Rachel Kelly followed the nurse through the hallways to a private section of the hospital, her fixed on the ground before her. She would've liked to wake up just now, but she knew this was no dream. It had been several hours since she'd received the phone call from the hospital, letting her know that her boyfriend, Sam, had asked for her. She would be taking him home - but she was afraid she wouldn't recognize him anymore.

For the last two months, ever since the accident, she had believed that Sam was in a coma, and she had been told she couldn't visit him. But, earlier today, she had found out the truth. Having recently graduated from college, Sam had been on an internship, training to become a chemical engineer. He and Rachel had been a couple for just over eight months and, despite the occasional arguments young couples usually have, their relationship had been strong, and Rachel had wondered if she was ready to take the next step and if Sam would propose to her soon. But then the accident had happened, and their relationship had been thrown into chaos. Sam, along with several other junior engineers, had been doing some routine inspection work at an experimental facility devoted to chemical research, whose scientific findings were kept under tight wraps. Rachel hadn't been told the details, but an apparent accident had caused several large chemical storage tanks to rupture, exposing Sam and the other men to a combination of experimental, newly synthesized chemicals, whose properties and effects on the human body were still largely unknown.

Far from sending him into a coma, the chemicals had had an entirely different effect on Sam and the others who were there - although only a very few knew the details. When she was telephoned earlier, Rachel had found herself sworn to secrecy. Apparently, each victim of the accident had been allowed to tell the truth to only one person outside the hospital where the patients were being kept. Sam had chosen her. She wasn't surprised, since he was an only child, and he hadn't been in close touch with his parents since they'd begun. He had several good friends, but none whom he trusted more than he trusted her.

Still, she half-wished he hadn't chosen her. When she found out the truth from the doctor at the other end of the line, her initial disbelief had given way to a feeling of horror. Right now, it took all her strength to follow along behind the nurse, leading her through the eerily empty hospital. They finally arrived at a small room at the end of the hallway, and the nurse asked Rachel to follow her inside.

"He's still feeling the effects of this morning's sedatives, so he should be drifting in and out of consciousness for another couple of hours," the nurse explained. "We wanted him to remain calm today, since he'd almost had a breakdown yesterday, after being told he'd be released. You must understand, he hasn't seen anyone besides his two doctors, myself and two other nurses for the last eight weeks. Nor has he been outside this room since he was brought here, the day of the accident."

"I understand," Rachel said, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of what she might see behind the door. "I'm...I'm ready."

She followed the nurse into the room, closing the door behind her as instructed. Then she looked around for the bed, but there was no bed. Instead, the room contained only table, on which was piled all sorts of serious-looking medical equipment. In the centre of the table, she saw a small container filled with fabric, and, lying on top of the fabric, was Sam. Rachel stopped breathing for a moment and tried to keep herself calm. Her worst fears had been confirmed - she'd been told the truth. The chemicals, whatever they were, had caused Sam to shrink from his usual height of 5'10" down to a little over three inches.

She walked slowly closer, covering her mouth to conceal her shock. There was Sam, wearing a blue hospital gown and seemingly fast asleep. But he was now small enough to fit in the palm of her hand. She found it nearly impossible to believe that this was the man she loved, whom she wanted to marry someday.

"Is...is he okay? I mean, is he in pain?" she asked, her voice quivering.

"No, no pain at all," the nurse replied. "Neither Sam nor the other three men had been harmed. The only effect has been...well, you can see for yourself."

"But there must be something you can do!" she cried out. "Have you just been keeping him here for two months? Please tell me there's something..."

She began hyperventilating, but the nurse laid a steady hand on her arm.

"There, it's all right," the nurse said, her voice becoming softer and more soothing. "Why don't you take a seat over here? Just try to stay calm, and I'll explain."

She led the panicking Rachel to a chair by the side of the table.

"Of course we haven't just left him here by himself," the nurse explained. "We've tried dozens of tests and potential remedies, almost every day, but you must understand, we're dealing with a completely new effect on the human body here. We can't just throw everything we've got at him and hope something works. We'll continue searching for a cure, don't worry. That's why we've decided to let him go for now, so we can continue working on a potential cure, without having to keep him locked up in here. The doctors have gathered enough information and taken enough samples to work with, but if we kept him here, who knows what the effect on his emotional state would be? It's better if he spends the time from now on in the company of someone close to him, someone who can support him and look after him. If we need him back, we'll give you a call, that's all."

"Oh God, this is all so strange...it feels like a nightmare!" Rachel said, still in a very shocked state. "What am I supposed to do with him, once I've taken him home? What do I say to him? I don't know if we can even still be together..."

She began to cry softly, while the nurse looked on sympathetically. There was still the matter of Sam to be attended to, however, so she quietly guided Rachel from the chair to Sam's bedside.

"You'll need to take him now, I'm afraid," the nurse said. "I have to get going and attend to the other patients here. There aren't any personal effects of his to take home, since the chemicals that caused this to happen came into contact with everything he had on him, so it had to be disposed of to prevent further contamination from happening. As for his car, I believe that's still being kept at the chemical research facility, so you'll have to contact them if you want to get it back."

Rachel nodded silently, but made no move to pick up Sam. The nurse prodded her again:

"If you'd rather not take him back with you, I understand. We'll just arrange to..."

"No...no, I can do it. I'll take him home with me. If he feels he needs me right now, I'll be there for him. I still love him, of course I do! I'll just need to get used to...to...promise me you'll try and find a cure soon?"

The nurse simply nodded, then stepped forward and, using her gloved hand, gently scooped up the sleeping figure of Sam. She carried him over to a desk and placed him inside a small plastic container, no larger than her hand. It was filled with what looked like some kind of fabric, so Rachel could only assume that it was meant to be his bed from now on. The nurse handed her the box and gave her a lid to close it with. The lid was transparent and had several little holes in it to allow fresh air to enter. Rachel stared down in disbelief at her three-inch-tall boyfriend. Despite his change in size, Sam still looked perfectly healthy and in good shape. She also couldn't see any signs of injury, just as the nurse had said. Suddenly, she was overcome with the desire to take him home at once, before he woke up from his sedated sleep.

"I want him to see me first," she thought to herself. "I want him to know I still love him and care for him. God knows what he must've been feeling these last few weeks...but that's all over now. He's back with me, where he belongs."

She thanked the nurse for her help and said goodbye, then hurriedly walked back through the hallways and lobby, back to her car, keeping the box hidden under her coat. Her whole life had suddenly been overturned, but for some reason, she didn't feel completely afraid anymore. Perhaps it was the sight of him as she held him in her hands, so small and vulnerable, that made her desire to be with him stronger than any other emotion. She knew she had to find a way to keep their relationship intact, whatever it took. She loved him too much to abandon him now.    

I awoke slowly and unevenly from my sleep, just like I had on so many other days these past two months. Above me was the familiar lid of the familiar box, the box I’d been carried around in by doctors and nurses, as though I were a rodent in a laboratory. I hated it whenever I was put in the box, but there was no way for me to break free: I was trapped until someone came to release me. I wondered who it would be this time, but as I stared up through the transparent lid, something seemed different. The ceiling far above me was unfamiliar, and the light outside was much less harsh than the usual hospital lighting. Then I remembered the events of yesterday and I figured it out.

Rachel must’ve come for me. I felt glad I was asleep when she first saw me. Her reaction would’ve been too hard for me to watch. Did she scream, cry, faint, throw up…or simply turn around and leave the room in shock or disgust? Not that last one, obviously, since here I was – if indeed this was her home. I stood up and began pounding on the lid of the box, calling her name as loudly as I could.

A pair of giant thumbs appeared on either end of the box and I felt it being lifted up and carried, which would have freaked me out completely if I hadn’t been so used to it by now. I heard a sound of someone sitting down on a couch, magnified many times by my hearing, which was now much more sensitive. Then the lid of the box was unclasped and lifted away. I sat down and tilted my head up, and when I saw her I gasped loudly.

Yes, it was Rachel, my beautiful girlfriend – or at least her gigantic face looking down on me. I hadn’t seen her since the day before the accident, but she still looked the same. Her big green eyes stared down at me, brimming with anxiety, and her delicate red lips seemed frozen, as if she’d started saying a word but couldn’t finish it. I could see she’d been crying a lot, even though her eyes were dry now. Her long auburn hair fell down around the sides of her face, forming a curtain that blocked my view of the outside world. I could only look up at her in stupefaction.

“Sam…” she whispered. “Oh Sam, you…you’re awake.”

She seemed at a loss for words, just as I was. Her voice was now many times louder to my ears than it had always been, but I had grown used to this as well during my two-month stay at the hospital and it didn’t upset me as much as it had during my first couple of weeks at this size.

“Hi Rachel!” I said to her, remembering to speak loudly so that she could hear me. “I’m guessing you took me home to your place, right?”

“Yes…I mean, where else would I take you?” she said, smiling faintly. “Sam…are you all right? I wasn’t sure, ‘cause you were supposed to wake up hours ago. Maybe you were just tired, but it’s been eighteen hours since I brought you here.”

“Do I look all right to you?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I suppose so. I mean, apart from the…you know.”

“The fact that I’m three inches tall? Is that what you were going to say, Rachel?”

“Sam…Sam, what are we going to do? I don’t know…” She covered her eyes with her hand and began to sob quietly.

I had no idea what we were going to do, and I began to regret my decision to let Rachel take me home with her. While I was still at the hospital, she could at least have gone on with her life in some way, oblivious to my condition. Now that she knew the truth, her life had been turned upside-down. I knew we could never go back to what our relationship had been like, not while I was stuck like this. She had already waited two months for me to return to her life, and now that I was back in it, it had just made things worse for her. I felt angry with myself for my decision.

“Rachel…you need to take me back to the hospital,” I said firmly, hoping she could hear me. “Listen, I’ve made a mistake, telling you the truth. I don’t want you to keep me here in this box, feeding me and taking care of me like I’m some kind of pet. Take me back and forget about me!”

She looked down at me with shock.

“Sam…you don’t mean that, do you? I’ve waited two months for you! Every day I thought they’d call me and tell me you were gone, but I couldn’t stop thinking about you! You can’t just tell me to forget about you, Sam…I love you!”

“I love you too, baby, but…God, just look at me! I’m three inches tall, for God’s sake! I’m standing in a box you’re holding in your fucking hand and I can’t even kiss you or hug you or touch you, ‘cause you’re the size of a fucking building to me!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…here, I’ll take you out, just hold on!”

She dipped her hand into the box and before I could take cover, five enormous fingers were encircling me. I felt so threatened, so afraid of being crushed by her fingers, that I screamed and lashed out with both arms. She quickly withdrew her hand and looked down at me with a confused expression.

“Sam, I didn’t want to hurt you! I just wanted to touch you, like you asked me to!”

“Well, I don’t want you to, and I’m sorry I asked!” I yelled up at her. She was so huge and overwhelming to me, but when I saw her cower as I screamed at her, it actually made me feel better. I felt rather guilty: I knew she’d done nothing to deserve my anger, but I could think of no other way to make myself feel superior to her.

“Take me back right now, Rachel!” I kept on shouting at her. “I know you don’t want me like this, so take me back to that place and go back to your life. At least you can still do that, while I…”

I sat down again and looked down at my legs, hoping she’d listen to me, but not really caring if she didn’t. I wished I could go back to sleep, just so I didn’t have to deal with any of this right now.

“Are you out of your mind?” she said, becoming angry herself. “Sam, I only just got you back in my life! You’ve been awake for not even fifteen minutes! I can’t believe you’re behaving like this! Look, I know this is hard for you, but you didn’t even give me a chance! You didn’t give us a chance! Don’t you think you deserve that? Don’t you even care about me, about our relationship, anymore?”

I stayed silent, watching her face grow larger as she lifted the box higher.

