Cat's Wail

by Balore (28.12.19)

It was a Friday evening and Jake was busy doing absolutely nothing. He lied on his bed, staring at the ceiling and resting after a long, hot day at work. He promised himself the entire week this was how he was going to spend at least a fraction of his weekend. Nothing could spoil this moment of bliss.

Or so he thought, as he soon heard a familiar clink coming from his phone, the sound of an incoming text message. He stretched his arm towards the nightstand and brought the phone towards his face. “come over I have beer” the message said. Jake didn’t have to look for the sender to know who it was. Martha.

Martha was a friend, a good friend even. They’ve met at a mutual acquaintance’s party two years ago and maintained contact to this day. Even after their other friends skipped town looking for jobs elsewhere and the two were busy with full-time jobs, they still found time to hang around every now and then. Sometimes Jake wondered whether it was their way of coping with suddenly finding themselves left behind by the people they studied at the University with, their old friends. But then again he and Martha would always find a common ground. Otherwise they wouldn’t be friends to this day.

He began to type a reply. Normally, this would be where he’d ask who else is coming, but there was no point to that question. Neither his nor hers social life had been blooming lately and it was obvious they would be by themselves. Instead he asked a more pragmatic question: “k what should I bring?”.

It took her a split second to reply: “idk some crisps?”.

Some crisps it is then, Jake thought and sent the last message that evening: “be there in 15”.

He sighed. He didn’t really want to get up and walk over a mile to Martha’s place, even less so to spend his evening gulping cheap beer. He knew it would be cheap; as far as he could remember, she would always pick some bargain booze to drink and thus would always come to a party carrying a lot of it. A hangover was inevitable and the thought of starting his weekend wishing to die was yet another thing Jake wasn’t looking forward to.

And so he got up, put his shoes on and left.

He walked slowly through the streets, partly because he wasn’t in a hurry (even though he promised to be there in 15 minutes), partly because the evening weather was nice enough to take it slow. The sun was slowly setting over the town and a light breeze was blowing, making the temperature more bearable. He passed the people coming from work, the wishes of finally coming home and resting clearly visible on their tired faces and he envied them a bit.

He entered a corner shop on the way and bought two large packs of onion flavoured crisps. Martha’s favourite, he thought, carrying them in a plastic bag he got with the purchase. Eventually he made it to her place, a two-stories apartment building made out of some dark grey stone, at the end of a narrow street. If it wasn’t for the last rays of the sun illuminating the building, it would look almost ominous. He approached the entry door which was wide open and he recalled Martha telling him once the locals never bothered to lock it. He climbed the stairs to the second floor, where she lived, and knocked on a worn-down red door of her apartment. Then, as there was no response, he knocked again, harder. He stood there for a moment, waiting for Martha to open and looked around out of boredom and curiosity. There were six other doors on this floor, each looking as old and worn as the one he was standing in front of. The building was old. He wondered whether he had met anyone living there other than Martha and her roommate but couldn’t remember ever seeing anyone else. Maybe there simply wasn’t anyone else, maybe the girls had the whole building to themselves. Kinda spooky, Jake thought. Bored with looking at other peoples’ doors, he knocked the third time, even harder than before but at the same time making sure he wouldn’t accidentally punch a hole in the wood. Finally, he heard the steps coming in from the inside and getting closer.

The door opened and a slim woman stood in it. She was in her mid-twenties, just like Jake. With her full six feet of height she was a good four inches taller than him, even though she was barefoot. Her brown hair was shoulder length, with a fringe covering her forehead. She was clad entirely in blue, in dark jeans which she rolled around her ankles and a light blue t-shirt with a white sun over waves and a text saying ‘Hawaii’ in between. She looked at him with her big, brown eyes, a look of impatience painted all over her wide, triangular face.

“Took your sweet time” Martha said, in her low voice. “You said you’ll be here in fifteen minutes”.

“And I am” Jake replied with a coy smile.

“It’s been almost half an hour”

“Right. Can I come in?”

“Yeah, get in. And take your shoes off, I don’t want any dust from the streets on my floor”

He entered and did as he was told, then followed Martha to the living room. The place was of moderate size, just enough for two people to live comfortably with a bedroom each, a cosy kitchen and a bathroom separate from the toilet. And with the windows facing west they never complained about the lack of sunlight. If anything, especially in summer like the one now, they complained about its surplus.

She lead him to the couch standing in the middle of the living room, in front of a TV almost as wide as the stand it was placed on. Between them, on a small but thick green rug, stood a coffee table on which was a gaming console connected to the TV. A wooden crate, filled to the brim with beer bottles, stood by the right corner of the couch.

“Where’d you get the crate?” Jake asked, setting the bag on the table and taking a seat on the left end of the couch.

“Came with the beer” Martha replied, taking a seat herself, except doing so on the floor, her back to the right end.

“And you carried it all the way here? You could’ve told me, I’d come and help”

“Figured you were at work at the time. Besides, I didn’t want to bother you. It’s not like it was heavy or anything”

He looked at the crate with a doubt. No way carrying it back from the store was so easy to her. But he decided not to push the subject any further. He knew Martha wasn’t keen on relying on the help of others, even if doing so would mean less effort to her. And for a moment he imagined her walking home with all these bottles, every second man she met on the street offering his help and her telling them politely, but firmly, to piss off.

His vision was interrupted by the sound of a beer being cracked open. She handed him a bottle, then helped herself.

“Your roomie’s not joining us?” Jake asked, suddenly remembering about her.

“Nah. She went home on some urgent family business”

“That’s a funny way of saying you murdered her”

“If I did, I’d come up with a better lie”

“True. So what’s the plan for the evening?”

“We drink and play” she said, showing him a game controller that had clearly seen better days “You die, it’s my turn. I die, it’s yours. We’re playing Murky Spirits. The second one”

“Haven’t even played the first game”

“Good, otherwise you’d complain the whole time”

She walked on her knees towards the TV and then the table, not even bothering to stand up, as she began to set everything up. When she was done she came back to her spot in the same way.

“I’ll go first. We’ll play one of my older saves, I don’t want to waste time on the character creation. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to play. I haven’t made it too far in the game yet”

“I hope you will” he said, finally taking a sip of the beer and immediately wincing. To say it was atrocious would be doing it a favour. It was more sour than bitter and there was only a suggestion of hop in its taste. Jake was certain whoever made it never had a beer before. Or had too much of it. “Fuck. What kind of beer is that?” he asked, his face still scowling.

“The potable kind” she replied, drinking hers slowly and without a change in tone or expression, her eyes glued to the screen.

