Fuck.

Parker curses to himself as he silences the alarm of his phone for the 3rd time this morning.  Parker hates mornings, mostly because he hates the days that follow.  He is faced with another day of the stereotypical grind; the days that eventually evaporate from one’s mind mere weeks after they have happened. 

C’mon, man. Get it together. It’s Friday.

Literally dragging himself out of bed, Parker lazily stumbles into the shower and follows his daily routine, which includes shaving and picking out an outfit that will hopefully merit some attention from the women at his office.  Finally deciding on a gray polo and tan slacks, he heads out the door and walks to the bus stop.

On crowded mid-spring bus rides such as this, Parker is sometimes lucky enough to see a stunningly beautiful woman, the kind that makes him wish that he would have the charm to find himself a partner in that instant. 

Almost immediately after stepping onto the bus, Parker spotted a confident-looking 20-something sitting in an aisle seat around the middle of the bus.  He was immediately struck with a curiosity as to why she was on this dirty, stuffy bus, not fanning herself at some entrepreneur’s mansion in the tropics.  Parker avoided making nervous eye-contact with this woman, but took a seat to the back-right of her.  He took a few (overly) long looks at her, from her shining blonde hair to the perfectly French-pedicured toes teasing him from her heels. 

These looks continued until his stop came, which coincidentally happened to be hers as well, as it was in the middle of downtown.  Parker stood up and got behind his newfound crush in the line to pay and leave the bus. 

Holy shit.

As he stood up, he noticed something about the woman that he missed during the roughly 30-minute ride.  She was tall.  Really tall.  Even without heels, Parker figured that she was easily above 6 feet tall.  Although he stood at a modest 5’10, Parker was more than intimidated by this amazon, being treated to a close-up look of her exposed upper back, which was about at eye-level for him.  The sweet scent of her perfume, mixed with a hint of sweat from the long bus ride, wafted into his nostrils.  His sights headed downward, past the dramatic curves of her ass, down to those man-killing heels, containing those perfect feet that he swore must have been 2-3 sizes bigger than his. After a few moments of gazing from Parker and ignorance to his presence by the goddess, she reached the bus driver and began to pull bills out of her purse to pay her bus fare. She casually stuffed a $5 bill into the machine, to which it proceeded to angrily spit the excess change out of the coin slot. Without saying a word, the woman tried to cusp her large hands together to catch all of the quarters, but naturally, a few fell to the floor.  Hoping to appease his new goddess, Parker clumsily dropped to his knees before the woman, and fumbled around while collecting the quarters. After he gathered every quarter and somewhat composed himself, Parker looked at the sight before him.  And heavens, it was a sight.  Right in front of him was the amazon's glistening toes, sweating from being squished together in the heat, nearly commanding his worship and affection.  He looked up past her titanic tan legs. And up. And up.  He was then met with her scowling face, scoffing at the little man at her feet who was so desperately trying to win her approval. At this harsh look, Parker shot up, albeit not very far; the woman's large breasts met him at the top, which were hardly constrained in her dress.  Quickly realizing that he was making the situation even worse by staring, Parker looked up at the statuesque woman, who, craning her neck down at him, snatched her quarters out of his little hands and strutted off of the bus, leaving Parker in a trance-like state of embarrassment.

I guess it's my fucking fault anyway to have sat by her. Like anything would have happened.

Parker put his head down, marveling at the unusual situation that life just threw at him.  He felt smaller and lonelier than ever.  He then stepped off of the bus headed to work, feeling fairly emasculated for so early in the morning.  

“Parker! Hey! How are you?”

God.

“Hey, Patricia.  Hanging in there.”

Patricia.  Eccentric, flirty, irrational, moody, and smart all at the same time.  Sure, she was attractive.  However, what was initially quirky and exciting to Parker turned into strange and annoying.  It really didn’t matter what he thought, however, because Patricia happened to be Parker’s boss.   

Parker did have many reasons to be grateful for Patricia.  She was, in fact, the one who gave him a chance.  About a year ago, Parker, a fresh college graduate, timidly walked into an interview with her for an open position with the company.  It was about his 11th job interview that month, and he had no reason to believe that this one, a job with a small event planning company, would be any different than the others.  Until he met Patricia.

“God, my feet are KILLING me,” Patricia erratically complained immediately after shaking Parker’s hand upon entering her office.  “I hope you don’t mind if I slip my flats off.  I went hiking over the weekend, shit gets rough.”

“That’s, er, okay,” Parker responded, shocked as much by her informality as her youth and beauty.

Stretching out her legs under the table and wiggling her toes around as if they’ve just awoken from a long rest; Patricia took a deep breath and casually said, “Alright.  What’s your deal?”

“I, um…I had experience planning a charity fundraiser in college.”

“Not that. I’ve seen your resume. I want to know you. Your personality.”

Looking down to think about the question, Parker’s eyes wandered to her discarded ballet flats, which looked worn to shit.  He could clearly see five indentations in the top of the sole, likely from long, humid days walking around the office such as this one.

“Earth to kid! C’mon, spit it out.”

Shocked out of his absent-minded trance, Parker answered, “Well…I am a pretty easy-going guy.  I am big into music and baseball.  I’m not a morning person, but I’m working on it…”  Parker ran out of things to say and trailed off.  Luckily, Patricia was there to pick up the conversation.

The rest of the interview was spent discussing tastes in music, hobbies, and current events.  Parker eventually loosened up, as is the case when he meets a woman as accessible as Patricia.  He was hired on the spot.

For the first couple of months, Patricia could do no wrong.  Parker loved her sporadic ways as much as her meticulously applied makeup and cute outfits.  Her unpredictability included everything from blasting Bowie for the entire office to hear to leaving tasks for Parker on notebook paper and slipping them onto his desk, as if they were schoolchildren.

After that, however, he found that her scattered ways did not transition well into an office setting.  She often micromanaged him and turned out to be quite a flirt, which bothered Parker, who though that the attention that she gave was specific and unique.  She often would overload him with work and would only give him more when he couldn’t keep up.

Among one of the more specific events that led to Parker’s eventual distaste of Patricia occurred after a wedding that his business had planned.  The event had run all day; Patricia and the team began setting up around noon that day, and did not finish until midnight.  Parker however, finished about a half an hour later than that.

He was sitting on a chair at one of the dinner tables, packing up his belongings when Patricia, dressed to the nines as always, plopped down next to him.  Without acknowledging his presence, she removed her right shoe and began inspecting her foot.

“These heels seriously feel like someone is driving a stake into my feet.”

Parker only nodded in response, taking notice of the way that the ballroom lights reflected off her feet, most likely due to perspiration.  He tried not to imagine how they smelled after such a long and arduous day.

He was about to find out.

“Could you PLEASE rub them for me??” Patricia sweetly said while thrusting her soles into his lap, nearly knocking the phone out of his hand.

God, they actually smell. Bad. She’s still my boss, though. I’ll just do it so she’ll let me go home.

For what seemed like an eternity, Parker worked his hands through Patricia’s soft soles, the sweat acting as pre-applied massage oil.  He braved the smell, the curious looks of the ballroom workers, and her occasional soft moans until she let him go home, with just a quick, “Thanks Parker!” 

A few more incidents like that and her increasing tendency to give him shorter deadlines for his work tired Parker of her presence in his life.  Regardless, she is the reason that he can pay his rent.  She still acts as she did the day of the interview, still as bubbly and energetic as ever.

“That’s great!” Patricia responded to his flat answer about his mood as if he just told her that he just scored a touchdown at the Super Bowl and delivered a baby in the end zone.

“Uh, yeah. I’ll get that flyer to you by noon, okay?”

“Okay! And try to draft that request to the firm, alright?”

“Sure thing,” Parker responded, trying to not let his voice imply how big of an undertaking the request was.  He shuffled his way to his cubicle, passing his cubicle-neighbor, Victoria, on his way. 

“Yo,” Parker greeted her.

“Yo.  You going to that party tonight?”

“Probably not. Long week.”

“All the more reason to go! God Parker, you need to let loose one of these nights.  I can visibly see you wearing down into nothingness.”

“Ugh, maybe.  I’ll think about it.”

“Pick me up at 10.”

“What?”

“Just do it.  It’ll be rude if you stand me up at this point,” Victoria said with a quick smile and a wink.

Parker smiled back and rolled his eyes, implying that he would go, albeit begrudgingly.

Victoria, a hipster of sorts, always knew about some house party on any given weekend.  Although she is a very sweet and cute girl, Parker and she have simply been friends ever since she started at the company.  He would go as far to say that she was his best friend at the office.  He always felt comfortable in her presence, an oddity for the anxious mind of Parker.  They often made small talk over coffee and went to the occasional party.  At first he would have liked to “make a move,” whatever that was, but he mindfully slipped into platonic feelings for her, for fear of ruining a relationship with one of the few people at the office that he could actually bear.

The pace of the rest of the day slowed to a crawl; Parker finished his work, feeling completely and utterly drained after killing himself to finish Patricia’s tasks.  He finalized his plans with Victoria and swung the bus home, the long, traffic-packed ride leaving him to his thoughts.

I fucking hate these parties.  Victoria always slips away with a guy, leaving me to awkwardly sit on a couch alone, watching tons of beautiful people pay me no mind.  And the drunk people. Oh, the enhanced alter-egos of the party-goers that might actually be decent people in real life.  Who knows.  Who cares.

Parker eventually decided that he wouldn’t leave Victoria hanging, but he would probably sneak home after she found someone to do drugs or hook up with or whatever the hell she does.  After showering, shaving, and assembling an outfit that somewhat treaded the line between casual and dressy, Parker fired up his car and drove to Victoria’s, still attempting to style his stubborn hair.

“Hot damn.”

“Oh, stop,” Victoria playfully jabbed as she climbed into Parker’s car.

Although he would never admit it to her besides through the clever quip, Parker loves when Victoria dresses up like she did that night.  Sporting leather boots that went up to the middle of her shins, Victoria’s legs were left exposed, giving way to a tiny skirt.  The rest of her getup left much to the imagination, a flowy top covering the torso of her tiny frame.  Her cute face was highlighted by bright red lipstick and soft-looking hair.

“You excited?!”

“Yeah,” Parker tried to enthusiastically respond.

“You’re such a poop. I’m letting you loose tonight.”

“Oh, are you?”

Victoria only gave a sly smile as she pulled a flask from her purse and took a heavy swig.

“What are you doing?!”

“Relax, I’m just getting a head start.”

Parker parked across the street from the location that the party was at, an area that was just outside the city.  Parker let out a heavy sigh as he could hear the thumping music escaping from the moderately sized apartment.  He was still feeling anxious as all hell, especially after he was already humiliated earlier in the day.

“Again, relax.” Victoria grabbed Parker’s hand and took him to the door.

After giving the party host a long hug, Victoria led Parker into the revelry, which was quickly escalating into one of those parties that you would see on a teenage, rated R comedy featuring heavy drinking and unadulterated sex.  Parker had to dodge beer spilling onto him multiple times, the partygoers already losing their collective balance and coordination

Fucking shit.

As if she could read his mind, Victoria yelled into Parker’s ear, “You need a shot!”

“I’m good!” Parker said with the full intention of driving home that night.

“No!”  The ever-persistent Victoria shouted back, and physically dragged Parker to the bar and poured him a shot.

One can’t hurt. Maybe it’ll get her off my case.

Parker threw the bitterly nauseating shot back, his body instantly warming up.

“There ya’ go! Let’s dance!”

A healthily buzzed Victoria shoved Parker into the dancing crowd, and he began awkwardly gyrating to the music.  However, he involved himself more with watching Victoria’s sexily majestic moves, which were slowly attracting the gaze of fellow partygoers.

She really knows how to work her ass, damn. Maybe this isn’t so bad. At least the DJ is spinning the new Daft Punk album.

Due to some impressive coaxing by Victoria, Parker even took a second shot.  And a third.  Fourth. Fifth.  Each request was easier for Victoria to make, who was trying to give him the much-needed getaway from his stressful life that he needed.  She sensed that he subconsciously wanted it too.

“YOU….Are great.” Parker threw down his seventh, or maybe ninth, shot.  The two friends were now at the bar after Parker nearly fell onto another girl while trying to show off his newfound dance moves.

“I try, I try,” slurred Victoria, slumping over the bar and scanning her eyes around the party, squinting in an attempt to distinguish what she thought was a familiar face, or maybe it was just a lamp.

“I gotta pee.”  At that, Victoria clumsily darted upstairs.  She pushed her way past the stares of interested men, the fact that she had to urinate becoming her entire universe at that very moment.

“I just knew, I just…knew! I needed this sooo much. Like what the fuck is a Patrisssha?  Bitch ain’t got shit right now!” Parker clearly didn’t register that his friend had left, and kept ranting expletives and making repeated assertions that indicated his new, liquor-induced confidence. 

“And the worst part was…I was kind of turned on by the whole ordeal!” Parker finished recapping his eventful morning on the bus to a complete stranger, who actually found the fact that this spaz of a man basically submitted to a woman during his morning commute quite amusing.  Pausing for a second, whatever was left of Parker’s sober mind reminded him that he came here with someone.

Wait, fuck. Where’s Victoria?! I knew that this would happen!

Although Parker was not thinking clearly, he wanted his friend back.  They were having a pretty good time when they were together; her absence pissed Parker off.  Normally, he would just retreat into a forgotten corner somewhere, or maybe even text her.  But this Parker, the one who has just entered the blissful escape that is granted when you lose count of your drinks, hastily acted on his impulsions.

“Victoria!” Parker shouted into the living room, which contained a weird smell and several people huddling around an apparatus emitting creamy smoke.  But no Victoria.

Parker spun around and made his way to the stairs, dodging a couple that he swore was approaching third base as he passed.  After conquering the stairs with the effort that he assumed would be required to climb Everest or Kilimanjaro, Parker was faced with a set of doorways at the top.  The hallway was mostly empty, besides a couple of people waiting in line for the bathroom.  Still no Victoria in sight.  Parker brushed past the bathroom line and grabbed the adjacent door’s handle, twisted, and threw open the door, expecting to see Victoria there, most likely fucking some guy.  Instead, he was overcome by a blinding white light, which to him felt like it overcame his entire body.

“Do you mind, bro?”

As Parker struggled to readjust his eyes to an actual well-lit room after partying in relative darkness for so long, he began to see a few guys playing video games and casually sipping beer.  Unlike Parker, they could handle their booze.  They also looked miffed; the guys were most likely friends of the party host trying to wind down after the wild night.  After staring confusedly at the frenzied military action on the TV screen, Parker remembered his original goal and hurriedly left the room and shut the door.  He then walked further down the hallway, and began to turn a corner towards a couple more rooms.

“WHAT THE HELL! YOU CRAZY FUCKING BITCH! NO! NO! THAT IS NOT…NORMAL!”

Just then, a crazed-looking man clothing himself with a pillow ran full-speed towards Parker, who just managed not to lose his footing as the man roughly bumped into him and continued down the stairs and out the front door.  Parker could not tell if the man was drunk, high, or tripped out, but the man just looked plain scared. 

Maybe if Parker was in a more controlled state, he would have noticed that the man was shaking and sweating as well, and his anxiety would have compelled him to turn the other way.  Inhibitions washed away, however, Parker was actually curious to find out what was hiding behind the open door at the end of the hallway.  Hell, maybe it was even Victoria scaring someone away with some unusual foreplay.

Parker soldiered on down the dark hallway, the echoing club music the only sound as he neared the door.  Not wanting to completely intrude like he did the last time, but still not caring enough to knock or call from the entrance, Parker slowly entered through door. 

What happened next nearly scared him sober.

There’s no fucking way.

Beyond the door, in the far corner of the room, was a large figure leaning over a dresser, fiddling with what seemed to be a little box.

The dress. The hair. Face. Legs. Toes. Everything. It’s her. 

It was the woman that Parker futilely adored.  The woman that he went to uncalled for lengths to appease.  The woman that embarrassed the hell out of him.  Despite all of this, it was the woman that seemingly was in the back of his head the entire day.  It was undoubtedly the goddess from the bus.

Only she was bigger.

Instead of fitting at a normal length, the dress that she was sporting earlier was threatening to expose her tightening underwear.  The seams were beginning to split along the torso.  Her boobs looked as if they would break free at any moment.  Those alluring heels were discarded near her increasingly mammoth feet, the heels looking rather small in comparison.

Before Parker had any chance to snap himself out of the hypnosis that the amazon unknowingly set on him, she slowly looked over to him, giving him a look that instantly made him understand why a man just sprinted out of the room in fear. 

“Have you ever wanted to feel strong, little man? Aren’t you sick of being everyone’s little bitch?”

Parker’s legs were locked; he was not leaving the presence of this goddess.  He’s not even sure if he was registering the purring questions from the woman.  What seemed like a billion other questions were crossing his hazy mind, like “How the hell is she here? Why is she bigger? Was something slipped in my drink? Does she remember me? Why am I even still staying here?”

“Come here.”

Parker was snapped out of his overdriven mind by the simple order, which he understood clear as day.  He timidly shuffled to her, the woman looking much taller to him as he approached.  He stopped about a couple strides away from her, and awaited her next order.

“Closer.”

Parker, with his head down, took two steps closer, his eyes reaching just short of her womanhood.  He was beginning to smell her distinguishably female scent, which became stronger with each deep breath that she took.

In a state of awe, he took one long and deliberate once-over of this ethereal woman.  He saw her beautiful feet and long toes, which were laughably larger than his. He followed his gaze up her legs, which mind-bogglingly about matched him in height, and further up past those perfect breasts and heavenly face, which were only magnified since he last saw her that morning.

As if she was waiting for him to finish fully admiring her, she then cupped his face with her massive, manicured hands and said, “We’re both going to do each other a favor, you understand little one?”

At that, the amazon took the small box and slid out two clear strips with her large fingers.  The strips looked like the dissolvable listerine strips that you could find in a drug store.  Despite Parker’s cluelessness, he knew that she was not trying to freshen his breath.

“I want you to take this with me.  This will transform you.  It will change your position in life.  It will force you to stop being pathetic. This will change your life, I can promise you that.”

Blankness.  The enormity of the situation was overpowering Parker’s very being.  His brain was struggling to make sense of anything at all.  The 10-plus shots of whiskey did not help either.  He was scared yet excited.  He was confused yet cognizant.  He was hesitant, but maybe, just maybe, he was willing.

With that, the gorgeously tall woman bent down and enveloped Parker in a deep, long, passionate kiss.  Her plush lips not only made contact with his lips, but with his lust, his dreams, the part of him that wanted another life, another chance.

This woman was full of surprises.

Not leaving Parker’s eye-level, the goddess whispered, “Take this trip with me.” She pulled his limp jaw down, and slid the strip in.  It quickly dissolved in Parker’s mouth.  Rising up to her majestic height, she did the same, with an eager smile.  

Dead silence. 

In this very moment, Parker belonged to this goddess.  She had encapsulated him mentally and emotionally with her beauty and allure of (literally) mass proportions.  Now, the immediate fate his entire physical being relied on her and what she just slipped into his mouth. 

In a state of flux, Parker made a desperate attempt at comprehending the present situation.  Parker didn’t know what to feel, or even how to feel about this situation.  He was irresponsibly drunk for the first time since, well, college.  Was that a good thing?  He was having a pretty good time until Victoria went on her bathroom adventure.  He finally did release at least some of the iron grip of self-restraint that he held on his emotions and actions.

But look at where it got me.

Victoria’s whereabouts were unknown, he was pretty sure that he no longer had his car keys, and he just took hard drugs from a mysterious woman who was shattering everything that he thought he knew about the human anatomy.  Parker’s all-to-familiar anxious mind began to reemerge and butt heads with the carless hyperactivity that had dominated his actions that night.

I…I have to get out. I think.  This can’t be right, or safe, or normal.  But what she was saying to me…did it make sense?

That’s when it hit him.

A sharp pain suddenly rattled Parker’s head, causing him to grab his head and grunt in pain.  The pain unrelenting, a fire-like sensation burned his entire body.  Doubled over in pain, Parker immediately knew that he had made an awful mistake. 

He momentarily lifted his head to the amazon and sputtered, “Wh…What…AH!”  Another severe pain twisted Parker’s abdomen.

Closing her eyes and biting her lip, the amazon tightly gripped the back of Parker’s head and forced him face-first into her thigh, obviously in great pain as well.

Wait, her thigh?

Suddenly becoming more perceptive, Parker could feel the woman’s impossibly long fingers inching further past his hair, her hands coming closer to wrapping his entire head.  His face squished against her leg, Parker was only able to sneak a glimpse of the ground below him.  Impossibly, her titanic feet were growing as well; she wiggled and gripped her toes against the hardwood floor as they lengthened and expanded.

A cold sweat broke out on Parker’s hurting body as he realized that this was it.  By some incredible means, she was unquestionably growing taller.  Regardless of what state he was in, he was in absolute disbelief.  As the amazon’s pained cries slowly began turning into pleasured moans, Parker was about to begin questioning the reality, or lack thereof, of the situation.  That was until he felt something sliding down his shoulders.

It was the V-neck that he spent so much time picking out to wear for the party.   

Parker’s eyes grew wide and he suddenly pushed off the giantess-in-becoming and tried to take a few frantic steps back.  However, he tripped out of his now clown-sized shoes and fell over backwards and onto his ass.

Parker had no thoughts; his head was exploding with panic and utter disbelief and his body was shattering with burning agony and pain.   Before he had time to realize the increasing speed of the unbelievable diminishing of his physical being, the amazon let out a mighty, satisfied exhale and turned her predatory sights on the dwindling man in front of her.  Her icy eyes scaring the shit out of him, Parker attempted to gain his footing, but he struggled as his heavy clothes weighed him down.

“You see, you were meant for this.  WE were meant for this.  Trust me; I need this as much as you do, tiny.” 