“I love you, Sam!” she cried out. “How can you even think that I…? God, if I felt I couldn’t still love you when you’re this little, I would’ve left you at the fucking hospital! You can’t seriously be telling me that you’d rather stay there and be treated like some kind of lab rat, instead of staying here with the woman who loves you! I only wanted us to talk things through, and figure out how we were going to make this work, but you don’t even want to do that…”

The sobs came again, louder and harder than before. I was shaken off my feet as she slammed the box down on the table in front of her. Then she got up and left, and for a fleeting moment I saw her colossal figure tower above me and it felt like I was looking up at a moving building. The doctors and nurses back at the hospital had been equally gigantic, but they were all strangers to me, while this was the woman I was in love with…if I still was in love with her.

I heard a door slam shut in the distance. I knew it was the door to her bedroom, and that it was in fact only a few short yards away, but this once-familiar place, this little house of hers, now felt like a vast and frightening cavern. Vast and frightening…that was how Rachel herself appeared to me now. I couldn’t even begin to think how a relationship with her could still be possible now. Every woman expected certain things from her partner, none of which I felt I could provide when I was no larger than one of her fingers. It had been lonely and friendless for me in that hospital room, but I preferred it over being kept by my girlfriend because she felt sorry for me, and being dependent on her for every little thing.

I was reminded of that dependency when I began to feel hungry and thirsty. Rachel was still in her bedroom, though I could no longer hear her crying. My box was placed on top of the coffee table in the sitting area of the combined living room and kitchen. A monstrous sofa loomed in front of me, while a vast television screen stood 200 feet behind me. In the far distance behind the sofa, I could see the little dining table in the kitchen section, and the counters and cupboards behind it, all of them completely unreachable to me now. Even if I could make my safely down to the floor forty feet below me, I’d never be able to climb high enough to reach something to eat, nor was I strong enough to open a tap and get water. I could only sit helplessly in my stupid little box and wait for her to come back – there was no way in hell I was going to call out for her, like a baby crying for its mother.

Many hours later, when the afternoon was almost over, she came back for me. I’d climbed out of my box, partly to walk around  and stretch my legs, partly because I had to take a leak. This I did by standing on the edge of the table: I figured I was now so small, she’d never notice the miniature puddle I made on the carpet below. I felt rather ashamed behaving like this, but I was hardly in the best mood at that moment, and with each hour that passed I just grew more and more miserable. I ran back to my box when I heard her approach and only just managed to climb back in when she appeared above me again.

She gave me just a brief glance before picking up my box and heading on to the kitchen, and she didn’t speak a word to me. I felt even more ashamed than before and wondered whether or not I should apologize to her. In the end I decided it would be best to do so. There was no need for any further outbursts from either of us, I thought. When she put my box down on the kitchen counter, I was ready to apologize, but she didn’t stay for another talk. She merely gathered up a few bits of food – bread, cheese and a small piece of an apple – and dropped them into my box, along with a little plastic jar lid containing some water. My fears had come true: she was already treating me like a pet on my first day back with her.

“Rachel, I…” I began, but she interrupted me immediately.

“I don’t want to talk right now, Sam,” she said. “I’m tired and I’m upset, and I honestly can’t deal with any more of your childish behaviour today, so I’m going to bed early.”

“What? Childish behaviour? Listen, Rachel, I didn’t ask for any of this, okay? I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier, but you’ve got to understand…”

“No Sam, I’m done! We can talk again tomorrow, okay? Just go to sleep, and then we’ll decide what to do with you tomorrow. Good night, Sam.”

“Rachel, come on! You’re being unreasonable! Rachel, don’t leave me in this fucking box! Come on!...”

It was no use. She walked away with tremendous speed, leaving me alone in the huge, empty, silent living room. It was getting dark now and I began to grow afraid. I felt completely cut off from the world, trapped in this little plastic box and at the mercy of the first creature – insect, spider, whatever – that happened to come my way. I ate my food and drank the water she’d given me, but I had no desire to go to sleep: I’d done more than enough of that these past few weeks. Soon it was properly dark, and completely quiet except for the wind blowing in the leaves outside and the hum of the distant refrigerator. The only light came from a little battery charger plugged into the wall behind the kettle, containing a couple of batteries. I got out of my box and walked over to it, avoiding looking up at the massive appliances and cupboards that rose above me, and which all seemed to mock me and my littleness.

Did I even count as a human being anymore, I wondered? Did Rachel still see me as one? Of course she’d say she did, were I to ask her, but how could I be sure? I had no idea if she still truly loved me, or if she would stay faithful to me until I was cured. What if I could never be cured? She’d just throw me away in the trash, like I was one of the kitchen appliances that surrounded me, no difference at all. I walked up to the edge of the counter and looked down. The floor was sixty feet below me and I knew I’d die if I jumped. Did I want to jump?

I didn’t. Even though my life had completely gone to shit, I had no desire to kill myself. That would only lead to Rachel finding my body in the morning, causing her yet more grief and misery. I stood on the edge and looked down for what must’ve been hours, but in the end I decided I had to do something else: I had to leave. Walking over to the battery charger, I found a small pencil and some loose scraps of paper lying in a tray beneath it. Rachel must sometimes use these to write notes, shopping lists, things like that. I tried to pick up the two-inch-long stub of a pencil. It was like lifting a moderately-sized log, but it wasn’t too heavy for me to write with. The dim light was just enough for me to see by and, with some effort on my part, I wrote her a little note.

“Dear Rachel. I’ve decided to leave you and make my own way out there. I’ve no idea what’ll happen to me, but this was my choice, so please don’t come after me. Find someone else you can love and be with and forget about me. Sam.”

I had to struggle to keep myself from crying, something I’d also done more than enough of the last few weeks. But only a week ago, I’d prepared myself for the possibility of never seeing her or anyone else I cared for ever again, so this feeling wasn’t new to me. After writing the note, I walked all the way to the edge of the counter nearest the front door. I found what I was looking for: an electric cable leading down from the microwave to a socket near the floor. The cable was about five inches in diameter from my perspective, so I could grab hold of it and lower myself down. Despite my small size, I was still in pretty good shape and I ‘d kept up exercising at the hospital during the first few weeks I was there, when I still had faith that a cure was near at hand. I climbed down almost fifty feet until I reached the plug, from where I still had another fifteen feet to reach the floor. Taking a deep breath, I jumped down and landed on the cold, hard tiled floor.

I took a moment to catch my breath and rub my aching feet, but I was soon on the move again. Down here on the floor, it was very cold and the slight draft that blew from underneath the front door made it worse. I was also barefoot and wearing nothing but a flimsy makeshift hospital gown. I began to run in the direction of the door, which was around the kitchen corner and at the end of a short hallway. It was almost completely dark, but my fear of the shadows was temporarily forgotten in the urgency of the moment. Besides, I could see light coming from underneath the door and I knew that once I was outside there’d be street lights and other light sources by which I could see.

The front door was an immense wooden cliff, 150 or more feet high. I got down on my belly, wincing at the cold of the tiled floor as it hit me across my chest. One part of the door’s bottom was a little worn and a small crack had formed, barely large enough for me to crawl through. But crawl through it I did, tearing a section of my gown and giving me a few painful scratches on my back and legs in the process. I had made it outside the house on my own, and it felt like a tremendous accomplishment. The little brick path that led from her front door across the yard and to the sidewalk now lay before me. I began to walk forward, glad I could see my way by the light of the streetlamps that shone through the leaves of the trees ahead. The sky was overcast and a strong wind was beginning to blow. I began to run faster, hoping to warm up with the exercise. The bricks beneath my feet were rough and uneven and I tripped more than a few times, but I kept going.

Suddenly, the whole sky lit up with a flash and a massive boom sounded from above. I had been so preoccupied with escaping, I hadn’t noticed that a storm had been building up and was about to break. A sudden gust of wind carried me off my feet and flung me forward. I landed on my back near the front gate, which made me cry out in pain and most likely left some nasty bruises all over my body. For the first time, I began to regret my decision to leave. But I couldn’t turn back. Not just because doing so would be all but confirming that I couldn’t survive on my own without Rachel’s help, but also because of the wind. Maybe it wasn’t that strong of a breeze to a normal-sized person, but it felt like a hurricane to me and it was impossible for me to walk against it. I was forced back and pushed underneath the little gate and onto the sidewalk. Here the wind was a little calmer, but it didn’t help me much, since just as I managed to get back on my feet again, the rain began to fall.

At first only a few scattered drops, each the size of my fist, fell around me, only hitting me occasionally. But another burst of lightning and peal of thunder came, and suddenly the storm had arrived. The rain came down like an entire ocean upon me and I ran for the nearest cover. Unfortunately, there were very few safe places for me now. The street was almost deserted this time of night, with only an occasional monstrous car zooming by, which always sent a wall of water in my direction that threw me back and down onto the hard ground surface. Eventually I found it impossible to keep moving, and I fell down in despair as the gusts of rain and the water flowing across the sidewalk carried me along, like a leaf in a river.

“Oh God, I’m going to die,” I thought, while struggling to keep breathing. “I’m not gonna make it. Oh Rachel, I’m so sorry!”

I began to cry, both from the pain and because of my terrible choice. Living in a tiny box like a pet rodent was far from a great life, but I preferred it over drowning on a sidewalk. My only hope of survival lay in the fact that storms such as this one usually didn’t last long – but whether or not I could stay alive until it was over…

By the luckiest chance I was blown against a twig which lay in my path. Just a little twig that had fallen from a tree…but it was almost a tree in its own right compared to me, and I grabbed on with all the strength I had left. The raindrops slammed down on my exposed body, each impact almost feeling like that of a brick dropped on me, but I didn’t let go. I could feel that the twig was itself being blown along, and a few minutes later it was pushed into the groove at the edge of the road, where the greater volume of flowing water pushed it along at what felt like lightning speed to me.

I realized too late in how horrific a situation I now was. Of course, all the water along the side of the road was flowing towards a storm drain. The little twig that was my salvation was also being swept along towards it and if I kept holding on, I’d disappear down the drain, possibly drowning in the process. If I let go of the twig, I’d fall into the raging waters beneath me and probably drown before I reached the drain. It really made no difference what I did, but I kept holding on, unable to let go after spending this much effort trying to stay alive. The drain was only a few yards away now, a gaping, bottomless black hole where no-one would ever find me if I were to fall down, a fate that was getting closer by the second.

I closed my eyes and waited for the end, too worn out to think, spending what little strength I had left in clutching onto the twig. When I was just seconds away from certain death, I was granted a brief respite. The twig bumped into a pebble that was lying in the gutter and got caught on it, and for a few moments I had a glimmer of hope. But looking around me made me lose that hope just as quickly. There was no way I’d be able to swim to safety, the flowing stream of water was too fast and too powerful. If the rain let up before the twig broke loose, I just might live. If not, then it was all over.

While looking around for an escape route, a bright light flashed across me, then again, and then repeatedly. I’d heard stories of dying people who said they’d seen a bright light just before being resuscitated, but this looked different. It was more like the beam of a lighthouse than a heavenly glow, and it was coming closer as well. Then I heard a voice above the din of the rain, a voice calling my name. When the voice came close enough for me to hear who it was, I let out a scream of joy.

“Rachel, help!” I shouted, my lungs almost bursting with the effort. “I’m here! Help me!”

Her voice kept on calling my name, so she couldn’t have heard me. No wonder: I could barely hear her and she was twenty times my height. But her voice and the light of her flashlight beam were coming closer. She must have seen which way the wind and rain were moving, so she was looking for me in that direction. How did she know where I’d gone? I had no idea, but that question could wait until later. Right now, I had to both stay alive until she reached me and get her attention somehow.