“Potable. Big word for a big girl”

“Whatever, shrimp”

Theirs was a curious friendship. They would fight, call each other names (more often than not of the immature kind) and never hold it against one another, drink, spend long hours playing games or doing nothing. The fact Martha was a tomboy definitely helped. Sometimes Jake couldn’t help but wonder whether she was meant to be born a girl or whether there was a shipping error in God’s fulfilment centre. Whatever the case, he enjoyed spending the time with her, even if he’d never admit it. And, as far as he could tell, the feeling was mutual.

There had never been even a hint of any romantic notion between them, and Jake wondered about it as well. As far as he could remember, they were both in relationships when they first met. And both of their relationships didn’t work out. When Jake found a new girl a few weeks later, Martha remained single. Mere months later she tried to run him over with her car after a rather passionate dispute. He found himself single again, while Martha was dating a doctor. Whom she dumped soon after discovering he forgot telling her a minor detail of having a wife and a son in another country. Long story short, neither of them had much luck in romantic life and if there ever was to be a spark between the two (which he doubted), they were both too burnt out for produce one.

He sipped the cheap beer watching her play. She was clearly good at the game and he could tell his turn won’t come anytime soon. He took a glance at her profile. If there was one word he could describe her with, it would be ‘average’. She wasn’t close to a model, even if she had the height of one, nor was she close to a toad, even if she could sometimes have the same attitude to life. If he could add one more word, it would be ‘a bit too’. She was a bit too tall (for him, at least). Her eyes were a bit too big, and so was her nose. And her lips. And her size 10 feet. Not that he was the one to judge, with his average looks, his thin build, his unkempt dirty blond hair, his smooth face he could never grow a beard on and his narrow, light green eyes, which he was once told were somewhat unnerving. Fortunately, not by her.

“Fuck. I died” Martha said and Jake’s attention turned back to the screen, where big red letters were announcing that very fact. “Here, your turn” she added, handing him the controller. She spent the next few minutes instructing him on the basics: how to move, how to hit, what to hit, how to open the inventory, how to talk to in-game characters without accidentally hitting them and so on. Before long Jake was playing on his own while Martha sat and watched, but not before helping herself to the crisps he left at the coffee table.

“Remember to wipe your hands when you pass me the controller later on” he said.

“Uh-huh”

“You like the crisps?”

“Yeah. They’re my favourite”

“I know. Leave some for me”

“Uh-huh”

They sat in complete silence for a while, save for the sound coming from the game and the crunching noises coming from Martha. As it was often the case, it fell to Jake to break it.

“You still work at that lab?” he asked, remembering Martha’s current career in the chemistry field.

“Sadly, yes. We’re on the edge of a breakthrough, or so we’re told. Which means we’re all overworked” she took a sip “And underpaid”

“What kind of a breakthrough?”

“A molecule restructuration one”

“Sounds boring”

“It is. And technically I shouldn’t even be telling you about this. We were told not to chatter”

“I’m so gonna tell your superiors you talked. They will so fire you”

“God I hope so, I hate this job. I even have to bring it home. They tasked me with keeping a sample of a new compound in the fridge over the weekend. To test how it reacts to household temperatures or some shit”

“Don’t you have fridges at work?”

“That’s where the top brass keep their food. And besides… Oh. Oh! Kill that lizard!” she pointed to the screen, now in an agitated tone.

“What lizard?”

“The one with the spikes! See, there- To the left, I said left! See?”

Jake saw the lizard. Jake chased the lizard. Jake even swung at the lizard, but it ran off either way, sliding in between the rubble his armoured character was too big to fit through.

“Pity” Martha said “They carry some good stuff on them”

He played some more until finally being overrun by a dozen of slime monsters (“yeah, they spawn in here”) and passing the controller to Martha. In turn, she passed him another beer and so he was back to watching her play.

“Look at us” she said after a while “Two losers playing video games on a Friday night”

“Well, what else is there to do?”

“I don’t know. Meeting friends, going to parties, I guess?”

“You don’t like parties” Jake remarked, giving her a funny look. “And you don’t have any friends”

“Neither do you” she said, turning his attention to him.

“I have you” he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back and returned to the game.

They played in turns until the night fell. Shortly after Martha got up and turned on a floor lamp, almost as tall as her, standing in the corner. By that time they both decided they’re no longer invested in the game. She saved her progress and turned the TV off as they moved on to chatting the evening away and washing it down with the beer, of which there was still a handful of bottles left. They talked about their jobs, their families, their current situation. About dreams they had at one point, which they either failed to breathe life into or had to abandon due to particular circumstances. At one point Jake was almost sure she would burst into tears and he had no idea how he would react, as he had never seen her cry. Fortunately for both, she didn’t, and the conversation carried on. He was still sitting in the same spot, leaning against the couch and so was Martha, still on the floor, now however with her body facing Jake. He asked if she’s really comfortable down there. She told him to enjoy one of the few moments when he’s taller than her. It hurt. They laughed.

Eventually the time came to call it a night. They were both tired and wasted, Jake more so than Martha, as she was always better at holding her liquor than him. He got up and let her know he’s had fun and now he’s going home. She got up as well and stopped him in his tracks.

“You better spend the night here” she said, looking down at him with a hint of care “You can sleep on the couch, I’ll get you a blanket”

“I can walk home. I’m not that shitfaced”

“First – you are. Second, it’ll be better for us both”

“How do you mean, both?”

“Well, you get some sleep and I don’t get to worry about you”

“Aw. You care”

“Shut up. Lie down. Wait for me, I’ll go get a blanket”

He complied. She left the room in a hurry and quickly came back, covering him with a thin, bright yellow blanket.

“Ugly colour” he muttered, the sleepiness already overwhelming him.

“Yeah, it suits you. There’s some orange juice in the fridge. You know where the toilet is?”

“Sure”

“Try to aim for the toilet if push comes to shove. Or when”

“Huh?”

“Goodnight”

She left and Jake passed out.

He never dreamed. No pleasant nonsense, no nightmares, his nights always passed in an instant. One moment, he’s lying in darkness. The next, the sun is hitting him in the eyes and the alarm clock is screaming at him. Nothing in between. This night however was different, as Jake woke up in a different place than he fell asleep in. Or so it seemed.

Upon waking up he noticed two things. First, his head was pounding and he wanted to die. When he overwhelmed the latter, he noticed the other thing – the greenery. He was surrounded by what seemed like blades of grass, each taller than him. Closer inspection revealed it wasn’t grass at all; despite the colour, it had no texture or smell of grass. The thick layers of dust gathered here and there also didn’t spell it out as grass for him. Whatever it was it was thick, overwhelming and Jake wished to get out of there, and quickly. And so he began to walk, discovering one more mystery of the morning, namely that he was naked. Completely naked. No shirt, no pants, not even his underwear. Fucking hell, he concluded, as he continued walking, with no idea as to where he was, why wasn’t he wearing anything nor where he was walking. He decided to figure it all out once he’s left this… place. He pressed on, his bare feet occasionally getting stuck in the thick layer of this weird vegetation, as his mind was busy trying to recollect the memories of the evening.

