it on the counter.”

     “Well, I’m sorry,” Julia apologized snidely, with an apathetic shrug. “You should’ve said something.”

     “I DID!” Natalie rebutted scornfully, stepping on the trash can’s pedal…

     “You just told me to rinse it out,” Julia rebutted defensively. “You didn’t say anything about—“

     “Oh, great!” Natalie exclaimed sarcastically, cutting off her sister.

     “What?!” Julia asked concernedly. “What’s wrong?!”

     “Oh, the bag fell in!” Natalie replied in frustration, reaching down to lift the edges of the can liner to find the empty wine bottle...

     Tim was still reeling from his recent fall when he heard his mother and aunt chatting outside, their booming footsteps thudding ever closer. Suddenly, he heard the trash can lid opening overhead, and his mother’s voice calling down…

     “Mom?!” he squeaked up. “Mom, help!…

     “…Wha—Oomph!”

     Tim was knocked to the floor as his prison unexpectedly shifted onto its side. He struggled to push himself up, but his prison was suddenly lifted skyward, the inertia keeping him plastered to the floor.

     “Ugh, great!” Natalie cringed in disgust as she grabbed the bottle and lifted it out of the trash can. “It’s covered in leftover casserole.”

     “Well, I told you: you should’ve just let me throw that stuff down the garbage disposal,” Julia announced arrogantly.

     “Oh…here,” Natalie said in frustration as she held the bottle level out in front of her, motioning back to the trash can. “Fix the trash bag while I rinse this off.”

     Julia sighed and shook her head as she walked around her sister to the trash can, while Natalie continued over to the sink to rinse off the soiled bottle…

     In the dark trashcan, it was difficult for Tim to tell exactly what was going on around him, but once he was lifted up into the light, he realized he had fallen into some kind of bottle. The dark, tinted glass kept the ambient light at a low level, making it somewhat difficult to see out, especially with the label blocking most of his view, but Tim was still able to make out his mother holding the bottle out in front of her.

     “Mom…oomf! Uhn, mom, help…ACK!”

     Tim kept trying to shout and get his mother’s attention, but her giant footfalls kept jostling the bottle, making it shift from side to side in her grasp. The jostling constantly knocked the tiny teenager to the floor, making it impossible for him to regain his footing.

     Suddenly, the floor dropped; for a brief moment, Tim felt butterflies in his abdomen. The bottle abruptly came to a stop, throwing Tim to the floor once again. He quickly recovered and got to his feet, thrusting his face against the glass to see out:

     His mother was standing over him, staring down at the bottle in her hands…and directly at him.

     “MOM!” Tim shouted, pounding his fists against the glass. “MO-OM!”

     Unfortunately, his giant mother didn’t reply, no gave any indication she’d seen him.

     “I don’t understand,” Tim lamented in frustration. “Why can’t she see me?”

    Alas, the bottle’s tinted glass was too dark for anyone outside to see inside the bottle in the ambient, kitchen light unless they were thoroughly inspecting it; Natalie couldn’t see her tiny son inside the wine bottle as she lowered it into the sink basin to clean it off.

     “Ugh…yuck!” Natalie uttered in disgust as she rolled the bottle back in forth in her grasp to inspect the greasy casserole covering the outside. “What a mess!”

     Natalie carefully turned on the faucet with the back of her wrist, so as not to soil the faucet handle, then moved the bottle under the running water to rinse it off.

     “NO, MOM…!” Tim gasped in horror as a torrential downpour of water burst forth from the kitchen faucet. “WAIT!…Ack!”

     Tim was knocked off his feet as the bottle lurched sideways beneath the stream of water. The deluge smacked the outside of the bottle, streaming around the curved glass. The sound was deafening, literally drowning out Tim’s squeaks and forcing him to cover his ears. Everything kept rocking back and forth as his giant mother rotated the bottle in her grasp, continuously knocking Tim off his feet, sending him tumbling and summersaulting across the cold, wet, glass floor.

     “Mom—!” Tim cried out, trying to stand up and regain his footing; alas, the bottle’s constant shifting made it impossible for him to stop from tumbling about, let alone get to his feet.

     “Mom, STOP—Ack!…HEEEELLLLLP!”

     “Did you at least remember to rinse this out?” Natalie inquired frustratedly as she grabbed a nearby washcloth to wipe off the outside of the wine bottle.

     “Yes,” Julia replied irritably, “of course I did.”

     “Well, I’d better do it again,” Natalie huffed, “just in case some of that crap from the garbage got in there…”

     “WHA—OOMPH!” Tim exclaimed as the bottle suddenly tilted upright, throwing him to the bottom.

     Before the tiny teenager knew what was happening, a huge downpour of water surged through the bottles mouth.

     “Uhn…Mom—!” he called out weakly.

     It was too late. A surge of water cascaded down the glass walls and splashed down onto the bottle floor, quickly sweeping Tim off his feet. He struggled to keep his head above the rising torrent of water flooding into the bottle, calling gurgled cries for help:

     “Hulp—blblb…HELPLpf…*gurgle*…I’M DROWN—INGGGGG—blblb…”

     Then, the tiny teenager was suddenly thrust against the wall. The water inside the bottle began swirling into a nightmarish vortex, dislodging him just as quickly. Tim spun and tumbled through the maelstrom, continuously colliding with the glass walls. He choked on the bubbly water invading his lungs, his limbs flailing helplessly as he struggled for air.

     Then, everything suddenly shifted upside down…

     Natalie swirled the bottle around as it quickly filled to the brim with water, then tilted it upside down to begin draining it. She watched intensely as the water blurped out of the  bottle’s mouth and down the drain, feeling it get lighter in her grip.

     “Alright, I got the garbage bag fixed,” Julia called out as she lifted her foot of the pedal and walked towards the sink, holding her now greasy, slimy hands out in front of her.

    “Ok, good,” Natalie replied, diverting her attention towards her sister, nonchalantly tapping the bottle and shaking it up and down in her grasp to empty out the last of the water…

     Tim was quickly sucked down into the dark depths of the inverted bottle, struggling in futility to swim upwards…

     He suddenly burst forth into a blindingly bright light, gasping for air as he immediately descended into darkness once again, splashing down into a deep, dark pool a moment later…

     “Here, let me wash my hands before you turn off the faucet,” Julia said as she approached the sink, holding out her grimy hands.

    “Yeah, of course,” Natalie replied as she withdrew the bottle from the sink and stepped over to a towel rack at the edge of the counter.

     Once Natalie had moved out of the way, Julia stepped up to the counter and pumped a couple healthy dollops of hand soap into her palms from the dispenser in the rear, right corner of the sink; then, she began thoroughly scrubbing and rinsing her hands under the running faucet…

     Tim began frantically flailing his arms the moment he hit the water, desperately swimming upwards to keep from drowning. As he breached the surface a few seconds later, he was immediately met with another massive deluge of soapy water raining down from above.

     “Helblblb—!” Tim shouted, struggling to keep his head above the churning waters. “HELPblblb…!”

     In no time at all, the tide overtook him, plunging the tiny teenager beneath the waves and dragging him down into its murky depths…

     “You wanna show me where to put that?” Julia inquired, motioning to the wine bottle as she turned off the faucet and shook the excess water from her hands. 

     “Eh, maybe later,” Natalie replied as she quickly dried off the outside of the bottle with a towel hanging from a rack at the edge of the counter. “I want to leave it on the counter for a bit and let it dry off.”

     Natalie walked around her sister and set the empty bottle down on the drying rack just to the left of the sink, then walked back past Julia again, heading towards the living room.

     “Anyway, come on,” Natalie beckoned. “Let’s get the next movie started so I can get to bed at a decent hour.”

     “Nat, I thought we agreed,” Julia harped as she dried her hands on the same towel and followed Natalie into the living room, “you weren’t gonna worry about that tonight, remember?”

    “I know,” Natalie shot back, turning off the light as the two headed out of the kitchen, “but as I keep having to remind you, I still have a shrunken son to worry about….and I’d like to get him back to normal before anything else happens.”

     “I haven’t forgotten, sis—“ Julia replied in a cavalier tone…immediately hesitating in her stride and shooting her gaze to the floor, just then remembering that Tim was possibly loose in the living room somewhere. “—And nothing else is gonna happen…

     “…As long as he stays in his cage,” Julia added, quickly yet covertly inspecting her soles out of Natalie’s view to make sure she hadn’t accidentally stepped on her tiny nephew.

     Julia nonchalantly checked the carpet as she and Natalie walked around opposite ends of the couch, then took their seats on the couch again as they settled in for their next movie…

     Tim surfaced, gasping for air, and coughing and gagging as he tried to clear his lungs of foul, soapy water. He looked skywards at the portal above him: the world beyond was darkened, illuminated only by a faint glow of light streaming in from the left side of the room above. It was a strange view, but Tim recognized the drain flaps from the garbage-disposal in the kitchen sink, along with the darkened, kitchen ceiling far beyond.

     “Mom?!” he called up, treading water as best he could. “Mom, can you hear me?!”

     Tim kicked his legs harder, struggling to keep his head above water while he cupped his hands around his mouth to magnify his tiny voice:

     “MOM!…AUNT JULIA!…CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

     “Great,” Tim sighed as, per usual, no one responded to his cries. “I gotta get out of here before someone turns on the garbage disposal.”

     Luckily, the disposal drain below was apparently blocked, as there was a substantial amount of water left sitting inside the basin which not only prevented the tiny teenager from going down the drain, but left him floating not too far from the top. He quickly swam over to the lowest-hanging drain flap, gauging the distance before thrusting himself out of the water to try and grab it; unfortunately, then flap was still well out of reach. Out of desperation, Tim frantically looked around for anything he could use to climb out of the drain, but it was too dark to see the solid-black walls of the disposal; in any case, he doubted he’d be able to find anything even in the best light — it was either the drain flaps, or hope someone came along to rescue him before they turned on the disposal. 