Accentuating the name “tiny,” the giantess forcefully kicked Parker’s discarded shoes out of the way with her colossal feet, the shoes looking kid-sized in contrast.  She gradually made her way towards the squirming Parker.  Struggling to slide out of his shirt, Parker hysterically darted his eyes around the room for something, anything, to help him.  Instead, he was only helped to the common sights of an apartment bedroom, but much larger, which only exaggerated his diminished scale.  He didn’t care if he was drugged or not, resorting himself to yelping cries of help.  No one heard.  Even if they did, they would have been too inebriated to understand his plea.

“You pathetic little bug. Help yourself for once.”

Free from the restraints of her now too-small dress, the goddess then bent all the way down, and with one mighty snatch chucked Parker’s clothes across the room.  Still on his ass, Parker desperately tried to create distance between him and the gigantic femme-fatale until he collided with a cold, hard object behind him.  His breathing reaching unhealthily high levels, Parker swung around to see what the roadblock was.

It was her discarded left high heeled pump.

About to yell in shock of the enormous piece of footwear, Parker was slammed to the floor by the massive foot of the amazon.  The foot, having powered through the day, from the bus, to the party, to now, was lightly coated with sweat.  In turn, it wetted Parker’s wriggling body.  Her pedicured toes were adjusting themselves to Parker’s head, which was beginning to become small enough to fit in between them and muffle his exasperated cries.  Parker struggled for air under the monstrous foot, breathing in the stuffy, smelly air in between and under the crevices of her toes.

The giantess slowly scrunched her toes onto his head, released, and repeated. “You’re just as fucking useless as you were 10 minutes ago. Are you still going to submit so easily at this size?”

She was testing him.  Pushing him.  How far would he go?

As his legs disappeared under her round, cushy heel, the woman smugly asked, “Why don’t you give me a few kisses? Tickle my toes a little and lick them? They’re dirty and might smell a little though. I’m sure that you will excuse me; it’s been a rather long and exciting day.”

Parker writhed, twisted, turned, and pointlessly mumbled for help, but was pressed firmly into the floor by the beautiful foot. 

“Kiss.”

His gyrations under the foot of the goddess slowed; the mighty appendage outlasting him.  Seeing the senselessness of struggling further and fearing the consequences if he did so, he gave her foot a small kiss.  And then another.  And another.  With each contact his lips made with with the soft underside of her foot, each taste of salty perspiration that entered his mouth as he began to use his tongue, each inhalation of her unforgiving foot smell, Parker fell further and further into his self-depreciating feelings of futility. 

“This is therapy, my tiny man.  You’ll see.”

As the foot above him began to become bigger and bigger, the smell intensifying as he became smaller, Parker struggled to comprehend the meaning of what the giantess was saying to him.  It really didn’t matter at the moment, however, and he knew that.  The pain in his body was wearing away, giving way to a further realization of the pressing situation at hand and how small he really was.  The foot was becoming unbearably heavy, until almost his entire body found refuge in the space between her big and second toes.  Parker’s eyes darted around his newfound space of confinement, finding only scattered bits of dirt and debris in the prints and wrinkles of the two impossibly huge toes. 

This can’t be real.

“Little guy? Don’t get lost in between my toes there!”  The amazon said with a giggle.

With that, the woman lifted her foot off of the minuscule figure of Parker, bent down, and plucked him off of the ground with her massive fingers and dropped him into her palm. 

“Wow! You really shrunk! You’re like really, really tiny. I didn’t know that the effect would be THAT drastic, I must have messed up your dosage! ”

Parker cowered in her gigantic palm, afraid of the absurdly larger-than-life face of beauty inspecting every part of his miniature body, still in utter shock and disbelief of recent events.

Her deep breaths warming his body, Parker mustered up the strength to weakly call out to the giantess, asking, “Wha….Why? Why…Why would you…How did you?! Change me back!”

“Hah!” The sudden exclamation by the woman startled Parker, who jumped in her hand.  “Isn’t it obvious? Has your teeny tiny brain learned anything yet? God, you’re even more helpless than I thought.  Something needs to be done.  As much as I’d enjoy it, I can’t play with you like this all night.” 

“Just…Just bring me to my friend!”  Parker pleaded to the goddess, shuddering at the thought of Victoria seeing him like this.  She was his best chance at safety in his current predicament, however.

“Oh, you have a friend? That’s perfect!  I’m sure that someone who knows you could give you a better…perspective.”

Sick of the giantess’s riddles and mind games, survival being the first thing on his mind, Parker breathlessly shouted back, “My phone…My phone! She might have texted!” 

“Hmmph.”  The woman caged her hands around Parker and moved towards his discarded pants, simultaneously giving him the most nauseating ride of his life.  She reached down and picked his phone from his pocket with her free hand.  Even she let out a small laugh as she saw how miniature the phone looked in her grasp.  At her touch, the phone illuminated, a text from Victoria highlighting the screen.

“Victoria.” The amazon read aloud, and judging by Parker’s muffled squeaks from inside her other hand, she assumed that she was the friend that he was speaking of.

“Well, it’s a tad bit hard to decipher what she’s trying to say with her obviously drunk jargon...but it seems as if she was trying to tell you not to wait up for her and that she was staying the night. Why don’t we check the bedroom next to us, huh little man?” 

Without waiting for a reply, the goddess strode towards the door, having to duck under it on her way through.  Aiming her sights to the door that was diagonal to the one that she had just left, her feet plodded on the ground as she slowly pushed open the cracked door.

“Well, well, well.  I remember when I used to get taken advantage of like this.”

Through the door was Victoria, passed out inside of of a tangled mess of sheets on a small bed, her feet peeking out from the ends of the covers.  Her makeup was smeared and her clothes, from her panties to her high-heeled leather boots, were strewn on the floor.  She clearly had an interesting night as well.  Furthermore, whoever she was with that night must have not had the decency to stay the night with her. 

“VICTORIA! VICTORIA!”  Parker screamed at the top of his lungs, prompting the giantess to open the impromptu prison of her hand to look at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that you’ll cross paths tomorrow,” she said with a devilish grin.  

“Just wake her up and give me to her! I’m fucking begging you!” Parker was nearing tears at this point.

“Aw, don’t cry little baby.  You’re putting a sour note on what is supposed to be a good thing for us. ”

“What do you mean?! I was just reduced to being your toe-jam just a minute ago!”  Parker was starting to lose his mind, his face growing red as he shouted at the gigantic women.

“There you go! Maybe there is hope for you after all.  Too bad, it’s just when I have to say goodbye to you.”

Parker then erupted into several desperate pleas while the goddess, paying him no mind, scanned her eyes across the room.  Her eyes landed on Victoria’s strayed boot. 

“Perfect.”

“What are y---” Parker trailed off as he was whisked through the air, stopping above Victoria’s well-worn shoe.

Before Parker had time to mentally connect the dots, his gorgeously evil captor said, “Until we meet again, my tiny friend,” and dropped Parker a considerable distance into the boot.  Parker let out a blood-curling scream as he dropped, slamming his head on the highest point of the shoe’s sole and tumbling down into the toe area.  The fall knocked him unconscious.

“Remember sweetie, put some aspirin in your coffee tomorrow and you’ll feel all better.”

Laughing at her own joke, the mysterious woman walked out of the room and towards the front door, casually brushing past a few gawking partygoers on her way out.     

*Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring!*

Parker groggily awoke to the far-off sound of a cell phone ringer.  Immediately groaning upon feeling a pulsing pain in his head, Parker lazily slapped the area around him for his phone.  About 20 seconds later, the ringing ceased, and he gave up.  Still suffering from extreme drowsiness from a long night and a near-concussion, Parker rolled around on the rubbery surface below him and attempted to return to sleep.

*Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring!*

Fuck.

Parker, frustrated, sat up and began to look around, this time with more diligence, for his phone.  Slightly put off by the fact that not only was his phone not in his pants, but that he didn’t have any pants at all, Parker decided to stand up to continue his search.  His memory was incredibly hazy; all he remembered at this point was the constant shots of whiskey and dancing with Victoria.  He awkwardly smiled at the possibility that he might have finally gotten with a woman the night before.  Always hoping to escape his loneliness, he hoped that she would still be around and he could muster up the strength to ask her to breakfast or something.  The annoying echo beginning to fade, Parker stood up and tried to take a step forward, but slipped on the moist ground and lost his footing.  Nearly falling and reinjuring his head was enough to begin to make him more alert and question what exactly happened that night.

Is it even still night? I can’t see shit in here.  My head…This can’t all be from drinking, can it? And the smell! Is that me, or this room? Plus, it’s stuffy as all hell in here.  The ground is wet and it definitely isn’t soft or pillowy enough to be a bed.  I need to get out of here; Victoria can’t be too far away, can she?

Like a locomotive train, Parker’s mind began to roll faster and faster, his nervousness prompting him to ask more and more questions to himself.  He knew that he shouldn’t have gone out last night; it never ends well.  The stench in the room slowly beginning to make him nauseous, Parker regained his footing and made a beeline in a random direction to try to find any exit of some kind.  He didn’t get very far, however.   Parker’s foot, as if he was stepping into a pothole, missed the ground and landed much further down than he intended, causing him to lose his balance once again.

“Ah!” Parker exclaimed in surprise, increasingly becoming more upset and confused at his predicament.  “Hello! Victoria? Anybody?”  Parker’s calls went unanswered; he was going to have to fix this mess himself.  Trying to ignore his aching head, he started by bending down and inspecting the craterous obstacle in front of him.  “God!” Parker shot back up after noticing that the cheesy smell became significantly stronger as he neared the ground.  “Jesus, HELLO!” Parker yelled again for help, but was given a response that he wasn’t looking for.

*Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring!*

This time, the ringing was accompanied by another set of noises.  Again coming in as a far-off overhead echo, Parker could clearly hear ruffling sounds and what sounded like of a hand slapping around on a table.

“H…Hello?”

“Victoria!” Parker happily called out, easily recognizing a voice that he heard almost five days a week.  Her voice sounded as distant as the ringer did.  But like the ringer, the sound was all-encompassing, rather than sounding like it was coming in from one direction. 

“Oh, shit! I mean…Yeah! I can come a little earlier.”

That must have been her phone; I better change my ringtone.  That’s right, she had to set up and work a high school prom tonight with Patricia.  Victoria isn’t the best at times and dates. Thank god I’m off this weekend.

“No, no! I just…Stayed up a little late watching Netflix and slept in, that’s all.”

It must be Patricia.  That woman could even tell if you were lying about what you ate for breakfast that morning. 

“Okay, bye.”

“Victoria! Do you know where my stuff is? I can drive you there.”  For the first time, Parker was struck by how little his voice carried.  He somehow knew that she wouldn’t have heard him.  Parker was about to try to walk further across the cryptic room, this time without hurting himself, until the very ground beneath him began to rumble and vibrate.

What the hell was that?

The sudden vibration ceased for a second, then reemerged, this time it was more powerful.  The earthquake-like sensations became stronger every time they occurred, until they gave way to a chilling stillness and silence.  The silence resembled that of a moment in a horror movie before a ghost or monster suddenly pops up and scares the protagonist.

“Damn that bitch pisses me off!  That doesn’t even leave me time to go home and change.” 

Oh my god.

This time, Victoria’s voice sounded louder, as if her voice was projecting itself across Times Square to hear.  The unusual sensation of hearing a large, powerful voice triggered a twitch in Parker’s brain, unearthing a few memories.

Wait, wait.  Victoria left to go to the bathroom, then…I told my bus story to that guy…That woman! Shit! I ran into her, then what? God, was I drugged last night?

Parker didn’t have much time to think about it, Victoria’s overwhelming voice beginning to fill the room yet again.  “Hey, Parker.  I’m not sure where you went last night…but I hope you’re okay!  I ran into a few issues of my own; maybe you were luckier than I was.  I’ll scan around the house for you, but your keys are in my purse and I have to go to that damn prom in a half an hour.  I won’t even bitch to you though, I know that Patricia is harder on you.   I know that you live close to the banquet center, so I can swing it back whenever you need it though, just call me back. Bye!”

Why is she leaving a message on my…“AHHH!”  

The entire room that Parker was in was violently swung upwards; twisting Parker’s stomach as if he just went steeply upwards on a rollercoaster.  Without any warning, light beamed into his room.  Parker, his heat thumping out of his chest in fear, squinted to make out a large pale mass that was rapidly approaching him.   If Parker’s eyes could have adjusted faster, he would have noticed that the “mass” was five impossibly gigantic, fleshy, threatening toes rushing towards him.  Instead, he was unwaveringly smushed by the mass into the rubbery surface of the room.  Parker’s entire body was locked into place; the pressure that he was experiencing was unlike anything that he had ever felt before.  To make matters even worse, that now-familiar, unpleasant smell increased ten-fold.  The whole ordeal forcibly uncovered the rest of Parker’s memories.  In that instant of contact, the entire night flashed before his eyes.  The amazon.  The growing.  The ambiguous dialogue.  The shrinking.  Hovering above Victoria’s boot.

“NOOO!”  Parker cried in anguish as he quickly realized that he was under the massive feet of his coworker.  The shock was enough to have induced a heart-attack, but Parker was lucky in that respect.  Again, Parker’s thoughts even overpowered the pain that he was feeling in his entire body; the sheer scale of his friend boggled his mind.  He became overwhelmingly scared of his coworker, whose tiny feet were now powerful enough to crush entire cities.  He was now cowering under her toes, terrified that the moment that she shifted her foot around he would lose the safety of the lessened pressure there. 

Victoria, the unknowing giantess, quickly walked around the house, temporarily ignoring the small bump under her right foot because of the rush she was in.   Convinced that Parker had either taken a taxi home or gone home with a girl, she walked outside and made her way towards his car.  She was legitimately happy for him; she remembered him laughing and dancing the past night.   

Meanwhile, Parker was fighting for his life inside of Victoria’s boot.  Amidst all of the jarring rising and falling of her steps, Parker was able to grab onto her second toe, pulling himself out from being completely under her toes.  Afraid that he’d plunge back into the oblivion, he hugged her toe and held on for dear life.  Having his face pressed against this amazonian appendage, the perspiration from a long night of dancing stuck to his bare skin, the smell just as intolerable.  He was in awe of the situation that he was in, reduced to the size of an insect, relying on his coworker’s pretty toe for survival.

Victoria reached Parker’s car, started it up, and headed towards the local banquet hall to begin setting up for the prom.  Whatever was under Victoria’s toes had now made its way in between them and over her second toe, Victoria becoming more conscious of it as the ride went on.   She began to idly toy with it and try to figure out what it was. 

I physically can’t take much more of this.

The air becoming scarcer in the boot, Parker realized that he was in legitimate danger of suffocating inside her boot.  As the ride went on during the hot spring day, Victoria’s toes began to sweat more and get hotter with each push of the gas pedal. To make an awful situation even worse, Victoria began to grind her toes together, the massive pillars manhandling Parker’s tiny body.  Still having a decent grip on her toe, Parker was able to think a little more rationally.  To not do so would be life-threatening.

She must notice that I’m here.  If I move too much, she could freak out and think I’m a bug or something.  I’m going to have to pray that she doesn’t plan on setting up in these shoes.

Luckily, the ride was only fifteen minutes long, which bought Parker more time to escape his predicament.  Already being 30 minutes late, Victoria grabbed her bag and fast-walked into the banquet hall, the event already half set-up.  Parker’s arms were growing tired and he was becoming light headed; he was not too far from passing out inside the boot.

“I can see that you had quite an exciting night with Netflix, huh Victoria?”

Parker heard the muffled voice of Patricia from high above.  He almost had an anxiety attack at the thought of his now-gigantic boss.

If she saw me at this size…I don’t even want to think about what she would do. 

“Uh, yeah.  The Game of Thrones finale was pretty wild,” Victoria fell far short of convincing in her response. 

Patricia rolled her eyes and responded, “Alright.  We have 500 kids coming here in a few hours, I need you to run to the truck in the back and start running supplies back and forth.  Are you up for it? You might want to change shoes,” gesturing towards the obviously-painful heels of Victoria’s boots.  She was oblivious to the fact that her miniscule employee was in there, beginning to see spots and lose consciousness.

“Yeah, I keep a spare pair of flip-flops when I go out…I mean, for stuff like this!”

“Honey, just go.”

Flustered and embarrassed, Victoria sped off to a nearby dinner table and set her bag down. She pulled out a pair of worn-out flip-flops, no doubt having braved many drunk nights where she became fed up with heels but still didn’t want to walk around barefoot.

Parker, meanwhile, fought to stay awake.  At this point, the godly voices became registering as low, incomprehensible roars in his head. 

I…I can’t stay…aghh…

As Victoria finished removing her left foot from the constraints of the boot and replacing it with a colorful flip-flop, Parker’s grip on her toe loosened, his body and mind falling flat.  Oxygen had almost completely run out inside the boot.  Everything went black for Parker.  He had given up.

“Let’s go, Victoria!”  Patricia shouted from across the room.

“Okay! Bitch,” Victoria cussed under her breath as she began to hurriedly remove her right boot, forgetting about the nuisance in her shoe.  She pushed her boots in a pile with her bag under the table for the time being. She took a deep breath, simultaneously enjoying the comfort of the sandals, yet dreading the night ahead. She then headed off in the direction of the truck, leaving Parker in a helpless heap in her boot, albeit with more breathing room. 

The next few hours were absolutely chaotic for Victoria, who didn’t even have time to do simple things, such a check her phone or get some air.  She cursed Patricia’s existence every step of the way.  Despite her spunkiness, she needed the job, and wouldn’t say anything until she had another one lined up. Before she knew it, the chefs were preparing the teenagers’ dinners in anticipation of their arrival, Parker still alone and out cold in the depths of her shoe.  

Parker spent most of his life in fear.  Fear of rejection.  Fear of pain.  Fear of something bigger than his existence.  Quickly, Parker increasingly found out, fear led to loneliness.  From there, fear cemented his life into a state of seclusion.  He desperately wanted to escape the depression that had tormented him in his late teens into present day, trying therapy, even antidepressants, to no avail.  After so many failed attempts at breaking free, Parker seemed destined to live his life as so many people do – as one of many.  He would fulfill his purpose.  He would go to work, pay his taxes, and basically function as a miniscule part in the greater machine that is society.  The question is; is each small part essential?  Would the balance of the world be swayed if one part was rendered incapable of doing its job?  What is Parker’s importance, if there is any?  This was unclear, possibly irrelevant as Parker was dangerously unconscious in the dark depths of his eccentric friend’s boot.

“I heard that it does weird shit to you, like beyond the physical stuff,” A dirty blonde-haired girl in a sea-green dress said in a gossipy tone.

“My sister’s best friend’s cousin knew somebody who died from taking it!” A cute-looking redheaded girl said, the entire table of about eight girls letting out a collective gasp at this news.

“Guys, please.  A drug that supposedly grows and shrinks people? Why are we even talking about this?  I mean, there’s drugs that make you see some crazy stuff, but that’s serious bullshit.  I’m sure that someone just had a bad trip.” A cheerleader-type blonde in a fitting burgundy dress cattily said.

“But what if some of those rumors are true… I mean, it can’t be too far off, right?  Steroids do some wild things to your body size,” the blonde in the sea-green dress said questioningly.

“Like shrinks guys’ penises!” The red-haired girl exclaimed, the table erupting in a fit of laughter.

One girl, a tall, brown-eyed brunette in a strapless white dress, perked up and leaned over the table, saying, “But…how funny would that be, even if it isn’t true?  Imagine shrinking your boyfriend if you got mad at him or something?”

“Too bad you don’t have one, Ava!” The burgundy blonde said, sending the table into another laughing fit.  Upon seeing Ava flush red, she said, “Awe, c’mon.  I’m sure that we’ll find you someone to dance with tonight.”

“Yeah…I hope so.”  An awkward silence filled the table as Ava sadly responded.

“Speaking of…Dinner’s over, so…Let’s go dance or something!”  The redhead suggested, to which the table quickly responded by erupting into a quick session of reapplying their make-up and primping their hair.  

“What’s this shit under the table? I need to put my stuff somewhere,” The burgundy blonde said.

“Just shove it out of the way, Colleen.” the girl in the sea-green dress said.

Colleen, brushing her straightened blonde hair out of her face, carelessly kicked a large purse accompanied by two tall boots out of the way and further under the table.  The boots were overturned and the bag was as well, but it was luckily zipped shut so nothing fell out.  Regardless, the popular blonde hardly cared as she put her stuff in its place and resumed touching up her make-up.

Parker awoke to a strong case of sensory overload.  His entire world shifting and falling into place.  A blinding light.  Loud giggles and chatter from overhead.  This time, it didn’t take Parker long to remember that he was only inches tall, in his friend’s footwear, at a high school prom.  Light pouring into the abysmal boot, Parker realized that the boot was now on its side, so he wasted no time in literally sprinting to the exit of the enormous shoe for fear that the little fortune that was just granted to him would run out.  For psychological reasons, that may have not been the best idea.

Despite being greeted by some much-needed air, Parker’s glorious escape segued into another horrifying situation.  He wasn’t sure what to be more afraid of:  The sheer enormity of the underside of the round dinner table, a reference point for his new size compared to the outside of Victoria’s boots, the gauntlet of massive, strappy, high-heeled shoes surrounding the table, or a combination of the three.

Suddenly, there was mass commotion as the giantesses stood up from their seats, put their belongings back in their bags, and began to leave for the dance floor.  The ground shook violently with the ruckus, scaring the heck out of Parker.  However, what he saw next nearly stopped his heart.  An enormous blonde in a burgundy dress that left little to the imagination dipped under the table, commanding every bit of Parker’s attention.  He stood still in awe of the skyscraper-sized young woman.  Even bending down, she was still a sight to behold.  From her big and second toes peeking out of her heels to her billboard-sized face, she could have passed as the eighth wonder of the world.  For the first time, Parker came to the full and utter realization of how tiny he really was.  He was absolutely helpless.  She was far from noticing the stunned miniature person further under the table, however, slipping her make-up back in her bag and speeding away to catch up with her friends.

Holy fuck, I need to get my wits about me.