Martha woke up around the same time Jake did. She sat in her bed, stretched her arms, then rubbed her eyes. Her head was hurting too, but it was nothing a single painkiller couldn’t help with. She slowly got out of the bed, pushing the jeans she left on the floor aside with her foot. She was wearing a light grey pyjama pants and a white t-shirt, her sleeping clothes, and she felt somewhat proud of herself for having remembered to change before going to sleep. She slowly stepped out of her room, deciding to check on Jake. As her room was next to the front door, Martha immediately noticed his shoes. Good, she thought. He didn’t sneak away while I was sleeping. She stretched some more as she walked towards the living room, trying to be quiet in case he was still sleeping. In fact, she was a bit worried about him, wondering whether they have overdone it with booze the night before. Even if he was still sleeping, she would only take a look and leave him be.

Jake walked for several minutes now and the scenery didn’t change. Green as far as the eye go. Looking up was not much help either, what with the flora blocking the view from below. What little he could see was white. Perhaps the sky was overcast. As he continued he noticed something new. Something that wasn’t green, something that was in fact white, as white as what he thought was the sky up above and so he began to walk towards it. Soon after he realized, much to his relief, that he was no longer among the grass. But the relief was short-lived. He was now standing in front of a massive white object unlike anything he’d ever seen before. It was many, many times as big as he was. It had two stripes, one red and one blue, running across its surface in one particular spot, where Jake saw something similar to an entrance in a tunnel. And it smelled, the smell invading his nostrils even though he stood several feet from it. It didn’t take him long to realize he was now standing in front of a sock, the one he was wearing the day before. As he looked past it, raising his head, he noticed a massive structure looming above him, it being nothing other than the couch. He continued to look around, recognizing pieces of furniture and his strewn clothes dotting the landscape, all magnified to enormous proportions. Finally, he looked down, recognizing the plain stretching all the way to the horizon as the floor. And then that floor began to shake beneath his feet.

As Martha walked into the room, doing all her best to be as quiet as possible, she immediately noticed the mess on the floor. The socks littering the floor, the shirt hanging from the corner of the coffee table, the trousers covering the console, the blanket she gave him thrown into the corner and worst of all his underwear in the very middle of the couch. She shook her head and decided she’ll let him know her disappointment in a very few, very short words. Only then did she notice he was no longer on the couch. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen. She sighed, resigned. So he was not only naked, he was God-knows where. Great. She thought of calling out his name but the moment she opened her mouth she felt how dry her throat was. She needed a drink. As she was about to leave, she took one more glance at the mess around and it was then she noticed something curious by her feet. Something that looked like an ant, although it was a bit bigger than an ant, a bit lighter in colour and a bit looking as if it was standing on two legs. As if this morning couldn’t get any worse, now she had an infestation problem as well. She slowly lifted her right foot to crush the insect, but as soon as she did the thing sprung and ran to the side, disappearing under the couch in the blink of an eye. Martha sighed in frustration once more and swiftly left for the kitchen.

Jake stood and listened to the loud noises getting closer. The ground shook and his whole body shook with it. He turned towards the source of the sound to face whatever was coming but nothing could prepare him for that moment. When she emerged from behind the couch, Jake almost got a heart attack. Two impossibly long and massive legs ending in an island-sized foot each were walking directly towards him. When they stopped, ten feet or so from where he was standing, he could swear he saw particles of dust being blown into the air from the sheer impact. This is Martha, he thought. Of course, who else could it be? This colossus, this impossibly enormous being standing before him was the same friend he spent the yesterday’s evening with. And now, one wrong move from her part risked snuffing the life out of him, burying him under hundreds of tons of flesh if she only moved her foot a little bit. He noticed he was now as tall as her big toe, from which he estimated his size to be a little less than half an inch in height. Compared to her he was an insect. I should get her attention, Jake thought. I should scream and shout and do everything I can to make her notice me. But he didn’t. He stood down there, looking at Martha in awe and fear. He heard the giantess sigh up above, a sound almost like a slowed thunder. And then he watched her move her foot, lifting it, if only slightly. He watched her enormous sole loom above him and noticed pieces of dust and dirt the size of his head stuck around its surface. He knew he would be the next addition to it, he knew she would crush him without even a shade of an effort and that he would die a humiliating death of being stepped on like a bug he now was. And then the instincts kicked in. It wasn’t his body that sprung into action nor his legs that moved and carried him under the couch, where he hid in the dusty darkness, shaking from primal fear.

She entered the kitchen and immediately headed towards the fridge, opening it and grabbing a two litre bottle of orange juice. She took a glass from the cupboard overhead, poured the juice in and drank it whole in one swift motion. And then she did it two times more. Feeling her thirst quenched, at least for now, she opened the fridge once more to put the juice bottle in. As she did, she noticed the bottle with the chemical compound she was tasked with keeping in the fridge for the weekend. It was empty. She blinked, not believing her eyes, yet it remained empty, the compound inside gone. Martha sighed again, this time in anger at Jake and his abuse of her hospitality. The idiot drank it, she thought. There was no other explanation. Now she would have to face trouble at work because the drunk fool couldn’t be bothered to look what he was getting his hands on. She slammed the fridge door and left the kitchen, keen on finding Jake and giving him a piece of her mind. And then she stopped and thought about all that she saw in the past few minutes. His shoes in place, his clothes strewn around, the compound missing, the ant. The weird, pale, bipedal ant.

“Oh God” she whispered.

Jake crouched in the darkness beneath the couch, shivering, watching the dust particles float around him. He was still in shock of what has just transpired. He woke up shrunken, got momentarily lost in the rug, then almost stepped on by Martha and it was still just in the morning. He couldn’t imagine what the rest of the day would be like. And yet he still didn’t know how he became this small in the first place. He began to think of what happened in the past twelve hours, trying to put the fuzz bits of memory into a coherent picture. First, he came to Martha’s place, then they drank and talked, then he went to sleep. What happened next? He seemed to recall a vague notion of getting up in the middle of the night and he thought more about it. He got up, that he remembered, went to the kitchen and took something out of the fridge. Which he then drank. He now remembered the horrible acidic taste of that thing and the feeling of regret for drinking it without looking what it was. And what was it, anyway? He went back in his recollection to the conversation he had with Martha earlier on. What was that bit about bringing work home? A compound? Finally, it made sense. He drank whatever chemical Martha brought home and this was the result. Great, Jake thought. Trust me to get into trouble that could be easily avoided. He shook his head and began to think of what to do next. Obviously, he had to get Martha’s attention. She would know better about why the compound made him get smaller and, hopefully, how to reverse it. If it could be reversed. He shook his head once more to cast these thoughts away. He stood up and started to walk forward.