     Tim looked up and gauged the distance to the drain flap once again, and quickly surmised he wouldn’t be able to reach it normally; what he needed was more momentum:

     Tim held his breath and dipped below the surface, swimming downward a few meters before flipping around and swimming straight up. He breached the surface and jumped out of the water, flailing and reaching his arms to try and grab the drain flap…

     His fingertips just barely brushed the flap above before he fell back into the murky water. Tim was discouraged, but not defeated ready. He just needed a little more height.

     Tim took several deep breaths to build up his strength; then, once he’d readied himself, he inhaled one last deep breath and dove down hard. The pressure intensified quickly, but Tim wasn’t deterred; he just kept paddling downwards...further and further…

     Then, just when the pressure got so strong that Tim thought his lungs were about to burst, his right hand brushed against a fatty mass—the leftover casserole his mother had rinsed off the wine bottle earlier, which was what most likely was blocking the drain. The tiny teenager quickly somersaulted and planted his feet onto the mass, sinking in just barely on the semi-solid surface; then, he bent his knees, clenched his fists, and once he was ready, extended his legs…

     Tim upwards like a rocket, keeping his body as straight as a pencil to keep his momentum. He breached the surface a couple seconds later and sailed into the air, extending his arms to grab at anything to arrest his upcoming fall. His body smacked the top of one of the drain flaps and immediately began sliding back down the wet, rubbery surface. Tim quickly tightened his grip, digging his nails into the drain flap to slow his momentum. The pain was intense, but he managed to arrest his fall just as his lower body slid off the flap.

     Tim’s muscles ached and he was panting heavily, but he pushed though the pain, straining to hold on, unwilling to let himself slide back down into the dark abyss after all his hard work. Maintaining what stability he had, Tim carefully repositioned his arms and slowly began pulling his body up onto the drain flap. Once his legs were no longer dangling off the end of the flap, Tim slowly but surely crawled the rest of the way up the drain flap to the rounded edge of the drain, using the sides to finally stand up.

     Tim pushed his body into the wall, thankful he was out of immediate danger. He gazed up at the top of the drain; he may have been small, but thankfully, it didn’t seem like too big of a jump up to the basin. Tim steadied himself, bent his knees, then sprung into the air, grabbing the top of the drain wall. He pulled himself upwards with all his might, scraping his feet against the wall to assist the sore muscles in his arms. Once he was was high enough, Tim slapped his elbows and upper arms onto the top of the drain, pushing with what little strength he had left…

     With one last oomph, and after several minutes of straining and lifting, the tiny teenager thrust his upper torso up and rolled himself over onto the stainless steel surface of the sink basin.

     Tim lay on his back and closed his eyes, panting heavily as he recovered from his recent ascent. He was amazed by his own strength and fortitude, and thankful he’d accomplished such a harrowing feat. Tim knew another huge task lay ahead, but for the moment, he was safe.

     “Come on, Nat,” Julia whined as the selection box hovered over her latest movie offer. “It’s a really funny movie.”

     “I’m not in the mood for slapstick right now, Jules,” Natalie shot back.

     “We’ve been at this for a good 10 minutes, and so far, you’ve shot down every one of my choices,” Julia complained. “If you want to get to bed at a decent hour, I’d suggest you pick something.”

     “Well, nothing you’ve picked has really tickled my fancy,” Natalie shrugged.

    “‘Tickled your fancy’?!” Julia inquired mockingly, slightly taken aback. “You know what? Here, how about YOU take the remote and pick something YOU want to watch, and I’ll tell you if I agree?”

     “Fine, I will.” Natalie said with a grin, leaning over and taking the remote from her sister.

     Natalie stood up and swung her right leg underneath her before retaking her seat and scrolling through the streaming menu...

     It was only then that Julia got her first clear view of her sister’s right sole since earlier that evening; except for the few sporadic specks of dirt and lint from the kitchen and living room floors, Natalie’s foot was relatively clean.

     Julia’s mind immediately flashed back to when the two woman eating earlier: specifically, when Natalie had set down her bowl next to her. Julia could’ve sworn she saw something on the bottom of Natalie’s foot earlier; only now, there was nothing there.

     Julia’s eyes went wide as she started putting the pieces together. What if—

     “How about this one?” Natalie spoke up, interrupting Julia’s train of thought.

     “Huh?” Julia uttered as she snapped back to reality. “Oh. Uh…yeah, I’m good with that.”

     “Something wrong, Jules?” Natalie inquired, noticing her sister staring at her foot. “I-Is there something on my foot?”.

     “Oh….s-sorry,” Julia stuttered. “I-I thought I saw something, but...”

     “Hm?” Natalie uttered as she inspected her sole…

     “Ah…it’s just some dirt and lint,” Natalie scoffed offhandedly, brushing off her foot. “Nothing to worry about.”

     “Yeah, you’re right,” Julia chortled nervously with a congenial nod. “Nothing to worry about.”

     Tim lay on his back with his eyes closed on the cold, wet, floor of the stainless-steel, sink basin, still recovering from his ascent out of the drain. It wasn’t the most comfortable resting place, but given the choice between the trash, drain, and empty bottle, it was the most preferred option. Once he’d finally managed to catch his breath, Tim casually rolled his head to side and opened his eyelids to begin surveying his surroundings…

     The tiny teenager’s eyes widened: the washcloth that his mother had used to wipe off the outside of the wine bottle earlier was currently hanging over middle partition of the sink….and one of its corners was low enough for Tim to reach; as long as it could hold his tiny weight, climbing out of the sink would be a sinch!

     “Oh, thank you, mom!” he exclaimed as he sprang to his feet with newfound gusto. “Finally, a bit of luck!”

     Tim quickly scampered over to the damp washcloth; gave it a few, strong tugs to gauge its strength and make sure it would hold his weight; then, once he found his footing, slowly made his way up the partition…

     Just as the numerous studio and production logos had finished scrolling, Natalie picked up the remote from the armrest next to her and paused the movie:

     “Hey sis, before we get too far, I need to use the bathroom really quick.”

     “Oh…sure, of course,” Julia replied, watching Natalie stand up from the couch.

     “You know, I think I might just check in on Tim while I’m up,” Natalie said offhandedly as she rounded the coffee table. “I just wanna make sure he’s doing okay…”

     Tim was getting pretty tired of all the climbing he’d been having to do over the course of the evening, but at least this time, just like the wicker mesh of the hamper earlier, the lattice-like weave of the washcloth gave him numerous foot and handholds, making his ascent far easier. It was still a tiring task, but at the very least, he could take as many rests as he needed, all the while taking solace in the fact that when all was said and done, as long as he could at least inform his mother of the torture Aunt Julia had put him through that week, all his suffering would be well worth it. 

     As he neared the top, Tim mustered his strength and scurried up the last few inches of the washcloth, hurling himself onto the partition. He lay there for a moment, practically embracing the stainless-steel surface as he caught his breath and recuperated: then, after a brief respite, Tim climbed to his feet, brushed himself off, and carefully walked along the partition towards the edge of the sink…

     “Uh…Nat,” Julia spoke up, speedily jumping up from the couch and grasping her sister’s arm. “You know…maybe you shouldn’t bother him. I mean, Tim probably fell asleep watching his movie. You wouldn’t wanna wake him, would you?”

     Tim stepped down off the lip of the sink and cautiously approached the edge of the counter, peering over the edge: the tiny teenager gulped fearfully from the sheer expanse of the drop-off before him, and the substantial distance to the linoleum floor below. Despite being an inch tall for almost a week now, he was still amazed and awestruck at the sheer size of everything. Other than the occasional times he’d jumped up on the counter when he was younger to grab something from the upper cabinets, Tim had never really considered how high the countertop was above the floor, as even those times he was able to sit and dangle his legs over the side to reduce the distance when he jumped down.

     Tim held his hand over his heart and meekly backed away from the edge, keeping his eyes peeled on the drop-off as he reached out and grasped haphazardly to find the edge of the sink behind him….almost tripping over it as he sat down for a moment to re-center himself.

     “I’m not gonna wake him, Jules,” Natalie scoffed. “I’m just gonna peek in and make sure he’s alright.”

     “Nat, would ya stop worrying so much?” Julia reaffirmed staunchly. “I’m sure Tim’s fine. That’s why we put him in that cage, remember? Besides, he’s had a really long day, especially with all the excitement with the neighbors this afternoon, and…you know, finding out he was going to have to be small for another day. He could really use his rest.”

     As Tim sat on the edge of the sink, waiting for his heart to stop beating so fast, he heard a small commotion coming from the living room. He quickly climbed to his feet and headed off to his left, hugging the edge of the sink to keep clear of the drop-off as he made his way to the far corner of the counter near the door to the living room…

     “Well…” Natalie hesitated with a heavy sigh, “…Ah, maybe you’re right. The poor, little guy has had a long day, hasn’t he?”

     “Yeah,” Julia nodded, “I really think it’s best to just let him sleep for now.”

     “Okay…” Natalie relented with another sigh, “…but don’t lemme forget to check on him before we head to bed.”

     “Don’t worry, I won’t let you forget,” Julia heartily agreed, “Hopefully, Tim’ll at least have gotten a couple hours sleep.”

     “Yeah, agreed,” Natalie acknowledged as she started to head past he sister towards the hallway…

     “Oh…” Natalie spoke up, stopping mid-step, “…while you’re up, would you mind making us some popcorn? I could really go for a snack.”

     “Uh…yeah; sure,” Julia stammered, “no problem. Actually, I could really go for some popcorn myself.”

     “Okay, do you know where the popcorn is?”

     “Yeah, I saw it in the cabinet the other day,” Julia acknowledged, motioning towards the kitchen.”

     “Great,” Natalie said, tapping her sister’s upper arm before continuing on towards the hallway, “I’ll be in to help you when I’m done.”

     “Take your time, sis…” Julia replied as Natalie stepped up and out of living room and disappeared down the hallway.