“Ava, come with us.  I know that you’ve had a rough couple of weeks, but this is your senior prom.  We’ll have some fun.”

“I’ll…I’ll catch up with you guys.  It’s okay, really.”

“Alright, honey.  I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Okay.”

Parker turned his attention to the other side of the coliseum-sized table in the direction of the loud voices overhead, where his opportunities for survival were starting to present themselves.  In the distance, there was a lone pair of legs, leading down to two oversized feet encased in classy, white heels that showcased two freshly pedicured feet.  Having learned from his experience with his now-gigantic coworker, he knew how precious time now was.  He was beginning to grow weak from malnutrition, but sheer adrenaline, a new sensation for him, was now driving his actions.  Parker quickly scanned the area around him and weighed his options.

Alright, there’s no way I’m staying anywhere near those god-awful boots. Even staying on the ground is a horrible decision at this point.  Her purse is way too big; there’s no way that I can climb onto it. Plus, it’s zipped closed.  Regardless, I need to find help soon.  She could come for her stuff now, or in five hours.  I can’t risk it.  But this girl…She doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere in the next 15 minutes or so.  Her handbag is on the ground, and it’s open and much smaller.  If I manage to avoid her feet and attach myself to something in her bag, she’ll have to see me.  From there, she can take me to Victoria.  At least I hope so.

Parker’s mind was working in ways that he never thought possible.  He was concerned with the fact that it took a near-death situation to do so, but he wasn’t complaining.  He was finally feeling something other than lackadaisical depression; he wasn’t sure how to feel about that either.  Afraid that her massive comrades would soon return, he shoved these conflicting thoughts out of his head and ran towards the handbag.    

As he jogged, the girl’s feet seemingly became bigger and bigger.  Parker slowed his pace as he neared the seemingly harmless pretty pair of feet.  It was almost cinematic as he gazed at the monstrous obstacles; chills were sent down his spine every time she scrunched or lifted her toes.  He was struck by the fact that something so innocent, like this girl’s feet, which she no doubt spent time pampering in preparation of this night, could end his very existence without her knowledge.  He felt insignificant.  Before he made a final sprint towards her bag, whatever monster that was in Parker’s head wrapped him in a sea of self-doubt and uncertainty.

One move and I’m dead.  Gone.  Squished like a fucking bug.   Hell, I was safer cowering by Victoria’s boots.  At least I would be crushed by someone that I knew.  Fucking hell.  I have nothing to lose anyway, I’m doing this.

With that, Parker took a heavy, quivering breath and raced towards the bag as if he was Usain Bolt himself.  He tried to ignore her intimidating feet as he passed them, the memories of his time with Victoria and the amazon’s feet still fresh in his mind.  Sweating and breathless, Parker amazingly made it to the base of the handbag.  Now out from under the cover of the table, Parker was struck with even more paralyzing shock as he saw the rest of the banquet hall from his new perspective.  He saw teachers, students, and event staff alike, all looming far above his head, taking impossibly long strides as they passed by further in front of him.  Although none of this of particularly good for his psyche, Parker continued to be lost in this new frontier, even craning his neck to the heavens to catch a glimpse of his potential savior. 

God, she’s beautiful.

Now, this young woman was a true goddess.  Wearing a pristine white dress, this girl looked straight angelic, with her hair cascading into curls past her bare shoulders.  As for her demeanor, however, she had her nose buried in her phone, looking uncomfortable and somewhat sad.  It took great effort for Parker to snap himself out of the trance that his surroundings were putting on him, quickly reminding himself that this sweet goddess was equally as treacherous, even if she didn’t know it.  Time was also of the essence.  Parker then focused on her open handbag, inspecting it for a way up.

Things are definitely looking up.

Parker’s newfound string of good luck continued, as he noticed that the bag had a colorful checkered design, each square roughly half his height.  The outline of every square was indented.  Parker had no trouble in figuring out what he had to do.  He speedily grabbed an indentation and pulled himself up, securing his feet on the indentation below him.  With a little bit of effort, Parker made it to the top of the bag.  He stood by the zipper and peered into the cavernous bag, noticing various cosmetics.

She has her phone in her hands. What is she likely to use or look at soon?

Parker’s thoughts were interrupted by the abrupt sound of sniffling from above. 

Is she…crying?   

Before Parker had a chance to find out, the girl scooted her chair out, stood up, and reached towards her bag.  Impulsively, Parker jumped into the bag with his arms open, as if he was jumping out of an airplane.  He managed to grab onto a thick, rod-like object.  As the girl zipped up the bag, he hugged the object like it was a tree that he was going to climb.  Parker’s luck was starting to run out, as the bag shot into the air, making Parker feel as if he entered zero gravity for a brief moment.

Putting her head down, the girl sped towards the bathroom, Parker struggling not to lose his grip and fall further into her purse, which would put him into another hazard where he could be crushed.  The young woman encountered a few curious stares as she burst into the empty bathroom.  With a bone-shaking thud, the handbag was slammed onto the sink counter. 

The music, the voices, all of the commotion ceased.  Stillness.  Quiet.

Soft weeping.  The beautiful girl looked into the mirror and cried.  It was unclear why; Parker clenched the object that he was on, closed his eyes, and prayed that everything would be alright.  The only sounds that he could hear was the girl’s weeping and the thumping of his heart.

This girl is my only hope right now.

The crying began to die down and the sink was turned on; the noise sounded like a waterfall to Parker’s ears.   After some more noises that Parker assumed was her washing her face, the water stopped.  This was followed by another eternal silence.

The calm was pierced by light illuminating the inside of the handbag as the pretty girl unzipped it.  Nervously shaking, Parker held his breath as two brobdingnagian fingers took an item next to him captive.  He heard a “click” as she opened whatever it was and another clank as she put it back in its place.

She must be doing her make----

Parker was squished into the object that he was holding onto, presumably by her thumb, and violently jerked into the air, his fear masking the sickness that his stomach was experiencing.  The girl was obviously was still upset, hastily making all of her movements.  He heard another “click,” followed by some quick twitching movements from the object. He also didn’t dare attempt to peek out and see what she was doing.  A brief moment later, Parker was not struck by fear; this time another feeling overcame his being.  It was a feeling of rationalization, a moment of clarity.  Some might even interpret it as courageousness.

“HERE!!! HEY! HELP!!! PLEASE!”

Parker screamed louder and longer than he had ever screamed before; he needed salvation.  And by god, he got it.

Unexpectedly, the girl, who was applying her mascara, quickly lowered her brush.  She looked down at it, and noticed that the brush, which she had been holding between her thumb and index finger, had a new attachment.  It was now squirming and yelling, trapped under her thumb.

“AH!”

The girl dropped the brush into the sink in shock.  She was so emotional that she hadn’t realized it when she picked her brush up.  Hell, maybe she was so emotional that she was now not seeing straight.  Despite this uncertainty, she looked at it with a mixture of horror, curiosity, doubt, and possibly…a small hint of excitement.  The conversation that she had before.  It couldn’t be.  She was sure that it wasn’t.  She brushed her hair out from her face, revealing her large, pretty brown eyes, and slowly leaned in closer.

What she saw defied everything she thought was possible.  What she saw would change her life.

It was true. 

The first few seconds after a massive bomb, or explosion, are very unique.  Time seems to literally stop, as if somebody pressed the pause button on everybody and everything involved.  There are hardly any feelings, let alone any thoughts, running through the minds of those affected.  The only sound that can be heard is a lifeless ringing, meaning nothing and everything at the same time.  These few seconds last longer than most people perceive an entire day.  What these unique and precious moments might stem from is almost impossible to tell.  Maybe it’s from an intense emotional state of disbelief, or maybe awe.   It’s possible, even, that it could be fear.  Fear in its purest, most destructive, form.

Whatever these immeasurable moments are, Parker and the beautiful girl in the white dress were trapped within them.  The girl, her wavy brown hair hiding parts of her face, had her gaze locked on the tiny creature in the sink.  She was immobile.  Parker was paralyzed as well, meeting her auburn eyes with his.  This was now a chess game, who would make the first move?  What would that move even be?  The decisive move came from neither Parker nor the girl.

Two girls burst through the bathroom door, chatting and giggling about the night’s recent events.  Whether or not they noticed that they just walked in on such an otherworldly situation is irrelevant, as the young woman swiftly snatched Parker with her giant fingers, enclosing him in the grasp of her palm without a squeak.  In a fit of nervousness, she speedily grabbed her handbag with her other hand and darted for the bathroom stall furthest away from the girls who just walked in.  She sat down in the stall and paused, leaving the tiny man in the prison of her hand.

Trapped in darkness yet again, Parker did not even attempt to struggle.  Beginning to regain whatever was left of his wits after such a long succession of intense sequences, he realized that whatever confident feelings that he had for the day were exhausted.  He was scared. 

Why is she not acknowledging me anymore? What’s wrong with her?

It began to cross his mind that this girl might not be as benevolent as he originally thought.   Parker began worrying again, fearing the worst.  After the experience with the amazon, he had seen what terror people were capable of.  He began to breathe heavier and heavier as her palm became clammy, or maybe it was him.  He didn’t care, as each second felt longer than the next.  He wanted the uncertainty to end, whatever the end result would be.

The girl stared at her closed hand.  She half expected that the minuscule man wouldn’t be there when she opened it.  Slowly, she placed her free hand under the one holding the man, so that she would be sure not to drop him when she released him.  Taking a long, deep breath, she lifted each finger one by one, uncovering the obviously-petrified man.  

Parker almost wished that he would have stayed near Victoria’s putrid boot as his captor slowly released her hold on him.  Regularly, contact with attractive women drove him into a pit of shyness.  Now, he was comfortably fitting inside of the palm of what was quite easily one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen, her attention undividedly on him.  The situation was even more awe-inspiring than any of his others at his diminished scale; the experience of such a titanic being holding and looking at you was almost too much to handle for him.  Sinking further into her palm, as if it would grant him some refuge, Parker looked up at the girl, fearing the worst.  She took a painstakingly long look at him, as if she was trying to fully wrap her mind around the situation before she made a move. 

Just…say something already, please.

Ever so slowly, her eyebrows rose.  Then, her plush lips began to curl upwards.  Parker was about to explode.

What is she…?

The girl quickly raised her free hand to her mouth to stifle…a laugh.  She never took her spotlight-like eyes away from the tiny man sitting in her palm, who was now thoroughly confused, but nonetheless still petrified.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  You’re just so…tiny! And…Where are your clothes?”  The girl whispered with a cute giggle, almost as if the idea of shrinking was not completely alien to her.  At this, Parker’s face again twisted with worry and embarrassment, and he pointlessly crawled back further in her smooth hand.

“No, no!  I’m not going to hurt you, little guy,” the brunette leaned in closer to Parker, her face softening as if she was looking at a newborn puppy for the first time.  She began to talk faster with her light and airy voice, getting more excited as she spoke.  “I’m sorry…I’m just a little surprised.  It’s real then, isn’t it?  When does it wear off?  You must have done it before.”  

What is she talking about?

Parker said nothing; he could hardly even breathe.  The girl was intimidating him to the point of silence.  Her eyebrows rose further with the anticipation of his answer.  When she received none, she let out a heavy sigh, her breath washing over Parker’s entire body like the warm summer air.  She finally broke eye contact with Parker, looking off to the side in an obvious state of thought.  After a few seconds, her face began to change.  Her look of curiosity and compassion turned into one of anger and disgust.  Parker’s impression of the girl as some impeccable goddess began to fade, his rational side telling him that he was dealing with a highly emotional teenager, which could be more dangerous than any angry amazon woman.

“Wait wait wait…is that what you people do? You spy on girls during the effect?  I’m so stupid...You’re just a perverted little bug! After the day that I’ve had?!”  The angel of a girl quickly flashed her mean side, her face looking even more humiliated than it did at dinner that night.  Parker swore that her eyes began to well with tears.  Again, another life-threatening situation trampled his uneasiness and cautious mind.  

“No, no!’ Parker screamed, partly in exasperation and partly to make sure that his emotionally unstable imprisoner would hear him.  At this, the massive young woman glared at Parker, her judging eyes ready for his rebuttal.  “I…I...I have no clue what you’re talking about!  I was slipped something last night and I woke up like this!  If…If you know how to reverse this…Please!  I’m just a cubicle worker!”  Parker pleaded, even begged for her understanding, eventually hanging his head with the all-too-familiar feelings of uselessness overcoming his efforts.

Wiping her eyes, the goddess-like girl flatly stared at the quivering man in her palm, internally debating over his fate, which was now literally in her hands.  She was in a jam.  The appearance of the situation told one story, the man’s words and demeanor told another.  Parker struggled to read her; her different expressions telling conflicting stories.  One minute she seemed like she wanted to cuddle with him, another minute crush him with those sophisticated heels of hers.   He didn’t know if it was because of her apparent curiosity with the mythical drug, the occasional lustful look in her eyes, or because of the fact that she seemed a little too excited whenever he reacted fearfully to her, but he saw a brief look of sympathy on her face as she opened her mouth, ready to address him.

“GAH!” Parker screamed in pain, clutching his head.  The pain was extremely similar to the one that he experienced while shrinking.

“What?! What is it?”  The girl worriedly leaned in close to the pained man, looking him over to see if anything was wrong. 

Parker closed his eyes, and the excruciating agony ceased.  When he opened his eyes, he was no longer looking up at a beautiful face.  He was looking down at one.

“What do you mean you can’t pay me you stupid little Barbie?!” 

Parker felt like he had just entered a dream.  The world around him was hazy, everything that he heard sounded robotic and echoic, and he had no feeling in his body.  Everything was dark and colors were under-saturated.  He was looking through someone else’s eyes, and it was a marvelous perspective.   He was staring down at a pretty blonde teenager in a burgundy dress, which he recognized from his near-encounter with her earlier.  She looked much, much smaller, however.  The girl was no taller than this person’s knee.  She looked like she was about to faint from fear.  His surroundings were definitely outdoors, but it was unclear exactly where.

“It…It didn’t work!”  The blonde responded.

“Well obviously, you puny imbecile.  Who did you take it with?”  Whoever’s body Parker was within questioned.

“This girl...Ava.  I slipped it in her drink at dinner.”

“You stupid bitch!  Didn’t you listen to me?  I told you, it doesn’t work on the same sexY!”

“Oh shit!...I’m really sorry…Just please let me…”  The blonde put her head down and took a few clumsy steps back.

“NO! I have other plans for you, Barbie…”  At that, Parker’s host leaned down and made a lunge for the midget-looking girl.

“AH!”  Parker snapped back to reality, panting and sweating after the out of body experience, rolling over in the girl’s palm.  He was back in his own body, the concerned and confused face of the young brunette alarmingly close to him.  Parker hardly jumped when he saw her.  Instead, he was preoccupied as another stunning realization hit him.

“She’s here.”  Parker quietly and definitively said to himself.

“What?  You’re going to have to talk a little louder at your size, jeez.”  Parker ignored the girl, focusing on the strange, psychic-like experience he had just had. 

It must be another effect of the drug. But the voice, the height, the drug talk. It has to have been the amazon.

Parker wanted to continue pondering the significance, or plausibility of the sequence, but the girl poked Parker with her mighty index finger, startling him out of his thoughts.

“I’m still here, tiny!  Do you even have a name?”

“It’s…It’s Parker.”

“Well, I’m Ava.  Listen Parker, you’re confusing me.  And I can’t trust you.”

Ava…Wait, her blonde friend!

“Stop doing that!  You’d think that I would be able to command your attention a little better….”

“Ava!” Parker desperately called to her.  “Listen, please!”

“No, you listen little guy.  I’ve had a rough week.  Heck, I’ve been by myself all night.  The way I see it, you must have chosen to take that drug, or whatever it is.  I think I deserve to have a little fun and blow off some steam until you can prove otherwise, don’t chya think??”

Terror quickly filling his person, Parker began to scream up at the irrational girl, hoping that some part of her wasn’t driven by emotions.  “Please!  You have to listen!  I have a friend here, she’ll tell you!”

Ava only flashed a devilish smile as she cut him off by effortlessly picking him up in between her fingers, stopping right in front of her face.  Parker could see the bits of coal-black mascara on her elongated eyelashes, swallowing hard as he looked her gargantuan face up and down.

“Lighten up Parker, it’ll be fun! Now, seeing as I have no pockets and I don’t want you to get attacked by the cosmetics in my purse again…Where should I put you?”  She didn’t wait for a response, happily exclaiming, “I know!”  She unexpectedly lowered Parker down her dress and into her ample cleavage, which was covered by her dress.  She carefully allowed his head to poke out so that he could still breathe.  As Ava adjusted her bra, the plush mounds squeezed Parker with the perfect amount of force, enough to keep him in place but still not enough to crush him.

Ava snagged her bag and skipped out of the bathroom, ignoring Parker’s almost-inaudible yelps, saying to herself, “I guess I ended up getting a date after all!”    

Eternally introspective, Parker wasn’t sure which was preferable: Always figuratively gasping for another, life-sustaining breath in his insufferable everyday life, or physically gulping air as the top of his face barely reached out of Ava’s chest, making it hard to breathe.  Comparatively, however, Parker’s latest form of imprisonment was much better than Victoria’s lethal boot (he swore that the smell was still clinging onto his skin) and the psychologically-suffocating hand of Ava. 

Ava’s worldly breasts firmly hugged Parker, giving him the most affection that he’s received in a while.  The two mountains were seemingly his only companions at that time.  They were warm, soothing his tense body.  Her fruity perfume was pleasurably intoxicating, the effect no doubt enhanced due to his small size.  Finally, the most rewarding to Parker’s senses, was the reliable thumping of Ava’s heart.  A rumble that affected Parker with each pump, he knew that the mystical organ would be the key to his escape.

There’s no use in fighting her.  She doesn’t believe anything that I say, and her mood swings are pretty vicious.  My best shot is to ride this out.  If my hallucination was real, the first priority is to get out of the prom without incident.  I can find Victoria later, given that I can win over Ava.   Hopefully, she’ll realize that I’m who I say I am.  She did show signs of compassion; I’ll have to tap into that.  If not, I’ll have to carefully pick a time to escape.  For now, I have no other choice than to trust her, and…obey her.

As he has done so many other times in his life, Parker waited.  And waited.  Waiting for something to happen.  As far as he could tell, Ava put most of her troubles behind her and was having a relatively good night, chatting about irrelevant things with friends and occasionally dancing.  He mostly heard female voices from his cushy prison, however.

Why doesn’t she have a date?  I know she’s a little unstable, but that’s all teenagers, right?

Brushing this thought aside, he tried to relax, which was still a very difficult task for him, regardless of the circumstance.  He had no hope of being noticed, the dress covering him up and his voice still too weak to project itself.  At his size, he wasn’t even sure if the giantess would feel him squirming.  He was an afterthought.  It was almost as if Ava was intentionally ignoring him.

“Where’s Colleen?”  Parker heard a girl ask in the vicinity of Ava.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing, she said that she was going outside with her date, but she never came back,” another girlish voice boomed. 

“Well, I was going to leave for her house soon, so she better be back by then,” a third girl said.

“Is that like an after-prom thing?”  Ava timidly asked, her voice sending vibrations through Parker’s tiny body.  The constant fact that he was surrounded by mountainous teenagers still did not fail to terrorize his nerves.

“Um…Yeah,” the second voice said with a hint of rejection, causing Ava’s heart to start beating faster.  Parker knew that something was up.  “We’ll, uh, see you later, Ava.”  After that, Parker heard the sound of multiple heels clacking away, retreating in the distance.

“Ava, sweetie…”  Parker heard a new, softer voice say, this one closer to his place of confinement.  “You know those girls are bitches, anyway.”

“So…Does that mean that you’re still sleeping over tonight?”  Ava asked, her voice significantly less assertive and lively than it was while talking to him in the bathroom.

“I can’t tonight Ava, I’m sorry.  I have to…My mom wants me home, that’s all,” the girl nervously replied.

“It’s fine, I get it,” Ava seethed in response.  As she said this, Parker’s stomach was thrust into nauseous pit, as she assumingly sped away.  He heard a lot of clanking and shuffling, followed by another sickening rush as Ava aggressively moved away again.  

She’s definitely leaving.  That’s good…but her mood isn’t.

Parker gulped within the white walls of Ava’s dress, becoming increasingly worried about how this latest altercation would determine his fate.  Only hearing the seemingly earth-piercing clicks and clacks of her heels and the intermittent sniffles, Parker was trying to fast-track his escape plan, only to think of nothing.  He pushed his head up, as if he was about to go underwater, and took a deep breath and sank back down into the sea of cleavage within Ava’s push-up bra.  His original plan of action remained – trust and obey.

*SLAM*

That must be her car door.  Jesus, we’re alone now.

Ava said nothing, and Parker didn’t dare to be the one to speak first.  It was only up, and down.  Up, and down.  Up, and down.  The consistent rising and falling of Ava’s chest was absolutely terrifying for Parker, the symphony of her heartbeats crescendoing into the unknown. 

Shit.

“WHY?!” Ava stuffily yelled to no one in particular within her car, slamming her hands off of something, probably the steering wheel.  Parker’s heart skipped about ten beats at the sudden outburst.

Up, and down.  Up, and down.  Faster and faster.  Ava’s breasts ballooned further into Parker’s face with each breath, squeezing the air out of his body faster than he could take it in.

Oh, no.

Like two angry bulldozers, Ava’s index finger and thumb drove past the top of her dress and into her breasts, obviously giving no thought to the fragility of its miniscule inhabitant.  For the second time that night, Parker was thrust into the air and directly in front of the face of the beautiful brunette, only this time knowingly.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?!” Ava screamed at her tiny prisoner, tears beginning to come out of her soft eyes with little restraint. 

So close to the face of the troubled young woman, who was a remarkable clusterfuck of beauty, anger, and pain, Parker was about to emotionally, and maybe physically break down as well.

“TELL ME!” Ava raged, jarring Parker up and down, looking like she was about ready to stomp him flat.

