Professor Sean Darnell stood in the middle of his lab, looking at his newest invention with a mix of pride and relief. After a few long month filled with tiresome research, endless malfunctions and scrounging for parts, his Size Alteration Device was finally completed. And while he was proud of having realized this project, he was equally glad it was finally over, as the time spent working on it took its toll on his sleep routine and fatigue. Now however he could finally relax, knowing the only thing left to do was to test the machine. This time nothing could go wrong.

The only thing that worried him at that moment was the fact he would be doing so alone. Mandy, his faithful lab assistant with whom he worked on the device, was on sick leave till the end of the week. The last time they spoke on the phone, she pleaded with him to not run the tests before she was back. “What if something goes wrong?” Sean remembered her saying and had to admit she was right. The tests he had in mind would be much safer if there was someone more to oversee their effects. By all accounts waiting for Mandy to return and then testing the device seemed much more reasonable. But Sean, despite his academic background, never learned how to be patient. And thus he decided today was the day when he would put his magnum opus into use.

Perhaps calling it such was a bit of a stretch. The device was a seven feet tall and one foot wide, closable rectangular container made out of white composite, looking more like a futuristic photo booth than an invention Sean hoped would shake the scientific world. The inside was barren save for the console – the wide screen set on the wall and the keyboard to feed data into it. He stepped inside, closed the door behind him and began to eagerly press the keys, adjusting settings for his first test in accordance to his prior calculations. The first trial would be something simple; the device would shrink two feet in height and Sean with it, his height dropping to approximately three-foot-ten. When the machine processed the data, a low hum could be heard lasting for several seconds and stopping abruptly. He waited a moment more until the text on the screen said the test was concluded and that it was safe to step outside. Not willing nor needing to wait any longer, Sean opened the door and took a step forward.

He noticed something was wrong immediately. He was standing on a vast plain which seemed to stretch on for miles in each direction. It took him no time to realize he shrank smaller than he thought he would, the plain being nothing other than the floor of his laboratory. He walked back into the machine, pressing keys nervously to determine his current size and the time necessary for the device to cool down until he could use it to grow back. And then stared in disbelief at the screen as it showed he was now a quarter of an inch tall and would have to wait about half an hour before he could resize. ‘God damn it’ he muttered, shaking his head and once again stepping out.

With nothing better to do, Sean decided to stroll around and take a look at his new, gigantic surroundings. As he walked, he felt somewhat relieved he was alone. At this size someone could easily mistake him for an ant, even despite his bright clothes – his white shirt, blue jeans and green shoes. What would happen then, he dared not imagine too deeply, but he knew he would not live to celebrate his thirty-sixth birthday which was due in a month. As he walked, he gaped at the colossal furniture and lab equipment, the tiniest parts of each dwarfing him several times over. He wondered where he could’ve made a mistake and decided he would go through all the formulas and figures once more when he was back to normal size. He wasn’t wearing a watch and he left his phone on the desk before shrinking, so he could not tell the exact time, but he figured at least twenty minutes had passed already. He turned and began to walk back towards the machine. And then he heard a noise coming from the opposite direction and as he looked towards it he saw the door to his lab open and Mandy standing in it.

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If a normal-sized person was looking at the door, they would see a slightly chubby twenty two-year old with short auburn hair, blue eyes and perky nose. She was five-foot-seven and that day she was wearing a red t-shirt, knee length jean skirt and sandals on her bare feet. But an ordinary girl to a normal person was now a massive colossus to the diminished Sean and as he watched her enter the lab, he began waging his options. Trying to get her attention was risky and promised no reward. She could easily crush him underfoot the moment he got closer, either mistaking him for an insect or not seeing him down there at all. Crying out was no good either; he knew for sure she wouldn’t hear him from this far.

Mandy looked around, surprised to not see the professor working on anything, or at all. She was feeling a bit better today and decided to pay him a visit, maybe help out with the current experiment or at least to make sure he doesn’t perform it alone. But this was odd. As she wondered about it, walking around the deserted room, she took a phone out of her purse and dialled Sean’s number. To her surprise, she heard his phone ringing behind her, on the desk. ‘He left the phone? Why?’ she thought, perplexed.

Down below, Sean was screaming as he was running away from her, as fast as his tiny legs could carry him. He found himself in Mandy’s path in a matter of seconds. He was now trying to make it safely to the machine before he ended a wet stain beneath one of her sandals. But her single step was like a hundred of his and soon she not only reached him but passed him over as well. To his horror, Sean noticed she was walking directly towards the spot where the machine was standing. And although he forced himself to run even faster, it was no use and he saw his only way of growing back being pulverized under Mandy’s enormous foot. And then, as if the situation couldn’t get any worse, she turned and started walking back in Sean’s direction. He barely dodged her foot as it fell near him with a loud thud but, fortunately for him, the giantess seemed to have stopped, at least for now. Suddenly, he had an idea. He might’ve been too small to be seen or heard from the floor, but if he got a bit higher, if he could make contact with her skin… Thinking quickly he began to move once more, running towards her sandal, paying close attention to any sudden movements. As he reached the spot where her toes lied on the massive pedestal her shoe was to him, he looked for any indentures in the material, anything he could put his hands and feet into that would help him climb up. Luckily, he found some and managed to pull himself up. Realizing how easily it’d be for her to toss him off, he decided to find something to grab on to. He ran past her humongous digits, even the smallest of which being several times his size, and reached the strap between her big and second toes, wasting no time in grabbing it with both hands and holding on to it. The heat emanating from the proximity of her body and the leather of the sandal made him feel hot, unbearably so, with sweat soon running down his forehead and his back. Before he could come up with a way of getting her attention, the giantess began to move once more and Sean clutched to the strap as he was being carried away by the floating island of Mandy’s foot.

Mandy checked the other pieces of the lab while looking for Sean. He wasn’t in the toilet, nor in a small room they used as a kitchen. She stepped outside but he wasn’t near the building either, despite his car being there. Which she checked too, to find no trace of the professor. She tried to recall any shops or food joints nearby he could’ve gone to, but nothing came to mind. The lab was situated on the outskirts of the city, as Sean wanted to keep his research if not secretive then at least somewhat private. The only human presence around was a residential area consisting of a few single houses nearby. It was also where the closest bus stop was so Mandy closed the door and began heading there, figuring wherever Sean was he was not coming back soon. Besides, it’s not like she was skipping work, she was still officially on sick leave.  

If only she looked down and did so well, she might have noticed a tiny thing struggling at her right foot, huddled to the leather strap separating her big and second toes. But even in the light of the day Sean was barely visible from down there. And thus the only thing he could do was holding on, as tightly as his shrunken body could muster, hoping to get Mandy’s attention when she’s a bit more stationary and trying not to fall as each of her steps shook his surroundings.

She walked along the sidewalk, wondering what to do with the rest of her day. She always enjoyed coming back from work through this area, whenever Sean wasn’t too busy to drive her home. There was much more greenery here than in the part of the city she lived in and the little houses far and between gave the place an almost rural look. Almost like the town she grew up in, before her family moved into the city. She had a sudden recollection of how she used to enjoy walking barefoot on the grass back home and, as she reached a spot where a small meadow separated her from the residential area, she decided to take a shortcut. She walked into the grass and slid her sandals off, picking them up and walking forward, enjoying the way it tickled on her way.

Which was unfortunate for Sean, who suddenly found himself sliding down and falling off Mandy’s shoe, even if it took but a split second and the grass softened the landing. As he got up he saw her gigantic feet disappear from his view. At first he thought of chasing her, then realized the folly of such an action. He could never catch up with the giantess she was now, he was way too small for that. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t follow in her footsteps to cross the jungle ahead. Even though by the time he made a few inches in Mandy was already far ahead, this turned out to be a good idea. Grass blades were thinner in the places she passed through, many of them pressed to the ground under her weight, making traversing the meadow all the more easier. As he walked, Sean admired the scenery, the towering vegetation and the lush sea of green stretching in every direction. He even found some dew gathered on one blade, a tiny drop being more than enough to quench his thirst. The journey through the grass wasn’t without its share of horrors, though, as Sean encountered a few ants (now the size of tigers) who were unfortunate enough to find themselves in Mandy’s way – or more specifically what was left of them. He passed the carnage quickly and pressed on.

He didn’t know how long it took him to reach the opposite end. An hour, two? Time seemed to flow slower for him now. But by the time he finally got out Mandy was long gone and he had to think of what to do next. Finding shelter seemed the best course of action. After all, staying outside at his size, especially at night, was no more no less a death sentence. He shuddered, suddenly remembering he was no longer on the top of the food chain.

He looked around. There was a bungalow made of grey brick standing on a nearby corner, with short, three-steps marble stairs leading to a porch and the front door. That seemed like a place to start. Climbing up the stairs could take some time, but he could try and find spots where he could grab on to, like he did with Mandy’s sandal. He began to walk towards the house, looking around for any danger, especially for people who might be walking on the sidewalk that ran around it. It took him several minutes, but he made it safely. Climbing the stairs took a lot more time and effort and by the time Sean reached the top he was exhausted. Nevertheless, he knew he’s not safe as long as he’s outside and he turned to walk towards the door. The floor of the porch was made out of light wood, the crevices between each plank narrow enough to allow him to jump over them. When he finally made it to the impossibly tall oak door, walking around the doormat in front of it, he lied down on his stomach and crawled inside, having enough space to fit through.

Sean was now in the entrance hallway, standing on a wooden floor that seemed to stretch forever. In front of him was a thin red carpet with various patterns in black and yellow. To his left stood a ginormous tree that, upon closer inspection, turned out to be an ordinary coat hanger, although nothing hanged at it for the moment. And to his right was a pair of thin, grey flip flops, clearly used, with a weathered floral pattern on their strap. ‘Another giant lady to look out for’ he thought. He suddenly remembered just how tired he was after this whole ordeal and decided this would be a good spot to catch a breath. The flops were thin enough to allow him to pull himself up on one. He passed the indentures left by the owner’s toes and walked under the arch stretching above, taking a seat in the middle of a golden circle with the digits 9.5 inside it. He wondered about the bizarreness of his situation. In a span of less than three hours he took a ride on someone’s shoe and now he was resting in someone else’s. Is this how his life was going to look like from now on? Before he knew it, he was already lying on his back, looking up to the ceiling so far, far above. Unable to fight the sleepiness overwhelming him, Sean closed his eyes and drifted off.

When he woke up he didn’t know how much time has passed while he napped. But the hallway was darker now. Not too dark to see but enough to allow him to guess the day was nearing its end. He slowly stood up and got down on the floor. Suddenly he realized how hungry he was, having eaten nothing other than a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Sean sighed, knowing he would now have to scavenge for food. He doubted being able to climb a kitchen table, but maybe he could find some crumbs underneath it? Not much nutritional value in them, but in his present condition he couldn’t afford being picky.

He started to walk forward to locate the kitchen. The place, as far as he could tell from the hallway alone, wasn’t too big. He noticed a bathroom far ahead and three entryways – two to the left and one to the right. Surely one of those had to be the kitchen. As he walked, he kept to the right wall, not willing to risk a direct confrontation with another pair of giant feet. It took him several minutes to reach the entry to the room on the right and he was about to turn the corner and go in.

And then he heard the familiar sound, a short series of loud, thudding noises getting closer. Something massive, something fast moved past him, almost tossing him to the floor. If he took a step in just a second faster, he’d be dead. He clutched to the wall in fear and looked in the direction the thing was going and noticed, not surprised in the slightest, two enormous, bare feet. Their owner disappeared from Sean’s sight in an instant, entering the opposite room and all he could see of her from behind was her tall frame, her blue and white dress and her long, wavy blonde hair.

He breathed heavily, his heart almost bursting out of his chest and he stood with his back to the wall until he calmed down. He didn’t stop and take a peek in as he should have and he almost got stepped on. Sean made a mental note of having to be more careful. The coast seemed clear for the moment, so he decided to go in. Lucky for him, the room sprawling before him was the kitchen. It wasn’t big, a room roughly five feet in length, but it was a whole new environment to the little man. He noticed the table standing in the corner and headed towards it, walking through white and dusty kitchen tiles. Fortune seemed to favour him, at least for the moment, as he did find some crumbs lying underneath it on the floor – one of which turned out to be a piece of chocolate the size of a boulder to him, clearly having fallen down from some massive cookie. He ate a bit, sat down on the kitchen floor under the table and shivered a bit when he felt how cold the tiles were.

He wondered what to do next. He had a shelter for the night, that’s for sure, there was plenty of place in here to hide and wait the night out. But what’s next? He knew he had to somehow contact the giantess living here and ask for her help. But how could he get her attention being this tiny, not to mention if she could even hear his pleas? Lots of questions and doubts were racing through Sean’s mind as he was waging his options. He shook his head and stood up. He would get the woman’s attention and then, assuming she won’t have mistaken him for an insect and kill him, he would try and get in touch with Mandy. After all, she was the only person capable to help him get back to his normal size, the two having worked together on the machine. But first, he had to survive that long and his survival depended on the owner of the place he took shelter in.

It took him several minutes to leave the kitchen, moving around the place being quite a stroll at his size. He looked ahead – two rooms, a small bedroom to the left and a slightly bigger living room to the right. He remembered the giantess turned right and so did he, watching and listening for any indication she could be on the move again. But it was silent. In fact, the whole place seemed awfully silent – no tv or radio playing, no conversations, no sounds. Or so he thought as when he got closer he began hearing the all-too-familiar rustle of pages turning. He stopped at the entrance to the room and looked inside. He saw a wicker lounge chair with red cushion standing up ahead. A small coffee table made of dark wood stood by, with a massive porcelain cup containing something hot, the fume coming out of it as if from a chimney. There were many other pieces of furniture in that room, but Sean’s attention was now focused on the person sitting in that chair, the woman who almost crushed him underfoot the moment ago. She was around his age, her long hair almost gleaming in the sunset making its way into the room through the window. Her dress ended around her knees, white patterns on blue, as if she put on a piece of the sky. Her skin was slightly tan and her massive, yet shapely, legs stretched from the chair to the floor, her feet crossed. She was reading a book she put in her lap, but it was too far for Sean to see who the author was. A pair of glasses with very thin frame rested on her eyes. Sean couldn’t help but find her attractive, even though he knew how easily it would be for her to dispose of him. But he needed help, her help, and so he stepped into the room.

And then he noticed the carpet he paid no attention to the moment before. A sea of light grey and blue fibres as tall as him spreading before him, ahead of him and a long way to the side. Sean sighed heavily, as the notion of having to walk through one more jungle, as dangerous as the one he traversed before (if not more due to the giant woman’s proximity) set in his mind. With a resigned look, he walked into the carpet and began his journey towards the giantess up ahead.

Up above the floor, in the comfy embrace of the chair, Kristine was having her own share of inconveniences. The book she was reading was boring her; in fact, it had been doing just that for the better part of it. The characters were one-dimensional, the romantic interest of the main heroine was the worst choice available, the very plot seemed to be tearing apart at its seams. She fought the urge to close the book and throw it in the corner, or better yet – out the window. But, one, she paid decent money for it and two, she had only about a hundred pages left till the end. This was doable, she could finish the book this evening, despite desperately not wanting to. She sighed, taking her glasses off and hanging them around her neck, as they came with a thin, leather strap. She looked out the window, at the soothing stillness of the early evening. ‘Nothing exciting seems to be happening lately’ she thought. A moment later she put the glasses back on and resumed her reading, oblivious to the world around her – especially to the little man struggling below.

After a few minutes of trudging through the fibres, choking on dust and dirt gathered on them as he marched on, Sean was finally out. He took a moment to shake the leftover grime from his clothes and looked around. He was facing the massive wicker chair, not unlike a throne for a goddess from his perspective. He knew he had to climb all the way up there to be noticed and he wondered how to accomplish that feat. ‘I could try the legs…’ he thought, looking over to the spot on the floor where her enormous feet rested. If he could climb one, it would be only a question of a long walk upwards until he reached her lap. And what a long walk it would be; even this minuscule he could tell she was tall by the length of her legs. As enticing as the idea seemed to him, he pondered about the risks. She could easily toss him off just by moving her leg, even so slightly. She could feel him tickle her on his way and mistake him for a bug, something he feared in the case of her and, before that, of Mandy. Two big, red flags, too big to ignore. He looked over to the chair. It was more stable than the leg of the giantess and offered a bit more climbing possibilities, the wicker patterns on its sides forming lines he could easily walk on and grab on to. And thus the question was settled and Sean wasted no time in running towards the chair and beginning his climb. He spent the next several minutes either marching upwards along the wicker paths or pulling himself up, alternating between these two actions repeatedly until he reached the armrest. Fortunately for him it wasn’t occupied by Kristine’s massive arm and so he could climb down into her lap. From that point onward the plan was simple – get onto the book, where she was focusing her gaze, and hope for the best. He started to run through the wide plain of blue and white, the part of her dress covering her right leg, determined to reach his destination.