     “…Take your time,” Julie repeated in a much more devious and quieter tone, immediately shifting her gaze and intently scaring the carpet. “Alright, now where are you, you little bug?!”

     By the time Tim reached the corner of the sink, he could see his mother off in the distance, heading towards the hallway.

     “MOM!” Tim shouted, scampering across the counter, waving his arms frantically to get his mother’s attention, and completely forgetting that she most definitely wouldn’t be able to hear him . “MOM, WAIT!”

     It was no use. His mother was already heading down the hallway, never turning around nor even glancing in his direction.

     Tim sighed dejectedly, looking blankly off in the distance. He felt so insignificant, so small and helpless. Even after climbing out of the drain and making his way up onto the counter, all his hard work was practically meaningless.

     “What am I supposed to do now?” he lamented.

     At that very moment, Tim spotted Aunt Julia’s huge figure rounding the corner of the couch, her eyes peeled to the floor. The tiny teenager immediately snapped to attention; he was literally standing out in the open! All the giant woman had to do was raise her head and she’d spot him for sure.

     Tim frantically looked around for somewhere to hide, but that end of the counter was practically clear. The nearest feasible hiding spot being all the way back at the wall, and Aunt Julia was already nearing the kitchen; he’d never make it!

     In sheer desperation, Tim peered over the edge of the counter…

     He immediately got an idea.

     With no time left, the tiny teenager jumped…

     “Ugh, where is that kid?!” Julia huffed in frustration as she stood up from the floor after checking underneath the couch. “Damn it! If I don’t find that little brat before Nat heads to bed, I’m gonna have a lot of explaining to do.”

     Julia desperately wanted to execute a more thorough search of the living room while she had the chance, but she also knew she didn’t have long before Natalie was finished in the bathroom. She needed to get into the kitchen and at least throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave.

     “Trust me, bug boy,” Julia affirmed, intently scanning the floor as she made her way towards the kitchen, “I’m gonna find you….and when I do, I swear, you’re gonna spend the rest of the night taped to the bottom my foot!”

     Julia exhaled harshly as she stepped into the kitchen, making her way to the cabinets where all the dry goods were stored.

     “Alright….popcorn….popcorn….” Julia kept repeating over and over again as she scoured the kitchen cabinets. “Now, where did where did I see that…?

     “Aha!” Julia exclaimed triumphantly as she pulled a box of microwave popcorn down from the on of the top shelf.

     She set the box down on the counter and quickly pulled out a single bag, removing it from its plastic wrapper; then, she tossed the wrapper into the trash and stepped over to  the microwave, throwing the bag inside.

     “Alright,” Julia said as she closed the microwave door and started the timer, scurrying back towards the living room, “I got 2 and a half minutes before the popcorn’s done. I gotta find that little brat before Nat does!”

     “Whoa!” Tim exclaimed, struggling to hang on to the towel as Julia’s giant figure passed by again, kicking up another gust of wind. He hadn’t really had a chance to think through his decision before jumping off the counter and grabbing onto the hand towel hanging over rack below him, but given the alternative of facing the wrath—and feet—of Aunt Julia, he was fairly certain he’d made the right call.

     Unfortunately, the slight gust of wind Julia kicked up as she hurried by the second time had destabilized the towel, shifting its hanging position on the towel rack. Tim tried readjusting his grip to begin climbing upwards, but every move he made caused the towel to shift and slide slightly further down the rack.

     The tiny teenager gulped in fear as he looked down to the floor below him: he was still a good height off the ground—way too high for him to even attempt a drop.

     For the moment, Tim was stuck, and the towel was coming ever closer to sliding off the rack completely…

     Julia’s search became more and more frantic: she was doing her best in the short amount of time she had to look in every hiding place in the living room she could think of, but she was no closer to finding her tiny nephew than when she started, and Natalie was bound to be done in the bathroom any second.

     “Damn it, Tim!” Julia cursed quietly, “I know you’re in here, and if you don’t come out right now, I’m gonna—“

     Julia suddenly heard the toilet flush off in the distance.

     “Shit!” she exclaimed silently as she immediately jumped to her feet and scurried back into the kitchen…

     “Whoa…AAH!” Tim cried out as the towel shifted from Aunt Julia’s giant figure dashing past yet again. He was finding it harder and harder to hold on: his hands were tiring quickly, and he wasn’t sure how much longer his strength would hold out…

     Natalie opened the bathroom door and nonchalantly headed back down the hallway towards the living room. Although Tim’s emotional wellbeing was still weighing on her mind, she passed by his bedroom door without hesitation, taking solace in the fact that her sister had been right: with Tim safe and sound in his cage, she had nothing to be concerned about. In any case, tomorrow would be there soon, and with an antidote waiting for her at her lab, her nightmare of a week would soon be over.

     Natalie sighed contently, sporting a slight grin as she stepped into the kitchen, finding Julia at the far end of the counter, taking a bag popcorn out of the microwave.

     “Popcorn ready?” Natalie inquired, asking an obvious question…

     “ACK!” Tim yelped as his mother sauntered past, jostling the towel. “MOM, WATCH IT!”

     “Yep, just got done,” Julia confirmed as she closed the microwave door and walked towards her sister, gently shaking the bag in her grasp.

     “Great,” Natalie said, opening one of the lower cabinets. “Here, let’s put it in a bowl.”

      Natalie pulled a large, plastic bowl and lid from the open cabinet and placed them on the counter, shutting the door with her knee; then, after giving the bag a few more hearty shakes, she dumped its contents into the bowl.

     “Alright,” Natalie continued, handing the empty bag to Julia, “pitch that for me, would ya?”

     Julia gave an affirmative nod and stepped over to the trash can to discard the empty popcorn bag; then, she scurried back after Natalie who was already carrying the bowl of popcorn to the living room.

     “Oh…” Natalie spoke up, stopping so abruptly in her tracks that Julia nearly bumped into her, “I almost forgot: I bought a bottle of popcorn flavoring the other day. Here, sis, take this into the living room while I grab it.”

     “Uh, sure,” Julia replied, accepting the bowl of popcorn and heading out of the kitchen…

     Tim was extremely nervous as the towel slipped further down the rack after Aunt Julia’s latest pass-by. He was struggling to hold on, and his legs were dangling free and unable to find a foothold…

     Then, Tim felt himself descending again; this time, he wasn’t stopping: the towel was falling.

     “Oh, no!” he uttered, looking up helplessly as the towel slowly slid further and further down the rack. “God, no! Please, no…!”

     It was no use: the towel kept sliding down the rack, slowly gaining speed. All Tim could do was hold on and hope he survived the fall to the kitchen floor…

     Natalie reached into the cabinet where the box of popcorn was located and pulled out a bottle of nacho-cheese-flavored popcorn topping, then shut the cabinet door and headed towards the living room after her sister, grabbing the hand towel she’d used to dry off the empty wine bottle earlier from the rack on the end of the counter…

     “WHAAAAAAA—!” Tim shouted as the towel unexpectedly surged upwards, completely flying off the towel rack. He would’ve lost his grip and been thrown off the towel completely, but his left arm had gotten entangled in a loose fiber when it was yanked upwards, leaving him dangling helplessly from the towel as it zoomed through the air, his body flailing in the wind like a rag doll as it was taken for a frightening ride…

    “OOF!” Tim cried out as he impacted his giant mother’s body…

     Natalie stopped dead in her tracks just before crossing the kitchen threshold; she could’ve sworn she’d just heard something. Her gaze shot back to the counter, checking for the source, wondering if something had fallen to off the counter when she grabbed the towel, but she didn’t see anything…at least, nothing out of the ordinary.

     Hmph, must be my imagination, Natalie thought to herself, shrugging as she continued on into the living room, carrying the hand towel and bottle of popcorn flavoring in her hands as she approached the back of the couch.

     “Here,” Natalie said, handing Julia the bottle of flavoring, “open this for me while I lay out the towel…”

     “HELP!” Tim squeaked as he dangled helplessly by his entangled arm off the bottom of the towel. “MOM, HELP…HEEEEELP—!”

     Tim was suddenly yanked through the air as his mother, still unaware of his presence, nonchalantly unfurled the towel and reached over the back of the couch to lay it down across the middle couch cushion.

     “OOF!” The tiny teenager yelped in pain as he impacted the cushion. He was then dragged helplessly along the upholstery for a few feet, finally coming to a complete stop about a quarter of the way up the cushion, the towel concealing his tiny body beneath it.

     “There,” Natalie commended herself as she laid the towel across the center cushion and smoothed out the wrinkles, “now we can put the bowl between us and not have to worry about getting popcorn all over the couch.”

     “Uhn…yeah, sounds good…” Julia acknowledged, her attention pre-occupied as she struggled to unscrew the lid from the bottle of flavoring.

     “…Uhn, nuts!” Julia exclaimed in frustration.

     “What’s wrong?” Natalie inquired, chortling. “Can’t get the lid off?”

     “Yeah, it’s really on there tight,” Julia confirmed, wiping the sweat from her hands on her pants.

     “Here,” Natalie offered, holding out her hand, “let me try.”

     Julia handed the bottle off to Natalie, then grabbed the bowl of popcorn from the coffee table and set it down in middle of the hand towel beside her…

     “Ack!” Tim squeaked as the towel and cushion shifted and jostled about. The tiny teenager was extremely nervous and jumpy being unable to see what was going on above, and worried either Aunt Julia or his mother could inadvertently squash him without realizing he was concealed beneath the towel.

     “Come on,” Tim strained, frantically pulling and tugging to free his arm from the elastic fiber still wrapped around it. “Please, come on…”

     He could hear and feel the fiber stretching, its hold on the towel weakening. Tim immediately doubled his efforts, pulling with all his might:

    “That’s it….that’s it. I’ve almost….got…it…”

“…There!” Natalie loudly proclaimed as the lid finally loosened in her grasp. “Got it!”