“N-N-Nothing! You’re…beautiful, really!” Parker shouted to her, his words being the truth. “Listen, I was too afraid to even go to Prom my junior year! And senior year…my date ditched me at the last second for another guy.”  Ava only stared at the tiny, vulnerable man, only slightly lessening the grip that she had on him.  Parker lowered his head, dragging his eyes away from Ava’s shifting gaze, took a breath, and said, “Honestly, I would have done anything to have gone with a girl like you.”

No, no, no. That was too much.  I shouldn’t have said that. I’m a fucking idio---

“Really?” Ava looked at Parker as if he was a puzzle, then lowered him into her free hand, letting him rest in the preferable refuge of her palm.  She peered down at him, her expression switching between one of affection and one of doubt.  “I hope that you’re telling the truth,” Ava said while wiping tears away, “Because I really need a friend right now…It’s just been a hellish day.  I…I don’t want to go into it.”  The redness began to fade away from her face as she took a deep look at Parker that resulted in a smile.  “For that, I’ll forget that you might be a drug-crazy perv for now.  I bet you’re hungry, huh?”

Parker let out a small, yet unsure smile for the first time that day and nodded in response.  He decided to not push his luck and stay quiet.  He didn’t quite understand why his profession had such a great effect; maybe she really just needed someone to tell her that she was beautiful, or that someone else understood her pain.  Regardless, Parker was counting his blessings, thankful that the young giantess’s recent mood swing turned in his favor.

“You’re lucky that you have a way with words, little guy.” Ava said, lowering Parker into the cup holder of her car.  She then started the car, which sounded and felt like a rocket launching to Parker, who sat down inside of the round and deep pit of the cup holder, trying to avoid the sticky parts from spilled soda. Now the most secure that he had been since shrinking, he looked up at Ava she drove home.  It was easy for him to get lost in her beauty, which was only multiplied by her scale.  Regardless of his new stature, Parker’s loneliness was still full-sized.  As was his anxiety, which still prodded him, keeping him on the hopeful path towards Victoria.  Now new in Parker’s life was uncertainty.  He was still fearful, though. This time, however, it was of the unknown, not of what he knew would send him into mental fits on the office, home, or pretty much wherever or whatever he did.  Opposing headlights shining through the car’s windshield and onto Ava’s auburn hair, Parker had yet to figure out whether or not uncertainty was a good thing.      

“Alright little Parker, that’s your name, right?  Probably to your disappointment, I’m going to go to the bathroom to change.”  Now standing on the thick pink fibers of Ava’s bedroom floor, Parker looked up at his new, titanic companion, trying not to cringe as her impossibly long feet wiggled their way out of her heels.  “Just hang tight!”  Ava said as she stomped away.

Is she being…flirty now?  God, I don’t know which side of her I should be more afraid of.

Parker looked past Ava’s enormous snowy heels, taking in his new surroundings.  The room and its material inhabitants seemed harmless enough, the color scheme generally being pink with the typical furniture that one would associate with a bedroom.  It was generally tidy, minus a few scattered things, like discarded socks, underwear, and running shoes.  His mind always taking him to troublesome places, Parker tried to shrug the knowledge that he could easily fit inside of any of those unappealing items.  He made a mental note to keep with the “trust and obey” strategy for the time being.   He dropped his thought as Ava, now in noticeably better spirits, bounced back into the room.  She looked much more comfortable than before, sporting a tank top and short shorts.  More importantly, she was carrying a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it.  She reached down, and with force that would require copious amounts of manpower at Parker’s scale, picked up her heels and tossed them under her bed.  She sat down Indian-style, her bottom flattening many unfortunate strands of carpet.  Parker looked up at the girl, who was still a sight to cower from even while sitting.

“Alright, first things first.  I stole one of my mom’s handkerchiefs and cut it up a little bit, so you can cover yourself with it or whatever,” Ava said with a snort of laughter, “And I warmed up pizza for us.  See, I’m not that bad.”   

Parker couldn’t argue with that logic as he wrapped his new wardrobe around himself, stepped on the plate and subsequently ate his small portion of the pizza hungrily.  He attempted to ignore how improbably terrifying the simple and innocent action of Ava eating was.  So, he stared at the ground every time she picked up and put down the monstrous snack after taking a giant-sized chomp, for the bite-marks in the food gave him added fretfulness, whether it was merited or not.         

“You need to relax,” Ava said, Parker’s concern apparently noticeable even at his size.  “It’s just…I get used a lot by people, guys and girls.  And with how rumors and whatnot spread in school, my life has sucked lately.   I get frustrated, and that makes me angry, I guess.  Like I said, I really don’t want to get into it.  I just don’t really trust people anymore.  Sorry that I didn’t really give you a chance earlier, Parker.”

Parker finished his last bite of pizza and looked up at Ava, who looked even more gorgeous as she was opening up.

“I understand, really,” Parker shouted up, not even realizing that he was having one of his first emotional conversations in ages.

This is it! She’s relaxed and happy now, if I can just—

“But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you off easy,” Ava said crushingly, hardly able to control the loveable, yet devilish grin on her face.  “I’m still having my sleepover tonight, regardless of who showed up.  And you still have to prove your motives, mister.”  Ava tried to cover a laugh, but failed, obviously excited to have fun with the shrunken man, who was looking like he was about to piss himself.  “Like I said, relax!  We’re just going to play a game!”    

“I’m…I’m terrible at games,” Parker said weakly and unconvincingly.

“Hah! Trust me, it won’t be hard.  We’re going to play…” Ava cutely put her finger to her lips, feigning deep thought.  “Would You Rather!”

She’s having way too much fun with this, but it sounds harmless enough.

“What’s that?”

“Well, it’s kinda like truth or dare, but with two dares that are both pretty terrible options.  So I would ask you, Would You Rather…and give you two options, and you do the one that you think would suck less.  It’ll be fun!”  Seeing Parker’s worried scowl, she added with a wink, “At least for me!”

Alright, it can’t be too bad.  She’ll just make me dance or something, then she’ll be happy and start listening to me, then I can work on reversing this.

“So! Would you rather…” Ava said while dragging out the last “r” in contemplation of her next words, “Rub my feet for 10 minutes, or give my foot 10 kisses?  I know that sounds weird, but I’ve been on my feet all day.”

You’ve got to be kidding me.  More feet.  Well, do you want to be bug-sized for the rest of your life Parker?

Not wanting to relive the experience with the Amazon by tasting sweaty feet, Parker said, “I guess I’ll massage, your uh, feet then.”

“Great! I have to admit, I kind of wanted you to feel your little lips on my toes,” Ava said seriously, but after seeing Parker’s confused expression, blushed and blurted out, “Just kidding, I don’t think anyone’s ever really rubbed my feet before!”  With that, Ava laid down, making sure that her tired feet were propped up only inches from Parker.

My god.

Standing in front of her left foot, Parker was in awe of it in every way.  It stretched high above his head, looking like it would take multiple men to fully relieve its pain.  Her toes wiggled at the top, even the big and second toes looked humiliatingly taller than him.  Since her shoes that night were mostly strappy and open, a moderate amount of dirt slipped under, so the wrinkles of her foot each had helpings of scattered debris.  The openness of the shoe left Ava’s feet not smelling as god-awful as Victoria’s, but he still was struck with the all-too-familiar foot stench.  Parker realized how truly embarrassing it would be to pamper this pretty teen’s massive feet.

“Hey, not to make fun of your size, but I can’t tell if you’ve started or not yet.  You can always change your answer, you know!”  Ava said hopefully.  Parker was then snapped out of his trance and he dug his insignificant hands into the bottom of her foot, trying to rub in small circles.

I can’t believe that I’m doing this.

“Ooh, that’s nice!  I wish you were a bit bigger though.  Here, I’ll shift my foot a little further down,” Ava sweetly sung, startling Parker as she lowered her foot, casting a shadow over his entire body.  He reached up and continued massaging her doughy sole, hoping that he was at least doing a decent job, for some reason.  Ava giggled the whole way, also in disbelief as she had a tiny man basically acting as her slave.  Parker was ready to jump out of his skin as she lowered her foot so that he could reach the ball of it.

Shit, she’s literally about to crush me!  Trust and obey, Parker, trust and obey.

Parker kept rubbing and wiped the dirt and perspiration from his hands on his makeshift attire when he was done. Ava lifted her foot, abruptly picked him up, and placed him upright in between her big and second toes.  As Ava leaned in to get a better look at him, he tried to not look like a completely emasculated coward, her big toe looking like it could easily beat him in a wrestling match.  

Ava softly cooed, “Awe! You look so adorable there!  Here, since you’ve done so well, I’ll give you an out.  If you give my big toe a hug and a kiss we’ll call it a night.”  Ava let out a mesmerizing, warm smile that almost made Parker want to do it willingly.  Not wanting to go through the arduous process with her right foot, he quickly turned, wrapped his arms around the toe as far as they could go, pursed his lips, and gave the soft skin a peck.  Parker looked back at Ava and flashed that small smile of his, waiting for a reaction.

In outward satisfaction, Ava yelped, “Yay, that was so cute! See, that wasn’t so bad!  And…neither are you Parker.”  The affectionate smile never leaving her face, Ava plucked Parker from between her toes, stood up, and walked around her room, picking up various items and talking at the same time.  “I guess that you haven’t given me a reason to distrust you yet, and I actually had a pretty good after-prom with you.  I feel a little better now!  I’m still going to have to deal with those girls later; maybe you can help me with that.  But, thanks so much!”  Ava set Parker down on her bedside table, along with an emptied Altoids box filled with cotton swabs.  “This is the best that I could think of, it should be comfy enough.  I figured that we could talk tomorrow; it looks like you worked up quite a sweat! Goodnight, little guy.”  Not looking for a response, Ava blew Parker a kiss, shut off the lights, and slipped into her frilly bed.

Parker climbed into his bed, ready to get his first decent night’s rest in what felt like a year.  But of course, his mind had other plans.

Wow, I’m honestly pretty surprised that I’ve still alive.  She’s a really sweet girl, but hardly reliable. Come to think of it, she really hasn’t given me much room to talk.  I can understand her excitement, though.  And why won’t she tell me what the rift between her and her friends is? What did she mean by, “Maybe you can help me with that?” And the hallucinations!  The drug also hasn’t even shown the slightest bit of wearing off either. Man… At least Ava likes me at the moment, maybe a little too much. It felt really good though, I can’t lie to myself…Maybe I should just make a break for it; I have roughly 7-9 hours to do it.  I can’t take risks, but where has that gotten me in life?  God, I just don’t know anymore.

Uncertainty.  Parker was now firmly separated from the stereotypical grind of his everyday life, his future now a dark abyss of the unknown.  As Ava’s light, yet endearing snores filled his ears, Parker’s mind ticked away, focusing on the one thing that he was actually certain of.  He was absolutely now sure that his decisions, now more than ever, would ultimately mean life, or death.  He resolved himself to act accordingly.

*Drip, Drop*

*Drip, Drop*

Parker peeked out of his makeshift bed, looking past Ava’s slumbering figure in the direction of the window in her room, which was partially masked by pink curtains.  He saw raindrops desperately clinging to the window, if only for a few seconds before they slid down the clear plane.  Clumsily getting his feet stuck in the fibers of his cotton-swab mattress, Parker stood up and swung his legs over the end of the Altoids box, gracelessly landing on the wooden surface of Ava’s bedside table.

*CRACK!*

The outside sound of thunder thumped Parker’s eardrums, briefly illuminating the room before settling back to near-darkness.  Parker shook himself off and walked toward the end of the table, shrugging off the outside storm.  He reached the edge, and looked down.  Far, far down.

Here comes the time for hyperactive mind games, Parker.  It’s doable.  You avoided your co-worker’s monster toes, climbed a purse to salvation, and fought for breath inside of a boob canyon.  There are ways to escape this. 

Meditatively and slowly, Parker walked to the other side of the table, the side closest to Ava.  He didn’t even stop to notice the enlarged phone and lip gloss that almost threatened to block his path.  Seeing Ava, his eyes moved from her tangled hair splayed across her pillow, past her rising and falling chest, to her toes that were just so slyly peeking out from under the covers.  His eyes softened, his own chest’s movements slowed, and he looked back at the window.

*Drip, Drop*

*Drip, Drop*

Parker focused on the pitter-patter of the raindrops and the claps of thunder.  For a moment, he forgot about his new size, the disturbing hallucinations, and the road ahead.  Just then, as unexpected as any of the events of his weekend, positive, rational thoughts began to flood into his head, as if they had been waiting for that moment for an eternity.

What am I doing?  Although she’s not totally reliable, Ava is clearly the best option right now. Why am I even considering running away and risking my safety again? I’m afraid. Not of trying to escape, not of what might happen if I succeed in escaping, I’m afraid of something else.  I think…I’m afraid of help.  Of companionship.  Of love.  I’m terrified of anything that will pry me from the introversion that I’ve exiled myself to.  I’ve lived like this for so long…and now it’s actually threatening my life.  Wow.  Life and death decision? I choose life.

Parker released one of his characteristically extended sighs, only this time exhaling a small portion of the hesitancy and fear that has been bottled up inside of him.  Before it could make an attempt another grasp at him, Parker strutted towards his bed, climbed in, and forced his eyes shut. 

Parker’s complicated psyche wasn’t even close to fixed at that very moment.  However, judging by the speed that he was able to fall asleep and rest, he was obviously on a better path.

“Honey, wake up!”

“Mmmph,” Ava snorted.

Hearing voices from overhead, Parker groggily opened his eyes, which were treated to a sight unique to someone with his perspective.

Oh shit!

At a startlingly close distance to Parker’s position on the table was an ass big enough to wake even the heaviest of sleepers up to full attention.  The ginormous rear was dressed by jeans that seemed a little too tight, as if the wearer had gained a few pounds since buying the pants.

Must be her mom.      

Fully awake, Parker avoided gawking further at the sight before him.  Instead, he hid under the cotton swabs to avoid detection, leaving a small gap so he could still see what was going on.

“Ava! It’s Sunday, chores day.  I even let you sleep in an extra hour, let’s go! The bathroom has your name on it! And that means the shower too!”  Ava’s mom said as she began comically tearing the covers off of her daughter.

“Ugh! Okay, okay! Just go away, I’ll be out in a second!”

Satisfied, Ava’s mom left the room, closing the door on her way out.  Parker quickly climbed out from under the swabs and out of the box so that Ava wouldn’t think that he had left.  Not bothering to get out of bed to greet him, Ava lazily reached over, lightly pinched Parker between her fingers, and rolled back onto her side, dropping him next to her face.  Parker still wasn’t quite used to the exaggerated scale of literally everything, showed by the couple of steps that he took backwards.

“Good morning, little man! How did you sleep?” Ava asked, batting her naturally long eyelashes.

Parker succeeded in not scrunching his face at the wind of morning breath, nicely responding, “Actually, pretty good.  You?”

“I fell asleep pretty fast, given the night that I had,” Ava giggled, “But I forgot, my stupid mom makes me do chores every Sunday.  You don’t mind tagging along, right?  I figured it’d be easier to just get out of the way, then we can sort out your little problems….Or we could just play some more!”  Seeing Parker’s discomfort, Ava continued, “Awww, okay.  Party pooper.  Let’s get this out of the way, alright?”  Parker only gave a small smile and a nod as Ava scooped him up in her hand and walked out of her room in the direction of the bathroom.

“Sorry you have to deal with this…” Ava whispered to deaf ears as she opened the bathroom door; Parker trying not to hurl as Ava’s quick strides made him nauseous.

 Ava set Parker down on the tiled ground and proceeded to grab cleaning supplies from the closet inside.  With an indistinguishable, pissed-off grunt, Ava began scrubbing down the bathroom.   

“You know, if you were a little bigger I would just give you a toothbrush and you could do this!”  Ava laughed, obviously getting a rise out of her own humor.  Starting to feel more comfortable, Parker even let out a quick chuckle.

She’s actually pretty likeable.  It sounds like she’ll even help me out soon.  Things are looking good, finally.

“I’m just sick of those girls, Parker,” Ava said, her bare feet slapping the floor next to Parker as she moved to the sink, “I know I said that I didn’t want to talk about it…It’s just that Colleen and I used to be best friends, but she’s suddenly become meaner and more aggressive lately, to everyone, not just me.  I don’t know why.  During the whole Prom thing we both wanted to go with the same guy, Sam, right?”  Parker nodded up to the sky, Ava occasionally looking down, past her shapely legs at him.  To any bystander it would look like a senile teenager talking to a bug.  “So, she spread a nasty rumor about me, everybody believed her and started hating me, and she got the guy.”  Ava became more somber over the course of her story, but sounded angry and determined when she said, “My life has been hell the last month.  I’d do anything to fix it.”  

*Ding-Dong!*

“MOM! GET THE DOOR!” Ava yelled.  “Oh, sorry!” She said after seeing Parker clasp his ears in response to her scream.  “Must be a package,” she mused while continuing to clean.

“AAAVAAAA,” Ava’s mom could be heard in the distance; “IT’S FOR YOU!”

“Dammit!  She’s really on my nerves today, I’ll literally be back in a second,” Ava said while dashing out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her just in case.

She better come back soon, I feel uneasy being anywhere by myself anymore.

Parker ignored the echo of voices below him, choosing to mill about the bathroom instead.  Like Ava’s bedroom, the bathroom was just like one would expect it, complete with a close-off shower, toilet, closet, and sink.  He marveled at the cast-off hairs scattered across the ground, the long, auburn ones most likely Ava’s at one time.  About five minutes passed, by Parker’s estimation.

What’s going on?

*KNOCK, KNOCK*

“Hey, brat! You still in there?  I need to shower!” A loud, forceful female voice asked.

Can I have one fucking minute without an issue?!

Parker quickly shuffled in place, looking for somewhere to hide.  Unfortunately for him, the imposing door swung open, revealing the latest goddess to encounter miniature Parker.  Clearly not caring if someone was using the bathroom, an early 20-something woman walked through the bathroom entrance.  From what Parker could tell, she resembled Ava, but with shorter blonde hair and a much, much more developed body.

She walked further into the room, two titanic tennis shoes slamming down in in front of Parker’s location on the floor, knocking him on his ass.  Cowering in shock and panic, he looked up at his newest threat, swiftly noticing her workout clothes and reddish-colored, perspiring body.

Oh, god, wait.  Shower!

After placing her change of clothes on the toilet ledge, the blonde took out the band holding her hair back and shook it free, causing beads of sweat to cascade down like the thunderstorm the night before.  Gaining his wits, Parker struggled to his feet and began to run for the closet place of cover, which was behind the toilet, barely avoiding the impending moisture.  The next obstacle, however, he was not so lucky with.  Without using her hands, the giantess kicked her shoes off, the left shoe flying over Parker like an airplane taking off; it landed further ahead in his path. 

Shit, shit!

Parker made a quick decision and guessed that he’d be safe hiding behind the shoe, which was both more than big enough for him to hide behind and unlikely to be moved until she finished her shower.  Desperate for survival, Parker increased the length of his strides, running around the sole of the overturned shoe, finally settling in back of it…right in front the mouth.

“Hack, hack!”  Parker coughed at the steamy, vinegary air that was hurriedly leaving the confines of the footwear.  Parker immediately cursed the circumstances of his escape, but was grateful that he did, in fact, escape.

Holy hell!  That might beat Victoria’s feet. I’ll take it any day for safety, though.

Safety was a relative term at this point as Parker moved a little bit so that he could see the blonde.  Still in close proximity to Parker’s cover were (what Parker figured was) Ava’s sister’s feet, shiny with wetness, her damp socks enjoying much-needed rest beside them.  In awe, Parker followed his gaze upwards.

Um…should I…? To move would be dangerous…So…

Feeling guilty, but certainly not doing anything about it, Parker watched in disbelief as the beautiful young woman crossed her arms and pulled her tank top over her head, struggling for a second as it stuck to her skin, her neon green sports bra waiting to be unfastened.  Still breathing heavy from whatever workout she did, the larger-than-life girl released her breasts from the constraints of the bra and dropped it to the floor, unknowingly showing off her perky chest to Parker.  So fast that he almost missed it, Parker looked on as the woman pulled down her tiny running shorts and matching neon green panties, revealing her shaved womanhood.  If his mind was actually in control at this point, he would have figured that she was an athlete or something.   Or he would’ve become cognizant of the perfectly pornographic situation at hand.  Instead, he stupidly looked on as she flipped on the shower, stepped in, and closed the door.

...Wow.

His blood circulating back to his head, Parker shook himself off and realized the urgency of which he should find a way for Ava to notice him when she comes back.

At least she’ll actually be looking for me this time.      

Parker ran out back from behind his cover, trying to stay as far away from Ava’s sister’s discarded clothes, both to avoid any misunderstandings and the likely stench. 

“Cindy, you BITCH!” Ava screamed as if on cue, the bathroom door flying open. 

“What, you little twerp? You were downstairs!”  Ava’s sister fired back.

“I was cleaning…UGH! Wait!  No!  Parker!?”  Now worried, Ava frustratingly called out.

“Who?”

“Shut up!”

“Crazy bitch,” Ava’s sister audibly muttered.

Parker began doing jumping jacks as Ava, watching her step, got on all fours and began frantically searching for him, tears threatening to form.  Parker screamed her name as she came closer and closer, her face eventually hovering over him.  She looked as if she was searching for a lost contact lens.

“There!” Ava deftly reclaimed Parker, running back to her room before her sister had more time to question her nuttiness.  “You scared the shit out of me!  Did that bitch hurt you?”

“No, I’m good.  I found a pretty good hiding place.  Well, not that good, but it did the job,” Parker called up at his sometimes protector.

“Well, good.  I’ll make sure not to leave you alone like that again, I’m really sorry! But something happened, Parker,” Ava said, her tone changing by the sentence as the pace of her speech sped faster.

“What is it?”

“That was the police at the door, Parker.  Colleen and her date, that Sam guy, went missing last night.  They said they’ve been questioning everybody who her mom said was with her last night, she’s worried sick.  I obviously didn’t know anything, but they seemed suspicious because the other girls told them that I left early by myself last night.  I don’t know what they’re going to do.”