Soon I could see a dark figure approaching me, behind the bright hovering light. She was so tall that I couldn’t see her face clearly, but I knew it was her. She gave another cry of “Sam!”, which sounded like it came from directly above me. I tried to wave my arms to get her to notice me, but I was terrified of falling and drowning in the torrent below. Another small twig bumped against mine and for a second I thought it would knock me loose from the pebble, but it just kept getting swept along. It did move my twig and the pebble another inch or two closer to the drain, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

I could see a pair of black boots now towering over me. She was standing right next to me, but she didn’t know I was there. I kept on screaming as loudly as I could, but she couldn’t possibly hear me. However, she did check the area thoroughly, and when she shone her flashlight on me for a few seconds, I knew she had to have seen me. She crouched down for a closer look, the bright light almost blinding me. The rain suddenly stopped, but I could still hear it falling against something far above my head. She must be carrying an umbrella, I thought. It was a much-needed relief for me, since my strength was almost completely sapped. When I couldn’t hold on a second longer, I let go and fell into the cold water below me. But less than a second later, just as I was about to disappear forever into the storm drain, I was scooped out and lifted high into the air. She had rescued me and was safely carrying me in her hand. But I had reached the end of my tether and, no longer afraid for my life, I let the cold and the exhaustion overcome me and drifted off into unconsciousness.

When I came round again, I was somewhere warm and dry. The noise of the rain had stopped. I was lying on a soft fabric surface and I was covered by heavy blanket of the same fabric. Also, to my shock, I was completely naked. I opened my eyes and looked around me, and found I was back on the coffee table inside Rachel’s living room. She had placed me on a cloth napkin and had covered me with another one. I grabbed my makeshift blanket and wrapped myself up in it. She must have taken my clothing away, I thought. Did she look at me while I was naked? I felt rather violated at the thought. She’d seen me without my clothes many times before – naturally, since we were in an intimate relationship – but now I was only a few inches in size, and she could have done anything she wanted to me while I was unconscious. This thought so upset me that for a moment I forgot that I owed her my life.

I heard a sniffing sound behind me and turned around. Rachel was sitting on the floor next to the table, her head and torso looming large over me. I stared up at her, her immense size still an awesome thing to behold. She’d been crying again, even more than before: her eyes were red and her cheeks were flushed. I had no idea what to say to her, no clue what to do next.

“Sam…how could you?” she whispered, and her voice sounded strained. I immediately looked down, unable to meet her eyes.

“How could you do something like that?” she continued. “Do you know how long I looked for you? Sam, you could’ve died!”

“Rachel, look…I left you a note…I wanted to leave…”

“Why?” she burst out, and her voice rose to a terrifying level. “Sam, why would you ever, ever do something so incredibly stupid? I love you! I still love you, despite what’s happened! Did you think I was so…so goddamn selfish that I’d dump you at the first chance, because I no longer wanted you? I mean, God…is your ego so fragile that you can’t handle the thought of being smaller and weaker than your girlfriend? Is that it? Do you think that my feelings for you, after knowing you and loving you for months, would suddenly change overnight, just because of this stupid accident? I stood by you, Sam, even when I thought you were in a coma, even when I began to think you’d never come back to me, I kept on hoping…but you haven’t even been back ten minutes, before giving up on us!”

She was crying properly again by this point, while I kept on staring at my own legs, feeling smaller and more worthless than a grain of dust.

“Sam, I have no fucking idea if we can still have a relationship! None at all! But I still love you, more than ever, and more than anything else I want you back! If things don’t work out, if after everything we can’t be together anymore, then that’s the way it is…but you didn’t even want to give us a chance! Do you even love me anymore, sweetie, even a little bit? Or do I look like some…like some hideous monster now, to you? Please, please just tell me how you really feel!”

She dropped her head into her arms and broke down again, and this time I was crying too. I couldn’t imagine how horrible she must be feeling, and I knew all of it was my fault. I had never been as close to any other as I’d been with Rachel. I had loved every second I spent with her, when we were still together, when I could still do all the things any man loved doing with the one he loved. Of course I still loved her, as much as I’d always done, but how could we still carry on if I was stuck like this? I had no idea where things would go from here, but I knew what I had to do first.

I stood up and walked over to her, leaving the napkin behind. Her forearms were resting on the table, and her head above them, her face buried behind her arms. She was so massive compared to me and I felt genuinely afraid of her. Her whole body was shaking as she cried, which cause the table to shake beneath me. I walked up to her right hand. Her fingers were nearly as long as I was. I sat down and took the tip of her little finger in my hands and kissed it. Though I used all of my strength, I couldn’t even move one little finger of hers, but I kissed it over and over and hugged myself against it. Feeling a little bit braver, I wiped away my tears and climbed up her hand and onto her arm. I used the fabric of her coat to pull myself up, until I was sitting right next to her ear. I stroked it, just to let her know where I was, and her sobs grew a little quieter. Now I felt was the right moment to talk.

“Rachel, I still love you too,” I said into her ear. “I love you and I want to spend every second I have with you. You look as beautiful as ever to me, darling, even more beautiful than ever…but you’re so big compared to me now and…oh God, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I treated you like that, I should never have done that! And I’m sorry for trying to leave, that was the most idiotic thing I’ve ever done! If you hadn’t found me when you did, if you hadn’t saved me…Rachel, I could never, ever repay you for that. You saved my life! If I could make it all up to you right now, I would…but how could I ever be with you again, when I’m like this? I can’t be close to you, I can’t make love to you, I can’t do anything anymore with you. I’d just be a burden to you, and every day you looked at me, you’d regret still being with me. I don’t want you to go through that, baby…I can’t live with that knowledge, that I can never again make you as happy as I did when I was still…normal.”

She turned her head to look at me, which caused me to lose my balance and tumble down her arm. I grabbed hold just in time and lowered myself onto the table. Standing before her, I felt incredibly self-conscious and tried to cover my nakedness with my hands. She looked at me with a mix of sorrow and understanding.

“You’re wrong,” she said. “You’re not just some cheap fling to me, Sam. I’ve known you for almost a year now, I know the man you really are! You were always so warm and considerate and funny and full of life, and you know you helped me through some dark times in my own life recently. You think I can just go out and find someone to replace you, just like that? Someone who’d make me feel like you did, who would be there for me whenever I needed him, just like you were?”

I didn’t know how to answer that, so I just stood still, awkwardly holding my hands in front of my exposed private parts. She moved her open right hand behind me, forming a wall as high as I was, preventing me from leaving.

“Sam…I really want to hold you again,” she whispered. “I want to hold you in my hand and…and I want to kiss you. I know how strange and upsetting this must feel to you, but I just want us to become close again, and I don’t want you to keep on staring at me like that, looking so scared of me. I will never hurt you, I swear…and if I do, please know that I didn’t mean it. If you’re ever uncomfortable, just tell me, and I’ll back off, I promise.”

She sounded so honest and emotional that I couldn’t protest. I just nodded silently and she understood. She pressed the palm of her hand against my back and folded her four fingers around my body. I was now completely enveloped in her hand, with only my head poking out above her fingers. Her skin felt warm and sensual, a wonderful feeling after all that time in the chilly rain and wind. She then lifted me up and brought me all the way to her lips. Her strength was phenomenal, even though I knew she was barely using any of it to carry me or hold me tightly. That dreaded feeling of helplessness returned: I was now thousands of times weaker than her and she could effortlessly crush me between these fingers. But she’d sworn never to hurt me, and I believed her. I also knew I wanted to be close to her again, even intimate with her.

I took a deep breath as her moist lips pressed down on top of my head, just before my whole face was covered by them. It was an unearthly feeling, but strangely arousing at the same time. I wriggled around in her grasp until I could free my arms, then reached up and stuck them in-between her lips, caressing them as hard as I could. It felt like being smothered by a warm, fleshy waterbed and, after the awful night I’d just been through, it felt invigorating. My head and arms were covered by the moistness of her mouth, but for me it was anything but a bad experience. This immense being, this goddess on Earth, was kissing me, because she loved me, and I forgot about all my problems and my fears. I never wanted that kiss to end.

When she lifted me up to her eyes, I breathed in deeply again and, for the first time since I got back, looked straight back and met her gaze. The tears were all gone now, but her eyes still looked like they could start flowing with them again at any moment. I rested my arms on the knuckle of her index finger and stroked her fingernail. Every part of her body was colossal in comparison to me, but I was no longer afraid of that. I suddenly found myself anxious to be even closer to Rachel, to explore this wonderful new environment of my lover’s gorgeous body.

“How was it for you, sweetie?” she asked. “Please tell me it wasn’t too bad!”

“No! No, not at all! Rachel…oh honey, that was incredible!”

“I didn’t hurt you, did I? I tried to be as careful as I could!”

“No, you didn’t hurt me, not even a little bit! You were so soft and gentle…I loved it, Rachel, every second of it! I had almost completely forgotten what that feeling felt like, to be close to someone you love…”

“Really? You liked it? Oh, thank God!” She let out a massive sigh of relief and we both did something I hadn’t done in what felt like forever: we laughed.

“I want to give us another chance too,” I said, as she carried on laughing in relief. “If you can forgive me for the horrible way I behaved earlier…yesterday…I have no idea how long ago it was…just that I’m so, so very sorry for being such a complete and utter monster to you, and for doubting you.”

“I’m sorry too,” she said, sounding suddenly serious. “I have no idea what it must feel like, to be shrunk like this, not knowing if you’ll stay like this forever or not. But I’m here for you now, Sam, and I’m not leaving you, I can promise you that. We’ll make this work, somehow…I don’t know how yet, but we’ll figure it out, together. Don’t worry, I forgive you. I don’t want to dwell on that anymore, okay? It’s over now, and you’re back with me, where you belong, safe and sound.”

She gave me another, shorter kiss on the head, then pressed me gently against her chest. My whole body was squeezed into the fabric of her coat, but it didn’t hurt. It just felt incredibly comforting. My desire for her came again and I wanted her to hold me even closer, against her bare breast itself, but this was plenty good enough for now. Each time she breathed in I was pressed a little tighter, as though with every breath she embraced me once again.

But after my exhausting ordeal in the outside world, and all the anguish we’ve both been through, Rachel and I both felt the need to get some sleep first and foremost. She stood up and held me about a foot in front of her face, so that she could talk to me.

“I didn’t get any sleep last night either,” she told me. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you…I was so scared you might do something…something terrible to yourself…but that’s all over now. Come on, let’s get some sleep, okay? Luckily it’s Sunday today, so I don’t have anything else I need to worry about.”

“Sunday? Then you came by the hospital…”

“…on Friday. I got the call Friday morning and I left early from work. You only woke up yesterday morning, though.”

“So I basically ruined your whole weekend. I’m sorry, Rachel, I really am.”

“No, don’t be! I’m glad you decided to call me and I’m so happy to have you back in my life! I told you to forget about everything that’s just happened. There’ll be other weekends, don’t worry!”

She began carrying me in the direction of her bedroom.

“Rachel…please don’t put me back in that box!” I cried out suddenly. “I’m so sick and tired of that goddamned box, I don’t think I can stand being cooped up in there another second!”

She gave me another brief kiss and squeezed me just a teeny little bit tighter in her hand.

“Don’t worry, it’s gone. I threw it in the trash after I rescued you. Your hospital clothes too; besides, they were so soaked and dirty, I didn’t think you’d want to wear them again.”

“I felt like some kind of animal, whenever they put me in that thing. Like I was just some creature for them to study, not even human.”

“Did they treat you badly, the doctors over there? That nurse I spoke with when I came to pick you up seemed really friendly…”

“No, they didn’t – but they weren’t much for talking to either, and I could tell they only acted friendly because it was their job. They really did want to help me and find a cure, but like I said, I felt like I was just something for them to study.”

We were now in her bedroom, and she sat down on her bed and put me down on the little bedside table. She took off her coat and I saw she was still wearing her nightclothes underneath.

“Rachel…I promise I won’t mention the events of last night again…but, how did you know where I was? How did you find me out there?”

“I didn’t know where you were, but I found your note, so I thought you’d probably crept underneath the front door. But it was already raining, and I was so scared something horrible had happened to you, so I just ran all over the yard, along the fence, everywhere I thought you could be. When I got to the street without finding any trace of you, I saw how much water there was, and which way the wind was blowing, so I just went and looked in that direction. I was so afraid for you, Sam, I had a horrible feeling that you were dead, or that I’d never find you again! But there you were, hanging on for dear life, only five yards from the gate!”