     Tim was so startled by his mother’s booming voice that his whole body jerked; as his arm wrenched backwards, the fiber wrapped around it snapped. The momentum sent Tim tumbling backwards, somersaulting towards the edge of the cushion. The tiny teenager quickly stuck out his arms and legs, digging into the cushion to arrest his momentum, and managed to stop himself just before reaching the contoured edge and falling off the couch.

     The tiny boy clung tightly to the cushion, breathing heavily until his heartbeat slowed to a normal rhythm again; he was still concealed underneath the towel, but thankfully, he was now in a position that somewhat prevented him from being accidentally crushed. Unfortunately, it also meant that any movement or sudden shifting of the cushion could easily throw him completely off the couch.

     With no time to lose, Tim carefully scooted himself sideways, moving parallel to the edge of the cushion as he slowly made his way out from under the towel…

     “Man, that was on there tight!” Natalie professed with a sigh as she unscrewed the lid and handed the bottle back to her sister.

     “No kidding,” Julia chortled as she accepted the bottle. “That almost killed me.”

     “Maybe you need to start working your upper body during those workouts of yours,” Natalie joked as she rounded the opposite end of the couch.

     “My upper-body strength is just fine, thank you very much,” Julia replied haughtily as she reached over and grabbed the bowl of popcorn, setting it in her lap, “and I’ll have you know that my workouts are well-rounded.

     “Besides, you’re one to talk, bubble butt…” Julia shot back, gently spanking her sister’s behind once Natalie arrived in front of the couch.

     “Hey!” Natalie replied with aghast as she brushed off the back of her yoga pants.

     “Maybe you’re the one who needs to start working out,” Julia chuckled.

     “Well, maybe I’d have the time if I didn’t have to spend all day in my lab, working on a cure for my tiny son,” Natalie quipped, reaching down to retrieve her phone from the coffee table. “Besides, I’ll have YOU know, that my husband likes my butt just fine, thank you!”

     “Yeah, I’ll bet he does,” Julia chortled as she sprinkled the flavoring liberally over the top of the popcorn.

     “You think that’s enough?” Julia asked after several hearty shakes, holding up the bowl so Natalie could see.

     “Yeah, that should be fine,” Natalie replied off-handedly, momentarily looking away from her phone. “Just put the lid on and shake it up a few times to mix it all in.”

     Julia complied, retrieving the lid from the coffee table and securing it over the top of the bowl; then, she shook the bowl up and down several times to ensure the flavoring was well mixed.

     As Julia set the bowl down on the cushion next to her, preparing to remove the lid, she suddenly spotted Tim’s tiny figure emerging from the far side of the hand towel…

     Julia gasped quietly, her eyes going wide with surprise. Without thinking, her hand instinctively shot out to grab the tiny teenager, but instead of snatching him up in her fist, she inadvertently smacked his tiny figure, sending him flying across the couch.

     The tiny teenager bounced across the far cushion, eventually coming to a stop around the mid-center. Julia quickly scooted the bowl of popcorn towards the rear of the middle cushion, getting it out of the way in hopes to make another attempt to retrieve her tiny nephew before he could recover, but before she could even reach out her hand, his shrunken figure was suddenly shrouded in an ominous shadow…

     Natalie, up until that point, had been standing in front of the couch with her back to the cushion. Her attention had been focused on her phone, and she was completely oblivious to the events unfolding behind her.

     It wasn’t until Natalie shifted her stance that everything changed. At that point, the world moved in slow motion:

     Julia sat, frozen in place, as Natalie’s immense ass swung over the couch cushion and watched, wide-eyed, as her tiny nephew flipped onto his back to investigate the source of the shadow currently shrouding him in darkness…

     Julia could only imagine the wave of abject terror that must have been surging through Tim’s mind when the tiny teenager looked skyward, only to see his mother’s gargantuan rump hovering overhead, eclipsing the sky as it descended towards the cushion. The shrunken boy squealed in terror…with his tiny squeaks being silenced a split-second later as his mother’s enormous ass impacted the cushion.

     …And that was it. In an instant, Tim was gone, swallowed up by his oblivious mother’s all-consuming ass.

     “Ah,” Natalie sighed contently as she collapsed into her seat on the couch. “It feels so good to finally sit down again.

     “Alright,” she continued as she reached over and removed the lid from the bowl of popcorn beside her; placing the bowl in her lap, “lemme try some of that popcorn.”

     Julia, meanwhile, was still frozen in a state of shock, staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the spot where her tiny nephew had been visible just moments prior. She honestly couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed: her own sister had literally just sat on—and possibly squished—her tiny son…and she hadn’t even realized it, nonchalantly digging into the bowl of popcorn and chomping away as if nothing had happened.

     Julia’s mind was racing; what was she going to do? At that point, she didn’t even know if Tim was alive, dead, intact, squashed, or something in between, and there was no conceivable way for her to check without Natalie getting suspicious. If Julia came out and just admitted to Natalie about Tim being underneath her, the woman would freak! There’d be too many questions Julia would have to answer, but if she didn’t say anything and kept her mouth shut, Tim could…could…

     In that moment, the cogs in Julia’s head began turning. With one simple, inadvertent, and ignorant act, Natalie had conveniently solved all of Julia‘s problems: all week, Julia had been threatening to squash Tim if the tiny boy didn’t obey her, but she hadn’t actually followed through with her threats; in fact, the main thing holding her back was exactly how to deal with the aftermath. The physical act of squashing Tim would be a simple one; explaining herself to Natalie and dealing with the fallout would be the difficult part.

     And yet, in all her contemplations, Julia hadn’t once considered the possibility, nor even the consequences if NATALIE was the one who did the squashing. After all, as Julia had reminded Tim on several occasions, the normal sized world could certainly be a dangerous place for an inch-tall teenager. Any number of potential accidents could happen: he could be crushed by a falling book, stepped on by giant human, or in this case, sat on by his mother.

     Julia could hardly be blamed if Natalie was the one who squashed her son accidentally; it wasn’t her fault that Tim had somehow gotten himself up onto the couch and sat on. He’d obviously done that himself. Of course, Julia had been the one who got him out of his cage and placed him in the laundry hamper in the first place, and had accidentally knocked him into the path of his mother’s descending ass, but everything else that happened, including escaping from the laundry hamper, was on Tim.

     Julia would have to come up with a believable explanation, however, of exactly how an inch-tall teenager could’ve possibly escaped his cage, especially with her putting the lid on top to prevent that very thing, but Tim had gotten himself into plenty of sticky situations over the week. Julia feigning ignorance wouldn’t be too hard.

     And all of this was the worst-case scenario. There was still a good possibility, given his apparent resilience during the other unfortunate circumstances over the past week, that Tim could still be alive….which was fine, too: Julia could just retrieve her tiny nephew—or what was left of him—when Natalie stood up again, and just make up an excuse about brushing some lint off Natalie’s backside. Plus, with Natalie currently sitting on her tiny son, Tim wouldn’t be causing or getting into any more trouble, and being forced to spend an extended period of time beneath his mother‘s ass seemed like a fitting punishment in Julia’s eyes.

     The only problem now was making sure Natalie didn’t realize Tim was underneath her. The good news was that there was no feasible way for the tiny teenager to even alert his mother to his presence under her ass, and if Natalie hadn’t felt him by now, it was doubtful she ever would…

     “Uh…is something wrong, Jules?” Natalie spoke up, noticing Julia staring at her.

     “Huh…?” Julia uttered, snapping out of her train of thought.

     Then, once her sister’s question had registered in her mind, Julia’s expression softened, and her lips curled in a half grin:

     “Nope,” she replied softly, gently shaking her head, “nothing’s wrong. Everything’s just fine.”

     “Okay,” Natalie chortled dubiously, off-put by her sister’s strange demeanor. “Are you sure? ‘Cause you’re looking at me like you’re lost in thought, or something.”

     “Oh, I’m sorry,” Julia apologized half-heartedly, “I was just thinking about how proud I am of my big sister, about all the hard work you’ve put in, and what you’ve accomplished this past week. You’re so brilliant: you’ve analyzed that shrinking formula, AND you finally have a cure for Tim…and now, I’m glad you can finally take an evening to just kick back and relax. In fact, for the rest of the night, I don’t want you to have to lift a finger. I mean it, I don’t want you moving your butt from that spot for the rest of the evening.”

     “…W…Wow, Jules!” Natalie chortled, blushing with embarrassment, “I-I don’t know what to say…I’m so lucky to have you for a sister. I guess I have earned a night to relax, haven’t I?”

     “You absolutely have,” Julia nodded with a satisfied smile.

     “Well….since you’re so insistent…” Natalie chuckled playfully, stretching out her arm and reaching for the coffee table, wiggling her fingers, “…would you mind grabbing the remote for me? I just can’t seem to reach it?”

     “Not at all,” Julia mocked her jokingly as she leaned forward, putting up a gentle hand towards her sister. “Please, allow me.”

     With a satisfied smile, Julia retrieved the remote from the coffee table and aimed it at the TV; then pressed the PLAY button to resume their movie. As she set the remote down on the cushion beside her, Julia checked to make Natalie’s attention was focused elsewhere, then blew a quiet, playful kiss down to her tiny nephew still trapped beneath her sister’s rump. Julia would be paying extra close attention to her sister’s movements over the next couple hours, waiting for the opportunity to retrieve Tim from Natalie’s backside, but doing so would be a small price to pay for the enjoyment and pleasure she took in the mental picture of her tiny nephew squirming and struggling for freedom from his mother’s ass—assuming he was still alive, that is.

     At the very least, Julia knew exactly where her tiny nephew was, and for the moment, he wasn’t going anywhere.

     Natalie sighed contently, closing her eyes and relaxing back into her comfy, leather, office chair, her mouth turned up into a satisfied smile. All morning long she’d been pouring over her notes, checking and rechecking the results from her latest round of testing; everything was now confirmed: her test rabbits had suffered no ill effects from their size reduction nor re-expansion, nor had they exhibited any signs of reversion, rejection, nor sickness. In fact, there were no negative side effects of any kind.