“I think I know what happened to her.” Parker said.  Looking into Ava’s surprised and worried eyes, he gulped, saying, “And I think that is where we start.”

Wait…What??

Parker was inexplicably full-sized, standing outside of a tall, expensive-looking door, with a dazzling bouquet of roses in his right hand and a box of chocolates in the other.  Before Parker could even begin to comprehend the familiarity his situation, the door flew open.

“Parker! Hey sweetie! Happy Valentine’s Day!”

It can’t be.

Embracing him in a warm, passionate hug was the only girl that Parker had ever loved.  The sprawling blonde hair, the lulling blue eyes, the plush lips, the sweet voice, the way that her head settled into his chest when they embraced…It was her.  It was Madeline, who he spent every day of their college-spanning relationship loving the hell out of.  Until this day.  February 14th of his senior year was the day that spawned Parker’s current feelings of fear, depression, and loneliness.  Parker’s shrinking did not begin at that wild house party.  It began here, in the living room of Madeline’s apartment.

“What are you waiting for!?” Madeline giggled, pulling Parker by the hand into her sleek-looking residence, playfully pushing him on the couch.  Her petite form immediately jumped onto his lap, cupping his face with her soft hands and preparing for a long kiss, affectionately looking into Parker’s confused brown eyes.

What the fuck? Was the shrinking a dream? Am I still tripping? Is this…real?

“I love you, Parker.”  Madeline pulled Parker’s cardigan-draped torso into a long, loving kiss, her alluring perfume washing over the valleys of his heart.  Unbeknownst to them, the hourglass of four years of their relationship was nearing its end.  Parker reciprocated Madeline’s love, the lines between dream and reality crashing down in favor of the resurfacing of his feelings for his former girlfriend.  As they kissed, their relationship raced through Parker’s hyperactive mind, from their quirky dates to the countless nights spent pouring out previously unspoken feelings and fears.  By the end of the kiss, they were one again.

To Parker’s dismay, Madeline broke her seemingly eternal hold on Parker, promising with a purring voice, “I’ll be right back, babe, I have a surprise for you.” 

The surprise that Parker received, however, was not what Madeline had ever intended to give him. 

*Bling!*

Without thinking, Parker’s absent gaze focused to Madeline’s forgotten phone at the end of the couch.  On the screen read an unfamiliar name: Darren.

Who is Darren?

Uncharacteristically curious, Parker picked up her phone and inspected the message.  Somehow, he knew that something were not right.  The words under the unrecognizable name confirmed his gut feeling.

Yo Maddy, you still coming up tonight?? ;)

Suddenly, a familiar sharp pain slammed Parker’s head, soon followed by a sensation that made him feel as if he had nose-dived into a volcano.  Still sitting on the couch, Parker dropped Madeline’s phone from his hand, his stomach about to burst into shreds from pain.

“Parker!! What’s wrong?!”  Madeline stormed out of her bedroom, wearing her intended “surprise” of black-and-pink lingerie.

“Ahh! Fuck! Dar…Darr…” Parker gagged, the intense throbbing of his being overshadowing his powerful feeling of déjà vu.

“Wait…you?! No! I can explain! Please baby!”  Madeline rushed towards Parker, attempting to grasp his shoulders to calm him down.  Instead, Parker abruptly stood up in his fitful combination of rage, pain, and confusion.  All three were soon to be infinitely amplified.   

His pants fell.

“Whaa?” Parker moaned, his world incomprehensible as he looked down at his still-zipped jeans – now looking like they were tailored for an NBA player – on the ground. 

Madeline cried, “Parker, you need to calm down!  Look what’s happening to you!”  

“Who…is…!?” Parker sputtered as his attention was snapped from his enlarged pants to his scantily-dressed girlfriend; he was oblivious to her appeasing selection of garments because he was now staring directly into her shivering blue eyes.   

But…But…Madeline is 5’2!

“Forget about me Parker!  You’re torturing yourself!”  Accompanying Parker’s trauma was accompanied by a change of demeanor for Madeline, who, from his perspective, now had the physique of a runway model.  She clamped her hands around Parker’s weakening arms, the cardigan now transforming into something akin to a large blue blanket.

“But…I love you!”  Parker, now diminishing past Madeline’s narrow shoulders, down to her lace-covered breasts and nearing thinly-hid womanhood, called up to who he thought was his only love, looking like a child crying to his mother instead of the once-proud boyfriend that he once was.

“Move on like I have! You’ll shrink into nothing if you keep this up!”  Madeline aggressively warned as watched her boyfriend, whose arms that she had fallen into for what felt like forever, dwindle past her waist and into the pathetic being that she now believed him to be.

“Please sweetheart!! Take me back!  I’ll show you!”  Parker, nearing tears, tightly hugged her smooth, pale leg, which was now temporarily equal to his height.  His feet, which he had by now ripped from his too-big shoes and socks, now straddled her previously tiny size 6’s.

Madeline icily responded, “You’ll always be too afraid to love anyone,” scoffing as she watched Parker disappear past her knees, pitifully begging for another chance.

His clothes now a nearby heap of irrelevancy, Parker choked as he saw the lusciously pink nail-painted foot of his girlfriend come into view, his arms no longer able to fully wrap around her extended leg; he buried his face into her shin in desperation.  The petite foot now almost as big as him, Parker knelt down and messily kissed her perfectly rounded toes, which were growing frighteningly larger by the moment.

“Gross!  Don’t slobber on them you freak!” Madeline flicked Parker away with her monstrous big toe, Parker crashing on his back.  More defeated than terrified, his face softened in sadness as he stared up at his gigantic girlfriend, hardly believing that he was now reduced to a speck at the feet of not only his lover, but his closest friend.

“I’m sorry!”  Parker cried, letting go of the tightness of his muscles and slumping amongst the insignificant dirt of the hardwood floor. 

“I feel like it would take a miracle to get you out of your own head, Parker,” Madeline softly said to the insect at her toes, all feeling leaving Parker’s body as she stole every emotion that kept him alive. 

*Ding-Dong!*

Now willfully ignorant to Parker’s existence, Madeline confidently walked towards the door, almost as if she knew who was on the other side.  The door crept open, revealing a familiar statuesque blonde, who ducked inside the doorway, paying her host no mind.

“Well, well, well.  What do we have here?  Reliving your heartbreak?  Now tell me Parker, how often do you have this dream?”

The Amazon, the same woman who had plagued his existence with her mind-bending antics, strutted over to the couch and sat down, nearly smashing it with her bulldozer-like bottom.  In this realm, her clothes actually fit her, from her mini-dress down to her impossibly long toes, which were splaying out of an intimidating pair of gladiator sandals.  Hardly receiving her desired reaction from Parker, who was slowly becoming desensitized to large things, she explained, “You see, we have a bond now.  How lucky are you?  You practically groveled over me on the bus.  The drug…The drug will keep us together.  You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Still lost in his myriad of feelings, Parker said, “I don’t care.  Do whatever you want to those kids from the Prom.  Just fuck off, giant bitch.”

“Tisk, tisk, little man.  Just when I thought we were getting somewhere,” the Amazon snarled and and turned to Madeline, who was passively watching the scene unfold.  “Honey, why don’t you do the honors?   Send little Parker back to his real-life nightmare.”  The Amazon refocused her microscopic gaze towards Parker, and smugly said, “It’s only fitting.” 

Without a reply, Madeline obediently walked back to Parker’s residence on her apartment floor, the slaps of her feet promising the closure that he never had.  She loomed over Parker and raised her lint-laden sole over his conquered form.  She hesitated.  “By the way, thanks for the chocolate.”  Parker hardly made a sound as Madeline again sent him back into isolation; being crushed by her foot hardly compared to the pain that he felt when she no longer loved him.

****************************

“Parker, Parker!!  Wake up!”

Sweating, Parker snapped awake, jumping slightly at the sight of Ava’s exaggerated, yet concerned, face.  He spun around, checking his surroundings, finally settling when he realized that he was again sitting in the comfort of his new friend’s palm.  He wasn’t sure if her palm was sweating more than he was.

“You really need to stop doing that.  Like seriously.  I had to pull over,” Ava said, lowering here eyebrows half-seriously with a hint of playfulness. 

“Ugh, sorry about that.  It must be another side effect of the drug,” Parker said, the warmth of Ava’s breath slowly calming him down. 

“You’re freaking me out.  You know, you’ve never explained how you got like this to me.  Er…Well I guess I never asked!”  Ava nervously laughed, flashing a cute smile at Parker, who jumped at the opportunity to finally tell her about his job, the party, the Amazon, the weird hallucinations/dreams, and everything in between.  Now trusting him, Ava respected his decision to stay away from Victoria and the few people who were close to him until he regained his size.  Always up for an adventure, Ava agreed to help him on his quest to find the Amazon and regain his normal size before Patricia and the rest of his workplace started questioning his whereabouts.  The quest would start with finding Colleen and her boyfriend, who according to Parker’s visions, were currently held hostage by the Amazon. 

“You know, we’ll probably have a better chance of finding them if I can snoop around school tomorrow instead of driving around like this.  You can just come with me!  You’ll be so cute…hiding in my purse again or something!”  Ava quickly became excited (Parker was beginning to find out that she does this a lot) and placed him back in the cup holder without waiting for his response, turned on her favorite pop radio station, and resumed driving, the sun settling down after an exhausting day.

Before Parker was snatched back up by his bubbly brunette friend, he was left to his thoughts, his most recent dream giving him a new insight.

Is the Amazon…trying to help me?  But why?  Regardless, she’s my only way out of this.  Once we find the lost Prom couple, we should be able to physically encounter her this time.  Thank god for Ava – she’s a little eccentric, but she has a good heart.  Something that I think Madeline lacked.  I need to move on.  But now, I don’t have a choice to hold on to lost feelings – I’m going back to school tomorrow!

“Now, girls, what is the significance of Holden’s red hunting hat in The Catcher in the Rye?”

Contrary to what he thought before, Parker was not even remotely accustomed to his new size.  Sure, he slept as well as the circumstances provided the night before, despite Ava’s snoring crescendoing into a mild roar around three in the morning.  He was even a good sport when she woke him up not by her soft, cautious whispers, but by her reeking morning breath escaping from her un-brushed mouth.  In fact, he exhibited the patience of a saint throughout the entire morning routine of the high school senior, enduring a screaming match between her and her sister, a near-miss with the doughy foot of her mother when she left to eat breakfast, and the countless times that she snatched him up in her hands without warning.  He was growing tense after the vomit-inducing bumpy ride in the familiar vessel of her purse; the fact that he was now able to get fresh air because he was in the front pocket this time was the only thing keeping him from completely losing his shit.

But this was absolutely and utterly petrifying.  Parker imagined that his surroundings were more terrifyingly awe-inducing than the Grand Canyon, a sea full of Great White Sharks, and a grizzly bear attack all rolled up into a George Romero flick.  He was speechless.  

Peeking out of the front pocket of Ava’s purse, which rested directly under her chair, Parker could see the endless universe that was the floor of Ava’s English classroom.  In front of him were Ava’s socked feet, which, looming high above him and the small purse, were restlessly popping in and out of her tan Sperry’s.  He was not sure if the blackened parts of her white socks indicated the age of the socks, the shoes, or both.  He didn’t want to get any closer to find out.

Beyond the moving mountains were countless other instances of the sight before him, from the bare toes playing with a pair of maroon ballerina flats to the front-left of him, to the building-sized neon-colored running shoes that he could see past Ava’s tanned legs.  The teacher had actually disciplined the girl with the running shoes earlier; Ava apparently went to an all-girls private school – uniforms and everything – and the shoes most definitely did not fit the strict dress code.  Regardless, Parker had nearly shit himself when the 40-something-year-old teacher raised her voice.  That, coupled with her black peep-toe pumps constantly clacking back and forth down the aisle, comprised only half of Parker’s anxieties.  Being in the same room as thirty/forty teenage upperclassmen girls didn’t help either.  That would make him nervous when he was normal-sized.  Being microscopic near these ginormous teens, however, made for an entirely new level of horror.

Ava enthusiastically raised her hand, a la Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, to answer the raven-haired teacher’s question.

Jesus Ava, just please lay low for a little bit!  

“Yes, Ava?”  The teacher said, walking closer to Ava’s desks, her twin pumps parking themselves uncomfortably close to Parker’s residence.  Craning his neck, he could only see up her black dress pants to her colorful belt.  God, he could see everything at his size, from the scratch marks on the teacher’s shoes to the microscopic film of sweat on her big and second toes.

“Welllllll, doesn’t it symbolize his individuality, but still shows how he really, really wants companionship??”  Ava curiously replied, her soles bending and retracting in anticipation of the answer.

“Great, Ava! Holden is a very lonely and isolated character…Yes, this is by his own doing, but he still is desperate for attention and longs for a romantic partner,” the teacher replied, pivoting and clacking her way back to the front of the classroom.  Satisfied at her answer, Ava’s toes gave a jovial wiggle.  When the teacher reached the front of the classroom, she asked, “Now class, how does his actions across the novel exhibit these feelings of his?”  This sparked another round of class discussion, mostly between Ava and the teacher. 

Meanwhile, Parker was trying to simultaneously calm his mind and his body temperature, for it felt like he was actually in the boiling depths of Grand Canyon, in that respect.  It was the middle of Spring, after all.  No wonder why the girls could hardly keep their feet inside their dress-code approved flats.  Seeing how no one had noticed the tiny head of his tiny frame poking out of the bag for the first twenty minutes of the class, he continued to enjoy the fresh air outside of the leather bag by keeping everything from his shoulders-up out of the bag. 

This was a lapse in judgment.  Apparently Ava was the only one busy taking notes.

Suddenly, Parker was jarred out of his constantly-running internal monologue not by the now-familiar sight of a wiggling set of socked toes or shifty pumps, but of a stunned, yet curious face staring directly at him.  The face came from the girl sitting to the right of Ava.  He immediately dropped down back into the depths of Ava’s purse, his sweating increasing ten-fold.

No, no…She can’t be looking at me…Did the teacher coming over here divert attention to this area?? How the fuck can she see me right now?  The desks are pretty close together...

The face, young and pretty with blonde bangs, kept sneakily stealing glances at him, apparently unbeknownst to the note-taking Ava.  Riskily taking his own peeks out of the purse, Parker even saw her tap the shoulder of her red-haired friend in front of her, who then joined the blonde in trying to see if he was still there.

Ava! God, get your nose out of your book!  Wait!  I’ve seen those girls before…But where?

Despite this potential lead, Parker remained hidden for the rest of the class.  But the damage had already been done.  By the time the bell rang, Ava picked up her purse, and hit the hallway, the curious girls were all over Ava.

“Ava!!!  Hey honey, how have you been?  I heard that you had a rough time a prom….Bummer…”  About the same height as Ava, the cute blonde, whose name was Katie, enthusiastically threw her arm around her as they both headed down the hallway.  Ava clutched her bag tightly to her side.

Fucking shit…They definitely saw me.

“Yeah!  That sucksss…”  The short redhead struggled to keep pace, but easily kept up with the phony compassion.  Her name was Claire.  Bewildered as to why two members of Colleen’s popular posse were talking to her, Ava remained quiet, only mumbling answers when talked to.

When Ava reached her locker, Katie released her grip and stood to the side of Ava.  Comically enough, Claire flanked Ava, posting up on the other side of her.

“Ava!  Well how about we cheer you up – take you out for lunch!  C’mon, you have your free period now, right?”  Katie, unrelenting in her energy, perkily asked Ava.

Fuck fuck fuck…C’mon Ava, just use your head...

Ava remained silent.

Holy shit, is she actually thinking about this?  Has she forgotten that I’m here?!

“Sure!  Let’s go!” Ava cheered to the giddy delight of the girls, who motioned her further down the hallway, towards the parking lot.

What the fuck!  She’s not that desperate for friends, is she?

Parker could deal with one hyperactive teenager, albeit hardly.  He didn’t think – no, he was sure that he couldn’t handle two more titanic, giggling, screaming, out of control girls.  He reminded himself that whatever shrinking drug that had crossed his path was not completely foreign to the students in Ava’s school, for whatever reason.  If shrinking was still the stuff of sci-fi and Hollywood, he would have the advantage of surprise; they would be careful and mystified by his size.  They would help him.  With the existence of the drug it’s assumed that if you’re tiny, it’s by your own.  Simply put, these girls were curious. 

“So Ava, how was the rest of your weekend?  Anything interesting happen?”  Katie asked from the driver’s seat, wasting no time in grilling Ava once they returned to the car to eat after picking up fast food. 

“No, not really,” Ava responded with a hint of nervousness as she bit into a French fry, “Just prom, that’s all.”

Why is she doing this?  She has to know that these girls are up to something.

“You sure??  You really left the dance in a big huff.  We just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”  Claire, who was in the passenger’s seat, said in between sips of a Diet Coke.

“I’m fine, really.  Hey…how about Colleen?  Is she okay?  The police came to my door and everything...asking about what happened to her,” Ava sputtered out.

That’s where these girls are from! They’re friends of Colleen’s – I remember them from the prom.  Ava’s actually helping me find ----

“Why do you care about her?!  Enough of this!”   Fed up, Katie impatiently spun around and swiped Ava’s small purse from the backseat, so fast that Ava hardly had time to react.

“No!”  Ava screamed in desperation, realizing the double-edged sword that was her plan to get intel from Colleen’s friends.

Like a squirrel frantically trying to crack open a nut, Katie ripped apart the contents of Ava’s purse, trying to find what she hoped was not a trick of her imagination.  Meanwhile, Claire shooed off Ava’s feeble attempts at reclaiming her purse and little friend.  Parker?  Well, he was fucked.    

Katie found what she was looking for.

With a greasy, manicured hand, she plucked the object of her fascination from the purse.  Sure, her friends had gossiped about it.  They had joked about it: What would you do if you could shrink your boyfriend?  Would you stay with him?  How would you punish him after a fight?  They laughed, enjoying the thought of seeing their enemies and/or significant others micro-sized.    Colleen had even mentioned the drug in passing.  But no, she thought.  That’s just fantasy, Honey I Shrunk the Kids shit.  Drugs do crazy things to people, but not that crazy. 

But it was real.  And it was squirming in between her fingers.

The car was silent.

“He’s…so little,” Claire gasped, staring intently at the flailing bug in her best friend’s grasp.

“I…I knew it was real,” Katie whispered, “I mean…imagine the possibilities.  This is going to spread like wildfire across the school.”  With her free hand, she intermittently poked Parker’s abdomen with and impossibly large fingertip, as if he was a scientific specimen.

“Guys…”  Ava pleaded, nearly in tears.  She fucked up, putting her friend in danger.  Again.

“No, Ava,” Katie snarled, “You think you can hide your little boyfriend like this, you freak?  Keep this from people?  This is a big fucking deal.  Wait till the girls get a load of this.”

“So, you shrink him yourself?”  Claire questioned while eyeballing Parker, “But how?  Is it just a rumor that the drug makes girls grow too?”

“No!  Guys, I can explain, just…”  Ava motioned to retrieve Parker, but Katie clutched him closer, like a precious trophy.  She was in control now, both of the minuscule man and the crying girl in her backseat.

“Ha!  You seriously think that this isn’t going to get out, Ava?  People thought you were a weird bitch before, imagine what they’ll think when they hear that you’ve been buying drugs and carrying a tiny man around in your purse!”  Katie laughed, never taking her gaze away from the man cowering in her palm.  Her eyes dug into him; objectifying him in the most literal sense of the word.

“And I thought that the drama would have ended after prom!” Claire yelped.

Finally breaking her voracious gaze from Parker, Katie turned to face Ava, saying, “Honey, your life’s over.”

Katie returned her focus to the sweating toy in her palm.  The only thing she was sure of?

She wasn’t going to finish her Catcher in the Rye essay by tomorrow.

Futility.

Parker, at many times during his life, had contemplated death.  Death, from his perspective, was the only escape.  Why would he think otherwise?  Life had never been kind to him.  From his only love cheating on him to ending up working for shitty Patricia at the event planning company, there was never a happy ending for Parker.  He would never off himself – not because he ultimately thought better of it, but because he was too afraid.  This state of perpetual emptiness crippled him, his days insufferable and his nights lonely.

You know what the sick thing is?  In some crazy, inexplicable way, Parker was happy that he was shrunken by the Amazon’s drug.  Despite the obvious shortcomings of the situation, the drug gave Parker value.  It gave him a life.  He was forced to stand up for himself, get over his ex-girlfriend, ease the stress of a heartbroken teenager, and ultimately, fight for his life.  After all of the stress, tears, pain, and suffering, Parker was finally living.

But this was taken away.  Just like his girlfriend, his self-respect, and his dreams.  Out of all of the disappointments in his life, this one bit the hardest.  Ava’s mistake of interacting with the popular girls, Katie and Claire, proved to be fatal.  After Katie stole him from Ava, she ruthlessly kicked her out of the car, leaving her to find her own way back to school.

Katie was the wrong person to cross paths with Parker.  Now that Colleen had mysteriously disappeared, Katie finally able to emerge from her domineering shadow of the most adored, desired, and popular girl in the school.  She secretly hated Colleen, who for the most part treated her like a piece of trash throughout their schooling.  She aced every test and won every guy.  But not anymore, Colleen vanished at the perfect time, allowing Katie to fulfill her dreams.  How could she do this?

She found her answer cowering in Ava’s purse. 

Parker was her golden ticket.  Staging a grand platform to degrade Ava and showcase what she believed to be the scummy victim of drug abuse would be the perfect vehicle for her to receive the attention that she desperately needed.  This platform?  The party that she was hosting that weekend, where she would have her precious audience. 

Katie was going to leave high school on top.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Death was on Parker’s mind as he paced through the contents of Katie’s disheveled dresser drawer.  The insides of the barely-open drawer were illuminated by the springtime sunshine creeping through Katie’s window.  She had hastily tossed him into the drawer before she left for track practice or some other extracurricular activity, spewing arrogant promises of “fun” for when she returned.