Martha nervously approached the living room. She knew she had to find Jake and quick, but what would she tell him once she did? For all she knew he could be now hiding from her after what she did. Had he not run away, he would now be a wet, red stain on her floor and she would be guilty of killing him. She decided she will apologize and present her excuses when she will have found him. She entered the room and looked around the floor for any sign of movement, but she couldn’t notice any. He could be somewhere down there and she couldn’t see him due to how tiny he was. Or, as she initially thought, he could still be hiding under the couch.

“Jake?” she called out to him. “Are you there?”

Stupid question, she thought. Where else could he go in such a short span of time? She decided to let her intentions be known.

“Jake, I know you’re down there. I’m coming over to the couch. Please don’t be scared”

She slowly walked towards that spot, looking down at her feet and watching her step. When she was by the couch, she looked around but couldn’t see him yet.

“Jake, please come out and I will help you, I promise”

Nothing. Was he hesitating? Or not trusting her?

“Listen, I- I’m sorry for almost stepping on you. I didn’t think clearly, I didn’t know it was you nor what happened to you. Please come out, I will take care of you” she pleaded with him, still looking down for any sign of Jake “I will not hurt you. Please, I’m so worried about you. Jake?”

She watched him emerge from under the couch, walking slowly, visibly still afraid of her. His legs were grey from the dust gathered on them as he walked back. He stopped about three inches from where she was standing and she saw him lifting his head up. Martha wondered whether he could even see her face from down there. She felt so sorry for him and so guilty for having reduced him to such an insignificant state, albeit involuntarily.

“Do you trust me?” she asked, watching him intently. She saw him nod, several times at that, a clear message. “Good” she added and she knelt on one knee. She slowly lowered her right hand towards where he was standing, her index finger and her thumb ready to pick him up. No, she thought. There’s no telling how fragile he is now. The last thing Martha wanted now was to accidentally crush him between her fingertips. Instead, she lowered her palm to the ground and asked him to climb on. She waited patiently as the little man approached her hand and slowly walked through her finger and into the middle of her palm, where he sat down. She could barely feel him; from her perspective he weighed almost nothing.

“I’ve got you” she said, slowly getting up and taking a seat on the couch, her eyes focused on Jake. She was relieved to see her hands were not shaking as she held the palm with her little passenger directly beneath her face. Martha had big hands and they made Jake look even more minuscule than he already was. This close, she also noticed he was naked and felt even more sorry for how embarrassed he must’ve felt.

“How are you feeling?” she asked after a moment and he replied. Or so she thought, as she couldn’t catch it. She asked him to repeat it, and he did, louder. And again, this time crying his answer out loud. She heard something that sounded like a high-pitched, barely audible ‘okay’ and she nodded in relief. Communication will be a problem, she thought. She will have to bring him closer to her ear to even hear him. “I’m glad you’re okay” she told him “I promise I will take good care of you. And we will find a way to bring you back to your size. I just need to wrap my head around it” she added in a comforting tone. And finally, with a hint of a smile, she said: “And something for you to wear”.

It was so bizarre to Martha. She held him whole, his entire life was literally in the palm of her hand. And yet this tiny creature, this shivering thing that was smaller than her fingernail was none other than her best friend. She felt a mixture of pity and responsibility, knowing his survival depended on her and she promised to herself she would do her best to keep him safe. She smiled down at him, a warm, comforting smile she seldom gave to anyone in her life, to reassure him and make him know she only had good intentions towards him. But even this close she had trouble seeing his facial features and she could only hope he returned her affection.

He watched Martha’s enormous face looming above him. So enormous, in fact, that it covered his entire field of vision. A moment before, he was carried into the sky on the floating isle of her hand. Now two brown moons were looking at him and through him, scrutinizing his entire being. She was everywhere. Above him, beneath him, around him. He could feel the heat radiating from the skin on her palm. A hot gust of wind would pass through him every time she spoke. And while he still recognized this colossal being as his dear friend, he also saw her as something entirely different. Something more, definitely more than him. He felt so utterly small and insignificant, even more so when he realized she can hardly hear him now. It was as if they spoke from the opposite ends of the world or from two different worlds altogether. But Jake knew better. It wasn’t the world or Martha that changed, only him. He fell off the world’s rim and into an entirely new kind of existence, one that was beneath everyone and everything else. Yet despite these thoughts, despite the differences in size between the two, he felt somewhat relieved to be there, in the palm of her hand. For the first time since he shrank he felt safe. The hard questions, such as how was he going to live now, when will he get back to his normal size, if he ever will… He pushed them aside for the moment. Such questions did not yet exist in the here and now of Martha’s warm hand and gentle words. He knew the time would come to ask them and face the answers eventually.

“You must be thirsty. Let’s go get you some water” he heard her say. And then he watched his world rise and move once more.

She covered the palm Jake was in with her other hand and she slowly stood up, carrying him to the kitchen. There, she lay her hand on the table and waited for him to get off. She then opened the fridge and took out a bottle of still water. She sat by the table, filled the bottlecap to the brim with water and set it down near Jake. It was a bit shorter than him, so the little man could easily draw from it. She told him to do so slowly, as the water was cold, then watched him approach and drink, plunging his cupped hands into the cap and bringing the liquid to his lips several times.

“Feeling better?” Martha asked and smiled as she was met with a series of nods coming from Jake. “That’s good to hear. In fact, maybe you’d like to take a bath? I could fashion a nice hot tub from that bottlecap for you”. Another series of nods, more eager than those before. “Okay, give me a second”.

She took the bottlecap and brought it to the electric kettle in the corner, turning it on. A moment later she poured a drop of hot water into the cap. She turned towards the sink, grabbing a bottle of detergent and pouring a drop of that into the mix to get the foam. She brought the result back to the table and smiled as Jake approached the cap and slowly got into his makeshift bath. Resting her chin on her hand, Martha watched the little man scrub his body and relax. When he was done she handed him a tiny piece of paper towel to wipe himself with, then let him dry up in her palm.