     It worked—the antidote worked. Natalie finally had a cure for her tiny son…assuming, of course, it actually worked on him, but given all her calculations and findings, she honestly couldn’t find a reason why it wouldn’t, even after Tim being small for a whole week.

     Once she’d taken a moment to revel in her accomplishment, Natalie called Julia and told her the good news, saying that she’d be home within the hour; then, she filled a small vial with her newfound antidote, carefully wrapped it with some packing material, and tucked it away in her purse for safe keeping. Finally, Natalie swiftly gathered up her notes and tidied her desk before locking up her lab and making her way down the back stairs of the research building.

     As Natalie made her way down to the parking lot, she could hardly contain her joy, practically jumping two or three steps at a time until she reached the ground floor. Even on the drive home, Natalie was exuberantly singing along to the music blasting out of her car stereo, repeatedly telling herself that before the day was out, Tim would be back to normal, and this whole nightmare of a week would finally be over.

     Despite her jovial mood, however, for the entire ride home, Natalie kept reaching over inside her purse, checking and double checking to make sure the vial of antidote was still intact and hadn’t leaked or broken open. Even when she arrived home and was gathering her things from the car, Natalie didn’t even take a single step towards the house until first checking on the bundle in her purse, and checked it once more before walking up the front steps and through the front door.

     “I’m home!” Natalie proclaimed happily as she entered the house and closed the front door behind her. She quickly hurried to the edge of the den and scanned the living room, but neither Julia or Tim were present.

     “Hello?” Natalie called again as she slipped her feet out off her flats, kicking them off to the side. “Tim? Julia? Anyone home?”

     “In the kitchen, Nat,” Julia’s voice called from the back of the house.

     Natalie gripped her purse with both hands and headed off towards the kitchen, spotting Julia sitting cross-legged at the left end of the oval-shaped, kitchen table, enjoying a cup of tea as she nonchalantly scrolled through her phone. She was still wearing the night gown that she’d been wearing when the two got up that morning, and her pink slippers shifted around on her foot as she bounced her leg on her knee.

     “Hey, sis,” Natalie smiled, trying to contain her excitement and she headed through the kitchen towards the table.

     “Hey,” Julia smiled back, setting her phone face down on the table out of habit.

     “I’ve got it!” Natalie proclaimed proudly, holding her purse out in front of her. “I finally got it!”

     “Yeah, so you told me on the phone,” Julia chortled. “And you’re sure it’ll work? I mean….it has been almost a week…”

     “Positive,” Natalie affirmed, setting her purse down on the table and pulling out and taking a seat of her own. “All my notes confirm it: my test rabbits are all back to normal, their blood samples are clean, and there’s no sign of any side effects. Trust me, it works.”

     “So….that’s it then?” Julia inquired assumingely.

     “Yup, that’s it,” Natalie confirmed with a nod.

     “OK….good,” Julia nodded in acknowledgment, “because there’s something we need to discuss…”

     “Yeah, yeah, fine….later, Jules, okay?” Natalie replied hastily, still in her excited state “First, I wanna get Tim back to normal right away. Where is he? I-Is he still in his cage?”

     “Don’t worry, I’ve got him close by,” Julia reassured her sister, “but I really think we need to talk before we do anything else…”

     “‘Talk’?” Natalie replied, slightly confused by her sister’s demeanor. “Talk about what…?

     “…A-and what do you mean: ‘close by’?!” Natalie added, anxiously scanning the table for her tiny son. “What’s going on? Is Tim okay?”

     “Nat, don’t worry,” Julia replied reassuringly, trying to soothe her sister’s anxiety. “Tim’s fine. We just really need to talk before you go through with it.”

     “Go through with what?!” Natalie shrugged disconcertedly. “Getting my shrunken son back to his normal size?!”

     “Yeah….exactly,” Julia confirmed sincerely. “I think we need to take a few minutes to consider all your options.”

     “Wh…What other ‘options’ are there to consider, Jules?!” Natalie chortled with bewilderment. “What are you saying I should do: leave Tim small and NOT give him the antidote I’ve been working on all week?!”

     “Well, actually…yeah, that’s precisely what I’m saying,” Julia nodded reluctantly.

     “Jules, what’re you talking about?!” Natalie recoiled incredulously. “You can’t be serious! I’m not gonna leave my son an inch tall for the rest of his life!”

     “I’m not saying to NEVER give it to him, Nat,” Julia reiterated, trying to explain herself. “I’m just saying: don’t give it to him right away.”

     “Jules…you’re talking nonsense,” Natalie affirmed in frustration . “What possible reason could there be to wait to give Tim the antidote?!”

     “Nat, I don’t think you’ve really considered what a golden opportunity you’ve been handed, here,” Julia explained. “I mean, there could be some real good that can come out of all this.”

     “Jules, what POSSIBLE good could come out of all this?!” Natalie replied indignantly. “I mean, other than my research…”

     “Sis, you’ve been given the chance to affect some real changes around here,” Julia explained. “I mean, have you even considered what this experience could actually do for Tim?”

     “The only thing I’VE considered, Jules,” Natalie rebuffed smartly, “is how traumatized Tim’s gonna be because of this past week. We’ll be lucky if he isn’t scarred for the rest of his life.”

     “Nat, would you just listen to me for a second…?” Julia pleaded.

     “I’m not listening to anything until you tell me where Tim is,” Natalie stated adamantly.

     “I told you: he’s in a safe place.” 

     “That’s not what I meant, Jules!” Natalie protested demandingly, placing her index finger on the table. “Now, I want to see my son, and I want to see him: right now!”

     “Alright, fine,” Julia relented with a frustrated sigh, rolling her eyes.

     Julia then slid her right foot into her lap, removed her slipper, and plucked her tiny nephew from the crevice between her big and second toes, placing him rather haphazardly onto the kitchen table between Natalie and herself.

     “What the…where did…did you just…?” Natalie stammered in disbelief at what she’d literally just witnessed, completely at a loss for words. “Are you telling me you’ve had Tim have stuck between your TOES this whole time?! Jules, that’s DISGUSTING! What’s the MATTER with you?!”

     “Nat, would you relax?!” Julia scoffed, dropping her slipper onto the floor with an audible slap. “He’s fine...”

     “He’s not ‘fine’, sis, LOOK at him!” Natalie rebutted adamantly, motioning to her son who was down on all fours on the table, covered in grime and sweat, and trying to catch his breath.

     “Are you OK, sweetheart?” Natalie asked her miniature son in a soft, caring tone, concernedly cupping her hands on either side of his prone figure.

     Tim, however, didn’t respond: he was still recovering from being stuck between his aunt’s toes all morning, finally able to inhale some much-needed, deep breaths of cool, fresh air that didn’t reek of his aunt’s, sweaty feet.

     “Jules, are you INSANE?!” Natalie shouted disparagingly. “He could’ve suffocated in there!”

     “Oh, he wasn’t gonna suffocate.” Julia scoffed defensively. “I felt him squirming the whole time; I would’ve taken him out if I thought he was in any danger.”

     “That’s not the point, Jules!” Natalie balked incredulously. “I SPECIFICALLY told you yesterday to keep your feet away from my son, and here, I come home find you’ve had him stuck between your TOES all morning!”

     “Oh, it wasn’t ALL morning,” Julia scoffed again, her voice slowly trailing off. “It was more like, a couple hours…or 3…”

     “THREE HOURS?!” Natalie shouted irately. “Jules, what in the world could’ve possessed you to shove Tim in between your toes in the first place?!”

     “What ‘possessed’ me?!” Julia rebutted derisively, sitting up in her chair, “What possessed me is that our little boy, here, got really mouthy with me this morning, so I decided to put him in timeout.”

     “‘Timeout’?!” Natalie recoiled. “‘Timeout’ is making someone go sit in the corner, Jules, not stuffing them in between your toes and shoving him inside your slipper! What were you THINKING?!”

     “I was ‘thinking’ that it’s high time that you and I had a heart-to-heart talk about Tim’s behavior,” Julia replied mockingly, “You know, he’s gotten pretty brazen over the past week: mouthing off, running away and hiding from me, getting himself into some pretty dangerous situations by not listening when we tell him not to do something…Now, you may not like it, Nat, but I’m doing this for his own good.”

     “I fail to see how sticking my son between your nasty toes could possibly be for his own good!” Natalie scowled, crossing her arms.

     “Look, wouldn’t it be nice to have a well-behaved son who helps you out around the house every once in a while, and does his school work, or participates in afterschool activities…? From what I hear, he just lounges around on the couch all day watching TV. This is your big chance to affect some real improvement in Tim’s behavior. An opportunity like this doesn’t just fall of your lap every day.”

     “Even if I agreed with you about Tim’s behavior, Jules—which I don’t, by the way,” Natalie rebutted, leaning forward and placing the tip of her index finger on the table again, “torturing him while he’s in this state is not the way to go about fixing it.”

     “Hey, I’m just taking advantage of the situation at hand and using the tools at my disposal,” Julia replied defensively, putting up her hands. 

     “Oh, that’s real nice, Jules,” Natalie spat sarcastically, “and just how long has all this been going on?!”

     “ALL WEEK!” a tiny voice squeaked up at them from the table.

     The two woman immediately shifted their gazes down to Tim’s tiny figure, who had managed to recover from his ordeal while his two, giant relatives were talking.

     “What was that, hon?” Natalie inquired, not completely able to hear exactly what her tiny son had squeaked, but understanding enough that she secretly hoped she’d misheard him.

     “I said: she’s been DOING it to me ALL WEEK, mom!” Tim shouted up, posturing before his mother and stamping his tiny foot on the table. “From the moment she got here last Sunday, she’s been tormenting me nonstop: she’s been stepping on me, and sticking me between her toes, forcing me to give her foot rubs…She even taped me to the bottom of her foot the other day!”

     “She did WHAT?!” Natalie responded in disbelief at what she was hearing, shooting her sister a discontented gaze. “Jules, tell me this isn’t true!”