For the first time in his life, Parker’s mind was slowing down.  He was growing numb.  Meandering through the drawer, Parker came across an unreasonably large pair of pink panties.  His eyes scanned the vast surface of the undergarment, the letters “P I N K” proudly spread across the backside.  His amplified feelings of smallness and inferiority now a given, Parker shook his head and walked the other way.  

Parker approached a pair of light green ankle socks lazily passing time in his newest prison.  Oddly enough, he imagined that this was the first pair of clean footwear that he had encountered in the last couple of days.  He chuckled, his brain a cavern of white noise.  Before walking closer to the imposing mound of cotton, he counted the years of damage that the feet of their bratty owner must have endured.  He saw five grey bruises of time in the toe area of each sock, and other larger ones on the heels and where the ball of her foot would lay.  He took a few steps closer, the socks looming high above his forgotten form.  From here, Parker could see little rips and tears in the socks, eternal scars from constant pulling and stretching from Katie’s bullying feet.  He was now within arm’s length of the monstrous footwear, the faint smell of detergent and fabric softener in the air.  He reached out and felt the colorful cotton, wondering when the sock’s last battle was, and how it fared against the pressure, sweat, and abuse from Katie.  Parker wondered if it would ever give up, or if it even had a choice.

*SLAM*

Parker was viciously jarred out of his observations with the bang of a door. 

“Liiiittle freak…?” Katie whispered, approaching the drawer.  She tugged open the drawer, revealing her most prized doll since the days of her youth.  “There you are!  What have you been doing while I’ve been gone?”

Parker remained mute, staring wide-eyed at the teenager, whose blonde hair was tied back and was wearing a red tank top, apparently having returned from track or cross country practice; Parker didn’t care to distinguish which.  He knew that fate was about to subject him to another beating.  Katie mockingly raised her eyebrows at him.

“Too scared to talk?  Alright, well let’s get to it then!  I promised you that we would have fun together, didn’t I?”  Katie reached towards the cringing adult next to her old green socks, sarcastically adding, “I mean, I owe you a good time, right?  You are helping me finally reach my rightful place this weekend.  It would be a waste to coop you up until then.”  With a feigned loving smile, she pinched Parker between her colossal fingertips, dropping him at the end of her plush bed.  She plopped herself on the other end, her powerful butt causing a miniature earthquake for Parker on the bed.

“So, Claire and I talked ALL track practice on what funny things I could do to you without actually killing you or some shit, because I need you for now.  We couldn’t think of anything until we finished practice and we went back to the locker room.  When I was changing from my track spikes back to my tennis shoes, she made a rude comment about how much my feet stunk.  I was pretty pissed at her, until her face lit up and she was like, ‘How disgusting would it be if he was by your feet while they’re like that?!’  I thought she was a freak at first, but then I couldn’t stop thinking about it!  Like you can’t be any bigger than my big toe, right?!  That’s SO funny!”  Talking a mile a minute, Katie was clearly getting excited by the prospect of being able to dominate another human being, much like she felt for most of her friendship with Colleen.

Instead of the usual hair-raising anxiety, Parker felt physically sick, Katie’s words inducing the early stages of a fainting spell.  His chest rapidly raised up and down, his thoughts empty but his dread insurmountable.

He saw her slip off her neon-colored Nike tennis shoes, revealing a pair of hungry toes encased in black socks, waiting for their victim.  Parker gagged, his stomach swelling in anticipation.

“Ewww,” Katie fussed, peeling off the sock on her left foot.  “This is actually really gross.  Coach had us run intervals today – they SUCK.  You wouldn’t know that, right?  You were probably a piece of shit in high school, judging by how you ended up…hehe.”  Katie stared at her sock with newfound curiosity, the weight of the situation finally starting to dawn on her immature mind.  She was a goddess.  Every move, every word, every smell, every sight would turn his world upside-down.  A rush of adrenaline permeated her brain, destroying every inhibition and all rationality.  A barely noticeable grin painted itself on her face.  She was in control now.

“Before we start…Let’s see how bad these really are.”  Dangling her sock from her fingers, Katie reached over and dangled the black cloud of footwear over the microscopic man.  She lowered it until it lightly rested on his fidgeting form.

“Ack!  Fuck!”  Parker gagged again, almost fully throwing up this time.  The smell was the worst he had encountered thus far, the sweat-soaked socks forming a tent of foot stench around him.  He was incapable of recognizing his situation; he coughed and blindly attempted to roll away from the humongous footwear of the tiny teen, every breath as chokingly humid as the next.

“That bad, huh little man??  I’m offended!  Katie laughed loudly, pulling her sock off of Parker and tossing it to his side.  She pulled her other sock off and placed it with the other one, her face cringing as she saw it stick to her still-perspiring foot.  She continued, “Claire makes fun of my feet all the time, but you’re being a little dramatic!”

Parker’s world was still mute.  He was face-down on her bed, hacking loudly, hardly able to catch his breath.  What had he done to deserve this? 

Katie peered over the hurting bug, scrunching her face and saying, “C’mon!  This is fun, right?  I’m having fun!  Well, it’s more funny than fun, haha.”  She waited for a second, disappointed at the lack of a response from Parker.  As always, her humor was misunderstood.  Why the fuck is he not looking at me?  She gave a big “Hmmph,” and sat back on her pillow, pulling her right leg closer so she could inspect her foot.  The smell wafting to her nostrils, she saw little pieces of black lint scattered across her sole and between her normally cute and well-pampered toes.  Disgusting.  She grunted again, seething at Parker “You know, you’re lucky!  I’m the hottest girl in school now!  You know how many guys would jump at the chance to be this close to me?  They would be eating from my toes…Show some respect, you fucking bug!” Nothing.

Briefly, Parker thought of Ava and his friend Victoria.  If he had more time, he might have cried. 

Katie lowered her bare foot on Parker, trapping him in between the rancid crevices of her toes and pushing him into the spongy bed.  Normally, her feet were tiny and cute, her toes little and always sporting a fresh pedicure.  To Parker, they were football field-sized monstrosities that threatened to end his misery. He had no chance at retaliation, each toe alone possessing the authority to submit him.  The unimaginably monstrous toes of the popular girl rhythmically squeezed Parker, his infinitesimal body being played with like a pebble stuck in her shoe would be.  Parker slid in, around, and between her feet, the moisture from a long practice and day at school wiping off on him, like a shrunken sweat rag.  Occasionally a thick black bundle of lint would attach itself to his writhing body, attempting to transform him into an inanimate clump of toe jam.  In these chaotic moments, Parker struggled for each breath, her feet occasionally granting him a gasp of their rotten air.  Each time he was forced to open his mouth for survival, the salty taste of Katie's feet washed over his lips into his mouth, the awful wetness worsening his coughing fit.  Between the suffocation and the physical pummeling, Parker was losing consciousness.

Katie’s mind was now as lost as Parker’s, her insecurities and regrets rising up and pouring out of her as she tortured her shrunken man.  Every bad grade, every embarrassment, and every heartbreak manifested itself in an animalistic rage directed towards Parker.  A tear slid off her face.

“Fucking dammit!”  Katie jerked her foot off of Parker, leaving him in a helpless heap on her bed.  She pulled her legs in close and buried her head in her lap, her angry cries turning into soft whimpers.  Parker continued to loudly cough, the stench of her feet still wrapping itself around his body like a python.  After a few painfully slow moments, Katie raised her head, wiping away tears from her reddened eyes.  She fumed, “You…I can’t wait till this weekend when I can get rid of you for fucking good.” 

Fading in and out of consciousness, Parker attempted to sit up and face the sound of the angry girl’s voice.  Through his blurry vision, he saw a large, pale form come towards him, clasping him and whisking him through the air.

Heaving, lifeless, and defeated, Parker was thrust directly in front of Katie’s face.  Her eyes sucked even more life out of him as they inspected his limp body.  Her eyebrows lowered and her eyes narrowed.   With her free hand, she grabbed one of her discarded track socks, holding it open and placing it under Parker.  “Friday,” she spat, and dropped him in the soaked sock.  Red-faced, the frustrated blonde got out of her bed and picked up one of her Nikes.  She hastily shoved the sock into it.  Breathing heavily, she slid the shoes under her bed and stomped away.  

Futility.   

With tired eyes, Ava stared at her blank computer screen.  Biting her lip and tirelessly twisting the ends of her long brown hair, she racked her brain for a sentence – no, she would even take a few words at this point – that would start her Catcher in the Rye paper. 

God, you can’t even do this, you freaking idiot.

She typed, “Holden was…”  Backspace.  Try again.  “J.D. Salinger’s coming-of-age novel A Catcher in the Rye…”  No, that sucks.  Backspace.  Ava stared at the screen for another few moments, trying to ignore the most recent bout between her mom and sister coming from the outside of her bedroom.  Still nothing.

“C’mon…” She whispered, face-palming in mental exhaustion, as well as physical exhaustion from having to walk several miles home after Katie and Claire dumped her the day before.  She was too embarrassed and upset to call for help.  Who would she even call?

She couldn’t get Parker out of her head.  Simply put, she massively screwed up.  She thought that the popular girls would give them a hint as to Colleen’s whereabouts, leading them to the Amazon that gave Parker the drug.  Ava underestimated the inhumanity of her classmates, unfortunately.  Now, with rumors going around school of Katie having a party on Friday, her dread was amplified with thoughts of what she planned to do with Parker.  But god, she was only with the guy for a couple of days…why does she feel this shitty?  Was it the excitement of a new friend?  Was it a crush?  At points during their time together, she even secretly hoped that whoever and whatever shrunk Parker would have been long gone.  She felt terrible about that, but she was lonely.  After she was rejected by the boy who eventually went to prom with Colleen, she felt horrible, but Parker actually made her feel better.  Parker wasn’t a douchebag, which is the kind of guy that Ava was used to dealing with.  Confusion and regret bounced around the walls of Ava’s head.  She had to do something.

Ava closed the Microsoft Word window on her laptop and pulled up her web browser.  Pause.  She typed “google.com,” her French-manicured nails clacking against the keys of her keyboard.  Pause.  Who could help?  I don’t even know his last name...Think, dammit.  Lost in thought, Ava scanned her room, her eyes falling on the makeshift tiny-person bed that she made for Parker.  She let out a deep sigh.

 I know that he said that he didn’t want people at his office to know about him…but I don’t know what else to do...he said he worked for an event planning company or something, right?  Someone there could probably help.

Typing fast enough to induce finger cramps, Ava expertly scoured Google for all event planning businesses in the area.  One by one, she inspected the “About Us” pages of each one, hoping to find Parker’s name.  Frantic typing ensued.  This looks promising.  “Sunny Day Events: We’ll Make Your Day Unforgettable!”  About Us… Parker Carey // Event Associate // Email: parker@sunnyevents.org.”  Mission accomplished, girl.  Now, what’s the address of this place? Ava navigated the pages of the brightly decorated website, settling on the “Contact Us” tab. 

154 Bedlington Gardens...Time to go on a trip.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Parker slowly began to regain consciousness.  Finding the air around him chilly, he pulled his arms and legs closer to himself.  His senses awakening, he could hear the faint sound of telephones ringing and people chatting.  Eyes still closed, he groggily grunted and shifted in his seat.  Wait, his seat?  Parker’s eyes snapped open.

Huh?  What the…?

Parker’s nerves jumped as he frenziedly darted his eyes back and forth, attempting to make sense of his new surroundings.  He was in absolute disbelief.  The Smiths mug, Dell computer, San Francisco Giants calendar, and the messy stack of papers were all there.  Parker looked down, past his striped blue tie and white dress shirt, down to his khaki pants and brown loafers. He was in his office cubicle.  But something was off.  Way off.

His legs only reached slightly past his office chair.        

“Ah!” Parker let out a small yelp, his nerves inducing a mild heat stroke.  Struggling to catch his breath, he quickly assumed that he was no taller than a small child.

What the fuck?!  How the hell did I get here?

Parker racked his brain for some context, but everything was hazy.  He couldn’t hold on to a thought to save his life; the only thing that Parker was cognizant of was how surreal his scenario was, not to mention his killer headache. 

Shit shit shit…I need to run to the bathroom or something, no one can see me like –

“Parker!  Would you mind being a doll and making some copies of this flyer for me?”  Parker’s fifty-something co-worker, Cheryl, leaned into his cubicle and offered him a piece of paper, which was about the size of a small rug to him.  Looking like someone’s son who was lost on “Bring Your Child to Work Day,” Parker nervously nodded, accepting the paper from the company’s graphic designer.  “Thanks!”  She flashed a smile, brushing her black hair out of her hair as she went on her way, apparently unfazed by her toddler-sized co-worker.

How did she not…? 

He glanced at the oversized flyer, which advertised the marriage of Artie and Emmy, a happy-looking couple frolicking in a green meadow or some other.  Parker let out a long sigh, trying to relieve his anxieties.  No success.  His mouth dry, he tried to reach his water bottle on his desk.  Also no success.  What the hell is going on?  

“Here goes nothing,” Parker said aloud to himself, and clumsily slunk off of his giant-sized chair.  Before moving on, he looked back up at it.  Good luck not looking like an idiot climbing back on that thing. He peeked out from the edge of his cubicle, looking more like he was in the midst of a game of hide-and-seek than preparing to make a trip to the copy machine.  He saw Cheryl disappear into her cubicle.  Coast is clear. 

Parker darted from his workspace, pushing the limits of his shortened legs on his way to the copy room.  Making quick observations during his journey, he noticed that Victoria was away from her cubicle, everyone else was still normal-sized, and no one bothered to look at the dwarf speeding down the walkway.

Parker rushed into the copy room like a speedy baseball player trying to reach home base.  Safe.  He reached the familiar room, trying to shake the uneasiness that came with its increased scale.  With an unnerving amount of effort, he pushed the door closed.  In his urgency, he almost tripped on a littered Starbucks cup on the floor of the copy room.  It looked like a size that eclipsed Venti – or whatever fancy name they call it – but was most likely the smallest size for one of his giant coworkers.  He shuddered.

Now came the hardest part.  The copy machine was out of arm’s reach.  Great, call more attention to myself.  He scanned the mostly barren room, past the Starbucks cup, a tall coffee table, a few fake plants, and a smallish office trash can.  Trash can. 

Parker scurried over to the trash can, which seemed to be about a foot and a half tall and was lined with grey wires, allowing a glimpse into the discarded papers within.  It was not much shorter than him – he figured that he had it beat by half of a foot.  He quickly pushed over the can, dumping its contents on the carpeted floor.  Then, he grabbed its rim and dragged it towards the copy machine.  Nearing the completion of his nifty plan, he pushed the bottom of the can upwards.  With his flyer, he pulled himself on top of the can, the pillar placing him just above the copy machine.  Success.          

As is usually the case when Parker accomplishes something, the victory was short-lived.  The door flew open right when he was about to place the flyer into the copier.  The threat of one of his titanic coworkers caused him to almost lose his balance even before he had a chance to turn around.

“What are you doing?  Why didn’t you just ask me for help like you usually do?”  Victoria, his best friend at the office, said with a chuckle.  She was wearing one of her usual hipster outfits, the thick black frames of her glasses and red lipstick complimenting a black blazer that draped over her white dress.  She was also rocking her favorite brown leather boots. 

Parker turned towards the smiling face of his now-Amazonian friend, responding, “I…I…don’t know.”  Even standing on top of the garbage can, he estimated that he was still around two feet shorter than her. She was massive, and he was terrified.

“You’re a troublemaker, Parker!  One of these days it’s going to catch up with you!”  Victoria continued to laugh, casually approaching Parker.  Without his consent, she put two large hands under his arms, carefully lifting him up and setting him down on the floor.  With a cute wink, she reached down and took the flyer from his hands, saying, “Now, let me take care of that.  Only because you got me coffee today.”

“Th…Thanks.”  Parker meekly responded, marveling at the height of his formerly-tiny friend.  He didn’t know why, but in that moment he felt strangely okay, for the first time in what felt like forever.   Maybe it was because he didn’t have to deal with the wrath of this dimension’s Cheryl, or because he was in the presence of one of his only good friends.  Hell, for some reason he couldn’t remember what he had for breakfast that morning, so he just shut his mouth and smiled.

“Alright, there we go!”  Victoria cheerily said, handing the papers down to Parker.  Despite feeling like a child who had just received his homework from his preschool teacher, Parker responded with a polite thank you.

 “I’m telling you, Parker, you need to get out of that damn house of yours and come out to the bars with me,” she chided, her hands on her hips.

Still stiff from the new size roles and terrified at the prospect of going to a place with even more dolled-up giantesses (with heels nonetheless), Parker murmured, “I…uh…We’ll see!”  He gave her an awkward smile, finishing, “Thanks for the offer.”  He hurried past Victoria’s lofty legs, hoping that Cheryl was not getting restless.

“No prob, Parker…” Victoria responded with a depressed frown, watching him scamper away. 

Letting out a heavy breath of relief, Parker quickly shuffled his way out of the copy room and down the hallway, turning the corner that would lead him back to the office area.

Just have to give these to Cheryl then I can go to the bathroom and figure out what –

“Woah there!  Just the man that I was looking for!”

As Parker turned the corner, he crashed into a miniskirt-covered thigh, the crash nearly sending his papers flying across the office.  Before he craned his neck upwards, he knew who the cheery voice belonged to.  And it was the person that he avoided even when he wasn’t the size of a child.

Patricia.

The epitome of eccentricity, flirtatiousness, quirkiness, beauty, irritability, and elegance that was his boss.  The one who had given him his first job, but has gradually made him regret his decision to interview with the company since.  And to top it all off, she now had a good four feet on him.

“You should watch where you’re going, there!  Always rushing around the office like you do,” Patricia playfully scolded her nervous little employee.

Parker followed her signature yellow flats all the way up past her black miniskirt, tucked-in loose white blouse, and to face, her expression revealing how delightedly entertained she was.  He opened his mouth to apologize, greet her, or crack a self-depreciating joke.  No words came out.

“Okay then…Well I needed you discuss some logistics for Artie and Emmy’s wedding.  Shall we?”  Patricia gestured towards one of the smaller conference rooms.

“I…I need to bring these to – ”

“Oh bring them with you, whoever it is can wait.”

God.

Parker followed Patricia to the meeting room, failing to keep pace with her long strides.  With an equally amused and condescending look, she folded her arms and waited in the doorway for him.

“After you,” she said with a smirk, watching Parker slouch beneath her.  He avoided eye contact as he made his way into the room.

Entering the conference room, he was again struck with the unfamiliar familiarity of his surroundings.  The square, wooden table, the plush black roller chairs, and the sunshine-welcoming window were all there unchanged.  Only difference was that he could walk under the table without ducking and attempting to sit on one of the chairs would qualify as an Olympic event.

As if she read his mind, Patricia nonchalantly picked up Parker from behind, ignoring his surprised yelp and sitting him on an open chair.

Jeez, is this a regular thing?!

After putting her binder on the table, Patricia rolled another seat next to Parker’s.  Dwarfed by his chair, Parker watched as she bent forward to sit down, the miniskirt tightening around her mammoth bottom as she plopped down on her seat. 

She grabbed the binder and leaned towards him, searching its contents to find the schedule of events for the wedding celebration.  Meanwhile, Parker was struggling to control his anxious trembling, wiping his clammy hands on the legs of his pants.  He could see her white bra through her blouse; it barely restrained her breasts, which were large even at his former size. Also, he could smell her dizzyingly sweet perfume and was flashed a view of her red panties for a moment before she crossed her legs.  All of this obviously did nothing to ease his shaking body.

“Let’s see here…So I’m going to need you to be at the venue by three.  That work?  You have a ride set up already, right?         

“I mean…I have a car, so…”

“Ha! Let’s not joke around too much here, Parker.  I’m sure Victoria’s picking you up.”

Oh, shit.  Obviously you can’t drive, dumbass.

Parker saw Patricia slip her foot in and out of her flat, dangling the larger-than-usual shoe from the tips of her toes.

“Parker! Hey!  Let’s focus…I swear to god you live in another world sometimes.”  She grinned, always satisfied at the extra attention from her male personnel.  “Alright, well the venue should have the table decorations there already, so you can just set them…”  Patricia trailed off, trying to stifle a giggle as she looked Parker up and down, forgetting his limited reach.  Embarrassed, Parker uncomfortably ran his hands through his hair.

 “Well, you could carry…wait, no!  Um…you could help…”  Patricia pretended to page through the binder, close to breaking into a laughing fit at the munchkin’s expense.  Biting her lip, she was unable to crack a joke, saying, “Well, you could always rub my feet afterwards like you did after the Morrison’s wedding!  Remember that?!” 

Attempting to break the awkwardness, Patricia put her hand on Parker’s thigh, giggling at her own joke.  Parker tried his best to restrain his kneejerk reaction to pull away from the long fingers friendlily squeezing his leg.  He also tried to retrain the thought of massaging her putrid feet again, let alone at this size.  Humiliating.

“Loosen up, Parker!  Haha, just help Victoria with whatever she needs. Sound good?”

Parker shyly nodded.

Just let me leave…

“Alright!  Well, productive meeting!  You’re free to go.  Oh, and those are the flyers, right?  I’m meeting with Cheryl here in ten minutes or so, so you can just leave them here.”

“Okay, thanks,” Parker murmured, cautiously slipping out of his chair and bolting for the door.

Now I can finally –

“Wait!  Will you do me a little favor and bring me my coffee from my office?  Silly me, I forgot it.”

Why can’t you get it yourself, giant bitch.

“Sure thing,” Parker responded with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.  He breathlessly broke for the office in what was hopefully his last distraction before he could figure out his situation.

Parker kept his gaze plastered to the ground as he hiked through the office’s hallways.  Luckily, the two overgrown women chatting at the towering water cooler were too engrossed in their gossip to notice him pass by.