“I forgot to ask if you’re hungry” she said, looking down at him. He shook his head. “Yeah, me neither. Though I could use some coffee, but that comes later. Listen… I need to take a shower myself, so I’m gonna take you back to my room and put you somewhere safe. Just for a while, okay?”. He nodded, fewer times than before. She could tell he didn’t like the idea of being left alone. She smiled at him either way, content that despite not being able to properly communicate they could still understand each other. Just like before, she cupped her hand over the one Jake was sitting in and walked to her room. There, she looked around for something to keep him in. Something he’d be safe in, something he couldn’t escape from. The latter thought made her somewhat uneasy. She basically had to imprison him for a moment, even if she was doing it for his own good. Her attention turned to a small jewellery box standing on the edge of her desk. I got it for Christmas last year, Martha thought, from mum. She never kept any jewellery in it, but she found the box useful. It was a good two inches in height and made out of smooth, polished wood. In other words, it was perfect for the task. She opened it and lowered her hand into it, telling Jake to get off.

“Wait for me here, I’ll be back in ten minutes tops. Oh, and take this” she said, grabbing a paper napkin from a pack lying nearby and folding it into a little square, which she put inside the box “It’ll be more comfortable to sit on this. I’ll leave the lid open” she added, as she walked out of her room, grabbing some clothes on her way to the bathroom.

Jake walked around his container, the walls of which towered over him. Even if he wanted to climb out of there, the walls were too smooth to grab onto. He resigned himself to simply waiting, taking walks from one edge of the box to the next, sitting on the folded napkin when he tired of moving around. The wood felt cold under his feet and he was almost surprised when he realized he’d rather be back in Martha’s hand. He figured he was getting used to being small and he wasn’t sure whether he liked the idea. Martha was being gentle and careful with him and so far he had no reasons to complain, or at least not too many reasons given the circumstances. But what next? What about his job, his place, his near future? He stood up and took another walk, trying to shoo the thoughts away, hoping Martha would come back soon. Suddenly, he stopped, seeing something above him. Something was hanging from the edge of the wall, thin like a twig and covered in sparse hair. Another twig-like thing emerged from the outside of the box, and one more. And then Jake saw the owner of said twigs, as it pulled its body on top of the box’s edge and looked at him with all eight of its eyes.

For once, Martha wasn’t taking her time with the shower, washing herself quickly and carelessly rinsing the shampoo from her hair. She felt bad about leaving Jake alone. Done with the shower, she stepped out of the cabin and rapidly wiped herself. Her hair was still wet and so was her body in a few spots, but she didn’t care – she’d dry on her own on this hot summer day anyway. She put on a light blue bra and underwear, a sleeveless white t-shirt with no print on it and bright red shorts. She left the bathroom and walked back to her room, straight towards the box she left Jake in and immediately noticed he wasn’t alone. A spider, roughly a quarter of an inch in diameter, stood in the middle of the box, staring at his prey who in turn found himself with his back against the wall at the opposite end of the container. Martha reacted in an instant, bringing her thumb down and squishing the beast, twisting the digit to ensure its dead, then wiping its remains on her shorts. Only then did she turn her attention to the little man cowering below.

“Oh my God, Jake. Are you alright?” she asked, lowering her face to look at him better. She sighed in relief upon seeing him nod and offer her hand for him to climb into. “I’m so sorry you had to see that” she told him once he was safely in her palm “I should’ve closed the lid. If that spider did something to you I wouldn’t forgive myself”.

Looking at the tiny thing in her hand, still shivering from the ordeal, she realized once more just how much power she held over him. And how much responsibility she had towards him. She brought the other hand closer and slowly, carefully caressed his back with the tip of her index finger, almost completely covering the little man with just this tiny part of herself. “There, there” she whispered, making slow, rhythmical movements with her fingertip until Jake calmed down. At which point she smiled warmly at him and cupped her hands around him, leaving the room. This was too much for one morning, she needed that coffee.

She brought him into the kitchen and set him on the table, as she browsed through the cupboard, looking for a clean cup. Finding one, she made some instant coffee and went back to her room, carrying the cup in one hand and Jake in the other. She sat on her bed and let him get off at the nearby nightstand, as she slowly drank her beverage and looked at him. There was a little lamp on the nightstand Martha would sometimes read to, roughly six inches high. Compared to Jake it looked almost like a lighthouse. Then again, Martha though, everything looked oversized compared to him now.

“Are you relaxed now?” she asked and received a nod in reply. She smiled. “That’s a relief, then. I’m sorry for leaving you alone. I’ll try to be more careful. Do you like my nightstand?” she asked, deciding to change the subject. Another nod. She was happy Jake was so cooperative but she started to slowly grow tired of communicating with him like this. She missed talking with him, real talking. “I’d let you hang around the bed, but I’m kinda worried of losing track of you. No offense” she added, giving him a resigned, but sympathetic look. He nodded once more, clearly understanding how easily it was to lose him from sight now. Especially in the twilight of the room, as Martha kept the shutters in her room closed in summer in order to not let the scorching sun in. For the moment however, she saw him clearly, walking here and there around her nightstand. She finished her coffee and set the empty cup on the nightstand, making sure it’s far enough from Jake. From his perspective it looked like a giant, black silo, yet another household object reminding him how minuscule he’s become.

“We should make some plans for today” she said “I mean, technically I had some plans already but you obviously take the priority. I think we should start with a breakfast, what do you say? Actually, wait. You know what, I have an idea” she brought her index finger to where he was standing “Lie down on the fingertip. Trust me”.

He did as he was told. She brought the finger to her face, taking a closer look at the tiny man huddling to it, then moved it to the side, where her right ear was. “Try saying something” she instructed him.

“Something”

She smiled. Now she could hear him. His voice, although quiet even this close and high-pitched was nonetheless audible for a change.

“I should’ve done this earlier. Are you really okay?”

“I am. Thank you”

“You don’t have to thank me. In fact, I should be asking for your forgiveness instead”

“I have a lot to thank you for, Martha” he said, with an emphasis in his voice.

“Such as?”

“Well, saving me, for instance”

She felt herself blush and it almost made her drop him. She kept her hand steady, trying to change the subject.

“Right, er- Breakfast. You want anything in particular?”

“I’ll have whatever you’re having”

“Okay. Right. Fine, that works. I’m bringing my hand back now, hold tight”

She did so and, when he moved from her fingertip to her palm, cupped her hands around him, walking to the kitchen, hoping her blush will disappear sooner than later.

She made two toasts, on which she put some butter and strawberry jam. Martha had never been a big eater and that was enough to constitute a breakfast for her. Even more so for Jake, whom she put on her plate, letting him chip away a few crumbs and soak it in jam. Before long he was full as well. She brought him back into her room and sat at her desk, turning on her laptop.

“We need to write a message to your job, since you won’t be back there for… a while” she told him, keeping the hand he was on close to her face. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I need both hands so I’m going to bring you closer to my ear and you can climb inside. But not too far inside, I don’t wanna lose you there, okay?”. Seeing he agreed she moved her hand close to her right ear and waited a moment for him to climb in there.