     “…Oh, it’s ALL true, mom,” Tim squeaked, not giving his aunt a chance to respond, “and that’s not even the HALF of it! This whole week, Aunt Julia’s done nothing but torture and torment me! Just ask her about the time she and shoved between her…breasts…”

     Tim’s voice trailed off; he could hardly find the words to admit the embarrassing extent of what Aunt Julia had put him through.

     “She shoved you WHERE?!” Natalie cried, completely taken aback by her son’s accusations.

     “Hey, in my defense,” Julia replied, “I was just trying to keep him safe while I was doin’ the laundry that day.”

     “So you decided to stick him in your cleavage?!” Natalie cried indignantly.

     “Well, he was complaining about being picked up and put down all the time,” Julia replied with an apathetic shrug, “so….I had to improvise.”

     “Oh, and were you ‘improvising’ when you stuck me in there again while you were working out the next day?!” Tim chimed in smartly, making air quotes with his fingers.

     “Hey, you were gettin’ pretty mouthy that day, Tiny Tim,” Julia replied defensively, pointing her index finger at him. “I warned you what would happen if you didn’t behave yourself.”

     “So what, Jules: this is your idea of a punishment?!” Natalie interjected incredulously.

     “Well, like I said,” Julia repeatedly. “Our little boy here was getting pretty mouthy with me.”

     “And you thought shoving him between your TITS was the way to handle it?!” Natalie exclaimed indignantly, turning her attention to back to her tiny son. “Honey, why didn’t you tell me about any of this before?!”

     “I TRIED mom,” Tim insisted, “but you wouldn’t listen! You kept telling me it was just my imagination, or that they were just accidents, but they weren’t! Remember that incident on Sunday when Aunt Julia put her feet on me?! Well, that was no accident: she knocked me off the table after I told her I wasn’t gonna let her push me around and make fun of me all week, and then she pretended not to see me and tried to smother me with her FEET! And things only got worse from there: I’ve been stepped on, and sat on, almost eaten…this whole, entire week has been nothing but TORTURE!

     “…Besides,” Tim continued, a worried look in his eyes, “Aunt Julia kept threatening to SQUISH me if I told!”

     “Alright, Jules,” Natalie said perturbedly, a reserved contempt in her eyes. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

     “Alright, fine,” Julia confessed, throwing up her hands. “I admit it. Is that what you wanna hear?! I….did it! But you know what? I only did what needed to be done.”

     “I fail to see how any of this ‘needed to be done’, Jules,” Natalie derided her, making air quotes with her fingers. “How could you be so callous about all this?!”

     “Because for too long, I have sat idly by and watched Tim basically have the run of this house and do whatever he wants: he doesn’t play sports, he doesn’t participate in any extracurricular activities, he doesn’t help out around the house…all he does is lounge around all day while you and Tom wait on him hand and foot. Now, I’ve kept quiet about it up until now, but can’t stay quiet anymore. If Tim doesn’t start shaping up, he’s gonna suffer some real consequences down the road. I’m mean, take this very situation: Let’s not forget that he wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place if he hadn’t gone snooping for liquor in the back of the fridge. I mean, you act like he’s the victim in all this!”

     “He IS the victim, Jules,” Natalie rebutted hysterically. “LOOK at him!”

     “What I mean,” Julia reiterated, “is that if WE don’t take measures to fix his behavior, karma will….and this exact situation is a prime example! Now, I know that you wanted me to cut him some slack this week, and ordinarily, given the circumstances, I’d probably agree with you, but that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna let him act out, or mouth off, or misbehave. Tim needs to learn that his actions have consequences; he has to be taught a lesson. So far, the only lesson Tim seems to have learned is NOT to go snooping in the back of the fridge.”

     “First of all, Jules,” Natalie declared bluntly, “how I decide to raise or discipline my son is my and Tom’s decision, not yours; and secondly, even if I felt that Tim needed to work on his behavior or be punished for anything, I CERTAINLY wouldn’t condone this!”

     “So what would you have me do when he acts out, Nat,” Julia replied acrimoniously, “send him to bed without any dinner?! I’d hardly call that a punishment. Tim needs a much firmer hand…or….foot, in this case.”

     “Right, and I suppose it doesn’t matter if your little nephew gets squashed in the process, huh?!” Natalie rebutted with contemptuous sarcasm.

     “Oh, Nat, geez,” Julia scoffed apathetically, rolling her eyes, “stop being so overdramatic.”

     “I’m NOT being overdramatic, Jules!” Natalie replied indignantly. “This is completely inexcusable! I turned to you in a desperate situation and implored you to look after my and keep him safe while I worked an a cure, not punish him and stick him in your slipper where he could suffocate.”

     “Sis, I told you before, I wasn’t gonna let him suffocate,” Julia repeated defensively.

     “Oh, right, because you were making sure you could still feel him squirming between you toes,” Natalie quipped.

     “Yes!….” Julia replied hastily before retreating back in her chair and continuing her defense in a more restrained tone. “….that, and he was fine the other day when I…fell asleep on the couch.”

     “When you fell—“ Natalie started replying before recomposing herself.

     “Alright, that’s it,” Natalie affirmed, grasping her purse and probing for the vial of antidote. “I’m putting a stop to this right now!”

     “Now, Nat,” Julia tried explaining, “let’s not do anything too hasty. Think about what you’re doing before you do something you can’t take back.”

     “Oh, trust me, I’ve been thinking about it all week!” Natalie replied astutely, carefully but hastily unwrapping the antidote vial from its protective packaging. “Now, I’m giving Tim him the antidote and getting him back to normal….and after that, you and I are gonna have a very long discussion about what’s been going on around here this past week.”

     “But, Nat, I’m telling you, if you give Tim that antidote now, you’re going to regret it.” Julia insisted.

     “I highly doubt that!” Natalie replied dubiously.

     “Look, would you just hear me out before giving it to him.” Julia said, leaning over the table and reaching for the vial of antidote.

     “I think I’ve heard enough, Jules,” Natalie spat, pulling the vial away and preparing to open it. “Now, I’m putting an end to this right now, and that’s final!”

     “OK….five minutes,” Julia pleaded hastily, putting up her hands in a defensive gesture, “just gimme five minutes. That’s all I’m asking for; then, if you don’t like what I’m proposing…fine, you can grow Tim back to normal.”

     “NO WAY!” Tim squeaked up in protest. “I’m NOT staying small ONE MINUTE LONGER!”

     “You keep outta this, you little bug!” Julia derided him.

     “Jules, don’t talk to him like that!” Natalie scolded her. “And I fail to see how another five minutes is gonna make me change my mind in any respect.”

     “MO-OM?!” Tim whined, turning back to his giant mother. “STOP STALLING and give me the ANTIDOTE!”

     “Of course, honey,” Natalie acknowledged, gesturing to him with her hand. “I’m going to. Just hold on a second, OK—?”

     “NO!” Tim squeaked again, stamping his foot. “I’ve waited long enough, mom. Now I want that antidote, and I want it NOW!”

     “Tim, I will!” Natalie repeated sternly, slightly irritated at her son’s impudence. “Now please, be patient and give me a second to talk to your aunt, okay?”

     “But, MO-OM—!”

     “And knock off that whining, mister,” Natalie warned, pointing at him with her index finger. “You know how much I hate it!”

     “See how mouthy he’s gotten?!” Julia touted, jumping into the conversation.

     “Not another word, Jules!” Natalie scolded, moving her finger so it was pointing towards Julia. “Now, I’m gonna put this whole mess to bed, once and for all…I’ll give you five minutes to explain yourself, Jules, but not one second longer, you got me?!”

     “Got it.” Julia acknowledged with a nod and satisfied grin.

     “NO!” Tim squeaked with aghast. “MOM, you can’t be SERIOUS!”

     “Tim, what did I just say?!” Natalie spoke irately, pointing a stern finger at him.

     “Here, lemme take care of this,” Julia spoke up, reaching for her tiny nephew.

     “Wha—Hey...!” Tim yelped as he was quickly scooped him up into his aunt’s palm and taken off the table completely.

     “Jules!” Natalie exclaimed with surprise, quickly yet carefully setting the antidote vial down on the table out of the way.

     “STOP!” Tim exclaimed again as he was lowered him to the floor. “Where’re yo—?!

     “Oof!” Tim cried out as Aunt Julia unceremoniously dumped him onto the kitchen linoleum at the feet of the two giant women.

     “There, now,” Julia grinned widely. “That’s better.”

     “HEY!” Tim shouted up irately, quickly clambering to his feet. “AUNT JULIA, YOU PUT ME BACK ON THE TABLE, RIGHT NOW!”

     “Shush, Timmy,” Julia commanded with a playful smile, putting her finger to her lips. “The grownups are talking.”

     “MO-OM,” Tim whined, turning towards his mother, “are you really gonna let her TREAT ME like this?!”

     “Shh, not now, Tim!” Natalie hushed him, waving him off with her hand again. “Just be patient a second, okay?”

     “But MO-OM—!”

     “Tim, I said not now!” Natalie repeated herself more sternly, pointing her finger at her tiny son before turning her attention back to her sister. “Alright, Jules. You’ve got five minutes, so start talking...”

     “Alright, look, my proposal is simple,” Julia began, “all we have to do is just reinforce his good behaviors, and punish the bad ones. Now, obviously his current size offers us some…unique opportunities, so I think the first thing we need to do is develop a comprehensive plan—”

     “MO-OM, what are you DOING?!” Tim squeaked as he ran over and began pounding the side of his mother’s, left, pinky toe. “Pick me UP! Come O—HON!”

     “Tim, stop that!” Natalie commanded with irritation, looking down at the floor as she gently nudged her tiny son away with the side of her foot. “Now, just be patient, alright?

     “Continue, Jules,” Natalie directed, turning her attention back to her sister.