Kristine grimaced as she made it to the love scene the book has been building up to since the love interest’s appearance several chapters ago. As she was taking in the tacky descriptions of the process, she couldn’t help but wonder whether the author had ever let a man into her bed. Or whether she was fully aware how certain parts of her own body worked. She shook her head, struggling through line after line of badly-written scene peppered with cringy dialogue. ‘Fifty pages more’ she thought ‘I can’t do this. I need a break’. She took the glasses off and was about to close the book and stop torturing herself (if only for a moment) when she noticed something very small and moving, erratically, on the paper.

‘Oh my, an ant’ she whispered, a bit astonished. She could easily flick it off or kill it, if she so wished. But Kristine was the kind of a woman who cherished life, including that of other people and living beings, even those who were as small as her surprise visitor. Instead, the reached towards the coffee table, picking up a bookmark and bringing it closer to the “ant”. She knew it would climb on and it did exactly that. ‘It’s not safe for you in here, little one’ she followed, not seeing a slightest problem with talking to an insect ‘I’ll take you out’. She put her other hand beneath the bookmark and slowly stood up, making sure she wasn’t making any sudden movements that would endanger the little guest. Her eyes still on the “ant” she made it to the front door in a few swift steps and opened the door. As she was about to crouch down and set the bookmark on the ground she noticed the tiny thing move again, even more erratically than before, as if it was nervous – or afraid. It was then that she realized it seemed to be standing on two legs. She put her glasses on and took a better, much closer look.

‘Goodness’ she gasped, astounded, as it became obvious just what exactly was she holding ‘You’re a person. A teeny-tiny person’

She slowly lied the bookmark on the palm of her hand, waiting for Sean to step down and when he did, she cupped her hands around him, gingerly walking back to the living room. She opened her hands only when she was comfortably seated on the lounge chair, looking inside her palm at the tiny human being nestled in the middle of it. She smiled gently at him to let him know he was safe. It seemed to her something exciting was finally happening.

At the same time, Mandy was lying on her bed, listening to music on the headphones and thinking about the day. Something wasn’t right. She was feeling anxious for an inexplicable reason, anxious about Sean and his mysterious disappearance. She turned the music off and dialled the professor’s number, only to be answered by his voicemail. ‘I’ll just check it back there tomorrow’ she decided and returned to listening to her tunes.

Sean looked around his unearthly surroundings. He was standing on a vast plain crossed by what seemed like dried-up rivers. Five massive pillars rose behind him, each, even the smallest, being more than a hundred feet hight. The ground beneath him was soft and warm; he could feel the heat emanating from it even through his shoes. And the air was filled with a mix of a pleasant, flowery scent of some kind of soap or perfume and the subtle, barely noticeable smell of sweat. He was amazed to find how much of a wholly different environment a palm of a woman’s hand could be to him at his size. He looked up, towards a massive face of the woman, so massive it filled his entire field of vision. It was a very attractive face: triangular, with only a suggestion of laugh lines, thin eyebrows and pleasantly shaped lips. Her skin was smooth and youthful, with only a few wrinkles in the corner of her deep, blue eyes hinting at her age. These had always been his weak spot – eyes. They could make or break a girl for him and now that he was looking up towards Kristine’s, he found himself being enamoured by them. ‘If only they weren’t the size of a pool each’ he thought. Even though there was no malice in her gaze, Sean felt as if he was being pierced through just by being looked at. He was uneasy, both by being seen in this state and by seeing just how enormous, how absolutely colossal the woman holding him was. He felt tiny, insignificant, even more so than he already was – but also safe, although not being sure why. He watched the giantess slowly open her mouth, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth, each looking like a massive pillar from some ancient temple. And when she spoke, her breath a gust of warm air against his body, her melodic voice echoed around him.

‘My, you’re quite small. I’ve never seen a man this small before, if you don’t mind me saying’ she slowly spoke, looking at him in amazement ‘If this is too loud for you, I’ll lower my voice’ she added, noticing the tiny man lift his hands towards his ears ‘Oh, I’m forgetting myself. My name’s Kristine. What’s yours?’

He cried his name out, then did so again. Even being this close to her face she couldn’t hear him. Bringing the palm with him to her ear was no good either, Sean was too small to be heard even from close proximity.

‘That’s okay’ the giantess said, moving the hand back below her face ‘We can find other ways to communicate. How about this: you lift your right arm for a yes and your left one for a no. Is that okay?’

He lifted his right arm. A giant smile filled his sky.

‘Good, that’s settled’ she said, content ‘In that case I hope you don’t mind if I ask you some questions. First of all… are you human?’

Right arm.

‘Really? How curious. Then I guess you must be the smallest human in the history so far’ she said, smiling ‘Okay, question number two – have you always been this small?’

Left arm.

‘Even more curious. But why? Why are you so… Let me ask in a different way. Were you sick? No? Okay. Then… Did someone do this to you? No, I see. Did… did you do this to yourself?’

Right arm. Hesitantly.

‘Oh my. I’m not sure if I want to know HOW you did it’ she said, reaching out for the cup with her free hand and taking a sip. Much to her displeasure the tea in it was getting cold, but it gave her an idea ‘Would you like some tea? It’s not hot, you could safely have a drink’ she asked and saw him lift his right arm. She put the cup back on the coffee table, dipped the tip of her index finger in the beverage and brought it closer to Sean, lying it down on her palm. She watched in marvel as the little man carefully approached her fingertip and gathered some tea from it with his cupped hands. She waited patiently until he had his fill, then wiped her finger against her dress. ‘Poor thing, he must’ve been thirsty’ she thought. She then saw him bow in gratitude and a cheerful giggle left her lips. He was adorable.

‘Don’t mention it. It’s my pleasure to help out a little guy such as yourself’ she told him, bestowing another gentle smile at him ‘Speaking of help, I’m sure there’s someone out there who misses you. Am I right?’

Sean hesitated. He didn’t exactly have friends these days. He’s lost touch with his colleagues when he quit working at the University and went independent. He had no family in this city. The only person who could’ve realized (or cared) that he was missing was Mandy and, the way he figured, only because he was paying her for working at his lab. And so Sean lifted both his arms and the twin blue moons above blinked in surprise.

‘Is that a “I don’t know”? Yes? Oh, it is. Well, in that case, how about you spend the night here? It’s not like you’re going to take much space’ she sent him a smile ‘Besides, I could use some company. And you could use some safety’

He couldn’t argue with that, even if he wanted. He was actually relieved to hear Kristine’s offer and agreed to it wholeheartedly. He wished he was at least a bit bigger to be heard so he could properly thank her and express his gratitude. Since that was out of the question for now, he opted for the tried solution and bowed once more, glad to hear her sincere laughter in response to his gesture.

‘My, you’re so well-behaved, little one’ she said, smiling down at him ‘My niece would get a kick out of you. In fact, she’s coming over tomorrow morning. Would you like me to show her to you?’

He hesitated once again but, not wanting to be rude, he slowly lifted his right arm.

‘That’s wonderful! I’m sure she’ll like you as I do’ she said, reaching for her cup once more. ‘Hum. Too cold now. I’ll just go and pour it into the sink. I’m taking you on a ride, little one. Don’t worry, I won’t clench my fist, you’ll be safe’.

She slowly closed her fingers, making sure she keeps her promise and not accidentally harm her little passenger. Taking the cup in the other hand, she stood up and walked to the kitchen. She poured the leftover tea into the sink and left the empty cup there, but not before pouring some cold water in it. She then stepped over to the kitchen table and took a seat, setting the hand Sean was in down so he could descend onto a white napkin. Her hand now free, she brought it down and put it on her thigh, all the while looking at him. He didn’t stay in one spot for too long, eager to take a gander at his surroundings. There wasn’t much to be seen on the empty table, save for the napkin Kristine put him on and a small wicker basket filled with various types of fruit standing nearby. She watched him turn his attention towards the latter and offered him an apple. He accepted, so she grabbed one and took a bite, then pinched a tiny piece of the fruit and offered it to him, smiling as she watched him eagerly approach her finger and take it. They sat for a moment, each eating their piece of the apple and when Kristine was finished she stood up and threw the core in the trash bin. She noticed an empty matchbox lying by the stove and an idea appeared in her mind. She picked it up and put it on the table, lying it down on its side.

‘I need something to safely keep you in. Can you hold on in there before we find something better for you?’ she asked and, having received a positive answer, she waited for Sean to walk inside before slowly turning the box and closing it. She picked it up and walked out of the kitchen, holding the matchbox in her hand as steady as she could.

Outside, the sun had already set. It was getting dark and Kristine felt the fatigue taking hold of her. She walked into her bedroom and opened the box as she set it on the pillow, allowing Sean to step out of it. She crouched to see him better, his little frame being a bit more visible against the whiteness of the pillow.

‘I’m going to take a shower and I’ll be right back’ she told him with a comforting smile ‘I’ll prepare a sleeping spot for you then. In the meantime, don’t go too far, I’d hate to lose sight of you’ she added and left the room, grabbing a light blue sleeping gown on her way. As he waited, Sean strolled around the pillow, as if he was walking on a huge, snowy hill. He was glad to be out of the matchbox, the ride in which he didn’t particularly enjoyed – the inside was made out of a coarse paper and it smelled distinctly of sulphur. All in all, not a pleasant place to be when you’re just a quarter of an inch tall.

He took his shoes and socks off, relishing in the softness beneath him as he walked there and back again. He took the time to look around, seeing an antique wardrobe standing in the corner, a shoe closet filled with several different pairs of shoes to the side and a small white desk with a mirror, which stood on the opposite of the two. He turned, noticing a short nightstand with three drawers and a small, dark green lamp standing on it, being the only source of light (albeit a bit dim) in the room. There was a glasses case lying nearby, in a similar shade of green. He then looked ahead at the vast, white expense of the covers, wondering how long Kristine’s bed was and guessing its length to be about seven feet.

Suddenly, Kristine entered the room and Sean was amazed to see someone this enormous move so swiftly and graciously. Her blue gown was long, almost reaching her ankles, and it had floral embroideries as wide as he was tall running through its surface. He turned and walked back into the box, making sure to grab his shoes on the way, and stayed put as Kristine moved him to the nightstand. As he stepped out he saw her crouching in front of his standing spot, searching for something in the drawer below. Suddenly he heard her cry out in joy and he instinctively covered his ears upon the loud noise.

‘Sorry about that’ she said, bringing her face up to look at him ‘But look what I found!’

She lifted her right hand and Sean noticed a bunch of tiny (at least to her), colourful objects gathered in her palm. As she brought it closer and let it slide from her hand onto the nightstand, he realized just what they were – cushions. Miniature, decorative cushions, each around an inch in diameter.

‘My niece got them for me as a gift. I’ve never had any idea where to put them. Until you came along’ she said, beaming another smile at him ‘You can pick whichever you want. Even better, you can sleep on a different one each night. I mean… If you were to stay that long’ she added in an awkward tone before regaining her composure and enthusiasm ‘Go on! Pick one!’

He approached the pile of cushions, of which there were twelve. Each of a different colour and with a different picture on it. There was a light green one with a pink flamingo. A white one with a rainbow stretching between two clouds. A black one with red, blue and yellow smudges resembling a nebula. A grey one with the four cardinal directions, looking like a rudimental compass. A beige one with a golden strip running across it. And a few more. He picked the compass one and climbed on top of it, lying down on his back. She asked if he needed a blanket, to which he shook his head. Happy to see Sean having found his sleeping spot, Kristine took off her glasses and put them back into the case.

‘I was going to finish my book’ she began to speak after a moment of silence ‘But the light in here isn’t too good for that. Besides I’m tired’ she added, turning to her side and looking towards him. Sean sat down to face her as well. Her beautiful face looked mesmerizing in the twilight of the bedroom and he didn’t mind falling asleep and waking up to such a sight. ‘I’d let you sleep here in bed with me, but I’d worry about your safety. I wouldn’t want to hurt you when I turn in my sleep. And I need the case for my glasses, so I couldn’t put you in there either. But I don’t think you’re complaining. Are you?’

Left arm. Distant smiles, from her to him and back the other way.

‘Happy to hear. And now, let’s go to sleep’ she said and he watched her massive arm stretch above him, her long fingers grabbing the chain under the lamp’s shade and pulling it down, plunging the room into darkness. ‘Goodnight, little one. See you in the morning’ she whispered at the end.

He lied down on his miniature pillow, listening to her calm breath, soothed and relaxed. The long and perilous day was over and he was finally safe, now that he was under Kristine’s protection. ‘I couldn’t have picked a better place to stay’ he thought with a smile as he fell asleep soon after, the sound of her breathing rocking him gently to sleep.

Mandy left home early in the morning, making another call to Sean on the way. Still no response. Perplexed, she walked down the sidewalk towards the bus stop. She was wearing a white polo shirt, jean shorts and flat shoes, the morning air feeling cool on her bare legs. She decided to pass by his place on her way to the lab. For all she knew, he could be home at the moment and it was worth checking. She reached the bus stop, took the right line and after a few minutes of ride and another few of walking she was standing at the front door of Sean’s house. She rang the bell and waited, then did so again. After ten minutes of waiting no one came to open the door. Many brought her ear closer and listened in, but she couldn’t hear anything, or anyone, inside. She then looked at the doormat at her feet and an idea popped in her head. She knelt down, looking underneath it and sure enough, there was a key lying there. ‘Of course’ she thought, she thought and shook her head at the professor’s absent-mindedness as she unlocked the door.

‘Hello? Professor Darnell? You there?’ she called out as she walked inside ‘It’s Mandy. Are you there?’

She closed the door behind and took a few steps in. Still no sound of any human activity. She decided to look around and check every room, promptly doing so. But Sean wasn’t there, not even in the bedroom or the bathroom. His bed was made and Mandy figured no one had slept in it the night before. There were no dishes in the sink. All in all, the place looked as if no one was there for at least twenty-four hours.

‘Better luck at the lab, I guess’ she thought and was about to leave, but something got her attention. As she passed the kitchen, she noticed a bunch of papers strewn around the table and chose to look them over. Some of the stuff in them was familiar; she remembered most of the formulas in the papers, but there were more than a few she had no recognition of. Yet they all related to the size modulation and the project they’ve been working on. Was the professor keeping secrets from her? She gathered the sheets into a neat pile which she then put in her purse, to go through them later on at her place. She left, locking the door and putting the key back under the doormat. She walked to a different bus stop nearby, taking a ride to the lab. Once she made it there, she noticed nothing has changed, especially in terms of the professor’s presence. His phone was still on the desk and as Mandy approached it, she noticed something lying underneath it, a small, rectangular leather object. She picked it up. ‘He left his wallet too?’ she thought, looking inside. There was some spare change in, as well as his ID and driver license. The situation was getting more worrisome with each discovery, Mandy growing anxious. She noticed some more research papers on the lab’s desk and gathered them too, adding to the mix in her purse, to peruse later.

‘What if he’s missing?’ she suddenly thought. Things like this happened before. People leaving, seemingly just for a while, and disappearing for years. ‘Maybe someone had seen him. Some of the locals’ she thought as her attention turned to a laptop standing nearby and the printer it was connected too. She had an idea. She turned the laptop on, then took out Sean’s ID from his wallet and scanned it, then printed out a resized picture of his face. She folded it and hid it in her purse. She would take it and ask people living nearby whether they had seen a man like this, hoping someone had at least glanced him. Mandy left the lab, but not before looking through it for a spare key to lock the door, cursing herself for having forgotten to do so yesterday. With that settled, she turned to walk towards the houses standing nearby.

Sean woke up amidst the pile of pillows, slowly getting up and rubbing his eyes. Looking around he noticed his matchbox was missing. More importantly though, he also noticed Kristine’s bed was empty. He was somewhat surprised that he slept through the giantess waking up, but figured the exhaustion of the previous day contributed to that. He stood up and did a few stretches, then sat back and waited for her to come pick him. He didn’t have to wait long, as Kristine’s giant frame soon appeared in the entry. She was already dressed up, having showered while he slept. She was wearing a black, buttoned sleeveless shirt, with a small breast pocket, which she tucked in her light grey skirt, her legs and feet being bare, her wavy hair as always loose. He watched her approach the nightstand with a smile.

‘Hello, little one. Did you sleep well?’ she asked, crouching to get on his level, her face filling his vision once more. As Sean nodded, she continued ‘Happy to hear that. I’ve made some breakfast. And found something better to carry you in’ she pointed to the breast pocket ‘Oh, and – I’ve a surprise for you. I think you’ll enjoy it’ she added, her smile growing even wider as she stood up and placed a single finger on the nightstand. She waited patiently for him to climb on top of her fingernail, then carefully deposited him inside the breast pocket, which to him was the size of a vast cavern. A warm and comfy cavern, though, as Sean noticed while the giantess walked to the kitchen.