“Five yards? God, it felt like I was carried for miles by the water!”

“Sam, I really don’t want to talk about it anymore, okay? I found you and I brought you back, and you’re here now, and that’s all that matters. Please, darling, I feel so tired. Let’s both get some rest, then we can start when we’re both feeling like ourselves again.”

“Start? Start with what?”

“Start fixing our relationship, and getting the life that we had together back! I mean, you haven’t got any clothes, for a start. I’ll need to find some things for you to wear, and a place for you to sleep…speaking of which, where would you like to sleep now?”

I looked around to see what else there was on top of this table. A tree-sized bedside lamp rose above me, and behind me were an alarm clock, a little makeup case, an empty coffee mug, a paperback novel and several other items, all of them larger in size than I was, but none of them able to serve me as a bed. So I just looked up helplessly at my gigantic girlfriend. She stood up and cleared away some of the items on the table. Then she took her coat, folded it up as small as she could and put it down beside me.

“I promise this’ll only be for the time being,” she said. “But you can sleep on top of my coat for now. I can put one of the sleeves over you, like a blanket. As soon as I can, I’ll find you something better, or I’ll think of some other plan…”

“Thanks, Rachel. I know you’ll do your best, and I’ll do my best too to make this relationship work again. Thanks for not giving up on me, you don’t know how much that means to me.”

“Don’t mention it!” she said. “I’m just happy you and I are together again, and even if things aren’t what they used to be, we’ll find some way to make it all work. Good night, Sam.”

She knelt down beside the table and lowered her lips to my level. I pressed my head and chest against them, revelling in the warm feeling. I was then lifted up by her hand and placed in my makeshift bed, and before she even turned out the lights I was asleep again.

After my first peaceful sleep in what felt like ages, I awoke while it was still dark. I could hear Rachel’s soft breathing in the distance. Sitting up and rubbing my eyes, I looked over in her direction. In the dim light that came in through the gap in the curtains, I saw her huge sleeping form. She looked so peaceful, as if she hadn’t just been through one of the most distressing couple of days of her life. I suddenly felt an urge to be close to her again, something I didn’t think I’d ever feel again. I got up and clambered down the mound formed by her coat, then walked across the table towards her.

The gap between the edge of the table and her bed was about fifteen feet to me, with the bed being about seven feet lower as well. On any normal day, I’d have no problem jumping such a distance, but, after my recent ordeal, I felt very apprehensive. If I missed the jump and fell to the floor below, there’d be very little chance of survival, and Rachel’s heartache would begin anew, worse than before. And she’d be awake soon in any case…but not soon enough for me. I walked back some way from the edge, took a deep breath, then ran and jumped.

My knees landed on the very edge of the bed and I gripped the sheet immediately and pulled myself forward. I had made it, unharmed. I got up and climbed up her gigantic pillow, amazed at how little it gave way beneath my insignificant weight. I was right in front of her face now, and being this close to her made my heart beat intensely. I could feel her body heat radiating from her skin, which was good news for me, considering how cold the early morning was. She was resting on her left side, and I got down on my hands and knees and crept up to her chin. Reaching out, I placed both my hands on her. She didn’t even stir as I ran my arms across the soft contours of her lips, but her warm breath blew across me, which felt very pleasant on my nude body. Feeling a little more adventurous, I climbed onto the bridge of her nose and reached her right eye. Placing a hand on her closed eyelid, I could clearly feel her eye moving back-and-forth underneath it. Was she dreaming about me, or was she having a nightmare? No, she seemed much too calm for that. I ran my hand through her long eyelashes, counting them off as each hair slipped between my fingers. Every little detail of her was now magnified to me, and much clearer to my senses. She was everything to me now.

“You don’t know how much I love you, baby,” I whispered to her. “You’re so much more amazing than I ever knew, and if I ever get back to my right size again, I’ll make it all up to you, I swear.”

A sudden itch caused her to twitch her nose, which made me lose my balance and fall off. I landed on the pillow below and rolled towards her, and the tiny bump of my body against her cheek seemed to be enough to wake her up. She yawned suddenly and I scrambled up the pillow away from her, or else I’d have fallen inside her open mouth. I was safely out of harm’s way when a colossal arm reached across me and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. She saw me at once and had a fleeting moment of shock at seeing a tiny naked man on the edge of her pillow. Then she realized who I was and smiled.

“Hi, Sam” she whispered. “You’re awake early. How did you get over here?”

“I…well, I jumped,” I admitted. “I just wanted to be close to you again and I couldn’t wait until you were awake, so I…Rachel, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you!”

“Really? Hey, I’ve missed you too, you know! I was even dreaming about you, just now…”

“You were? I knew it!”

She looked surprised at my statement, so I explained to her how I’d explored her face while she was sleeping. When she looked even more taken aback, I suddenly felt guilty, as if I’d invaded her personal space in some way.

“That’s all I did, I swear!” I hastily added. “I won’t do it again, honest! Like I said, I just wanted to be close to you again.”

She didn’t reply. Instead, she slid her hand in underneath me and I fell backwards and into her palm. Then her four fingers curled around me, tenderly squeezing me in a loving embrace. She lifted me up like I was nothing and held me close to her lips.

“Really? That’s all you did? Hmm, that’s a shame. I hope you’ll be more curious in the future, my little lover. There’s a lot more of me to explore, as I’m sure you know.”

Her words came as a great relief to me, and I relaxed completely as she treated me to a long, passionate kiss. To be overpowered by such a vast feminine presence was still a bizarre feeling to me, but I found myself loving it. Did she really want me to visit the more intimate parts of her body while she was asleep? The thought made me grow nervous with anticipation.

“Rachel, honey, I would love to do that with you,” I said, in-between her kisses. “But not when you’re asleep. If you turn just a little in your sleep, you could crush me and not even know it. Besides, if you’re awake, we can both enjoy the experience, don’t you think?”

“Yes, you’re right. Sam, I’m so happy you’re now willing to give us a chance. I was so terrified when I first saw you like this, but now, holding you like this in my hand…I can feel you moving around, your arms and legs…and your heart beating…it’s really incredible, in a way. I just want to hold you and keep you close, all the time.”

I honestly had no arguments against her. She was right: we could absolutely make this relationship of ours work. She clearly still loved me just as much as always, if not more, proving how wrong I had been not to trust her and believe in her. She unravelled her fingers slightly and held me against her chest, and I bathed in the heat coming from her body. Her own heartbeat was like the rumbling of some deep, distant earthquake beneath me, each tremor vibrating and surging through me. It felt like nothing I’ve ever felt before, and it was heavenly.

Eventually, our real-world needs brought our romantic moment to an end. I became gradually aware that I hadn’t eaten anything in over a day, and I hadn’t had a decent meal in a much longer time than that. Rachel wanted to shower first before breakfast, but I managed to convince her to do it the other way around this time. She got up and began her morning routine, still carrying me carefully in her hand. It felt so much better than the box I’d been carried around in back at the hospital. She headed into the kitchen and put me down on the little dining table, then drew open the curtains and began fixing some breakfast for us.

As she moved about the kitchen, I stared up at her in fascination. Every little movement of hers was like watching a force of nature at work. I remembered all the times she’d made breakfast for us after I’d spent the night with her here. I would stand behind her and put my arms around her or rub her shoulders, or even spin her around for a quick make-out session, before she’d pretend to be displeased and light-heartedly push me away so she could back to the business at hand. Now all I could do was sit helplessly and watch, wrapped up in a little table napkin, my feet dangling over the edge of a table that was sixty feet above the ground.

Breakfast was ready soon enough – scrambled eggs, bacon, fried tomatoes and toast, the smells of which were enough to drive me crazy. I was really looking forward to eating proper food again. She had only made enough for herself, since, no matter how hungry I was, I could only eat a few crumbs’ worth of food at one mealtime. She sat down and scooped a few tiny portions off her plate and onto a little saucer she’d placed in front of me. I climbed onto the saucer too, eager to begin, when I noticed I had no knife and fork to eat with. Rachel saw my predicament, but the best solution she could come up with was to break a toothpick up as small as possible, so that I could use the foot-long pieces as chopsticks.

“I’ll find something better for you, as soon as I get the chance,” she promised. “There must be places that sell miniature utensils, even if it’s only for dollhouses and things like that.”

“You think that’ll work?” I asked, after forcing a large chunk of bacon down my throat. “I’m a lot smaller than most dolls, you know, as much as I hate to admit it.”

“I know, but I’ll keep looking until I find something. Clothes too – there has to be a place that sells toy figurines or something that are more-or-less the same size as you. I’ll try and look around for some things after work today, if I can get off early enough.”

I was suddenly reminded that today was Monday, so of course she had to leave for work. She was doing an internship programme for investment analysts at a big company with offices located on the other side of the city, so that meant a lot of early mornings and late evenings at work for her. She was also nearing the end of the six-month internship period and would love to begin working the job full-time, which made her spend even more time at the office, trying to impress her superiors enough so that she’d be given the opportunity. My own job had kept me pretty busy as well, so neither of us had had reason to complain that we weren’t spending enough time with each other. Now, however, I had no choice but to stay at home while she was at work, and it didn’t sound appealing at all to me.

“So, um, where does that leave me?” I asked, after hastily chewing down the last of my food. Rachel had finished eating as well and was sipping her coffee. “Are you gonna leave me here for the day, is that it?”

“Well, yes…I mean, what else can I do?” she said. “I can take you with me to work, I suppose. Hide you inside my purse or somewhere. But would that be any better for you? I’d just spend the whole day worrying about you, constantly checking up on you…and you’d be trapped inside a pretty small, uncomfortable space the whole day. At least here you get some space, so you can walk around and keep yourself busy.”

“What about food? I’m gonna get hungry before you get back, you know!”

“You’re right…I’ll just have to leave you something you can eat when it’s lunchtime, okay? Look, Sam, I’m gonna have to get a shower and get dressed now, or else I’m gonna be late for work.”

She got up to leave, but I yelled after her and got her to turn around again. She looked down at me inquiringly.

“Rachel…oh God, I hate asking this…but I need to…to…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that I needed a toilet. It once again felt to me like I’d been reduced to something less than human, having to ask for her help for such an otherwise simple and awkward task. Eventually, I just sighed and told her. She looked almost as embarrassed as I was feeling, but she carried me over to the sink and put me down in it next to the drain. She also handed me a little bit of paper towel I could use as toilet paper.

“I’ll see if I can find something better for you to use for this too,” she said apologetically. “I’m sorry, sweetie, I really am. I’ll wait until you’re done, then I’ll take you back to the table.”

“No, it’s fine. Go and get ready, you’ve wasted enough time on me this morning already. You can get me again when you leave for work.”

“Sam…”

“Please, Rachel, just go. I’m not angry, really…look, I just want some time to myself now, okay?”

She nodded and turned around, leaving me to myself. I sighed again, then squatted over one of the holes of the drain to do my business. This morning had begun in such a promising way, and now this…but that was the reality of my situation, and I knew I had to accept it. At least now I knew Rachel still loved me and cared for me, so I tried as hard as I could to stop worrying about it. But how long would those feelings for me last, when every day another thing like this would happen, reminding her that I was no longer capable of doing anything without her help?

I soon regretted my decision to stay in the sink and wait for her, since it was horribly cold on the exposed metal surface, and I still had nothing to wear. I ran around in circles to stay warm, pass the time and get some exercise. Rachel usually took her time in getting ready in the mornings, but she’d said she was in a hurry, so I hoped she wouldn’t take much longer. I also yearned to take a shower myself, as much for the warmth as for getting clean. Would she be okay with taking me with her next time? I couldn’t see why not, since we’d often showered together when we were still a normal couple just like any other. But now that I was so small and weak, would she think it was too dangerous? If she did, I promised myself I’d argue my side of the case. As much as I knew I needed her protection to survive, she couldn’t keep me out of every potentially hazardous situation. I needed her reassurance that I was still a man to her, not a porcelain doll that needed to be handled with complete and utter care.