Feeling like he just ran a legitimate race around his office, Parker approached Patricia’s cracked-open office door.  Not bothering to push it open further, he squeezed past the entryway and entered the room.  Unluckily, the lights were off.

Damnit!  I just can’t get a freaking break…Now how am I gonna –

*SLAM*

“Long time no see, little friend. Grown a bit since I’ve last seen you, huh?” 

Parker knew the owner of that seductive, purring, and ethereal voice.  He just didn’t want to believe it was her.

*Flick*

Like the bright lights of a football stadium, Patricia’s office glowed to life. Within inches of Parker’s face was the smooth, thick shin of the elusive goddess that put him into this mess.  The elongated toes of her feet – which were easily three times the size of his – gave him a welcoming wiggle, excited at the prospect of causing him more confusion and torment.   

While still petrified at the sight of the blonde femme fatale, Parker by now knew the score.  He cursed himself for not realizing that the office shenanigan was just another surreal game of puppet for the Amazon.

Looking up to the ceiling as if he was about to damn the heavens, Parker called to her, yelling, “What?  So this is a fucking dream too?  What are you gonna do, say some ambiguous shit then bring in my ex again to stomp the hell out of me?”

The Amazon brought her hand to her mouth in mock offense, responding, “My my, Parker.  How rude!  Aren’t you going to compliment my professional outfit?  Don’t you find me sexy anymore?  I think I look good…”  She teasingly gestured towards her tied-back blonde hair, slowly moving her hands past her jet-black blazer, short skirt, giving him a wink as she finished at her strappy black heels.

Red with a swirling combination of frustration, embarrassment, and fear, Parker stuttered a bit, replying in a much-less-than-assertive tone, “Tell me what’s going on or just crush me and wake me up!”

Pausing for a moment, the Amazon slowly strutted to Patricia’s desk, casually reclining on the edge and coolly stretching her long legs.  Ignoring his demand, she said, “Who’s that cute hipster chick?  When’re you gonna ask her out??  I’m sure once you get over your height differences, things will be justttt dandy.”

“What are you talking about?  Don’t worry about her!”

“Well, we’re very feisty today, little man, what’s the problem? Finally tired of people literally walking all over you?”

“Shit, just tell me!  End this!  It’s not a damn game!”

“Oh I know, I know.  There’s a purpose to this, remember?  We’ve had this conversation before, haven’t we shorty?”

“N…No!  I mean, I don’t think so!”  His headache unrelenting, Parker’s brain was turning into a mushy mess of out-of-control emotions and perceptual failures.

A small laugh escaped from the Amazon’s lips; she stood to her full height and began to walk towards Parker, who backed further into the corner of the office with each step that she took.  As accustomed to giant women as he was growing to be, he was still taken aback at how downright small she repeatedly managed to make him feel.  Looming high above him as he anxiously stood with his back against the wall, the Amazon looked at him with a pouty face. 

She gently crouched down, approaching his near-infinitesimal level, stopping just above him.  She extended her hand and lightly ran two of her fingers through Parker’s hair.  Comprising his entire field of view, the Amazon quietly looked into Parker’s worried brown eyes.

“You’ll see.  This will all make sense soon enough.  I hope that you figure it out.”

She slowly brought her head down to Parker’s, turning it ever-so-slightly to the right.  Her plush red lips puckered and reached toward Parker, who speechlessly looked up at her. 

With two worldly hands, she caressed the sides of his body and whispered, “Just relax.  We’ll see each other soon.  You know what you have to do.”

Their lips met, locking in a reality-defying embrace of emotion, the silence in the room indescribable.  Parker’s thoughts flatlined.  He was immobile.  The gorgeous woman carefully rested the ends of her fingers on his cheeks, gradually intensifying the movements of her mouth as she passionately and easily encompassed his existence.  As if by some external force, the lights dimmed around them, both ends inexplicably lost between dimensions.  Parker squeezed the forearms of the Amazon.  He was lost in her spirit, his ever-anxious mind sedated.

Their worlds collided for just a moment, and for that moment, physicality disappeared.  Streams of bright colors orbited their forms, absorbing every worry, every regret, and every inhibition of Parker’s.

“You see Parker, this is therapy.”

The Amazon faded away, disappearing back into the abyss.

Darkness.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I can’t believe that you, like, actually put him in your sock and left him there that long!  That’s so nasty!”

“Oh, who are you to judge, Claire…”

“You know that I wasn’t serious!!  Look at him!  You probably killed the guy!”

“Bullshit, you were.  And you would’ve done the same fucking thing.  He’s fine!”

“Uh no, he isn’t!  You’re fucking scaring me, Katie.  I know you want him for Friday and everything, but we still don’t know what happened to Colleen and – ”

“Shut the fuck up bitch!  Just keep poking him, alright?  I’m gonna go check on my little sisters.  He’s not the only one we’re babysitting, remember?”

“Fine.”

Katie slammed the door, startling Claire.  Claire flashed an annoyed look and diverted her attention to the tiny man on Katie’s desk.  She leaned in close to Parker, regretting the decision a little as the stink of her friend’s foot still stuck to his skin.  He seemed to still be breathing, albeit hardly.  Claire couldn’t believe that she had left him there all night and into the next day, leaving him to breathe whatever air escaped through the openings of her shoe and through the crevices of the sock.  Claire was not used to seeing this side of Katie, who was normally giddy and compliant when Colleen was still in the picture.  In fact, the last few days had been rather eventful for her, between prom, the disappearance of Colleen, and now this thing.  God, her and Katie even had to deal with Ava’s crying and futile confrontations all day.  What could Ava even do?  Say that someone stole her shrunken man?  Regardless, Claire felt uneasy as she looked at the scientific marvel in front of her, who was twitching as if he was dreaming.  Although she thought that the hurting man probably deserved his fate, he was still a person, after all.  Claire looked at the ground, where she saw Katie’s discarded track shoes and worn black socks, still recovering from another exhausting practice.  She was scared, thoughts of an alternate scenario where she was the one stuck in her best friend’s track sock crept into her mind and refused to leave. 

Claire attempted to shrug away her disturbing contemplations, walking away from the miniature man and observing Katie’s room.  She noticed Katie’s numerous track awards, concert ticket stubs, picture frames illustrating happy times at the beach, and her iPhone, which was covered in a sleek, hot pink case.  Claire stopped and stared at the phone, maybe just for a second too long.  She looked at the door, looked at Parker, then back at the phone.  Katie would kill her. 

Before she could think better of it, Claire snatched the phone and unlocked it.  Thankfully, no passcode.  Curious to see which boy(s) she was talking to, she expertly scrolled through her recent texts.  “Mom,” “Claire,” “Little Sis.”  Nothing exciting.  Still hearing the sounds of Katie playing with her little sisters downstairs, she tapped her way over to her incoming and outgoing calls.  Her eyes almost immediately jumped to a missed call from Colleen.  The call was missed at 1:17 A.M. the morning after prom.  With it now Tuesday night, the call must’ve been made a few days ago.  Claire frenetically tapped through another window to see if Colleen had left a voicemail.  She did.  After a moment of apprehensive hesitation, she held the phone to her ear.

“KATIE! HELP!  Me and my boyfriend were kidnapped!  But…but you CAN’T tell anybody!  My mom will have a fucking fit if she knew what I did!  Holy shit holy shit holy shit please!  We’re in the basement of some office building!  I used my GPS to find out the address…it’s…let me get it up…154 Bedlington Gardens! Hurry! Ah, no I’m not calling anybody! Please!  PLEASE!  Please don’t I’m sorr – ”

Katie’s bedroom door flew open. 

Caught.

“God!  I told you that I was sorry!”

Parker harshly awoke to the high-pitched sounds of the fuming screams of Katie and Claire’s fearful justifications.  Initially not being able to comprehend their cries, Parker rubbed his aching head and worked to comprehend his surroundings, not to mention how long he had been unconscious for.  The tiny man still rested on the expansive surface of Katie’s desk, hardly in good health after his lost battle with Katie’s feet and his tumultuous dream.  In the midst of all of these happenings, he was still halfway in between the Amazon’s dream world and his bizarre reality.

That…dream.  I don’t get this drug, these girls, that Amazon blonde, ugh…I don’t get any of this!!  She keeps telling me that it’ll make sense soon and that it’s for my own good, but she’s so fucking vague and mysterious that I don’t understand shit.  Wait – Shit! What the hell am I doing?! These girls are causing trouble again, who knows what they’ll do to me next…And Ava!  She’s my only hope now…I have no idea how she’ll…And my office, I wonder if they’re worried about me or anything…God!  My head’s such a mess.  Is it another effect of the drug?  I need to straighten out and get through this, especially if that giant bitch claims that this is “therapy,” or whatever.  I don’t see how getting grinded by this girl’s feet is helping me at all, damn.  I guess we’re back to trust and obey: trust that Ava will help, and obey this brat, for my own livelihood.

Slowly but surely, the wheels of Parker’s brain were spinning like they used to, his thoughts reactivating.  Maybe the dream had helped, albeit marginally.  He was still far away from the astonishing determination that had gotten him discovered by Ava.  But hell, at least he wasn’t in a robotic comatose anymore.  Not wanting to attract any attention to himself, he made no attempt at standing up, instead opting to lie down and pray that Katie’s anger would stay focused on Claire.

“I told you, I didn’t hear anything!”  Slightly unkempt, Claire’s red hair was barely able to hide the worry in her eyes.

“I’ll ask you again: What were you doing with my phone?”  Even more frustrated than during last night’s breakdown with Parker, Claire breathed heavily in between her demanding questions.

“Well, I’ll tell you again!  My phone is running out of battery and I needed to tell my mom that I was staying here for another couple of hours!” 

“Then show me your phone, bitch!”

“Don’t call me that Katie, god!  I don’t have to show you anything!”

“You know what?  Fine.”

“Well, you know wha – wait…really?

“Yeah, I mean if you’re my best friend and everything, what reason do I have to distrust you?  Right?”  The redness faded from Katie’s face, slowly being replaced by her familiar mixed expression of mischievousness and self-assurance.  She had an idea.

“Yeah…you’re right…I mean…I don’t know why you would have even questioned me in the first place,” Claire meekly responded, her pale face losing even more color as she anxiously defended herself against her intimidating friend.

“I’m so sorry Claire.  I’m just worked up over Friday, that’s all.  I just want it to be perfect.”  Katie grinned, making Claire even more apprehensive and nervous.  She couldn’t let this go that easily, right?

“Same!  Like, people will totally have fun and everything…they’ll love the little guy and it’ll all be because of you.”

“Oh Claire, give yourself some credit!  You’ll be there the whole way.  You’re like…the Robin to my Batman!”

“I…I guess.  Thanks, Katie.”

“Anytime, sweetie.  Now, you look stressed.  Why do you look sooo nervous?”

“Just, that Catcher in the Rye test is tomorrow and everything…I’m afraid that it’ll be, like, hard and stuff.”

“Oh don’t worry about that.  We’ll just cheat off that nerd girl, Lizzie.  Let’s have some fun instead!”

“Sure!  I know that The Bachelor is on tonight…”

“I have something more fun in mind.”

Claire looked like she was about to be sick.  She knew what Katie had in mind.  But what else could she do?  In her world, social life was paramount.  Crossing Katie meant crossing the border into social irrelevance.  Social irrelevance, well, that was just about the worst thing that could happen, at least in Claire’s mind.  Preventing that meant that she had to stay on Katie’s good side.  At least until Friday, of course.  Colleen would be okay until then, right?  Right?

“Like…what?”  Claire choked out, her voice oozing with dread.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*** So wake me up when it’s all over

When I’m wiser and I’m older

All this time I was finding myself

And I didn’t know I was lost ***

Ava shifted her blue Chevy Cobalt into park, shushing the engine into a low roar.  She lowered the volume of the radio, which was playing her beloved Top 100 hits.  Despite the cheery tunes, she could not shake the butterflies from her stomach.  She was sure that Parker’s coworkers would be amiable and helpful, but she still felt off.  Was it that she was in an unfamiliar place?  Was she still upset about Parker?  She let out a prolonged sigh.  Still no relief.

The sun just having set for the night, Ava looked out her window at 154 Bedlington Gardens, a bricked office complex about a mile from her comfortable suburban home.  There were a few cars left in the lot, most likely some caffeine-soaked busybodies that needed an extra hour to get their work done.  She figured that someone would be on the top floor, where Sunny Day Events called home.  After all, she was tied up with school commitments until about 5 PM, and she surely didn’t want to bother the workplace with her questioning during work hours.  As Ava picked the stray ends of her hair, she realized that she was just delaying her mission, so she turned off the radio and headed towards the door of the complex.  Here goes nothing.

Fortunately, the large glass door of the office was unlocked, giving way into a standard-looking lobby, with a few green couches and a coffee table.  Ava checked the directory to make sure that she was going to the right place, surprised that such a small company had an entire floor to themselves.  After brushing past a group of 30’s-something businessmen, she entered into the elevator.  Floor 11.

Tapping her sandal-clad feet against the metal floor, Ava impatiently waited as the elevator soared into the unfamiliar.  Looking around the inside of the expansive elevator, she noticed a small camera perched on the upper-right corner of the space.  Is that supposed to be there?

Slightly perplexed, but still thinking nothing of it, she watched the dotted red light of the camera blink, the machinery looking like it came straight from a Mission Impossible movie or some other. 

3-4-5. The elevator rose towards her destination.  6-7-8.  The camera twitched, focusing in on the young brunette.  9-10----*CRASH!*

Abruptly, the elevator’s lights died, which were immediately followed by the permeation of earthquake-like rumbles throughout the space.  Ava screamed as the elevator crashed, struggling to stay on her feet.  As quickly as the incident occurred, it ended, leaving Ava in a haunting standstill.  Her senses were useless, surrounded in darkness and drowning in silence.  The only sound was the sound of her exasperated breathing.  As she was about to call for help, she heard another noise.  It creaked and screeched like a rigid metal door, and it sounded like it came from behind her.  Before Ava had a chance to turn around, a hand roughly found her and muffled her screams.             

The hand covered her entire face.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Take off your shoes.”

“But…why?”  Claire replied, her nausea exponentially worsening.  She knew exactly the game that Katie was playing.  She looked at the recently-awoken micro man, who now was on the ground in between her low-top red Converses and Katie’s bare feet.

“Why not?  I told you how much fun I had messing with him earlier…Don’t you want to have fun?”  The malice was pouring from Katie’s words, as she recognized that she now had leverage over Claire.  Knowing full well that Claire had snooped on her phone and how badly she wanted a share of the glory on Friday, she could now torture her with as much cruelty as she exhibited with the shrunken man. 

“Yeah, I do…I just, like, don’t see how putting him in my –”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“I do, but – ”

“Do it.”

Feeling just as big as the inches-tall man at her feet, Claire kneeled down and untied her left shoe.  She looked up at Katie, her passive-aggressiveness enough to pierce the psyche of just about anyone.  As she finished untying her right shoe, she worriedly looked at the little man in front of her, who anxiously, yet obediently awaited his next disaster scenario.  What could he even do?  Claire wiggled her sock-covered toes, grimacing as she felt the wetness from hours of wear. 

“Katie, can’t we just – ”  This time, Claire cut herself short, Katie’s persistent glare doing all the talking.  “Can I at least keep my socks on?”  Same glare.

Her face scrunching in disgust and guilt, but mostly disgust, Claire removed the sock from her right foot, the light of Katie’s bedroom reflecting off her sweat-covered soles.  With much deliberation, she followed suit with the other sock, the state of her left foot just as unforgiving.

“But I don’t want to touch him, like – ”

“Oh, that’s fine!  Let’s see here…”  Katie stuck her big toe out and prodded Parker, who stumbled forward a bit with the collision.  “Hey!  She doesn’t want to touch you, so get in there yourself.”  She gave a smug smile to Claire.

With resistance to the humongous teens being foolish, the bug-like human pitifully marched towards the shoe, which in comparison to him looked more like an aircraft carrier.  As he reached the intimidating footwear, it became obvious that he was too tiny to even hop into his terrible fate.

Katie rolled her eyes, crouched down, and pinched him in between her fingers.  She dropped him into her friend’s well-worn shoe, watching him tumble onto his ass.  Annoyed, she watched him for a moment, and said, “What?? You admiring the smell?  Walk!”

“Katie, just – ”

“Oh hell, like get over it.  It’s not even like you know the guy,” Katie spat, waiting a few seconds for the man to reach the toe end of the shoe, where he no doubt was floored by the craterous indentations within, amplifying his dread.  “Well?”  She raised her eyebrows at the reluctant Claire.

Coming close to psyching herself out Claire looked at her unpainted toes, trying not to imagine the pure, unrestrained misery that she was about to impose on another human being, not to mention the nastiness of the whole ordeal. 

Under the pleased supervision of Katie, Claire slowly placed her toes on the edge of her sneaker, hesitating for an infinite second…then continuing on, sliding her foot into the makeshift prison.  Gradually, the tips of her toes met what was surely his cowering form.  Another pause.  Her foot continued its mission, moving ever-so-slightly over the insect, so that he safely fit beneath her toes.  Scowling throughout the whole process, Claire felt the man twitch and move under her petite toes, which she imagined were downright scary to him.  Settling them down over him, she again began to overthink the situation.  Her Converses were how old?  She’s had them since freshman year…so that’s three, four years?  And it was 90 degrees out today…She cursed Katie as loud as she could in her head.  The situation that she put her in was just too unnatural, embarrassing, and foul to just be OK with.  Claire again felt the man shift against the sweaty underside of her toes.  Gross.  

“See, I told you that it would be fun!”  Katie jointly laughed at the obvious discomfort of her friend and the more-than-obvious pain of the shrunken man.  Claire simply frowned in response, to which Katie said, “Hey!  Maybe this’ll get you to stop making fun of my feet, especially if we ask him whose was worse after!”  Claire huffed, putting her other shoe back on, thankfully sans-human being.

“Hey, it’s 9!  We can watch The Bachelor after all!”  Katie cheered.  “Oh, and be careful to not put too much pressure on him, so, like he doesn’t get crushed or anything.  And I’ll make sure to remind you to take him out for a breather later.  We need him, remember??”

“Sure,” Claire mumbled, making sure to keep her weight on her other foot.  She made her way down to Katie’s living room, where she took a seat on the couch, still visibly upset.  Meanwhile, Katie was still visibly delighted.

For the rest of the night, Claire stared blankly at the TV, hardly able to ignore the movements of the helpless man underneath her toes.

“Wake up!”

*SLAP!*

“Colleen – I don’t think that she’ll – ”

*SLAP!*

“Shut up for once Sam!  She must’ve called the police before she came here!  If only…”

*SLAP!*

“Coll – Wait…Are her eyes…?”

Bruised, beaten, and her face now reddened from Colleen’s angry attempts to awaken her, Ava’s eyelids first twitched, then lifted.  Kneeling over Ava – who was lying down – Colleen impatiently watched as she regained consciousness.

“Hey!  So, the police are coming, right?  Who told you that we were here?  How’d you find us? Hey – answer me!”

“Wh…Where are we?”  Ava confusedly mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“That’s not what I – ”

A tall, athletic-looking guy pushed past the inquisitive blonde. “Colleen!  Give her a damn breath, you saw how that giant chick threw her in here!  Ava – what’s the last thing that you remember?”

“Sam?  What are you doing here?”  Ava asked, her questions multiplying by the second.  She noticed that he was still wearing his prom attire, only his white shirt was dirt-stained and torn, and his tuxedo jacket was in the corner of their cell.  Wait, cell?

“Ava, you had to’ve known we’ve been missing since prom, right?  That’s why you’re here.”

“No – I was…I mean I knew you guys weren’t in school, but what is – ”

“She obviously doesn’t know shit.  Go figure.”  Colleen, with her burgundy prom dress equally destroyed and her heels discarded next to her feet, spoke up from the corner of the filthy cell.

“You really didn’t know that we were here?”  Sam asked, his hopes of rescue falling.

Her voice showing signs of panic, Ava responded, “No…one minute my elevator crashes, now the next I’m here!”  She sat up, her muscles aching in the process.  Her eyes looked beyond Sam, trying to make sense of her surroundings.  In the darkness, she could make out prison bars and boxes.  Lots and lots of boxes, like they were in a storage facility that just happened to have a prison cell in it.  What the hell? 

Wide-eyed and with her voice quivering, Ava asked, “Where are we?!”

“Might as well tell her, Sam.  Like she’ll do anything about it.”  Colleen said as she inspected a broken nail on her finger.

“Tell me what?”  By the way things looked, Ava braced herself for the worst.

Composing himself, Sam started, “Alright…where should I…Oh!  Yeah, okay.  So we were at prom, right?  And Colleen here meets some tall chick outside while I’m parking the car, chick says she has some drugs.  Colleen thinks this Amazonian drug dealer is the shit.  She’s already sold – she would’ve bought an elephant from this chick if she had one.”  Sam shot a dirty look towards his girlfriend, who stuck her tongue out in response.

“Where was I?  Ah, alright, so Colleen figures she can get us some weed or something for after-prom, but the tall chick says she has something better.  Something more fun.  Says what she got was special, can do things to people.  Mess them up.  Tells her to go try it out, have some fun with it, then come back and pay her.  Tall chick gives her instructions.  I guess she was supposed to slip the drug to a dude that she doesn’t like, a teacher or something.  The rule was that when he’s ‘bout to take it, she has to take it.  Colleen didn’t think to ask any other questions, thought she was about to have the best frickin’ night of her life.”

“Listen Sam – I!” Colleen started.

“Hey!  Let me tell the rest of the story, before your giant bitch friend comes back.”

Colleen frowned.  Ava raised one eyebrow.

“So, Colleen uh…well Ava, she put the damn drug in your drink.”

“What?!”

“Hey now!  It’s not important now, just listen for a minute.  Dumbass Colleen didn’t pay attention when the chick said that she had to give it to a ‘DUDE,’ not a chick.  I guess the drug only works on the opposite sex or some shit.”  Sam looked towards Colleen again, who was rolling her eyes.