Once there, she took a seat and carefully picked him out of the pocket, transporting him to the table on her fingernail. She set him down near a surprise she prepared for him, namely a plastic coffee scoop filled almost to the brim with water and a drop of detergent mixed in, the matchbox lying nearby. ‘You can take a bath before breakfast. Don’t worry, I won’t peek’ she said, smiling at him. Sean approached the scoop and undressed, leaving his underpants on. Kristine brought her index finger down and told him she could wash his clothes, so he picked them up and put them on her fingertip. He walked up the scoop’s handle and into the warm water, swimming and bathing at the same time, as Kristine dipped his clothes in a spoon and laid them on the matchbox to dry. When he was done, he walked down the handle and she handed him a tiny piece of a paper towel to wipe the water off. As his clothes dried, she offered him a breakfast: a crumb of toast too big for him to finish whole and a drop of tea she dipped her fingertip in, from which he gathered a few handfuls to drink. She then proceeded to eat herself, her eyes not leaving the little man for even a moment, as he dressed up and strolled around the table.

Suddenly, they both heard a sound of a car stopping by. She stood up and looked out the window, seeing a yellow mini cooper parked in the driveway. ‘Nicole’s here!’ she exclaimed and turned her attention to Sean. ‘Don’t go anywhere, I’ll introduce you in a moment’ she said, passing the table by and walking to the front door. She opened it before her niece even had the chance to ring the doorbell.

‘Good morning, Nicole. You’re quite early’ she said with a radiant smile. The person standing before her was a tall (a good two inches taller than Kristine, as a matter of fact) nineteen year old, with long, straight dirty blonde hair and eyes of the same deep blue colour as hers. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white stripes, mid-thigh length, and a pair of white sandals. Her oval face was that of a plain beauty, with wide nose and thin lips and a few freckles scattered around her cheeks.

‘Hey, auntie. Not too early, I hope?’

‘Not at all. Come in. And follow me, there’s someone very special I want you to meet’

She followed her aunt to the kitchen and saw her lay a hand on the table, then approach her with her palm open and held at the eye level.

‘This is Nicole, my niece’ Kristine said, her eyes focused on a spot in the middle of her palm. Nicole followed her gaze and noticed something in there, something very, very small.

‘You’ve got a pet ant?’ she asked, perplexed.

‘Look closer’

Nicole brought her face forward. Her eyesight being better than Kristine’s, she immediately realized what her aunt was holding in her palm. Or rather who.

‘No way!’ she exclaimed, forcing Sean to scowl and cover his ears ‘Is that a man? Why is he so tiny?’

‘I don’t know. Somehow he shrank himself and wandered in here yesterday’

 ‘Why would he do such a thing?’

Kristine shrugged, gently, having Sean’s safety in her mind. ‘I haven’t been able to determine that. I don’t even know his name yet. He’s too small to be heard by us’

‘That’s messed up’

‘Quite. Let’s take a seat, I’ll make some tea and tell you everything’ Kristine said, pointing to the table. Soon after, Sean was once again stranded on the vast plain of the kitchen table, as the giantesses above him were drinking their tea, Nicole listening intently to Kristine’s recollection of yesterday’s events.

Mandy was checking at one house after another, knocking on the door, presenting herself, showing the photo of Sean and telling people of her missing employee. But her search seemed fruitless. Of the five houses she checked not a single person had seen the professor since his disappearance. Standing in the middle of the quiet street, Mandy sighed, resigned. This was her only hope of getting to know his whereabouts but it seemed the professor had vanished in thin air. She was just about to abandon her search when she noticed a house she missed, a grey brick unassuming bungalow on the corner. Thinking she might as well check it out, she headed towards it.

‘…and that’s the end of it’ Kristine concluded her story, having told Nicole of what transpired since yesterday’s evening.

‘Good thing you didn’t throw him out’ Nicole said, looking down at the little man ‘I wish we knew more about him. Like his name or how he made himself so small in the first place. Or better yet, if it can be reversed’

‘I agree. But our communication is limited, as you see’

‘So… what will you do with him?’

Kristine took a sip of her tea and looked back at Nicole ‘I don’t know. I wanted to help him reach out to someone but it seems he doesn’t have anyone close living here’

‘Maybe we should take him to a hospital’

‘What for?’

‘Well… Maybe they’d know how to help him?’

Kristine wondered for a moment before replying ‘I don’t think they would. I don’t even think there had been a case of people shrinking before. And frankly, I’d be worried if I left him there. What if they shipped him to some laboratory and… experimented on him?’

‘I guess you’re right’ Nicole said, her attention turning to Sean once more ‘I feel kinda sorry for him. Can’t imagine how scared he must be seeing us like this’

Kristine smiled at the empathic comment of her niece ‘He doesn’t seem afraid of me. Maybe he would trust you more if you picked him up. Why don’t you ask him?’

‘Um’ Nicole started, looking awkwardly at the tiny speck on the table ‘Can I… hold you?’ she asked and saw him lift his right arm. ‘What does it mean?’

‘It means yes. And the left arm means no. Lay your hand down, he’ll climb aboard himself’

She did so and watched in amazement as Sean approached her massive hand, climbed on top of her fingertip and ran into her palm. She lifted her hand slowly, eyes glued at the little person within. ‘Wow… I barely even feel him. It’s as if he weighed nothing’ she said, astonished ‘Hey, little guy’ she whispered, looking down at him and smiling as Sean waved to her. She held him for a few seconds more before laying her palm back on the table and waiting for him to get off. ‘So I guess he’ll be staying with you for a while?’

‘Yes. Until we figure out what to do next’ Kristine told her niece before addressing Sean again ‘Did you like it in Nicole’s hand?’ she asked and smiled as the little man eagerly lifted his right arm.

‘I really wish we could help him out’ Nicole said and as she did they heard the doorbell ‘It’s okay, I’ll get it’ she said, stepping out of the kitchen.

When she opened the front door she saw a plump girl around her age holding an unfolded piece of paper with a photo and they talked for a moment. She said that her name was Mandy, that her employer (the man in the picture) has been missing since yesterday, told her his name and finally she asked whether Nicole had seen him around.

‘No, I’m sorry, I wasn’t here yesterday. But my aunt was. She’d probably know more about your boss. Would you like me to ask her?’

‘If it’s not a problem’

Nicole called Kristine and when the latter showed up she introduced Mandy and her problem.

‘Well, I can’t say I’ve seen anyone like that around lately’ Kristine said, glancing at the photo ‘But if we exchange numbers I can give you a call if I see him. Oh and, can I keep this paper?’

‘Sure. Let me just write my number down on this paper’ Mandy said, taking a pen out of her purse and scribbling her digits. They said goodbye and Kristine closed the door, leading Nicole to the living room.

‘Where is…?’ Nicole started, suddenly remembering about the little man.

‘In my pocket. No worries, he’s safe’ replied Kristine, still looking at the photo. The man’s face seemed familiar. Too familiar. When they were in the living room, she gently picked Sean up and set him on the coffee table by the wicker chair, then folded the paper and put it in her now free breast pocket. Turning towards Nicole, she said: ‘Can you keep an eye on him for a second? I need to find the magnifying glass’

Nicole sat in the lounge chair, looking at her phone and occasionally glancing over to the little man wandering around the coffee table. At one point she propped her bare feet against its edge, then noticed Sean’s looking at them. ‘What? Yeah, I got big feet. So does auntie Kristine. It runs in the family’ she told him and realized how uneasy he must feel with them looming over him, so she lowered them to the floor ‘Sorry. I can be such an airhead sometimes’ she apologized and went back to her phone, embarrassed. When that feeling dissipated, she once more looked towards him and put her phone back. He seemed a bit more interesting than unread messages on social media at the moment. She leaned in, looking down on him. She could hear Kristine in the background, stomping around and opening every drawer and cupboard in the house.

‘So, you must be pretty smart if you could shrink yourself, right?’ she asked “You’re a scientist or something like that?

He lifted his right arm.

‘I see. And a good one too. I mean, I haven’t heard of people shrinking themselves before so you must’ve done something right’ she added with a little smile ‘And brave, I guess. I don’t think I’d go and do something like that. Are you brave?’

Left arm. Negative.

‘Sorry to hear that. Are you… afraid right now?’

Left arm again.

‘Wow. Because I’m here?’

Right arm.

‘Aw. That’s kinda sweet. Tell me something more. You think I’m pretty?’

Right arm, repeatedly.

‘You little smooth talker’ Nicole laughed ‘I can see why auntie Kristine is keeping you around. Oh, speak of the devil’

Kristine entered the room, somewhat exhausted after combing through the whole place looking for a magnifying glass, which she was now holding in her hand. She was also wearing glasses now. She took the piece of paper out of her pocket, spreading it on the coffee table. Then she crouched by its side and brought the glass over Sean. The giantesses looked through, finally seeing the little man’s facial features and comparing them with the photo.

‘Nicole, your eyes are better than mine. What do you think?’

‘No doubt about it. That’s him’

A warm smile spread across Kristine’s face as she moved the magnifier to the side and looked at the little man with her own eyes. ‘Hello, Sean. I think we’ve found someone to help you’ she told him.

Kristine was sitting in the chair, holding Sean in her palm and inspecting him with a magnifying glass as Nicole was walking around the room, speaking on the phone with Mandy. ‘Handsome little fella’ she thought, reflexively biting her lip as the thought appeared in her mind. She noticed he was about her age, his (now, obviously, tiny) legs revealing he wasn’t short before his accident. She liked his dark hair, his square jaw his green (or so they seemed; even with the magnifier she couldn’t tell for sure) eyes, even the little stubble that gathered on his face since yesterday. She found herself regretting, much to her surprise, the fact that he was this tiny right now.

Nicole hanged up and turned to face her. ‘I thought I’d catch Mandy when she was still around, but she’s at home by now. She asked us to bring Sean over, I got her address. Are you up for a ride?’ she asked.

‘Sure’ Kristine said, putting the magnifier on the coffee table and carefully sliding Sean into her breast pocket. ‘Hang on, little guy’ she told him, closing the pocket and standing up. They put their shoes on and left the house, locking the door. Then they got into the mini cooper, Kristine on the passenger seat as Nicole drove to their destination. After a fifteen minutes ride they arrived at the housing block Mandy lived in and soon were standing in front of her apartment’s door. She opened and led them into the living room, all three taking a seat around a short, glass table, Mandy in an armchair, Kristine and Nicole on the couch. As soon as they were seated, Kristine plunged her hand into her breast pocket and brought the palm holding Sean in front of Mandy’s eyes.

The young woman’s face was surprised at first, despite Nicole explaining his condition on the phone. The surprise then turned into shock upon seeing how small Sean now was. And finally, her face settled on an angry scowl. ‘I. Told. You. To wait with running the experiments until I’m back!’ Mandy cried out, making Sean fall to his knees and grabbing onto his ears.

‘Hey, pipe down. He’s still in one piece, no? He’s alright’ Nicole chimed in.

‘Alright? Alright?! He’s the size of a grain of rice for god’s sake!’

‘Mandy, please don’t scream. His ears are much more sensitive to noise at this state’ Kristine said in a calm, but firm voice.

It took Mandy a few seconds to calm down and a few more to speak again.

‘I don’t even know where to start. I have literally no idea how he did this to himself’

‘Is there anything you can do?’ Kristine asked, concerned.

‘I’d have to go through his papers, all of them. Then maybe I could try and build something that would bring him back to his normal size. Maybe. It’s him who normally handles constructing our devices. I really can’t promise anything, at least not at the moment’ she said and looked back to Sean still in Kristine’s hand ‘What about his well-being? Is he staying with you?’

‘Yes. And he’ll stay at my place for as long as he has to. Or wants to’ Kristine said.

‘Can you keep him safe until I figure something out?’

‘Yeah. Auntie Kristine knows what she’s doing’ Nicole said ‘He’ll be safe and sound with us’

‘I really hope that is the case’ Mandy said and stayed silent for a moment before addressing Nicole ‘Listen, I’m sorry for shouting like that’

‘I don’t mind. But I think you should tell that to Sean’

Mandy looked into Kristine’s palm and at the tiny man within. ‘Sorry, professor. I was just really worried. Still am’ she said in an apologetic tone. Sean shook his head and put up the palms of both hands forward, as a means of saying “it’s fine”.

‘You know, I’ve been to the lab twice after his disappearance’ Mandy said ‘Just because of this. I feared he would do something silly in my absence and, surprise surprise, I was right’

‘Mandy. There’s no need to get agitated’ Kristine said in a calming tone.

‘You’re right, I’m sorry. The point is, I haven’t seen anything he could’ve used for shrinking himself this small. No device or apparatus or anything’

That’s because you stepped on it, you big dummy, Sean thought.

‘Does it mean you’ll have to start from scratch?’ Nicole asked.

‘So it would seem. And I’m sorry to say but I don’t know how long it’ll take me. I’ll do my best but we’re talking a project we’ve been working on together for months. Even with notes and papers he left behind it might be a while’

‘That’s okay, as long as you promise to do your best’ Kristine said in a reassuring tone, putting her free hand on Mandy’s arm ‘We, in turn, promise to do our best to keep Sean safe until you figure something out. Right, Nicole?’

“Right’

Mandy smiled for the first time since the conversation began. ‘Well, I guess there’s a lot of work ahead of me. Better get on with it fast’

‘We’ll leave you to your work’ Kristine told her with another reassuring smile and they all stood up. As the two women were leaving, Mandy said goodbye to them and Sean and promised to keep them updated about her progress. Kristine and Nicole walked back to the car, the little one safely nested in the former’s breast pocket.

‘What’s the plan for the rest of the day?’ Nicole asked, fastening her seatbelt.

‘We’re going home. But first, there’s something I wanted to take care of. Do you know the jeweller on the corner of Hampton and Seventh Avenue?’

‘Uh, yeah? You think this is the right time to be buying jewellery?’

‘Oh I’m not planning on buying jewellery. I’m planning on buying something even better’

‘Suit yourself’ Nicole said and started the car as they drove to the place Kristine wanted to drop by.

Finding a parking spot in that part of town took longer than the ride there. When they did find one, they took a short stroll to reach the store and went in. Once inside, Nicole was keeping herself busy looking at the earrings and necklaces she couldn’t imagine to ever be able to afford as Kristine spoke to the seller. A moment later she could see her aunt finalizing the purchase and being handed a little white bag with the store’s logo imprinted on it in gold characters. They left the store and walked back to the car.

‘So, what did you get?’ Nicole asked, curious, as she watched Kristine open the bag and reveal a golden chain, at the end of which was a tiny birdcage, roughly half an inch tall, with a little door as tall as Sean was.

‘I’ve had my eyes on this for a while, but I’ve never really had a need for it. Until Sean came along, that is’ Kristine said, showing the purchase to Nicole and smiling wide ‘I can keep him on me at all times in here’

‘Uh. Do you think… he’ll like it?’ her niece asked, perplexed. She found the idea good, the means of realizing it – not so much. She couldn’t imagine Sean to enjoy being confined to a cage, even if it was for his own safety.

‘Let’s ask him’ Kristine said, opening the cage and bringing Sean from out of her pocket on her fingernail. ‘Look what I’ve got, little one. Go ahead, hop in’ she told him, bringing the cage closer. Nicole saw the little man hesitate, but still enter. Kristine locked the cage and hanged the chain around her neck, then reached for the cage once more and lifted it closer to her eyes. The spaces between the bars were wide enough for her to see him, but at the same time narrow enough to prevent him from accidentally slipping through. And if Kristine’s beaming smile was any indication, she was more than content with her purchase.

‘Let’s go home, Nicole’ she said, lowering the birdcage and letting it dangle against her chest. Inside, Sean took a seat on the cold, golden floor, wondering what he had just gotten himself into.

When they reached Kristine’s place after a short, calm ride, both women decided to relax a bit before dinner. Nicole still had a few messages to reply to, most of them regarding planning the trip she and her friends were going on. She took a seat on a small, green sofa standing by the window in the living room, her full attention on her phone. At the same time Kristine decided to finish the book the arrival of Sean interrupted yesterday and so she grabbed her glasses, which she left on the coffee table next to the magnifier, and sat comfortably in the wicker chair. With the book on her lap and Sean in a cage around her neck, she figured she could unwind a little, and so continued the lecture from the last page she read. The book’s quality hasn’t impressed her thus far, quite the opposite in fact, and upon finally reaching the ending she was left unsatisfied. ‘What a waste of time, money and paper this was’ she thought, closing the book and setting it aside on the coffee table. She crossed her legs and adjusted her seating position, then looked down at the cage containing Sean. She grabbed it between her thumb and forefinger, bringing it to her eye level. ‘How are you doing, little one?’ she asked, smiling at the little figurine within, not expecting to hear the answer. ‘I think I’ll later put a cotton ball inside, so that you have something comfortable to sit on’ she added, admiring the object she was holding, turning it in both directions and looking over the minor details of it.

‘Maybe you should let him out for a while?’ Nicole said, glancing at her aunt from the sofa.