It wasn’t long before I heard her footsteps approaching, and from the sound I could tell she was wearing high heels. I looked up as her immense figure appeared above the rim of the sink. Her gigantic hand reached down and encircled me, and lifted me up to her height. Her hair was brushed back and she was wearing a dark lavender jacket and black knee-length skirt, and she looked both stylish and incredibly attractive. Before I could compliment her on her appearance, though, I was given another loving kiss on the head. Afterwards, she opened up her hand, allowing me to lie back in her palm and gaze up at her. I found myself getting aroused again, even more than when she’d kissed me for the first time.

“Are you okay, Sam?” she asked, her smile giving way to a look of concern. “You look a little shaken.”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just…wow, you’re beautiful! Rachel, you look amazing!”

“You think so?” she said, her face blushing just enough for me to notice.

“Yes, I do. You’re gorgeous! Shit, I must look so pathetic to you right now. I can’t even reach over to you and hug you.”

“Oh, Sam, that’s not true! Please, please, please stop thinking like that! You’ll be back to your old size soon, I know you will…and until that happens, I’ve got myself an adorable pocket-sized version of the man I love, and I’m going to enjoy him just as much as the regular-sized Sam. Here, I’ll give you a hug, and you’ll see I love you just as much as ever.”

I was gently lain against her chest and found myself squeezed between her hand and bosom. This was completely different to the way we’d always embraced, but it was no less satisfying. The last little bit of doubt I had that she was still in love with me disappeared. Beginning right now, I promised myself never to question her again, or to complain about my situation. If I stayed positive and kept focusing on all that I have with her, instead on dwelling on everything I’d lost, I knew my life would become a whole lot easier.

“See? It’s not so bad after all, being small,” Rachel told me as she kept on hugging me like this. “There’s so much less for you to worry about and, with me here, there’s nothing for you to afraid of either. I’ll keep you safe and take care of you, okay? So stop blaming yourself and stop telling yourself that you can’t make me happy like this. You know that’s not true. There’s a lot we’ll need to figure out, how to keep our relationship going strong, but we have time. Now, however, I have to get going, or I’ll really be late.”

She carried me over to the couch and put me down on one of the cushions. Then she went over to the kitchen, leaving me to amuse myself by clambering over the hill-sized cushions for a while. She returned with a tiny plastic container with some food in it, for my lunch, as well as another one I could use as a makeshift toilet. A plastic bottlecap filled with water gave me enough to drink for the day. Lastly, I was given a napkin to use as a blanket to cover myself, as well as the remote control for the television, in case I got bored.

“I’ll take you with me to work some other time,” she promised, hunkering down and giving me a little goodbye kiss. “Once I know I can do so safely, without the risk of someone else finding out about you. Everyone I know at work still thinks you’re at the hospital in a coma, just like I did before you called me. I’m not supposed to tell anyone else about you, so as not to cause a sensation and create unwelcome publicity for the company you worked for. But if I can carry you around somewhere where you’ll be out of sight, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“Thanks, Rachel. You really don’t know how much this means to me, just being treated as an equal, or as a human being for that matter. Enjoy your day at work. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine here. At least you don’t have any pets for me to worry about!”

“Yeah, that would’ve been a big problem. Lucky for you I’ve never been much of an animal-lover, huh? See you this afternoon, sweetie! Don’t worry if I’m a little late, it just means I’ve gone and done some shopping for you. You’ll be feeling just like any regular guy in no time, you’ll see!”

She gave me an affectionate squeeze, then stood up and walked out of the room. I watched her soaring figure walk off into the distance; it was an awe-inspiring sight to behold. After that, I was left alone in my new environment. I immediately switched on the TV, since the silence and solitude of her vast living room was overwhelming. It also helped me forget about the feeling of helplessness that I felt once she was gone. Any little bug that happened to come my way could be a threat to me, not to mention spiders…but I didn’t see any of those around, and she kept her place clean most of the time anyways, so eventually I relaxed. I settled down on top of a cushion and started channel-hopping, glad to be able to do something as simple and satisfying as watching TV again for the first time in months. Just a small step towards the feeling of living a normal life again.

It was after dark when Rachel finally returned home. I had long ago grown tired of watching TV, although I had kept it on just to provide background noise. When I heard her unlock the front door, I turned it off and stood up expectantly. I was both hungry and cold, not to mention in desperate need of some company. She came inside and went back out to her car several times, carrying in and putting things on the kitchen table, although from my position I couldn’t see what those things were. Eventually though, she came over to the couch and sat down beside me. She placed her open hand down next to me and I climbed in eagerly, and she lifted me up and gave me a kiss.

“Sorry I’m so late, Sam,” she said. “I had to do quite a lot of driving around after work today. I got us some takeout food, hope you don’t mind. But I really didn’t feel like making dinner myself tonight.”

“That’s okay,” I reassured her. “I’m just glad I have someone to talk to again. You’ve no idea how much I missed you today, baby.”

“Well, maybe when you see what I’ve brought you, it’ll make up for it. But first, I’ve got something else you might like.”

She stuck her hand in the pocket of her jacket and took out a couple of tiny items. To my surprise, it turned out to be some clothes that were more-or-less the right size for me to wear. But they were obviously doll or action-figure clothes, since they were pretty crudely made and didn’t fit quite right. The T-shirt was about the correct size for me, though it felt a little bulky, but the trousers, though the correct length, were too loose to wear and kept falling down. But Rachel solved that problem by cutting up an elastic band and tying it around my waist as though it were a belt. Now that I had something to wear, I felt more comfortable and less self-conscious, even though I’d begun to grow used to being naked around her.

“You’ll have to go barefoot for a while, I’m afraid,” she said, as I stood in her palm and turned around so she could see how I looked in her clothes. “I couldn’t find any toys that had shoes that were the correct size, or that weren’t just part of the toy itself. But I’ll keep looking.”

“Thanks, babe. This is a lot better for me already. So, what else did you get for me? Or can we go have dinner first? I’m really hungry…”

“In a minute! Come on, let me show you one more thing first. I think you’ll like this.”

She carried me over to the kitchen table and put me down on it, and I couldn’t believe what I saw. Sitting in front of me was a house. More accurately, it was part of a dollhouse, with one entire wall missing, allowing me to see the rooms inside. The ground floor room had two tiny, doll-sized chairs and a little table placed in the centre of it. The back wall across from me had a miniature window in it, with panes that could be opened and closed. A ladder mounted on the outside wall by the corner led to an upper room, but I couldn’t see what was inside it from down on the table, only that it had a little railing in front of it. Above it was a peaked roof. The whole thing was only about 16 inches high and wide, but that made it about 30 feet in size to me. I had no idea what to make of it.

“Isn’t it great?” Rachel said, sounding very excited. “I found it at an antiques’ shop. The lady who owned the place told me she’d made it herself when she was a little girl. It wasn’t actually for sale, just on display in the shop, but I managed to persuade her to sell it to me, promising to take great care of it. It’s wonderful, isn’t it, Sam? A little place of your own!”

“A little…what? Am I supposed to stay in there from now on?”

Though I appreciated her going through the effort to buy this thing for me, I didn’t quite like the idea of living in what was essentially a child’s dollhouse. I knew she couldn’t see it from my perspective, but to me the feeling was one of being reduced to a toy myself. I stepped into the large ‘sitting room’ and walked over to one of the red-cushioned chairs. Despite being miniature in size, they were still slightly too large for me, and sitting in one of them felt awkward and unnatural. Out there, on the giant-sized couch, it had at least felt as though I was still in the normal, everyday world, instead of trapped in some alternate doll-universe, where I was just a doll myself. Rachel crouched down and I saw her giant face peering into the room.

“Don’t you like it?” she asked, sounding a little more concerned all of a sudden. “I thought you’d enjoy having a place like this to stay in. Then you wouldn’t feel so…well, small…all the time.”

“You mean, like when I’m with you?” I asked, getting up and approaching her. “Is that how you think I feel when I’m with you, Rachel?”

“Sam, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that! Please, I don’t want to start another argument with you, not now! I’ll take the thing back if you don’t like it.”

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” I said, trying to keep my emotions in check. I didn’t want to have another argument either, not over something as silly as this. “But…I mean, what am I supposed to do in here? There’s not even a bed for me to sleep in!”

“Of course there’s a bed! You just haven’t checked upstairs yet, that’s all! But you really don’t have to stay in here all the time, darling. It’s just something I thought you’d like, where you can go and feel normal for a few hours each day, or whenever. I never wanted to keep you in here like some kind of pet!”

Once again I could hear the honesty in her voice, and once again I felt like an idiot for doubting her and for being this confrontational with her. I turned around and decided to give the place another look. I climbed up the ladder, which led to a balcony overhanging the lower room. Inside this ‘attic room’ was a large double bed, easily big enough for me to sleep on, with an appropriately-sized mattress, covers and pillows. I threw myself down on it: the mattress was a little hard, but not uncomfortable, and I could easily picture myself sleeping here. Behind the bed was a little window, just like the one on the ground floor. I opened it and looked out at the immense room that lay beyond. Then I turned around, and like magic it felt as if I were in a different world, one in which I belonged.

Besides the bed up here and the table and chairs below, there were no other furnishings – but that was something I could work on rectifying. A new idea came into my head. What if I actually could make this place my own somehow? I didn’t mean sending Rachel out to look for some more doll furniture that would fit in; I wanted to make them myself. I walked back out onto the balcony and leant on its railing, which was coincidentally just the right height for me.

“This is really great, Rachel,” I said to my colossal girlfriend, whose face hovered in the sky above me. “You were right – I do feel…normal…when I’m in there. I’m sorry for being such a dick to you again, really. I just didn’t want this to come between us, you know? Thanks for buying me this…this home, I guess you could call it.”

She smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. God, how beautiful she was…

“Apology accepted,” she said. “I know it’s not the greatest little house – it was made by a child after all – but it was the right size, not too big or too small. I can even carry it around with me when you’re inside, so I can always have you close to me. And I know it’s a little empty at the moment, but that can change too.”

“Yeah, definitely – in fact, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about…”

Our dinner was temporarily forgotten, as Rachel sat down at the kitchen table and listened to me explain my plans for the house. Ideas were popping into my head one after the other, and I told her how I planned to make my own furniture for the place, my own decorations, give the place a new paint job – all the things most young people liked to do when they moved into a new place and wanted to give it a personal touch of their own. I also wanted to build some more interior walls, giving me a bathroom I could fit out with a toilet, bathtub, etc. That would mean having to solve the problem of supplying water to the place somehow, but it was a problem that I had no doubt could be solved somehow. Rachel looked very sceptical at first as I laid out my plans, but she listened patiently until the end and finally agreed to do whatever she could to help me realize my ideas.

“I know it all sounds so stupid,” I admitted afterwards. “But It’ll give me something to do while you’re off at work. I can’t just sit here on the couch every day and wait for you to come back, I’ll get bored to death. Besides, if it ends up with me having a nice home to stay in – something I wanted to buy for us someday, by the way – well, that’s a bonus, right?”

“I don’t think it sounds stupid at all,” she replied. “In fact, I think it’s a wonderful idea. Sam, the last thing I want is for you to feel like you’re trapped in here, or like I’m keeping you prisoner or anything like that. I just want to keep you safe and to make sure you’re happy, until they discover a cure for you, however long that takes. Go ahead, make the house your own! I’ll do what I can to help, but it’s your thing, so I’ll leave you and let you do whatever you want to the thing…place…whatever you want to call it.”

She lowered her face until her chin was level with the balcony and puckered her lips. I got the hint and climbed onto the railing, then fell forward against her lips and let her kiss me. I would never get tired of this feeling, I thought, this expression of love and devotion from her. We ate our dinner afterwards, with her sitting at the kitchen table and me sitting on the balcony of my new home. I was still using a bottlecap as a plate and two wooden splinters from a toothpick as a knife and fork, since the dollhouse didn’t come with any eating utensils, but Rachel assured me she’d find some for me soon, along with a lot of other things as well.