“Are you in?”

“Yes”

“Great” she said, moving her hand to the laptop and clicking the browser icon. “I’ll need your login and password”

He gave it to her and she logged in.

“You know, you shouldn’t give your online data away so easily”

“I trust you with those” he replied, making her smile.

She began to compose a message. He told her who to send it to, what to write, yes write exactly that, no I won’t get into trouble for telling my supervisor that.

“What if they fire you?” Martha asked, worried.

“They wouldn’t dare” he said in a confident tone.

“I wish they cared that much about me at my job”

“Speaking of. Will you get into trouble for, you know… Losing a sample?”

Shit. She didn’t think of that. She completely forgot about that for the matter, her biggest worry being keeping Jake safe and sound.

“I, uh- I’ll think of something” she told him, trying to be as convincing as she could “Aaand sent” she added, clicking the right button.

“I don’t want to rush you but you’d better think what to tell them quick” Jake said with concern.

She sighed. “You’re right. I’ll come up with some convincing lie. Eventually. By the way, are you comfortable in here?”

“I am, but… I’d prefer if you let me out by now”

“So… you’re not comfortable in here”

“I feel kind of, erm, constrained”

“Constrained?” she laughed “Big word for a… Um. How do you mean?”

“Not much space to stretch my legs”

She pondered about his words. “I think I get it. You feel imprisoned”

“Well. Yes”

“I got you. Okay, I’ll let you out. But can you promise me something first?”

“Shoot”

“Promise me you’ll let me put you in there again. Or near that spot. So that I can hear you and we can talk”

“I’m too small for a pinkie promise, Martha”

“You’re never too small for a regular one, though”

“Okay. I promise”

She smiled and moved her palm to her ear again, close enough for Jake to jump down to it. She felt him do so, but stayed her hand a few seconds more to make sure. Eventually she brought it closer to her eye level, content to see Jake in it. She put it down on the desk, allowing him to descend and sat back, watching him wander around it. The desk was a mess. Other than the laptop and the box she put him into earlier, there was a hodgepodge of various objects strewn around it. Some papers she needed to read, two armbands made out of thin leather, an apple core she forgot to throw away, a black pen, a blue pencil sharpener, a half-empty pack of pads (she took it off the desk before Jake got too close), a pocket watch and finally her phone lying in the corner. Her desk was an absurd landscape from the little man’s perspective, a jumble of unrelated props, more akin to an absurdist movie set.

Suddenly, the phone started to ring, interrupting their little moment of desk exploration. She picked it up, seeing that a certain ‘Megan (Work)’ was calling. “Speak of the devil” she said, looking at Jake with a resigned look and answered the phone, her eyes still focused on the little man.

“Yes?”

“Hey, Martha” said a cheerful voice.

“You’re working today?”

“Yeah, my shift’s all over the place. But never mind that, I wanted to speak to you about the X-302-DMN”

“The what?”

“The compound, silly. The one they had you hold on to for the weekend?”

“Right! Yes, of course!” she cried out and saw Jake cover his ears. She didn’t realize how loud she was, especially to him. “Sorry” she mouthed in his direction.

“Well anyway, you might want to get rid of it. We’ve run some tests last night. Turns out it’s unstable and toxic”

“Toxic?”

“You better believe it. We’re in the middle of destroying the samples. Hey, by the way, did you get in contact with the thing? Like, poured it on your skin or ingested some of it or anything?”

“Huh? Why are you-”

“If you did, you’re gonna have to come over and get the reagent. Or more specifically an antidote, since it’s a poison, like I just said. Or I can drop it at your place after work. By the way, you didn’t hear that poison bit from me, if anyone’s asking”

Martha opened her eyes wide in astonishment and looked with them at Jake, causing him some concern.

“After work. Right. Uh, Megan, can you call me back from your private phone? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about”

“Can’t you tell me now?”

“Not… really”

“Fine. Call you in five” Megan said, hanging up.

Still holding the phone in her hand, Martha looked at Jake. “Keep your fingers crossed. I think I found a solution” she told him, this time with a comforting smile. She waited for Megan to call back. It was the longest five minutes in her life. Finally, the phone rang and she saw her private number on the display.

“Can you talk now?” Martha asked, excited.

“Yeah, I’m on a cigarette break. So what’s that thing you wanted to talk about?”

“Quick question first. How toxic was the compound? How did you test it?”

“I see now why you wanted to ask in private. Good call. Alright, long story short, we had five guinea pigs drink it and they vanished”

Martha’s heart sank. “Vanished as in…?”

“As in getting smaller until they were no longer visible” Megan said in a quieter voice. You could never be too sure.

“I need that antidote. Can you bring it to me today?”

“So you did come into cont-“

“Worse. Not me”

“Jesus. Alright, I’ll swing by your place in the evening. Oh and Martha? This conversation…”

“Never took place, I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. I’ll be waiting” she hanged up and sighed heavily, leaning against the chair with exasperation painted all over her face. She looked down at Jake. “I’m okay, don’t worry about it. And you know what? You’ll be okay soon, too”. She put her right hand on the desk, her pinkie extended and facing the little man. “Pinkie promise” she said, beaming a smile at him. He approached the massive digit and patted her fingernail. He may have been too small to make one, but Martha definitely wasn’t. Finally, some good news, Jake thought.

With the news there was a chance to bring Jake back to his normal size, Martha’s mood improved noticeably. As she explained the situation to him she could swear she saw his face lighten up, although it was hard to discern his tiny facial features. She wished she had a magnifying glass lying around. Nevertheless, they were both optimistic about being able to put all of this behind soon. She was sure the time would come when they would both laugh at his current predicament.

She decided to move on with the chores, the first task being providing Jake with some clothes, or at least a semblance of some. She searched around her room and found an old blue shirt she no longer wore. She cut off a tiny piece of the fabric, roughly the size of Jake, and fashioned something resembling a sleeveless tunic with the help of a basic sewing kit she kept in one of the desk drawers. She also cut a tiny strip of the material to serve as a belt for him. Then she watched him put it on and adjust the tightness with the belt. It looked good enough to last and she took some pride in her needlework. She wished she could fashion something for his feet, the overgrown landscapes of her apartment surely taking a strain on them, but she simply lacked experience in the shoemaking domain. Especially when it came to making shoes to fit one millimetre long feet.