‘Oh? Oh, you’re right’ Kristine said, surprised ‘He could stretch his legs a bit before dinner’

She leaned in and put the cage on the coffee table, opening the door and waiting for Sean to get out. When he did, she smiled at him and leaned back out, watching him walk around. He looked so minuscule in comparison to various objects on the table. The book, while not a doorstopper by any means, seemed almost three times as tall as he was. The lenses of her glasses were as big as a cinema screen each. Even the round glass of the magnifier seemed as wide as a pond. Kristine watched him approach each of these objects, walk around their sides while he inspected them, visibly curious about the surrounding world at his diminished size, and couldn’t help but smile. There was something almost innocent, almost child-like about this little being and his curious escapade.

Sean, from his part, was glad to be free from the cage and able to walk around freely, even if his roaming ground was limited to the surface of the coffee table. Still, at his size even such a small piece of furniture was like a vast plain. And the common objects he was busy checking out felt more akin to curious natural formations. He couldn’t have possibly imagined what journeys he would set out for just by reducing his size. Despite his excitement, he could still feel Kristine’s eyes follow his every move from above. Soon the other pair of eyes joined in, as he saw Nicole get up and approach the coffee table, kneeling near it and observing him. ‘What’s Sean doing?’ he heard her voice booming above, followed by Kristine’s equally loud reply: ‘Sightseeing’. And then he heard a rapturous, repeating thunder, as the two women giggled. Even though he knew they weren’t specifically laughing at him, Sean suddenly felt so insignificant, so utterly tiny compared to the two goddesses looming over him, watching every step he took. His thoughts went back to Mandy and the conversation the three women had. He wondered whether he would ever get back to his normal size or whether he was stuck as this forever, condemned to a life as a source of amusement for his giant caretakers. And then, he heard a suspicious noise coming from Nicole’s face. As he turned towards it, he saw her taking short breaths in, her eyes closed, her face tense and contorted. He knew what was about to happen, but he could do nothing to stop it. A loud noise, not unlike a shot from a cannon, erupted in the air and a sudden blast of strong wind blew Sean from his feet and the coffee table. He screamed as he flew, then as he fell, only stopping when he hit the ground and finding out he miraculously survived. Better yet, he appeared to be unharmed. A quick glance at his grey, dusty surroundings revealed he landed somewhere in the carpet. ‘Just great’ he thought, resigned. Although he was happy the fibres softened the impact considerably. He took a series of closer looks over himself. No bruises and nothing was broken, that was good news. The bad – he still had to get out of the carpet, unless the girls would find him first. He figured it’d be easier for everyone if he got out of the dusty, grey fibre jungle and he began to walk forward.

‘Oh God’ Nicole gasped, as they saw Sean’s tiny form blown off the table by her sneezing and vanish in the carpet below ‘Oh my God, I am so sorry, auntie. I didn’t mean to-’

‘We must find him’ Kristine said decisively, grabbing the magnifier and getting on all fours ‘I’ll search here, you look over there. And try not to get on the carpet’ she commanded, wasting no time in scanning the fibres with the glass, trying to find any sign of movement, anything that would indicate Sean was down there. He could need her help. He could be hurt. She tried not to let it show, but it was clear to Nicole her aunt was getting exasperated, and so was she. They looked for several minutes until Kristine finally stated: ‘There. I found him’. Nicole saw her lay her hand down and lift it soon after, noticing Sean’s tiny frame within it.

‘Are you hurt, little one? Let me get a closer look’ Kristine said, rising the magnifier over him and inspecting his body, telling him to turn around and back front. She saw him give her thumbs up and even mouthing “I’m okay” several times. She sighed in relief and put the open cage in her palm, asking him in a gentle, but slightly stern tone to get in and he obliged. She locked it and slowly stood up, turning her face towards Nicole who was still kneeling by the carpet, despite Sean having been found. ‘I’ve got some leftover paella for dinner. I’ll go heat it up. Come to the kitchen in ten minutes’ she told her, her tone calm and showing no anger, as she walked out of the room.

They ate in silence, Nicole still feeling embarrassed about the whole situation. Sean was sitting on the edge of Kristine’s plate, tearing microscopic morsels out of a piece of meat and a singular rice grain and eating his fill. When they were all finished, Kristine asked Sean to jump down on the table, as she grabbed the empty plates and brought them over to the sink as she washed them. Nicole still sat on her chair, wanting to speak out, to apologize, but feeling too nervous to even open her mouth. And then she felt Kristine’s hands on her both arms.

‘Hey, cupcake. I’m not mad at you’

‘You’re not?’ Nicole asked, tears gathering in her eyes.

‘Of course not, I could never get mad at you. It wasn’t your fault and I’m sure Sean feels the same way’ she pointed to the table.

Nicole looked towards the spot Sean was in, relieved to see him lift his left arm, not holding it against her.

‘You know what’s really good in moments like these? A hug. Come on, get up’ Kristine followed with a smile and the two embraced, holding each other close for a solid minute as Sean stood and awkwardly gazed at the giant reconciliation. ‘Now let’s get back to the living room and you will tell me all about that trip’ Kristine said and placed a finger down on the table, lifting Sean up and putting him back into the birdcage. With Nicole’s mood now improved, they all left the kitchen.

They were sitting on the green sofa in the living room facing each other. Kristine was leaning to the side, keeping her legs crossed and listening intently as Nicole, who brought her feet up on the sofa’s edge, was talking about her plans for the beginning of the next month. She and her friends wanted to spend two weeks in a newly-opened summer resort down south, on the riviera. The beach, the sun, the sea, the colourful drinks in coconut shells adorned with cocktail umbrellas. They had already made the arrangements, all that was left now was packing their stuff and convincing one reluctant friend to come with them.

‘She doesn’t like the sun. Maybe because she gets the burns easily. She’s super pale’ Nicole wondered, hugging her knees and leaning back and forth as she spoke.

‘If that’s the case then maybe you shouldn’t bring her along’ Kristine said with an understanding smile ‘I doubt she would enjoy being there’

‘Yeah, but, like… There will be me and another girl and three guys, so if she did come it would even out…’

‘Guys, huh?’ Kristine raised an eyebrow and smiled ‘Well then, I should remind you to bring protection’

‘Auntie!’ groaned Nicole, embarrassed.

‘What? I was nineteen too at a time, I would know’ Kristine smiled widely ‘But that’s a conversation topic for another time. I wonder if Sean would enjoy the riviera’ she added, looking down at the birdcage hanging around her neck.

‘You don’t want me to bring him along, do you?’ Nicole asked with an unsure look.

‘Oh, no, not at all. I fear he’d get lost in the sand and eaten by a crab or something’

‘There are no crabs where we’re going’

‘Maybe they’re just hiding under the sand so you’ve never seen them’ Kristine laughed for a while before changing the subject ‘So, boys. And three at that’

‘Auntie…’   

‘No, no, let’s go with that for a moment. Is there one you like among them?’

‘Uh, yeah’ Nicole said, desperately trying not to blush.

‘That’s good! No, really. It’s about time you’ve found someone who cares about you’

‘I mean… That trip will tell if he does. If he really does’

Kristine smiled sympathetically at her niece ‘Ah. Young love’.

Nicole looked around the room, desperately trying to find something else to talk about, to change the subject, before her attention turned to the golden cage.

‘Do you think he likes being in there?’ she asked, nodding in its direction.

‘Why wouldn’t he? I can always keep an eye on him and he’s safe’

‘Yeah, but… Does he like it?’

Kristine gave her a surprised look ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, doesn’t he get bored being locked up like that? Maybe you should let him let him wander a bit further around’

‘Oh, sweetheart’ Kristine chuckled at her niece’s suggestion ‘We’ve literally lost him in the carpet not even twenty minutes ago. If he was a bit bigger, then I might consider it, but this small? I wouldn’t be able to notice him from afar or on the floor. It’s a miracle I haven’t stepped on him when he got in the house in the first place’

‘Alright, I was just suggesting’ Nicole cut the conversation, slightly irritated, much to Kristine’s amusement.

‘You know, I’ve just had an idea where we could let him take a stroll’ Kristine said with a grin ‘Give me your leg’

‘Wh-What?’

‘Come on, put it straight in my lap’

And Nicole obliged.

Sean stood up as he saw the cage’s door open and Kristine’s massive fingertip appear. He carefully stepped down onto it, crouching as her finger got lower and lower until it was time to descend on the tan ground below. He looked around, noticing two massive columns rise before him, both ending with a white-polished nail and it took him no time to realize he was now standing between Nicole’s big and second toes.

‘He makes my feet look even bigger than they are’ he heard Nicole’s thunderous groan from afar

‘They’re not that big’ Kristine’s voice followed, even louder due to her proximity. He was standing on a foot that was lying in Kristine’s lap, an unbelievable, unearthly sight for the little man.

‘Yes they are, they’re size ten’

‘The right size for the girl your height then. Now, little one’ Sean’s attention turned upwards as he was called, to the distant, looming face of Kristine ‘Can you make it safely to Nicole’s lap? We’re counting on you’ she told him, her radiant smile spreading across the sky. Sean nodded and turned, beginning his journey.

He walked down the slope of Nicole’s enormous foot, keeping his posture straight to avoid tumbling down. He could tell the young giantess did her best to keep her leg steady, but every now and then he could feel slight tremors beneath his feet, even the slightest budging from her part making him force himself to keep his balance, especially when he finally made it down to her shin. He marched the impossibly long and massive leg feeling as if he was walking across a gigantic sequoia. He could feel the giantesses’ gaze upon him, four blue, celestial bodies focused on his infinitesimal body trekking across the living landscape of a body, staring at him in silence – two with amusement, the other two with concern. And he realized, much to his surprise, that he was enjoying himself. He eventually made it to the smooth hill of Nicole’s knee, the ground here hard like rock, and he climbed it up and down on his way towards her thigh. Once there, he took pleasure in the sudden softness of the surface in sharp contrast with the knee he just walked through and he stopped in the middle, about an inch before her thigh met her dress.

‘Wow. You made it, little guy’ he heard Nicole say and he look up to see her face, finally smiling and then turning towards her aunt ‘Do you think I could pick him up?’

‘Ask him’ said Kristine’s distant, cheerful voice.

But instead of being asked, Sean watched as her enormous hands descended on her lap, as if a massive hill suddenly fell softly from the sky and landed near him. She stretched her huge index finger out, asking him to climb on her fingernail, which was coated in the same snow-white polish as the ones on her toes. Sean clambered aboard, lying down with his entire body spread on the glossy, white surface, as he was lifted up, all the way up, soon finding himself facing an enormous expanse of her cheek, one blue eye staring him down with affection.

‘Did you enjoy your little stroll?’ he heard Nicole whisper, grateful to her she lowered her voice now that he was so close, and he nodded. Now that she could see him better, he figured he wouldn’t have to resort to arm lifting to communicate ‘Aw. Happy to hear that’ she cooed, watching him closely. She was amazed by the prospect of her body constituting an actual journey for the little man who now fit entirely on her fingernail and she knew there and then that they would have to do it again. Now. ‘Do you think you’d find the stamina for the way back?’ she asked with a playful smile and, being answered by Sean’s eager nodding, she slowly lowered her finger and placed it in the middle of her thigh. Her smile grew even wider as she watched him jump down the nail and set the course for Kristine, willing to march all the way towards Nicole’s enormous foot looming on the horizon.  

Eventually, he made it back to the starting point, and was safely deposited (much to his and Nicole’s chagrin) inside the birdcage, as the giantesses chatted some more. Eventually they ran out of topics to discuss. Eventually the day began to near its end and Nicole decided it was time for her to go. She promised to drop by tomorrow and said goodbye to both Kristine and Sean, crouching to look inside the cage and wave at him, smiling upon receiving a wave back. She walked out the door, leaving the two to their own devices, as she got into her mini cooper and drove it back home, a cheerful mood not leaving her for one second. She thought about what an interesting turn of events today was, one surprise after another, and how eager she was to see them tomorrow as she finally pulled up at her driveway.

And on the opposite end of the city, Mandy was drowning in coffee and papers, looking through equations and comparing her private notes to those made by Sean. She’s already spent hours over them, being on it ever since the women she had met today left her apartment, and still she couldn’t find any way to help Sean. The numbers didn’t seem to add up, some figures and formulas were alien to her, even construction manuals for various parts of the device seemed different from what she remembered when they worked on them together. She closed her eyes and rubbed both her temples. ‘Try to remember. Recall something, anything. You’ve done this before’ she thought to herself, taking yet another glance at some more complicated parts of the research. Something clicked in her head, something moved, a metaphorical piston began to push forward and back, an imaginary cog began to turn. She started to see a pattern, or at least a shade of one. She gathered the notes, sat on her knees and began spreading them on the floor as if she was dealing cards or playing solitary. ‘I’ll find it’ she whispered, determined, as she placed one sheet of paper down after another ‘I’ll find the solution’.

Kristine locked the front door and walked back to the living room, where she sat on her favourite piece of furniture in the whole room, her wicker lounge chair. She leaned back, put her feet on the coffee table and calmly sighed as she relaxed. She enjoyed quiet evenings such as this, when she could do nothing but sit comfortably and unwind after a tiresome, or simply long, day. And today was long, having even gotten dangerous at one point. She shuddered, as the memory of Sean getting lost in the carpet found its way back into her brain. If it wasn’t for her cool head and, more importantly, for her magnifier, they’d probably still be kneeling on the floor, combing through one fibre after another looking for him. Kristine looked down to the golden birdcage containing her little guest, content once more for having bought it. He was safe in there, secure from all the dangers the world posed at his size. And she was free from worry about his well-being, of wondering where he could’ve gone to, whether he was in any danger from insects that could’ve made their way into the house or from either her or Nicole, as they were unaware of him being nearby.

She suddenly remembered the first time she saw him, waving to her from her book and how her first thought was to carry him outside, throw him out thinking he was an ant. While she didn’t exactly feel guilty about it, she realized just how easily he could’ve perish that day. What would happen to him if he were to spend the night in the foliage around the house, Kristine wondered. Would ants tear him apart, would he get caught and dissolved alive in a spider’s web? And even if he made it back inside, would she notice him at night or would she squish him underfoot on her way to take a shower? Did he come at risk of being crushed as he tried getting her attention in the first place? She felt herself being overwhelmed by an unexpected, inexplicable sadness, as she pondered about his fragility and how hostile the world had become to him now that he was so tiny. “Do you think he likes being in there?’ Nicole’s words echoed in her mind. No, of course he doesn’t, Kristine thought. But what else was she to do to keep him safe? It would be so easy for her to lose sight of him, and just thinking about things that would happen if she did… She felt her eyes fill with tears and it took her a lot of effort to regain her composure. She knew she had to be strong, if not for herself then for the little being still hanging around her neck. ‘Besides’ she thought ‘as long as I see him, he should be safe’.

She put the cage in her palm and opened it, watching Sean step out into the vast stretch of her skin. ‘Hello, my little wanderer’ she cooed at him, hoping her voice sounded convincingly cheerful and that the little man wouldn’t notice a slight, red tint in her eyes, where tears were just a moment ago. ‘Did you have fun today?’.

Right arm in the air, in agreement. ‘That’s good’ she followed with a smile ‘Nicole seems to be taking a liking to you, not that I’m even remotely surprised. Do you like having her around? She certainly likes having you around, and so do I’ she added, smiling even wider. As she sat there looking into her palm and the person within, she began to wonder what they would talk about if he was a bit bigger, or at least audible. Him being close to her age, he must’ve carried a similar amount of lifetime experience, and with his scientific background to boot she was sure he had a lot of interesting things to tell. It was a shame he was now so much smaller than her and a feeling of pity towards him took hold of Kristine once more. She knew nothing about him, save for his work and only because that was the only thing they discussed with Mandy regarding him. Then again, as she realized, he hardly knew anything about them either.

‘And in turn I like having Nicole around’ she spoke, her gentle gaze never leaving Sean sitting in the middle of her palm ‘In fact, she’s almost like a daughter to me. Well, maybe a bit more than almost. My sister got pregnant with her when we were still teenagers and, just between you and me, she never seemed to have learned how to be a mother and I had to lend my hand in raising her. They still live together, but they’re not exactly on good terms - most days they tolerate each other’s presence and that’s pretty much it. She likes me much more, as you have probably noticed, maybe because I can always find some time for her. Did you know I’m an interpreter? Well, you do now. As you can imagine, my working hours are somewhat more flexible’ she giggled, her soothing laughter lifting the mood before she turned pensive again. ‘Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if she sees me as her true… Oh, never mind, you’ve endured my ranting long enough’.

She smiled at him, grateful he was willing to listen (even if he didn’t have much choice in the matter) and began to lower her palm, slowly, until she placed it in her lap. ‘As a reward, how about you wander around me a bit? If you’re feeling brave, you could try walking all the way there’ she said, pointing towards her feet resting on the coffee table. ‘Just try to stay within my sight’.