After dinner, she carried my house, with me inside, all the way to her bedroom and set it down on her little bedside table. I wasn’t feeling sleepy yet, but she had had a tough day at work, followed by a lot of driving around in order to find my house and clothes for me, so she said she was ready for bed. But first she took me to her bathroom, where I could use her washing basin as a toilet and could also wash myself under the flowing water from its tap. It was an unusual experience, but one I could get used to eventually, I figured. When she came to collect me, she was already in her nightclothes and I saw for the first time how tied she looked. Some of that was no doubt due to everything that had happened these past few days, but the two of us were already adjusting to our new life together quite quickly. I was scooped up by her strong fingers and cradled in her hand, while with her other hand she took my clothes and put them down next to the basin. Then she took me back to her bed with her, just like that.

“I never mentioned this before,” she said, after she’d given me another sweet kiss, “but you look great, Sam. Really healthy, I mean…not in bad shape or anything like that.”

“Thanks,” I said, pleased at the compliment. “Yeah, I did try and keep in shape while at the hospital, and I guess I’ll keep on doing that here. I’m not gonna sit on the couch and watch TV every day, like I did today, so don’t worry.”

“Oh, I’m not, I’m just wondering,” she said, giggling. Then she ran the very tip of her finger across my head, messing up my still wet hair. “How did they cut your hair?” she asked. “Did the nurses do it for you?”

“No, no-one did. It just hasn’t grown at all since, well, since the accident. My facial hair hasn’t grown either, so I never needed to shave. Maybe the stuff that caused me to shrink is affecting that as well. In any case, I don’t mind it. It’s one less thing for me to worry about.”

“Yeah, I suppose…anyways, you look really great, sweetie.”

Using her thumb and index finger, she carefully picked me up by my waist. It was unsettling how strong she was, not to mention more than a little emasculating, but I weirdly enjoyed her handling me like this. She ran her fingertip all over my body, caressing every part of me, while I grew more and more aroused, until I could no longer hide it. She noticed how red my face had become – and that I had gotten a rather conspicuous erection.

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I want you to enjoy this, Sam. Don’t feel ashamed. You’re still the man I love, and I want to love you as much as I can. I’m going to give you another kiss – a special kiss – and I want you to enjoy it, every bit of it.”

I was suddenly lifted up all the way to her mouth, where her lips were waiting for me. As she pressed my groin against them, they parted slightly, and her tongue came out and pressed against me. She was licking my manhood, pushing it up and down, until I could no longer resist it and came. When I did, she squeezed me just a teensy bit forward and began to suck with her lips, and I felt the sensation all over me. It wasn’t the first time she’d given me a blowjob – which I always felt was something she only did to satisfy me, not because she enjoyed it herself – but now that my whole body was smaller than my dick had always been, it felt like a whole new kind of sexual experience.

After it was over, I was carefully placed on her upper chest, on the velvety fabric of her robe, and she stroked my back and legs as I lay pressed against her. Words couldn’t describe how entirely satisfying and fulfilling an experience it had been for me. After everything that had happened to me, after believing on many, many occasions that any life worth living was over and that I’d be better off dead, to find out how much this incredible young woman still loved me, and how much I loved her – I began to cry softly, overcome with emotion. Rachel just kept on rubbing me and fondling me as I buried my face in her vast bosom.

“That’s right, honey, it’s okay,” she said soothingly. “I’m here for you now. You don’t have to be scared anymore. You’re safe here with me, in my hands, where I can hold you and keep you close. Don’t you ever feel ashamed when you’re with me, you hear me? I love you, Sam, now and always.”

“Even…even when I can’t love you back?” I said through the sobs that still overcame me. “No, that’s not what I mean – I love you more than ever – but…”

“But you can’t fuck me, is that it? That’s what you were going to say, isn’t it?”

I wouldn’t have said it quite that bluntly, but I nodded. That was one of the things I was afraid of, but there were others. I could no longer go out with her, take her to places we liked to go to, show her a good time. I could no longer protect her, like most men felt they had to protect the women they loved, and she could no longer depend on me for even the most basic things. As I lay there against her soft chest, caressed by her loving fingers, I told her everything, all my fears and regrets, everything I would no longer be able to do for her.

“Sam, I’m not gonna pretend there won’t be any changes in our relationship,” she said after I’d finished. “But…how can I explain this to you…okay, imagine this. What if it had been a different kind of accident, instead of shrinking? What if, on the way to work that day, you’d been involved in a car crash, and you’d been completely paralyzed from the shoulders down? Do you think I would have abandoned you then? Should I have? That wouldn’t have been something you’d ever have recovered from, either.”

“I don’t know…lots of girls would have…”

“Lots of girls? And I’m one of them, right?”

“Rachel, no! Of course not! But I’m just saying…”

“Sam,” she interrupted me, before letting out a huge sigh. “Sam…plenty of couples have had bad things happen to them, either to one partner or both…and yes, for lots of them, it meant the end of their relationship…but you’ll never convince me that the default outcome for ‘bad thing happens to guy in a relationship’ is ‘girlfriend leaves him for someone else’. I’m sorry, maybe I’m too naïve or optimistic or something, but I refuse to believe that most people are that selfish. So what if we can no longer have hot, crazy sex the way we always did? You do know that that’s a bigger deal to guys than girls, right? How many times have you asked me to come back with you to your place, and I’d be like ‘No thanks, baby, not tonight’, hmm?”

“So you’re saying, you won’t miss me showing you my moves in bed, is that it?” I said, managing a grin. She grinned back and gave me a poke in the stomach.

“Of course I will, sweetie – but there are other things we haven’t tried yet, other experiences…like that little ‘kiss’ I just gave you. You liked that, right?”

“Did you?” I immediately asked back. She hesitated before answering.

“Look, I don’t want you to think I’m weird or crazy or anything, but I’m gonna be honest with you, okay? At first, when I saw you for the first time in the hospital, I had no idea what to feel. No, that’s not true…I felt sick, dizzy, overwhelmed by what I saw, just wrong in every way. I genuinely felt like leaving you in that moment…but it was only for a moment. I took another look at you, at how small and helpless and alone you looked, and I immediately wanted you back with me. I thought back to when my dad died, five months ago, and how you supported me and looked after me, being there for me when I needed you and giving me space when I needed to be alone…”

“That’s because I knew you’d make it through all right,” I said. “This isn’t the same, Rachel, you know that. There’s a chance things will never go back to normal for me, ever.”

“I know, and I was getting there before you interrupted me. Sam…and this is the part you’ll think is crazy…but you being this tiny and everything…well, I’ve actually begun to like it, sort of. No, I don’t mean I want you to stay like this forever – of course I want you to get your old life back as soon as possible! But getting to hold my boyfriend in the palm of my hand, or holding you against me like this…honestly, it’s kind of a turn-on for me.”

I looked up at her, shocked. She gave me another grin and squeezed me a little tighter against her.

“You like having me this small?” I asked. “Really? Like…why?”

“I don’t know! It’s just…I mean…” She kept on stammering, trying to explain.

“Because now you get to be the one in charge?” I prompted her. “Because now you’re bigger and stronger than me, and can do whatever you want with me? Rachel, you know I never thought you were inferior to me!”

“I know, baby, and I don’t think you’re inferior to me now! But, yeah, I’ll admit it – I like being in charge for a change! I like having a little man I can carry around and take care of. I know it sounds weird, it even feels weird to me, but…damn it, Sam, you’re so tiny and adorable like this, and it’s like you’re my special little guy, my secret little boyfriend, that only I know about, and it’s really turning me on somehow! You can hate me all you want, and you can act as macho and as chauvinistic as you like, but that’s the way I see you now. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it! I still really, really, truly love you, as much as ever – but maybe it’s a kind of love that’s a little bit different.”

She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. I could tell how hard it had been for her to admit how she felt about me now, and even though I hadn’t liked most of what she’d said, I was glad she told me. With a sinking feeling in my heart, I gradually accepted that she could no longer look at me and think of me exactly as she did before I was shrunk. That feeling of emasculation returned, of being reduced to something that was more like a doll than a man. Maybe that was all I was to her now after all – just a doll, albeit one she happened to have strong feelings for.

But was that really such a bad thing? She still loved me, I knew she’d been honest with me when she said that. I still loved her too – but also in a slightly different way. To me, she was no longer just a girlfriend – a sexy, fun-loving, caring, devoted girlfriend with whom I could do all sorts of enjoyable things, and who relied on me for her security and emotional wellbeing. Now I was the one relying on her, not just for my security and protection, but for my very life itself. She had almost become a godlike figure to me, on whom I was utterly dependent and without whom I’d be lost in a world I was far too small to survive in on my own.

Things had definitely changed for us and it was useless to try and act as though our roles in our relationship were still the same. But one thing hadn’t changed, and that was our love for and our commitment to one another. There was no other choice for me: I would have to accept her as she was, and I’d have to accept the way she now saw me. I would swallow my pride and be a tiny, adorable boyfriend to her and let her be the one in charge. Her eyes were still closed when I looked up at her: maybe she regretted telling me how she felt, or maybe she felt embarrassed. Either way, she probably thought I was mighty upset at what she’d said. I grabbed hold of the fabric of her clothing and pulled myself upwards from underneath her hand. It was only a dozen feet or so to her shoulder, and climbing it wasn’t too difficult. Standing on her shoulder, I took hold of a few strands of her long, flowing hair, and climbed farther still. Holding on tightly, I hung next to her cheek and began to kiss her.

“Rachel, my darling,” I said. “I’m so grateful to have met you, and I’m more grateful still that you’re still with me, despite what’s happened to me. All I want from now on is to stay here with you, and love you and be there for you, just like before the accident. If you want to keep me in a dollhouse, and keep me as your secret little guy, then go ahead. To me, you’re the most incredible girl in the world, a genuine goddess on Earth.”

“God, you’re just too sweet, aren’t you? You keep on sweet-talking me like that, I’m gonna have to use you as a lollipop!”

As if to prove her point, she pried me away from her cheek and, without a word of warning, stuck my entire body into her mouth. Only my head remained outside, cushioned between her lips, while my body, arms and legs were at the mercy of her tongue as she pressed me this way and that. I was as helpless in her mouth as though I really were a lollipop, but feeling her wet tongue massage every exposed part of my body was more pleasure than I could take and I came for the second time that night. Looking very satisfied with herself – and with her newfound power over me – Rachel took me out and quickly rubbed me dry against her sleeve. Then she lay me across the width of her fingers and slowly stuck her hand into the tiny bedroom of my dollhouse. She tipped her hand slightly to the side and I slid off, landing on my five-inch-long bed. I sat on the covers of my new bed, looking out at her face which filled the entire view I had of the outside. She licked her lips, slowly and deliberately, and I instantly wished I was still between those two organs of pleasure.

“Well, I can honestly say that that was the strangest thing I’ve ever done with a guy,” she said. “But screw me if it wasn’t one of the sexiest things too! How did you like it, sugar?”

“Oh my God, it was…I mean, I can’t even describe it, it was so…so…please, Rachel, please let’s do that again! Take me again, I wanna feel how it feels one more time!”

She giggled as I leapt off my bed and ran out to the balcony. But she’d clearly had enough for one night, and a firm index finger easily pushed me back all the way to my bed.

“Not tonight, Sam,” she said, sounding almost rueful about her decision. “I don’t wanna rush things right from the start, okay? There’s so much we can do, you and I, so many pleasure you and I can experience together, and I want to try them all. But I don’t want to go crazy and forget myself either. You’ve been gone so long, and I’ve thought for so long you’d never be back with me, that now I feel like I wanna get to know you all over again…I don’t know if that makes any sense. But seeing how much you enjoyed that…look, I’m just overjoyed to have you back, no matter how small you are now.”