     “Anyway, as I was saying,” Julia continued, pounding her right fist into her left palm, “we just need to come up with a plan and stick to it. Now, we can discuss positive reinforcement options later, but for now, let’s start with punishments. Now, I know your pretty keen on just sticking him in his cage when he acts out, but if that doesn’t work, you’re gonna have to escalate things…”

     “Mom, NO, don’t listen to her!” Tim pleaded, pounding frantically on his mother’s toe again. “PLEASE! I’m begging you! Make me BIG again!”

     “Tim, I said: knock it off!” Natalie demanded, lifting her foot off the floor so she could scratch it, inadvertently knocking Tim onto his butt in the process. “You’re making my foot itch! Now, sit still and be quiet…

     “…or I just might reconsider giving this to you today,” Natalie warned him, grabbing the vial of antidote and jostling it in her hand where Tim could see.

     Tim’s heart sank. Had his mother just said what he thought she said?!

     “In any case, Jules,” Natalie continued sternly, turning her attention back to her sister as she placed her foot in her lap, “as you can plainly see, Tim isn’t too keen on this—neither am I, for that matter—and I don’t wanna leave him like this any longer than I have to.”

     “It’s not about what WE want, Nat,” Julia rebutted, “it’s about what Tim needs, and right now, what he needs is some real structure and discipline. This could be the very thing he needs to really turn his life around. Now, I know you may not agree with my methods—”    

     “Oh, that’s an understatement!” Natalie interrupted curtly.

     “—Bu-ut,” Julia continued, “I’ve definitely seen some positive results so far. Now, I really think if we build upon this, we can definitely find and implement some effective methods that can drastically improve his behavior.”

     “Oh, you mean like sticking him between my toes and shoving my foot inside my slipper?!” Natalie quipped sarcastically.

     “Well, if you’re gonna get all snippy about it—“ Julia replied with chagrin, rolling her eyes. “—and you’re gonna have to come up with SOME kind of punishment, ‘cause it’s not like you can spank him.”

     “Well, I’m sure I can come up with something better than what YOU’VE been doing.” Natalie responded assuredly.

     “Mom, you’re not seriously thinking of LEAVING me like this, are you?!” Tim squeaked anxiously, “PLEASE! You CAN’T!”

     “Tim,” Natalie snapped at her tiny son, “for the last time, your aunt and I are trying to have a discussion, and you’re being very rude—!”

     “But you can’t seriously be CONSIDERING this!”

     “Sweetheart, I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” Natalie explained, “so just keep your pants on stop all that whining.

     “Now, move back…unless you want me to step on you,” she continued, motioning for Tim to move out of the way as she removed her foot from her lap.

     “But, mom,” Tim whined, tears welling up in his eyes as he meekly backed away as his giant mother instructed, “I’m telling you: if you leave me like this, Aunt Julia’s gonna SQUISH me!”

     “Oh, hon, stop being overdramatic!” Natalie scoffed as she carefully lowered her foot back to the floor. “Now, I’m not gonna let that happen…

     “Am I, Jules?” Natalie said very bluntly in her sister’s direction.

     Julia merely rolled her eyes and sighed in frustration as Natalie turned her attention back to the floor and continued addressing her tiny son:

     “Now, I’m just asking you to wait 5 measly, little minutes; trust me, you’ll be fine for that long.”

     “But I’m telling you I WON’T—!” Tim squeaked.

     “Tim—!” Natalie replied sternly, pointing at him with a firm index finger to let him know she meant business. “I mean it. Not one more word……Or so help me, I WILL leave you like this for the rest of the weekend! You got me?!”

     Tim gulped fearfully, biting his lower lip to keep it from quivering.

     “Three minutes left, Jules,” Natalie continued, shifting her pointing finger towards her sister.

     “Alright, so you’re not too keen on the whole slipper thing,” Julia shrugged, picking up exactly where she’d left off. “I get it. There are plenty of other alternatives you can employ: maybe you could have him give you a foot massage, or something.

     “There you go again…” Natalie sighed, throwing her hands up in frustration at hearing about more of Julia’s foot torture. “What is it with you and feet, Jules?! Do you have some kinda foot fetish or something?!”

     “First of all: no—” Julia rebutted assuredly, appalled by the very suggestion, “—and that’s not how that works, by the way. Secondly, I was just trying to think outside the box and come up with a solution using the tools at my disposal. Look, I know you’re not too fond of it, but I have found it to be a very effective treatment…”

     “Oh, so it’s a ‘treatment’ now?!” Natalie mocked with chagrin.

     “Well, if it helps you feel better about it…” Julia shrugged, thinking quickly.

     “Well, it doesn’t,” Natalie replied bluntly, “so if this is your plan to convince me to go along with this whole ‘behavior modification’ thing, I might as well give Tim the antidote right now.”

     “Yes…yes, please!” Tim exclaimed anxiously, albeit inaudibly to the two, giant women as his mother held up and gently shook the vial of antidote in her grasp.

     “Fine,” Julia sighed in frustration, “if don’t wanna listen to anything else, then just consider this: right now, Tim is in a state where he can’t physically refuse to comply with with your requests; he has no choice but to follow orders. This is the perfect time to act and make some changes. So, come on, surely there’s SOMETHING about his personality or behavior that you’d like to change…so, what is it: grades?…sports?…chores?…”

     “….Well….” Natalie replied hesitantly, setting the antidote vial back down on the table as she took a few quiet moments to ponder over her sister’s question, “….I guess it would be nice to have a little more help around the house…”

     “MOM, come ON, this is RIDICULOUS!” Tim squeaked hysterically.

     “Tim, I’m not gonna tell you again!” Natalie snapped at him, practically at her wits end. “For the last time: Be quiet!”

     “Anyway, Jules,” Natalie continued in a surprisingly placid tone, “I’m just sold on this whole thing. I mean, I know Tim’s not perfect, and I’d certainly like him to change a bit, but I think this is just too extreme for me. Now, I gave you your five minutes, but I’m sorry, I’m just not convinced. Maybe we can talk some things over this afternoon after I cure him.”

     “Well, why don’t you just take the rest day the think about it, huh?” Julia proposed with a shrug, gesturing towards the antidote vial in the middle of the table. “I mean, you already have the antidote; you can cure Tim anytime you want. What’s a few more hours gonna hurt? Let’s just sit down together and take however much time you need to discuss it and weigh your options…”

     “Uh, huh,” Natalie acknowledged sarcastically, “and I suppose we’ll just stick Tim in his cage with some food and water while you and I guzzle down another bottle of wine…?”

     “Well, we can leave him his phone so he can watch movies while we talk like last night…” Julia offered, half-serious.

     “Right,” Natalie replied, still in her sarcastic tone, “because that’s the thing that’s gonna make all the difference…Hey, while we’re at it, how about we just go out dinner and leave Tim by himself while we wine and dine ourselves?! Or better yet, let’s just stick him in your shoe and take him along with us. We can play with him back and forth while we eat.”

     “Mom, STOP kidding around and gimme the antidote!” Tim squeaked demandingly.

     “Jules, I’m sorry,” Natalie sighed calmly, shaking her head, and trying to ignore her son’s constant squeaking, “but I just don’t think any amount of time is going to make me change my mind.”

     “MO-OM, are you LISTENING to me?!” Tim squeaked again. “PLEASE! You can’t LEAVE ME like this!”

     “Now, look,” Natalie sighed again, biting her lip in frustration, “why don’t I just give Tim the antidote and we can all sit down and have a long talk about working on his behavior once he’s back to normal? I’m sure we can come up with a more agreeable solution…”

     “MO-OM, GIMME the ANTIDOTE!” Tim squeaked hysterically, hopping up and down in a frenzied rage. “GIVE me the ANTIDOTE! GIVE ME THE ANTIDOOOOTE—!!”

     “Oh, for God’s sake, Tim!” Natalie snapped, lifting her foot into the air. “I said be QUIET!”

     Tim was caught completely off guard, knocked back onto his keister when his mother’s foot suddenly and unexpectedly departed from the floor. As he quickly shook off the stun and looked skyward again, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head: his vision was filled with the sight of his titanic mother holding her mammoth, bare foot directly overhead, shrouding him in its ominous shadow. The tiny teenager screamed in horror as the massive, wrinkled sole descended towards the floor, cutting off his cries as it impacted directly on top of him.

     “Mrrrmmmmm….Mrmmmm, plrsssmpf!”

     Tim screamed for mercy, begging his mother to remove her foot as he desperately pushed against the tons of flesh pressing down on his tiny body. Alas, his cries for help went unanswered, too muffled to be heard, and all his wiggles and squirms were futile. His mother‘s foot wasn’t budging…

     Julia’s momentary expression of surprise when her sister’s foot hit the floor, slowly morphed into a smug, delighted grin as she watched her tiny nephew disappear beneath his mother’s, massive foot.

     “Mm, nicely handled, sis!” Julia moaned contently, commending her sister as she slowly shifted her gaze to Natalie‘s face.

     “Well, l was getting tired of listening to all that darn squeaking!” Natalie sighed regretfully, “It was really getting on my nerves!”

     “And look: you took control and handled it,” Julia asserted, gesturing to the floor. “I’m really proud of you.”

     “Well, it was more of a reaction than anything else,” Natalie admitted, looking back at the floor, feeling her tiny son squirming frantically beneath her bare foot. “You think I was too hard on him?”

     “Not at all,” Julia stated assuredly, shaking her head. “You gave him plenty of warnings, and he wouldn’t listen. You only did what you had to do.”

     “Yeah, but…Jules, I just stepped on my son!” Natalie sighed concernedly. “On purpose!”

     “And…?!” Julia shrugged indifferently. “Tim knew the consequences, and he still kept pushing. He has no one to blame but himself.”

     “Well, I’m sorry if I can’t exactly be as cavalier about this as you,” Natalie replied curtly, staring sympathetically at her foot. “Aw, I can literally feel him squirming under there…

     “So?” Julia pished with an apathetic shrug. “Let him squirm for a bit. Tim needs to be taught lesson.”

     “Yeah, but I don’t exactly think this was the best way to do it,” Natalie sighed sympathetically.