She watched him slowly walk down her little finger, even the smallest digit of her hand dwarfing him innumerable times over, and onto her left thigh. She was glad she decided to put on a light grey skirt this morning, him still being visible this way. But as he advanced, the further he went the worse she could see him. She left her glasses on the coffee table and she could’ve reached for them, if it wasn’t for the fact Sean was already walking through her shin and Kristine feared to move. It would’ve been so easy to send him tumbling down into the abyss her leg was now a bridge over for the little man. ‘How did he get there so fast?’ she thought in surprise. Did she space out or wasn’t seeing clearly? Her gaze was focused on him and him only, even if the distance made him seem less and less as a tiny person and more and more as a moving smudge. Still, she watched him press on, making it through her leg and climbing up the slope of her foot, all the way to the crevice between her big and second toes and she could only imagine the triumphant look on his face then and as he made his way back. Several minutes later he was safely returned onto her palm, as she lifted him to meet her smile.

‘I’m impressed, little one’ she cooed at him once more ‘You’ve made the same journey as with Nicole and you returned safely. Impressive! But, I think I have one more adventure in store for you’. She leaned in and with her free hand she let one strand of her hair loose near where he was standing. She didn’t have to convince or invite him for the climb and soon she was watching him ascend, carefully grabbing onto her hair and pulling himself up, a tiny speck of a man lost on the golden waves flowing from her head. Impressed and enamoured with this sight, she sat there as unmoving as she possibly could, watching him getting higher and higher with each second, knowing at this rate he will eventually make it to the top, to see the world as she saw it. And then a worry got the better of her, a thought of how easily he could get lost in the thick forest of her hair and she gently asked him to stop. She brought her index finger close and kept it still as he cautiously walked onto it.

‘I’m really sorry. I just… I don’t want to risk losing you up there’ she told him in an apologetic tone as she brought him to her eye level ‘I guess I wish I was as brave as you’ she added, lowering him towards the cage and waiting for him to get in. Even not looking him in the face she could tell from his stance, as he walked inside, that he was disappointed and so was she – with herself. She closed the cage, angry at herself for letting her fear for his safety get better of her. She stood up sluggishly and carried him on her neck to her bedroom, where she placed the cage on the nightstand and left it open, as she went to take a shower. When she was back, having changed into her blue, long night gown, she saw Sean already lying down on one of the miniature pillows, the exhaustion from walking and climbing her body finally catching up to him. She smiled as she noticed this night’s choice was a pink flamingo on a light green background and she lied down too, wrapping herself with the covers. She stayed still for a while before turning on her back to face him, surprised how distant he looked.

‘Hey’ she said, a gentle, caring smile spread across her face ‘I’ll make it up to you next time’. Then she turned off the light.

Nicole had trouble sleeping that night, tossing and turning in bed well into late hours, unable to fall asleep despite being tired. She tried browsing the web on her phone, counting the sheep, even lying still with her eyes closed, only to get frustrated none of these solutions were working. She was staring at the ceiling, her hands folded under the pillow, her long legs outstretched. As she glanced towards them, the memory of Sean wandering around her body came flowing back. She smirked, imagining him in the room with her, walking all the way from her feet to her face. She knew she wouldn’t be able to see him there, even if it wasn’t for the darkness in the room, but wondered instead if she could feel him. She barely could back at aunt Kristine’s place, his microscopic feet hardly registering against her skin. She switched the position, now lying on her stomach and imagined it would have been easier for him to explore her this way. If he could climb up the wide slope of her foot, the road ahead would’ve been smooth, soft, easy for him to march through, at least until an even longer slope of her back. But with her hair down, he could’ve climbed more easily, Nicole thought. And then, she imagined, he would stop at her arm and if she turned she could see a tiny speck of a man proud of himself. She opened her eyes, surprised at herself for these thoughts, for daydreaming about something like this, almost embarrassed. She closed them soon after, finally falling asleep.

She woke up to the sound of her phone ringing from her nightstand and she groggily picked it up, still half-asleep. It was a friend calling, the other girl she was going to the trip with. She was calling to give Nicole the news that a certain person, specifically the guy she was interested in, resigned. She groaned and cursed, withdrawing the phone from her ear so her friend wouldn’t hear it, and thanked her for the news. She hanged up, sat in her bed and rubbed her eyes. The day was off to a bad start, at least for her. After a minute or two of still waking up, she stood up and walked to the kitchen to have a light breakfast. She then brushed her teeth, showered and went back to her room where she changed into a black, sleeveless crop top and jean trousers, her midriff bare. ‘Eh, good enough’ she thought, seeing herself in the mirror standing in the corner of the room, then put on a pair of brown sandals with two wide buckles and left the house, getting into her car and driving to Kristine’s place. She was still dazed and annoyed after a short night cut even shorter by her friend calling her with bad news, but at least the road was almost empty and the ride was smooth. That and the fact she had the whole day to spend with her aunt and Sean.

Mandy spent the night slouched over the papers, looking for a lead. Despite fatigue, she was beginning to see a pattern, or maybe it was her tired mind that caused her to think she did. Nevertheless, something was there. ‘Huovi radiation particles’ she read from her notes ‘Compressing the molecules of professor’s body. Keeping them in check’. Of course, it was so obvious. The radiation was present in several elements of the machine and the fact worried her when the device was still in the construction phase, despite the professor assuring her it’s virtually harmless to living organisms. And apparently it was, Mandy thought as she recalled Nicole telling her Sean was still “in one piece”. The process didn’t harm his body, only diminished it drastically. In one piece, one very tiny piece.

She picked up a pencil with one hand and a notepad with the other and started to write, kneeling on the floor. She jotted down what she thought happened that day when Sean seemed to have vanished, then her reflections on Huovi radiation, then sewed a few facts together and finally reached a conclusion. If she could somehow remove the radiation particles from his body, would this cause him to grow back, now that his molecules would be unbound? It wasn’t certain but it was a lead worth following, Mandy thought. But to even approach that question she had to first measure the exact radiation level still residing in and around his shrunken frame. She searched her memory and remembered there were some counters in the lab; at least one of them, she figured, could read Huovi radiation. She stood up, determined, a plan hatching in her head. She would first grab one more coffee for the road, then head to the lab and find the right counter, then head back home and compare her notes one more time. And the next morning she would come by Kristine’s place and do the reading. She was tired, dead tired, and she knew she had to get enough sleep if she wanted to do it right, to get the precise data. Besides, one more day wouldn’t make a difference, she thought; it wasn’t like they couldn’t take care of him a while longer or that he’d be stupid enough to try and run away from them. Or, if he were, that he could even manage to do so. She smiled, cut her musings short and went to boil herself some more coffee.

Nicole rang the bell and was answered by her aunt flashing a cheerful smile at her. She was wearing a purple, short-sleeved buttoned top and a white dress with floral patterns of the same colour, reaching her knees. Her shapely legs and feet were bare and, as per usual, the golden cage was hanging around her neck.

‘Hey, hun’ chirped Kristine ‘Did you sleep well?’

‘Hi, auntie. Hi, Sean’ she greeted them in a resigned tone ‘Not really’

‘Aw, I’m sorry to hear that. Come in, we’ll figure something to help you relax’

She entered, took her sandals off and followed Kristine into the living room. Kristine sat on the sofa and patted her lap with one hand. “Lay your head down” she told her with a smile. Nicole, on her part, was too tired to argue and soon was lying down, her head in Kristine’s lap, her legs stretching beyond the sofa’s edge.

‘Now, tell me about that other thing’

‘What other thing?’ Nicole asked, taken by surprise.

‘I could always tell when you were just tired and when you were tired and stressed. Did something happen? Something back home?’

Nicole sighed and recounted this morning’s phone, letting her frustration out. Kristine listened, stroking her niece’s hair with one hand, looking down at her with care, a gentle smile never leaving her lips, despite Nicole’s tone getting more and more agitated. She was still caressing her hair when Nicole went silent and as she looked up to her aunt’s face, she felt as if she was a little girl again, when Kristine would comfort her after a long day at school or after a fight she had with her mother, her head in auntie’s lap just as it was now.

‘So I guess you’re disappointed?’ Kristine asked after a while.

‘Very. He knew I’m coming and he still bailed. Guess I wasn’t in his agenda after all’

‘Boys will be boys, hun’ she said with a reassuring smile ‘Are you still going on that trip?’

‘I don’t know’ Nicole sighed again ‘I’ll think about it. It’s not like I’d miss anything if I didn’t. Maybe I’ll just ditch it and spend time with you’

‘We’d love to have you around’

‘Yeah. Me too’ Nicole said and smiled for the first time since coming there this morning ‘And how are you guys doing?’

‘Good, we’ve slept the night through, had breakfast not ten minutes before you arrived. We’re relaxing’

‘That’s great’ Nicole said and felt her eyes close slowly, the missing sleep mixed with Kristine’s gently stroking her hair catching up to her. A moment later Nicole fell asleep in her aunt’s lap as the latter smiled at her. And then Kristine had an idea.

From his safe and comfy (as Kristine kept her word and adorned the interior with a cotton ball for better sitting) prison, Sean watched and heard the scene unfolding before him. He saw Nicole drifting off and Kristine cooing at how sweet she looked, having fallen asleep like that. Then he saw the door open and an unpolished fingernail appear. Instinctively, as though he was trained to react in such a way, he stood up and relocated onto the floating platform of Kristine’s nail. He watched her smile at him and felt himself descend, watching as her finger got lower and lower until stopping. Sean climbed down from it carefully seeing, to his surprise and marvel, he now found himself on a soft plain of Nicole’s right cheek.

‘Figured you might want to take a closer look’ Kristine whispered and as Sean looked up he saw a playful smile spreading across her distant face ‘Just try not to wake her up. And steer clear from her nostrils and lips. Just in case’

He didn’t have to be told that last part. From his position he could see the massive slope of Nicole’s nose and the gaping maw of her open, if ever so slightly, mouth. More importantly, he could hear the wind of her breath, even this calm being strong enough to either suck him in or blow him away. The young woman’s face was, just like the rest of her body, an awe-inspiring landscape, one full of wonders and dangers. He wanted to see all of the former and, hopefully, avoid all of the latter. He started by walking in circles around her cheek, feeling guilty about not having taken his shoes off, as if he was treading on something sacred, something holy. Even then he could feel the warmth emanating from within her skin, the air filled with aromas of soap and shampoo she used this morning. He approached her nose from the side, which from his perspective looked almost like a ski jumping hill. He walked along the slope, taking a turn when he saw he was approaching her eyelid, as big and still as a pond. He walked past it and the thin bush of her eyebrow, going uphill and reaching another plain, one that felt harder underfoot than the cheek and which was none other than her forehead. Sean stopped, looking in amazement at the tapestry of Nicole’s face spreading before him and the rest of her body even further down the road. She was so enormous, so incredibly colossal, a living, breathing continent. And yet she looked so peaceful now, so innocent, sleeping with her head softly resting in the lap of an equally humongous being who was watching his every step. There was one more thing he wished to do and he set off to do it immediately. Slowly, carefully, he walked down her forehead, past the space between her brows and stepped up on the bridge of her nose, only getting higher, walking up the dorsum and finally reaching the tip. He looked around, the view being even better from here, Nicole looking almost even more massive and majestic.

He stood there, at the edge of the tip of her nose, admiring his surroundings before making his way back to the giantess’ forehead, where Kristine’s finger was already waiting for him, this time upturned. He climbed aboard her nail, pressing his body close to her fingertip. At first he thought he was going back into the cage but then he noticed his surroundings shifting, Kristine’s body drifting away and himself being lowered once more. Once her finger stopped and Sean clambered down, looking at yet another massive plain which, curiously enough, was slightly rising and falling with each breath Nicole took, he realized he was standing on her abdomen. ‘Don’t you think these clothes are a bit too revealing?’ he heard Kristine whisper and gleefully giggle, as he began his sightseeing. The surface her was flat and even, Nicole clearly hitting the gym on a regular basis, and as warm and welcoming as he could expect. But in his wandering he forgot about the danger a body of a giantess can pose to a man his size and soon Sean found himself losing his balance as his surroundings moved beneath his feet, Nicole stirring in her sleep sending him tumbling down and falling into the chasm of her navel. Before he hit the soft, fleshy ground at the bottom, he heard Kristine gasp.

He stood up, slowly, and looked up, knowing it was a long way to the surface. Suddenly, Kristine’s worried face appeared in the distance. ‘Are you okay?’ she whispered and he lifted his right arm repeatedly to let her know he was unscathed. ‘Oh thank god. Hold on, I’ll get you out of there’ she whispered again and disappeared from his sight for only a moment. When she was back, he saw her hand moving in his direction, her thumb and index finger brought together and as it got closer he noticed something in between them. A rope, long and thick and gold in colour – her single hair. When it fell into the navel he quickly grabbed onto it, wrapping his whole body around as she lifted him back onto the surface, gently setting him down in the open palm of her other hand. ‘I think that’s enough excitement for a while, little one’ she told him as she brought her hand close to her face, but not without a smile, before she stashed him away inside the cage.

Shortly after, Sean saw Nicole waking up and apologizing to her aunt for dozing off, to which she replied she didn’t mind. The young giantess’ massive body passed by his cage as she got up and took a seat on the other end of the sofa. He heard her ask if she had missed anything but before Kristine could answer they heard a ringtone coming from over the bedroom. ‘I’ll go get it’ he heard Kristine say and sat still as she stood up and walked towards the source of the sound. He watched as she picked up the phone and, despite the display flashing him in the eyes as she lifted it past the cage, still managed to notice the word “work” on it. As Kristine answered the phone, Sean leaned back against the cotton ball he was sitting on, smiling as he mused about what happened a moment ago, oblivious to the conversation taking place far above. Until Kristine hanged up and Sean saw the cage being lifted, stopping only when it was in front of her face.

‘They’re calling me in’ she said with an annoyed look. ‘Let’s go tell Nicole’.

Nicole saw her aunt enter the room with a visibly upset look on her face. She stopped by the sofa and told her niece an office she worked with every now and then was hosting a foreign delegation and needed an interpreter right there and then.

‘That sucks. You want me to drive you to the office and wait?’

‘No, you’d get bored waiting there for me. But speaking of, can I borrow your car?’

‘Sure’ Nicole said, taking the keys from her purse and giving them to her. ‘But what about me?’

‘Get some rest, you’ve had a rough night. There’s some dinner in the fridge, just heat it up when you two get hungry’

‘Us two?’

‘Yes’ Kristine said, reaching behind her neck and taking the necklace with the birdcage off, handing it to Nicole ‘It’s going to be dull and noisy, I don’t want to have him rupture his eardrums. Can you take care of him until I’m back?’

‘Uh, um… Of course’ Nicole replied, carefully taking the necklace from her hands.

‘Thanks, hun’ Kristine smiled and leaned down, pecking her niece on the cheek ‘I should be back in two hours tops, or so I hope’ she added, as Nicole walked her to the front door, where she put on a pair of flat shoes. “You kids be nice” she said as a farewell and left with a smile.

Nicole locked the door and brought the hand she was holding the cage in to her eye level, looking at the little man on the other side of the bars. ‘Guess it’s just the two of us now’ she said, closing her palm around Sean as she moved to the living room.

She sat down on the floor with her back to the sofa, her left leg outstretched, her right one bent. She brought the cage closer to her face once more, as always uneasy at seeing Sean imprisoned like this. Even though he was tiny and vulnerable and she agreed with aunt Kristine this was the safest way to carry him around, she felt for him. It must’ve been so disturbing, being locked up several times a day in what was otherwise a piece of jewellery. Nicole could only imagine how humiliated he must’ve felt. She picked the cage up, placed it on top of her right knee and opened it, waiting for Sean to step out and only then hanging the necklace around her neck.

‘I though you might want to catch a break from this thing’ she told him, pointing towards the cage. ‘So I’m not putting you back in there until auntie’s back. But! Promise me you won’t get lost. You promise?’ she asked and smiled upon seeing him nod, repeatedly ‘Okay, that’s great. And I promise to keep an eye on you.

Sitting like this she could see him a bit better, without risking straining her neck by a continuous looking down. He still looked utterly minuscule against her knee, a tiny fleck standing on a rugged hill of her knee. ‘I kinda feel like letting you walk down my leg but I’m worried you might slip and slide all the way down so… Yeah, maybe that’s not the best idea’ she said with a sorry smile. ‘Though I don’t think you’d be hurt if you did, there’s carpet below. Then again, auntie would kill me if I lost you in the carpet again, she was so worried the last time. Oh yeah, again - sorry about that’. She saw him make a few gestures to show it was fine and she smiled at him once more.