I saw her point-of-view and I understood. It would take her a while to get used to the new me, no matter how enthusiastic we both were. She picked up the entire house that was now mine and hugged it tightly, her powerful arms completely encircling it. I’d always been much stronger than her and had never thought of her in anything like those terms, but now her strength, size and power were truly a source of awe and wonder to me. I was grateful indeed to have her as my protector. She carried my house over to a desk, where she put it down so that I had a view of her bed. We said our goodnights, then we both climbed into our beds and she turned off the light. I suddenly felt alone again, even though I knew she was only a few feet away from her perspective. I wanted to be with her in her bed instead…but would that really be a good idea in my present, fragile state? Such thoughts kept me awake for a couple of hours, but I eventually fell asleep too, content in the knowledge that she’d be there when I woke up again in the morning.

The morning came with a pleasant warm breeze waking me. I yawned, stretched and sat up, only discover that it wasn’t a breeze at all, but the luscious lips of my mega-sized girlfriend, blowing softly into my room to awaken me.

“Good morning, sleepyhead!” those lips of hers said. “Are you awake yet?”

“Yeah, I’m awake,” I grumbled. I was rather irritable about her waking me this early and would’ve liked to sleep in…but on the other hand…

“That’s good, baby. I’m sorry if I disturbed you, I just thought I’d let you know that I’m off to take a shower, and that I’d love some company in there. But if you’d rather stay in bed…”

She didn’t need to say another word. I leapt out of bed and jumped over the railing into her open hand. There was no way on Earth I was going to miss an opportunity like this. I got a long and loving kiss from her before she headed off towards the bathroom, hugging me firmly against her chest. I had been waiting for something like this to happen and now it seems I would get my wish.

She put me down on a little folded-up hand towel next to her basin, and I saw that my clothes were still lying where she’d put them last night. I was now at the same level as her hips and her statuesque upper body towered high above me. She began to undress, so slowly that I knew it was deliberate and that she was being a tease. But I didn’t want her to hurry on my account: I was enjoying every second of watching her arresting figure in motion. With a final shake of her shoulders, she let her robe fall to the floor, followed by her bra and panties, and there she stood, naked and irresistibly sexy.

I suppose she still looked the same as all the times I’d seen her without clothes, way back when our relationship had still been a normal one. But nothing I’d seen before could compare with her now. She stepped forward and pressed her belly against the edge of the counter, and I knew she was inviting me to do the same. I walked forward until I could put my hands on either side of her bellybutton. Above me rose an imposing cliff of supple skin, up and up and up, until it swelled outward in the shape of two perfect breasts, far beyond my reach. Nothing above that was visible. How I wished I could climb up there and reach those breasts, once small enough to fit in my cupped hands, but now the size of little hills in the sky above me.

“How do I look from down there, baby?” a voice from high above said seductively. “Do you like what you see? I bet you’d like a closer look, wouldn’t you?”

Instead of yelling up an answer to her, I decided I wanted to play along. I lifted a leg and put my foot in the hollow of her navel. I pushed myself up and tried to grab hold of something higher up, but there was nothing to grab, only yards and yards of her smooth skin. Before I could jump back down, a giant hand pushed me tightly against her stomach, squeezing me against her so that I couldn’t escape. There I stayed, trapped between her hand and waist, as she opened the shower taps and climbed in when the water was right. Soon, the rivulets of water flowing down her body covered me as well. They felt warm and relaxing, but I wished she’d put me somewhere with a better view. I didn’t have to wait for long.

She lifted me up high and put me in the little tray holding the soap. The soap cake itself was about seven feet long, but that wasn’t what got my attention. Directly in front of me, at the same height above ground as I was, her ample breasts filled my view. Higher still, the roaring cascade of water from the shower fell upon her head and shoulders, forming a spray that filled the air around me. I felt like I’d been transported to some mighty waterfall, some natural wonder that only I knew about. Only I…and the goddess bathing in its waters. She was washing herself with a sponge, and I stared open-mouthed as thousands of gallons of soapy water (relative to me, of course) flowed down the contours of her body. Of course I felt horny as hell watching her, but a part of me couldn’t help but watch her with awe and reverence. She caught me staring at her and smiled delightfully.

“Enjoying the view?” she said, her voice echoing around me in the cavernous shower cubicle. “Don’t forget to clean yourself, okay…or would you like me to do that for you as well?”

“Um…uh…well, if you don’t mind…” I had to yell to make myself heard above the sound of the shower.

“Yeah, I figured as much. Hold your breath, okay, sweetie?”

She lay me down on top of the soap-covered sponge, which was the size of a car compared to me. Then she pressed it against her chest, squeezing me between it and her wet skin. She began to rub the sponge back-and-forth across the top of her chest. I was carried along by the motion, my miniature body taken for a ride across the contours of her breasts. From her point-of-view, I might as well have not been there; I doubted she could feel me in the middle of the sponge. But to me it felt absolutely sublime. The only downside was that I had to hold my breath, but thankfully she released me before it became uncomfortable for me to do so. She lifted the sponge and I began to slip down on her breast. For an instant I was afraid I’d fall to the floor and die, but she stopped me with one finger and pinned me against her. I felt something firm protruding in-between my thighs and gasped when I realized I was perched on her nipple. Of course, I was now so titillated that I came within seconds, as she massaged me up and down, pressing me into her every time I came.

Afterwards I found out it had been a gratifying sexual experience for her as well, as she’d given herself a good fingering while she was rubbing me across her tit. I felt just a little bit crestfallen, knowing that I hadn’t been able to do that for her myself, but she reassured me that she wouldn’t have been able to get aroused if I hadn’t been there. Still, it had been one of the satisfying things I’d ever done with a woman. It had been my first real encounter with the more intimate parts of her since I’d been shrunk, and I couldn’t wait to do it again.

When it was over, I asked Rachel to put me on the floor while she finished washing her hair. She crouched down and put me down about two feet in front of her feet. It was far enough that I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the falling water; I had no wish to have another experience like the one outside her house, and be swept down the shower drain. However, the drops bouncing off her body fell all around and kept me soaking wet. I looked up at her sky-high legs, following their contours up and up until they reached her hips. She was simply gargantuan in size, a mountain of a woman, waiting for me to climb and explore. When she’d finished her shower, Rachel collected me and put me down on the same towel as earlier. I dried myself off and watched her do the same, then quickly put on my rather basic clothing. She carried me back to her bedroom and put me down on her bed. She began to get dressed, while I kept on staring up at her, enjoying every second of the majestic view. Even watching her dry and brush her hair was a riveting sight to behold. She put on her nylon leggings and high heels, making sure to sit in such a way that I could see her clearly. She must be enjoying this, I thought, having a tiny guy like me stare up at her worshipfully and lustfully, knowing that she was beyond my reach and that whether or not I could get close to her was completely up to her.

If she did enjoy it, I was happy for her – but I could only hope it didn’t lead to her becoming more distant from me in our relationship as time passed. I wanted her to treat me as her equal partner, not as something for her to play with for her own satisfaction. Not that I minded being played with – that game in the shower had been all kinds of fun for both of us – but spending some time with her just as two people who loved each other was important too. And after what she’d told me last night, about how she now felt about me…no, I had no wish at all to start another argument, so I let it go for now. If I ever felt like she was treating me in an offhand or indifferent way, I would have to have another talk with her, but for now I was content in my new dependent role.

Rachel carried me, inside my new house, to the kitchen table and made a simple breakfast for both of us. This was obviously going to be how our morning routine would go from now on, so I figured I had best get used to it as soon as possible. I ate my food quickly and drank some of the coffee she’d poured into a tiny plastic bottle top for me (tiny here referring to about the size of my head), then climbed down from my balcony and approached her. She was absent-mindedly eating a bowl of cereal while also working on something on her laptop, a habit she tended to adopt whenever she found herself covered in work, and she didn’t notice me walk up to her.

Her coffee mug was right next to me, about eight feet high and way too heavy for me to even budge. Just for fun, I decided to climb it. I pulled myself up on top of the loop formed by the handle, then stepped onto the rim of the mug. It was just about thick enough for me to walk on with my bare feet, so I decided to do just that. I walked around the rim, keeping my balance and avoiding a fall into the warm coffee inside the mug. Rachel, however, was not having any of that, and when she saw me she immediately took hold of me between her thumb and forefinger. She put me back in my little house, while I tried to protest.

“Come on, Rachel, I was just having some fun!” I insisted. “I wasn’t doing anything dangerous, was I?”

“Yes you were! You could’ve fallen in!”

“So? You could’ve just gotten me out again, right? Worst case scenario, I would’ve needed another shower.”

She gave me a look that suggested she wasn’t happy with my rebelliousness.

“Come on, you’ve got to let me have some more fun around here!” I went on. “I know you want to protect me and everything, and I’m grateful for that, but I’m not completely helpless!”

“Really? Then prove it, tough guy! Take off your clothes!”

“Huh? Take off my…why?”

“Come on, Sam, do what I tell you! You want to have some fun? I’ll give you some fun.”

I did as I was ordered, but instead of giving me some more sexy fun as I’d hoped she would, she dropped me straight into her coffee mug. I fell into four feet of warm coffee, about as warm as a hot bath, only a little sweeter and stickier. The mug was too high for me to grab the rim and climb out of, no matter how hard I tried. Every time I jumped up to escape, I fell back into the coffee, while Rachel’s face hovered in the sky above me, her rather smug expression annoying me just a little bit.

“Not completely helpless, hmm?” she said. “Well, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you gonna try and escape?”

“Rachel…what the fuck?” I yelled up at her. “This isn’t funny! What are you trying to prove, huh?”

“I was just having some fun, sweetie! You said you didn’t mind falling in, so…”

“So you just took me and dropped into your coffee? Is that how it’s going to be from now on? You just take me and treat me however the hell you want to?”

“Well, you didn’t seem to mind me doing that in the shower just now,” she said, no longer smiling and looking quite cross all of a sudden.

“That’s ‘cause I agreed to go along with that…for fuck’s sake, Rachel, get me out of here!”

“Sam, look, I thought…after last night, when you said you didn’t mind me keeping you as a secret little boyfriend…”

“I wasn’t talking about…about this!” I screamed, splashing around impotently in the warm liquid. “Jesus, Rachel, are you gonna get me out of here or not?”

She sighed and reached into the mug, picking me up between her two fingers and dangling me in front of her face. I couldn’t even look at her, so angry was I at her. When she spoke, though, she did sound very remorseful.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” I heard her say. “It wasn’t right of me to do that to you. Why don’t I give you another kiss…you know, like yesterday. That’ll cheer you up.”

“No, I don’t want that! Just give me something I can clean myself with, okay? Don’t do it for me, the cleaning – I want to do it myself, okay?”

“Okay, I understand…sorry, I just thought we were having fun, you know?”

“No, you were the only one having fun. Not me, just you!”

“Oh come on, you know I didn’t mean anything when I did that! You said yourself, you wouldn’t get hurt…”

“Rachel, it’s not about that! I know you’d never hurt me physically, but if you just take me whenever you want and throw me around like that…how the hell do you think that makes me feel?”

She saw how pointless it was to continue arguing, and before long I was soaking in a bowl of warm, clean water, washing off every bit of coffee clinging to my skin. I dried myself off with some tissue paper and got dressed, while Rachel just carried on with her morning routine, packing her briefcase for work and gathering all her essentials. When she was ready to leave, she asked me if I wanted to be put inside my house again, and I nodded. Just like yesterday, she gave me enough to eat and drink until she came home again in the afternoon. I also asked her for a few small pieces of paper and a short pencil (the same one I’d written her a note with on my first night here, which now felt so long ago). I wanted to make a list of everything I wanted her to get for my house’s refurbishment, and also to make some sketches of how I wanted the rooms to look. Just something to keep me busy while she was away, while I stayed behind like a devoted pet…

She said goodbye, not offering me a kiss this time, and left for work. Unlike yesterday, when I’d just wanted to spend all the time I had with her from now on, I was actually kinda glad to have some time alone now. The way she’d treated me had made me feel quite humiliated, even though I knew that hadn’t been her intention. It was just a fun game to her, playing with her tiny, easily-subdued boyfriend, who couldn’t even move one little finger of hers…no, I’ve got to stop thinking like this. I knew she loved me, I knew she cared for me, and I was ready to accept my new role in our life together. Do I just need to lighten up a bit, and not take everything so seriously? Rachel seemed to be doing just that…but she wasn’t the one who was stuck at being three inches tall.