     “Don’t worry,” Julia reassured her, taking another sip from her teacup, “as long as you can still feel him squirming under there, he’ll be fine.”

     “Uhn…” Natalie murmured anxiously, rethinking her actions. “Maybe I should let him up…”

     “No, now you can’t go back on his punishment,” Julia replied quickly, gently placing her own foot atop her sister’s to keep it in place.

     Gentle as she may have intended to be, however, the minuscule amount of weight Julia placed on Natalie’s foot increased the pressure on poor Tim exponentially; the tiny teenager belted an earsplitting scream in pain, his struggles only intensifying as he desperately tried to push back against his mother’s sole and reduce the weight pressing down on top of him.

     “Look, you’ve already taken the first step...” Julia continued, chortling uncomfortably from her previous statement, for once, not trying to be coy or crack a joke, “…Figuratively speaking. Now, you just have to be firm and follow through, or he’ll never learn. Once he calms down, you can let him up…but not before.”

     “Alright,” Natalie relented with a sympathetic sigh. “Are you sure about this whole discipline thing, Jules? I-I still have some doubts…”

     “Absolutely!” Julia affirmed enthusiastically, setting her teacup back down on the table. “This is a golden opportunity to make sure that your son, and my nephew, ends up a well-adjusted, and well-behaved, little boy. I mean, come on, aren’t you the least bit excited for all the good this’ll do for Tim….and YOU, for that matter? From now on, things are really gonna change around here.”

     “Oh, I think things have already changed around here, Jules,” Natalie affirmed. “In fact—“

     Natalie suddenly stop talking mid-sentence, hit by an unexpected sensation: all of Tim’s frantic struggling and squirming was sending tingles through her sole, and Natalie was surprised at how pleasurable the sensation was.

     “Mm…” Natalie uttered with contentment, “…you know, i-it does feel kinda good having him squirming around under there.”

     “I told you,” Julia chuckled with a eager smile.

     “Yeah…I mean, it feels so…weird,” Natalie added, pondering the queer sensations she was feeling. “It…It’s like having my own, little, foot massager.”

     “Uh huh,” Julia nodded, prodding her sister a little further, “and just think what it’ll be like having Tim do this for you every time he acts out or misbehaves this weekend…”

     “Hm…,” Natalie uttered, giving Julia’s proposal a little thought, “…you know, it….would be nice to have a relaxing weekend after such a long week...

     “There ya go…” Julia kept prodding.

     “Plus, my feet are kinda sore and tired after all the running around I’ve done…” Natalie continued, placing her right foot in her lap and gently rubbing her sole, unaware that she had just shifted her weight onto her left foot, making Tim scream and squirm even more frantically than he had been.

     “See?” Julia pushed confidently, her point validated. “Now you’re getting it. Don’t you think you deserve to take some time for yourself? Think of foot mas-sag-es…”

     “We-ell…” Natalie pondered reluctantly, “…I guess it wouldn’t hurt to hold off giving Tim the antidote for….a little while longer. Plus, I could take Monday off, too…I’ve put in enough time at the lab this week. I could just stay home and work on my grant proposal…AND Tom won’t be home until at least Thursday morning…”

     “That’s the spirit!” Julia commended, “And that’s just for starters: now that you have an antidote AND can make more of that shrinking formula, if Tim’s ever bad in the future, you can just…shrink him down again.”

     Julia made a gesture with her thumb and index finger with the end of her statement, bringing them together in a shrinking motion.

    “Oh, I couldn’t do that…” Natalie dismissed initially, her demeanor quickly shifting as she took a few, brief moments to mull over her sister’s statement. 

     “…co-could I?” Natalie inquired with hesitation.

     “Why not?” Julia shrugged. “It’d be a great incentive for Tim to keep up his good behavior and not fall back into any bad habits. Just think, you’ll have the best, most well-behaved kid in town.”

     “Well, let’s just settle for him helping out around the house, for now,” Natalie chortled.

     “That’s right,” Julia added, “and you’re gonna need it…especially with all the time you’re gonna be spending winning awards and giving acceptance speeches.”

     “Hey, you’re right,” Natalie affirmed perkily. “I DO do have accolades coming, don’t I?!”

     “You know what, I think it’s calls for a toast,” Julia announced, quickly getting up from the table and scurrying across the room to the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of champagne she’d placed in there earlier that day to chill.

     “I was planning on saving this until you won the Nobel prize or something,” Julia said, grabbing a couple glasses from one of the kitchen cabinets, “but this is a good a time as any to celebrate.”

     Julia set the glasses down on the table and carefully unwrapped the cork; when it finally popped, Natalie was so startled she unintentionally jerked, shifting the weight on her foot again, and causing Tim to scream hysterically in pain. Unfortunately, neither Natalie nor Julia heard the shrunken teenager’s muffled cries as Julia poured the foaming champagne into their awaiting goblets.

     “Alright,” Julia continued, proudly raising her glass. “A toast to my brilliant sister….and her upcoming Nobel prize.”

     “Thanks, Jules,” Natalie chortled, blushing with embarrassment as she raised her own glass, “but I haven’t won it yet.”

     “Yeah, but you will…” Julia affirmed with a huge grin.

     “…And to Tim,” she continued, gesturing with her glass towards Natalie’s foot, and tiny teenager trapped underneath it, “who helped make all this possible.”

     Natalie’s sighed with whimsy over her Julia’s witty bravado, wondering what she was ever going to do with her sister.

     The two women each gulped down from their respective glasses of champagne and set them back down on the table; then, they both turned their attentions back down to the floor, each one cracking a satisfied grin as they thought about the tiny teenager still struggling under Natalie‘s bare foot.

     “So,” Julia chuckled, “how’s our little foot massager doing?”

     “You know, I AM gonna have to let him up at some point, Jules,” Natalie sighed cynically.

     “I know, but what’s the harm in letting him squirm for a bit while we finish chatting?” Julia queried, retaking her seat. “You know, you’d be amazed at how resilient Tim is at that size.”

     “Mm hm,” Natalie uttered with distaste, crossing her arms as she leaned back in her seat. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t the first time Tim’s been under someone’s foot this week? You know, aside from that little incident on Sunday.”

     “Well, I had to punish him somehow,” Julia shrugged, downplaying her sister’s disapproval. “You’d be surprised how effective it can be.”

     “Uh huh,” Natalie uttered disdainfully, “and just what other punishments have you been trying out on Tim this week while I’ve been at my lab slaving over this antidote, Jules? Did you leave him in your slippers while you were doing all the housework?…Or maybe you stuck him in one of your shoes while you went out for a run?”

     “Oh, come on, sis,” Julia replied with chagrin, crossing her legs and leaning back in her seat. “Gimme a little credit. Besides, it’s not like I was punishing him 24/7…only when he misbehaved.”

     “Right….then I suppose there aren’t any more ‘incidents’ that happened this week that I should know about, hm?” Natalie inquired dubiously.

     Julia hesitated as she adjusted her rear in her seat. Should she really tell Natalie how she had to covertly peel Tim off her ass after Natalie accidentally sat on him the prior evening while she and Julia had been watching movies, and then had to play it off, claiming she was just brushing a piece of lint off the back of Natalie’s pants? Of course, Julia would be then have to admit to sneaking Tim back into his cage and tucking him into bed without Natalie realizing, making her think the tiny boy had just passed out because he was so depressed from having to stay shrunk another night.

     “Nope, you’ve pretty much heard it all,” Julia replied deceptively with a indifferent shrug. “Besides, Tim practically spilled his guts out to you a few minutes ago. I sincerely doubt he’d be holding anything back at this point.”

     “Uh huh, I’m sure…” Natalie replied dubiously. “So tell me, Jules, if you weren’t punishing Tim 24/7 as you claim, exactly what HAVE you and Tim been doing to keep yourselves entertained this week?”

     “Oh, you know…” Julia chuckled uncomfortably, placing one of her hands upon Natalie’s, “…Just…just some things to help pass the time.”

     “Oh, yeah?” Natalie uttered, her interests peaked. “Like what?”

     “Oh, watched some TV…did a little working out…” Julia replied coyly, trying to change the subject. “More champagne? I’d love to discuss some of the awards you’re gonna be up for…”

     “Julia…” Natalie said sternly, knowing her sister was holding things back. “…What are you not telling me?”

     “Come on, sis,” Julia chortled. “Some things a woman likes to keep to herself.”

     As the two giant women chatted above, discussing the family’s impending fame, the situation at hand, and the advantages of having a tiny teenager in the house, poor Tim was left squirming and writhing beneath his mother’s wrinkled sole, screaming muffled cries for mercy. 

     If only the tiny boy could’ve heard what the two giant women were talking about—the ideas that Aunt Julia was planting into his her mother’s head to punish her tiny son and shrink Tim again if he ever misbehaved in the future, practically turning him into a shrunken servant; and the plans that Julia was discussing to basically torment her nephew, her plans to visit more frequently, and her unspoken plans to secretly use the tiny boy as some kind of living sex toy to pleasure herself without his parents’ knowledge—maybe it would’ve truly prepared Tim for what was to come.

     Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. Tim’s nightmare of being stuck an inch tall for the foreseeable future was coming true. In time, he’d would eventually come to accept the unrelenting torment that lay ahead of him as events unfolded, and would soon find himself practically subservient to his entire family for the rest of his teenage life.

     Perhaps, one day, he might take solace in the fact that his mother had made one of the most important medical discoveries in history, or that his parents’ impeding wealth and fame would ensure a bright, financially secure future for him…or maybe, in the interim, he could just be thankful he didn’t have any siblings who could also torture and torment him in his shrunken state. Maybe things would get better once he graduated and, hopefully, went away for college, leaving this whole shrinking business behind him…but all that was a long way off.

     For the moment, the one thing that Tim did know for sure as he struggled desperately beneath his mother’s bare, wrinkled sole, was that his shrunken nightmare was far from over.

     His tiny troubles were only just beginning…