She sat still for a minute, her eyes fixed on Sean. As she watched him walk in circles, she could tell he was getting bored. There was only so much he could see in that spot. She offered her hand and waited until Sean walked safely into her palm, then closed it, making sure her grip isn’t even remotely tight and slowly stood up. She then talked towards the lounge chair and sat in it, holding her palm high. She opened it and reached for the magnifier with her free hand, bringing the glass closer to take a closer look. She saw a man in her aunt’s age range, with thick scruff on his face and wearing plain, ordinary and slightly used clothes – not yet tattered but slowly getting there. Makes sense, she thought, he had no time or possibility to shave or change ever since he got so small. Another wave of pity towards him overtook her. If he was a bit bigger, even a few inches tall, they could figure something out to make his life more bearable. He could tell them what he needed and they would provide it, he could tell them how to bring him back to his regular size and they would aid him, but he couldn’t do that and thus the scope of their help was limited.

‘You poor, little thing’ Nicole whispered, looking down on him in the middle of her palm with sympathy. ‘I hope we can bring you back to normal soon. In the meantime, how about we watch something?’ she asked, trying to lift the mood, as she reached into her pocket and brought her phone out. Then she placed Sean on the coffee table as she rearranged the objects on it, bringing the book Kristine left closer and propping the phone against it.  ‘Lucky for you, I have a streaming app installed. Let’s pick something’ she said, her massive finger browsing through the tall, shiny wall spreading before the little man. In the end she settled on a rom-com series she was in the middle of the second season of and leaned back, as they watched. Several minutes into the episode Nicole realized she was spending more time watching Sean than she did watching the screen, glancing at his tiny frame sitting in front of it every few seconds. Then she noticed the phone was sliding forward, having clearly set it against the book without checking if it’s going to be stable standing like this. Thinking quickly, Nicole put her hand over Sean, covering him as the phone collapsed on the table. ‘Phew’ she exhaled, lifting her hand and seeing him unhurt, much to her content. ‘That was close. I have a better idea – climb aboard’ she added, laying her open palm down and waiting for Sean to make it to its middle. She then brought him higher and held the phone with the other hand above him. They finished watching the episode in that manner and, when they were done, Nicole realized just how hungry she was. She put the phone back into her pocket, stood up and carried Sean into the kitchen in her cupped hands.

She set him on the table and checked the fridge. ‘Ugh’ she groaned shortly after, turning towards where he was standing, barely seeing him from the distance. ‘We’re having rice for dinner again. No meat this time’ she told him, as he took a bowl full of rice pilaf out of the fridge. It was more than enough for the two of them. She took a pan out and began to heat the meal up as the smell of curry filled the room, whetting her appetite. As she stirred the rice she wondered how overwhelming the smell must’ve been for the little man stranded on the table. A few minutes later the dinner was ready and she sat down to eat, a pile of rice steaming under her eyes. Then she noticed Sean approaching the plate. ‘What? You want some?’ she asked with a smirk, feeling playful ‘Okay, you can have some if you make it up there’ she added and smirked even more as she saw the little man look up towards her face and spread his arms, clearly annoyed with her antics. Nevertheless, she soon saw him approach the fork, which rested against the plate, and walk up, until he reached the rim. It wasn’t until he lifted a grain of rice, threw it on the table below and jumped down himself, did Nicole start to eat. While she was busy with her food, she took occasional glances at Sean, impressed with how easily it was to feed him at this size, with just one grain of rice constituting a meal to him. Before long they were done, Sean having eaten his fill first, his unfinished meal lying nearby. Even this little could be too much for the tiny man. Nicole stood up and put the plate in the sink, washing it as well as the pan. When she was finished she wiped the dishes, put them in the rack and took a step back. But, because the kitchen was small and the space between the sink and the table narrow, she accidentally hit the table’s leg with her heel, hurting herself. Sean however was even more unlucky, as he was close to the edge at the time, and the sudden shake in his surroundings made him trip and fall to the floor, miraculously surviving hitting the tiles, possibly due to how light he now was.

Nicole looked around the table for Sean, wanting to pick him up, but being unable to find him. ‘Sean? Are you hiding from me now?’ she asked, impatient, as she checked everywhere behind the salt shaker, in the fruit basket, even looking under napkins, but he seemed to vanish. She got worried for a second, before remembering having hit the table with her foot, and immediately turned her attention towards the floor. She noticed Sean soon enough but she also noticed he wasn’t alone down there. A tiny spider, only a bit bigger than he was running across the floor in his direction, as Sean stood there, frozen in fear. She brought her foot down on the insect, squishing it with disgust painted on her face, then crouching down and laying her palm flat against the floor. ‘Another close call. You owe me, little guy’ she told Sean with a smirk as she brought him up and carried him out of the kitchen.

They spent the rest of the day on the sofa, watching the same rom-com on Nicole’s phone, which she held at the eye level so that Sean, whom she put on her left arm, could see the screen too. By the time Kristine came home it was already getting dark and as soon as Nicole heard her park the car she brought the birdcage closer to the spot where Sean was. ‘In you go. Sorry’ she told him and locked the door as soon as he was inside, letting it hang from her neck. Seconds later Kristine entered the room, visibly tired, but still smiling at her niece.

‘How was it?’ Nicole asked, watching her take a seat by her side.

‘Exhausting’ Kristine gasped, turning to her ‘What about you? Have you eaten?’

‘Yeah. And chilled’

‘And… Him…?’ Kristine gasped for words, catching her breath and pointing towards the cage.

‘Oh? Oh, he was very, erm… obedient? I kept him in the cage the whole time’

‘You’re not a very good liar, Nicole’ Kristine said, smiling wide ‘But don’t worry, I know you’ve kept him safe’

‘Thanks for trusting me with him’ Nicole said with a genuine and honest smile.

She went home shortly afterwards, saying goodbye to her aunt and Sean and driving away, as Kristine carried Sean into the bedroom. This night she went to bed early, tired after today’s unexpected ordeal. She took a quick shower, checked on Sean (only to find him sleeping already) and lied down on her side. From the bed she watched his tiny frame resting against the pillow several times his size, having chosen the beige and gold one tonight. He looked so peaceful in the buttery light of the night lamp. She wanted to tell him goodnight but, worried she might wake him up by speaking, chose not to. Instead, she reached out and turned the light off, drifting to sleep soon after.

Mandy rang the bell at Kristine’s door in the early morning. It was still chilly at this hour and she wished she had put on something warmer than a black t-shirt and jean shorts. There was a heavy canvas bag hanging on her shoulder, in which she packed her notes and some tools she had gathered around the lab on her visit before getting here. She waited a few seconds before the door opened and a woman wearing a teal tunic and skin-tight blue pants appeared in it.

‘Mandy’ Kristine said with a surprised smile ‘What can I help you with?’

‘I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, I know it’s early…’

‘Oh, no, not at all. Come in’ she said and let her inside.

‘I think I’ve found a way to help the professor’ Mandy said when the door closed behind her. ‘Can we sit down? Preferably somewhere with a table. I’ve brought some stuff that will be useful to us’

Kristine nodded and led her inside the kitchen. As they both took a seat Mandy began to unload her bag, placing various objects on the table, soon covering it entirely in her stuff. A notebook, a pencil, a calculator, a rectangular, black and yellow coloured electronic device with a display and a tube on a cord sticking out of it, which in itself looked like a receiver that has been taken off a vintage phone. Finally, she pulled out the final object from her bag – a stainless steel box, about a foot in length and four inches in high, with a transparent glass panel on its front and a small display with several round, white buttons on its side. While the inside consisted of smooth walls adorned with thin light tubes and a flat, ceramic circle with a black dot (about half an inch in diameter) in the middle of it, looking almost like a plate. This thing was bigger and heavier than every other object currently lying on the table around it and looked almost out of place compared to the kitchen’s interior.

‘What’s this?’ Kristine asked, pointing towards the strange container ‘It looks almost like a microwave’

‘It… kind of is one’ Mandy said, hesitantly ‘It’s a particle dispenser. We stocked a few in our lab in case something goes wrong with the fuel rods when we are testing the device and we would have to clean ourselves from the… Oh, sorry. I’ve lost you, haven’t I?’

Mandy saw her host looking at her with a courteous smile of someone who didn’t understand a word she just said but was too polite, and embarrassed, to outright admit it. ‘A bit’.

‘Think of it as a… Uh… Air freshener. Yes, an air freshener for radiation’

Kristine’s eyes opened wide. ‘Radiation?’ she asked, giving Mandy a perplexed look.

‘You know what, it’s kind of a long story. I’ll better start at the beginning’

She told Kristine about her discoveries regarding the Huovi radiation particles and their effect on Sean’s current state or, more exactly, his state being the effect of said particles. She recounted her thoughts and analyses, trying not to confuse Kristine with the technobabble… too much. Several minutes have passed before she reached her conclusion.

‘So what you’re saying is that there’s a chance to fix him’ Kristine said and sighed immediately after ‘I’m sorry, that wasn’t the right thing for me to say. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with him that requires fixing’

‘Well, physically, maybe not’ Mandy said carefully ‘Dimensionally, though…’

‘I get your point. So, what’s the plan?’  

‘First of all, we need the professor. Let’s say right here’ Mandy pointed to a spot on the table ‘Where is he, by the way?’

‘Right here’ Kristine smiled and reached for her neck. It was only then that Mandy noticed a small, golden cage hanging on a necklace around it. She watched Kristine open it, hold a finger directly below it and finally Sean’s tiny frame emerging and taking his place on her nail, as she carefully placed the finger on the table allowing him to get down. Mandy couldn’t help but wonder whether Kristine saw him as a pet at his condition.

‘Okay’ she said, bringing a notepad closer and picking the pencil up, as she reached for the black and yellow device and turned it on with her other hand. ‘Don’t worry, this is a counter. I need to measure your radiation level, so please stand still for a moment’ she told Sean and brought the tube closer to where he was standing. The counter began to make cracking, barely audible noises and Mandy took several glances at its display, writing down the readings. ‘Done. Now I’ve got to run some numbers’ she said after a while, now reaching for a calculator. Another while passed as she did, the only sound breaking through the silence in the kitchen being her tapping the keys and the pencil scratching against the paper as she was jotting another string of digits down. She underscored a few, circled a formula, and put the pencil down. Her face was tense and serious as she turned her attention to Kristine. ‘Now it’s time for the most important step. And the most dangerous’.

‘How dangerous?’ Kristine asked, concerned. ‘What exactly are you planning to do?’

‘Remember when I said this thing is kind of like a microwave?’ Mandy asked, nodding in the steel box direction ‘That’s because it is. I’m convinced I can get rid of the Huovi particles by breaking them down with another type of radiation. One that has a half-life so short the human body barely even registers its effects before it’s gone altogether. Like getting rid of a bad smell by spraying it with a nice one that will, eventually, disperse too. But the problem is, we’ve never had a chance to test it, not on us, not on any other person. And I can’t be sure what effect it will have on his body, especially seeing how small it is now. I know the exact number of particles he’s contaminated with and exactly how many I need to use to break them down with, but still -  it’s a risk’.

‘If you want to hear my opinion’ Kristine said, her face seldom being this serious ‘I think that’s insane. And lethal’

Mandy remained silent for a moment, looking her in the eyes. Despite the severity of the rest of her face, she could see fear in them; she was worried about Sean’s well-being and rightly so. For all they knew, this could end very badly. But neither had even a shade of a better idea. Finally, Mandy spoke: ‘I appreciate your concern. But. The radiation in his body won’t disperse, at least not for the next three hundred years and I doubt he could wait that long. It’s either my shot in the dark or condemning him to spend the rest of his life the size of a bug’.

‘We should ask the one it concerns the most’ Kristine said softly, turning her head towards the little speck below them ‘What do you think, little one? Do you want to try?’

They saw him lift his right arm, slowly, as if he was in doubt and they couldn’t blame him. Mandy began to press various buttons on the device’s display, the necessary data for the process. When she was done she pressed one more button and the glass panel slid down, the box being open. She reached out towards Sean, offering her index finger and lifted him on it in the device’s direction, placing him on the black dot. ‘This might take some time, so try to relax. But whatever you do, do not leave the black area’ she instructed him and pulled her hand back, sliding the panel back up with the right button and finally pressing start. The machine began to hum almost immediately, a low, persisting noise and the inside of the box glowed neon blue. ‘I’ll be honest, I’m as worried about him as you are’ Mandy spoke after a while of watching Sean taking a seat inside, within the dot, which was on a circle that was now slowly, but surely, spinning. ‘But I’m sure this will work. It has to’.

She felt a hand on her shoulder – Kristine’s. She smiled at Mandy, a reassuring smile that said whatever happens it’ll be alright and Mandy smiled back, hers more reserved, as she lowered her head.

‘How about some tea while we wait?’ Kristine asked.

She boiled some chamomile tea and they drank it in silence, both women’s gaze focused on the eerie glow emanating from the machine and the tiny person within it. Mandy looked to the side, where the display is, and gestured Kristine to get closer. There were two numbers flashing on the screen, both consisting of several digits. One was getting lower every few seconds. The other, above it, was behaving erratically, spiking up every once a while only to fall below its previous value the next. ‘It appears to be working, and even better than I expected. At this rate he should be free from the Huovi particles in the next half an hour or so’.

‘Well, let’s make sure we take him out before he starts to grow in there’.

Mandy gave her a surprised look. ‘What? Oh, right, I forgot to mention. He won’t grow back the moment the radiation is gone. It might take a while, even if the only thing keeping him at this size will be gone’

‘How long then?’ Kristine asked, a concern appearing on her face once more.

‘Hours? Days? Weeks? It’s one thing I couldn’t estimate and believe me, I tried’ Mandy replied, turning her face back to the neon glow ‘There’s also the risk he won’t be able to-

‘Don’t finish that sentence’ Kristine said in a stern tone. There it is again, Mandy thought, the fear. Nevertheless, she kept quiet.

At one point as they sat and watched they heard a ringtone in the background. Kristine excused herself and left to pick her phone up, leaving Mandy alone in the kitchen, facing the machine. She slowly raised her hand and pressed one finger against the glass, keeping it there for a moment and smiling at Sean to comfort him, knowing the process must’ve been at least a bit stressful to the little man. Kristine returned soon after, letting her know that Nicole sends her regards. When Mandy asked if she knew what they were currently doing, Kristine did not answer, and she didn’t feel like pressing the matter. Eventually, the numbers on the display went down to zero, the glow vanished and the machine stopped. Surprisingly enough, there was no beeping sound to announce the end of the procedure. Mandy opened the box and Kristine wasted no time in picking Sean up and hiding him inside the cage.

‘Whether it works or not, we greatly appreciate what you’ve done for him today’ she said, looking at Mandy with gratitude.

‘Don’t mention it. I should be the one thanking you for keeping him safe’

‘It was my pleasure. Still is’ Kristine said with a kind smile.

Mandy nodded and picked up her canvas bag from the floor, placing it on the chair and packing her things. ‘I better go now, you guys probably want some time alone. Thanks for the tea’ she said and let Kristine walk her to the door. When she was already outside she turned to face her one more time ‘Can I ask you a favour? Could you call me if he gets even a bit bigger?’

‘Not if. When’ Kristine told her, smiling at her once again with kindness and reassurance. ‘And when it happens you’ll be the first person I’ll call, I promise’

Mandy nodded again, mumbled a goodbye and walked off, hoping Kristine would not notice her awkwardness as she did, situations like this always making her uneasy, unsure how to react. She heard the door close and exhaled in relief as she made her way to the nearest bus stop, wanting nothing more than to lie down and leave this whole mess behind.  

It started to rain soon after, a sudden, heavy downpour coming down on the city. So heavy that Sean could hear it from the inside of his cage. Kristine was now sitting in the lounge chair, looking through the window and having some tea, the cup passing his prison by every few moments on the way to her lips. It seemed as if this was going to be yet another lazy, if not sleepy, afternoon. He certainly felt like taking a nap, preferably a long one, still feeling uneasy after the procedure but unable to pinpoint what exactly was wrong. Nothing hurt or ached him, he wasn’t feeling nauseous, only a little dizzy and a bit tired which, he thought, was a rather positive conclusion to spending a long stretch of time being irradiated.

‘Maybe I’ll feel better if I stretch my legs’ he thought and began walking around the cage. But there simply wasn’t enough space in there for taking a stroll, neither long nor short. Stepping from one set of golden bars to the next he could only admire his surroundings. Behind him was a sea of teal, a long curtain of said colour stretching for hundreds of feet up and down – Kristine’s tunic. He could notice the familiar, golden ropes stuck to its surface in a few spots. There was more of them up above, a whole auroral forest of them, one Kristine forbade him from entering for fear of losing him. That and her gentle, caring, colossal face he spent the past few days looking up to, a vast cavern of her mouth she whispered kind words to him with and the twin pools of her eyes that followed his every move. He stepped over to the other edge of the cage, looking out. In the vast expanse of the living room the most distant objects appeared almost blurry, that’s how distant they were to him. He saw the mesa of the coffee table ahead and sharp cliffs of Kristine’s bare feet resting on it. And in between her and the table, a massive, long bridge of her legs. In moments like this Sean would almost forget she was human just like him, being more than willing to compare her to a landscape; a living, breathing landscape he could feel and smell around him, the air thick with the aromas of her perfume and soap and shampoo radiating from her skin.