I could already see another long discussion happening once she got home and I was not looking forward to it. To take my mind off of it, I began to come up with some ideas for my new house. I definitely wanted a table or desk in the living room, as well as a couple of chairs that weren’t too big for me to sit on comfortably. Some carpets would be nice too, and some pictures I could hang on the walls, to make it feel more like a living room and less like the inside of a crate. For my bedroom, while I was happy with my new bed, I also wanted some cupboards and drawers for me to put my clothes in. This naturally meant getting some more clothes to wear, so I added those to the list. All of the little touches that I wanted downstairs would obviously be needed up here as well. Finally, I felt I needed some kind of bathroom with facilities, no matter how basic. I couldn’t carry on using a little plastic box as a toilet, it felt incredibly degrading to me. A properly-sized bath or shower would be lovely as well: I’d enjoyed this morning’s shower with Rachel, of course, but I didn’t want it to be my only option. Whatever I could do to lessen my dependence on her, I felt I needed to try.

Adding to my list, I decided I’d like to build a new railing for the balcony facing my bedroom, since the one I had was a little too low for me to stand at comfortably. It didn’t have to be made out of wood, like the existing one was, as long as I got to be the one who made it. I also felt that the roof needed a new paint job, since the pink colour it had (which would need to be changed, obviously) was beginning to fade. I’d therefore also need something to paint with, as well as come up with a system that’ll help me do the job safely, since the roof was quite steep and the drop to the ground quite high from my perspective.

As I wrote down lists of items and tasks and drew some rough sketches, I realized that, no matter what, I’d still need Rachel’s help with at least some of the chores I’d set for myself. I knew she wouldn’t mind helping me, she’d probably even enjoy it a little, but it pained me to think that I pretty much got to live based on her whims alone now. I found myself wondering what would’ve happened if our roles had been reversed, if she’d been the one who’d shrunk. Would I still treat her with the same love and respect as I did when she was normal-sized? Or would I take advantage of her and treat her like however the hell I wanted, knowing she could do nothing to stop me? No, of course I wouldn’t – but how could I really know, unless I really were in that position?

With such questions distracting me, I decided to take a break and eat my lunch. I’d been walking back-and-forth over every square inch of this tiny house, and I couldn’t think of anything else I could do to make it more liveable. I lay down on my bed after lunch and closed my eyes. It was so quiet (Rachel hadn’t turned the TV on today, per my request), and I began to feel sleepy. I dozed off, but it felt like only a few seconds before I was disturbed by a loud buzzing noise above me. I opened my eyes and gasped.

A giant wasp was flying around the ceiling above my head. Actually, it was probably only a regular-sized wasp, but to me it was about two feet long and the noise it made was frighteningly loud. I quickly curled up into a little ball, trying not to move a muscle, as the massive insect kept on hovering above me, its erratic movements scaring the crap out of me every time it darted to a new place. Then it came straight down and landed on the bed, just two feet from me. It was one of the most horrifying things I’d seen in my life. I could see every hair on its body vibrating as it crawled around, and its bug-eyes the size of golf balls looking straight at me. I now knew why it was here: it had come for the leftovers of my lunch, specifically the little morsel of toast with jam that Rachel had given me, and which I’d only managed to eat halfway. The plate with food on it was lying just in front of my bed, and while the wasp’s attention was focused on it, I decided to make a move.

Slowly and cautiously, I climbed off the bed and crept into the back corner of the room. This was where I’d put my paper and pencil once I’d finished using them. I picked up the pencil, which was as thick as my leg and about a foot longer, and held it in front of me like a weapon. Then I charged at the wasp, screaming as loudly as possible and waving the pencil around wildly. I managed to give it a good whack, but it immediately flew up to the ceiling and hovered above me. I thought it was going to dive on me, so I threw the pencil down on my bed and fell to the floor, then crawled underneath the bed as quickly as I could. I was properly scared now, as I heard the monstrous, deadly creature flying around in my room, no doubt looking for me.

Eventually it settled down on the floor again, and I could see it eating the crumbs off my plate. I decided to be a lot more careful in my second attempt. I crept out from under the bed and managed to get hold of my pencil-weapon. Then, standing on the bed’s edge just above the wasp, I jabbed down with the sharp tip of the pencil as though it were a spear. I hit the insect in the centre of its chest. It buzzed its wings furiously, but I kept on pushing down and wiggling the pencil around. With a lot of effort, I managed to pry loose one of its wings, then the other, and then at last its movement began to slow down.

It took me ten minutes of grim effort to kill the thing completely. When it was over, I sat down and tried to catch my breath. I was sweating all over, despite it being a cool day, and my heart rate was out of control. It was the closest I’d come to death since a few days ago in the storm, which already felt like a previous lifetime to me. This time it hadn’t been my fault, or Rachel’s, but simply the inevitable result of living in an area where all sorts of insects made their home as well. I knew it’d happen again before long, so I added another item to my list: some sort of mesh or fabric, like mosquito netting, to cover the open side of my house, and which I could roll up and down whenever I wanted to.

“Maybe I shouldn’t tell Rachel about this,” I said to myself. “At least not yet. I’ll wait until things between us are going great again.”

Using the pencil, I shoved the dead wasp out of the room and off the balcony, staying well clear of its stinger in case it wasn’t completely dead. Then I climbed down and kept on pushing it, until it fell off the edge of the kitchen table. Feeling unable to go back to sleep, I decided to work off the adrenaline still running through me by going for a jog around the table’s perimeter and doing some basic exercises. It wouldn’t do to get out of shape, now that I knew what kinds of dangers I might have to face regularly from now on, without my girlfriend here to protect me, as I grudgingly had to admit to myself.

Rachel returned home even later than she had yesterday. Just from her attitude I could tell she was exhausted. She must’ve had a rough day at work, and from the bundle of bags she dropped on the table, I knew she’d been doing some more shopping for me – a lot more. I was about to go out and greet her, when she picked up my house and carried it with her to the couch by the TV. She put it down on the little coffee table, then took off her jacket and shoes and dropped down onto the couch. I headed outside and saw that she held an outstretched open hand for me to climb in.

“Hi Sam,” she said, sounding just as drained as she looked. “I don’t know if you want to talk right now, or if you’d rather be left alone, but…”

“No, I wanna talk,” I interrupted. “But first, could you put me down on the pillow next to you?”

She did as I requested and dropped me right next to her head. I waded through the carpet formed by her hair on the pillow in order to reach her face. Then I began to rub the side of her forehead, using all of my strength to push against her as strongly as I could. Even so, I knew it couldn’t have been a very satisfying massage from her perspective, but Rachel was appreciative all the same.

“That feels wonderful, sweetie,” she said as I kept on massaging her skin. “But you don’t have to do this for me, really.”

“I know, but I want to. You’ve obviously had a long and tiring day and you’re in desperate need of some attention from your man.”

“I…yeah, you’re right, I guess. Thank you, Sam. I’ve just been so behind with work these last few days, ever since I got that call from you at the hospital. I’ve had to work overtime today, and I’ll probably have to do so for the rest of the week as well. Then there’s all the stuff I have to get you – I managed to find quite a few things for your house today, and some more clothes for you as well. Should I get you some dinner now? I think there are still some leftovers in the fridge; I didn’t have time to buy more food today, I’m sorry…”

“No, dinner can wait. Right now you’re just going to lie here and relax, and tell me what a wonderful, attentive boyfriend I’m being.”

She laughed softly to herself. I finished massaging the right side of her forehead. In order to reach her left side, I climbed up onto her chin and stepped across the bridge of her nose. I could see her eyes following me as I did so, and I could see the gratitude in them. As I carried on with my task, she began to talk to me.

“Sam…baby…I couldn’t stop thinking about this morning all day long…about how I treated you…and I just want to say that I really, really feel bad about it. Last night too…the way I talked about you, I mean. I humiliated you and I made you feel inferior to me, just because I thought it was a cute thing to do, and to say. You were sweet to me, telling me it was okay and that you didn’t mind being my…my little toy boyfriend, I guess, but that’s not really what I want from you. I’m so sorry, Sam, I really am! I don’t know what to do with you now, that’ll make you happy! Please tell me what to do and I’ll do it! I don’t ever want to see you look at me like you did this morning, I felt so ashamed, but I was too angry to admit it and apologize!”

She began to choke up and I knew she’d start crying, no matter what I said. I didn’t want her to cry, but I was glad that she regretted the way she’d behaved towards me. I pressed my body against her cheek and rubbed myself against her as the tears began to flow from her eyes.

“Oh Rachel, my darling…I don’t want anything like that to happen again either, but you don’t have to blame yourself like this! You’ve already done so much for me these last few days, and I can’t ever say how grateful I am! All I want from you is for you to treat me like you always did, before the accident – that’s all!”

“Okay…okay, I’ll try. I just don’t want to do something that’ll make you feel like I’ve treated you unfairly. You still mean the world to me, baby! I thought it was cute, you know, last night when you told me I was like a goddess to you now, but after this morning…I don’t want that anymore, okay? I don’t want to be like some goddess or whatever to you, I just want to be your girlfriend, like always!”

“It’s okay, honey, it really is! Just hearing you now, I’ve already forgiven you for everything. I don’t want us to have all these misunderstandings all the time, followed by another round of apologizing and begging for forgiveness, and then having to start our relationship over from scratch again. I may look small and fragile to you now, but I promise you, I can handle a little teasing and a little…well, manhandling, I guess…from you every now and then. You don’t have to treat me like I’m made of glass, and you don’t need to protect me from literally everything around me. Just be here for me and try and bear with me while I’m stuck like this, okay?”

“Yes…yes, of course I’ll be here for you, but I’ll let you do what you like from now on. I don’t want to feel like I’m your mother or anything like that! And Sam, from now on, if we ever do something again like we did this morning, in the shower, I’ll always ask you first if it’s okay with you. You’re not here just for my pleasure, I realize that. If you want to have some time to yourself, any time of the day, just tell me and I’ll leave you alone.”

“That sounds good, Rachel. Right now, I’ll be really happy to have something to eat. Then I’d like to spend the rest of the evening with you, in your hands. I’ve been away from you for way too long, and I’ve got a lot of catching-up to do!”

A couple of hours later, Rachel and I were lying in her bed, not talking, just enjoying the feeling of being in each other’s presence. We’d eaten a lovely dinner, despite it being just some leftover chicken salad from the fridge, and she’d given e thimble filled with white wine, another luxury I’d missed for far too long. She’d also wanted to begin unpacking all of the items she’d bought for me earlier, but I told her it could wait until tomorrow. She therefore decided to make straight for bed, carrying my house with her and putting it down on her dresser. Now I was lying happily on the bare upper slope of her right breast, completely naked, loving the warm feeling of her skin on my own. Her thumb and index finger were squeezing me tenderly, first around the shoulders, then moving all the way down to my feet and back again, never once causing me any pain, only a feeling of deep pleasure.

My new life had begun. I had no idea how long it would last, or what would happen in the future, but I felt ready for it and I knew I’d make it through. I also knew that my wonderful girlfriend would not abandon me, no matter what happened. If my accident had been even worse than it was, if I’d been shrunk down to the size of a grain of sand, I knew she’d still love me and care for me. That being said, I could tell she was afraid of becoming fully sexually intimate with me again, what with me being so easily hurt in my present condition. However, as I lay on her breast, enjoying all the sensations I was feeling, I thought of an idea that just might work in making it happen. I knew it was a long shot, but if Rachel was willing to hear me out, I think she’d agree that it could work…but I would tell her tomorrow, or at some later time. Right now, I had no complaints, nothing I wanted besides what I had, which was her.