With that settled, she decided to clean up the living room. She realized she needed both hands for that and began to wonder what she would do with Jake. Leaving him in the jewellery box was out of the question – she didn’t wish to risk another bug sneaking up on him when she was gone, nor did she want to lock the box leaving him in darkness. She could put him in one of her shorts’ pockets, but she feared he could fall out or get harmed when she decides to sit down. She checked the drawers once more, finding a small, leather pouch she could hang around her neck. Perfect. This way she could focus on her chores, knowing Jake is close by and, most importantly, safe. She opened the pouch and put it on the desk, letting him know her plan. He shrugged but walked into the pouch anyway. She waited a moment, to make sure he reaches the bottom before she puts it on her neck and did so when enough time passed, leaving the room with Jake safely tucked in. She hoped it wouldn’t be too uncomfortable for him, knowing how he didn’t enjoy such imprisonment, yet at the same time realizing she’s doing it for his own safety.

Once in the living room, she started picking up the clothes he left behind after shrinking, folding them and laying them down in the corner of the couch. Then she gathered empty beer bottles and put them back in the crate. Next she vacuumed the crumbs of crisps left around from the night before, feeling especially relieved Jake was not on the floor at this particular moment. As a final touch, she wiped the coffee table and the console, then ventured to the kitchen to do the dishes. Done with those, she went back to her room to grab her phone, then returned to the couch, sitting down and taking the pouch off her neck. She opened it and lay it down on her left thigh, letting Jake come out on his own.

While Martha was busy doing the chores, Jake was busy rolling from one end of the pouch to the next, the slightest move on the giantess’ part tossing him around. It wasn’t a painful experience but it wasn’t too pleasant either, even if he could tell she wasn’t deliberately trying to cause him any discomfort. Finally though, the moving stopped. He heard the pouch being opened and ran to the exit as soon as he saw the light coming from the outside. The moment he stepped out he noticed he was on a vast plain stretching hundreds of feet before him, ending in a rugged hill. He looked around and saw her sitting on the couch with her legs crossed, himself now standing in the middle of her thigh. He looked all the way up, meeting her gaze.

“Hey. Hope I didn’t rock you too hard” she said, her voice echoing around. Even when speaking casually, she sounded so loud to his ears. “I need to take a break. You can walk around if you want. Two conditions, though. One: I want to be able to see you. Two: mind where you’re going. The latter is more important”. Having said that, she turned her attention back to her phone, leaving Jake to his own devices.

And so he decided to wander. The surface beneath his feet was warm, the skin here being even warmer and softer than the one on her palm, so even the act of moving around was a pleasant experience. He marched along her thigh until he reached the knee, making sure not to get too close. It was a long way down, after all. The skin here was harder, more rugged and for a moment Jake felt as if he really was standing on some lightly coloured hill overlooking a plain. Then he decided to walk back, Martha’s red shorts looming on the horizon almost looking like an impressionist’s idea of a sunset.

Up above, Martha had some difficulties focusing on her phone and the websites she was browsing while she felt Jake’s tiny feet lightly tickling her as he walked around. She looked down at him, realizing he was too invested in meandering around her thigh to pay attention to her face. She decided to gather a few souvenirs from his journey. She went into her phone camera’s settings, made sure to turn off the flash and the sound and took the first photo, featuring the little man in the very middle of her thigh. Then she zoomed in, taking another. He looked so tiny and helpless, such a little thing lost on the ocean of her skin. She felt guilty about doing this without asking for his permission but couldn’t be bothered to stop.

She watched him walk back towards her knee, then turning right and slowly walking down the slope of her left calf. Another few photos at various stages of that body part. He made it all the way down to the rock of her ankle. Another photo. And from there he pressed on through the ridge of her foot towards her toes. She was well aware of how big her feet were, but she couldn’t help but realize just how infinitesimal Jake was compared to them. Especially when he made it to her big toe and stood on it as if it was some sort of a cliff. Each and every of Martha’s toes was several times bigger than his entire body, but it was the biggest one that truly dwarfed her friend. She took a few photos more, some zoomed in, some zoomed out, all emphasizing his insignificance.

Yet despite all of this, she also couldn’t help but find him cute, in a way. For a moment she wondered whether she shouldn’t keep him like this. There were plenty of advantages to that, after all. She could always have him at her disposal, she could always keep him fed and warm, she could take him anywhere with her, he would never leave and forget about her like other people did. He would always be there for her and she could always take care of him. And then her mind cleared. No, she thought. He’s my friend, not my pet. And it’s my responsibility to get him back to normal.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun on the way. She started to wiggle her big toe, moving it slowly but even such a minor act was enough for Jake to struggle to keep his balance, and Martha had to hold her giggle as she watched him trying not to fall. Eventually the gravity took the better of him and Jake tumbled down from her toe and onto the couch. She held her breath. Fortunately, he got up immediately, the upholstery of the couch having softened the impact.  She took one last photo of him facing the massive wall of flesh her foot must’ve looked like to him now and put the phone down.

“Jake” she said, making him turn and look all the way up towards her face “You’ve made quite a journey. Would you like to rest somewhere higher?”. She saw him nod. “Please stand still. I’ll try to pick you up this time”.

She lowered her hand to the spot Jake was standing in and very slowly, very carefully she pinched him in between her thumb and index finger, lifting him towards her eyes. His body disappeared almost completely in her fingertips, with only his head and his collarbone being visible. Even holding him like this she could barely feel him. So tiny, so fragile. She set him down on her right arm, as she adjusted her sitting position, leaning back a bit so that he would see him better.

“Can you hear me?” his squeaky voice reached her ears.

“Yes, I can. Did you enjoy your walk?”

“Believe me or not, but I did”

She smiled at him. “Why don’t you sit back, relax and tell me more”.

He sat on Martha’s shoulder, looking past the single strands of her brown hair lying nearby towards her face, as they chatted the afternoon away. Surrounded by the warmth emanating from her body, it was easy for him to relax. Every few moments he would look around, admiring the size of his surroundings, how big and distant even the smallest pieces of furniture in the room looked to him as they loomed in the horizon. But nothing came close to Martha and the landscape her body has become to him. He watched her stretch her legs, putting her feet on the coffee table, as he admired their sheer length. They looked like two massive bridges from his perspective. He took a quick glance at her chest, making sure she doesn’t see him doing so. Even though Martha wasn’t much endowed in that area, her breasts still appeared as two massive hills to him and he enjoyed watching them rise and fall with each breath of hers.

He got bored of just sitting around and decided to do some more exploring. He approached one strand of her hair, grabbed it firmly and began his ascent. He climbed up slowly and carefully, breathing in the flowery scent of Martha’s shampoo, as one brown moon watched him getting higher and higher. A few minutes passed before he made it to the top and he took a moment to admire his surroundings, as he walked through this unusual forest. Eventually though Martha began to worry about him getting lost up there and asked him to descend, which he did, climbing down a strand on the opposite side of her head and sitting down on the top of her left ear’s helix.