Was he still human? He certainly felt like one, despite the minor nuisance of his diminished stature. But in the last couple of days he had to endure things a human being normally doesn’t deal with. Such as almost getting stepped on by pairs of feet the size of a battleship. Or trekking through a jungle of a lawn. Or getting lost in the carpet fibres. Or walking down a fallen sequoia of a. Even being locked up in a cage hanging around the neck of a woman who seemed well over a thousand feet tall wasn’t something that usually happened to people. And yet all those things happened to him and Sean couldn’t help but begin to question his own humanity, especially when he compared himself to his caretakers, both unthinkably huge giantesses, both living landmasses that had complete control over his well-being. He wasn’t bitter about his situation, aside from being more than aware that, had he waited for Mandy to assist him, he wouldn’t be in such a state in the first place. But the fact of being so dependent on the women surrounding him due to his condition was beginning to slowly tire him out. Not that he wasn’t grateful; he learned to care for Kristine and Nicole even though at times he felt like the former saw him as an exotic pet and the latter as a source of amusement, like an animated Lego figurine, even if he wasn’t even as big as one. But in turn he could tell they both cared for him, each in her own way.

He walked to the centre of the cage and lied down, hands crossed under his head, as he stared at his prison’s ceiling. Suddenly, he felt his surroundings being lifted and soon a massive blue eye was staring at him from the other side of the bars, one so big he could drown in it or crawl through its pupil. ‘Just checking on you. Rest, little one’ a whisper was heard, Kristine’s soothing voice echoing around as the cage was lowered back. He kept lying on his back and not doing much other than staring ahead and it was then he noticed the cage’s ceiling seemed to be higher than usual. He stood up, head raised, still looking up. It did look different now, higher, wider, more distant. As he looked around, so did his surroundings. The bars were taller, the spaces between them wider. The cotton ball on the side now towered over him. The floor stretched further than it did before, the very interior of the cage seemed bigger. What was going on? He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head and when he opened them again everything was back to normal, the dimensions as he remembered it, as he was used to. Was it the mix of fatigue and dizziness playing tricks on his eyes? An illusion? He couldn’t say for sure but he was getting anxious. Didn’t Mandy mention she couldn’t know what effects the procedure would have on his body? Were they all naive to think that getting rid of one nefarious type of radiation with a different one wouldn’t come with a price?

He shook his head once more. ‘Nothing, it’s nothing, I’m just tired’ he thought as he tried to calm his nerves. He decided to keep on lying on his back, staring at the ceiling and listening to the rain still pouring outside. After all, there was nothing else for him to do here, not until Kristine would let him out and, from what he could see, she wasn’t in a hurry to do that. Doubts started to pour in once more. How could he call himself human if his liberty depended on whether a fifty feet long finger unlocks the door to his prison? Or if his daily rhythm was strictly attuned to the gigantic woman said finger belonged to and her whims? He hid his face in his hands and sighed heavily, trying hard to think of other things. Banal, ordinary, everyday stuff such as food he would eat when he was back to normal or the cleaning up he’d have to do in the lab, anything that would take his mind off these realizations. ‘Maybe I’m just being overly dramatic’ he thought some more as he tried to relax.

Eventually the rain stopped and Nicole dropped by shortly after, carrying two bags of take-out food with her. They ate in silence with Sean, as always, sitting on the edge of Kristine’s plate and chipping away tiny pieces of his morsel. When they were done and washed the dishes they moved into the living room, where Kristine sat Nicole down on the sofa and told her about today’s happenings. The young woman listened intently, nodding every few seconds, as her aunt recounted the procedure including the most minute details in her tale.

‘So… it worked?’ Nicole finally asked, glancing at the cage.

‘I mean, yes. But the effects will only appear with time’

‘And she couldn’t tell you how much time it will be?’

‘It’s not that she couldn’t, she was simply unable to. But that’s okay’ Kristine said and placed two of her fingers on the cage ‘Sean will be my guest until he’s big enough to fend for himself’

It might take a while, Nicole thought. ‘Well you can take care of him until then. How is he feeling, by the way?’

‘He seems tired. Today he’s been lying down a bit more than he usually does. A little under the weather, perhaps? But other than that I think he’s fine’

‘I wish he was already big enough to tell us if something’s wrong’ Nicole said, glancing at the cage again, then smiling. ‘What will you do when he gets too big for that cage?’

‘I guess I’ll find something bigger to carry him in’ Kristine smiled back. ‘But as I said, I don’t know when that would be’

‘You know, I just had an idea’ Nicole said with another smile, this time dreamy, pensive. ‘Remember when I was growing up and you measured me against the wall? And kept track of how tall I was at this or that day and we’d later read the numbers in your little notebook?’

‘How could I forget? You were growing up so fast. Before I knew it you were already taller than me’ Kristine’s face lit up as she recalled the memory. ‘You think I should do the same with him, correct?’

‘Yeah. And when he’s back to normal he’ll have a souvenir’

The two women smiled broadly at each other, the idea already taking roots in their minds. ‘I’ll go find a ruler’ Kristine said and left the room. She was back soon, a transparent, six-inches long plastic ruler in one hand and a little red notebook and a pen in the other. The two knelt by the coffee table as Kristine let the Sean out. Nicole held the ruler with her thumb and forefinger as he approached and stood still with his back against the lines.

‘Exactly six millimetres’ Nicole said as Kristine jotted that information down, as well as the date and time the measurement was taken. ‘Can’t wait to see more numbers in there, each bigger than the one before’ she added, nodding towards the notebook.

‘So do I’ Kristine said, closing it and smiling at her niece. ‘Do you think he’ll grow taller than me too, just like you did?’

To that, Nicole said nothing, only grinning in response as the two giggled. Below, on the coffee table, Sean looked at the ruler rising before him, still held in place by the young giantess’ fingers. Something was wrong, again. He wasn’t six millimetres tall as they just estimated, but five - or so his eyes were telling him at the moment. He took a closer look. Still five. He stood with his back against the cold plastic, put his hand to it above his head and turned. Five. Finally, he took a step back and blinked. Six, now it was six. He shook his head and looked again but it remained at six.  ‘What is going on?’ Sean thought, once again feeling anxious, oblivious to the cheerful tone of the women far above him. He took one more glance at the ruler as the golden cage appeared on the coffee table, still confused as he walked back into his prison and took a seat on its floor.

The women chatted well into the evening as Sean rested, sitting with his back to the cotton ball and being completely uninterested in whatever they were discussing. It was hard to ignore their booming voices, so loud despite the fact they spoke in a usual tone, bouncing around the bars of his cage. But it was all he could do now – sit down and wait until it was over, all the while trying to block the noises bombarding him from every side to the best of his abilities. He couldn’t blame them for getting together and having conversations, but sometimes he wished things were a bit more quiet, the giantesses’ voices starting to strain his ears. He finally got his wish when he heard Nicole saying it was time for her to go and he watched his world go up, as both women stood up from the sofa.

And then the familiar dizziness returned. He blinked, several times, and took a careful look around the cage as he stood up. This time he could see his surroundings change as he watched. The bars were getting longer before his eyes, the spaces between them wider, the ceiling was once again higher than he ever remembered it. This time there was no doubt about it either – he was getting smaller, dwindling, his minuscule body turning infinitesimal, much to his horror. It was over in an instant and a quick estimate revealed everything around him was now three times its size. Which of course meant he was now three times smaller, going down from six millimetres to just two – the size of the head of a pin, standing on a vast surface of the cage’s floor. And then, to make matters worse, Kristine began to move, making him try and keep his balance as each of her steps shook his entire world.

Thoughts began to race through his mind in the brief instances when he wasn’t busy trying not to fall or, worse yet, fall out. First of all being “why”. Why did he just get smaller? How is Kristine going to take care of him? Will she even notice him at this size? Was he going to get even smaller and vanish altogether? Soon these thoughts were replaced by panic, as Sean noticed the ground tilting, sending him sliding down. He couldn’t tell why was it happening. Maybe Kristine leaned down, maybe the girls hugged when they were at the door, whatever the case he was now in peril. He tried grabbing onto something, but the smooth floor he was sliding through offered nothing to hold on to. And he did not manage to grab onto bars either, simply slipping through between them. He screamed as he fell down towards Nicole’s leg, from which he bounced off, falling further down. When he finally landed on a soft, grey surface, at first he couldn’t tell where he was, the shock of the situation disorienting him. He was surrounded by tall walls made out of some leathery material. The plain he was on stretched far ahead, into the darkness. When he looked at the ground, he noticed a circle, as big as a helicopter landing pad. It was worn-out, barely visible even from his perspective, but he could still read out a number ten within it. ‘I’m in Nicole’s shoe’ he thought with horror.

Suddenly he felt a movement above him. Looking up he saw her humongous toes slowly descend right upon him. He sprang into action and started to ran forward, as fast as he could, as Nicole’s foot slowly nested itself inside the shoe. He miraculously made it to the indentations at the very end of the shoe that her toes made with the usage, each of them as big as a crater. Her foot reached him soon enough, a monstrously huge object funnelling its way in, threatening to crush him. Fortunately, being this small he had some space to stand between her digits and the tip of the shoe, although he knew if he stayed down there he risked falling under one of those mammoth-sized things. The giantess remained still for a moment, probably still talking some more with Kristine and Sean used that to try and get higher. He approached her big toe, now well over fifty feet hight. At his current size he could see pores in her skin and ridges running across her toe’s surface, which he figured he could use to climb. He grabbed onto a pore firmly with one hand, beginning his journey upwards in a great hurry. Fortune seemed to favour him, at least in that aspect, as before long he was pulling himself up on the top of Nicole’s big toe, panting, breathing heavily. This was no time to celebrate however, as Sean knew he had to get to a more stable ground, or at least somewhere he won’t fall off so easily. Thus he was on the move again, walking through the milky-white lake of her toenail. He could see the imperfections on its surface, layers of concentrated polish here and there looking like waves frozen in time. A short while afterwards he made it to her big toe proper, taking a seat on a vast mound of skin and flesh overlooking the white lake. The air here was thick and musky with her smell – and hot. He found himself wiping sweat from his brow as he was being coated with the heat radiating from her body. Soon he could feel her entire foot rise, then fall, and him with it as he was rocked up and down with each of her steps.

He held on to the skin of her big toe, especially so when Nicole was already in her car driving home, his ground tilted once more. He was well-aware of the lethality of the place he was in. Falling down from his current spot meant death. She would pulverize him under the weight of her entire, colossal body pressing down on him, without feeling it, without realizing what she’s done, without even finding his body. The despair and ridiculousness of his situation almost brought tears to his eyes. There he was, a brilliant inventor who was the very first victim of his own folly, whose biggest concern now was avoiding falling under the foot of a girl half his age. He went from a man setting out to change the world to a virtually unnoticeable speck lost against the landscape of a part of a humongous body. As he sat down there, overlooking the lake of Nicole’s toenail in the darkness, he wondered why he hasn’t given up earlier. He could’ve let Mandy or Kristine crush him underfoot, or stay in that lawn until something found and devoured him. Why did he still insist on carrying on?  

‘Because I’m human’ he whispered in the dark. No matter how small he’d become, he could adapt and survive. No matter how mind-bogglingly colossal people would become to him, he could learn how to live with them. And he would never again think himself lesser than them, because he knew that, in the end, he was one of them. He was feeling more and more determined, knowing exactly what he would do: he would find a way out of Nicole’s shoe and means of contacting her. He would return to Kristine. And then, eventually, he would get back to his normal size, even by his own sheer will if need be. He interrupted his musings to look once more towards Nicole’s toenail and he noticed something curious. It was slowly, but surely, getting smaller before his eyes and Sean smiled knowing what it meant. In a matter of seconds he was back to his usual quarter of an inch height, sighing in relief. It wasn’t much, but it was better than his previous size. And it was a start – maybe a beginning of growing back? And finally, it was a size Nicole would expect to see him at, further increasing the chances of being noticed.

The journey finally stopped, Nicole having made it to her place. Unfortunately, despite Sean’s attempts to hold on to her toe, he fell off when she was sliding her foot out of the shoe. He found himself alone in the musky darkness, planning his next move. But it seemed luck was on his side again, as he soon noticed a long, grey object with a white tip at its end in the centre of this unusual chamber – a shoelace. Eagerly, he ran to it and began to climb it, making it to the surface in no time. As he stood on the top of her shoe, amidst the long, wide ropes of the rest of her shoelaces, he looked around the massive space unfolding before him. He had never been in this place but he immediately recognized it for what it was – Nicole’s bedroom. He felt grateful to her for carrying him this far, saving him the trouble of trying to reach her by trekking through the rest of her house. He was surprised to see it was deserted, however, with no sight of the young giantess. Wherever she has gone to, Sean thought, she’ll get back in here eventually. He looked over to a massive bed in the corner of the room and decided this was a good place to get her attention. But first, he had to get there.

He climbed down the shoelaces until he reached the tip of the shoe, from which he made it to the floor. Fortunately for him Nicole didn’t seem to be too big on carpets. Before him spread a vast plain of bare, wooden floor. It seemed as if he was in for a long, but otherwise unobstructed, walk. And so he began to move his feet in the direction of the bed, its massive frame looming on the horizon, moving fast enough to get there in a matter of minutes but not too fast to avoid exhausting himself on the way. To his right was the door, a long sheet of white rising for miles into the air, and even though it remained closed for the moment Sean knew it could open at any time – which, eventually, it did. He hardly made it to middle of the floor when the door suddenly swung open and Nicole entered, her enormous feet shaking the ground beneath him and, worst of all, walking right in his direction. He had no time to run, no time to dodge or otherwise avoid the impact and he screamed as he fell on his back, his arms outstretched forward in a desperate, instinctive defence, as her wide sole filled his vision and the titanic mass of flesh collapsed right upon him.

And then he noticed, to his great surprise, that he was still alive. Being this small and lying on his back, he could easily fit beneath the arch of her foot, where he found himself at that moment, miraculously surviving. If he was standing a bit to one side or the other he’d now be a wet stain on either her sole or heel. But there he was instead, still breathing and pretty much unscathed, if not counting his heart beating so hard it almost seemed adamant to jump out of his chest. He quickly got up and looked for any sign of further danger, but noticed the giantess was now on her bed, lying on her stomach and browsing her phone, her feet high in the air. He was safe, for now, but he still had to reach her and that meant another climb up. But he knew he could do it, he could stick to the plan and make it out alive and well. As yet another wave of determination surged through his body, he noticed his surroundings shift in size once more. And once more for the smaller. He smiled as he slowly grew on the floor and when he was finished he quickly estimated himself to be at least a centimetre tall now. With the feeling that things were looking up for once, he continued to run towards Nicole’s bed.

Standing at the tall, towering leg of Nicole’s bed, Sean was thinking of the next step of getting her attention. Only inches separated him from the young giantess now, but first he had to get up there. Not to mention, even an inch still meant something distance-wise to the little man. Climbing seemed to be the most obvious option but upon inspecting the surface of the leg, Sean noticed it was smooth, too smooth to grab onto anything. He looked around to find another way and noticed an electric outlet in the distance, in the wall the bed was standing by. A cable was plugged in, a thick white cord leading from the floor all the way up to the nightstand and a little lamp standing on it. That’s the right idea, Sean thought. He could use it to climb up there and there was a chance Nicole would notice him under the light. The only problem was making a short distance under her bed. He could see the dust cobbled beneath it from where he was standing, thick layers of grime with rock-sized crumbs of some unspecified food mixed here and there; apparently Nicole wasn’t big on cleaning up either, at least under her bed. But Sean knew he could do it – it was but a short walk, albeit through an unpleasant environment. But he survived worse things thus far.

Before he could make the first step, he felt another growth spurt coming. His surroundings, while still massive, were becoming a bit smaller in his eyes. When it stopped, he realized he was twice as tall as he was a moment ago, which boosted him to around an inch in height. He smiled, feeling ecstatic over his gradual, but certain, growth and he felt almost tempted to stay on the floor and wait until he’s big enough to be heard, or better yet – noticed, down there. But then he realized that even a bit bigger, he was still in danger. Nicole could get out of the bed at any moment and he could find himself in her way again. He was still smaller than her toes, not to mention the rest of her massive foot, and all his newfound size could afford him was ending up as a slightly bigger stain on her sole. No, as long as he was on the floor, he could not consider himself safe. He ran under the bed and kept going, his shoes and trousers immediately getting covered in dust. It took him less than a minute to reach the outlet and pull himself up on the cord, holding onto it with both arms and legs as he slowly crawled upwards. The climb took a moment, but eventually he made it to the top.