“So anyways, Amazon bitch comes back, wants money.  Colleen doesn’t have any ‘cause I pay for every damn thing, and she’s pissed on top of all that ‘cause the drug didn’t work.  Colleen tells the chick that the drug was bust, so she’s not payin’.  So, being gigantic and all, the bitch gets pissed off, snatches her up, and takes her here.  Colleen manages to hold onto her phone and catch the address for a bit, so she calls me and Katie.  No response from Katie, but I up and come here in the middle of prom.  I show up outside, then the Amazon bitch somehow sneaks up on me, beats me unconscious, throws me in here.  We’ve been stuck ever since.  Every once in a while the Amazon bitch will come down, taunt us, and toss us some food or something.  Nothing else.”

Ava sputtered, “So…I don’t even know what to…What is this place?  I mean, it’s supposed to be an office complex!  And Colleen, you bitch!”

Colleen started to stand, but Sam stopped her, saying, “Stop!  I said it’s not important – we just need to get the hell outta here.  Now, you see those boxes?  Me and Colleen think it’s the drugs, like this is where they keep it all.  Whoever the tall chick works for, you know.  They go to parties, proms, and shit like that and sell the stuff to kids.  We still don’t even know what the drug even does.  I mean I think it’s the shrinking drug people keep talking about, but Colleen says that’s bullshit.”

“No – I think you’re right! I have a friend that took it, that’s why I’m here – to help him!  I was on my way to his office…his company is called…Sunny Day Events, that’s it!”  Ava excitedly responded.  Maybe they were getting somewhere.

Colleen spoke up, saying, “There’s no way!  Do you really think a drug can freaking shrink people?”

“You wanna bet?”  Ava snapped back.

“Girls!”  Sam yelled.  “Ava, you said Sunny Day Events?  Yesterday, some worker came down here to pick up one of these boxes.  She got a call, and she answered something along the lines of, ‘Sunny Day Events, this is Pa…Patricia.’  Yeah, Patricia was her name.  You think that’s important?”

“Maybe!”  Ava said, working ideas out in her head. “I mean…shit!  Maybe it’s their front or something, like think about it!  An event-planning would be perfect for that kind of stuff!  Like at proms and other parties, people are sometimes looking to do stupid things.  They could just sneak in and sell their drugs at the party, and no one would give it a second thought.”

“She does have a point,” Colleen said.

“Yeah, she does,” Sam agreed, appearing to be deep in thought.  He continued, “Alright, so down to business: when that Patricia lady answered the phone, she was talking about some massive birthday party for a girl named Katie on Friday.  Said it’s gonna be the biggest party they’ve ever done.  She left before we could hear much more.”

Colleen chimed, “Yeah Ava, we think it’s that Katie.  I mean, that’s her birthday and she told me that she’d have a party.  Bitch can’t be bothered to save her best friend but is, like, getting a freaking event-planning company to put on her birthday rager.”

Sam continued, “Anyways, we figure they’ll be gone all day Friday setting up and doing whatever it is they do at these parties.  So that’ll be the best time to get outta here.”

“We just need to figure out how.  Any ideas?” Colleen asked.

Ava stood up, and walked towards the bars of their cell.  She shook the restraints.  Nothing.  She paused and looked past the bars, her vision full of cardboard boxes.  Wait. The boxes. Ava first looked at the distance between the bars, roughly half a foot wide.  That’s it.  She stuck her arm out and reached towards the closest box.

“Ava?”  Sam said, wondering what she was trying to do.

“What the hell are you doing?”  Colleen called from her corner.

“Just…”  Ava grumbled, with her fingertips inches away from the corner of the nearest box.  She gave one last push, her fingers making contact with the container and grabbing its edge.  Got it.  Ava pulled until the box was up against the bars.      

Sam and Colleen stood up, with looks of confusion plastered on their faces as they walked over and stood on either side of Ava. 

“What, you need, like, a fix or something?”  Colleen said as she watched Ava carefully open the box, as not to show any signs of tampering.  She rolled her eyes again, letting out an annoyed sigh and walking back to her corner.  

After a minute or two, Ava pulled out a small plastic bag.  Inside, there were two clear blue strips, which looked like Listerine strips.  However, both Sam and Ava knew that they were much, much more extraordinary than breath strips.  

Sam looked at the strip, then at the space between the bars, then at Ava.  He stuttered, “You’re not thinking…”

Ava looked at Sam, and smiled.  

“Dammit, just get up!  Claire, do something!”

“Katie…he’s been unconscious since Tuesday, I don’t think he’s – ”

“Shut up and help!”  Katie seethed, never taking her attention away from the tiny figure haphazardly breathing on her desk.

Claire quietly replied, “I’m sorry, it’s just that – ”

“This is your damn fault anyways!  What’d you even do to him when he was in your nasty freaking shoe?  Like, I bet you purposefully stomped the breath outta him, just so I wouldn’t get all the attention tonight!  Well guess what bitch, you’re gonna get what you want!”  Katie roughly poked Parker with her freshly-manicured fingertip.

Nervously brushing a thick strand of red hair from her eyes, Claire rebutted, “We’ve been over this!  I did what you told me!  God, I didn’t even want to put him in my damn shoe!”

“Newsflash, bitch!  It’s Friday!  Are you really gonna feed me your bullshit on my birthday?!  Tell me, what am I supposed to do tonight?!  I promised everyone a surprise!”  Katie was nearing tears, for what seemed to be the millionth time that week.

“How many more times do I need to tell you, Katie!  He’s in a coma – there’s no way of knowing when he’s gonna wake up.”  Claire watched her fuming friend, who was poking and prodding the shrunken man as if he would magically resurrect at her touch.

“You’re useless, Claire!  The event-planning staff is coming here at 6 to set up – that only gives me, like, three freaking hours!  Fix this!”  Katie finally lifted her gaze from Parker, choosing to focus on Claire, who backed away from Katie as if her stare would turn her to stone.  

“I…I can’t, Katie.  I’m really – ”

“Get your ass out of here!”  Katie shouted, her voice so powerful that it carried through the entire house.

Claire hesitated for a split second, opened her mouth, and screamed.  The sound of her voice doubled Katie’s.

“You know what, bitch?  I hope he NEVER wakes up!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wakey wakey!”

“Mmmph…”  Parker grunted, and rolled over in his bed.  He half-consciously prayed that whoever was trying to wake him up would get the hint.

“Trust me baby, you’d rather have me wake you up in this one.”

No response.  Like a stubborn teenager on his first day of school, Parker wasn’t getting up.  He gave the pestering human alarm clock the silent treatment.

“Jesus Parker, I’m not you’re mother.  Be a big boy and get yourself out of bed.”

Parker’s blanket was hastily ripped from the top of his formerly-slumbering form.  Defiantly, he snatched his pillow and wrapped it around his head.  He wasn’t giving an inch.

“Are you serious?  I know being a footboy is hard work and all, but this is the last time we’re really going to be able to talk, you know.  You have a big party to attend tonight, if I’m not mistaken!”

This nonsense-talking person was not going away.  Lifting the pillow and opening his eyes, Parker started, “Listen, just give me five more – ”  He immediately shut his mouth when he saw who was on the other side of the bed.

“You’re seriously still surprised when you see me?  Parker, we’re practically married by now.”

Parker gulped, looking the Amazon up and down.  By his count, this was the third hauntingly vivid dream of his that she’s appeared in.  Whether or not it was an effect of the drug, she loved to cause havoc in his unconscious mind.  First in his Valentine’s Day breakup, then in Patricia’s office.  He noticed that while she was impossibly enormous in the breakup dream, and about 15 feet tall in her second appearance, she was back to her normal size here.  Well, at least as normal could be for her.  Parker figured her to be about six to seven feet tall; about the height she was when he first encountered her on the bus.

“What baby, do I look good?  That kiss we shared in your boss’s office has you all hot and bothered?  Did you figure it out yet?”

Parker sat up in his bed.  He quickly scanned the room, checking his immediate surroundings. Bed, desk, lamp, rug.  Innocent enough, right?  But Parker knew better by now.  Although waking up with a familiar feeling, this was not home.  The walls were pink, and everything looked fake and shiny, like they had been bought at an Ikea clearance sale.

Having confronted an extraordinary amount of obstacles in the past week, Parker was overwhelmingly more confident since he had first met the Amazon.  Actually, it was the most confidence he had since, well, ever.  What was he going to do with his new power?  He was going to demand answers.

“Alright, listen.”

“Ooh, you’re going to lecture me now, aren’t you?  This is a nice change!”

“You won’t shut up about how this is ‘therapy,’ and how this is the best for the both of us, and how it’s all for a purpose, and…all other kinds of ambiguous shit.  I get that you think you’re helping me in some sick, fucked-up kind of way, but you’re not.  You got me this way in the first place, so you’re going to get me out…now.”  Parker stood up, and assertively walked up to the Amazon.

“Wow!  You’ve made quite some progress, little guy.  Okay then, I’ll tell you what: answer one little question for me.  If you answer correctly…” Seemingly from out of nowhere, the Amazon pulled a tiny plastic bag with two clear strips inside.  She held it far above Parker’s head and continued, “Maybe you’ll end up with a couple inches on me.”

Although he was still about breast-level with the Amazon, Parker’s eyes met hers with the assuredness of a giant.  He nodded.

“Did I really do this to you?”

Parker’s face instantly went from white to red.  “Are you…Are you even serious right now?!  You’re the one that fed me the damn drug and – ”

Suddenly, the entire room began to shake, as if several massive earthquakes had just hit the area.  Parker immediately lost his balance and hit the ground, his face resting at the Amazon’s feet.

“Wrong answer, baby.”  She looked out the window, raised an eyebrow, and let out a small laugh.  “That’s my cue to leave.  Something tells me you have some more issues to work out. See you soon, lover!”  With the cheery goodbye, the Amazon strutted past the door, and disappeared out of sight.

“Wait!  WAIT!”  Parker desperately beckoned.

As the Amazon left, the tremors worsened.  Alarmed and confused, Parker covered his head and readied himself for the impact of the house crashing down.  He looked to his left, and saw the lamp fall off the bedside table.  Instead of shattering into pieces, it landed with a small “plunk” and remained intact.

What the…

“PARKER, HONEY!”

Oh my god.

Parker bolted upright, and with the house rocking back and forth, sped past the door and frantically searched for the Amazon.  He needed to wake up.  Now.  This dream was setting up to be a nightmare.

“WAKE UP SWEETIE, I NEED YOUR HELP!”

He raced into the bathroom, and looked in the mirror.  What he saw was a familiar, yet very unfamiliar face.  It was undoubtedly him, only he looked to be no more than 14 years old.  A freshman in high school.  He grabbed his face and began to hyperventilate.  In a state of denial, Parker tried to run down the stairs, but ended up tripping and crashing against the living room wall as the quakes aggravated.  What was in front of him confirmed his every fear.

A Barbie doll was discarded on the floor, shaken by the upheavals.  Its head was right in front of his face.  And it looked to be twice the size of him.

“PARKER?”

The front door flew open, revealing two meaty fingers, the outside light reflecting off their bright red nails. 

Parker aggressively pinched himself in an attempt to wake up.  No luck.  His back still against the wall, Parker stammered, “M…Mom?”   

“Hi honey!  Come out please, I need your help with something!”

With every body part imaginable shaking, Parker stood up and followed the enlarged fingers out of the dollhouse door.  Although the space in front of him looked like a vast frontier, it was undoubtedly his childhood bedroom.  However, he was more concerned with the thick, unfairly oversized toes sticking out from what he recognized as his mother’s favorite pink slippers.

This can’t be happening.

“Can I pick you up real quick?”  Parker’s mom boomed.  Without waiting for a response, the same red-painted pillars pinched Parker and dropped them in her cavernous open palm.  Parker meekly looked up at his mom, who looked less like 5’4 and more like 540 feet tall.  As with everyone he encountered thus far, everything was magnified.  His mom was no different.  The streaks of red lipstick on her mouth, the normally unnoticeable clumps of mascara in her eyelashes, big brown eyes, curly brown hair, every detail forced itself on Parker.  He peered off the edge of her palm, wondering which fate would be worse if he fell off: the hardwood floor or her voluptuous cleavage poking out of her white tee.  The intense feelings of sheer terror and shock that he had come to know had drastically intensified, now that he was face to face with a gargantuan version of his own mother.

“How are you?!  You sleep well?”  Parker opened his mouth, but she had no intentions of listening to his response.

Wow, she still doesn’t listen to anything I say. Nothing’s changed; I’m just fucking bug-sized now.  Just get me the hell out of this –

She interrupted, “Listen, your sister should be home from college for spring break in a few hours, I’m not exactly sure.  So anyways, you know how I borrowed her earrings when I went out last weekend?  I lost one of them.  She’ll throw a fit if she knows I took them, let alone lost one.  I know it’s here – but I’ve looked almost everywhere and I still can’t find it.  Can you be a doll and get in places that I might’ve missed?  I figured you’d be better at that, because…well, you know.  I would help, but I have a few errands to run before Jessica comes back.  Sound good?”

With Parker not being in a position to protest, figuring that he would wake up before his older sister and mom came back, and wanting to get away from the steady stream of coffee breath, he gave his mom a quick nod.

“Good!  Thanks, sweetie!”  The mountainous mother placed Parker back at her feet.  She turned around, and walked away, the slaps of her slippers sending more mini-earthquakes through the surface of Parker’s bedroom. 

Great.  Well, I might as well walk around and look for the damn earring.  I’ll check out the house for nostalgia’s sake, at least. Eventually, that damn Amazon has to come back and stomp me flat or make out with me again.  Who the hell knows anymore?

Parker looked back at the dollhouse.  Now that he was done fearing for his life, he was able to recognize it as his sister’s from when she was young.  His family must’ve shoved him in there and came for him whenever they needed something done, almost like old times.  Well, step-family.  Parker was adopted at a very early age, and not much was shared with him besides that.  It was something that he’d always wondered about, but was always a taboo subject in the household for some reason.  Regardless, living in a household of two women with strong personalities didn’t exactly set up a strong foundation for Parker’s interactions with women later in life.  So, he just kept his mouth shut and soldiered through it until he left for college. His home life during high school was miserable, however.  Long story short: his mother and sister walked all over him.  He now realized that they could do it literally.  Parker was going to have to watch out for that.

With that harrowing thought, Parker started on the journey towards his bedroom door.  After he walked past the door, he checked out each room of the house individually.  Assuming he had a few hours to spare, he figured it couldn’t hurt to explore some old memories of the house he grew up in.

Not wanting to move down the immense stairs to the first floor, Parker kept his unconventional scavenger hunt to the top story of the house.  There was nothing in the bathroom, which brought back memories of caking his face with acne treatment and taking quick showers as not to piss off his family.  He moved onto the hallway closet, where he once hid when his sister found out he had accidentally broken her Gameboy.  He let out a long sigh, his tumultuous childhood strangling his thoughts once again.  Parker moved on, and guessing that his mom had already inspected her own room, he entered the last place on the floor: his sister’s room.

As he entered the overblown dream-version of his sister’s room, he took the opportunity to get his thoughts straight, or at least he tried to.

God, it’s nuts thinking about all this shit.  I buried these memories far, far, away.  I always suspected that it’s my mother and sister’s treatment of me that kind of led to the way I am now.  That notion’s even clearer, now that I’m here with my adult mind.  I need to start thinking about that party tonight, though.  With the way that Amazon’s been acting lately, maybe it’ll be my shot to fix all of this and get back to my life.  Hopefully Ava has something in mind to save me, at the very least.  All I have to do is not piss off that brat Katie for another few hours, and hopefully I can work things out.  Hell, if I ever even wake up from this nightmare. 

As Parker’s thoughts rattled around the prison of his own head, he explored his sister’s room, doubtful that he would find the lost earring. 

Jesus!

Parker smelled them before he saw them.  Immediately to the right of the doorway were Jessica’s shoes, which were jumbled in an imposing mountain of footwear.  Her room ever the pigsty, there were sandals, heels, cleats, flats, tennis shoes, boat shoes, ankle boots, knee boots, and probably even more that Parker guessed were swallowed by the colossal pile.  He wasn’t about to go searching for an earring in a shoe-stack.  So, he covered his nose and continued walking, wondering how these dreams were always so uncannily vivid.

Continuing around the bedroom’s perimeter, Parker dodged a variety of immobile foes that did nothing but remind him of his vulnerability, like the skyscraper that was Jessica’s office chair, and the billboard-sized Seventeen magazine featuring a huge picture of Ariana Grande.  He dodged piles of clothes and several discarded beauty products.  Furthermore, a cavalcade of dust clumps, a gym sock, and a left-open bottle of perfume all sent him into coughing fits. 

Damn, dream-Jessica really needs to clean this place up.  Hold up, is that what I think it is?

In the middle of the room – which he had not explored yet – was a shiny object, lost in the purple fibers of a small, circular rug. 

Hell, maybe the Amazon will give me a piece of candy or something if I find the earring.  Hmmph.

Parker briskly made his way to the rug, stepping his way through the tall fibers – about two feet tall to him – on his way to the shiny object.

This has to be it.

To Parker, the earring looked like three miniature golden chandeliers all strung together.  Maybe he’d get a pat on the back from his mega-mom.

Great, now what do I do –

“MOM!  COME HELP ME WITH MY BAGS! MOM?”

Shit fuck dammit fucking ass damn –  

Parker should have known that this was going to happen.  This was the Amazon’s playpen, after all.  Of course he would have to encounter his gargantuan older sister.  He stood frozen for a few moments.  The sound of his sister’s cheap sandals smacking up the stairs shocked him out of his immobility.

Why why why fuck why why why –

“God, she told me that she would be home!”  Jessica entered the doorway and puffed in annoyance, sending a few strands of her brown hair careening past her face.  She continued, “Ugh, she must’ve taken the runt with her.  Guess I have to unload the car by myself…No surprise there!”  With that, Jessica roughly dropped her bags on the ground, sending them crashing below her tall frame.  She sped off to grab the rest of her belongings, leaving Parker to fail at hiding from his goddess-sized sister, as he was stranded in the middle of the room.  He managed to get off the purple carpet and back on the hardwood floor before she returned.

Jessica dropped the rest of her bags, and stood under the doorframe for a moment, as if she was contemplating what to do next.  Arms folded, she walked forwards and surveyed her room, taking small, slow steps.

By this point, Parker had all but given up hope of escaping this dream intact.  He squealed, “JESSICA!  HEY!”  But his mouse-like voice was lost in the expansive air of the room, leaving him to watch his sister’s footfalls as they inched closer and closer.  Parker was awestruck he saw her unknowingly crush the dust clumps and bobby pins that he had just encountered mere minutes ago.   There was no chance that he would leave this one alive.

“Hmmm, everything looks good...like mom didn’t touch my stuff again…”  Jessica whispered to herself, nearing the center of the room.

Holy shit.

Looking like a lost tourist outside the Empire State Building, Parker blankly marveled at the sight in front of him.  He gaped at Jessica’s hyperactive toes, which were aimlessly fighting for freedom from the thong of her black sandals.  His gaze moved upwards, past her yoga pants, then to her sleeveless athletic top, finishing at her face, her plotting eyes noticing everything but her ant-sized brother.

“Wait!  What’s that?!”  Jessica’s eyes lit up and looked in Parker’s direction.  She bent forwards for a closer look.

Shocked that his fortune may have finally shifted in his favor, Parker hysterically jumped up and down, yelling, “HERE!!  JESSICA PLEASE!”

Her expression suddenly changed into that of surprise, and she exclaimed, “My earring!  How did that even get there?!  Ugh!  Must’ve been mom!”

No no no no no –

Without warning, Jessica shifted her position to get a better look.  All signs indicated to Parker that she was readying herself to sit down.  He just didn’t want to believe it.

NO NO NO NO NO –

Parker’s view was suddenly and entirely full of the spandex of her yoga pants, which was pulling and stretching as Jessica curved to sit down.  What looked like two worlds – each cheek of her bottom – were descending upon his infinitesimal existence.  She wouldn’t even feel it.

“PLEASE!  NO!”  Parker pointlessly called.

She moved closer, and closer, and closer, until he could only see black.

“JESSICA!! PLEASE DON’T – ”

Closer, and closer, and closer, and –

Darkness.  Lost.  Gone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ah!!  Thank god!  You freaking runt, you scared the hell out of me!”  Katie was ready to give Parker a big fat hug, if such a thing was possible at their disproportional sizes.

His body drenched with panicked perspiration, Parker bolted upright and started gasping for air, ignoring the delighted teenager.

“Hey!  You see the time, tiny?”  Katie sarcastically pointed to an invisible watch on her left forearm.

Struggling to catch his breath, Parker finally gave his attention to the billboard-sized stare of the massive girl in front of him.  He choked out between heavy breaths, “I don’t…know…Friday?”

“Bingo, Mr. ‘Honey I Shrunk the Drug Addict!’”  Katie mocked.  

Still breathing heavily, Parker would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t on the verge of passing out again.     

“…You have a little apologizing to do, since you’ve been sleeping for the past, like, three days!  I expect you to be on your best behavior tonight.”

“Yeah…”  Parker blindly called to the sassy high school senior, saying, “I…got it.”        

“Good.  Now, Rip Van Shrinkle,” Katie giggled at her own joke, saying, “we only have like, two hours to get ready for my big night.  So we have to consolidate our time a little bit!”

“Al…Alright…”  Parker replied, not sure what the hell she was talking about.

“Well, we like, both have to look our best tonight, right?  That’s not too much of an issue for me, but you’re like, a walking piece of toe jam.  And I’m not taking the time to clean you up in the sink, like you’re at a spa or something.  I have to wash up, get dressed, and do my makeup too, you know!” 

Parker knew – at least he hoped – that the end of his journey was near.  His breathing settling, he responded, “What do you need me to do?”

Katie’s moved her head closer to the tattered man on her desk, her lips curling into a mischievous smile.  Parker gulped.

“I’m taking a bath.  And you’re coming with me.”