“You seem to be getting better at hiking” she said, feeling him on her ear, albeit barely “As well as having fun”

“That’s because I am”

“Getting better or having fun?”

“Yes” he said, watching a smile stretch across her colossal face

“So am I. I like watching you wander around and I can’t explain why”

He pondered about it for a minute. “It’s something new, I guess. Something unusual”

“I guess you’re right” she said, sighing.

They sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts, before Martha spoke up again:

“I can’t wait for you to get big again”

“Why?”

“I like you better when you’re big”

“Don’t you like me when I’m small?”

“I do. But I want you to be safe”

“I’m safe around you”

“No, no you’re not. I almost stepped on you. A spider almost ate you. And worst of all I didn’t show you the bottle with the compound. If I did, all this could be avoided”

“I think you’re too hard on yourself. A lot of things happened, but I don’t hold it against you”

“You don’t?”

“No”

She smiled. Whatever the situation, he could always make her mood improve. She reached out to her phone with her left hand, making sure she doesn’t budge too much and risk tossing Jake off, as she checked the time.

“Megan will be here soon. I’ll need a place to hide you. Which do you prefer, the box or the pouch?”

“What if I said neither?”

“Then I’ll have to put you in a very special place”

“How… how special?”

“Very” she said, a wide grin adorning her face.

There was a knock on the door. Here we go, Martha thought, as she reached for Jake, pinching him gently between her thumb and forefinger. She pulled the collar of her t-shirt with her other hand and brought Jake down towards her chest, tucking him into her bra, where her left breast was.

“Stay still” she told him, smiling down at him for the last time as she stood up and walked to the front door.

“Hi, Megan” she said to a short, redheaded woman standing before her.

“Hey. I brought the stuff” Megan opened her purse, revealing a small glass bottle containing a transparent liquid and handed it to her. “As for how to use it… How, erm, serious is that other person’s… problem?”

Instead of replying, Martha lifted her hand, making a pinching sign, the space between her thumb and index finger being roughly as long as Jake was tall.

“Jesus. Try not to drown them in it. It has to be ingested, by the way. Make them drink it. Although now that I think of it, one drop should be enough. It might take some time before the effect kicks in.”

“I’ll manage. Oh, and – thank you”

“Don’t mention it. I’ll see you on Monday”

She closed the door and walked quickly to the kitchen, setting the antidote on the table and a bottlecap near it. She then plunged one hand into her bra to fish Jake out.

“Enjoyed the ride?” she asked, grinning, as she brought the little man to her eye level

“I almost suffocated in here. You could’ve warned me”

“Where’s the fun in that?” her grin grew larger. She put him down, near the cap, as she opened the bottle and poured the antidote in, filling it to the brim and telling him to drink. When she asked how it tasted, once he took the first sip, she was met with a tiny scowl on his tiny face and a repetitive shaking of his head. Figures, she thought. Despite the taste, Jake kept on drinking until he was full. She carried him back to her room. There were two pillows on her bed. She set him on one, lying down herself with her head on the other, looking at him.

“I’m sure it’ll start working soon” she told him with a reassuring smile.

They took some moment to unwind as they talked what they’ll do once he regains his height. Martha switched her position, now lying on her back, as Jake sat near her right ear so that she could hear him better. The stress of the day took a hold of her not long after and she fell asleep. After an hour or so of napping, she woke up to the silence of the room.

“Jake?” she whispered, turning to the side he was on before she fell asleep. He wasn’t on her pillow. Instead, his makeshift tunic was lying nearby. “Oh God” she whispered. He got smaller, shrinking away, vanishing out of sight and she was sleeping when it was happening. Did he call out to her for help? Was he scared? Tears began to fill her eyes as the despair set in.

“Yes?” she heard his voice. She looked up. There, on the other pillow, was Jake – now a solid three inches in height.

Pure joy took the despair’s place, tears dried up and a smile spread across Martha’s face. “It’s working!” she said in delight, as she watched Jake slowly, but surely, grow in her eyes.

They spent the evening in good spirits. As the sun set lower and lower, Jake was getting taller and taller. Soon, Martha had to lend him one of her t-shirts to wear. The bigger he was, the faster he seemed to grow, much to her joy, and by the time it got dark he was back to his usual five feet and eight inches of height. He dressed up, happy to be able to wear his clothes again, as Martha approached and looked at him with a smile.

“You’re back” she said.

“Back? I didn’t go anywhere”

She said nothing to that, instead getting closer and hugging him tightly, as if he was gone for years. He hugged her back and they stood in the middle of the room for several minutes, embracing one another.

“We’ve got to celebrate. Take a seat, I’ll be right back” she told him, as she ran out of the room. He did so and a moment later Martha was back, with an open beer bottle in each hand. The same kind they’ve had the night before. Jake shrugged and took a bottle from her.

 They sat, they drank, the laughed. She showed him the photos she took of him as he voyaged around her body. He asked her to delete them and she promised she would do just that. Eventually. When they ran out of beer and things to talk about, Jake decided it was time to go home.

“Don’t you want to stay the night?” she asked

“No offence, but I kind of miss my own bed”

“My couch is better than your bed”

“You haven’t tried my bed yet”

“Yet?” she sent him a cocky smile which only grew wider as she noticed he was getting embarrassed.

They put the empty bottles on the coffee table. She glanced at him and remembered the one important reason she wished to see him big again.

“Before you go, I wanted to tell you something” she said.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a secret. I can only whisper it in your ear. Come closer”

He got closer.

“No. Even closer”

He obliged, now sitting arm to arm with her. She put a hand on his face, moving it to the side, as she brought her own face closer and kissed him on the lips. He kissed her back. Their tongues wrestled in their mouths as she embraced him around his neck and he embraced her around her hips.

“How about you do stay the night?” she broke free from the kiss just to ask that.

“Yes” he gasped, visibly excited.

She smiled as she stood up and grabbed him by the shoulders, slowly lifting him up. She would lead him to her room, undress him and make love to him the whole night long. She was ecstatic, breathing heavily at the very thought of what was about to happen.

And then she noticed a few things she ignored in their shared moment of passion. Such as his clothes looking baggy on him. Or more importantly the fact he now stood a full foot shorter than her and seemed to be dropping an inch after an inch in height at her very eyes. In a blink of an eye, the passion was gone.

“We just can’t get a break” Jake said, slowly being overwhelmed by his own shirt, his pants having already fallen to the ground.

She sighed, heavily. “I’ll go get the antidote. Try not to get lost while I’m gone” she told him through clenched teeth as she left the room.