From the centre of the nightstand he could see Nicole’s massive frame stretching far ahead, her distant face illuminated by the light coming from the phone, which she held in both hands in front of it. Sean started to wave his arms and cry out towards her almost immediately, hoping a sudden movement in the corners of her vision (as well as a sudden, if quiet, voice) would attract her attention. He seemed to have succeeded, as he quickly noticed a look of confusion spread across the giantess’ face. Nicole moved her eyes to the side, as if she realized she heard something, or someone, and Sean repeated the previous action. Now she lowered the phone and looked ahead, her gaze focused on where he was standing. Her eyes opened wider, her brow rose a fraction of an inch, her lips parted as confusion was replaced with surprise. ‘Sean…?’ she whispered and he waved his arms at her some more to confirm it was indeed him. ‘How did you…? Why are…? Ugh, come here’. She switched her position to sitting with her legs crossed and reached out to him, placing her open hand on the nightstand. Sean eagerly ran into it, stopping at the middle, as she brought him closer to her massive, youthful face unspoiled by even a single wrinkle. Two enormous, deep blue eyes were staring down at him, still processing the situation as a gentle, warm gust of her breath blew down on him. Even if he was a bit bigger now, she was still immense compared to him.

‘Nicole, can you hear me?’ he cried out to her.

‘I… can, actually’ she said, surprised once more, then smiled. ‘So that’s what your voice sounds like, huh? A bit high, but I guess it has something to do with your size. Speaking of, didn’t you use to be… smaller?’

‘It’s a long story’ Sean said and shrugged. ‘I guess I owe you some explanations’

‘I guess you do. Let’s start with… how did you get here in the first place?’

He told her everything, all the details of his perilous adventure, from the moment he was feeling wobbly while still in the cage to his escapade across the floor of her bedroom. She listened to him keenly, nodding every few seconds, never interrupting him. Her face remained calm, albeit he could notice a certain concern in it when he was going through the time he spent inside her shoe. The only detail he omitted was the moment she almost crushed him, not wanting to give her any more reasons to be worried.

‘You could’ve died down there’ she spoke when he was finished with a hint of sadness in her voice. ‘And I wouldn’t even know it. I couldn’t even feel you, you know?’

‘It wasn’t your fault, or anyone else’s for the matter. Just some bad luck’

‘Yeah, but still… I don’t think I could forgive myself if something did happen to you because of me’

‘Fortunately, you won’t have to. Because nothing is going to happen to me, except the good things’

‘What good things?’

‘Watch’

He smiled as her mouth opened in surprise of seeing him grow before her eyes. Not much, all things considered, but enough to see the difference. He now stood at full two inches in height in the middle of her palm, almost as long as her fingers were tall.

‘Wow’ Nicole whispered after a while ‘You’re actually growing back. This is so cool’

‘It is’ Sean said, still smiling, then remembering something both forgot about for a moment. Or, more specifically, someone. ‘We should let Kristine know. Can you call her?’

‘What? Oh, right! Of course!’ she gasped and picked up the phone, picking Kristine’s number with one hand. The latter answered almost immediately. ‘Hey, auntie, guess what? There’s a little man here asking for you’ she told her and grinned.

As Nicole was telling Kristine of how Sean happened to catch a ride to her place (not going into the more unsafe details of his journey), she let him wander around her bed. She watched him closely as her aunt’s concerned voice buzzed in her ear. ‘Okay, I’ll get him to you soon’ Sean heard her say and hang up. ‘Auntie’s worried about you. She thought you were in that cage of yours this whole time. You have no idea how surprised she was’

‘I think I can imagine from her tone. Or what I heard it sounded like just now’

‘Right. Anyway, she asked me to bring you back. She’ll feel calmer and you’ll be safer with her. I’d let you stay but I’m worried my mum could find you and I don’t know what she’d do to you. Nothing pleasant, I’m sure’

‘I guess it will be better for us all if you do’

‘I wonder what she’ll keep you in now that you’ve outgrown the cage’ Nicole grinned once more.

‘Hopefully not in an even bigger one’ he said, shuddering at the thought.

‘I knew you hated it in there. Alright, let’s hit the road’

She got up and walked over to her shoes, putting it on. Then she grabbed the keys, hid them in the pocket and picked Sean up, carrying him outside. Once in the car she gently placed him inside the empty cup holder and smiled at him as she started the engine.

When she finally made it to Kristine’s place she didn’t even have time to ring the bell. Her aunt appeared in the door as soon as she stopped the car.

‘Where is he?’ Kristine asked, deeply concerned, until Nicole held up her open palm, revealing Sean. ‘Oh thank god. Come on in’. She led her inside and into the living room, where the two took a seat on the sofa and Nicole let Sean walk from her palm into that of Kristine. ‘He’s gotten bigger, much bigger’ she noted, watching the little man in her palm.

‘It gets better than that’ Nicole said with a smile ‘Sean, tell auntie something nice’

‘It’s nice to see you again’ he said, much to Kristine’s surprise and Nicole’s amusement.

‘Hear that? You two can talk now’ Nicole said and stood up ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I really need some sleep so I’m going home. You guys have fun’

‘I’ll walk you to the door’ Kristine said, placing Sean on the sofa and standing up herself, and the two left the room.

‘Let me know how big he is in the morning’ Nicole said when she was already outside.

‘I will’ Kristine replied and locked the door. Then, with a wide smile spreading across her face, she walked back to the living room.

No matter how many times he had seen her, he could never get quite used to the sight. She emerged from around the corner, a massive, tall frame of teal and blue, her tender, but still enormous, bare feet carrying her softly through the floor, her wavy hair so golden and so high they could’ve been rays of the sun for all he knew. She was so big and powerful yet so swift and light at the same time. So worth admiring. And when he noticed her smile, knowing it was reserved for him, he couldn’t help but smile himself. He watched her take a seat, being careful as she did to not inconvenience the little man below, and when she was finally seated she offered her long palm for him to get in. He walked right into the centre of the familiar floating island and sure enough was soon lifted into the sky. Her gentle, beautiful and immense face filled his vision once more. Her smile almost made him melt. He sat down, soon feeling himself embraced by the familiar warmth of her skin. And for a brief, blissful moment, they sat there in silence, each looking and smiling at the other one, happy to be reunited.

‘Now that we can actually talk’ Kristine finally spoke ‘we can discuss so many things, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Such as?’ Sean perked up, curious.

‘Such as one question I have’ she said and Sean noticed her face change. The brows getting lower. The smile disappearing behind her closed lips. The expression becoming tense, serious. ‘Did you actually believe you could run away from me?’

It was as if all kindness, all positive feelings she harboured for him had dissipated in a matter of seconds. From the warm cradle of her palm, he looked towards a face so stern and still it almost looked like it belonged to a statue and only the sound of her even breath indicated she wasn’t one. Her eyes, always so kind and welcoming like the sky on a sunny day, now looked distant and cold. Sean shivered under her look. He was still so much smaller than her, so much weaker and so utterly powerless against her. She could end him there and then and he could do nothing to prevent it from happening. Just one of her fingers was taller, bigger… stronger than his entire body. He was the size of a mouse and he felt like one, a prey staring at its predator in an uncomfortable, awkward silence that would normally end with the latter moving in to kill or the former running away. But there was nowhere to run away to anymore, there never was. And if he somehow made his way down from the floating island of Kristine’s hand, if he somehow evaded her grasp and get down on the floor, what then? He couldn’t outrun her, nor hide from her. Even several times bigger than previously he was still at her mercy, though it seemed even that had run out for him. They sat in that silence for a moment, her face stiff, unchanging, staring him down until Sean found enough courage to speak:

‘I wasn’t trying to run away’

No answer to that, not a shift in the tapestry of her face looming before him. And not a doubt she didn’t believe him.

‘Why would I?’ he asked, slowly getting nervous with her silence. ‘Going outside at that size was a death sentence. Hell, I almost suffocated in your niece’s shoe! You think I’d expose myself to something like that willingly?’

Her face remained still and silent. He felt what he hadn’t felt in years: being scolded. Judged. He was twelve again. He broke one of his mother’s favourite plates and she was looking down on him until he admitted to it. He was back in school, having just stuck a chewing gum under his desk. His math teacher saw him and was now standing by, staring him down until he caved in, apologized and suffered the consequences. It was always the silence that was the most unbearable of it all. Not the scolding, not the threats, not even the momentary, burning sensations of a slipper slamming against his buttocks. He could deal with those. But that crushing silence unnerved him then and it did so now.

‘What do you want me to say? I was safe with you. I haven’t been safer since you’ve noticed me and took me in, why would I throw that away? I’d have perished without your help. You think I’m ungrateful? Because I’m not, in fact, I am very grateful to you for everything you and Nicole did for me’

He was on the verge of shouting at that point. Blood rushed to his face, his cheeks were burning as his tone was getting more and more agitated, all the while she insisted on saying nothing. And then something stirred; a quick movement in the corner of her lips, so quick he could hardly say he noticed it at all. He stood up. Even if he was small, even if he was now literally in the palm of her hand, he decided he will endure this denigration standing.

‘You know, that’s actually kind of rude. I was this close to losing my life and now you’re accusing me of-‘

She threw her head back and filled the silence in the room with a burst of sudden, sincere laughter. A wide smile returned to her face, warmth returned to her eyes. To Sean, it was almost like looking at a different person, this unexpected change confusing him greatly. He was even more surprised to see how steady she held the hand he was in, even if the rest of her enormous body was convulsing. Her laughter eventually went down to just a giggle and then her face settled on an amused look.

‘I’m sorry’ Kristine said, wiping a single tear from the corner of her eye ‘I know you didn’t try to run away. I was just messing with you’

‘That’s so mean!’

‘I know. And I’m sorry. But you know what? It was kinda worth it’

‘How so?’

‘I finally saw you get mad. And you look cute when you get mad’ she said and grinned, making him feel embarrassed and silly at his previous outburst. ‘Aw. And now you’re blushing’ she added, her grin becoming so wide it looked like it could slice her face in half.

‘N-no, I’m not’ he stuttered out and turned her back to her trying to hide it, his cheeks burning even hotter. Suddenly, one of her enormous fingers appeared before him. She placed a fingertip on his arm and, with no effort whatsoever, turned his entire body to the previous position, making him face her again. He noticed her mood to have shifted once more, the amused grin having been replaced by a kind and understanding smile, one she so often bestowed upon him when he was the most vulnerable.

‘I’m glad to have you back’ she said in her sweet, caring voice. ‘And I’m glad to see you safe and growing back to normal. Are you mad at me?’

‘Not anymore’ Sean replied, the tension finally letting go of his body as he was rewarded another smile from Kristine.

‘I’m glad to hear that too’ she said and brought her finger closer once again, carefully setting it against his hair and ruffling it a bit, being as gentle as she could. ‘Funny, I wanted to do this for a while. But back then you were so small I could’ve twisted your neck if I tried’

‘Ouch'

‘Oh, sorry!’ she gasped and took the finger away. ‘Am I too rough?’

‘What? No, I meant that “twisted your neck” bit. That would’ve hurt’

‘Well then’ she said as her finger found its way back on top of Sean’s head ‘I guess you won’t mind if I continue?’

‘Be my guest’

She smiled and continued to play with his hair a bit longer. Then she slid her finger down, caressing his back in slow motions up and down, there and back again. He knelt to make it easier for her and more comfortable to him as she was lazily petting him this way, visibly giddy with her experience. Not so long ago he could fit entirely on the tip of her finger. Now she could actually touch him, actually feel him. It was clear she was enjoying him at this size. Suddenly, her fingers grabbed him at the waist, not hard enough to hurt him but enough to immobilize him as she lifted him into the air.

‘He-hey! Put me down!’ he cried out as he felt his feet leave the ground. She brought him closer to her eyes, inspecting him from each angle with a certain amount of curiosity, as if she was a little girl and he was her new toy. Or at least a new porcelain figurine, the size of which he was now.

‘You know, I feel kinda bad about that little prank I pulled on you’ she finally spoke, still holding him between her fingers, close to her face. ‘Can I make it up to you?’

‘If by making it up you mean putting me down…’

‘Oh no, nothing boring like that. I’ve had a much better idea in mind’

‘I’d really appreciate it if you could put me down…’

‘I can’t believe you would reject my apology’ she said, turning her head to the side and teasingly smiling. ‘Tell you what. You let me make it up to you and I will put you down afterwards. Deal?’

He sighed. He just wanted whatever she had in mind to be over quickly. ‘Deal’ he said. And then he noticed he was getting closer to her face. Much closer. Suspiciously closer. ‘Hey, wait, what are you do-‘

She pressed him against her lips, the size of which resulted in Sean receiving a full body kiss. Whatever protests he may have had, they were muffled and lost against the overwhelming softness of her flesh. He tried to resist, to push her away with this tiny arms, much to her amusement. She kept him there for a few seconds, finally letting go and immediately giggling at the result. ‘Oh my, look what I’ve done’ she said, seeing his shirt and, most importantly, his face now stained with a deep shade of pink – the colour of her lipstick. ‘We better get you cleaned up, little guy’ she added and put him back into her palm, standing up.

She carried him into the bathroom and placed him on top of the sink, as she plugged it and poured some water in, mixing hot with cold until she deemed its temperature suitable for the little man. Then she added some liquid soap in, turning the sink into a luxurious, pool-sized bubble bath.

‘You can wash yourself and I can wash your clothes. Of course, you’ll have to give them to me first’ she told Sean and smiled at his awkwardness to undress in front of her. ‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ve seen you take a bath before. There’s nothing to be ashamed of’

‘I was smaller then’ he cried out to her.

‘Doesn’t count’ she grinned and laid her open palm nearby ‘Put your clothes in here’

He undressed, leaving only his underwear on and sitting at the edge of the basin, as he carefully entered the water. Soon he was swimming in it, scrubbing Kristine’s lipstick from his face and his neck, all the while she was washing his clothes. When she was done, she put them on the side of the sink to dry up and left. She came back soon, holding her gown, now wearing nothing but white lingerie. Sean stopped in his tracks, floating on the water, as he watched her alluring, enormous body tower over him, having seen her like this for the first time ever.

‘I think I’ll take a shower myself’ she told him with a smug smile. ‘Try not to peek too much’

She hanged the gown on a cloth hanger by the shower and entered the cabin, the glass door blurring the most interesting details on her body, much to Sean’s chagrin. She undressed inside and washed herself as Sean watched from afar, his imagination running wild, envying the drops that were now running through the length of Kristine’s body instead of him. He was almost surprised at his thoughts, never thinking of her in this manner before. Was it because of how colossal she used to be in his eyes? How tight her control over him was, when he’d spend hours at a time locked away in a cage? Or did it occur to him only now, her kiss working miracles on his perceiving of her? He didn’t know, he didn’t care, and he decided to reflect on that later. For now, he was too busy admiring her.

And so the evening came to an end and they were back in Kristine’s bedroom. The last task for the day was to find a sleeping place for Sean. She wanted to place him on the nightstand, as per usual, where the miniature pillows could finally serve as pillows proper thanks to his new size. But he had a better idea and he let her know it, pointing to yet another pillow – the one on the bed, next to Kristine’s. She asked if he was sure about it. He was. She asked if he wasn’t worried she’ll shift in her sleep and hurt him. He wasn’t. She asked if he was absolutely certain and he said that yes, yes, he was definitely, irrevocably certain and it would be great if she could finally put him down, please. And she responded to that by smiling, gently setting him on the pillow and lying down herself. For a moment they did nothing but stare at each other with affection, each face hosting a relaxed smile.

‘I know what you’re thinking’ Kristine said after a while. ‘You’re thinking why haven’t I brought you with me into the shower’

‘You know, I actually did wonder about it. Why?’ he asked, resting his chin on his hand and looking at her with curiosity.

She hesitated. ‘I don’t want to bruise your ego with my answer’

‘You couldn’t bruise it any worse than the last couple of days did’ he told her with a smile, which she returned. ‘Because I’m too small?’

‘Yes’ she said after another brief moment of hesitation ‘I mean, for now. I was worried I’d drop you or that the stream would be too much for you or…’

‘I get it. You still feel responsible for my safety’

‘I still am’

‘What?’

‘Responsible for that’

Another smile exchanged, another rush of affection from one set of eyes to the other. Her hand, so big, so gentle and so close again – a finger against his fragile frame.

‘When you’re big enough, I’ll let you in on all the secrets my body holds’ she whispered, caressing his chest with her fingertip.

‘What if it doesn’t happen anytime soon? What if you’ll have to wait?’

‘Then I’ll wait’.

A shrug, a smile. A resolution. He stood up and approached her face. She allowed him. He knelt by her lips and laid a kiss upon them. And another. He kissed her for a long time, resting his hands against the pleasant, plush softness he was cherishing at the moment, until she gently, but firmly, reminded him that there’s always tomorrow for that. He walked back to his spot on the neighbouring pillow, as she turned off the light and they wished each other a good night. And Sean drifted off soon after, listening to her breath, knowing well that each day he would grow more and that each surge would bring him closer to Kristine.